ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

IT IS HIGH TIME TO AWAKE!
As newly married couples join hearts and hands in marriage, there are far too often those who feel they have the privilege of offering their two cents to the couple, even before the wedding reception is over. The traditional quotes and riddles with hidden meanings are passed on by those who have fallen asleep at the helm of their love boat, so to speak.

Most of those couples who have been together for years will tell them that the honeymoon will soon pass and reality will begin to sink in, so get ready! Isn't that a wonderful thought to leave a couple with right after they have married? The reason that this goes on generation after generation is because these couples have fallen asleep at the helm of their love boat.

They no longer feel like they once did because their love boat fuel tanks are empty or running on their last gallon of fuel. When the waves come and rock their boat around, that last little bit of fuel is still there but isn't quite enough to keep the motor from sputtering. The tank is very large and could hold hundreds of gallons of fuel, but that last gallon is swished back and forth past the fuel pump, allowing only enough fuel to barely keep their love boat running in the storm. So they share their experience with the newly weds as a forecast of days ahead in their relationship, almost as though it is normal and to be expected.

The facts are that this type of relationship between a husband and wife is not what God intended and there is a clear and decisive way for couples to avoid falling asleep at the helm and allowing their tanks to run dry. There are clearly defined principles to apply to our lives that will prevent a couple from finding themselves stranded and at the mercy of the storms in their lives. Instead of just hoping for the storms to pass, they will have the fuel and the navigational equipment necessary to move through the storm. When they come out of the storm, they will be on the same course that they were on before the storm and will have also made some progress along the way.

You might be thinking to yourself, "How can I tell if I have fallen asleep at the helm?". Most people, awake or asleep, think that they are doing alright in all of their relationships, but take heed! Paul is talking to believers in the book of Romans when he gives us this warning to "Awake" and this series of messages will show us just how our lives will change when we wake up; at home, at church and in the community around us. I have learned first hand, the things that I will share with you in this series and how applying the principles that Paul teaches us in the thirteenth chapter of Romans will bring a change in your relationships at home, in the community and even in your worship with God.

Romans 13:11
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.


Now it is HIGH TIME! That means that the HOUR is here and the time is NOW. People just roll over and go back to sleep in relationships all to often. I must agree with the apostle Paul when he says, "IT IS HIGH TIME TO AWAKE FROM OUR SLEEP!" Verse twelve says,"The night is far spent", that means it is later than you may think! I want to tell you that it is later in this age than you may think! I believe that Jesus Christ is at the threshold and I believe that the trumpet is about to sound and Jesus Christ is going to come soon and it is only the restraining hand of Almighty God that has kept the floodgates of evil closed as much as they have been. It may be later in your life than you think! You only have so many more days or hours left to serve the Lord Jesus. James 4:14 says,"What is your life but a vapor that appeared for a little with and then vanished away"!

It's later in the day of opportunity than you may think. We have opportunities now that are unparalleled to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said when he was here on earth in John 9:4, "I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work!" There are allot of things you can do here on this earth, but there's one thing we won't be able to do in heaven and that is to win souls to Christ.

There are several things that I pray that everyone who hears this message will do, that the apostle Paul urges us to do in this passage and the first one is to "WAKE UP"!

God's alarm clock is going off all around us!
A young man asked his pastor one Sunday if there was a good prayer that he could pray whenever he came to the service and his pastor said,"Yes, Now I lay me down to sleep".

It's time that we wake up. So many times we are like Sampson, asleep in the lap of Delilah. When we wake up and go out to shake ourselves, it's without the spirit's power. How do we wake up? Not by hitting the snooze button; we have to wake up and get up! Get busy doing the things that you are purposed to do in your life!

Wake Up! Get Up! Husbands and wives, grab the wheel of your boats and get ready to fuel up and apply the principles we will find in the series of messages I have titled "AWAKE!".

IT'S HIGH TIME TO AWAKE! LET'S GO!