SPIRITUAL ZOMBIES? COMPASSION FATIQUE?
TALKERS BUT NEVER DOERS.
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
James 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled;
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
I. GOD HAS A BEAUTIFUL PLAN OF DELIVERANCE.
KNOW GOD’S DELIVERANCE’S PLAN LEAVES NO ONE EMPTY.
A. As we step into deliverance, God wants you to be full of joy.
Exodus 3:21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:
John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
B. THE AIM AND SATANIC GOAL IS TO HAVE EMPTY ZOMBIES.
C. What is a zombie?
A zombie is a will-less, speechless, do nothing individual.
Some call Zombie’s the walking dead.
D.God’s plan is not passive, it is active.
Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
II. I WANT TO MAKE A BIG, GOOD DIFFERENCE FOR THE CROSS OF MY SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
Jude 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
A. At Vacation Bible School I was making snow cones for any one that wanted one. This one beautiful, tiny girl came up to me and said, JESUS, I WANT A CHERRY
CONE.
B. I asked her to repeat herself, and she did, she said, JESUS, I WOULD LIKE A CHERRY CONE, PLEASE?
Tears came to my eyes, this little girl called me JESUS!
C. Is our daily talk and walk a portrait or a reflection of Jesus?
III. WHAT IS COMPASSION? HOW DO WE GROW COMPASSION?
A. I know what sympathy is!
Sympathy is a box of Kleenex and a bowl of chicken soup.
B. Lord knows we need sympathy in the church.
C. We need a great work in the church --- it is COMPASSION.
D. WHAT IS COMPASSION?
Deep sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.
To bear
To suffer
Merciful nature
Sorrow or pity aroused by suffering or misfortune of another.
E. COMPASSION CAN NOT BE TAUGHT IN A CLASSROOM.
SYMPATHY CAN BE, BUT COMPASSION CAN ONLY COME BY SUFFERING!
F. Moses learned so much at his Mother’s knee.
Moses learned much in the classrooms of the Pharaoh’s palace. He received the best education of his day from master teachers.
G. BUT GOD KNEW MOSES COULD NOT BE A SPIRITUAL LEADER WITH OUT KNOWING THE BACK SIDE OF THE DESERT.
H. 40 long years? How many died in slavery in those 40 years? Couldn’t God have speeded up the process?
I. GOD KNOWS THERE IS THE ISSUE OF DIVINE TIMING...
WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME WAS COME...
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
IV. WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL ZOMBIE?
ARE WE GROWING COMPASSION FATIQUE?
WE ARE TIRED AND WEARY? FATIQUE?
A. FATIQUE:
Weariness, exhaustion from labor, stress, exertion.
The tendency to break under repeated usage.
The state of being bereft of energy.
Lose of zeal and enthusiasm.
B. TIRED:
Drained of strength and energy.
Run down, obviously worn from hard use.
To wear out the patience of.
Unable to continue. To loose the ability to endure
C. WEARY:
Exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, freshness, or joy.
To have one’s tolerance and patience exhausted.
To loose zeal and provoke boredom, not excited.
Mentally or physically exhausted.
Run down, burned out.
Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
E. WE MUST LEARN TO FEED ON WHAT DRAINS OTHER PEOPLE.
F. A GOOD CHRISTIAN IS MUCH LIKE A CANDLE, THE CANDLE CONSUMES ITSELF FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE LIGHT.
G. JESUS IS OUR COMPASSION EXAMPLE.
Hebrews 5:2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
F. Why judge another --- maybe we to have fought this same battle?
I. Do you want to pull the switch on the electric chair for others, and then beg for mercy for yourself?
V. PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE.
PATIENCE OFTEN CARRIES A LOT OF WAIT! WE DON’T WANT TO WAIT? THERE ARE MANY ISSUES OF IMPATIENCE HINDERING COMPASSIONATE REACTIONS. IMPATIENCE CAN BE VERY COSTLY.
A. I knew a Christian man that was driving in the country. The car behind him had it’s bright lights on for miles. He stepped on his brakes to signal his bright lights were hurting his eyes, and for the man to dim them.
The man never dimmed his head lights, so at the stop sign, the gentleman in the front car picked up a hammer he had in the back seat and walked back and
shattered the man’s two bright lights and walked back to his car and drove off.
B.Years ago I was in Kroger’s, I saw a woman reach over the counter and grab the clerk by her blouse and jerk her around, then tell her off.
I was very ashamed, the lady that was so mean to the clerk was one of my church members?
C. In Florida a man purchased a brand new Lincoln Continental and was so displeased with the car and the service he drove his Continental to the dealership and
drove his car through the front window. He was prosecuted and placed in jail for his angry display.
D. There was a family that bought a new house in a better neighborhood. They moved and put the old house up for sell. After months of not selling the old house and paying two house payments a month, the family was under great pressure.
The woman bought her some gas and set it in the middle of the old house.
She poured gas all around and ignited the gas, when the neighbor saw the flames, the fire department had arrived and found the lady burned to death in the middle of the front room.
VI. SOME BIBLE CHARACTERS WERE IMPATIENT ZOMBIES?
A. SAMUEL WAS A GREAT PREACHER.
B. Samuel anointed SAUL as the first king of their nation.
C. SAUL DID NOT WANT TO WAIT FOR THE PREACHER, HE TOOK WORSHIP IN HIS OWN HANDS.
1 Samuel 13:13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now
would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.
14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people,
because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.
D. Saul’s impatience was very costly.
VII. SOME OF OUR WORSE ATTITUDES ARE NOT PLANNED, THEY JUST EVOLVE.
A. If you know my works, I often say:
EVEN A DEAD FISH CAN SWIM DOWN STREAM!
B. God has a call He sends forth, Grow and develop! Stretch and stretch some more.
C. A preacher once told me, "I AM NOT BURNED OUT, I AM BURNED UP!"
This preacher had lost his vision by looking at people’s behavior and their lack of faithfulness.
He said: People want a free ride!
This was a good man of God, he just lost his focus of the cross, and started focusing and listening to the negative words of negative people.
D. I have often said, I am looking for a home on the range. Because it is said, Home, home on the range where the dear and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.
Now I love to watch deer, and uncloudy days are bright, but I seek that land
WHERE SELDOM IS HEARD A DISCOURAGING WORD.
E. IF WE MOVED TO THE RANGE WOULD WE MESS IT UP?
VIII. AT RISK?
THE BATTLE OF THE ATTITUDES!
THE DOMINO EFFECT
Mark 3:24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Genesis 4:9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
A. One day the Mouse in the house heard the door slam. The Mouse knew it was market day. So the little Mouse peered through the crack in the wall hoping to see a package of new cheese or maybe some peanut butter he could feast upon when the farmer or his wife was not looking.
B. The Mouse got his eye full, all he saw was one big mouse trap. The Mouse was very worried and slept very little that night, all he could think about was how dangerous that trap would be to him and his little family.
C. At the crack of dawn the Mouse heard the Rooster crowing and he ran out and warned the Rooster our owners have purchased a brand new mouse trap. The Rooster gathered his hens around him and they discussed the new mouse trap. After much discussion the Rooster reported to the Mouse: "We are very sorry they bought a new mouse trap, but that is in the
house and we live out here in the chicken lot, that is of no concern to us. But be very careful."
D. The Mouse heard the pigs stirring in the pig pen. So the Mouse worked his way over near the slop bucket. The pigs came near and the Mouse told his terrible observation that there was a big new shiny mouse trap in the kitchen, and he had great fear.
All the pigs listened intently as the Mouse poured out his heart. The pigs replied to the Mouse’s crisis and said, "This is terrible, we really hate this for you and your families.
Teach your children well to identify the mouse trap and avoid it. This danger is totally your responsibility, not ours. Us pigs are too smart to let a mouse trap bother us.
But I promise you Mouse that before we lay down to take our nap today, we will all pray for you and yours"
E. About that time the cows were walking out of the milking pillar and going into the green pasture to spend the day in the sun. The Mouse ran ahead of the cows, he was crying in alarm. He yelled and got the cows attention, so the bull and herd gathered
around to listen to why the Mouse was so upset?
The Mouse explained, The chickens and the pigs will not listen, we have a horrible situation facing us. They don’t care! This has a great potential to bring death to the farm!
Bull says: What is the matter little bitty buddy? What is wrong that has your tail all
curled up?
Mouse jumps up and down and says, "Farmer’s wife came in from the store and I saw a big new mouse trap, we are in grave danger. Do you care?"
Sister Cow stepped up and replied, "That ain’t nothing to us, Mouse, you live in an air conditioned house in the summer, you live in heat in the winter, when it rains you are dry, and you never think about us when it is snowing? Now you come out here and bellyache to us. You are spoiled and unappreciative of what you have. We don’t care about that dumb old mouse trap in that fancy house, there is no danger for us!"
F. So Mouse was heart broken, seemingly no one understood the danger that this mouse trap was to the farm as they knew it. The Mouse felt like no one cared about this danger they were facing. Mouse returned to the house, and taught the other mice a lesson on the dangers of the mouse trap and what it looked like. Mouse told them, this battle was apparently theirs alone to face, no other farm animal care about the DANGER OF THE MOUSE TRAP.
G. Late one night Mouse heard that terrible snapping noise and he ran and spied out the crack in the wall. Sister Farmer came running down the hallway and
quietly opened the cabinet doors. Mouse was expecting one of his family to be head first in the trap.
H. To Mouse’s surprise the was Mr. Rattle Snake that had crawled up by the warm water pipes and his tail was caught in the mouse trap. Even Mouse was happy that his family’s enemy was caught!
I. Mrs. Farmer put her hand in the dark cabinet and Mr. Rattle Snake bit her on the hand. She screamed to the top of her voice. Farmer came in and turned on all
the lights, the noise woke up the other animals around the barn.
J. The pig yelled out to the Bull, we warned Mouse, we prayed for him, and now he is in big trouble. They had never dreamed that Rattler would have snuck into the house.
H. Farmer saw what had happened as his dear wife lay in the floor, she was swelling and in great pain. She was very warm, her temperature went up and up.
Farmer sent his son out to the barn and killed a chicken, and they made chicken soup, because everyone knows chicken soup is good for a high fever.
J. The farmer called for the doctor to come as soon as possible. Mrs. Farmer was bitten by Rattle Snake and she was not doing to well.
H. Mouse watched through the crack and he could tell that Farmer was very worried for
his wife’s condition. They called and several family members came over to help Farmer and his wife. The friends and family set a vigil up and around the clock they waited and waited as Farmer’s wife grew worse.
I. Farmer went out to the pig pen and caught a squalling pig and slaughtered her.
The pig’s last words was, "I thought that mouse trap was of no danger to us out here?"
All the baby pigs were crying, Mom’s gone!
J. For many days Farmer’s wife was very sick, and finally the doctor said, there is nothing more we can do. Within hours Farmer’s wife quietly slipped into eternity.
K. Friends and family from many miles away came to attend the Farmer’s wife’s funeral, there were so many people that farmer and several friends went out to the barn and picked a prime cow and butchered her to have plenty of meat for those there
for the funeral.
L. Mouse watched and realized how connected life is --- That we are all in this together.
We might think this has no threat to me and mine?
But when one is at risk, we are all at risk!
If a friend or family member is facing a crisis it can be a threat to the whole.
IX. DID YOU KNOW DEAD THINGS CAN BITE?
1 John 3:17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
A. I lived in Middlesboro, Kentucky when I was in college. We had some dear neighbors named Venable.
He loved turtle soup, he often told me a turtle had seven kinds of meat in it, where a chicken has two, white and dark meat.
People would see big turtles in the road and stop and pick them up and bring them to him. We lived in an apartment complex. Outside, behind Mr. Venable apartment he cut a turtle’s head off and prepared the turtle for soup. The shell and the turtle head was laying behind our apartment complex, several children were playing and they saw the turtle’s head and started playing with the head with a little limb from a tree. one boy picked up the turtle’s head and was playing with it and the head though cut off took a bite out of the young boy. The injury was not bad, but the little boy ran bleeding to me.
B. Today I received an email from a friend, Bruce Ball that pastors a church in Missouri:
Max Lucado has it right! A rattle snake has much in common with the devil.
Even after a rattlesnake’s head is cut off, it can still kill you. The mouth remains open, ready to strike, and the poison is still in its glands behind the teeth. The snake’s mouth is like a mousetrap - - any vibration and it slams shut.
There are instances of people who have tried to pick up the head of a decapitated rattler, and the mouth springs shut, only to inject them with the poison.
The devil has indeed been decapitated, but like the rattler, can still cause us death by our own ignorance of the power that remains.
God bless you today, Bruce Ball.
C. HOW MANY ALCOHOLICS SAY THEY ARE OK, I AM NOT AN ALCOHOLIC, POUR ME ANOTHER DRINK?
X. GOD GROW AND DEVELOP OUR HEARTS TO BURN WITH GREAT COMPASSION!
THE LACK OF COMPASSION WILL COST THE CHURCH DEARLY.
Luke 10:33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him
on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
A. GOD HELP US ENCOURAGE, EDIFY, AND INSPIRE AND REACH THE UNLOVABLE.
B. THE PERSON THAT DESERVES YOUR LOVE THE LEAST PROBABLY NEEDS IT THE MOST.
Jude 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
C. Even if you are used and abused you must love again!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
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