Welcome to "The Nathan Report!"
A Bright sunny day, simply beautiful!
We started off with praise and worship, here is the playlist:
1) Tell the world - Hillsong United
2) Shout to the north - Delerious?
3) Blessed Assurance - Fanny Crosby
4) Hallelujah (Lord I stand) - Don Moen
Powerful praise and worship ended with a strong prayer and we move on to the weekly announcements:
- VBS for children will start tomorrow, i.e. 20th - 26th October at Indian Airlines School, Kalina. For more information, visit our Church website by clicking here.
- Women's fellowship will be on 25th October, 2014 at 4:30 PM, at Avion Hotel. Women are welcome to join.
- There us a book launch at Mumbai Central, YMCA at 5:00 PM. You all are invited to be present there.
Today we will be discussing about, "Are you awake? It is a high time".
Romans 13:11, "Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed."
This portion is written to God's people who may be sleeping. The Bible says, "Don't slumber, don't sleep, don't be lazy, now we are much more closer to the Salvation." Paul is talking about people who believe in Christ. You need to believe in Jesus and you need to search your heart.
Not only you Church, I also need to search my heart. We need a revival, Church needs revival, this nation needs a revival. The Church needs to arise from the sleep.
Few things are here taught, as a Christian's directory for his day's work. When to awake; Now; and to awake out of the sleep of carnal security, sloth, and negligence; out of the sleep of spiritual death, and out of the sleep of spiritual deadness. Considering the time; a busy time; a perilous time. Also the salvation nigh at hand. Let us mind our way, and mend our pace, we are nearer our journey's end. Also to make ourselves ready. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore it is time to dress ourselves. Observe what we must put off; clothes worn in the night. Cast off the sinful works of darkness. Observe what we must put on; how we should dress our souls. Put on the armour of light. A Christian must reckon himself undressed, if unarmed. The graces of the Spirit are this armour, to secure the soul from Satan's temptations, and the assaults of this present evil world. Put on Christ; that includes all. Put on righteousness of Christ, for justification. Put on the Spirit and grace of Christ, for sanctification. The Lord Jesus Christ must be put on as Lord to rule you as Jesus to save you; and in both, as Christ anointed and appointed by the Father to this ruling, saving work. And how to walk. When we are up and ready, we are not to sit still, but to appear abroad; let us walk. Christianity teaches us how to walk so as to please God, who ever sees us. Walk honestly as in the day; avoiding the works of darkness. Where there are riot and drunkenness, there usually are chambering and wantonness, and strife and envy. Our great care must be to provide for our souls: but must we take no care about our bodies?
Napoleon had once said, "Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world."
From the Section above (Romans 13:11), the final verses call Christians to action given the shortness of the time before Jesus returns, Sleep here is a metaphor for a life of moral carelessness and laxity. SALVATION is viewed as future reality here and it draws nearer everyday. THE DAY IS AT HAND! The nearness of the end summons, Christians to put off all evil works and to live in the light. Here Paul is talking about worldly cares and to wake up from that.
Matthew 26:4, "And plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him."
Our Lord had often told of his sufferings as at a distance, now he speaks of them as at hand. At the same time the Jewish council consulted how they might put him to death secretly. But it pleased God to defeat their intention. Jesus, the true paschal Lamb, was to be sacrificed for us at that very time, and his death and resurrection rendered public.
Jesus said that we are supposed to be active. We need not to be lazy, but aggressive.
Matthew 25:13, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
Those that take up short of true grace, will certainly find the want of it one time or other. An outward profession may light a man along this world, but the damps of the valley of the shadow of death will put out such a light. Those who care not to live the life, yet would die the death of the righteous. But those that would be saved, must have grace of their own; and those that have most grace, have none to spare. And while the poor alarmed soul addresses itself, upon a sick-bed, to repentance and prayer, in awful confusion, death comes, judgment comes, the work is undone, and the poor sinner is undone for ever. This comes of having oil to buy when we should burn it, grace to get when we should use it. Those, and those only, shall go to heaven hereafter, that are made ready for heaven here. The suddenness of death and of Christ's coming to us then, will not hinder our happiness, if we have been prepared. The door was shut. Many will seek admission into heaven when it is too late. The vain confidence of hypocrites will carry them far in expectations of happiness. The unexpected summons of death may alarm the Christian; but, proceeding without delay to trim his lamp, his graces often shine more bright; while the mere professor's conduct shows that his lamp is going out. Watch therefore, attend to the business of your souls. Be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
What is sleep?
Paul said they were sleeping and had to wake up. If physical sleep is very bad what about spiritual sleep?
In general, sleep is a period of rest during which the sleeper loses the awareness of his surroundings. So, the danger in sleep is the loss of awareness. The elder brother of sleep is what medical people call “coma.” Some people are in spiritual coma. Messages and prayer do not worth anything to them. They may be at church service but would not hear what the preacher is saying because they are already dead spiritually, even though they are alive physically.
When a person falls asleep, all his physical activity decreases, his muscles relax and he could have a nightmare. Occasionally a person sleepwalks. A person who is sleep-walking can rise up, go to the kitchen, drink something go back to the bed and continue to sleep. And if you say, “Who drank this thing?” He would say, “I never stood up, I did not go there.” I pray that it will not happen to you, in Jesus’ name.
Illustration: There was a school girl, living in a hostel. One fine night, she woke up in her sleep (yet she was still in her sleep), took and wore her uniform and went to the railway station. There she found a bench, and she slept on it. In the morning, when station master saw a girl sleeping on the bench, he immediately called the school authorities since he recognized the familiar uniform of that school. As soon the authorities arrived, the station master asked, shall I wake her up? The responded, "No, don't wake her up, if she wakes up in her sleep, she will be very upset about this whole condition. Let her wake up on her own."
Some people even discuss in their sleep. That is why a local proverb says that sleep is the friend of death. It is during sleep that the agents of Satan in our environment lay evil eggs in people’s lives and they try to make sure that their victims do not know what they have done, because if they know, they will shake off the evil eggs. That is why the Bible says that while men slept, his enemies came quietly, planted evil and went away. It is not all enemies that will attack you directly. In fact, most enemies will not attack you directly. They just come, lay their evil eggs and go away.
When you lose the battle of the bed, you lose all battles. Satan has destroyed so many good things because of sleep. When you are addicted to sleep physically it is bad, but it is even worse when it is transferred to the spirit man. Sleep gives the enemy a chance to sow tares. While men sleep, many human tragedies occur. For example, fire, hurricane and tornadoes sweeping homes and cities away sometimes before the victims wake up. So, sleep is a time of insecurities: you cannot protect yourself at that time. It is a time of inactivity, and a time of delusion when you assume that all is right only for you to wake up to see a great change. So, we need to be aware of the dangers of spiritual slumber. Great changes may occur for the enemy may be at work.
Some people would say, “When I went to sleep last night, I was okay but by the time I woke up, I had become another person." Some people go to bed sound,only to wake up mad. The powers of the night waited for them to sleep, and then planted things in their lives.
In sleep we are not able to defend ourselves and during this period, many things change. There many dangers and satan is keeping a watch. Most of us are doing very well and fall under certain comfort zones, but hundreds and thousands of people are going in hell. We need to be on guard and need to share the love of Christ with them. There is more than 6 billion population world wide, how many of them other than faithful believers know Jesus as their personal saviour? Have you tried anything or you too are sleeping and letting them go to hell? Time is running and we need to wake up and we need to bring many lives to salvation and save them from hell.
Illustration: As a child, I used to enjoy playing cricket. I used to play from morning till 5:00 PM. It was the time when it starts becoming little dark. As soon the clock used to hit 5:00 PM, we used to realize, "What??? So early??? How can time fly???"
The Bible categorizes spiritual sleep into many classes. We will look at some of them. This will help you to know whether you are awake or not. The fact that somebody’s eyes are open does not mean that he is not sleeping spiritually.
Jonah 1:1-6, “1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
The Characteristics of the sleep of Jonah
It was an unrealistic sleep, a sleep of illusion. The storm was raging; men were in danger but Jonah did not realize it at all. Likewise many people today think that they can put a cover over their head and all the bad things they are seeing around them would go away simply because they are sleeping. No, they will not go away. The sailor confronted Jonah, “What meanest thou, O sleeper arise, call upon thy God. Can’t you see what is happening around?” There are many people like Jonah; a lot of things are happening around them, yet they are sleeping. Many, today are roaming about sleeping unrealistically. Their sin is raging like the hurricane and is as dark as the night and the danger is great,but they want to believe that everything is going to be all right. That is why Paul warns: “Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and the light of Christ shall shine upon thee.
Unfortunately, many will die under this delusion because their eyes are covered; they think that the world will just go on like that and that nothing will happen. They believe that politicians will be politicians, military men will be military men, governors will be governors, etc. No, very soon, things will happen. If you are sleeping like Jonah, I pray that the Lord would deliver you, in Jesus’ name.
Some people have the call of God upon their lives and God has told them where to go, but they have slept off like Jonah and have also decided to go another way. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh but he headed for Tarshish and slept off on the way. Eventually, he went from his bed of sleep into the mouth of a fish and was there for three days. He did three days dry fast in the belly of the fish because of unrealistic sleep. He was running away from God and consoled himself by sleeping.
Today, people are exhausted and weighed down, and their senses are dumb spiritually. There is a need to be watchful, for the enemy will attack when we least expect. While righteous men sleep, the enemy does not sleep. The Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant for the devil, your adversary walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” Evil lurks in every corner when the righteous people are weary. The disciples slept the sleep of weariness and we see where it landed them.
Many Christians are very lazy. They don’t want to do the Lord’s work. Just as a lazy person cannot do well physically, also a lazy person cannot do well spiritually. Laziness is the reason people give excuses for not doing what they are supposed to do. For example, they would complain that Bible studies usually take time and that is why they do not attend. Many are inactive when it comes to sowing the seed to the kingdom. Lazy people lack spiritual exercise. Family worship and Bible study are foreign to them. Just as a lazy farmer will not receive the best crop, a lazy Christian, too, will not receive the best from the Lord. The sleep of carelessness that many people sleep cannot fetch them anything from the Lord.
How do you know whether you are already deep in spiritual sleep?
1. When prayer ceases to be a priority to you.
2. When you become content with the spiritual knowledge that you have already acquired.
3. When your biblical knowledge is not applied inwardly. You just go to church, hear the message and read the Bible but you cannot apply them inwardly. They have no effect on your thought life or on your way of life.
4. When thoughts about heaven and eternity cease to be regular in your life. You don’t think about heaven. It does not cross your mind that this world is not a permanent place. You are only concerned about material wealth. It is a sign of spiritual slumber. You forget that our period on earth is temporary, that very soon all you have acquired in this world would become raw materials for fire.
5. When services in the house of God hold no delight for you. You are not interested in what goes on there.
6. When spiritual discussion becomes a source of embarrassment to you. For example, in your office, talking about Jesus or spiritual things becomes highly embarrassing because you know that those around will certainly know that you are not behaving like a Christian.
7. When things like leisure, sports, recreation, entertainment, etc. take a large part of your time, sleep has crept in and if you don’t wake, up the enemy will come and sow tares or lay eggs if they have not already done so.
8. When you commit the sin of the mind and body without your conscience pricking you.
9. When the aspiration for holiness is no longer paramount in your heart. When you look for Scriptures to back up your unholy behaviour, you know the truth but you are running away from it. People can always recognize the truth when they see it and they can always know when they are trying to wriggle away from the blunt truth. The truth may be bitter and unpalatable but it is very stubborn. No matter what you do to it, it will stand looking at you. If you knock it down, it will stand. You throw it away, it will stand. You bury it, it will come up. It is very stubborn. It may take time to manifest, but it must manifest.
10.When acquisition of worldly material is the major part of your thinking.
11.When you are singing Christian songs and chanting Christian words just from the lips and not from the heart.
12.Surrendering to Jesus, only what is convenient is a sign of spiritual slumber.
13.Taking the Lord’s name in vain shows that you are sleeping. You talk about the Lord as if He was your houseboy.
14.Saying that He has spoken something when He has not spoken: you did not receive a revelation and you say you did.
15.Watching movies and T.V shows and reading impure literature is a sign that you have already slept. A lot of people can stay glued to the T.V for hours without sleeping but immediately you say, “Let us pray” they sleep off.
16.When with the slightest excuse you avoid spiritual duties, you have slept.
17.When you are contended with your lack of spiritual power and you no longer seek power from high. The first key to spiritual power is lack of rest in your soul because you are not satisfied with your present level.
18.When you pardon your sin and your laziness by saying that God understands, you are spiritually sleeping.
19.When you as a Christian can easily adjust to the life style of the world. You dress differently to church and differently outside. It is a sign that you are spiritually asleep. If you still crack dirty jokes with unbelievers, or they feel at ease in your company to do whatever they like, then you are asleep. The correct position is that they should find it very difficult to do or say certain things before you.
20.When you are willing to cheat your employer, you have slept.
Today, my cry to God for you is that you will wake up like Paul said. Paul was not talking to unbelievers. He was talking to Christians. He said, “Awake thou that sleepest and Christ has shown you light.” So, it is time to awake from our sleep because now is our salvation nearer than it was before. Do not waste time clearing the evil eggs that the enemy has laid in your life while you were sleeping. The time you should do useful things for the Lord, you are busy using it to do deliverance for what happened to you while you were sleeping. It is better to be awake and pursue the enemy right into their gates. This is a serious matter and must be tackled aggressively.
It is not a good thing for you to say that you go to church and God does not speak to you. You cannot hear Him even on simple things of life such as your job. You are a Christian, yet you are gambling with life. When somebody begins to experiment with life, he does not get the best out of it. The best thing is to be in the right place at the right time and to be sure what the Almighty wants to do with your life. The fact that what you are doing is good does not mean it is divine.
If you have things to sort out with the Lord, do that now. Look back at your spiritual life. Look at what is happening now. Are you having the best? Haven’t you noticed the mistake that you have made because you could not hear from heaven? Haven’t you noticed the mistake was because you were spiritually asleep? You have given your enemy opportunity to plant weeds. Sort yourself out with the Lord. Make a promise that, as from now on, your spirit man will be on fire and that fire will be burning on the altar of your life. Why should your ears be making noise and you are hearing nothing? Why should your eyes be itching but you are seeing nothing. You know everything about your field of specialization, but you do not know what the Holy Spirit is saying about your life.
Please, pray aggressively!
Let us all pray...
Let us all pray...
Dear Lord, thank you for this beautiful opportunity to bring us to Church today and hear this wonderful message. Dear Lord, wake us up and help us be aggressive in our spiritual lives. Help us wake others who have been sleeping and might be missing a precious gift of entering a place where the Lion and Lamb sits together. Jesus, we know we have been very lazy and the time is near, please bless us with your mercy of Grace so that we fulfill the purpose for what we have been created by you. We rebuke any evil plan in Jesus' name and take protection from your blood all over us. Lord, keep us alert and active so that we reach out to others who need you. With your most precious and gracious name, 'Jesus Christ', we ask. Amen!
We hope you enjoyed today's sermon. We look forward seeing you again next week. God Bless!
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