Happy Lord’s Day!  Yesterday I began a series I’m calling, Hope for Today.  We began with The World in which We Live, and we found that, despite the gloom and doom, we have hope!  With all the turmoil in today’s world, we need to know that we have hope…the Blessed Hope…and His name is Jesus!  He will guide us through the turmoil, and He will eventually call us to our eternal home with Him.  But meanwhile, we must understand the times and discern the assignment He has for us!

Jesus, in speaking to a crowd, had this to say in Luke 12:54-56:

And He was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out.  And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

Friends, we need to analyze this present time!  We need to know what the signs are and what they mean!  Fortunately, Jesus laid it out pretty clearly to His disciples in Matthew 24, when they asked Him what signs will signal the end of the age.  Jesus mentioned the following things, and said they would be like birth pangs, growing in intensity and frequency:

• False messiahs
• Wars and rumors of war
• Famines and earthquakes
• Torture and martyrdom
• False prophets and lawlessness
• Perilous times
• The re-birth of Israel (Parable of the Fig Tree)

Do you see the signs today?  Do you see the increase in frequency and intensity?  If not, check out what Timothy indicated as clear signs of the last days when, in 2 Timothy 3:2-5, he said:

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.

The signs are clear, and they are vividly present in our world today.  But, if we call Christ our Lord, then we have hope because He tells us throughout Scripture that these are signs that signal His return!  He is coming back for us, and will take us to be with Him forever!  What a magnificent hope!

However, while we remain here on this earth, He has Kingdom work for us to do.  If we are captivated by worldly things (as we discussed yesterday), we are not prepared.  We are not able to flourish in the Kingdom work He has for us!

So, what is His assignment for you?  Think about this: the word “Christian” means to be Christ-like.  How did Jesus know what to do? John 5:17-20 lays out these principles:

• God the Father is always working, and Jesus the Son is working also
• The Son can do nothing of Himself, only what He sees the Father doing
• Whatever the Father does, the Son also does
• The Father shows the Son all things that He is doing, and will show Him greater works

To make simple application: as Christians, God the Father relates to us very much like He does with His Son, Jesus, because we, too, are children of God!  (John 1:12)  Jesus seeks to know what His Father does, because He does nothing of Himself.  Whatever the Father does, the Son does also…and will do greater things!  Thus, Jesus looks to see where the Father is working and joins Him!  We are to do likewise!  Look to see where God is working and join Him!

In these last days, we have the great hope of His return.  It is not a “Gee, I hope He returns” type of hope, but a confident assurance that He will.  And when He returns, I want to be found faithful, don’t you!  I long to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your Master!”  (Matthew 25:14-30)

So, the signs are clear, we are to understand the times, and our assignment is to see where God is at work in our lives and join Him!  Without “Biblical vision,” we have no hope.  However, because God has been faithful to reveal these truths to us, there is hope for today!

Thanks for stopping by, and please come back tomorrow when we will focus on Hope for Today: God’s Restoration of His People.