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Please pray with me and for me.
Father God, the days become shorter, the nights stretch longer, and we wait for you in the cold. Your first followers thought you were coming soon, any day now. And we still wait, 2000 years later. Maybe waiting is the posture you want us in- working, watching, and diligently doing what you call us to. Every now and then have us look heavenward, and wonder. And as we repent in Advent, this little Lent, may our penance be crowned with our return. Come Lord Jesus. Amen
He is in third grade, is name is Ben. Ben had heard a sermon about the importance of surrendering your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and asked his parents about salvation, as Ben knew everyone in his family is saved. After numerous conversations with Ben his parents were concerned when their son would not commit his life to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
One morning, while eating his Cheerios, Ben announced to his parents and siblings that he was ready to give his life to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Ben then got up from the table and went upstairs to his bedroom. Needless to say Ben’s parents were excited as they went up the stairs expecting to see their little one knelt beside his bed praying to Jesus. Instead when they looked in their son’s room they saw him folding his Star Wars pajamas and pillow into a suitcase.
Ben’s parents asked, “Ben, what are you doing? He answered, “Packing.” “Why are you packing” Ben’s parents asked? “To go to heaven” Ben answered.
In the mind of a child, to give one’s life to Jesus meant you have to go to heaven to live with Jesus. If only we all possessed the faith of little Ben; if only our adult hearts were so fixed on Christ appearance that the attachments of our earthly life pale in comparison.
If only we had the wisdom of Hebrews 11:3
“By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we see now did not come from anything that can be seen.”
I invite you to open your Bible to the Old Testament Book of Exodus 20:18-21, where we learn of God’s first coming.
Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightenings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood far off, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin.” And the people stood afar off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
But what does the Bible say of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming? Open your Bible to our Scripture Lesson, Mark 13:21-37
And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. False Christ and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; I have told you all things beforehand.
What Jesus is telling us here is that we must be careful of those who claim to perform miracles. We have seen them, I have seem them, and I am skeptical of the TV evangelist Benny Hinn who claims he can lay his hands on someone by the power of the Holy Spirit and heal them. Lay his hands on one who cannot walk and all of a sudden they walk as though nothing was wrong with them. As one individual stated so well, “Benny Hinn can’t heal anyone but Jesus can. Let the Holy Spirit lead you into what is true.”
Listen very carefully to me, I am not saying that I do not believe in miracles or that miracles cannot, do not, happen. If anyone in this universe believes in miracles, I ‘PASTOR JOHN WALTER MOCK’ BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF MIRACLES AND HEALING, FOR I HAVE EXPERIENCED THIS POWER OF THE MIRACLE OF HEALING FOUR SEPARATE TIMES IN MY LIFE. But no human acted alone to heal/cure me. God worked through my oncologist, neurologist, counselor, and physical and speech therapist. It is by the miracle of the power of the Holy Spirit’s healing, not of a human being that I am with alive at this very moment.
Let’s continue with our Scripture Lesson, beginning with Mark 13:24.
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send out the angels, and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Did you notice the difference in God’s 1st coming to earth in Exodus 20:18 and Jesus’ 2nd coming, Mark 13:24-26?
Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and lightenings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off.
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
At the 1st coming we see the people knew because of the changes of thunder, “the sound of the trumpet, and the stars fell from heaven.” Did the people see what was happening or “perceived” what was occurring? “Now when all the people perceived (Perceived: To be aware of through the senses of taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch/feeling.)
At the 2nd coming of Christ I envision the sky will beautiful and bright from the stars falling from heaven but the power will not be here on earth. “and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”
If you have ever seen the helicopter that carries those who are critically injured/ill,
‘CARE-FLIGHT’, that is what I envision the 2nd coming will be like. Everything will be going fine and then all of a sudden we will hear this sound in the sky and out of the heavens above the sound will increase in intensity until Jesus comes down to earth as Care Flight descends to earth in a time of need.
Mark 13:27
“And then God will send out the angels, and gather His elect, (Elect: Those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior)
from the four corners of the earth
(From the North, East, South and West) to the ends of heaven
(where the atmosphere of earth touches heaven.)
Unlike the 1st coming with Moses and the people we learn that with our Lord and Savior’s 2nd Coming nobody shall be afraid. “And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of Him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin.”
“And they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”
Do you remember when you were a child; did you play the game Hide and Seek? If you did, you will remember that the person who was “it” closed their eyes while the rest went out to hide. To give them time to hide, someone had to close their eyes and count ever so slowly up to 100. Then the counter would loudly proclaim, “Ready or not here I come!”
The point of the game was to hide oneself so well that the counter could not find you, for if you were found, and beat you back to home base, you had to be “it” for the next go-around. The secret of the game was preparing oneself against being found and caught. With excitement we heard the words, “READY OR NOT-HERE I COME!”
In today’s Gospel Lesson Jesus is saying to the world, “READY OR NOT - HERE I COME!” Only with Jesus 2nd coming this is not a game, there is a counting and an accounting happening at this very second. It is a countdown before the blast of Jesus appearance on earth a 2nd time to judge the world and to gather His faithful to Himself.
Open your Bible to Mark 13:28-31, the parable of the fig tree.
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender (begins to sprout) and puts forth its leaves, (leaves appear on its branches) you know that summer is near (approaching.) So, also when you see these things taking place, you know that He is near, (Jesus is coming) at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things will take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, (seasons come and seasons go) but my words will not pass away (the word of God shall never die.)
“But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch;
(in Greek the word “watch” means to “chase sleep away”)
for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on then watch. Watch therefore for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning-lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch.” (Mark 13:28-37)
People get ready Jesus is coming, coming right before your very eyes and in the words and wisdom of the Apostle Paul,
Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
On this first Sunday of Advent, the candle of HOPE, the key word is “WATCH” for He will come to us like a thief in the night and we must be prepared for Christ 2nd coming for the word “sleep” is a symbolic word for a state of un-preparedness.
Where are you this first Sunday of Advent? Are you like little Ben at the beginning of this sermon? With your heart fixed on Christ appearance? Or are you of this world watching and waiting for the gifts under your Christmas tree? Are the attachments of this earthly life pale to you in comparison to the greatest gift of all? The 2nd coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
READY OR NOT HERE I COME! ARE YOU READY FOR JESUS OR ARE YOU GOING TO BE LEFT ALONE IN THE DARK WITH NO HOPE?
Remember as we enter into prayer, in the light of Jesus’ promised coming, which many look forward to especially in Advent, we are commanded to watch for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As with the prophet Isaiah to admit that; “I am a sinner and in this I am powerless and I give my life to Jesus who will deliver me from this world.”
Father God, Oh that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! When you came down long ago, you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways.
Amen
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