Urgency

The speaker is addressing a church congregation and discussing the importance of knowing and understanding one's identity in Christ. They reference previous messages about recognizing the call of God, being bold in faith, and showing love to others. They emphasize the need to focus on God rather than oneself and the impact of a Christian who understands their identity. The speaker then introduces the story of Abram (later known as Abraham) and his response to God's call, highlighting the importance of obeying God's instructions and trusting Him completely. They encourage the congregation to consider what would happen if they simply obeyed God's call without hesitation or reliance on worldly identities. The speaker shares their personal experience of searching for fulfillment in worldly pursuits before finding it in answering God's call. They conclude by emphasizing the significance of responding to God's call with urgency and finding fulfillment, satisfaction, direction, and purpose in Good morning, Church. It is always an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to share with you. You know, each time that I've been given this opportunity, I haven't taken it lightly. And honestly, it's been a bit overwhelming, but the thing that is awesome is as I begin to prepare, and as I begin to overanalyze my importance to this whole thing, I get reminded that it is God who is faithful with His Word. He is faithful to deliver what He wants to say to us, and He is faithful to come during my preparation to refocus my eyes off of me and onto Him. Church, today, let's do that. Let's lean on His faithfulness and take our eyes off of ourselves and on all the things that are happening around us in our lives, and let's let Him refocus our hearts and our minds on who He is. You see, previously, each time that I have talked, we've talked about different aspects of our identity in Christ. In our first talk, we learned how to recognize the call of God in our lives, and we learned that knowing of God and actually knowing Him are two different things. What we were meant to take away from it is that we can only know God personally by spending time with Him. In our second message, we saw how we were called to be different in our world, and we saw how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego showed a boldness of their faith when they refused to bow down to the idol that the king had set up, even when everyone else was bowing down, and death was their consequence for not doing so. What we learned and what we were meant to take away from that message was for us to be bold in our faith because our God is greater and stronger and more able than whatever the world has to offer. Now, our last talk, we learned that we were called to be the love in this world. We saw Jesus come into contact with the leper, who was a social outcast of His world, viewed as unclean physically and unclean spiritually. But we saw Jesus show Him compassion and love and value. You see, we were meant to see ourselves as both the leper who receives the love and grace of Jesus, and the person who will go forward giving it to the people who we come in contact with. The goal was to find out what the identity of a Christian was, and this is what it is. The identity of a Christian is this. We are truly known and pursue knowing our Creator. We are fearlessly bold because of who He is, and we are intensely loved and made whole because of the cross. Now today, with knowing this about ourselves, we're going to see what's next. Now that we know who we are, we can start to look at where we're going. Church, I truly believe the biggest threat to darkness is a Christian who understands who they are. The Bible compares us to a city on a hill whose light cannot be hidden, and it says, where there is light, darkness cannot be. So today, we're going to learn what to do with that light that we have. Today, the scripture we're going to be looking at is in Genesis 12, verses 1-4. Later on, we'll look at Matthew 25, verses 1-13. But before we jump in, let's go ahead and make our declaration. So this is my Bible. I am who it says I am. I can do what this Bible says I can do. Today, I will read the Word of God. My mind is alert, and my heart is receptive. I will never be the same again. Never, ever, ever, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Now see, Genesis 12, verses 1-4 says this, Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country, and your kindred, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abram went as the Lord had told him. Father God, we come to you right now, for God to thank you, God, and to praise you, God, for all that you are and what you do. Father, we ask you to move in our hearts and our minds, for God, I pray, Lord God, that as we go through this study, Lord God, as we go through this message, Lord God, that there would only be an understanding of who you are, Lord God, that we would maybe come into a deeper contact with you, Lord God, that we would know you a little bit better. Jesus, I pray, Lord God, that this word would not only just go in one ear and out the other, Lord God, but that it would impact our hearts and our minds, Lord God, that we would leave different than when we came in. Jesus, I trust you, Lord God, that you are the work, and even if I don't see it, Lord God, that you'll do it. Lord, I trust you to do it in your own name. Amen. Alright, so how many of us are familiar with the story of Abram? Just for some context, Abram, who would later become Abraham, is a descendant of Adam and Eve. And Abram, in the vast majority of the Bible, is known as Father Abraham. Father Abraham, I don't know if you remember the song, Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. That's him. That's who he is. And Abraham is someone who made a covenant between himself and with God. And that covenant ended up making his descendants God's chosen people. This covenant is known as the Abrahamic covenant. At this point where we see Abraham in our story today, he is still known as Abram. And he has just had an encounter with the God of his forefather, Adam. Adam used to walk with God in the Garden of Eden, but then was kicked out due to the fall of humanity. And since Adam's eviction of the Garden of Eden, his descendants haven't necessarily been model citizens. The ancestral tree of Abram is where sin literally comes from, and it is littered with murderers and drunkards and people who are more concerned with themselves than God. So I find it interesting that God chooses someone from such a broken background to father a nation that he would call his chosen people. When I think about that, it makes me think of us. It reminds me of how even though you and I are broken people, God still chooses us as people. Think about it, church. Think about it and be humbled by it. Think about who you were and where you were, and God called to you. None of us deserved him. None of us remotely should have any business being in the same conversation with him. But it's not about us. It's about him. And thank God it is. See, he calls to you and he calls to I the same way that he did to Abram in our text. You see, the interaction that we see in our text is the very beginning of the Abrahamic covenant. And we know later on in Genesis that Abraham would go on to have a son named Isaac, and Isaac would have two sons named Jacob and Esau, and Jacob would later become known as Israel, and then he had twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel, and through one of those tribes, more specifically the tribe of Judah, came kings like David who slayed Goliath, or Solomon who was the richest man on earth and he was given so much wisdom and wrote Proverbs and the Song of Solomon, and eventually that bloodline led to the king of all kings, Jesus. But see, the thing that I find interesting about our text is what set all of this into motion, and it was the way Abram answered the call. Let's write that down. Abram's answer to the call. See, our text says that the Lord called to Abraham and gave him some instructions that would have been pretty earth-shattering. It would have been pretty impactful for one of us to hear. God's call was literally stripping everything Abram would have had his identity based in. He would have been leaving his home, his homeland, his family, his father's house, and the security that he found in being a son, meaning losing the security he had in his inheritance. In order for Abram to obey God's call and reap the benefits that was promised to him, he was going to have to trust God completely for his future, for his family, for his well-being. And when faced with this giant decision, how does our text say he responded? It says that so Abram went as the Lord had told him. So Abram went as the Lord had told him. God, I love that, y'all. He heard the call of God. He didn't weigh the options. He didn't make a pros and cons list. He heard the Lord and he went. The answer he gave was an answer given with urgency. Church, let me ask you this. What if we heard the call of God and just did as he told us? What do you think would happen? What do you think would happen if we stopped identifying with who our family is or how much money we do or don't have or where we're from or where we've been and instead started to rely on God for our needs and our identity instead? You see, when we resist the call of God and identify with other things, we only set ourselves up for failure or disappointment. How many times have we heard God calling to us to something and then we turned the other way because it just wasn't going to be convenient for us? How many times do we have to try it our way first to see if it's going to work before we just submit to the call of the Lord? As a young man, I remember chasing things that I thought was going to make me happy. I loved sports and I pursued sports and I found my identity and how good I was at them. And one day when my ego took a major hit, that identity that I had built up came crashing down and I was left feeling broken and worthless. I knew that Jesus loved me, but it didn't mean anything to me. So I kept searching for something that was going to fulfill me. I went through girls and smoking and drinking and didn't think that was going to make me feel better, but nothing ever did. I answered the call of the world and all it ever did was leave me feeling emptier than I had felt before. Church, I learned that the only call worth responding to is the call of the Lord. In this way, we hear his call and in his call we find identity, we find satisfaction, we find direction, and we find purpose. That call warrants us to respond to that same urgency that Abraham did when he heard it. Church, what I believe that we lack today is just that, a sense of urgency. I believe that urgency is something that is going to be impactful when we actually grasp it. Urgency is this, something with importance requiring swift action. So what does that mean if I say that we lack urgency in our lives? What does it mean to live with urgency then? So what does it mean to live with a sense of urgency? Urgency means something with importance requiring swift action and we have to have something that is important that requires us to act swiftly then, right? So what could that be? It could be that maybe we have a practice at 5 and it's already 4.45 so we better get in the car with some urgency or we're going to be late. It could be a pregnant lady whose water just broke and if we don't move with some urgency, that baby is going to be born in the car. It could even be if I don't move with some urgency in my step to a bathroom after eating a burrito from Alsace, that I ain't going to make it. But what about with God? How do we live with urgency when it comes to our faith? See, I believe that there are a few ways to do it and we're going to go over them through this study. Church, the first way, I believe, is we have the answer to all the hurt in the world and we know what fixes the brokenness that we see all around us each day. So what I believe the first thing is, Church, that if we live with urgency in our daily lives, it means sharing the importance of knowing Jesus and acting swiftly when sharing it with others. Let me say that again or let me rephrase that. Living with urgency in our daily lives means sharing the importance of knowing Jesus and acting swiftly when sharing it with others. Let's look at the next thing. Let's look at what happened when Abraham was saved. Let's write down the result of Abram's answer. See, what we see happen as a result of Abraham's obedience is God told Abram that he would take him to a land that God would show him, later promising that his descendants would have that land. He told him that he would make him into a great nation, even though at this point his wife Sarah was barren. Abraham would later go on to father a nation of Israel which still exists today and he was promised to bless Abraham and to use him to be a blessing to the entire world, which came to fruition when the Messiah came through his bloodline and literally blessed the entire world by dying for our sins. In hindsight, we can see the gift that God gave far outweighed the initial cost and the covenant that he made with Abram lasted for generations. God showed to be faithful to the covenant that he made with Abram, even long after his death. Abraham didn't live to see most of those promises come to fruition, but the following generations did. The story of Abraham is amazingly impactful for many reasons, but to me, the main reason is this. His answer to the call didn't only impact his life, but it impacted and set the course for the lives of all of his descendants. Don't you think that's amazing? When I think of generations impacted by a single decision to follow God's call, I think of my grandparents. The faith of my grandma and my grandpa I see pass from generation to generation in my family. That is what it's all about. It's about preparing the way for the next one up so that they don't have to go through what you went through. Instead, they can know the fruit of obedience to that call rather than the consequences for ignoring it. I heard someone say once that generational curses that you don't break will be passed down to your children, and the curses that you do break are battles you will never have to fight. When I think about this statement, not only does it make me take a deeper look at my own personal walk, but it makes me realize that what my sons see is what they're going to grow up emulating, and what makes my choices feel like they carry a lot more consequence than just them actually affecting me. See, I grew up with a vulgar mouth, and I was consumed with lust and anger and pride, and they went to anything they could before going to God. And because of that, I'm a broken person. And I refuse to allow those things that used to hold power over me to affect my children. When Jesus set me free from those things of my past, the Bible said I was free indeed, and that all of that was forgotten. So now, it's up to me to forget it as well, and not to allow it to hold any power over me or my family. See, church, my greatest goal in this life is to prepare my sons to walk with God without me. I had an uncle who passed away at 26, and I was maybe three-ish, but I personally don't remember him. But what has impacted my life more than anything is when I had my sons, I realized that no one is promised tomorrow. See, there's not a single doubt in my mind that my uncle would have loved to watch his sons grow up. But sometimes the path that God has for us isn't always the path that we choose for ourselves. When I think of my uncle, my heart breaks to know that he didn't get to see them grow, but it makes me live with urgency when it comes to my life and when it comes to my boys. See, church, the second way I believe that we live with urgency in our lives is by living our faith at home and recognizing what's in that Bible is important to us, and acting swiftly in pursuing a deeper relationship with God. That's what it's all about, is making a change in your life that not only impacts you, but impacts the next generation as well. See, the Bible says this in Deuteronomy 11, 18-21. It says, commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road. Write them on your doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish. And then Isaiah 59-21 says this, my spirit will not leave them, neither will these words I have given to you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children's children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken. Mighty men of valor, and women whose value is more than rubies and sapphires, what are those things that you had to deal with that hurt you? What are those fights that were ingrained in you as a child that you don't want your children to have to face? Consider them when the next time you have to face whatever it is. And remember, in Christ we don't have to live as slaves to it anymore. When Jesus rose again, the earth shook, the sky was dark, and the veil tore, and the chains broke. You don't have to overcome it alone, because Jesus has already overcame it. All we have to do is run to Him, run to His Word, and let His Word be a refuge for us in times of trouble. Let Him be our strength when we are weak. See, your answer to the call today will set the course for your home, your children's home, and their children's, because the covenant that God makes doesn't just end with you. It endures generation upon generation. But realize it's not going to be something that is instant, and I know that it is something that we crave in this day and age, but the way we defeat these generational curses is step by step, taking each day as it comes, and knowing in each and every day His grace is sufficient for us. Walk daily with Jesus and watch the chains fall with each step that you take. Okay, so, we also said that we were going to look at Matthew. So let's look at Matthew. Matthew 25, 1-13 says this, Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. And as the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, Here is a bridegroom. Come out and meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, Since there will not be enough for us for you, go rather to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him to the marriage feast. The door was shut, and afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, Truly I say to you, I don't know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Let's write that down. We know neither the day nor the hour. See, in studying this parable, I ran across something in a commentary written by one of my favorite authors. And I think the way he put it is incredibly impactful. So I'm going to read what Warren Wisbee had to say about this parable in his commentary, He entitled it, The Wise and Foolish Witnesses. And yet many believers have become lethargic and drowsy. They're no longer excited about the soon coming of the Lord. And as a result, there's little effective witness given that the Lord is returning. The oil for burning reminds us of the special oil used in the tabernacle services. Oil is usually a symbol of the Spirit of God. But I wonder if this particular oil is not also a symbol of the Word of God. The church should be holding forth the Word of Life. In this dark and wicked world, we need to keep the Word of His patience and keep His witnessing of His return. When the bridegroom and bride appeared, half of the bridesmaids were unable to light their lamps because they had no oil. Our lamps are going out, they cried. The bridesmaids who laid oil were able to light their lamps and keep them shining bright. And it was they who entered into the wedding feast. Not the foolish girls who had no oil. This suggests that not every professing Christian will enter Heaven. For some really haven't not trusted Jesus sincerely. Without the Spirit of God, without the Word of God, there can be no true salvation. Jesus ended this parable with the warning He had uttered before. Watch. And this does not mean standing out on the mountaintop, gazing at the heavens. It means to stay awake and to be alert. Church, I'm going to go ahead and read that last part one last time and let's try to let it sink in. He said, without the Spirit of God and the Word of God, there can be no true salvation. Jesus ended this parable with the warning that He had uttered before. Watch. And this does not mean standing out on the mountaintop, gazing at the heavens. It means to stay awake and to be alert. Church, the last way we live with urgency in our lives is almost like a combination of the two ways. But I believe we live with urgency in our lives by living knowing that Jesus is coming back and being swift in our actions of getting to know Him more and by letting others know that He's coming too. Church, I have a little story as I close. What I want us to do is for us all to close our eyes as I tell it. See, when I was young, I can remember laying in my bed every night trying to sleep. I would begin to think of my day and how everything went. And somewhere along the line, my train of thought would go to death. And I remember for some reason thinking about, what if my parents died? How would I feel? What would I do? And I thought about the people who I knew who had died and how weird it was that they were gone. And eventually I would start to think about, what if I died? And that thought would begin to scare me. I can remember coming to the realization that death was inevitable. That eventually I would see the people that I cared most about leave me. And that one day, I myself would leave this world. And my thoughts would go to God in eternity. And I've told the kids and youth many times before that eternity, just the thought of it, just the thought of something that doesn't have an end, used to really freak me out. I can remember almost having a panic attack thinking about it in bed. It would get to the point where I couldn't keep my eyes shut anymore, and my entire mind was overwhelmed at the vastness of it all. And so I'd jump out of bed, and I'd fall on my hands and my knees, and I would beg God to take the fear from me. That fear was one of the worst feelings I can remember ever experiencing. I lacked peace because I lacked Jesus. The thought of eternity used to be scary and overwhelming because I didn't know Him. I knew of Him. Church, I don't feel that fear anymore. I know that one day when I step into eternity, and time loses its grip on me, and decay is no longer able to touch me, that I will live forever at the feet of a Savior who has called to me, even though I came from a broken background. I will be made whole in the presence of my Creator. And I will sing in unison with the angels for eternity, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. I will no longer feel fear or pain because I will experience true rest. Church, you can open your eyes. Tell the kids that you're something, and I know they grasp it, but I want you to grasp it as well. There's something that my grandpa used to tell me. He used to say, you are a leader, not a follower. And you are the head, not the tail. In your homes and in your workplace, you are a light to the darkness. The world needs Jesus, and they don't need the Santa Claus version of Jesus. They need the real Jesus. And the way they can get Him is when we live the way that we are called to live. Church, I used to be consumed by that fear of eternity, and now I look forward to it. But the thing is that I don't know when that day will come, when I'll get to see and be at my Savior's feet. So each day I need to live with urgency, knowing that it could be that day, whether it's a trumpet sounding and the sky cracking open, or whether it's my final breath that leaves my lungs. I want to be urgently anticipating Him, the same way that the virgins in the parable were awaiting the bridegroom's arrival. I want my lamp to be lit, and feeding myself with His Word and His presence. And I want to be the one who helps others keep their lamps lit as well. The thing is this, I've read the end of the book, and it's over. Jesus rose again, God won. The devil's fate was set in place, and it's done. And now we just have to await His return. But since the devil knows he's doomed anyway, and he knows that he can't win, he only has his consolation prize. His consolation prize is to try and hurt God the only way that he can, and that's by deceiving his people. See, the Bible says in 2 Peter 3.9 that the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, that some count slowness, but He is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. God's heart is for people. We are His creation that He loves and seeks reconcilement with. The only way God is hurt is when we are deceived into not choosing to know Him. The Bible says that the Lord is a gentleman and that He does not force us to know Him. But what we choose on this earth, whether it's to know Him or not, He will honor for eternity. If you choose to live your life not knowing Him, He's not going to force you to know Him in eternity. Instead, He'll honor your decision. But if you know Him and live with Him, and He will be overjoyed to know you choose Him the same way that He chooses you, that's the beauty of it. It's just a choice. Today, if you don't know God, you just know of Him. I encourage you to start that relationship with Him. I encourage you to read your Word and let God speak to you through it. Let Him bring peace amidst the chaos and let Him bring life into death. Let Him change your heart. And if you do know Him, I encourage you to live with a sense of urgency in your life. Live knowing the importance of knowing Jesus and being swift in sharing Him with others. Live knowing the importance of living your faith at home and knowing that those little eyes are watching. That the actions that you take now is what's going to have them emulating later. And lastly, live with urgency today. Today might be that day that you get to look at your Maker in the face. And if not, then today, walk knowing that you are the light in the darkness. And that the choice is to share Jesus with someone. It could be the choice that lights their life as well. Father God, I come to you right now, Lord God, to thank you, God, and to praise you, God, for all that you are and what you do. Jesus, I ask you to move upon our hearts and our minds. I pray, Lord God, that we would not be people, Lord God, who don't live with a sense of urgency. Lord God, that we would be people who embrace it. Lord God, that we would anticipate your coming, Lord God, that we would want to see it, Lord. Help us to be people who are consumed with who you are and what you're doing in our life, Lord. Help us to be proud of knowing you. Help us to be proud to be called your children. Help us to look different than the world, Lord God. Jesus, I pray, Lord God, for boldness in our lives, Lord God. I pray for boldness in our congregation and in our city, Lord God. I pray, Lord God, that we would truly be known as people who are followers of Christ, just specifically by how we act. God, I thank you, Lord God, that you move upon our hearts and our minds. I thank you that you set our path before we even take the step. Jesus, I ask you to move in our lives as we face these curses, Lord God, that have been passed down. As a generation, help us as a people, Lord God, to actually face these things and overcome them, Lord God. Help us not to pass it down to our next generation to use kids, God. Help us to be the people, Lord God, that prepare the way for the next generation that is going to be such a world changer. And help us to be those people. Help us to be world changers. Father God, I thank you for who you are and I trust you, Lord God, that you're going to do all these things. Let me know when you hear it.