WAKE AND WATCH!!
Leonard Navarre
Valley View Christian Church
Edgewood, NM
Welcome friends to “YOUR BIBLE BOOST”. It is my prayer that our few moments together will be a time of encouragement but also a time where we are challenged to walk more faithfully with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The scream, “WATCH OUT” came from the passenger side of my car. My wife had seen a fast approaching car from the side street and even though I had a green light she saw that the car was not going to stop. So I slamned my brakes spilling drinks all over the place. But not for my wife’s loud scream with the words, “WATCH OUT” we would have been blindsided on her side of the car.
I know you have probably experienced the same thing in life. When we are driving most of us are on high alert for any unusual driver behavior. I also remember when I was taking flying lessons to pilot a small plane that my instructor continually warmed me about being alert for any approaching aircraft that might crash into us.
The same admonitions are appropriate for each one of us. Many times in scripture we challenged to “WATCH OUT”.
Here are just a few: Remember in I Peter 5:8, Peter reminds us, “be self controlled. BE ALERT. Your enemy the devil prowls around seeking for someone to devour.” So the warning from Peter is to be alert to the tactics and schemes of the evil one.
I Corinthians 16:13 tells us to “be on your guard; stand firm in the faith”. And then I Thessalonians 5 and verse 6 reminds us, “so, then let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us BE ALERT and self controlled.”
I read the story of the ocean liner “Californian”. She was 1500 miles from Boston harbor when a crew member observed flashing lights from a distant steamer. Repeated attempts to contact the steamer failed. In fact, to the crew member, it looked like the steamer was sailing AWAY. By 1:40 AM the steamer’s lights vanished. It wasn’t until later that the captain learned what had actually happened. Earlier the Californian had parked due to oceanic ice and the unscheduled stop gave her a ring side seat to an unimaginable event. The crew did not realize that the lights where actually flares of distress. If they had known they were distress flares they could have sped to the rescue because they were only 9 miles away. The floundering ship had sent repeated distress calls that were easily answerable because of the range…EXCEPT for one important detail. The Californian’s radio operator, fresh from training school, was fast ASLEEP. So, on April 12, 1912, from his vantage point on the bridge, the Californian’s second officer, unwittingly, watched the Titanic sink.
So, you see my friends. The Bible gives us repeated warnings about being on guard and staying awake and alert. Even Jesus commands us in Mark 13:33, “Be on guard, be alert!”
None of us knows the day nor the hour that our Lord Jesus Christ will return. So, He gives us the commandment to be on guard, stay awake, be alert and then in verse 37, it’s as if Jesus is shouting when He says, “I say to everyone…Watch”.
Let us also remind each other that even though there were hundreds of prophecies made concerning the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, many still missed him. It is my deepest prayer that we don’t miss him TODAY! Wake up! Be alert! Watch!
I am Leonard Navarre of Valley View Christian Church, Edgewood, NM reminding you of our Bible boost for today from I Thessalonians 5:6, “so then let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be ALERT and self controlled.”
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