Have you ever known someone that you have given chance after chance, and they keep making bad decision after bad decision? \u00a0Or worse, they ignore the problem, pretending it isn’t there, and things continue to spiral out of control. \u00a0As a parent there have been times in which I have stepped back looked at my children who I love dearly and wondered, “how in the world could you do that?” \u00a0If you can identify with that, then you can identify with how God feels towards humanity. \u00a0In the Old Testament book of Amos, God reminds Israel of the many chances He had given them. \u00a0God had sent a famine, a drought, lack of crop production, nations coming into Israel to battle them, and yet they never turned back to God. \u00a0God sending those things was not out of anger, it was out of love. \u00a0He was desiring to get Israel’s attention, for them to recognize they had gone away from Him, and to return. \u00a0Yet the phrase “yet you did not return to Me declares the Lord” is given five times in 13 verses. \u00a0In Psalm 32:6 it says, “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found.” \u00a0David was instructing the people to turn to God while He may be found. \u00a0In other words there is going to be a time in which God won’t be able to be found. \u00a0Right now God is still offering forgiveness and salvation freely through faith in the shed blood of Christ. \u00a0But there is coming a day, a day that we don’t know when it is coming according to Matthew 24:36 and other verses. \u00a0But there is coming a day in which forgiveness will no longer be available. \u00a0The grace and mercy God is offering will be no more. \u00a0All that will be left is what is told in the rest of Psalm 32:6, “surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto Him.” \u00a0There is a day coming in which the righteous judgment of God will come flowing down upon all mankind that has not turned from their sin to trust Christ. \u00a0Amos puts it this way in Amos 5:24, “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”<\/p>\n
God desires that we would all confess our sin and turn to Him, trusting that what He did on the cross is sufficient to forgive us, cleanse us, and save us. \u00a02 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is waiting patiently because He wants us to turn to Him rather than perish for all of eternity. \u00a0But then we get to the first part of 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” \u00a0Two things about that. First, the day is coming. \u00a0Secondly, it will come unexpectedly for many. \u00a0You can trust Jesus today and be prepared for whenever the day of Christ return occurs. \u00a0You can confidently look forward to eternity, knowing you will be in heaven. \u00a0But you must turn to Him now, while there is still time. \u00a0And regardless of when Christ returns, we are all closer to eternity right now than we have ever been. \u00a0Don’t delay in trusting Christ any longer. \u00a0He loved you enough to die for you, and He loves you enough now to accept your faith regardless of your past or your present.<\/p>\n
If you have questions about how to do this, please contact us so that we can share with you how you can have \u00a0new life today and a new eternity secured by the blood of Jesus. \u00a0Contact us at www.westlakebaptist.org or call the church office at 540-721-8784.<\/p>\n
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you ever known someone that you have given chance after chance, and they keep making bad decision after bad decision? \u00a0Or worse, they ignore the problem, pretending it isn’t there, and things continue to spiral out of control. \u00a0As … Read More