But Until Then
Notes
Transcript
Whose tired of this world?
Whose tired of this world?
It was a busy last weekend and week for me. On Saturday night I was pretty much exhausted.
I was tired of things at work - we had a really bad patient very combative, then there's the listening to peoples problems, reading about peoples problems, watching people talk about their problems, and people mad at people for the choices they make, or people just made at people for who there are.
I had the radio on as I always do tuned to 89.9 as usual. I was contemplating the day and feeling depressed. A song came on that I have listened to many times, but that night it struck a cord. I began to sing with it and by the time I got home I knew what our sermon should be about this week.
Prayer
What Happened to Our Happy Logical World
What Happened to Our Happy Logical World
As we quite often do, especially as we get older I’m learning, we tend to re-evaluate what things were like when we came into this world and how things have progressed as we have grown and made decisions in the world that we live in.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve doing a considerable amount of that lately. The world that most of us grew up in was predictable and logical, no offence intended to the younger set listening. Everyone basically had one goal in life. As I perceived it growing up, everyone had a common goal to live and work and to leave you family and community better off by you associations and love for your family and your community.
No one had concerns about lifestyle, heritage, or thought processes per-say. Sure there were differences of opinion and different ideologies and different ways of doing things. But if your way was different than mine, you could explore it and not be chastised for it in the process. At the seem time, I don’t want to leave the impression that those years were all roses and easiness, because it wasn’t. Bad things happened then as well as they do now. But life was ok and you could live without much concern. You could travel and have no fear.
The news is full of dread, uncertainty, hate, suspicions, and condemnation now. It seems to me that our world started to change when the Twin Towers came down and the decline has gathered momentum with each passing year. Mistrust became nation wide, we didn’t know where the a terrorist attack would come next. At first there was solidarity against the unseen foe but our since of safety was destroyed and it has never returned. The erosion of morality and Biblical principles are now at an all time low.
The year 2020 has been one for the record books in so many ways. No one would have ever guessed that a single virus could reek havoc on a global scale. There have been other plagues through the years, but they were confined to countries. The US in it’s arrogance is still relying from the onslaught. The pent up fears and general unrest have shown themselves in riots and destruction, hate and blame. In a matter of 9 months the “stability” that we had last year will probably never return. We now have a new normal. To top it all off, it’s an election year.
Nothing to be glad about in that synopsis is there.
God, What’s Happening?
God, What’s Happening?
Is it time to turn to Nostradamus? Who could have predicted this? No one saw this coming! Right? Well if your are a student of the Bible at all , you know the answer.
11 There will be great earthquakes, and famines and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights and great signs from heaven.
8 For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. These are but the beginning of birth pains.
The Bible is declaring that these things will happen. Would you say, given the current state of the world, that these verses are still talking about future events? Every single one of those statements are either now happening or have happened in the very recent past. It’s enough to scare the pants right off of you. It also says that these are events are only the beginning.
Testimonies for the Church, Volume 8 The Time of the End
The law of God is made void. We see and hear of confusion and perplexity, want and famine, earthquakes and floods; terrible outrages will be committed by men; passion, not reason, bears sway.
What about the idea of the law of God being made void? It is happening in some areas even here in the US, that if you state christian values and ideals, you could be named a bigot, declared hateful, intolerant, the list goes on. There is a desperate push to drive the Biblical Christ out of the only country that was ever founded on christian principles. It’s a paradox that is almost impossible to understand.
In the world that I grew up in I wondered how these things could ever be, how the world could ever get to such a state. I don’t wonder anymore, you and I are now standing on the edge of the insanity that the bible refers to and it looks pretty scary.
7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.
The Essence of Fear
The Essence of Fear
Did you catch the middle of that last verse?
7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.
It says do not be alarmed doesn't it.
What causes us to be alarmed. Alarmed means to be trouble, be frightened, to panic, to be afraid. Fear is a very ambiguous thing. It means many things to many different people and it happens or can be used in many different ways. Fear is not always a bad thing.
A little bit of well placed fear in a child parent relationship lets the child understand what authority means. Fear of consequences keeps society in line or at least it should. These are becoming very blurred in this society. Now we attempt to de-fund whole city police forces. Individuals declare that parents have no rights to instruct their children in what gender means. The Bible talks about fear.
10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.
Satan uses fear in multiple ways. His kingdom is based on fear, intimidation, greed, force, and hate to name a few. With every tactic he uses there is an element of fear connected with it. Lets look at Job 1:9.
9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
When the word fear is used in our relationship with God it’s a depiction of honor and reverence and respect. Satan insinuated that Job’s fear was born out selfish motives. If Satan was allowed to reverse the good in Job’s life, that honor would turn to true fear, hate, and suspicion .
8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.
A roaring lion. Would that symbolize fear? It seems to me that the instigator of all these things that we have talked about have some basis in fear.
Is there really a need for fear
Is there really a need for fear
What does our Lord tell us about fear?
He told Joshua
8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.”
Hebrews tells us not to fear.
6 So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
John tells us that if we have felt and understood Jesus’ love for us, then there can be no fear.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
This next verse tell us where fear comes form.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
If God has not given us fear or a spirit of fear, then it has to come from the enemy of the human race. God gives us power, love, and a mind that can discern where fear, hate, distrust, and lies come from. If doesn’t come from God, then there is only one place it can come from.
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
An Ugly World
An Ugly World
Have we established the fact that we live in an ugly world? Yes sums up that question. I was at this point as I drove home that night. I was depressed, tired and the world did not look very bright.
Then I heard this song.
The words slowly but surely soaked into my tired brain. The more I listened, the more I began to remember what a christian’s life is all about. Look at those words again with me.
My heart can sing when I pause to remember
My heart can sing when I pause to remember
How often do we stop and remember where we were, where we are, and where we plan on being. We get so busy with this and that, and the other thing, that life slips by and we loose our direction.
A heartache here is but a stepping stone, along a trial that’s winding always upward, This troubled world is not my final home!
A heartache here is but a stepping stone, along a trial that’s winding always upward, This troubled world is not my final home!
In our finite reality, our troubles, our heartaches, our problems, our concerns seem to be more than we can bear. In Gods reality they are just a moment in time compared to eternity. Stepping stones, one step closer to heaven. That’s were my final home is.
This weary world with all its toil and struggle, May take its toll of misery and strife.
This weary world with all its toil and struggle, May take its toll of misery and strife.
We have to deal with this world and all of it’s ills, but we don’t have to do it alone! If we know God’s love there is no fear! We have a partner that has already experienced all the bad this world can give. He will get us through it if we ask for help.
But until then, my heart will go on singing, Until then with joy I’ll carry on! Until the day my eyes behold the city, Until the day God calls me home!
But until then, my heart will go on singing, Until then with joy I’ll carry on! Until the day my eyes behold the city, Until the day God calls me home!
With all of this going on around us, we can sing, we can have joy and that ability that God wants to give us will carry us on. Paul and Silas did it inside a prison.
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
If Paul and Silas found joy and singing in side a prison, what keeps us from finding that song and the same joy.
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God is our reality, this world is not.
Let’s play the song one more time. Let the words give your heart the ability to sing regardless of the reality of this world.
Remember, God is our reality, this world is not.