We're Gonna Get It! We'll all get judged. We'll all see God's justice clearly. We'll all have perfect understanding of the Gospel - but some will "get it" too late. Pursue repentance now, and grab those whom you can to make sure they get what you've got. 

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”(Luke 16:19–31, NIV)

We end up in dark, dirty, shameful places when we choose sin over Jesus. In this parable of the coin, Jesus reassures sinners that:

1. It's Where We Are, But It's no Who We Are
2. God Won't Back Off Until We're Back

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8–10, NIV)

 

On May 24th, Pentecost, Ed Anton preached about God's brilliant fulfillment of the Old Testament feasts — especially the Feast of Harvest or Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. 

Not only is this day His Church's "birthday", it's also His Nation Israel's "birthday" as this is the day in Exodus 19 when God makes His covenant with Moses and Israel from atop a blazing Mt. Sinai. 

As God harvested His people from bondage (NO MORE CHAINS), He also has harvested His people from sin (NO MORE STAINS), and will eventually harvest us on His final Day of the Lord into a new Earth and new Heaven with new bodies (NO MORE PAINS). 

Jesus issues an Epic Invitation which requires both a Monumental Consideration and an Unconditional Resignation for every follower. He offers neither comfort nor ease. He offers only persecution, battles, hunger, and… God! Let all who love Him sincerely and not merely with lip service count the costs and follow!

Luke 14:25-34. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘ This man began to build and was not able to finish. ’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no use either roof the soil or for the mature pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 

It's God's will to gather us close to Him, but it's also His lament that it is often not our will to be gathered.

At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Luke 13:31–35, NIV)

It's shocking to hear from Jesus that only a few with find eternal life. Thus, Luke 13:22-30 proves to be one of the most sobering sections of the Gospels for anyone — especially for those of us who think that we're already counted among the "few." Here, Jesus directs us to "Strive" to "Make Every Effort" to "Agonize (from the original Greek "Agonizomai") rather than to just "Try" as we fight to surrender our will to His will in true faith.

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” (Luke 13:22–30, NIV)

Using two very interesting parables, Jesus describes the Kingdom as fast spreading yet completely repulsive. Gain insight into Jesus' metaphors and resolve to never compromise the Kingdom message — no matter how revolting your hearers may consider it.

Organized systems are better than disorganization. But systems never trump Jesus, and for Jesus systems never trump people. Here He heals a woman severely disabled for eighteen years to make His point.

Jesus affirms that we've got the discernment to realize that we need to repent — and to do so quickly. Moreover, He also lets us know that He's done all that He can to exhort us to repent (which of course will include dying on a cross for our sinful indulgences, providing us the Word, and arranging time and space for us to prompted to seek Him). He's emphatic about repentance because it is our deliverance from slavery to sin AND because it's better than the alternative: perishing.

He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ” (Luke 12:54–13:9, NIV)