James 4:13-17 Mark 13:32-37

As you can see, I am still taking the easy way out by sitting and preaching this morning. I won't be as long as it was last week. I am going to continue talking about what I learned while I was in the hospital because I think this is something that I can pass on to all of you and it is very valuable. In fact, it is still a message that I am trying to register myself. That is, how temporary this life is and that within an instant, it can be over. So we've got to be vigilant. We've got to be careful about what we do. We've got to have right priorities&

I am told that throughout most people's lives, the average person doesn't experience a death of anyone close to them until they are about 36 years old. So up until that time, most people have and believe a myth. That myth is& “I am invincible. I am not going to die. That is what happens to other people.” Yet, we know that lots of teenagers die. Unfortunately it is by their own hands. The leading causes of teenage death are suicide and car accidents. There are so many things that can happen in life that are unexpected and unprepared for no matter what a person's age  young, middle aged or old.

In the two scriptures that I chose this morning, we have teaching about this from our Lord. The epistle of James is a very interesting epistle. I urge you all when you go home today to read the whole epistle. It is a very short epistle and very enlightening. Biblical scholars say that it is an epistle written for the practical atheist. Now what is a practical atheist? A practical atheist is a person who doesn't go around proclaiming “I don't believe in God”. It is simply a person who lives life as if there is no God. a person who goes through their life without ever raising their mind and heart to God. They live oblivious to the fact that God exists or that they may have an obligation to this God who exists. Or sadly, they really don't even care if God exists. James says to this person, “You've got to be careful because you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow.” And we don't. None of us know what is going to happen tomorrow. James also says that life is like a mist. Poof! The mist is there for a few moments in time and then it disappears. According to James, that is really how human life is. The average life span is something like 76 years and when you are young, you think, “That is such a long time.” But when you get a little older, you think, “Uh, well that is middle age!” Right? It is something that is not so far away. We keep thinking, life will go on. Life will go on.

Jesus in this scripture that Jill read said one thing. “Watch! Always be on the alert.” Play your life out to the one person that it matters to and that is God. Live your whole life in His presence. Then you won't sin. You won't do what is evil. You will always do what is right. When Jesus was here, he gave an interesting parable. I never did like this parable because I didn't feel like it related to our times very well. But it does in light of my experience the last several weeks. Now, I value the parable more. I would like you to listen to it as I summarize it. It is the parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise and five were foolish. You have to understand the wedding customs back then. It was the job of virgins to go out and greet the groom and lead the groom into the wedding ceremony. This usually occurred at night so it was quite festive. The virgins were to carry lanterns or at least pots with a floating wick in it surrounded by oil that when burned would light the way. So these ten virgins would guide the groom as the groom marched proudly into the city to claim his new bride. As Jesus told this story, He said that there were five wise virgins and five foolish virgins, all of whom went out to meet the groom. The wise ones bought extra oil to take with them. The foolish virgins took no extra oil with them. Darn it, if the groom wasn't late! I guess he wanted to make a grand entrance. He wasn't coming exactly at the time they thought. So guess what happened? The foolish virgins' pot of oil burned out. So they said to the wise virgins, “Hey, can we borrow some of your oil?” And the wise virgins said, “No. We don't know when this groom is coming. We have to keep our own filled. You run back out and see if you can find a merchant some place and buy some more oil.” You know the story. While the foolish virgins were out looking for oil, the groom came he was greeted by the five wise virgins who were then guests of honor at the wedding and the door was locked. No one else could come in. When the foolish virgins started to come in, they weren't allowed and they missed out on the whole wedding feast. In fact, in the Bible, the last line of this parable summarizes the whole thing so let me see if I can quickly find it for you. It is in Matthew 25:13. “Therefore, keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour.” Let me say that again. “Therefore, keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour.” In an instant, we could lose our lives. In an instant, it could be over for any one of us. That's the real meaning of this parable.

Let me tell you one more story. We just finished the Olympics. This is supposedly a true story. I can't verify its truthfulness but it rings true. There was an Olympic diver who wanted to practice before the diving events. So the diver went to the aquatorium as it is called and he was going to practice. It was late at night, the lights were out, no one was around, and they wouldn't see him practicing. He would have an advantage before his debut as an Olympic diver. I am going to try to demonstrate for you for a moment what he did. He walked out on the diving board and because I am a little unsteady on my feet, it will be like standing on a diving board. You will get the message more clearly. The dive he was going to perform was a backward dive with multiple flips. As he walked out on the end of the diving board, he turned his back and stretched out his arms for balance. (I must tell you that he was an atheist and his best friend had tried to make him a Christian.) So as he put his arms out for balance, he noticed they cast a shadow of a cross on the wall. He was stunned. He fell to his knees and he said a prayer, “Jesus, forgive my sins. Come into my heart. Be with me this moment. I am so sorry for the things I have done in my life that were wrong and I place my heart and my trust in you.” He stood up again to do his dive and at that moment, a maintenance man entered the aquatorium and turned on the lights. It was then he discovered that the pool had been drained. If he had dived in the dark, he would have been killed or paralyzed forever. It would have only been in an instant.

God can save us physically but more importantly, he can save our soul. It only takes an instant to turn one's heart to God and ask him to enter in and to ask for forgiveness. When I was in that hospital, there were five times when I was close to death. Five times. Each of them took just an instant. The first one was when I was doing great. I had knee surgery and I was up and walking around and saying, “Hey, this is a piece of cake. I am going to be like Jan Nailor and I am going to recover real quickly. No big deal.” I walked with a cane to the restroom and as soon as I got to the restroom, everything went wrong. I had a pulmonary embolism. In an instant! Most people die from pulmonary embolisms. The doctors told me of all the things that went wrong with me, it only happens to 1% of 1% that a person lives through it. So God spared me and He spared me for a reason. Maybe he is giving me a second chance to be a whole lot better person. Maybe He is giving me a second chance to be a more powerful minister to you and for you. But what I want you to walk away with this morning is the knowledge that all of life can be changed within an instant. That is all it takes. Circumstances. Momentarily everything can be different than it was before. You won't expect it. Maybe It will be a great happy surprise or a horrible surprise. But it can be within an instant. So constantly, turn your life and heart to God. Constantly ask Him to forgive you for the things that you have done wrong in the day that just passed. Constantly look to Him and when that instant comes, you will find yourself in heaven, not in hell.