SIGN: SLIPPERY SLOPES OF MIRY CLAY? (NEGATIVISM, UN-THANKFULNESS?)
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
LET US START BY ASKING A QUESTION: WITH WHAT ARE YOU IN LOVE? WHY IS PATIENCE SO HARD? THE MORE YOU LOVE, THE MORE THANKFUL YOU ARE, THE MORE JOY, THE MORE PATIENCE YOU WILL HAVE DEPENDS ON YOU? True or false? Do you ever feel un-appreciated? HAVE WE BECOME A CHURCH OF CHRONIC COMPLAINERS, FAULT-FINDERS, AND GRUMBLERS? Have we said thank you for running water? Electricity? Heat? Air? Garbage pickup? Roads? Police?
YOU DESERVE THIS? YOU DESERVE IT NOW? SEEEMS PEOPLE LOVE THEMSELVE? Watch TV? Watch kids in the toy section? COMMERCIALISM? The SIGNS OF THE TIMES ARE REVEALING.
Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
WHAT ABOUT SLAVERY AND MAKING BRICKS?
JESUS IS COMING, WE HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIME… TODAY WE WILL LOOK AT UN-THANKFULNESS…
OUR SOCIETY AND THE CHURCH IS SO UN-THANKFUL, WE SEEM TO APPRECIATE SO LITTLE…
2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2 Timothy 3:1 (MSG) Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. 2 As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, 3 dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, 4 treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. 5 They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people. 6 These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them; women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself "truth." 7 They get exploited every time and never really learn.
SLIPPERY SLOPES? UN-THANKFUL IS TRAP THAT DOOMS US…
It had been raining several days in a row and one of my cows was missing. I got in the car and drove around looking for the little cow. I pulled in my neighbor’s field, and got several hundred feet away from the road. There was no cow sighting so I tried to turn around in the muddy field. Wow, I buried my car axle deep in the mud. Not to worry, I had on boots so I walked home and got my pickup truck and a long chain and drove back in the field. My car seemed to be deeper in the mud. I hooked the pickup to my car and I hooked the chain to the bumper and started I started pulling my car? Dumb? I buried my pickup in the mud to the axle. Not to worry, I still had a van. I walked back to the house and pulled the van over and I hooked up the chain from my van to the truck. It had positive traction. Mud flew up in the air and like magic my van was buried in the wet mud. All three of my vehicles were buried in the mud. I just sat in the mud and thought how stupid this was? I could not drive to my neighbor’s house for help? There were no cell phones back then? So, I was wet, angry and feeling pretty stupid. I started walking to my neighbor’s house. I knocked on his door and explained my case. He laughed at this city slicker and agreed to help. We walked to his barn and he started his JOHN DEERE TRACTOR and in the cold, damp and now dark night, he drove the DEERE over in the field. He pulled my van to the road and I drove it home. Then we went back for the pickup truck and he gently pulled the truck to the road and I drove it home. I rode the tractor with him and the rain was pouring, I jump off and put the chain on the car and he pulled me to the road and I drove it home. I was covered with mud. I heard there was a conversation at the local country store about that preacher getting 3 vehicles stuck in the same field the same night. I would see the farmers grin when I walked in the store?
Psalm 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
Psalm 40:2 (MSG) He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip.
YOU DECIDE HOW LONG YOU STAY HERE? TRACTION? INGRATITUDE CAN BE A DEADLY SIN… Numbers 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
THERE ARE MANY MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS THAT HAVE THE PITFALLS OF MIRY CLAY.
Why is there so much worry? Depression? Anxiety? ANGER? I read 16 million people are clinically depressed. The cost of this problem is estimated to be over $220 billion in mental and physical health care. COULD HAPPINESS BE ABOUT DAILY CHOICES? IS HAPPINESS MAGIC SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW? Could we see the SLIPPERY SLOPE OF NEGATIVISM AND UN-THANKFULNESS IS HURTING THE FAMILY AND THE CHURCH?
Seems we are in the habitual behavior to SEE THE DARK SIDE OF DAILY LIFE. We seem very prone to DWELL ON WHAT WE DON’T HAVE AND FAIL TO SEE HOW BLESSED WE REALLY ARE. We then focus on the redundant CONFLICTS and PROBLEMS and TRIALS WE ARE FACING.
We GROW TRAILS TO WORRY, FEAR AND SLEEPLESS NIGHT. God designed Christians to be FULL OF JOY and PEACE. We have DARK ATTITUDES OF HORRIBLE PITS that TRAP us in doom and gloom.
MANY HAVE GOALS OF ONE KIND OR ANOTHER? I want to lose 40 pounds? I DESIRE MORE THAN A GOAL, I DESIRE A PLAN OF CHANGE… COA… CHANGE OF ACTION… COURSE OF ACTION.
10 LEPERS… ONE WAS MADE WHOLE? WHY?
Luke 17:15-19 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
ARE WE UN-THANKFUL PEOPLE? Sure you know many un-thankful people and you complain about how un-thankful others are… ONE OF THE SIGNS OF THE LAST DAYS IS UN-THANKFULNESS?
HOW OFTEN ARE YOU THANKFUL AND HAPPY? Can you be happy and thankful for a year? A month? A week? How about a whole day? MAYBE FOR A MOMENT? WILL WE LIVE OUR LIVES MOMENT BY MOMENT? Can an un-thankful person be CONTAGIOUS?
OVER COMERS? LOOK BACK? THE DEEPER OUR WOES AND DEPRESSION THE LOUDER OUR PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING SHOULD GROW… Perhaps we get so MARRED IN THE NEGATIVE TRAPS THAT WE REFUSE TO PRAISE AND HONOR GOD…
THANKFULNESS IS LEARNED AT HOME…
THE ORIGINAL SIN OF SATAN WAS ME! ME! SELF-EXALTATION… I WILL! I WILL ASCEND!
Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
OUR ENEMY, LUCIFER WAS ARROGANT, SELF-LIFTED, UNGRATEFUL
DO WE GROW CRITICAL AND NEGATIVE? OR TRUST GOD’S PLAN OF DELIVERANCE?
2 Peter 2:9 (MSG) So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.
CAN WE CHANGE OUR ATTITUDES AND THANKFULNESS OR ARE WE TRAPPED IN THE MIRY CLAY? ASK TEN PEOPLE IF THEY ARE UNGRATEFUL, 10 PEOPLE WILL SAY: NO! How can one honestly tell if they are ungrateful? Un-thankful might mean FORGETFULNESS OF OR POOR RETURN FOR KINDNESS SHOWN?
Deuteronomy 31:8 And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
CONCLUSION: FIND JOY IN LITTLE THINGS… GIVE THANKS MANY TIMES A DAY, PRAISE GOD! Edify and encourage others, GIVE, give love, give Sofferings, give tithes
Psalm 92:1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, 3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. 4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. 5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. 6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. 7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
8 But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore. 9 For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
LOVE AND APPRECIATION WILL ALWAYS GIVE!
Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
ALWAYS GIVE THANKS… SAY THANK YOU! PLEASE! I LOVE YOU! I AM SORRY! I CARE! COUNT YOUR BLESSING! Quit grumbling, murmuring and complaining!
Philippians 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Philippians 2:14 (MSG) Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! 15 Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night
We give thanks for food, clothing, shelter, the church, the family, a job, the Bible, the cross…
THE GOLDEN RULE OF DAILY LIVING AND GIVING THANKS…:
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12 (MSG) "Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
This is part of a series on the SIGNS OF THE SECOND COMING…
