ARE WE TRAPPED? CAN WE CHANGE…???
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes) (SEVERAL PARTS)
THINK ABOUT THIS? WHO HAS THE LONGEST MOST POWERFUL TONGUE? The average human tongue is around 3 ½ inches in length. The average adult giraffe has a tongue 18 inches long.
Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
HUMANS ARE RESISTANT TO CHANGE. I WILL TELL YOU WHEN YOU WILL CHANGE: YOU WILL CHANGE WHEN THE PAIN OF STAYING THE SAME IS WORSE THAN THE PAIN OF CHANGE.
The sheriff delivers divorce papers? You will change? There is a time when you will not touch that booze, when you are laying in a jail cell and learn your accident has killed others? There is a time when you have a stroke and can’t move one side of your body, then you will change. There is a time when the doctors say cancer has destroyed your lungs and throat, that you will lay aside the tobacco? There is a time when the doctors cut off your toes, then your feet and legs then you will get serious about diabetes.
Matthew 18:8 (NLT2) So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.
9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
10 “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.
*YOUR FOOT= WHERE YOU GO…
*YOUR HAND= WHAT YOU DO… CHANGE?
*YOUR EYES= WHAT YOU FOCUS ON, VALUE SYSTEM…
Proverbs 4:23 (NLT2) Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
WILL WE SUBMIT TO EVALUATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR OUR:
*WILL WE CHANGE OUR HEART, HEAD, HANDS AND OUR EARS?
*TOW KINDS OF TREES: FRUIT TREES? FIREWOOD?
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF TREES: FRUIT TREES! FIREWOOD TREES. ARE YOU KNOWN AS A KIND, LOVING PERSON?
I hear what you say in your words that you love... I am not asking about what you say. I am asking about what you say Face Book? On the Computers? Who you are in traffic? In the store? In your home?
Matthew 7:15 (NLT2) “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
THERE ARE SEVERAL DESTRUCTIVE WEAPONS THAT CAN TRAP AND THAT CAN HINDER GOD’S PLAN. 1. SELF LAID TRAPS. 2. TRAPS LAID BY OTHERS. 3. DEMONIC TRAPS.
Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Galatians 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
We are living in an age where our enemy is waging an all-out war against humanity. We must recognize traps and learn to avoid them.
Galatians 5:7 (MSG) You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience?
Galatians 5:15 (MSG) If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
DO WE EVER FEEL LIKE WE ARE STUCK IN A RUT?
Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
When my son was practicing with his little league baseball team there was a practice field. The practice field was often flooded in the spring. The dual wheeled city trucks would drive through this area. As the trucks would go through the field they would cut RUTS in the wet mud. I love to watch nature. One day I saw a million big fat caterpillars crawling down the tree trunks and crawling across the field. Many of the caterpillars would escape the area.
I noticed the dual-wheeled truck ruts. Many of the caterpillars crawled and fell into the mud ruts. Not one escaped the ruts. As the trucks would drive in the ruts the caterpillars would be crushed to death. Not one of those caterpillars ever developed into a BUTTERFLY. The rut became a death trap. Hundreds never reached their potential because the rut became a hopeless trap.
HAVE WE EVER COUNTED THE PRICE OF FREE CHEESE? COULD WE BE SURROUNDED BY TRAPS AND SNARES? WHAT FORM CAN A TRAP TAKE?
*TRAP: a device to catch and retain that allows entry with no exit, to lay in wait to attack, captured, cornered, siege.
*SNARE: a noose, to trap, entangle, danger.`
TRAPPED? I observed a man at the gas station. He placed money in a vending machine. He had a pocket knife. He scratched off the ticket, threw it in the garbage can. He then pulled out more cash and fed the machine. Out comes another lottery ticket. Once again he scratched off the ticket. As I ate my sandwich and watched. I got up my nerve and asked him, how much money have you spent? He told me he had placed $225.00 in the machine. I noted he threw every ticket in the garbage can but one. I said how much have you won? He boasted and said: I HAVE WON $50 BUCKS. No, he didn’t, he had lost $175.00. When I left he was still feeding money in the vending machine. His clothes was dirty and ragged, TRAPPED?
WHAT DEFILES PEOPLE? IS THERE A MIRACLE IN YOUR MOUTH? ARE WE TRAPPED?
Matthew 15:17 (NLT2) “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.
18 But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”
I saw a mother scream and yell at her kids. She got louder and louder. Everyone around her was looking at her? The child was embarrassed and started crying. She just kept on screaming. Everyone around feels sorry for the kids? There are many calamities for generations to come.
ARE WE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR WORDS? ARE WE PLAYING WITH POISON?
**IF WE CHANGE OUR ATTITUDES, OUR THINKING PATTERNS, OUR WORDS, AND OUR HABITS AND WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. WE REAP THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE SEEDS WE SOW AND THE WORDS WE SAY!
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Proverbs 18:21 (MSG) Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose.
*CONJUNCTION: words that connect, and, or, but, because, for, if and when are a few. The tongue does not have just one power (OR) --- The tongue’s power is the conjunction AND… This is a signal that both powers are resident at the same time.
LET US NOT GROSS OVER THE POWER OF OUR WORDS. Let us get real, we must recognize what a CONJUNCTION IS… The words we speak release power… we have the ability to give life to others or we can speak death to kill. The tongue releases power… gossip, slander, anger, selfishness and hatred.
Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Matthew 12:36 (MSG) Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously.
WILD EXAGGERATIONS AND DISTORTIONS CAN TURN THE TONGUE’S 40 DAYS TO 40 YEARS? WHAT CAN THE MISUSE OF THE POWER OF THE NEGATIVE TONGUE RELEASE? COME LET US RECALL THE TROUBLE INJECTED IN TO THE HEARTS TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM THE PROMISES OF GOD. THE POWER OF 10 SPIES OVER CAME THE POWER OF THE 2 POSITIVE.
10 NEGATIVE TONGUES SAYING WHAT WE CAN’T DO GIVES BIRTH TO 40 YEARS OF MURMURING, WOE, SIN AND ERROR. Not only can a tongue give birth to evil for a nation. A negative tongue can destroy a good family.
Numbers 13:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
MANY OF THE HEARTACHES, GRIEF AND TROUBLES WE FACE ARE SELF-INFLICTED.
Proverbs 21:23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
Proverbs 21:23 (MSG) Watch your words and hold your tongue; you'll save yourself a lot of grief.
Proverbs 21:23 (NLT2) Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.
NO PERSON CAN TAME THE TONGUE--- WATCH OUT FOR THE DEADLY POISON, THE VENOM THE TONGUE INJECTS CAN HINDER THE WORD OF GOD AND THE WORK OF GOD,
James 3:3 (NLT2) We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth.
4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. 7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.
OFTEN IN DAILY LIVING WE MAY FEEL TRAPPED. WE MUST LEARN WE ARE NOT POWERLESS. WE HAVE PROMISES THAT GOD WILL HELP US AND DELIVER US.
2 Corinthians 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
DO WE KNOW THAT THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE OURS TO CLAIM?
Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
CONCLUSION: CHANGE IS COMING. RESIST IT ALL YOU WANT. CHANGE IS SURE. If we submit our attitudes, actions, habits, thinking patterns and WORDS --- GOD WILL RELEASE MIRACLES. Our society values sports events, political strife and entertainment --- TEMPORAL over the ETERNAL VALUES OF GOD’S WORD. Come let us PRACTICE AND LEARN AND GROW TO HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST.
1 Corinthians 2:16 (NLT2) For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (Watch: YouTube: Wade Hughes)
