St. Matthew, Chapter 24, verse: 23; Behold, here's Christ!

 Our paragraph topic is: (The sign of the last day) Part 1.  

We don't think about the last day.  Why?  Probably because we don't believe that we will be around on that day.  We will be dead and gone before it comes around, or so we think.  Who knows when it will happen?  Christ is telling his disciples that it will happen and what to look for.  He is warning them of all the wrong things that will happen that may lead them astray.

This is the paragraph of signs.  It is the paragraph to his disciples then and to believers today of what to know when the last day comes.  It is important to know for all.  We do not know when that day will come.  It may be tomorrow, or the next, or next week, or next year.  In our minds, in our consciousness, we do not consider it happening, but Christ has given us the prediction of the coming of the last day.  And this is what he tells us: "Then if anyone say to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or, 'There he is,' do not believe it."

Don't believe what you hear others say to you, Christ tells us.  Don't believe the rumors and the lies and the scandals that will come from the fear and anxiety of the coming of the last day.  There will be many false prophets and false rumors floating about to lead many astray.  Do not believe.  Do not follow.  Do not be led astray by those who would use you for their own selfish desires of power and glory.

Two thousand years ago Christ warns those who believe in him and the Father who sent him, of the end days.  He told his disciples so that they would know.  He told those who would listen and those who believed.  He laid the foundation for his church that his work would continue into the future for those who did not know him, those who did not see him, those who did not hear his voice but who would believe in his words.  These are the elect, the chosen ones who believe in him and know the truth of his teachings.

He came to give life and to give it more abundantly.  Anyone who believes in him and repents of their sins will be saved.  He gave his life that we might have life, if we choose it.  The choice is ours if we want it.  The life is ours if we know it.  Today, tomorrow, next week, we can have it if we know it.  It is within us.  The light of life comes from Christ.  He is the Savior from which we receive life from the Father, the source of life.  Ask and you shall receive.  God is rich in love and forgiveness for each of us who believe.  

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.  Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St. Matthew, Chapter 24, verse: 15; The Abomination of Desolation.

 Our paragraph topic is:  (The destruction of Jerusalem) Part 1.  

He wept for the city he cared for deeply.  He wanted to protect it as a mother wants to protect her children and provide for them.  But Jerusalem would not have it.  Jerusalem was a city of its own.  It had come to power and fame to be known throughout the region for its glory.  And that image made it believe that it did not need help from the maker and provider who gave it the ground it was built upon.  How arrogant it had become in its years of progress, fame, and glory to think that it did not need its founding father. 

Christ came to the city with his disciples.  He saw their pride and their joy in being a part of the peoples that had built such a magnificent place.  He saw also the future of the city and what lay ahead, the destruction and desolation that was coming as a result of the pride and the arrogance of the city.  It became necessary for him to let his disciples know what was coming so that they would be prepared.  He told them:  "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place -let him who reads understand. "  

He wanted them to understand the need to survive the destruction that was coming.  When the temple was desecrated by the placement of idols, it was time for the disciples to leave.  It would be time for the church to move to a new location, to take as many worshippers with them.  To stay would have meant death and destruction.  

What does this mean for followers of Christ today, for those who read?  What knowledge can we obtain from these words to help us prepare for the future that may come?  Will we have a desecration of our places of worship?  Will our churches and altars be replaced with idols of false images to worship as though they are gods?  Will we be forced to acknowledge a worldly power as our god or suffer death and destruction?  Is this a warning for us too? 

Today we live in a different world than what it was two thousand years ago.  We have modern conveniences that were not available then.  Our lives are less cumbersome, we live longer, we are healthier, have more freedom, life all around is better.  Death is not so imminent as it was then.  Christ came to open the doors of heaven to all mankind past, present, and future so that all would have the opportunity for eternal life.  And yet it is this opportunity for eternal life that we loose sight of ,today, in comparison to what modern life has to offer.  

We live as though we are given tomorrow.  And yet tomorrow is not given to us.  Death could come at an instant when we are not prepared for it.  We pray: Father, let the end not come when we are not prepared.  Have mercy on our souls.  

 Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.  Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St. Matthew, Chapter 21, verses: 44a; The Broken pieces.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Application of the parable) Part 5. 

Christ continues to tell us about this parable of the vineyard and the vine dressers, how they decided to take control of the vineyard and claim it their own.  In comparison as we look back we can find similarities with mankind today.  God our Father created us in his likeness and image and called us his own.  He gave us life out of the love that was within him to share his existence with us. 

Today we claim our existence as our own, devising our life from the ooze that grew from time immemorial.  And so it is that the elders and the high priest of the Jews claim that they are the rulers of the people.  All that has been written of his coming was not recognized or understood.  Yet they are the ones who were most learned and most educated of the Torah.  They could not see.  They could not understand.  They could not comprehend the signs of the time.  So Christ told them:  "And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces." 

And this became their warning, their stop sign.  Do not stand against this corner stone else you will suffer.  And this is our warning today.  Split, broken, pieces, are the results of what we will suffer in our lives.  We are meant to live a life of peace and joy and not a life of pain and suffering.  We seek to reach the top, to be like the others that we see and hear about living a life of luxury.  But in many situations we find ourselves split by pressure and pain, suffering the consequences of our own desires and passions.  Broken we find ourselves.  Wasted, lying on the wayside, forgotten and lost in our pursuit of the pleasures that this life is supposed to give us.

We have forgotten who we are.  We have lost our way.  We are influenced by the consequences of our own minds that constantly change according to the thoughts that we are given on a daily, minute by minute basis.  We are no longer in control of who we are and of our actions.  We are  led by the influences of the world.  Our thoughts tell us that we are not real.  They tell us that the life that is within us is our imagination, it is not real.  Yet Christ Jesus sacrificed his life that we may have life everlasting.

Be not broken.  Be not split in indecision.  Know that you are loved and that your Father lives within you.  You are a child of the living God, a father who provides for you, who protects you, who loves you.  The elders of old had the opportunity.  You have the opportunity today.  Seek to know the truth of who you are and you will come to see, you.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 9, The Call of the Laborers: payment to last.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard)
Part 12.  

The time has now come for reward.  All the laborers are called to receive their payment for their labors.  Some have worked from the beginning of the day through the heat and blaring sun.  Some have only worked an hour.  And the last that were called have hardly worked at all.  And now comes the time for reward, the time for payment, the time for the end of the contract.

Christ is telling this parable to his disciples and to those today who are reading his words.  There is a message.  There is a lesson.  There is enlightenment that comes with an inner understanding of the living word.  Who will understand?  Who will receive the message?  Who will be enlightened by the words that are given to us today, passed down through the centuries of written text.  The spirit will open the hearts of the chosen that they may see and understand.  "Now when they of the eleventh hour came, they received each a denarius."

The eleventh hour has come.  The time for reckoning has come.  The time when all work ends.  The time for judgment comes.  What will you receive?  What will I receive?  Only the judge knows.  Only the house-holder knows.  We can imagine that we have done good deeds in our lives.  We have tried to follow the commandments.  We have done all that was given of us to do.  What will we receive? 

We do not know of that which has not been given us.  We only know that which has been promised to us by Christ's words.  He has promised that he will be with us even to the ends of the world.  He has promised that he has gone to make a place for us in his father's house that has many mansions.  He has promised that he will not leave us orphaned that we will have the advocate that will come to us, to help us, to guide us, to protect us along the way.  He has told us not to be anxious, for the Father know of our needs.  And he has told us that if we love him and keep his commandments that we will be in him just as he is in the Father.

A denarius is what they received, those who were last.  A denarius is what they received, those who started to work at the eleventh hour.  A denarius is what they received, those who found work after waiting so long in the market place without giving up hope that they would find work.  Are we still hopeful?  Are we still faithful that we too will be found?  Do we still desire to find our work at the eleventh hour or have we given up in our search?

The eleventh hour comes soon for some.  The eleventh hour comes without warning for others.  The eleventh hour seems like it will never come and some would take time into their own hands and make the eleventh hour appear for their own purposes.  What will you do when the eleventh hour comes?  Will you be prepared?  Will you be ready? 

Remain hopeful and you will find your way.  Continue searching and you will find that which is yours.  Seek that which is real and meaningful and not that which is temporary, meaningless, and unfulfilling.  If your search is real and genuine, you will discover the truth that is waiting for you.  It knocks waiting for you to answer.  The voice from within calls you to know him.  Your heart knows the truth.  Open the door and receive your reward.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in.