Last Call (Fall 2017 For Camp Meeting)

LAST CALL

Text: Romans 10:9 – 15

A friend of mine just recently moved and unpacked some of the boxes in his new assignment as a United Methodist Preacher. While he was unpacking he discovered a gift card to Target that was now eight years old. Fortunately it still worked and he and his wife got to use it. They could not remember who gave it. He posted that discovery on Face book and the person who gave it responded by saying “you’re welcome”. Sometimes gift cards have an expiration date. Checks are the same way. After ninety days, a check is no good and cannot be cashed.

God gives us all the gift of time. A birth date we know and our death date yet to be determined. God wants you to be born again in between those two dates. What are you doing with your hash mark---your time between those two dates?

We would all do well to remember that life is short sometimes even shorter than we might have imagined. We would like to think that we have more control over our lives than we actually have. We like to think that “we are masters of our own fate”. Though we might have an unconquerable spirit, we are by no means invincible. Psalm 90:12 says “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (ESV). How many of us do that?

Rev. John Harper was urged by a friend, Mr. Robert English not to board the Titanic but to take the Lusitania instead so that he could keep his schedule of arriving in Chicago where he was to preach at Chicago’s Moody Memorial Church. He had been praying and had a feeling that some sort of disaster was awaiting his friend. Yet, Rev. John Harper answered God’s call to preach which he was doing up till the moment he passed away. He has become known as the Titanic’s last hero!

He did not squander his time away till the last minute but strove to help those eleventh hour believers—last minute believers on the Titanic to find salvation to find salvation through Jesus Christ.

HOW ARE YOU STUDYING FOR FINALS?

That is a blunt question isn’t it? It does not imply with sugar coating that you have time to delay like the last minute cramming for an exam. No! In this context the exam could end at any time! Do we not all live on borrowed time? In a school setting everybody gets the same time---they have an hour or two to take their exam from start to finish. In the world we live in, we have time to number our days but we don’t know how much time we have!

Can you cheat on this exam? Unlike an academic exam, you cannot copy somebody else’s answer! On this exam, there is one question. “Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” You have to give your own answer! Even choosing not to give an answer is to make a choice. There is no ground for neutrality! The way you live your life is the way you answer this question!

Are there impostor’s on board? The Titanic’s Captain Smith gave the order to members of his crew to watch out for the women and children. It was obvious that he meant women and children first in the lifeboats. Daniel Buckley, a third class passenger on the Titanic, disguised himself as a woman so he could get on board one of the life boats. In our world, we call those kinds of people impostors. God knows who the pretenders and the impostors are in His kingdom. If you are not clothed with the salvation of Jesus Christ as your wedding garment Jesus mentions in one of His parables (Matthew 22:1-14), then you will be cast out.

Last call! On the Titanic during its last moments , everybody knows that those who get in the life boats will survive as well as the fatal fate of those who cannot get on board one of those boats.

During those final fifty minutes, [of the Titanic] George Henry Cavell who was clinging to a board drifted near John Harper. John Harper was struggling in the water and cried “Are your saved? The answer returned “No”. Harper shouted words from the Bible [in Acts 16:31]: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Later, after the current brought them in close proximity again and Rev. Harper asked that question one last time and received the same answer. Once again, Rev. Harper repeated the words of Acts 16:3 as he went to his cold and watery grave deep in the Atlantic. George Henry Cavell “testified that he was Rev. Harper’s last convert! ” (Quoted and paraphrased from the following: Moody Adams. The Titanic’s Last Hero. Yucca, Valley California: Rocklin Press, 1997, p. 9). What is your answer to that question on this exam?