Huh?!

7-11-99 Huh? Is. 55

by Ronald E. George Jr.

The English language is a very complicated combination of rules, inflections, and words that must be understood for complete communication. Is it Job or Job e? And what does the word Duh mean? To make matters worse we often shorten words because we are too lazy to pronounce it properly. What about the simple word Huh? It isn't really a word but would better be classified as a grunt. But it has come to mean several different things. It could mean that I didn't hear what you said. I didn't understand what you said. I don't think you said what you said, and I want to check to make sure. I am stalling for time trying to decide what kind of a story I can tell you. Also, it could mean that I heard what you said and I don’t' want to answer. Can you imagine that we answer God with a Huh? Listen to what he says today. He says:Come back to me.

The Purpose of this message is to urge us to return to God.

Scripture Text: Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon 8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it. 12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign [that] shall not be cut off.

Look and Listen to me before it is too late… Huh?.

The Lord is real. He can be found and he can be called. Have you found that he is real in your life? Is he real to you? Is He someone you can talk to? Is he someone that you know on an intimate basis?

There is coming a time when we won't be able to find him. Huh? Our eyes get dim and our ears get dull or hardened from years of waxy build up so that we can't see or hear like we once could. And so do our spiritual eyes and ears. We harden our hearts toward Him and quench the power of his voice. When he speaks we answer, huh? "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:"

Did you hear about the man who bragged that he had just purchased the finest hearing aid available? A friend asked, "What kind is it?" The first man replied, "Oh, about 2:30." Sometimes we don't hear nearly as well as we think -- especially when it comes to hearing God's call on our lives.

A young fellow heard a preacher in the other days and was greatly moved, and the preacher said: "When you have a religious impression, the time to act upon it is right then. The time when you hear God's call in the which you ought to respond is right then." And the young fellow walked down the aisle and publicly made his surrender to Christ saying: "It shall be right now that I take Christ as my Saviour." He went back to the sawmill in the mountains where he worked, and the boys said that next morning he sang all the morning. Religion in the heart makes men sing.

About noon his body was caught somehow in the machinery and crushed and mangled so that a little while thereafter he went away into dusty death. When they got him out he faintly said: "Send for the preacher, that preacher in the church house at the foot of the mountains last night."

The preacher fortunately was soon found. He hurried up the mountain to the mill, and he bent down by the side of the dying fellow and took his hand and said: "Charley, I have come. What would you like to say?" And with a smile on his face he faintly pressed the minister's hand and said: "Wasn't it a glorious thing that I settled it in time?" --George W. Truett

B. Let Us return to the Lord?

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon

Huh? I thought I was already with him? Are you? Don't we have to continually turn to Him on a daily basis? I don't believe that God can forgive me for the things that I have done? Huh? He will have mercy and he will abundantly or fully pardon. Come home to God. He created you for Himself. He says this is how we seek and call the Lord. We must choose to forsake our wicked ways and our unrighteous thoughts. This is returning to the Lord. Let us Return. Huh? "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:"

A pastor was called upon with two young boys who had been mean in church. As he talked with one of the boys the other waited in the hall. The pastor began by asking the young if he knew where God was. The young man debated the question in his mind before he quickly ran out of the office. As he passed by the other boy he shouted, Let's get out of here. God is missing and they think that we took him. Is God missing from your everyday life? He wants to be your everyday God.

C. Learn and Live.

8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.

Just as the rain and the snow produce life on the earth so will the word of God produce life in those who receive him through his word. Huh? But why should we need to receive it? Haven't we already been to church? His thoughts and ways … God speaks these words to his people. His word will not be fruitless, but it will bring forth the fruit that he desires. B. "Basic I. Instructions B. before L. leaving E. earth = Bible" by Pat Messiti " Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:"

D. Lean on His Promises. The Promise Given to those who Listen, Look, Return, Learn, Lean and Live in Him.

12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign [that] shall not be cut off.

The hills are clapping for you. When you walk through the fields you don't see the multifloral rose thorns, but instead you see plush gardens of trees bearing fruit of all types in your presence. Huh? Are they clapping for you or for your God? Huh? "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:"

A missionary explained to a gathering how he came to enter the mission field. He said: "In coming home one night, across the vast prairie, I saw my little boy John hurrying to meet me. The grass was high on the prairie, and suddenly he dropped out of sight. I thought he was playing and was simply hiding from me, but he did not appear as I expected he would. Then the thought flashed across my mind, There's an old well there, and he has fallen in. I hurried up to him reached down into the well, and lifted him out. As he looked' up in my face, what do you think he said? 'O Papa, why didn't you hurry?' These words never left me. They kept ringing in my ears until God put a new and deeper meaning into them and bade me think of others who were lost, of souls without God and without hope in this world. The message came to me as a message from the Heavenly Father: 'Go and work in My name'; and then from that vast throng a pitiful, despairing, pleading cry rolled into my soul as I accepted God's call: 'Oh, why don't you hurry?"'