Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
We just studied this yesterday so why are we back here? I'll tell you why we are back here. We're back here because yesterday we talked about taking heed of three snares in our lives, but I just don't think we talked enough. I haven't forgotten the prophecy study we are on, but that prophecy study needs to be interspersed with the life lessons that we need to understand because what good does it do for us to understand the end is coming and the Bible prophecy is real if we aren't prepared for that end?
Life is one long learning process for us. Even those caught up in a mundane routine that never seems to vary- they too are constantly learning on some level. Every moment of our existence is a chance to live for Christ or not to live for Christ. Really, this is ALL that matters in our life- God. Before you start freaking out and naming all the things that are important, ask yourself this, do any of those things matter without God? Seriously, does good health matter unless you are God's? Does the health of your children matter if they can't see God in your life and have God themselves? Does having money, a job, a home matter if you do not know Jesus in your life as your Savior? All those things exist without God in your life- they don't disappear the moment you turn on God or if you've never accepted God. The same problems, the same pleasures, the same you exists but when you have God your spiritual dimension changes and as your spiritual dimension alters then it can affect other parts of your life- not necessarily changing the existence of things so much as changing how you might view them. Viewing things in the light of eternity, viewing things in light of forever living with God, viewing things with the understanding that NOW is only temporary changes perspectives. Does accepting our Savior mean you will suddenly love mushrooms if you despised them before? No. Does accepting our Savior mean you will suddenly no longer be annoyed at head-banging music as you were before? No. Accepting our Savior begins a new life- a spiritual life and just like our physical lives our spiritual lives will go through transformations, our spiritual lives will suffer from that refining process we are all called to go through. We will have spiritual growing pains and NO two people will have the same experience.
Yesterday we talked about being overcharged with:
Surfeiting
Drunkenness
Cares of this life
And one of the things we mentioned was how EVERYONE is vulnerable to these three snares of Satan. The whole world has the potential of being ensnared by a trap laid by the Devil himself and brought up into wonderful fullness. The Devil has made these snaring points what we generally just call 'life' today. His snare is our life. You can't get much more deceptive than that, can you? Oh well, that's life. That's just how it is. Can't change things. Things just keep getting worse. How to handle this, how to handle that, how to deal with life. Life for Dummies. The 911 on Life. Accept it, you can't alter it. Go with the flow. Modern thought. Current times. Keep up with evolution. Advance in acceptance. Don't be old school. New times. This day and age. Be informed. The newest trend. And the list goes on and on and forever on doesn't it?
Do we REALLY believe that our modern world with all it's advancements haven't come at a price?
Do we teach eternal life? Do we prepare our children for the real life possible for them to possess in Christ? Forget all about everything else and think about the reality of Christ's return to take us with Him. Do we LIVE with this as a REALITY?
Take heed.
Watch and Pray.
IF… and I really shouldn't even use that word…but I will because I'm not going to presume you aren't in a place of watching and praying as you take heed. If you find yourself caught up being overcharged with any one of those three things mentioned, or with two of them, or all three- what are you going to do? Will the third thing- cares of this life swell to gigantic proportions to envelope the other two? Or maybe drunkenness, drugs, intoxicating influences will be what inflates to deal with the other two. Perhaps you'll just indulge like never before in eating or other self-pleasures of your choosing to the point you think you care less about anything else so you're not caught up in those old life cares, right?
Vile and vicious, insidious, and spiritually-flesh eating, these three things have an incalculable number of tendrils snaking out every which way weaving in and out of our lives at any given moment trying to keep us from ever being free in Christ.
So…
Examine your life. Do it. Go on. Examine your life. Take an introspective walk through your last day. Do you notice points where any of those three snares might have you? You do? Good, good. Now do you feel a slight sense of despair at ever being snare free feeling you?
Think about this- overcharged heart.
This didn't say you can NEVER do anything for yourself in any way.
This didn't say you can NEVER drink.
This didn't say you can NEVER care about anything at all in life.
This said OVERCHARGED with these things. Letting our LIVES revolve around these things. Letting these things consume our lives! Letting these things become our lives!
We can't despair, Satan wants that more than anything. Satan wants us to despair to the point of losing all hope.
If you are trapped in any of these things or all of them, there is HOPE. CHRIST is our HOPE! We find our freedom from the snares only in CHRIST and no other place.
1Ti 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mar 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
Luk 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
1Co 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions
1Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints
This is the counsel we have been given. We can choose to ignore it. We can choose to make a half-hearted attempt at a life in Christ. We can choose to keep the snare about us and deceive ourselves if we want that and many will want that. The life Christ calls us to isn't one of worldliness in any way. If we want the world and Christ it's just not going to work at all, not really, no matter how much we want it to. Satan has packaged this world in a pretty, very enticing wrapping completely with ribbons and bows the only thing he hasn't done is sign the gift card because he wants us to be deceived.
Our life cannot be mostly worldly with a pinch of Jesus. Our lives have to be mostly Jesus with a pinch of the world and only that pinch because we have to live in this world- even Jesus understood that we had to live here and He prayed to His Father to have us kept from evil while we were living in this world.
This must be our prayer, keep us from evil Lord, keep us from anything that would keep us from You! Let us NOT be deceived. Help us to watch, to take heed to all that we need to so that we may be with you, that we may rise to meet You in the air when You come for us. Please Lord, all by Your grace! All by your mercy! All through Your righteousness in Your amazing LOVE, by Your Son, through forgiveness He gives to us.
Please Lord.
Please.
Amen.
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