Throwing Rocks Down By The River Side.

THROWING ROCKS DOWN BY THE RIVER SIDE?

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

I. INTRODUCTION:

A. Years ago I was dreaming. In my dream I saw four letters. The four letters were about 10 feet high. R-A-Z-E.

I woke up and thought about RAZE? What could this mean?

I got up and grabbed the Dictionary and looked up RAZE.

IT MEANT TO UTTERLY DESTROY, TEAR DOWN, LEVEL OR DEMOLISH...

AS TO BULLDOZE ...

B. We have an ENEMY?

Our enemy operates under a three fold directive:

1. Steal --- TO TAKE WITHOUT RIGHT OR PERMISSION

2. Kill --- to cause death, to put to an end (feelings) defeat, render ineffective.

3. Destroy --- to demolish, to pull down, spoil, make useless, raze.

C. This three fold directive is not just against the individual, it is against the family, the church and our society.

D. We can enhance our ENEMY’S POWER BY FALLING INTO THE TRAP OF

NEGATIVISM AND JUDGMENTALISM.

E. THERE IS A TERRIBLE TRAP THAT HURTS THE INDIVIDUAL, THE FAMILY,

THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY --- THIS TRAP IS A NEGATIVE SPIRIT.

F. PESSIMISM / PESSIMISTIC:

Misery.

Tendency to expect the worse, to be gloomy.

The belief that all things tend to be evil, bad, hard.

Defeatism,discourage, gloom.

G. NEGATIVE:

To be cool, apathetic.

Denial, refusal.

ATTITUDE LACKING POSITIVE INSIGHT.

Opposition, opposing.

Less than zero.

II. CONFLICT IS PART OF REAL LIFE. CONFLICT IS NEITHER GOOD OR BAD, IT IS NEUTRAL. IT IS WHAT WE DO WITH CONFLICT THAT WILL MAKE US BETTER OR

BITTER. IT IS OUR CHOICE AT HOW WE LOOK AT PROBLEMS.

A. What kind of message are we sending to others?

Do we PROJECT the image that we are TRUSTING THE UNSEEN HANDS OF

GOD?

B. Does fear, doubt, pouting, grumbling, complaining send the message that GOD IS GOD?

1 Cor. 14:8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

C. Perhaps today we send MANY MIXED MESSAGES FROM THE PULPIT.

NOTHING CREATES MORE DEEP SEATED ANXIETIES THAN THE ASSUMPTION

THAT LIFE SHOULD BE FREE FROM ANXIETIES.

D. When I taught school I had a brilliant student, named EDDIE.

He had a good mind and was very good at problem solving.

When he would do his school work the problems started easy and progressively got harder to solve. Eddie would do a few problems and then he would start crying. At first Eddie would cry silently, then he would get louder and louder.

He would work answering the questions but by the time he finished his

assignment he would be so worked up and crying, he would be totally upset.

I would grade his paper and Eddie rarely made a mistake.

Eddie had little to no confidence in himself.

I would try to encourage him, EDDIE --- YOU CAN DO IT.

E. I WILL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW MY FRIEND, YOU CAN DO IT!

QUIT CRYING, GET YOUR HEAD UP! TRY! TRY AGAIN!

III. SOME SEEM TO LOVE TO THROW STONES --- DOWN BY THE RIVER SIDE!

A. MEET A SMART MAN WITH A LOT OF FRIENDS.

Shimei was a famous man of the BENJAMITE tribe.

B. Shimei was kin to King Saul.

C. SHIMEI WAS ANGRY AND BITTER ...

1. Shimei was of THE HOUSE OF SAUL, and Shimei thought he had a

greater claim to the throne than David did.

2. Shimei had a DYSFUNCTIONAL HOME.

3. Saul had heard the song: Saul has slain his thousands, and David

his TEN THOUSANDS. The JEALOUSY of Saul RAN IT’S COURSE IN SAUL’S

FAMILY.

IV. SHIMEI WAS VERY NEGATIVE AND HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE ...

SHIMEI KNEW THE PAST. DAVID --- AIN’T WHAT HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE...

I CAN JUDGE --- I KNOW THE TREE BY THE FRUIT IT BEARS???

A. SHIMEI KNEW THE FACTS ON THAT ROTTEN MAN --- DAVID...

1. Shimei knew of David’s shepherd job. Shepherds were not high on the

TOTEM POLE of life.

2. Shimei knew THE GARBAGE ON THE KING.

3. Shimei knew DAVID DID NOT GO TO BATTLE WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE...

(II Sam. 11:1)

4. Shimei heard the whispers about BATHSHEBA.

5. Shimei heard the LOUD WHISPERS about URIAH THE HITTITE, and what a