Looking For The End Time While Living In The Mean Time

“Looking for the End Time while Living in the Meantime”.

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING: - If we just look at what is going on in our world wars and rumors (threats) of war, nation against nation, false Christ, false prophets, and an apostate religious system where entertainment, prosperity, popularity, fame, and fortune is reverend, and salvation is not even mentioned. There are famines, pestilences, earthquakes in diverse places, the weather system just seems to be all out of sorts we can’t hardly tell it was winter in the North with temperatures well above average while in the South they were experiencing snow in places that it never snows. Tornadoes in February in Michigan and the love of many has waxed cold. Humanitarian efforts are being stopped while innocent children, men and women are dying at the hands of criminals of war on both sides. People just don’t care or have compassion at all, road rage with people killing people because they didn’t let them cut in front of them or they did cut in front of them. T.V. is perverse and making a mockery of everything Holy, compromising preachers selling out for filthy lucre getting on T.V. acting like everything unholy and calling themselves Holy Vessels of God and that they are doing Kingdom work. Society is wicked leaning to its own understanding, desires, and fulfilling their own lust and mocking God. People are listening to everything except the Word of God. We are living in the end times.

When people say the end-times what normally comes to mind is Armageddon, apocalypse, or the end of the world. We will picture the man walking around with a sign saying the end is here. Fear will grip the minds of people and they will try to avoid any conversation or dismiss it as crazy talk when people mention the end times or last days. Understand God doesn’t want us to fear the End times / Last Days but wants us to prepare and live so that we can miss what is going to come. We must understand that the End Times / Last Days is God fighting against evil, selfishness, pride, arrogance, hatred, greed and all out sin.

So, we must look for the end times our blessed hope with earnest expectation waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, but we must live in the meantime.

PRAYER

SCRIPTURES: - 1 Peter 4:7 “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer”. Titus 2:12-13 “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”.

If I may combine these scriptures for the purpose of this message I would read it as follows “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”.

Now let’s look at these verses that I have combined. There are three things that we must understand from this passage. 1) is our need to understand the times in which we live, But the end of all things is at hand: this is what we call the Last Days or the End times. 2) how we must be intentional in our manner of living be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 3) understand our need to remain in communication with God through prayer watch unto prayer. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The word translated, “Near, or At hand”, is the same word Jesus used in Mark 1:15 where He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel”. Understanding this word, “near, or at hand” is key because this establishes the end times / last days. God has set in motion and at some point, fixed in the mind of the Father alone when Jesus will return and all that has been foretold will come to pass.

If you go back to Acts 1:11 the Bible says, “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”. If you go to 1 Thessalonians 4 we find Paul teaching about the 2nd coming this is not talking about the 2nd coming or 2nd advent when Jesus comes to set up His millennial rule on earth this is talking about that blessed hope the Rapture. Understand that the New Testament proves that the early church expected Jesus to return at any moment. What they failed to understand was that God's time is not the same as ours. Jesus is in fact coming again; it's just that no one knows when, but the clock started ticking when Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1 and now can return at any time.