4 GOOD WORDS:
HOME, FRIEND, RELIGION, LOVE.
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I. WHAT IS A WORD?
A. A WORD IS SOMETHING THAT IS SAID, WRITTEN, OR PRINTED.
B. A word is a remark or conversation or communication.
C. A sound that communicates meaning.
D. Words can be spoken or written or printed.
E. God’s word is the expressed or manifested mind and will of God.
F. A WORD CAN SPEAK MORE THAN THE POWER OF A WORD!
A WORD CAN TELL.
Shibboleth
Sibboleth
Judges 12:4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites,
and among the Manassites.
5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the
Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
G. Shibboleth
Sibboleth --- WHAT CAN A WORD REVEAL?
II. The first word is HOME!
The older I get two words become more and more powerful.
Genesis 43:26 Joseph took his brothers home with him.
Ruth and Naomi returned home and there God put Boaz in the life as kinsman redeemer.
Remember when David wanted water from the well at home?
Ecclesiastes 12:5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree (awake tree) shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall
fail: because man goeth to HIS LONG HOME, and mourners go about the streets;
A. I was visiting a man that had been 90 days on a breathing machine.
Then in CCU many more days.
After he improved enough he was allowed to go to a rehab hospital.
B. I was visiting him one day and I thought he was asleep.
I coughed lightly and he opened his eyes.
I said I thought you were asleep?
C. He said, NO, I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT HOME.
I WAS DREAMING ABOUT GOING HOME.
He went on to explain to me, the couch is over here, the fireplace is over there,
the TV is over there, and the kitchen in there.
D. The old man was dreaming about getting to go home.
In several months he went home, and he was so excited.
E. One visit to his home, he told me he had been thinking about home.
I quietly remembered his thinking about home, and he said,
I AM THINKING ABOUT GOING HOME, MY LONG HOME.
F. One Sunday morning he was going out the door at church, and he said,
Will you say something nice over me?
I said, What?
He said, When I go home will you say something nice over me?
G. I said, You have many years left.
He smiled and winked at me and went on out the door.
H. A few days later his wife called me and said, he was sitting in his recliner
this morning, I thought he was sleeping, and sometime during the morning
he went home.
I. I preached his funeral. The day of his funeral he received his 30 year AA
pin for 30 years of sobriety.
J. When you are young you can’t wait to get away from home.
When you are old you dream of home.
III. ANOTHER DEAR WORD TO ME IS FRIEND.
A. I LOVE THE WORDS OLD FRIEND.
B. Many times in life we cry and long to have a friend we can talk to and trust
to keep what was said private.
C. Pick your friends, but not to pieces.
Proverbs 17:17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and
there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Proverbs 27:5, 6,9 10 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are
deceitful.
9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s
friend by hearty counsel.
10 Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go
into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour
that is near than a brother far off.
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance
of his friend.
D. I am thankful for each and every new friend, but I love old friends.
E. I am thankful for my Mom and Dad’s friends.
Family friends and friends that have endured the test of time are very precious.
F. A faithful friend is a strong defense.
G. A faithful friend is the medicine of life.
H. What is a friend?
A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
A real friend is never known, until a need comes forth.
I. It takes your enemy and your friend working together to hurt you to the
heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.
Mark Twain
J. We search for unconditional love?
But are we willing to give unconditionally?
K. WHAT IS A REAL FRIEND? (Thanks Jerry Parritt)
1. A friend may have seen you cry.
A real friend has offered you a shoulder and cried with you.
2. A friend does not know your parents names.
A real friend has your parent’s names and phone number.
3. A friend may bring a salad to your party.
A real friend comes early to help you cook, and then stays when all leaves
to help you clean.
4. A friend does not like it when you call real late.
A real friend says Why didn’t you call sooner?
5. A friend acts likes a guest at your house.
A real friend is at home with you.
6. A friend will talk about problems.
A real friend will help you solve your problems.
7. A friend will end the friendship after a disagreement.
A real friend will call you after a fight and see if you are OK?
8. A friend expects you to be there.
A real friend expects to be there for you.
9. A friend talks of unconditional love.
A real friend will give you unconditional love and realize that when
you need love you might not deserve it.
10. There is a Nigerian Proverb that says:
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing
it back to you when you have forgotten your words.
11. Me and you is friends;
You smile, and I smile,
You hurt and I hurt,
You jump off a bridge .....
IV. ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL WORD TO ME IS RELIGION.
Religion has been a good crutch to me in my life.
A. DO I PRACTICE PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION?
RELIGION GETS A BAD RAP, AND THIS IS NOT RIGHT.
B. I know people that knock religion.
I know several people that will not allow the song:
"Give me that old time religion" in their church, they change the song to:
Give me that old time salvation.
C. Just as there has to be a real $100 bill to counterfeit, there is a good,
pure religion and many have counterfeited it.
D. You cannot counterfeit a $106 bill, because there is no real $106 bill.
The Bible is our standard, and the Bible identifies a good religion.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and
the Father is this: TO VISIT THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR
AFFLICTION, AND TO KEEP HIMSELF UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD.
E. I dare say many churches never reach to the fatherless and to widows,
and this behavior is not a pure religion.
F. I am not here to defend poor, bad, or counterfeit religion.
But I am here to ask the Father to help us have the pure religion
of which James speaks.
G. Often times ministry and poor religion becomes entertainment and
fleshly in nature.
F. God’s priority system is #1 Spirit, #2 Soul and #3 body.
G. I search and evaluate my heart and my religion on a regular basis,
do I have pure religion? Or is my religion a form?
H. Religion can become cliques of people that give to those that can give
back.
I. I have served the Lord with great zeal and missed ministry to these
in affliction. We tend to think affliction is punishment and self inflicted?
K. I don’t know that ministry to the poor, afflicted widows and fatherless grows
great churches and gains trophies and recognition but it touches the heart of
the Father.
L. I often ask for one time a month to go to the rest home, --- an imprisonment
for widows and fatherless people, for the jails, or for the orphanage or children’s
home.
M. I can raise $100 easier than I can get people to touch widows and fatherless
people. I seem to aggravate people by asking to receive this need?
N. It is comfortable to sit in pretty offices and talk via the computer,
cell phone or phone than it is to reach out of our cozy nest.
O. In my opinion, and I know I make several people angry, but any religious
job should invest time, talent and energy to touch the widows and fatherless
even if there is never any seeable return on the investment.
P. When have you ever seen a church recognized for ministry to widows and
fatherless?
Q. We have professional worship teams, and this is very good and needful,
but does the worship team ever minister to the widows and fatherless?
Do I as pastor focus any attention to the fatherless and widows.
There are people in jails, rest homes, and shut-ins that have not been touched
recently for the cross.
R. We talk about tithing money and faithfulness, but we slide beyond the realm of
personal religion and collective religion that is pure. Not pure in man’s eye,
but pure in God’s eye.
S. Yes, we need women’s ministry, men’s ministry, youth ministry, and active missions’
programs, but let us not omit the weightier, I don’t knock religion and denominations
and groups we need them.
T. I just call for every believer to set at least 1 day out of 10 to pure and
undefiled religion. As a whole widows and the fatherless will not come to us, we must
go to them.
Believers please consider developing a regular ministry to the
fatherless and the widows. There are people awaiting your touch.
Will we hear the call?
V. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORK KNOW TO MAN IS LOVE.
1 Cor. 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there
be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1 Thes. 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you:
for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another;
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
His servant, Kyfingers@aol.com
Will you pass this on to others?
