Sermon Central
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#4perspective:change Series
Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Jul 8, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: If you don’t like what you are getting,you must change what you are giving.
#4 PERSPECTIVE: CHANGE
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
Jer. 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
Acts 6:14 ... they said, We heard Jesus was coming and bringing change.
Isaiah 6:8, says: "Here am I."
Ruth 2:2 says, " Let me now go, I shall find grace"...
This is a 4 part series on perspective.
1.Creative use of conflict
2. Worm’s view sees dirt.
3. Professionalism in personalities.
4. Change.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU ARE GETTING,
YOU MUST CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE GIVING!
Let us define perspective to better understand.
Perspective: choice of a view point; capacity to view things in their true relationship or relative importance; to look through; to see as it appears; illusion of depth and distance; mental view.
In the cycle of life, we must carve what will be our central perspective and direction.
#4 Perspective: Change the world, just leave me alone
IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU ARE GETTING,
YOU MUST CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE GIVING!
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As we again ponder, I would like you to consider this little fable.
This story is one of my all time favorites, I think it tells many hidden truths. Please read this story. See, how it could apply to you?
There was a beautiful, pedigreed cat.
This cat had a royal, distinguished ancestry.
All the records stated this cat had a pure blood line and was a world champion.
The cat had been a winner in every competition she entered.
This cat lived in a mansion and was pampered with rich food and was treated with extreme care and excessive attention.
The cat ate salmon, tuna, chicken, steak and even caviar and drank bottle water.
The cat had the best groomer in the city.
The cat had air conditioning in the summer and a bed by the fire place in the winter.
She had regular bubble baths and was brushed three times a day.
The cat had everything that a cat could ever wish.
One day the pedigreed cat ran away from home.
She was tired and could NOT STAND IT ANY MORE.
In her wanderings farther and farther from home, the pampered cat was hungry and turned into an alley looking for food.
In this quiet spot, the pedigreed cat met an alley cat full of fleas and dirt.
The alley cat said, "What are you doing here?
We all watched how wonderfully blest you were.
We longed for a place in the mansion on top of the hill.
What happened that you are here in the alley?"
The pampered, pedigreed cat started crying and replied,
" You don’t know anything, do you?
I just could not stand it any more!
I had to get out of there! It was just so bad!
I could not take it anymore."
The dirty old alley cat said,
" What was so bad that you had to leave the mansion?
We would have gladly traded places with you! You had it made!"
The pampered cat was bawling like a baby.
She turned to the alley cat and answered,
" You just can’t get it, can you?
My owner was rubbing me the wrong way!
While I would lay on my bed, the owner would reach over his chair and rub me the wrong way!
WHAT ELSE COULD I DO, I HAD TO RUN AWAY!
HE LEFT ME NO OPTION! WHAT ELSE COULD I DO? ? ?
The mean old dirty alley cat looked with disgust at the pampered cat, and screamed to the top of his voice,
"ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS TURN AROUND!
JUST TURN AROUND, AND HE WOULD HAVE RUBBED YOU THE RIGHT WAY! HOW STUPID? TURN AROUND?"
About that time a big dog rounded the corner and chased the two cats.
The alley cat ran up a tree.
From the safety of the limbs, the alley cat watched the dog torment the other cat.
The pedigreed cat ran out into the road to escape the dog and ....THE END?
IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU ARE GETTING,
YOU MUST CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE GIVING!
Many of us having been praying for years, asking God to exempt us from problems and from the thorns of life.
We look for Divine relief?
We buy tapes and books, looking for a way of escape?
We cry and bemoan our conditions.
WHILE WE REFUSE TO ACCEPT: WE ARE A PRODUCT OF OUR CHOICES.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU ARE GETTING,
YOU MUST CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE GIVING!
Friday night, a young woman was in trouble.
I stood next to two police cars, as the police radioed information to headquarters.
The name came back with 9 charges on record for this year alone.
The young woman screamed and cursed the police, her mom, her aunt, and me.
