PLANT YOUR SEED
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
Nehemiah 1:4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 2: 18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also was the king’s words that he had spoken to me. AND THEY SAID, LET US ARISE UP AND BUILD. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
19 BUT when Sanballat and Tobiah heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this that ye do?
20 Then I answered them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, HE WILL PROSPER US, -- WE WILL ARISE AND BUILD ---
Galatians 6: 7 Be not deceived; for God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;
but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
9. And let us not be weary in well doing:
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
I ponder today, the book of Nehemiah, and the lessons there in.
I must sow some seed, I can’t afford to eat the seed corn.
Another generation will soon be hungry.
Pick up the shovel, be quiet, and dig -- I ponder today.
Talk will never dig a well, nor will talk provide
water for life.
Please take no offense to the be quiet, be still, there is a time to quit talking and let God give us water and protection we need. We must stand up to the task and begin doing it.
Mom, Dad what kind of seed are you planting?
Are you looking at the wall in dis-repair and just looking? Do something!
The farmer waiting for the perfect weather neither sows nor reaps and the opportunity is missed.
Nehemiah 1:4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
I just finished a study of the book of Nehemiah, with a different outlook.
May I not be to crude but I saw an old truth,
I invest to share.
Nehemiah approaches people from several different angles.
1) A man (a type) of God with a vision/purpose.
2) A man (a spirit type) Sanballat that will focus
on the negative and read all the facts that are
bad to the crowd toward the negative.
Then there are basically two crowds:
a tired, discouraged, at times lazy crowd
focused on their own needs.
Then a crowd that will do anything to
oppose or hinder or impede the work to be
done.
These lazy or negative people cannot stop God’s
work.
The work goes on... THE WORK WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED.
Never forget, that those that say it cannot be done are being passed by those doing it. You can if you want to!
I ponder today, the book of Nehemiah, and the lessons there in.
How easyit is as we study to focus on the negative?
The..."it can’t be done crowd" is not the focus --
this is not the theme....
Nehemiah never intended us to stay on that side
track.
For the lesson is faithfulness and persistence and God will always overcome every obstacle real or imagined.....
Physical or spiritual...... financial......but we
have to find our wall and get to work.
Why waste your eyes on the written or spoken words
of the disgruntled?
I had a pastor friend get an anonymous letter
and he was so distracted and he
read the letter to the board, then the church at
large, and in total despair resign and
became bitter.
ALL THIS ACCOMPLISHED BY A NEGATIVE NO NAMED
INDIVIDUAL.
I read no unsigned letters even to self, if it is
not worth a name it is not worth reading it.
I have a neat lesson I teach on
HOW DANGEROUS THEY SAID IS!
So, neither do I accept,..."THEY SAID"...
tell me who they are, or don’t tell me what they
said!
They said can be mean and cruel.
The negative stink can’t blow if you control the
fan. Turn the fan off.
Let us talk about the crowd which I will call the critics (devil’s little headshrinkers)...
Their wind can never blow you sail unless you set the sail for them.
Critics may often say much, but their proven track
record...
they in really do very little construction of good
things.
Have you ever seen a museum built to honor critics?
Critics do not have the ability to get you to come down off the wall....
That is your choice??
Do not forget some of what the critics say is the
absolute truth.
It is all in the focus?
(1/2 full vs 1/2 empty argument)
You waste value talent getting off the wall.
At the same time all their junk talk and
conclusions never build or rebuilt.
(Maybe, we should like to discuss how the walls got
in that way shape away?
That is a nugget you must dig, but it wasn’t
abuse it was gradual neglect.)
Nehemiah 2: 18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also was the king’s words that he had spoken to me. AND THEY SAID, LET US ARISE UP AND BUILD. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
Let’s look at the other men -- SOME WERE NEGATIVE FAULT FINDERS others were dirty and sweaty and tired but with right leadership accomplished a goal by menial daily chores.
Clean hands and clean barns accomplish very little.
There will be manure around barns that breed life,
we must keep clean, but be willing to get dirty
hands.
There is a big difference in dirty hands and dirty
hearts!
It is always the dirty hand ministry that gets
talked about.
Expect that. Why be surprised?
Even if these dirty hands are criticized they get
the job done.
(stop here to note, I am not talking about dirt
from sin but rather effort)
Yet, I ask which crowd does the Father reward?
Those that try and try and try and try until there
is a spiritual break through will know the Heart of
the Father.
It is useless to try to stop the work of God
unless, the workers are willing to accept
discouragement.
Sure there are many fat arm chair quarter backs,
spiritual takers, never givers, --
in easy chairs yelling at that stupid coach and
dumb quarterbacks, but who scores the goals?
Don’t gripe at the spectators, that let you do
everything ... build a fire... IGNITE THE FLAME.
Galatians 6: 7 Be not deceived; for God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;
but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
9. And let us not be weary in well doing:
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
When I was a child, we always grew a garden. We would always eat and can all of our crops. We would save some of the best seed from this years garden to plant the next year.
This garden was not just our food in the summer, but it was food in the winter. We canned and dried the food for later.
One summer, we had the garden plowed and prepared the soil to plant. We were planting corn in straight rows. My Dad was called out for a hospital visit, so he told me to plant the rows he had made, and then make another row, and plant it until the corn seed was gone.
I planted the rows Dad made, then I made two rows and planted them, and I remembered my favorite show was coming on TV.
So I dug a hole and buried the brown paper bag with all the seeds in a hole at the side of the garden.
I got away with my lazy plan?
Dad came home later, I explained I made two more rows of corn and the seed ran out?
Dad could not understand this, he said there was much more seed than that?
I explained the seed ran out?
It rained, the sun would shine, and the corn broke through the ground.
A few weeks later, I was watching TV and Dad came in the house and grabbed me by the arm and away we went.
I asked, WHAT’S GOING ON?
Dad said, YOU KNOW?
I SAID: DAD, I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW?
WE STOPPED IN THE EDGE OF THE GARDEN AND THERE WAS A MILLION LITTLE CORN PLANTS STICKING UP THROUGH THE SOIL.
Seems, I got caught in my laziness.
Dad explained each plant was a testimony of my laziness. He went on to explain that that would be our food this winter for the whole family and now there would not be as much corn as we had planned.
Dad explained this laziness could cost next years garden?
Wow, How could I have been so stupid, first thing to think I could get away with this and second to not realize this was food for my family that I wasted?
Several times that summer, I would return to the garden and knee and pray, PLEASE GOD DON’T LET MY FAMILY GO HUNGRY BECAUSE OF MY LAZINESS AND LACK OF FORE SIGHT.
You may get away with your laziness and lack of commitment, but someday the soil will testify against you! Someday our shortages and weaknesses could hold us accountable.
I must sow some seed, I can’t afford to eat the seed corn. Another generation will soon be hungry.
Neh. 2:19 BUT when Sanballat and Tobiah heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this that ye do?
20 Then I answered them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, HE WILL PROSPER US, -- WE WILL ARISE AND BUILD ---
Nehemiah knew the importance of Divine Laws. If we do not like the crop we are reaping, we must invest new seed and effort to have a turn around.
Get a shovel start digging the well, you will find living water sooner or later.
TALKING HINDERS THE WORK. THOSE ARM CHAIR QUARTERBACKS MAY ACCIDENTALLY GIVE YOU A GOOD LESSON TO USE.
I WANT TO BE PART OF THE TIRED ... SWEATING....
TEAM.
Not the sick murmurers.....wherein is a lack of
dedication....
lack of commitment.....and a lack of action....
but that is where demonic activities and the flesh
give birth to the oppressed in idleness.
I say get on the wall and do something...
if nothing else spit on the enemy and encourage the
weak and worn.
I am headed into the camp to get what is God’s.
GO WITH ME.
I don’t know where the water is!!!!
I just know there is water out there somewhere.
Check the chapter in Genesis 26 ...
where the men take action and dig a well ...
someone steals it ...
another is filled with mud ...
but they keep digging and digging ...
and digging until the water was found ...
and many generations drink. Water from the well, WHY?
Because someone picked up the shovel ---
BE QUIET,
BE STILL, MOVE
AND DIG AGAIN.
READ GENESIS 26 AND COUNT HOW MANY WELLS WERE DUG BEFORE THERE WAS A COMPLETE VICTORY.
THERE WERE ALSO ALTARS AT SOME OF THE WELLS. WOW!
The book of Nehemiah has several neat points, one point is the critics may say much, but critics usually do very little construction of good things.
Some of what critics say may be the truth, but all their talk and conclusions do very little to rebuild the broken.
God rewards those that try, and try again. It is always to soon to quit. The man that accomplishes the rebuilding of the wall may not always be pretty and smell good, and the man doing God’s work may often be the point of criticism, but his commitment and dedication will be rewarded. We must hear the call to get up, leave the comfort zone and move for the betterment of the whole.
Opposition is neither bad or good. Opposition is neutral, it is what we choose to do with problems and obstacles that will rebuild the work of God. For the lesson is faithfulness and persistence and God will always overcome every obstacle real or imagined.....
Physical or spiritual...... financial......but we
have to find our wall and get to work.
His servant,
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr
Kyfingers@aol.com
NO RESERVES,
NO REGRETS,
NO RETREATS!!!!
