Sermon on the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ

Introductory verses: Matthew 25: 1-13

V 13 - Be alert and vigilant

Additional references: John 14:1-3, Daniel 12:1-4 and Matthew 24:3-44

There are 1845 references to the 2nd coming in the OT, whereas,

There are only 318 references of the 2nd coming in the New Testament.

Acts 1:10-11

Story of a Judge - 1st time to save, but 2nd time to judge.

Jesus’ second coming was foretold by many prophets in the OT and in the NT, by Jesus himself. Let us not take this subject lightly and spend time carelessly. We need to be alert and vigilant so that the enemy may not fool us.

Let us look at a few references about the 2nd coming of Jesus which was foretold by:

1. Prophets: Daniel 7:14
2. Jesus: Matt 25:31
3. Angels: Acts 1:10,11
4. Disciples: 2 Peter 3:9, 10-13

• Now that we know, the prophecies, we need to understand, Why is Jesus going to come a 2nd time? Here are a few points for you to know...

1. To complete the salvation of the saints - Heb 9:28
2. To be glorified in his Saints - 2 Thes 1:10
3. To bring to light the hidden things of darkness - 1 Cor 4:5, 5:10
4. To judge the living and the dead - 2 Tim 4:1
5. To reign forever and ever - Rev 11:15
6. To receive us to be with himself - John 14:3
7. To destroy death - 1 Cor 15:25, 26

Let’s be very clear here, there is no specific time mentioned about His coming. People over the ages have said many things, but nothing specific is mentioned in the Word of God.

We can get some clues from the following verses:

Matt 24: 36-44

1 Thes 5:2

2 Pet 3:12

But Jesus did not leave us in the dark. He has given specific signs before his second coming. If we can review these signs and gauge their sequence, we will know that everything will fall in place:

1. 23 signs very prominent today - 2 Tim 3:1-7
2. 10 signs - very particular - Matt 24:5-10
3. About Jerusalem being rebuilt - Luke 21:20-22
4. Israel regathered - Eze 36:24 (In May 1948, the nation was rebuilt and now it has over 7 million Jews)
5. About Gospel being preached in all the world - Matt 24:14
6. Instant worldwide communication - Rev 11:3, 7-10
7. Underground shelters - Rev 6:15, Isa 2:19
8. Missiles - Rev 9:17-19, 20, 21

Finally, brethren, what should we do? There are many things that we can do, but let us consider a few:

1. Do not be a scoffer - 2 Peter 3:3
2. Plan and live a holy life - 1 Thes 3:12-13
3. Keep yourself busy in evangelism - John 9:4
4. Look forward - Rev 22:20
5. Comfort one another - 1 Thes 4:18

Lost Promised Land - reason - murmur and grumbling

In the word of God, in Philipians 2:14 and 15, it is written "Do all things without murmur'. Also, in 1st Peter 4;9, James 5:9 and in 1 Cor 10:10, it says similar things.

The Word  of God is specifically asking us not  to murmur, and not to grumble.

Let us see some examples in the Bible:

1. In Exodus 16:1-3 - the people of Israel  murmured about food. They said that it would better for them if they had died in the wilderness  rather than coming here and dying  of hunger.

They soon forgot what the Lord had done for them in the past. They forgot about the 10 different miracles that the Lord did  for them. They started to grumble about food.

How much we grumble  when we do not receive what we expect. We really react to situations and get into the grumble and murmur mode. 

2. In Exodus 17:3, 4 and 6- the people of Israel are murmuring  about water. They crossed the Red sea, they saw how the mighty hand of God helped them cross the Sea. But they soon forgot and started grumbling about water.

3. In Numbers 14: 1-3 - they complained about the promised land

4. In Numbers 21: 4-9 they grumbled about tasteless food.

5. In Numbers 11:1-3 - they grumbled about the tiredness on the way

6. In Numbers 11: 4 -6 and 10 - they grumbled and murmured that they did not get non vegetarian food.

They grumbled so many times and their constant murmur displeased the Lord. 

The Lord God lovingly called them His people, but now he killed them on the way to the promised land.

Matt 12: 36-37 - Every word is recorded and you will have to give an account of every word that we speak.

The Book of Esther - Bible

This time of the year, yes, lent season, time to go to church every evening.
This whole process began in the year 2008 when our church pastor announced that during the 40 day lent season, we all will gather at the church premises and spend some time praying.
Then with the suggestion that only praying for an hour and a half would be too tedious, pastor added 30 mts songs, 30 mts of Bible meditation and 30 mts of prayer time.
The journey of Bible reading began in 2008 when we all started with the book of Genesis.
Everyday people would take turns to read and explain one chapter from the Holy word of God.
Initially, we were only 10-15 people who would attend it religiously, but as the years went by, and as new people started coming in, and as young people starting becoming old, and as children who attended the sunday school classes started growing into young men and women, the interest in this season sprouted...

Enough of flashback, lets come to 2016.
This year, surprisingly, the church is getting filled before we begin the service. There are more than 100 people who rush to sit inside the building to sing, listen to the word of God and to pray.
Though it might be tough to make people sit through the list of names being read from the books of Ezra, Nehemiah etc, people are so interested that they are reading the stuff before hand and are coming prepared to the church.
Surprising, the Bible says that in the last days, there will be apostasy, but also there will be a mighty outpouring of the Spirit. We are witnessing that everyday in our church.

Well, let me come to the topic. We started meditating on the Book of Esther from the Holy Bible.
It has always been my favorite book of the Bible, right from my childhood days. I love the way, things move and I love the way it is written. There are many anomalies in the book, many things that makes ones blood boil and many things that can be made into a classic movie, but above all, we can see the  PROVIDENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD though the name God is not mentioned in the entire book. There are 10 chapters, 167 verses and not even once any spiritual matter is mentioned, but surprisingly, we find every chapter the hand of God guiding the circumstances.
All through my life, I have been encouraged by the events happening in the book.
In my next blog post, I will write about each and every character found in the book,
for now, its time to read it...







You can read the 10 chapters in just 27 minutes.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+1&version=NKJV

Come on now, click the above link and start reading,
and if you are not the electronic guy/gal, take the Book in your hands and start reading, you will not regret the decision.

Come back and lets do the character studies ...

see you till then...

Harmless Petty Sins

A familiar fable tells of the hunter who lost his life to the leopard he himself had saved as a pet for his children when the leopard was just a cub. The moral of the story can be deduced easily from the title, Little Leopards Become Big Leopards; or else, sin is easier to deal with before it becomes a habitual practice that eventually defines our lives.(1) Though the story as it stands is a beautiful illustration of a profound truth, there is a deeper lesson regarding the nature of sin that is easily concealed by this line of thinking and which, I believe, lies at the very essence of the Christian call to Christ-likeness. The problem is that the parallel between little harmless leopard cubs and little harmless sins can be dangerously deceptive.

Whereas leopard cubs are indeed harmless, there is no stage of development at which sin can be said to be harmless, for individual acts of sin are merely the symptoms of the true condition of our hearts. It is not accidental that the call to Christian growth in the Scriptures repeatedly zeros-in on such seemingly benign “human shortcomings” as bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, and malicious behavior (Ephesians 4:31). In his watershed address, The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus placed a great deal of emphasis on lust, anger, and contempt—behaviors and attitudes that would probably not rank high on our lists of problems in need of urgent resolution. Armed with firm and sometimes unconscious categories of serious versus tolerable sins, we gloss over lists of vices in the Scriptures because they seem to be of little consequence to life as we experience it.

 But when we fail to grasp the subtleties of sin, we run the risk of rendering much of biblical wisdom irrelevant to our daily life and practice. While we appreciate the uniqueness and necessity of the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf, his specific teachings can at times appear to be farfetched and the emphasis misplaced. Does it not seem incredible that the God who made this world would visit it in its brokenness, dwell among us for over thirty years, and then leave behind the command that we must be nice to each other? Can the problems of the world really be solved by having people “turn the other cheek” and “get rid of anger and malice”?

 Unfortunately, those “little” sins are not only the mere symptoms of a much bigger problem; they are also effective means of alienating us from God and other human beings.  How many careers have been ruined only because of jealousy? How many people have been deprived of genuine help as a result of the seemingly side-comment of someone who secretly despised them? How many relationships have been destroyed by bitterness? How many churches have split up because of selfish ambitions couched in pietistic terms? How much evil has resulted from misinformation, a little coloring around the edges of truth? And have you noticed how much we can control other people just through our body language? From the political arena to the basic family unit, the worst enemy of human harmony is not spectacular wickedness but those seemingly harmless petty sins routinely assumed to be part of what it means to be human.

According to a NASA scientist, a two-degree miscalculation when launching a spacecraft to the moon would send the spacecraft 11,121 miles away from the moon: all one has to do is take time and distance into account.(2) How perceptive then was George MacDonald when he uttered these chilling words, “A man may sink by such slow degrees that, long after he is a devil, he may go on being a good churchman or a good dissenter, and thinking himself a good Christian”!(3) Similarly, C.S. Lewis warned that cards are a welcome substitute for murder if the former will set the believer on a path away from God. “Indeed,” he wrote, “the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”(4)

 Now the decisive path out of this quandary is not just a greater resolve to be obedient to God. Such a response is usually motivated by guilt, and the duration of our effort will be directly proportional to the amount of guilt we feel: we will be right back where we started from when the guilt is no longer as strong. The appropriate response must begin with a greater appreciation of the holiness of God and a clear vision of life in God. It is only along the path of Christ-likeness that the true nature of sin is revealed and its appeal blunted. Yes, brazen sinfulness is appallingly evil and destructive, but it only makes a louder growl in a forest populated by stealthier, deadly hunters masquerading as little leopards. It is no idle, perfunctory pastime to pray with King David:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
And lead me along the path of everlasting life (Psalm 139:23-24).


Thanks to J.M. Njoroge for this wonderful article. Njoroge is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Random thoughts...

These days, over the past two months, I have witnessed 3 deaths in my close circle. Two of my relatives and one neighbor. Death is an experience which comes to everyone. No one can escape its clutches. Young and old alike, everyone has to go through that path. When I went to comfort the family, I was reminded of a few verses from the 'The Book of Job' - 14th chapter

• Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
• He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
• Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
• But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
• If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

 These verses have a few profound thoughts in them. On one glance, we cannot understand what it is written. But when we go through in detail, we get to know the indepth meaning of what is being written over there.
Firstly, we learn that everyone, no matter rich or poor, young or old, man or woman, everyone, is of a few days. Our stay in this earth is brief and we all have to leave this place one day.
When I go to such places, I am reminded of two words - Pilgrim and a Vagabond.
A pilgrim is one who knows where he is coming from and where he is destined to. He knows the exact place where he is going.
A vagabond is a person who does not know where he is coming from, nor does he bother about where he is going. He is aimless and just wanders aimlessly.

The Bible points out to people as pilgrims. We know we came from God and we have to reach Him, no matter what. Our stay is brief, in the Bible we find that the stay is compared to vapor, or like grass or like a flower, or shadow... there are many references to fleeting things. Our life is like that. Today we are here and tomorrow we are gone. It also says that our days are determined, the number of our months are determined too. It is deep to understand.
But the Bible has answers to all these questions and complex things. I firmly believe that we came from God and we reach God once we leave our journey here on earth.
God created Adam and Eve and they had fellowship with Him. Once they sinned, the fellowship broke and we departed from the presence of God. Only Jesus made way for us to come back to God again. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

These are some of my thoughts which are going through my mind. I am meditating on these thoughts and am asking God to throw more light into the verses of the Bible.
As death is a common factor to everyone, what happens to others?
What will their destination be?
What happens to babies?
Well, time has to answer these questions...

Meanwhile, I will rest on my faith that we came from God and we have to go back to God and this earth is a preparing place for us.

Great Expectations and Great Disappointments

After seeing this pamphlet, I wanted to buy some good books yesterday. With high hopes and a little money I went to check out the place. This time, wanting to be generous, I also called up my friends and told them about this and offered them to pick up and drop them.

We went to the 'Fest' by evening and to our surprise we saw no people there. Thinking it to be some 'tea time' we went inside. The books were neatly arranged, and the ambiance looked nice.
Wondering what to buy/see, we strolled around the area just checking the books and its prices.
First time I was shocked to see a Bible which costs 58000/- rupees. Another Bible of 40,000/- rupees. I checked it twice, thrice and many times to see what is so special in the book. It is a normal Bible with concordance and references. I was astonished at the price tags of the books. Minimum cost of any book was 500 rupees and most of the books were seconds.
Very disappointed at not buying any books, I felt guilty before my friends. Immediately, we went to another Bible book shop and purchased some normal Bibles and other generic books.

This is not a complaint or any of such sort, but it is my feeling that I place here.
Am really surprised to see books at such cost, no wonder people are not buying books anymore.
I have a small library at home with many books, and I love to share books with people. I ask them how long will they take to read a book, give them the book, and then ask them after some time. I also discuss with them about the progress of their reading and how they have understood it.
But this time, this book exhibition was a disappointment.

Better luck next time, I have 3 more racks to fill and many more books to read! Waiting to lay my hands on some of them in the near future.

Thoughts about Mother's day

Strange as it may seem, but this time I saw many posts in Facebook and Twitter, praising motherhood and everyone ranting and raving about how good mothers are and how they are angelic etc. It is true 100% that mothers are good and angelic, but this time, there's a sudden surge of emotions on the social media channels. Everyone wanted to share something about mothers. Some of them pasted pictures and some of them poems, some even went to the extent of pasting their childhood pictures with their mother. It is all good, in a sense that it gives joy and immense pleasure to think about life's journeys and also think about how sacrificial mothers are.
In fact, my mother never thought about herself and she sacrificed a lot for the children. But somehow, I felt that it was overdone this time on the social media channels. Questions I would like to ask: 'How do you take care of your parents? Do you really love them and cherish them? Do you spend time with them? Do you know what they need and what they want? Are we really concerned about them or are we just thinking them as burden?"

Let me not get into preachy mode, but I want to tell everyone that we need to take care of our parents every day of our lives. When we were young, when we did not know anything about this world, it is they that brought us up. Now we shouldn't neglect them. I see a new trend coming up in metro cities and in two town tier cities - many old age homes are coming up and every old age home is full.
From where did all these old people come from. These are all parents - abandoned by the same people who have commented / updated on Facebook, Twitter and all the other channels about the love and emotions of parents.
My two cents - Honor thy father and mother. This is a command from the Lord and we need to follow it perfectly. Only when we start loving, honoring and taking care of our parents, we will have a bright future.