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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
DEAD STICKS MAKE A GOOD FIRE
One of the most common things that people do for entertainment and relaxation is to go to a weekend or vacation retreat at a campground. Some, like myself, do not enjoy roughing it very much. My idea of roughing it is to go camping either in a nice self contained RV or to find the nicest hotel room or cabin that I can afford and just camp out in the bed with the TV on. There was a time when I would take my young children and go tent camping but I’m too much into convenience and comfort to do that. The last time I set up my cabin style tents, I picked up a handful of rocks and threw them at the tents, then took the tents down and quickly “donated” them to anyone who would have them.
Even though I don’t camp much, when I do have the opportunity to do so there is one part of the camping experience that I really do enjoy. That is sitting around the campfire, eating, drinking, talking to friends and family and just watching the fire burn. There is just something about watching a campfire burn that is totally mesmerizing and relaxing to most people.
In order to have a campfire, you have to either bring or find some seasoned wood for fuel. Has anyone ever tried to start a fire or burn green wood? I purchased some firewood a few months ago that wasn’t completely seasoned. That was some of the hardest wood to burn that I’ve ever seen. You could use a quart of lighter fluid on it and it would still just lie there and simmer. I finally had to find some dead sticks to mix in with the green wood; then I was able to get the fire to burn.
This morning I want to bring a message from God’s Word concerning the fuel that feeds the flames of God’s wrath and judgment. There are a vast number of people who refuse to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and will be part of that fuel that feeds the fires of hell. There are also a large percentage of those who claim to be Christian already that will be right there, right along side of those who never accept Jesus in those flames for eternity.
When I think of the judgment to come there is more sad than to think of all the unsaved who will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire with the Devil and his angels. But there is one segment of those who will be there whose condition will be far worse. That Lake of Fire will be a place of absolute and limitless torment of those who once knew the salvation that Jesus can give; who once knew the anointing of the Holy Spirit in their lives; who have heard the message of the gospel so many times; and who have once tasted of the goodness of the Lord.
Hebrews 6:4-6 will be realized in all of its implied horror when it says, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."
For those who have once known Jesus and who have walked away from him to live their lives according to the dictates of their own heart, this passage will come to their mind over and over again and they will be in utter despair for they will know that there is no turning back now. The last chance to surrender to Christ is lost past and all is lost.
These, who were once a part of the Kingdom of God and who were grafted into the Branch, Jesus Christ, and felt the life of the Spirit within, are now nothing more than fuel for the flames. What a pitiful soul that will be forever! I hope that none who listen to my voice this morning will ever be in that place!
Jesus told us that our source was in him and nowhere else. In John 15:4-5 he said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
The life of any plant comes from its roots and through the stem. Jesus says here that he is that root and stem.
That much quoted passage from Isaiah 53 that describes the coming Christ says this in verse 2, "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him."
Isaiah 11:10 speaks of the coming of Jesus in this manner: "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious."
Romans 15:12 contains another description of Jesus and says it this way, “… There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust."
In Revelation 5:5 the disciple John cried and wept as the call went forth for one who was able and righteous enough to open the book that was held in the hand of God that would announce the final end of the reign of Satan and sin, but no one could be found who was worthy until John writes these words, "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."
There is no doubt that Jesus Christ is the root that brings life to those who accept him and live for him. There is no doubt that he is also the stem that feeds the branches that go out from him. From his own lips he spoke these words, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.”
Therefore, it is only by staying connected to Jesus that we live and produce fruit. It is only in him that we are assured of eternal life. There is no other way - not through any other prophet, any other god, any other written book or any other man. Only through the living vine can life flow to give us life also.
The danger is that so many have made and there will yet be many who will make the decision to disconnect from the vine.
Life has a way of throwing a curve ball at you. Suddenly, it is as though all of your best made plans for being successful and living the good life, are derailed. Out of the clear blue comes a trouble that you didn’t need and when it begins to come, it like the old saying, “When it rains, it pours”.
It is those moments that we begin to disconnect if we are not careful to stay close to Jesus. We have a choice to make. Shall we hunker down, wait out the passing storm and hold on to the unchanging hand of the Master, or shall we throw caution to the wind, and be blown about with the storm?
There isn’t one of us here who doesn’t know someone who once loved Jesus and were faithful to the call of God but through time and circumstance have made the decision to leave their first love. They rarely, if ever, enter the doors of the sanctuary of God’s House anymore. They have little regard for hearing or reading the Word of God. Prayer is only something they do in moments of extreme trouble and even if through the mercy of God, their prayer is answered, they don’t even give God credit or thank him for it.
Perhaps it is the pressure of financial needs that they feel compels them to leave the presence of the Lord and go out into the world to earn enough money to meet their needs. I would venture to say that very few of those who do so will even think enough of Jesus who gives them the ability to work that they will be willing to give God the portion of their earnings that belong to him.
Perhaps it is physical problems that drive some people from the presence of the Lord. I know that there are those who are ill and who sincerely desire to be in the House of God. I’m not talking about those people. I’m talking about those who use their illness as an excuse not to come. Those are the same people who will say they are too sick to be in church on Sunday but they wouldn’t dare miss work on Monday and they will be out at the Malls, at Wal-Mart, or at the restaurants on Saturday night, or maybe even out having a party until the wee hours of the morning.
There are also those who will actually blame God for their sickness and refuse to come to God’s House because they are mad at him. Oh how easily Satan is able to deceive us when we are so willing to leave the presence of the Lord. We reject the Great Physician and his loving care and miracle working power to chase after the doctors who can only treat the symptoms but not bring the cure. I wonder how many of those same people will get mad at the doctor when their sickness doesn’t leave quickly or blame the doctor because they became sick in the first place?
That too, is nothing more than an excuse to become disconnected from the life giving root and branch of Jesus.
For the majority of those who leave the Branch the thing that causes them to leave the Branch is simply disobedience and unfaithfulness.
It all begins so innocently. Maybe there is a movie that we just can’t miss on the TV. Maybe it’s just “one little party” that we just have to attend. Maybe it’s that one great chance that we have been waiting for to make a lot of extra money on overtime. Maybe it’s that we are just tired from cleaning up the lawn or we just need a rest from tending to the kids. What would it hurt for me to just take one day off? I’ll be back next week.
How many times have people fallen away from God because they started with just one time of being unfaithful to doing what they know is right? The answer is “EVERY TIME”! Falling away from God, turning your back on Jesus, going back into a world of sin, consistently finding excuses or reasons not to be faithful all begin with a single time of being unfaithful.
Miss church once and it becomes easier to miss it the time. Decide not to take part in helping out at the church one time and soon you won’t want to be a part of anything that is happening. Give yourself an excuse for missing one special service and soon you won’t even be in the regular services.
Little by little we disconnect ourselves from Jesus. Little by little we backslide into the dangerous place of being dead to Christ once again. Little by little we lose our soul as Satan lulls us to sleep with procrastination until we just don’t care for the things of God any longer. Little by little, the life giving flow of the Holy Spirit leaves us until there is no life left in us.
John 15:6 carries the warning for those who allow things to separate them from God’s blessings, "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
I don’t know about you but I don’t have much of a green thumb. Even plastic and silk flowers die at my house. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have the time to tend to them every day. My plants must be very hardy, not needing fertilizer, water or trimming more than once or twice a year at the most. I’ve often thought of making my lawn look like those I have seen in Arizona and New Mexico. Just take all the green plants and grass out and throw in a lot of sand, rocks and cactus, with a few old bleached out cow skulls, and a tumbleweed or two and let nature take it’s course.
The problem is that I still live in a sub-tropical climate where weeds and undesirable plants grow with ease. I may not be able to get a flower garden to prosper but I can sure raise a wonderful crop of flowering thistles and beautiful dandelions. I have even thought of just creating a yard with flowerbeds that are filled with these wild plants. Maybe if I did so, the flowers would actually grow and try to choke out the weeds for a change. My lawn should look like a virtual Garden of Eden with all the flowers and plants that I have put in over the years, instead, it is just a plain yard with only a few flowers still clinging to life with all that is in them.
So what happens to the flowers that die? What do I do with the dead limbs from the pine and oak trees? What can I do with the roses that turn into dead sticks? What can I do with the hundreds of dollars worth of dead shrubs, flowers and decorative trees that don’t make it?
I’ll tell what happens to them. I pick them all up, throw them in a huge pile, light a match to them and watch them burn as I picture all of the dollar bills floating up into the open sky in the smoke with tears in my eyes, and the tears aren’t caused by the smoke!
Sad to say I see a lot of the work and effort in the Kingdom of God that is supposed to cause people to want to serve the Lord accomplishing the same thing. We can give them fresh cool water and feed them from God’s Word every time we come together and they still wither and die because they won’t stay connected to the Lord.
Matthew 3:10, "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."
Every one of us is a branch that should be connected to the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can receive life and spiritual health from him but it’s up to us whether we will remain a part of God’s Kingdom or not.
We have the free will, ordained by God, to choose whether we will be faithful to his service or not. We must serve God because we want to and we must know that it requires a greater effort to be faithful to Christ than to fall away into sin.
Any dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a fish with life and a desire to go against the natural flow to fight that current and swim upstream.
The natural tendency of all this in this world is to go downstream. Since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, sin has held all of creation in its death grip. Every new home instantly begins to deteriorate. Every new car begins immediately to wear out. Every newborn baby instantly begins its march to the grave. Everything in this life is headed for its destiny with destruction and death.
Just to allow our selves to go with the flow will lead to destruction. We must make a decision to serve the Lord and then constantly and persistently make ourselves be faithful to his calling.
In closing let me ask you this morning – Are you still connected securely to the living Branch, Jesus Christ? Are you living faithful to him and feeding upon his Word?
Or – Are you falling off, becoming more disconnected each day? Is being in the House of God less appealing to you than it was a few days, a few weeks or a few months ago? Have you allowed your prayer life to stop? Have you stopped reading the Bible? Is your love for Jesus growing colder each day? Is the fire and anointing of the Holy Spirit as real in your life as it has been before?
It’s time that we wake up and take note of where we stand with the Lord. We must be careful not to get to the place where Jesus just reaches down and chops us off because we are nothing more than a dead stick hanging on to the living Branch.
I often have to trim my dying bushes to get rid of the unsightly, dead, dry sticks in an effort to save the rest of the bush. God does the same for his church. He cuts away those dead branches that keep his people from growing and producing. Dead branches only restrict the life giving flow from those that are still green and God can’t allow them to stay on the vine.
Once we are cut away, we complete the process of withering and dying until we are good for nothing except as fuel to the fire.
It’s time to get reconnected right now before we are cast into the fire. Some of you have already faced the heat of this life that sin and unfaithfulness brings. You have already been faced with troubles, trials and things that attempted to destroy you. Those are only warning signs of the eternal fire that lies just ahead.
Don’t be fuel for the fire. Don’t be a dead stick that is only good to build the fire hotter and larger. Hell grows larger each day because of the number of “dead sticks” that are thrown into it when they leave this life.
Let’s not be one of those. Get connected to Jesus Christ and stay in the vine where you can produce fruit. Only green branches that are living by the power of the Spirit will enter Heaven. Give your life to Jesus and he will give you life eternal in return.
