Guest Speaker Glynn Rogers

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”

now go back to 34-36.

Luke 17:34–36 ESV

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”

We need to be ready. We don’t need to lose watch. Matt.25:1-13.

Matthew 25:1–13 ESV

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

We don’t need to grow weary or give up on his return. (Nanny’s response) However his return is sooner now than ever.

Desensitized- Having been made less sensitive. Having been made less likely to feel shock or distress at scenes of cruelty or suffering by overexposure to such images.

Here are some secular quotes/references out of the dictionary. Example:“People who view such movies become desensitized to violence.” Are we losing our sense of reality due to our culture? Example: “The media had desensitized him to the horror of violence.” If that’s all we hear and see we will lose our shock value and it doesn’t seem real. The nightly or daily news is so inundated with violence and death locally and around the world to the point of that it’s just the norm. Bad news makes up the news. And that is reality. In 1989 Carmen had a song called revival in the land. In that song there is a point where the devil asks his chief demon how his pet project television violence was doing. The demon responded to him that by the time a child reaches high school they have seen 70,000 murders. And that was 33 years ago! I realized a few years ago that the catastrophes around the world were not having an impact on me. It just seemed like a fairy tale something that wasn’t real. It didn’t involve me so it was out of sight out of mind. We need to have a burden for souls.

We are impacted by our culture whether it is TV, radio or just being around others. We need to be careful what we let in. We need to guard our hearts. Our eyes are windows to the soul. We can’t unsee what we’ve seen. Are we changing the culture or is the culture changing us? This is why it is so vitally important that we have a daily renewing of our minds. Romans 12:2.

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The lines of right and wrong are being blurred, leading to compromise. We need to be atmosphere changers (salt and light). Don-example to today Eeshee example. That involved language but we also don’t need to pass on public prayer. Prayer is vital. We need to set the precedence and pray publicly. Don’t be ashamed just because no one else does it. Luke 9:26.

Luke 9:26 ESV

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Be careful what you accept as ok. Culture is trying it’s best to indoctrinate/influence and change the next generation through political correctness/ and not offending. Sin is sin and we need to call it what it is. I would rather offend someone with the truth and love that comes from God’s word than to compromise due to my being uncomfortable and risk someone not being told the truth and possibly being eternally separated from God. We need to be examples of Christ’s character in our culture and influence the next generation. Stay with me here….

Censorship, it began as a way to try and preserve morality. Now it just tries to keep morality out. Tv was targeted for the heterosexual, monogamous, nuclear families. The advertisers dictated the censorship based on what they wanted to be a part of. They separated themselves from anything that might harm their image. This was referred to as the era of responsibility. “The greater good of the population was considered in the creation of tv programing.”

Censorship in television began in the 1940’s with trying to put pants on Tweety bird. In the 50’s and 60’s cussing wasn’t allowed. Belly buttons couldn’t be exposed. There had to be twin beds instead of one. There was even a big scandal on I love Lucy about the word pregnant. They had to say expecting instead. The 1970’s introduced a time frame in which adult-oriented programing started after children had went to bed. The 1980’s and 1990’s cable tv was introduced which broke the lines between daytime and night time television with less and less censorship. In late 1999 the “s” word was allowed in prime time. In 2000 the 1st homosexual kiss was aired.

Fast forward 22 years. It doesn’t matter day time or night time. Sexual immorality and bad language are rampant. It’s in all of it. Talk shows, gameshows, movies, regular programs and even in commercials. There is no prayer. We saw it for a little while on Duck Dynasty. Before that it was the Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. If you do see or hear it be mindful of it. In whose name are they praying and is it through Jesus? The same goes with blessings. We hear it all the time in our society “have a blessed one”. In whose name are they blessing.

As I said before the lines of sin, right and wrong are being blurred. Abnormal is normal. Normal is abnormal. The next generation is in trouble. We as parents, grandparents, great grandparents and even mentors need to show them the way through Jesus teaching and OUR lifestyle examples. The next generation will be challenged even ridiculed for being straight or heterosexual. They are and will be made to think that something is wrong with them. God made a woman in Genesis for a reason instead of another man. To be fruitful and to multiply. Can’t do that with two men or two women.

We need to be examples walking in love. Hate the sin and love the sinner. Sin is not ok. Wrong is wrong. There is still going to be a day of judgement. And on that day we will be on our own with no excuse about being politically correct. We need to have and demonstrate true repentance. A turning, about face from sin. Lets not lose the shock value. Walk in truth and love. Offenses will come, they work both ways. We just need to make sure that we are correct.

Be salt and light. Don’t become desensitized. Be ready in season and out of season. That doesn’t only mean preaching. Lifestyle evangelism.