I believe this message is timely seeing that we are living in the Last Days - in fact in the last of the Last Days! Unfortunately this type of message has somewhat been ignored by the contemporary Local Church.
Concerning the destructions on the Day of the Lord Peter said:
"Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming" (2 Peter 3:11, 12, NIV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. God's emphasis (His primary concern) is on the kind of people we ought to be - not so much on what we do or ought to do. In other words, God is looking into the character, personality and attitude of His people rather than into the amount of Church work they can do, while looking forward to Christ's Return.
Unfortunately, most Local Churches want Churchgoers to be active "doers" - get busy in "serving" Church. They equate leadership with Church activities. To them, any Churchgoer who is always busy with Church work has the mark of leadership. Churchgoers are to attend every Sunday Service, attend cell group meetings, Christian Seminars, Church Conferences, Christmas functions, end of year watch-night service and to be active in social works. Some of these activities are good provided we have already cultivated holy and godly living.
2. God expects us to live holy and godly lives while looking forward to Christ's Return.
Practical ways for cultivating Holy and Godly living
In my opinion there are at least four practical ways to express our obedience to God and to be the kind of people that He wants:
1. Align ourselves with God's purpose
The primary objective of God is that His Kingdom may come. We must therefore align ourselves with the coming of His Kingdom. Whether we are aware of it or not, we proclaim this whenever we say the Lord's Prayer:
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:9, 10, NKJV, emphasis added).
Anytime a believer prays the above prayer and does not believe Christ's Kingdom will be established on earth, it makes him a hypocrite!
Later on in the same Chapter, Jesus said to His disciples, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, ...." (Verse 33).
Therefore everything that we do is ultimately directed toward the coming of the Kingdom of God. Our primary concern in life should be the coming of the Kingdom of God.
We are confronted everyday, through the media, of the ills of humanity, all the agony and turmoil of humanity. Man can't solve these problems by himself. The only ultimate solution for the human race is the establishment of God's Kingdom on earth with His appointed Ruler, the Lord Jesus Christ!
First of all we must get our priorities right. It's not seeking the Kingdom of God when it suits us. We need to seek first the Kingdom of God whether it is convenient for us to do so or not.
Why did Jonah disobeyed God?
A prophet of God who failed to align himself with God's purpose was the prophet Jonah.
God called Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Nineveh was the captital of the Assyrian empire. The Assyrians were staunch political enemies of the Israelites and they were worshippers of false gods. Nineveh was east and Jonah went to the opposite direction.
I think the main reason why Jonah did not want to go to preach repentence to the people of Nineveh was that he was afraid the enemies of Israel would repent. The remarkable thing is that when God finally got His way with Jonah, the greatest expression of conversion reported in history happened through him. The entire city of about 600,000 people was converted!
Before that happened Jonah had to learn a lesson. He lived in the mountain of Galilee. When he turned his back on God every step he took was a step downward. He went from the mountain to the plain; from the plain to the harbor; from the harbor to the ship; from the ship to the sea and finally into the stomach of a big fish!
Let it be a warning to every Christian. When a Christian turns his back on God every step he takes will be a step downward. There are a lot of Jonahs in the world today. They had a call from God; they knew full well what God wanted them to do, but it didn't suit them. They deliberately turned their backs on God and failed to align themselves with God's purpose!
2. Cultivate endurance
As a born again Christian, you are saved now. But Jesus said, to stay saved you have to endure:
"But he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 24:13).
Endures what? In the context of the above verse, Jesus was talking about all the problems, troubles, the agonies that coming on the nations. The original Greek is more specific. It says, "The one who had endured to the end ....". The conclusion is, even if you are saved now, but to stay saved you have to endure all those things that are coming to all people in the world!
There is a parallel passage on Jesus' discourse in Luke 21:
"And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls" (Verses 17 - 19, NKJV).
Jesus was saying, in the midst severe persecution, if you endure you will purchase your soul. In other words, the price you paid for the the salvation of your soul is endurance. Jesus further guaranteed that in the resurrection you'll come out, with a glorified body, with a full head of hair - not one hair missing!
Things brought without money
Next time you hear a Pastor or any preacher says, "Salvation is free but not cheap" agree with him! But, his reason for saying that might not be complete. The cost of salvation is the Blood of Jesus, yes. But, on our part, the final cost of salvation is endurance!
Besides "salvation" there are many other things we have to buy, but not with money:
Here is the Lord's invitation to us, "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1).
In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matt. 25:1 - 13), the foolish ones didn't bring enough oil. The wise virgins said to them, "Go and buy your own oil". While they were buying oil the Bridegroom came and they missed His coming!
The oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. You can't buy the Holy Spirit with money; you buy it with prayer, with seeking the Lord and with time spent with the Word. Otherwise, when your lamp runs out you've got nothing to refill it with.
Jesus said to the Laodiceans Church, "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see" (Rev. 3:18).
The testing of our faith
Every test that Christians goes through ultimately is a test of faith. It may take many forms but what has been tested is our faith.
James said, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into varous trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure" (James 1:2 - 4; 5:10, 11, emphasis added).
Read James 5:7 - 11 you'll find three related English words:
1. Patience - means essentially doing nothing. It derived from the same Latin root "passive".
2. Endurance - means "remaining under" trials and pressures of life, and staying there. The only way to learn endurance is to keep on enduring.
3. Perseverance - means doing something and persistently doing it, on and on doing it, without stopping until achieving results.
3. Waiting
I believe the importance of waiting is largely overlooked in the contemporary Church.
The writer of Hebrews said, "Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation" (Heb. 9:28).
Paul wrote to the Church of the Thessalonians:
"For they themselves declared concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His son from heaven, who He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess. 1:9, 10).
These people (from Macedonia and Achaia and other places) turned to God as a result of the ministry of Paul. They did two things:
1. They served the living God.
2. They waited for His Son from heaven.
As Christians we are called to serve God and also called to wait. In my opinion it takes more faith to wait that to work - the real test of faith is waiting!
The benefit of waiting is made clear by Isaiah:
"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him" (Isaiah 64:4, emphasis added).
Waiting is one of the tests that God invariably subjects the servants He intends to use.
Some of His servants who went through this test are:
1. Abraham waited 25 years for God's promised son.
2. Joseph waited in an Egyptian jail (Psalm 105:17 - 19).
3. Moses learned meekness by waiting for 40 years.
I don't think it is possible to bypass endurance and waiting in entering the promises of God. One of the benefits of waiting is, it teaches us to be dependent on God.
4. Cultivate a positive attitude
By cultivating a positive attitude with expectation of good, will set many Christians free from depression. Negative thoughts must be met with a positive confession.
God anointed Jesus to "comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ...." (Isaiah 61:3).
Paul said, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21).
Finally take hold of the promise of Jesus:
"He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son" (Rev. 21:7, NKJV).
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