Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break, my name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us this morning.  This last week was sure different.  We had rain and plenty of it in some places.  We had cool that hints of the coming Fall.  We had hot that reminds us it is still summer.  And through all of that we must remember that God is still in control.  As we begin this morning let’s go to God in prayer,

Great God in Heaven, Maker of the heavens and the earth – creator of the suns and moons and planets and stars.  So vast and powerful, and yet so loving and caring that You would even consider man.  We humble ourselves before You, may we obey Your will so we can have a home with You in heaven.  Thank You for Your grace that sent Jesus for us.  Be with us now as we study together that we can learn more of Your will.  In Jesus Name we pray,  AMEN!!

     Do you remember where you were?  What were you doing when you first heard the news?  There are some things that just stick in our minds that we just won’t or can’t forget.  This last week we remembered 9-11-01.  As I thought about that time, I wondered what I had shared with you on this program then.  Was it right or was it wrong?  As I looked it over it was still as true today as it was then.  But then what would you expect – truth is always truth.  The wise will seek the truth and hold to it.  The foolish will fall for one error after another and not even see the truth.  One very prominent example of that is men trying to say when the end of the world will be and tied in with that is when Jesus is going to set up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem.  The Seventh Day Adventists, followers of Herbert W. Armstrong, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others have set one date after another, after another, after another, and so on.  They have been wrong, wrong, wrong, and yet many still follow their teaching.  Remember all the excitement about Y2K.  Boy that was it, the world was going to quite functioning because all the computers were going to crash.  Again because that reasoning was based on erroneous ideas, all the gloom and doom never came to pass.  Getting back to 9-11, I wondered what thoughts and comfort I had brought and it was so good and still applies today so I thought I would share it with you again.  Most of the rest of our study today is from two years ago, with some new thoughts on our current situations.
     I would like to take a few moments to reflect on the events of that week in 2001. Since I always do these programs ahead of time it don’t always know what will happen at the end of the week, but Tuesday September 11th will go down in history.  9-11-01 will be remembered for the terrorist attaches in New York and Washington, DC and the flight that crashed in PA.  Many people in the world live with this kind of thing going on in their cities all the time, but not us, not here in America.  Among all these thoughts were prayers for the victims, their families, the workers, the leaders, and our nation and the world.  My first thoughts like many of you, were ones of disbelief – “This can’t really be happening, can it?”  Then there were the thoughts of confusion – “Why would anyone do this?”  This was followed by uncertainty – “What next?”  Then there were the thoughts of justice “We need to find who is responsible, and punish them?”  But there were also thoughts of God – “ Lord what are we to learn from this?”
     I would like to point out a couple of Biblical concepts that came to mind.

     First, life is brief at best, and along with that is that we need to use this brief life to prepared for eternity.  James writes in James 4:13-17

   13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
   14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.  You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
   15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.”
   16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance;  all such boasting is evil.
   17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.

     How many of those killed were looking forward to retirement?  How many planning marriage?  Or looking forward to the birth of a child or grandchild?  How many woke up that morning and said “Today is the day I am going to die and I am ready”?  We don’t usually think this way, but will we heed this reminder?  How many of them had taken the time to hear the word of God, believe it, to confess and repent, and be immersed in water for the forgiveness of their sins?  Will we obey these teachings of God or will we put them off or deny them?

     Another concept that came to mind is God’s judgment of a nation. In Joel 3:12-13, God says,

   12 Let the nations be aroused
      And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
      For there I will sit to judge
      All the surrounding nations.
   13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
      Come, tread, for the wine press is full;
      The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.

     That image at the end is of a winepress when it is full of grapes the treaders would jump in and tread out the grapes.  In the song the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” it says, “He (God) is treading out the vintage, where the grapes of wrath are stored.”  This brings to my mind the image that for every wickedness a nation does more grapes are thrown into its winepress.  Once the press is full God brings down that nation.  Now think about it, in our nation there are many wicked things – abortion – we sacrifice our children to the god of pleasure and convenience.  Homosexuality piles up more grapes of God’s wrath.  Clusters are thrown in because of the widespread divorce that is in our nation.  More are thrown in because of sexual immorality.  The grapes are heaped in because of pornography and other sins that are allowed in the name of freedom of speech.  Then there is the movie and entertainment industry that uses sex, drugs, and violence to “entertain” us.  We as a nation should take this time to reflect on our relationship with God.  George Washington issued a general order one time that rebuked the soldiers of our young army for their use of profanity.  Part of his order was how can we expect God’s blessing upon our military, when we profane the Lord with our speech.  I would like to ask you this morning, “How can we expect God’s blessings on America, when we, as a nation, live so far from God’s will?”  And along with that, will we, as a nation and as individuals, humble ourselves before God?
     We have seen a lot of changes in these last two years, we can learn from these as well.  Today, Afghanistan and Iraq have different leaders.  Now that may not seem like too big of deal to us, because we elect our leaders and at best, or worst, they are in there for a few years.  But these countries are lead by dominating leaders who would only leave office with violent fighting.  But we must remember that these leaders were in power because of God’s will.  As Jesus spoke to Pilate He shows this point concerning the rule of the Romans.  In John 19:10-11, Pilate thinks that he is the one with the power and yet Jesus shows that Pilate’s power really is given to him by God.  Let’s read John 19:10-11,

   10 Pilate therefore said to Him, “You do not speak to me?  Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”
   11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above;  for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin.”

As Paul spoke in the Areopagus in Athens he pointed this out to those assembled as well.  Let’s read Acts 17:26,

   26 and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation,

Each nation has appointed times and boundaries that are determined by God.  No nation has ever, or will ever, exist before, or after, God determines its beginning or its end.  And neither will it be bigger or smaller than God has decided.  As we consider that with what we mentioned earlier we see that a nations wickedness is what will bring that end.

     Two years ago I closed my lesson with a prayer and for the most part it is still a prayer for today.  Let’s have another prayer,

     Great Lord in heaven, we do not always understand the things that go on in this world.  And these last two years have been full of those times.  We pray for the thousands who have been killed and injured and affected by the tragic events.  Lord we humble ourselves before You and may each of us do our part to repent of our wickedness.  We pray for President Bush, for the leaders of our Congress and Senate, and for our military leaders.  We pray for the rescue workers, who risk their lives to help and in some cases became victims themselves.  And Lord, while our hearts go out to these victims so easily, we want to pray also for those who plotted and planned these terrible deed.  We pray that they would realize the error of their ways.  They too need to humble themselves before You.  It is because of their deception by Satan that they would do these deeds.  So we pray that they would come to know truth.  Be with each of us that we may learn from this.  And give us Your strength and comfort.  In Jesus name, AMEN!!