FALLING BEHIND Peter followed Jesus at a distance to the courtyard of Caiaphas’ house. That’s an indication that we find ourselves in trouble when we don’t follow the Lord closely. If you followed the Lord closely at one time, but you have hung back and now you follow the Lord at a distance, before long you find yourself hanging out with the wrong crowd. And soon you find yourself doing the wrong thing. John 18:15-18; 25-27
Remember, the word “baptize” means “to immerse.” There is a baptism that is more important than baptism in water. It is baptism in or with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism in an outward act that symbolizes the cleansing of your sins but it only touches your body. Spirit baptism is an inner act that literally purifies your soul and spirit; you become Holy because the Spirit of God is Holy. That’s why He is called the Holy Spirit.
Faith is one step with two consequences. When a person turns to God, they are turning from their sinful past. Take your hand and place it front of your face with the palm facing you. Now, turn your hand around so the palm is facing away from you. The backside of your hand is now facing you, and the palm is facing away. That isn’t two separate actions; it was only one. Even so, you cannot turn to Christ without turning away from your sin. That turning is repentance. Four different ways we should model the Christian life to others.
Conservative estimates tell us there are a hundred million people today professing to be born again, evangelical Christians. Where’s our impact? Imagine a hundred million Jonahs walking around in a culture, in the marketplace, in the government, in the schools, in the health clubs, in the neighborhoods. A hundred million people filled with resurrection power as though alive from the dead. That’s what the world is waiting to see and that’s the hope for America today.
It is true that locusts of all kinds come and eat up things valuable to us. They may be literal insect locusts, or they may be the financial or emotional locusts that destroy our savings or our sanity. They may be the judicial or legislative locusts that strip away the leaves from the tree our founders planted. But whatever kind of locust you’ve faced in the past. God gives an amazing promise in Joel. He says, “I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten.” (Joel 2:25)
The main truth we can glean from both the Major and Minor Prophets is that God not only deals with individuals, He also deals with nations. Edom is a long-forgotten nation, but Israel is in existence today and is in the news almost daily. As we examine the message of Obadiah, let’s consider God’s Word to America, and then God’s Word to me.
Someone said each of Jesus’ parables is like a window. You can look through the parable and see the world in a different way. But if you really look at a window instead of through it, you will often catch your own reflection in the glass. When you truly “get it” you’ll always see yourself in the parables of Jesus.
Commitment is not bargaining. It’s okay to bargain when you’re buying a Polex Watch from a street vendor in New York City. But true commitment to God isn’t a bargain to see how cheaply you can get off and still go to heaven! It’s offering God everything and asks for nothing. But like Ruth, when we give Him our all, He gives us so much more in return.
In our culture we have worn out the phrase, “I’m sorry.” We use it for everything from, “I’m sorry, but we’re out of peanuts,” to “I’m sorry I bumped into you.” But the words “I’m sorry” originally meant, “I’m experiencing sorrow over what I did.” In Corinthians 7, Paul writes about sorrow and repentance. “I am happy not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance…godly sorrow brings repentance” (2 Corinthians 7:9). So the Bible teaches that godly sorrow produces repentance. There is a kind of worldly sorrow that doesn’t lead to repentance. When someone says, “I’m sorry” they might be saying, “I’m sorry I got caught.” Or if they say, “I’m sorry” but they don’t plan on changing their behavior, that isn’t godly sorrow. Godly sorrow always produces repentance. When a person truly repents, their heart is broken over their sin.
When the thief on the cross prayed His prayer of faith, Jesus responded with a three-fold promise. He said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” He didn’t say, “tomorrow” or “in three days” or “in forty days when I ascend” or “next year” or “in a thousand years.” He didn’t say, “after you’ve been baptized” or “after you’ve gone through catechism” or “after you’ve spent a few years in purgatory.” No, He told Jason, “TODAY, you’ll be with me.” The great part of this promise for us is the moment a Christian dies they can be with the Lord in paradise. The Bible doesn’t teach the doctrine of limbo, or purgatory, or soul sleep. We are told when a Christian dies they are “absent from the Body and present with the Lord.” (II Corinthians 5:8) If you’ve trusted Jesus, then the moment you die, you can claim that part of His promise, “Today, you’ll be with me in paradise.”
Through the years, I’ve known hundreds of Prodigals. They are teenagers and adults who had a loving relationship with God, but they allowed restlessness and reckless living to enter their lives. They walked away from God’s blessings and they ended up a mess. Some of them are still there, others have come back home to their Father. That’s the good news: you can come back home. You don’t have to wait until you reach the pig pen either. At any time, you can decide to return to the blessing and fellowship with your Heavenly Father…If you have wandered away from God and allowed sin to take control of your life, it’s not hopeless.
This is a message about terrorists and falling towers. Everybody still talks about that day; it was a day of tragedy and injustice. People were going about their business when they were suddenly and brutally killed. And what about the tower that fell suddenly? Towers remind us of strength and security—and when a tower falls and people are killed, we feel a little less secure. The initial reaction was shock; then we began to ask the inevitable questions: Why were those innocent people killed? Why did the tower fall? Where was God during all of that? Most of you think I’m talking about 9/11, and everything I’ve said does apply, but I’m really talking about 13:1. Luke 13:1. 2,000 years ago, Jesus talked about some innocent people who died at the hands of what could be called terrorists—and He talked about a tower that fell and killed people. In fact, the similarities between 13:1 and 9/11 are amazing. The same questions people are asking today were being asked 2,000 years ago. But more importantly, the answer Jesus gives is the same answer we need to hear.
Before Levi started following Jesus, his life revolved around his job. He was going to make a boatload of money because he was fixed for life in this lucrative occupation. When Jesus called him, he had to choose whether his life would revolve around making money or around pleasing and obeying Jesus. Let me ask you today: What or who is at the center of your life?
Repentance before God is one of the most frequently recurring messages in all the Bible. No less than 969 times, God thundered, “Repent!” It was the first message Jesus preached. Matthew 4:17 says, “Jesus Christ came preaching, ‘Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” The last message Jesus left with the church was a message of repentance. Some people think the Great Commission was His last message to the church, but almost 60 years after Jesus gave the Great Commission He gave this message to the church in Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent!”
There was a time in Israel’s history when they had a whole bunch of kings and they didn’t do very well. In fact, they drifted far away from God. This message is directed toward people who have come out of Egypt. They are Christians and they have come to the place of growing as a Christian for a while but then in the middle of that, something happens and they get out of favor with God. This is a beautiful picture of it in the Old Testament.
Have you truly repented of your sins? There is a huge difference between regret over your sins and repentance. Some people say, “Ooh, I’m sorry I did those things.” Or “I’m sorry I got caught.” True repentance does what Daniel says: You renounce your sin and change your behavior. Too bad, Nebuchadnezzar didn’t listen to Nebuchadnezzar’s advice, just like some of you will walk out of here today, thinking you can get away with your sin.
