- araratchurch
- Feb 9
- 4 min read
“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.”
Hebrews 9:27-28 NLT
I was raised by a father who always stressed the coming of Jesus Christ in his many years of ministry. Of course, he—as any good pastor would—covered many aspects of the Christian walk. However, no matter what his topic, he often found a way to reference that Jesus was coming back soon and that we needed to be ready and watching for Him.
Having been exposed all my life, to a man of God who spoke often about the Lord‘s coming, I was surprised when I began to see churches, sharing similar beliefs to those with which I grew up, drifting away from an emphasis on Jesus’ soon coming.
Now, among the many ill-informed and self-serving reasons they used for neglecting the teaching of the need to be expecting the Lord‘s return, was that it would somehow cause people to have no initiative toward being supportive of the church. They are seemingly unaware that they are fulfilling a prophecy about the Last Days before the coming of Jesus Christ.
“knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.””
2 Peter 3:3-4 ESV
The truth is, a thorough examination of the teaching of the disciples throughout the New Testament, will reveal many references to the Lord’s return.
Indeed, Jesus, promised that He would come back.
““Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”
John 14:1-3 NLT
Additionally, Jesus stressed the need to be watching for His return.
“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”
Matthew 24: 37-39, 42, 44 NLT
The disciples, staring into heaven as Jesus ascended into heaven, were reminded by angels that Jesus would return the same way He left.
““Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!””
Acts of the Apostles 1:11 NLT
Paul spoke often of the Lord‘s return, referencing our looking for Him as being our “blessed hope.”
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,”
Titus 2:11-13 ESV
Peter said we should be looking for and hastening the day of the Lord’s return.
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
2 Peter 3:11-13 ESV
In our opening scripture, we see the writer of Hebrews saying that the Lord will come again for those who are looking for Him.
The scriptures we have offered here, are only a few of the myriad references throughout the whole Bible about the fact that Jesus will come again and then rule and reign over the Earth forever.
Several years ago now, the Lord spoke to me saying that I was not excited about His coming. Honestly, it wasn’t until He said that, that I realized it was the case. Shortly after that, the Lord gave me a sleeping vision where I was being angrily confronted by people who were very close to me. As they were coming toward me, I started saying, “Jesus is coming. Get ready for Him!” At that point, I was lifted up off the ground and actually floated through the group, floating out of sight. Then, just before we started Ararat Church, I heard the Lord‘s voice clearly speaking in my ear, saying, “I AM coming soon!”
Child of God, for those who want to go on to know the Lord, for those who want to take hold of everything He has prepared for us, there is no greater imperative than that of looking for His soon coming, while encouraging everyone we can, to be looking for Him, and to be ready for Him.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Feb 7
- 4 min read
“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”
James 1:5 NLT
We’ve all known people who know a lot of things, are considered generally intelligent, and yet they seem to have no—what we call—“common sense.”
Now, we may struggle with a thorough definition of common sense; but we know it when we see it and we know it when we don’t see it.
I believe there is an element in what we call common sense that is not so common. Consider: common sense is the ability to learn from experience, not ignoring facts, but knowing what the accumulation of facts mean, and apply all this to decisions, judgments, etc. Wait, I think you now see what I meant earlier when I alluded to the fact that to come up with a thorough definition of common sense, is not that easy. And again, having of the same is not that “common.”
However, allow me to present you with something that is even better than what we call common sense. Indeed, the wisdom that God gives us through His Holy Spirit, far exceeds any notion of common sense.
One might ask, “Isn’t all wisdom the same? Actually, as with many things, different people will use the word “wisdom” to apply to a number of abilities. For example, someone who is focused on making a lot of money, might reference someone who is good at making investments, as having “wisdom.” I don’t have a problem with that, but what we are stressing here is that the child of God should have access to a way of being and doing, a level of understanding, and a scope of the same, far beyond anything the world could offer or is “commonly” seen. As well, it is not limited to a particular application.
James offers a very straightforward litmus test for whether a person is operating in the wisdom that is from the Lord, or the so-called wisdom that is from the world (human “wisdom” uninformed by the Holy Spirit).
“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”
James 3:13-18 NLT
Distilling what James says in these verses, we can say that if a person‘s way of thinking, judging, and deciding, produces sinful behaviors, that is not wisdom from the Lord. If, on the other hand, a person‘s decision-making and judgment, their general way of being and doing, reflects Christlike qualities and behavior, then we can say that is the result of the heavenly kind of wisdom. And that is the kind of wisdom followers of Christ should all seek.
As children of God, as true followers of Christ, we should be careful to not accept the world‘s definition of wisdom, not to seek to be what the world thinks is wise, intelligent, and so on. Rather, let us unapologetically seek that wisdom which is from the Lord.
Indeed, the word of the Lord says that fear of the Lord, honoring Him, obeying Him, is the foundation, or the beginning, of wisdom. So, I would submit to you that those who do not have any fear of the Lord are not truly wise.
“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever!”
Psalms 111:10 NLT
Now, just as with any other quality or fruit coming out of the Holy Spirit within us, there is a progressive nature to these qualities being exhibited in our lives. But when none of these things, none of the signs of heavenly wisdom, is present in our lives, something is wrong.
If, as a follower of Christ, you have become aware that you’re lacking in the heavenly wisdom department, our opening scripture gives a very simple starting point: Ask the Lord for His wisdom. Of course, we pursue that end, with our study of the word and a consistent prayer life. But without the Lord planting that seed within us through His Holy Spirit, we will not, we can not, find that wisdom which is from above.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
“But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.””
Zechariah 7:11-14 ESV
I have heard some ridiculous statements made in my life. For example, I have been told by people who were involved in an extramarital affair, that every time they “came together,” they first prayed for the Lord to show them what to do about their relationship!
Friend, in a case where you are walking in blatant disobedience to what the Lord has already said, you can’t expect to hear any more direction until what you already know about what God requires, is satisfied.
In terms of the example given here, you don’t need to hear another word in such a situation. The word of God clearly prohibits sexual impurity of any sort. As a matter of fact, it seems that sexual sins possess a whole new level of ability to destroy the soul.
“Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:15-20 NLT
It was spiritually tone-deaf for these people to expect that the Lord would give them direction in terms of their sinful relationship. Of course, the Lord is always open to the penitent soul and will actually help and strengthen those who want to do what is right; but that only comes AFTER true repentance.
Now, whereas, in the example of sexual impurity, it may be easy for us to see the contradiction in wanting to hear from the Lord regarding something about which he has already spoken so clearly. But perhaps it’s a little more difficult for us to see how our own “pet” acts of disobedience, affect our ability to hear further from the Lord. In fact, many times our becoming “stuck” is because of disobedience that must be remedied before we can move forward.
Our opening scripture has the Lord indicating that He will not hear the requests of His people who would not hear (would not obey) His voice. Interestingly, just before what is spoken in these verses, the Lord describes that the people He is referencing, wouldn’t obey the simple commands He had given them in terms of how to treat each other.
Sadly, some people who view themselves as being very spiritual, very “close” to the Lord, treat others terribly. Now, knowing the emphasis the Lord puts on the need for us to deal with each other out of the motivation of love, how could we expect the Lord to direct us, to bless us, when we are so clearly ignoring one of His prime directives? He won’t.
The bottom line here is: If we are experiencing some sort of feelings of being stuck, feelings of frustration with not being able to accomplish what we set out to accomplish, we must allow the Holy Spirit to examine us and illuminate where we may be disregarding what the Lord has already said. And if we already know where we’re walking in disobedience, we shouldn’t expect that the Lord is going to change his mind about what He requires.
Remember, the only one who has gone too far for the Lord to reach, for the Lord to help, is the one who refuses to come to Him and submit to His yoke.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!