Participants: Jon Paulien & Jon Ciccarelli
Series Code: TBOTB
Program Code: TBOTB000009B
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00:01 Hi, and welcome back to the Books of the book.
00:03 And Jon we were just kind of talking about 00:06 dates setting a little bit. 00:08 And, you know, how really spiritually counterproductive 00:11 that is versus focusing on just being ready 00:13 for when Christ come. But let's 00:15 let's continue our journey together. 00:16 Yeah. I want to, I want to take you some another place 00:19 that relates to this whole idea of 00:21 readiness for the second coming. 00:23 That's Luke 21 and verse 34. 00:27 And in the new international version it says, 00:31 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down 00:34 with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life 00:39 and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap." 00:43 Now it's the way that will be surprise. 00:46 It's the outsiders who'll be surprised. Why? 00:48 Dissipation, that's a Greek word for partying. 00:52 Drunkenness, I think it's pretty obvious what that is. 00:55 Anxieties of life, 00:56 I think everybody has that as a distraction. 01:00 And Jesus says the whole issue before my coming 01:04 is people were gonna be distracted by many things. 01:07 Wow, didn't even mention the internet, 01:10 and cell phones, and everything else. 01:11 We have so many distractions today. 01:14 Jesus of course speaking at that time 01:16 nevertheless sets a table for exactly 01:18 the kind of world we live in today. 01:21 So there is a lot of people seeking to escape 01:24 through entertainment, through alcohol, 01:26 through distractions and so on. 01:29 So, what about the believers, Jon, 01:31 what's gonna happen with them--with verses 4 and 5, 01:34 will bring us there. 01:35 Yeah. Lets look at that. 01:37 Paul says, "But you, brothers, 01:39 are not in darkness so that the Day 01:41 overtakes you like a thief. 01:43 For you are all sons of light and sons of day. 01:47 You are not of night or of darkness." 01:50 So here he says, believers will not be surprised. 01:53 All this suddenness, all this unexpectedness, 01:57 all that's about those who are not believing, 02:01 you see, they will be surprised. 02:03 They will be horrified. 02:04 They will be shocked. 02:05 But the believers will not, why? 02:08 Because they live in the light. 02:10 They live in the day What's that all about? 02:13 It's about the word of God. 02:15 If you stay close to the word of God, 02:17 if you have your confidence grounded in Bible prophecy, 02:21 you're not gonna be surprised. 02:23 You're not gonna be overtaken. 02:25 You're gonna be safer and that readiness 02:27 involves knowing the word of God, 02:30 and being prepared for the things that are coming. 02:33 Yeah, I am glad you brought that out, Jon. 02:36 God's word is just so vital, you know to us, 02:39 as believers and for the world and there so many temptations 02:44 in this life to be busy. 02:46 You know, that old saying, 02:48 if the devil can't you bad he'll make you busy. 02:50 And it's so true that there are so many things, 02:53 just like, oh, I don't have time to read the Bible. 02:55 Yes we do. There's time. 02:57 And there is a, there is a, you've heard the term WMD, 03:03 weapons of mass distraction, destruction. 03:06 I just said that, I just said that. 03:07 But I'd like to call Weapons of mass distraction. 03:10 Yes, yeah. Because we look at everything. 03:12 You mention the internet. You know, 03:13 you just spoke way out of this time, 03:14 the internet, the anxieties of life. 03:17 I have a friend, who just couple of years back 03:20 published his doctoral thesis 03:22 and this sounds kind of deep, but it's very simple. 03:25 And he was on the collapse of space 03:27 and time in people's lives due the technology. 03:31 And that collapse of space and time 03:34 from the misuse of technology, 03:37 that is strangling our relationship with God. 03:40 You know, I think technology makes a wonderful servant, 03:43 but a horrible master. Right. 03:45 And, and we continue, I must confess as well, 03:49 to let technology be my master too much 03:51 and invade every nook and cranny and crisis of my life, 03:55 and before you know it, you know, 03:57 your time with God is shrinking and shrinking. 03:59 And it's so important for us to give the word of God 04:02 the attention that it needs. 04:05 And so we will be ready as Paul is talking about here. 04:08 Well, I tend to be a fairly early adopter of technology. 04:12 But in this area I resist sometimes. 04:15 There are some aspects of technology 04:17 I have not chosen to engage in, 04:19 you know, such as Facebook and so. 04:20 I'm sure it's a wonderful too. 04:22 And I hear some great things. 04:23 My kids are involved in it. 04:26 But I just don't need one more thing to distract me 04:30 even if it's good things. 04:32 You see, I think when it comes to being ready, 04:34 that's everyone needs to make their own decision 04:36 with the technology. 04:37 When it comes to being ready for Jesus coming, 04:40 we need to be prepared to ignore distractions 04:42 whatever they maybe for us. 04:44 You see, ignore the distractions 04:46 and set us aside significant time 04:49 for the word of God because those who are 04:51 watching this program are doing exactly that. 04:54 Right. And I think I shared with you a picture, 04:57 the other day, where Jesus is sitting on the bench 05:00 with a young man, and He says, 05:01 no, I don't mean twitter literally follow me. 05:04 You know, follow me, but to give Jesus that space 05:08 and time you give more attention through the word. 05:11 It's life changing and it will give us 05:13 direction as we prepare for Christ coming. 05:17 Well, why don't we go ahead to verses 05:18 six through eight of chapter five. 05:20 Let's look at that. 05:23 Paul goes on and he says. 05:24 "So, therefore, do not sleep, like the rest, 05:27 but be watchful and sober, 05:29 for those who sleep, sleep at night, 05:32 and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 05:34 But being of day, let us be sober, 05:37 having put on a breastplate of faith and love, 05:39 and a helmet, the hope of salvation." 05:43 Three more analogies. 05:45 Paul is really piling on the analogies. 05:47 Yes, absolutely, because the reality is 05:51 we don't see here a touch of God as a rule. 05:54 Occasionally maybe people have such an experience, 05:56 but most of us can honestly say we haven't seen, 05:59 heard or touched God. 06:00 And so when we speak of God, 06:02 we speak of him and analogies the things we do understand. 06:06 And so many of the salvation words are really analogies, 06:09 righteousness is from the law court. 06:11 Forgiveness is from accounting and banking. 06:16 You know, and many ways, 06:19 you know, debt forgiveness banking kind of. 06:22 You see, use these metaphors to try to explain things, 06:25 that God is doing it His realm 06:27 and make sense for own time and place. 06:30 So he uses the metaphors of awake and asleep. 06:34 That he's saying one thing we need to do 06:36 is avoid laziness when it comes to spiritual things, 06:40 avoid lack of interest. 06:43 The language here is, don't even start sleeping. 06:47 Okay, we need to be alert, 06:49 for we're going to be the children of the day. 06:50 People are awake in the day 06:52 and they sleep at night, he says. 06:53 Then there is the drunk, sober comparison. 06:57 And this word "Sober" in the Greek 07:01 has a lot to do with reason 07:05 and sort of a philosophical mindset. 07:08 We're trying to use logic and work your way through things 07:12 and Paul saying you let's be reasonable. 07:14 Let's think things through. 07:15 Let's not be spinning our wheels 07:18 or in some kind of an entertainment fog. 07:22 Then he uses the language of a military guard. 07:25 Military guard is armed and dangerous, 07:28 you know, and the average person is awaked during the day, 07:31 but what about the military guard. 07:34 He's got to exceed that norm, right. 07:36 Right, right, and I think, you know, 07:37 Paul is really asking us to exceed the norm. 07:41 He's challenging us to go above and beyond. 07:44 And I think that is so crucial for us 07:47 as Christians as disciples of Jesus. 07:49 I mean Jesus calls us to follow Him, 07:51 that's a serious thing. 07:53 And to really follow Him and to take His word 07:56 as the basis of our life, 07:59 and understanding making sense of life around us, 08:01 for being true reality for us. 08:03 So he really is, is inviting them 08:06 into a life of intentionality 08:08 of really taking the word of God to heart and being, 08:13 and being ready. You know, 08:14 I mentioned before in a previous episode 08:16 that were discipline, that often has negative connotations. 08:20 But, you know, at the root of that word 08:21 discipline is the word disciple. 08:23 There is the intentionality. 08:24 There are disciplines that we are intentional 08:27 about on a daily basis and one of those 08:28 is really again studying the word of God 08:31 and having that knowledge help make us ready 08:34 for when our master returns again. 08:37 Isn't there room for some spontaneity 08:39 in the Christian walk? 08:40 You know, I think there is whenever the spirit leads in, 08:43 you know, spontaneous things but I like refer it to 08:46 sometimes as the colt of spontaneity. 08:48 You know, sometimes we say if it isn't 08:50 always just spontaneous then it wasn't from the heart 08:53 or it wasn't real, you know, 08:55 but again using the analogy of a professional athlete. 08:58 You know, when you see them on the field 08:59 or the basketball court or wherever, 09:01 how much is that spontaneous. 09:03 They were intentional about learning those things 09:05 and performing those ways. 09:07 So when the situation arose they were able to do it. 09:09 And so I think there is a lot of intentionality 09:12 behind spontaneity, if you will, and I think that's where, 09:15 what happens around with the word of God as well. 09:17 Well, Paul here is using military analogies and, 09:20 you know, my wife would probably say at this point what, 09:22 is this some sort a guy thing? 09:24 You know, you guys are all into this military stuff, 09:27 how does that had apply to me and I once asked her about it. 09:30 We're talking about army guns, 09:31 what is that have to do with woman. 09:33 You know, I said well, I said, do you ever feel like 09:35 there's a war going on inside your head. 09:37 And she said yes. 09:40 I know exactly what you're talking about. 09:41 I get it now. 09:42 Paul actually goes into this in Second Corinthians chapter 10 09:47 and verses 3:5, and we have that 09:50 in the New King James version today. 09:53 Listen to what Paul says here, 09:55 "For though we walk in the flesh, 09:58 we do not war according to the flesh." 10:02 There you go. 10:03 For the weapons of our warfare are not Carnal 10:06 that word Carnal is the some word here flesh, fleshly. 10:10 A fleshly weapon is like an AK47, 10:13 kind of tear you to pieces that's a fleshly weapon, 10:16 he says no. He says our warfare is not fleshly. 10:18 It's not Carnal, but it's mighty in God 10:21 for pulling down strongholds. 10:23 What kind of strongholds? 10:24 "Casting down arguments and every high thing 10:29 that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, 10:31 bringing every thought into captivity 10:35 to the obedience of Christ." 10:37 I think this just clear as Paul 10:40 gets of what this readiness is all about. 10:43 That as you said that discipline of harnessing our minds 10:47 so that they're focused on the things that really matter, 10:50 focused on the word of God, focused on his ways. 10:54 I think that is absolutely critical. 10:58 Yeah, you know--I had a professor in college. 11:01 I was doing my undergraduate in theology, 11:04 Dr. Lander, phenomenal Church Historian and a Servant, 11:08 history of the church, and he would always say, 11:10 you know, we talk about accepting Jesus into our heart. 11:13 You know which ventricle, the left or the right he says 11:16 but really let's be real about this 11:18 is we need to accept him into our mind. 11:19 He meant to let them have total control over mind. 11:23 That's right. Never forgotten that. 11:25 That's right what Paul is saying here. 11:27 Well, our time is almost up. 11:28 Why don't you read verses 9:11 11:30 and we'll draw his to conclusion? 11:33 Paul says, "Because God did not appoint us to wrath, 11:37 but to the possession of salvation 11:40 through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who died for us, 11:43 in order that, whether we are awake or asleep, 11:46 we might live with Him. 11:47 Wherefore, encourage one another and build each other up, 11:50 just as you are, in fact, doing." 11:53 You know, people worry about the wrath of God, 11:56 and here Paul is very clear. 11:58 God has not appointed us to wrath. 12:02 Like we said about the flood story, 12:03 God didn't want to destroy people on this earth. 12:06 He made provision for everybody to escape 12:09 and those who chose not to, but did not. 12:12 So we see in God this kind of a picture 12:16 that he wants salvation for us. 12:20 His purposes aren't wrath 12:21 but its salvation and encouragement. 12:24 He wants to encourage us. 12:26 And in the Book of Revelation, 12:28 we won't take time to read the text, 12:30 but in the book of revelation it says that the Lamb 12:35 is the one that oversees the wrath at the end of time. 12:38 Whose the Lamb? That's Jesus Christ. 12:40 And if there's anybody that we trust to deal with that, 12:44 it would be him. 12:46 Jon, it's so good to know that we can trust him 12:48 that Jesus is provided away for us, for salvation. 12:51 And it's so comforting to know that the judgment 12:53 is in his hands and he is taking care of things. 12:56 We know how much he loves us we can trust him with that. 12:59 And I just want to encourage you today, 13:01 if you haven't accepted Jesus Christ 13:02 as your Lord and savior I encourage you to do that. 13:05 You can trust him with your life. 13:06 And Paul has told us through this study today 13:09 that we can be ready because Jesus is coming again 13:12 and we can trust him with the judgment. 13:15 Until next time, join us again for a study 13:17 and for Thessalonians, God bless, bye, bye. |
Revised 2023-01-25