7-29-23 MS. Turkey Calling Championship Sermon - 17 Minutes

Romans 3:23

When I was asked about talking to everyone today,,, I prayed about the scripture for this,,, as I always do for any message that is needed. I knew that I had a story that I wanted to tell that hopefully some of you will understand,,, and I was pretty sure that God approved it,,, but there were so many scriptures that it seemed hard to decide to me. Well,,, as usual,,, God always speaks,,, if we just take the time to truly listen! It took me many years to figure that out,,, as you will see from my story,,, I'm a little slow,,, so bear with me here!

Quick question here,,, a sneak peek at the story I have!

How many have ever missed a turkey?

I figured there would be several!

I'll explain further in a minute,,, so stay with me,,, OK? Anyway,,, God provided the scripture for today because it fits every type of person that's here today! Maybe I'm wrong,,, maybe all of you go to church every Sunday,,, very good Christian people,,, and if so,,, that's great,,, this verse will fit you just fine! But,,, if you are some of those that don't want to go to church,,, maybe you think a bunch of hypocrites go there,,, hopefully,,, when I finish,,, you might understand why Christians have a hard time being perfect the way that God intends for us all to be,,, even though God has provided a way to accomplish that! And,,, you will maybe see that we aren't that much different,,, it's just the One that we,,, as Christians,,, I mean,,, put our faith in,,, it's not ourselves,,, or our strength,,, our goodness,,, our anything,,, nothing but faith in Jesus Christ! Whether you have spent many years in church,,, a few years in church,,, never been inside a church or thought that church was something you needed,,, this verse is true for us all!

Romans 3:23 (HCSB) 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ___________________________________ That means,,, each person here today,,, has sinned,,, and everyone of us,,, fall short,,, of the glory of God! That's the part that many people fail to realize,,, or recognize,,, that we are all sinners!

And that's true even for those that have been Christians for a long time!

Let's face it,,, just because I bring God's word to the people in my church doesn't make me any better than anyone else! Now,,, I want you to understand that I'm striving towards perfection,,, I'm trying all the time to listen to the Holy Spirit like I should,,, and I'm much better than I used to be,,, but I'm not there yet!

Maybe you aren’t either!

Hopefully this will help!

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The Greek word for “sin” is hamartia,,, a term that's also used for “missing the mark.”

That's what happens when we don't listen to God like we should,,, we "miss the mark" that God intended for us to hit!

When you hunt,,, missing isn't something that you want to do either.

We,,, as hunters will go to great lengths to do everything that we can,,, to insure that this doesn't happen!

But,,, some are better prepared than others,,, and,,, let's face it,,, some are just naturally better shots than others.

I fall into the category of the one that needs a lot of practice.

Although it really will take a miracle to make that happen!

As I continue you will understand even better.

Now,,, how many of you have ever missed one turkey during the season?

OK,,, as I figured,,, several.

Now,,, how many of you have ever missed every turkey you called in that whole season?

Maybe one or two?

Nobody?

Well,,, what about missing every turkey that you call in to range 2 years in a row?

No-one?

I am surprised that I'm the only one,,, no one else,,, really?

I'm afraid to even mention this now,,, but what would you say about 3 years in a row?

Yes I know,,, hurts me to remember it as well!

___________________________________ Around 1988 or 89,,, not sure exactly,,, since this was a period in my turkey hunting career that I'd rather not think about,,, I was becoming very good with a mouth call,,, diaphragm call.

I knew the terrain where we hunted since we hunted the same area every year since I began hunting there in 1978,,, so that key part of the battle was easier than usual.

As you have heard before if you have ever been to any of the seminars,,, knowing your hunting area and the habits or day to day activities of the turkeys are very important.

Even more important than calling!

Turkeys make some terrible sounds sometimes,,, so perfect calling isn't necessary to kill turkeys,,, especially if you know where they spend their day and know how to get around them at different times of the day.

But anyway,,, at this time I was improving very fast since I was always practicing,,, I never went anywhere without a call in my pocket.

As a result of all of this,,, along with an abundance of vocal turkeys,,, turkey hunting was a blast!

Needless to say,,, I became too confidant,,, too cocky you might say,,, since getting turkeys to respond was much easier with the terrain knowledge that I had,,, and my calling had improved!

It was fun,,, that's what's important right?

But,,, it became too much fun.

As I would call turkeys in,,, I'd get so excited that I would forget to concentrate on a very important part,,, the aiming part!

I actually didn't realize this until after the third year,,, up to that point I just kept thinking that I was making a mistake and it would solve itself.

Remember,,, I told you at the beginning that I was a little slow!

___________________________________ There are two hunts that stand out for me during this time.

The first one was a hunt that involved a turkey that roosted in an area that was hard to navigate.

It was surrounded on one side by the river that made a bend around his tree,,, and a creek that covered most of the other 3 sides.

Very thick around the one side that he had access to leave by ground,,, passable for him,,, but if you managed to set up on him close by that point,,, he would usually fly across the creek or river,,, so we gave up on that spot for awhile.

One morning I was hunting the field that was close to that area,,, where we usually had some that would fly down into the field at first light,,, but that particular morning,,, this turkey was the only one that I heard.

After he had flown down,,, I was close enough to move up so that I was positioned at the base of his roost tree,,, while he had moved off through the thicker woods to the east.

This was just a small clearing on top of a hill between the creek and river,,, not much larger than 30 yards in diameter,,, no matter which direction you looked.

As I sit down at the base of his tree,,, I yelp,,, and he immediately responds!

He then gobbles in response of my next calls by turning around and heading back to this spot.

Needless to say,,, this is exciting,,, right!

Well,,, like I said,,, the woods are very familiar to me so as he's returning,,, I know exactly where he will enter this small clearing,,, right?

I positioned myself so that when he entered the clearing to my left,,, my sights would be pointed directly at him,,, nothing can go wrong here!

Yeah right,,, this is turkey hunting for sure!

Took my gun off of safety,,, ready to fire,,, when,,, he steps into view,,, right through the thickest mess of bushes you can imagine,,, and my gun is pointed the other direction!

I say to myself,,, there he is,,, then I pull the trigger!

Remember,,, my gun is pointed in the wrong direction,,, I pulled the trigger without thinking and now there is no way that I can roll in that direction,,, but I try,,, and,,, as you probably guess,,, it's useless!

Another miss!

___________________________________ The other hunt was the last turkey that I missed that last year,,, my third year of misses.

My brother-in-law,,, Darrel that I went to so many turkey calling contest,,, seminars,,, whatever involved turkeys,,, no matter where they were either,,, was determined to help me break this streak of bad luck that I seemed to be having.

He tried to call for me so that maybe I could concentrate on shooting.

I had already missed a turkey that Darrel called up for me earlier that week and the season was getting close to the end.

We set up and Darrel began to call,,, just South of the spot,,, down river from where the other miss happened in the first story.

A jake came in,,, walking from our right to left,,, picture perfect for a shot,,, for most people at least,,, (now,,, before you get too upset about shooting a jake,,, 1st remember that I missed,,, 2nd jakes were legal),,, but frowned on,,, even then,,, especially if it wasn't your first,,, but,,, again,,, remember,,, I'm desperate at this point,,, I just want to shoot and not miss!

But,,, as you know already,,, I missed again!

As we are sitting there in disbelief,,, neither of us saying a word,,, a poor scraggly squirrel comes hopping along the branches over head,,, and the poor thing doesn't have any hair on his tail!

And I just can't control myself,,, and neither can Darrel,,, we begin to laugh,,, and I decide that I can really relate to his outcome,,, I really feel like my tail has been stripped as well!

But,,, this squirrel is still going on with his life,,, and maybe I can as well!

___________________________________ Later I make the decision to get a scope and that became the end of my misses!

You see,,, I finally figured out that I would get so caught up in watching the gobbler as he came in,,, so exciting to watch,,, that my head would come up off of the stock and I never moved it back down for the shot!

You know that was a mistake,,, and as a result of that,,, I never could hit anything that way,,, not very smart right?

___________________________________ You see I became so caught up in the things going on around me that I forgot what was important!

It's the same way with our day to day activities.

We become caught up in the things of the world going on around us that we don't pay any attention to God the way that we should.

Because of the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,,, it is possible for us to live the way that God wants us to live.

But,,, like keeping your head down for the shot,,, you must pay attention to the important part,,, and for us as Christians,,, listening to the Holy Spirit is so important each and every day!

___________________________________ When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior,,, we are still left with our fleshly body.

And because of that,,, we will get busy and forget about keeping our thoughts on what's important,,, we let the busyness of this world change our focus and we will let our worldly self come through!

That's why that Christians can seem like hypocrites at times,,, because we are human,,, we try to do better,,, but when satan gets a chance,,, he will use anything to make us fall short!

And then he tries to convince us that we aren't good enough for God,,, but we can't allow that to happen!

In the meantime,,, those of you that aren't Christians see the mistakes that we make,,, and think,,, what a joke this is,,, they aren't perfect!

And that's true,,, we aren't perfect,,, but through our relationship with the Lord,,, and listening to the Holy Spirit,,, we can be,,, we just have to remember,,, to keep our focus,,, on what's really important,,, and listen to the Holy Spirit,,, as He guides us,,, towards the perfection,,, that God intends for us!

You see,,, it's when we let the worldly things get in our way,,, when we forget what we should be doing,,, when we don't aim correctly,,, that we will truly,,, "Miss the Mark"!

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