It’s a “Come as you are Party”! WARNING: This is longer than usual, but it holds the keys to an EVERLASTING PARTY.

Back in “my day”, there were a lot of those “Come as You Are” parties. Here’s what that meant: You’d get a phone call from a friend and whatever you were wearing at that moment, was what you had to wear to the party. Folks would show up in their jammies and slippers or jogging suits or draw-string sweat pants, work-out clothes, paint-spattered overalls or gardening grubbies. The honor system was honored, and people, blushingly, wore what they were caught in.

Those were way before today when ragged jeans and t-shirts are acceptable almost everywhere. Back in my day “Sunday best” was the only acceptable attire for most occasions. I remember my mom making sure I wore gloves (and often a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat) to church. BTW – you should see how many pairs of dress gloves we are selling at Mom’s Estate sale. Whew!) It was a point of etiquette and as standard for that attire back then as jeans and a t-shirt are today.

But, one of these days…..we will have a “Come as You Are” moment when our race on this earth is done and it will take our final breath. With our world in such disarray because of the enemy’s tactics to create chaos, hatred, confusion, bitterness and death, we need to be dressed in our best (spiritually speaking), to be ready to go at any moment, as sudden as a phone call or as quick as the flash of a camera.

Billy Graham did his best to get his audiences ready to meet God. Twelve years ago today, March 12, 2006, Billy spoke these words at a “Celebration of Hope” in New Orleans not long after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city:

“Tonight I want to speak on something that all of you are familiar with, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I remember watching on television the approach of Katrina. I didn’t have any idea from what I heard that it was going to be the storm that it turned out to be. I was like everybody else. I knew it was a hurricane. I knew it was dangerous, but I had no idea the punch that it would have. In fact, I had never even heard of the levees in New Orleans; I’d never heard people talk about them. And then all of a sudden they began to tell us that the levees had given way and we saw the devastation that happened. We watched the brave, wonderful men and women in helicopters who helped carry people to safety. And we knew that a God of love was watching over us. The Scripture says, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). God loves you.

Now, the Scripture says that man has a terminal disease; we’re all sinners and we’ve all broken God’s law. It’s a terminal disease because we’re under the sentence of death. Every one of us is going to die. War does not increase death. Hurricanes do not increase death, because death comes to everybody. Every one of us is under that sentence -- not only physical death but also spiritual death.

Spiritual death means that we are separated from God forever, and the Bible calls that hell. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ. It has been said that the ultimate statistic is that “one in every one person is going to die.” Most of us in this auditorium will not be alive 75 or 80 years from now. All are subject to death.

Whether you are a young person here tonight or an old person like me, you’d better decide for Christ here and now, because you never know when your turn is coming. Some of the words that Jesus used to describe eternal loss are lost, perished, condemned, punishment, torment, hell, everlasting fire.

The Bible says that God gave His Son on the cross and made Him to be sin for us. Think of Jesus. He became sin. Not His sin, but yours and mine. God laid on Him the iniquity of us all, “Who His own self bears our sins on the cross” (1 Peter 2:24). “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust” (1 Peter 3:18), and the Bible says that if we are to ever get to heaven and have the peace of God in our hearts, we’ll have to come to Him. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). Has that happened to you? What do you have to do?

First, you must repent. That’s the first sermon Jesus ever preached, the first sermon John the Baptist ever preached. “Jesus began to preach, and to say, ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (Matthew 4:17). And tonight He says to you, “Repent.” What does repentance mean? It means that you are sorry for your sins, that you’re willing to turn from your sins.

The second thing you must do is believe. The word “believe” that’s used in Scripture means to commit. You commit yourself to Jesus. The Bible says, “God commands all men everywhere to repent and to believe and be converted to Him” (Acts 17:30), and “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is” (Hebrews 11:6). And it says, “But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).

I saw in a cartoon where someone wrote to a pastor and said, “Dear preacher, what does God mean when He forgives us?” The pastor wrote back and said, “All your files are deleted.” God deletes all your files. They are totally erased.

Once in a while a newspaper reporter writes that I have Parkinson’s disease, and that’s true, but that’s a minor disease compared to what I really have. About four years ago I had four brain operations, and today I have two shunts in my brain. I can feel them here on the back of my head, and they hurt every day.
One night, I knew I was dying, and I think the doctor did as well. I didn’t think I could survive. And in my darkness, I called upon God. All of a sudden, all of my sins since childhood came before me. And underneath them was written, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Now tonight, if you’re not sure of your relationship to God, if you’re not certain and you’d like to be certain, I want you to come and stand in front of this platform, and say by coming, “I want to know that I’m ready to meet God. I’m opening my heart and letting Jesus come in.”

If there’s a little voice speaking inside of you saying you should come, that could be the Holy Spirit drawing you. Don’t resist Him. The Scripture says, “He that hardens himself shall suddenly be lost” (Proverbs 29:1). Come.”

With those words, Billy Graham sent out a “Come as You Are” party invitation. For some time now, I wanted to throw this party, and I think Billy Graham’s words are the best I could use in this blog and Facebook post today to invite you to it. It’s time to come into the Family of God. Please come today. Pray this prayer that Billy Graham led audiences in, and believe with your heart, and you will be ALL READY when you are called to God’s “Come as You Are” party:

“Dear God, I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I believe Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe He died for my sin and that You raised Him to life. I want to trust Him as my Savior and follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Jesus, I put my trust in You and I surrender my life to You. Please come into my life and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.”