The Connoisseur Spirit In Churches?

THE SPIRIT OF A CONNOISSEUR IN CHURCHES

Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.

Kyfingers@aol.com

TEXT:

Luke 19:17 Well done thou good servant: because thou hast been FAITHFUL in a VERY LITTLE, have authority over ten cities.

Job 23:10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

DEFINE CONNOISSEUR:

---expert, ---one that is a critical judge because they understand the details and techniques, ---one that enjoys with discrimination of subtleties

---one who appreciates fine things, ---a taster.

The thrives in the church today an ATTITUDE or SPIRIT of the CONNOISSEUR. People love to taste and judge without ever learning to prepare and be ready for the work of God.

Ponder this: FRIEND OR FOE? Connoisseur or developer?

WAS JOB’S FRIENDS HIS FRIENDS OR WERE THEY HIS ENEMY?

May be they were connoisseurs, tasters? Maybe they were critics?

Was Job’s wife his friend? or enemy?

Was Job his friend or his own enemy?

Why did Job have to suffer?

Maybe it is easier to learn how to tear down than it is to build?

Let us ponder this?

There is no answer?

After Job’s friends ask so many questions, there were no concrete answers?

After Job ask God so many questions?

God never answered one of Job’s questions?

We must live in a walk of faith.

We need an attitude that I am going to die before I will quit!

We often know more about our problems than we know about the LORD over the problems.

We shall all face several SOLEMN DAYS!

No matter how close to the Heart of God we stay, SOLEMN DAYS will come,

SOLEMN DAYS will go.

Some examples of SOLEMN DAYS are these:

1. THE SOLEMN DAY OF SICKNESS.

2. THE SOLEMN DAY OF FRIENDS DISAPPOINTING YOU.

3. THE SOLEMN DAY OF DEATH.

4. THE SOLEMN DAY OF JUDGMENT.

What will you do in your SOLEMN DAYS?

You can often tell a Christian person,

but many times you can’t tell them very much.

Seems, Christian can let circumstances and emotions rule the Spirit Man?

Seems they already know everything?

I ponder Failure and Perseverance.

I have been a student and learning is not always easy.

So you have failed?

God forgives First Degree Stupidity.

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!

David had to grow his vineyard not just taste.

Seems the ladder of HOPE has nothing to stand on from below, the ladder of HOPE is held from above.

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.

Peter grew from a taster to a real leader!

If you are not careful you can get sermons from the Pastor’s notebook to the Member’s notebook and no one is using their head.

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.