Matthew Chapter 14:25-33
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, [c]“Be of good cheer! [d]It is I; do not be afraid.”28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw [e]that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.33 Then those who were in the boat [f]came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
We are entering into some boisterous waters in the world today. There are wars and civil uprisings everywhere you look…. and if you keep your focus there, you’ll feel yourself sinking the way Peter did. Peter began to sink because he took his eyes off of Jesus, who was in control of the winds and the waves, and instead he started focusing on the waves.
Matthew Chapter 24:4-8
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
“TAKE HEED THAT NO ONE DECEIVES YOU.”
Right now there is deception sweeping across the body of believers that many are falling for. Many, many Christian churches no longer confront sin…they’ve replaced the Word of God with a watered down version. From the pulpit preachers encourage people to live their best life now instead of taking up their cross and following Jesus as the word instructs us too. They preach salvation without true repentance and give false assurances to people. They teach that you are little gods that can manifest anything you want by just speaking it out of your mouth. In many of these Churches the main attraction is no longer Jesus, it’s the coffee bar or some outlandish seeker behavior designed to fill pews without worrying about filling their hearts with Jesus. These churches are filled with people engaging in self worshiping idolatry.
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.“
Right now, we have 45 armed conflicts going on in the world. Linked : An article and screenshot from last year on the “Vision of Humanity” website
The following screenshot is from the Our World Data website, linked.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-natural-disaster-events
And no one will forget about covid! Or Monkeypox…or the rise in shingles…. or the resurgence of measles.
Having said all of this….I think it’s time we really keep our focus on Jesus. I know there are fellow Christians that are waiting for the “rapture” before the tribulation, I personally do not find that anywhere in the bible…. but for those who believe that I encourage them also to focus on Jesus…and don’t take your eyes off of him. If you start to slip, do what Peter did… call out to our savior.
We are supposed to know this is all going on, or Jesus would not have given them as a sign of his coming. What we aren’t supposed to do is to focus on them and become troubled. Jesus said, “See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
I trust that God will look after us no matter what. Pretribbers like to point to Noah and the flood as proof of the rapture…. but the story of Noah isn’t about a man and his family that escaped the flood, Noah and his family were smack-dab in the middle of it… they went through the entire thing….but God protected them. Noah obeyed God and built the ark…he got ready for the flood that God said was coming… and just before the water drops began to fall, God himself sealed Noah and his family inside the ark Genesis 7:16. In the same way that God preserved Noah and his family, he will preserve those who obey him and prepare for the coming time of trouble.
Watch. Pray. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Angie's Bible Study 