Sleeping Saints

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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Pastor James May

SLEEPING SAINTS

(This illustration was adopted and modified for this sermon from an illustration that was posted to the following Internet web address: http://storm.cs.swau.edu/pipermail/vga-l/2001-November/000510.html)

ILLUSTRATION:

There is a plague that seems to have stricken the church. At first glance it seems to be encephalitis, better known as “the sleeping sickness”, but news reports have begun to surface indicating that these sicknesses are the result of certain “cell groups” who perpetrate satanically inspired attacks upon the Children of God.

Here is a News Bulletin that I received in our church email today. It’s important that you all hear and listen carefully because this could mean the difference between life and death to our church and to each of us individually.

Latest news reports claim that 5 terrorist’s cell groups, specially trained in Spiritual Warfare have been identified as operating in all parts of the Church world. The Security Chief for the World Church Council advised earlier today there are actually 6 cells working in the Church but that the sixth is not a terrorist organization and is actively engaged in the identification and eradication of those cells that are determined to rid the world of true Christianity. The five destructive terrorist cells must be eradicated as soon as possible.

The five terrorist cell groups are led and organized by their leaders whose names they have personified by their actions. Here are there names so that you can be on the lookout for them:

Osomehave Bin Sleeping

Osomehave Bin Arguing

Osomehave Bin Fighting

Osomehave Bin Complaining

Osomehave Bin Missing

Each of these leaders is trained in subversive spiritual warfare by their chief, Bin Lucifer, for the purpose of defeating the Body of Christ. Their mode of operation is to come into the Church disguised as followers of Jesus Christ then work within each fellowship to discourage, disrupt, and to destroy each part of the work that is going on.

The sixth and smallest cell group in the Church is Osomehave Bin Working. Of all the cells that are in the Church this group is the easiest to spot, they are the only group that is active in ministry. The terrorist cell groups may not be seen so easily because they blend in with whoever and whatever comes along and are not easily spotted.

The Bin Working Cell will be seen doing whatever is needed to uplift and encourage the Body of Christ. The Security Chief for the World Church Council states that he has noticed that the Bin Working cell group has different characteristics than the others; they are led by several strong leaders whose names have been identified as:

Osomehave Bin Watching

Osomehave Bin Waiting,

Osomehave Bin Praying

Osomehave Bin Longing Jesus Christ to return.

We have also been instructed that every member of the Body of Christ has already been indoctrinated and absorbed into one of the above described cell groups within the church without even realizing that it has happened. Each member is instructed to examine their own mind, heart and activities to see which of these cell groups has had their impact upon your spirit!

While the illustration given above may be based upon current events, the message that is given is not new to the heart of man. I want us to take a look at an example in the Old Testament, of a Prophet of God who was stricken with a “sleeping sickness” when he should have been involved in Spiritual Warfare. This was to be his only assignment as a Prophet. There is no record anywhere that this prophet was ever given another message to deliver and he came very near missing out on the one opportunity to do God’s perfect will for his life.

Jonah 1:1-6, "Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, what meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not."