Monday 22 October 2018

Jesus Came for You.


I first published this without explaining that these are only a few paragraphs from a long sermon by Spurgeon.


Sermon by C.H. Spurgeon, 1891

“Then I said, ‘Lo, I come.”  Psalm 40:7

All religion which is not spiritual is worthless. All religion which is not the supernatural product of the Holy Spirit is a fiction. One breath from the Spirit of God withers all the beauty of our pride, and destroys the comeliness of our conceit; and then, when our own religion is dashed to shivers, the Lord Jesus comes in, saying, “Lo, I come.” He delights to come in his glorious personality, when the Pharisee can no longer say, “God, I thank thee I am not as other men”; and when the once bold fisherman is crying, “Lord, save, or I perish.”

If you feel that you need something infinitely better than Churchianity, or Dissnterism, or Methodism – in fact, that you need Christ himself to be formed in you – then to you, even to you, Jesus says, “Lo, I come.”

When man is at his worst, Christ is seen at his best. The Lord walks to us on the sea in the middle watch of the night. He draws nigh to those souls which draw nigh to death. When you part with self you meet with Christ. When no shred of hope remains, then Jesus says, “Lo, I come.”

The Lord Jesus is to come a second time; and when will he come? He will come when man’s hope is a failure. He will come when iniquity abounds and the love of many has waxed cold. He will come when dreams of a golden age shall be turned into the dread reality of abounding evil.

Do not dream that the world will go on improving and improving, and that the improvement will naturally culminate in the millennium. No such thing. It may grow better for a while, better under certain aspects; but afterwards the power of the better element will ebb out like the sea, even though each wave should look like an advance.

That day shall not come except there be a falling away first. Even the wise virgins will sleep, and the men of the world will be, as in the days of Noah, eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage. On a sudden, the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

Receive him; receive him at once. Dear children of God, and sinner that have begun to feel after him, say with one accord, “Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.” If he says, “Lo, I come,” and the Spirit and the bride say Come; and he that heareth says, Come, and he that is athirst comes, and whosoever will is bidden to come and take the water of life freely; then let us join the chorus of comes, and come to Christ ourselves. “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go you out to meet him!” You who most of all need him, be among the first and gladdest, as you hear him say, “Lo, I come.”

Thursday 18 October 2018

Don’t Follow the Crowd to See Jesus on Earth.





When I am on Christian social media, I have noticed many believe Jesus will come to earth and appear in his temple or perhaps somewhere else. I have read some say Jesus will walk upon the earth again for the thousand years mentioned in Revelation.

I feel inside me Jesus saying, “Warn them, warn them.” I could be wrong, but these are the thoughts I had this morning. Jesus warned us there would be false Messiahs and false prophets.

“…Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light.”  2 Corinthians 11:14  

“It (the beast) performs great signs to cause even fire to come down to earth in the presence of men.” Revelation 13:13

Like Israel misunderstood Jesus’ first coming, many Christians misunderstand Jesus’ second coming. The disciples thought the Messiah would come to fight their enemies and make Jerusalem powerful. They were taught that and they believed it.

Even when Jesus returned to heaven, the disciples were expecting to be rescued from Rome.

Acts 1:6
Then they gathered around Jesus and asked him, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He told them it is not for them to know times and dates the Father has set up.”

The teachers back then read the verses that apply to the new heaven and new earth, where righteousness dwells. They thought the Messiah would bring that to pass. God will indeed rule earth and the universe. But that will be after the holy city comes down from heaven and lands on earth, as it says in Revelation. That will be the great judgement day when the wicked are raised and punished for what they have done. The Bible says what they have done to others will be done to them. Then they will all die the second death. They will hurt others no longer.

Jesus’ followers asked him about his second coming. This is found in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. I haven’t put every verse here. We all need to read and understand these chapters for ourselves.

Luke 21
Jesus said:

25“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”


Matthew 24

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Revelation 1:7
“Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him…”

Acts 1:11
“Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand looking into heaven. This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Mark 14:62 at his trial

“…and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Years ago, I had a dream. I looked out my dining room window and saw it was a desert land outside. Then thousands of people were walking past my house. I went outside to see what was happening. I looked toward where the people were walking. There was a large, beautiful, white building with pillars. There were women in front of the building dressed in white. I decided not to follow the people.I looked out my window again and all the people were gone. I went out the door and saw the building swallowed up by the sand. It was gone and so were the people.






Monday 1 October 2018

Pray When You Don't Want To.




I am re-reading a book by Cole Casey, a Franciscan Friar, entitled, “Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God.” He has great insights into walking with God and growth in the Christian life.

His chapter on prayer is wonderful and yet simple. He said that even though he loved God, he hadn’t made prayer a priority in his life before his first year as a friar. But when he started his lessons, one of his teachers said, “Unless prayer is the foundation for everything you do, you will not become good Franciscans.”

Here is an excerpt from his book:

“While I knew I could not control how tired, distracted, interested, comfortable or happy I was going to be during prayer, nor could I affect the outcome of the experience, I knew I could control my attendance. Within the first couple of weeks of novitiate, I made a commitment quietly sit in the chapel for thirty minutes a day. All I had to do was show up. And let me tell you: a lot of mornings, that’s all I did. There were days that getting out of bed to sit in a cold chapel was the last thing I wanted to do. There were days when I could have spent that time doing “more important” things. There were days when I was angry at God, my brothers or myself and didn’t want to deal with them. There were days when showing up, literally, was all I could have done. And yet, in the past I wouldn’t have even done that.

What I came to realize was that showing up, having fidelity to prayer, was in fact a prayer in and of itself. I found that it offered an insight into God’s fidelity to me, that God was always there, showing up for me, not because I deserved it, was particularly enjoyable to be around, or offered a fulfilling experience, but because of his commitment to my life. Showing up, even when I didn’t want to, offered me the opportunity to return that love, to emulate the God who had never failed to love me.”

Although, I have done this kind of praying for years, I hadn’t thought about how important it is that God is always showing up for me, whether I’m aware of it or not. He is right beside me, a word away, a breath away. His faithfulness to me is constant. After reading this chapter, I felt the weight of the privilege we all have in Jesus. What a wonderful and amazing God he is!