Continuing in Him – EP02
1 John 2:28
And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.
Hello, everyone! So glad that you can join us again in the Pastor’s corner.
Just wanted to share a brief word with you from the book of 1 John. It’s 1 John chapter 2, verse 28. And it says, ‘And now, dear children, continue in Him so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.’
"Continue to be in The Lord because we want to be ready for His coming."And I love this verse. It was a really big topic that’s been coming up over and over again in the young adult Bible study that we have, along the lines with many other adults and many different people that I’ve run into. And what’s so incredible about this verse is that it calls us, as the people of God, to always continue to be in The Lord because we want to be ready for His coming.
Now, in some of the discussions I’ve had with people is, you know, breaking this down into understanding that it’s not just even the coming of the end of the world, where Christ comes back and claims all for Himself. But, we’re talking about—what if He decides to come into our room while we’re seeking Him? What if He decides to come at our dinner table? What about His coming when we’re in a church service worshiping or hearing from the Word? Jesus can come before us at any time, at any moment, and will we be caught confident? Will we be, you know, found unashamed before The Lord because we’re already in His presence? You know?
"Will we be found continuing, already in His presence?"And we kind of laughed the other day with some of the young men and women because they laughed and said how so many people will say, ‘Hey, you’re young. Continue to live your own life. Do whatever you want to do, whatever makes you feel good. Forget about God. Forget about thinking about what’s right or wrong. Continue to do your own thing, and then later on you can get things together.’ And what we began to discuss, and what really had come into their minds, is the fact that the world will tell you that, and so many. But, they never tell you the fact that God will judge each person, regardless of whether we’re old, whether we’re teenagers, or whether we’re adults. But God will hold us accountable for what we do with our time. And when He returns—whether it be tomorrow, whether it be tonight, or whether we just come somehow into His presence at some place in our life—will we be found continuing, already in His presence?
Already, you know, living according to His Word? And that’s the question today. Am I continuing to be in Him? Are you continuing? And so, what does that mean? We know that it’s simply, simply being covered in the Word. You know, having our devotional time, making sure that we’re with Christ each and every day, asking for the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts, asking for God to give us a fresh Word that we can carry, and how God is so willing and so ready to do so. And then, as we walk out of our time with God, throughout the day we just bring it wherever we go. We just continue to work in Him. We continue to speak in Him. We continue to pray in Him, thanking Him throughout the day, singing songs in our heart, you know, to The Lord, speaking about Him among our family and our friends.
How awesome is it that God has given us such a blessing that we can continue to walk in Him and be close with Him! Will you continue in The Lord today, so that when He returns—whether it be the final day of our life, whether it be at the end of the ages, or whether it just be in our living room—will you be found confident and unashamed, covered in the love and the goodness of our Lord? May you be blessed today! May you begin to take this Word and may God teach you and lead you to continue in Him at all times and in all ways. Praise God for what He’s doing! Praise God for His Word! Amen.”