August 13, 2016 - Church at Worship

Sermon: “Caught in the Act!”  - by Randy Roberts

Pastoral Welcome: Roddy Family

Scripture Reading: Matthew 24:45-51 read by Roy Ice and Shawna Campbell

Sermon Notes: I’m just wondering . . . For how long have you heard that Jesus is coming soon? Have you heard that for the past year? The past five years? The past fifty-five years? All of your life? How do you relate to talk of a soon-coming Savior? Are you comforted by it? Filled with hope because of it? Worried that you will be disappointed if it doesn’t happen? Does it create feelings of ambivalence within you because we’ve spoken of it so often and yet we’re still here? What do you suppose is the reason we frequently speak of the imminent return of Christ? Is a focus on the imminent return of Christ a biblically-sound way to view his second advent? Are Christ-followers in every age to view his return as imminent (especially since, effectively, Jesus “comes for us” at the hour of our death)? Throughout two thousand years of Christian history, has Jesus intended that his followers continue to view his return as aboutto-happen? Do we focus on the soon return of Christ as an impetus for holier living? Do we ever fear that if we lose a sense of imminence of his coming, that we will stop living faithful lives as Jesus’ disciples? Do we need an acute sense of Jesus’ soon return in order to get ready for it? What do you think? I’m just wondering . . . Randy Roberts, senior pastor