Holiness: When You Are Out Of Time [Directing Our Lives Toward God]

the title for this session is holiness when you're out of time and it's really a companion to the saturday evening message if you didn't hear that it lives out there in the digital world someplace you go to the website or youtube i know you can find it there but i want to start in first timothy chapter 2 and the first four verses paul is writing to a young man he's mentoring he says i urge you then first of all that request prayers intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness this is good and pleases god our savior who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth excuse me it's a priority statement before we get to any of the the rest of the text he says first of all before you pray for anything else before you do anything else and he commandeers a whole host of kinds of prayers he says requests and prayers and intercession and thanksgiving the prayer is a general word and he's identifying several components of prayer he said use all of those venues before you do anything else to pray for those who have authority over you we have a biblical assignment to pray for those in authority over us authority over us in churches authorities over us in our places of work and employment authority over us in our homes authority over us in our government and then he tells us the outcome that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness the purpose of authority in this world is to promote godliness and holiness that's our prayer that godliness and holiness might be extended are you an advocate for godliness and holiness i mean like an out front open fully throated you're like not timid or shy i stand for godliness and holiness in this world and i'll stand with those who promote it that's our assignment well i want to be sure you know it because i want to encourage you on a daily basis to pray for those in authority over us pray for the place where you work pray for your home pray for our government leaders from the lowest offices in the nation to the highest godliness and holiness is the objective we just completed an election season hallelujah i was grateful to complete it but we have a biblical assignment to pray for those with authority over our lives whether the people you you know sometimes we get this a little wrong if the people you wanted to win win you pray for them and if the people you didn't want to win you say well they're not mine yes they are they have authority over you we have to pray either way and the prayer is the same that godliness and holiness would be promoted it's not arbitrary we have we've got a rule book that godliness and holiness would be promoted that we can live peaceful and quiet lives we can't simply return to our state of indifference the church has been there for too long or the spiritual coma that we found ourselves in at the beginning of 2020 when the disruptions began we have a biblical assignment to be light in our world and we have to continue to pay attention to pray to seek god and to allow god's spirit to work within us the problems we face i've said it many times and i'm quite confident i will repeat it again the problems we face as people are not rooted in the hearts of the ungodly wicked are not our problem the challenge we face is the hearts of god's people we've adopted a little paradigm and i'll commend it to you again you want to watch listen think please don't leave out thinking and and act it's still important that we're engaged in our world there are things happening on a daily basis that impact our futures not just our immediate future but our children and our grandchildren and the church is to be light in the last few days something that's that stepped back into the public arena is something called the equality act if you're not familiar with it you should be it's once again coming before congress congress it's already passed the house of representatives once i got a note this week a notification from franklin graham and i thought he said it better than i could so i'll just quote he said the biden administration has said they want to pass this equality act within their first 100 days and i cannot say this more emphatically for people for businesses and for ministries of faith the equality act is a threat to life as we know it in our nation today it is a real game changer the equality act designates schools churches healthcare organizations as public accommodations and with this schools churches hospitals could be forced to accept the government's beliefs and mandates about sexual orientation and gender identity that would be highly intrusive and incredibly far-reaching it will threaten everyday speech where people can be fined or lose their jobs for using the wrong name or pronouns end quote pay attention think pray it makes a difference you know free speech in general is being closed down now i understand i earned a degree in history it's protected by the first amendment of our constitution it's the first amendment in our bill of rights but never mind the law it is being set aside we have tolerated through the year some very offensive things in an attempt to demonstrate our commitment to the sanctity of freedom of speech you don't have to be a very astute observer to know this we've tolerated the burning of the american flag it's a very offensive act to many many of us but we've tolerated the burning of the flag because we said it was protected by free speech we watched highly compensated athletes some of the most privileged people amongst us refused to stand for the national anthem and we tolerated it and accepted it because we understood it was an expression of free speech but free speech has become a very limited commodity these days if you disagree with the political politically correct ideology of the day you're not extended such grace and understanding you may be fact-checked into silence or your moral compass may be determined to be too broken to allow you to speak freely most recently mr potato head was determined to be an offender mister is a designation that is offensive to some therefore it shouldn't be protected apparently potato head is acceptable this is not new we shouldn't be surprised we've been asleep we couldn't we couldn't could have cared less when i was in graduate school theological graduate school vanderbilt university and it's been a while if i referred to god as father which is a part of my personal belief system as well as scripture i was told that it was insensitive and offensive whether it was in a paper or a public presentation i had to change my language my presentation or suffer the consequences this is not a new thing we need clarity on this freedom of speech is not just for the pornographers or those who don't respect the history of our nation or for those who don't embrace the judeo-christian worldview it's for all of us we're light in this world and we have to have the courage to understand that we talk about our responsibilities to the world we live in a broken fallen world there is tremendous suffering and pain and what do we do and how do we respond it's not simple there just aren't very many easy answers it's why we have to watch and listen and prayerfully respond i've encouraged you to to think globally but to act locally it's who we are in our homes and our communities that that make a difference we're struggling as a nation with immigration policies we don't want any fences at our borders but we want them around our capital it doesn't seem to make a great deal of sense if we question current policy we're often told that we're xenophobic or we lack compassion for the less fortunate or that we're old-fashioned or we're uninformed that we don't care about the poor well i worked a little bit on the statistics our global population these days is about 8 billion people on planet earth about 8 billion with a b did you know that most of the world's population lives in poverty most of the world about two-thirds of the global population live on less than ten dollars a day two-thirds of the global population have a daily income of less than ten dollars one in ten has a daily income of less than two dollars that means there's more than five billion people living in poverty that should be a concern to us but i would submit to you that immigration into our nation is not a rational way to deal with poverty in the suffering of the global population 5 billion people would overwhelm the resources we have and a million people a year that's about our legal immigration number doesn't change that global opportunity in fact in some ways we might even argue it it hinders it because those that can afford or those that are able to immigrate legally step away from those places where their abilities and things are most needed i'm an advocate for immigration we're a nation of immigrants but opening our borders does not solve the global challenge immigration policy i don't know what the objective is but it cannot be about global poverty in fact the enormous cost of extending citizenship rights to others impacts our ability to deal with the crisis around us things that already exist apart from things like homelessness and mental health and failing educational systems and on and on it goes we have a desperate need for the church to be the church not to gather in church buildings not to have theological debates but to actually be the church in second peter chapter 3 in verse 10 it says the day of the lord will come like a thief the day of the lord is the day of the lord's return it's going to come like a thief it's going to come unannounced unexpected we won't know the day we may know the season but we won't know the day the heavens will disappear with a roar and the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare since everything will be destroyed in this way what kind of people ought you to be that's a very germane question if the creator of heaven and earth is coming back to the earth and he's going to interrupt time you want to be prepared for that if our world and everything in it is going to face the judgment of god and destruction what kind of people should we be it's worth noting it doesn't say what should we do it starts with who we are it's more about character than it is activity since everything will be destroyed in this way what kind of people ought you to be you ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of god and speed it's coming that day we'll bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat we're given some very specific responses we should be holy people we should aspire to be godly people we should look forward to the day of jesus return not dread it it's not an intrusion or interruption it's the only resolution to the suffering of humanity we have had millennia to work out our problems there is no evidence in human history that human beings apart from the spirit of god will work together to solve our problems we will work together to gain power over one another but the only resolution to human suffering is the return of the king he will rule and reign in righteousness on the earth and we're told to do everything we can to speed its coming holiness i would submit to you that holiness has not just been a real high priority at least in contemporary american christian yet the bible says without holiness none of us will see the lord it's not optional first corinthians 7 and verse 31 says the world in its present form is passing away it's what peter was talking about he said this world will come to an end and what will bring it to a conclusion is the return of the king and we're not particularly excited about the return of the king because we're not sure we want the present system to end maybe we think we've got an angle or there's something we're looking forward to but the biblical perspective is very clear in front of every one of us is the reality that we will be out of time time will run out it's not theoretical i asked the guys that help us with video to help us illustrate that a little bit so they pulled together a few clips just 60 seconds but i think it'll highlight this piece just a bit about running out of time yankee stadium touched to tears by the tribute gary made his last public appearance but i might have been given a bad break but i've got an awful lot to live for thank you and before you know it guess it's time [Music] i bid you a very heartfelt good night dan rather will be sitting in here for the next few years good night say goodnight gracie good night good night mamba out whether you think about it or not or contemplate it or not or reflect on it hardly ever time will run out it's a certainty and it is not an attempt on my part to be more but i don't want to direct you just towards the end of your life that's certainly a part of it but the reality is our lives are comprised of seasons and the time runs out on every one of those seasons it's a normal part of maturing and you don't ever know which season you're guaranteed or which or not we don't know those things and so it brings a significance to every day to every moment to every opportunity you only get one time as a teenager to honor the lord so if you're in that season of your life or if you're speaking into the life of someone who's in that season my suggestion would be to encourage them to lead godly and holy lives as a teenager because you'll never redo that you only get one time to be single for the lord and you want to do that in a godly holy way you'll only have little people around your house for a very short season they'll grow up they may not leave but they'll only be little they're gonna you only get that window one time and you want to do everything you can to instill godliness and holiness what are your aspirations for your children i know you're in church i mean the real ones you can take that we can all unpack that for our own lives to what extent do we truly have an ambition to lead holy godly lives or do we tolerate it do we push it aside and think i'll wait to another season sow a few wild oats do you look at people in other seasons of their lives with kind of a wink and a nod well they pursue ungodliness do you think god is kidding again our problem is not outside the church i don't expect the ungodly to embrace a biblical worldview or biblical morality or a biblical idea around family or biblical perspectives on sexuality but those of us within the church we have to you can't hide inside a church building and think it makes you a christian if we could i'd have to hide inside the gym it'd make me an athlete it just doesn't work we understand that time and eternity you need to time is a mystery and that's really true it's beyond me and i can't unpack that but i can tell you biblically that time and eternity are two completely different realms of existence two completely different realms of existence eternity is not just a long time two totally different things and the bridge between the two the bridge between time and eternity is god's judgment that's the bridge god's judgment is not fully executed in time you don't know god's full opinion about your life yet you won't know that until you step out of time now you know his perspective you know his boundaries you know his encouragement but you have not yet heard the fullness of his judgment you won't know that until you're done with time that's why it's an open book exam you can be prepared but you shouldn't be surprised holiness and godliness are life choices in time that consider eternity why do we choose holiness in time because we believe it makes eternity better doesn't it it's not always easy it's not more pleasant in the immediacy of it is not always even more satisfying but holiness and godliness will make eternity better and if you are living only for time you're deceived if you think you can recite a prayer and then lead your life on your terms ignoring god's eternity you've been deceived and i believe in the new birth conversion salvation whatever label you use for that entrance into the kingdom of god isaiah 34 and verse 4 says all the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine and like shriveled figs from the fig tree some prefer the new testament second thessalonians 1 beginning in verse 6 god is just god is just he'll pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well isn't that good to know god is just this will happen when the lord jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels when is the justice of god going to be fully realized not until the king returns we see some of god's justice in time some of god's judgments unfold in human history but not all of them but the lord jesus is coming from heaven this time not as an as a fragile infant born in a stable in the outskirts of bethlehem he's coming with his powerful angels in blazing fire and he'll punish those who do not know god or who do not obey the gospel of our lord jesus christ you see you can know god but choose not to obey the gospel they'll be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the lord and from the majesty of his power and for many it's going to be a very unsettling day jesus said that many would come and say lord lord didn't we do miracles in your name and he'll say depart from me i never knew you on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed see when the lord comes it will not be a sad thing the glory of the lord is when the the majesty the power of god breaks into the awareness of our physical selves when you see god and his splendor and his power and his majesty it's a glorious day and it says we will marvel at what we have believed it'll be beyond us you won't regret having chosen holiness you won't regret having pursued godliness you won't regret having chosen that alternative pathway time and eternity see we all have a god story to pursue every one of us it's not easy i think we have misunderstood i saw a quote it's fun it's by calvin hill but it says an army of deer led by a lion will defeat an army of lions led by a deer well if you've never been invited i want to invite you today into the service of the lion of the tribe of judah not to be a church person not to be a religious person not to be a theologian i want to invite you to serve the lion of the tribe of judah it's a game changing concept first corinthians 13 and verse 12 i like it in the message the language is a little more contemporary but the meaning i think is more accessible we don't see things clearly we don't yet see things clearly we're squinting in a fog peering through a mist but it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright we'll see it all then we'll see it as clearly as god sees us knowing him directly just as he knows us it isn't as clear right now as we would like it to be there's a tug of war in our hearts there's a battle in our minds our emotions get pulled in different directions but there's a day ahead of us and we will see with such clarity but the opportunity is in this day not that day now is when we choose holiness and godliness you see god desires to teach us the difference between the carnal and the spiritual when i say carnal i mean that part of us that is is from our earthly nature our adamic nature it's the part we inherit from those characters we meet back in genesis those first chapters it's what binds us together it's what makes human history repetitive it's what makes the bible aggressive literature the the human nature hasn't changed and god's desires to teach us the difference between that carnal part of our lives and the spiritual ultimately the problem of the carnal is not sin or wickedness it isn't that your earthly carnal nature's default position is ungodliness the root of the problem is the fact that our carnal nature is temporary and impermanent and we have to learn to be at home in the realm of the permanent and the eternal your carnal nature will pull you into temporary choices eat drink and be merry without any concern to the future it'll take you away from godliness and and holiness so you and i a part of growing up as christ followers of maturing in our spiritual life is not just more regular attendance at church that's a part of it i'm not apologizing for church attendance anymore when he got interrupted i understood how desperately important it was those of us that work in the church it's more of a hassle well that's true you're just easier to live stream we don't have to clean bathrooms but the benefit is not the same you need to worship with god's people find a place find a way where you can be safe and worship with god's people but the real goal in all of this i think is to learn to be more at home in the realm of the eternal and i want to take just a minute with that there's some real benefits to it there's all new possibilities jesus came to show us god he said in the past it says in scripture that in the past god spoke to us through the prophets and in many ways and in many forms but in these last days he's spoken to us through his son the exact representation of his being and jesus showed us a new kind of authority a demonstration of power that was beyond us not just miracles or healings i mean that's certainly a part of jesus ministry but a completely different kind of authority and power he taught with an authority they weren't used to seeing he spoke to wind and waves he spoke to dead people and they got up he could make wine from water marketability he understood power and authority in a completely different way so there's new possibilities in the realm of the eternity don't be frightened by it matthew 19 jesus said with god all things are possible with god all things are possible all you can walk on water time is not your master with god all things are possible why would we not invest in that with you and me all things are not possible we have very real limits to our intellect our strength our resources our time everything is limited it brings a little sense of anxiety to us do i have enough time do i have enough resources is my strength going to hold out why would we not invest in eternity with god all things are possible luke 18 27 the things that are possibly impossible with man they're impossible with god and yet we're reluctant to trust him like he's going to take something from us what do you think you have that god needs your cash do you think gabriel and michael the archangels are huddled in the corner of heaven they said i hope alan will cut us a check i don't think so mark 9 23 everything is possible for him who believes you see we haven't thought enough about eternity we have this notion and it's deep within us that that carnal part of us has such a grip on our thoughts our emotions our feelings that we're in this tug of war it's my time if i give god more of my time i'm going to miss out on what i want that's real in all of us folks none of us escape that and it's our lack of awareness of eternity we don't really care about godliness and holies this is my time eternity is beyond our current senses god says you're fearfully and wonderfully made and i believe that it was it was basic biology that really led me to trust god in with my life in a completely new way just the wonder of science the precision the exactness the intricacies of it the more we understand it the more intricate and exact it becomes it's amazing to me but but your five senses your ability to see and hear and touch and taste and smell does not define all of existence those are just the tools you have your dog can hear things you can't there's all sorts of aspects of creation that have sensory abilities that you and i do not have and eternity is beyond our current senses hebrews 11 and verse 3 says by faith we understand that the universe was formed at god's command so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible that our visible world that was not given rise it wasn't the visible world that gave rise to the visible world the spiritual gave rise to the physical hebrews 11 verse 9 speaking of abraham it says by faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country he lived in tents as did isaac and jacob his his son and grandson who were heirs with him of the same promise for he was looking forward to a city with foundations whose architect and builder is god he lived his life in time looking forward to something in eternity that's why he's identified as the father of our faith what did abraham do better than anybody else he waited how many of you want to be world class at waiting no i'd prefer he waited i mean he lied about his wife more than once she's my sister take her please i mean there were some holes in abe but he waited he was looking forward to a city with foundations whose architect and builder is god again the challenge before us to the ills that face us as the people is not about the hearts of the ungodly it's the hearts of those that gather under the umbrella of faith who really don't care that much about holiness and godliness first corinthians 2 and verse 6 says we however speak a message of wisdom among the mature but not the wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing the wisdom of this age is going to evaporate verse 9 however as it is written no eye is seen nor ear is heard no mind is conceived what god has prepared for those who love him you can't imagine what god has for you it's why we'll marvel at it when it shows up it's unbelievable because it's beyond time there isn't anything in time that compares with what eternity represents what are we holding on to why are you arguing about my time why would we not say to the lord my days are your days my strength is your strength my future is your future well there's things i want to do you think they're better than what god has for you in eternity well as a matter of fact i probably do and therein lies the rub jesus said if anybody would be my disciple you have to take up your cross and follow me like he said we have to do it every day jesus stepped into time to show us how to be pleasing to god i mean you think jesus could have used his power and had a more indulgent life but he didn't choose that path now you understand the outcomes most of you know philippians chapter 2. it identifies what jesus did he he humbled himself he didn't consider equality with god something to be grasped he humbled himself found himself in the in human form became obedient obedient even to death on a cross there aren't there that's a downward progression but then there's a little turn it says therefore because of that god exalted him and gave him the name that's above every name that in the name of jesus every knee will bow in heaven on earth and under the earth folks every knee is going to bow before jesus every knee you will not regret what you invest in eternity we've had this backwards eternity is beyond our current senses eternity is beyond our current value systems life under the sun our carnal selves is defined by your success in three areas the accumulation of power wealth and pleasure most of us trade ourselves for some some varying ratio of those things power wealth and pleasure makes the world go round but eternity invites us into a different value system there's a greater power in john 19 and verse 10 jesus is before the roman governor the man that has the authority to condemn him to death and pilate says do you refuse to speak to me don't you realize i have the power to free you or to crucify you you imagine swelling up in front of jesus do you know who i am if you don't have a perspective on eternity you'll do it all day every day see the only thing that would change that equation is some awareness of eternity do you know who i am and jesus said you would have no power over me if it were given to you from above you might step back just a little bit gov there's a greater power than any power this world holds there's greater wealth in luke 16 jesus again said no servant can serve two masters either he'll hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to one and despise the other you can't serve both god and money the pharisees religious leaders very religious people who loved the money they heard all this and they were sneering at jesus it's worse than pilate pilate was ignorant he didn't know the scripture he knew caesar but he didn't know the scripture the pharisees no scripture there's a complete expectation that they would recognize the messiah when he comes and they refuse to accept him they are sneering at jesus and he said you're the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men but god knows your hearts what's highly valued among men is detestable in god's sight if you're ungodly friends if the people who know you that are ungodly that have no pretense of honoring god if they think you're doing well you need to be very careful in your self-evaluation there's greater rewards luke 6 and verse 22 blessed are you when men hate you when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the son of man you need that little phrase because of the son of man if people hate you exclude you insult you and reject you because of your affiliation with jesus jesus said you're blessed in fact he says rejoice in that day leap for joy because great is your reward in eternity did you know there's rewards in eternity little rewards no rewards great rewards godliness and holiness if you ring the bell in time if you get all there is to be had and accumulate all the power that's available and pursue every pleasure that can be experienced and you're unprepared for eternity what have you gained there's greater treasure in eternity in matthew 6 jesus is speaking again the language is so plain how did we miss it our hearts have been hard our hearts have been hard i've spent my life in the church i'm not throwing stones matthew 6 jesus said do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth they're subject to decay moth and rust will destroy them thieves will steal it store up for yourselves treasures in heaven in eternity where moth and rust won't destroy and where thieves don't break it and steal where your treasure is there your heart will be invest in eternity let that be the ambition for your children and your grandchildren for yourself greater power greater wealth greater rewards greater treasures and a bit of a warning about the tyranny of pleasure god created us with the capacity for pleasure it's not wicked or evil or immoral but it has to stay it requires self-discipline it's why self-discipline is one of the fruit of the spirit the fact that it feels good doesn't mean you should do it you can kill yourself with a fork not with a puncture wound just by lifting it it's pleasant tastes good i like it in fact everything god intended for your good the enemy will pervert it for your destruction so don't give yourself the pleasure enjoy the world and everything that's in it but don't live for pleasure it'll destroy you live for eternity live for godliness and holiness in fact jesus life was not a life of focus he didn't use his power and his authority to accumulate pleasure and we're his followers again it's not evil or wrong or wicked but it's a lousy god it'll be an idol the unbridled pursuit of pleasure we have a word for that it's called addiction it will not be satisfied you cannot satisfy it because there's unclean spirits that will join you in that pursuit and they will never be content so i want to ask you a question and i know i got to wrap this up what's your source of information because the information you have really shapes the perspective of what you believe and again i know we're in church so the answer is god or the bible but what really is your source of information you see if we can acknowledge that we don't really know it all that our information is incomplete that we're limited creatures that we are creatures that they're measure there's a measure beyond us this idea that human beings are the measure of all things we represent the the crowning achievement of evolution is destructive i had a conversation some time ago i had a friend who the company he worked for moved he and his family to france for several years and they moved there and his children were young enough that they went to schools there and they learned the language and we would talk when he would visit and when they finally moved back to the states we sat down one day and he said my friends in france believed some very horrible things about the usa he said it's really awkward because what they believe about america is just horrible he said you have to understand that all they know about us is what they've been told they've been given a stream of information they don't have much experience i found something very similar with my israeli friends the israelis travel the whole world and you'll meet in israel you grab it you jump in a taxi cab and you you ask your taxi driver who's ever been to america oh i've seen all of america really where have you been i've been to new york miami and las vegas and with great coverage i've seen it all don't need to go back there i'm thinking wow but he said my friends in france they thought the states was awful because all they knew what they'd been told was through their media and the sources of information they had or movies he said the european media is anxious to supplant u.s authority enabling them to fill the vacuum so they fill them with horrible things about us see the challenge that we all struggle with is we don't know what we don't know and that reality makes us very vulnerable and we've got to humble ourselves and be willing to admit we just don't know it all and assume the posture of a learner particularly with god see it's that reality that makes propaganda so powerful if a message is repeated often enough and loud enough it begins to shape our thoughts and behaviors we're living in a season of unprecedented propaganda we have to as christ followers be willing to submit ourselves to the authority of scripture authority comes from the author it's one of the reasons why cooperating with the holy spirit is so important he's the author don't read your bible like a skeptic don't read it trying to find contradictions why is that helpful i mean god can withstand the scrutiny of your towering intellect i'm quite confident so i mean if that's what you need to do you just rock on with your bad self but it'll be far more fruitful if you'll read it as an operating manual i'm not suggesting we worship the bible we don't worship the bible we worship god many years ago and it's been years now i decided to act as if god were telling me the truth i would trust him but i don't understand it i just try to get my behavior in line until i do understand it do i always get it right nope but that's my agenda i just decided to treat the word of god as if it were authoritative now that choice changed all the parameters for my life it changed everything changed the direction of my career it's changed how i would address money how i would address relationships how would i do with my time it changed everything and some days it makes sense to me and some days i wonder if i lost my mind it's not always simple i read a little paradigm it's not new but i think it's helpful it'll help you understand how to interact with your world a little bit it says when you meet somebody he who knows not and knows not that he knows not is the fool avoid him but he who knows not and knows that he knows not is a child teach him he who knows and knows that he knows not is asleep awake him and who knows and knows that he knows is wise follow them so god's perspective i told you i was going to wrap it up didn't i i closed with one last passage of scripture ii peter chapter 3. it gives us god's perspective on where we are right now he says i want to i want you to recall the word spoken in the past by the holy prophets now if you don't know the prophets and you've never read the prophets you don't have anything to recall if you don't believe the prophets if you don't attach any value to them it doesn't matter what they said because you're not going to let it inform your choices so there's some assumptions inherent in this and i don't know where you are with your bible or that habit or that pattern or the authority that you attach to scripture but for the benefit that we're about to unpack the the predecessor the preceding notion is that you will attach value to scripture not the portions that you want to obey but the whole thing i want you to recall the word spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our lord and savior through your apostles first of all you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come scoffing and following their own evil desires who knew well apparently god did that as we got to the culmination of the age that mockers would come scoffers people with no intent of yielding to god and they'll make fun of those who are following god while they pursue their own evil in fact the bible says that as it was in the days of noah and it was in the days of lot so it will be in the days before jesus returns and in noah's day ever the hearts of men were so wicked god said i can't endure this and in lot's day in spite of the pleading of lot the city was so given to ungodliness to immorality they were told in both instances totally oblivious to god's impending judgment totally oblivious that they were out of time there was no time left scoffing and following their own evil desires verse 4 they will say where is this coming he promised ever since our fathers died everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation but they deliberately forget another way of saying that is they hide the truth they deliberately forget that long ago by god's words the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water just a casual glance at geography and you'll know that water has had a powerful force in shaping the world we live in and they see how they ignore that no god no higher power no arrival of god on the scene we want to do evil so where are we church are we willing to pursue godliness and holiness are we willing to make those life objectives they're going to go into our purple personal mission statements they're going to begin to define in new ways how we fill out our calendar how we manage our schedules the things we aspire to the things we dream about the behaviors we engage in are we going to continue to bet that god is not just that time won't run out that there really won't be any justice that we can live life on our terms and that god didn't mean it don't live with the threat of punishment don't forfeit the promise of the rewards the rewards far exceed any judgment any negative judgment you want to pursue godliness and holiness because of the promise of the wonder that is ahead of you it exceeds anything available to you in time i brought you a prayer but i'd rather close you can have that prayer you can take it and use it all week long but i'd rather close by giving you an invitation and i think what i'd like to ask you to consider and we can open the prayer here but i think it's something you'll have to live with beyond just this moment to repent of carnality again not your blatant un mitigated pursuit of wickedness and evil just our stubborn refusal to think about eternity of giving ourselves almost completely to the things of time we've been too invested in time and we've had too little interest in eternity jesus stepped into time for a very brief moment and he changed all eternity for himself and all who will believe in him we can't fully understand the outcome of giving ourselves to an eternal god we can understand enough to say yes don't you stand with me feels a bit ironic that social distancing prevents me from inviting you forward but god knows your heart whichever sanctuary you're in if you're outside if you're watching with us digitally someplace else or in some other nation i want to invite you i'm going to say a little prayer but i but you in your heart i want you to begin to say to the lord lord i'm sorry i have been a carnal christ follower oh i wanted to go to heaven i knew i needed my sins to be forgiven but i didn't really think it was that big a deal see i don't want anybody to step into eternity and have everything you've lived for consumed in a moment by god's judgment god didn't need our money you laughed at me when i suggested he needed mine you've seen my balance he doesn't need my intellect i'm confident he doesn't need my physical strength the only thing i have to offer him is my life but there's a war inside of me it's my life and my time my dreams my ambition you say to the lord the book of romans asks us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the lord it'll change your faith it'll change your calendar it may not change your day job at all but it'll change how you do your day job do you understand the invitation since i can't give you i'm not going to ask you to move i'm just going to ask you to move your heart father i thank you for your word for its power and its authority lord it gives us insight and understanding and we come to you today in humility to acknowledge father the how hard our hearts have become how calloused lord we've had a form of godliness and we've had forms of worship and but our hearts have been far from you and we come today to say we're sorry holy spirit we need your help forgive us for our carnality forgive us for our reckless pursuit of power and wealth and pleasure and our almost indifference to you but we ask you not only to forgive us but we ask you to begin to to reorder our hearts and our lives illuminate the path before us that would allow us to to honor you each day in new ways give us a boldness to be advocates for jesus cleanse us give us the courage to to discipline ourselves but i pray that not one of us would fail to be prepared for eternity we're not just a profession of faith but but that not one of us would have failed to invest ourselves in holiness and godliness to be advocates for holiness and advocates for godliness advocates for truth to embrace your word and to listen to your spirit and to stand with enthusiasm for the person of jesus of nazareth thank you for awakening us thank you your great love for us you've spared us you've given us another day we thank you for it we thank you for it but each and every one of us be prepared when we're out of time in jesus name amen hallelujah god bless you

Channel: World Outreach Church

Views: 52,112

Keywords: World Outreach Church, World Outreach Church Murfreesboro, Pastor Allen Jackson, Pastor Allen Jackson Sermons, Online church service, live church service, christian sermons, time and eternity, carnal nature, spiritual being, eternal God, bible reading, believing, following the bible

Id: fF35IrpIh8A

Length: 54min 33sec (3273 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 01 2021