Maybe you're someone who watches sports a lot. Maybe you're someone who watches someone who watches sports a lot. But if you're too busy to turn a football game and sit there watching the whole thing, you can do what I do sometimes. Just turn on the end of the game. Some of the most amazing things happen when the game is almost over. Especially after they sound that two-minute warning. Suddenly, everyone knows it's time to throw caution to the wind and go for broke. A lot of teams even practice what they call a two-minute drill - a bold, accelerated series of plays that are designed for those urgent moments when you realize it's almost over.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Two-Minute Warning."
Could it be that you and I are living at a time when our world has heard God's two-minute warning? Many of the devoted believers of the world's three great religions - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam - are expecting the coming of the Messiah soon. There is a sense all over the world that we could be living in the countdown to God's warp-up of human history. For those studying the only book in history that has a perfect record on fulfilled prophecies, the Bible, that wrap-up is the personal return of Jesus Christ.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and following says, "The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." No one can predict the time the Lord can come. But because of signs the Bible says will precede His coming, those alive at the time should be able to feel its approach. Verse 4 - "But you, brothers, are not in darkness sot that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the lights and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled."
I'm not a prophecy specialist - and I know dedicated believers disagree on some of the details leading up to Jesus' return. But I have to tell you, as I understand Scripture, the world has never looked so much like the world Jesus Christ is going to return to. Since Jesus was here, there has never been an Israel - until now. There's never been the prophesied return of the Jews to their land, from all over the world - until now. There's never been the technology for an antichrist to identify and regulate the commerce of every person on earth with the mark of the beast - until now. There's never been in modern times the possibility of the prophesied temple to be rebuilt - until now.
Whatever your prophetic slant, it's hard not to feel that Jesus may come soon - and that time is short. The game clock may very well be ticking down from God's two-minute warning. I believe Satan has his eye on the clock. In fact, Revelation 12:10 says, "Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short."
Maybe you need to check the game clock - and change your game plan. It's maybe a time for the urgent living of a two-minute drill. Some questions that may apply to you in light of what time it's getting to be. Why are you spending so much of your life building a bigger and bigger stack of earth-stuff? Why aren't you spending a lot more time with Jesus - to you'll know Him better when you see Him? Why aren't you doing more to get the people you care about ready to meet Jesus?
And most important - are you sure you belong to Jesus? How much longer are you going to wait to open your heart to Him? It's pretty late in the game.
When you realize that time is short, your priorities change. In sports, you go for broke. Take a look at God's game clock today and play the rest of your game in light of what time it is!