Happy new focus of Ordinary Time Day!
It’s Reformation Sunday too.
I’m so glad you’re here at afaithtalk.com. This will be the final focus of the year before we reach Advent. It means we’re exactly five weeks from the very first Sunday of Advent. My this year has been both very fast and very strange.
How’s your focus been? Five weeks remain. We’re going to read about the last one.
Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, I’m asking for everything You want to give us today to make these last five weeks so easy to focus on as we end our Ordinary Time and come up to Your Advent. Lead me to and through all You have for us today. In Your Holy and Precious Name, I pray. Amen.
Matthew 24:10-14
“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 the one 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.”
Matthew 24:22-25
“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 Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.”
Matthew 24:29
“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.’
Matthew 24:30-31
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, 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.”
Matthew 24:30-31 MSG
“Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.
Matthew 24:36-41
The Day and Hour Unknown“But about that day or hour no one knows, 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.
Matthew 24:42-44
“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 24:44 MSG
But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.
How? What does it look like to be vigilant like that, be ready like that? Is it all about living with a very expectant hope? One that says “He’s coming, could be today, could be tomorrow, but He is coming and I am ready. Please Come, Lord Jesus.”
This I know: The End is coming. There is every single reason to be ready. Keep your relationship with Jesus growing and constant. Keep loving others and growing your faith.