Good morning. Back to
Matthew 24. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not get its light, and the stars will fall from the
sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Notice that it says after,
not before the tribulation. Of course it wasn't really stars that were falling
from heaven. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and
then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send
forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. The people of the
ancient world conceived of the expanded sky as an arch or vault, the outermost
edge of which touched the extreme limits of the earth. Now learn the parable
from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth
its leaves, you know that summer is near. Remember the fig tree that Jesus
cursed. It had leaves, but no figs. It was not summertime – Passover is in the
spring. Even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is
near, right at the door. That of course, reminds us of Revelation 3:20 - behold
I stand at the door and knock. Father thank You that the reader is always
alert, and never lets his/her guard down. His/her life is an example for others
to follow.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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