Good Morning Beloved!
This morning we have the wonderful privilege..
And though we are truly living in a unique time...
Life as we know it, is rapidly changing due to the invasion of Covid-19
however, the Word of God remains... unchanged!
Heavenly Father,
Cause me to become even more diligent in my study of the Word,
To be even more faithful..
Father, I thank You for allowing me an intimate fellowship
one that equips me to continue with Your unfinished work
I thank You, for You, for this Word today
Thank You for giving us knowledge
Thank You for so clearly and concisely presenting these truths to each of us today
May we all stand convicted
Guide me today in delivering this message,
Help me to live a more Christ-centered, Christ-conscious life
And help all these beloved people here You've entrusted to me today
to sense Your presence to a greater degree.
cause us to make some real changes and commitments today
in the areas of our lives that are so needful
Lord, speak to our hearts
may there be a breaking down of the resistance, and
a melting of those hearts of stone, and a real softening
so that Your Spirit may lead the lost to Christ
the saved to be faithful to be what we need to be
All for Your sake and Your glory
Let us give You all the praise
in Jesus’ name we ask and pray
Amen.
Through the creation of the computers and the internet, we can all gather together and worship our Lord.
"And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."
Acts 1:9-11
How many remember Hide and Seek?
Remember when you were a kid, the game of Hide and Seek?
Anyone remember being "It"?
Who ever was "It" in my neighborhood would have to go stand under the streetlight and cover their
eyes and count to 50. This would give everyone sufficient time to "Hide".
And somewhere around the count of 50, they would shout out, "Ready or not, Here I come!"
And when they did, there was always this last second scrambling just to make sure that you were hidden enough so they were unable find you.
It reminds me when Jesus said, "Behold, I come quickly."
The biblical version of "Ready or not, here I come!"
Yes, beloved Jesus is coming again. Ready or not!
This same Jesus who went away from us "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go." He'll return as He was received up into glory.
Today's message is one that we seldom hear in church in our present culture and yet it doesn't change
the fact, Jesus IS coming!
I love preaching the Word of God!
I love the book of Genesis, "The book of Beginnings."
I love to talk about Adam and Eve, the Flood and the Tower of Babel.
And I love preaching all the books in between Genesis and Revelation.
But after all the stories of King David, the baby born in manger in Bethlehem,
the Acts of the Apostles and the early church, there is a crying out of the Spirit of God in the final book of this great text to all that would hear it...
"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
Revelation 22:12-13
In God's communication with humanity, we hear Him shouting from the Heavens,
"Ready or not, here I come!"
The condition of the world will also be as it was when Jesus was taken
up to heaven. When our Savior left the world He had been rejected by
men and crucified. His tomb had been sealed by a pagan seal. The vast
hosts of the peoples and nations of the world, including the chosen
race, had sinned, were living in sin and were unrepentant of their sin.
Only a little handful of believers were following the Lord and faithful to Him
they were those who saw Him go away. This little band of
disciples were alone in the whole world of darkness and iniquity.
When Christ returns He will come as He went away.
There will be comparatively a small band of faithful believers among the millions of the earth. There will few who will be expectantly watching and waiting...
"I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"
Luke 18:8
In the busyness of life, we often forget that there is coming a day of judgment.
And a time of reward, either good or bad. Sometimes when we hear the word, "reward," we think it’s going to be something good.
But a reward can be something bad too. It pretty much means,
"Here is, what you’ve got coming to you."
Yet many people today are going through life like they’ve got nothing to worry about.
"And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed."
Luke 17:26-30
In the days of Noah the world lay in violence and wickedness.. much as we see in our culture today.
And although no one knows when He will come, but everyone must live in anticipation, that it could be any day, that it will occur in their lifetime... I do believe, it will occur in my lifetime.
In contradistinction to this revelation of Holy Scriptures concerning the state of the world when Jesus comes, there are many who are persuaded that the world will grow better and better until finally it
will evolve into the period of universal blessing which we call the "Millennium."
They also believe, those who follow this strange doctrine, that the Lord will not come until after this thousand years of bliss and perfection. They believe that through the preaching of the Gospel
through the operation of the Holy Spirit, through the regeneration of the nations, Christ will rule in the hearts of men and that He will be received as King over all the earth. They are persuaded that the tiger will cease to bare his fangs, that the Leopard will change his spots, that men will grow into perfection through the efforts of organized Christianity.
The indisputable and irrefutable evidence of this, so they say, is to be found in the progress we have achieved through science and culture. In such things as the luxurious automobiles we now drive and the extension of communication from the signal fires of the cave men to the modern miracle of radio and television, the internet, they profess to see a pattern for the conquests of Christianity.
They think that the evolution of the natural man along utilitarian lines is harbinger for the spiritual triumphs of the preaching of the gospel which will ultimately ensue in the perfect world.. the "Millennium."
This teaching and doctrine is most felicitous in its optimism regarding the ability of unregenerate
humanity to overcome the terrible afflictions that beset it..
The problem is, there are just two flaws in this doctrine.
It has no illustration in history and it is the open denial of the clear and revealed Word of God.
And while we can all acknowledge man has evolved in art, in science, in culture, yet, he is still in
his heart and in his soul a rebel against heaven and a transgressor of the laws of God.
For many of us, the task of finishing the work that Christ began, the responsibility of evangelizing to the lost world, is, to say the least, a daunting one. But the Lord in His mercy from the beginning has provided all the spiritual resources necessary, that we be able to accomplish that task. However, it is up to each believer to appropriate those resources and then put them to use.
In the days of old, the cave man fought and killed his brother with a stone
or a club. And in this modern civilized man kills his brother with semi-automatic weapons, knives, atomic bombs and liquid fire. And though the technique has changed, the fact remains unchanged.
The heart of men that lies behind all of the violence, filled with malice and hatred for his fellow man, is still the same.
The earth, is now thousands of years old and generation after generation have come and gone, but we are still just as lost and undone as our first parents, Adam and Eve.
Man has raised himself out of ignorance, superstition and darkness and has entered almost every marvelous area of achievement; but spiritually .... spiritually throughout all of his generations, the heart of man is exactly the same.
Today, there is a rather exclusive view of religion: Worship Self.
And so today, people are not concerned about their sins.
They don’t care who they’ve offended or who they’ve physically hurt.
But whether they believe it or not or whether they are ready or not, the book of Revelations tells us that He is coming and His reward as He says is with Him.
But in the book of Acts, when the Spirit came, the disciples received power!
The power to witness and declare the wonderful works of God.
Most everyone seems to have trouble outlining the book of Acts, because it’s tough to outline the work of the Spirit, always. So whenever you try to outline the book of Acts you typically run into certain problems. If you’re outlining Romans, then you’re dealing with Paul’s logical mind. If you’re outlining Acts, you’re dealing with the flow and the sweep of the Spirit which can’t always be separated in into compartments, or categories.
But allow me to try..
Starting with Acts chapter 1, verse 1, and going through chapter 6, verse 7.
The particular section, tells us about the church in Jerusalem where it all began. It tells us about the preaching of Peter at Pentecost and the birth of the Jerusalem church, and it finishes up with this statement, watch this, in Acts 6, verse 7, "The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith."
In short, this section of Acts is the birth of the Jerusalem church as it began to grow and as it began to multiply.
Then, in Acts 6:8, through chapter 9:1, this shows how Christianity which began at Jerusalem began to spread throughout Judea which was a province in which Jerusalem was the city. It began to spread throughout Judea: Stephen preached and died a martyr’s death, and then it began to move into Samaria. And it's summarized in chapter 9, verse 31.
"So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase."
Acts 9:31
And so you have the second movement of the church as it begins to grow toward fulfilling the commission that Jesus gave in Acts 1:8.
Then in Acts 9:32 through 12:24, in the next movement of the church, the conversion of the
apostle Paul; and from that point, the church begins to literally explode. The
Gentiles are reached in the city of Antioch where they’re first called
Christians. Cornelius is saved through the ministry of Peter.
"But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied."Acts 12:24
The summary here, is that Christianity continued to grow and was multiplied as it moved out..
Then in 12:25 through 16:5, it deals with the church born in Asia Minor, and the preaching tour of Galatia by the apostle Paul, and it ends with this summary, "So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily."
And for now, I'll just stop there, I'm sure we'll cover that, in a later message.
I hope it has helped some of you to understand the flow of the church movement.
So let's continue with today's message shall we..
Education, reformation, legislation-all have failed, we continue to be a helpless and dying people.
This has become even evident today, with the COVID-19 pandemic. People who once felt they had it all together, who needed no one, suddenly find themselves without jobs, income and even basic supplies.
God is speaking... are we listening?
Something we should all be asking ourselves,When He returns and finds us –and He will...
How will He find us?
Are we ready?
He let’s us know here that IF you want to see Heaven,
“You’ve Got To Be Born Again”
Now I’ve heard it said that there are many roads that lead to God. And there may be a little bit of truth to that statement, but let me be very clear here, there is only ONE way to get into Heaven!
And that way is Jesus Christ.
"Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
John 3:5-7
So I’m hearing two declarations from Him today:
You MUST be born again and Behold, I come quickly!
So let’s talk about this being born of the water for a minute ..
Now we all know that when a person is born into this world that there is a certain breaking of the water that takes place.
Every woman who has ever given birth to a child understands very well what Jesus is talking about here. But in this text, Jesus is not just referring to the water that breaks when a soul is brought into this world, but He is also talking about what happens when a person is Baptized by immersion in water for the remission of their sins.
"Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!"
Acts 2:38-40
So I have had many ask, over the years, "Why would it be important that a person repent their sins?
Can't I just accept Jesus?"
The answer is simple... You can’t get into Heaven unless you do!
"For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 6:20-23
Take a look at our world today, the stage is set..
As a people and as a church, we ourselves have almost forgotten His admonition that we watch and be ready... Have we done all that we are supposed to do to allow salvation to come into our hearts and lives? Our families? Are friends? Neighbors?
Have we shared the message of the Gospel to a world in darkness?
So, I want to ask each and every one of you today..
Are YOU ready?
It is my prayer today that each of you hearing this message today will,
"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you..."
Colossians 3:16
Jesus is saying to the world today, "Ready or not, Here I Come!"
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries