00:00Do you number your days? Do you realize how important every single day is?
00:10I want to speak tonight on the brevity of life.
00:15Do you know in the days of Jesus, as fast as a person could go was as fast as a horse could run.
00:21And that happened all the way until 1830, when we developed an engine faster than a horse.
00:31Think of that. Those hundreds and thousands of years, all as fast as you could go, was on horseback.
00:39Then in 1910, we developed a military aircraft that went 42 miles an hour.
00:44And then I remember very well, just like it was yesterday, when Lindbergh took off for Paris.
00:53And in 33 hours, he was in Paris. And we thought that was really something.
00:58Today we get on a Concorde, or some people do.
01:02And they're there in three and a half hours.
01:06You know, we've invented all of these modern things to save time.
01:11And we have less time than ever before.
01:13We have a lot less time now than my father and mother had in the horse and buggy days.
01:19And yet we have fast automobiles and fast airplanes, and we're running from place to place like mad people.
01:26And most of us don't know what we're going to do when we get there.
01:31Time is collapsing on us.
01:34How much longer do we have?
01:36You have so much time, but for what?
01:43You have time to serve Christ.
01:46You have time to live according to His will.
01:49You have time to obey Him.
01:52Have you done like the psalmist said in 3115,
01:55and put yourself at God's disposal when He said,
01:59My times are in your hands?
02:02And what are you going to do with those years?
02:07Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day.
02:11Do you know how many minutes there are in a day?
02:131,440.
02:16Do you know how many hours there are in a week?
02:20168.
02:21Now, if you live to be 70,
02:24your first 15 is childhood or adolescence.
02:28You spend 20 years in bed.
02:31The last five years, the physical limitations,
02:34and you're curtailing your activities.
02:36That means you only have 30 years left for everything else.
02:4130 years to live.
02:43And part of that time has to be spent eating
02:45and working
02:48and figuring up your income tax.
02:53The scripture asks this question,
02:55What is your life?
02:57It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time
03:00and then vanisheth away.
03:02Our time is already in God's hands.
03:07God has a day already set
03:09for you being taken from this world.
03:12It may be in an accident.
03:14It may be a cancer.
03:16It may be a heart attack.
03:18Whatever it is,
03:19it's already set.
03:22You will stand before the great judgment of God
03:25to give an account of how you spent this life
03:27and what you did about Jesus Christ
03:29because God gave his son
03:32to die for your sins
03:33because, you see,
03:34we're all sinners.
03:36We all have the same disease.
03:37I don't care what the color of your skin is.
03:39God doesn't look at the color of your skin.
03:42God looks at your heart
03:43and God sees that you have a spiritual heart disease
03:47and that spiritual heart disease is called sin.
03:51And we're all sinners.
03:52It's interesting to me that rich people
03:54cannot buy more alums.
03:56Scientists cannot invent new minutes.
04:01You cannot even save time
04:02to spend it on another day.
04:05The scripture says that we're to redeem the time.
04:08It's a phrase out of the business world.
04:10It means to buy the time.
04:13Take 10% of your time and say,
04:15Lord, this is yours
04:16for Bible study, for prayer.
04:19Have you committed your whole life to Christ?
04:23Has that ever happened to you?
04:24Oh, you say, yes, I've been baptized.
04:27I've been confirmed.
04:30I go once in a while to church.
04:34I think about God once in a while.
04:38But have you really committed to it?
04:40Are you totally committed to him?
04:42And are you sure if you died at this moment,
04:44you'd go to heaven?
04:46Are you certain your sins are forgiven?
04:47That's why Christ came and died on the cross
04:50and shed his blood.
04:52And God raised him from the dead.
04:56And God raised him from the dead.
05:01And then there's the tyranny of time.
05:03It controls us.
05:04And we become frustrated
05:06running from one thing to another
05:09because we don't feel that we have enough time
05:11to get everything done that needs to be done.
05:14Jesus said, I must work the works of him
05:16that sent me while it is day.
05:19The night cometh when no man can work.
05:21The night is going to come to you
05:22and you won't have an opportunity to serve God.
05:25Serve him while you can.
05:26Serve him now.
05:28Put him first in your life.
05:31Yet at the end of his life,
05:33he said, I've finished the work
05:35that you gave me to do.
05:37God has a plan for your life.
05:42And you can finish it
05:43with God's help.
05:45And he'll give you a joy and a peace
05:47that you never dreamed existed
05:48if you put your confidence in him.
05:52Oh yes, when Jesus left the earth,
05:55there were people that needed to be healed
05:57and lives that needed to be touched.
05:59But Jesus said he had finished the work
06:02that had been assigned to him
06:03by the Father.
06:05God has assigned a work
06:08that only you can fill.
06:09You are unique.
06:11Nobody can take your place.
06:14And God needs you in his kingdom.
06:20Time can be our tool,
06:22but we can also be its slave.
06:25Even so, time is amazingly fair
06:28and forgiving.
06:29No matter how much time
06:30you've wasted in the past,
06:32you can still have tomorrow.
06:35Adlai Stevenson once said,
06:38it's not the days of your life,
06:40but the life in your days that count.
06:43You have to buy it.
06:45What is the price you have to pay?
06:47The price is that you have no time
06:54for certain things.
06:56We shouldn't drift along haphazardly
06:59doing all the pleasures
07:01and all the drinking
07:02and all the other things that are wrong.
07:05God wants us to love others.
07:08The main thing that he wants us to do
07:10is to love your neighbor
07:11and love people of another race.
07:13The one thing that distinguishes
07:17a believer from others
07:18is love that dominates your life.
07:23Your life should be carefully planned.
07:26Then there's the termination of time.
07:29Brethren, the Apostle Paul said
07:31in 1 Corinthians,
07:32time is short.
07:34In Revelation, it tells us
07:36that time shall be no more.
07:37Jesus and his disciples
07:40spent the 94 verses of Matthew 24
07:43to the end of the chapter 25,
07:46talking about the end of the age.
07:49As we approach the end of the age,
07:51we read in Revelation 12
07:52that the devil will be frantically active
07:55because he knows
07:57that his days are numbered.
08:01Yes, there is a devil.
08:03There is a Satan.
08:04He's a real person.
08:05And they're real demons.
08:08And they're going to battle
08:09for your soul tonight
08:11because Satan does not want
08:14to give you up.
08:16He'll battle to keep you in his kingdom
08:18because there are two kingdoms.
08:20There's the devil's kingdom
08:22and there's God's kingdom.
08:23And you have the right to make a choice
08:25which one you want to be in.
08:27In Romans 13,
08:30the Apostle says,
08:31knowing the time,
08:32that now it is high time
08:34to awake out of sleep
08:36for now is our salvation
08:37nearer than when we believed.
08:39The night is far spent.
08:41The day is at hand.
08:42Let us therefore cast off
08:43the works of darkness
08:44and let us put on the armor of light.
08:47The Bible several times
08:49uses the phrase,
08:50the time is at hand.
08:53Jesus told us to discern
08:55the signs of the times.
08:57One of the signs is
08:59that iniquity shall abound.
09:02Pick up your newspapers
09:03and watch your newscasts.
09:05Iniquity is abounding everywhere.
09:08Not just in New York,
09:09not just in New Jersey,
09:10but throughout the world.
09:13When the role is called in heaven,
09:15will you be there?
09:16Is your name written
09:17on the book of life?
09:19Because the scripture says
09:20if your name is not
09:21on the Lamb's book of life,
09:22you'll never enter heaven.
09:25Your name right now
09:26is on what is called
09:27in the Bible,
09:27the books and under your name
09:30are all the sins
09:32that you ever committed,
09:33all the things
09:33that you've ever thought
09:34that are wrong,
09:35all of your intents
09:36that are wrong.
09:37It's all there.
09:39Record it.
09:41And we'll face you
09:42at the judgment.
09:44But when you come to Christ
09:46and present yourself
09:48wholly and completely
09:49to Him as Savior and Lord,
09:51He blots out everything
09:53in those books
09:54and writes your name
09:56in another book,
09:57the book of life,
09:59the Lamb's book.
10:01Is your name written there?
10:02If my name was not written there
10:03and I didn't know it,
10:04I wouldn't leave this building
10:05tonight until I was sure.
10:07Because there may never
10:09be another moment
10:10like this in your life.
10:12This is your hour with God.
10:13And then the brevity of time
10:17calls for immediate action.
10:20The fact that time is short
10:21calls for us to do something
10:23about it now
10:24because the scripture says
10:25in 2 Corinthians 6,
10:272,
10:28now is the accepted time,
10:31not tomorrow,
10:32today.
10:35Things you ought to do,
10:36do it now.
10:37Money you ought to give,
10:38give it now.
10:39People you ought to witness to,
10:41witness now.
10:42Every time the clock ticks,
10:44it seems to say now.
10:47Today,
10:47if you will hear His voice,
10:49harden not your heart.
10:50You can harden your heart.
10:51You hear a message like this
10:53and it can be very dangerous
10:54because you'll harden your heart.
10:57And the next time
10:58you hear the gospel,
10:59your heart will be harder
11:02and harder and harder.
11:05Come to Christ now.
11:06If there's even a whisper
11:07in your heart
11:08that you need to come,
11:09you come.
11:11Then there's the warning of time.
11:13It will someday be too late
11:14for your soul.
11:16Time is too short
11:17for indecision and vacillation.
11:19Don't halt between two opinions.
11:23Fools say there's plenty of time.
11:26The devil says there's plenty of time.
11:29Every morning you have
11:3086,400 seconds to spend
11:34and to invest.
11:35Each day the bank name time
11:37opens a new account with you.
11:39There may be no tomorrow.
11:42Come now.
11:44When I tell you,
11:45you need to come
11:46and make your commitment to Christ
11:47with these hundreds and thousands
11:48that have already come
11:49in this crusade,
11:51the devil will say,
11:53wait another time,
11:55another place.
11:57This is not the time.
11:59This is the time.
12:00The very fact you are here
12:01indicates it's the time.
12:02By some strange coincidence
12:07or providence,
12:08God has brought you here tonight.
12:11And before you came,
12:13you thought you were all right with God,
12:14but now you're not sure.
12:16And you want to make sure.
12:18You want to be certain.
12:19Yes,
12:22the devil always says,
12:23yes,
12:24do it.
12:25But some other time
12:26and some other place,
12:29God says,
12:30here and now.
12:32You want to make sure.
12:46You want to make sure you are here
12:51in the middle part?
12:51Do you want to make sure you are here?
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