Monday, November 29, 2010

Monday's follow-up to Sunday's message: Preparation leads to expectation




The second coming of Jesus Christ—His Second Advent, if you will—will be a cause for celebration like no other.

He will come with shouts of triumph, with the blasts of trumpets.  He will come with angel armies and a sword in His mouth.  He will come to resurrect the dead to life, and bring His Father’s children into eternal life with Him. 

He will come for you.

Will you be prepared? 

The Scriptures tell us two specific things in regards to Christ’s coming: 1) No one knows when it will come.  2) Watch and wait for it in expectation.

Nothing quite builds expectation like preparation.  The bride picks out her wedding dress and longs for the time when she will be united with her bridegroom.  A family cuts down a Christmas tree and the children dance with gleeful expectation of December 25th.  But how do you prepare for something like Christ’s coming?

You prepare for it by focusing upon what Christ has done for you and what He will yet do.  Not by working or giving or sacrificing for Christ, but by acknowledging that you have received good gifts from Christ.  And as you focus upon what Christ has done for you, you will be all the more eager to see Him when He returns.

1 Peter 1:3-5   3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you,  5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.


Prepare for Christ’s coming, and you’ll life your life in joyful expectation of it.


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