I want to read one verse to you
that goes along with what we just read. 1 Peter 4, look at
verse 7. The end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch
or wait unto prayer. The end of all things is at hand.
Be therefore sober and watch your way unto prayer. The purpose
of this message, as John the Baptist said, as
Elijah or as the scripture said concerning John, that he would
prepare the way of the Lord. And preachers now are to do no
less. but are to prepare people to
meet our coming Lord. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
I am becoming more and more convinced of the soon return of the Lord
Jesus Christ as each day passes. More and more convinced. Innumerable
reasons make me so. Because the scriptures are being
fulfilled daily. In front of our very eyes. If
you're conversant with the scriptures, you can see it. And let me let's look at some
of these scriptures, I hope you'll just give me a watch just for
one hour. Well, not one hour. I intend
to make this 45 or less. Second Timothy, chapter three.
I do hope you'll follow along with me. Several verses I want
to look at second Timothy three. These are familiar to us, but. We need to keep being reminded
of these things. That we might discern the times
and. By the truth, sell it not second
Timothy three verses one through five. This know also. That in the last days. Perilous. or dangerous times shall come. Boy, now he gives a description
of the last day. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves. Self-love will be the rule. That's the case today and there's
even a magazine out entitled Self-love. Covetous. Men shall be covetous. Materialism is what our society
is caught up in. Covetous. It's idolatry is what
it is. Boasters. Big talkers. Big talkers. Men make big talk,
don't they? Our generation is a generation
of Big talker, big plan, but very few hard workers. Mostly talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, God's name is on everyone's lip and on everyone's bumper. And God said, thou shalt not
take his name in vain. And that means to use it in any
way that is not with fear and reverence and respect. Make mention
that his name is holy. Blasphemy. It's blasphemy to
use God's name in any way other than fear. and trembling. That's our generation in. Disobedient to parents. This generation is the generation
of unruly. Children unruly children. This
is the daycare generation. Because of the next verse. Go on. Disobedient to parents. Unthankful. Men aren't thankful. They're demanding. Aren't they? This generation is demanding.
They're not thankful. They're not. They don't realize
that every good and perfect gift comes from above, but they're
rather demanding. They think everything is a right.
This is the reason young people must have everything now. Right? Unthankful. And when they get
it, it's not enough. Unthankful. Unholy. Unholy. This generation is positively
wicked and vile. This is the vilest. My father
and I were watching something on television, and a commercial
came on. It was IBM and who they had touting
their product was one of these acid rock, heavy metal rock groups. I'm telling you, there's no morals
left in this country. It's gone. There are no morals
in this country anymore. It's positively bi, without a
conscience, unholy. Go on, read on. Unholy, without
natural affection. As I said, that's the reason
they're disobedient to parents, because parents are more ready
to give their children up for material things. Material, without natural affection,
homosexuality is rampant. Divorce is the rule rather than
the exception. Abortion. All of these things
are just. Commonplace. And people absolutely demand
the right. Without natural affection. Truce
breakers. Contract sign a contract. That laughable. So and so signed
a contract for five years. Five years. I mean, five months
till they renegotiate. Ridiculous. Truce breakers used
to be just some of you remember just a few decades ago when you
didn't need a name, you didn't need a contract, a handshake
to do. And it meant something. A man's word meant something.
It means nothing now. And absolutely nothing. Truth
breakers false accusers that means they sue you. It means
they'll sue you. False accusers incontinence. No temperance or restraint to
men's depraved natures at all. No temperance whatsoever. As
a matter of fact, the more vile and wild a person is, the more
he's looked up to. They used to say when I was,
my wild generation was coming up, he don't give a, you know
what, for nothing. And we bragged on somebody like
that. Well, that's the rule now. Fierce. Gang warfare, violence. Violence is the rule. Despisers
of those that are good. Despisers of those that are good.
Uprightness, morality. If you merely mention anything
that's decent and wholesome, it's laughable. of this generation. It's a laughing stock. Decency
is a laughing stock of this generation. Old-fashioned and archaic. Ridiculous. Like one of these actresses,
and I might be rambling a little bit, but this is, you see, and
one of these actresses said the reason she didn't mind being
nude and she has young children and one of her children was in
a movie with her and she said to me she didn't miss ninety
ninety nine six man. She said get with it get over
these old fashioned that traitors read on traitors. There's no real friend and nobody
you can call a friend. I mean a friend that stick it
closer than Somebody you think will be your
friend might just call the sheriff on you. I know it's so. Except a believer, a true believer,
a true believer. A traitor, a heady, got the big
head, swelled head, and proud of it. High minded, read on,
high minded. a lofty opinion of themselves.
Men have lofty opinions of themselves. Especially these that are so
good at playing games. Excuse me, athletes. They're
more properly called game players, gamesmen. Comedians used to be
called fools. Actors, the word actor comes
from the word hypocrite. But they're stars. Aren't they
stars? Highly esteemed. People hang
on to every word. High minds. Somebody said if
you could buy somebody for what they're worth and sell them for
what they think they're worth, you'd be rich. A hundred percent mark that. Lovers
of pleasure. Read on. Lovers of pleasure more
than lovers of God. Lovers of pleasure, fame, fortune,
lovers of pleasure. They did a survey of the Olympic
athletes. Listen to this. This will shock you. They did a survey of the Olympic
athletes and asked them the question, if you knew that by taking steroids
you would get a gold medal, but you would die from it, would
you continue to take them? Ninety percent of them said yes. It's unbelievable and it's unbelievable.
This is is this is this 1996 or what? Never been more obvious. A generation and age is never
this is never described in age like it has ours now. I tell
you, it's It's near. It's right now. These are the
last days. Verses 5, having a form of godliness. That means religious. And all of the above. All of these people just described
are religious, though. Martha, Rebecca, you work with
them. They're all religious, but they're hellions six days
a week. Having a form of government,
but deny the power of that. That means that they haven't
experienced the real power of religion. Transforming power. Life-changing,
heart-changing. Which brings me to 2 Thessalonians.
Turn over there. 2 Thessalonians 2. Religious. We're living in a
religious day. Religion has never been so popular
as it is now, yet never so far from the truth. And this is another
reason, I believe, that this is the last day. It's it. This
is it. There's never been a more religious
time, yet never been so far from the truth. This is a sign of
the end days. Now watch with me. 2 Thessalonians
2, look at verses 1 and 2. We beseech you, brethren, by
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, by our gathering together
unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit, or that is preacher, or by word, word of
mouth, nor by letter or epistle from us, as that the day of Christ
is at hand." Now, when did he write that? How long has that been? Nearly
2,000 years ago. He was writing to his immediate
brethren right there. He said, And our Lord said, you
remember what our Lord said back there in Luke 21? He said, now
when you see Jerusalem compassed about with armies, wars and rumors
of war, it's not, the desolation of Jerusalem's near, but the
end's not yet, for the many things must come to pass. And he went
on to describe. Well, Jerusalem was sacked in 70 A.D., 70 years
after Christ rose. Jerusalem was leveled, and they
were taken captive to Babylon. And Paul is writing here to his
immediate brethren, and he says, it's not now. It's not now. Don't
be troubled, brethren, that it's now. Well, brethren, be troubled,
because it is now. Oh, not be troubled. You who
are troubled, rest with us. But the world needs to be troubled
because it is now. The time is now. Not then, but
it is now. Read on. Look down in verse,
see that was 2,000 years ago. Verse 3 says, Let no man deceive
you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come
a falling away third. All right. Apostasy is the chief
reason And we'll see that in a moment. The chief reason I
believe for the soon return of apostasy. You see, the gospel
hadn't gone out in the world yet. Had it? So there can't be
a falling away if there's nothing to fall away from. Right? You
see that clearly. See, the gospel had to go out.
Our Lord said the gospel will go out unto all the world. He
just said, and then he talked about the fullness of the Gentile.
Remember that in Luke 21? The fullness of the Gentiles
must be brought in. What's that? The Mexicans got to hear the
gospel. The Africans got to hear the gospel. The Gentiles all
of them. They've got to hear the gospel. The Russians got
to hear the gospel. The whole world, the gospel's
got to go out in all the world and they've got to hear the gospel.
And he's got a sheep in every tribe, nation, kindred, and tongue. He's going to call them. And
then, a falling away. And then the answer comes. Look down at verse 10. With all
deceit, this wickedness and this antichrist, he says, will with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish because
they receive not the love of the truth. Does that not describe 1996? All men are real religious, but
they don't love the truth. You will become their enemy for
telling them the truth. Read on, verse eleven, for this
cause God shall send them strong delusions that they might believe
a lie. We've never seen so many signs
and wonders in religion and so forth, and so much goings on. Verse twelve, that they all might
be damned who believe not the truth. Turn, keep that right there,
OK? We're going to look at another verse right there, and turn to
Isaiah fifty-nine. As a fifty nine. We preach from
this. Year couple years ago and I think
fifty nine. He talked about me and won't
believe the truth. As a fifty nine look at verses.
Fourteen. And fifteen got it as a fifty
nine verse fourteen fifteen judgment is turned away backward. That means men are calling good
evil and evil good. Judgment is backwards. Men got
this thing absolutely backwards. They got man doing the saving
himself. Don't they? They got man letting
God do what only God... They got man doing for God and
God depending on man. Man, this thing is so warped.
I mean, it's absolutely backwards. They got faith coming before
life. They got faith coming before
regeneration. It's just, it's come backward.
Judgment's turned away backward. Justice stands at the far off.
Truth is fallen in the street. Equity can't enter. They won't
let you preach the gospel in their churches. You can't enter. You can't preach
that here. Yay, verse fifteen, truth faileth. And listen to this, he that departeth
from evil, now he's talking about those who leave this false gospel
and leave their, God delivers them from that righteous lifestyle
and so forth. They have to make themselves
a prey. They're the prey now. Jeanette,
those that believe and merely want to give God all the glory,
Christ all the glory, worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ
Jesus, have no confidence in the flesh, they're a prey to
the world now. They're the enemy. They're the
victims. And it started with the apostles.
Our Lord said that in Luke 21, remember? He said, they're going
to kill you. They're going to kill you. Why? For my namesake. He said, that's going to be the
start. It's going to be carried all the way through, the martyrs. And if it were lawful now, they'd
do it. You become a prey. Why? You believe in the truth. And Joe, it's not something you
chose. That's a good way to read II
Thessalonians 2. Look at that back there. I told you to keep it. He said,
We're bound to give thanks always to you, or to God for you, brethren,
because God chose you to salvation through sanctification or setting
apart of the spirit and belief of the truth. Thank God, Joe,
he didn't leave you alone. Thank God he did choose you to
believe and love the truth. But you're going to be hated
by the world. You love the truth, bless God,
but you're hated by the world. Why? For loving the truth. It
seems unbelievable, doesn't it? It seems like, why, why are you
picking on me? I'm just, I'm just trying to
declare who God is. I just believe in what God says.
And you're calling it heresy. You know what they said to Paul?
Paul said, well, the way they call heresy, that's the way I
believe. And so worship I, the God of
my Father, and I believe everything the Father says. Didn't he, John? The way they call heresy, it
started back then. They called it the way, didn't
they? That way. That way. Back then, that's when
the old church started. You know what? The old church,
remember that? They had asked those people back
then the same thing. People at Corinth, where do you
go to church? Where Paul, the Apostle's pastor. Oh. They had said the same thing
back. That's when it started. And it's continued now, but it's
worse. Oh, but we're bound to give thanks
to God for you, brother. Because God had from the beginning
chosen you unto salvation through setting apart of his Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit said, You're not going with them, Pilate, Sigmund. No, you're not going to be merely
religious. You're going to know Christ. You're not going with
them, Barbara. No, you're going to know the
true and living God. You're not going to play church.
You're going to know God. I'm going to reveal the gospel
to you. I'm going to save your soul. We don't gloat in being few in
number, but it's true. It's sad, but it's true. Look at this congregation. It's
sad, but it's true that very, very few people know and believe
the true and living God. We're not trying to be exclusive.
We're not gloating as a small group. We ought to
weep over it. Rejoice that there are some that weep. Our Lord wept, didn't
he, over all Jerusalem and Jerusalem. Oh, Rocky Mountain. The gospel
has been here. But there are very few people
who know and believe the true God and love the truth. 2 Timothy
4. Turn over there a few pages.
2 Timothy 4. Look at verse 3 and 4. Second Timothy four, three and
four, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ear and shall
turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto
fables. You can just preach or read God's
Word to this generation and they won't like it. That's the reason for all of
these perversions of Scripture. They that are unlearned and unstable.
But this generation calls them scholars. Scripture says they're
unlearned and unstable, ever learning, never coming to the
knowledge of the truth. But they're scholars, Jeanette. They're Hebrew
and Greek scholars. But they're unlearned and unstable
and it says they do rest the Scriptures. Rest them, twist
them, pervert them. Make it say what they want it
to say. And people love to have it so.
They heap these people to themselves. And this can apply to those who
leave the hearing of the gospel and justify leaving. This has happened to me just
recently. A woman wrote me a letter. A
woman whom I used to have some confidence in. She was a believer. I still love the woman. dear sweet woman and her precious
family. But they left the gospel. Removed their family from the
gospel. And I wrote her a letter and
warned her of the dire consequences of doing so. I had nothing to
gain from writing her that letter. I knew I wouldn't gain anything.
I knew I would probably become her enemy for being very frank
with her. There's another person in here
who talked to her as well. But they did it anyway. And now
I received another letter back from this lady in which she wrote
me a scathing letter. Accused me of everything you
could think of. And as is always the case of
these solitary believers, that's a misnomer. There's no such thing.
Sheep, like I told her, are gregarious. There are no solitary sheep.
Not for long, anyway. And as always is the case with
these solitary You know that's that's monasticism to remove
your family from this world. As always is the case with people
like that who are not. Who do not. esteem, the preaching
of the gospel, nor the church, nor do they gather themselves
together with the church and build up in this most holy faith
and edify and exhort one another so much more as the day is approaching
and gather with the church and meet together and edify the body
like the whole, you know, 1 Corinthians 12 talks about many members but
one body and they're vitally joined and they're not separate
from one another. But as always is the case with
somebody like that, they call them in a man who's willing to
come preach to them. You can find a man somewhere
who's willing to come preach to you for a little price and bring
you in and tell you what you want to know, what you want. and then attack the true ones,
the true preacher, attack them, bring down their character and
so forth. It's always the case, every case without exception. They heed to themselves, teachers,
will not endure sound doctrine, as this lady did not endure what
I said to her. And I was finally very, very,
very blunt with her. I said, this is the second ammunition. And you know what the Scripture
says about that. All right, you turn to Romans
9 and let me read one verse from Psalm 72. Psalm 72. You turn to Romans 9. All right. In Psalm 72, he says. There should be a handful of
corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains. Just a handful. Romans 9 says, verse 28 and 29,
He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because
a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah
said before in Isaiah 1, Except the Lord of Sabbath had left
us a seed, we'd been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. And in Luke 18, our Lord said,
When the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? Now, that's the Lord's talking.
He said, When I come, and he will find it. Well, he said,
It will be an and a remnant here and there. And he said this in a way that
we might know that it's going to be sparse. Shall he find faith? On your no, not much, because
there shall be a falling away from the. Peter said judgments
began at the house of God. There must be heresies among
you that they were approved. not be made. They went out from
us. They might be made manifest. Oh, boy, and our Lord said this reason,
I believe apostasy is the final sign is the chief sign of our
Lord's return, and our Lord said in Matthew twenty-four, he said He said this gospel should be
preached as a witness in all the world, and then shall the
end come. And he said there in Luke 21
and Matthew 24, he said, Now this generation shall not pass
away until all these things be fulfilled. Remember that? This
generation. What's a generation? What's he
talking about? to Abraham is approximately 2,000
years. From Abraham to Christ is approximately
2,000 years. Those are generations in the
Scripture. Talking about generations. From Christ till now is about
what? 2,000 years. Our Lord worked
six days, didn't he? He rested on the seventh. Our
Lord has been working for six thousand years. This great work
of salvation. On the seventh day he's going
to rest. It's close. And he said, now this generation
shall not pass away. Am I a doomsday prophet? No,
I believe in what Christ said there. This generation shall
not pass away till all these things be fulfilled." So don't
you be ignorant, Vicki Patton. Watch. That's what we're doing here
tonight. That's the purpose of this message that we might watch. It's just about one hour left.
Right? The eleventh hour. If a day's
a thousand years staying, we've got about one hour left. Right? What does this mean to us? Glory is what it means. Glory. Sudden glory in a moment and
a twinkling of an eye will be changed, as Scripture says, unto them that look for him shall
the Lord appear the second time. Glory is what it means to us.
Glory. Hallelujah. change. What it means is, Barbara, get
ready to start. Look, it's back to 2 Peter, over
2 Peter 3. Well, what should we do? And
this is the title of this message. What to do while waiting. What to do while waiting. Lord
gives us things to do while waiting on his coming. 2 Peter 3, he says in verse 12,
2 Peter 3, verse 12, looking for and hasting unto the coming
of the day of God. Hasting, what does that mean? Well, it means looking forward
to it. How do you look forward to something? You think about
it. You set your affection on things above. You buy the truth
and sell it not. You hold fast to it. You grow
in grace and the knowledge of Christ. You come where he is
and he builds up this affection for him. You hear the gospel
and it just all gets more and more dear to you and you just
can't wait. It's like me describing a meal
to you. Hey, tomorrow we're going to
have a meal and it's going to be Roast beef, I mean succulent
roast beef cooked to perfection with gravy and all the trim,
mashed potatoes. And the more I go on, you just...
Some of you were doing it just now. Hurry up and end this, preacher. I'm hungry. When we talk about
the excellencies of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, that's
what we do every Sunday and every Wednesday, building up your hunger
and thirst for it, until you just say, I can't wait. Even so, come, Lord, come now."
We had a New Year's Eve service one time, and that's all we talked
about was Him, what He's like and what His coming will be like.
And many of you said, I just wanted Him to split the sky right
then and come. That's what it means to haste
the coming of the day of God. Our Lord said though, listen
to this, he said, and here's another sign of the end times
and his imminent return, peace and prosperity. When they shall
say peace, peace, then shall sudden destruction come upon
them. This nation has been at peace
for longer than it ever has. Right? First World War was back
in the teens, second was in the forties, it's been over fifty
some years. Things are going real smooth.
Boy, they're about to explode. Peace, peace, prosperity. There's
no sign in the Scriptures. I don't know where men get this,
that there be some great worldwide dearth. No, there's peace and
prosperity at a time when you think not. As in the days of
Noah, they were marrying and giving in marriage and eating,
drinking, building, buying, selling. Does that sound like hard times
to you? Does that sound like a depression? No. At a time when you think
not. You know, when times are bad,
people are calling on the Lord, aren't they? They're looking
for and hoping for some help at a time when you think not.
I thought about that. Today and in the last few days,
I thought. You don't really think he's coming
now, do you? It's. You think about just stop and
think about it during the day. You think he's coming now? He said at a time when you think
not. When God is not in all their
thoughts. At a time when you think not. You're not thinking
on God. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. At a time
when you think not. When you think not on things
above. Beloved, don't you be ignorant.
And you set your affection, your mind on things above. But He's
coming. He's coming. Here's what to do. First Peter four, seven back
there. First Peter four, seven. Back in what we start where we
started. He said this now, the end of all things is at hand.
Be ye therefore sober. And that's not talking about.
Not being drunk, it means serious. It's time to get serious about
what we're doing. That's what it means to be a
serious disciple. It's time to be a serious student
of Christ. It's time to be a devout student in his school. It's time
to be a waiter. It's time to start waiting on
the Lord. It's pastime. It's time to be a watcher. It's
time to be a disciple. It's time to get serious about
being a disciple of Christ. It's time to be a student of
the scripture. Isn't it? It's time. Be serious. Time to get serious. Far too
much foolishness goes on. All the time. If ever there was
a time to be serious, it's here and now. What we're doing. It's
what it means to exhort one another so much more as you see the day
approaching. And that let not foolishness be named among us.
Secondly, he says, be sober, watch unto prayer, and let me
quit with just a couple more things. OK, would you? Watch
unto prayer, pray. It's time to pray. The end is
at hand. And what we do while waiting
on the soon and imminent return of Christ is pray. For what? Paul said, Brethren, pray for
us. If you're to get much out of this and to hasten the coming
of Christ and to look forward to it and all that, God's going
to give me something for you. Right. Pray for the preacher. That he will bless him and you
through him. Pray for one another, Scripture
says. And back to this preaching. This preaching is what God uses
people. This is what God uses. That lady's
not going to hear that letter I wrote to her. She's not going
to hear it. She didn't hear the first one. She's not going to
hear the second one. Though it was fraught with Scripture. Just
Scripture, Scripture. She's not going to hear it. What
does God use? God had chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that what? Believe. That means to
keep them saved. You're kept by the power of God.
What's the power of God? The gospel is the power of God.
Pray for this preaching business. This is serious. Let's get more. The world is getting more farther
and farther away from it. Let's get more serious about
it. Approach it accordingly, soberly. I want to get more and more sober
about this thing. I want to be like Baxter preaches
a dying man to die. Brethren pray for one another
pray that there be no schisms and divisions and so forth in
the church or pray for one another and I've said so many times if
you pray for somebody you can't get mad at him. And this is what
causes people to leave the body of believers some little foolish
fallout envy, jealousy, backbiting, from which come wars among you,
coming out of your own lusts, you have none, have none, you
bite and devour one another and so forth, James said. Pray. If I'm praying for Charles Ross
there, there's no way I can get mad at him. No way. Why? Prayer doesn't change things,
it changes people. That's what God's prayer does.
It changes your, it softens the heart. It makes the will submit. And
so many other things. I can't get mad. If I'm praying
for Joe, I can't get mad at him and vice versa. Because our Lord
said, pray this way, forgive us our debts as we forgive those.
Forgive our debtors. God loves intercessory prayer,
he'll hear it every time and he'll grant it. He did our Lord,
didn't he? He said he always heard the cry.
Why? He never prayed for himself. You want your prayers answered?
Never pray for yourself. Pray for everybody else. He might
not grant them what you're asking for them. He might grant you
for you. He loves intercessory prayer.
Pray for our children. It pleases me to know we have
people bringing their children like this. Why? This world we're living in, like
what our children are exposed to, I've never been, you know, I'm
not one to go on crusades against things like TV and all that,
but I'm telling you, it's just about time to throw that thing
in the oven. I just cringe when my daughter
even watches a commercial. This is the most vile and wicked
times of bringing up children in that temptations are exposed
to. There's a girl we sat I don't
know if I ought to bring this up or not. The daughter of a
believer, sweet, nice young girl, is thinking about getting her
belly button pierced. And her mom and dad aren't too
upset about it. Why? Because that's the norm. One man says, will it be next
to a plate in her We laugh. Would you have ever thought it
got that far? I tell you this thing. Pray for
our children, Lord. Keep them from the evil one.
And don't pray for your own. Pray for somebody else's. Let
them pray for yours. Oh, pray for your own. You know
what I'm saying. Pray for your own. But do more praying for
other people's children. Because like I said a while ago,
God will honor He'll bless your children. That's the way he does
things, Joe. The Lord saved Joe Parks' children. He probably saved mine. That's
the way he does things. Pray for our children. Pray for
the children of Central Baptist Church. The Lord will keep them
from being like the workers. Pray for wisdom. We need that. As fathers, as mothers, as husbands,
as wives, decisions, directions to take, we're all going to be
faced with decision. Pray for wisdom. Ah, the Lord
delights to give wisdom. Be sober and pray. He said the
next thing, he said, above all, verse 8, and I quit, above all
things have fervent charity among yourselves. That means active. Verse 9 says, use hospitality. That's a use hospitality. Use
that new grill you bought for somebody beside yourself. Use
hospitality. Be a lover of hospitality. Fervent love, that's what fervent
love means. In other words, we've got to
nurture these relationships. They're so rare, for one thing. Mancy, you do have some friends
that stick closer than brothers. I believe maybe one's sitting
right in front of you. We've got to nurture this,
don't we? It's not that they're fragile, but we are. And we do
need to nurture these relationships, because they're going to be eternal.
This is who we're going to spend eternity with. Not them. We're going to watch them perish
while we say amen. And we're going to have our arms
around one another throughout eternity. We need to start putting
our arms around each other now. You're going to sit at supper with that
person in front of you next to you for four million years. Time to invite them right. Forsake not the assembly of yourselves
together is another thing to do while waiting. Be faithful
in a few things. Let's be good stewards. That's what he said
in the next verse. Be good stewards of this grace. Faithful, profitable
members. Faithful members are getting
far and few between. It's faithful in a few things.
That's what he meant, too, when the summer man comes, we find
faith on earth. We find anybody that's faithful
in just a few things. Just faithfully fulfilling just
one talent, just giving one talent to do and fulfilling it for the
body of Christ, for the cause of Christ, for the glory of God.
Christ said, This generation will not pass away till all these
things be fulfilled. Brethren, the end of all things
is at hand. Watch on the prayer. Watch on
the prayer. And do these things while waiting.
All right. Stand with me. Our Lord, keep the fowls of the
air and the thorns from taking away the seed that is sown. In
Christ's name we pray. Amen.