“Only one life will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last. And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,if the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.”
Charles T. Studd
As Christians, we have been given an awesome task which is the greatest privilege available on this earth-to be Jesus Christ to a dying world. As we look at how things are in America today, it is painfully clear that the Christians have dropped the ball. I am going to challenge you to pick it back up. It is the only thing that God is interested in from you-reaching others before it’s too late.
The sin of complacency is what is bringing the rapid end to America as we know and love it. Complacency is being calm or having a secure satisfaction with oneself or one’s life. The last thing Jesus did before He ascended was to command all who were truly His to go into their world and share the Gospel. He made no exceptions for anyone to not share in this task.
It is completely pointless to call yourself a Christian and not serve God with all of your heart. I have a sign on my wall that says, “Dying for me was the most He could do, living for Him is the least I can do.
We want to appear good before the world around us. We use Jesus to help our image, not wanting the obligations that our pastor has. We want the name of Jesus as our banner and want His help in making our agendas work and prosper. God says it is a marriage, yet we only want a dating relationship. We don’t want to be totally locked into a commitment that would cost us our own pursuits or passions. God, however, says this marriage will only be acceptable to Him if we are DEAD to these things. Our greatest sin is our arrogance that says He will accept this in our lives. A spouse certainly wouldn’t for long, but our sin blinds us to how very separated we are from God. The devil is very willing to bless us to keep us deceived. He does not mind people saying they are Christians as long as they don’t spread it to others.
God has a golden rule, to love Him most of all and to love others more than yourself. He has one concern-those lost around us. How can you know where you stand? How desperate are you about those around you that may not know Jesus? That is the only thing that matters to God for you to be caring about. God will not tolerate cold or lukewarm hearts. If you do not ache for the lost, you do not have the Father’s heart. You need to repent and turn QUICKLY. What has you captive-yourself? Most often that is the hinderance. That is what took Satan out of heaven, so he knows how to snare people that way easily. God is reading our minds and examining our motives every minute. He knows what motivates us to action. The world around us can easily see what we serve and what our priorities are, also. It should always be reaching the lost. Do people draw to you because you radiate Jesus to them? Do they come to you for prayer because they see a life passionately near to the heart of God? Can your purpose in life be easily seen as trying to be Jesus to everyone you meet in your day? This is not about doing your job with kindness or a good attitude. The lost can do that. This is about being so full of Jesus Christ that people feel His presence just being in the room with you. He is strong enough and very much desiring to have that much of you to Himself. Or, is your testimony a silent one. People don’t even know when or how you came to know Jesus-people that know you very well. Our lives are full of ourselves. Our prayers are all about what we need, what our family needs, rarely for those lost and dying in our neighborhood. Our self-consumed prayers are out of the “Bless Me” handbook. They use the words me, me, me, my, I, me, me, me often. We talk endlessly about our current issues, past hurts, excuses why we aren’t full of Christ; we aren’t called to do what other Christians are. We MUST get our eyes OFF of ourselves and onto Jesus Christ. Low self-esteem is nothing more than pride and self absorption. Stop living in your past and stand up for Jesus. Let Him fill your life with Himself instead of letting it remain full of your own self. Jesus’ earthly life was terrible, but He never drug that around with Him. He didn’t care. His home was Heaven. So should be ours. You will be terribly sorry one day if you block God’s purpose in your life. If the Gospel you received does not produce fruit, you need to be alarmed. Jesus cursed the tree that bore no fruit. Do not wait one more day to get your heart and priorities right with God.
James 4:17 says, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. Revelation 2:4 says “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first. Look how far you have fallen from your first love. TURN BACK to me again and work as you did at first. If you don’t, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.” Revelation 3:15, 16 says, “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth!
There are sins to be answered for that are different than the ones we commit. They are the ones we omit! Omit means something neglected or left undone. If you are lukewarm or half-hearted about the lost here, you will be revealed that way on judgment day. God loving you isn’t going to fix that. He loves all those in Hell, too. He would never have let Jesus suffer as He did if He wasn’t extremely serious about this. We must develop God’s heart in our soul. Time is nearly up. One of my pastor mentors in the jails said, “If you aren’t looking for Jesus to return with great anticipation, He isn’t coming for you, anyway.” If you can’t bear to walk with and worship Jesus here on earth, you sure aren’t ready for His soon return. Don’t cling to anything, but Him and His purpose for you. Let go of the greed, the desire for fame and significance, any purpose that takes up more time than reaching people for Christ. Don’t spend more time watching TV or on social media than you do praying or reading the Word. If you can’t discipline yourself to do that, throw out the TV. It will be so worth it in the end. You will not be sorry. Don’t be the one who will barely be saved thru the flames, God says, with nothing eternal to show for their life here on earth. It will all be burned up on judgment day and you will have no reward.
The last days of America are truly here. You nee d to be so intimate with Jesus that your Joy stays full when judgment falls. That is certainly going to happen. That is when the true Christians will shine like the sun and those in name only will panic along with the rest of the world. A real Christian can’t stop talking a bout Jesus. Out of our hearts, our mouths speak. What we love naturally flows out of us. This same pastor friend tells those incarcerated when they tell him that they are right with God that He can eavesdrop on them for less than 5 minutes and tell them how right they are with God.
Phillipians 4:8-9 says, “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.
I Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God’s deep secrets.”
Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!
I challenge you to count the cost of not standing for Jesus Christ. Everyone else is sure willing to stand boldly for their debauched agendas. What is wrong with us? TAKE COURAGE. God has fullness of courage for the asking. Revelation 21:6-8 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega-the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge! All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God and they will be my children. BUT, COWARDS who turn away from me, and unbelievers, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice witchcraft, and idol worshippers, and all liars–their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
Cowards will go to the lake of fire right along side of murderers, sorcerers (drug abuse), and idolaters. This should serve to motivate us to exercise authority with boldness.
Make Jesus your only desire. You will never regret that decision. If you don’t, I promise you, you will regret not doing that for the rest of eternity. I pray the Holy Spirit brings you all the way thru to the place you need to be today with God.