How to Practice for the Return of Jesus
Description
WATCH TODAY’S EPISODE ON YOUTUBE.
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Luke 20:9–13 ESV
And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’”
CONSIDER
Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’”
But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. “This is the heir,” they said. “Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. (vv. 14–15)
And that’s exactly what we did. We threw the only Son of God out of his own vineyard, and we killed him. And guess what? He’s given us a second chance. He has entrusted the farm back to the followers of his crucified and risen Son, and he has left on another long trip. He is coming back. This time, let’s be prepared to give him a good crop report and an eager, joy-filled greeting: “Lord Jesus! It is sooooo good to see you!”
How about we start practicing that greeting now?
PRAY
Father, thank you for entrusting this world to us, a first time and now a second time. And we ask you for the grace to not only be good farmers, but to remember that it all belongs to you, that it’s your farm. In fact, we belong to you. And what a great day it will be when you come back to your farm. We miss you. In fact, we long for you to be here. So prepare the way, Lord. Awaken our hearts. Make us ready and eager and joyfully longing for your return, where we’ll say: “Jesus, welcome back. It’s so good to see you.” And we will spend the rest of eternity fellowshipping together on that farm. It’s in Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.
JOURNAL
So what do you think? How about that story? Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Are you excited about his return? Are you looking forward to it? Are you dreading it? Or are you just kind of a little bit indifferent to it?
SING
Today, we will sing “I am Thine, O Lord” (hymn 591) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
John David (J. D.) Walt Jr. is the Sower-in-Chief for Seedbed and the pastor of the Gillett Methodist Church in Gillett, Arkansas.
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