OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - SUNDAY - 04/05/2014 - ARE YOU AN END-TIME CHRISTIAN? BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

ARE YOU AN END-TIME CHRISTIAN?

MEMORISE

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 Timothy 3:1

READ

Luke 21:32-36

32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

MESSAGE

Our God is a God of plan and purpose. The creation of man had a beginning (Genesis 1:26-28) and the existence of man on earth will surely have an end. We should not be ignorant of the end-times. The end-time did not start in 1975 neither is it 1975 as some heretical teachers and so-called witnesses falsely teach. The end-time is also not an allegory used in scripture to describe when things are not going on well for an individual. The Bible presents the end-time as the period of time that ushers in the return of Jesus Christ. We should not be deceived; neither should we allow anyone to deceive us. Matthew 24:4 clearly warns us against this:

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.”

We are in the end-times. Going through recent historic events in the Middle East and making critical comparisons with prophetic utterances made by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, coupled with prophecies of other prophets in scriptures, we can say we have reached a critical period in human history. By going diligently through scriptures, a good student of the Bible can say with certainty that present world events point at one thing: “The coming of our Lord and Saviour - Jesus Christ, is at hand”. It is true that no man knows exactly when Christ shall come (Matthew 24:36), it will therefore be unscriptural to try to calculate the year, day or time when Christ shall return. At the same time, we shouldn’t be ignorant of signs of the end-times (Matthew 16:3). The present situation of greed and lust that dominates human hearts, the financial, economic and industrial problems, as well as the spirit of selfishness that grips mankind, are all pointing to the fact that the terminus will soon be reached (2 Timothy 3:2-4). The Bible details many other end-time signs which include: mass suffering and destruction (Matthew 24:7-9), decline of morals and problems of mass corruption (Matthew 24:12), mind control and undue standardisation of thought and behaviour (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12) and the return of the Jews from captivity. We are in the end-times because history confirms that the twentieth century alone witnessed the fulfilment of the aforementioned signs. If there is a time to be watchful and to keep our stand as Christians, it is now, in this end-time. An end-time Christian is therefore that Christian who is ready to live and die for Christ and the expansion of His kingdom. Such a person has a deep unwavering conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, is committed to violent ministration against evil (Matthew 11:12), the ministration of knowledge and the wisdom of God (Proverbs 4:5) and the ministration of worship, holiness, love and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17-18). Are you an end-time Christian?

KEY POINT

Father, keep my heart fixated on the end goal of making Heaven.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

Genesis 1-3; Psalm 97