IS THERE ANY PROFIT TO WORRY? WHY INVEST IN WORRY?
I MISSED IT!
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I do this in two parts, you will need to condense to do in one part...
I. HAVE YOU EVER MISSED IT?
HAVE YOU EVER LOST SIGHT OF THE GOAL?
A. TEXT:
Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
2 Thes. 3:13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
B. Recently I attended a local school basketball game.
One of the best players on our schools team had developed a real bad habit. As he was defending the other player --- he would HOOK his right arm behind him and grab the other player and hold him. He was called for a foul.
Our team's player was angry with the referee, he had not hooked this player to control his movement!
He did it again and again, and with 5 fouls he had to sit on the bench. The team really needed him.
I attended the next game. The same boy started it again.
He would take his right arm, put it behind him and hook the opposition player and hold him.
The man in the stripes called him for a foul. The boy was visibly angry and denied this terrible HOOKING HABIT HE HAD DEVELOPED...
After about three calls on the HOOKING HABIT, the coach talked to the player.
The boy absolutely would not listen to the coach or the fans that was warning him.
So a person with a very expensive camera zoomed in and waited...
They took pictures of his last TWO FOULS of that game.
After the game the INDIVIDUAL WITH THE CAMERA showed the player the
DIRECT EVIDENCE OF THE HOOKING OF HIS ARM AROUND THE OPPONENT...
The next game the PLAYER came out with A NEW ATTITUDE...
I never saw him put his right arm behind him and HOOK another player the rest of the season... The boy never fouled out another game...
B. THE LESSON WAS EXPENSIVE BECAUSE THE BOY DID NOT REALIZE WHAT
HE WAS DOING?
HE WOULD NOT LISTEN TO HIS COACH. HE DID NOT LISTEN TO ME.
HE DID NOT LISTEN TO HIS PARENTS... HE KNEW!!!
C. HOW MANY PLAYERS WOULD BE BETTER TEAM PLAYERS IF THEY WOULD
LISTEN AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE COACH AND THE GAME...
D. Any good player must BUY INTO the coach's system.
IF YOU CAN NOT THRIVE IN PRACTICE YOU WILL NEVER ACCOMPLISH MUCH
FOR THE TEAM...
E. Could you be a BENCH WARMER?
UK had a walk on named Bird, 00 was his number.
He never got to go in the game? He was short and slow.
Bird listened and applied what he learned, by his senior year, BIRD GOT TO PLAY
A FEW MINUTES DURING THE GAME...
The crowd would scream loud for Bird... they knew the ADVERSITY he faced and had to overcome...
F. COULD YOU BE A WATER BOY FOR THE TEAM?
If you are going to be a WATER BOY be the BEST ONE IN THE STATE!
II. BEWARE MY FRIEND... BEWARE... THERE IS A SPIRIT OF WORRY OR
WEARNINESS THAT CAN SNUFF YOUR SPIRIT LIFE AND JOY OUT OF
YOUR HEART!
KJV
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
NIV
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
LIVING
1 Peter 5:7 Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking
about you and watching everything that concerns you.
A. WORRYWART:
One given to much worry...
A person who habitually worries unduly...
B. WORRY:
Problem; burden;
Give way to ANXIETY; uneasy; troubled mind;
To be troubled; harass; to be fearful;
Disturbed state of mind; irritate
C. ANXIOUS:
MENTALLY TROUBLED
Earnestly or uneasily wanting
D. WORRISOME:
Causing or apt to cause distress and worry...
E. WEARY:
Very tired
Impatient of
Tiring or tedious
Fatiqued, exhausted
F. THERE IS AN ATTITUDE OF WEARINESS OR WORRY...
There are times INDIVIDUALS fall into a TERRIBLE HABITUAL TRAP where
WEARINESS IS MORE THAN AN ATTITUDE ...
If you can receive it: WEARINESS CAN BECOME A SPIRIT THAT PLACES A
DEATH GRIP ON THE THROAT OF A BELIEVER...
This DEATH GRIP can affect the BREATHING and DIGESTION sources of the Spirit person.
III. HAVE YOU EVER LOST YOUR FOCUS?
THERE ARE TIMES WHEN LIFE AND MINISTRY BECOMES CUMBERSOME...
WE WALK STRESSED OUT...
THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THE DRAIN SAPPS OUT THE VERY HEART OF
COMPASSION...
A. A certain priest...
A certain Levite...
Vs A GOOD SAMARITIAN...
B. CUMBER/CUMBERSOME:
Physical, emotional or mental distress
Strain, stress, pressure... tension
Oppressive, load of burden,
Inconvenient, HEAVY, hard to manage
Burdensome
KJV
Luke 10:40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
MESSAGE
Luke 10:40 But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand."
C. THERE IS A GOOD PART TO LIFE AND MINISTRY...
WE FACE THE TROUBLING PART OF PEOPLE AND FAMILY...
KJV
Luke 10:41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
[42] But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
D. THERE IS ONE THING THAT IS NEEDFUL...
DON'T GET ALL WORKED UP OVER WHAT EVER IS BEFORE YOU...
MESSAGE
Luke 10:41 The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. [42] One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."
IV. CAN YOU SEE ANY ADVANTAGE, BENEFIT, GAIN OR PROFIT IN WORRY?
BE HONEST--- DOES WORRY BUILD BETTER FAMILIES AND BETTER PEOPLE?
A. Worry is a TYPE OF DOUBT...
B. Worry is SELF-FEEDING...
C. Worry is COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE TO GOOD SPIRITUAL HEALTH...
D. LIST FOR ME 10 GOOD BENEFITS OF WORRY?
KJV
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
[26] Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
[27] Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
[28] And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
[29] And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
[31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
E. IF WE DECIDE TO TRUST GOD AND HIS PLAN WE MUST QUIT FUSSING,
FRETTING ABOUT TRIVIAL PURSUIT...
MESSAGE
Matthew 6:25 "If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.
[26] Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
[27] "Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?
[28] All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop,
[29] but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
[30] "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are
never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?
[31] What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving.
F. WHAT REALLY MATTERS TO GOD?
Is what you are worrying about beyond our God's control?
V. IT IS VERY EASY TO JUMP TO INVALID CONCLUSIONS AND TO LET YOUR
EMOTIONS RUN WILD IN DARK, DRY PLACES...
A. THE DARKER THE NIGHT THE GREATER THE LIGHT...
B. HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM...
We had 10 coins, and somehow we have lost ONE...
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?
C. WE NEED THE LIGHT TO SEE CLEARLY...
THE LIGHT EXPOSES THE TRUTH, THERE IS HIDDEN DIRT IN THIS HOUSE...
D. CLEAN UP THE DIRT? FIND THE COIN...
Luke 15:8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
Worry has no profit...
It is spilling milk and then trying to pour it back into the cup.
If worry has no benefit, then let's avoid all the worry that can develop a weary spirit,
and invest in faith and things that will grow the spirit person in each of us...
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr Kyfingers@aol.com
