ALERT! HE IS COMING!

 

"The Glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ, is what our word from Matthew 24:36-51 is telling us. 

The Lord is coming... Are we ready? The tragedy is, however, not everyone is ready for His return. 

The first 35 verses of this chapter were all explanations of the Lord as to "when and what" details of His return, then, without wasting time He moved on exhorting us to be vigilant or be ready for His coming. This is really serious!

But He didn't say when, for He wants us to be always ready and understand the necessity of readiness.

His return will be like A SUDDEN FLOOD (Noah"s time) I personally likened this to SUDDEN DEATH - like the people in Noah's time when they were drowned in the flood, heart attacks, death while sleeping -- NO TIME TO PREPARE..

Noah preached righteousness for over 100 years but he was ignored, because the people were so WORLDLY -

When we say worldly it's not just being immoral or wicked, it is also about job or relationship or certain posssession that we can't let go, goals or habits even attitudes. They are not bad but they are not meant to run our lives. 

As John warned us : 1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

His return will also be like  THIEF IN THE NIGHT - they come when you don't expect them. When we want to protect our belongings thieves, we make sure our houses are well-locked.

 Planning ahead is very important. 
- it will be too late to start living holy when He is here already even to seek righteousness. 

Let us reflect: 

- How prepared are we for His coming? Because His coming brings with it severity.

        - If you fail to prepare, because you love the world...

        - If you fail to prepare because you are lazy..

        - if you fail to prepare because you are a phony...

- Failure to prepare is a monumental mistake.

So be prepared:

- by focusing more on His kingdom and His righteousness, and all things will be added unto you.

- by waking up and being alert for what He wants to see when He returns..

- by doing the job He left for us to finish.

START NOW! BE FAITHFUL! BE ALERT! and BE PREPARED!

Amen.

UNDER HIS WINGS

 

As we read the 23rd chapter of Matthew, it is a notorious chapter for the Lord Jesus have rebuked the Pharisees known as "The Seven Woes" - Jesus criticized openly the Pharisees in somewhat angry demeanor. This speech of Jesus stretches through matthew 25. 

Though Jesus was talking about the Pharisees He was actually talking to the crowds and the disciples, because He was giving them warning not to do what they do because they are hypocrites. Eventhough, He acknowledged their teaching as the law of Moses, they warned them that they are blind guides who don't do what they teach. 

In the last part, He lamented in verses 37-39. He was calling Jerusalem to repent for they are about to reject Him and crucify Him.  He asked them to submit be under His wings but they were unwilling. 

Let's reflect: 

Notice the mercy that always accompanies correction. He still offers a way of redemption though He is utterly upset with our sins.  His correction is to always draw us back and restore us - be under His wings. 

In Jesus we see true love - enduring and willing to suffer for us. 

- How many times we have sinned and find ourselves at His foot confessing and He woulld let us read from the scripture His corrections or would allow us to listen to sermons or read exhortation that would hurt us and shape us to what who He wants us to be. 

-If we are in a current situation where we are sinning -- allow the Lord to correct us and let us submit to Him NOW... and be UNDER HIS WINGS once again. Amen.

YOU ARE INVITED : RSVP

 

As we reflect on the scripture from Matthew 22:1-14 "The Parable of the Wedding Feast", it is clear that Jesus is telling us that heaven is like a banquet. 

WE ARE ALL INVITED!

If we are going to look at the Jewish culture - whenever there's a big event people are invited first without the set date and time - they only need to say if they can go or not. When the banquet is ready they will send an invitation again to attend with their proper garment. 

We are invited at his banquet - when? no one knows... but did we respond YES or NO to His invitation? We don't know when is He coming and invite us once again to His banquet... are we ready? 

Many are invited but they refused to respond for they are busy with all their work, daily routines and daily concerns. Everyday there's always an invitation to prepare for that big event/banquet. We ignore those invitations because we are too absorbed to make our lives comfortable in this world. 

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Ps 95:8). If today you are invited, attend and be prepared. 

Most of the time we reject the invitation to be closer and know Him more because of so many worldly things. BUT TIME IS NOT PROMISED TO ANY OF US. We have to come on GOD'S TIME. WE MUST ATTEND WHEN HE INVITES US. 

In verses 11-13 - is a warning for all of us -- when the king inspected His guests, there is one man who has no wedding garment and was thrown into outer darkness. 

When we receive His invitation - we MUST be prepared to attend including our garments - which I believe it is the garment of repentance and obedience to our Lord. We must be covered by the blood of the lamb  before we can be in the banquet. 

Let us reflect: 

Have you received God's invtitation to His kingdom? If NO, NOW is the time to accept His invitation (now that you are reading this, it's not an accident, you are now invited! Accept!)

If YES, have you rsvped? Have you accepted it? what preparations are you doing to be ready for His banquet? 
        - Have you repented? 
        - Have you attended His equipping to know Him more?
        - Are you obeying his commandments? 
        - Are you being fruitful? (bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit?)

You are invited! It is an honor! be prepared and attend! 

"Many are called but few are chosen" (V14) 
Amen.

UNFRUITFULNESS

 

As we reflect on the Scripture of Matthew 21:18-19, when Jesus cursed the fig tree. This verses are both a Parable and a prophecy. It shows Jesus as our final judge. It is also a pictorial version of the prophecy of Jeremiah 8:13. 

Christ was seeking fruit and can't find any from the fig tree. Jesus didn't call us or plant us to be barren. He comes to give but also requires fruit from us. He does not only demand but delights in it. THE FRUIT HE DESIRES IS US. 

The fig tree was standing tall with so much leaves but no fruit. We may be standing tall and having all the leaves (like profession, money, family all the the temporal things of the world) but unfruitful. His desire is for us to bear fruit (the fruits of the Holy Spirit), to blossom the goodness of the Lord.

UNFRUITFULNESS - is sin punished by continual sinfulness, and when Jesus cursed the fig tree who was standing tall it withered immediately. It is alarming that we have no more time to waste. We, as Christians must bear fruits or we will wither in hell. 

Jesus has performed so many immeasurable miracles of mercy and forgiveness, but this is  His one miracle of judgment to show us that He is our final judge if we don't bear fruit. 

Let us reflect: 
God has given us much mercy,  love and our chances to change are unaccountable. When we accept Christ He gave us so many provisions and opportunities to get to know Him more, He would send His workers to equip and even take care of us, so we can grow according to His plan. He does all these things for us to be fruitful and grow. 

Are we taking these chances to change and get to know Him more? 
As Christians do we even bother to look at ourselves if we are fruitful?

What if Jesus would come now and ask for our fruit? Do we have any fruit to offer to Him? If not, are we ready to wither?

Let us not forget - Jesus is our final judge. BE FRUITFUL! Amen.

JESUS FIRST

 

As we meditate the word of the Lord today in Matthew 19, verse 29 answered our questions on how to really follow Jesus Christ.

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life" (Matthew 19:29).

It maybe a bit confusing, for Jesus Christ taught us to love our family. Does this mean that we neglect our family for His namesake?

It means that we need to put Jesus first in everything we do. It doesn’t mean that we neglect them. However, if our family and work get in the way of following Jesus, we must be prepared to leave everything behind. Anything in our lives, that hinders us to do the will of the Father and following Jesus must be abandoned. Self-sacrifice, dying in our flesh and giving up ourselves (habits, comfort and wealth) is what Jesus is asking from us.

He is saying that the only way to achieve the kingdom is by focusing on the Christ—our true spiritual identity—over any and all human distractions.

But for doing all these He promised that in return we will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. It is the ULTIMATE PROMISE OF THE ULTIMATE ETERNAL REWARD.

Some of the ways we get our hundredfold:

· Joy in the Holy Spirit, peace of conscience, the sense of God’s love.

· Contentment. They shall have a contented frame of mind.

· God will stir up the hearts of others to supply their wants, and that supply shall be sweeter to them than their abundance was.

Let us reflect:

-       Is Jesus our priority in our lives?

-       Can we give up our comfort of life for Jesus?

-       Is our schedule and appointments revolve around our schedule for Jesus? (do we turn down other appointments that would conflict to our Sunday service and equipping)

-       Can we sacrifice our phone calls to our loved ones for the work of the Church?

-       Can we give up our sleeping time and rest time because you are needed in the Church or a brother/sister needs you?

-       Can we sacrifice our pride and submit to your elders or authorities for Jesus namesake?

-       Can we forget all our needs/self and prioritize Jesus?

 

 God will be a debtor to no man. It is impossible for us to give more to God than He gives back to us. Amen.

PEACE TO THOSE WHOM GOD IS PLEASED

 

As we read our daily scripture today in Luke 2. We were led to know the birth of Jesus, the encounter of the shepherds and the angels of the Lord, the presentation of Jesus in the temple and His return to Nazareth.

Let us reflect on the v14, 29-31.

The praises of angels and the prophecy of Simeon.

It was highlighted that the true servants or the people whom God is pleased is given heavenly PEACE.

Let us reflect - one of the signs that we are truly with God and the Lord is pleased to us when we show peace in everything we do. When nothing can bother us even everything in our lives is shaken.

Heavenly peace comes only from our Father.

- if we always still have issues, pride and still shaken from every little things in life, let us strive to please the Lord to receive His peace.

Amen.

CHURCH DISCIPLINE

 

As we meditate the Word of the Lord in Matthew 18, in verses 15-20 Jesus showed us the authority of the church to discipline – He encouraged the people of God to stand and be firm in a gentle way. But the purpose of discipline must always be to RESTORE the offender and repent.

The way the world deals with conflict is either to take revenge or to walk away.  But God's people are called to a higher ethic- we are to confront our offenders about their sin. Not in bitterness or in a vengeful spirit, but in a spirit of gentleness and love. We are to love one another and to restore one another from ongoing sin.

Oftentimes as believers we were caught up between the fear of – “I do not want to hurt them, what if they get offended, what if they find me unfair, what if they say I am judgmental, or losing people in the church if we confront them and get offended. BUT in this text before us today, God does not give us an option to cop out here. He says in Matthew 18 and verse 15, “If your brother …” that is someone in the faith, a brother in the church, “… he sins against you, go and tell him his fault.”

Jesus tells us, it's so important because, “If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” [Matthew 18:15] This is a rescue mission! This is a recovery process! When someone lives in sin and if you love him, you wouldn't want him to keep on sinning. So, it is good; it is right; it is loving to go and tell him his fault, so that you may rescue him; gain him; recover him and prevent him from going deeper into his sins.

Though before we confront, we must battle everything with our knee first, pray that they may find the correction with humility. If not, Jesus gave us the process in this verse – bring to the church leaders with witnesses. However, if still they don’t submit and repent let them be – as Jesus said let them be a gentile or tax collector to you-means they do not belong to the faith –BUT it doesn’t mean we cease to pray for them until they are restored.

Let us reflect:

Are we afraid or intimidated to confront or correct our brethren because they might find you judgmental, unfair or unkind? How many times we just close our eyes and ignore the stubbornness of our brethren just to save ourselves from being hated by them? Jesus, gave us the process to discipline for a reason, as a church we must not close our eyes to our sinning brethren. If we truly love them let us correct them and restore them in a Christian way.

And if we are the offenders, let us acknowledge humbly our sins and repent, break down all your pride and be restored. It’s easier to say “sorry” than to sacrifice your relationship with the brethren.
Let us remember, how we receive corrections show how mature we are in Christ.

I pray, that each one of us will have humility to accept any rebuking and corrections for us to be restored. Amen.

THE WARNING!

 

As we read our daily reading in Matthew 3 today, It is the time when John the Baptist WARNED the people to repent or else like the unfruitful tree we will be thrown to hell.

He repeatedly warned the people that the ax is already laid to the root of the unfruitful trees.

John the baptist’s role is to prepare the way of Jesus and make the paths straight for everyone.

Like any other prophets his role is to WARN the people of the wrath of God if we do not repent.

Let us reflect if these warnings of the Lord make us truly prepare our hearts and urge us to repent or to rebel against the bringer of the warning. Like the sadducees whom John called brood of vipers they saw John as ill wisher and foolish for they felt like he wants them to be in hell and they persecuted John. It is always the tendency of prideful people - to persecute and resist instead of reflecting.

God sends people to warn us because he loves us. Our reaction to these warnings show our maturity in faith and the purity of our hearts. Warnings are always scary so people would abide but still it’s our choice on how we take these warnings of the Lord.

If today you hear a warning harden not ur heart for the Lord is calling you.

Be the modern day John the Baptist - bring the warning to the people. Amen.

I NEVER KNEW YOU!

As we read our daily reading for today.. our Lord Gave us a WARNING... so we may assess our profession of faith to Him? Are we really true when we say we love Him. 

The prior statement, part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1–2), boldly indicated that not everyone who refers to Jesus as "Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven. Rather, it is those who do the will of God the Father who will be saved (Matthew 7:21).

ONLY THOSE WHO DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER —What's His will? HIS TWO GREATEST COMMANDMENTS.

1. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

2,“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

We can never say we love the Lord without the physical manifestation that we love OTHERS. We may pray fervently, worship day and night, serve and cast out demons but still He will deny us if we have no love for others- especially the lost.

Let us reflect... Why are we in the church if our reason is to only come for the Lord — we can stay at home to pray alone with the Lord.. We are in church to have fellowship with others and pray to the Lord together. Though when we praise and worship we must do it personally without thinking of others.. but it doesn't mean that we ignore and mistreat others  because you are ONLY there for the Lord. The two greatest commandments are inseparable - we cannot cut off our ties with other people and say you love the Lord. God's will is for us to love Him as our Lord and savior and to love others as we love ourselves.  

Is our love for the Lord manifests physically — do we submit to our authorities, elders, and even to other workers in the church or in the family or outside the church and family?

How we treat others is how we treat the Lord. 

Let us not wait for the Lord to tell us — I NEVER KNEW YOU.... Amen.

Be HUMBLE and Be HEALED!

 

As we reflect on our daily scripture today in Matthew 8, Jesus goes about healing. 

He first healed the Leper. 

During that time lepers can’t be with the crowd. They are outcasts. 

They were to be secluded, away from the general population. But this particular man found the faith to come and kneel before Jesus to ask for healing, to be made clean. The man with leprosy could face punishment for his appearance among the crowd, yet despite the fear, he appeared anyway.

The story continues to say, "Jesus touched him," which was against the cultural norm because people with leprosy were not to be touched. Yet, Jesus touched him and made him clean, immediately. He did not say come back tomorrow or in the future. He healed him immediately.

All of us are sick too. We have sicknesses that can make us outcast or sins that we are ashamed of but we must find that courage and HUMILITY to ask the Lord to heal us. And He will and always willing. 

God can do immediate work in and for us. Despite how scary our situation may be, all we need to do is to break that pride and humble ourselves to the Lord and allow Him to totally heal us. 

Be humble and be healed. Amen.

BE MOVED WITH COMPASSION!

 

As we meditate the Word of the Lord in Matthew 14 today, Let us focus on verses 13-15. 

When we read Matthew 14 we always highlight the passage of Jesus and Peter walking on water. But verses 13-15 is really important for us servants and true born again of Christ. 

In this verses, Jesus had a plan to withdraw from the crowd and be in solitude for He was hurting inside. He wanted to mourn the death of John the Baptist His cousin whom he truly loved. 

But when He saw the great crowd who followed Him He was moved with compassion and decided to sacrifice - He knew the crowd needed him to teach and feed them both physically and spiritually and so HE DID. 

Jesus was hurting but decided to forget about Himself and serve the multitude-A TRUE MODEL LEADER INDEED! - He never promoted self-love but self-sacrifice.

Reflection: 

Let us reflect — was there a time we sacrificed our needs and wants for the sake of others?

There are times that we need to be alone because we are not in the mood but a friend called - 

- times when we are too busy but your family, your friend or your church need you ... what do you do?

- times when we don't feel well but we need to serve in the church and people are waiting for you and expecting you to serve them and feed them - what did you do?

-times when you are hurting because a friend, a family, a churchmate hurt you - will you abandon your relationship over pride or hurts or will you sacrifice your hurts and be with them instead? 

Self-sacrifice is when we are moved with compassion for others — and when we forget OURSELVES... 

SELF - LOVE IS NEVER PROMOTED IN THE BIBLE...it is always self-sacrifice. Amen.

DEFILEMENT COMES FROM WITHIN

 

As we meditate our scripture today from the book of Matthew 15, Jesus led us to understand what defiles us in verses 10-20. He explained that what makes us impure are the words and actions that stemmed from our hearts. As Luke explained in chapter 6:45 that out of the abundance of the heart our mouth speaks – Jesus exhorted us that our hearts are not naturally good and out of our heart evil flows. 

Our hearts seeps into every conversation. It dictates every relationship. Our very lives emanate from the heart it impacts the intensity of our communication with others. Every arena of our lives intersects with what’s going on in our hearts. 

Our heart is such a mystery, as Prophet Jeremiah said: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it. 

The world promotes to FOLLOW OUR HEARTS – but it will lead us straight to hell. There’s a big difference between setting our hearts on good things vs Godly things. 

Only God knows what is in our hearts. So, what can we do? 

We need the courage to ask the heavenly Father for help to watch over, understand, and purify our hearts. He is eager to respond and to show us (through equipping) how to replace old bad habits of the heart with new and better ones that will in time make us more like his Son.

Let us reflect: We can’t monitor our hearts but we can monitor our actions and words. These two are the reflection of our hearts. Lately, what are the words we uttered and actions we did? – were they pleasing to the Lord or hurtful for others? 

Lets us remember Luke 6:45- “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Amen.

YOU OF LITTLE FAITH!

As we reflect on our scripture Matthew 17 today,  V16: “I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” A dad was talking to Jesus, a desperate dad who brought his son to His disciple but could not heal him. V17: Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me."

 Jesus was disappointed to his disciples for having little faith and called them “faithless and perverse”. 

Why is Jesus disappointed? If we go back to Matthew 10, Jesus sends them out to heal sickness and disease, to drive out demons, and to preach and proclaim the Kingdom of God. The disciples were deputized and called to do the ministry of Jesus; they were caught up in the reality of “doubts”. 

Let us reflect: As Christians we were deputized and called to do the ministry of the Lord in our own ways, in our work place, family and friends. Are we doing our job as disciples of Jesus? We may have an intimate relationship with Jesus but we disappoint Him from time to time for having little faith that we can do what He can do. HOW CAN WE BE SO CLOSE TO JESUS AND NOT BE ABLE TO AFFECT THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WE COME IN CONTACT WITH?

When was the last time you were supposed to help someone’s life and you did not do what you were supposed to do? 

Jesus was complaining not because they didn’t have power because they didn’t have faith.  You may not have a lot of things at this point, but you have faith to believe that there is nothing that our God cannot do.

We all may have some areas where we may need development in our faith.  Somewhere along the journey faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. Let’s read, let’s be equipped. We needed to find out that there was something in the book that will help us have more faith today and accomplish more tomorrow. And ask God to help us with our unbelief. Amen.