Matthew 24:42-51

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Prophecy is so fascinating and those who claim to have it all nailed down and figured out have missed what Jesus is saying so simply. For instance, in the last paragraph, Jesus sets the context as "in the days of Noah" and one is taken and the other is left. Who was taken and who was left behind? Those who were the faithful were left behind, yet one of the all-time best-sellers ever is the "Left Behind" series. In that series, they teach just the opposite! Go figure!

Jesus goes on warning His disciples to be on the alert: 42 ``Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 ``But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 ``For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. 
45 ``Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 ``Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 ``Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 ``But if that evil slave says in his heart, `My master is not coming for a long time,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. BE READY!

There is a fable which tells of three apprentice devils who were coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and ruin men. The first said, "I will tell them there is no God." Satan said, "That will not delude many, for they know that there is a God." The second said, "I will tell men there is no hell." Satan answered, "You will deceive no one that way; men know even now that there is a hell." The third said, "I will tell men there is no hurry." "Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin them by the thousands." The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time to get your act together with Jesus. The most dangerous day in a man's life is when he learns that there is such a word as tomorrow. There are things which must not be put off, for no man knows if for him tomorrow will ever come.

Think of the tragic morning of September 11th. That morning rocked our world dramatically! It just doesn't take much to turn the world on its head. This brings a new perspective on "one day at a time." We are to set our course for the long haul, but live as if this is all we have. Jesus may come for even you today! Are you ready?

Matthew 24:32-41

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32 ``Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; 33 so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door . 34 ``Truly I say to you, this generation [normally, this word is translated "race"] will not pass away until all these things take place.[When you see all of the these signs coming to pass, then you will know that the Messiah's coming in glory and victory is near.] 35 ``Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. 36 ``But of that day and hour no one knows, [What part of "no one" do you not understand?] not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37

``For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 ``For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, [Even though Noah had been preaching and telling the story of the impending judgment of the flood, they did not understand it all until it actually happened and then it was too late!] 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. [In the flood, the people who did not "get it" were removed from living on the earth. They were going on with their lives, ignoring the message that was being preached. So, in the same way, the masses of people on earth will ignore the preaching of the coming of the Messiah in glory and will face the same kind of ending to their lives.] 40 ``Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 ``Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

No matter how you interpret the 2nd Coming of Jesus, there is one universal fact that must not be ignored. Jesus is coming! After a fresh trip in my mind of visiting the people of Israel-Muslim, Jews (religious and secular), Christians, and Druze, everyone is poised toward this great, supernatural event!

FIRST--Muslims are looking for Jesus to return and bring world peace!

SECOND--Religious Jews are looking for the Messiah (already rejected Jesus' Messiah-ship) to come and bring peace!

THIRD--The secular Jews are so desperate that they quietly hope there is a supernatural work of God such as the coming of Messiah!

FOURTH--The Christians (in their hundreds of Heinz varieties, all believing that Jesus will come and affirm their way of thinking) are looking for Jesus to bring peace!

FIFTH--The Druze (a Muslim spin-off) are looking for the Messiah to come and bring peace (although in their thinking, He will be born through a man.)!

In other words, there are people all over the world who are looking up into the skies and seeking the God of gods to do something dramatic. So, where are you looking?

THE FREEDOM AND FORGIVENESS OF JESUS

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On this day of celebration of our freedom in this great country, there is a greater freedom to celebrate! In fact, the freedom I am speaking of has to do with personal freedom. It's the freedom that if you have it, then you could live under political domination and still be free. Or, if you don't have it, you could live in the freest of countries and still be enslaved. There is only one kingdom on planet earth where you can celebrate true freedom inside out and that is in the kingdom of God, where Jesus is King. Where the King is, there is the kingdom. And where Jesus is, there is FREEDOM.

I grew up enslaved as a kid by people who didn't understand this freedom. You see, you can know lots about Jesus and still not experience His freedom. The letter to the fellowship of believers in Galatia deals with this issue as its primary theme. In Galatians 5 the writer says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love."

The letter to the fellowship of believers in Rome is the basic source for the Galatian letter and in chapter 8 Paul says, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." You can't get much clearer than NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE IN JESUS.

Jesus said to those who believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Now the way I figure it, those of us who are doing the best we can to walk with Jesus, walk with others and wait on Jesus to lead out are walking as disciples of Jesus and continuing in His word, therefore we ought to know His freedom in our lives and celebrate it!

In the Acts of Jesus (13:38-39) this freedom is summed with, "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses."

The best invitation to freedom is from Jesus Himself when He says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." All who are weary and burdened down with all of the religious systems of performance out there that produce every level of guilt imaginable. You are the ones Jesus is calling to COME TO HIM. Then note He is calling you and me into REST. That rest is the freedom of not having to pay attention to the religiosities of our world and world systems and of our church and cultural systems that weigh us down. JESUS IS CALLING US TO BE HIS DISCIPLES AND THAT CALL IS AN INVITATION TO REST. AND THAT REST IS AN INVITATION TO FREEDOM.

I sum it up this way: YOU CANNOT BE A FREE PERSON UNTIL YOU BECOME BOUND TO THE PERSON OF JESUS!

Matthew 24:15-31

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Question #3-What is the sign of your coming? 15 ``Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 ``Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 ``Whoever is in the field must not turn back, to get his cloak. 19 ``But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 ``But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

21 ``For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever, will. 22 ``Unless those days had been cut short, no, life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 ``Then if anyone says to you, `Behold, here is the Christ,' or `There He is,' do not believe him. 24 ``For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.[The deception by these false messiahs will be so believable that the true believers may be misled.]

25 ``Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 ``So if they say to you, `Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go out, or, `Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them.

27 ``For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. [The sign will be like a lightning flash from the east to the west.] 28 ``Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

29 ``But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

THEN, 30 ``And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31 ``And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

The point here is that Jesus will not come in a secretive, humble manner as when He first came, so that His coming might occur unnoticed. But He will come in a dramatic way following a great world-wide tribulation, claims of false messiahs and major changes in the heavens (sun, moon and stars). When Jesus comes back, no one will be able to miss it! The question again is: "Are you ready?"

Matthew 24:4-14

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Question #2-What is the sign of the end of the age?

4 And Jesus answered and said to them, ``See to it that no one misleads you. 5 ``For many will come in My name, saying, `I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. 6 ``You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 ``For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 ``But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. It's not so much the fact of famines and earthquakes, but the frequency and intensity like the birth pangs of pregnancy. 

9 ``Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 ``At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 ``Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 ``Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. 13 ``But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 ``This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Some believe that the "nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom" was the 1st world war, then the increase in frequency and intensity of the famines and earthquakes, great persecution, false prophets rising up and deceiving many, lawlessness increased, love for one another will be more and more scarce, THEN, the gospel of the kingdom will be presented in the whole world as a testimony of God and THEN THE END WILL COME.

So, the end of the age will come after several, cataclysmic events and the ugly atmosphere of a loveless world will prevail. What do you think? Is it near?

I used to believe I had the prophetic end-times all worked out. I could draw the charts and come very close to nailing down the time of Jesus' return and the end of the world as we know it. The more I've learned about simply and really following Jesus, I've come to realize that maybe I didn't know as much as I thought I did.

What fascinates me the most out of this passage is verse 14: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come." Now that we are working with the many cultures of the world where people are becoming followers of Jesus without abandoning their cultures, WHEN Jesus comes back is not nearly as important as focusing on the WHO of Jesus Himself. He is already showing up within the many cultures of the world. Now, that is thrilling to me!