Living Your Best Life
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It is an expression we hear all the time - ahhh - “They are living their best life!”
We look at people’s social media and think I want to live my best life...
The reality is any of us living our best life???
If you are a Christian - YOU ARE NOT!
Say What? Pastor?
Our best life is not this life!!!!
Our best life is the life we will gain in ETERNITY - and in reality - this life is about preparing for our best life, but we have become distracted making THIS LIFE our BEST LIFE instead of making our ETERNITY our priority.
We miss worship, skip devotions, pursue things that make our flesh feel good, etc in pursuit of making this life the best life --- all the while hindering the life to come.
What is inspiring these thoughts Pastor?
I had a reality hit me this week, that as the body of Christ we are not that interested in His returning!
When was the last time you PRAYED for JESUS TO COME NOW?
Have we failed too long for the Return of Jesus because we are too busy ENJOYING OUR BEST LIFE?
After I outlined this message and began writing it, I came across this satire piece online...
Babylon Bee takes truths and makes it into satire… the truth of this one is a little too real..
“U.S.—A new study has found a connection between checking the news headlines and aching for that day when Jesus will return to make all things new. The study found that Christians who read the news suddenly find within themselves a deep desire for another world, one where there is no sorrow or tears or pain and the former things have passed away. "Whenever believers look at the news, it seems like there's some kind of awakening that happens within them," said Peter Vandelay, the head researcher who ran the study. "When they see the death, fear, horror, and terror that have an iron grip on this fallen world, they're suddenly reminded to pray that Jesus would come quickly in order to establish his Kingdom on earth." The study also found that even non-believers have this desire to one day see all things made new, though they need their Christian friends and neighbors to actually talk to them to explain why they have a desire for another world for which they are made. At publishing time, believers all across the world had joined in praying that Jesus would come soon to judge the wicked and make everything sad come untrue.John wrote in Revelation”
Here is the real satire --- we should not be looking and praying for the return of Christ just when the news is bad, but it should be the priority of our lives and our highest expectation! Even in the good times --
“ Our best day in this life cannot be compared to the worst day in eternity with Christ!”
20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
COME LORD JESUS --- is this our prayer???
1. The Return of Christ is Our Highest Hope
1. The Return of Christ is Our Highest Hope
Jesus coming back has drastically taken a back seat to modern church culture. It had revived at the turn of the millennium - and then greatly waned.
I do believe that is because of the falling away Jesus promised would happen...
10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other.
11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.
12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.
13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
The Gospel has gone around the world, and in fact was preached everywhere during the early days of Covid worldwide. Now division on many levels is dividing the body of Christ and people are falling away from coming together as the church. Deception and sin abound and many have animosity toward Christianity instead of embracing truth.
However, for those that remain in Christ.... OUR BLESSED HOPE is the RETURN OF JESUS --- we cannot forget this!!!
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.
16 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 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.
18 So encourage each other with these words.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!
52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,
13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
OK, Paul is adamant about reminding the church that our END GAME is that Jesus is going to rapture the church out of this world, the dead in Christ will be resurrected first and those remaining will be taken to heaven --- THIS IS OUR HOPE the NIV calls it BLESSED HOPE
Yet, the church lives like it is an after thought instead of what is on the fore front of our minds.
The reality is, many will accept it when it occurs and may prefer it to death, but they really just want to live their best lives now and then go to eternity instead of putting their HOPES and DREAMS ON ETERNITY!
The church has stopped looking for our hope because we have embraced this world too much!
Think of Jesus WORDS in John
25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
2. Watch for His Return with Anticipation
2. Watch for His Return with Anticipation
Here is our command - to watch for His return WITH ANTICIPATION!!!! or LONGING!!!
1 Now concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you.
2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.
3 When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.
4 But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.
5 For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.
6 So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.
7 Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk.
8 But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.
9 For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us.
10 Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.
11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
28 “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.
29 In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that his return is very near, right at the door.
30 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place.
31 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
32 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.
33 And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert!
34 “The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.
35 You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return—in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak.
OK Church - there are buds on the tree!!!! Climate change, digital money, worldwide vaccine passports, belief in the extra terrestrial coming forth, wars, earthquakes everywhere and volcanic explosions, pestilence....
Our world is RIPE for Jesus to return at any moment - and yet many are still sleeping, they are not watching, they don’t care because they only want to LIVE THEIR BEST LIFE ---
26 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.
27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—
29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31 On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home.
32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!
33 If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.
34 That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left.
35 Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
37 “Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked. Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”
We need to COME BACK TO THE REALITY that our best life still awaits us in ETERNITY and use this life to prepare for that one. TO WATCH with ANTICIPATION for our HOPE TO COME!
3. Prayer for His Return
3. Prayer for His Return
To pray for the return of Jesus is the culmination of that HOPE - the demonstration that we are looking for a REAL HOMELAND...
15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.
9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.
10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
OK, this is our reality!!!
Are we praying for that reality to come...
20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
Tells us as the Scripture closes to PRAY FOR JESUS TO COME!!!
The Lord’s prayer tell us to pray for HIS KINGDOM TO COME...
10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Jesus is coming back to take us so we can return with Him when He establishes HIS KINGDOM ON THIS EARTH ---
Then we will be living our BEST LIFE!!!!
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Church, it is time we begin to pray for JESUS TO COME! Not just when the news is bad, but because that is our hope!
It is the culmination of our faith and the beginning of REAL LIFE --- it is our command of what to watch for, and PRAY FOR!
How much do we focus on this life instead ETERNAL LIFE --- which is our Best Life???