Matthew 25:31-46

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31 ``But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 ``All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 ``Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 `For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 ``Then the righteous will answer Him, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 `And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 `When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 ``The King will answer and say to them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 



41 ``Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 ``Then they themselves also will answer, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 ``Then He will answer them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent, that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 ``These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.''

NOTE two things here: FIRST--Those in need are at the heart of God-hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned. Human nature is to take care of those who can do something for us. Therefore, we look to treat those who are important from an earthly perspective-the athlete, the musician, the highly positioned person in society. BUT Jesus points us in another direction entirely!

SECOND--Ministering to the needy is in fact ministering to Jesus, Himself. So, if you want to find and interact with Jesus, He is right there in the midst of those in need.

So what does this mean to you? Where is Jesus in your world?

Matthew 25:14-30

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14 ``For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 ``To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. 16 ``Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. 17 ``In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. 18 ``But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 

19 ``Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 ``The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, `Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.' 21 ``His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' 

22 ``Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, `Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.' 23 ``His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' 

24 ``And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, `Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 `And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.' 

26 ``But his master answered and said to him, `You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27 `Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28 `Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.' 


29 ``For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 30 ``Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This teaching, as all of Jesus' messages, has an immediate application as well as a universal one for us today! The immediate is another warning to the Scribes and Pharisees and anyone who follows them. For us there are, at least, four principles.

FIRST-God gives men different gifts. It's not what is given a person, but how he or she handles it that matters. Although talents aren't equal, effort is.

SECOND-God's reward of "well done" leads to more work to do. Each of the two who received their rewards for their great effort are given the opportunity to carry an even greater responsibility in the Kingdom work.

THIRD-God's punishment is only given to the one who was not willing to try. He didn't lose it, but he was unwilling to invest it that it might become more productive. In other words, this man missed the point of what he was given. All that is given to us by God is given for us to manage, not to own for ourselves. It is given to use for the Kingdom. And, if we are seeking His righteousness and His Kingdom, God will take care of our security needs.

FOURTH-The only way to keep God's gift is to use it and then more will be given in the process. If you don't use it, you will surely lose it!

Matthew 25:1-13

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1 ``Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 ``Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 ``For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 ``Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6 ``But at midnight, there was a shout, `Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' 7 ``Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 ``The foolish said to the prudent, `Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 ``But the prudent answered, `No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' 10 ``And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 ``Later the other virgins also came, saying, `Lord, lord, open up for us.' 12 ``But he answered, `Truly I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 ``Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

Jesus continues His warning of being ready. BE READY and BE PREPARED for the most important event yet to come in your life. The Bride-groom is coming! God's Messiah (the Bride-groom) is coming for His Bride.

In its immediate significance it was directed against the Jews. they were the chosen people; their whole history should have been a preparation for the coming of the Son of God; they ought to have been prepared for him when he came. Instead they were quite unprepared and therefore were shut out.

The only way I know to BE READY is to have a fresh, daily, relationship with Jesus, strengthened by my relationships with other followers of Jesus.

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?