06/02/2016

Ai??

06/02/2016

Shabbat Shalom!

 

Psalm 4:1-8

4:1) For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm by David. Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness. Give me relief from my distress. Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

4:2) You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? Will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.

4:3) But know that the LORD has set apart for himself him who is godly: The LORD will hear when I call to him.

4:4) Stand in awe, and don’t sin. Search your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.

4:5) Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. Put your trust in the LORD.

4:6) Many say, “Who will show us any good?” LORD, let the light of your face shine on us.

4:7) You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and their new wine are increased.

4:8) In shalom I will both lay myself down and sleep, For you, the LORD alone, make me live in safety.

 

The Word

The Only Non-recyclable Commodity

In my living room there is a blue wall clock. At least, I call it blue. Men generally see colours in primary (red, blue, yellow), secondary (orange, purple, green) and tones (light, medium, dark) and black and white. Women (again, in general) see a multitude of colours, tints and hues. This may be due to the womanai??i??s need to detect when food is going bad. My wife calls the clock duck egg blue.

I digress; another topic for another day.

During the day, the clock is not noticeable. However, if I get up in the night, then clock seems to have a very loud tick. I know that the sound does not vary throughout the day, but it is more noticeable in the quiet hours. Especially if I am trying to sleep! Each second passes with a loud TICK, the next second with a loud TOCK and time moves inexorably onwards. Some people say that there was no beginning of time and there will be no end of time, but this is in a metaphysical sense. For a person, there was a definite beginning and there will be a definite end. At ATC we believe that a life begins at conception and not at some arbitrary time during the gestation period.

Time (as we know it) will end when a person dies. For those who have not accepted Messiah Yahshua as their personal Saviour there will be an eternity of punishment. For Believers, there will be an eternity of peace.

ai???He spoke a parable to them, saying, ai???The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.ai??i?? But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared — whose will they be?’ai???(Luke 12: 16-20).

When the Master told this parable of the Rich Fool, He was warning of taking life for granted. The Rich Fool did not, could not nor would not consider that his life would be called into account. That is like the vast majority of people today. They make plans for some future date, but sadly tragedy intervenes. Many advertisements warn people to make sure that they have a current will, just in case a person dies without one in force. This is fine for those left behind, but what about the person who dies? What provision have they made for their eternal state? What provision have you made for your eternal state?

Scripture clears states that all people will sin and that there will be a penalty to pay and that a life will be demanded from us. That was the whole purpose of the life and death of the Saviour, Messiah Yahshua. To ai???believe on Messiah Yahshuaai??i?? is to accept that, as sinners, there is nothing we can do to remove the punishment that is required as the life is not perfect. However, the life of Messiah Yahshua was perfect in obedience to Father. Messiah gave up His perfect life and it was accepted by Father as the substitutionary sacrifice to remove all the sins of those who believe or accept this perfect sacrifice on their behalf. It was His life that took upon Himself the punishment due to all sinners. If only the sinner seeks forgiveness, turns away from their old life of sin and accepts the new life offered by Messiah.

This new life in Messiah is available to all but is conditional to the person accepting Messiah prior to their death. Even if it is done with the last breath and is genuine repentance and acceptance, the eternal punishment awaiting sinners is removed and replaced by eternal peace.

In the Parable of El`azar (Lazarus) and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31), the Master tells us of the plight of a rich man who ended up in Hell. In torment, he must have wished to be able to turn the clock back. This is not possible. The time you take to read this message can never be repeated. It is gone forever. So it is in life and there is no way back. In spite of movies such as Groundhog Day, The Time Machine etc., time is not cyclic and it cannot be re-used. Therefore, it is vital that all the time we have in this life, is utilised to the uttermost.

Make no mistake! There is a place called Hell. A place of darkness and torment, but Mankind was never meant to end up there. The redemption plan of Father was in place before Creation and Hell was made for the Satan and its followers. Not for Man. However, those who have not accepted the substitute death of Messiah will end up in Hell. Believers, who have accepted Messiah Yahshua as their Saviour will end up in Heaven. The decision is yours!

If, like the Rich Fool, you are called into account tonight, where will you end up? What will be our eternal destination? Upon whose shoulders will the punishment land; yours or your Saviour Messiah Yahshua.

Please do not even wait for tonight.

Right now, is the time to make that decision and you can rest assured that Father in Heaven is waiting eagerly to hear from you.

If only we could turn back time as easily as my wifeai??i??s duck egg blue clock. We cannot. Therefore we must look ahead and prepare ourselves….now!

Ameyn.

Father, we thank you for the power of your Word and that Word was made flesh in Messiah Yahshua so that in believing in His Life, Death and Resurrection we may have eternal life with you.

Ameyn.

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