Dear Weekly Readers!
God’s Peace!
The below you could find useful for your ministry, to share
with anyone you know is an unbeliever, or to be reminded yourself of important
matters.
May God Bless your week!
John R.
The Awakening Call
Everyone of us has at one time or another experienced some
type of awakening call during the course of our lifetime. A typical awakening for everyone each day is
the awakening from sleep. Some hear the
call of a parent or loved one informing them of the time to get up. Many must be reminded or called several times
before getting up. Others jump up at the
first call and are ready to start the day. Those who have no one call them must
depend on alarm clocks, or perhaps by a telephone call when lodging at some inn
while traveling. Even this type of call has its problems. People just hate to get up, so they will shut
the alarm off or press a doze button to delay getting up.
There are, of course, other ways by which we are awakened to
a need or some situation. Our automobiles
at times will catch our attention when the engine begins to sputter and our
glance at the fuel gauge reveals that we are out of gas. How about the siren
and blinking lights of a traffic patrol reminding us of our speed? What about
the past due notices we receive in the mail? They sure get our attention, don’t
they? Well, we could go on and on, and
I’m sure you get my point. This happens
all too often in our secular lives. But
what about our spiritual lives? Is there such a thing as an “awakening call”
from God?
If so, how does it come about and what purpose does it
serve, you may ask? I suppose to one who
has never heard the story of the creation or has just refused to give it his or
her attention, it has no meaning. In spite of this, there really is such a call
for His Word tells us that He doesn’t want any of us to perish (2nd
Peter 3:9). The purpose of this call is
to awaken you to the solemn fact that it is appointed for men once to die but
after this the judgment (Heb 9:27), and in so doing get your attention. God wants you to know that we are sinners and
that the wages of sin is death
.
It is true that everyone must meet with a physical death
because of the inherited sin of Adam and Eve. To the one who has forgotten the
natural man’s destiny, it has a grim reminder.
Once God has your attention and reveals to you your sinful condition, He
also wants to let your know that there is hope for you to change your
situation. The hope is in His Son, Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life (John 3:16). Isn’t this
Good News to the one who has been awakened from this horrible nightmare of a
condemned sinner? The life in store for this sinner who ignores God’s call or
scoffs at this call is by no means desirable for it entails eternity with the
devil and his angels in the lake of fire.
The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, ad
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second
death ((Rev 21:8).
The mechanism that trips the alarm of God’s awakening call
in a man’s heart and mind is the WORD
OF GOD. He wants to be heard
with this message delivered to the Hebrews: The word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing
asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb 4:12). Where and when does one get stricken by this
word? This is a mystery that has no ready answer. There are many factors which
govern this answer. Some have been on
the verge of suicide, and by picking up and reading a tract have been smitten
by the “sword of the spirit,” which is the Word of God. One departed preacher
told of his mother’s convicting words coming to him during a card game which
led him to repentance. Others have heard the witness of a child of God or disciple
of Christ. Perhaps some tragedy has
taken away a loved one and at the funeral service the message delivered God’s
convicting sword. God works in mysterious ways.
Whichever way God chooses to awaken you, dear friend, take
heed. This is the first step in God’s
plan of salvation. In other words, God is placing the conviction of sin into
your heart to test your reaction. Is His word going to pierce your hard
heart? The two-edged sword wants to
break your heart to provide good ground in order that God’s Word would find a
lodging place. This is a desirable condition for now the “Sower of the seed”
(Matt 13) may be able to plant the seed of hope into your troubled heart. It is now that you need the absolving word of
reconciliation to be preached to your listening ears and troubled heart. You
need to find the “Keeper of the keys” of the kingdom of God. These are the members of the royal priesthood
who have received the keys of binding and loosing and the authority to use them
(Matt 16:19). You see, they too, have heard the Good News, and have had their
troubled and evil consciences cleansed with the blood of Christ contained in
the Gospel message declared unto them. Jesus spoke these words to His disciples
after His resurrection: whosoever sins ye
remit they are remitted unto them: and whosoever sins ye retain, they are
retained (until such time they
repent) (John 20:23). In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus instructed His disciples that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His
name among all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47).
May God, our Heavenly
Father, awaken those sinners receiving His call to their needs of a savior in
these latter and crucial times. Have you
received God’s awakening call? If God is calling you, why not answer the call
by seeking the Lord while He can be found.
Are you aware of the time on God’s time clock? In the days of Apostle
Paul, He gave the Romans this warning.
Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the
day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof (Rom. 13:11-14). May He speak to your heart.
Rueben O Peterson.
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