STOP THE CLOCK….. AND START IT OVER AGAIN
When Time Starts Again
Scripture Reading Ezra 3: 10-13
It has been five years since
It has been two years since…
It has been ten years since…
It has been six years since…
It has been fifty years since…
Perhaps you have heard these phrases echoed in your ears over and over again. Some associated with bad events:
It has been two years since my son disappeared.
It has been five years since I was diagnosed with HIV
It has been ten years since I was in the accident
Or some in association with wonderful events
It has been ten year since I was marriedWhat ever the situation it has most often been associated with life changing events. Clock stopping events: Events that stop the clock in your life, and then start it all ticking again.
It has been two years since I have been baptized
It has been ten year since I accepted Jesus Christ into my life
Events that cause us to start measuring time from the moment they occurred.
The title for this sermon is STOP THE CLOCK.
PRAYER
In the year was 536 BC there was buzz amongst the Jewish people Cyrus had issued a decree that all the Jews desirous of returning to Jerusalem could do so. Those who were not going were to assist those who desired to go. The past had caught up with the present: Jeremiah’s prediction that the Jews would be 70 years in captivity then they would return home, was about to be fulfilled, the time had come.
For them the clock had stopped ticking. Returning to their home land was the greatest event in the history of their lives. They were some who had never seen Jerusalem, they had only heard the tales of oldsters: They longed to see if all that they had heard was true;
They were those who came as young men and had grown old in a strange land they longed to return to the land of their youth.
And they were those who did not care less for Jerusalem and its history but it offered a chance to get away from the miserable existence which they now endured. Together these played their part in the fulfillment of the prophecy.
Then they were those who had made a home in Babylon, they had formed friendships and association and found it hard to break with the present for a taste of the past, they would remain. They names would be lost to the Jewish annals of history/legacy forever.
It is always an exciting time to return home. How excited we shall be when we return home, back to Eden renewed. The Bible tells us in Rev. 22:1,2 And he showed me, a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out to the throne of God and of the lamb.
In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits and yield her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Isaiah tells us in chp. 65:25 the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat.
But that’s not all, Paul tells us in 1 corth. 2:9 … Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But before we get there we must heed God’s call to ;
the unconsecrated to be consecrated ;
the uncommitted to be committed;
to the unsurrendered to be surrendered;
to the unsaved to be saved
How long God asks will you halt between two decisions, if the LORD be God serve him. Stop the clock and start it again with new frame of mind.
Let the unconsecrated become consecrated in the service of Jesus Christ
Let the uncommitted become committed to the LORD Jesus Christ
Let the unsurrendered, surrender his will to God
And let the unsaved give his heart to Jesus Christ and be saved. Stop the clock. You can start it again.
Once you have done so my friends the first task you must perform is to build the altar of God. The bible tells us one of the first tasks the Jews set out to do on reaching Jerusalem is to build the altar of God; Ezra 3: 2
[Ezra 3:2, 3] Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offering thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
This is top priority in war we must always be in touch with the commander general. Communication is essential if the war is to be won and the altar is the communication centre. Here is where we spend special time relating to God. In a world which is fast pace many find little time for pray. It is done in a flippant and hurried way so that the business at hand can be dealt with but we cannot operate in this vain if we are to be committed, consecrated, surrendered Christ saved Christians.
THE POEM
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 then 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 I never found the time"
We have to stop the clock on the way we delegate our time and started it again with time allocated for altar worship.
The Jews knew the importance of worship to their success not only spiritually but physically as well. Wasn’t it Hezekiah who being surrounded and taunted by Sennacherib, opened his letter before God (2 Kings 19:14; Is. 37:14). And God delivered the Israelites from his hand. Time spent at the foot of the throne cannot be considered as time wasted but time well invested.
The Jews did not seek only to build the altar but they set about to build the temple as well Ezra 3: 10-13.
[Ezra 3:10-13]10And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: 13So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.
The building of the temple was for those who had not seen the first temple a source of joy but for those who knew what the first temple was like it was a source of sorrow. Brothers and sisters we cannot allow the past to rob us of the joys of the present. We have to know when to stop the clock and get a new perspective. Oldsters still had they clock ticking but God was setting a new agenda. For it was to this house the Son of God would come, thus the prophet Haggai declared: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, Haggai 2:9.
Yet there is still a greater temple Paul declares in 1Co. 3:16 know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Yes each of us, as we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is therefore imperative that we conduct ourselves in such a manner as to honour his presence in our lives. The temple made with hands was much respected and revered. What about our body temple. Should we allow it to be defiled by the things we say and do?
When we come to Christ we cannot be looking back and longing for the things we use to do, we cannot be comparing with regret what we have now to that which was before. We are on a new agenda. The past may have seem glamorous to us what God has in store for us far outweighs that which our pass life could offer.
There shall also be a mixture of weeping and laughter at the coming of the Son of Man.
Perhaps you have lost that first love you once had, Jesus says come
Perhaps you have heard told about the goodness of God, Jesus says come
Perhaps life has shared you a bad deal, to you too, Jesus says come
It does not matter who you are, where you may have been or what you have done Jesus says come. Stop the clock and start it again with Jesus Christ.
