Concern while there is still time

Last night at Church we were about to start our Wednesday evening Bible study when suddenly we heard very loud screaming outside. I went out the front doors of the church, it was very dark, windy, and cold on this December 26th night. Just across the street from the church were two women and a man who were all running frantically through yards and into the street, screaming at the top of their lungs; "NOAH!!! NOAH!!!" No, they weren't looking for Noah's Ark, they were looking for their little 4-year old son.

I approached one of the women and she went running past me with a horrified look on her face and screaming out "Oh sweet Jesus, where is my son? Where is my son?" I've very seldom seen such looks of fear and distress. I went up to the other lady who also had a look of panic and asked her what had happened. "Little Noah had went to the bathroom and we noticed he had been gone for a long time and when we went to check on him he was gone! He's been gone for about 15 minutes, and we can't find him!"

As the boy's father jumped in his car with the windows down driving slowly up the road screaming out his son's name, I crossed back over to the Church, went in and gathered everyone around the altar. We prayed for the little boy and his family. We asked the Lord to please let him be safe and to be found. With the 30 degree temperatures and freezing wind blowing there was no way he would be able to survive being out in the open night.

After we prayed, I explained to the Church that there was just no way that I would be able to conduct a service and preach while little Noah was missing. Everyone agreed and we decided to cancel services and I went out to help search for the little boy. By this time there were three police cars on the scene; one in the church parking lot and two others in the driveway of the parent's house. The policemen were walking from the house to their cars. I walked up to one of them and asked if they had found the little boy. "Yes," he said, "he was in the house the whole time, sound asleep." Oh my, how relieved I was and how relieved his parents must have been. I went back over to the church. Only one person had left, so we decided to go ahead and have services after all. We had a new reason to celebrate and worship our Lord. He allowed that little boy to be safe.

Now, you may be wondering why I am writing about this on the Pastor's Pen Blog... Well, after this incident happened, the only thing that keeps going through my mind is that look of terror and the panic on those parent's faces. Even though their son was safe and warm in the house, they assumed the very worst, that he was lost. Naturally I can't help but wonder how many people go through life every day without one single thought or care that those that they love are lost. No, not wandering around the neighborhood in the dark but wandering around through life completely lost to the fact that they need a Saviour. So many of our family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, are lost and on their way to a very real hell. Yet we don't seem to mind. If we only realized the reality of what is going to happen to them, we would be as terrified as those parents were last night.

What about you today? Have you been saved? Do you understand what will happen if you or someone you know and love die and are not saved? If that happens, the very real truth is that you will burn in a lake of fire for eternity; fully conscious, fully aware, fully in pain, and completely separated from God and the love of everyone you ever knew. Oh, be concerned while there is still time. Would you consider listening to this message that concerns salvation? Look Unto Me and Be Saved

Presented in the book of Romans in the Holy Bible this outline will show you step by step how you can be saved.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.  (All have sinned. . .)

Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (All are loved. . .)

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (The payment for sin is death, being separated from God forever and spending an eternity in Hell). But salvation is a gift from God, not earned by going to church, baptism, good works, etc. . .)

Romans 10:9,10
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the heart confession is made unto salvation;  (Just confess, believe and receive. . .)

Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.