Living like A New Testament Disciple

We all long for revival, a new move of God, to sweep into the church. We talk of waiting His timing, or the season of growth. Perhaps it is much simpler than that. Perhaps He is waiting for us! After Jesus ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit. The pattern of the N.T. Church was given, it began with great momentum.

We see in Acts and the Epistles the works of The Spirit through those whose lives were consecrated unreservedly to Jesus. We see and sense the thrill and expectation of those who were so overwhelmingly in love with Him and the life of God dwelling in them, that we say “why not me, why not us”? Well there are pointers and obvious reasons in these scriptures, so we will have a brief look at them in this chapter of N.T. church life in this morning’s service.

We are starting a new series called the “return of the King” in the evenings over the next 10 weeks we will be looking at Bible prophecy particularly in relation to the end times. We have arrived in Mark chapter 13 where Jesus talks to the disciples about the future and the signs of His coming. The magnitude and weight of the topic that lies before us is simply staggering!! We don’t claim any expertise in this vast subject but acknowledge it is important for us as God’s people in 21st Century to grapple and understand this vital part of our faith. Mark Hitchcock who is a professor of theology specialising in biblical prophecy is quoted “Almost anywhere you go today it’s there; deep seated fear, a brooding sense of uneasiness. Fear about the future; pandemic plagues; the economy war; monstrous natural disasters; nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands and even the environment. Every time a new crisis occurs, people begin asking the big questions; Is this the end; are we approaching Armageddon; are there any real answers; is there any way to know for certain what the future holds; is there a sure word about tomorrow; is there any possibility of hope or are we all doomed?
What we do know, for sure, is God’s word is true and we don’t need to worry about the future as we know the One who holds it.