The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Concerning the second coming (return) of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is such a hard thing to show mankind of it's truth that we ought to find the zeal to proclaim even more to the point of exhaustion. As a Christian it should be the every thought and purpose to identify this most factual truth to better embellish and solidify ones walk with our precious Jesus.

I have heard and attended thousands of gospel deliveries over the years that have been most revealing to me as I am sure you have too. Out of all of these lessons the ones that are the most revealing and prominent that sticks with me without escape is - of the lost. The lost are so vast in number's it's staggering to comprehend that in the body of Christ there may be an element that says, "Whats the use, we will never get to all of them in time." 

Then I heard another sermon recently, a very powerful one to say the least concerning Revelation 22:20, "Come Lord Jesus." If there was ever an exhaustive proclamation on this subject it was this one from brother Jimmy Allen, for the tears I shed proved it.

To be specific of the fact of the second coming of the Christ, when He finally comes mankind will be divided into four distinct and different categories:

1. Those who are indifferent to it.
2. Those who will deny it.
3. Those who are horrified by it
4. Those who have longed for it

Now it seems to me that the first three divisions are believable seeing as how our society stands in this day and age. Have you ever thought if you were given $1,000,000,000 dollars (1 billion) in cash how you would spend it? We all have I'm sure. Lets take a short look at this hypothetical circumstance.

If a person was to give you this mass sum of money just to spend, would you take it? Of course you would. Now if he says, "You must spend it in a fashion that exhausts it in $100,000 lumps every day would you still take it? Why of course. Now if we stop and think about this for a moment and if my arithmetic is right, to spend one billion dollars at a rate of $100,000 per day, it would take you 27 years, 4 months at 26 days to spend the whole amount given you. This gives us and idea just how staggering the amount of one billion dollars really is.

Now suppose we were to convert dollars into souls being saved every day. It would take the same 27 years, 4 months and 26 days to convert one billion people to Christ if of course the population shifts were to remain constant with today's growth rate. This would simply be a wondrous piece of work there ever was wouldn't you agree? Do you realize given the fact that there are now 6 billion people in the world today that if the end of time were to come at the end of this period outlined, five sixths or 5 billion people would be condemned? Simply even more of a staggering circumstance. If the Lord were to come today you can bet that where you live most people are not going to make it, literally billions will die eternally!

Well, I said all of that to say this. What is the Lords feeling towards this and why hasn't he come yet? If we look at 2 Peter 3:9, I think we will find an answer that seems trustworthy. Apostle Peter says:

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some (or we) count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (That is He will maintain His promise of Salvation to those who love Him and serve Him and allow His will to lead their lives), 

Our great God and Father is currently and ultimately being patient, concerned and loving towards the billions of lost in the world that aren't repenting. He by His grace is allowing the proper time to come to pass that He may have as many souls as possible. He is hurting and shedding His mighty tears of love all this time, waiting and waiting. I believe it is a fact that He wants every single last one of us to the point that he will wait however long it takes to have even you, maybe the last single soul He has had his eye on that you not parish in His flame. Oh Lord I praise you for your gift of Salvation by your grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ!

The 6 billion figure is going to continue to grow making the work ahead even greater every day that passes. This should be a motive for us right now to get out there and roll our sleeves up and get on with the good work of Gods business. The second coming date will be determined of course by the Father and only Him, and possibly the same determined may be dependent on how much we as the body of Christ contribute to the furtherance and growth of His kingdom. We are the eyes, hands, ears and mouthpieces that are going to make a difference.

Referring back to Revelation 22:20, "Come Lord Jesus" must mean to the person who prays of this to come, that he or she wants to be with the Savior Jesus so very badly. Not to go to Heaven just to gain eternal life or to have their body redeemed and renewed. No it means I am willing right now to leave all behind including my loved ones whether they be mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors. All of these to be with Him.

And He also says, "Surely I am coming quickly." In other words, we as non-repentant individuals are very close to being with or without Him sooner than expected for when we die a mortal death, we are at that instant when life is no more, sealed forever in His hands of eternal destiny. No more chances to repent, no more longing to be with Him. Do you believe that friends, family and brethren?

The time is at hand at this point for the fourth division of people that truly long for His coming and are convicted to it in their prayers. These special people (Titus 2:14) must live life every day by faith in complete submission to His will to the point they can visualize the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit making it no longer an invisible mystery, but a reality set before them.

What a pinnacle to reach in the Lord. I suppose if you were to look at a bible from a person of this spiritual height in Christ, you would find the pages of Revelation 21 and 22 very well worn and recited. Yes, these people are worthy in prayer waiting, and mean it when they say - "Come Lord Jesus" that they will have finally touched the heavens with the hand of God.

Are you one of these?

Jesus Filters Out People Who Aren't Interested In The Kingdom of Heaven

Mark 1:21-22,

"Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

Jesus taught as one with authority. Not complicated or complex. He had a message for every man. That's right, but, to say he was simple and plain is not the case. He was enormously different. He asked embarrassing questions and regularly rebutted his disciples who just didn't get what he meant.

Have you ever been frustrated, a little unsure of the reality of Jesus? We ought to explore what is really going on with Jesus, or we just might miss Him!


John 6:60-65 talks about some of the disciples giving up on Jesus, so they walked away from Him (v 66). What happened to those people there? They gave up on Jesus because they couldn't get Jesus. Have you given up on Jesus? I pray not...

Many times in the gospels, we are not entirely sure of what Jesus is going for. Why is it sometimes so difficult to understand Jesus? Sometimes I get it, and sometimes I'm not exactly sure. Whats really going on here. Am I just missing Jesus? Here are a few examples of Jesus unique and very different understanding of His teachings that can boggle the mind today in our culture if we are not careful.

Luke 8:21. "My mother and brother are those who hear the word of God and do it."

So wait a minute Jesus, I thought that family and marriage is good, and a priority that people do for and care for family members? Now your saying only those who hear and do Gods word are His family? The short answer is - YES! Its not about family. A very cutting statement by Jesus.

Luke 8:18. "The one who has more gets more? The one who has less it will be taken away."

Wait a minute. That isn't how that works. Can you imagine in school, Johnny, you made a A+ on your test. So we are going to send you to extra tutoring having more learning opportunities. Suzy, you made a C- on the test. No more tutoring for you. In fact why don't you go home and get out of school. We don't care about you, your out of here! That isn't how you do it, what do you mean Jesus?

Mark 2:25. In the Old Testament, David does something he's not supposed to be doing by breaking into the house of God, the Temple where only the Levite Priests were allowed, And he ate the showbread out of hunger, but Jesus is OK with it on the Sabbath. We are talking about breaking the Law of God yet Jesus seems to make no never mind what the Pharisees think. And why is this? Because Jesus is now at this point in time Lord of the Sabbath, God in the flesh and He can pick and choose how he wishes to apply the Law within the culture of His day and the purpose of His coming.

Luke 7:19. Are you really the Messiah? There is something we today need to be careful about when reading and understanding the scriptures when Jesus is teaching. Its very easy for us 2000 years removed to assume the early disciples knew and trusted Jesus with whatever He taught and wherever He went as they trailed behind Him. This is not the case! In actuality, the followers of Jesus at that ancient time were scared to death and didn't trust Jesus new teachings nor in what sort of dangerous situation they may find themselves. They had the Romans in front of them and the Jewish elders and teachers of the Law behind them. It must have been a tumultuous time of hourly trial constantly looking over ones shoulder! Hence, are you really the Messiah Jesus?


Mark 8:27. "Who do people say that I am?" Peter says, "you are the Christ." You got it Peter, go preach it and tell everybody. Then Jesus says, don't tell anybody Peter, better keep that under wraps. What? I thought you were here for everybody to know that you are the Christ? 

What do we want Jesus to do? We want Him to proclaim His Lordship and say YES. But Jesus never does things like that, not ever. But we today are on the other side of the cross. Our culture is much different than the first century disciples so it was very difficult for our ancient brethren to get Jesus.

Luke 24:19-24. There was no proclamation and celebration of the resurrection. Disciples were unsure of the reports He resurrected. They were not sure how all of this worked. It took Jesus to finally put it all together for them.

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:25-27.

What did the apostles do when they came to arrest Jesus in the garden? They ran out the back door in confusion!

John 6:14-15. Jesus withdrew to the mountains by himself. The "M" word Messiah in his world means something different than to us. In our world it means Savior of our sins. In His time it meant they were going to have an earthly king and kingdom, They were going to get rid of the Romans and take back the country. Those people were affected by their culture and it effected what Jesus could and could not say to them. This is important to understanding Jesus, because its still true today...

Matthew 7:7. Teaching on prayer. Have you ever read that prayer and thought, Jesus is giving you a blank check in prayer? Anything I ask for Jesus is supposed to give me right? Where does that thinking come from? Isn't it an American culture where we have prosperity preaching  screaming a health and wealth gospel where books abound telling us to pray to God like a Genie? Rub the lamp just the right way, and if we rub hard enough, he has to give us all that we want?

Have we ever stopped and listened to Jesus on prayer? Have a look at the Lords prayer in Matthew 6. How many provisions for physical stuff is in that prayer?  ONE. His teaching on prayer is a world of difference from American prayer. What preconceived ideas are you seeing in Jesus? Is he a white middle class Republican? We need to stop and listen to Jesus, one word at a time.

Jesus uses scripture to sift people in the telling of a farming story in Matthew 13:1-9, the parable of the sower. 

"Why does Jesus speak to them in parables? Mark 13:11-15. The reason Jesus speaks in parables is because it has a filtering effect. He is filtering out people who don't really have an interest in the kingdom of God and who don't want to know the truth. He wants to find out who really has an interest in Him.

Jesus is not interested in amassing huge crowds. In John 6:15, notice He withdrew again by himself to the mountains. It's not about how big a group He can get. Same thing when they all saw him in the boat on the other side. In John 6:22-26 He left the whole crowd because they didn't seek him for his signs, but because they were filled with bread. They and we look for Him for the wrong reasons. He is sifting us out!

Too few people wanted Jesus - Luke 9:57. When we obey Him we expect Jesus to say congratulations. But He says in Luke 9:58, NO! Do you really want to be with me... "Have you counted the cost?"

Jesus operated with the perspective of obedience. Matthew 26:42

"Let this cup pass from Me, but... Not My will but thine be done."

Jesus emphasis in His ministry is about obeying God. John 5:30

"I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."

Many say they want to obey God. But what they really mean is, I want to obey God if it is convenient, it doesn't change my life, and it doesn't get in the way of everything I want to do. We hold different priorities. Its about my rights, what I want, being noticed and popular, making my life good so on and so on.

When Jesus comes in and starts talking about obedience and obeying the will of God, we say, "Hmmm, I don't know about that. I don't understand you Jesus. Maybe I will take a rain check on that one."

Look at Matthew 19:9,

“And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Wait a minute Jesus, my spouse doesn't meet my needs. I'm tired of Him and I have met this other person that is so much fresher, new and exciting. I just need to be with this person. I know that you want me to be happy? I don't really understand this teaching in Matthew 19. Who can get what Jesus is saying?

See how we are being sifted?

Do you want Jesus? Do you want to be obedient to the will of the Father? Do you want Jesus. Now can you see why Jesus said, "Those with more, they get more..." Why? Because those who really want Jesus get closer and closer to Jesus and they understand more of His will and they obey Him more and more. They continue to get closer and closer to Jesus learning even more of His will like a snowball effect, and it builds and builds towards a greater righteousness in Christ. The more I know about Jesus the more I want to know. And the more I know the more I realize I don't know...

It's really easy for people to come to Jesus on pretend notions. They like to play games and come to church Sunday morning because its a social thing to do. Consequently they don't really understand Jesus. They miss him as He continues seeking the next hearer and doer.

Sifted - Sifted - Filtered Out!

If your having trouble "getting Jesus." Stop right there. Ask yourself, "Do I want what Jesus wants?" Do I want to fully follow Him. Am I really trying to obey God. Are my priorities comfort, pleasure and fun? When Jesus' priorities are holiness, faithfulness, godliness and obedience, DO I WANT JESUS? Or is it possible Jesus is sifting me out of the kingdom of God?

Jesus is incredibly profound. There is a depth to Him unlike any teacher ever, unlike any person ever. He is unlike any person who has lived which means we can keep reading and every time, we learn more again.

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Luke 4:1-8. - The temptations of Jesus at the hands of the devil. In these passages Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy about the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness wandering. Where is Jesus? He is returning from Jordan being led by the Spirit into the wilderness and what does he do? He is completely obedient. If you look at the end of chapter 3 - The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. Then if you notice in Matt. 4:3, And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

In Luke 3:38 the son of Adam, the son of God, that's a "disobedient" son of God. In Luke 4:3, that's the "ultimate" Son of God obedient in all things.

Sometimes if we don't get Jesus it's because we don't want to read Him again and again and again. We don't want to keep thinking and pondering and studying. This is not the attitude we want to have about Jesus.

So, will I come to a point and say, "Well, I'm not going to read the gospels because I'm just not going to understand Jesus." Well no, you can get Jesus. Most of what He says is tremendously straight forward. For an example, look at Matthew 28:18-20.

You want to be a disciple of Jesus? What do you need to do?

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

How do you become a disciple of Jesus Christ? You are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and taught to observe all things that He has commanded you. Now that wasn't hard at all was it? In fact that would be hard to miss.

The truth of the matter is, those three verses are not the sum total of all that Jesus is teaching. There are other things Jesus does, and there are other teachings contained in the gospels. And sometimes those are a little harder to understand. Sometimes that means to understand Jesus we re going to have to break free of our culture and the presuppositions we bring to the text. Sometimes that means we have to go through the sifter. Do we really want to pursue Christ and obedience? This means we have to keep studying, thinking and pushing so that we can get Jesus. And when we do that it will mean there will be more we find that we need to get then.


Nearly all the disciples of Jesus were confused upon hearing Him and they turned away from Him. And today, if I don't have questions after meeting Jesus, maybe I haven't, really, met Jesus? (John 6:66)


You can get Jesus - The closer you get to Jesus the more you get Jesus, and the more you'll want to be with Jesus.

Finally, with all that we need to do to get Jesus, if we take a superficial view of things, if we are satisfied with just a little bit of knowledge, we have not really encountered Jesus Christ, the real Jesus of the gospels, the real Son of God who always makes us think and ponder and who always challenges us. And who always makes us come back for more. That is what it means to "get Jesus."


By Mark Roberts
JustChristians.com

The Center of the Bible

The book of Acts is the pivotal book of the Bible. It is where we read about the center of the Bible’s message - Jesus Christ Resurrection and His Church established. Some have called it the Hub of the Bible. It is often called 2nd Luke as it is an extension of his prior gospel work (Acts 1:1). The apostles Paul and Peter through the Holy Spirit often refer to many Old Testament references in teaching New Covenant fulfillment's and instructions pertaining to worship, church operations, serving and working for the Lord, and Gods plan of salvation to the Jews and the Gentiles. The book of Acts provides a detailed, orderly, eyewitness account of the birth and growth of the early church and the spread of the gospel immediately after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its narrative supplies a bridge connecting the life and ministry of Jesus to the life of the church and the witness of the earliest believers. The work also constructs a link between the Gospels and the Epistles.

Written by the disciple Luke, Acts is the sequel to Luke's Gospel, furthering his story of Jesus, and how he built his church. The book ends quite abruptly, suggesting to some scholars that Luke may have planned to write a third book to continue the story.

Authorship of the book of Acts is attributed to Luke. He was a Greek and the only Gentile Christian writer of the New Testament. He was an educated man and disciple of Jesus, and we learn in Colossians 4:14 that he was a physician. Luke was not one of the 12 disciples later to become Apostles.

Although Luke is not named in the book of Acts as the writer, he was credited with authorship as early as the second century. In later chapters of Acts, the writer uses the first-person plural narrative, "we," indicating that he was present with Apostle Paul. We know that Luke was a faithful friend and travel companion of Paul.

Date Written:

Between 62 and 70 A.D., with the earlier date being more likely.

Landscape of the Book of Acts:

The book of Acts details the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church from Jerusalem and throughout the Roman Empire.

Themes in the Book of Acts:

The book of Acts begins with the outpouring of God's promised Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1). As a result, the preaching of the gospel (Acts 2:14-39), and the witness of the newly formed church sparks a flame that spreads across the Roman Empire. The opening of Acts discloses a primary theme throughout the book. As believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) they bear witness to the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is how the church is established and continues to grow, spreading locally and then continuing to the ends of the earth.

In summary, the book of Acts needs to be studied to have the full understanding of the whole Bible! That’s quite a statement. Enjoy this video lesson on the groundbreaking book of the infant church of Jesus Christ.

The Lords church at Palm Beach Lakes