Today Matthew 24 PLEASE Read- Do not delete....

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Matthew 24:1-51
Routine History
1Jesus then left the Temple. As he walked away, his disciples pointed out how very impressive the Temple architecture was. 2Jesus said, "You're not impressed by all this sheer size, are you? The truth of the matter is that there's not a stone in that building that is not going to end up in a pile of rubble."
3Later as he was sitting on Mount Olives, his disciples approached and asked him, "Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time's up?"
4Jesus said, "Watch out for doomsday deceivers. 5Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, "I am Christ, the Messiah.' They will deceive a lot of people. 6When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. 7Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. 8This is nothing compared to what is coming.
9"They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. 10And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other's throat, everyone hating each other.
11"In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. 12For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in--nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.
13"Staying with it--that's what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry, and you'll be saved. 14All during this time, the good news--the Message of the kingdom--will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.
The Monster of Desecration
15"But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the Temple sanctuary. The prophet Daniel described this. If you've read Daniel, you'll know what I'm talking about. 16If you're living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; 17if you're working in the yard, don't return to the house to get anything; 18if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat. 19Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. 20Hope and pray this won't happen during the winter or on a Sabbath.
21"This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again. 22If these days of trouble were left to run their course, nobody would make it. But on account of God's chosen people, the trouble will be cut short.
The Arrival of the Son of Man
23"If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, "Here's the Messiah!' or points, "There he is!' don't fall for it. 24Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. 25But I've given you fair warning.
26"So if they say, "Run to the country and see him arrive!' or, "Quick, get downtown, see him come!' don't give them the time of day. 27The Arrival of the Son of Man isn't something you go to see. He comes like swift lightning to you! 28Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure that it's not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds.
29"Following those hard times, Sun will fade out, moon cloud over, Stars fall out of the sky, cosmic powers tremble.
30"Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies--no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. 31At that same moment, he'll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God's chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.
32"Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer's just around the corner. 33So it is with you: When you see all these things, you'll know he's at the door. 34Don't take this lightly. I'm not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. 35Sky and earth will wear out; my words won't wear out.
36"But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.
37"The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah's. 38Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. 39They knew nothing--until the flood hit and swept everything away. "The Son of Man's Arrival will be like that: 40Two men will be working in the field--one will be taken, one left behind; 41two women will be grinding at the mill--one will be taken, one left behind. 42So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. 43But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. 44Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.
45"Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. 46Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. 47It won't be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation.
48"But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases--49abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends--50the Master is going to show up when he least expects it 51and make hash of him. He'll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.

Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’
This passage is what the spirit of the Lord has been speaking to my own spirit about for sometime. There is such a sense of urgency. The urgency is for re-prioritization of the things valuable in life. I believe the word of God has been uncovered in areas and is now being revealed to those who will hear.
We used to hear certain scriptures read certain ways, based on religious upbringing, but in a one on one relationship with God, we find the definition of what He’s been saying to us personally in His word all along. It is not only a word to recite and memorize, but words to live, words to come alive in us.
We all marvel at earthly structures and the works of men’s hands. We even spend our lives, savings or labors on structures, houses, cars, better houses, better cars, more prestigious houses, more prestigious cars, two houses, 3 cars. After that we form business alliances and grow a business house and make that bigger and better and bigger and greater. We are a part of the forming and maintaining of the kingdoms of men. After man forms his own kingdoms then he travels to see others men’s’ kingdoms, both current and ancient. He marvels at what man has done, he studies what man has built, to learn either to repeat it, preserve it, improve on it, or learn from even its failures. This is what we live for; this is normal life, right?
All of this is not a fault, because inside of it all lies the principles on which kingdoms are built, assembled, maintained, increased, etc. The only faulted element is whom they are being built unto.
Jesus was speaking with His disciples, who acknowledged Him as a king. yet they did not quite get what or who he was king of, because they were looking in the sense of earthly kings They were marveling at an earthly structure, as we all do, seeing the work involved in the erection of the structure and even what and who has to be unified in the accomplishing of the task. Both they and Jesus, saw what it took, to be an idea in a mind and come to fruition as a structure set before their very eyes that day. I believe it took about 40 years to erect that one building. The building was being used and it still took somewhat of an army of people to maintain and work it, even after it was erected. That is one amazing amount of work and Jesus was telling them to be aware that even a lifetime worth of work could come to absolutely nothing of value if not spent wisely. Wisely in this sense is not earthly wise, making sure all of your investment “eggs” are in the proper “baskets”. No wise means, what lasts forever, compared to what lasts only in the timeframe where we live here on earth no matter how long or short we live.
There is an eternal kingdom which has NO end. There is eternity inside and outside of the citizenship of this kingdom. The tragedy of this lies in the truth that some will not choose eternal life, but rather eternal death. The tragedy is that we “find out” later on that the reason we were here, the whole time we were here, was to become a citizen of this eternal life kingdom and to make as many citizens of the eternal life kingdom as we could, but we didn’t. Iinstead we built houses, bought cars, built prestige, lost our children in doing so, spent ourselves out with stress and busyness on that which will fall down, and burn up in an instant, with nothing to ever show for it at all, except eternal death. There is NO reward in that. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, at that revelation.
I have now told you.
I praise God for any of you who read this and know. Now that you know, you and many others will be blessed in what we do. We will have to daily fight for this eternal life kingdom and our king, until the day we die, and then whether we had any home or car here, we will find we have a home with Him. He built it for us with His blood. Please, I pray, begin to lead others into a place where you can and will tell them too.
Everyone needs to know why they were born, why they were born here and why even they were born again. We are saved to save. God is not willing for any to perish(which means live in eternal death) but for all to have eternal life in Him. It is merely a matter of choice, that’s it!
We chose His kingdom, we choose to live, we choose to love, now and forever. Those who choose and stay in the choice no matter what, even to their own death, will have that reward. He lived and died for us, we must also live until we die for Him.
We serve who we love, Do we love money? We may say we don’t, but do we serve it, or does it serve us? If we love God we will serve Him first above money.
We also must prepare to run. There is NO time to waste. If we can’t run He has provided healing for our legs, so we can. Once we decide for Him, we must follow through every decision with Him. It is His kingdom rule we are under for the good pleasure of His will, He is the King. If He says Go, we Go, If He says love, we love, If He says speak , we speak, etc…
Running, means quickly and swiftly obeying, right away, because there is an all out war and He has more instructions for us to follow through with, right away. Also, if we are a minority, there is so much more for us to do. We’ve got to follow through swiftly and return for the next orders. This is increase.
The “reason” this word was important for those who were in Jesus’ time and is still just as urgent for us now, is someone we know will go to hell without this word! We are the mother of salvation, the womb of God’s spirit. He’s calling for children and we birth them, unless we don’t want to. Maybe we want a relationship with God where He blesses us and takes care of us, but we don’t want to save others. If that is the case, then people are going to hell and their blood is on our hands, If that is not serious, then I don’t know what is!
People have been deceived to think these are not the last days, because they’ve been saying that for some 2000 years! Wake up sleeper, Arise and shine Now. Someone is dying! If they do not yet know Him in a personal way and live as a disciple who sticks to kingdom living while telling others too, they could have their last day be a day of gross darkness and a day of irreversible judgment. Does that not alarm you? If not you must be shaken, and the world is being shaken because of this very thing. Talk about wars, earthquakes, famines? This is the shaking, the waking up of the earth to see, It is time to get saved and save others, NOT time to build your own kingdoms.
A person can have little to nothing materialistically speaking and be building their own or someone else’s kingdom. The laborers and workers who helped with the Temple building were not all rich men, in fact many were poor and would stay poor building another mans kingdom.
So what’s the big deal, why the rush, why so serious, Lena?
God’s children are being aborted and not allowed to be brought forth from the womb of the spirit. People only care about their own houses while the house of God perishes, the one he needs His people to build, and people go to hell everyday and someone has to care! Someone has to love God and people enough to change their own life, and set all their priorities in order to win the lost.
People do this for jobs. A job calls them at 2 in the morning and tells them where to meet, how far to travel, and to leave their family home, to lay everything aside for its importance. Yet we squawk if God asks us to speak for Him. The job can tell us what to wear, how to act, etc. Yet if God tells us we need to be more loving, we refuse and stay as we are believing He loves us just fine as we are. The point is how much do we know of His love for us, and then how much do we love Him in return and how much do we love who He loves?
Enough to get up in the night?
Enough to travel a distance?
Enough to dress a certain way?
Enough to be kind, changing even our naturally born personalities?
Enough to inconvenience ourselves and change our priorities?
Enough to jump at every beck and call? The earth call of God on every human who will serve Him?
Enough to get up in front of people and speak?
Enough to change and present ourselves with great inviting personality?
Or will we just do that stuff for money, because doing it for God makes us feel stupid?
Whom do we serve?
Our love is evidenced in who we serve.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.