Introduction
What comes to your mind when I say the words “Second coming”?
What do you believe a Christian’s attitude should be concerning Jesus coming back?
This week and next week, Josh and I are going to give you one challenge for the school year ahead. My challenge for you this week and for this school year is to keep an eternal perspective. When school starts, it is really easy to become narrow-minded. We focus on what we have to do right then and there, and we do just enough to make it through the day. What if we were not promised tomorrow? How would we act, how would we treat people? My hope through this lesson is not to scare you into doing something, it is to motivate you to make a difference and have a different outlook on life.
Lesson
2 Peter 3:3-4
This is kind of like the fire drills and tornado drill you go through in school. When you were younger, you took them seriously. Now, they are a complete and utter waste of time. You know there is no fire, and you just go through the motions. There is no urgency.
Many of us have heard, over and over again, that Jesus is coming soon. However, we have begun to think that this is just like those fire drills. Soon to us is tomorrow, or at least within the year. So Jesus still hasn’t come, so we begin to let our guard down and think, “This isn’t happening today.” The thing is, it could.
2 Peter 3:5-10
We are on God’s time. While this seems like a cop-out, it is true. While we do not know the day, we can find some warning signs in Scripture to let us know that the day is coming. Remember though, these signs are not steps in a map, like a treasure hunt. They are birth pains (like Jesus says in Matthew 24). Also, we cannot say that something hasn’t happened, so Jesus can’t come. Lastly, don’t get caught up in how and when, just focus on the fact that it is going to happen. We just need to take a look at the frequency of the birth pains. Here are signs we can look for:
Signs in nature (Matthew 24, Luke 21)
Earthquakes, famine, sickness, disease
Wars and rumors of wars
Until 1914 no universal world, then we had two. Death toll from conflicts since then set to top 23 million
Isaiah says that we will call evil good, and good evil (Read 2 Timothy 2-9)
We will be tolerating on everything but the things of God.
More people will hear false teachers of God than truth.
Matthew 24 says that Christians will be persecuted. Now, we don’t see this really where we are today, but if you look at the past century, there have been more Christians martyred than all the time leading up to this past century combined. There are 200,000,000 Christians who face persecution, death, or torture every day. (Persecution.org).
(Matthew 24:14) There will also be a revival in people coming to Christ. Everyone will be reached with the Gospel. Is this happening?
The most telling is that people will ignore the warning signs.
2 Peter 3:14-15. God is waiting until all possible people can come to know Him.
Conclusion
I tell you all this to tell you this:
Don’t get caught up in figuring out when Jesus is coming again. Just know that He is. Just know that when He does, there are no more chances. No more chances to reach out to people. No more chances to live a better life. No more chances to grow closer to God. This school year, and every day from here forward, I challenge you (and myself) to live with an eternal perspective. Know that this could be your last day, your last breath. Live it to the fullest and leave nothing on the table at the end of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment