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Time Is Running Out
Contributed by James Lowe on Aug 3, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Time is running out for this world
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Time is running out
Ephesians 5:16
“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
(Redeeming the time= making the most of your time)
Romans 13:11 in the NLT version, “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation (deliverance) is nearer now than when we first believed.”
And I find these verses very interesting;
2 Peter 3: 3-4 “2Pe 3:3 ¶ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Now lets read these verses from the NLT version of the bible;
“Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
2 Cor. 4:4, from the NIV translation, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Church, I cannot help but believe that we are certainly living in the last days.
And time is running out!
We have been told in the Word of God that there would come a time when this world, as we know it, will end.
The church should be eagerly be looking for the rapture of the church, which could happen any moment.
We all seem to have the tendency to focus on the problems of this life, world situations, fear of the future, etc.
But what we all should be doing is, placing our focus on our blessed hope who is coming soon to take us out of this world of sin.
Titus 2:12-13
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
This verse is referring to the second coming of Christ, not the rapture of the church.
The second coming is recorded in Revelation chapter nineteen.
At the rapture, Jesus appears in the clouds and we will be caught up to meet Him, He does not set foot on the earth.
In His second coming He will set foot on this earth.
When you see the phrase, “Day of God, Day of the Lord,” it refers to this second coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The coming of the day of God. Called "the day of God," because God will then be manifested in his power and glory.
Again, 2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
The Greek word rendered hasting, (speudw,) means to urge on, to hasten; and then to hasten after anything, to await with eager desire.
The state of mind which is indicated by the word, is that when we are anxiously desirous that anything should occur, and when we would hasten or accelerate it if we could. The true Christian does not dread the coming of that day.
A Christian looks forward to it as the period of his or her redemption, and would welcome, at any time, the return of his Lord and Saviour.
While we are willing to wait as long as it shall please God for the advent of our Redeemer, yet to us the brightest prospect in the future is that hour when he shall come to take us to himself.
Even though there are no prophecies that needs to be fulfilled before the rapture of the church, we need not stand around looking for some prophecy, but we should stand ready,
listening for the sound of the trumpet
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Time is running out! If we ever need to be prepared for that great event, it is now!
Many who used to attend church, many who used to sing in the choir, many who lived for God faithfully have now forsaken the House of God,