October 15, 2002
I. Introduction:
A. Review of previous topics
1. Sunday night—we are living in an awful, terrible, and sublime time
2. Monday night—we are hanging by a thread. We are basically living on a life-support system.
3. In view of all of these, tonight, we ask the question—what must we do?
B. Again, the answer to this important question is found in the word of God.
C. Let’s begin our study with a prayer.
II. Body:
A. Two reactions to human condition
1. Worldly reaction
a. Hoarding, stockpiling, amassing the wealth of the world
1) Luke 12:18, “And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.”
a) Amassing of wealth beyond our need
1) The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported in 1998 that the world’s 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That’s equal to the combined annual income of the world’s 2.5 billion poorest people.
2) The wealth of the three most well-to-do individuals now exceeds the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the 48 least developed countries.
3) Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has more wealth than the bottom 45 percent of American households combined.
4) According to Trusts and Estates Magazine, August 2000, Forty-five percent of America’s millionaires are younger than age 55.
b) Exceeding in our consumption of the world’s resources
1) In 1998, 20 percent of the world’s people living in the highest-income countries accounted for 86 percent of total private consumption expenditures while the poorest 20 percent accounted for only 1.3 percent.
b. Take it easy
1) Luke 12:19, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”
a) Procrastination
1) I will serve God after I am married
2) I will go to the church when I have already attained my ambition
3) I will serve Him when I have already purchased my dream house or dream car.
4) I will be serious about my spirituality when I have done my studies.
5) I will worship Him after I have explored the world.
6) I will accept Him when I am retired.
b) Take the easy road
1) Matthew 7:13, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.”
2) I will accept Him when it is convenient for me.
a. Paul’s defense before Festus, King Agrippa, and his wife, Bernice.
b. Acts 26:28, “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”
c. Almost, but not persuaded
d. Almost, but not saved
e. Almost, but not forgiven
2) Amos 6:1, “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountains of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came.”
c. Eat, and drink
1) Luke 12:19, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”
2) 1 Corinthians 15:32, “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.”
a) While we in the rich "north" worry about dieting, 35,000 people starve to death every day.
b) It is estimated that it would cost $17 billion ($17,000,000,000) a year to provide food, water, education, health and housing for everyone in the world. World spending on military equipment in 1992 was $954 billions!!
d. Be merry
1) At $438 billion in 2001, the United States was the largest market in terms of overall entertainment and media spending. It is projected to expand at a 5.5 percent CAGR through 2006.
2. Reaction from God’s people
a. Watch and pray
1) Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
2) Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
a) W--Words
b) A--Actions
c) T--Time
d) C--Companions
e) H--Habits
3) What is prayer? And why is prayer vital to us?
a) Signs of the Time, January 29, 1902, “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.”
b) Messages to Young People, page 248, “The strength acquired in prayer to God will prepare us for our daily duties. The temptations to which we are daily exposed make prayer a necessity.”
c) Testimonies to the Church, volume 4, page 536, “There is need of fasting, humiliation, and prayer over our decaying zeal and languishing spirituality. The love of many is waxing cold.”
4) But like the disciples, we have neglected the power of prayer.
a) The poem below illustrates this point
i. No Time
I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.
All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of Christ to friends,
They’d laugh at me I’d fear.
No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.
I went before the Lord,
I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book;
It was the book of life.
God looked into his book and said
"Your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down...
But never found the time"
b) Irony of no time
i. No time to pray, but plenty of time play
ii. No time to pray, but plenty of time talking on the phone about nothing
iii. No time to play, but plenty of time watching TV
iv. No time to pray, but plenty of time going shopping
v. No time pray, but plenty of time to read the newspaper.
5) Example of Ezra
a) Ezra 3:1-3
b) As Ezra and God’s people planned to rebuild God’s holy temple, the first thing that they did was to repair the altar of the Lord.
c) Implications:
i. You can have the most beautiful temple, but if the altar of the Lord is broken, the temple is useless.
ii. You can have the most elegant decorations in the temple, but if the altar remained broken, it is useless.
iii. You may have the strongest wall to protect the inhabitants of the city, but if the altar is broken, it cannot protect the people.
iv. You may the best musicians singing in the temple, but if the altar is broken, it is of no value.
b. Confess and repent from our sins
1) Day of Pentecost
2) The promised was being poured out in great measure
3) The disciples were given the ability to speak in different tongues.
4) Peter stood and preached to the crowd
5) Acts 2:37-38, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
6) What is repentance?
1) Turning about face
2) Forsaking that which one was accustomed to do
i. Saul, persecutor of the early Christians, to Paul, defender and preacher of Christ.
ii. C.S. Lewis, from an Oxford atheist, to one of the most beloved Christian authors of the last century.
3) Prayer of repentance
i. The prayer below was given at the opening of the Kansas legislature.
ii. When Pastor Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual politically correct generalities.
iii. But on this day what they heard instead was a stirring prayer passionately calling our country to repentance and righteousness.
iv. The response was immediate with a number of legislators walking out during the prayer. In six short weeks, Central Christian Church logged more than 5,000 phone calls, with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.
v. Commentator Paul Harvey of “The Rest of the Story,” aired Pastor Wright’s prayer in its entirety on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other program Paul Harvey has ever aired. In addition, Central Christian Church where Pastor Joe Wright is a pastor, has received international requests for copies of the prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.
vi. Pastor Joe Wright’s prayer
a. Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that’s exactly what we have done.
b. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
c. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism.
d. We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism.
e. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
f. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
g. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
h. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
i. We have killed our unborn and called it a choice.
j. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
k. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
l. We have abused power and called it political savvy.
m. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
n. We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and called it freedom of expression.
o. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
p. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
q. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state.
r. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will. Amen.
c. Spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him
1. 2 Peter 3:14, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
2. 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
3. 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
d. Never give up!
1. Revelation 3:3, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
2. Revelation 2:25, “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.”
3. Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)”
4. 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”
5. Illustrations:
a) Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper because—now get this—he lacked ideas. After that first failure, he proceeded to go bankrupt several times before he finally built the Magic Kingdom.
b) Babe Ruth struck out 1330 times. Of course, he also hit 714 home runs. But for every home run, he struck out twice.
c) Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors of our time, tried more than a thousand light bulbs before he got it right.
III. Conclusion:
A. The time that we are living is awful and terrible.
B. We can either follow the world or follow what Jesus instructed us to do
C. Depending on our action, the consequence will either be eternal life or eternal death.
D. The choice is ours.
