Unstoppable
Matthew 24:14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
This verse sticks out like a sore thumb from the verses before it.
Look at them:
Matthew 24:9-13 Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Yikes! Persecution, arrests, hated all over the world, falling away, hating each other, false prophets, mass deception, sin, loss of love for God.
That's a pretty ugly list. And right after all this Jesus tells them... Don't worry, the Gospel will be preached to the ends of the world anyway.
The Gospel is unstoppable.
Jesus lists the most unseemly possible events happening in the world to the church. And through it all, the Good News will be preached. That's good news for the Good News. This train is rolling and nothing is going to keep it from reaching it's final stop.
God is busy working through grace and love in the power of the Holy Spirit to wrestle captives away from the evil one who holds them in his vile grip. And God will win. Not everyone will stick it out, there will be quitters, haters, and pretenders. But God will still have His people for Himself.
I think we forget often in America - Christianity is not supposed to be popular. This thing is not going to be widely accepted. There will be a cost to bear. I'm afraid in our quest to be relevant we've bought a subtle lie that eliminates any little conflicting nature of our devotion. The picture Jesus paints should snap us back to reality.
The more I do these studies, the more I look at Jesus in the scriptures instead of the caricature I get from plans and programs of man, the more the Truth comes clear, my focus is straightened out, and my faith is strengthened for the long haul.
That's good because it may be a rough road.
PRAYER:
Father, help me to see Jesus for who He is instead of what I 'think' He is. Instead of the church-growth Jesus that I'm often presented with, may I know Him as He is.
This verse sticks out like a sore thumb from the verses before it.
Look at them:
Matthew 24:9-13 Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Yikes! Persecution, arrests, hated all over the world, falling away, hating each other, false prophets, mass deception, sin, loss of love for God.
That's a pretty ugly list. And right after all this Jesus tells them... Don't worry, the Gospel will be preached to the ends of the world anyway.
The Gospel is unstoppable.
Jesus lists the most unseemly possible events happening in the world to the church. And through it all, the Good News will be preached. That's good news for the Good News. This train is rolling and nothing is going to keep it from reaching it's final stop.
God is busy working through grace and love in the power of the Holy Spirit to wrestle captives away from the evil one who holds them in his vile grip. And God will win. Not everyone will stick it out, there will be quitters, haters, and pretenders. But God will still have His people for Himself.
I think we forget often in America - Christianity is not supposed to be popular. This thing is not going to be widely accepted. There will be a cost to bear. I'm afraid in our quest to be relevant we've bought a subtle lie that eliminates any little conflicting nature of our devotion. The picture Jesus paints should snap us back to reality.
The more I do these studies, the more I look at Jesus in the scriptures instead of the caricature I get from plans and programs of man, the more the Truth comes clear, my focus is straightened out, and my faith is strengthened for the long haul.
That's good because it may be a rough road.
PRAYER:
Father, help me to see Jesus for who He is instead of what I 'think' He is. Instead of the church-growth Jesus that I'm often presented with, may I know Him as He is.
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