Gtcotr/ws073008
My goal for us during this time we have together is to meet you wherever you are in life and take you to the place of prayer.
2 Peter 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Since 2 Peter 3 tells us that 1 day with God is like 1000 years with man, we don’t really have much time from eternity’s perspective to accomplish what God has planned for us.
In fact, if taken literally, I am told that every minute with God would roughly equal a little less than a year of life for you. That means that you have 57 or 58 minutes to every 40 years. If you live to be 100 you still only have about the time it takes to sit through one movie in heaven’s time in which to be born, live a full natural life and die. Think about that one while you are wasting time sitting in line at the fast food place.
Every generation has only one generation and we are the only people God has right now.
He has brought us to this moment to hear His Word. So, let’s not tune Him out or turn Him off. He loves us and He is going to take some of the precious time we have to better equip us for life.
These next few minutes will be your chance to get better prepared to live the life God designed you to live. So, listen and determine that you are not going to waste these moments or this opportunity but rather that you are going to get something from this time with Him.
Now, without further ado let's get started, time waits for no one.
We are going to use a familiar story in the life and ministry of Jesus to discover three abiding truths:
1. Our future will make new demands on our life.
2. One moment of favor is worth a thousand days of labor.
3. What we are going through may not be punishment for our past but rather positioning for our future.
John 8 NKJV
2 Now early in the morning Jesus came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."
8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
Jesus told this woman that her future would make some new demands on her life. She could not afford to leave His presence forgiven and yet unchanged.
What would it take? It would take her commitment and her continual participation. You see:
* God demands that we participate in our miracles.
Also notice here that what this woman most likely feared the most actually became her salvation. It was not the fear of getting caught, but rather getting condemned, and getting condemned all alone.
There were two people caught in that adulterous situation, one was brought to Christ and one was not. Only the one brought to Jesus was forgiven and set free.
Believe me when I tell you that one moment of favor from Jesus is worth a thousand days of labor.
In this story the woman was caught and accused, not by her enemies but by the enemies of Jesus. However, like the prodigal son’s brother was told by their father: “… anytime you had wanted anything from me you could have had it, all that I have is yours anytime you want.”
* All we ever have to do is come to Jesus.
Finally, I want to share with you the importance to understanding that God has a plan, He will succeed and you have been chosen to participate.
God’s heart aches for the lost and hurting people of the world. Each one, every individual, He sees their need, He knows their desperation, He understands their pain and He longs to reach them.
Circumstances of life can make a person feel alone, trapped in life, given no choices, dealt a bad hand and yet God has a better future for them than they know. Both Jesus and this woman had been waiting all of her life to come to this day of opportunity.
Perhaps she did not realize that, as John 3:17 puts it:
John 3:17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
It’s not only the fact that Jesus loves you, but it is also that He loves others that He can use you to affect. What you are going through may not be punishment for your past, but positioning for your future.
Jesus did not come to punish us, but to position us.
The facts are:
* Your future will make new demands on your life.
* One moment of favor is worth a thousand days of labor.
* What you are going through does not have to be punishment for your past but positioning for your future.
It’s all up to you!
