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Offline Flyin6

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Mini-Sermon 2: Lukewarm
« on: January 28, 2018, 09:23:58 AM »
A commentary about being Lukewarm for Jesus

by

Don Harward


Men of God, come forth!

Are you are man of God? Or just toying with the idea? Are you committed or do you just like the idea of being saved? If the conversation turned toward a direction you are not comfortable with, what do you do? I’ve had them. I remember sitting in the cockpit of a jet working on the flight weight and balance and punching in the flight plan into the computer when a knockout of a beautiful woman appeared in plain view, boarding the plane. I remember the Captain’s comments, “Would you look at the t__s on that. I’ve been there for sure. At one point in my life I would enjoy the view. But at another point, I would take that opportunity to tell him that my Jesus who lives in me would not look upon her in that way, and let that dog lie back down.

This is an easy time in our history to remain uncommitted and quiet about your views. Corporate policies everywhere prevent us from expressing our Christian views, while herding us into classrooms to learn about how to handle folks wrestling with their anatomy. You might even have noticed that some viewpoints are more popular and believing in them may at the corporate or military setting you work at, elevate you to some higher plane of human condition than those close minded Christian racists.

I mean, let’s just face it, on the world stage, my crying out “I just really Love Jesus” (Which is the truth BTW) would be seen as a bigoted comment. Everyone says how Christians hate Gays, how we think everyone is going to hell, how the world is be taken over by evil.

Of course none of that is true, except that evil is enjoying a pretty healthy run-up in their evil stock market endgame, wouldn’t you admit?

So where are you? Non-committal? Non-confrontational? Silent and reserved about your views? I’ll bet that a lot of you are. I can show it to you here on this web site. Go to the home page and look over the stats which show how many registered members and how many guests are viewing. Five to one (Guests vs members) is pretty normal. Allowing that some folks are new here and still working their way around, some of those in the guest (Noncommittal??) side have not made a connection, not made any commitment. But there are others who have been here for years…as guests…They are coming here just like I attend a large stadium to watch the Reds play ball at the All –American ballfield in Cincy.

Personally, even now, I don’t care to associate with those lukewarm people. (although I do, the old Don is hard to die sometimes). I guess I sort of align with my savior, Jesus, who said:

Revelation 3:14-
To the Church in Laodicea

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

I like dealing with the “cold,” because they don’t know Christ or have walked away from them. I guess I just like a fight, sorry. But they can be easily be dealt with by applying the truth (Scripture) to any of their positions. You don’t have to win the argument or discussion, you just have to deliver the message. God’s word is unchanging, true and like a searchlight in a dark night, it illuminates all that is hidden. Do that and your job is done.

And I just LOVE the “Hot!” Had lunch with two Mexican evangelists Wednesday. We had a great time. When men on fire for Jesus get together, no matter if they start talking about guns (our case) or trucks, or politics or whatever, the conversation invariably gets to what we love the most…HIM! And that, my friends is fun. I can’t imagine a better thing than sitting down at my farm, all worn out from hard work, sitting around a crackling fire with some folks who are sharing about their lives, their families, and our God and what he is doing in our lives. I just would prefer doing that to anything else. Well, doing something for someone in his name, well, maybe I may like that more, a tie maybe???But what about the “guest,” the luke-warmer. This is a guy who says he is saved and indeed you see him in church sometimes. But he is not serving anywhere. He doesn’t give much. He is not a part of anything that is happening and he doesn’t have a clue about when or where the prayer warriors meet. Just not a part of his repertoire. I look for them amongst the recruits wishing to join our security team. If they never serve anywhere and they had to be coerced to show up, my money says they are lukewarm.

Witness this: One of my team members is a woman, late 40’s. She has MS. She suffers from all sorts of crap. Her hair fell out. She has times of weakness. She actually goes completely blind for hours at a time every once in a while. But every Sunday afternoon when we hold training, she is there. She shows up at the gym, I hear nearly every day she isn’t sick. Like many of us, if you ask her what the sermon was about, she couldn’t tell you because she was walking the parking lot, or clearing the tree line to the west or acting like a door greeter so she can give everyone coming into our sanctuary a visual as a part of our security system. Lukewarm?? Her? No flippin’ way! She is serving out of the very poverty of her life. She is sick, has not much money, but you will 1. Never hear her complain, 2. Always see her with a smile, 3. Always count her to be there and to get in the middle of a fracas to defend the weak kneed Luke warmers who come to warm seats in the service.
Which one are you?

This is a good time in history to make a stand for Christ, no matter the price or continue playing Satan’s script for the socially acceptable politically correct. I spit you out of my mouth. I care not to associate with you. I do wish, however, to warmly invite you into the loving world that our Jesus owns. One where you either belong or you don’t. With respect to this web site, I sort of wish you would leave if you were a luke-warmer, but that’s a bit of the old Don talking. The Christ loving me which has surpassed the 50% point (I hope) wants you to hang around so that we can rub off on you and show you true family, the family of the Christ. It is, after all the most important of all families. In any setting other than a Billy Graham revival meeting or a Christian concert, we will be in the minority, but we are far, FAR stronger than anything the evil master of this world can muster…And he knows it.

So, what about it, which side you want to be on? You really better think it over, and you may not have much time regardless of what you might think. Just last night was an eye-opener for me. I had fasted all day long, praying when I got hunger pains, but committed to go to church denying self in sacrifice for my Lord. I wanted to hear his word first, then planned for a meal afterward. That afterward happened around 2230 at a local restaurant where I ordered eggs, hash browns, and sausage. While eating that meal, I began choking, and no matter what I did, I could not breathe. I suddenly realized I was about to go unconscious when I stood up because I thought that if I just fell over like a redwood crashing down onto the forest floor, maybe the impact would dislodge the piece of food blocking my airway. But at that exact moment, my airway opened just a little. I became aware that my wife was screaming for help and that some big guy was fast approaching, but in all reality, shortly after that moment, I might have died.

Think about that. Fasted all day, then went to church, then choked and died!
You see, you may not make it to the point late in life and after many years where the doc tells you that persistent cough is actually stage 4 which has also spread to your brain and he estimates you have two weeks max. During that imaginary scenario, you would then find the time to come to Jesus, get saved, donate all the porno to your Army buddy and go onto paradise. But, my very lost (And very much in the will of Satan) friend, if no one else has the courage or cares enough to tell you differently, I will. I am a man who desires to speak the truth. I am a man in love with my Lord. Through him, I love my wife and my family, and believe it or not, I love a lot of you. I’m telling you not to be lukewarm, but to commit.

Don’t be lukewarm. Don’t be a coward. Don’t be noncommittal. Stand up for Christ and be counted amongst his!
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« Last Edit: January 28, 2018, 09:28:17 AM by Flyin6 »
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