0:07 Good morning family. It's nice to see you all. I was thinking as I got up here it's it's nice that Jesus never takes a summer vacation. Jesus never gets sick. We have a number of families 0:25 not present today. Some are traveling, some are sick. Uh but one thing we can be sure of every single meeting is that Jesus will be here if we allow him to. And uh if Jesus is here if Jesus is with you and that's the only 0:41 person you have then you have all you need. May we increasingly come to know that even as we grow closer in fellowship in the church. Otherwise, we'll just devolve into a club. A club is a religious gathering where 1:00 Jesus is not present because other things have become enough. For them maybe it started where they gathered in the name of Jesus and Jesus was important to them, but over time the people who were around them were more important to them and other 1:19 things on this earth became more important to them and Jesus took second place or third place or tenth place. The moment Jesus is pushed to second place and he sees that things are still okay he'll slip out the door. And the meetings will still go on and 1:39 they'll still sing in the name of Jesus, but he is not there. That's how clubs are formed. And I find family that that's something we have to fight constantly. We have to it's like a uh if you're driving a car on a road that's 1:58 sloped, if there's a tilt in the road, you have to keep your hand firmly on the steering wheel so that the slope of the road doesn't take you in the direction in which it's leaning. If you just take your hands off the 2:14 steering wheel, the car will drift on either side. And I hope you know that the world is leaning away from Christ more and more. And the more we get closer to Christ's return, that slope is going to become 2:34 steeper. And if you are not holding onto the steering wheel properly, firmly, [snorts] that slope, the world that is passing away, 1 John 2:17 says, will drag you with it. And I'm not talking about people in the 2:54 world. I'm talking about people in the church who have a club attachment, who have worldliness, or some other interest in the things of this world. That's been the burden on my heart for a couple of weeks now, and I'd like to 3:11 share on that. In line with that, can we turn first to Revelation chapter 12? And while you're turning there, can I pray again for us? But before we do that, 3:32 can we give the Lord a hand of praise that Logan is here? Yeah. That's a miracle in itself. Thank you, Lord. Praise you. Praise you, Lord. Sorry, Logan, didn't mean to embarrass you, but saw you walking there just like in It seems like the last 2-3 3:50 weeks have uh, just been a miracle. Praise the Lord. He's done a miracle. Amen. Pray with me, family. Heavenly Father, thank you. Yes, thank you for the miracle you've done in saving Logan's life, not just spiritually, but even 4:05 physically in these last few weeks, how you've done a work of healing that a few weeks ago we wouldn't have imagined you could do so quickly. Thank you, Lord, that everything you allow us to go through, painful as it might seem at times, 4:20 is intended to strengthen our faith in God, in you. That you are bigger, you are more powerful, you are more an im- impossible working God than we ever could have imagined. May we see that, Lord. And if there are trials still ahead, I 4:36 know there are, whatever it might be for each one of us, it'll be a little bit different. Lord, I pray with all my heart that every one of us here at RLCF at least will go through every one of those trials and come out of the other side of 4:49 it more confident of the powerful God that you are, full of love. That you do all things well, you do all things perfectly, and nothing is hid from your sight. You are love, in you there is nothing but love, you are light, in you there is 5:06 no darkness at all. You will never deceive us. And so, Lord, whatever you ordain is right. And here we take our stand. I we will not be moved from that. Praise you, Lord. I pray even right now, will you come and send your Holy Spirit? 5:25 Lord, I'm dependent on you. I I'm more dependent on you than I ever have been, Lord. You know my need, you know the cry of my heart, and you know the cry of everyone here and listening to this message online. Hear our cry, Lord. You are near the 5:41 brokenhearted, you are you hear the cry of the needy. And so, we're needy people here. Thank you, Lord. We're facing a task that's unfinished, that's daunting, that seems scary at times, Lord, with the children you've entrusted into our 5:58 homes, with the fields that are ripe for harvest around us in this city, in the communities in which we live, in the the the companies the the workplaces in which you placed us. It seems daunting. It seems impossible, Lord, but you've called us to this task. 6:15 We beseech you, Lord, will you send laborers into the harvest? We beseech you, Lord, as a church. Send laborers into the harvest. Send us wherever you want us to go. Thank you. And I'll come and be here through your Holy Spirit. Anoint my 6:31 lips. Anoint our ears. Open our ears. Open the eyes of our heart. Not that we'll get some understanding or a pep talk, but that we will see Jesus, the living Jesus, our savior, our bridegroom. We'll see him so much more 6:45 clearly, Lord, that we'll never go back to anything of this world. Turn our eyes away, Lord, from the things of this world. Captivate us afresh as we look to you. Our eyes are on you. And thank you that when our eyes on you 6:57 are on you, we can be at rest. We don't know what's coming this week, but you do. And because our eyes are on you, our faces are radiant with joy, with hope, with confidence that we shall be overwhelmingly conquerors through 7:12 Jesus Christ, who has overcome. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for working in us. Come and fill our hearts afresh even now. I believe you will. You are doing that. I pray that not even one person in this 7:26 room will leave this this room unchanged by this meeting. Not because of what's going to be said, but because you're here. When Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken. The darkness is sent away. The gloom disappears. Lord 7:41 Jesus, will you truly come and touch every single life here today? Lord, I pray from the youngest to the oldest, even the littlest child. Our young people, touch their lives, Lord, afresh, I pray. The children, our marriages, our homes, 7:59 touch us, Lord, as a church, light the fire afresh, I pray, in this church, that we won't just go on day by day, week by week, but that we will be revived, Lord, if there's anything that's dead, it'll wake it'll wake up because you're coming is 8:12 soon. Thank you, Lord, you're moving in the church, you're stirring us up. You won't let us settle into lethargy and laziness and slumber. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for waking us up already this morning through the singing, 8:26 through the memory verses. Thank you. Praise you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Revelation chapter 12. Dear brothers and sisters, dear children, I hope you know and are constantly aware of the 8:44 fact that the devil is on high alert and he's attacking the church. Peter tells us, "Be alert, your adversary, the devil, your enemy." Children, I I'm not I don't mind that you hear this. You have an enemy. 9:03 He's circling around you. He's circling around your mind. He's circling around your heart. He's circling around you when you're with your friends, when you're at school, or when you're on the playground, and now during summer 9:16 vacation, whatever it is you spend your days doing, he's circling around you. That's Bible. It's not my words. Seeking to eat you up. That's what devour means. He wants to eat up your joy and your purity and to eat up 9:34 your young your your the strength of your younger years that Jesus wants. He's going to eat it up if you let him. Don't let him. Be alert. In Revelation 12, we read verse 7, "There was war in heaven." You know, there's even war in heaven. If 9:53 the devil would dare to start a war in heaven where God is, do you think he won't try to do that in your life and in your marriage and our homes and in this church? Oh, he's he's waging a war. Waging a war with the dragon. The dragon 10:12 and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough. And they were Yeah, they're not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them. But isn't that wonderful? They were not strong enough. Good words. The devil, I just told you, is circling 10:30 around you trying to eat up everything about you. He wants to make your life miserable. Oh, it'll feel good for a few minutes. Your friends will tell you, it'll seem like they're having a good time. But soon after that, you'll find that it 10:43 ate up something in your life. Some time that you can never get back. So, but praise the Lord, they were not strong enough. The devil will never be strong enough against Christ. And there was no longer a place found for them in heaven and the great dragon 11:01 was thrown down. The serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan. And now, what does he do? He's thrown down from heaven. God told him, "Get out of here. You're defeated." And now, he's given another place. We believe it's in the second heavens. 11:16 And he's given some some power here on this earth. He's called the prince of this world. He has some rule here and some influence in the things of this world. I hope you know that. Those movies that Hollywood produces, those albums that the pop stars produce, 11:36 there's a prince of this world that's operating behind them. You may not realize it. And a lot of it is subliminal. It's in the spirit. It's in the soul that you may not be able to detect it with the words or even in the beat, but it's 11:49 there. It's a spiritual war. And so he's he's now deceiving the whole world. He was kicked out of heaven. Um but he and the angels who were thrown down with him are now deceiving the world. Cuz he can't have any influence in 12:08 heaven anymore. He was able to have some influence. It's a mystery how God allowed the devil, he wasn't the devil at that time, the highest archangel, with his evil spirit to go and influence a third of the angels in the presence of 12:23 God in heaven. And they all got thrown down with him. And I'm saying that so that I hope what it's done for me is recognize that it's not an enemy we're trifling with. Not somebody we can take lightly. We have power over him. Jesus has 12:42 defeated him. But if our lives are not right and if our conscience is not clear always, this devil who was able in the presence of God to deceive a third of the angels to become demons with him, will surely be able to do that in my 13:00 life if I'm not vigilant, watchful. It's not likely that the Holy Spirit said, "Be alert. Be watchful. You have an enemy." Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the 13:20 authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down." So he can have influence here, but he cannot have influence in heaven. And that's why, dear brothers, dear sisters, and your children, if your home is in heaven, 13:38 if your affection is in heaven, if you are living for heaven alone, the devil can't touch you. But if you're living for something here on this earth, he he's thrown down here. And if you have some interest in something here, you want a little bit 13:53 more money or a little bit more success or a little bit more pleasure or fame or whatever it might be here on this earth, the devil will be able to deceive you. The accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, and he still accuses them 14:10 before our God day and night. But they overcame him. Verse 11, because of the blood of the lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and because they did not love their life. Their life means this world. 14:28 I don't love my life here in this world. Is that true about you? I hope it is. The Lord's been showing me even this past week that there are parts of my life that I still loved. And then and then he took me to this verse and said, "Santosh, if you still 14:44 love your life here on this earth, if you still love something there's something here on this earth that you're trying to keep, then you can't throw down. You can't overcome him. The blood of the lamb, that's already been finished. The word of our 15:00 testimony, I hope you're confessing with your mouth. That's why we encourage our children to come up and say their memory verse and testify. Open your mouth and share during the sharing times. That's the word of your testimony. 15:14 But that third part that happens in secret where nobody can see, even your own wife, your own husband, your children, your parents may not be able to see whether deep down you love your life. Oh, you we can stand up here and sing 15:29 all to thee, Lord, I surrender. Lord, I offer my life to you, everything I've been through, I offer it as a living sacrifice. That's the words, but in the heart, if I love my life, if there's anything in this world and my life in this world 15:44 that I'm trying to preserve, then the devil knows it. And he sits there with his arms folded and says, "Yeah, go ahead, Santosh, sing. Sing all you want. I know deep down you love this world. And I know that because you love this 15:57 world, I've got a foothold in that area. Don't let him, family. Don't let him have any foothold at all. They did not love their life even to the point of death. I'm willing to even die. That ought to be true about all of us. I'm saying this 16:15 in faith. That I want to be willing to I'm willing to even die. If that's what it'll cost me to not love my life here on this earth. For this reason, rejoice, oh heavens. You know, heaven 16:33 sits back and rejoices when they see the elect, God's people, been cleansed by the blood of the lamb, confessing with their mouth the word of their testimony, and in secret where heaven sees and where you see and the devil sees, 16:49 we don't love our lives even to death. And then heaven rejoices and you who dwell in there, in them, woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you, listen, having great wrath, great anger. The devil's coming at you extremely 17:07 angry. Imagine if you saw somebody run in this door, those back doors, looking really angry, like, "I I want to get somebody." You What would you do? You'd Immediately you're like, we got to do this something about this. 17:23 Would you let such a person just run around? Yeah, I'm angry and I'm going to deal do something to somebody. I'm going to hurt somebody. But the devil we don't realize that he's coming down with great wrath. Why? Because he knows that he's only got 17:43 a short time. This is what This has been burning in my heart the last few days. The devil's got a short time and he's been attacking my life. I've seen it. He's attacking the church. I see it. He's going to come at every part of our 18:00 lives, brothers and sisters. I don't say this to get you to be discouraged or fearful, but to be vigilant. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians is a wonderful chapter spoken 18:27 to a church that was perhaps the most spiritually minded of its time. Church planted by Paul. Paul had spent 3 years there with them day and night whether it was a meeting like this in a hall or in the homes, uh he would encourage them. 18:43 Read about that in Acts 20. And he gives us all these instructions. And then he ends with this in verse 10, "Finally, brothers and sisters and children, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might because you have an enemy that's coming at you. 19:02 You're You don't have the power to resist him. You could memorize all the scripture you want. You could clean up your act all you want, but on your own you have no power over the devil. I think we know that well enough. 19:17 Be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. And in the strength of his might, because then you have a hope then you have a confidence that you will overcome. Put on and how do you do that? Put on the full armor of God. 19:36 That means if you put on some of the armor of God, you the devil's got a foothold there. If you if you had faith, but you don't have hope, if you don't have the shoes of the gospel of salvation, if you don't have the sword of the 19:53 spirit, if if any of this is missing, that's an area of vulnerability and so the devil's running circles saying, "Okay, I see they've got this. They've got the sword of the spirit, but they don't have faith. They don't have the breastplate of 20:05 righteousness. I can use I can attack there." Our enemy looks for where the weak point is. Imagine you know, in the olden days the picture we're given here is of armor. In the days of the first century, the Roman armor for example, 20:20 there's little gaps. Remember that story? Who was the king? I think it was Ahab. Where he put on his armor, but the the the the arrow found a little gap somewhere. I think it was in his shoulder or armpit or something like that. 20:36 And it's like that, the devil's saying, "Oh, I see a little gap there. They're not taking that area of their life seriously. I'll go right there." And he's he's got his aim is good. Cuz he knows exactly. He watches us. He watches how 20:52 we speak at home. And we may think nobody heard how we spoke, but the devil heard. He watches what how our eyes are when we walk through this world. He watches how we use our tongue. He can't see our thoughts, but he can 21:06 observe through our conduct what we're thinking, I believe. He's a student of human nature. He's done that for 6,000 years. So, he knows exactly what we're thinking by our behavior, even though he can't read our thoughts. 21:22 So, put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. He talks about that armor later on in subsequent verses, but he says, "Listen, why is it important to put on the full armor of God? Because you're 21:39 not just up in a fight against the strongest man in the world." Listen, you're not up You're not fighting against the strongest man in the world or the terrorist with AK-47s or somebody with a grenade in his hand. That That maybe you had hope. 21:57 You're wrestling against principalities and world forces of this darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. You have a better chance against somebody who's just got an assault rifle coming at you. That's what That's what 22:16 this verse is telling us. We're not fighting against flesh and blood, no matter how armed they are. I'm trying to believe at this point a little bit because it's it's become more real to me, family. Just who we're up against, the the power 22:32 that he's got. And I pictured, you know, what what this verse is telling me is, "Santos, you have more hope if somebody's coming at you with an AK-47 or a grenade or a knife in his hand ready to stab you, than you have against against the devil on your 22:49 own." We're not wrestling with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. And when you get to that, you think, 23:06 man, I better take this seriously. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to He says it again, to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. He says it again, stand firm. 23:23 Don't be wishy-washy. Take seriously reading the word of God. Take seriously prayer. Take seriously the motives and intents of your heart. Take seriously your love for God and your love for the brethren. Take it seriously. You may be able to hide it 23:41 from others for some time, but it you can't hide it from the devil. Stand firm, therefore. And then he goes on to talk about the truth, the breast the righteousness, the preparation of the gospel of peace, faith as a shield, 24:00 salvation as our helmet, the Bible, the sword of the spirit, the word of God. And verse 18, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. With this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all 24:19 the saints. Then he goes on to say, pray on my behalf. After you go through all of that, now I've I've kind of open this up a little bit more. I memorized this passage years ago. But it wasn't until I started to unpack this and kind of dig into it that the 24:35 the the impact of what Paul was trying to leave the church in Ephesus. Having said all these wonderful things, he says, now take it seriously, church. Stand firm. Stand firm, but we shall overcome. Um let's turn to Luke chapter 17. 24:57 The devil knows that his time is short. He doesn't know when Jesus is coming. That only the Father and I believe Jesus knows it now, too. Jesus said he didn't know that when he was here on this earth. But the devil doesn't know when Jesus 25:11 Christ is returning. We don't know when Jesus Christ is returning. But the devil is the devil respects God's word. I want to say this carefully. But listen listen to what I'm saying. The devil respects God's word more than many 25:30 Christians do. The devil recognizes who God is and that everything he said in this in this book is true and it's going to come to pass. And he respects that. Not obeys it, but he recognizes that that's true. And therefore he knows that his time is 25:48 short. Now, how should we live as Christians? Do we respect and revere God's word at least more than the devil does? It ought to be so much more. He's our heavenly Father. But it's sad that I I think that for many Christians it's true 26:05 that the devil respects God's word more than they do. They slight God's word. I don't have time to read it. The devil knows the Bible. He quoted better than most Christians can. I believe I think the devil can quote it better than any human being can. 26:21 He doesn't obey it. He doesn't believe it. He doesn't have faith. But he knows it's true and it's going to come to pass. So may it never be said that the devil respects God's word more than I do. I ought to know it better than him. I ought to 26:38 honor it, revere it, and obey it. I have the ability to obey God's word because of the Holy Spirit in me. You have that ability too, family. Let's take it seriously. So Luke 17 we read in verse 26. Jesus was talking about his second coming. 26:54 And this is a passage that the devil knows well. It's important for us to know it. Because the devil knows this passage, he knows his time is short, and he's coming with great wrath. We read that already. Now Luke 17:26, 27:09 Jesus said, "Just verse 26, just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man." He's talking about his second coming. "They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being 27:29 given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot. And they also were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they 27:44 were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all." Now when I when I read that, did you for a moment think, 28:01 "Man, I do that. I eat, I drink, I got married. And if you're old enough, you'll give your children in marriage one day. For you young people, a long time away. Don't think about that yet. But we do that. 28:19 We buy, we sell, we plant, we build." Jesus Now, this is not mentioned in the in the book of Genesis when you read about the days of Noah and the days of Lot, it doesn't mention this, but this is what Jesus chose to identify 28:36 as what was going on in the days of Noah and the days of Lot, as what will happen in the days before Jesus return. And he said, "Here's how you can tell that my coming is near. You'll be buying and selling and eating and drinking and marrying and giving in 28:53 marriage like they were doing in those days." And that ought to cause us to think, "Well, Lord, I do that. Does that mean that I'm going to end up like them?" What was What exactly was Jesus saying? Let's continue reading. Verse 30. 29:09 It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the house top and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out. And likewise, the one who is in the 29:25 field must not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you on that night, there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be 29:43 left. Isn't that going to be sad? A husband and wife, a couple. They went to the same church. And they raised the same children, but one will go and one will not. Why? Because there was something secret in one of them that was good and 29:59 something secret in the other that was not. One will be taken, the other will be left. There will be two women grinding in the same place. Maybe two women preparing the meal for the Sunday lunch. Two sisters in the same church. One will 30:17 be taken, one will be left behind. Two men, two brothers will be out there doing something. Maybe you're on a work project or uh or doing something for the church or go attending a prayer meeting together. One will be taken and the other will be 30:34 left behind. This is a stern warning. And Jesus was talking about people who are doing things together like we do family. That's why I'm sharing this burden. These three things two in the same bed, that's a husband and wife. Two sisters working together, 30:50 we do that all the time. Two brothers doing something together, we do that all the time. And our fellowship as described in these verses 34 34, 35, and 36, RLCF better not be this. I don't want it to be this. I don't want 31:09 it to be that my wife is taken up and I'm left behind. Or my children are taken up and I'm left behind. Or children that your parents are taken up and you're left behind. Or that brothers are sitting here we are sitting 31:22 here like this and some of us go are called up to be with Christ and others are not. And yet Jesus said that that would be the case. And he said here this the the secret is in what he said here in verse 33. 31:39 Whoever seeks to keep his life See, that's where it's in secret. And we could be sitting in the same church sleeping in the same bed, husband and wife. Sit living in the same home, children and and parents. And doing so 31:56 all these things together and having wonderful fellowship. And yet in secret certain ones are seeking to keep their life here on this earth. They love something here on this earth. I I I want a little bit of that. I want 32:10 some earthly success. I want a little bit more money. I want God Oh, yes, no, I'll still be part of RLCF. This is a great church. I wouldn't want to go anywhere else, but I want to love the world a little bit. I want to keep my life. I love something 32:24 about my life in this world that I want to preserve. It could be relatives. It could be my attachment to my friends. It could be something here on this earth. That's where the test is going to come. And I see it like a magnet. If you love, 32:39 verse 33, if you love your and you're trying to keep something of your life, your friends, your habits, or that other thing you really like to do, sports, or uh the things that occupy your mind. If you're seeking to keep that, that's a 32:54 magnet that's weighing you down onto this earth. And when Jesus comes and pulls certain people up, he won't be able to do that for some. Cuz there will be this spiritual magnet that's holding you down. That's why Jesus said, "If you're up in the house 33:08 top, and your heart is in something there in your house, inside, will you be able to be taken up, or was that No, I want to take this with me?" Is there something weighing you down, brother, sister, child, in your heart 33:24 that will be the difference between whether you're taken up with Christ or not? In Matthew 24, a similar passage, I was at a funeral yesterday, as you 33:48 know, and at uh at at the uh one of the meetings, somebody said that she lived her life for this moment. She lived her entire life for this moment. That was a really 34:06 wonderful word for me to hear. I said, "That's how we ought to be living." She's in the presence of Jesus now. But she lived her entire life for that moment. That's what she was waiting for. The day I'm going to stand before Jesus. 34:23 She worked. She raised a family. She did things in the community. She ate. She drank. She was married. She Her children were married. She bought, she sold, she planted, she built. But she was living for that moment. That's the difference, 34:41 brothers and sisters and children. That's the essence of my message this morning is that every one of us in the midst of everything we're doing deep down, you and the Lord Jesus Christ and the devil know what you're living for. 34:54 Are you living for that moment? That means whatever you go through here on this earth, you might be misunderstood, you might be taken advantage of, you may have certain You may not have certain opportunities that others have, you may not have as 35:05 much money as somebody else does, you may not have the comforts that others do, but if you're living FOR THAT MOMENT, THAT WILL BE the difference. And there may be others who had so much, had a comfortable life because that's 35:16 what they pursued. In the same church or in the same house, and some will be taken and others will be left behind. May it be said of us as well. I'm I'm coming up with new things that you can write on my tombstone. >> [laughter] 35:35 >> Megan's got a little list going. You can write this one, too. He >> [laughter] >> I'm not planning to die anytime soon. Uh don't get the wrong idea. I hope the Lord will give me more time to finish the course of this of this of that he's 35:47 planned for my life. That's it. I don't want to make more money and have a nice retirement or go on vacation here and see this or do that. No, I want to finish the course that God has planned for my life. That's it. Once it's over, 35:57 I have no other business here. My only business here on this earth is to finish the plan that God wrote for my life before I was even born, as he did for you, brothers, sisters, and you dear children. And that's that's all I'm waiting for. 36:10 Finish, Lord, write the last sentence, put the period at the end of it or the exclamation mark, whatever it is, and call me home. I want to be with you here and there. May it be said about us as well that they were living their whole life for 36:24 that moment, for the final day when Jesus would stand before him. Now, "We shall not all sleep." We read in um in 1 Corinthians 15. Some will sleep, and they'll they'll die, and they'll that that'll be it. But 36:41 for others, I hope we get to be in that group. Like we sing that song, "The sky, not the grave, is our goal." We hope that we'll be the ones that get to see Jesus while we're alive here on this earth. And the end of the story 36:54 will be that we're taken up with him. And the rest and the dead The dead go first, and then we will join them in the air. That's what we're living for. Today, brothers, sister, children, you're going to do something. You're 37:07 going to make some choices. You're going to think some thoughts. You're going to say some words. You're going to do some things. You're going to make some plans. May it all be for that moment. May it be said, "They lived their life 37:23 for this moment." And when that moment comes, you'll have no regrets. We'll have no regrets. Matthew 24, verse 39. Verse um uh 37. "For the coming of the Son of Man will 37:41 be just like the days of Noah." This this same passage as Matthew's version of it. "For as in those days before the flood, they were There is again eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered 37:56 the ark." Now, did Noah eat? Oh, sure he did. Did he drink? Yes. Was he married? Yes. Did he give in marriage? Yes, he did. All three of his sons were married. So, the same was said of Noah, eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. 38:08 He built He built the ark. He planted, I'm sure. And he He Outwardly, it looked the same to all the other friends, including Noah's brothers and cousins and uh grandparents and friends and neighbors and all of that. Noah was just like 38:24 them, but he said, "Be prepared. There's a day coming when all of this will end. Be ready. Be ready. Be ready. Get in the ark. Get in the ark. Live your life for that moment when the door will shut." And they said, "Ah, no." 38:39 Now, there were people, it says in in Genesis Genesis 6, that they were wicked people. Yes, there was a lot of wickedness at that time. Perversions of all sorts, and like there is in the world today. But, I think there were a lot of good people as 38:53 well who perished in the flood. Who ate and drank and had, you know, the a lot of They were all descendants of Enoch. Me- uh, many of them were descendants of Enoch, that man who walked so closely with God that he got taken up. 39:08 And they heard about their great-grandfather Enoch, and how he walked with God, and and they maybe they had some kind of religious gathering. But, eight people were taken up. Everybody else had some interest in the things of this earth. 39:25 Peter warns us about that. Says, "It was only eight. Eight out of I don't know what the population of that world of the world was at that time. Even if it is if it was a million. That's such a small percentage. Eight. Only eight. 39:43 Jesus said, "Few there be that find it." Find what? Not say a prayer, sit in a church, read a Bible, call yourself a member of RLCF. That a lot of people do that. But, who have found the way to eternal life? Who have found the way where Jesus 40:00 is, like we sang, "Everything you are, everything all I once held dear, and built my life upon, I've surrendered it now to you, Lord." I stopped when I sang that. I said, "Lord, I have I have to check my heart again. Is there anything of this world that 40:15 still has a hold on me? I don't want it, Lord. Because it could be one thing that will weigh me down when Jesus comes. And they did not They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. But what was 40:33 the difference? We read it in verse 39. They did not understand. >> [clears throat] >> They did not know. Noah preached. They heard the sermons, but they didn't know. That word that they heard sitting in RLCF didn't actually go into their 40:52 heart. It just went in one ear and out the other. They didn't understand. They didn't know until it was too late, until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men 41:11 in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one will be left. So it's a serious warning. And what I see it as, dear brothers and sisters and children, is a drunkenness 41:29 of spirit. You know, there's You know what drunkenness is in the world. Maybe you've seen drunk people or you can imagine what it would be like. They lose control of their faculties. They can't Their Their speech is slurred. 41:42 They can't walk straight. They certainly can't drive. Uh even the world recognizes that. When they're drunk, they're not in their full human capacity. And they oversleep or whatever. All kinds of problems come with drunkenness. 41:57 But there is likewise a spiritual drunkenness where the spirit that the devil wants, the spirit of the world that the devil wants to get into me. Like if you consumed alcohol and enough of it, you'd get drunk. In the same way, 42:12 there is a spirit that the devil is trying to put into my spirit. The prince of this world wants to pour into my cup the alcohol of the world if you will, the spiritual alcohol, the spirit of this world, which is a spirit of sensuality, 42:27 a spirit of immodesty, a spirit of lust, a spirit of um and bitterness and unforgiveness and um love of self. You read about it in the 2 Timothy 3. Lovers of pleasure, oh this will make me feel good or uh lovers of money, 42:44 lovers of self, not lovers of God. That's the spirit and if the devil sees a little crack somewhere, he's going to try to pour a little bit more of that spiritual alcohol if you will to get me spiritually drunk. It's spiritual drunkenness. 43:01 And I want to speak on that just briefly before I close on some of the ways in which the devil, some of the situations through which we can be we're vulnerable to that. Vulnerable means that we're in danger. There are certain situations I see and I 43:16 see examples in scripture that I'll try to show you where because things were a certain way, it was it was easy to be deceived. And I've been seeing that in my own life how in certain situations, like I tell young men, if you battle with lust or you're 43:33 addicted to pornography, one of the reasons maybe you stay up late on your computer or on your phone. No reason to be up up on a late on your phone or or or or your computer. Go to bed. Turn it off. And be watchful for situations. Be 43:48 watchful for times. Be watchful for things that are going on around you or in you that will set you up for the devil to be able to feed you that spirit of drunkenness, spiritual drunkenness. And let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 30. One 44:04 of those, 1 Samuel chapter 30, is when God allows some earthly success. See, we all pray, "Lord, help me in my job. Help our children in their school. Help us have enough money. We don't have to be super rich, but Lord, please take 44:21 care of us. And if you bless us with a little bit more." I've never heard a a single person any religion, whatever it might be, including Christianity, who says, "Oh Lord, I'm I'm concerned that you gave me a little bit more money. 44:33 I got a bonus, Lord. I I'm I'm now I'm I'm concerned." Now, everybody says, "Thank you, Lord. You knew I needed a little bit more money. Thank you for answering my prayer." That's what everybody pray prays, whatever religion they are. 44:46 But the elect are aware of the spirit of drunkenness in the world and that the love of money and that God allowing some success, some of it maybe maybe by God's doing, some of it maybe that God just simply allows it to happen. 45:03 But when we see that success, that ought to be a warning. And I'll tell you from my own testimony, years ago, God allowed some little success in a specific time in my life, and I immediately recognized it as like, "Lord, I'm in danger now. 45:17 This is ripe for the devil to deceive me now, cuz God has blessed me in some way." Do you see that? I tell you, brothers and sisters, in a world that preaches prosperity, health, and wealth, most of Christendom doesn't see it. 45:31 We don't say that to judge anybody or to think that we're better, but let's not be deceived. First Samuel chapter 30. This is the story where the Amalekites came and attacked David's camp. And um uh verse 45:58 Yeah, you can read the whole story, but let's just skip down to verse Then David goes and tries to wants to find them. They get this Egyptian slave who tells them where they are and in verse David finds them. The Egyptian leads 46:13 them to where where they were. And I even though it's not a a true analogy, David is on God's side and the Amalekites were the bad side, but this for me was a little bit of a picture of the devil looking for where he can find 46:26 me to destroy, to devour, to eat me up. And it says, "When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread over all the land eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the 46:44 Philistines and from the land of Judah." They'd had a great success. They'd taken all the people and all the treasures and went to the Philistines and took them all and the Amalekites were having A WONDERFUL PARTY. AH, WE DID IT. 46:58 I FINALLY got that promotion. I got that little bit more money and I made that investment. My business is DOING WELL. I DID IT. And then David comes in and at that moment, because they were so drunk with their success from their eating and drinking and 47:14 dancing, David came and wiped them out. You see something similar in 1 Kings chapter 4. 1 Kings chapter 4. Now, this is 47:32 a different type of success. This is success that was blessed by God. This was success where Solomon, who was called a man of peace, not a man of bloodshed, had inherited the kingdom of Israel and Judah because of the wars that David had waged. David 47:48 was a man after God's own heart. He waged war on God's behalf and established Israel and Judah as one nation. And then, having all David was tired and old, 70 years old, he finally says, "Here Solomon, you get it like a silver spoon, like they say. 48:05 Here's the kingdom, all set up for you." And Solomon started out wise. He started out depending on God. He said, "Lord, give me wisdom. My dad has given me all of this." It's kind of like a son inheriting his business that his father worked hard 48:19 to build up. And the son just gets it because he's the son. He didn't have to work hard for it. And that's a different kind of danger. When things come easy, when you inherit things. And the world is looking for that. Quick 48:33 money, invest in the stock market, day trading, and no, I'm not here to to be a legalist over these things, but be watchful. Are you looking for the get rich quick scheme? That's where the devil will find a foothold. You want to get money quickly without 48:47 the hard work. And Solomon, part of the reason I believe that he fell so badly eventually and fell away, and I believe Solomon is in hell today. The son of David. The immediate son. Jesus is also the son of David, but he was the first son of 49:05 David, his own son, his beloved son, who took over the throne from him, IN HELL TODAY. WHY? Cuz he loved the success of this earth. And look at what it it says here in 1 Kings 4:20, "Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the 49:22 seashore. In abundance, they were eating and drinking and rejoicing." God was there. And he gave them success. And they said, "Ah, yeah, let's just take it easy now." You know, you think I'm making this up. I have seen brothers and sisters and 49:38 children over the years. I've observed the lives of people and learned from their lesson. See, they say a wise man is somebody who learns from the lesson of others. You don't have to make a mistake yourself to learn the lesson. If you can 49:51 see somebody else make the mistake and learn from that lesson, then you're really wise. You don't have to make the same mistake, children. Some of us parents have made mistakes. You don't have to make the same mistakes we did. I 50:01 hope you won't cuz you have the privilege of growing up in this church and us sharing from our example and encouraging you, "Turn to the Lord. Give your life to him. It's not too late. Give your life fully to him. Live for 50:13 that moment." That's the only life worth living. But because of their success, they took it easy. And the end result was you know, the life of Solomon and his son, the kingdom was torn. Just as Judah and Israel came together, 50:29 within the second third generation, it was split apart. This is ease. Let's turn to 1 Kings chapter 1. Another story of I'm talking about different circumstances where you we must be aware. We must be on hyper alert, if you 50:45 will. That the devil's going to take advantage of this situation now. Because outwardly, these things look good. They seem innocent. Everybody in the world would say, "Well, God blessed you, brother. You got a little bit more money. God blessed you. 50:57 He gave you a house." Or God blessed you. He healed you. But the truly spiritually minded person, yes, "Thank you, Lord, for healing me. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me. Every good and perfect gift comes from you. But Lord, I want to be watchful. There's 51:09 an enemy who's going to take advantage of even your blessing to deceive me with the spirit of this world." Do you believe that the devil will take advantage of God's blessing to deceive you? Of course. Classic examples we're reading here. 51:26 1 Kings chapter 1. This is the story of uh Adonijah. The younger the older brother of Solomon and a stepbrother. We read in verse uh that he somebody came to him and says, "Hey, you should be king." And he thought, "I want to be king." So, 51:42 he got a bunch of people around him and Joab was part of that. It who David's trusted general. And they go and they form a a rebellion, a revolt. We want to be We want to be king. And um so they get together this little party 51:56 and they're going to have a little private ceremony. Secretly plan, how we're going to overthrow? Sometimes that goes on in churches. Little factions form. How are we going to overthrow? We don't like this elder. Let's find a way to kick him 52:07 out. We don't like that pastor. Let's find a way to kick him out. This was going on in Israel and and Judah at the time, while David is king. And Adonijah, we read in verse 25, he got this uh group together. And Nathan is telling David, "Hey, 52:26 listen, this group of people has gotten together and they they think and he I I imagine that Adonijah looked around and saw, "I've got Joab. He's in charge of the enemy." You know, a lot of these you read history where there've 52:37 been uh military coups or takeovers of government. Almost always it's through the military. Well, it's the military coup is taken by the military, but most often it's like you get the general of the army on your side. He's got the 52:50 whole army and then you can take over, kick out the president or the prime minister or whoever, and it becomes a dictatorship. Call it a military coup because it's usually the whoever has the armed forces on their side and the civilians can't stand up 53:03 against it. And that's exactly what they thought we were going to do. We've got Joab on our side. He's the general of the army. We've got this. The spirit of rebellion. And then you read in verse 25, Nathan is telling David, verse 24, 53:16 "My lord the king, have you said Have you said Adonijah shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne? For he has gone down today and has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance and has invited all the king's sons and 53:29 the commanders of the army and the priest." He's got the religious people on his side, too. Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him and they say, "Long live King Adonijah." Here was Adonijah 53:43 jealously wanting something that God hadn't given him. And that's where you must be careful, brothers and sisters. Be watchful over envy and jealousy. When you see God bless somebody else, whether it's be spiritually or I mean if you see 53:59 somebody be blessed spiritually, then covet that. Say, "Lord, I want that spiritual blessing as well. Not the gift, but that devotion, that passion, that love for you, Lord. I want that." That's not jealousy. That's just 54:11 passion. But are you jealous about the fact that Well, how come, Lord, that person has that? I want that, too. Oh, you blessed them that way. I I want that, too. This was Adonijah. In that moment In that moment of jealousy, the 54:25 devil will find a foothold and come in. And you can It might seem like everything is good. You have a party. The Lord won't let it stand. Another one, let's turn to Job chapter 1. Be watchful. And this is especially for 54:40 you children and young people. Be watchful when you are around your friends, your unconverted friends, your unconverted relatives, your cousins, or even your uncles and aunts who don't love the Lord. And you sense that they're not 54:54 passionately devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ like you want to be. And you say, "Oh, but that's my friend, my best friend, BFFs. We've been for so long. That's my cousin. That's my uncle, my aunt. I like I They love me so much." 55:07 Be watchful over those close relationships that will hinder your passion for the Lord. Friends at school. Here it was Job's children. Job chapter 1, we read that every like 10 times a year, they had a party for each of their 55:24 birthdays. And they would all say, "Okay, it's my birthday. Come over to my house." Job 1, verse um um Uh it says verse five. Or four. His sons used to go and hold a feast in 55:43 the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. Having a good time. They These were brothers and sisters. Nothing wrong with that, right? It's just siblings having a 55:55 good time. But Job knew better. He said, "I'm not sure this all this eating and drinking that's going on in there. I notice they haven't invited me. I wonder why? Dad, don't come. We We want to keep you out of this. It's dangerous. 56:11 You know the end of the story was they all died in one moment. A tornado came and took up the whole house with all 10 of them in a moment. Eating and drinking. And And when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, now these were grown children. 56:24 Job couldn't do anything about them, but Job would send and say, "Come here. I know you're out of the house now, but come here. I want to pray for you." Maybe while you were there, he would send, verse five, and consecrate them, rising up early in the 56:36 morning and offering burn offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their heart." And he did this continually. But they continued to have their parties. Verse 18. 56:53 Servant comes and tells Job, "While he was still speaking, another also came and said, 'Your sons and your daughters were as usual having a good time eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came from across 57:07 the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.'" With all his prayers, Jay- Job couldn't save his children. They continued to have their parties. 57:21 They didn't heed his warnings. What do you think went through that those that child's heart when Job laid his hand said, "Lord, forgive this son of mine. He's He's sinned in some way. He's cursed you. He's He loves this world. 57:32 He's still loves his wine. He still loves his habit. He's still like this. But Lord, will you forgive him? And God heard his prayers, I believe. But the child went back to doing the same thing. Be watchful, dear young people. Be 57:44 watchful, children. Of those things that you hide from your parents. It'll never go well. God, I learned this the hard way. Whenever I tried to hide things from my parents, somehow God would find a way to reveal it to them. 57:58 And I knew they knew God. I knew they were in touch with God because I couldn't hide things from them for very long. And I thank God that I believe there are parents like this in this church as well. That you children don't have much hope 58:10 if you're trying to hide things from your parents. Now, I'm not saying that frivolously. I hope you won't waste time trying to hide things from your parents. Cuz they love you. And everything they tell you is for your good. They want you to have no regrets 58:23 when you meet Jesus. So, get close to your parents and walk with them. If they're leading If you see that they really love the Lord and they really live for the Lord, your parents love you as well. They want you to have that same passion. So, you see 58:36 that with Job. Uh like it says in 1 Corinthians 15:23, bad company corrupts good morals. You could be sitting in RLCF and you could say your memory verse and you could pray like you do in the meeting before and you you you could be good Sunday school 58:52 students and all that. But if you are around bad company, it's going to corrupt you. Now, you may have to interact with them on the sports teams or in classes or they may be your neighbors and you may talk to them. Cousins, you may interact 59:03 with them on the family vacations. BUT GUARD YOUR HEART, CHILDREN. Summer vacation, you're probably going to see some relatives. Guard your hearts. Don't let them in. Don't let the spirit that's in them, even if they call 59:15 themselves Christians, if it's the spirit of the world, if it's not a spirit that draws you more closer to Jesus, don't let it in. You can be friendly with them. You can be nice with them. But guard your heart. Protect it. 59:31 Another way another time when the devil will use uh the circumstances. Let's turn to Judges chapter 19. Is when you delay obedience. And I know this also firsthand. When you delay obedience, 59:49 God tells you to obey and you say, "Nah. Not yet, Lord. Not yet." Now you You haven't Maybe we can say I haven't yet disobeyed. I'm going to obey, but I'm going to take my time over it. That's prime time for the devil to 1:00:02 come in. When he sees delayed obedience. Uh Judges chapter 19, we read this story recently. That's why it was on my heart. But it's the story of um this man. It's a really really sad story. I mean, it's just gruesome. I'm not going to read it. 1:00:17 Uh but it's It ended really badly for his wife and for his life, actually. Really bad and it was a bad testimony in in Israel and it's kind of like a shock. How has such a thing happened? Um Uh where the end of the story is chapter 1:00:32 19 verse 30. All who saw it said, "Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt." This is the worst tragedy that's ever happened. How did it start? 1:00:46 It started because um Uh I'll just get to the part of the story that's relevant. Um This man goes to find his wife again cuz she's gone back to her father's house. 1:01:03 And so he goes, verse three. Judges 19 verse three. The husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her in order to bring her back. Starts with that spirit of rebellion. But the man goes back to get his wife and so she brought him into her father's 1:01:17 house and when the girl's father saw him, he was glad to meet him. His father in law, the girl's father, detained him. Now, what should this man have done? He said, "Wife, you've already gone in rebellion. Come, let's go. Let's not 1:01:30 waste any more time here." He delayed obedience, and the father-in-law, it's a picture of the devil, detained him. He says, "Hey, stay a little bit." Detained him. And he remained with him 3 days. Now, he does eventually leave the home, 1:01:46 but he waited for some time. It's a picture of God convicting you about something. You need to set that matter right. "Oh, no, no, no, it's not the right time. I'll wait a little bit. You need to forgive that person." "No, 1:01:57 I'm not quite ready. I'm not there yet." I hear that often when I speak about unforgiveness. "I'm not there yet, bro. You may be, but I'm not there yet." That's delayed obedience. It's prime opportunity for the devil to come in. 1:02:09 Detained with him 3 days. And then, on the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he prepared to go, and the girl's father said to his son-in-law, "No, sustain yourself with a piece of bread. And afterward, you may go." 1:02:23 So, both of them sat down and ate and drank together. And the girl's father said to the man, "Please, spend one more night." See, then he's a little tipsy. He drank enough. Now, he's a little drowsy. He's had a good meal. Nobody wants to take a car 1:02:38 trip after you ate a full meal, right? Well, and there wasn't cars then. It was you walking. You're sitting on a donkey or something like that. So, okay, stay the night. Please, be willing to spend the night and let your heart be merry. 1:02:50 Then the man rose to go, but his father-in-law urged him so that he spent the night there again. On the fifth day, he arose to go early in the morning, and the girl's father said, "Please, sustain yourself. Wait until afternoon." 1:03:03 Look at that. See how the devil will get you to put it off? "No, you're not quite ready to give yourself fully to Jesus, right? Yeah. Do it tomorrow. Have a little bit more fun today. Do it tomorrow." Here's the devil, here's a 1:03:15 picture of the devil operating. So, both of them ate and the man listen, he shouldn't he should have just gone on that first day as soon as he found his wife there, leave. Five days later. So, both of them ate when the man arose 1:03:32 to go along with his concubine and servant, his father-in-law, the girl's father said to him, "Behold, now the day has drawn to a close. Please spend the night. Lo, the day is coming the day is coming to an end. Spend the night here 1:03:43 and then your heart may be merry, then tomorrow you may rise early for your journey so that you may go home." And finally, this man had enough of it. He said, "No, it's fine. It's too late. I'm just going." And disaster strikes. And the end of it 1:03:56 is what I just said, "Nothing like this has ever happened." Horrible, tragic tragic story. Let's turn to Luke chapter 12. I'm almost done, family. Luke chapter 12. Discerning times when the devil will 1:04:19 take advantage of something going on around us or some some desire we have, some love of something in this world to wreak havoc, destroy our lives. Luke chapter 12. Verse 16. Jesus told them a parable. 1:04:43 He said first of all, it was 15. No, it started with the the guy saying, "Hey, Jesus." Verse 13. "Somebody, my brother, has cheated me. It's rightfully mine, but he's cheated me off it. Can you tell me what what should I do? 1:04:58 How how should I do this? Can you tell him?" Maybe the brother's right there. I don't know. Um tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. Um and these two brothers are there and Jesus is saying, "What should I do?" 1:05:12 The fair person would say, "Yeah, sure, man. Hey, divide it. Come on. Divide it." Jesus has a message for the person asking the question. You see that? Has somebody wronged you, taken advantage of you, stolen from you? You 1:05:26 say, "Lord, tell them to return the money." Jesus says, "I got to deal with you first." Because the love of money, even though they stole from you, the love of money in you will destroy you, and you're my child. And you lose out something far more 1:05:40 if you get that money. And then Jesus said, "I'm not here to be a judge and make sure everything is fair in this world. I'm here to build the kingdom of heaven, free people from the love of money." Beware, verse 15, and be on your guard 1:05:54 against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. And then he told them a story saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. God blessed this religious rich man. Let's call him 1:06:11 religious. It was very productive. God blessed him. And I'm sure he said, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. You blessed my business. It's so good." And so what did he say? He began reasoning into himself saying, "What shall I do? 1:06:27 I've already come so far. I worked so hard to build my business up to get to this point in my career. What should I do next? Well, I could get that next job. I could build a bigger barn. I could make my business a little bit more. I could get 1:06:41 double the number of customers." "What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? I've God has blessed me so much. Yes, I'll give my tithe. Nothing wrong with doing that. But I think I could make a little bit more 1:06:54 money. I've learned how to build a good business. I'm going to make it even better." He said, "This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger the and then I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, 1:07:10 "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Is there anything wrong from an earthly standpoint with what this man did? Absolutely not. He didn't steal anybody's money. 1:07:26 He didn't take advantage of anybody. He worked hard, built up his business. Every person who has worked hard for their business has the right to retire, you would say. But Jesus said, "No. The moment you retire, the moment you 1:07:38 think you've you've got to that point where I'M I'M ALMOST THERE. That night is the end. Soul, take your ease. You have many goods laid up for you to come. Take your ease, drink, and be merry." But God said 1:07:56 to him, "You fool. You were making plans for next week. You were making plans for next month. You were making plans for next year. You didn't know you didn't even have tomorrow. This very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have 1:08:15 prepared? So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." When God blesses you and you're tempted to pursue a life of ease, "Oh, our life will be a little bit more comfortable. We'll have a little bit more of this, 1:08:32 and we'll enjoy life a little bit better if I do this, if I make that business decision, or if I invest here." The Lord says, "You fool. I know you were making plan for next month. You didn't know tomorrow you would stand before me 1:08:45 with that guilty conscience, with that love of this world." Don't look to choose the path of ease. Further down, another one. It's the last one. Luke 12:42. The Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and sensible steward whom his master 1:09:04 will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes? Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions." But, 1:09:15 listen to this. Here's somebody who's weighed down. If my slave if that slave says in his heart, "My master will be a long time in coming." And he begins to beat the slaves whom he should have fed, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. In 1:09:33 other words, he wasn't sensitive to the needs of others. This is where the devil will come in and get a foothold. You're thinking only of yourself. What will I get out of it? Oh, I've made a good life for myself, but you don't care for your brother. You 1:09:45 don't care for your sister. You don't care for the others in the church. You don't have a spiritual burden. When your children are doing well spiritually, but somebody else's is not, you're not weeping over them. You're thinking only 1:09:55 of yourself. Jesus calls it beating. Beating the slaves and eating and drinking and being merry. Thank you, Lord, that you have blessed me. Everything's good in my home. But he should have been feeding the others. He should have been 1:10:11 encouraging others. Look at what Jesus says, "The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour" He's talking about Jesus coming. "at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces." 1:10:28 For what? Simply not doing what he should have done. There was nothing wrong with him eating and drinking. What was wrong was he should have been helping. He should have been serving. He should have been thinking of the needs 1:10:39 of others. Be watchful that you don't shirk your responsibility. Brothers and sisters, I we've said this before. If you're a part of this church, if you're a member of RLCF, you automatically have a responsibility for this church. It's not 1:10:53 just us elders. You have have responsibility. That's what being a member in this church means. That means God, you're saying now, Lord, I am taking responsibility for the health of this church. That means I'll never gossip. I'll never 1:11:05 speak evil. I'll never talk to my husband or my wife or my children bad about some other family or somebody else's children in our home. And I'll pray for them. I'll intercede for them. That's what being a part of RLCF is. 1:11:19 May it be so. Okay, let's read verse 40 um 2:35 onwards. So, brothers and sisters, let's close with this. And children, be dressed in readiness. Keep your lamps lit. Be like men and women who are waiting for their master when he returns from 1:11:36 the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them reclined 1:11:50 at the table and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch or even in the third and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the 1:12:06 thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. So, you too, be ready. Be ready. Be ready. For the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. And you think, we're going to have lunch 1:12:21 now. Or we're going to do something else after that. This evening we've got planned this. The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. He doesn't tell us when he's coming. He simply says, be ready. Heavenly Father, will you help 1:12:35 us? I believe the word you've spoken to me and to us today is a challenge, is a warning, but also a word of hope. You've given us your Holy Spirit that we can be dressed in readiness and we shall remain so, vigilant, watchful, 1:12:51 until your coming, until we stand before you. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
