WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
VISITING PREACHER: BROTHER BOBBY BRENDAL
SERMON TITLE: THE MULLEY GRUBS (DEPRESSION)
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18
I’m going to preach tonight on what they say is the number one illness in America. It seems to be worse this time of year than any other time. It’s depression. The old timers used to call it mulley grubs. They had it pegged pretty good. They didn’t know what the definition was. Some of you may have a full grown mulley grub tonight. This thing of depression is really taking a toll. That’s something that we all can have. I don’t care how young or how old or how long you’ve been saved or how close you are to God. There’s going to be things that bring us down. But we don’t have to stay down. Paul said I got knocked down but I got up! We need to be like Paul and we need to get up. I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it’s hard for me to get up and I’ve done a lot of studying on this. When you get down like me as a midget, you’re pretty low. I heard it’s going to snow. I hope it don’t snow too much because it don’t take much to get a midget snow bound. Look with us in Psalms 102. We find here that David is dealing with depression. You’d think a man like David who was after Gods own heart wouldn’t have any problems. If David who was man after Gods own heart had problems, then who are we? What I’m saying is that no matter who we are, we can have this problem. I just don’t understand why it has to be so worse at this time of year. Right now we’re celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. That should make you want to rejoice and now get depressed. It should be the most cheerful time of the year but it’s one of the most saddest to most. I’m not preaching to the people outside this church. I’m preaching to you here that are listening to me. I remind you that this is something we all have. Some more than others. Even children and teens. We’ll see how David dealt with it.
Psalms 102:1-9 “Hear my prayer.” HEAR my prayer” HEAR MY prayer.” In other words David was saying HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP! What do you do? Do you say, “help lord”. David said, “HEAR MY PRAYER, O LORD! AND LET MY CRY COME UNTO THEE. HIDE NOT THY FACE FROM ME IN THE DAY WHEN I AM IN TROUBLE; INCLINE THINE EAR UNTO ME: IN THE DAY WHEN I CALL ANSWER ME SPEEDILY.” We see here that David realized he had a problem and we see that David realized he needed help. We also see that David realized where his help comes from. I see a lot of people like David across this country who realize they have a problem but they haven’t realized where their help comes from. Their calling on their psychologies, their psychologies. Why call on people who are higher in suicide than anybody else. I never have understood why when we have a tragedy in America or in our schools why they have to call on those people anyway. Why not call on the man of God? What’s wrong with having a man of God come? There used to be a time when the man of God was the first one people called on in a situation. But they call on those with degrees in psychology and they have to pay them to do it. When I did a study on this I went to see a psychologist to see what they did for people with the mulley grubs. Thank God I didn’t have one that day. You say well preacher, I have to talk to somebody. The Bible says to cast your care upon him for he careth for you. I found out that the only thing that Psychologist cared about that day was getting the fee. Now only do people call upon them but they call upon their ouija boards and t.v. sets and their horoscopes. If their horoscope don’t suit them their not going to do anything that day. Just jump back in bed and cover up your head. Quit looking at your horoscopes and look at the word of God. That’s where your strength comes from. You can’t get nothing from that bunch of people with degrees. All their doing is making big bucks off of people like you. You people who are saved come into the house of God, you sit down, cross your legs and say, “bless me, I’ve had a hard life.” Spare me. Lay them other books down and get in the good book. This is one of the greatest love letters you’ll ever read. All them other books do is make them other mulley grubbers grow. The Bible makes the mulley grubs go.
Then David said, “For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.” You get this depressed and you’ll do one of the two. Either starve yourself to death or every time you see a chocolate chip cookie it will jump out of the jar and you’ll eat it.
Then he said, “By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. Mine enemies reproach me all the day: and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.” In other words David thought that everybody hated him and he went out of control. He began to say nobody loves me. That’s exactally how some of you have been acting lately. It just might be if you changed that old ugly attitude you have that business would pick up. It’s hard to love somebody with a chip on their shoulder saying, “Come on, I double dare you.” Then you wonder why nobody loves you. It takes the grace of God to love somebody like that. That’s the first thing that happens when you get those mulley grubs, you quit loving those that are dear to you. You quit loving Him, you quit loving the church and everything that is of God. Then with the attitude you have you wonder why nobody gives you any affection. The Bible says we need to love one another. You’re just reaping what you’re sowing. The Bible says if you’re going to get love, you have to first love yourself. When you have those mulley grubs, things that don’t ordinarily bother you, do bother you. Your kids can be tearing the place apart when you’re not down and it doesn’t bother you but when you get down, they can come tip-toeing through the house and you’ll say, “Get out of the house, you brat.” Some of you have just passed Christmas and you’re already sad. It’s your own fault. Quit blaming your husband and your wife, quit blaming your kids and your Pastor. The problem is not them, it’s you, you, you.
I never have understood why anybody in this good old United States of America should be depressed. We are so blessed of God. I’ve traveled around this world and even the people on the streets are better off than people in the foreign countries. We have push button this and push button that. We have a roof over our head and shoes on our feet and that’s more than most people have. We don’t realize how fortunate we are to be American. She’s not as spiritual as I’d like to see it but she’s still one of the greatest nations. I see these signs that say, “GOD BLESS AMERICA.” God has blessed America. But what their really saying is, “God Bless America but leave us alone and let us live the way we want to.” If we have a Big Mac attack we can have one in five minutes. People go into the bars and have a happy hour. We go to McDonalds and have a happy meal but go to church and we have a sad hour. We’re not preaching on a sad hour. We’re preaching on a HaHaHa hour. Sometimes it’s good to have a HaHa service. It’s Biblical. There’s nothing wrong with HaHaHa. It’s a medicine. Some of you haven’t even blinked must less HaHaHa since I’ve been up here. If someone of you was to have a real HaHa, you’re face would crack, you haven’t had one in so long. That’s what them mulley grubs does. The devil wants to steal our joy. if you’re just happy when things are going all right then you won’t be happy too long. That’s what the devil wants. What’s bad is he uses the same old thing on some of you over and over. It don’t take much for some of you. It’s like turning a light switch off when you get down. You say preacher, I could probably be happy if I could win the lottery. Yeah, maybe for about two or three days. When you have them old mulley grubs there ain’t nothing that can make you happy. You say if you had a little get away place that was secluded, you’d be happy. get yourself on an island by yourself and you’ll be cursing the trees in just a few days. They say that people were happier when we didn’t have anything. I was raised on a little old farm house in Chatsworth. I’d get up before the break of day and pick cotton. In the winter we’d sit in front of the fireplace to get warm and then we’d high tale it to bed. The bed had so much covers on it that we’d have to slide in at the headboard. I wouldn’t count sheep either. I could count stars through the cracks in the roof. Then if that wasn’t enough to make you happy I’d have to get up and have to go to the outhouse. That really made me happy. We have a push button this and a push button that and we have nice homes and cars, we have nice churches.....WE ARE BLESSED OF GOD. You can walk five feet and be in a hot shower. You need to get up and thank God for all your blessings and go running. You may not always have it. You think just because you don’t have what other people have, you think God ain’t doing you right. maybe you couldn’t handle it if you had more. I would of been mean had I grown up. Some of you still haven’t smiled.
One of the ways to get back to living is to get back to loving. Giving that affection. I thank God for a dear precious loving mother. Being a midget, I have been ran over, humiliated, hurt. You wouldn’t believe. But when I was hurt I didn’t think nobody cared I knew I had a loving mother at home. My mother went on to be with the Lord in 1988 and I noticed a difference in our family. We still get together and we still hug but it hasn’t been the same. That’s one of the things we neglect when we get those mulley grubs. The Bible says for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. You say, but I didn’t come from a loving home like you did. Bless your heart. Fake it and it will come natural. If you’re a born again child of God you’ve got that adopted love and you can give that love if you don’t have the mulley grubs. You know why the kids are committing suicide? You know why their doing the strange things in their schools? Because of lack of love. When they get deprived from that from their parents and family it turns into anxiety and anxiety has to go into action. That’s why you parents need to love your children. I have two grandsons that have spent a lot of time with me over the holiday season. I had them both and I said it’s quiet time and we’ve got to lay down to get it. One would come jumping on the couch and then here comes the other one. They must have kissed me forty times in an hour. So I got up and we had a wrestling match with a two year old and a three year old. I wrestle them now but I won’t be able to much longer. I used to get in the baby bed with them and play. When you’re a midget you can do that. The social workers say that kids need at least ten hugs a day. We all could handle that. We find a lot of hate in our churches, in our families and in our homes. A lot of you will make resolutions and a lot of them will be to stay away from chocolates. I don’t know of any more greater a resolution than to spread more of Gods love. Say something to the stranger you see that feels down. Something you say might prevent them from committing suicide. Christmas day, seven miles from my home, him and his wife were getting a divorce and he just got out of a mental hospital. His parents got him out for Christmas and his wife was at her mothers with their thirteen year old daughter. They saw him coming in and locked the front door. He went around the back and knocked down the door. He come in and killed his daughter first and his wife hid under something and her legs were sticking out and he blew both her legs off and then shot her in the chest. Then he shot in the closet where he thought his mother-in-law was at and thank God she had escaped out the front door. Then he turned and shot his self. I hear of it all over the country. Somebody is missing it. Tell people that you love them. Be ye kind and tender hearted. You need to be spiritual. Call on God. He will hear you and answer you. Come tonight and ask God to make you more spiritual and affectionate.
LET US PRAY: Father, What an uplifting message this has been. I needed to laugh so bad. There too little laughter in my life. Take me away from this depression and renew in me a kind and gentle spirit. Help me to laugh more, to receive your joy and abound in it. I have so much to be thankful for and so little to be sad about. help me to realize that. In Jesus name. Amen.
