What is the reason God’s end time church lacks urgency and zeal and what can we do about it?

<p>What is the reason God’s end time church lacks urgency and zeal and what can we do about it?</p>

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Freedom Health Ministries

Gabriel Arruda

Urgency

Hey, you guys know that Bible verse in Job?

I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food.

Well, you're going to get a chance to practice that today.

I'm normally halfway through my sermon right now, so we're gonna run a little long, but I hope you came primarily for the Word of God.

Let's bow our heads for a quick word of prayer.

Father in heaven, Lord, I just ask, would you please send your spirit and drive home the message to our hearts.

This is our simple prayer in Christ's name, amen.

Shortly after we were married, Jennifer and I were driving.

We had moved, we'd accepted a ministry position that moved us from San Francisco, California over to New England.

And we were living in upstate New York and it was the fall time.

And we're driving through those small upstate New York windy roads and you know the maple trees are going off and they're red and orange and all kinds of beautiful colors and we were just really enjoying it was a beautiful day And we're driving in this small road and all of a sudden we look to our right and there's this barn next to this house and smoke is just billowing out of the windows.

And I slammed on the brakes and I'm like, oh my goodness, that barn is on fire.

And so we pull our vehicle over and kind of park a few hundred feet away from the barn and we see that there's a house close to the barn and so we're thinking we should go knock on the house and let these people know that their barn is on fire.

There was a silhouette walking around inside of the barn.

And we're like, oh snap, there's a person inside of there.

But it was really weird because the person was moving around like at normal walking pace.

Like if you were in a burning barn, how quickly would you be moving, right?

And then the silhouette just stopped in the window and just stared at us out of the window.

And then this man, who kind of looked like an Amish apparel, stepped out of the side door and approached our vehicle and came over to our window very nonchalantly and he bent over and said, can I help you?

And he looked back and goes, oh, he just laughed.

Like, oh, I guess making maple syrup, they take all this maple sap and they got to boil it and condense it down to a very, very small amount.

And there's a lot of smoke that's generated in that process.

But you know, have you ever been in a situation where you felt like there was an emergency happening and you're the only 1 that seems to really care?

Like the people around you for some reason didn't share the same urgency as you did.

Have you ever been in a situation like that?

There's a bumper sticker that has made its rounds, you've probably seen it.

It says if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.

And you know, there's an issue that God predicted His end-time Church would have.

And the issue is God's last-day Church would have a problem with urgency.

It would have a problem with urgency, or it would lack urgency.

Please open up in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 25.

I want to show you this from the Word of God.

And this is the parable of the 5 wise and the 5 foolish virgins.

And let me ask you, Bible scholars, while you're turning there, what does a woman symbolize in Bible prophecy?

And what kind of women are they specifically described as?

These are people who are following the truth.

But notice something that happened to all of them.

Look at verse 5, but while the bridegroom tarried, they all did what?

So 5 wise, 5 foolish, how many fell asleep?

So Jesus is predicting a time when his church, the good and the bad, would be in a state of sleeping.

They would be in a state of slumber, inactivity, a lack of zeal, if you will.

But notice something happens, verse 6, And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.

Then those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps." So they're all sleeping and then something happens, a shocking, surprising event happens and they realize, Whoa, the bridegroom is coming.

They recognize that the second coming of Jesus is very very near.

Now, please turn with me to the book of Revelation chapter 3 We're gonna look at the Laodicean message Revelation chapter 3 verse 14 probably familiar to you.

It says, And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things sayeth the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know thy works, that thou art neither hot or cold.

So then, because you are lukewarm and neither hot or cold, I will spew you out of my mouth.

Because you say I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.

And knowest not that you are wretched and miserable, poor, blind, and naked?

I counsel of you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich in a white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear.

And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

Laodicean message, we're familiar with it.

God tells the church of Laodicea lots of things.

1 of the things he tells the church is that, be therefore zealous and repent.

If God's telling the church to be zealous, what is the church currently not experiencing?

It does not have urgency, which is why God has to tell it that.

You know, we're told in the spirit of prophecy that revival is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs.

You know, I'm a very practical person and I just really like to know, so what do we do right now?

What is the very work that God wants us to be doing right now?

And what we need, I believe, is contained in these verses.

When you think of urgency or when you think of someone who's on fire, have you ever known someone that's that way?

That someone that was just really on fire for God?

You know my wife and I had the privilege of working at Amazing Facts for about 3 years, and at that time the AAFCO campus was right next to the offices, and so we had the privilege of becoming friends with all the AAFCO students, and this is kind of like a mini seminary evangelism training school, and 20, 30, sometimes 40 young people, some old people sprinkled in there, but these people were just on fire.

They had dedicated an entire semester and about $5, 000 to learning how to witness and how to soul win.

And I remember when I was there I had a position in the media department and sometimes I would need photo reference for some of the projects I was working on and instead of I would need like a very precise angle and a very precise pose of a person.

Instead of spending tons of time online looking for the exact photo, I would actually get people from the office or sometimes I would get the Afro students and I would do a photo shoot of exactly the pose I needed.

I got this 1 girl, she was perfect for the photo I was using, and we were doing a photo shoot together.

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Urgency

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