No matter where you go, you see people talking on cell phones -- sometimes in some most unusual places.
Illus: One man was leaving Minnesota for Colorado. He decided to make a stop at one of those rest areas on the side of the road. He said, “I went in the washroom. The first stall was taken so I went into the second stall. I just sat down when I hear a voice from the next stall...
• "Hi there, how is it going?"
• “I am not the type to strike up conversations with strangers in washrooms on the side of the road. I didn't know what to say so finally I said, ‘Not bad.’”
• “Then the voice says, ‘So, what are you doing?’"
• “I am starting to find that a bit weird, but I say, ‘Well, I'm going back to Colorado...’"
• “I knew I was in trouble when I heard this person say, ‘Look I'll call you back. Every time I ask you a question, this idiot in the next stall keeps answering me.’"
One of the problems with cell phones is that you can be in the midst of a conversation and the battery will get low and cut you off.
Illus: One man said that one of his friends works in the customer service call center of a national pager company. There, he deals with the usual complaints
• One day he got a call from this red-neck name Bubba, who repeatedly complained that he keeps being paged by "Lucille."
• He was instructed that he would have to call her and tell her to stop paging him.
• "She don't never leave no number, so I can't call her back," he said.
• After three such calls, someone thought to ask how he knew it was Lucille if she didn't leave a number.
• "She leaves her name on my phone, " was the reply.
The service rep began to suspect something, he said, "How does she spell Lucille?"
• Bubba said, she spells it, "L-O-W C-E-L-L"
Another technical problem solved.
This is certainly the age of communication. Sometimes we get calls we prefer to ignore. We know they are not important so we ignore them. But listen, there are calls we get and we know they are important and we know we must take them seriously.
For example:
• If we get a call from a good friend, we take that call seriously.
• If we get a call from a brother or sister, we take that call seriously.
• If we get a call from our parents or grandparents, we take that call seriously.
But listen, the most important calls we get are FROM GOD THE FATHER, and a lot of folks do not take them seriously.
Let me show you, from the Word of God, two important calls He sends to mankind. We see . . .
I. GOD’S CALL TO SAINTS
If we are smart, we will not ignore His call. For example, AS THE SAINTS OF GOD HE CALLS US TO LIVE A LIFE OF HOLINESS.
God wants to bless and use all His children, but there are some He cannot bless or use!
WHY CAN’T HE BLESS SOME OF HIS CHILDREN?
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger and his wife were eating at a nice restaurant with a preacher and his wife. She began to drink her tea when she noticed the glass did not appear to be clean. She examined it closely and found out it was not clean. Once she noticed it was not clean, she would not drink from that glass. Now listen, I do not blame her, who wants to drink from a dirty glass?
Sometimes you can not help but wonder about what some of these people do to wash their dishes.
Illus: A priest was asked to dinner by one of his parishioners who lived out in the country. When he sat down at the table, he noticed that the dishes were the dirtiest that he had ever seen in his life. He hated to say anything, but he finally said:
• "Were these dishes ever washed?" he asked his hostess, running his fingers over the grit and grime.
• She replied, “Of course they were cleaned Father. They're as clean as soap and water could get them.”
• He felt a bit apprehensive, but blessed the food anyway and they all started eating. The meal was delicious and he paid his compliments in spite of the dirty dishes.
• When dinner was over, the hostess said it was time to get the dishes washed. She took the dishes outside and called for her two dogs - "Here Soap! Here Water!"
None of us would want to eat from dirty dishes. Listen, every Saint of God is a vessel that God wants to bless and use. If we do not want to eat from a dirty dish, why do some think the holy God of heaven would want to use a dirty vessel?
One thing every Saint of God has in common is that we want God to bless our lives and use us for His glory. But God can not bless every child of God and God can not use every child of God because they are not all clean vessels.
God says, in Rom. 12:1, “…Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Notice, God says it is REASONABLE that He should expect us to live a Holy Life!
One problem we have sometimes is that we know people we love, but we do not desire to be close to them because you can SMELL THEM COMING before you SEE THEM COMING!
Illus: They remind me of the man at the office. It was really hot and the air condition had gone out.
There were about twenty people in close quarters and everyone was sweating, even with a fan on.
All of a sudden, people started to wrinkle their noses at an odor passing through the air. It was the most hideous smell anyone had ever smelled.
One man said, "Uh oh, someone's deodorant isn't working."
This old red neck in the corner replied, "It can't be me. I'm not wearing any."
Listen, God loves every Saint of God, but God sends us a clear text message from His Word: He can not FELLOWSHIP WITH FILTH.
Illus: A fellow was asked why he no longer dated this beautiful girl that he once dated. He said, “Sure...I loved her. She was smart, attractive, polite. Unfortunately, the perfection ended there. “
The friend said, “So what's the problem!”
“It’s simple...she had a garbage mouth. I don't mean she cursed like a sailor, I mean her mouth literally smelled like garbage.”
He then went on to say, “Those sweet nothings whispered late at night into one's ear aren't nearly so sweet when it smells like you are in a dumpster. Bad breath is something I can't stomach.”
He said, “I often wondered how she doesn’t know. It wasn't as though she had a little problem.” “There's really no way to handle a situation such as this. I tried the old, ‘I've got gum, would you like a stick?’, but to no avail.”
“My next option was, ‘I've got a toothbrush, some floss and a bottle of Listerine...care to give it a try?’ but luckily it never got that far.”
“She could sense that something wasn't right between us.”
• “Maybe it was the way my nose would began to twinge when she got close to me whenever she spoke to me.”
• “Maybe it was the way I avoided being close to her face.”
• “Maybe it was the welder's mask I wore on our last date.”
• “I can't be certain, but I do know that it relieved me to no end when she told me it just wasn't working out between us. It relieved me even more that she told me over the phone.”
Listen, there are people that we would love to be around and fellowship with, but with the bad body odor and bad breath we find it unacceptable and we are forced to keep our distance lest we throw up.
Many Christians are in the church today, and God wants to bless and use them but He can’t because spiritually they need to buy a gallon of Listerine and do some serious mouth gargling!
Listen, if the blessings of God are not on your life today as a child of God, you do not need to leave here wondering why He is not blessing you or using you. YOU NEED TO COME DOWN TO THIS OLD FASHIONED ALTAR AND GET SOME THINGS RIGHT WITH GOD. When you do, He will bless you and use you…BUT NOT UNTIL THEN!
Illus: Can you imagine an old hog farmer that has been with those stinking hogs all day long and now he smells like them. He comes home and his lovely wife has taken a shower and she has that KNOCK OUT PERFUME ON, and he walks in smelling like a hog and says, “Come here baby, I want to give you a big hug and a kiss!”
After she gives him a full-back stiff-arm, she will tell him, “You go can clean up and then come back and we will fulfill your desires…BUT NOT UNTIL THEN.”
God sends a call to the SAINTS! They are to live a Holy life and when they do He will draw nigh unto them…BUT NOT UNTIL THEN!
Illus: A grandfather and a grandmother were in a gift shop looking for something to give their granddaughter for her birthday.
Suddenly the grandmother spots a beautiful vase, “Look at this lovely piece of work”, she says to her husband. He picks it up and says, “You’re right, this is one of the loveliest vases I have ever seen.”
At that point something remarkable happened. Something that could only happen in a children’s book. The vase says to the grandparents. “Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn’t always beautiful.”
Instead of being surprised that the vase can talk, the grandfather asks it, what it means when it says it wasn’t always beautiful.
Well, says the vase, “Once I was just an ugly soggy lump of clay. But one day some man with dirty wet hands threw me on a wheel. Then he started turning me around and around until I got so dizzy I couldn’t see straight. ‘Stop..Stop’ I cried. But the man with the wet hands said, ‘Not Yet!’ Then he started to poke me and punch me until I hurt all over, ‘Stop..Stop’ I cried, but the man said ‘Not Yet’. Each time I thought he was through, he would crumble and roll me up and began to poke and punch me again.”
“Finally he did stop. But then he did something much worse, he put me into a furnace. It got hotter and hotter until I couldn’t stand it. ‘Stop..Stop’. I cried. But the man said, ‘Not Yet’. Finally when I thought I was going to burn up, the man took me out of the furnace.”
“Then some short lady began to paint me, and the fumes got so bad that they made me feel sick. ‘Stop…Stop..’ I cried. ‘Not Yet’” said the lady. Finally she did stop, but then she gave me back to the man and he put me back into that awful furnace. This time it was hotter than before. ‘Stop…Stop” I cried, but the man said ‘Not Yet’.
“Finally he took me out of the furnace and let me cool. When I was completely cool, a pretty lady put me on this shelf, next to this mirror. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I was amazed, I could not believe what I saw. I was no longer ugly, soggy and dirty; I was beautiful, firm and clean. I cried for joy. It was then I realized that all the pain was worthwhile. Without it I would still be an ugly, soggy lump of wet clay. It was then that all the pain took on new meaning for me. It had passed, but the beauty it brought has remained.”
The Lord is the Potter, and he wants to make every child of God into a vessel He can bless and use. But we can only be used and blessed of God as we become HOLY VESSELS.
Many Christians have been saved by the grace of God but they live like the lost after they are saved.
The next thing we are to do after we have become saved by the grace of God is to PRESENT OUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE THAT IS HOLY, THAT HE CAN USE.
We see GOD’S CALL TO THE SAINTS and . . .
II. GOD’S CALL TO SINNERS
God calls to every sinner to leave their sins and He will save them. If they are smart they will answer His call.
Look at Titus 2:11, we read, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”
Sometimes you can talk to lost folks about salvation and they will make you think that they are a bigger SINNER THAN GOD IS A SAVIOR. But the only kind of salvation the Bible talks about is a WHOSOEVER SALVATION. It does not matter how BIG A SINNER YOU ARE, the Lord is a BIG ENOUGH SAVIOR TO SAVE YOU!
There might be some in this congregation, that will die and go to a Christ-less eternity. I pray to God this will not be the case, but if you do go . . .
• IT WILL NOT BE BECAUSE HE HASN’T CALLED YOU TO SALVATION
• IT WILL BE BECAUSE HE CALLED YOU AND YOU WOULD NOT RESPOND
Hell is full of people today who would not RESPOND TO HIS CALLING! But here is the sad thing today; THEY ARE CALLING ON GOD, AND GOD IS NOT RESPONDING TO THEIR CALL.
The Bible says, “Today is the day of salvation!” No man or woman will go to Hell because God did not call them and try to warn them. They will go because He did call, but they would not listen to His call.
The Lord had many experiences while He was here on earth, but one of the last experiences He had was between two men that hung on crosses beside him.
Look at Luke 23:39-41, we read, “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE TWO MEN?
A. ONE HAD A CHANGE OF HEART
One of these men had a CHANGED HEART. Before the Lord won Him to Himself, he was wicked as any that were there. As a matter of fact, earlier during the crucifixion, he was hurling insults at Jesus too.
Look at Mark 15:32, we read, “Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they (Plural) that were crucified with him reviled him.”
This verse shows us that they both were insulting Jesus as He hung on the cross. But at some point, one of these men had a change of heart. Something happened during the crucifixion that changed his heart. And the Lord assured him that THIS DAY HE WOULD BE IN PARADISE!
He recognized this ONE who was being crucified beside him was not only DYING WITH him, but DYING FOR him.
He accepted that he was getting exactly what he deserved. Justice is when we get what we deserve.
But when we accept Christ as our Saviour, WE GET FORGIVENESS, WE GET MERCY!
So, one man had a change of heart. He knew he needed Jesus.
B. ONE HAD A CALLUSED HEART
God is calling some of you that are here today. From a heart of love and with outstretched arms He is calling you to come to Him before it is too late. But your heart has become so callous that His call can not reach your heart.
You have heard the devil say that you have plenty of time to give your heart to Christ. But lost soul, let me tell you how close you are to a devil’s hell:
• You are only one heart beat away
• You are only one breath away
• You are only one moment away
Won’t you soften your heart today and heed God’s calling? IT MAY BE THE LAST TIME HE WILL EVER CALL!
Conclusion:
We all have a choice. God is calling, but you must decide if you will answer His call today.
• The people on the day of Pentecost made the decision to follow Jesus. King Agrippa made the decision not to.
• One criminal on the cross decided to repent, the other refused.
We all have a choice!
• Some will choose to answer His call, and one day they will spend eternity with Him in heaven.
• Some will choose to not to answer His call and they will spend eternity in Hell.
We have looked at:
I. GOD’S CALL TO SAINTS
II. GOD’S CALL TO SINNERS
