Today even as we come to the concluding part of the series, let us focus upon the following subjects…
Propogate …
“After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.” (Luke 2:17 NLT).
Dear Friends…if witnesses (read lowly shepherds) of Jesus’ first advent could not contain the Good News to themselves, but shared with everyone they met, how much more it is binding on us, to share the Good News of His birth, which resulted in our “rebirth” (See 2 Cor. 5:17/1 Peter 2:24) with everyone we come across this Christmas season and beyond!
During the Christmas season, speak lovingly about your “rebirth”, which was a consequence of Jesus’ birth on Planet Earth to everyone who comes visiting, handing over to them in the process a calendar, bearing day-wise Scripture verses, a Gospel tract and a piece of cake!
Propel …
Whist praising God during the Christmas season for fulfilling many Biblical prophecies in regards our Lord’s first advent, it would serve us well also to meditate on the imminent rapture of the Church and His second advent. Pure and simple logic states that if all the Christmas-related prophecies regarding His first advent were fulfilled on Christmas day, then prophecy regarding His Second Coming also would be fulfilled.
Soon we would all be “propelled”, not by any rocket power, but by His power, into the mid-sky: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[c] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thess 4:13-17 NLT). Signs pertaining to the fulfillment of rapture-related prophecies of the Church are abounding. Pertinent amongst them are the return of violence of Noah’s days and immorality of the Lot’s days (See Gen. 6:11/Gen 19/Luke 17:26-28). I ought not to miss out on pointing out yet another all too visible sign of recent occurrence. The one of the advent of the Thermal Screening phenomenon all over the World, courtesy the Global Pandemic, where the thermal screens are being pointed at the right hand and the forehead as a foretaste (figuratively speaking) of yet another phenomenon which would be prevalent in the imminent tribulation period. It is as though the entire global population is being readied now emotionally to show their hand or their forehead for “inspection by strangers”.
Consider this Scriptural prophecy …
“He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.” (Rev 13:16-17 NLT)
So if the tribulation period is on the anvil, then the Church Rapture is closer than ever before!
Come Lord Jesus, soon, to reign not only in our hearts as you did after the first advent, but to rapture your Church and usher in your peaceful and just rule over the whole world itself!!!
Prayer: Father, grant us wisdom to use every given opportunity to share our testimony and the Gospel of both thy First and Second Comings with the unchurched ones in this season and beyond. In Jesus Name. Amen
Suresh Manoharan
J and SM Ministries
Hyderabad-India
(To access the entire “Lessons From Christmas” mini-series, please click here.)