I know when Jesus is coming back.

When will Jesus be coming back? Well we don’t have the actual date, but we do know the time… you might think that doesn’t make sense but it will when I read you this out of Matthew 24. Again, we won’t know when but we will know the time. 

 

 

Matthew 24 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 

 

The signs are everywhere. Record amount of weather actions around the world. Wars, rumors of wars… every day… not just country against country, but wars within nations regarding morals, governments, powers, money…

Many claiming to have the answer… politicians, kings, presidents, monarchs, business moguls…

Famines, floods, faithlessness, 

People will slowly grow cold to the gospel, evil will become attractive….

 

And Jesus says don’t be deceived 

 

GK = Lead, swoon you to sway away slowly…

lead aside from the rigid way.

 

There is only one way - Jesus. Following scripture. And if you don’t follow that you will be led astray… you will grow cold.

So what is one to do? Stay hot. Stay next to Jesus. How do you stay hot for Jesus… and not for teacher… Sorry I’m a Van Halen fan… 

Most would guess I am going to say Read your bible, pray, go to church, go to bible studies, stay accountable. Etc… 

And thats all good, but let me give you two quick easy and effective ways to stay HOT

truth is the best way to stay hot is simply obedience.

Obeying Gods voice in you when he speaks to you… that means what you see and read in scripture you obey. That means what you hear him tell you to do, you do. It is obedience on all fronts. You obey your authorities, you obey your spouse, you obey your pastor, you obey scripture and his inner voice speaking to you. And secondly is measure your success.

Hey people don’t like to be measured when it comes to their Christianity or their walk- it seems like works or like like you are bragging about how well you did… but the truth be told - the best way to achieve better behavior is to reward current good behavior. 

And in fact… it is what God does… You remember the parable of the talents… right the guy who did good, got rewarded with more… This is simply measuring your success. 

So how many of your prayers have been answered? How many people have you witnessed to, how many have accepted Christ? How much have you given above and beyond your tithe of 10% of your income? How have you treated your spouse compared to last year? How much scripture have you memorized?

YOU SAY… sounds like works.

I SAY… sounds like measured success… and when I do that I get a pretty good measure of wether or not I am getting colder or bolder for Jesus. 

Think about it!