“15 Minutes” (Outdoor Service)

15 Minutes
Today’s sermon title is “15 minutes,” which means my message will be no longer than 15 minutes. Do you like the title? Another reason why I chose the title “15 minutes” is because I wanted to ask each of you in this place one question today: “If you have only 15 minutes to live, what would you do?” Actually, there is a play, titled “15 minutes.” The curtain rises on a drama and one man appears with a happy smile. He is the man who has a bright future before him. But suddenly, he feels severe chest pain and is taken to the hospital. And the doctor tells him he has only 15 minutes to live. While he is lying in his sickroom, he receives three telegrams. The first telegram says that he will inherit a large fortune by his uncle’s will. But it is no use for him at all because he will die in 15 minutes. About after 5 minutes, the second telegram arrives, and it says that his doctoral dissertation was passed, and he will be the youngest Ph.D. candidate. But it is absolutely no use for him now. About after 5 minutes, the last telegram arrives, and it says that his fiancée accepted a marriage proposal. But even her love was not able to comfort him. Eventually, the time comes, and he draws his last breath, and the curtain falls.

The point of the play is to show the futility and finitude of life. This play condenses our life into “15 minutes” and shows us what it looks like in a nutshell. Many of us have been pursuing successful life and happy life at breakneck speed. Then we lose control of ourselves. And then, we realize that we have already reached the very last stop of our lives. So the Bible says, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them." Thankfully, today I don’t see any elderly people here! It’s never too late. This is the day of salvation. This is the day to remember our Creator.

Death and Bucket List
And this is the day to remember and think about one more thing: “DEATH.” Many people don’t want to talk about death. They don’t want to even think about death. In fact, we live in a death-denying culture. Have you seen the film, “The Bucket List”? Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman starred in this film. Both of them are announced they have lung cancer. They decide to do everything on their bucket list before they die. They go skydiving together. They drive a Shelby Mustang. They ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China. They attend a lion safari in Africa, and so on. They do lots of fun and interesting things together. But at the end the time comes. Although they did everything they wanted, nothing changed. Eventually, Morgan Freeman dies on the operating tables, and Jack Nicholson dies at the age of 81 in the film. This film is entertaining. It relieves our fear about death. But it never solved anything. Nothing changed. Both of them died in the end anyway. “What is on your bucket list?” You may have one or two, or hundreds of them. But the Bible says at least you must have “one thing” on your bucket list. That is to remember your creator. You must get acquainted with God before you die. And today I want to tell you how to get acquainted with God.

Repent!
First, you must repent your sins. Our sinful and wrongheaded lives cause the split between God and us. The Bible says, “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore” (Is 59:2 NLT). Then, how can we restore our relationship with God? The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn 1:9) When you admit and confess your sins, God will clear all the obstacles between you and him. Today if God reminds you of your sins during this hour, particularly “deliberate sins” and “unconfessed sins,” please do not hesitate to confess your sins before God. And if you are not sure what kind of sins you must confess, I want you to hear from Romans 1:28-32, saying, “Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.” (NLT) If we commit just one of these, we still deserve to die. Our real status is not a student, nor teacher, nor housewife, nor retiree, but “a sinner who deserve to die”!

Pastor Gordon McDonald, who used to be a senior pastor at Grace Chapel in Boston, once took the following example about repentance. It was a story about John the Baptist. The curtain rises on a drama, and one by one, people come and confess their worst sins to John. John writes down the sins on a sign and hangs it around the neck of each person. Gordon said because he himself actually committed adultery, he confessed that it was written “adultery” on his sign. Everyone has his or her own sign. At the very moment, Jesus appears to be baptized. He takes all the signs off their necks one by one and hangs them all around his neck, and he is baptized. This is repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is the very first step to get acquainted with God. Confess your sins!!

Believe!
The second step to get acquainted with God is to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord. If you grew up in the church, this phrase, “Jesus is Savior and Lord” might be very familiar. But, do you know Jesus Christ? One time Moravian pastor Spangenberg asked John Wesley, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” Wesley replied, "I know he is the Saviour of the world." Spangenberg countered, "True … but do you know he has saved you?" Wesley answered, "I hope He has died to save me." Spangenberg pushed further, "Do you know yourself." Wesley said, "I do" but confessed in his diary, "I fear they were vain words." When I visit shut-ins and the homebound, I often ask this question after our small talk: “Do you know Jesus? Do you have assurance?” Their typical answer is “I hope so.” I don’t know about you, but I didn’t have that assurance of salvation for a long time. I was born to pastor’s family. I always grew up in the church, but not necessarily in Christ. I believed in God, I believed in Christ, but I did not experience living Christ in everyday life. I lived my way, not His way. In other words, I received Jesus as my Savior, but not as my Lord.

I realized this truth only after I had the following experience. It happened in the year 2000. At that time, I was 21 years old. I was young and healthy. I made a good salary from the army because I was working for the UN Peace Keeping Forces. They gave me generous proficiency pay. I was proud and stiff-necked. In February 2000, God led me to East Timor where civil war broke out. There was no church, of course, no Sunday worship service. At first, I felt freedom from religious duty. I skipped Sunday worship services. I wanted to live a free life, and East Timor was a perfect environment for that. I drank just like others, I watched pornography just like others, and committed sins just like others. God kept giving me a burden for keeping the Sabbath holy, but I ignored it. At first, I felt freedom, but later, I felt restrictions by something. Something was the sin. I became a slave of sin. Around that time, I fell ill with an endemic disease, called “Dengue Fever.” I had a high fever and red rashes all over my body. I went to a military medical center. The army doctor misdiagnosed and gave me aspirin and ointment on the bite. My condition got seriously worse that night. I could not eat anything. I could not even lie down, nor sleep. I became delirious from a high fever. Intuitively, I felt I was going through the valley of death. I knelt down on the cot and repented my sins before I died, and I prayed, “God, if you save my life, I will serve you with all my heart with humility for life.” I fell asleep in peace. I woke up in the early morning. The fever was gone, and red rashes were also all gone completely. And I heard God speak to my soul, “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” (Mal 4:2) Literally, I went out and leaped like a calf. My stiff neck was broken, and I did receive Jesus Christ as my Master, my Lord, as well as my Savior. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6). Jesus is the only way to get to know God fully.

Last Call
Every time I go to the airport, I often hear “last call” for passengers: “Please proceed urgently to gate right now.” For some of us today’s service and this message can be the last call from God for you. If this is your last day, are you ready to die? Are you ready to stand before God? Now is really the right time! Today is the day of salvation. Repent your sins and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord right now. If you are willing, please repeat the following prayer after me:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as the Lord and Savior of my life. In Your name. Amen.