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Daily eMail Devotional
Thursday, March 12, 2010
Matthew 24:4-14 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.You ever see some people on the streets holding up those signs that say, “THE END IS NEAR!” I used to go to college with some guys who would go out to some of the busy intersections in our city and hold up signs similar to that. You kind of look at them and think, “Cuckoo!” I do think it is an extreme way of doing things but I will admit the message is true more than ever before and the people around us need to be warned.
Our passage here is one often debated upon whether it is speaking of before the rapture or during the rapture but the goal is not to go into that but to warn that the end is indeed near. A lot of the things we find in our passage we can see in our world today. We read, “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, nation shall rise against nation, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” Does it kind of sound like what goes on whenever you have been watching the news lately? As we read the passage I am sure some of today’s current events popped into your mind; Haiti, Chile, H1N1, Iran, Pakistan, Palestine and Israel, etc……Coincidences? I think not. By the signs of the times the end is indeed nearer than it has ever been and what, as Christians, are we going to do about it?
The Bible says in II Corinthians 5:11, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” The Lord is coming back and therefore we need to persuade men. We need to be warning others of the coming tribulation and then telling them of God’s deliverance. We need to be telling others of God’s saving grace and the precious blood He shed upon Calvary.
I am thankful that as God’s children we will not have to face the tribulation but those who are not Christians will and what are we doing to warn them? I do not believe our recent news is by chance or by coincidence but rather signs that the end is near. As Christians we can praise the Lord for our glorious rapture but what about the lost. Our lost family members, our lost coworkers, neighbors, and friends. If you do not persuade them, who will?
Love you all!
Pastor Mike
Don't Forget -
