♦J 16, 2022

As a Southern Baptist association, we seek to support and serve alongside the Bride of Christ to
proclaim the “gospel above all” to the River Region of Central Alabama by:
Meeting human need and planting gospel seed;
Saturating the River Region with community evangelism and church planting; and,
Calling out the called to carry the message of Jesus across the street and around the world.

One Day More

As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who
sent me. The night is coming when no one can work.

--- John 9:4

Mary and I recently enjoyed the musical Anastasia at
the Gouge Performance Center in Auburn. We highly
recommend you check it out. On our way home down
I-85 South, we started discussing all the musicals we
Neal Hughes have seen together in our forty-two years of marriage.
Director of Missions Mary would say them, I would sing them… Fiddler
on the Roof, Phantom of the Opera, Cinderella,
Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Hamilton. But my all-time favorite is Les
Miserable. When Mary brought the great musical to my attention, I belted
out with a baritone/tenor voice singing, “One day more.” Of course, the
hound dogs between Tuskegee and Tallassee gave the town grief with their
howling.
I have been thinking about that phrase, “one day more.” In the play, the
final lyrics to the song are:
Tomorrow we will be far away, Tomorrow is the judgment day.
Tomorrow we will discover what our God in Heaven has in store!
One more dawn, One more day, One day more!
In the opening Bible verse of this column, Jesus spoke with a sense of
urgency to “work as if it is day.” Considering eternity and the Bheema seat,
do we have one day more? In these challenging days of worldwide chaos,
disturbing inflation, continuing pandemics, mass shootings, wars and
rumors of wars, and a tragic announcement of our SBC family participating
in the cover-up of sexual abuse, I wonder,
“Do we have one day more before the rapture,
before the day of the Lord?”
The scriptures say:
Near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming very quickly.
Zephaniah 1:14
Blow a trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let
all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is
coming. Surely it is near. Joel 2:1
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come
just like a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:2
But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,
nor the Son, but the Father alone. Mark 13:32
Jesus said that none of us know when the “day of the Lord” will occur
except the Father. But there are enough signs to indicate the angel is oiling
his trumpet. We may have one day more before the twinkling of an eye, and
we all go to be with Jesus. Or it may be next year, or next decade, or next
century. Until then, “let us work, for the night is coming when no one can
work” John 9:4.
The urgency is upon us. God willing, I hope that Mary and I will be serving
with you in Montgomery when the “day of the Lord” takes place, and our
Savior appears. Until then, let us stay on task and “seize the day” with the
gospel mission before us.
Together WE Can!
Neal
Montgomery Baptist Association • PO Box 3319 • 20 Interstate Park Dr. • Montgomery, Alabama 36109 • 334-271-6227 • www.mgmbaptists.org
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