The Plan of God |
Discipleship |
Faith |
Sin |
Perseverence |
Prayer |
Communion With God |
Pursuing God |
Devotion |
Following Jesus |
Time With God |
Sanctification |
Spiritual Warfare |
Trust |
The Word of God |
View All Categories
The first advent - the incarnation of the Son of God as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem - is a reminder that God is good on his word. And He promised He would come back, and that it would be totally unexpected. Are you ready?
Recent Entries
God? Who Needs Him?May 31, 2013
Self-sufficient humanism. Paul saw it coming – “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Imago Dei
September 12, 2012
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Why Can't I Pray?
August 18, 2012
The bible gives us several reasons, but according to Jeremy Taylor, a deceitful heart is at the root of prayerlessness.
It's Not Rocket Science
July 23, 2012
To keep in step with the Spirit should be our daily quest. And if we are successful at that, all of life falls into place.
Theological Steak
April 10, 2012
These words by P. T. Forsythe on the magnificence of Christ's work are to theology what Ruth's Chris is to a good steak.
Describing the Indescribable
February 11, 2012
What we have in Christ will take all eternity to describe. But for one segment of one sermon, a great preacher made a mighty attempt.
Making Sense Of It All
January 30, 2012
Where are things headed? Is there rhyme and reason to the endless cycle of summer, fall, winter and spring? Is there a plan in place, or is randomness the explanation?
Ready Or Not....
November 25, 2008
No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.
That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Matthew 24:36-44
Larry Norman wrote a song called I WISH WE'D ALL BEEN READY. Mainly it is a sober reminder that...
There's no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you've been left behind.
"How could you have been so blind?" he asks. J. C. Ryle in a sermon on the second advent and the ten virgins (Matthew 25) pick up on the suddenness of Christ's coming.
"I do not know when Christ will come. I am no prophet..I only assert positively that Christ will come again one day in person to set up His kingdom, and that whether the day be near or whether it be far off, it wil take the Church and world exceedingly by surprise."
"It will come on men suddenly. It wil break on the world all at once. It will not have been talked over, prepared for, and looked forward to by everybody."
"It will awaken men's minds like a cry of fire at midnight. it will startle men's hearts like a trumpet blown by their bedsides in their first sleep."
"Like Pharaoh and his host, men will know nothing until the very waters are upon them. Before they can recover thier breath and know where they are, they shall find that the Lord is come."
"I suspect that there is a vague notion floating in men's minds that the present order of things will not end quite so suddenly. I suspect men cling to the idea that there will be a kind of Saturday night in the world - a time when all will know the Lords' day is near, a time when all will be able to cleanse their consciences, look up their best garment, shake off their earthly business, and prepare to meet the Lord."
"If anyone...has got such a notion, I charge him to give it up forever. If anything is clear in unfulfilled prophecy, this one fact seems clear, that the Lord's coming will be sudden, and take men by surprise"
His advice?
"Let us watch for the world's sake. We are the book they chiefly read- they watch our ways. Le us strive to be plain epistles of Christ."
"Let us watch for our own sakes. As our walk is, so will be our peace; as our conformity to Christ's mind, so will be our sense of Christ's atoning blood. If a man will not walk in the full light of the sun, how can he expect to be warm?"
"And, not least, let us watch for our Lord's sake. Let us live as if His honor was concerned in our behavior. Let us live as if every slip and fall was a wound to our Head. Let us exercise a godly jealousy for thought, word, and action - motive, manner and walk. Never never let us fear being too strict. 'Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.'"
For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.
That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Matthew 24:36-44
Larry Norman wrote a song called I WISH WE'D ALL BEEN READY. Mainly it is a sober reminder that...
There's no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you've been left behind.
"How could you have been so blind?" he asks. J. C. Ryle in a sermon on the second advent and the ten virgins (Matthew 25) pick up on the suddenness of Christ's coming.
"I do not know when Christ will come. I am no prophet..I only assert positively that Christ will come again one day in person to set up His kingdom, and that whether the day be near or whether it be far off, it wil take the Church and world exceedingly by surprise."
"It will come on men suddenly. It wil break on the world all at once. It will not have been talked over, prepared for, and looked forward to by everybody."
"It will awaken men's minds like a cry of fire at midnight. it will startle men's hearts like a trumpet blown by their bedsides in their first sleep."
"Like Pharaoh and his host, men will know nothing until the very waters are upon them. Before they can recover thier breath and know where they are, they shall find that the Lord is come."
"I suspect that there is a vague notion floating in men's minds that the present order of things will not end quite so suddenly. I suspect men cling to the idea that there will be a kind of Saturday night in the world - a time when all will know the Lords' day is near, a time when all will be able to cleanse their consciences, look up their best garment, shake off their earthly business, and prepare to meet the Lord."
"If anyone...has got such a notion, I charge him to give it up forever. If anything is clear in unfulfilled prophecy, this one fact seems clear, that the Lord's coming will be sudden, and take men by surprise"
His advice?
"Let us watch for the world's sake. We are the book they chiefly read- they watch our ways. Le us strive to be plain epistles of Christ."
"Let us watch for our own sakes. As our walk is, so will be our peace; as our conformity to Christ's mind, so will be our sense of Christ's atoning blood. If a man will not walk in the full light of the sun, how can he expect to be warm?"
"And, not least, let us watch for our Lord's sake. Let us live as if His honor was concerned in our behavior. Let us live as if every slip and fall was a wound to our Head. Let us exercise a godly jealousy for thought, word, and action - motive, manner and walk. Never never let us fear being too strict. 'Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.'"
