I AM NOT WHAT I WANTED TO BE?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
I do this in two parts, I do points I through V in the morning, and reveiw and patys VI through X in the night service.
I, GUARD AGAINST THE ENEMY OF APATHY AND LAZINESS!
2 Timothy 1:6 Wherefore I put thee to rememberance that thou STIR UP THE GIFT OF GOD, which is in thee, by the putting on of hands.
A. Many times it is easier to start a new fire, than it is to keep an old flame burning brightly.
It is easier to divorce and find a new love, than to keep the home fires burning.
It is very easy to hop from church to church than it is to dig in and help bring about real change.
B. Did you hear about the college professor that despised all the sport jocks that came through her class room? She wanted to make a point so one day in great
anger the teacher walked to the board and wrote A-P-A-T-H-Y.
She woke the football player up and said, now what does APATHY mean?
The big, slow student looked to the board and shrugged his shoulders and said: I DON’T CARE!
The teacher just allowed the student to go back to sleep.
C. Paul the old preacher is writing to a spiritual son named Timothy.
Paul has learned of many of the dangers of ministry, and one of the greatest dangers can be apathy, indifference, and lukewarmness. Paul warned Timothy to keep the fire stirred up. Keep your first love!
D. God promised His Children to lead, guide, guard, preserve, and protect us.
Will you stir the fire? Will you fan the flame? Or will you let the fire cool and lose it’s effectiveness? The preacher is depending on you! God is depending on you!
II. DON’T QUIT! DON’T QUIT!
A. Many years ago I was visiting a lady named Deanna in the resthome, she had a copy of this little poem, I borrowed it and made a copy. I ask you to ponder these words:
DON’T QUIT (author unknown)
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re traveling seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
REST IF YOU MUST, BUT DON’T YOU QUIT.
Life is strange with all its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometime learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver lining of the clouds of doubt,
You never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worse, THAT YOU MUST NOT QUIT!
B. We are walking in satanic overtime, our enemy knows his days are short, so he is throwing all the
garbage and vomit he can at God’s people.
C. Remember, God’s people are not perfect, they are just forgiven!
D. If the enemy is throwing up your past, remind him of his future!
III. WE HAVE A POTTER, BUT AT BEST WE ARE CLAY! WE CAN’T SEE!
A. We have a Potter, we are clay, then we have the Potter’s tools that make the clay.
1. Clay, water
2. Potter’s wheel, Potter’s oven
B. Isaiah 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds
of the earth? Shall the clay say unto him that fashioned it, WHAT MAKEST THOU? or thy work, he hath no hands?( Potsherd -- POTTERY FRAGMENT)
C. Isaiah 64: 8 But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and our potter. and we are the
work of Thy Hands.
IV. THERE WERE THREE TREES GROWING ON A MOUNTAIN TOP, THEY ALL HAD BIG PLANS!
A. Often the trees would discuss what they wanted to be when they got big.
One tree wanted to grow and become such beautiful wood that when it was cut down it would become a
Treasure Chest that would hold the King’s diamonds and pearls.
One tree said he wanted to grow huge and become a great ship that carried the King to far away ports.
The other tree said, I want to grow so tall on this hill that people can see me from miles away.
The tree that desired to be a Treasure Chest was cut down and became a manger for animals in the barn.
He knew he was a failure.
The tree that wanted to be part of a great ship to carry the King to distant ports was cut down, and the
carpenter made a little fishing boat to float in a little body of water. Now this tree knew he would never
carry a king.
The third tree that wanted to reach the sky so all would see him, was cut down and he cried, and utter failure.
But one day the little manger heard a commotion, and Mary laid the son of God in him, he held the treasure
of the ages, God’s only son was laying in this wood manger.
The little boat was floating on a shore line, and Jesus stepped into the boat and pushed out and
the King taught the people from the little boat. He did carry a King through the storm.
The last tree, failed so greatly, he lay cut into two big boards. One day a Roman soldier picked him
out of the lumber yard. Jesus carried him to the top of a hill, and the whole world saw him. Today men
still see the old rugged cross.
B. God’s plans may differ from yours, but God can accomplish his purpose in you. Trust HIM.
He is the potter, we are the clay.
V. YOU HAVE A PART IN GOD’S WORK! CAN WE SEE THE ETERNAL CLEARLY?
I Corinthians 13: 12 For NOW we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: NOW I know
in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
***Dimly lite mirror, *** something that hinders clear vision, ***Imperfectly in a poor mirror ***We are squinting in a fog, peering through the midst.
A. I had a dear friend come to the altar and sought prayer for a job!
I saw him the next Sunday, I asked him, Did you find a good job?
He said, No, I waited by my phone all week.
He had not filled out one application, he was praying. Can we see?
B. I had another friend praying for a healing.
I watched him wolf down four big candy bars at one time, and two Cokes, then wondered why his sugar
was so high? Can we see? Faith does not change realities without action and effort!
C. EXTERNAL SOURCES DEMAND CONFORMITY. Peer pressure, everybody else is doing it.
D. INTERNAL SOURCES BRING ABOUT TRANSFORMATION. God and His Word will bring about
real change and real peace.
E. Man will focus his eyes on the temporal and miss the eternal, the transformation, the renewal of the
mind because we cannot clearly see.
F. I ONCE STOPPED BY THE ROAD, A DOG HAD BEEN HIT BY A CAR.
I stopped to help the dog and take it to the Vet. I reached toward the hurt dog, and he growled at me.
I tried to show him I was his friend, and I went to pick him up and the dog bit me.
I had to leave him there to die. In his hurt, he thought I was the one hurting him, and he attacked
the helping hand. Can we see clearly?
G. One man can look at a book cover and judge the book.
Another man can read the book and get a much different perspective.
I guess both men are right in their own eyes. What can we do to see more clearly?
How can we reconcile our perspectives?
VI. CLAY CANNOT MAKE DEMANDS AND GIVE ORDERS.
A. Clay can lay dormant for a 1,000 years, then the potter comes and places the clay in a bucket.
B. The Potter has a plan.
Romans 9: 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honor, and another vessel unto dishonor?
C. The clay must surrender and intrust all into the hands of the potter. The clay does not walk
in and report to the Potter. The potter gets the clay.
VII. WE HAVE MARRED CLAY? GOD DOES NOT THROW AWAY THE CLAY!
A. THREE DIVISIONS OF THE PSYCHE:
1. EGO --- I, me, self, self esteem, focus between the person and reality.
2. ID --- Instinctual, unlearned drives
3. SUPEREGO --- parental teachings, social norms, conscience, sense of guilt.
B. We have many lazy boy recliner quarterbacks that know what the players and coaches should have done.
The players on the field have run and are very tired, and those people watching on big screen TV’s,
eating fattening food, that can’t walk around the block are telling the bruised and battered how to do it?
Jeremiah 18: 1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying,
2. Arise, and GO down to the POTTER’S HOUSE, and there I WILL CAUSE THEE TO HEAR
MY WORDS.
3. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter, so he made
it again unto another vessel, as it SEEMED GOOD to the potter to make it.
5. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying:
6. O house of Israel, (CHURCH) cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord.
Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine hand, O house of Israel.
C. We are crying for a sudden step of faith where lightning falls out of the sky,
but God’s norm is a gradual process.
VIII. GROWTH MUST BE A GOAL, NOTHING IS SUSTAINING WITHOUT A GOAL!
A. Do we have perpetual babyhood in the church? In the family?
II Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in knowledge, and in knowledge in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Mark 4:28 For the earth bringeth forth the fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn
in the ear.
B. Can you tell me one popular sport without a goal? Basketball’s goal? Baseball’s goal? Soccer’s goal?
Golf’s goal? What is the goal of the church? The individual?
C. Is growth a goal within itself? If it is then we could have 250 pound babies?
D. GROWTH MUST PRODUCE MATURITY AND FRUIT! There is a logical order to healthy growth.
There first comes forth a blade, maturity, and then fruit.
E. There are four degrees of fruit: 1. No fruit 2. Fruit 3. More fruit 4. Much fruit.
Have you recently checked your fruit?
IX GOOD HEALTHY GROWTH FOLLOWS A LOGICAL ORDER.
A. BABY LEVEL drinks milk, cries a lot, demand it’s way, jealous.
B. TODDLER LEVEL --- learns to walk, learns to talk, still demanding and has to be often corrected,
gets mad easy, pouts; does not control their actions, reactions and emotions.
C. CHILD LEVEL --- still self seeking, discipline by others, does not think out their actions,
often will lie, needs a teacher or a parent to guide.
D. TEENAGER LEVEL --- growing in strength and coordination, in-depth learning, learns to play
on a team.
E. ADULT LEVEL --- starts dating, gets a job, learns work skills, finishes education.
F. FATHER LEVEL --- begets life, not everyone that fathers a child is a real Dad.
Teaches, nurtures, prepares.
G. GRANDFATHER LEVEL --- enjoys and mellows, builds nest egg, prepares an inheritance,
and loves and issues much mercy. He learns more than growing in grace, but growing into grace!
X. IN THE ANCIENT CASTLES IN EUROPE AND ENGLAND THERE IS A ROOM CALLED THE KEEP!
A. The older large homes in Europe and England often had a hidden room deep within the building.
Sometimes the KEEP was a hidden room in a basement, other times the KEEP was a room hidden
deep inside the home. During storms or dangerous battles the little children and the women
would go into the KEEP and hide until the danger passed. A person might visit the home and
never know there was a KEEP there.
B. Well, God has a place of refuge and safety for you! COME LET THE POTTER BE FREE to do as needed
and COME INTO THIS HAVEN OF REST! The Master of the home felt it his duty to keep safe those
in his care.
C. You are the clay, at times we are the marred clay, lets rest in GOD’S KEEP!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
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