THE TEST: I WANT TO BE BOSS
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
Luke 15: 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, and he heard music and dancing.
26. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant?
Why didn’t the elder brother ask the Father?
Why did he seek a second hand source?
Mark 9:35 And Jesus sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them,
IF ANY MAN DESIRE TO BE FIRST, THE SAME SHALL BE LAST OF ALL, AND A SERVANT OF ALL.
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the
furnace of affliction.
Ponder Failure and Perseverance.
So you have failed?
You are in some mighty good company.
David was a big failure and yet the Bible says he was a
man after God’s own heart.
David disappointed many people, sin disgraced the
King’s family ... yet Psalms 51, the greatest chapter in the Bible on repentance was written because of a failed moment.
David clearly was penitent.
David was not just sorry he got caught, he was very sorry he had broken the very heart of God.
David came home to God.
David was an example of changing a heart.
David failed, but he was not a failure!
Peter often wore his foot in his mouth.
Peter had the nerve to rebuke the Son of God, along with many other stupid things, yet a change came over him in the book of Acts, he delivered the first message to the church after the resurrection... "What meaneth this?"
Peter failed, yet he was not a failure.
Ponder this: When he was seven years old, his family was forced out of
their home on a legal technicality, and he had to work to help support them.
At age nine, his mother died.
At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk.
He wanted to go to law school, but his education wasn’t good enough.
At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store.
At 26, his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay.
At 28, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him.
She said no.
At 37, on his third try he was elected to Congress, but two years later, he
failed to be reelected.
At 41, his four-year-old son died.
At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost.
At 47, he failed as the vice-presidential candidate.
At 49, he ran for the Senate again, and lost.
At 51, he was elected president of the United States.
His name was Abraham Lincoln, a man many consider the
greatest leader the country ever had. Some people get all the breaks.
Unknown --
What is success and failure? Salary? Increase? Fame?
How do I measure success?
I have never found it!
But I ponder success...
I think life has taught me success is much more than position,
square footage in the house, or the type of car that you drive.
We long for a life of great ease, and the ability to order others to
meet our demands. God’s system varies much from
what we expect and think ---
"HE WHO WOULD BE GREAT NEEDS TO BE A SERVANT OF ALL."
Now come on... ???
Failure comes when we quit overcoming obstacles.
Why can we not see obstacles are opportunities?
Real success is learned by approaching every problem as a chance to
lose God, by patient waiting and persistence we overcome.
Most of us seek paths left by big crowds, not realizing the path
so popular to the crowd might not be God’s plan for us.
Success is simply overcoming obstacles big and small.
Perhaps God leads you to cut a new path and leave a trail to the hurting and the dying.
How can we discover great areas of ministry sitting on a padded pew, as
the minister quietly rubs our belly until we have a satisfactory burp?
We can take ordinary talents, and bury them ---
or we can take extraordinary
perseverance teamed with our ordinary talents, and reach new levels, and minister to hurting and lost neighbors.
If not you --- then who?
If not now --- then when?
If not here --- then where?
Job 23:10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I
shall come forth as gold.
Job had many questions of God, his body had suffered
beyond the means of acceptable lines, his coworkers had inflicted serious
mental pain, his wife said, "Curse God and die!"
Job continued his questioning, saying that his suffering would be more bearable if only he knew why it was happening. If there was sin for which he could repent, he would! He knew about the wicked and the fact that they would be punished; he knew
God could vindicate him if he so chose. In all his examples of the wicked in
the world, his overriding desire was for God to clear his name, prove his
righteousness, and explain why he was chosen to receive all this calamity.
Job tried to make his friends see that questions about God, life, and
justice are not as simple as they assumed. Job had failed, but he was not a failure.
In Job 22, Eliphaz had tried to condemn Job by identifying some secret sin
which he may have committed.
Here Job declares his confidence in his integrity and God’s justice.
We are always likely to have hidden sin in our lives, sin we don’t even know about because God’s standards are so high and our performance is so imperfect.
If we are true believers, however, all our
sins are forgiven, we are justified, because of what Christ did on the cross
in our behalf (Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1).
The Bible also teaches that even if
our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts (1 John 3:20).
His forgiveness and cleansing are sufficient; they overrule our failures and
nagging doubts. The Holy Spirit in us is our proof that we are forgiven in
God’s eyes even though we may feel guilty. If we, like Job, are truly
seeking God, we can stand up to others’ accusations as well as our own nagging
doubts. If God has forgiven and accepted us, we are forgiven indeed. Job
learned you can fail and not be a failure.
Job suddenly seemed to be arguing on his friends’ side. For this reason,
some commentators think one of Job’s friends said these words. But we
shouldn’t expect Job to present a unified argument. He was confused. He was
not arguing that, in every case, God rewards the wicked and punishes the
righteous; he was simply asserting that in his case, a righteous man was
suffering. God loves people that fail, God has a plan to include all.
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the
furnace of affliction.
There was nothing in Israel’s actions, attitudes, or
accomplishments to compel God to love and to save them.
But for his own sake,
to show who He is and what He can do, He saved them.
God does not save us because we are good but because He loves us and because of His forgiving nature. God calls you to get up and try again! Hear Him?
Do you find it easy to complain when your life becomes complicated or
difficult? Why would a loving God allow all kinds of unpleasant experiences
to come to his children? This verse shows us plainly that God tests us in
the “furnace of affliction.”
Rather than complain, our response should be to turn to God in faith for the strength to endure, and rejoice in our sufferings (see Romans 5:3; James 1:2-4).
For without the testing, we would never know what we are capable of doing, nor would we grow.
And without the refining, we will not become more pure and more like Christ. What kinds of adversity are you currently facing?
Forgiveness is the hinge that the move of God swings upon ---
Forgiveness is the fragrance that a rose sheds on the foot that crushed it.
Thorns inflect more pain.
Luke 15: 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, and he heard music and dancing.
26. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant?
Why didn’t the elder brother ask the Father?
Why did he seek a second hand source?
The anger that grows in the elder son demonstrates a bad attitude toward his brother and his Father.
We are imperfect people in an imperfect world, we must
invest love --- that reaches beyond the 99, (the comfort zone), to reach to
failures, and give them a hand up ... we have too many older brothers
angrily asking the servant, (Luke15), why is the celebration going on for a wasted
life?
If you judge people you have little time to love them! If you love
people, you have no time to judge them.
I WANT TO BE THE BOSS?
I DON’T LIKE THE WAY YOU DO THINGS?
I CAN DO BETTER? Don’t tell me what to do!
WE FAIL THE TEST? We look to be lords, God looks for servants...
Mark 9:35 And Jesus sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them,
IF ANY MAN DESIRE TO BE FIRST, THE SAME SHALL BE LAST OF ALL, AND A SERVANT OF ALL ...
THE REAL TEST IS NOT HOW YOU HANDLE BEING THE BOSS, BUT HOW WELL YOU ALL A SERVANT!
Don’t learn to fear storms, --- learn to prepare, learn how to keep your little ship, learn how to drop anchor, learn how to guide your ship, learn
where the Haven of Rest is.
For you must see...
SOME TIMES GOD MOVES THE MOUNTAINS ONE PEBBLE AT A TIME.
If the spring is polluted the river has no chance...
Please, don’t quit!
Never give up your dreams!
Press on, when we fall, we must learn to get up and try again. We can fail and not be a failure.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com Please enlarge my
small hands and pass this to others?
