Die Nacht ist vorgerückt - was nun?

Dear brothers, dear friends here in the room and on the screen, I cordially invite you all to follow this morning a topic that is very challenging, the topic is the night has moved on, what now, based on the well-known television program. sample, now there are many questions? First read the text of Romans chapter 13 from verses 11 to 14 and do this because you recognize the time, that is, that the time has come to wake up from sleep because our salvation is now closer than when we became believers, the night had advanced and the day was just approaching, let us put aside the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light, let us live honorably as in the day and now in the Lutheran version not in eating and drinking, not in fornication and debauchery, not in harshness and jealousy, all of which, of course, no one here does except turning to the Lord Jesus Christ and not taking care of the body to fall into the lustful at first.

Take a look at a strange but topical text. At first I simply read two statements on the topic of our time and recently in Israel inside me how Israel's economic inspector gave a lecture on the coming soap war. Cyber ​​is the Internet, the global Internet gap that we can no longer imagine, that is, in the modern and postmodern world, everything revolves around data, big companies, water supply companies, water producers. energy, industrial centers and many other areas, there is practically nothing left that is not controlled by the Internet in some way and among other things this expert says thank you in a sense we are all experiencing a global Big Brother plan.

I have to give you a pessimistic statement, we are at the mercy of the citizens of the world being unprotected, our data is visible. for too many people our money is at risk our children are at risk our health is at risk our safety is at risk a third world war will be a cyber war for which the world is not prepared behind the scenes there is a cyber war in the Team that most people have no idea for an official announcement. A few days ago I received an email from a young man, I almost said that he was only ten years younger than me, but when we did our community service in the Ruhr area, Gelsenkirchen started.

It's been 15 years and now it's about 75 and he writes to me, we've always been in touch, writes Horst, how are you? Good question, how do you evaluate the world situation, but also the situation of the communities, from what I am already hearing? communities is very unfortunate and gives cause for concern and leads to prayer the climate the wars the crisis and the crises in the communities cry out to heaven and ask for salvation it is the state of mind apocalypse where we are in the world only questions upon questions my sister Ingrid A who I also know personally, we both know.

My sister Ingrid emigrated to Hungary for fear that everything was going to ruin in Germany. Dear ones, these are very pessimistic statements that correspond exactly to the word here in the text, the night has advanced. I think we all feel that too, that we are in a special orientation, indefinite and lacking direction. It also seems like we live in desperate times. We don't know what's coming. Politicians don't know either. The State no longer rules. and bring it to a certain constitution that supports and protects us. The night has advanced. Anyone who thinks very sensitively will come to the conclusion that yes, it has been 2000 years since this statement was made and that is how we are better off today. that the people of ancient times, what has advanced here?

We also have many beautiful, very good, cultural, musical and many good things, at least here in the Western world. Yes, that is true at first glance, but today it is worse than ever back then, immediately after leaving paradise after the first years, the first two people were born two men there and Abel and between these two there is still no Adam and Eve but among their children there was already a murder and that in the context of a religious service I wanted to imagine only then can we understand what the night is, man is abysmally far from God because he is no longer a citizen of paradise and no longer lives in community and close to God and if we read here in the text also in the original text then it has advanced.

We already feel that even the evil in the world is progressing, increasing, condensing, that is what we are experiencing at this moment. I'm at the age where I can judge him a little bit. World War II when we were children and we haven't had it since 1945 we have experienced as much global uncertainty as we are currently experiencing and we all feel that when we read the news, when we listen to and see the news on television then we feel that The fear and The panic is spreading in an unprecedented way that, for example, if it is a war, we are already experiencing it, in some cases entire energy sectors around the world are paralyzed, we no longer have water.

We no longer have heating, that is the fear we have felt for a long time, that entire societies could be paralyzed in their normal activities, the economy could no longer produce anything and that is then in the hands of those who have power. about her. The night has come. I would say from experience that World War II and the period after the destruction of Germany were worse than what we are experiencing now, we are still alive in the paradisiacal front garden. But the fact that they are dating together is outrageous because today we have a different type of global network than back then, that is, 77 years ago.

Back then everything was more or less localized. Nowadays, everything in the world is always the same problem if evil If the night is approaching, dear ones, what I am experiencing now and that is also a small impression of the email. Christians are the ones who fear the most or at least there are many Christians who are afraid and panic and who will. we will have another big discussion soon To start a discussion, should I wear a mask or not? Is this real or not? Is it effective or not? We will fight again if things come to a head, dears, that is actually part of the night, these are nocturnal phenomena.

There is also conflict and resentment here as well. Devaluation and competitive spirit are overnight phenomena that have nothing to do with the living God who is here today, so let's take a closer look at the text. To see what he really means here, we are called to live in fear and terror, that is what it is. It has also often happened in Christianity that the return of Christ so disoriented people that they climbed a mountain and sold well and believed that the Lord was returning on a certain day and then everything they or the other person did was in vain.

Variant in which, for example, you constantly complain about the world, about politicians, about society, about morality and about all the things that are getting out of hand today, we constantly complain and make accusations, life is night, these are phenomena of the night. That is why it is so important that the first sentence of the text is there and there is already an elucidation there: and that is what the colon does because you recognize the time and we have to look closely at what it really says, Paul, who assumes that the Christians are the Romans. In this case, the Roman Christians recognized the time through their rebirth in Christ, not only themselves but also recognized the time and came of many communities and Christians, especially today, without saying that many taxes are constantly in the dark and playing to poker in some areas and there are a lot of fights and arguments, I will come back to that because "The time is recognized.

Unfortunately, we cannot recognize the cable in German, but in Greek it is very clear. There is a different word for time than the one we know. For us, time is Chronos. That's where chronology comes from, shown here on the cross. Kronos is the crossbar here, this is the linear time through which all humanity passes, history, the history of the world, the vertical line, this is the Kairos, this is the point in God's time, God's intervention in the world Let's also look from top to bottom, these two terms give us a completely different image of history than most have of people today.

They only think horizontally, only on the horizontal plane in the real historical plane and, of course, they are in popular fear and trembling. and full of inner threat and panic everything is coming towards us but here in the text Paul says that you have recognized time not only in the Chronos but in the Kairos, you have recognized that God has already caused a turning point in time there in the cross 2000 years ago when he condemned death, evil, the guilt of the whole thing The problems of the world the difficult situation of suffering the insidiousness of everything that is happening in the world he carried that there on the cross he carried the horizontal towards the vertical and brought it to God and reconciled it all and made it good, so we already have a basic decision from God on the cross that this world is finally not given over to evil, but that God's goal and plan comes to the right place at the right time.

If we assume the understanding of history now, we get a completely different view of the situation and experience the exact opposite of oppression, fear and panic. Verse 12, which is such a dark expression that the night has advanced, especially today because it is getting sharper and sharper until the end, the night has advanced, is in the second part of the phrase strange but the day is near, the day is also a special fixed concept the day which is the action of God which is the work of God the day is the light of God which is his decision which is his plan and the whole text deals with the question for the Roman Christians in that moment throughout history until today.

Are we people of the night or are we people of the day? Do we align ourselves with the night or do we align ourselves with the aforementioned day? in the resurrection of Jesus and this day is already grace is already near for us we are already at home as Christians in the midst of the presence of God although his video the appearance is still pending so the night advanced to be able to translate the night advanced the day but what it is about has come closer, I hope that we have also understood this intellectually, it is so important that we understand it, that do not ignore it now because, by nature, we constantly orient ourselves to night phenomena and react to them directly in our private life.

It is very important that we understand that the day has begun and we all know your life the more crazy the night gets, what happens then? The morning comes the further the night progresses the morning comes the morning star has risen that is what an old song says and it is here What it means is that Jesus is already present, he is already present in the midst of this terrible situation and threatening and of our world and time has not turned, he is not above the clouds nor above the stars, no, he is in our midst through the Holy Spirit, it is simply wonderful if you, for For example, listening from Ukraine, I have read this again these days the congregations are increasing day by day instead of decreasing, there are 2400 Baptist congregations in Ukraine and the religious services are packed, everyone comes and wants to hear the word of God, they want to get their bearings in the day and not at night. phenomena that are experienced there in the most bitter way, yes, I hope that we will also experience a shaking here in Western culture, a real spiritual shaking like the individual statements that really mean here, what conclusion should we draw from this, what to do now? again the question of what we should do now, how we should behave as living disciples of Jesus in this time of ours, that is what Paul said here then and for us today to remain in sleep, that is the first consequence, to rise from sleep and that It is what a Greek word, I also thought because in my time there is the word hypnosis, yes, Hypnos means sleep, drowsiness, that's where the famous word hypnosis comes from, which we all know, there is also a social hypnosis, we are hypnotized by the processes of our time, for what is happening. today What has caused fear and terror in the world today, we are hypnotized by it and it is exactly what the Lord will deliver us from.

He wants to free you and me from this hypnosis of terror. The world is coming to an end. until its end without a doubt, but we have exactly this context here and it does so because time recognizes the Kairos, that is, what God has already done and will continue to do ultimately in the future of the video, therefore, awakens from sleep, wake up from sleep and take. every hypnotic element that paralyzes you that distances you from God and that distances you from him and from the Bible and from the church yes let yourself wake up that's what a passive actually says let yourself wake up even the active one we can't we can't and we can't When we wake up, we sleep, they deliver at our age, if the other person is sleeping then say let him sleep, at some point they will wake him up, hopefully sometimes, then check if the heart is still beating.But everyday life things When you are young, you have nothing to do with it, but here in the spiritual world we have to be awakened, dear ones, that is what the Holy Spirit does, he is the one who awakens, it is his turn. he admonishes us every day come to the Lord, come to Jesus Be silent in front of him andcollect your life before Him.

Yes, I am already quite moved by what we are experiencing today in many communities, apart from the Catholic Church. , which is in a morally desolate state and no one knows if it will open its legs again come when I seriously shake the spirit of God and the grace of God but we must not be arrogant there is also a free church many crippling customs that we simply do not want to let go , we, God, are working on it today and it shakes us out of sleep, so to speak, it also shakes us out of spiritual sleep through the circumstances that we are experiencing today and that we believe are where everything will be and continue as it is, everything can change in the coming years, we also experience in the communities that we no longer have big and beautiful houses, for example, that we are like Jerusalem being persecuted and we are fleeing and then it is said and they proclaimed that gospel they did not complain or complain even though They lost everything, we must be prepared so that we live in a time where the Lord also through military political and social circumstances also shakes his people that Satan coveted.

You once told Peter to sift you like wheat, yes, everything has to be ordered by God. Are we real or are we fake? Are we pretending to be women or are we really? These are serious questions, darlings, all hypnotic. it has to move away from us and we have to become very sensitive to the kingdom of God again because that's what Paul says here in chapter 11 in verse 11 chapter 13 because our salvation is now closer, it refers to the second coming, our salvation in the future. Salvation, the final revelation of Jesus Christ, the living God, the heavenly world is now closer to us.

We can say it even more convincingly than 2000 years ago. One cannot turn to poets when we are in the new celestial world. because our salvation is closer now than when we became believers, everything was very compact at that time, today it is already very spread along the horizontal line that crosses the world, but we can assume that God has been there throughout the horizontal. history He led his community, he wanted to build it, he allowed improbable persecutions to come to the community, many of whom were Christians in the valleys of Austria in Tyrol because they were not wanted, they emigrated to America, who today have their specific names. where we often see good films about it, or the Huguenots of France, who were persecuted and especially well received here in Germany by the princes of the time and became our faithful servants of God in many areas.

God has built his empire throughout history. and has advanced his community to this day, without a doubt you can hear, for example, that in the southern hemisphere of our world there is much spiritual revival, that many, many thousands of people are knowing Jesus, or in Islam in Iran, especially where things are going crazy right now, millions of people are searching for Jesus and Jesus. The request came to them through dreams and other encounters and now through the clandestine community that has developed there, incredible and impressive developments. that we from the Kingdom of God can name day by day that should encourage us to rise from sleep and the return of Christ really to wait for the first Christians of that time who lived much closer together than we do today and had much stronger relationships.

They greeted each other every day when they saw each other with marada comes our lord maranata comes our lord how about if we greeted each other like this it would be impressive Word that I am a little different from hello, but in terms of content It still means something different from this form rooted here in Allgäu , which almost no one thinks about anymore. I will summarize it again and I will do it because you are the time, the Kairos, the action of God. You have recognized that it is time. there on the cross and in the resurrection and that comes from the spirit to wake us up from sleep because the Holy Spirit and the horizontal line of history always wake us up again and again so as not to fall into a pious sleep in a church dream and think that yes everything is fine as an old woman I met once said in the meadows of Allgäu who says that I am Catholic and that is enough she sleeps like a Catholic in a Catholic way we move on what we should do or rather the imperative and that does that makes we must Paul goes further by saying that we must put aside the works of darkness, I have already indicated that here and there we must consciously and decisively put aside the works of darkness, everything that comes from darkness, that is not from the light of the kingdom of God, and from there it is confirmed, we must consciously leave that aside.

I think about the entire history of gender, the confusion of the sexes, the recognition of homosexual marriages, it is not about rejecting homosexuals, on the contrary, God loves them like all of us, we are all sin in different ways. , they will also be saved but how we bless your sin, that we recognize your relationship, that we say that it is right before God, is the work of the flesh. Despite all the mental imperfections that also play an important role here and with all the influencing factors that are out of the way in our time, they are in a gang and are actually propagating sinful behaviors that undermine all kinds of ethics and morality because can.

It shouldn't be there, he loves it, we need a clear advantage, I will say at this point that we need a clear biblical advantage without turning into a falsely combative attitude or hostility. I noticed a situation on Facebook in recent weeks that a homosexual couple was getting publicly married in the First Baptist Church in Berlin. Of course I got involved and said my opinion and many people commented: your life is crazy, it's crazy the night has advanced even in the communities of believers the night is advancing and they justify that there is only one criterion where we have to stop when we exclude to someone when we exclude someone that is the thesis God has accepted all people I agree with that one hundred percent but we should not tolerate the evil that he probably did It does not mean God, that is why Jesus came into the world to bear our sins, our bad developments, our absurdities and to reconcile ourselves with God and recognize his will again and in ours compare our own lives is unlikely. pastors in free churches and evangelical communities who are about to adopt this new variant of the zeitgeist and transfer it to the community.

They say we shouldn't exclude anyone. Everything is, come on, we will bless and support marriage to everyone. is spreading there is, I simply say this to warn us at this time and to know what is happening. There is an older leader in the evangelical world who has been tested for decades in the Evangelical Alliance, for example, who they publicly say they have converted. Of course, with great curiosity to know what they mean now, they have converted to the idea that we should not exclude anyone, that is, that we only recognize the love of God as one that accepts, only as a person, even as a person. , you are in favor, that is why all sexual variants we are also very concerned about recognizing this as a deviation from God's plan and from the structure of God's creation.

These are recognized. They are recognized as a legitimate variant of God's Creation. We have to talk about it, dear ones, that this is happening. These are not assumptions, they are not an opinion that I am giving here now, but it is propagated at all levels of the Christian life and that is why this text is very relevant here. We must not recognize the works of darkness, that is, everything that is decided, recognized and promoted in darkness. We do not think of it as a possibility of spiritual life, but we need the capacity in our communities. to, how to say it, a classic, sensitive pastoral, that does not judge, that corrects, that helps, that builds, that does not bless what is blessed but rather corrects what has been disordered.

That's why we are there. why we have to know what the works of darkness are. This also includes greed. This includes greed. This includes fighting. This includes distrust. This includes the struggle of the flesh in myself. We should do it. This includes the world of pornography. which, as I read, 50% of pastors in the United States are influenced and overwhelmed, as I read in a study in the United States, how can good happen in their lives? We have to know it. I'm also clear about it. Here we have to think about it again because the word of God speaks very clearly about that so let us discard the works of darkness everything that distances us from God makes an enemy of what paralyzes and blocks us internally and takes away any type of spiritual authority.

I experienced this myself in some moments in my life when I personally entered into a pastoral care conversation because I could not face this burden or this seduction and in confession in which I confess my guilt to God. , first of all to Jesus and then possibly also to a human being, and I let myself be prayed for, I can be free, the Lord has called us to freedom and where there is the Spirit of the Lord there is freedom, how many problems there are in Christian marriages for example I continue with the works of darkness when a man simply no longer pays attention to his wife as the years go by it is a carnal danger I say carnal Danger our flesh is a creature of habit we get used to the other person until the point that he no longer has anything to say to us, that we no longer want anything from him and we don't care how he feels and we follow our own path, especially men. speaking of Now, as a man in this position, there is probably something backwards, but dear ones, our marriages must be spiritual focal points, spiritual coincidences of our marriages, of our relationships, something must emerge as an example, that we have new lives, that we understand marriage differently than in today's world.

Generally speaking, I have also read here in the last few days I have been very busy with these things and yes, it is completely common nowadays that you get married, but if things go wrong at some point you don't want to expose yourself to this stress and break up and soon have a new partner and that's how you get to three four five. I have also heard of homosexuals, also of homosexuals who had 1000 partners. yes, dear ones, this is how the night advances, the night advances and whoever does not know the day, then the Lord has created and who in the end will come to us, whoever does not live in the day, is not equal to the night.

He who does not live in the day of the kingdom of God seeks first the kingdom of God he becomes a victim of his flesh his lusts his lusts a victim of his pious habit he can no longer do anything else because he is trapped in this power because the demonic forces are also attacking here, so in verse 13 no, there is still the alternative, but let's get very interesting the weapons of light, the weapons, not the works that one could logically have expected, but now, of the weapons as the whole turns. matter says that your Christian has to be attacking not only should you belittle but you should attack attack the world with light and I swear that it was with light that you show the alternative and above all to yourself the alternative lives that your life is based on light of Jesus Christ, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not live in darkness, may this become a new reality to a certain extent, that again is linked to awakening, awakening, leaving. let the light enter, open the windows the storm of the spirit in your life again so that completely new things are possible in your Christian life weapons of light that means fighting yes fighting in the best sense of the word that is fighting with light fighting with truth fight with love, these are the weapons that the Lord gives us.

There is also the weapon of faith, the weapon of the certainty of salvation, the weapon of truth, these are the weapons that we have and that may be rotting somewhere. place in the unconscious basement of our lives only the Holy Spirit knows where we all are the Holy Spirit knows where you are Wolfgang and where I am Horst and where Maike is the Holy Spirit the Lord Himself knows where we are and is standing in front of you this morning and He tells them You don't want to, you don't want to let go of what has been tormenting you for decades and what you have to keep secret in your life, that's why I'm here and I've come to do it so that you can put it aside and become free and become a disciple of Jesus who is able to fight with the weapons of light, then continue in verse 13 it is a prayer that is very socially focused it says, let's goWant to live honorably so that when we are in society at work or in traffic or wherever we go, maybe at a concert or anywhere or maybe we attend a party, no matter where we are, let's live in a bar, that is, for the joy of the Lord To honor the Lord, so that the Lord can rejoice for you and me, the word shame also appears.

We must not live in such a way that we ourselves and others are ashamed of it. Clear statement, let us live with joy as in the day. Here the word day appears again as in the day. Day you live by day in the light of the Kingdom of God and not in the night of this world and that is why your way of thinking always says twelve of the same book that I have here right now, the same letter in chapter 12 verse 1 or 2, that we arechanging, we need a metamorphosis in our thinking, let yourself change by renewing your mind, but Luther literally says let yourself change, change by renewing your mind because everything we experience goes through our head, that's where we have stupid thoughts, that's where the bad ones come impulses, that's where it boils and that's where we play around with some things together and exactly at this point the Holy Spirit wants to work powerfully so that we are transparent to God and to our neighbors, let life be more like a day and a day and now it's getting very concrete, so that actually means that seems to be the case.

Not necessarily up-to-date for us, but maybe food and drink play a bigger role than they should, maybe our culture and domestic furnishings, our car and our house, play a bigger role than they should, maybe all of that is what they are looking for. longs and also yearns in the literal sense, also when it comes to fashion, are we subject to the Lord or do we not follow the trends of the time? Fornication Fornication means everything that in the sexual area is carried out outside of marriage. place outside of marriage also in our heads takes place outside of marriage, that is what God does not like and what is the work of darkness and whoever is constantly moved by such dark thoughts and emotions can no longer shine, that is why in others places pay attention before your eyes, what you really see, what you really consume, what you are really taking in and today we live in a visual age where everything from images, from advertising to the media, is full of images, so to speak, we become images. , we are shaped by images or sometimes it goes beyond words.

You look at images, we as Christians have to ask ourselves what images you want, what they are about you, what you want to take in and Jesus says The eyes are the windows to the soul and what you let in determines the course of your life which determines your reactions. Your behavior and your encounters with the opposite sex are determined by what you yourself may secretly assimilate. Let's live like during the day, not "As Lutter says, then you bet. These are the Roman banquets we are referring to here, the Roman banquets, perhaps. Have we ever seen in the movie what is served and how it is served? please?

I saw something very similar. The thing about communists among the elites, they were burning and they were feasting. A young Russian arrived who already had a career behind him and came to a festival like this in Moscow and was delighted because he was 100% communist. or he finally held a real festival with my people and then entered the big hall where the big elite should sit and see how many heads in the tureens, troops and meat plates were completely drunk and no longer responding, yes , that is advanced. night yes, I just want to indicate how much the night can advance and that we can also see and experience that in our days and yes, here in Allgäu there is also a lot of partying and alcohol plays a very important role in it and then Continue after that, so neither fornication, nor debauchery, nor harshness, arguments and jealousy, everything comes from that and we are deeply shaped and directed and then I also come to the end, he gives the great alternative of how this can really be successful. , that we surrender the day, that we live in the light and that we want it from the bottom of our hearts, we cannot even do it from our own motivation because our flesh is sometimes very strong and always attracts us. a demonic direction we are really magnetically attracted by the spirit of this world intestine said in verse 14 but attracts the Lord Jesus Christ attracts the Lord Jesus Christ that is a common formula also of the At that time dressing was not just something external, we say yes, sometimes people make clothes, yes that means what I wear does what happens to me.

I am someone but here in the spiritual area in a much deeper way than in the purely external fashion area here. It is because we accept Jesus as the new self, our new identity, he is our identity and not my old self. I know what my old self is capable of but that is no longer my identity and I still know it. If I ever experience a temptation or perhaps even fall, then I am still aware that I have experienced it in sometimes bitter times, that my conscience was always struck by the Holy Spirit. Horst, what is it like?

Do you want to be free? Don't you want to be free? Yes, we do. If we have the identity of Jesus, we also recognize what is wrong in our lives because he is the only true Jesus Christ, we must put ourselves on his side and I wish with all my heart when Paul later makes this a highly theological issue. affirmation, typical of him, attracts the Lord Jesus Christ in highly theological terms, it cannot be more, push one into our flesh, do not worry about your physical life so that you awaken the lustful because you say the same phrase yes but said with different words when we Jesus then these anxious ones are relativized so we still have them but they no longer govern our thoughts, emotions and attitudes and that is what I wish for us, dear brothers and sisters, who in this sense are a community, a humanity, The new humanity lives in the light and that radiates to this world, because it not only has a small rear light, it must be powerful beacons towards the future, God bless you, amen.