BUILD SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST! TAKE COMFORT! GIVE COMFORT!
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com ( YouTube: Wade Hughes)
1 Thessalonians 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 (MSG) Oh, we'll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.
HOW DOES THE ENEMY DO IT? THE ISSUE OF THE HEART IS THE HEART OF THE ISSUE.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Jeremiah 17:9 (MSG) "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. 10 But I, GOD, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be."
HOW EASY IS IT TO STIR UP A MESS? THERE IS A HIDDEN AGENDA AND MOTIVE WITHIN.
There was a cowboy who road into town to visit a saloon on the edge of town. The cowboy tied his horse to the hitching post in front of the bar. He then went inside to drink. The devil came by and saw the cowboy drinking. The devil thought, I wander what kind of mess can I stir up? So the devil said lets see what kind mess I can stir up? So the devil untied the horse and let him go.
The horse saw a beautiful garden across the way. The horse looked around and was hungry. So the horse walked through the gate and started eating from the garden. The food was so good. The farmer heard something and looked out the window and saw the horse had utterly destroyed the garden. The farmer sold vegetables out of the garden and the family canned food to survive through the winter. In great anger the farmer grabbed his rifle and shot and killed the horse.
Several hours later the cowboy came out of the saloon. He was about half way in the wind. The cowboy couldn’t find his horse. He walked over to the garden and saw his horse was lying dead. The cowboy enquired around and the farmer came out and pointed to his garden and said look what your dumb horse did. I had no choice but to kill your dumb horse. So the angry cowboy pulled out his pistol and shot and killed the farmer.
The farmer’s wife was looking out the window and saw what the cowboy did. The farmer’s wife grabbed the double barrel shot gun from behind the door. She ran out on the porch and called the cowboy to come near. The cowboy said, your husband killed my horse so I killed him. The lady shot both barrels at the cowboy and killed him out by the garden.
The cowboy’s son heard the terrible news that his dad was dead. He then saddled his horse and rode into town. He asked around who had killed his dad. Someone told him, the farmer’s wife had shot him because he had shot her husband. The son said why would my dad do that? They explained her husband had killed his dad’s horse. So his dad killed her husband. The boy said did you kill my dad? She said YES! The boy pulled out his pistol and killed the farmer’s wife for killing his dad.
The town’s neighbors heard that the cowboy’s son had killed the farmer’s wife because she killed his dad, the cowboy. The cowboy killed the farmer because the farmer had killed the cowboy’s horse for eating his garden. So the farmer had killed his horse. The town’s people went to the cowboy’s house and his son would not come out. The neighbors burned the house down and killed the cowboy’s son.
SOME PEOPLE ASKED THE DEVIL: HOW DID YOU STIR UP THIS TERRIBLE MESS? THE DEVIL SAID: DON’T BLAME ME ALL I DID WAS UNTIE THE HORSE. I DID THAT, ALL THE REST WAS ANGER AND BITTERNESS THAT WAS HIDDEN IN THE HEART!
WHAT IS IN YOUR TREASURE CHEST? YOUR HEART HOLDS DEEP, HIDDEN INTIMATE THINGS YOU VALUE! LIFE IS ABOUT WHAT YOU LOVE AND YOUR PRIORITIES.
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:21 (MSG) It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
Your heart is like a bank. You make deposits daily with your words, attitudes and deeds. There is a tendency to lay up for materialism and we forget the eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 (MSG) There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.
WE HAVE A STANDING INVITATION TO COME INTO THE MOST HOLY PLACE DAILY. THE VEIL, THE CURTAIN WAS THE BARRIER THAT SEPARATED GOD AND MAN. TAKE COMFORT! GIVE COMFORT!
WE KNOW THERE ARE SEVERAL PARTS TO THE TEMPLE. THE COURT YARD, THE OUTER COURT, THE INNER COURT, THE HOLY PLACE, THE MOST HOLY PLACE. FEW EVER ENTER THE MOST HOLY PLACE FOR AN INTIMATE TIME WITH GOD. IT WAS DEATH FOR ANYONE TO CAME INTO THE MOST HOLY PLACE EXCEPT ONE TIME, ONCE A YEAR, ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
The curtain was blue for heaven at the top, red for the blood at the bottom and purple in the middle. There was an invitation to know God in a personal way.
Matthew 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? YOUR VALUE SYSTEM? WHEN EVERYTHING IS A PRIORITY, THEN NOTHING IS!
DO WE KNOW WHAT OUR REAL PRIORITIES REALLY ARE?
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
*PRIORITY: treated as more important, set in order, what you deal with first, rank, what you put first, where you invest your time, talent and energy.
*MATERIALISM: the tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.
IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER? THE BEMA SEAT OF GOD… THE BELIEVERS’ JUDGMENT. BUILD SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST! TAKE COMFORT! GIVE COMFORT!
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 (MSG) The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. 14 And that's it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it's good or evil.
BEMA SEAT? THE JUDGMENT SEAT! WE SHALL GIVE ACCOUNT! (Greek word: altar, raised up)
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10 (MSG) Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.
The Lord is coming back to earth again. The Lord is coming back first for the believers. We will be changed from mortal, corruptible to immortal, incorruptible.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
CONCLUSION: There will be two judgments: The BEMA SEAT OF CHRIST will be the judgment for Believers. THE GREAT WHITE THRONE: For Satan, fallen angels and unbelievers. TAKE COMFORT! I AM GOING TO FLY AWAY TO EVER BE WITH THE LORD. LISTEN FOR THE TRUMPET SOUND. THERE COMES THE GREATEST REUNION OF ALL THE AGES. I HAVE THIS GREAT CONFIDENCE: AIN’T NO GRAVE GOING TO HOLD MY BODY DOWN… Take comfort! Give comfort!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)
