SUNDAY 26TH JULY, 2020

MEMORY VERSE: - “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (2Timothy 4:3).

INTRODUCTION: - We are in the last days and in the very perilous times with may perils in the world infiltrating into the Church. Many are departing from the faith. How sobering it should be for us as we realize that we are living in the midst of such days. The spiritual breakdown is all around us, and tragically is not only in the world, but in the lives of many in the Church as well. This is, therefore, a time to be fully alert as we are in the final season before the return of the Lord. It is time to be on guard lest we get caught in any way in the downward spiral of the world.

1) The Position Of A Bible Believing Church In This End Time

The Lord Jesus Christ sends us into the world to monitor, but we are not of the world (Jh.1:15-18). We are to stand in contrast to the world as the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt.5:13-16). What hope is there for the world if God’s people lose their way, if the salt loses its savour, if the light grows dim, if there is a firm of godliness but no power? Though many in the world may hate us, this is the hour to stand in sharp contrast to the world, to live our lives fully pleasing to the Lord, and to minister the truth and grace to those around us. We are to become blameless and harmless, children of the living God, faultlessly shining as light in the midst of the crooked and perverse generation (Phil.2:15-16).

2) The Scripture Is Vital

One key to all of this is our devotion to the written Word of God. In the midst all the perils of this end time the Bible is very vital to living a godly life and to being equipped for ministry, both to the world and to fellow believers. Because the Bible is God’s Word, it carries His power and brings spiritual life to us and to our ministry to others. How sad, then, that so many of God’s people are not spending time in the Bible-reading, studying, memorizing, taking to heart and putting into practice all that the Lord shares there.

No matter what your devotion is at present to the Word of God, you need to be stirred and equip to a great appreciation and devotion to the Word of God. So much is at stake in our own lives and in the lives of others in these last days. It is the hour for grandparents and parents to plant God’s Word in the hearts of their grandchildren and children, as did Lois and Eunice toward Timothy (2Tim.1:5; 3:14-15). It is the hour to remove all distraction and receive the Word into our hearts as seed into good soil; that it may bear fruits, thirty, sixty or a hundredth fold (Mk.4:20). It is the hour to diligently present ourselves approved unto God, through the study of the Word (2Tim.2:15). It is the hour for Preachers to be so full of the Word; that they preach the Word, being ready in season and out of season to reprove, rebuke and exhort (2Tim.4:2). It is the hour to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all things, that Christ has commanded us (Mt.28:19-20).

As the day draws near, there is urgent need for heaven bound Christians to draw nearer to God through deeper devotion to the Word of God. It is not just reading; there is greater need to study the Word as when one is picking fruits from a tree, meditate upon the Word and declare the Word (Preach) and act on or obey the Word whether convenient or not convenient.

May we all this very day renew our devotion to God’s Word that it may work powerfully in us and through us.

1. What are the needs of the hour in our study?

2. What should be the Christian’s position in this end time?