Sermon Central
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Cleaning God's Cup
Contributed by Tim Strickland on Dec 6, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: Calling God's people to a Holy Life.
Cleaning God’s Cup
So many people today go to work, they come home, they cook, clean, work on homework with the kids, and if they have a little bit of time left over for themselves.
They will sit down in front of the television, which offers very little that is of any worth anymore.
They fill their minds with things that grieve the spirit and give them anxieties and troubles just before having to hurry to bed for a few hours of sleep.
People today are simply washed out. Like the sometimes beautiful chalk renditions that can be found placed by various artists on sidewalks in the big cities of this country, they only last until the rains come.
People today allow too many trivial things to be put on their plates. The ole devil is preoccupying us so that we will not recognize the sign of the times. Because if we did we would have a fear of the Lord which the Bible says
Prov 9:10
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
There have been many people, many ministers that have fallen into the temptation and trap, trying to predict when Jesus will return.
THE Bible says in
Gen 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs , and for seasons, and for days, and years:
54 And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.
55 And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
56 Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
If I asked you what time is it, do you know?
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
KJV
Rev 6:12
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
KJV
We are already experiencing Blood moons. I will not fall into the trap of trying to predict Jesus return.
What Christians really need to be focused on while we are looking for his return,
is living a life now, that is Christ centered, living a life now that is Holy, just as Jesus is Holy. The Bible says in
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
The Bible also says in
2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
