Will You Invite Me In?

Matthew 25:35-36

For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;   naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

As we come into the Christmas season this verse deserves a closer look. Today is Black Friday, shoppers everywhere in North America are scrambling to buy items that have been discounted by retailers. The retailers are hoping for a lot of people to buy what they have and push their sales to higher numbers than last year.

Christmas is a just over a month away, many will be looking forward to opening gifts. The Christmas season can bring out the best and the worst in people. Some gladly give and give with joy. We see kids excited about the prospect of opening every gift, hoping for something good to be in those packages.

There will be those who will have more of a “Bah Humbug” attitude.

I can remember many a family Christmas. Seeing the tree surrounded by gifts. Stocking waiting to be emptied on Christmas morning. An abundance of treats to be enjoyed through the day. The Christmas dinner, or should I say feast.

Christmas is for families they say. Christmas is a time for giving, words often repeated by everyone.

Ask yourself, do we really give?

Christmas can be a tough time for some people, having memories of loved ones who have past. There are families that have broken apart.

Have you considered those who are alone? What about the widow? The new comers to the area?

Now I want us to think of the passage that I opened with. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;   naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

Is this passage real to you, I mean does it fill you with a desire to help others, to open the door and let them into your life, even your home? Look at the people that are represented in that passage. So many lonely, needy people. Look around you, do you see them?

We are to be giving not just at Christmas but everyday of the year.  I ask you, how much do we give? How often do we look at our neighbours, not just next door or across the street, but also within our community.

We understand the heart ache that people can feel and live through at Christmas. Jesus would invite them in. Jesus would visit them. Why don’t we?

This isn't just a surface thought, it isn't empty words that people will say to sound gracious.

If more Christians would be more Christ like what a different world we would have.

Look at the Christmas celebrations in whatever form they have been over the time of your life. Consider those around you who may not be as blessed as you are.  Think of these words “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in,”

Will you be one to give an invite in to one person, or more? What about visiting shut ins and singing Christmas carols.

We are blessed to be a blessing, who will you bless this Christmas? Who will you invite in?

We are to live by the example that Jesus gave us. He visited the sick, the lonely, befriended the ones who had no friends.

I also want you to consider what Jesus said in Revelation 3.

Rev 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Do you hear Jesus knocking at the door? Do you hear Him asking to come in. Now re-read the passage I opened with. Will you reach out and help those who are the lonely and forgotten ones.

I challenge anyone who is reading this to be open to those who are quiet and won’t speak out for themselves. Feed, refresh, clothe or visit, or all. Reach out to those and do it as Jesus would do!

Will You Invite Me In?

Today, Because Tomorrow May Never Come!

Look at the world we live in, read the news, watch the news. There are people sending pipe bombs, shooting people in schools, restaurants, night clubs, churches in homes, or while they drive by at people in their front yards

I have known people who have died moment after eating breakfast. Others who passed on while talking to family members at their homes.

Why am I bringing up such a harsh topic? Why have I started with people passing on in tragic ways?

Hebrews 3:7-11

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,
 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.
“Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’; As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

“Today if you hear His voice…” Today not tomorrow but Today!

We don't know when the moment of our passing will be. We don't know how long we have. God knows the time and day that we will be born, He knows the day we will pass on. You and I don't know if we will be here in five seconds. We must consider where we will be if we do pass on. This moment, now, today you must come to a moment of answering “What will you do about Jesus Christ?”

You may not have another opportunity.  

Job 14:5

“Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

The Book of Job, I suggest that everyone should read it. There are many life lessons to be learned from Job, those he surrounded himself with, who he listened to and more. This passage though reminds us as I said the number of our days has been determined, our limit what ever that may be can't be passed.

God knows! We don't!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—

 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

This is one of the most quoted passages, the is an appointed time for everything.  There was an appointed time for you to be born and there is one for when you will pass. This is true of every person alive at this moment, as well as those who have go on before us.

There was an appointed time for Jesus to be born, an appointed time for His physical ministry here on earth, and a time for Him to die and rise from the dead. There is an appointed time He will return, and Jesus Himself told us, that the Father is the only one who knows when that will be.

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Are you ready to greet Jesus if He came to dine with you in your home? Would you have to ask him to wait while you got rid of anything inappropriate?  Would you readily welcome Him into your home?

A bigger question is – Are you ready to meet Him in heaven? Your time has come and you are now being greeted at the gates to heaven, are you ready for that moment? By that I mean do you really know Jesus, does Jesus know you?

Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.   Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’   And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus will say to them ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ What will He say to you, what will He say to me?

We don't know when, we need to be sure that we are who we profess to be. How well do we know Jesus, friends are we truly disciples of Jesus? What about our loved one, are they Christian, if not have you shared Jesus with them? Have you expressed just how important a decision this is?

Life in heaven, in paradise, or for ever, an eternity in hell, for ever in anguish and torment. What will it be?

I want all of us to do a reality check. Are we who we say we are? Have we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour? Have our loved ones?

Hebrews 3:12-15

 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.   But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.   For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said,

 “Today if you hear His voice,

 Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”

While we still have Today, let us not be deceived. While we still have Today, let's make sure of who we are. Today, this moment may well be all we have, is Jesus real to you? Tomorrow, may never come.

James 6:34

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Don't worry about tomorrow, worry about Today and who we are in Christ. Each day we have will have its own issues, we can live a Christ-like life, we can walk in the Spirit, or we can walk with the world. The path is narrow, and few will follow that path that leads to everlasting life. Broad is the path that leads to destruction and many, too many will follow that path.

We should be living the life we profess, we should practice what we preach. It is Christ in who lives, because the old me has passed away.

James 4:13-15

 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”    Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.    Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

You don't know what your life will be like tomorrow, or if it will have vanished away.

I have seen to many people pass on, and it is sad to think some have not gone to heaven. Today, now is the time before time vanishes away to be sure about who we are in Christ and that our loved ones have been given the opportunity to come to Him.

Well done my good and faithful servant or depart from Me, I never knew you, what will we hear? Now is the time to decide and be sure, now is the time to make what ever changes are necessary in our lives and the lives of loved ones, friends, neighbours.

About Tomorrow? It isn't promised, you may not have a tomorrow, now is the time, Today!