INTRO.- ILL.- There was once an earthquake, which terrified residents. One couple sent their little boy to stay with an uncle in another town, explaining the reason for the nephew’s sudden visit. A day later the parents got an e-mail, which read, “AM RETURNING YOUR BOY. SEND THE EARTHQUAKE.”
We’ve all known a few children like that. While some children can be very irritating, earthquakes can be quite devastating. We do live in the New Madrid Fault, you know. I have read there is a possibility that the chance of a major earthquake could happen in the next 40 years. Are you afraid? Are you quaking from fear?
ILL.- If you fear, here are some EARTHQUAKE SAFETY TIPS.
- Those living in areas not prone to earthquakes can respond quickly to the plight of disaster victims in quake zones by complacently smirking and saying, "I told you so."
- To minimize loss and damage in a quake, try not to own things.
- A doorway is the safest place to be during a quake. Eat, sleep and work in doorways.
- Be sure to mail your house insurance payments a full five business days before a major earthquake strikes.
- In the event of a quake, get under something heavy, such as a desk, a table or your uncle.
- If you are caught in a major earthquake in Southern California and are part of the entertainment industry, take a moment or two to reflect on how grossly you’ve wasted your life.
The end may be near, but not by means of an earthquake. It could happen by death, which will some day come to all people.
Heb. 9:27 “…Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
Death will come. When and by what means? We do not know. Only the Lord knows. I think we all know, however, that a person doesn’t have to be old to die.
ILL.- This obituary came from the Southeast Missourian, Cape Girardeau, MO. Timothy Michael Jordan, 26, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004, in an automobile accident on North West End Boulevard.
He was born Feb. 12, 1977, in Perryville, Mo., son of Dennis and Beverly Jordan. He and Cassie Ponder were married May 13, 2000, in Cape Girardeau. Jordan was employed at Tatmandu Tattoo. He was a member of Faith Baptist Temple.
Survivors include his wife; two sons, Dylan and Timothy Jordan; his mother; and a brother, Thomas Jordan, all of Cape Girardeau.
Death comes to all and at some very unexpected times and ages.
It is so sad in many ways to see life come to an end at such an early age. But often, death comes even earlier for some. I’ve had memorial services for babies, infants, small children, teens, young people and older adults.
Death is no respecter of age or person. Do you fear death? I think all people have a certain amount of fear for death. We don’t know when or how. This concerns us.
In our text, Paul said, “The Lord is near.” What does He mean by this? It is comforting to know that the Lord is near to us. If anybody loves us, cares about us and is with us through thick and thin, it’s the Lord. And He’s on our side! He is not against us like some people preach. The Lord is a lover of the human soul. His love is enduring, lasting, compassionate, gracious, etc. We all need to realize just how much the Lord is near us and loves us and is on our side.
THE LORD IS NEAR. Most commentators believe that Paul is talking about the Lord’s second coming.
I Thess. 4:13-18 “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
What a beautiful and powerful passage about the Lord’s return. AND HE WILL RETURN! Speculation will do us no good, but preparation will do a great deal of good.
The end may be near because the Lord may return. The end of this life on earth may be near.
PROP.- In the light of the end, however it comes, what should we do? Paul gives us some clear-cut things to do.
1- Be gentle
2- Pray always
3- Think right
4- Practice good
I. BE GENTLE
V. 5 “Let your gentleness be evident to all.”
ILL.- In a Peanut’s cartoon Lucy addressed Snoopy: “There are times when you really bug me, but there are also times when I feel like giving you a hug.” Snoopy replied, “That’s the way I am, huggable and bugable.”
It’s true that people can be both huggable and bugable. It’s easy to hug some people whereas it’s easy to get irate with others. Still, we are supposed to be gentle and kind to all.
ILL.- Bridgitte Bardot, sex symboly of 60’s said, “I hate humanity. I am allergic to it. I see no one. I don’t go out. I am disgusted with everything. Men are beasts, and even beasts don’t behave like them.”
Wow! With an attitude like that it would be hard to be nice to people and yet, that is exactly what we are supposed to do… be nice to all people, including men and dogs!
In the light of the return of Christ we must gentle and kind to all people. Why? Because that’s the way of Christ. That’s the way a Christian should act toward others at all times.
ILL.- I was in Wal-Mart last Thursday. I went to the vision center to get my eyeglasses repaired. While I was there a man came in and started complaining about going to the new Sam’s Club that morning.
Apparently, the first two hours was for businesses only and they wouldn’t let him in to look around. In the vision center, he ranted and raved, cussed and discussed about that incident to the vision center lady. I MEAN, HE WAS NOT NICE! He used some choice words, which were not good. And I thought to myself, “Either he is not a Christian or else a poor one at best, because that was no way to act over a little irritation like that.”
Brothers and sisters, some people in our world don’t know how to be nice, kind or gentle. They want to throw their weight around everywhere they go and make sure everybody knows it. But this is not the way we are supposed to be.
ILL.- I recall when George Bush Sr. was president he said one thing that stuck in my mind. He said, “We need a kinder and gentler America.”
We need a kind and gentler Christian population, for sure. You can’t count on the unconverted of the world, but we should be able to count on all Christians.
II Tim. 2:24-25 “And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone… Those who oppose him he must gently instruct…”
Let your gentleness be evident to all, Paul said. In the light of the return of Christ, we need to be kind and gentle to all people. How can we ever hope to do any good and draw people to Christ and His church if we don’t do this? We must be caught being kind, not cruel, not rude, not crude.
II. PRAY ALWAYS
V. 6-7
ILL.- Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, "Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask."
She put him up in the cart and he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies and he stood up in the seat and said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all.” So he sat back down.
They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back in the cookie aisle. “Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down and be quiet.”
Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this was his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart and shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?” And everybody around about laughed. Some even applauded. And, according to Paul Harvey, due to the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy and his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies. IT PAYS TO ASK AND IT PAYS TO ASK IN THE NAME OF JESUS!
Brothers and sisters, we believe in the value and power of prayer. We don’t believe it’s just a matter of asking and receiving. We don’t believe that God is some kind of errand boy to do our bidding and running and fetching, but we do believe that He is our all-loving God who cares about us and wants to bless us.
Matt. 7:11 “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.” What a wonderful promise!
Paul said, “Don’t be anxious about anything…” It’s hard in our day and time not to be anxious about something. We live in a stress-filled society.
Stress is evident almost everywhere we go: at work, in the home, on the roads, while shopping, paying bills, etc. We feel pressured to do this, to go there, to see this, to take care of that, to pay this, to pay that, etc.
ILL.- Someone wrote to Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH. “I’m writing in response to your column bemoaning the fact that Americans just can’t seem to be persuaded to save money. I know I speak for many middle-class Americans who live from paycheck to paycheck who want to know: Are you stupid or just insensitive?
“I usually read the first paragraph of your column to see if it will have anything of value to anyone who isn’t rich, and I rarely read beyond that because you seem to assume that all Americans have lots of money and just prefer to spend it all.
“My husband and I each have a full-time job that doesn’t pay a lot, and we each have a part-time job that pays just a little but helps put food on the table. We managed to put one child through college and are working on the second, with the help of scholarships but a lot more in loans.
“We are deep in debt and don’t envision getting out of it any time soon. We would be thrilled if there were any money left over after paying most of the bills each month.”
That’s stressful! And many people are experiencing that kind of stress. Who hasn’t?
Stress is everywhere and it hits us almost daily. What can we do? Where can we go to get some relief? WE CAN GET INTO THE PRESENCE OF OUR LOVING GOD AND TALK WITH HIM!
I Pet. 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
Heb. 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
We need the Lord’s mercy and His grace and IN BIG CHUNKS! Life is tough, rough, rugged, and stressful, even without kids.
God our Father is so in love with us that we can talk to Him about anything and everything! He longs to hear from us! And especially, when we add “thank you, thank you, thank you.”
He is pleased and praised when we spend time with Him, talking to Him, sharing our lives with Him, including our burdens. We can never spend enough time in the Lord’s presence.
And in the light of His return, we should spend more time with Him. We don’t want Him to think we’re strangers when He comes back. It should be more like a family reunion.
III. THINK RIGHT
V. 8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
ILL.- Ever heard of ”Television Intoxication”? TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A man who claimed the violence on television made him kill an elderly neighbor will be getting out of prison a year early. The Florida parole board voted 2-1 to parole Ronny Zamora this June instead of in 2005, as originally scheduled.
Zamora’s trial for a 1977 murder was the first to be televised in Florida and remains one of the most sensational in its history. His attorney argued that Zamora, who was then 15, was a victim of “television intoxication.”
While we might laugh at the term “Television intoxication,” there is some truth to this. People can become addicted to almost anything and TV is one of them.
ILL.- David Frost said, “Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you would not have in your home.”
ILL.-Charles Colson in AGAINST THE NIGHT, p. 41 wrote, “Long before the advent of television, long before Johnny Carson and David Letterman, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) wrote: ‘Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land...I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used.’”
ILL.- Michael Medved, Hollywood vs. America, wrote, “Television may be responsible for doubling our crime rate in the United States, suggests Brandon Centerwall, psychiatrist at the University of Washington, in a recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association."
What do these things mean to us? THE MIND MATTERS!
Prov. 27:19 “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart (or mind) reflects the man.”
Prov. 23:7 KJV “For as he thinketh in his heart (or mind), so is he.”
Evil thinking produces evil actions. And when the mind is set on evil whether on TV or whatever, it is bound to think evil and do evil.
In the light of the return of Christ we all need to think right, which means we must set our minds on those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy.
There are some things that should be avoided in this world. Evil things rub off and so do good things, but it seems like there is more evil than good. Consequently we have to make an effort to set our minds on those good things. This makes a whole lot of sense when we consider how holy God is!
IV. PRACTICE GOOD
V. 9 “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.”
ILL.- Study: Mom’s Diet May Affect Baby’s Life. Jan 28, 9:30 PM (ET) By ALICIA CHANG Experiments with mice suggest that life span may be related to what your mother ate during pregnancy.
The new study at Cambridge University in England shows that pregnant mice fed a well-balanced diet had babies that lived longer, healthier lives. Mice that were undernourished in the womb and ate a poor diet as adults died prematurely.
"Growth during prenatal life has a very powerful impact on longevity," said Kent Thornburg, a fetal physiologist at Oregon Health Sciences University.
Brothers and sisters, what we take into our bodies does affect what comes out and what a mother takes into her body will affect her unborn body. This should be a given. Garbage in, garbage out. Good food in, better health in the mother and the baby.
The point is: What the mother does affects her unborn baby!
ILL.- For example, my daughter and her husband, Holly and Chris Santasiere had their second child, baby Caleb, April 20, 2003. He is absolutely the happiest baby I have ever seen. They are blessed tremendously. This boy seldom ever cries or fusses. I’ve never seen a baby as good as he is. How could this happen? I think I know at least part of the answer.
Holly and Chris try to eat good food, but it goes far beyond eating good food. They have tried to live a good, Christian life: going to church, prayer, reading God’s Word, and living a life of love and joy. While pregnant, they would talk to the baby and Holly would sing to the baby. Older sister Hope would pat mama’s tummy, as if to love baby brother.
Do I think these actions made a difference? You bet I do!
If what we do affects an unborn baby just think how our actions affect little children and others by what we do in life! We need to practice doing good things in life because the Lord has told us to do such, but we also should do these things as an example to others!
WHAT WE DO AFFECTS OTHERS! And we should want to affect others in a good and positive way. Someone will follow our example. Consequently, we need to make it a good example.
ILL.- Someone said, “The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not, ‘What a lovely sermon,’ but ‘I WILL DO SOMETHING.’”
I do want to preach sermons that motivate people to do something, to do good things in life. We all should want to motivate people to do good. But do you realize that our greatest motivation is not our words? It’s what we do in life.
ILL.- It’s like this Michael Jackson case. I am not here to judge him. We have no right to judge anyone, but his actions are speaking louder than his words and it doesn’t look good.
Millions of young people are followers of Michael Jackson. I wonder what they must think now? I wonder what they will do now? I wonder how they will “act” now?
In the light of the return of Christ, we must practice doing good in order to please God and be an example to others.
CONCLUSION----------------------------------
ILL.- Someone said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” We need a plan of action in life. Some spontaneous things are good, but for the most part, we must plan to live right, be gentle, think right, and do good. We must plan to please the Lord always! The Lord is near.
