sermon: Take Heed to Yourselves
Christ's Warning in Luke 21:34
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 12-May-12; Sermon #1101; 76 minutes
Description: (hide)
Richard Ritenbaugh, reminding us that we have a perennial mandate to examine ourselves, warns that the cesspool of this world's culture is deep and getting deeper. Even though the world is waxing progressively worse, many of us live in a comparatively safe, free, and prosperous country, with incredible material abundance, including homes, automobiles, and food. God has been shielding us from violence and mayhem. In America, one million unborn fetuses are murdered annually; in China and India, this figure is much higher. When we calculate the annual toll of murder, theft, sex trade, etc., we realize this world is an evil place. Satan and his demons saturate this world with evil influence, enticing us to give into our carnal human nature. Our Elder Brother tells us to take heed about our vulnerability to these evil influences. The apostle Paul provides a catalog of the end-time cesspool of behaviors in II Timothy 3:1-9, characterized as lustfully self-indulgent and scornful of others, having No civilizations ever fall from practicing righteousness; Babylon, Egypt, Rome, Sodom, Greece, etc. rotted from within from corruption. This corruption will bring about a time-warp demise of this present evil culture. If Christ does not come in a timely fashion, all flesh will perish. We have a short window of time to repent and get our lives turned around. We have to remember that spiritual fruit cannot be produced quickly, but requires time and patience. When the summons comes to meet the Bridegroom, there will be no more time to prepare. Now is the time to prepare, getting the Bride ready, taking heed to ourselves to love God, paying attention to our spiritual state and our relationship with God, not allowing our hearts to be burdened and weighed down or surfeited with indulgence, gluttony, excess, or intoxication. Our Savior warns us (His own people) to steer clear of self-indulgence, addiction, and distraction. We desperately need to rouse ourselves out of spiritual sleep.
Topics: (show)
Abortion Addiction Agape Amos 2:13 Break all restraint Bringing charges Burdened Cares of this life Carousing Cars Cesspool Come upon us unexpectedly Cusp of evil Day of the Lord Days of Noah Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Deep cesspool Demons Discrimination Dishonor Drunkenness Dull of mind English Ephraim Examining ourselves Evil leaders Euthanasia Evil Form of godliness Free country God's perspective of time Gluttony Hangover Harlotry Heavy with wine Hedonist Human slavery Idolatry Infanticide Internet James 5:7 Janus and Jambres Looking for weak areas Lowered language barriers Luke Mafia Malachi 3:5 Matthew 24:32-34 Nuclear weapons Patience Patina of godliness Plato Pornography Present evil world Proving ourselves Revelation 2:5-16; 3:11 Romans 13:11 II Timothy 3:1-9 Secular progressives Self-indulgence, addiction, and distraction Temptation Ten virgins Tripping a snare Unexpected Unprepared Violence Watch Weighed down with evil harvest Weightier matters Zephaniah 1:14 War Weighed down Wicca Wickedness Window of opportunity
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