2010-12-24 - The Question and Answer
for Our Times
Part 3 ~ Originally Preached 2004-07-14
The Question
Jeremiahs times dont seem much different from ours. Just as the
situation was the same the question he asked Israel still remains for us
to answer.
"What will ye do in the end thereof?"
What are you going to do? Will you keep going the way you are now to its
evil conclusion or will you return to your first love? As I've heard simply
put before, will you turn or burn?
The Answer
Let me tell you what I believe we need to do. We need to get revived; we
need to wake up. I know I need it. We need to get busy in His kingdom. Sure
theres a happily ever after but theres also a here and now. His
kingdom is as much here and now as it is hereafter. If eternity doesn't start
today then when?
We need revival a resuscitation. We need these dry old bones to be
raised up and restored like in Ezekiel 37 where in verse 14 it says,
"And [I] shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live,
and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD
have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD." (Ezekiel 37:14 KJV)
We need a revival - not a week long service but a life long heart replacement.
We need to be awakened and stirred from slumbering on the pews. Church, it's
time we wake up, rise up, and stand up for God! Show his love. Over in the
gospels Jesus talks about us not knowing when he will come. Some are in the
field and others sleeping. When he returns will we be the one snatched from
the bed or the field? I hope I'm laboring in his fields when he returns.
As the song said, "we need to get back to the basics of life". For the church
all true believers we have five basics. In no particular order
let me tell you what these five basics are. First ,there is ministry - aiding
others. Love your neighbor just as the Good Samaritan did. Look at the early
church in Acts. They were helping the widows. Second is fellowship. Get together,
encourage and build up one another. Forsake not the assembling. Encourage
one another. Third is worship. Worship is simply communing with God. Sing
a song to him. Pray to him. Worship is simply giving yourself in some way
to him. Fourth is discipleship, the building up of other Christians and yourself.
God gave us ten commandments in the Old Testament and added one to it in
the New. Love one another. How? Love one another as I
have loved you. (John 13:34) Love one another
completely,
sacrificially, and unconditionally. The fifth basic purpose is evangelism
- telling others. His final direct command to his followers, His parting
thought was this: go and tell. And he said unto them,
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark
16:15 ) A balanced church, a balanced Christian, does it all but most
churches and most Christians including us only do some. We are good at doing
one or two things but we don't do them all. All five are the perfect center.
Some but not all is not centered. I want to be centered in Christ.
Now I'm going to ask some very pointed questions ...
Have you told a single person about Jesus this week? OK so maybe you talked
with another Christian about Jesus but have you shared your faith with someone
you don't know to be a committed believer? Have you invited a single person
to church?
Unless you can say yes to those questions why should God let you live on
this earth anymore? You are just wasting space and using up oxygen and other
resources that His laborers could be using. Fine, so you gave $100 to church.
Whoopee! The great commission is not come and give. It's not come and sit.
It's not come at all, it is go - go and tell. The servant
was instructed, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to
come in, that my house may be filled."(Luke 14:23 ) Did the servant
put a sign out front and wait for people to show up? No he went out just
as the master said. You're either part of that plan or part of the problem.
I am so guilty of wimping out at times when it comes to evangelism. Just
the other day I was sitting in Chick-Fil-A®. I felt the Holy
Spirit urging me to go to this one man sitting watching his daughter play.
A simple invitation to come to church or for his daughter who was playing
with Jordan to come to VBS would have been an opener but I sat there and
simply chickened out. Men through the ages have given their life for their
faith and I sit in a Chick-Fil-A® as a coward. Preacher Moody
kids about me being left behind at times. If Preacher's right and Tommy and
I were here after the rapture, I think I'd succumb to pressure and take the
mark. I'm a coward. Luckily, Ill never have that test to go through.
I need God's strength. Without it I'm a useless guy sitting in
Chick-Fil-A® but with him I can be the guy talking about God
to strangers at yard sales, giving tracts to waiters and waitresses, or sharing
the gospel with co-workers and neighbors.
We all need his strength; we need a refreshing. We need a revival. Not from
without but within - Christ within us reviving, rejuvenating as only
the spring of eternal life and love can. I can remember when I got saved;
I couldn't wait to share my story with people. I still do some but at other
times I don't when I could, when I should.
Let me tell you right now, you don't retire from God's work none
of us do. You don't leave it to the young people. If you're not doing His
work you're out of his plan and you are out of His perfect will. He's not
through with any of us. If he was, we'd be with Him or in hell. Plain and
simple people - we stay here until we have finished what he wants us
to do. And to do the specifics he wants we have to do the basics.
The question is still, "What will you do?" What is your answer?
IHFHBOH
acdum@hotmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
All verses are from the King James Version unless otherwise specified. |