The Last Sign

I had this friend in Chattanooga who rented billboards. He was amazing at getting people to see the power of using signs for advertising. In fact, he was so good that he would sell for a while in a town, and then someone would buy him out.  For awhile he would have to stay out of that town; then he would sell them in a new town until the same thing happened. His power to use and show how effective signs were was unbelievable.  He had a unique ability, because often our world seems too busy for signs.

All too often people pass by signs. We may see some that stand out here or there, but think about how many signs you pass on the road and don’t even read them. I couldn’t tell you how many signs I go by in a day and don’t read them.

A few weeks ago we experienced a miscommunication at Mt. Calvary. Somehow some wires had been crossed and so some published materials indicated that Love 1 Serve 1 started at 7pm and some said 6 pm. We realized the majority of our stuff said 7pm, so I sent out a quick Pastor Update email that clarified that the correct  time was 7 pm. But our front sign had been wrong for months saying 6pm, so I thought, “Let’s see what happens.” This is a prime time to see who reads that sign. I made sure I was here before 6pm, and as I waited only one couple showed up at 6pm. A couple which is well known at Mt. Calvary. I thought, “Well, that’s interesting. Do people read our sign? Is this just something they are not interested in? What does this mean?“

Even greater than that is how do we tell if God is giving us a sign? The danger is that we focus on our actions, and look for signs based upon our mistakes or on good things we do, but the reality is how do we recognize a sign from God? It is a hard thing to figure out. Many times in my life I have sat back and asked, “God what are you teaching me?” There were many times in my life when signs happened, and I was asking God, “What does this sign mean?” The honest truth is that for most of us it seems so hard to tell what God is saying and what sign is He giving us.

I think this happens for a lot of reasons, because we see people who see signs in everything. I know people who said that God told them where to buy flowers, CDs and so on. How do they know that?

At the end I know I can rely on what God gives me. 1 John 4 talks about seeing if the spirit (sign) matches up with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and if it does, then it is from God. Hard to do when the sign we might be receiving affects this neither here nor there. So what then? I trust God’s Word, and His peace. I also trust God’s promise of being with us, along with His daily guidance.

Anyway you look at signs it’s tough whether they catch your eye or you ignore them. This week we will discuss understanding the last sign, and what that means. As the church year prepares to wrap up, it is a message that is so important; especially because we are about to celebrate the birth of Jesus, a sign that so many missed and still do today. Yet, it is the only sign we don’t want to miss, and we at Mt. Calvary will do our best to help the world see this sign, whether or not they read the signs in our front yard.