Tuesday, December 28, 2010

It's No Joke!

Can you believe it?
Where did the time go?
We are racing towards 2012.
Which if you haven't heard, according to many people,
 (who believe the Mayan calender),
 is when the world is supposed to come to an end.
Personally, i don't buy into that at all.
If you think you  have until 2012, you may be over estimating.
I didn't think I'd be here this long.
It wouldn't surprise me a bit , if we were called home before then.
Doesn't the Bible say that we are to long for his appearing?
What does that mean?
To desire for it earnestly, cant wait for the day of it, to want it more than anything.
Is that what we are doing?
Longing for his return?
So do I really believe that we could be caught away soon?
Yes I do. I have to. and it scares me to no end.
And if I were a betting man I'd bet it scares the be-jeebers out of you too.
Why is that?
I don't feel the need to go into it. I think we both know why.

Why is it that so many Christians,
 who know that the rapture could happen at any second,
 who know that the end is near,
 act as if it doesn't matter?
It doesn't faze us.

I'm reminded of the story of Lot in Genesis 19.
Two angels told Lot, "We are going to destroy this place,
 the Lord has sent us to destroy it.
 Whoever you have here, family, sons, daughters, sons-in-law,
 you need to get them out of here."
The Bible says in Genesis 19:14, that Lot went out, and told them,
"Get out of this city, the Lord is going to destroy it."
You know what they thought?
They thought it was a big joke.
He seemed to them as "one that mocketh".
They laughed at him.
"What's gotten into you Lot, getting all preachy on us?"
"Stop it Lot, your embarrassing yourself."
"Cut it out, your cracking us up."
"Don't get yourself all worked up."

Lot told them. They may have laughed, but he did tell them.
We like to make a big stink about Lot living in "Sodom",
 but let me ask you,
 how close are you to living in the "world"?
How easily do you fit in?
You ever wonder why they thought he was a joke?
You ever wonder why they laughed at him?
You ever wonder why when he told them, they didn't believe him?

 if they would believe us?
Or would they laugh?
Would they ask, "Where is all this coming from? You never said anything before. What makes you think your so much better than us?
You really love us and want us  to be saved?
Yeah, right. That's a good one."

You ever wonder what the people around you think of you?
You ever wonder how effective your witness is?

Can you imagine how Lot must have felt,
 as he's pouring his heart out, trying to warn them, trying to save them, and in their eyes it's all a joke?
I wonder how many people Lot told that night,
 before he went home because no one believed him?

Today with all the social media available to us, how many people could we tell  by the click of a mouse? How many "friends" do you have on facebook? How many "followers" do you have on twitter?
It's amazing how quick we are to say or post, what we eat, where we eat, what  movie we've seen or are going to see, what song or video we think is so good, how badly we feel we've been treated, or how misunderstood we are, how rotten our life is, or how we wish we didn't have to study or stay up late, or wake up early, or how awful the weather is.
Man, we can really let the words fly. 
We love it when people hit the "like" button, leave a good comment, or re-post.

If Lot were living in our day....he would have texted, called, emailed, tweeted, posted and had his status say, " Get ready, get your house in order, you don't have time to play around, the END is closer than you think".
I wonder if you, called, texted, emailed, posted, and tweeted that...what response would you get? 
Would all your friends and family laugh at you?
Or unlike Lot....would you even warn them?
Are you afraid of what people might think of you?
Are you to afraid to warn them?
Here's the hard part to deal with....our family, friends, co-workers, and classmates are going to be destroyed.
I get it that we don't care, that we're chicken-hearted and weak kneed, and don't love them as much as we profess too.....
So let's just take everyone you know that is going to hell...let's just take them all, out of the equation.
What about you ? Are you sure that you're going to make it?

I see people, Christians, going about their days, especially during the holiday season, laughing, having a holly jolly good time, being merry, spending money they don't have on gifts they can't afford, going into debt for things they don't need, eating, drinking, being festive, acting as if they don't have a clue that when they woke up, that this could be the day.
It's as if Christians today have this fog of complacency around them.
Just going along in their own little happy world and couldn't care a lick that everyone in the mall they are shopping in, is going to hell.
Not even considering that today could be the day, more concerned about shoes, and skirts, and suits, than they are their soul.
More concerned about where they are going to eat, than where they are going to spend eternity.
Paul said in Romans 13:11, "It's high time, we wake out of our slumber." 
Snap out of it! Wake up! Smell the coffee!
In Luke 12:20 Jesus said about the man that thought he had lots of time, "Thou fool, tonight they soul shall be required of thee."

Lot really believed that Sodom was going to be destroyed.
Do we really believe that Jesus could come back at any time?
I think a lot of us are like, "Oh yeah....I believe that...just not any time, soon!"
What?! Are you kidding me? Can you not see what is going on around you?
Don't you read the newspaper? Or listen to the news?
How convinced are you that Jesus is coming back soon?
Hasn't He made it clear enough? Hasn't He said it over and over again in His word?  How may messages have we heard? Recently? What are we waiting for? How much clearer does He have to say it before we'll believe it?
Or will we be like Lot's family, and we'll be the ones laughing? 
We'll be the ones thinking that it's all a big joke.
Sit down preacher, we don't need to hear that again. I've heard that for soooo long. Surely our Lord delayeth His coming. His coming is far off.

Do you know what Jesus' last words are in Revelation 22:20?
"Surely I come quickly."
(Here's some homework for you when you get the time.
Get a dictionary out, and look up the word "quickly".)

Don't be like the people in Noah's day. They heard him preach day in and day out, "It's gonna rain!"
For a hundred years, the same message, "It's gonna rain, get in the boat!" 
Looking back we can say, "How can they not have known that it was going to rain? He preached the same message, he warned them, he preached for so long. How could they not know?"
Well, how many times have we been told, heard it preached, and read it in the Bible...Jesus is coming back, Get ready, He's coming soon......
Just like it was in Noah's day, when you see that it's happening it's to late to start getting ready. When you feel the raindrop, it's to late.
In Lot's day, when you looked up and saw the fire and brimstone falling from the sky, it was to late to start preparing. No matter that you were told, no matter that you were warned, when the fire was falling, it was to late to get ready.

This time of the year, we like to tell the story of Jesus coming to earth, and we see nativity sets, and we sing songs like "Go Tell It On The Mountain", and we can't believe that there was no room in the inn.
But there are as many, if not more, promises about His second coming to earth than His first, and they are all coming to pass.
Are we going to be like the chief priest and scribes in Herod's day and say "Yeah we know there's a promise, we know a saviour is coming, we know where he is to be born, we know what the signs are.......", and yet, they missed it.
What excuse will we have if WE miss it?
Yeah we knew, we were told, we read about it, we knew the signs, we just didn't think about it all that much.
Don't think you have a year, a month, a week. You have NOW.
That's all you know for certain.







2 comments:

Ben Johnson said...

Dave,
I felt that straight from your heart! That was a great word....keep it coming...God Bless you.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks.