Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Oct 22nd, 2010 Let’s Keep At It Until He Comes To Get Us

Today’s Reading – Mark 12 & 13

And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. (Mark 13:7 & 8 )

I remember when I was first saved in 1990. I was convinced that the Lord was coming for His church in 1993. I thought for sure that the conditions of the world then had met the criteria in the verses above. But He did not come, and that was almost twenty years ago. The Apostle Paul also thought that the Lord’s return was going to be very soon, and that was nearly 2000 years ago. Don’t misunderstand me, I still believe the Lord’s return in soon. In fact, I am surprised that He hasn’t come yet. It would seem that the stage of the world has been completely set for the rapture of the church and the commencement of the Tribulation Period. But, the bottom line is, I really don’t know when it will be. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were today, but then it wouldn’t shock me if we were years away, either.

Jesus taught in Luke 19 that we are supposed to “occupy” till he comes. It seems that because the world is rapidly moving toward the one world government, and the attitude toward believers is so antagonistic these days, that Christians are no longer occupying, they are retreating. It seems that we are laying down our Bibles and just waiting for the Lord to come back to get us.Many have stopped going soulwinning; many have cut back on their giving; and even more have become slack in their attendance.  I do not think that this is His plan. I believe that we are supposed to be very busy, fighting the battle, until He blows the final whistle. I realize that the devil is really fighting hard these days. Most of the individual Christians and corporate churches that I am associated with are going through some fierce trials right now. The temptation is great to just “throw in the towel”. I have considered it more that once these past few months; but, there still is a cause, and I believe we can see greater numbers of people saved today than ever before, even in the midst of a great “falling away”.

We are supposed to have a sense of urgency in our lives today, because of the fact that the Lord’s return is near. We should crank our Christianity up another notch. Let’s not faint in these last days, let’s become more fervent. Let’s not stop going and giving, let’s go and give more! Get back in the fight!

As for me, I have come to this conviction: I am going to continue to prepare, plan and build like His return is years away; but I am also going to try to serve Him with a sense of urgency as if His coming might be today. And it might be. I hope it is; but I also know that the longer He delays, the more people will be saved.