We heard from Chris Selby this week. You do not often hear about the end times being talked about much in churches these days. But this week we did hear a little more about it. The question is are we in end times?
There certainly seems to be a lot of Christians saying so at the present time. Firstly, what did Jesus say about the signs of the end times in the book of Matthew.
Matthew 24 v 1-8
24 “Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 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?”
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 rumours 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.”
What did Jesus mean by birth pains, he says earthquakes will take place and other disasters involving the earth. Could this be true?
There have been devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Morocco. We have had the fires in Hawaii, Australia, Spain, Greece and Portugal, as well as the terrible disaster in Libya where 10,000 people are missing with that number they say could rise by even more.
Other signs Jesus talked about were wars and rumours of wars breaking out. We have the Ukraine and Russia war happening as we speak, there are constant rumours of wars between other nations in the world that could break out such as the situation with North Korea.
We do not write this to scare anyone, but we do believe in the Bible and it’s prophecies. Jesus was prophesised to come over 300 times in the Old Testament and they all came true. There are prophecies said in the Bible that are still yet to come true but the signs are getting more and more likely that they will come true, and that includes Jesus’ second coming. So should we be ready, and take more consideration about Jesus’ second coming could be coming very soon.
Why are we pointing this out to you?
The Lord has made it clear he doesn’t want anyone to perish. When Jesus returns and raptures the church, billions are going to be left behind and suffer the great tribulation, not a good time. So, think about this. How important is it to share your faith with people?
Let’s give everybody the opportunity to be saved. You do not have to save people from start to finish in your strength. Jesus makes it clear what the kingdom is like as said in the book of Mark through the Parable of the Growing Seed as shown here.
Mark 4 v 26-29
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
All we have to do is this, share a seed with people and let God water that seed. A seed could be to share your testimony with people, to plant the simplest of seeds inviting someone to a church service. It doesn’t have to be a huge monumental effort to get someone saved, it will be God doing the work using us one person at a time to water the seed planted in people that can lead a person to salvation.
Jesus came to save sinners. He took the punishment for our sins which makes us as white as snow before God, our sins are forgotten and the slate wiped clean. With the end time signs happening more frequently there is a greater need now to tell people about the good news of Jesus, so that people whoever they maybe will be saved and will be confident about their futures in eternity.
Will you take every opportunity to share your faith with people? So that they will have confidence in knowing where they are going and also for the forgiveness of their sins.