Keep Watch For His Return
Mt 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father."
Mt 24:42-51 "Therefore watch; for you do not know what hour your Lord comes.
"But know this, that if the steward of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be dug through. Therefore you also be ready, for in that hour you think not, the Son of man comes."
"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord has made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord shall find him doing so when he comes. Truly I say to you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
"But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming, and shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he does not look for him, and in an hour which he does not know. And he shall cut him apart and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Mt 25:1 "Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. The foolish ones took their lamps, but took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps."
"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, 'Behold, the bridegroom comes! Go out to meet him.'
"Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps have gone out.'
But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there be not enough for us and you. But rather go to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'
"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And they who were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.
"Afterwards the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.'
"But he answered and said, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'"
Mark 13:33 "Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is. As a man going away, leaving his house, and giving authority to his servants, and each man's work to him, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Then you watch, for you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, at evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or early;
Mark 13:37 "And what I say to you, I say to all. Watch."
Rev 3:3 "Remember then how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you."
Expect Persecution
Mt 5:11 "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake."
Mt 10:23 "But when they persecute you in this city, flee into another; for truly I say to you, In no way shall you have finished the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes."
Mt 23:34 "Therefore, behold, I send prophets and wise men and scribes to you. And you will kill and crucify some of them. And some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city;"
Luke 11:49-50 "Therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;"
John 15:19-20 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'The servant is not greater than his master.' If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My saying, they will also keep yours."
They usually forget this part at altar calls.
"Come to Christ so you can be hated by people everywhere, sometimes including inthe church."
Of course, we all know it. We hated Christians in some way before that march forward or falling on the knees. It isn't like it's a secret.
But still, it's a different perspective when it's our own hands that get the nails pounded in them.
