Developing a Sense of Urgency

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Very good to be here with all of you and to see all of you. We're looking forward to meeting all of you. Recently, my wife and I had an opportunity to go back to the area that we grew up in. She grew up south of Chicago, about an hour south of Chicago. And I grew up just southeast of Chicago in a town called Hammond, Indiana. And we hadn't been up in that area, I'd say, for a good 25 to 30 years. But the church that we kind of grew up in—I didn't really know my wife that well when we were growing up. I met her in college. But we had that opportunity. And as we were there and as the calendar turned to 2024, you start thinking about times in your life and reflecting back over all the years and the people that you've known. And I guess that trip up there made us start thinking about all those things. It was 60 years ago that my parents started coming to church. And they were baptized in that year and pulled us out of a life that we knew—my dad and mom were buried about Catholics. And I was in Catholic school. And so when my dad began to learn of the Bible and to see the differences between the truth of what the Bible said and what the Catholic Church taught, there were some changes in our lives. New schools, even though we didn't move. Relatives who didn't like at all his side of the family what we were doing and did everything they could to convince him out of it. And going to a church that was much different than the Catholic Church, because back in those days everything was done in Latin. And all you really did, besides the catechism that you learned day to day in school, was you looked at your little card and you knew when to kneel down, when to stand up, when to sit down. And the rest of it was just kind of like a ritual that you went through. But as we came to church, you know, I remember thinking, wow, this is much different. You can hear what the minister has to say. There are things that he's talking about that you've never heard before. He would get into the Bible, which is something we never read before my parents started coming in, because Catholics don't really want you to read the Bible. They want you to just do what you're told to do by the priest. And it was a very interesting time, and I remember thinking back after we were there, this is the truth. This is exactly what God would want. This is where it's there. And even at a young age, it was just like, this is it. You look in the Bible, and if the Bible really is the truth, which we all believe it is, then this is what's happening.

And back in those days, I mean, there were a lot of people in the church, had a lot of friends and people my age and Debbie's age. We had friends in the church, and everyone was there, right? Every Sabbath you would go, and your same friends would be there. You would identify with them. You would enjoy talking to them. And almost the friendships in church superseded any friendships you had in the world. I remember thinking, the friends that I have in church, I say them once a week, but these kids in high school and whatever, in grade school, I see them every day, but it's not the same. It's not the same. And so you grow up with people, and you expect that they're going to be there. And like I said, every Sabbath, everyone was there. If someone wasn't there on a Sabbath, you knew they were sick or out of town. It was just everyone came to church every single week. And it was a wonderful thing. It was a wonderful thing. And so, you know, I think back to 60 years ago, and what it was like. And as we had the opportunity to go to the church that we grew up in, doesn't meet in the same location, a lot of new faces, some old faces. But I had to stop and think, where are all the people that were there back then? What happened to all of them? And we know what happened to some of them. You know, 1995 happened, and a man took it upon himself to change the laws of God and say, you know, you don't have to do this anymore, basically. And all these people started just leaving. What I think we all thought, that they all believed. It's the Word of the Bible. It's the truth. Why? How could you leave with the truth of the Bible? Just because you hear something like that. And we weren't living up in that area then, but the area that we were living in at the time 1995 happened. There were a lot of people our age. We had a lot of friends. And I don't mean our only friends were people our age, but I mean, it was a big church. And one by one, they all left. And so we were left, and I thought, it was just puzzling to me. How could you do these things? How could you throw it all away? And it took me some time to realize that there are things that we have to do to stay in the church. It's not enough to just know that the Seventh-Day Sabbath is something God expects us to keep. It is something that is a sign between Him and His people. It's a time that we are able to be together with God and appreciate that time. And He says it should be a delight, something we look forward to the rest of the week, that we continue to look to that Sabbath day. That's the highlight of the week. We're with each other. We're with people of like mind. And we're with God, doing His will and apart from the world and everything we do in the other times of our life.

But some people apparently didn't get that. A lot of people apparently didn't get that. You know, it came to the point that they just never did learn to love the truth. They knew the truth, but they didn't love the truth because they were willing to give it away so easily when someone told them they didn't have to do it anymore. And as I came to that realization, as I've been thinking about it for the last few weeks since all this has happened, I think how sad that is. How sad that is that God will call people and they all come in because you believe the truth, but then you let things, you let life happen, I guess. You let your guard down. You let the world in a little bit and all of a sudden people aren't there anymore because it finally catches up and the world catches them.

And they leave without really a whole lot of thought about it. Well, a lot has changed since 1964, of course. A lot has changed since 1995. A lot has changed even from 2019. I think we would all agree. None of us live in the same world that we lived in five years ago, maybe even four years ago. Often, and I'll make the comment that every week I do watch the news and I'm surprised how quickly and how many things happen so quickly in this world. It's a time, unlike any other time, that of course you and I have lived in. Maybe, certainly a time unlike any of our forefathers lived in or anyone in the Bible because we live in a completely different world where we're all kind of interconnected and we know what's happening all over the place. So we can, you know, there's things that we have to remember about God and some things that as we look back, and I know you have the people too that you know who were here and then somehow they're not here anymore. Even though when they came, they believed they would be there until the end. And they hearkened Christ's words endure to the end. You know, for some of them, for some of them, and I think back on several of my friends growing up, I have to wonder if what happened to them Peter warned about in 2 Peter 3. So if you'll turn with me to 2 Peter 3.

2 Peter 3. Now verse 1, he says, he goes, Beloved, I now write to you the second epistle in both of which I stir up. I stir up. I need to remind you, he says, I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder to remind you what you were called to, who you are, the very tremendous blessing that God gave by opening our minds to the truth and what it is that he has in mind for mankind, that there is a purpose to all of this. There's a purpose to our lives and to every all of mankind. There's a purpose to this physical earth and what God is working below. I stir up because I call to your mind to stir up by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, the scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts. Now, that is certainly a verse for much of the time of human history, but certainly a verse for our times. Scoffers will come. There are people who would absolutely just minimize and make fun of the Bible, make fun of anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and his salvation, make fun of religion in general, and think that the Bible is an antiquated thing that you can just throw out. It's not fit for the 21st century. We are so enlightened in the world, they'll tell you. We know all these things, and you can just forget the Bible because it should be thrown out. There's even those people out there, some of what you're saying with the advent of artificial intelligence. Maybe we need a new book of life that is written for today's age because this one certainly doesn't match the wisdom of the world today with all the changes that have happened in it. Certainly there can't be anything wrong with the morality in the world today. Certainly, they say, it can't be anything wrong with same-sex unions and transgender and all these issues and things that we're teaching our children that they're exposed to that are just terrible. And so they want that. And it's like, this is a world and this book doesn't fit anymore. And so we live in that time.

People that will do that, and increasingly so as you look at the time of Revelation 13, where even the religious leader of that time will blaspheme the Bible, will blaspheme God, will talk everything against him. And it's happening in the world around us today. You and I as adults may not feel it as much, but our young people do feel it. No matter how subtle it is, there are messages out there through the Internet, which is a tremendous means of communicating to everyone. Right? Everyone is probably connected to the Internet in some way and has something to do with social media. I think of myself as anti- not anti- I just don't participate in social media.

But then I realize, no, I kind of do. People tell me things that they read online. They tell me things that are posted on Facebook and things like that. And we learn about things and the ways of the world, and our children are learning about that as well. But there are scoffers that are coming in the last days, and we are living, if we look around us, in the last days.

Not that anyone is setting any dates, but certainly the times we live in are unlike anything. And the times we live in are very well defined by the prophecies in the Bible when Jesus Christ said what the time of the end would be like and what would be going on.

We live in a time that all those things can happen. Walking according to their own lusts? Right. I mean, that's what the world is about. Whatever I think, you know, it's not anything about finding the truth anymore. It's whatever their truth is, whatever my truth is. I heard one of the college presidents talking and one of her things back in a congressional hearing.

And then later when she was justifying what she said, she goes, Well, I guess I just didn't make them fully aware of what my truth is. And I thought, your truth? What about the truth? That's what people should be looking to, but we have a world that isn't interested in that anymore.

If their truth is different than your truth, they're not listening. They don't want to hear. They want to cancel. They want to do all sorts of things to you. We live in that type of world, and the pressure is for you to believe their truth. You and I, who have been around 30, 40, 50, 60 years, might think that we're immune to that. Our young people aren't. They're still growing. They're still understanding. But there are these messages out there, and as parents and fellow church members, we need to be aware of that. But anyway, going on to verse 3, scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, Well, where is the promise of His coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. We've been hearing about Christ's return for a long time. When is He coming? Every time the church said, The time is close, things went on. When I was in high school, I might have thought, I don't know if I'll even graduate from high school.

I don't even know if I'll ever be married. I don't know if I'll go to college. I don't know if I'll have any kids. It didn't seem to bother me that much, though. I don't know why. I don't remember being petrified or angry or mad about anything.

That was just the course that it was being. If that's what God wanted, then He had something in mind for all of us. But I have to wonder, when I look back at the people, and even some in our own family who aren't there anymore, Well, we've been hearing about this. What is really going to happen? 2007 came, and America came close to a financial disaster. It came close, but things rebounded. COVID came. COVID stopped the world for a while. But then, there was a time we thought the world will never go back to the way it was before. But today, we're free to move around from country to country.

I personally believe God has given us a window of time to get a work done around the world. We had this opportunity to move freely around without any of the medical constraints that would be put on people. But there's a lot of people like, what happened? We've been hearing about this. What's been going on? It's been talked about for even back at the time of Paul here.

We dropped down to verse 8. He says, Beloved, don't forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness. But He is long suffering with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all, all should come to repentance.

That's what God is about. He loves all of mankind. Jesus Christ died that all of mankind's sins could be forgiven if they will turn to Him with their heart, with their mind, accept Him, and then live the life that they were called to live, following His pattern and His example, and the things that He taught.

And so He gives you and me the time, too. I want you to be ready. I want you to be prepared. I want to know that you know Me. I want to know that you are committed to Me, that you are following Me, and that you would follow Me no matter what lies between now and the return of Jesus Christ, because God does want to know what's in our hearts, not just what we know and we can repeat back, but who are we?

Who are we? What will we do? And so He is patient and He is loving. And we all need to remember, you know, in Psalm 27, David mentioned, wait. Wait for the Lord. You heard that in the special music. Wait. Wait for God. His, what He says is true. What is going to happen is going to happen. He only He knows when, but you and I, wait for Him with expectation and knowing it will occur.

And no matter what twists and turns life takes, we wait and we keep our faith in Him. If we turn back to Galatians for a second, in Galatians 6, in verse 9, Paul says it this way to the Galatians, to the church of Galatians. You'll remember, he opens the book by saying that he's surprised that they have moved so quickly away from the gospel that they heard. They just kind of like, kind of let the world seep in again and started looking at them.

But here in verse 9, he says, you know, to that church, and of course, every word in the Bible is to us today too, not just to the churches that are there applied to them, applies to us as well. Verse 9, he says, and let us not grow weary while doing good.

Let's not grow, and if you look that Greek word up in the concorns, maybe exhausted. We just get tired of doing what's good. Just get tired of Sabbath day. Just get tired of helping each other. Just get tired of being part of this and hearing these things. Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if, in due season, in God's time, when Christ returns, in due season, if we do not lose heart.

Now, it's interesting sometimes when you compare the New King James to the Old King James, and the Old King James, it says, we shall reap if we do not faint. If we do not faint. So what the New King James is like is, it should be in our heart. It should be us. This is what drives us. This is who we are. This is what we live for. This is our purpose.

But if we don't faint, we don't get tired along the way. We don't let other things go in and just kind of relax. You know, Revelation 3 might say, we don't allow the lay of the sea an attitude to creep in and think, eh, we know it all. We know the Bible. God is okay with us. We'll just kind of endure here until the time he comes, because he expects us to be working and to be doing things along the way. And not just biding our time, but actually growing, right? Growing the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we look at the world around us, and if we see all those things I've talked about and many more besides, if you look at what the culture is like and where even the global government is, it's all about going to a point where you see autocracy in the headlights, I say. You see a time coming where there will be a dictator who tells you what you're going to do, what you're going to believe, how you're going to live, maybe even where you're going to live. Revelation 13 doesn't at all sound like the America you and I have been in, or the Brazil that you and I have lived in. It is a much different world then, in Revelation 13, that's coming, than you and I have ever experienced in our lifetimes. And if we have our eyes open, if we haven't buried our heads and thinking it's all okay because I still have food on the table and we're at peace and there aren't bombs going off around my head, there are a lot of bombs going off around the world that show some of the time that we live in and the general direction of where the world is headed. We see a time coming. We see that that's the time when some on earth would like to just be the ones who control everything. We see the Pope, who recently made his pronouncements and changed the whole church, changed a millennial old doctrine that the Catholic Church had when he came out in December and blessed same-sex unions. He didn't say same-sex marriages could take place yet, but when we were in Italy, we heard people say there are rumors that there are performing same-sex marriages in Rome. We don't have any documentation of that, but we know where this is headed. And with one statement, he changed what the Catholic Church has taught for millennia. They've kind of been like the ones out there in the so-called Christian world that have held the line. Marriages between one man and one woman, and that's the definition of it. They still, even with his pronouncements, still define fornication as any sexual activity outside of marriage. And some have questioned, well, how can you bless these unions, these same-sex unions, and still have that doctrine? So somewhere along the line, that will be changed as well, if indeed the Pope continues along those ways. So we see monumental changes happening in the world around us in all areas. I talk about digital currency, because that is one in my mind that is just really key. The advent of digital currency. And I remember when credit cards came out, and I thought, oh, this is great, right? You have credit cards, and you can charge these things. And when gas stations actually started taking credit cards, it was a great thing because I didn't have to have cash in my wallet.

I don't even know how much cash is in my wallet anymore. I just put everything on a credit card, pay it off each month, and life is easy that way. But then you see where it is today, and this talk about a digital currency where you won't have any cash, where everything will just be done online. And we know where that's going. That looks very much like, you know, Revelation 13.

If you disagree with what the state says or the powers in place at that time, all they have to do is push a button, and everything you have disappears. They have complete control. You will starve, you will do whatever, but they will try to have you submit to them no matter what ways you can have. It's all there on the horizon, and some in some countries have already experienced that. So we look at those things around us, and we can see those things coming. There is the time—I won't turn to Isaiah 59, verse 15—there is a time—and we're at least beginning in it—where truth fails, it says. And if you are a person of integrity, if you believe the Bible, it says you make yourself a prey, P-R-E-Y, a hunted one.

That's where the world is going. That's it.

You know, as growing up, we had some very skilled ministers in the church who were in our area.

And they could curl the hair on your head if it's not already curly, right? Because they could describe in minute detail the terrors of what was to come, the terrors of what was in the past, and how people just enacted all sorts of torture on each other. And then they would read the Scripture, and then Christ said, that was then, but the Great Tribulation will be a time that's even worse than anything you ever read. And I remember watching movies and seeing torture, reading about torture over the years, and not that I was studying it, it would just come to you, right? Through history and whatever, and thought, wow, worse than that. Can't even imagine what that would be like. And look at the human mind that just can devise how you can just make people absolutely miserable. You just want to inflict pain on them.

And it was a harrowing time. But you know, while it certainly got my attention, it never scared me. It never scared me. It was just, that's what's going to happen. And at the end of it, it was, okay, that's a tough time. That's who men are. That's the way of the world. That's the way of the world that Satan has this way over. But Jesus Christ would come. Jesus Christ will come, and he will save mankind from himself and from utter destruction. And he will usher in a time of peace, harmony, all the good things that we talk about. And it never, it never daunted me. What the ministers are saying, it got my attention, realized how much, how much the world was going to be and what it was going to be like. And we weren't going to change that. That's just the facts of life. You know, today I hear, you know, some people say we talk too much about gloom and doom. Gloom and doom. And I think, yeah. But we have to. We have to talk about some of the gloom because you have to have the hope of Jesus Christ. God says, do warn people. Do warn them about what is coming. You know, if you're not prepared for what is going to come, you can fall apart at the process. If we're not prepared for what is surely going to happen because if God says it, it is going to happen. And recently I was hearing a member, you know, not saying it in church or anything like that. That's something that was sent to me. That said, you know, if we really pray hard enough, America will repent and maybe God will stop all this that's going on. I don't think so. That's not what the Bible says. If you look at America, you don't see, or the world, they're not repentant. God knows how men think. He knows how Satan thinks. He knows us better than we know ourselves. So there is a time that we have to be prepared for God and come to the point where we trust in Him. Not have any doubt. Know that it's going to happen and ask God to prepare us for what lies ahead.

You know, when Jesus Christ, who faced much more difficult trials than any of us sitting in this room or anyone who will ever listen to this, He faced things that it was hard for us to even imagine the pain that He went through. And we know the agony He went through as He was facing that last day of His physical life, because of the way He prayed and the blood that He sweated, because He knew what was going to happen, but He knew it was going to happen. He didn't run. He didn't get scared. He did have angst. What He did was He went to God. He went to God, His Father, and He prayed to Him for the strength to get through it and said, "'Thy will be done.'" And as you and I go through things in life, we have to always remember, go to God. He gives the strength. He's the one who will help us not become weary. We have to have the belief and the trust in Him and love that truth that says, "'Do what God says. Have your faith in Him.'" And that's something we develop, and God has given us the time to develop in that life now. Jesus Christ, if you remember John 16, verse 33, as He was telling the disciples all these things, right? He told them about the hope of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come. It will comfort you. It will guide you into truth. It will give you understanding. It will give you remembrance of the things that I said to you. It will comfort you. The same things that the Holy Spirit does for us today as we let God lead us, grow us, develop us, into who He wants us to become and be like, and that is Jesus Christ. And at the end of that chapter, He said, Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He showed the way. We know that if we rely on God with His Holy Spirit, He will see us through. It doesn't mean life will be pain-free, that it will never have a trial. We may face things we never expected to, but if we have, always in our vision, in our headlights, Thy kingdom come. The model prayer. Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come. Remember, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We do that and we're committed to that, and we make the conscious decision, commit to God. Don't vacillate and think, maybe the world this and maybe the world that, and the time that we have to be developing the trust and the faith in God, and not the fear of man. Let's turn back to Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. In this chapter, there's a series of listen to me's that God said, that He inspired Isaiah to write. We do listen to God. As we read the Bible, they are His words that He repeats to us. But in verse 7 of Isaiah 51, it says, listen to me. Listen to me, you who know righteousness. That's you and me. Everyone in this room, everyone listening in, listen to me. You who know righteousness. You people in whose heart is my law. That should be us. When we repent and are baptized, receive the Holy Spirit, God says, I will write my law, my ways, my principles into their minds and heart. Don't fear. Don't fear the reproach of men. Don't be afraid of their insults. And then going down to the...well, let me read verse 8. For the moth will eat them up like a garment. That is the ultimate thing. Jesus Christ will return. The world we've been waiting for will come. And the worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be forever. It will be the thing when Christ returns that's there forever. Not to be ever changed again. And my salvation from generation to generation.

Paul in his time knew that salvation of Jesus Christ. Peter knew and believed in that salvation. They were waiting. The people down through the Middle Ages who lived in much tougher times than you and I did when the Bible was outlawed. The Catholic Church at that time didn't want anything going on in the world with the Bible. And they suffered. And they were willing, in some cases, to die before they would renounce the truth of the Bible.

They knew the salvation from generation to generation. You and I know of Christ's salvation. I don't think I need to turn to 1 John 4.18. You know, the apostle John says, perfect love, perfect agape, casts out fear. Perfect agape casts out fear.

If we are growing in agape with the Holy Spirit, the first listed of the Holy Spirit, if we're using the self-control that's the ninth listed of the fruits of the Spirit, and we're making choices along the way that reflect our commitment to God and His way and not continually making the same mistake and at some point in time in our lives saying, no, not doing that anymore, not going in that direction anymore, ask God for the strength, remind me when this thing comes up to not do it this way, not to react in this way, not to choose that way, not to fear in that way, not to doubt in that way, to remember to do this and to remember to have the vision of what you have given us always in my mind.

As we do those things, God will...we will develop love. We will take the time to look out for each other, make the choices when we see the need of our brother, as it says in verse John 2, to take the need. That's one of the reasons we're all in a church together, in a body together, that we can learn these things that God wants us to say or wants us to learn and become like, because we can't learn agape if we're just by ourselves. We need to be with each other. We need to get to know each other. We need to become one with one another and one with God the Father and Jesus Christ, as He says in the Bible over and over again. And as you look at the early church in Acts that says, you know, they were all in one accord.

They were all in one accord and they even moved in close to each other so they could be with each other during all that time. We have to come to the point where we choose God's way, commit, consciously commit to God's way, and make that our focus in life. And come to realize and acknowledge there is no future. There is no future in this earth or in the way of this world, any of its governments, any of its institutions, or any man on earth. There is no future in them. The future is in Jesus Christ and the hope that God has given us. That's where our focus needs to be and to become like Him and become the people that He wants us to become. We have to be about God's business. Even Jesus Christ when He was a youth, when He was there, you remember, in Luke 2. And His parents didn't know where He was and He was talking to the elders of the church back that time, the Jewish church, and He said, I have to be about my Father's business. You and I need to be about our Father's business. That's Him growing a temple in us individually and collectively, not just individually. We work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, but there is the spiritual temple that God is building. I was looking in Nehemiah. In Nehemiah, you remember, He went back to Jerusalem and He was commissioned to build the wall. The walls around Jerusalem had been broken down, the gates had been burned, and He went back with the purpose of rebuilding that wall. And they met with all sorts of distractions. They met with all sorts of hostility and anger from the people around them. Anything that they could do to stop that building, they did. But Nehemiah and his team, they built that wall, despite any of them, in 52 days. And in chapter 4, He says, they had a mind to work. You and I need to have a mind to work, to do God's will, to keep focused on that. And no matter what comes up, we continue to work with Him and grow in the way that He wants us to. Let's turn back to 2 Peter again. 2 Peter, this time verse chapter 1. You know, as we make our choices and our commitments to let God grow us, verses 5 to 13, here in 2 Peter 1, are very important. It shows the progress that we need to be making. If we are doing what God wants us to, if we're yielding to Him, and as we yield to Him, as Peter says in chapter 3, a couple of chapters ahead here, we stir up the gift that God has given us. In verse 5, He says, For this reason, giving all diligence, that means work hard. Work hard at what you do. Put your effort into it. Also, for this very reason, giving all diligence. Add to your faith, your belief in God. Add to it virtue. The way you live. Add to your virtue knowledge. Add to your knowledge self-control. Make yourself do what's right. Ask God to give you the strength to do what's right, or to resist and deny self when the time comes to do that.

He will teach us how to do all these things, and be honest with Him. If you don't get it, ask Him. Teach Me. Open my mind so I understand what your will is and how to do these things. To knowledge self-control. To self-control perseverance. Wait. Don't give up. Understand and absolutely know the truth of the Bible that Jesus Christ is returning. Perseverance to perseverance godliness to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness agape. Perfect agape, when we really love God and trust in Him, casts out fear. Maybe daunting what happens. But when we perfectly love Him, that's okay. We understand what the plan is. We understand He will return. In Hebrews—oh, I didn't—let me finish what I was reading here. Verse 8, Have we forgotten? Maybe that we were cleansed from our old sins and God called us to a life of purpose and direction? Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent. Put your focus on it. Work harder at it. Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And then Peter says, I'm going to keep reminding you of these things, and I'm even going to create a way to remind you of these things after I'm gone. And indeed, he did that because here we are today reading the words that God gave Peter. So even all these, you know, more than almost 2,000 years later, here we are having God remind us, make your calling and election sure. Remember what you were called to. Stir up the gift. Get something going in that mind. And if it seems like we're just drifting, don't drift. Don't coast. Become on fire with what God wants. And you have to work hard. There have to be decisions on it. You know, as I was thinking back on my childhood, there were two verses, you know, that my father, that drilled into my mind and my sister's mind as well. Two verses among the many other things that he talked about in the Bible. One of them was Ecclesiastes 9-10.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Whatever you do, do it with your diligence. Do it hard. Even if you don't like the job, put your heart into it and learn from it and do it to the best you can. And he would say that over and over and over again. And I always remembered that. And if we go into our jobs, even if we don't like a job that we have, we still do it with all our heart, all our mind. Give our diligence to it to get the job done.

And the other one that he would repeat a lot is 1 Corinthians 2-9.

And that was drilled all the time. Keep your focus on God. Do these things in life. Live your life. Live it for God diligently. Never forget what he called you to and what he has opened your mind to.

And there's all... you have your favorite verses as well, but as a church, we need to remember those things, as people of God, to remember those things, to do them well.

Many times in the Bible, it will talk about people falling asleep. And I don't mean dying isn't falling asleep, but they're asleep.

Their kind of life is just passing them by. They're not really aware of what's going on.

And you can think of those accounts in the Bible where it talks about that. One of them is in Matthew 25, the 10 virgins.

And here we have, when the bridegroom returns, 10. 10 who have come out of the world who are waiting for him, but only half of them are ready when he returns. They've all kind of been asleep. They all kind of needed to be woke up, but half of them were soundly asleep. They weren't ready at all when he returned. There was no oil in their lamps at all, and so the bridegroom told them, I don't know you. I don't know you. And the other half were welcome to come in. And I think about us, and I think about me, and it's like, do I want, when the bridegroom comes, and he says, enter in, do I want to be? After all I know and everything God has given us, do I want to be one who says, I don't know you because you've fallen so soundly asleep? You've let the world put you to sleep. You thought everything was fine. You thought you had all these years to go. And our years could be cut short. I'll talk a little bit about a short time, but we don't even know from day to day if we're going to wake up the next morning.

This could be my last day of life. Only God knows. We'd better be ready all the time because any of our times could end and not think that so many years off and whatever. Always ready. Always with a sense of awakeness so that we are aware of what's going on around us and paying attention to what God wants us to pay attention to. If we go back to Matthew 25, not to read the account there, but to see what he says there in Matthew 25 at the end of that account of the Ten Virgins, he says this. He's talking about the time when he would return, but he's reminding us what we need to do, what we need to be doing as the time of Christ's return approaches.

Matthew 25 verse 13, he says, and deal with the situations that come up in life. We go back just one chapter to Matthew 24 verse 36. He says, And they didn't know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. That's how it will be. A world that will look good. Wow! You know, there's still things going on. There's still money. There's still things that can go on. Luke, Jesus Christ, the Roarans, us, and Luke.

Don't get caught up in the carousing and the revelries of life. It will happen, but know what is happening. Watch what is going on. Don't be caught unaware by what is happening. In verse 46, he says, As blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Doing his will.

That even though the world looks like it might be going on okay, and every newscast we watch tells us, Hey, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Things are better than they ever have been before. All you have to do is listen to us. Things are going well. We're not living in a time where we have to worry about armies marching in and taking us away in the night, because while the Great Tribulation will happen, up until that time, things will look pretty good.

We go back to 1 Corinthians 7. The apostles of old lived 1900, almost 2,000 years ago, and they had one thing that always marked them. Of course, they were committed to the truth of God. They knew the Bible. They were clear. They were bold. They were direct in saying, This is the way of God. Do it. This is how life is supposed to be and how, if you've been called out of the world, to do it.

But they never thought, Oh, Jesus Christ is not going to come for a thousand or more years. They never sensed that. We look back on that time, and they read the same Olivet prophecy we read, and at their time, they would look at it and say, Well, Paul has gone around to the Gentiles, those city-states, those nations, and he's preached the gospel here, and he's preached the gospel there, and we've learned things about the Gentiles that we had no idea it was before.

Certainly, this must be the time of the end because of the way they live and what we're learning about things. And they thought they had done the will of God, and they always had the idea in mind that time was short. Well, short. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 7 here, verse 29. 1 Corinthians 7 is a chapter on marriage, but in the midst of it here, Paul makes a statement as he's talking about marriage.

In verse 29, he says, But this I say, brethren, the time is short. Well, we know that the time wasn't short for him. It was many more years. We're still here. We're still here, 1900-plus years down the road. The time is short. So that from now on, even those who have wives should be as though they had none. The time is short. They had what you and I need to have. They had a sense of urgency. Christ is returning. He is going to come back to this earth. He will be judging the people of God. 1 Peter 4, 17 is pretty clear.

Judgment is now. Not in the future, now on the house of God. God has called us. We have a tremendous blessing to know his truth, but he is watching what we are doing. He has called us for a purpose. He has in mind exactly what he wants you and me and everyone listening to do in his kingdom. He wants to see that his character is developed. He wants to see that we are growing in the way that he wants us to grow.

He wants to know that no matter what comes our way, we will choose him. We will commit to him that we will learn. He will develop in us the strength, the faith, the trust to follow him wherever he leads. Just as he asked those apostles, follow me. He says it to us too. Follow me. Follow me. I know the way. I know the truth. I know the life. It may not be the way you want, but it is the way. It is the way to eternal life and that everything that we could, that he wants us to become, everything we need, he knows. You and I don't know. So as we go through trials, and those can include any kinds of trials, right? I mean health trials, family trials, job trials, relationship trials. There are things that God is looking to strengthen in us.

And through those all, we look to him first. Trust in him. Put your trust in him. That's what part of what our trials are. Look to him and keep our focus on him and learn what he wants us to learn. You know, Paul is talking earlier on when I was talking about the work.

You know, we see what's going on about the Gospel preached in all nations, and Paul and Peter would have thought we preached the Gospel in all nations. God has opened these doors, Peter would have said, to all the Gentile areas of the world. Didn't see that coming. But they did it, and they went out and they dutifully did the job.

And as we look around the world to us today, and we see people from Bangladesh and Pakistan being called, you know, and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, that there's a growing group there that is there. And no doubt that God is going to call people from other areas. There is a job to do.

Today we can do what they didn't know they couldn't do back then, by the limitations. But today we can. And we know we live in a time that is dangerous, right? We know there's a time coming when people are going to not like people who believe in the Bible. They're simply not going to like it. That's something we have to face. I have little doubt that one day in the future someone will knock on my door, and they will hear, I've heard something I say, and they'll either haul me off or do whatever they want to do, and try to convince me to stop saying what I'm saying.

And that may be some of you, too. I'm asking God, prepare me for that time. That I would not fall to any fear or any threats or whatever goes on. But that when that time comes, because I know it is coming, Jesus Christ said, if they hated me, they're going to hate you, too. And in a world that it increasingly is against the Bible and increasingly for what their way is, it's just things we have to realize, accept, and be ready for. Always with our eyes on Jesus Christ. Always remembering the days are short, but you and I don't know how short those days are.

No one's setting any dates. No one's setting any dates. But the time could be short. I won't turn to Revelation 12. You know in Revelation 12 where it talks about Satan. And at what time, whatever that is, that God cast Satan down to the earth. And Satan, what does he do? He says he knows he has but a short time. He knows it's a short time. What is his purpose? Destroy mankind. Anyone who follows God, turn them away from the truth. Go out and attack them. Force them to denounce God, to turn from what they have done.

He has a short time. His mission? No man survives. God's mission? All come to repentance. There's the difference. And he has given you and me the opportunity to live that life and to have that faith, to see through the times and become the first fruits that he wants us to become. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24, the Olivet prophecy, he said, if those days weren't shortened, no flesh would be saved alive. But for the elect's sake, that's you and me, those days will be shortened. Satan will not prevail.

Mankind will not be destroyed. God will come in and Jesus Christ will return and he will rescue the world from itself. It will happen. We can have hope in that. We can focus on that. And we can look at that. But we have to have that sense of urgency to keep our calling and election sure and to stir up that gift that God wants us to have. Remembering those things helps us to stir up that gift, to be in a sense of urgency. And if we knew the time was short, if we knew Jesus Christ was returning next week, what would we be doing? I dare say we'd be spending more time in prayer, more time in fasting, more time in the Bible, more time paying attention to everything we do and everything, right?

I'm just kind of generalizing here. Live our lives with that sense of urgency. Do the things that God wants us to do. We turn back to Isaiah 48. The word suddenly is there with prophecy. You cannot deny it. And as you're turning to Isaiah 48, I'll remind you of Isaiah 30. And at the end of that chapter, God talks about how we can see something coming.

Right? There's a wall, and all of a sudden we see one day a bulge on that wall. And we think, what is that about? What's going on there? That's different. But it doesn't burst, and so we get used to it. It might grow a little longer. And pretty soon, we're kind of just like getting used to the fact that there's this bulge in the wall. But suddenly, one day it bursts.

And we think, well, how did that happen? Well, how did that happen? And part of that happened is because we weren't paying attention to what was going on as that bulge began to do. As it began to just grow on that wall. Just like Christ said in Luke 21. When you see the buds appearing, know the time is near. When you look at these things, and you can begin to see all those things when I was growing up and wondered, how could the United States ever become like Sodom and Gomorrah? That doesn't even make sense.

But today I say, I think we're worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. I don't know that they did the things that we espoused in this country today, back then. I don't know how much worse it can be. When I see some of the statistics of what's going on in schools and the percentages of kids that are, you know, in the 20s, that are questioning their gender identity, questioning their sexuality, I think it looks like the world is having a pretty good effect on those young people.

They need to know the truth. They need to know who they are. They need to know what God did. They need to have that preached to them. They need to know there's hope and not the confusion that Satan is the author of. There's all sorts of things that we couldn't see back then that we can see clearly now that are coming. But anyway, in Isaiah 48, Isaiah 48 and verse 3, I have declared, God says, the former things from the beginning. They went forth from my mouth and I caused them to hear it.

We've heard it. The world will hear it as God directs the message going out. I caused them to hear it suddenly. Suddenly I did them and they came to pass. Suddenly I did them. We are warned. The world will be warned. And suddenly they will happen. One day, you know, my background is in finance. That's not all I did in my life. But I look at the stock market today and I have been saying for years, it makes no sense.

Everything I learned in economics regarding the stock market and how it's valued, I threw it out years ago because it makes no sense. Leading economists say, we have no idea. We have no idea how the economy is holding together the way it was or is. I know it's God. He's giving time. He's giving time because he is patient, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and turning to him. We see the times that are coming. Let's go back to Ephesians. Ephesians 5. I'm sorry.

Ephesians 5, verse 14.

Ephesians 5, verse 14. Therefore, God says, Awake. Awake you who sleep. The original could be, rouse thee. One of the commentaries say that this is a stir to action phrase that God inspired. Rouse, wake, get up, awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly. Circumspectly means exactly. Living by every word of God, understanding and growing in the grace and knowledge of God every day. And then as we see the differences between what we do and what the Bible says, change. Change and become like him. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time. Make use of the time. Don't waste it. Don't sleep through it. Get rid of some of the things in your life. To take the time. To meditate. To realize and to think what's going on. Compare it to the Bible. And ask God, help me see. Help me to know what to do. Help me to see who I need to become. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Well, if the days were evil at the time that Paul wrote this to the Ephesians, how much more so today? The days are evil. It is time to wake up. And part of that, part of getting ready for what God wants us to do is to be with each other. Right? We can go on down here in verses 16 or verse 17. Therefore, don't be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And don't be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation. Don't become enamored with the world and waste your time on that. But be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have to be with one another. Part of the sense of urgency is have to grow in love with one another to become one with one another. Hebrews 10, 24, 25, you know what it says. Exhort one another. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Exhort one another. Encourage one another. Watch out for one another. Encourage. Look to what God is coming. Don't let down your guard.

Don't get caught up in this or that, but keep your focus on what God wants us to do. Exhort one another, even more so as you see the day approaching.

We're in Ephesians 6, or we're in Ephesians 5. Let's look at Ephesians 6.

As I wind this down, I hope, I hope that the church, I hope everyone here, I ask God, give me a sense of urgency. There are things that need to be done. We know that as a church. We see what God's will is, and we need to do it. We need to do that in our lives, our personal lives as well. We do it so we're ready when Jesus Christ returns, which is what His will is, which is what our will is for all of you, and all of you have for each other. That's just who we are. That's just what God called us to be. So in Ephesians 6, verse 10, He says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Be strong in Him. Don't look to yourself for the power and the might to do that. It's not in us. It's in God and yielding to Him and acknowledging, acknowledging what He wants us to do.

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Use the Holy Spirit. Exercise the Holy Spirit that God has given us to become who He wants us to become. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His Spirit. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That we may be able to stand that when Jesus Christ returns, we will be there with Him when He returns because in this lifetime we've made use of the time.

We've made use of what God has given us and has He has led us to do His will in all things that we do. That's our prayer for everyone. That's your prayer for each other. That's what God's will is. Let's all be about His business.