Good morning to all on this glorious Thursday morning! All is well in the B. Waine Kong household. Waine and I played 9 holes of golf on Tuesday evening instead of veggie out in front of the TV. It was a short par 3 and I actually got 4's on two of the holes so I was very happy. Its nice to just have to take care of he and I. I think I have been raising children and tending to a house hold for over 40 years and its nice just to kick back now and enjoy this time with my best friend, Waine.
I am continuing my journey in Matthew. This commitment to read the New Testament through and try and understand it has been a labor of love for me. On many occasions I have been tempted to abandon this commitment because I don't understand the deeper meaning of a passage or for some other reason; then I stop and think that the only being that would find the Word of God abhorrent is the Devil himself. So on those days, like today, I punch through it and trust that God has a message for me. So today I was blessed with Matthew 24, verses 1-35, "Jesus left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" He asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, and will deceive many. 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. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 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. "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 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. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 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. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away. Amen and amen!
Obviously, the disciples of Christ knew something was wrong. You can feel it in the scriptures and the Words of Christ Himself! Christ knows that His time is drawing nigh, when He will have to take on the sins of the world and become sin itself so that His Church, us, can be redeemed. This is the Christ who knew no sin; He knew that He could not be in the presence of His Father when He took on our sins and I am sure He was burdened. His Father is His best friend and when you are cut off from your best friend your heart aches. He is admonishing His disciples to take each day, one day at a time. They wanted a measure of reassurance that they would be okay; they would have a future; that this mission they started would have a lasting effect. Although Christ gave them a forecast, what I am hearing more is that like them, we cannot control the circumstances that will overtake us in the last days so don't worry about it. The message is that WE SHOULD BE READY no matter the hour of day. Some Christians from the days of the disciples until now have suffered and will continue to suffer as a result of their faith and their actions for Kingdom building. That isn't the important message; the important message is that we are to have a FEVER; an overwhelming desire to ensure that as many people as possible hear the gospel of the love and sacrifice of the Savior so that they too can be saved. Whatever is happening in your daily life, what you are in control of is how you will respond to the challenges that you will face each day. Learn to let go of what you cannot control and put those issues in the hands of the One person who knows all futures including mine and yours. These Words of the gospel are just as relevant today as they were two thousand years ago. Be blessed and encouraged.
Stephanie
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