Supernatural Dimension: A Pause with a Purpose
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Intro:
20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Today, the title of my message is, [A Pause with a Purpose].
If we were in the normal swings of things, life would be extremely busy right now. Graduations, parties, and vacations would consume our thoughts and attention.
But for the past six to seven weeks, all of that has been placed on pause.
Schools are dismissed until August
Travel is limited
Restaurants are empty
Church services are online or in parking lots
The busyness of life has slowed down tremendously. My question is why? What is the purpose of this pause? Before we left the sanctuary, I was in a series entitled, [The Supernatural Dimension].
The point it, as people of the Spirit, we do not look at what is around us from an earthly perspective. Instead, we desire to get the mind of Christ, so we can see and understand what He sees and understands.
A couple of weeks ago, I read in the book of Luke and came upon our text. I am sure I have read it before, but it gripped me so much I told Bekah, “Listen to this passage, last time I read this I do not think this was in my bible.”
The passage caught my attention so much, it was as though I read it for the first time. The setting of this section of Luke is like many others, the Pharisees did everything they could to trick and trap Jesus.
They wanted to know, When will the Kingdom of God come?
What they really wanted to know is, people are treating you like the King promised by the prophets, when will you instigate a rebellion to overthrow the tyrannical yoke of the Roman Empire?
They hoped Jesus would give a date, then they could accuse Him of treason.
Jesus, wise to their tactics, saw through their scheme and explained the nature of the Kingdom of God in its current form. It is not what is around us, but what is WITHIN us.
After answering the Pharisees, Jesus turned His attention to the disciples. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, they had the same question, when will the Kingdom of God come?
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
Jesus explained, many people will say, there is the Son of Man or Here is the Kingdom, but do not listen. The coming of Jesus will happen sudden, but first He had to suffer the pain of the cross.
Jesus paused to get the disciples attention. They need not get distracted by the world around them. As followers of Christ, we have the Kingdom of God within us.
Therefore, we are caught between to worlds, between two modes of thought, between two realities:
the world around us
the Kingdom within us
We must stay diligent to not let the world around us drown out and distract the Kingdom of God that is within us.
As we look at what is taking place in our world, what is God speaking to us? What is the purpose behind this pause?
I have three points, [The Purpose of Repentance], [The Purpose of Righteousness], and [The Purpose of Renewal].
Let’s begin
1. The Purpose of Repentance
1. The Purpose of Repentance
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Jesus reminded His disciples of Noah. Of course they knew that Noah built the ark. They understood that he took two of every animal. Then his family boarded the ark.
Once they were safe inside, they rains came down and the floods came up. But why did God allow this to happen?
Noah lived ten generations after Adam and Eve. By this time, the world was exceedingly wicked, so much so, God regretted ever creating humanity.
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
What caused them to become so wicked. Jesus explained, they were too busy to pay any attention to God. They enjoyed their banquets, their parties, and their weddings.
Any connection to God was an after thought. But God had a remnant.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
We see that even in the busyness of life, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Grace is a byproduct of repentance. In Noah’s day there were two types of people:
Noah- who focused on fulfilling God’s plan for his life
The world around him- who allowed the busyness of life to distract them from God.
How will it look when Jesus returns?
Life will be so busy, people will choose not to schedule time with God in their daily routine. Could it be God has allowed this pause in society to give us time to repent?
2. The Purpose of Righteousness
2. The Purpose of Righteousness
28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
Jesus continued His explanation by reminding the disciples of the days of Lot in Sodom. Ten generations after Noah built the ark, and twenty generations after Adam and Eve, a man named Abraham was born.
Abraham had a nephew named Lot who lived in the town of Sodom. Abraham had an encounter with God in Genesis 18, where three divine visitors came to his tent.
We believe one of those visitors was Jesus who explained to Abraham God’s plans for Sodom.
20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
What was the problem with Sodom and Gomorrah?
Of course we know it was their blatant immorality that led them to indulge in deep perversion. But what got them to that state of moral depravity?
They too went about their busy routines, eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building. Their busyness caused their focus to shift from God to the world around them.
Abraham interceded for Sodom and begged God to spare them if He could find:
Fifty righteous
Forty-five righteous
Forty righteous
Thirty righteous
Twenty righteous
Ten righteous
But the day came and not even ten righteous people were there. What is righteousness? It is the positive results of a sound relation with God.
In Sodom there we two types of people:
Lot and his family, who left the city protected by angels
The citizens of sodom who were filled with sin and immorality
When we repent, God wants to develop a relationship with us. Could it be that the purpose behind this pause is to allow us to take inventory of our life, causing us to want to live a righteous life?
3. The Purpose of Renewal
3. The Purpose of Renewal
30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Jesus wanted His disciples and He wants us to realize, this is how the world will look when He returns. We often think of the intense sin and immorality that surrounds us.
But the moral depravity of our nation is a byproduct of spiritual negligence. When we allow ourselves to get so busy we do not make time for God, our affections shift from things above to the things around us.
Therefore, We must look forward to all God has for us. We cannot look back with a sense of wonder and awe at what the world has to offer:
32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”
In these last days, there are two types of people:
Those who understand the Kingdom of God is within them
Those who let the world consume their thoughts, motivations, and schedules
For once we repent and determine to live a righteous life, there are great promises ahead of us. Remember what Peter announced on the Day of Pentecost:
16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
Could it be that God has allowed this pause for this purpose: so that we might repent, determine to live a righteous life, and receive a renewal of the Holy Spirit?
Close:
As I mentioned in my introduction, if life were normal right now, we would ALL be very busy right now. BUT, everything is on pause.
I have said this before, but I do not believe God sent Coronovirus or the events that have surrounded this pandemic. BUT, I am confident that He wants to us it to help us.
I have felt a strong stirring in my spirit that God wants to use this to help us draw closer to Him.
But in this moment, the question is not what have we done this past seven weeks, but what will we do the next seven weeks to seven months, to seven years.
Will we look at this and think, well I am glad that is over?
OR, will we allow this Pause to serve a life-altering purpose in and through us?
When the doors of the church are open again, will we walk through them multiple times a week?
When social activities resume, will we still take time to pray with our families?
When we return to some state of normalcy, will we continue to prioritize time with God and our loved ones?
Or will we allow the busyness of life to rob us of the opportunity to keep repentance, righteousness, and Spiritual renewal as a necessity and not a passing thought?
I pray we will stay as faithful to God in the easy times as we’ve endeavored to in these difficult times.
And I want to start this morning. I am going to go by each car and pray for each family. Before I get there and after I am gone, let’s pause for a purpose this morning.
Pray with your families,
Worship together
Seek God together!
