Opportunity lost

If it ain’t one thing it’s another. Over the holiday in Ohio my car was diagnosed with a warped head gasket. Now a big decision must be made—trade it in and lose a ton on it, sell it privately or get it fixed.

For the time being I have decided to get the catalytic converter replaced so that I can pass the emissions test and not stick out like a sore thumb in this new year with a license-plate sticker now expired and not even the same color as this year's.

Fortunately I’ve got an appointment with a trustworthy garage tomorrow here in my neighborhood, but with my car in the shop, I’m stuck here at the elderly house once again on a church night.

At least when I’m legal again I won’t have to dodge Chicago cops (which seem to come out of the woodwork when you’re trying to avoid them), stressed out that they’re suddenly going to wind up directly behind me at a stop light and immediately see my sticker is 2011’s green and not 2012’s yellow.

*****

Here’s the rest of that passage from Jordan’s New Year’s Day evening service focused on the punishment awaiting lost people:

“The passage (in II Thess. 2) says, ‘In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
[9] Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
[10] When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.’

“You’re going to have complete total ruin and you’re going to be separated from the Lord. We talk about the ‘lake of fire’ and how God’s got a place for the darkness and He’s already got it all pre-planned, but the real horror is that any possibility of having a relationship with the Creator is completely gone.

“That’s why he says ‘from the presence of the Lord.’ That’s the actual person of God. Any relationship is completely severed. When he says ‘the glory of his power,’ he’s talking about this glorious display of all that God’s doing. That’s what’s going to be taking place in the universe out of which a person has been cast into the lake of fire. And that’s what he’s going to go on to describe in verse 10.

“They’re going to be able to look at His saints, and that’s whether it’s Israel or the Body of Christ, and they’re going to see the glorious manifestation of His ultimate wisdom and admire. When you admire somebody you just look at the them and say, ‘Wow!’ and you just marvel at them.

“That verse we use on Christmas cards: ‘His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor.’ I’ve often thought about that word ‘wonderful.’ A wonder is just something that you marvel at. It’s spectacular. Marvelous. Stupendous. It’s WONDERFUL!

“Now you can read that verse two ways. You can says He’s going to be admired in all them that believe BECAUSE you believe God’s Word and God’s Word working in you is going to be admired, or you can say He’s going to be admired in all them that believe and that’s going to include you because you believe too.”

“When Christ comes He’s going to put down the enemy, get rid of everything that offends, and then He’s going to be the one who’s exalted and He’s going to fill this universe with His glory and we’re going to be a part of that, and that’s what lost people are going to be separated from. Never have the opportunity to have a relationship with the God of creation, the Creator, and never be able to marvel in the riches of His glory that He manifests in His redemption and His reconciliation of all things back to Himself in the universe.

“That’s what the people who get destroyed, the lost people, lose out on being a part of.”