Well, good morning and happy Mother’s Day. As I just said to you mothers, love you. Thankful for all that you do. I’ve got quite a Mother’s Day sermon for you. We’re going to be looking at the end times again, so I don’t actually think there’s a correlation there.
We’ll be in Matthew 24, verses 15-31. If you turn there with me, Matthew 24, verses 15-31.
Let me read this passage for us.
Jesus goes on to say, So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand,
and let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn, but to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are pregnant, and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be the great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. For the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, Look, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, Look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. We’ll stop there for now.
C.S. Lewis has said, Hardship prepares ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. Hardship prepares ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. Hardship prepares ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. That is most true when we think about the Christian life, certainly when we think about the end times, when we think about what the world will be like before Christ comes. And so Jesus speaks into His disciples’ present situation, but so He speaks to His disciples all throughout the church age about being prepared for tribulation. Tribulation is unavoidable. There is no way around. There is no way around tribulation if you are a Christian. So Christ says what He says, again, to prepare us for it when it comes, whether it be just tribulation because we are Christians in a fallen world, or because we are getting closer and closer to Christ returning, and so it intensifies.
Unavoidable tribulation. Are we prepared for it?
Jesus says in verse 15, When you see the abomination, the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. Now that’s a pretty frightening term. Abomination of desolation. What does that mean? What is that? Jesus is referring to what Daniel says in Daniel 12, 11. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. So, it’s a vision that Daniel was given. It was a revelation Daniel was given centuries and centuries ago about what Jesus is describing as getting ready to happen. The abomination of desolation, or the abomination that makes desolate, or the abominating sacrilege. All the holy things in the temple of God at that time, the temple itself, Jerusalem, entirely obliterated. That’s what is chiefly being talked about.
And Jesus says when it happens to Jerusalem, and we talked about that last week in 80-70, about 40 years after Jesus ascended into heaven, it’s going to be so atrocious. It’s going to be so awful. It’s going to be so bad. Jesus is saying to His disciples, when you see the abomination of desolation, flee immediately. Go to the mountains. Go to the mountains. Obviously, mountains are places where it’s much easier to hide yourself and to take shelter than broad plains. He says if you’re on a housetop, don’t go down and pack snacks and pack clothes and take provision. Go. One commentator said he thinks Jesus literally means just jump from roof to roof until you get out of town.
Roofs in this time were flat spaces where people would go at the end of the day. It was cool and they would relax up there. So Jesus says just get out of there. If you’re in a field and you’re working and you took your cloak off to work for the day, don’t even go back to get your cloak if you’re in the field. If you’re in the field and you hear about it, just start running. And Jesus says you better pray that it’s not in bad conditions. Hope you’re not pregnant or you’re not nursing a baby because it’s going to be that bad and it’s going to be that excruciating. The tribulation’s going to be that great. He says hope it’s not on a Sabbath. You know, the Sabbath and that time the gates to the city would have been closed. Travel would have been a little bit more difficult. So Jesus is saying you pray you can get out quick and immediately. Immediately. Immediately. How awful will be the carnage.
And Jesus even says it’s going to be so bad if by the hand of God it wasn’t stopped, it wasn’t done away with, everyone would be wiped out. But He says for the sake of the church, for the sake of, I think we could say the gospel, it won’t be completely obliterated. God’s people will be spared. Thus, the carnage will stop.
Titus, who was the Roman general who led the city, led the city of Jerusalem, is recorded by Josephus, the historian, to said, we have certainly had God for our assistance in this war and it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications for what could the hands of men or any machines do towards overthrowing these towers? So Titus was saying this was amazing how we swept the city the way that we did.
Charles Spurgeon in his commentary says, read the record written by Josephus of the destruction of Jerusalem. See how truly our Lord’s words were fulfilled. The Jews impiously said concerning the death of Christ, His blood be on us and on our children. Never did any other people invoke such an awful curse upon themselves and no other nation did such a judgment ever fall. We read of Jews crucified till there was no more wood left for making crosses, of thousands of people slaying one another and fierce faction fights within the city, of so many of them being sold for slaves that they became a drug in the marketplace, all but valueless. And of the fearful carnage when the Romans at length entered the doomed capital and the blood-curdling stories exactly bear out our Savior’s statement uttered 40 years before the terrible event occurred. And if you read that same passage in Josephus’ history of the Jews, you read even of a woman who in madness and starvation kills her own son, eats part of him and stores part of him, and takes him away for later. And the Jews hear about this and it says they’re shocked as if even they had done it. It is a time of utter destruction.
And I think, again, we should ask the question, why did this happen the way it happened to the Jews? Why did it happen? And Jesus already gave us the answer. He said at the end of chapter 23, for your house is desolate. Judgment. Judgment. That’s why Jesus said this is what’s going to happen. They rejected the Lord time and time again. Now we know God is just and God is equitable and He does not give out undue punishments, does He? We also know about God, He’s extremely merciful, steadfast to the worst of sinner. He forbears before He gives His judgment. He pleads with sinners. We know that from the story of Jonah in Nineveh. If it be so, that means what? It means that what they got, they deserved, and it was after God exhaustively, exhaustively pleaded with them to repent.
And didn’t God do that through His prophets throughout the ages?
Didn’t they plead and pray for Israel’s repentance?
Didn’t Jesus come clothed in the flesh to walk and to talk and to teach the doctrines of heaven to show the power, The power of heaven.
Didn’t Jesus send His apostles out even after He’s resurrected up until A.D. 70 to do the same, to teach and to preach to a hard-hearted Israel? Yes, He did all these things. He did all these things. But I want you to grab this morning, friends, there comes a time when seasons change. And the summer must become the fall and the fall must become the winter. God’s offering of peace and salvation will not always be at hand. God eventually puts away mercy rejected and He pulls out the hammer, the gavel of judgment, and that He gives by force, whether you want it or not, and certainly you don’t. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6, In a favorable time I listened to you. In a day of salvation I’ve helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. But what is Christ making plain? That day passes for everyone. It passes for everyone.
Remember last week we said, as Jesus is teaching His disciples, all of this refers absolutely to A.D. 70. It does. And it happened just as Christ said it would happen. At the same time, if we look at what the apostle Paul talks about, about concerning the man of lawlessness in Thessalonians, if we look at the great bold judgments in Revelation, we’d be wise to understand that a global catastrophe will come right before Christ returns. Judgment on all unbelievers. One commentator says, As with the abomination that causes desolation, verse 15, seeing Jesus’ reference to the great tribulation as beginning in A.D. 70 does not exclude a later application, of this expression to the period of time described in Revelation 7-19, the final stages of this entire inter-advent period. Revelation 7-14 seems to suggest precisely such an intensification of horrors immediately preceding the end of the age. God’s intervention in history plays out in repeated patterns on activity of even grander and more awful scales. At least in Matthew, however, it would seem that the tribulation Jesus has in mind must refer to the entire church age from A.D. 70 on. So in other words, what he’s saying is, yes, we had it. It happened to the Jews in A.D. 70. But as we talked about last week, if you run throughout all the centuries up till now, you can see horrible, horrible tribulation for believers of all kinds. Can’t you? You can see tyrants, dictators, who stand in the place against God and against His church. Time and time and time again. So again, when we look at Revelation and we look at Thessalonians, it really seems plain that this man of lawlessness will come and it says Christ will defeat him with the breath of His mouth. That’s what seems plain. That’s what seems unavoidable from the text.
I say all of that this morning to press you with a question.
When said tribulation comes, will you experience God’s judgment upon the earth as one who has been preserved from it or one on whom it will be poured out? Hear me say this to you. Tribulation certainly will be experienced by the Christian. Why? Because Christ was a suffering Savior. We’ve talked about that. If we want to follow Christ, we’ve got to walk in His footsteps. You and I live in a world that hates God, hates His Christ, hates truth. So it’s a necessary thing to suffer tribulation for Christ’s sake. It is. It’s in its own way a badge of honor. You think about the apostles who left the Sanhedrin in the beginning of Acts and it says they left rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer for Christ’s name. So it’s good in its confirmation that you truly are in the church and you’re set for heaven, not earth, because you’re willing to suffer for, for Christ.
But then there’s a kind of persecution or suffering, a tribulation that the godless will suffer because they’re not a part of the church. One kind of suffering is to be endured that we’d be saved through it. Another is poured out on the ones who are found wanting before God’s law. 1 Peter 2, Peter says, For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? It’s punishment. Right? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. So it’s a grace to suffer at the hands of sinners. God’s using it to prepare you for a weight of glory, right? Paul talks about in Romans all things, even all bad things, they’re working together for the good of those who love Him. He’s preparing us to be a pure, perfect bride for Jesus when He returns that day of salvation. It’s going to come. But when that day passes, friends, or that day comes and the day of salvation passes,
that day’s not going to come around again. Jesus says to His own, flee to the mountains. He says flee the city of destruction. Now, do you think it was pleasant to flee to the mountains? No. Do you think it was pleasant to live like a refugee? No. Do you think it was pleasant to see all of Jerusalem where your life was even if you were a Christian, to see it completely decimated and gone to hell? No, but it was a tribulation unto life.
Jerusalem will experience a tribulation unto death and judgment. And that’s what He’s saying. You must flee it.
Jesus says, put on my garment. Listen to my words of salvation. Take shelter under the wing of the Almighty so the Almighty is not a dread to you. Flee the wrath to come. When God’s judgments come, will you see it happen because you’ve been spared from it or will you experience it because it is for you?
You know, we live in a very casual society, don’t we? Choice of age, choice of preference.
And this is one of those texts, I think, this morning that we’re looking at really wakes us up to our selfishness. It wakes us up to our pride. It wakes us up to how completely out of order our priorities are so often. You know, church, I think it’s attended when it’s convenient. I think there’s a lot of just superficial investment in the local church anymore. I think our Bibles are dusty. The stats prove that. I think our knees are tender and soft. Our spiritual appetites are starved. Our souls are lethargic. Jesus and His church, seem to be today for a lot of people altogether subdued like a house pet. Or maybe your house pet has more love and devotion than Jesus.
But friends, I want to say to you it will not be so on the last day. All the could-haves, all the should-haves, all the would-haves, they will be in vain. You should have, you could have skipped from the rooftop. You should have, you could have fled from the field. But now, it’s too late. It’s too late. I hope this text brings you to an acute sobriety in soul. Shaking, trembling before a holy God who sees every soul and every heart and will judge accordingly. Won’t you throw off the affairs of the world? If this text won’t cause you to do it, what would? If threat of sudden, irreversible destruction won’t do, what will? The promise of eternal and final judgment, if that’s not enough to warm you to obedience and to love, I don’t think anything will. So I implore us this morning, be tender to the Spirit of God. I urge love to the Savior. He describes all these fearful things that you would be saved from them.
If you’ve ever, maybe you’ve had, or at least you know someone who’s had open heart surgery, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that cut down the middle. It’s not so pretty. It’s not so pretty. It’s purple and blue, and you can see the stitches running down. Boy, it hurts. It hurts the person that was, you know, their chest was ripped open, you know, and it takes a lot of time for that to heal. It’s a painful experience, but you’re better off than you were before if you go through that. You go through it. Your heart’s in a better condition. You live many years more.
What’s the alternative? Ah, I don’t want to deal with all that. You die young. Die immediately sometimes. So I’m not advocating your salvation depends on your watchfulness. I’m saying to you, if Christ is your Savior, you will be watchful. You will be sensitive to the things, the things of the Spirit. You will love the local church. You will abide in Christ. You will love holiness and righteousness. You will live to be sanctified. You will walk through the fire because you believe that Christ will be on the other side.
You know, and I say as a pastor, I pray, you know, regularly, and there are prayers I wish I didn’t have to pray, but I do. They go like this. Lord, I’m so thankful for such and such. I see them growing. I see them pouring in. They’re just at every opportunity. They’re serving. They’re just opening the Word. They’re so encouraging. But Lord, there’s such and such. They seem to come sometimes, but I just don’t see any fruit in them. And I know they would claim to be a Christian, but Lord, I just struggle to believe they’re really, really following you, God. I just don’t know how to help them. I’ve said what I can say. And I hate those kind of prayers. If it’s okay to say you hate prayers, but I pray them because you want to see people who are on the fringes wake up and take serious this stuff and life is so short and it’s all so short and that day is going to come and I want this passage to shake you up to what matters most now before it’s too late.
The end comes quickly. Are you living for the end? Are you living for it? It’s an unavoidable question. It’s an unavoidable question. It’s an unavoidable question. If tribulation is unavoidable, that first question was for what do we suffer? Let it be tribulation, not because of judgment.
Secondly, I want to ask for whom do we wait? If tribulation is unavoidable, for whom do we wait?
Back at verse 23.
Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ or there He is, do not believe it. For false cries and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I’ve told you beforehand. So if they say to you, look, He’s in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, He’s in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man, where the corpses, there the vultures will gather.
So when things get really bad, what do you want? What do you want? When you hurt a part of your body, when you’re lost in the woods, when you’re thirsty, really bad. You want respite. You want salvation. You want it to end. You are already, we talked about this a little bit last week, easily deceived. We all are. And you say, oh, I’m not easily deceived. If you own a smartphone and you’ve upgraded at least once, let me say something to you. You are susceptible to clever salesmen. How often are we told, you need this thing. Oh, I do. And then a year later, here’s the next best one. It’s like, oh, what I have is awful. I need the new one.
Friends, we are all so susceptible to being tricked, to being fooled into little silly things we think we need. How much more will you be deceived when your life is on the line and someone says, I’ve got secret knowledge. They even say, look, look at these signs and wonders I can do. Jesus says such a person would come. You think, well, that’s a new problem. That’s a new problem. It’s like the end of times. It’s not a new problem. It’s a very old problem. In Deuteronomy. So we’re way back. We’re way back before the people come into the lands. This is what God says to them. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass and if he says, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery. It’s not a new problem. It’s as old as the garden being deceived.
You say, well, why is Jesus talking about this here? Because he already, remember, he talked about it twice. Last week, he talked about it in verse 5. He talked about it in verse 11. Why is he talking about this for a third time? Hint, hint. You need to hear it again. We need to hear it again. Jesus knew false gods would be aplenty, so you and I need to be warned aplenty. And even with that warning, the Israel in the whole Old Testament filled with their going astray to prove the point. But,
Jesus, Jesus says in Matthew, oh, these charlatans, they’re so convincing. So convincing. If it were even possible, they would deceive God’s saved people. They would deceive the elect themselves. That’s how convincing they would be, or are. Charles Spurgeon says this, it is a grand thing to have such faith in Christ that you have none to spare for imposters. It is important not to distribute your faith too widely. Those who believe a little of everything will in the end, believe nothing at all. Being forewarned is being forearmed.
So, what does that mean? It means this, death by novelty is a real thing.
How many fascinating versions of spirituality are there today?
New age empowerment. How many fascinating, different, novel versions of Christianity are there today? Seemingly, endless number as time goes on. Jesus says what? Don’t be deceived.
Don’t be deceived. So often the New Testament writers say that very thing to us. So what do I need to do? What do I do? Here’s what we should do. We should be patient. Because we either do believe or we don’t believe God is going to save His people. There’s saying I believe in God and then there’s living to believe. He’ll believe God through the fire.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. How about that? We just believe this. Even if He doesn’t save us, we’re going in the fire. We’re going in the fire.
So we discover, friends, in trial and tribulation, not designed to destroy us, but designed to purify us, the grit of our faith. Will we tap out? Give up on our faith? Give up on our Savior’s integrity that He will save us? Or will we be patient?
And again, the tribulation to come at the end of the world, it may be an unprecedented tribulation, but this is a very old problem. And if Jesus says He will keep and save His own, that means no matter what days or era you and I live through, Christ will be enough to sustain us if we will be patient in the Spirit and trust Him and Him alone. You know, how many times the psalmist says I will wait on the Lord? Over 20. Over 20. Old problem. Old problem with a great, never changing, always sufficient solution. Wait on the Lord. Wait. We live in an impatient world, don’t we? I feel like I hear all the time, oh, you know, this is so expensive right now because of COVID. There’s a world shortage of this. And we’re so indignant. God, I can’t believe I have to special order this thing. What is this, the 20s? You know? I mean, we’re so used to two-day delivery. Like, I’ll have to wait on something. I mean, it really shocks our systems. But Jesus says, if you wait, you will be saved. The Apostle James says it. James 5.8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord. It’s what? It’s at hand. It’s at hand.
I mean, growing up, the only car I wanted, oh, if I could just have a Jeep Wrangler. I mean, it was the vehicle of my dream. I just wanted a Jeep Wrangler. And I finally graduated high school. My dad bought me a Jeep Wrangler for graduation. It was the old kind. You know, it was army green. It had the soft top. You know, it was the exact Jeep that I wanted. And I loved that thing for a while. But it was funny. An older gentleman I knew had one. He said, well, he said, you’re going to get horrible gas mileage. You’re going to be cramped in there. You’re not going to have any storage. When it rains, you’re going to be soaking wet. You’ll be hot in the summer. You’ll be cold in the winter. But you’re going to have a good time. And that’s what a Jeep Wrangler, at least the newer ones are nice. But the older ones, it’s a novelty, right? It’s kind of fun. I got married and I got kids. And I stopped wanting to pay for gas prices. You know, when you get, whatever, 13 miles a gallon. And I was tired of shop back in the three inches of rain out of the bottom of the Jeep every time it rained. It was a novelty. It was a novelty.
That’s what false religion is. That’s what spirituality is. It’s a novelty. But in the end, it isn’t safe. In the end, it doesn’t give life. In the end, it’s not Christ. Paul says in Galatians 6, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. What are one of the fruits of the Spirit? Patience. Patience. So you don’t have the patience you need to wait on Jesus. And I don’t either. We need to implore God, oh God, that I would live in the Spirit and be patient through whatever trial, whatever suffering You bring my way. I need Christ in me that I would be a patient, waiting Christian for the day of Your return. Secondly, I say to you, be on guard. And it’s true throughout history that Christians have had to be on guard from false doctrine. But it’s very true today.
For Mother’s Day, we got Jessica a Fitbit. You know, it was a sale and she’s been wanting to get healthy and that’s great. And so, we got a Fitbit thing and it tells you your tracking, your calories, how much you’ve walked. All that stuff and it’s fine. That’s fine. I’m not against Fitbit, okay? But I was aggravated because when you set the watch up and you open the app up, there in my face was Deepak Chopra. And Fitbit has just made a deal with Deepak Chopra and now you can be reminded daily to do your times of meditation and quiet with guided instruction by Deepak Chopra. Now, if you don’t know who he is, he’s the face of modern New Age spirituality. Maybe someone would call it moralistic therapeutic deism. It’s a buffet of different world religions. Throw a little science in there. New Age self-empowerment. It’s something like that. I just bought this thing to count my calories and now you’re telling me you want Deepak Chopra to speak into my consciousness and my life? And I’m thinking about a lot of well-meaning Christians who are like, oh, cool, okay, I’ll do this. He will lead you straight to hell. So there’s not a war on Fitbit. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a fitness tracker. It just serves to show, friends, the devil is using every possible method he can to get at your soul. Jesus says, guard yourself. Don’t go look. Don’t go look. I wonder what they’re doing out there. Don’t go look. Don’t go look.
Paul says it’s the approved workman who’s not ashamed. It’s the one who has spent the time studying the Word of God. It is the one who, who knows Jesus’ voice, His shepherd, because He spent so much time with His shepherd. Jesus says, my sheep know my voice. They hear the thief and the robber. No, that’s not my Jesus. Friends, it’s the very same thing. Perhaps we could imagine Christians in poor, uneducated countries, maybe it makes more sense how they could be so deceived because, man, maybe they’ve heard the Gospel, but they don’t have the Word. They don’t have churches. They don’t have pastors. They don’t have the resources we do. Friends, I really believe, you know, to whom much is given, much is required. You have so many resources at your fingertips to know the Word of God, to learn and to grow in your mind. There’s no excuse for us. Study, learn, pray, be in the church, be in the Word so that you are kept. Be steadfast. Be steadfast.
How can I ultimately know then
when salvation will come? If tribulation is unavoidable, I mean, how can I know? When does it end? Jesus says, here’s how you’ll know. As lightning flashes from the east to the west, that’s when you’ll know I’ve showed up. In other words, when I come back, you’re not going to need anybody to phone you up. You’re not going to need somebody to knock on your door. It’s going to be so obvious. You ever laid in bed in the middle of the night and that thunder, oh, it shakes your bed and the lightning flashes. It’s like it’s day for a split second because it’s so bright. Jesus says, that is what everyone in the whole world is going to see when I come back. They’re going to know, this is Jesus. This is so radically different in nature. Jesus will be in our unavoidable tribulation an unmistakable Savior. That is for whom we wait. That is why we can suffer as we do because He will come back and it will be glorious and He’ll bring us into eternal rest. That’s why we can wait patiently because we know all of our sorrows and all of our sufferings, they will come back. They will be turned to joy. Is your trial and tribulation unavoidable? Could we talk about a variety of ways that you have suffered it or perhaps the church will suffer it? Yes. But will Christ come back and will it be unmistakably wonderful and beautiful and eternal? Yes. Yes. Let’s wait for that day, friends. Let’s wait for that day. Living, hoping, praying, sober, glad for Christ to come. And I want to read the end part there in 29.
Jesus says this to kind of round off that bit. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see, the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
Who’s mourning?
Those who have not patiently waited. Those who have not suffered for His name’s sake.
They mourn because judgment has come. Friends, when Christ comes, will it be a day of glory? Will it be a day of glory? Or will it be a day of dread?
He will be a wonderful, unmistakable Savior. Won’t we wait and be faithful to Him now to see that day with joy and welcome it and so welcome eternal life?
Psalm 130. I just want to end with reading this psalm. Psalm 135 and 6. The psalmist says, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. Let’s pray.
Lord, we thank You that as great as trial and tribulation in life will be, thank You that You keep us, that You’ve given us Your Word to sustain us, that You’ve given us Your Spirit to encourage us, to correct us, to empower us to live for You. Lord, I pray for us, God, certainly here at Providence, Lord, that not one of us would be lost, that, Lord, we would lean in and we would suffer, yes, but know our suffering. It’ll become that weight of glory that Paul talks about and it’ll be so much more wonderful than we could imagine, Lord, and all of our sorrows will be gone and You’ll wipe away the tears from our eyes, Lord. Let us live for that day. Let us live for the day that, Lord, Christ breaks through the clouds and as the Scriptures say, we will be like Him as He is when we see Him, Lord. Oh, God, we pray, we pray that that would be our light in life, that that would be our all in all.
God, that our love for lesser things would be turned to hate, our laziness would be turned to zeal, that we would be utterly hot for the name of Jesus. I pray that for us. And I ask it in faith.
Jesus, Your name is blessed forevermore. Your name is the name above all names. Oh, so let it be in our hearts and in our minds. And we pray it in Christ’s name. Amen.