---- —
I remember sitting in a church sanctuary at the age of six and saying to myself, “I am not going to even make it out the door before Jesus comes back.” The reason for my dilemma was that I was sitting and listening to a well-known evangelist preach on the book of Revelation. He made comments like “wars and rumors of war, earthquakes in different places” and “two were in a field and one was taken and the other one left behind.”
Now to a six-year-old those were some pretty scary statements. You know all I was interested in was playing with my G.I. Joes and playing football and baseball in the playground behind my house.
Now jump ahead 40-some years and this same fellow has finally decided to tackle going through that same book as a pastor with the congregation that I have the privilege of shepherding. I know, I know, you are wondering, “How come it has taken this long to teach from Revelation?” Well, let’s just say throughout all those years in between I have been a little afraid of it.
During my high school years I can remember my youth leader doing a talk on how Henry Kissinger was the antichrist, and I can also remember numerous times being told that Jesus was coming on such and such a date. Well, as you can see, Henry Kissinger was not the antichrist and we are still here so their dates were not correct as well.
So what made me think that I could do any better at talking about this book to my church. Well, let’s just say, I have faith. Faith that if I step out of the way and let God be God, then we will do just fine. You know, I am not the sharpist knife in the drawer but I do know where to put my trust. According to this same book, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”
So I trust that as I read it and those who are there hear it we will be blessed. Now as I am studying to teach I am realizing that no one (commentators, historians, pastors) agrees 100 percent on everything. Who is on the first white horse? Who do the 24 Elders represent? When is the church raptured? And so on and so on. So I am proceeding prayerfully.
My main purpose for tackling this book is because of the times in which we live. The Apostle John was given the responsibility to encourage the churches in his time period and I believe he did an excellent job at it. The churches then were facing persecution like never before and the good news of Jesus Christ needed to be proclaimed in spite of it.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see where our country is headed. And my heart is heavy as I think about whether or not we as a church (the American church) are ready to go through what I think is in store for us.
My goal is not to figure out when Jesus is coming back, my goal is to proclaim HE IS COMING BACK! If I believe that what I believe is really real then I need to be living every day like it could be my last. And I know that there are many out there who have never responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ and they need to hear the good news. You know I may not be able to explain everything that is in the book of Revelation but I am certain about a few things: He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, He is coming back and, as of today, we are one day closer. Don’t be left behind!
Phillip D. Beck is pastor of Central Community Church, Pymatuning Township.
Religion
It’s time we preach we’re one day closer to Him coming back!
From the Pulpit
- Religion
-
-
Whatever happened to America’s moral fiber?
I don't know. Maybe it’s just me. Something has gone terribly wrong in the world and the world doesn’t notice. Or maybe they just don’t care.
-
St. John’s Orthodox marks 75 years, new site
St. John’s Orthodox Church will celebrate its 75th anniversary and the consecration of its new church building at a service at 9 a.m. Saturday.
-
Runner’s mission: Money for Haiti
Chase Whelan can’t make a mission trip to Haiti with his Hermitage church this summer, but he still wants to do his part to help out the people there.
-
Hopelessness can result if we look more at problem and less at Jesus
Webster defines hopeless as “having no expectation of good or success; despairing, not susceptible to remedy or cure; desperate; impossible.” What causes us to get into this type of condition? We lose our focus.
-
Valley Church to install pastor
An ordination and installation service for Pastor Michele Askerneese as senior pastor of The Valley Church will be held at 4 p.m. May 19 in Cedar Avenue Church of God, 1045 Cedar Ave., Sharon.
-
Ruth Church marking 125 years
Ruth A.M.E. Zion Church, at the corner of Connelly Boulevard and Sterling Avenue in Sharon, will have served the community for 125 years come May 25.
-
Is our discourse healthy when we don’t see eye to eye in church?
“Animal House,” the old John Belushi film made famous for its adolescent debauchery and extraordinarily bad taste, is hardly a place I would expect to find pastoral insight. Recently, while channel surfing, I landed for a few moments on a scene that caught my attention one more time. Perhaps you know about it. (It’s not necessary for you to admit you do in order to keep reading.)
-
Day of Prayer services slated
The National Day of Prayer on Thursday will be observed in community services in Hermitage and Greenville.
-
Nursing home residents often know the joy Bible describes
All jobs require duties easier and more enjoyable than others. This applies to the clergy as well. Among the duties which are more difficult, not because they are tedious, but because they can be demanding even for some family members, is visiting nursing homes.
-
Parents who lose a child need to cry the tears, release the pain
“He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; ...” – Isaiah 53:3,4a NKJV
- More Religion Headlines
-
Whatever happened to America’s moral fiber?
