"Peter, Feed My Sheep” (21 Of 21)

The pastor stood before the congregation, and said, “As all of you know, we need a very large offering today! The person who gives the largest offering will be able to choose three hymns.” They received the offering, and someone had placed a one thousand-dollar check in the offering plate. He was shocked. He announced, “I told you that whoever gave the largest offering could select three hymns. So whoever gave the thousand dollars, please identify yourself.” An elderly woman in the back stood up, and very slowly hobbled down to the front of the church. The pastor said to her, “What three hymns would you like to select?” She looked across the congregation and found three of the best looking men in the congregation, and pointing with her finger, said, “I select him, him, and him!”

There are a lot of things in life that MOTIVATE us, but listen; Christians have the greatest motivation of all. The Lord Jesus is going to RAPTURE HIS CHURCH, and that should motivate every one of us to do everything we can for Christ.

God has promised us eternal rewards that are beyond anything we could ever imagine.

Look at Revelation 21:1-4, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

There is no place on earth like this, but God has prepared such a place for us in heaven. What place here could we move to that would offer us:

• All tears will be wiped from our eyes

• No more death

• No more sorrow

• No more crying

• No more pain

Many Christians would be doing a lot more than they are doing for the Lord, if they could come close to comprehending what the Lord has for those who faithfully serve Him.

We looked at THE SINNER CONCERNING THE LORD’S COMING, but now…

II. LET’S LOOK AT THE SAINT CONCERNING THE LORD'S COMING

One of the reasons that the Lord’s Coming is difficult to understand is because we take the living God, and try to make Him like a mortal man.

That is, we give Him the same human traits that we give to mortal man. But He is not like man, and He does not operate like man does. For example-

A. THE LORD DOES NOT FUNCTION BY MAN'S TIME CLOCK

Look at 2 Pet. 3:8, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

Notice, Peter said, “…be not ignorant of this one thing…”

But we all are guilty of making God like ourselves, and trying to put Him on man’s time clock.

Time is a tool used by mankind, but NEVER by God!

• We all are allotted so many years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds.

• We use time to measure our lives. Actually, in a way, time is life. For example, if I give you an hour of my time, I am giving you an hour of my life.

• It is the foolish man who lives his life wasting the precious time God has allotted him.

• It is the wise man that takes every precious second God gives him, and uses it wisely.

Most of us wear watches because we want to be conscious of the time God has allotted to us each day.

WE MORTALS ARE CREATURES OF TIME.

But also we know that as we spend the time that God has allotted to us, there are some changes that are taking place in our bodies; our bodies are continuously deteriorating and getting weaker.

Illus: Actually, one day does not make much of a noticeable change in us, but in twenty or thirty years, many changes take place that can have a great affect on us.

(If you doubt that fact, go to your 30th high school class reunion.) Those who attend have to wear name badges to identify themselves.

Illus: Don’t you just love it when you meet someone you haven’t seen in twenty or thirty years, and they say, “You haven’t change a bit!”? You know they are lying, but still you are glad they are such big liars.