gOING AHEAD
This morning I want to share with you a concern that I have. We are faced with uncertain times. This life (as we know it) offers us no guarantees. Most of us have learned the hard way that we can only live one day at a time.
And if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, than you know that there can be no denying what I am about to say. We are living in what the Bible has referred to as the “last days”.
Listen to these scriptures regarding the times we now live in.
Acts 2:17
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
THOSE WITHOUT THE SAVIOR
2 Tim 3:1-2
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,
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
2 Pet 3:3-4
…there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
Text: Luke 17:26 through 33
Prayer:
There has been a lot of attention given recently to the controversy (known to everyone) as Y2K.
More specifically the upcoming calendar change and how it may or may not affect the computer age we live in.
The big question facing our nation (and the world) is:
“Will our lives, and/or our well being, be threatened or at the very least inconvenienced with the changes taking place in computers when the clock strikes 12 midnight, on December 31, 1999?”
Perhaps you have heard this matter discussed and debated on television, the radio and the newspapers. Even Bill Gates the guru of computers doesn’t even know just what to expect. I am no Bill Gates, but this much I do know is that everyone seems to have a different opinion as to what will take place.
There are people this morning who are living in fear about all this excitement. They are sandbagging their basements that are stockpiled with rations and fresh water. Scared half out of their wits about all of this.
Whether you are a born again believer or not, this dilemma (to one degree, or another) seems to be having an impact on almost everyone.
Quite frankly my opinion about all of this excitement probably won’t mean much to you. So I will keep that to myself. I don’t have an opinion to give, but I do have a concern about how this is affecting people everywhere.
You see, while everyone is buzzing about Y2K they are forgetting what is really the issue today.
That is, we should be asking ourselves questions like:
1. What is the most important thing that people should be aware of this morning?
2. Who is the most important person that people should know this morning?
Answer – What = The soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ
Who = The Person of Jesus Christ
My point is Satan has done it again, while in these last days people should be getting right with God.
But instead, Satan has lured many people’s attention away from what is really about to happen.
Church, Jesus is coming again.
As we live out these final days we cannot allow ourselves
• to look for anything else to take place, but the coming of the Lord
• to be distracted with fears of a Y2K disaster, but excited about seeing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
It is only natural for the church, that is the Bride of Jesus Christ to be looking forward to and excited about the fact that Jesus is coming soon.
GOD EXPECTS A PREPARATION
This morning I am compelled to tell you what God has told me. These are the last days. The Lord will soon be judging –
• Right from wrong
• Good from evil
• Holiness from mediocrity
• Sheep from the goats
• God’s righteousness from the devil’s sin and death
I must warn everyone here in such a way that will cause you to prepare yourself and your family for the days ahead.
Some of you may have come today burdened down with what happened to you yesterday, last week, of even years ago.
I beg of you to understand that what happened to you yesterday, last week, or last year will never be as important as what you will face in the very near future.
My friend, you have to be ready for anything.
It is what lies ahead that each of us needs to consider today.
I believe God wants us all (as Christians) to GET READY, and to GO AHEAD-
1. To what you know is good – don’t follow the crowd that is wandering aimlessly through this life without giving any account to the Lord and His ways.
2. With your spiritual growth – don’t wait until you feel like you want to learn more about serving Christ.
3. Actively pursue the God given call on your life – don’t accept mediocrity (in your walk with God.)
4. Step out in faith – live your spiritual life to it’s fullest
On the other hand, I would like to tell you that all is well with what is going on in our world today. I realize (for most people) things look pretty good. Many of us have experienced great blessings that God has sent us.
GOD EXPECTS APPRECIATION
Question – Do we understand where blessings come from?
They come from God! Not from man, or this world, or a computer.
The blessing in our lives are not from anyone else, but God.
No one can take credit for anything good that has ever happened in my life.
A computer will not determine your destiny with God!
Listen carefully. As a born again believer, we receive everything that is good into our lives from Father God.
This is important for each of us to understand, because many of the things this world has to offer has been tainted.
We need to make a PREPARATION to meet God, while having an APPRECIATION for what He has done for us.
As well, we must remember that Satan knows his time is running out. Satan is out to -
1. steal from you the blessings of God
2. destroy anything and everything that is good and holy
3. do everything he can to lull any, or all of us, into his wicked scheme of destruction
Folks, there is no doubt in my heart that these are (truly) the last days. I didn’t say that to frighten any of us. Actually, this should encourage those of us that long to see Jesus.
1Thes 4:16-18
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Remember, the sooner we are taken from this world the sooner we will be in the presence of the King of Kings, the Master of this universe, the very Prince of our Peace.
But in the meantime we live in troubling times.
We have seen how America has chosen to glamorize certain people in the limelight for their lack of morals and values.
Today, promiscuity is looked on by many people as an acceptable standard for living.
Many people believe that -
• It is okay to lie about anything, for any reason.
• If you want to be successful at anything in life, you are going to have to get greedy enough to get it.
It is time we face the facts. The morals and the spiritual future of this nation are under an attack.
In the history of our nation, spiritual morality has always cycled on and off, hot and cold.
I am hoping and praying that if the Lord does tarry, we will see another move by Americans to return to God.
We have only to consider what Jesus spoke to us in Luke 17. He told us what these last days would be like.
They will be like the days of Noah, and the days of Lot.
Many of us hear what Jesus has said here, but it may still be hard for us to fully understand the gravity of this.
THE DAYS OF NOAH AND LOT–
These two stories are very similar to each other. Out of all of the people on the face of the Earth (at that time) there was only a small family that was obedient to the Lord.
God called that family just as He is calling you out today.
The story of Noah is told that “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth…” God judged man for his sins. What is so amazing is found in Genesis 6:8 where it says,
“…Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
I hope that you sir, you ma’am have found God’s grace in His eyes.
With the promise of judgment coming:
• How difficult those days must have been for Noah and his family to witness the way their friends and family were living?
• How sincere of relationship Noah and his family must have had to hold fast to the command God had given them?
The same goes for the family of Lot. Lot was responsible for the spiritual safety and well being of his family.
Only a small family:
• walked away from Sodom and Gemorah that day
• let what was behind and walked up that mountain side towards God
• listened to the voice of God telling them to GO AHEAD
• had to leave behind their friends and things of their past
• knew that the time had come, there would not be another chance to go to God for their deliverance from the coming judgment
Church, the things of this life are changing very rapidly. Time as we know it are running out for those that are without the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
It is time you GO AHEAD, don’t look back to where you have come from.
Conclusion:
Jesus told us to “…remember Lot’s Wife…” Lot’s wife:
1. Disobeyed the command of the Lord
2. Did not believe that Sodom and Gemorah would be destroyed; she believed she would still be safe there if she had stayed
3. Was more concerned about the things she owned and the friends she had left behind than she was about the judgment of God
4. Was wanting to take her chances and go back to the life she once lived
Phil 3:13
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
