Imrah Ministries

By David Pennington

We do not have forever - one day we will die. As much as we live like there will always be a tomorrow, one day it simply will not come. One day you will look up to see you have run out of the time you once thought was so abundant. Sometimes we treat our Christian walk much the same way. God might give us a chance to do something, but it comes at an inconvenient time - so we just turn it down or put it off for later.

An example might be when you are out shopping and suddenly feel the Holy Spirit ask you to go talk to someone. If you are like me, you probably turn down those chances quite often as there is always some “good reason” why you should keep doing what you’re doing. A lot of the time I find that I am not “ready” to drop what I am doing. I have a schedule and I need to finish shopping so I can get on with the next thing. Throwing in something like that will upset my plans.

Looking back at Jesus’ life, it is apparent that He always had one thing or another coming out of nowhere. Thank goodness He was God, because if He had been a normal guy he would probably have gone nuts with the complete random life he led. It seems like every day was jam-packed with teaching, healing, praying, performing miracles, and traveling. Reading the four gospels you never know what will pop up next.

Jesus is the perfect example of following God’s will. He was always ready to do whatever was put in front of Him. From the big to the small - He was prepared to do God’s will in favorable and unfavorable times.

I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

Like I said above, our time on this earth won’t last forever. God tells us to “be prepared” to “preach the word of God” “whether the time is favorable or not”. Every minute counts and what we “put off” until later is often lost. Don’t let your plans dictate your life - let God.

Feel-Good Teachers

Our family never stayed in one church long when I was growing up (due to several reasons). However, I saw some pretty, uh… interesting things in some of them. I remember one church that gave a conference sermon on Balancing your check book. The Pastor even used a story from the bible in the message! It went something like “doing this [financial stuff] is like being David and knocking down Goliath” (So I can’t say he didn’t use God’s word in the sermon). Now, the reason that I believe he gave this message is because the church had many wealthy members who spent most of their week focused on one thing (and it wasn’t God).

I have been in more than one church like this and I am now starting to understand why we need to be ready at all times to do God’s will.

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation.

Our chances to share truth disappear more each day as people find the truth they want to hear. Lets keep a clear mind and be alert to God’s plans.