The Ever Popular Tater Family

I guess we will always have Uncle Iri-tater around to keep us humble!

4. The fourth member of this renowned Tater family is cousin Hesi.

Yeah, you guessed it, Hesi-tater. She’s a dandy!

Nothing gets done around the church as long as cousin Hesi has anything to do with it.

She’s a hesi-tater.

When you want to start something for God old Hesi will hold you back.

Now it is certainly good to plan, calculate, have fore-thought. But Ole Hesi will still hesi-tate even after careful planning!

She hesitates about working for God.

She hesitates about taking a Sunday School class.

She hesitates about witnessing for Christ.

She hesitates about going to church.

She hesitates about praying.

She hesitates about paying her tithes! OH THAT HURTS!

She hesitates about winning souls.

As a result souls are lost, and the church loses opportunities that may never return.

Ole Hesi-tater straddles the fence. She holds back. She see-saws back and forth, and she drags her feet.

Ole Hesi-tater also hesitates at God’s promises, hesitates at His Word, and hesitates at God’s divine will for her life.

5. Then there is old Brother Spec. Spec-tater is his name. Now, one good thing about this old gentleman, he’s there every time we have service. He even shows up at our “work days.”

Yeah, he’s there alright, sitting on the pew with his arms folded.

He doesn’t put forth any effort.

He doesn’t participate in the singing, the worship, the prayer time, and he sure doesn’t participate in the offering!

And when service is over he goes home just like he came!

Ole Spec just watches everyone else from the sidelines.

Yeah, when we have a work day ole Spec watches us work.

When we go out on visitation ole Spec sits on the porch and watches us go by.

When we pray around the altars Ole Spec watches us pray.

He didn’t come to participate, he just came to watch.

He’s not in the game, he’s just a spectator.

And when rewards are given out in heaven someday, he’ll be just a spectator again because he never was a participator.

6. The sixth member of this peculiar family is Miss Imi, yes, Imi-tater.

She wants our church to be like the church down the street. She wants our choir to sing like the Billy Graham crusade choir.

She wants the preacher to preach like some TV evangelist.

She just wants us to imitate some other ministry and not give God a chance to mold us into what He wants us to be in His own unique way.

God doesn’t want us to be like somebody else, or worship just like the First Church.

He wants us to yield to the Holy Spirit and allow God to use us according to His perfect will.

7. The seventh member of this Tater family is old brother Ampu. Yeah, Ampu-tater.

He has amputated himself from the church altogether.

He doesn’t come anymore. He has cut himself off from the church.

He got hurt, or he got mad, or something happened he didn’t like, so he just cut himself off.

The problem is, when a member of the body is cut off, it will die. The church will continue, but the amputated member will die spiritually.

When Ampu cut himself off from the church, he cut himself off from God’s blessings, good Christian fellowship, worship and praise, and even cut himself off from becoming his full potential for God.