A Moment In Time

Life is made up of moments. With life being so short, we need to make the most of every second but there are specific moments that all of us have and that our salvation pivots upon.



Eve and the serpent - Genesis 3 – Surely you will “not” die. She brought sin and rebellion into creation.



Cain and Able - Genesis 4 – Cain could have repented and learned from his mistake but instead, sealed his fate by murdering Able. He had a choice.



Noah and the ark - Genesis 6 – Trusted God and did what was told and was saved as a result.



Abraham and Isaac – the sacrifice - Genesis 22 – Trusted God would provide and He did.



Lot’s Wife - Genesis 19:25-27 – Became a pillar of salt – could have been spared but looked back to see the city being destroyed.



King Saul: 1 Samuel 16 – Lost his kingdom for not obeying and going to a fortune teller.



David and Nathan: - Repent of the sin of murder and adultery or die.



2 Samuel 12:13

13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house.



Moses - Exodus 3 and 4 – The burning bush. Go back to his people to lead them out or not.



Israelites and the promised land – The first generation’s opportunity - Numbers 13



Joshua and Caleb – The spys – Numbers 13 and 14 (tore their clothes petitioning them to not to rebel) – They were the only ones to later enter the land, the rest of the generation died in the desert. Only their children entered the land.



Israelites and the promised land – The second generation’s opportunity - Joshua 3



Josiah – Finds the law - 2 Kings 22 – 23 – restores acceptable worship and the law.



New Testament



Joseph – The husband of Mary – Matthew 1 - He could have abandoned her but instead, listened to God that spoke to him through the angel and took her as his wife.

The wise men - Matthew 2:12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. – They could have returned but obeyed God, not Herod.



Jesus’ temptation - Matthew 4 – He could have sinned and all would have been lost. He turned away satan with scripture.



Centurion – Matthew 8 -He was not a Jew and was not too proud to ask for his servant to be healed.



The Apostles called – Mark 1:16-20 from fishing, tax collecting and being a doctor and Mark 3:13-19



The Pharisees – There are numerous verses where they tested and tried to trick Jesus – Matthew 9:33-35, they said Jesus cast out demons with demons. They had hardened their heart so much they could not reject the miracles but they could try to demonize them rather than submit.



The Leper – Mark 1:40-45 – He asked Jesus for cleansing and healing.



The Bleeding Woman – Mark 5:25-34 – an unclean woman took the chance to touch and be healed. It was do or die for her.



The rich young ruler – Mark 10-17-22 – He went away sad because he had great possessions.



The Vine Dressers parable/Jewish leaders – They had chance after chance but abused those from God - Mark 12:1-11



The Widow – Gave 2 mites out of her poverty – Jesus noticed how she used her opportunity. Mark 12:41-44



Peter’s denial and repentance - Mark 14:69-71 denial - John 21:4-14 - repentant



Judas’s greed and betrayal – Matthew 27:3-10 - Chose to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and instead of repenting like Peter did, he hung himself.



The 3000 - Acts 2 – Had the moment to become the first to be part of the Kingdom of God, the church of Christ. Those that obeyed were “added”, those that did not, were not.



Peter and John Arrested – Commanded to no longer preach in the name of Jesus - Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.

Simon, who used to practice sorcery - Acts 8:14-24 – He sinned by trying to buy the ability to heal given to confirm the Word by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles but repented and begged them to pray for him that he would not parish for his sin. –



Ananias & Sapphira – could have kept their money but they lied and told everyone they were giving it all, so God killed them as an example for us to be honest with Him and our brethren. Acts 5:1-11



Stephen – Could have tried to smooth things over and leave but instead, told them the Truth, they killed him for it. Acts 7



Saul – He approved of killing Stephen and held their coats. Acts 7:58 and repented and baptized in Acts 9.



Phillip and the Eunuch – Acts 8: 26-39 - Phillip obeyed God and went to see the Eunuch and the Eunuch desired to obey the gospel and asked to be baptized.



Congregations shared as needs arose – Acts 11:27-30 for the brethren in Judea.



Apollos – Acts 18:24 – Knew only the baptism of John but the rest of his teaching was correct. Aquila and Priscilla corrected him and from that point on he is considered a great evangelist for God teaching correctly. What if he had rejected Jesus’ baptism? Would he not have become a false teacher?



Peter confronted by Paul - Galatians 2:11-12 – If Peter had not repented, it could have caused great damage to the church and to Peter himself. We know he repented because in 2 Peter 3:15-17, what he says about Paul.



Hymenaeus and Philetus - 2 Timothy 2:16-18 – False teachers that were at one time in the Truth but wandered away.



The congregations of the Church in Revelation – Repent or have your lamp stand removed. The lampstand symbolized their status by Jesus as His church. To remove it was to no longer be of Christ.



Revelation 1:20
20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw[j] are the seven churches.

They had their time in their generation to make the most of the grace of God and do His will in each moment He gives us as a church and as individuals, part of the body of Christ.

Conclusion

Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

James 4:14
whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.


Philippians 3:17
Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.

Romans 15:4
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

All of these examples share one thing – they all had a choice and moments in time to do God’s will or not, to repent or rebel, to seize the moment to lift up Christ or to throw Him down. Today, it is no different. We are the church, the generation no different than those in the book of Revelation that were told to repent or loose their lamp stand which stood for Jesus acceptance as His church.

As individuals and as the church of Christ, we have our moment and choice. May we not take our God given moments for granted and make every effort to give God the glory in Christ. It will make the difference if we are to go down in history as the generation or person that were the faithful or the foolish.

Well stated. All of us should heed these words of wisdom.

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"that in all things he might have the preeminence." Colossians 1:18

Great post, Steven. Outstanding points for living righteously!

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For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim 2:5 (U-NASB)

That'll preach

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"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." 1 John 3:18-19

The church of Christ at Granby

I did. This is from a sermon I put together.