Watch And Pray

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King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]

Date: Wednesday, November 06, 2024
Chapters: Mark Chapter 13, Matthew Chapter 24
Message: Watch And Pray

Hello My Friend,

Well, another election has come and gone here in America, the people have spoken and we will see if those who did not see their favorite candidate or amendment win can be civilized about it. I already saw people with signs with pictures and phrases that should have not even been thought about let alone written on the paper, but we should not be surprised as we surely are living in the last days. Jesus, Himself said that the tribulation period will be something that no one has ever seen before so if you can imagine how bad things were before God sent the flood in Noah’s days, that is nothing compared to what is coming.

[Mark 13:33-37  Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.  34  For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.  35  Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:  36  Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.  37  And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.]

[who left his house, and gave authority to his servants] Does this sound familiar? I believe Jesus spoke a parable about this, [Mark 12:1-2  And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 2  And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.]

All who are saved, born again Christians need to be on watch like never before, not only for the coming of Christ, but the false prophets as well. As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, Matthew and Mark give their accounts of Jesus foretelling the day of the Temple and Jerusalem’s ruin as well as the tribulation that will lead to the Jews finally accepting that Christ is the Messiah. Notice, that it was actually one of the disciples who was admiring the beauty of the buildings.

[Matthew 24:1-3  And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.  2  And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.  3  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?]

[what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?] The end of the world? Who said anything about that? It does not take a scientist to know that something is not right with the world. Things were no different today as they were before Christ’s passion, in fact, the wicked were quite ruthless when they did not get their way. However, what Jesus was about to speak to them about had already been spoken about by other prophets, in particular, Daniel. Jesus, could have responded to their question like He did when the Pharisee’s wanted a sign, but He did not, He does respond with some chilling news for them.

[Mark 13:5-10  And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:  6  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.  7  And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.  8  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.  9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. 10  And the gospel must first be published among all nations.]

[there shall be earthquakes in divers places,] If all that is going around in the world is not the beginning of sorrows, then I do not know what it is. Many of these things we are seeing today, earthquakes in places that never experienced them, diseases and viruses killing people, and of course nations are divided and rising up against one another. Nevertheless, we are not to be troubled, only to observe and be ready for the day. Jesus, goes on to tell of some things that ought to be chilling to us.

[Matthew 24:10-15  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.  11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.  12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.  13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.  14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.  15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)]

[whoso readeth, let him understand:] It is interesting how both Matthew and Mark add this little phrase, and while we will never fully comprehend everything that Daniel had written about the tribulation, we can understand that we would not want to be here when that happens. This is the passage that Jesus was referring to.

[Daniel 9:25-27  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.]

In order to explain this, we need to do a little math and have some understanding as to what an actual week in this case is. Within the space of seventy weeks, these weeks are based on the Sabbatical years leading up to the Jubilee, which according to the Law took place every forty-nine years. A Sabbatical year is counted as seven years, seventy weeks times seven years, makes it four hundred and ninety years. Which led to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Since the Jews are still awaiting their Messiah, the Gentiles are getting saved, they will not fully open their eyes and hearts to Christ being the Messiah until He returns.

[Isaiah 59:19-21  So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.  20  And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.  21  As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.]

Jesus, continues explaining the things that will come of Jerusalem and the entire world prior to His return, He goes on to warn them that this is not the time to start being concerned about what is going to be lost, but rather those who are lost.

[Mark 13:15-20  And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:  16  And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.  17  But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!  18  And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.  19  For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.  20  And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.]

[But woe to them that are with child,] Do you know how many young adult are choosing not to have children today because they fear what is happening to the world? While most people who support abortion do so for their own selfish reasons, there are some who support it in their attempts of not wanting to bring any more life into the world that is already dying. No one can stop what is happening, but they can be prepared by receiving Christ while they still have that door of opportunity, [Luke 13:25  When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:]

[no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake,] Some false religions teach their members that the elect are specifically chosen before they are even born, but the truth is, they are simply those who received Christ before that door was shut and they lost that opportunity, [Luke 13:25  When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:]

Everyone is born with the knowledge of God in them from the beginning, they are already predestined to become one of the elect, [Romans 8:29-30  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.]

However, we are also born with freewill, and that means that we are given the right to choose what to believe. Over time the knowledge of God either increases or decreases based on how we are brought up, [Romans 1:21,23-25  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.  24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:  25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.]

If you ever wondered why people believe they are born with homosexual desires, not the gender they are born as, or that it is okay to intentionally kill a baby in the womb, this is exactly why. There is a reason why a famous quote came into existence years ago, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” when we are left to our own imaginations it truly is a waste. Nevertheless, Jesus, will save the vilest of sinners if they opened their hearts to Him. Christ’s elect, the ones who chose Him, are the ones He has chosen to escape the great tribulation, and it is after the tribulation that He will return.

[Mark 13:24-27  But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,  25  And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.  26  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.  27  And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.]

[shall gather together his elect from the four winds,] Christ’s elect will not be on the earth when the earth will be destroyed. The world has no clue who God is and they certainly have no clue who Jesus is, but even they know that something wicked and evil is brewing. This is why it is important that we who know the truth tell it to the world. Yesterday, people made a decisions that are going to devastate our economy and nation as a whole. We have, but a short time on earth, we cannot life live as though once we die, it is over. Jesus, simply states that no one will know the time that He will return, not even Him, but we do need to be prepared, and just getting saved is not going to prepare us.

[Matthew 24:45-51  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?  46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  47  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.  48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;  49  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;  50  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,  51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.]

[whom his lord hath made ruler over his household,] Jesus has no room for those who mess with and distort the Gospel, which sends their believers straight to hell. Ignorance does not save us, if we choose to believe the lie over the truth we will be cut off the vine. We who are saved get grafted into the tree of life, therefore we gladly proclaim the simplicity of the Gospel and do not change it, anyone who does will answer to Jesus, [1 Thessalonians 4:13-15  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.]

[if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth] I do not care how knowledgeable you are about the tribulation or how prepared you think you are for what is to come, no one, not even God, wants to see this earth come to an end. God created it and everything on it, of course, He would save it if there were no so much evil on it. Remember, what He told Abraham when he asked God if He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were ten righteous there? [Genesis 18:32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.]

Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Matthew 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Mark 13:34  For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.]

Today’s Prayer: God, There is a fine line between having concern for and being troubled by all the evil that is taking place today as we see the signs coming of the tribulation. It is comforting to know that Christ is my Saviour, that He is on the throne right next to you, and I do not have to be here when the tribulation comes. You are my witness that a life lead by Christ is one of abundance, and while I do have to endure the evil taking place, I know that Jesus is my strength, my motivation, and reason for living a life that is pleasing to You. Lord, Lead me and guide me, put Your hedge of protection around Your elect, keep us save from the evil. Send Your mercy and grace to the weak, touch the hearts of the fearful and troubled and let us awaken those who are sleeping. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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