Romans 119
Brian Kocourek
KJV Romans 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and
whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are
the Lord's.
In this day of high tech communications, it is
quite interesting that with all the different sorts of communications devices
we have at our disposal, like phones, faxes, email, cell phones pagers, etc,
etc, etc. that you would think people would be over-saturated with
communications, and would long for peace and quiet. But people today are
lonelier than at any time, or in any other age. That seems to be a paradox to
me, when we have such easy access to each other via our modern equipment. But
it no less is true.
Not just 40 years ago the average family
throughout
But with the onslaught of technology and all that
has all changed and Although a few households seems to have 1 phone in
every room, most households (30%) have just 1 phone, 27% have 2 phones, and 23%
have 3 phones. The remaining 20% have 4-9 phones.
The cost of communications has reduced so
substantially, that you no longer must be a person of means to have access to
it. I remember paying anywhere from $0.25—$0.35 cents per minute to call long
distance, and that was back when $100 per week was considered a good income. Today, the average household income is about 9
times higher and yet the cost to make a long distance phone call falls between
3-1/2 cents to 5 cents per minute. I do not know what the call rate is but I
would imagine the number of minutes the average person spends in some sort of
communications is exponentially higher than in any other age, and yet why are
the people so isolated and lonely?
I
believe it has to do with the way our society has developed into such a fast
paced frenzy that people are speeding down the high way just to arrive and have
to wait. Everything seems to be now, have to have it now, until we get
irritated at the drive through when the person taking your order makes you wait
perhaps 30 seconds longer than we think they should.
DANIEL 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the
time of the end: many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall be
increased.
SUPER SIGN 62-0708
66
Why, these cars that we got today, couldn't run over these highways we
used to have. My first trip west, it taken me sixteen days to go from
But you see now, what
happened all at once? Six thousand years has been the same man. But right here
in the last fifty years, he's come from a horse and buggy to a jet or a rocket.
Why? The Bible said they would run to and fro in these last days, and knowledge
shall increase. It's a sign of the end time.
Super, everything must be super; it won't work.
And today we have gone past the jet age and
entered the age of communications. And yet what has it produced. The world is
increased with knowledge and what has it done for people out there? A bunch of neurotics, that’s what.
I believe all this communications technology was
created because people have a thirst for fellowship and yet they are so busy
that they don’t have time to even sit and talk to one another. It used to be
that everyone had a porch on the front of their home and they would pass the time
sitting and watching the neighbors come and go, and everyone had time to talk
to one another. But today, we have all the communication devises imaginable,
and we constantly use them, and yet people are more lonely now than when they
didn’t have them years ago.
And what is causing all this to happen? I believe it is because man was created by
God to have a thirst for Him. And yet we try to quench our thirst in every
other way conceivable and we leave Him out of the picture all together.
Paul, said, For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to
himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we
die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
And if this is so, then we have a stewardship to
God for our very lives. None of us liveth to ourselves, and surely none of us
will die without affecting anyone else. Therefore, whether we live or whether
we die, our complete focus should be on Christ.
Let’s just take this first thought here, “None of us live to
himself”. In the Book of Acts
we read, ACTS 17:28 For in
him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets
have said, For we are also his offspring. And in the Book of Colossians
Paul said, COLOSSIANS 3:4 When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Therefore, when we seek to communicate, we should begin by
looking to the Lord First for He is our very Life.
I JOHN 1:5 ¶ This then is the message which
we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
HEBREWS 10:19 ¶ Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and
living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say,
his flesh; 21 And [having] an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and
our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of [our]
faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;) 24 And let us
consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting
[one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 26 For if
we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
CHURCH DEDICATION 59-0708M
E-19 No wonder the church natural
today can't believe in miracles. They've never come into the miracle working
place where they're at rest with God.
There's where Aaron's rod budded, something that was dead. An old dry stick off
the desert in that holiest of holies took new life, and bloomed blooms, and
sprouted out, and brought leaves. How? It was laying in the holiest of holies.
You can take a dead sinner, rotten,
carnal in his mind and in his thinking a criticizer of the power of God, and
bring him into the Presence of the Holy Ghost, there'll be something happen to
him. Sure. Entering into that lonely
place with God... "He dwells," says Moses in the next chapter,
"in the thickness of the darkness." That's where God dwells. That's
where life stays. Is in the midst of the rotten corruption. Where does the life
stay? In the seed after it's rotten. When it dies to itself it brings forth a
new life.
Where does God stay? He will stay
with you if you're ready to die out to yourself and give Him a chance: service:
body. intellectual: spirit, thoughts; and soul, your faith in God: three room
house.
THY LOVING KINDNESS 58-0228
E-56
The American people want to be entertained. They don't want the Gospel
no more; they want entertainment. And the devil's given them all that he can,
just led them in all around everything. And they don't thirst for God no more.
All the kids in this country...
Ninety-five percent of the kids in
Flee, Christian. There's a fountain
open. Water is near. Life is near. Flee to it quickly. Drink, drink, drink till
you can't drink no more. God will satisfy that thirst. God bless you. Now I'm
going to pray for you.