Podcast #56 – Preparing for the Lord’s Second Coming
When the Lord returns will He find us to be faithful servants. In this podcast we focus on how we can prepare for the Lord's second coming by paying attention to our service. We will focus on two things in particular--the gospel and our serving in the church life.
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do you have a reference books for this? may i have?
There is a section in a book called Life-Study of Matthew that is very helpful. It’s from chapter 65. The fellowship in that chapter is covering Matthew 25:14-30. Here it is:
I believe that the possessions delivered to the slaves include the gospel, the truth, the believers, and the church. The believers are God’s inheritance, God’s possession (Eph. 1:18). Matthew 24:45 indicates that the believers are also His household…Many Christians know that in this parable the talents are gifts. However, they do not know that the source of the gifts is the Lord’s possessions. Today the Lord’s possessions primarily are the gospel, the truth, the believers, and the church. If you do not care for these things, you will not have any talents. The gospel needs to become our possession. The same is true of the truth, the believers, and the churches. My talents are not natural. Rather, they are the gospel, the truth, the believers, and the church. If you took all these things away from me, I would have nothing left….We should not wait in an indifferent way for the Lord to give us something. No, we must diligently seek the gospel and the truth. We should be eager to know the fall of man, redemption, regeneration, salvation, the cleansing of the blood, and the washing of the Spirit. All these are aspects of the full gospel. The more you receive of the gospel, the more talents you will have. We need to pray that the Lord would help us to know the truth and to experience it. We need to experience the truth concerning the church, God’s eternal purpose, and God’s economy. Eventually, these truths will become our talent. Then we shall be able to minister them to others. In this way, the Lord’s possessions become our talent. Furthermore, we need to pray, “Lord, I want to take care of the saints and bear their burdens. My heart is for them.” If we have a heart for the saints and are burdened for them, they, the Lord’s possession, will be given to us as a talent…If you want to receive more talents, you must have a heart to care for the saints. For example, when someone is unemployed, you need to pray for him and bear his burden. This will be a proof that the Lord has given that one to you as a talent…The talent is not something of your natural birth; rather, it is altogether related to your burden. If you take up a burden, you will receive a talent. If you take up a burden for one local church, you will receive one talent.
Amen. How enlightening. There are saints with many talents, and there are saints with a few talents. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for our talents. Amen. Lord Jesus, may we diligently and spiritually care for our talents. Amen. Lord Jesus, thank You for the light of Your Person in the life study of Matthew. Amen.
There is also another good section in a book called Fellowship with the Young People:
God’s economy is a matter of giving. We must learn to give all the time. No one who loves the Lord should say that he has nothing to give. In Matthew 14 when a great crowd followed the Lord in the wilderness, the disciples said, “Send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves” (v. 15). To send the crowds away was not to give anything to them. However, the Lord told them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat” (v. 16). Verses 17-19 say, “And they say to Him, We have nothing here except five loaves and two fishes. And He said, Bring them to Me. And commanding the crowds to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.” This portion illustrates the way of giving. The disciples had very little compared to the number of people, but after the Lord’s blessing, what they had fed five thousand men, and what was left over filled twelve baskets.
Regardless of how much you have, simply give it. Before giving it you should say, “Lord, this is all that I have. I give it over into Your hands. Bless it and I will give it to others.” If we do this, we will see the abundance. This principle applies to all kinds of giving, including material giving.
To function in the meetings is to give. Do not say that you have nothing. You have something. It may be little, but you still need to give it. Just give what you have. If you will give the little you have, you will get more.
We all must give to others. First, we must give the gospel. Preaching the gospel is the giving of something to others. Then we must give people nourishment. Third, we must give material things. In the gospel, in visiting the saints, in shepherding, in functioning, in material matters, and in everything, we must learn to give.
In principle, when I was not generous in giving, I became poor. But when I was generous in every matter, I became rich. The more one gives, the more one receives. When five young ones come together, one may feel that he knows so little, but he should present what he knows or has experienced to the others. This little bit will be multiplied. By our giving we will get the multiplication. The way to multiply our life experience is to give. This is crucial to our Christian life, the church life, and our functioning in the meetings.
Learn to give everything. If you have two Bibles or two hymnals, give one to someone else. In principle, if you give one, you will receive two. When water flows out of one end of a water hose, more water flows in through the other end. But when the flowing out stops, the flowing in is cut off. In the giving of material things, we should not count the dollars we have to give. We should simply give something. Even one dollar is meaningful if it is given by us. If we stop giving, we cut off the Lord’s blessing.
The more we preach the gospel and pass on the Lord’s salvation to others, the more we experience salvation. The principle is always the same—the more we give, the more we receive, but when we stop giving, we cut ourselves off from the Lord’s blessing, even from His presence. A good church life is a life full of giving.
Amen. This portion is so shepherding. I have a number of hymnals in Spanish and English. I could give them to someone or some people. I enjoy the imagery of the water hose.