Well, good morning, sir.

It's an easy thing to do, to be quite honest with you. And today, we're going to watch two different women, a younger and an older woman, come in and step into these waters, expressing their thanks in many ways for the fact that Jesus Christ came to live a perfect life, chose to die a painful death, and willfully exerted his own power to raise himself again from the dead.

He's ascended into heaven, and he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and as we'll hear today, he's coming again, and he's coming to judge both the living and the dead.

And the good thing for both of these beautiful human beings is that he's going to judge them as living, because he didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. And in the end, everybody lives forever.

So it certainly doesn't mean he's going to judge those who die and go into annihilation. He's going to judge the living and the dead. And the difference between those is whether you've experienced the resurrection of Christ, you're confessing him, or you haven't.

It doesn't mean you're not going to physically be alive, because you are, but you're not going to be with him.

And today, we get the... You can tell everybody who you are. You're going to have to say a little bit about it now. Come on, tell them who you are.

You were like a jumping bean backstage. What happened? Let's just tell her to calm down.

Let me ask you the two most important questions anybody's ever going to ask a young lady, okay? Are you absolutely convinced you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Yes.

And are you convinced that he's accepted you as well?

Yes.

Do you want to wear your glasses?

Okay.

Do they have windshield wipers?

No.

Okay. All right. We'll get them dry.

Yeah. Sweet honor, sweetheart. Baptize you as my sister. Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we are married together with Christ through baptism.

That is a beautiful face right there. God bless you, sweetheart. God bless you, dad.

We've got one more for this service and more in the next.

Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24. We're going to start in verse 36.

Matthew writes, these are the words of the Lord, by the way:

"But about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.

Up to the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.

That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Two men will be in the field. One will be taken, and the other left.

Two women will be grinding with a hand mill. One shall be taken, and one will be left.

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day the Lord will come.

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for your word. And in this simple passage, it could seem confusing. It could seem like we should just go ahead and live a lackadaisical life since we don't know when. We just don't worry about when.

And to some extent, that's true. Don't worry about when. But a passage is not intended to cause a lazy attitude, but an urgent attitude.

But an urgent attitude is not a worrying attitude. It's a very interesting combination, Father.

How can we allow that which we know is eventually going to happen to affect how each and every one of us lives immediately until it happens? That's the power of that passage.

The certainty should create a level of urgency. Urgency to live differently until that moment that comes that we don't even know when it's coming.

So, Father, as we go back to the letter that Peter wrote to the churches of Asia Minor, the Turkey that we know to this day, he wants to share similar thoughts that there is a dramatic difference between living for the eventual and living in the immediate.

And he's calling all readers, all hearers of this word, to heed and to live that way.

We love you and we thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray to you. Amen.

Well, obviously, there is a difference between the eventual and the immediate. And there are two different perspectives of looking at it. And they are really two different camps altogether.

Now, when you look at the lives, if you take an assessment of both lives, I think you would see that there's a lot of similarity in the activities that are going on in both these lives.

And so, the motivation, to some extent, is very different. But some of the activities, and then some you'll see today, are very, very different.

You know, it's kind of like, you know, we're waiting for this impending moment. And if I say to some, I say, Christmas is coming, some of you, you're just unglued with happiness.

I say, Christmas is coming, and some of you are already upset, anxious, your toes are curling, because it's not yet Thanksgiving, and you still have half your Christmas shopping left to do.

That group of you need counseling. Okay? That I would, and we have a counseling center. They're professional counselors. Do not come to see me.

Because, like, I'll still have half my shopping left on Christmas Eve, and that's not because I procrastinate. It's really not. It's because I love to be in the stores in that moment.

There's something about, you know, you're on the edge of Christmas now.

And, you know, the crazy thing, and you can tell the difference now, because now all of a sudden, people are no longer looking forward to a white Christmas.

So many people are looking to a Black Friday. Like, Black Fridays become more important than white Christmas.

In fact, I don't know if you know this yet or not, but Monday was Black Friday. According to Best Buy, Tuesday was Black Friday.

According to Best Buy on Wednesday, I got a daily email from them reminding me, Greg, you missed Monday and Tuesday. Today's Black Friday.

And I woke up this morning, I got up at 4 a.m., and that's when they, you know, they sent all those emails. I looked, and lo and behold, today's Black Friday.

I had no idea. Well, today's Black Friday.

You know, we have pushed Black Friday. It'll be Labor Day. You know what I mean?

And it's, so, and the thing about Black Friday is it creates the urgency for all the wrong reasons.

Like, people are losing their minds to get an $89 TV at Walmart.

You don't need an $89 TV as much as you need a white Christmas.

You don't need a deal on a TV. You need to meet the Lord, right?

There's something so profound about the different attitudes now.

And we just, and I'm not a Bob Humbug guy.

Listen, for years, I'll show my age. How many of y'all remember when Chick-fil-A was in the mall?

Yeah, it was in the mall. And Tammy and I, literally, we loved it.

We would go in the mall, and we would wait in line at Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A, they would open at 6 a.m. The store's, I think, at 6:30.

So, you know, like 10 minutes before 6, we're in line at Chick-fil-A.

And if I wasn't first in line or anybody that was in front of me, I would go to the person.

I'd say, hey, did you know that Dillard's opened early today? They've got, like, sales.

Between now and 6, they've got great sales.

They're like, seriously?

I'd be, yeah, man, you ought to run down there and check that out.

And I'd get my Chick-fil-A.

It's so much easier to live like this.

I never did that. But it was fun.

It was 6 a.m. There weren't mobs. People weren't stomping each other to death.

There weren't fistfights in Walmart.

You know what I mean?

Because there is the glory in this season.

There's an eventual that's coming. Christmas.

But in our world right now, so many people are living for the immediate, the Black Friday.

The Black Friday has taken precedence over the white Christmas.

And again, I love Christmas.

Don't go into debt. Okay? Don't go into debt.

That is not what the Lord wants.

If what you have to give is your love and respect for those you love and respect, that is always going to be more than enough. I promise you that.

But it's fun. It should be. It's a blast.

But we got to own the reality that people are living more for the immediate than the eventual.

Now, if I were to say to you, judgment is coming, what's your response?

See, if you're in Christ, it should be, yes, bring it. Can't wait.

Not because everybody else that's not saved is going to be punished, but because you know that's what the eventual is for you.

If you're not in Christ, you should be, oh no, Black Friday. Right?

Because if you're living in the immediate, when the eventual shows up, it's going to be a very shocking experience.

And what Peter's calling his audience to do, very simply, and this is what we're going to see today, because he's writing to believers, that we need to take an assessment ourselves.

Are we living more for the immediate or the eventual?

Because if we, and because we're living in the immediate, it's just a very different perspective.

And when we live for the eventual, we become very distinctive and different people.

And when we become distinctive and different, and we're not in line at Best Buy, remember when people used to wait in line like 24 hours in advance to get some new Apple device?

Like, dude, I don't want anything that bad but Tammy.

You know what I mean? Nothing.

And so we've got to demonstrate a different mindset.

And that mindset will be revealed through our actions.

And our actions need to be assessed because judgment is coming.

And in that judgment, God will assess us.

You know, Peter's making it very simple.

We can. It's easy to say we must, but it's not a must.

It's up to you.

You don't have to do this if you don't want to, but I can tell you it's a far better way to live.

You can allow the future judgment of God to produce an assessment for your present living.

That you and I, in fact, it's amazing, but the church is called to actually, its first response is to be overwhelming joy that the judgment is coming.

And then overwhelming dread because the judgment is coming.

Because we know that the alternative to Christ is eternally devastating.

And so, we celebrate the reality.

It's just like, it's just like Christmas.

We celebrate the reality of a white Christmas, but we know it's going to be a high price paid for many people because it's going to be their Black Friday.

And so, we're to be motivated and move by both.

And that's why we must take an assessment of who we are and how we're living so that we can be utilized by God to get people to change their perspective.

That we look for the eventual and it affects the immediate.

Where people opposite of that are living in the immediate thinking they can control the eventual.

That doesn't happen.

That might happen with your 401k, but that doesn't happen with your eternity.

So, last week as we ended, we saw that great verse in 3:15 that Peter wrote, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks for the reason for the hope that lies within you, but do it with gentleness and respect."

And that answer is, as for me, I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and raised himself back to life.

That's my answer to every question that's asked.

Okay?

But Peter's going to tell us today that's not the only question because you also always have to be prepared to give an answer to the one who's coming to judge the living and the dead.

What's that answer going to be?

It should be the same because you're going to have to answer on judgment day, "Who do you say he is?"

As for me, right?

1 Peter chapter 4 starts with, therefore, and this therefore, he concluded in 3 with the glorious reality of the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ.

He's seated in heaven. He's ruling and reigning from there and it says, over all powers, over all of heaven, all of earth and all the angels.

If that is correct—and it is—therefore, that should have an impact on our lives.

"Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin."

Now, it's important to understand Peter did not say "is done with sinning," because done with sinning will not happen until either Christ comes to take you home or he comes to take us all home, because sinning is something we're going to continue to do.

He's talking about dealing with sin, that objective reality that entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned.

Sin is a—it's this intangible thing, if you will, that will continue to ride within the members of saved people.

Read Romans chapter 6 and 7, and Paul delights in trying to tell people how wretched it is to try and live a saved life while sin is still in us.

But he says, sin is no longer our master.

And in essence, if you could get your head around, it's kind of like the fact that, you know, if you were an apartment building, sin used to be the landlord.

Sin dictated everything.

He told you how much the rent was.

He told you what you could do, what you couldn't do, when you were going to do it, when you weren't going to do it.

He was the landlord.

He was just in control and dictated everything.

But then Christ came and bought the apartment building.

He's no longer the landlord, but the problem is Jesus let him stay as a tenant.

And this tenant lives in the basement.

And he's as annoying a tenant as you're ever going to have.

Because he's loud, he's obnoxious, the food he cooks stinks, he doesn't take his trash out, he's absolutely constantly annoying you, talking to you, and bothering you.

But he lives in the basement.

So he's no longer the landlord, but he still lives in the building.

And that's what Paul says, sin still resides, but it doesn't rule.

And Peter was saying, listen to me, you are going—as we, you've got to assess this reality that we're going to have to deal with sin until the coming.

And the fact that Christ suffered in his body for the objective sin factor, okay, those of us who also battle with the sin factor, we're actually revealing that we're connected to Christ, okay, because most people, I can't say all people, but unsaved people aren't generally contemplating the concept of sin.

They might ask questions about their sins, but they're not contemplating sin.

And so what we're talking about here is a very different attitude.

And that you and I, we're going to have to suffer in the body dealing with sin.

Because here's the thing, when we start to change our behaviors, there is a tug and a pull to draw us back to it, right?

So, like, if you were to swear off chocolate chip cookies—I don't know why you would do that—but if you were to swear off chocolate chip cookies, what do you think you're going to spend a lot of time thinking about?

Chocolate chip cookies, right?

Because that's what you're going to do.

You're going to think about chocolate chip cookies.

And then you know what's going to happen because you're dealing with sin, you're going to conclude, well, cupcakes aren't chocolate chip cookies.

I can eat cupcakes because I didn't swear off cupcakes.

I swear off chocolate chip cookies.

So, then you start eating cupcakes and the pounds that you lost from the cookies come back on from the cupcakes and so now you swear off cupcakes.

So, now what are you thinking about?

Thinking about chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes.

But now that you've resisted them, all of a sudden, we're like, I didn't swear off donuts.

That's dealing with sin.

And that's what we're going to have to do.

Every time we get control of a behavior and we replace it with another behavior, this is the battle.

And we've got to be, because he doesn't want to blow our heads off with, "I'm never supposed to sin."

No, no, no.

You have to be willing to pay the price to deal with sin.

Sin, the subject matter.

And we must continually assess, okay?

Why?

Because we understand the eventual.

And if we're going to try and influence the world and we're allowing the immediate to have too much impact, they're going to look at us and say, well, what eventual are you looking forward to?

Because it surely doesn't have any impact on your immediate.

I mean, you're not changed at all.

And that's what Peter's getting at here.

As a result, don't live the rest of your earthly life for evil human desires, but rather live for the will of God.

And at a certain moment, there's a decision to be made.

Are we going to live for the immediate or the eventual?

Are we going to live for the reality that white Christmas is coming or Black Friday is here?

What are we looking at?

What is literally, think about it this way.

What would be the more appropriate question for a saved person to ask about Black Friday?

What time does the store open?

What time does the store close?

Right.

A follower of Christ in life would say, I don't care what time it opens because you ain't dictating my behavior.

What time does it close?

Because you're not going to create urgency within me to be there at that door to watch everybody else fight for an $89 TV.

I'm not going to do that.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to go shop on Black Friday, but I'm shopping on my terms, not your terms.

What time do you close?

Not what time do you open?

And if you were to evaluate a lot of areas of your life, I guarantee you, you could ask that very same question.

Do I really have to do that now?

Can I just do that eventually?

Because it may not be, is it sinful to be out at, you know, Black Friday at 6 a.m.?

Not at all unless you're worshiping the God of materialism.

Right?

So we have got to take an assessment so that we are not necessarily being drawn into behavior patterns, okay, for the wrong thing.

So the present assessment of our lives must reveal the desire to live for the will of God.

We got to live for His will.

And when you start living for His will, it's more than likely that we begin to start doing things His way.

If we let that knucklehead who is still living in our house—

He's still in the apartment building, can't stand Him.

He's an ignorant, foul-mouthed fool who will not shut up.

That's right.

And He's not moving out of you until you move into heaven.

Now do you want to live for that knucklehead or do you want to live for God?

And that is the constant, there's a price to be paid in the body Peter saying to deal with that as Christ had to pay a price in His body to deal with that.

And not just on the cross, He was tempted in all ways that you and I are tempted.

He was tempted to steal and to lie and to commit sexual immorality and to cheat and to manipulate.

He's tempted to do all those things yet He did not sin.

So we've got to just understand that anybody who paints this rosy picture like it's not hard to live for the will of God is not living for the will of God.

I can tell you that much.

Like, so where, is there any enjoyment to be had, right?

And Peter said, now look, stop, don't whine to me for you've already spent enough time in the past already doing what pagans choose to do.

In other words, you've had more than enough cookies.

Alright?

Don't go complaining like, oh, being a Christian I don't get to do anything.

And Peter would be like, who are you kidding?

You've already had enough time to do all that.

You've had more donuts, more cookies, and more cupcakes than you should possibly have ever eaten.

So don't give that to me like, oh, it's not fun to be a Christian.

No, you had plenty of time to live in a way you should have never lived.

Okay?

There's no doubt about that.

And he says, just, you know, don't live in these things because you formerly did.

Living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, I don't even know why Peter, like, Peter doesn't know it's Sunday morning with kids in the room.

And parents, I'm so sorry because you're going to have to explain that on your way home.

Because I'm not.

We'll just cover that up.

We're in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

In other words, those who are not in Christ are wasting their present opportunities in life because they're living for the immediate, not the eventual.

They're not capable of comprehending that there's a white Christmas.

So they're really overactive on Black Friday.

In fact, they don't even realize that, if you will, like, December 26th, that $89 TV will be returned because whoever you give it to is going to want the one that was $110, not the $89 one.

And so they'll go back and it'll be on sale for $99 and they'll think they're saving money and you can buy the $89 TV that's been returned outside of its box for $69.

Right?

So you just got to think clearly.

There's nothing wrong with having an $89 TV but it's a whole lot better if you get it for $69 the day after Christmas.

If you wait until the end of the year, my gosh, like December 30th, they'll probably pay you to take it out of the storeroom if you really think about it, right?

And this is all people's that Peter's asking you to do.

Don't you have enough TVs?

Is it really?

Like really?

And so we're not necessarily, obviously, I pray to God none of you is tied up in any of these but what do we waste our time with would be the question.

Well, we don't have to have behavioral, just because we're not behaving this way doesn't mean there isn't something.

Like you've already had enough time on Facebook.

You have.

You don't need another minute on it.

That's the truth.

Some of y'all got hours and hours a week.

You know it, you do.

You look at Instagram and you're on there before you know it, an hour and a half, two hours has passed.

You haven't looked up and saw your family.

You don't even eat dinner without the device.

And Peter would say, you are living for the immediate rather than the eventual.

You are stuck in a one-dimensional world and you can't see what's going on around you and you gotta be able to see what's going on around you.

You'll see in a moment because there's a lot of people around you who are going to die and go to hell when that judgment happens.

And it's the wastefulness of that activity that's taking away your opportunity.

I mean, I could go down the line.

Some of you are really gonna hate this, but you're wasting too much time playing golf.

I told a young couple that I married this year and this kid's a professional fisherman.

You're spending too much time fishing.

I said, just wait till your wife gets pregnant because it's not his job.

I said, just wait.

He said, why?

I said, because for nine months you don't get the fish at all.

He said, what do you mean?

I said, well, you're either gonna be a man or a boy because last time I checked she's carrying your child.

So why do you get to go out and be on a boat when she's gotta be home thrown up in a toilet?

You living for the immediate or the eventual?

And I'm telling you, if you're a young couple, young men, when your wife gets pregnant, give up your hobbies.

Give them up for nine months.

You're like, no, she said it's okay.

Of course she said it's okay.

Why are you even asking her?

Be a man.

Just give it up.

That's your child.

She's doing everything she can with everything she's got to protect your child and give it life.

The least you can do is be close and give her protection.

But you don't have to.

I'm just saying that's what I think you should do.

But deal with the results afterwards.

Then you wonder, how did she get postpartum depression?

Because she was scared to death all during her pregnancy because you weren't around.

You were doing what you wanted to do.

What's that got to do with, I know, right.

I wasn't out drinking and carousing, I know, but you were still living for the immediate.

You weren't living for the eventual.

Didn't you realize that child's coming out?

You're not staying in there.

And so your parenting job, it's already begun and you know when.

So we got to ask ourselves, we can do this and it doesn't have to be such grotesque things and it isn't because those things in and of themselves are bad but assess them in light of the eternal.

Assess those things in light of the eventual and that will penetrate the immediate rather than being someone who makes immediate decisions without any conception at all about the eventual.

Just keep remembering Black Friday, White Christmas.

Black Friday, White Christmas.

What's driving you?

They are surprised that the pagans, the non-saved people, they're surprised that you no longer join them in their reckless, wild love, Peter.

They're reckless, wild living and they heap abuse on you.

Okay?

And it would be, you know, you probably got a pack of really close Facebook friends, right?

And all of a sudden you just take your profile down.

You're going to get text messages.

Is something wrong?

What happened?

Why aren't you on Facebook anymore?

Well, I just decided I'd rather use that time to do something more productive.

Was something wrong?

Is your husband leaving you?

No, I just like, I'd rather, are you sick?

What happened?

Did you say something you weren't supposed to?

I just wanted to get off of it.

And you know, I'm telling you the truth.

You know, you get off Instagram, it's like, what did you do?

Immediately.

It's like, oh, I decided I would, you know, spend, like, here's what I'll tell you.

Take just 30 of those minutes and contemplate the Lord and other people.

You don't have to do anything, just think about them.

And will people heap abuse on you?

Yes.

Tell your buddies, look man, I might play once or twice between now and the time my child's born, but I got to tell you something.

My child in that womb is more important to me than a birdie.

Love you, mean it, God bless you, see you soon.

They're going to be like, all right, did y'all bring the beer?

That's what's going to happen, okay?

Just get used to it, it's going to be okay.

But listen, they will have to give account too.

This is really basically the word for assessment.

They're going to have to give a basic assessment and account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

And there it is.

And this is where, this is the hinge in this passage.

All of these things sound like, you're a killjoy.

They're not a killjoy.

You've already had more than enough time to do things you weren't supposed to be doing in the first place.

Okay?

Now that life is over because you got saved, you accepted Jesus Christ, you have a higher purpose for living.

Yes, you're going to battle sin.

I get that.

Yes, we're going to do things we know we're not supposed to do.

Read Romans chapter 7.

And the price you pay in your body for that battle is the same thing Jesus went through, that's normative.

But when you just like not even possibly considering the eternal realities and how they can impact your immediate living, then God's going to give you a wake up call.

And what will that wake up, what should that wake up call be?

The judgment's coming.

And he's going to judge the living and the dead.

Okay?

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead.

And Peter's talking about the people that have died between the ascension and the moment he's writing.

You're not talking about like Hebrews 11, Abraham and Noah and all the old saints who died in faith having believed the promise.

Okay?

That one was coming.

They've actually had the gospel preached to them.

And Peter's like, this is why the gospel was preached to them.

Okay?

They needed to hear the good news to even to those who are now dead.

They've died.

Okay?

So that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

In other words, when the gospel is preached, judgment begins to happen for you and for me.

Because the law cannot save anybody but it can reveal the necessity for salvation.

When we hear things like thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not lie and thou shalt not steal.

When we come into the New Testament and we know that Jesus said, listen, I know you've heard it said thou shalt not commit murder but I say unto you if you have anger in your heart it is as though you already have.

And if there's ever been a moment in your life when you were unjustifiably angry at anybody or anything for any reason, you have sinned.

The penalty of sin is death.

In fact, the Bible says you are already dead.

That's what the gospel does.

Through the human standards if you sin you shall die the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is everlasting life.

Paul combines these two in Romans chapter 8 and he says, therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit who gives life has set us free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by sinful flesh God did by sending his son in the likeness of flesh.

And when that gospel was preached people heard it people received it surely they were judged by the standard of course they were that's why Jesus died.

And so this glorious reason for the whole reason for the proclamation of the gospel is because judgment's coming judgment's coming judgment's coming and part of the proclamation of the gospel from God's people is in how they behave right now and immediately until his coming.

Because I do think I think this the Bible doesn't say this I just think this that I don't think the greatest deterrent to the gospel being proclaimed is the things that we are doing.

I think it's the things that we're not doing.

I think there's behaviors that we're called to and we're not actively participating.

Remember last week I talked about resistance and replacement.

We've got to get and that's why the assessment is necessary and you're going to see those behaviors in a second.

Are we doing these certain things because we've evaluated we have been doing those things I've been dealing with sin sin has been dealing with me and when sin deals with you guess what you do you sin but now I've taken that assessment I'm beginning to have an awakening I don't want to live for the immediate I want to live for the eventual I want the eternal reality that judgment is coming to create tremendous joy within my heart I want the reality that judgment is coming to create terrible dread in my heart because it's the most unimaginably wonderful moment and it will be the most indescribably horrible moment all at the same time now we're beginning to get it the present assessment must conclude we've already wasted enough time I love that we've already wasted enough time doing what we wanted to do now let's spend some time doing what God has called us to do so now he gets very practical the end of all things is near it is just like saying Christmas is near now this word I don't even know that we would have an English word I'd have to think about it means two things nearby calendar like chronos time every day we get this logically every day that passes we're one day closer to him returning because time is encyclical time is linear in Genesis chapter 3 when God said let there be he pulled back the bow of time and he let it fly and time is a straight arrow and we are blessed to be just a blip on that arrow that is flying and it's going to eternity it started in eternity it's going to eternity and every day that arrow gets a little bit closer one day closer one day closer to it hitting its final target and that is the full and final judgment of God okay so we know chronologically but also this is a word that means within proximity okay and it's kind of like that feeling you begin to get like you already know when Christmas is December 25th but you also know the first time you go into the mall and you see Santa Claus you get a very different feeling right you're not feeling about you're not thinking about December 25th you're thinking about the season and all of a sudden you start hearing you change in fact the season's so profound on you you change the things you're listening to on the radio like how many times have you heard the first Noel how many times have you heard Oh Holy Night you would think I never need to hear that song again and yet the first time you hear it every Christmas season it's just like how does that happen because you feel the weight of the season and truth be known we know a day is coming but can you not feel a sense of weight in the world right now like we're in a we're in a very different season I'm not one who because Jesus said you don't know when it's going to come but you need to live in light of the fact that it is and we're not supposed to look at every world event and say oh he's coming but we shouldn't be so ignorant and not look at what's going on around us and be like oh man I feel something it's heavy right now around the world it's heavy and is that heaviness to get to cause us to be paranoid and run around and stalk our house with you know our nuclear basement with water and canned goods no no no no it's to get you to focus more on the eventual rather than the immediate do you feel the weight of what's going on in the world right now you should and then we'll go through a season where it won't feel so weighty and then God will allow events to happen again and this is what we're called to because it's near it's near therefore be alert and of sober mind alright alert is to actually be clear headed there's another word it's Gregorio to be honest with you it's the word for a watchman who's already standing I'm just ready no that's not this word this word is to be just calm take a breath in light of the fact that the end is near first thing we gotta do is breathe we gotta stay calm okay don't get anxious don't go running around take a breath stay calm and also be of sober mind and this doesn't mean without intoxicants although partially yes of course but it means to have clarity of thought be calm and clear headed be calm and clear headed be calm and clear headed that's what we're called to in light of eternity in light of the fact that it's nearer now than when we first believed in light of the fact we can feel the weight of the necessity for judgment to come stay calm and clear headed stay calm and clear headed okay so you may pray there's a purpose to staying calm and clear headed because it tremendously improves the conversation level that we have with God it's calm it's okay he knows everything you need before you even ask Jesus said in the sermon on the mount calm down get clear headed because that's going to enable us to have impactful conversations Paul says in Philippians that when life is getting after us he says rejoice I say it again rejoice no matter what happens let your gentleness be evident to everyone okay through prayer and petition with thanksgiving make your request known to God and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus the Lord Philippians chapter 4 rejoice rejoice rejoice and then through prayer and petition we got to calm down that way we know we're looking up we got to calm down so that we have clear conversations with God okay above all what's the most important thing well Peter's going to tell you you got to love each other deeply we got to get this right okay and this glorious godly love has to be done deeply and it's a great word it means to stretch to be overstretched like almost stretched thin is your love for the family of believers stretching you or annoying you is it stretching you or is it bothering you are you really being stretched to love deeply and he's going to tell you some of the things we need to do and it's this stretching that is such a glorious witness in the world to the reality of Christ stretching first this love covers a multitude of sins when we fail in the body and we will because we know we're going to still have to deal with sin in the body and suffer through those difficulties what a person who has sinned because of sin needs is not judgment because that's God's deal they need love and when we love one another because we all know we're battling the same things we may not be behaving the same way but we're battling the same thing sin and we love people anyway it covers them because what was the consequence of sin in the garden they felt naked and ashamed and God doesn't want his people walking around naked and ashamed and while yes the old saying we don't love the sin but we you know we love the sinner yes you must and it just you just feel better when those people that are around you still accept you when you have failed in front of them but what's even more profound I think is that that love doesn't just cover their sins it covers ours as well that when I'm all of a sudden loving people in their sin I'm feeling the very covering of Christ over my sin because I've humbled myself to a point I'm no longer self-righteous and right in that act you're demonstrating the heart of Christ and you're going to feel better you're not going to feel ashamed about what's going on in your life or you've just done in your life there's a power in this love to keep us covered until Christ comes to take us home there is a power in this love to keep us covered until Christ calls us home and you know what the world is experiencing right now they're wearing fig leaves and they think they're covered they're hiding in bushes wearing fig leaves they think I'm fine you ain't fine I'm telling you no this is the latest outfit I don't know about that did you get that on Black Friday all right it's not covering you very well what you need is somebody to come and sacrifice something and shed its blood to provide a covering for you right and when we do that amongst ourselves I'm telling you the world's going to look at us differently offer hospitality to one another without grumbling now in their day this was pretty much a mandate an expectation when a wayward traveler was coming through town and there was no room in the inn they just go knock on the next door and say hey we're traveling come on in you can lay on the floor we'll get you something to eat want something to eat we got you spend the night and be on their way how does that apply to us today well ultimately what they did in their homes we got to do in our heart you got to make room for people people show up in your life and they need they need a safe space and they knock on our door and we're like no room in the inn hospitality is to make safe space for people while they're on a journey and here's the thing it's not necessarily the safe space that you give some of your closest friends it's the safe space of a moment in time because they're going to spend the night so to speak right they just need somebody to have an hour conversation you got time for lunch make that time be hospitable create space for that now you got to show balance doesn't mean you step in and take on all the problems and all that no no no I'm being hospitable I'm making I'm providing a temporary safe space for you in this moment right I think we completely misunderstand what that meant so let's make sure we're creating space for people you may not even know God's not asking you to become their best friend he's just saying as a fellow as a fellow believer in Christ that's my computer I forgot to plug it in last night as a fellow believer in Christ make space for I guess I need the $89 TV that's pretty evident give me your outline I didn't want to fish thank you God bless you make space for other people okay and then each one of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms okay so what we want to do is we want to be alert we want to be calm and clear headed above all else we want to stretch ourselves because it covers it removes that naked and ashamed we want to be people who have enough space in their life just a little bit of margin okay in your life so that you can be interrupted kind of like the parable of the good Samaritan you're not so busy doing religious things that you can't stop and pause and help somebody who's in a real life situation and then you want to use your gifts because you are gifted and Peter's referring to the spiritual gifts those that come when the spirit of God descends from heaven and he inhabits you and then he he enables you to perform supernatural spiritual giftings in order to build up the body of believers and there's a variety of them you can find them in Romans 12 1 Corinthians 12 Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4 those are your four locations that you can find the gifts and there's no exhaustive list of what they all are my experience has been generally speaking a spiritual gift generally speaking is a supernaturally empowered talent that you were already born with and then the spirit of God anoints it and it becomes something that is life changing for people around you and when you have that gift use that gift whatever it might be and there's so many of them but make sure you use them be a good steward and serve to finish 1 Peter 4 17-19 Peter writes for it is time for judgment to begin with God's household it's time why is it time because it's always time for us to deal with God assessing how we're doing read Revelation it's a letter to seven churches at times now and if it should begin with us what shall the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God if it's hard for the righteous to be saved what will become of the ungodly and the sinner that's a great question tragically I can answer it you will be separated from the presence of Christ for all eternity and you shall live forever in hell you will not be annihilated your existence will continue ad infinitum in a torturous and horrible place that day's coming I can I can give you horrible pictures of what that moment's going to be like but I can also tell you what that moment's going to be like because the dead in Christ shall rise first and those of us that are left and still alive shall be caught up together with them in the sky you going with us you're going to be left behind like Jesus said you're that lady at the hand mill one leaves one's left there's a man on a roof two men one leaves one's left you leaving with us or you're going to be left behind you're leaving with us you're going to be left behind you're going to leave with us you're going to be left behind please go with us let that future judgment have the most powerful immediate impact that it can possibly have then you no longer have to live in or for the immediate you get to live for the eternal but you got to believe in your heart that God raised his son from the dead and you got to speak with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and when you do you will be saved you will be saved the spirit of God will descend from heaven and he will inhabit you he will protect you he guide you he will teach you he will correct day of redemption and nobody can break that seal but Jesus Christ himself the day of judgment is coming praise God almighty the day of judgment is coming oh my God will it be black Friday or white Christmas father we love you and thank you you you're telling us the truth and we your people the judgment of God starts with the people of God because you long for the people of God to take proper assessments of our daily living so that you can use this daily to make a difference it's not about being good little boys and good little girls it's about being holy holy different so that we can make a difference in the lives of people and for those that are in this room under the sound of my voice if you're in Morgantown or Glasgow please please take of the reality that judgment is coming can you feel the weight of that it's nearer now why not why not accept Christ as your Lord and Savior father we pray that they do it's in his name we pray amen let's give God a hand clap of praise in his house today that's really good well may the God of heaven richly bless you eat more food than you could possibly have a great Thanksgiving

Subject: Living for the Eventual: Judgment is Coming

Dear Crossland Community Church,

I hope you are feeling the weight and urgency of the reality that judgment is coming, and that it’s nearer now than when we first believed.

Last Sunday, we looked closely at Peter’s call for us to live with an urgent attitude—not a lazy or worried one—because the end is near. We talked about the difference between living for the immediate and living for the eventual, using the picture of Black Friday versus White Christmas to show how our motivations reveal what we truly value. Judgment will come for the living and the dead, and as believers, that should fill us with both overwhelming joy and sober dread, pushing us to assess our lives, deal with sin realistically, and love one another deeply as we prepare for that day. The call is clear: live for God’s will now, so that when the Son of Man returns, we are found ready and distinct from the world.

So I want to challenge you this week—take a hard look at what’s driving your daily decisions. Are you living for the immediate, caught up in the noise and distractions, or are you living with the eternal in view, letting the certainty of judgment shape your actions and love? Don’t let sin or the busyness of life dull your awareness; instead, be calm, clear-headed, and alert, stretching your love for others and using your gifts to serve, so that your life points to the hope we have in Christ’s return.

Blessings,
Crossland Community Church Team