Family Discussion:

Transcription:

00:14          There's not a football player or basketball player lad that doesn't respect the stripped shirt and the man in it and the whistle. And I remember as a defensive lineman and you know, in the Backfield when we would get through the line, we would sack the quarterback in different teams around the country and the referee would grab the whistle and he'd be blowing it like crazy. And if you didn't stop, if you get the quarterback again, of course he'd throw the yellow flag and then you'd get penalized and the coach would pull you off on the bench and chew you out. So the referee's whistle was a warning and we heeded the warning because we didn't want to be benched for not listening to the whistle. Well, this is a whistle of God in Revelation 8:13, he's talking about the trumpets of God and the judgements. And this is in the context of the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpet, the terrible judgements that lie for those upon the earth.

 

01:07          And Revelation 8:13 says this, "Then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in mid heaven saying with the loud voice, woe, Woe, woe. To those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blast of the trumpet and the three angels who are about to sound." There are warnings even today. We're not in the trumpets of God yet, but we hear warnings today and I get letters from students and from adults all over the country. And I see people and I read these often sad emails and often sad letters because of people who have heeded the warnings of God. Because in John 15 and 16 Jesus says, "the Holy Spirit is going to guide you into truth. He's going to convict your heart of sin and righteousness and judgment."

 

01:55          In Ephesians 4:30 scripture says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit when he speaks to your heart and he gives you warning, you know, you actually grieve him. You actually hurt him when you don't listen to his warning. And 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, don't quench the Holy Spirit. Don't pour the fire extinguisher on the fire of the burning of the Holy Spirit in your heart. It wants to provide for you and wants to protect you and to give you a future. I have one of just many letters here in a book I wrote called pure excitement for teenagers and it was a letter from a high school boy. He says, I feel regret for the girls. I've heard, I feel sick about myself. He said as so many thousands of us as boys have said through the years, how could I even remotely think about doing what I did to girls?

 

02:42          I knew it was wrong. I heard the voice, I heard the warning. But I didn't listen and he said I wasn't going all the way. I was just petting. But now how I see how petty was wrong. It's scripture. Paul says, it's good not to touch a woman, the wrong woman in the wrong place at the wrong time outside of marriage. He says, I want to save everything for my wife, but I'm afraid I don't have much left to give her. I want more from my marriage. Now I want more than my relationship with God. I don't want to be a second hand husband with my wife until the whistle blows. And the warning is there and it tells us to be pure. It tells us to have a pure heart. It tells us to have a pure mind and pure eyes. But getting ready for the final whistle, I believe, is dependent upon how we get ready for the whistles of today. And my question is for you today is what whistles are you hearing in your life? What's the Holy Spirit telling you to do? you know, as the judgments are coming. What is the spirit of Christ telling you today to warn you? And what are you going to do today with the voice, the Holy Spirit when he blows the whistle in your life?