Sliced Bread

Most of us have heard the saying,“That’s the best thing since sliced bread!” What do you think is actually the best thing since sliced bread?

 

Earlier this week I had an idea about how I wanted this post to go.  My answer was simple and straight forward:  Jesus is the best thing ever, not just since sliced bread!  I thought the words to "If Heaven Never was Promised to Me" or "Jesus is the Best Thing" would fit nicely.  But I just couldn't seem to get the post written.

I headed out for a run this morning.  It rained most of yesterday, so the air was fresh, about 37 degrees, no wind.  Just like I like it!  I turned on my music and about the fifth song was a new one by Jordan Feliz - "Jesus is Coming Back."  If you haven't heard it yet, go find it on your favorite music site, it's awesome!  I listened to it on repeat this morning and knew that was the answer - having Jesus in my life is wonderful, but when He comes back, that is going to be the best!

Jesus said in Luke 21:28, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."  In that chapter, Jesus answered the questions, "Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?"

 

The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:19, " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."  I love the second line of the first verse of this song, "Crazy as it seems, yeah, I know it's gonna be okay."  It's going to be okay!  My hope isn't in Washington, D.C. It doesn't scare me, it's temporary!  No executive order is going to change the day that is appointed.

 

Jesus Is Coming Back

 

We know, He's coming back (we know, we know)
We know, He's coming back (we know, we know)
We know, He's coming back (we know, we know)
We know, He's coming back

 

Have you ever thought that the world has kinda lost its way?
Crazy as it seems, yeah, I know it's gonna be okay, oh, yeah
It doesn't scare me, it's temporary
There's something better, we got forever
And it won't be long, 'cause we know our help is on the way, the way

 

So, keep your head up
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back
No don't you give up, hey
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back
And when the world gets complicated
We gonna keep on celebrating, 'cause we know (yeah, we know)
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back

 

Gotta stay awake 'cause nobody knows the day or time, no
The trumpet's gonna blow, and the skies are gonna open wide, oh, yeah
He's coming for us, just like He told us
It's been a long wait, but there's a new day
And we're gonna sing hallelujah when the King arrives

 

Oh, you know you gotta keep your head up
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back
No, don't you give up, no, no
'Cause Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back
And when the world gets complicated
We gonna keep on celebrating, 'cause we know
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back

 

Are you ready?   

Are you ready?
People get ready  

People get ready
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
People get ready
People get ready
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
People get ready
Yeah, let's get ready

 

Oh, He's coming back
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back
No don't you give up
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back
And when the world gets complicated
We gonna keep on celebrating, 'cause we know (yeah, we know)
Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back

Now isn't that so much greater than sliced bread?

Election Thoughts

On November 6, 2012, I posted "Election Day Thoughts."  Hard to believe that it's been eight years since President Obama was running for re-election against Mitt Romney.  Here is part of what I wrote:

Les and I had a great discussion about today's outcome while driving to church on Sunday.  We had already cast our votes, we vote my mail.  Les pointed out that as Bible believing Christians who are waiting for the return of Christ, there will come a time when our country will not embrace Christianity.  In order for Biblical prophecy to be fulfilled, our rights as Christians will weaken.  In order for a one world government to be in place, America will need to be weaker.

If the candidate who wins today takes us in that direction, we can rest assured that God allowed it.  His timeline is known only to Him.  As we see the day approaching, we can only pray "Come, Lord Jesus."

 

Now that does not mean as a Christian we should change how we vote. We should still pray and vote with a clear conscience.  If the candidate who will take us down the road of moral decline is elected, that will be "because iniquity shall abound." (Matthew 24:12)  The last days aren't going to be about religious freedom, but "perilous times shall come." (2 Timothy 3:1) 

I returned to 2 Timothy chapter 3 last night and again this morning.  The first five verses sound like 2020:

 

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.  

 

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (written over 200 years ago) is one of my favorite commentaries because it breaks verses down, phrase by phrase.  Here is a description of those who are living in perilous times:

 

Lovers of their own selves -  Selfish, studious of their own interest, and regardless of the welfare of all mankind.  *I could just stop right here.  Turn to any news site and count the number of people looking out for their own interests, regardless of the welfare of anyone else.
 

Covetous - Lovers of money, because of the influence which riches can procure.
 

Boasters -  Vain glorious: self-assuming; valuing themselves beyond all others.
 

Proud -  Airy, light, trifling persons; those who love to make a show - who are all outside.
 

Blasphemers - Those who speak impiously of God and sacred things, and injuriously of men.
 

Disobedient to parents -  Headstrong children, whom their parents cannot persuade.

Unthankful - Persons without grace, or gracefulness; who think they have a right to the services of all men, yet feel no obligation, and consequently no gratitude.
 

Unholy - Without piety; having no heart reverence for God. 

 

Without natural affection -  Without that affection which parents bear to their young, and which the young bear to their parents. An affection which is common to every class of animals; consequently, men without it are worse than brutes.
 

Truce-breakers -  Those who are bound by no promise, held by no engagement, obliged by no oath; persons who readily promise any thing, because they never intend to perform.
 

False accusers -  Devils; but properly enough rendered false accusers, for this is a principal work of the devil. Slanderers; striving ever to ruin the characters of others.
 

Incontinent -  Those who, having sinned away their power of self-government, want strength to govern their appetites; especially those who are slaves to uncleanness.

 

Fierce - Wild, impetuous, whatever is contrary to pliability and gentleness.

Despisers of those that are good - Not lovers of good men. Here is a remarkable advantage of the Greek over the English tongue, one word of the former expressing five or six of the latter. Those who do not love the good must be radically bad themselves.
 

Traitors - Those who deliver up to an enemy the person who has put his life in their hands; such as the Scots of 1648, who delivered up into the hands of his enemies their unfortunate countryman and king, Charles the First; a stain which no lapse of ages can wipe out.
 

Heady - Headstrong, precipitate, rash, inconsiderate.
 

High-minded - The frivolously aspiring; those who are full of themselves, and empty of all good.
 

Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God -  pleasure, sensual gratification, is their god; and this they love and serve; God they do not.

 

Having a form of godliness - The original word μορφωσις signifies a draught, sketch, or summary, and will apply well to those who have all their religion in their creed, confession of faith, catechism, bodies of divinity, etc., while destitute of the life of God in their souls; and are not only destitute of this life, but deny that such life or power is here to be experienced or known. They have religion in their creed, but none in their hearts. And perhaps to their summary they add a decent round of religious observances. 

 

From such turn away - not only do not imitate them, but have no kind of fellowship with them; they are a dangerous people, and but seldom suspected, because their outside is fair.

There have been so many things that have happened in 2020 that seem almost unbelievable.  A worldwide pandemic that has shut down businesses, schools, and churches.  Social unrest.  Political upheaval.  We don't know what we will face tomorrow.  The thought of further persecution is not something I want, but there are promises for those who endure to the end:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

 

Revelation 21:1-4,  "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.   And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

 

It's gonna be worth it all!

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  From the National Day of Prayer website:

The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for our nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Since its inception, this day has continually united Americans from all socio-economic, political, and ethnic backgrounds in prayer while also encouraging personal repentance and righteousness in the culture. The National Day of Prayer belongs to all Americans and is a day that transcends differences, bringing together citizens to celebrate our most beloved freedom; the freedom to humbly come before God and seek His guidance in prayer.

For the past few weeks I've been doing double in my daily Bible reading - I'm still following the plan I started in January, but I've added the recommended reading for our Forty Days of Fire.  (I know I need to blog about Forty Days of Fire, maybe tomorrow!)  In the past few weeks I have read about several rulers:

Pharaoh - "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." (Exodus 1:8)

Ahab - "And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him." (I Kings 16:30)

Herod Antipas - "For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife." (Matthew 14:3) "And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison."  (Matthew 14:10)

I am personally so tired of the presidential campaign.  I have many concerns about our nation, but as I read about these rulers, I also read about people who remained faithful and a God who delivered or chose not to deliver:

Exodus 3:7-8, "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites."

I Kings 19:18, " Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."

Matthew 11:11, "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist:"

The situations are all very different, God brought great deliverance to the children of Israel, but He allowed John the Baptist to lose his life.  I don't know what lies ahead in our country and in our world.  I do know that God allows men to rise to power.  Romans 13:1 says, "For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."

Matthew 24:3 says, "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"  The response that Jesus gave isn't a pretty picture of peace on earth and one day He returns.  I don't know when that day is going to come, but I don't think the days ahead are going to be easy.

So what should we as Christians do?

1. Make sure our hearts are right with our Savior.  There is nothing more important.  If our hearts are right, then whatever comes we can hold on to Jesus.  As the three Hebrew children said in Daniel 3:17-18, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
2. Keep reaching out to others.  "And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." Jude 3
3. Pray for our nation.  2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
4. Pray for His soon return.  "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come."  (Revelation 22:17)

Election Day Thoughts

#1 - Go Vote!  You cannot complain about your government if you don't take the time to vote.  It is a privilege.

Les and I had a great discussion about today's outcome while driving to church on Sunday.  We had already cast our votes, we vote my mail.  Les pointed out that as Bible believing Christians who are waiting for the return of Christ, there will come a time when our country will not embrace Christianity.  In order for Biblical prophecy to be fulfilled, our rights as Christians will weaken.  In order for a one world government to be in place, America will need to be weaker.

If the candidate who wins today takes us in that direction, we can rest assured that God allowed it.  His timeline is known only to Him.  As we see the day approaching, we can only pray "Come, Lord Jesus."

Now that does not mean as a Christian we should change how we vote. We should still pray and vote with a clear conscience.  If the candidate who will take us down the road of moral decline is elected, that will be "because iniquity shall abound." (Matthew 24:12)  The last days aren't going to be about religious freedom, but "perilous times shall come." (2 Timothy 3:1) 

So do your part and vote, but also pray.  If the next four years bring us closer to His coming, isn't that what we're really praying for anyway?