A group of Christian students was asked if they feared for the danger of hell or the danger nuclear war in their lifetime. All of them answered nuclear war. I am almost certain most of you here will agree with them. Indeed, most people are more concerned with the dangers of nuclear war than the dangers of hell in their life time. The truth is that the danger of hell is far more real, far more certain, infinitely more terrible, and more imminent than the danger of nuclear war. Jesus said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all." (Luke 17, Matt 24).
People asked Jesus about the end of the world, when he reminded them about the days Noah and the days of the son of man. It takes wisdom to recognize the time and to respond. They got to worry about their present time more than worrying about the end time. By the time of Noah, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Genesis 6:5). We are currently living in an age where violence and hatred have become part of life. When you are young, you expect to live for a long time, but sadly more and more teenagers and youngsters die on a daily basis. The police identified the young man Nikolas Cruz as a 19 year old who shot and killed 17 people and injured many in a high school in Florida, as a "deeply disturbed, emotionally broken" young man with no emotional support system. He was a loner after his mothers death a few months ago and living with a friends family and he had nobody to lean on. Church, sunday school and Pastoral care were the missing pieces in the young man's life.
If the church pews could talk, they have a message for us today. So many have sat here for years. They have heard hundreds of sermons and prayers. But they hear the cry from outside of the walls. Rather than sitting in the pews on Sundays, we need godly parents who will sit down with their children with the Bible every day. We need to break into the Schools and Colleges to start prayers and Bible study groups. We need a spiritual revival to sweep our land. Going to Church no more makes you a Christian than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.
Jesus reminds them of the hope of the promise of God. “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Genesis 9:16). From the large picture window of our home I watched storms develop across the field. They started as a cloud on the horizon that grew larger and darker as it moved toward us. Lightning and thunder began in the distance, followed by the stirring of the wind and scattering of the birds. Finally the deep shadow of the storm with its lashing wind and rain arrived. When the storm ended, the sun came out and sometimes a rainbow appeared. I was always amazed by how clear the air was and how clean the earth smelled right after the storm. For me, Lent is like the approaching storms; dark and ominous at the beginning and brighter after it is over. Lent invites us to look inward, a time of silence where you experience a God waiting to be closer to you and me.
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Blessings
Mathew Philip
People asked Jesus about the end of the world, when he reminded them about the days Noah and the days of the son of man. It takes wisdom to recognize the time and to respond. They got to worry about their present time more than worrying about the end time. By the time of Noah, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Genesis 6:5). We are currently living in an age where violence and hatred have become part of life. When you are young, you expect to live for a long time, but sadly more and more teenagers and youngsters die on a daily basis. The police identified the young man Nikolas Cruz as a 19 year old who shot and killed 17 people and injured many in a high school in Florida, as a "deeply disturbed, emotionally broken" young man with no emotional support system. He was a loner after his mothers death a few months ago and living with a friends family and he had nobody to lean on. Church, sunday school and Pastoral care were the missing pieces in the young man's life.
If the church pews could talk, they have a message for us today. So many have sat here for years. They have heard hundreds of sermons and prayers. But they hear the cry from outside of the walls. Rather than sitting in the pews on Sundays, we need godly parents who will sit down with their children with the Bible every day. We need to break into the Schools and Colleges to start prayers and Bible study groups. We need a spiritual revival to sweep our land. Going to Church no more makes you a Christian than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.
Jesus reminds them of the hope of the promise of God. “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Genesis 9:16). From the large picture window of our home I watched storms develop across the field. They started as a cloud on the horizon that grew larger and darker as it moved toward us. Lightning and thunder began in the distance, followed by the stirring of the wind and scattering of the birds. Finally the deep shadow of the storm with its lashing wind and rain arrived. When the storm ended, the sun came out and sometimes a rainbow appeared. I was always amazed by how clear the air was and how clean the earth smelled right after the storm. For me, Lent is like the approaching storms; dark and ominous at the beginning and brighter after it is over. Lent invites us to look inward, a time of silence where you experience a God waiting to be closer to you and me.
Click the link below to hear more
Blessings
Mathew Philip
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