Participants: Pr. C.A. Murray
Series Code: HHR
Program Code: HHR000001
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00:24 I want you to open the word of God to the book of Amos.
00:26 What book did I say? 00:27 The book of Amos chapter 3. 00:30 Amos chapter 3 in your Bible, Amos chapter 3. 00:34 And we are going to begin reading the word of God 00:39 in Amos chapter 3. 00:41 I'm in Amos chapter 3, and I am beginning at verse 7. 00:46 Amos is a little book there, just before Obadiah. 00:51 Amos chapter 3:7, but before we read the word of God lets 00:57 talk to our Father in heaven. 00:58 Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word which is a lamp 01:02 unto our feet and a light on the path that shines before us. 01:07 And we ask dear Lord for Your power, and Your presence to be 01:11 felt in this place. 01:13 We want Jesus to be seen and Jesus to be heard and 01:17 Jesus to be lifted up. 01:20 Oh Father, speak to our hearts this night so we may know 01:25 who Jesus is and we thank you in Jesus name, Amen! 01:28 In Amos 3, beginning at verse 7 the word of God says this: 01:54 Let's go on, I am in verse 7, or rather verse 8: 02:11 That is where our title comes from, A Lion Has Roared. 02:15 God says in His word that He will do nothing except 02:23 He reveals it to His servants the prophets. 02:27 God is not going to do anything to, or for, or through, 02:33 or with this world, unless He gives us fair warning. 02:39 Can you say Amen? 02:40 We do not serve a sneaky God. 02:42 We do not serve a surreptitious God. 02:46 We don't serve a God who likes to pull a fast one on people. 02:50 And so whenever God is going to do something big, something 02:55 momentous, God always gives us, gives His people a warning. 03:00 So when God is going to do something catastrophic, 03:04 like bring the world to an end, 03:07 don't you think He's going to warn somebody? 03:09 Don't you think He's going to tell someone? 03:12 You know I like how this text is 03:13 portrayed in the Living Bible. 03:15 The Living Bible does have some uses. 03:17 You do not want to start out with a Living Bible, and you 03:20 do not want to use a Living Bible for doctrinal study. 03:22 Every now and again after you have looked at several other 03:26 translations, you can get a nice slant on the Living Bible. 03:29 Here's what the Living Bible says: "A trap doesn't snap shut 03:34 unless it is stepped on by someone. Your punishment is well 03:41 deserved, the alarm has sounded listen and fear, for I the 03:47 Lord am sending disaster upon your land, but I always first 03:53 warn you through My prophets, this is what I now have done. " 03:59 This is from the Living Bible: "The lion has roared, 04:03 so tremble in fear, the Lord God has sounded your doom 04:08 and I dare not refuse to proclaim it!" 04:12 I say again, when God is going to do something big, 04:16 He always warns us. 04:19 So when He was talking about the first coming of Christ, 04:24 did He not send warning? 04:25 Indeed He did, as early as Genesis chapter 3, 04:29 God began to warn the world, to prepare the world that 04:34 something big is coming. 04:35 Salvation is on it's way. 04:37 Jesus is going to be born a baby in Bethlehem and scores 04:41 of promises, Legion upon Legion of promises, and illusions state 04:47 the fact that Jesus is going to be born of a virgin. 04:51 That He would live, and die, and suffer, and pay the 04:55 penalty for your sins and for mine. 04:58 Well Brothers and sisters I submit to you that the 05:02 Lion has roared, and just in case you are not sure 05:05 who that Lion is, the text explains. 05:10 The text itself says: "the Lord God has spoken, 05:14 who can but prophesy. " 05:16 This ladies and gentlemen is the real Lion. 05:19 This is not to be confused with that fake lion 05:23 in 1 Peter 5:8. 05:25 Where the Bible says the devil goes around 05:27 roaring like a lion. 05:30 You see Satan is making a lot of noise in this world. 05:33 Saying a lot of things, a lot of things are going on. 05:37 He is roaring like a lion, but this text talks about 05:41 the real Lion, and the only real Lion is the Lion 05:44 of the tribe of Judah. 05:46 It has to be talking about who? 05:47 It is talking about Jesus. 05:49 So Amos says, we have, dare I say, the real deal. 05:54 We've got a real Lion who really roars. 05:57 Revelation chapter 5 calls Him the Lion tribe of Judah, 06:00 and other texts refer to Him. 06:04 Judgment ladies and gentlemen is about to 06:07 come on planet Earth. 06:09 This planet is about to be judged and Jesus is coming again 06:15 God does not want that to happen in a corner, 06:19 or a closet so He is warning us over and over and over, 06:24 in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament. 06:26 There is this affirmation that Jesus is coming again. 06:31 Luke 21:34, what book did I say? 06:35 Luke 21:34 tells us: 06:55 God is saying keep your head up, don't look down. 06:59 Don't get so caught up in the bill paying, 07:01 and the note paying, and education and the degrees. 07:05 In all of these things don't get caught up in the things 07:07 of this world until you forget the ever present fact that this 07:12 world will not last forever. 07:15 Ladies and gentlemen, this world is coming to an end. 07:20 You know the scientists are saying that if this world lasts 07:24 long enough we are all going to be walking on water. 07:26 Polar ice caps are melting; we are running 07:30 out of fossil fuels. 07:31 This world is coming to an end, unexpectedly ready 07:35 or not it is going to come to an end and Jesus is saying, keep 07:39 your head up, and keep your eyes up because something 07:43 catastrophic is going to happen to this world. 07:45 Verse 31 of the same chapter, it says: 08:00 In other words the message for this time, for this hour, 08:04 is don't get so caught up in the things of this life that you 08:09 forget that you got an eternity to worry about. 08:13 That Jesus is coming soon and we have to be ready. 08:17 Verse 25 tells me: 08:36 That is a very important text, the sea and waves roaring. 08:52 You can see it in the air, you can read it in your newspapers, 08:56 you can hear it on the radio and see it on the television. 08:59 Something is happening to this world. 09:02 This world is not like it was when I was a child. 09:06 It is much more dangerous than those days. 09:09 There are more ways to get sick, more ways to get hurt, 09:13 and more ways to die ladies and gentlemen. 09:15 The truth is Satan is playing for keeps and so God's people 09:20 have to be very, very serious about what they are doing 09:25 and how they are living. 09:27 Not only does God say that Jesus is coming, 09:31 He also gives us warning signs. 09:33 He says they are going to be signs in the sun, the moon, 09:35 the stars, there is going to be distress of nations. 09:39 If you can breathe you can almost smell the fact that 09:42 Jesus is coming soon. 09:44 It is in the very air we breath, I'm in Matthew 24. 09:47 What book did I say? 09:48 Matthew 24:3, the word of God says: 10:10 They said listen Jesus tell us what's going to happen. 10:13 Tell us what's going on and Christ began to enumerate that 10:16 there were be wars and rumors of wars, distress among nations. 10:19 Look at our world today, war in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, 10:24 war in Africa, war in Asia, war in South America, 10:27 there is scarcely a place where men are not fighting. 10:30 There could be a war in Iran, 10:32 there may be a war in Pakistan, 10:34 there may be a war in Sudan, 10:36 there could be a war even in Korea, 10:38 we just don't know but there are wars and rumors of wars. 10:42 And every day when you wake up you are not surprised to hear of 10:45 another country terrorizing another country. 10:47 We've got a war on terrorism. 10:51 We've got a war on drugs. 10:54 We've got all kinds of wars, wars and rumors of wars, 10:58 it is in the newspapers and it is everywhere we turn. 11:03 James 4:1 asks an interesting question, it says: 11:19 "You lust and you do not have, you murder and covet 11:25 and cannot obtain. " 11:27 Not only is there national conflict in our world, 11:33 there are also personal conflicts. 11:37 I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, that one of the signs 11:41 of the second coming of Christ is not so much the 11:45 nation's fighting, but the interpersonal conflicts that 11:49 take place as never before. 11:50 We have wars in our offices, we have wars in our streets, 11:55 we have wars in our marriages, 12:02 we have wars in churches, Amen! 12:09 James says, these outside wars come from the internal 12:15 wars that go on in our lives. 12:17 The reason that we are fighting everybody else is 12:20 because we are not at peace with ourselves. 12:22 These external wars are just symptoms of the internal 12:27 wars that take place in our own lives. 12:29 If man was happier with himself, he wouldn't be so unhappy 12:33 with the world around him. 12:35 But it is a sign ladies and gentlemen of the 12:38 second coming of Jesus Christ. 12:39 When you see people who just cannot get along, 12:43 that is a statement that Jesus is coming soon. 12:47 He says you lust any do not have, you murder and covet 12:51 and you cannot obtain. 12:53 On 3ABN just recently, we had a lady who with her 12:59 husband went out for a night on the town and left 13:05 their four sons at home. 13:07 And when they returned home they saw the police cars 13:13 and the flashing lights, and they weren't even allowed to 13:16 get back into their own house. 13:18 While they were away, someone went in and murdered their 13:25 sons, took their four sons lives. 13:30 They went out for a night of fellowship and came 13:33 back to four dead children. 13:35 They really suspected the parents, a terrible tragedy. 13:41 When they asked, when they found the young man who 13:47 committed the murders, and they asked him why did you do it? 13:53 Why did you go in and senselessly take the lives of 13:57 four individuals and do you know what his answer was? 14:01 His answer was, you people are too happy. 14:06 You had too much joy, always laughing, always singing, 14:13 always praying, your family was too happy. 14:17 I had no joy and so I decided to take yours. 14:20 Isn't that something? 14:23 That was his reason, you had too much joy, I had none 14:28 and so I'm going to take yours. 14:29 I am saying we see that kind of thing happen, 14:33 this senseless slaughter of life, it is a sign, 14:37 ladies and gentlemen, that Jesus is coming again. 14:40 It is not just the war in Korea, or the war in Afghanistan, 14:44 or the war in Iraq, it is the war within our own hearts. 14:48 The war within our own breasts, we cannot get along 14:51 with each other when there seems to be senseless hate, 14:54 senseless violence. 14:56 That is a sign, ladies and gentlemen, 14:58 that Christ is coming again. 15:00 Nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, 15:02 not just armed aggression but economic war, 15:05 trade wars, stock market wars. 15:09 Look the language we use. 15:10 I had someone the other day say I made a killing in 15:13 the stock market, well who did you kill? 15:15 Or someone say I just got killed, I got murdered 15:19 in the stock market. 15:21 We even use a language of war, it is in our mentality, 15:25 it is in our mindset. 15:26 I saw an article not long ago, it was entitled Wall Street 15:30 article, it said, murder on Wall Street. 15:33 He was talking about the Hoeffel take over of one company 15:36 to another, a sign of the last days. 15:39 Famine, pestilence, earthquakes in diverse places. 15:43 Who can forget December of 2004? 15:47 When an undersea earthquake touched off a tsunami that 15:53 took 257,000 lives, can you imagine? 15:58 257,000 lives gone like that. 16:04 It is one thing to sit and wring your hands and say, 16:09 oh how terrible. 16:10 But God is saying, more than just sit and wringing our hands 16:14 and sobbing your tears, you need to look up. 16:17 Because Jesus is coming soon! 16:21 But corresponding with these national and global disasters, 16:25 I think there is an indication of interpersonal 16:28 and social collapse. 16:30 It is not just the countries that are fighting, ladies and 16:34 gentlemen the people are fighting too. 16:36 When I was in school, you know they would have little 16:40 disagreements and we go outside and they would have a 16:44 little knuckle sandwich, there would be a little fistfight. 16:46 They would say, fight, fight and everybody would 16:48 run to see the fight. 16:49 But not today, today we bring guns and knives to school. 16:53 Again, Satan is playing for keeps. 16:56 These are just as much a sign of the end of the age, 17:03 as the wars and rumors of wars. 17:04 I want you to go to the book of 2 Timothy with me. 17:06 What book did I say? 17:07 2 Timothy 3:1-2 and then we will go to 3 and 4. 17:23 2 Timothy is truly a commentary on our times. 17:27 The word of God says: 17:55 Unthankful and unholy. 17:58 Now I have a graphic I would like you to put up right now. 18:00 Look at that, it says: boy accused of killing mother. 18:07 Nice little boy, 13 years of age, he got tired of 18:14 his mother nagging him to go to school. 18:16 He got tired of his mother telling him, clean up your room. 18:20 He got tired of his mother telling him, be a good young man 18:23 don't hang out with bad friends, make something of yourself, 18:27 study and get good grades. 18:28 So his grades weren't good, his room was filthy, 18:32 he had skipped school, and he decides the way to get 18:36 around this is to go upstairs to the attic and rummage through 18:40 the boxes and find his dad's gun. 18:42 And then go all the way downstairs to the basement, 18:45 and rummage through boxes and find the bullets, 18:47 load the bullets and come and take his mother's life. 18:51 13 years of age, and when they asked him why, 18:55 he said I'm sick of going to school and tired of 18:58 my mother trying to make me. 19:01 So he killed his own mom. 19:03 Children unthankful, unthankful to parents, blasphemous, 19:09 heady, high-minded, we ought not to be fooled by these things 19:15 We ought not be to the signs of the second 19:20 coming of the Lord, signs of the coming of Christ. 19:24 Let's pick it up with verse 3: 19:27 2 Timothy 3:3, the Bible says: 19:53 And I am saying when we see this senseless slaughter of 19:58 men and women, without reason, it is a sign that Jesus is 20:03 coming again ladies and gentlemen. 20:04 From Columbine, and the Columbine copycats, 20:09 to a suicide bombings, to drive by shootings, to children who 20:14 murder their parents, or parents who murder their children, we 20:18 are filled with polluted air, polluted water, polluted food, 20:23 polluted cities and polluted people. 20:25 We are living in a world and an age when there is no respect 20:30 for law, no respect for rights, women are afraid to walk down 20:35 the streets by themselves, the Bible has said a Lion 20:39 has roared, and this earth is coming to an end. 20:43 And God's people have got to be ready. 20:45 Amos says, sound the alarm, listen and fear, 20:51 we are in the thick of it and we are in terrible 20:57 and unprecedented times. 20:58 You know they say that next years election will be an 21:03 unprecedented election in the history of the United States. 21:08 Unprecedented, we could elect our first Mormon president. 21:15 We could, we could elect our first African-American president 21:22 We could, we could elect our first president with multiple 21:29 marriages, we could elect our first woman president. 21:36 We could, in fact a friend of mine told me the other day, 21:42 he said, you know if they elect that lady, I'm packing 21:48 my bags and leaving the United States. 21:51 I told him I'll help you pack, because I am not going anywhere. 21:57 Because it occurs to me that regardless of who gets in the 22:02 White House, God is still God. 22:05 God sits on the throne, and God sets them up, 22:09 and God takes them down, so I am not going anywhere. 22:13 If there is anybody here that believes that the answers to 22:21 the moral dilemma that is engulfing this nation can 22:25 be found in Washington DC, you are fooling yourself. Amen! 22:31 Congress can't solve the problems, the Senate cannot 22:37 solve the problems, the Supreme Court cannot solve problems, 22:41 and the president be he black, white, Mormon, or a woman, 22:45 cannot solve the moral dilemma that this country 22:50 finds itself in. 22:51 So if you are looking to Washington DC to solve 22:54 your problems, your looking to the wrong town, AMEN! 23:00 Jeremiah 10:23, Jeremiah 10:23 the word of God says: 23:22 Look at the murder rate in this country; 23:25 I have a graphic I want to put up. 23:26 There are a number of murders that have taken place to kind of 23:31 show where were at, look at this! 23:32 Here's a murder: 23:45 when asked in court she said, I don't like Monday so 23:48 I went out and killed people. 23:50 Patchy Purdy: 23:55 I want to go to the playground and 23:56 spray people with bullets. 23:57 Eric Houston: 24:05 when I got a failing grade I got a spanking and that was it. 24:10 Michael Carneal: 24:19 people were praying in the hallway, he didn't like them 24:22 praying in the hallway so he opened fire on them 24:25 and kill them. 24:26 Kip Kinkel: 24:32 Dylan Klebold: 24:34 You know this one. 24:44 That was Columbine, kids. 24:46 Jeff Weise: 24:54 Charles Roberts: 25:04 Remember that, I remember that so very, very well. 25:06 And then Seung-Hui Cho: 25:16 This was just last year! They're on the campus of Virginia. 25:20 What's happening ladies and gentlemen? 25:21 Are these just isolated, sad incidents of people who are 25:25 losing their minds, no sir! 25:26 They are calculated of the devil to destroy mankind, 25:31 but what I am saying is when you see these things is not enough 25:35 to say how sad, Oh how sad, it's time for God's people to stand 25:39 up and look up and pray up, 25:43 because they are emblems of the fact that Jesus is 25:46 coming very, very soon. 25:49 The Lion has roared and I say again that Jesus is coming. 25:53 The answers are not in Washington DC. 25:55 Now, if you want your sewer cleaned, if you want the 25:59 sidewalk cracks repaired, if you want the street lights 26:02 to shine brighter, if you want more books in the children's 26:05 library, then you need to look to Washington, or to the 26:09 Statehouse, or to the White House, 26:10 or the capital of your country. 26:12 But if you need your life cleaned up, the answer to that 26:16 cleaning is not in Washington DC, or the Statehouse, 26:20 or the White House. 26:21 If you need a broken heart mended, 26:23 you have to look someplace else. 26:25 If you want the light of God's love to shine in a darkened 26:28 soul, you will not find it that in Washington DC. 26:31 You will find that in the word of God. 26:36 If you would like to read a book that will change your soul, 26:38 this is the one. 26:39 David said in Psalms 121:1: 26:50 "my help comes from the Lord" and so in these last days God's 26:57 people need to lift up, and look up. 27:00 There is no constitution, no enactment, no law or precedent, 27:06 no by law, or state constitution or statute that can change 27:12 the human heart, God's got to do that. 27:16 The Holy Spirit alone cannot do that. 27:19 You can make me eat next to someone, you can make me sit 27:24 next to someone, you can make me ride the school bus next to 27:28 someone, you can make me share a hospital room with someone, 27:34 or even a church pew, but only the Spirit of the living God 27:39 can make me love that person. 27:42 No law passed by man can touch my heart, 27:47 Jesus has got to do that. 27:49 And so this proliferation of hate, ladies and gentlemen, 27:54 is a sign that Jesus is coming soon. 27:59 You can't get help from Washington, or Jerusalem, 28:02 So you have to look to Jesus. 28:04 So I want to tell you a story of that I heard some time ago. 28:06 I do not know don't know if it's apocryphal true or false or 28:09 what, but I thought it's a cute story and it makes my point. 28:12 There is a certain Evangelist that has been 28:15 preaching for years. 28:16 When he goes to have a meeting in a town, he likes to prayer 28:22 walk around the town. 28:24 Just walks up and down praying before the meeting starts. 28:27 He was out one day praying, and the meeting is getting 28:30 ready to start in a few hours, and he got lost. 28:32 He wasn't paying attention where he was going 28:33 and he got lost. 28:34 Couldn't find his hotel, couldn't find the Convention 28:36 Center where the meetings were supposed to be held. 28:38 So he was just wasting time and his time is running out. 28:42 He was looking at his watch, or my goodness 28:44 my time is running short. 28:45 So he sees a young man there and he says, young man can 28:50 you help me find the way to the Convention Center? 28:54 The young men said, oh that is easy. 28:57 You go down this street to the very end, you make a left and 29:01 then you go to the end of that street and make another left. 29:05 And then you go to the very end of the third street and there 29:08 is the Convention Center. 29:10 The Evangelist was so thankful that he said thank you 29:13 young man so very much I was lost, now are you going to 29:17 come to the meetings tonight? 29:18 The young man thought and he said, I don't think so. 29:22 And he said, you mean you don't want 29:25 to come to the meetings? 29:26 And the young men said, Nah! I don't want to come. 29:30 Then the Evangelist said, well don't you want to come and 29:34 let me show you the way to Jesus? 29:36 The young man said, show me the way to Jesus, you don't even 29:41 know how to get to the Convention Center. 29:42 How are you going to show me the way to Jesus? 29:45 Point being that you cannot give what you do not have. 29:51 You cannot show the way unless you know the way. 29:55 So if you are looking for Washington to solve your 29:58 questions and your problems, it is not going to happen. 30:02 You ought to look to Jesus because only real joy and peace 30:06 come from Jesus. 30:08 Isaiah 26:3, what book did I say? 30:11 Isaiah 26:3: the word of God says: 30:26 That's the text that God's people ought to commit 30:28 to memory in these last days. 30:30 The fact that we are kept in perfect peace even though this 30:33 world seems to be spinning out of control. 30:37 What do you do when somebody cuts you off? 30:40 On the street? 30:42 Happened to me just today, do you pray? 30:45 Do you bite your lip? Or do you embarrass 30:49 yourself and your God? 30:51 What do you do when somebody says something unkind to you? 30:54 Do you say something back? 30:57 Or do you bite your tongue? And praise God! 31:01 You know I was pastoring and something happened to me, 31:03 and it only happened one time, and once was enough actually. 31:06 I had a member say to me, she said, Pastor, 31:11 I don't like you. 31:14 That is what she said. 31:16 So as a Pastor you want people to like you so I said, 31:19 did I do anything, say anything, did I offend you? 31:22 She said, no! I just don't like you. 31:26 So now I am concerned, what do you mean you don't like me? 31:29 She said, I don't like you, there is something about you, 31:33 I just don't like, I don't like you. 31:36 She said, you haven't done anything to me, you haven't said 31:38 anything to me, you haven't done anything wrong, you preach 31:41 good sermons, and you are nice guy, I just don't like you. 31:43 And she said, oooh, I just don't like you. 31:48 And we have some Pastors here, what do you do? 31:52 You just have to say well, God bless you. 31:54 There is nothing I can say, I hope that the Lord 31:58 changes your heart. 31:59 The Bible says, perfect peace have they, 32:01 whose minds are stayed on Thee. 32:03 I had a member tell me one time, You know the Lord has put 32:05 me in this church to keep you in line. 32:07 That's what she has told me, God has put me here 32:09 to keep you in line. 32:11 I told her, I'm going to keep you busy. 32:15 Thou will keep him in perfect peace 32:18 whose mind is stayed on Jesus. 32:23 That's a promise, as they say, take to the bank. 32:26 God will keep you in peace so that you can walk through 32:29 the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. 32:33 Not everybody is going to like you. 32:35 Not everybody is going to care for you. 32:36 Not everybody's going to treat you fair. 32:38 But you can be fair to everybody because you got Jesus in your 32:42 heart, and even in these last days when there is 32:45 want and destruction of life, and terror all around, 32:50 God's people can have peace, ladies and gentlemen. 32:54 Psalms 16:11, I love this one. 32:58 Psalms 16:11, the word of God says: 33:14 God is saying, the Bible is telling us, that even though 33:17 there is chaos all around, when we are in the presence of 33:22 God there can be fullness, joy, there can be peace even 33:26 in these last days. 33:28 You know I have to make a confession, I have to confess 33:33 something and I don't want you to tell anybody. 33:36 Promise me you're not going to tell anybody? 33:39 Because it is a confession. 33:41 I stole something years ago and I never really asked 33:45 forgiveness for it. 33:46 I stole something, almost 30 years ago and I still have it. 33:53 I kept it and have never asked for forgiveness. 33:56 I just stole it, I have to set the scene. 34:00 I want you to hold on to your seats of the little bit of a 34:03 rough story because it's set the course for my ministry. 34:06 My ministry was 30 years in New York City 34:08 before I came to 3ABN. 34:09 This happened early in my ministry and it set the tone 34:12 for my whole ministry. 34:13 Friday night, it was Mother's Day weekend and I am traveling 34:20 from Brooklyn, and Angie Lomacang came too. 34:24 Coming from Long Island New York with a car full of flowers 34:26 for Mother's Day, you know we give out flowers to the mothers, 34:29 the oldest mother, the youngest mother, on Mother's Day. 34:31 It is about eleven o'clock at night and I am pastoring 34:33 a small church, and when you pastor a small church as 34:36 the Pastor, you are the deacon, your are the elder, you are 34:38 the chief cook and bottle washer. 34:39 You do it all, so I picked up the flowers and was bringing 34:42 them back to the church for the next day. 34:45 Got just passed LaGuardia Airport in Queens, 34:49 traffic came to a dead halt, so we all sat in our cars 34:53 for about 20 or 30 minutes. 34:55 And after 20 minutes of just idling my engine, 34:58 I turned it off because we weren't going anywhere. 35:03 They have to forgive me, I do a lot of wiping, in fact the 35:07 makeup crew has a bet going to see how fast I wipe off all the 35:10 makeup, you know, that they put on me. 35:13 We start off nice and dry with make up and by the time it's 35:15 over all the makeup is gone. 35:17 So we are sitting there and I am wondering what is going on. 35:22 Traffic has stopped so I got out of my car and just began 35:26 to walk around, people began to mill around on the highway 35:30 because traffic was stopped for what was 45 minutes 35:32 at that time. 35:33 I happen to see a police officer because he noticed the clergy 35:36 sticker in my car and he said, come with me. 35:38 I asked them what was going on officer. 35:40 This is the story he told me. 35:42 He said, to young people got into their sports car and they 35:49 took their car, we figure, up to about a 110 miles an hour. 35:56 At that point, they hit something in the road and the 36:00 car went airborne and crossed over, 36:03 flew over into oncoming traffic. 36:05 Now I want you to hold on to your seat. 36:08 The policemen told me, the first car that this flying car 36:14 struck, it sheared off the roof and decapitated the two 36:19 occupants of that first car. 36:21 And then this flying car came to rest in the front seat of 36:27 another car, instantly killing its occupant. 36:31 And the two drunk young people, in the car going 110 miles 36:39 an hour walked away with nearly a scratch. 36:43 That is what he told me. 36:45 He said, there were so many side wrecks because people saw 36:48 this car flying towards them and they began to scatter, 36:52 and cars and cars and cars, he said there was this one 36:56 fellow there, and he said would you come and pray 36:58 for this fellow? 37:00 I guess he thought I was a Catholic priest and you need to 37:01 have last rites for this other guy. 37:03 I said I'm not a Catholic priest, I'm a Protestant 37:04 minister, but I would be glad to pray for him. 37:06 And we began to pray and they took them off to the hospital. 37:10 And then I saw for the first time 37:16 a body lying on the ground. 37:19 As they were put in the bag and taken them to the hospital. 37:25 Then I saw this Jaguar, with this flying car resting in the 37:31 front seat of the car, on the chest of the driver 37:35 who was there. 37:36 Crushing him instantly and the carnage was so thick. 37:45 It was so sad, and even the police officers, 37:48 New York City policeman, tough New York City policeman 37:53 weeping and crying, and as I began to walk around the car 37:58 just sort of inspecting the wreckage and praying 38:01 with people and just talking. 38:02 Actually I went in and grabbed a couple flowers that 38:05 I was going use for Mother's Day and gave them 38:06 to some of the people. 38:08 I saw on the bumper on this Jaguar, 38:13 something that I had to have. 38:16 I took it, I stole it and I have it to this day. 38:20 On the bumper of that Jaguar was a bumper sticker that arrested 38:27 my attention, I'm going to put it up on the screen. 38:29 Can you see it, that is what it said. 38:32 It said, get it through your head Jesus is dead! 38:38 Can you imagine, and when I saw that bumper sticker, 38:44 I had to have it. 38:46 That is the graphic, here is the original, just a small 38:50 bumper sticker that I peeled off of the bumper. 38:54 Get it through your head Jesus is dead. 38:59 I've had this in my possession since 1979, the year I got 39:05 ordained and it has served as motivation for my ministry. 39:11 Because as the wrecker pulled that flying car out of the front 39:16 seat of that Jaguar they literally gathered up the pieces 39:21 of that drivers body, it occurred to me that he has put 39:26 get it through your head Jesus is dead, and he now is dead 39:32 and my Jesus is very much alive. 39:36 It set the tone for my ministry because it says to me, 39:41 Murray that you have to tell everybody you can that Jesus 39:44 is coming soon, because there are actually people out there 39:48 who believe Jesus is dead. 39:52 Or that Jesus doesn't care, or that Jesus has gone off on 39:56 vacation, or that Jesus doesn't hear prayer, or that Jesus 40:00 doesn't follow you in the middle of the night when your 40:03 pillow is wet with tears that Christ has no use for you. 40:07 There are people that actually buy the fact that 40:10 there is no God. 40:12 It is a lie of the devil and the trick of the devil to 40:18 fool people into believing that there is no Jesus, 40:24 when Jesus is crying out to men and women, 40:29 to let them know that Christ is coming soon. 40:33 Ladies and gentlemen we have got to be ready. 40:37 Think about it in your life, what is going on in your 40:42 life that is so good that it wouldn't be better with Jesus? 40:47 Or so bad that it wouldn't be better with Jesus. 40:54 Aren't you tired of this world? 40:58 You know what I'm tired of, I'm tired of 41:01 mortgage payments, I am. 41:04 I'm tired of paying the bank every month for my mortgage. 41:08 I'm tired of paying, I have to say this advisedly, 41:12 the government, I don't like paying taxes. 41:14 In case anybody is watching I do pay my taxes, 41:17 I am faithful to pay my taxes. 41:19 And I am faithful to pay my mortgage, because if I don't 41:21 pay my taxes, I don't have a house. 41:22 If I don't pay the government, I don't have freedom. 41:27 So I pay my taxes, and I pay my mortgage, and I pay 41:31 my car note, and I pay my electricity, and I pay my phone, 41:35 and I pay my water, and I pay my garbage, 41:37 and hopefully that's all, 41:41 and I pray the one credit card I have, I only have one. 41:47 And I am tired of paying them all. 41:49 I would like it rid of every one of them, but I can't, 41:53 because the government won't let me. 41:55 But you know Jesus is coming soon, and one day I won't have 41:59 to pay my mortgage, I won't have to pay my car, in fact I will 42:03 be able to move around without a vehicle. Praise God! 42:07 Won't have to pay water, because I have a sea of glass. 42:11 Won't have to pay electricity, 42:14 because Jehovah is the light. Amen! 42:17 Won't have to pay the government, 42:20 because God is the government. 42:23 And He owns everything. 42:24 Won't have to pay my car note. 42:26 Won't have to pay my credit card, Amen! 42:30 I can go where please, eat what I please, live as I please 42:37 in Jesus, house in the city, house in the country, Amen! 42:44 And Jesus all year round, my wife even likes that she is 42:50 smiling, but Jesus is coming soon. 42:55 How sad it would be if we were not there to meet Him, 43:01 if we were not ready to greet Him. 43:03 Let me go to John 14, this is a familiar text. 43:07 John 14, you can turn there, but I know you know 43:11 it almost by heart. 43:12 John 14:1-3, the word of God says: 44:09 Heaven will not truly be heaven until all of God's 44:13 people are there and in all of us there is this Jesus shaped, 44:19 heaven shaped vacuum that we are not going to be satisfied 44:24 until Jesus comes again. 44:27 And ladies and gentlemen I assure you, He is coming soon. 44:32 The Lion has roared and this old earth is not long to be. 44:37 But Christ is coming again, Praise God, 44:41 Jesus is coming again. 44:43 John I want you to prepare to come now and sing 44:48 something for me as we prepare to wrap up and to 44:52 commit ourselves Jesus. 44:53 Aren't you ready are you waiting Don't you want Him to come? 45:00 Think about that as John sings. 45:24 The Savior is waiting to enter your heart 45:34 why don't you let Him come in? 45:43 There is nothing in this world to keep you apart 45:54 what is your answer to Him? 46:02 Time after time He has waited before 46:11 and now He is waiting again 46:21 to see if you are willing to open the door. 46:30 Oh, how He wants to come in 46:46 If you'll take one step towards the Savior, my friend 46:56 you'll find His arms open wide. 47:05 Receive Him and all of your darkness will end 47:16 within your heart He will abide. 47:26 For Time after time He has waited before 47:35 and now He is waiting again 47:45 to see if you're willing to open the door. 47:54 Oh, how He wants to come in. 48:04 Oh how He wants to come in. 48:14 So why don't you let Him come in? 48:42 Thank you John! 48:45 I know that you want to be saved. 48:53 I know it in my heart. 48:54 I have often told the story of my own father. 48:59 My dad was the kind of person that watched a little TV Sunday 49:06 morning and he felt that was all 49:08 God required of him. 49:09 He had some habits that he wasn't really willing to give up 49:12 He liked to smoke little bit, every now and then 49:16 he would take a drink. 49:17 He wasn't an alcoholic by any stretch, 49:19 he was a social drinker. 49:20 He liked to play cards and some other little things. 49:25 He just couldn't see given those things up for the Lord. 49:29 He ran from the Lord for 70 plus years. 49:36 We would talk to him about the Lord and he didn't fight it, but 49:41 he just wasn't interested. 49:43 He would say, that is good for you, but it is not for me. 49:47 I joined the church as a young man, 9 years of age, 49:51 I got baptized at 10. 49:53 I really wanted my family to be in the kingdom and so 49:57 later on my sister, Donna, 18 months older than me, 50:01 joined the church. 50:02 Then I did a week of prayer and I appealed because 50:05 I wanted my mom to join, and I knew she was ready. 50:08 I was make an appeal and she was sitting in the chair rocking 50:11 and crying, rocking and crying, tears coming down, 50:13 rocking and crying. 50:14 I said if I could just say the right word I know 50:16 I can get my mother this night. 50:18 It was a Friday night and I was preaching and making 50:20 this appeal, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes 50:23 and I am still appealing. 50:25 I said I know she's coming, she is going to fall, 50:27 she's going to fall, and after 20 minutes she finally 50:30 stood up and I said, oh, praise God! Let's go home! 50:32 And my mother joined the church but I couldn't get my dad. 50:35 I really wanted to get my dad. 50:37 And then as time passed he had a little small stroke and 50:44 he walked with a limp. 50:46 That slowed him down just enough to begin thinking about 50:50 eternity, sometimes the Lord has got to give us a little 50:54 tap to let's think about eternity. 50:56 During that time when he couldn't get around like 51:00 he liked to, my dad was a great cook. 51:02 In fact, he was far superior to my mother, and on holidays he 51:05 wouldn't even let my mom in the kitchen. 51:06 He'd say, No! my kitchen today, you stay in bed. 51:09 He will get up at six o'clock and cook meals on holidays, and 51:13 just shoo everybody out of the kitchen. 51:15 Well he couldn't do that anymore, and it really hurt him. 51:18 He began thinking about his life and he called me home 51:21 and we studied the Bible together. 51:24 He decided I'm going to give my heart to Jesus, my dad. 51:30 We set the day for the baptism, October 1979, same year. 51:35 The heating system went out in the church, in Buffalo New York, 51:41 in October. 51:43 Baptismal water down to 40 degrees. 51:47 I stood in there with the Pastor numb from the waist down. 51:51 I felt bad, I didn't want to put my dad's face down in that 51:55 cold water, we were going to cancel it but it was my father 51:59 that said, go ahead, let's do it. 52:00 So I said I baptize him in the name of the Father, and of His 52:05 Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and I put his face down 52:08 in the water shivering. 52:09 We had to baptize him in a chair, we strapped him in 52:12 and tilted him back. 52:13 We got him and he came up shivering, we were all shivering 52:15 and crying, hugging, it was really wonderful time. 52:18 In 40 degree water, and we were so excited that at close 52:25 to 80 years of age my dad came in. 52:27 Then one month later, 30 days exactly, November 28, 27th, 52:36 his birthday would have been a November 28th, my mom said come 52:39 home, your dad has had a massive stroke and died. 52:43 So we went home for his funeral, and people must have thought 52:48 that Donna, my sister and I were a little touched in 52:52 the head, because we weren't crying at that funeral. 52:55 In fact we were kind of giddy. 52:58 We were kind of glad, we were happy, we weren't thinking about 53:04 the death, we were thinking about the resurrection. 53:10 We were thinking that he ran from the Lord 53:15 for 70 plus years. 53:18 He only got to serve Jesus one month, but you know that Matthew 53:26 says, he gets the same penny that everybody else gets, those 53:33 that come at nine a. m., those that come 53:35 at noon, those that come at three, those that get in just 53:39 before midnight, they don't get the backside of heaven, 53:42 they get the same heaven. 53:43 That is how good God is, and we were praising God 53:47 that we got him in before he died. 53:51 We were giddy with anticipation, because I knew 53:55 at that moment, that when I get to glory 53:58 my dad is going to be there. 54:01 Then just one year ago, my mom died, in Jesus. 54:08 So I have both of my parents in, God put them to sleep. 54:13 Ladies and gentlemen they are not going to be sleeping 54:18 much longer, soon and very soon Jesus is coming. 54:25 How many want to be ready? 54:27 If you want to be ready won't you stand to your feet, 54:32 just stand to your feet. 54:34 If you want to be ready when Jesus comes, 54:37 you don't want to be lost, 54:39 you don't want your friends lost, 54:40 you don't want your family members lost. 54:42 Ladies and gentlemen the signs are fast fulfilling, 54:46 He is coming! 54:47 Don't get so caught up in the things of this world, 54:51 that you forget the most important fact of all. 54:55 The coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 55:00 Shall we pray! 55:02 Heavenly Father, we love You and the song asked the 55:09 question being played now, are you ready for Jesus to come? 55:17 Are you faithful in all that you do? 55:23 Are you ready for Jesus to come? 55:29 We are asking ourselves that question right now dear Father, 55:33 because we want to be ready. 55:35 We want to be able to look up and say as the song says, 55:40 this is my Lord, have we fought a good fight? 55:44 Are we living for the right? 55:46 Can others see Jesus in us, Oh Lord, 55:49 we want them to see Jesus in us. 55:53 Are we ready to stand in our place? 55:56 Are we ready to look in Your face? 55:59 Lord we want to be ready when Jesus comes and 56:05 the time is short. 56:07 Father please, those in this house and those around the 56:14 world who are listening, please dear Lord, 56:18 don't let anybody be lost. |
Revised 2014-12-17