Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you, Pauline, for the worship, and I’d like to welcome those who are joining online, and it’s good to see everybody in person, all those who couldn’t make it today. Now is the time to have our testimony and thanksgiving and praise. Does anyone have something that they would like to share to edify the Body?
If not, I will read from Matthew chapter 24, verses 45 to the end of the chapter. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eat and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him. And at an hour he does not know and will cut him to in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:45-51, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray Father we ask for revelation today as we humble ourselves before you we put aside all of our preconceived notions about Difficult texts in scripture where there’s a lot of division and different camps. So Lord, we just humble ourselves We want to hear from you We pray that the things that are certain we will be certain to things that are That there is some debate about Lord. We we want to hold loosely our positions on those things So Lord, we pray that you would help us in this time. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
This is somewhat of a continuation of last week so Luke 14 verse 26 the cost of discipleship. He says if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and Mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. Yes, and even his own life. He cannot be my disciple.
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26, ESV)
So I am asking the Lord. How Can I be your disciple? What does it mean to hate my life?
And then this chapter Luke 14 ends we cover last week. How can I be a salt that has That retains its taste or if I’ve lost the saltiness. How can I regain it? I was talking with a pastor this week and we were discussing a theological debate and I think this will kind of frame our discussion today.
We were talking about once saved always saved and he asked me what I thought And I said, whenever there is debate in the body of Christ, I tend not to have too strong a position. That could be for Calvinists versus Armenians. One is a very high view of the sovereignty of God, and it’s almost like humans have no choice.
Whether you want to be saved or not, if God wants to save you, you have no choice. You’re going to be saved. And then you have the people who kind of have a higher view of human free will. Even if God wants to save you, if you reject Him, then you can’t be saved.
So we were just not really debating, but I was just explaining my position, and my conclusion to him was I try not to be so dogmatic and firm when it comes to things that there is ample evidence on multiple sides. And I say, okay, there are verses that will support once saved, always saved. There’s also verses that support if you don’t endure to the end, you cannot be saved.
And so today, with that as our frame of thinking, I’m going to talk today about the rapture and the return of Christ. I have this chart. You can’t see it, but I will explain that there are four camps when it comes to the rapture. Maybe even five camps. One fifth camp, let’s talk about the fifth camp. The fifth camp says there is no rapture.
And then among the four, maybe the rapture can be divided up into one camp, which is called pre-trib, pre-millennial, post-trib, pre-millennial. is all in relation to the coming of Christ and final judgment. Are they separate events? Are they multiple events? Where does tribulation fit in? And so that’s why there’s the camps.
The first one is post-trib. So if you look here, Jesus died on a cross. There is tribulation. Then the second coming is here. That ushers in the millennial kingdom. And then final judgment is at the end. So post-trib, pre-millennial.
There are the second camp, which is pre-trib, pre-millennial. And so there is the second coming of Christ for the church only. That’s what they say is the rapture. And then tribulation. And then the second coming with the church, which ushers in a millennial kingdom. And then final judgment. So this is pre-trib, pre-millennial.
And then there’s post-millennial, which is there’s no clear point in time, but somewhere in history the millennial kingdom began. And then Jesus will come at the end and there will be final judgment. That’s post-millennial.
And then there’s amillennial, which is we really don’t know because everything is symbolic. So whenever I see a complicated chart like this, I see there are smart people who’ve studied scripture, who’ve landed in one of these four camps.
And should we as believers fit ourselves into one of these camps and say everybody outside of my tribe is wrong? I choose to hold my position lightly. I might have a leaning, and maybe it’ll become apparent where my leaning is, but I really try not to. to pigeonhole the body of Christ into one of these four or even a fifth camp or some other thing.
I will say, the most popular one in America is pre-trib, pre-millennial, and so the second coming of Christ is for the church, and that’s the rapture, and then there’s tribulations. A tribulation does not include the church up until that point, and then the second coming of Christ with the church ushers in a millennial kingdom, then the final judgment. This was popularized in the early 1800s in America. That means prior to that, nobody in church history believed this. It wasn’t, didn’t even exist, and so if you have this view, then you are a dispensationalist, which means there are eras where God reveals things that he did not reveal in previous eras.
So that’s one camp. If you’re a dispensationalist, you say, well, it is possible that prior to the 1800s outside of America, nobody taught this pre-trib, pre-millennial, but God gave this dispensation to America first, and then now it’s been popularized. That’s 1800s, but actually the real popularity happened in the 1970s with a video series left behind, so that’s some of the background of what I’m going to talk about here.
Again, I hold theology very loosely because theology just divides the body of Christ because if I hold my position, I will find half, at least half of the body of Christ saying, I’m wrong, and so I’d rather hold theology very loosely and hold on to Jesus very tightly, amen? Amen. Okay, can we all say, let’s have that view, let’s be charitable, gracious, toward people who are outside of our camp because we are not God, there are things that we don’t know.
Is it even true that, is it a dispensational approach and that everyone prior to the 1800s, outside of America, they did not have this revelation and God withheld it until the 1800s. That one, personally, I have a hard time believing that to be the case. I think everything in scripture was available, the revelation was given to everybody from the first century till now and there is nothing new under the sun. There’s nothing, the same Holy Spirit that was in prior to the 1800s in the church, I don’t think suddenly God gave a green light and say, okay, now for America, I’m gonna give you this thing and I withheld it all this time.
I find anything suspicious when it only pops up way later and only to one country in particular, I find that very suspicious. So that’s just my leaning but I could be wrong. Again, I hold theology very loosely, I hold onto Jesus very tightly.
So 1 Thessalonians 4, this is where the word rapture comes from. I do believe in a rapture but it’s all about when does it happen and what context does it happen. This is 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will always be with the Lord.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17, ESV)
That is where the rapture theology comes from. We will meet the Lord in the air. Is it before tribulation? Is it before premillennial, the millennial kingdom? I don’t know. But I know at some point, if I’m alive when Jesus is coming down, I will meet him in the air, I will be raptured in that moment. I do believe that.
Luke 17, verse 20. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, look, here it is, or there. For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And he said to the disciples, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, look, there, or look, here. Do not go out or follow them, for as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” 22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. (Luke 17:20-24, ESV)
And so one just clear statement that we know, whenever Jesus appears, it’s visible to the whole world. It’s as apparent as lightning in the sky. Whether you’re a believer or you’re not a believer, you will see it. The coming of the Son of Man is visible. That’s one thing I can take from God’s word.
And then going down to verse 25, continuing. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:25-30, ESV)
So the coming of the Son of Man is likened to two previous events in history. The first is the flood. Judgment of the entire world by water. And the second is judgment on a particular set of cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, in the days of Lot by fire. In both cases, I think Jesus is underlying the point, in both cases people were busy with their lives and they were unready. They were not ready for the coming of the Son of Man.
Continuing on, on that day let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. (Luke 17:31-33, ESV)
So who is unready for the return of Christ? And if we look at Lot’s wife as an example, it’s the person who’s gripped by this life. And remember the verse that God gave us last week, Luke 14, you must hate your life. That is step one of discipleship, meaning you put your hope in the next life, in eternal life. This life is all practice. This is all test. We don’t put our hope in this life. It doesn’t have to go out, pan out a certain way.
Lot’s wife is somebody who as judgment is coming down from heaven, fire is coming down, she is longingly looking back at her nice home, her garden, whatever friends, whatever hobbies, the restaurants that she enjoyed. She’s looking back longingly. She loves her life and that’s why she was unready. She was judged and became a pillar of salt.
So who is ready for the return of Christ? It’s somebody who is homesick. Whether your life is going well or it’s going terribly, the cost of discipleship is something. somebody, a disciple is somebody who hates his life, meaning you understand. The beginning point is this is not it. If it’s going well, you’ll be tempted to say, this is it. If it’s not going well, you might be tempted to say, well, maybe something needs to change, but still either side can confuse themselves and delude themselves and say, this is it. This is my home. I got to make it in this life.
But a true disciple understands I hate this life. Even if it’s going well, there’s something in me just doesn’t feel at home. California is not my home. If I can think of what is the best place to live, I don’t know where that place is. I can go to another state, another city. Will I feel significantly better or different in another city? I don’t think so. Because the bottom line is, this is not it. Nothing in this life is something where I’m gripped by and say, I got to make it here. No, I am homesick. That is somebody who is ready for the return of Christ.
And then we get to the famous verses that are used by the pre-trip camp in Luke 17, verse 34. So let’s pay attention to these. I tell you, in that night, there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.
34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. (Luke 17:34, ESV)
There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left. And they said to him, where, Lord?
He said to them, where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Remember, the coming of the Son of Man is visible whether you’re a believer or not. At least that’s how I take what Jesus is saying. It’s a flash of lightning in the sky. You can’t miss it. It doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re on, you will see. the coming of the Son of Man. You can’t miss it.
And then we can wonder, this context is judgment, so is it good to be taken or is it good to be left? It’s a little confusing, isn’t it? And so we can think of Noah in the flood. Was he taken or was he left? Like, is being taken a good thing? He was left behind, you could say, in the ark. He was the only survivor who was taken, everybody in the world. Is it a good thing to be taken or a good thing to be left? It depends on how you read the scripture.
For Lot’s wife, was he taken or was he left? He was taken out of the city, but he was left behind and he lived. Everybody in Sodom and Gomorrah was taken. They were not left behind, they were taken in judgment. Again, I think here Jesus is talking about judgment, and I would argue he’s talking about final judgment, but that’s up to you to wrestle with the Lord.
And when they say, where were they taken, Lord? The answer is weird. It says their corpses and there were the vultures which feed on carcasses, they’ve died. That’s the only way I can read it. Where were they taken? They were taken and they died. And so to be taken, is it a positive thing? Is it a negative thing? I read it here, according to this verse, as negative. But you can take that up with the Lord.
Again, I’m not trying to say I know this, or I know which camp I should be in. I’m trying to convince you. I’m just asking you to not. Doctrine is man’s interpretation of scripture, and so in the end, if you say, I’m in this camp because it fits my doctrine. You’re really trusting in a man. And that man or woman’s interpretation of scripture, I’d rather just look at what Jesus says and wrestle with what is he saying to be taken, to be, where are they going, where are they taken? They’re with the vultures, they’re where corpses are. It doesn’t sound like a good thing.
And then Luke 18, I think it just continues from Luke 17, Luke 18, and then I’ll just jump to verse six. And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says, and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”(Luke 18:6-8, ESV)
When I read verses like this, this is the body of Christ going through an incredible test, and this is tribulation. It is so difficult that God has to cut the day short. And the main issue is we want justice, Lord. This world hates you and hates me because of you, and I am suffering because of it.
And only the one who endures to the end, I think this is a call for endurance. Whether you think you’re taken before tribulation, I hope that’s true, I would prefer that. Who wants to go through tribulation? But there are some believers here during the tribulation among the elect, and if that’s you and me. Then the only call is to endure. And it is so hard to endure because as tribulation comes, there’s lawlessness abounds, teaching abounds, and the love of many grow cold, and Jesus will come, and the body of Christ is just a shell of what it once was, and Jesus is wondering, will I find faith anywhere on earth?
Will anybody survive this tribulation? That’s what I read as a call to endurance, and it’s not going to be easy. And then, so that’s Luke’s version. Let’s read Matthew’s version a bit. Matthew 24, about the end times. Matthew 24, verse 9, Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death, and you’ll be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. (Matthew 24:9, ESV)
And many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise, and lead many astray.
And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:12-14, ESV)
So to the camp that says, once saved, always saved, I would say, brother, sister, let’s wrestle with this text. Let’s not, let’s not camp out in a human doctrine. Let’s look at what Jesus said, and Jesus seems to indicate that in the end, it’s going to be so difficult, that we’ll be sent to synagogues, and we’ll be tried through, before human authorities, and it is so difficult, and, and Jesus doesn’t say, don’t worry, you’re saved, you’ll be saved.
No, he says, endure. He says, endure. You must endure. No matter how hard it gets, you must endure. There’s no easy way out. I hope there’s an easy way out for the church. I hope there, I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m, if I’m right, and, or if we are are excluded from the rapture, whatever case, we’re here, we’re in the final moments of human history.
Are you going to take refuge in the doctrine that says, well, I accepted Christ years ago, I’m struggling now, but don’t worry, I’m saved. Or are we going to say, okay, this is getting really hard, Lord. Can you help me, Lord? I don’t know if I can make it, I need help, Lord.
And then the body of Christ bands together, and because we’re like starving, and we’re like, we don’t have clean water, and we just got to pool our resources just to make it. Because everybody else took the mark of the beast, everybody else is buying and selling, but we’re left out of the system, we’re banding together, pooling our resources as they did in the first century, the early church, and we survive, we endure together.
And I think the preaching of God’s word doesn’t happen because Baptists are so good at the Great Commission. I don’t think that’s why the gospel is preached. No, in the context of persecution, like Stephen, when he’s being martyred, he testifies to Saul, to all the Pharisees, everybody who’s throwing a stone at him. The testimony of Jesus goes out. This is how the world will know that they got one last chance to be saved.
Not because we sent out missionaries, but no, we were forced into that situation, and the Holy Spirit breathed out the words of God in that moment. You didn’t prepare in advance, it just came out of you, and you preached Jesus to somebody who never heard Jesus, or maybe they rejected Jesus, and you had a chance to preach Jesus, and that person has one more chance to be saved. And that’s how we’re going to reach the nations in the context of worldwide persecution. That’s how I read scripture.
And then he says again, verse 27 and 28, for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the son of man, wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. It’s a very visible return of Christ from east to west. That means everyone’s going to see him. You can’t miss him. He’s going to be on CNN. He’s going to be on every news station. You can’t miss him. You can just look up at the sky. You’re going to see him. It’s going to be so obvious. It’s visible.
And then again, he mentions in the context of Jesus’ return, the visible return of Christ, he says there is going to be a lot of death, judgment. Matthew 24, verse 29. 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 heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out the angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31, ESV)
Not only is the coming of the son of man visible, it is loud. It is loud. There is trumpets by the angels. It doesn’t matter if you have noise cancellation air pods, you will hear the trumpet. When Jesus is coming, you will see it, you will hear it. It is not hidden, it is obvious. It is going to be revealed to everybody in the entire world.
But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, not the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. And so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:36-44, ESV)
The coming of the Son of Man is visible, it’s loud, and it’s sudden. It’s sudden. In the midst of the busyness of life, Jesus will come like a thief in the night. It doesn’t matter what camp you’re in, pre-trip, post-trip, it doesn’t matter. Whenever he comes, whether hidden, which I don’t see in scripture, but you can believe that, or he comes visibly, whenever Jesus comes, the point he’s stressing here is be ready.
Be ready. It can happen today. It can happen tomorrow. Be ready. Coming of the Son of Man is visible, loud, and sudden.
And I’ll end with Matthew 24, verse 45. In light of all of this truth, he says, who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master has sent? that over his household, to give them their food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. (Matthew 24:45-47, ESV)
But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:48-51, ESV)
Who is ready for the return of Christ? Those who are homesick, those who hate this life and look forward to eternal life, the next life. In the meantime, while we hold the things of this world lightly, while we hold our theological positions lightly, we hold on to Jesus tightly. And until we see him, or until we meet him in the air, until we are raptured whenever he comes, faithful and wise. Faithful and wise.
And it’s nothing impressive he’s asking us to do. He says, just bring out the food. Just bring out the food. Just be on time, faithful and wise. Are you homesick? And while you’re looking forward to your heavenly home, which is your real home, are you being faithful and wise in this life? OK, let’s pray.
Father, we humbly say there’s just so much in scripture we don’t understand. And whenever there’s division in the body of Christ, we know that there are verses to support every position. It’s just a matter of how we interpret, how we read it, and just many things we just don’t know. We’re not God. We’re not smart enough. We’re not omniscient. We’re still waiting for revelation on certain things.
And so some things you just hide from us. You don’t tell us, and you ask us to trust you. There’s many things when we get to heaven you will have to explain to us. We just didn’t understand. Maybe we just taught it wrong. We just didn’t, we were ignorant about so many things. And we will have all of eternity that you will have to explain one by one what this verse means, why that happened.
Father, we just humbly come to you, and we don’t understand pre-trib, post-trib, amillennial, postmillennial. We don’t understand. We just know that people smarter than us have had their, have their evidence and their verses to back up their position.
Lord, we extract the most important things from your word, which is to be ready, which is to hate this life, which is to hold lightly everything in this life, hold tightly to Jesus. Not just hold tightly to Jesus today, but on our last day, to endure to the end. One saved, always saved is true as long as we hold on to Jesus tightly to the very end. We don’t hold tightly to a human doctrine because that doctrine may lead us to hell. We only hold tightly to Jesus because you are the Word of God.
You are the way to eternal life. And so we hold tightly to you everything else, our theology, our doctrine, everything in this life, we hold lightly. Help us to be faithful and wise.
You know exactly where we are. You know all the ways we’ve been unfaithful, all the ways we’ve lived foolishly. We just have to ask ourselves, are we ready if you came today, tonight, this moment, tomorrow, are we ready? That is the only really relevant question.
And so Lord, we wanna wrestle with you individually. We wanna be ready, Lord, for the return of Jesus. Even in this moment, we wanna be ready. We’re homesick, Lord. Home is not here anywhere on this earth.
Help us to be faithful and wise as we await the return of Christ, the coming judgment, and the home that is waiting for us in our Father’s house. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
