What's God Up To Part 2

WHAT’S GOD UP TO PART 2: THE RESCUE PLAN

Eph. 2:1-10

Feb.3, 2002 Grace International Baptist Church

Vacationing in Arizona, a group of Brit. tourists spots a cowboy by the side of the road, with his ear to the ground. "What’s going on?" they asked.

" 2 horses, one grey one chestnut, are puliing a wagon carrying 2 men" the cowboys says.

"One man is wearing a red shirt and the other a black shirt." "They’re heading east."

"Wow, u can tell all that just by listening to the ground?" says one of the tourist.

"No" replies the cowboy. "They just ran over me."

perhaps this week you feel like u’ve been run over as well. Things look bleak, see here out west BC govt is moving with cutbacks, imposed legislation on the teachers to get their disputes settled, teachers then threaten that this is first day of more unsettled labor dispute, loss of many job in one of BC’s biggest industries, forestry, Bin Laden is now threatening more violence, terror... News get worst!

A while ago, Minnesota Crime Commission, released this statement, u gotta hear this:

"Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centred. He wants what he wants when he wants it - his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmates’ toys, his uncles’s watch. Deny him these once, and he seethes with rage and agressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He is, in fact, dirty. He has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. This means that all children - not juts certain children - are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in the self-centred world of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions, to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal - a thief, a killer or a rapist."

The Minnesota Crime Commission has in effect indicted the whole human race!

Read Jas. 4:1-2 Makes you shudder, the description is so close!

"Surely I have been a sinner from BIRTH, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Ps.51:5 (NIV)

No need to go far into history to see how much evil is perpetrated by humans on a daily basis, Sept.11th, terrorism is world wide! See in the Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, France, Middle East! Accidents daily on the roads cause of speed by folks who need to get there 2 minutes faster than everyone else; even to where I move recently, in Richmond, I hear now, it is becoming a dumpsite for toxic waste from Portland, OR?

As we see crime, corruption, terroism, pollution, no matter how hard we try the dark side of humanity is overwhelming, can u see why God says that people are...

The news is bad!

Is there any hope?

1. UNRESPONSIVE: dead, doomed forever… (v.1)

LIKE A CORPSE... so dead can’t move, respond - so we follow the devil...

Like this story:

At the start of every Mass, the priest would make the sign of the cross, followed as usual by the entrance song and the blessing, after which the congregation responded, "And also with you."

One Sunday, after making the sign of the cross, our priest appeared to be having difficulty with the sound system during the singing of the entrance hymn. At the conclusion of the song, the priest said, "There seems to be something wrong with the mike."

The congregation automatically responded, "And also with you."

--Patrick Tayao (from Reader Contributions in Reader’s Digest, 1996)

Yes there’s soemthing wrong, but not with the mike, the congregation’s automatic response "and also with you" hits the nail right on the button. All of us unresponsive to God, something wrong with us and u and u. Unthinkingly we respond with no response to God.

Came about as a result ...

21So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam,... 22Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man… 1 Cor. 15:21-22 (NLT)

DEAD! that’s us!

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely DIE. Genesis 2:16,17 (NIV)

Ø Major implication: Death penalty is a reality! It is in force, enforced, and a force to be reckoned with. Misery, pain, separation, destructive force, the anguish - it is universal in its application. No one escapes it. Something is wrong!

The pain of death reminds us something is just not right!

What happens after death?

“Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2 (NLT)

Ø Jesus explains to His disciples what is meant by everlasting contempt in Mark 9:43-48 (NASB)