ONCE IN A WHILE" AT THE EDGE OF HOT

"ONCE IN A WHILE" AT THE EDGE OF HOT

I am going to share a temperature with you that is very easy and yet difficult to detect depending on where you are standing. When you meet a person who is not this temperature, you instantly know if you are at this temperature. When you are surrounded by people at this temperature you will never detect it. The temperature is the scariest temperature in the kingdom of light. When the thermostat in a home is set at this temperature no one notices because it is so comfortable. But if the thermostat on the coffee pot was at this temperature everyone would notice and complain with a the expressive word, Yuuuck!

In the natural world this air temperature is fine, but in the spirit world it's death waiting to happen. I found a man in this condition and I said, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment at that temperature? And he was speechless, because he came from a church that was set at this temperature. [13] Then I said, to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [14] For many are called, but few are chosen because the are satisfied to remain at this temperature." Matthew 22:11-14 (KJV)

You probably guessed the temperature I am speaking of is somewhere between 70 and 75 degrees F, and your close but even 90 and 100 degrees is yucky when you drink it. I call it "lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, a temperature I will spit out of my mouth. [17] It's very scary because everyone at this temperature says, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and have no idea that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" Revelation 3:16-17 (KJV)

How do you know if you are lukewarm or even at the edge of hot? Take this simple test, if you can honestly put these three words in front of all your spiritual activities, you are at the lukewarm temperature: the words "ONCE IN A WHILE". Once in a while I share Jesus, once in a while I give, once in a while I wait on the Lord, once in a while I pray for the sick, once in a while I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner. Now put it in front of your natural daily activities: Every once in a while, when I am not at work, not too busy, not at a game, not watching TV, not on vacation. Every once in a while when I'm around Christians, the pastor is watching, when I'm feeling guilty, or when I want to look sold out.

"Every once in a while", keeps you out of cold, yet never hot, just lukewarm and always at a moment that's convenient. I am not going to say much more, because if you are lukewarm you are already thinking wrong, you are thinking of all the "once in a whiles", and trying to lump them together, forgetting about all the inconvenient times. The times you did not want to risk embarrassment, getting fired, or kicked out. It's hard to tell your temperature when you are in a church set a lukewarm, but it's a thousand times harder when you are in a nation and generation set at that temperature.

Let Me give you some examples to help you check your temperature. Paul was hot: he was three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times he suffered shipwreck, a night and a day floating in the deep; [26] In travel often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; [27] In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." 2 Corinthians 11:25-27 (KJV)

Daniel was hot! Peter was hot!, John the baptist was hot, Stephen was hot! Joseph was hot! Noah, David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Samson were examples of hot. Just read Hebrews eleven and you will read HOT! Please take your temperature while there's still time!