Thursday 23 April 2015

Be Ready

Be Ready
“then He said to his disciples, ‘the time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
 Men will tell you, ‘there his is!’ Or ‘Here he is!’ do not go running off after them.”
                                                                                  Luke17:22,23
Throughout the years there have been many groups that have arisen that have claimed Christ is returning at such and such a time. There are many that have claimed doom and gloom because various things have happened.
When world war one came some claimed Christ would return then. When it didn’t happen there the next major social up evil was the great depression. Of course we know it didn’t happen then, so world war two came with Hitler thought to be the anti-Christ. It wasn’t so.
Group over the years have looked at the world around them and seen what they thought were signs of the coming of Christ only to find they were wrong.
At the turn of the new millennium some said the computers of the world were going to melt down causing doom and gloom. It didn’t happen.
Sometimes I think Christians spend more time predicting the end of the world than they do evangelizing.
Lately the latest thing is this “Blood Moon” theory. Another wrong teaching.
Many years ago I had a pastor that I believe set me on the right foot when it comes to predictions of Christ’s return and serving as Christian in general.
There were a half dozen of us all in our early twenties that would meet at his house Sunday afternoons and just relax. The conversations not always but quite often revolved around Christian thinking.
He was the first to tell me of the three theories of the rapture, the pre tribulationist who believed that the Christians would be taken before the tribulation period. The mid tribulationist who said it would happen in the middle and the post tribulationist who thought it would happen at the end of the tribulation.
He however said it didn’t bother him who was right, that he was quote “a pan-tribulationist”.
That it would all pan out in the end and all that mattered was that he was doing his best for Christ when it happened. Good advise.
Matthew records,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 
                                                                     Matthew 28:18-20.

What better thing for the Christian to be doing than reaching out to the world when he returns. Than serving God to the best of our ability rather than spending our time on empty speculation.
Jesus said,
“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,  like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.  
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.  
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.  
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.  
You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” 
                                                                                                                                    Luke 12:35-40.
Please think about it

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