如果你以人稱代詞 I 開頭，那麼你就完成了。因為你什麼都沒做。不管你做了什麼，你甚至不應該在這裡。你應該在下面。甚至不要來告訴我你養活了 250 名無家可歸的人。不要來告訴我你給窮人很多錢。不要來告訴我你幫助寡婦和一切。那些日子他們都很好。他們不會把你帶到這裡的！你出去了。你完成了。你在這裡的唯一方式是因為他！因為他救了我。他說：“我可以來。”我來了。那是白白的恩典。這就是耶穌為我們所做的。他為我做了一切。那就是基督教。
Luke 23:39–43 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Alastair Begg preached an inspiring message on this, and someone put in the twitter a 2 minute clip of that. It’s just gone viral in in the Internet world, in the Twitter world Facebook world about. They took a 2 minutes clip from his preaching on the man on the thief on the cross.
Will love to ask the thief who made it to heaven and said “how did you make it?
Its that wonderful and amazing that the thief get to heaven just like that! When I get to heaven, I would like to ask the thief who made it to to heaven and said “how did you make it? How was it like?”
Jesus on the center cross, a thief on the left, and another thief on the right. The thief on the right side railed at Jesus. “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!
But on the left side chided him saying: But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong!
The thief uttered the most single most important line of his life
The he turned to Jesus and said the most single most important line of his life. In time, he looked at Jesus literally like minutes before he died, or hours before he died. He spoke to Jesus Lord. 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
When you enter into your Kingdom. Remember Me? And guess what? The answer from the son of God is the most stunning answer I’ve ever heard. He turned around and looked at him today. He still, when Jesus said that he was about to die, you know, he was bleeding so bad. I think he was gasping for breath., 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
“You will be with me in Paradise” and that’s it!!! When this thief who got to heaven. I can imagine: The angels kept asking him: “How did you asking? How did you make it? How did you make it up? “
That thief replied, “I don’t know. I’m here.” Then angel replied, “ Let us get our supervisor.” When the supervisor came, he said “. Let me just cut to the chase. Do you know the doctrine of justification?”
The thief replied “What”. The chief angel said “ Forget that. Let’s go straight into the doctrine of inerrancy of the scripture of the Word of God. Have you heard?” Theif replied, “ I’ve never heard anything of that!”. Questioning continues: “How did you get here again? How did you get here?” And the guy blurted out. “The men on the Middle cross said. I can come. That’s it. He said I’m coming. “!!!
Unmerited Grace of God
Hallelujah. That’s what you need, the man say. I can go. Jesus said I can come. This thief has never been in church, Sunday school, never been to baptism, never been to Sunday school, never heard doctrine of justification. Nothing! He’s up there. Immediately. I love that. That’s cool. And that is the Unmerited Grace of God. Hallelujah.
When somebody goes to heaven and the people in heaven asked him, “How did you get here?”
If you start with the with the personal pronoun I, then you’re done. Because you have done nothing. Whatever you’ve done, you shouldn’t even be here. You should be down there. Don’t even come and tell me your feed 250 homeless people. Don’t come and tell me that you give a lot of money to the poor. Don’t come & tell me that you help the widows and everything. They’re all good for those days. They won’t get you here ! You’re out. You’re done. The only way you are here is because of Him!! Because he has saved me. He said, “I can come.” I’m coming. That is the unmerited grace. That is what Jesus has done for us. He has done everything for me. That’s Christianity.
Christianity is never a performance
It’s not performance. Remember this word. I got it from Tim Keller. It’s not performance. Remember this, Christianity is never a performance. It’s not. It’s never how good you have tried to be. I was on a one hour call again with my mom Friday that every Friday I called my mom. I told her so many times about believe and that’s it. But she asked , “What about those people who are really good people? You know, they don’t believe in Christ, but they they’ve done a lot of good things like Buddhists, Muslims and you know. They have very good people as a mom. By being good and never getting there, it’s about what Christ has done. I know she knows it. But she forgets. I keep trying to bring her back every week I have to remind her.
It’s never about you. The performances I got to try harder.You know what? This is really, really important. Christianity is about an Unmerited Grace. Calvin brings Grace back into worship. You know when you worship God, we must experience the transcendent awe, of God. If we conduct worship like a folksiness, casual , we lost the transcendence of God. There’s no sense of awe towards God. But if you only have the Word teaching, you may not have the celebration mood of joy? Why shouldn’t we have both? You gotta have transcendence connection with God and the delighted God they came.
Hallelujah, because Jesus’ done it. I am so awed by him because he’s done it for me. I say I’m so overjoyed. You can have both. But if you come to the house, and say I will worship you. I will praise you, Lord, to get something from God. You just lost the transcendent presence of God. In your life, in the worship is the same thing. Worship is worship, congregation, worship and worship all of life. When you go and play baseball. Play well. Enjoy God you are worshipping God when you study. Do everything for God, for Christ.
Unmerited Grace of God will make you a more, much more happier person.
See that performance will not get you in. But the but the grace will. Unmerited Grace of God will make you a more, much more happier person. If you try and come to a point of being so tired of trying that you cannot do it anymore. You just say, I’m just so discouraged I cannot do it anymore. Like I pray, I’m praying. Nothing happens. It happened to me. I’m sure happened to you. But when it comes to a point you say? You come to a point, you worship him more because he has done it. I’m gonna ride on what he’s done. Hallelujah. You can only ride on the premise of what you can do in life is based on what he has already done for you on the cross. In everything, in life.
Psalm 18:28–29 (NIV). 28 You, Lord, keep my lamp
burning; my God turns my darkness into light. 29 With
your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
David was running away from King Saul who was trying to kill him. Facing so many
discouragements and despair of being constantly pursue his life by how king
whom he respect and gives allegiance, and having done no wrong n=but only
fought valiantly for Israel, he went into escape and crying to God for
deliverance.
Reading Psalms you can feel the heartbeat of David and he really cried out
to the Lord, and not only that, the key, is he recognizes the greatness and
faithfulness and love of Yahweh, his God and ours today. He was never shaken
from his faith in God even in the most ardent despair and disappointment in life.
You see the verses before this call:
Psalm 18:1–3
(ESV)
1 I love you, O Lord,
my strength.
2 The Lord
is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
He loves the Lord his strength, he calls the Lord as his rock, his fortress,
and his delivered , his shield, his horn of salvation and stronghold. He called
upon the Lord who is WORTHY to be praised.
My question to you is: Is the Lord worthy to be praised when you are
discouraged, disappointed, an going through a time of despair? God never
changes. Our circumstances changes. His fixed confidence and trust in the Lord
no matter what circumstances or turbulence surround him is surreal, uplifting,
inspiring, and penetratingly powerful. Seriously nothing is going to be able to
take David down no matter how much vengeance hatred the enemies spewed out at
him, because his gaze is constantly fixed on the Lord who is worthy of all his
praise and worship.
That’s what we want to be, like David in this sense.
I sensed a time of discouragements sometime, and I was seeking the Lord and
praying. You know that when we go thru hard times, trying time, we either
despair and drop off or run towards the Lord. By running to the Lord our Rock,
refuge, shield, our love, we are purged of the weaknesses and human flaws in
our lives, and our preaching, ministry has just got better. We become better husbands,
fathers, wives, mothers, daughters, sons, etc., thru the process. Tim Keller
shared about going thru hardship in lives simply make them a better person, and
better preacher in fact. God does a deeper work in our lives, when we hit a
wall, and we turn to him for help. That creates a special chemistry between us
and the Lord. Look at Psalms:
Psalm 18:4–7
(ESV)
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry
You see how much David was going thru? Snares of death confronted him! In
his distress he called upon the Lord, and God heard his voice from his temple,
and then God responded. Earth reeled and rocked and foundations trembled and
quaked, he was angry.
Those words with God I can scale a wall” spoke to me. My obstacles and challenges
in life are like a wall to me, that I cannot cross. But with God, I can scale a
wall. Hallelujah! I can cross it.
My gaze is upon the Lord, and nothing else.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
The power of God in Christ as he went throughout Galilee, teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and HEALING every disease and sickness.
I must emphasize that healing is on the 3rd rank in this Jesus’ power ministry: 1st: teaching, 2nd: Proclaiming the Kingdom of God; 3rd: Healing every sickness and disease.
We have focused on the first two for millennia, but have jettisoned much of 3rd. And I can understand and guesstimate the reasons. First, its messy, because we have no way near remotely as much power of God flowing through us as we prayed for the sick. Second, a lot of theology has minimized it because of the cessation’s theology, except the Pentecostal or charismatics. I think the first reason drives the second. Th reality is , we don’t see instant healings like what Jesus did in every one of them, and people don’t give God the glory as much, as the person may recover say a week later, or a month later, or simply nothing changed. Even with healings a month later, unless it’s a medically hard to cure, such healings will generally be taken as due to medications or natural cure. SO we do have a dilemma. The Pentecostals and charismatics do not have a smooth road either, because granted, they pray for the sick far more, they face the same situation of healing as reason #1. Nevertheless they just press on more. What I am uncomfortable is when it becomes a stage healing rally like a showmanship, it simply drains me, and I believe drains the power of God to heal. However, in a strange way, I also notice that they seem to have more healings in such healing crusade, because of the faith of the people growing. Faith is contagious and spreading.
Daughter, your faith has healed you
Mark 5:30–34 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
These key words came through the mouth of Christ towards the woman with the bleeding problem for years, who pressed in among men to touch Jesus. She did, and she was healed on the spot as she touched him. That’s why there is so much crying from the prayers of many Christians today, “Touch me O Lord”. When Jesus said, “Daughter your faith has healed you.” He means her faith in Christ Jesus healed her! It’s not just your faith will heal you, it’s your faith in Christ that heals you. And of course, this can be overly simplistic, the reality is that thousands of people who put their faith in Christ, don’t get healed! SO then how do you explain?
All sick people would be healed instantly if they were to live2000 years ago, by the shores of Galilee.
That’s why my theory is that Christ is no more physically present and it makes a difference. I believe, all those who are sick and not get healed by medical means, will ALL be healed instantly if they were to live in 2000 years ago, by the shores of Galilee. But you can also argue that they don’t enjoy as much theology as we do today in growing into the fullness of Christ as we have today with all the NT epistles of Paul, John, Peter, James. You could argue that we live in different generations.
The world longs for the healing power of God in Christ Jesus
As we together with billions of Christians round the globe, prayed, prayed and waited upon our good Lord to touch us and heal us, some to the joyous healings, but also many remain in the doldrum of still sick. I do not mean just physically sick, but in all areas, mental, physical, emotional. All that I have seen healings in the gospel by Christ, is the physical healings plus a number of highly dramatic casting out of demons. Jesus went into the scene where the sick are, and no questions asked, he healed every one of them. So much so that the whole town began to bring all the sick to him , and they crossed lakes, rivers, just to look for Jesus. Who wouldn’t? I would walk even hundreds of miles to get some sicknesses healed, for myself, for my loved ones etc. to find Jesus.
But the big question that hangs over our heads is “Jesus is not here today physically with us”. How I long for the Jesus in the gospels walk with us in New York? In Kuching, or Ukraine, or anywhere? That era has passed. We must embrace the different timing agenda, planning, the sovereign move of God and flow in with his power, calling, and timing.
Jesus is no more here on earth like he was 2000 years ago in Israel, in Jerusalem. But He promised that He will send the Holy Spirit to come and be with us, in fact He lives in all those who believed in Christ and received Christ. Because we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. So anything changed?
Yes, a lot has changed.
Theology
The scene that Jesus healed a crippled from life who’s been waiting by the pool for waves for years. The scene that may invoke when the Lord will heal us. So many sick and broken. How long O Lord? Christianity must not be diminished with theological discourse. Theology is to enhance and bring out the vivid colors of the power of Christ. #powertoheal#powerofchrist
I will just exhort that we continue to believe in Christ’s healing the sick as we pray.
Healing the sick is not an option, it’s a command from our Lord Jesus. It’s not a denominational thing. It’s a doctrinal thing.
Matthew 10:7–8 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. He was phenomenal in healing the sick.
Acts 19:11–12 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
James 5:14–16 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Clearly, James in the NT exhorts us to have the elders (Pastor) to pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord, and their prayers offered in faith will make the sick well! And James also emphasized to confess our sins to each other, so we may be healed. Unconfessed sins block healing.
Finally, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Just watched a Tiktok on a short video on From Hindu to Christ by a young Indian man from London searching for God. He became a Hindu priest swami at 19, when he flew to Mumbai to meet the gurus there to be trained. After a month or so, while there, he heard an unspoken voice on his left ear saying , “Are you sure you made the right decision?”. Rattled, he began to search more. As he read and studied the Hindu book, he got more confused. He asked more questions to the Guru, but they couldn’t answer him well! To the point , finally, they told him, just get on with your journey, and you will find the truth in the Hindu god.
But he became more restless, as he couldn’t get the answers from the gurus that he was supposed to be following. Few months later, he flew back to London. He flew to Rome like 17 times to visit the churches there because he just loved the peace, tranquility and the architecture of them.
In London one time as he was walking along the road, he entered a library. In the library, he saw a children’s bible. He picked it up and read, to his awe, he found everything is opposite of what he learnt from Hindu and seems to resonate in his soul. He was afraid and quickly put it down.
His mind went through the things he read, and the fear of losing his friends if he rejected Hinduism.
Finally, he passed by a church in Kensington temple in London, and he walked into the church. Once he walked in there, he felt such a presence of God came upon him, and the same voice spoke to his left ear saying “You are home”. He repented of his sins and received Christ into his life.
A genuine sincere authentic search for God by an Asian Indian man in a Western society.
Enjoyed it! Praying for all my Indian friends to come to know the love and glory and power of Christ!
Wow check this video out. This Hindu man searching for God!
Covenant Theology postulate either Amillennialism or Post Millennialism.
I like Postmillennialism. The main key take away is that Christ reigns now over all nations and that scale of reigning will increase accordingly to full reign when He returns. That’s new to me! And that’s really empowering comforting and consoling when you see wat just broken out in Ukraine by the aggressive big bully of Russia and hundreds already killed and hundreds of thousands has fled as refugees from Ukraine. So we know Christ reigns over that!! As well! But how come the war is still on of Christ is reigning for example? Well that’s precisely what I just said the reign of Christ is progressive! Increasing all the way till end time when he returns.
The main driver for this is the verses:
Isaiah 2:2–3 (ESV)
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
About Isaiah 2:2-4, Calvin had the following to say: “ . . . while the fullness of days began at the coming of Christ, it flows on in uninterrupted progress until he appears the second time for our salvation.” During this time “the church, which had formerly been, as it were, shut up in a corner, would now be collected from every quarter . . .. The Prophet here shows that the boundaries of his kingdom will be enlarged that he may rule over various nations. [1]
To me, the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be the highest of the mountains! All the nations shall flow to it. This is speaking prophetically before Christ returns. Because when Christ returns, there is only one mountain, the mountain of the Lord! Therefore the thesis is that the current world, earth shall see the establishment of the church of Jesus Christ stronger and stronger and bigger until the church of Jesus becomes the tallest and highest of all mountains of the world. Mountains here can metaphorically refer to institution, power, or organization of sort.
Greg Bahnsen also writes on Calvin, “The Prophet has in his eye the whole reign of Christ, down to its final close, which is also called ‘the day of renovation and restoration.’ (Acts iii.21)” “The glory of God shines . . . never more brightly than in the cross, in which . . . the whole world was renewed and all things restored to order.” [2]
Acts 3:20–21 (ESV)
20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Heaven must wait until the time of RESTORING ALL the things which God spoke through his prophets long ago.
The word “until” is important. That means the restoration of all the things prophets prophesized in the OT and the NT alike. What’s this restoration? Restoration to pre-fall! To paradise. SO I would argue that based on this, the pre return of Christ for the end time will usher in paradise. I used to think that the world will be so rotten as wickedness increases etc., and Christians remain the minority, liberally hanging on to our faith before Christ return.
Matthew 24:9–14 (ESV)
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. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 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.
You see how much oppositions and lawlessness (wickedness) coming to this world in end time. So don’t be caught off guard. Jesus actually said, the love of MANY will grow cold. But more importantly the Lor balanced it up with the last line:
This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the WHOLE world, and then the end will come! So before the end comes, when Christ returns, the gospel will be preached to ALL nations, through the whole world! Some theologians refer to AD 70 when Paul brought to the different parts of Samaria, Judea, etc. That, to me, is definitely NOT the ends of the world.
Conclusion: Wickedness, lawlessness will increase till the end of the world, but that the same time gospel will reach the whole world.
If you synch that last statement of Christ on gospel proclaimed to the whole world, with Acts 3:
21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Not just proclaimed to the whole world, but restoration of ALL things of the whole world, we cannot but assert that Gospel will change the whole world, and all things will be restored. How can restoration start if the gospel doesn’t impact souls? Doesn’t change people’s hearts?
Therefore the Gospel must be preached to the whole world, and changes will become more and more apparent as more nations, more tribes turn to Christ, though at the same time, those who reject Christ, will become more lawless. It will culminate in the war f Armageddon so to speak before Christ returns!
[1] Greg Bahnsen, The Reformed View of Postmillennialism
Jesus pushed the theme of “perish” repeatedly in Luke 13 which I just read this morning.
Luke 13:1–5 (ESV)
13 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
ESV has given a heading here “Repent or Perish” quite aptly I must say. It’s just like that Jesus brought up the theme “perish” again and again. Our Lord has talked about hell more than anyone in the bible, and He will be the Judge judging and deciding whose going to heaven or going to hell and perish!
The word “perish” in Greek is utter destruction. It’s not like just disappear or something, but total utter destruction. many other versed Jesus talked about outer darkness or gnashing of teeth.
Many today will call this brim storm preachers, not suitable for a modern big sophisticated western city like New York. Those brim storm preachers are gone. I agree to some extent, but don’t throw out the message “repent or perish” that stays!
What we need today in NYC or big cities like London, Paris, Shanghai is to wake up and take more seriously that people will perish is actually seriously really going to happen. Jesus heard that the Galileans blood were mixed by the evil governor Pilate with sacrifices. Many have asked if they really had done something really bad to deserve that or what? But Jesus doesn’t think so. He said do you think those Galileans are worse sinner than the rest?? That point is mute. It doesn’t matter, whatever whey you look at it, what matters is what Jesus said v3 unless you repent, you all likewise perish, or likewise utterly destroyed. That’s what has saying. The bottom line is whether we repent of our sins. It’s not whether we have done more veil or less evil things in this world and suffer. Of course, many done nothing wrong to deserve the evils lashed on them, lie right now the Ukrainians being bombed by some distant aggressor. Why? We cant expound on that now. But what’s crystal clear is unless you repent, you will perish, you will go to hell, in other words, where there is burning fire day and night torment. I wish more will be preached on this, so people will take hell fire more seriously!
Some preachers call hell as the absence of God. That’s like a thousand times watered version of what Jesus talked about hell! Give me a verse to back that statement. None! Jesus talked about hell as the burning day and night torment of fire, chained etc.
Then Jesus went over to all about those who died by the falling tower of Siloam, do you think they were worse offenders than those who lived in Jerusalem Jesus asked? NO! The answer is emphatic no from our Lord Jesus! Then he returns to his burning theme he wants to get out to the world, “Repent or you will likewise perish.” Even if you live well healthy, prosperous, kind, giving to the poor even, but if you don’t repent, you will perish or utterly be destroyed. Jesus’ point is repent. You can only repent when you believe in Christ and his death on the cross for you and his resurrection gloriously. By that, you will repent with meaning and begin to put into action what you believe. Believing Christ means you would love him and obey his voice. That’s salvation!!
What’s going to happen before the End of time, the return of Christ?
I saw in the Tiktok video of Joshua leading the nation of Israel attacking the Amalekites army. God was with them, and they slaughtered all the enemies. Amalekites been a totally idolatrous and even child sacrifice nation, and God asked Israel to wipe them out.
War is real and ferocious with no return
But what really graphically portrayed to me as I was watching it, is hundreds and thousands of young men with their swords, crying rally for war under Joshua. And when I saw thousands of soldiers clashed one another on the screen, it really dawned on me the ferociousness of war. I mean, many of them were killed on the spot. In fact, there is just so survivor on the losing side. But did you realize this is not a game?
Once they are struck dead. They are dead. They are gone forever from their families and loved ones and friends, on either side. Life is like too cheap.
Russia Ready to Invade Ukraine
Today we constantly hear news of Russia sending more and more troops to Ukraine, ready to invade them. Now this day, war is no more fought on crying rally of men surging toward the front line. But it’s using fighter jets bombing. Then using cyber attack jamming. Then using ground troops for invasion. Many will die. Life is lost, and they are gone.
Why can’t we stop wars?
Why can’t we stop war? The simple reason is simply because we can’t stop sin. We can’t fight off sins. They ensnare us. They follow us wherever we go. They are like utterly dark parasites stuck to us. We feel helpless . We start war, because of aggression. Because of insecurity of fearful of being attacked.
The story of Russia and Ukraine is long and convoluted with NATO. The fear mounting of NATO attack on Russia, as imagined by Russia, can be very real. All their former states on the West bordering Europe had all applied to join NATO.
Sin plaguing humans will go on. In fact Jesus prophesized there will be wars in the end time.
Matt 24 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
War is the beginning of birth pangs. Of course, mankind has fought in wars in WWI, WWII, for thousands of years. But now it’s just going to get even more intense.
Because we live in a sinful world, a broken world. There is the power of darkness by the devil against the Kingdom of God which is light.
Disciples of Christ will be Persecuted
Then in v9-Onwards:9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
Jesus said you will behanded over to be persecuted and put to death. Wait, who was he talking to?
His disciples. Do they apply to modern day Christians? Look at what happen to China, Iran, middle eastern countries. Even in Nigeria. Many Christians are heavily persecuted. Why? Can’t God just rescue them? Sometimes He does, but many times He let them. It’s God’s way to make us testify to the world, the glory of God in Christ, how strong we are in Him, how strong our faith is in him. To prove to the world, our faith is really genuine, not based on some comfy cushy sloppy love that has no backbone. Jesus, of course, did say, be united and love one another, that the world may know that you are mine. That too. Of course.
Many Christians shall turn away from the Faith
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
Jesus also warned that many will turn away from the faith in Christ. Who? Christians! Yes, those Christians who now believe in Christ. You see at the end time; every stone will be turned. Sheep will be separate from goats. God will separated the wheat from the tare. Real Christians and fake Christians. SO be careful and be ready. Walk with Christ and abide in him absolutely
11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
Then many false prophets, preaching not the real authentic gospel will spread. Church be ready and be alert. Be trained in the Word of God.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
Then the increase of wickedness will cause of most believers cold. That’s really scary. Most? Wow! What happens to the elect? That you don’t have to worry, let God be God, and you be you. God will take care of those whom he called. His elect will never be snatched from His hands. We just need to be warned. Pray and pray! For those who never come to prayer meetings, start now!
This Gospel shall be preached to the Whole World
13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Finally, this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in there whole world. Yes, the WHOLE world. Not just some parts. All parts of Long Island, all parts of NYC. All parts of USA, all parts of the world. That’s the promise of God.
As a testimony to all nations, and the END will come.
Al Ngu sermons & devotion 