Our service began with prayer for those of our church family who were unable to be here. You know when a member of your family misses a family reunion or holidays, there is a big hole in your heart. This is just how we at the Cove feel when we have empty pews due to an illness or other problems. We want you to know you are in our prayers.
The title of this message will cause you to wonder, unless you have read the 24th chapter of Matthew. Then you will realize that the time pastor is referring to is not the time of day but the time when Jesus comes back to claim his own. You've heard it said that we can find the signs of the times in his word. Today's message is almost like listening to the news, so many of the signs are coming to pass right before our eyes. Revelation 12:12 tells us that Satan knows he has a short time to cause all the evil and heartache he can.
We truly live in a world without respect for our country, military, lawmen, the Word of God and even parents have lost the respect of their own children. Why? Because, as we find in Ephesians 6:10-14, Jesus came to teach us the proper way of life and we must realize, to please our Father in heaven, we have to put on the whole armor of God in order to stand against the wiles of the devil. Satan is on a mission to lead us astray with his cunning temptations. We are fighting not against flesh and blood but against powers of darkness and wickedness far beyond anything we can imagine. Many have turned from God and become lovers of themselves and pleasures of this world. We are to resist the devil and he will flee from us .
We go through perilous times but not alone. In 2 Timothy 4:1-4 Paul warns that we are to be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Yes, that means you all are called to go far and wide as well as those of us in our own land to teach the Bible. In verse 3 we find that the time will come when those we talk to will not endure sound doctrine but, after their own lusts, doctrines which allow them to cross a very fine line. That crossing may be the very thing that leads them to destruction.
Pastor Bob spoke of working in the timber with his father. His father taught him the difference in a tree that was sound and strong and the tree that looked good on the outside but had rottenness inside. This tree was not going to bring a good wage. That is the way we must look to our Father, strong and good inside and out. With this strength we will be able to gain eternal life and resist the wide path that leads to where Satan's fires of torment will burn forever.
In closing we were told again to check our spiritual life and determine what time it is. It's time for us to draw nigh to the right and decide whose side we are on. I, for one, want to be found on the side of Jesus Christ and doing the will of the Father. May God Bless and Keep You until next week.
Come visit us at the Cove.
Religion on 03/23/2017