What are some of the things that you look forward to most? We tend to have our favorite holidays: such as Thanksgiving, Black Friday (if you call that a holiday!), Christmas, and New Years Eve. We look forward to cooler weather. We tend to anticipate weekends off to enjoy time off with friends and family. Hopefully we look forward to Sunday mornings to gather together with our church family! We look forward to meeting with certain people on our schedule. Spending time together with our small groups. Sometimes just getting home, cuddling with the family, getting to bed. Probably a sign of getting old, right? We look forward to watching our favorite sporting teams playing- maybe even with tickets to the big game! We look forward to tv shows, movies, new music coming out from our favorite artists. Right now, many of us are looking forward to next Tuesday and Wednesday! We have a great marriage conference coming up and I’m excited to meet Dr. Baruch for the first time in person. Isn’t this a fun exercise?
Notice how that changes our thinking and behavior? There’s probably something you are looking forward to- even if it didn’t make the list I just mentioned. As the day approaches, we plan and make sure we are ready: that everything is all set up as much as possible. We have purchased the gifts, we have the décor up, we have our houses ready, the food is cooked, drinks are ready, friends are invited, the space on our calendar cleared, and the budget allocated… so we can be ready for this greatly anticipated event. But what if we didn’t look forward to that thing? Sad, right? Our behavior wouldn’t change and we probably wouldn’t make any preparations at all.
So how do we prepare for probably the greatest event of all time? The second coming of Christ has to be at the top of every list. May be tied with His 1st coming as the greatest event ever in all humanity. Armageddon is up there too- when Satan and all his minions get what’s coming to them. As is the descent of the New Jerusalem, our eternal abode where we get to worship hang out with and worship Jesus 24/7 for all eternity. However, Jesus’ second coming is what sets the stage for all this. Something this enormous is pretty hard to prepare for. What do we do? All other earthly events and expectations take a distant backseat to this one.
We have been looking forward to this event for 2,000 years. We’re going to examine a parable told by Jesus as His followers were reaching fever pitch.
I invite you to join with us this weekend as we look at their excitement and the ensuing warning and instruction Jesus gives them on how to get ready for His 2nd coming. Our socially distanced service is Saturday afternoon at 3:30, and our Sunday morning service is at 10:15, where you can join us online if you can’t make it in person. We also have excellent Sunday School classes at 9 for all ages.
Have a great weekend and I look forward to pursuing Christ, Community, and the Great Commission Together with you soon!
– Pastor Nathan