Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

"But of that day and hour [the day of Christ's return to earth for all his true followers] no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is."¹

The following warning is attributed to an 18th-century Scottish writer who said: "The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

I wonder in what stage we are in the U.S.A., Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the Western World? Could it be apathy? Very likely. Do we, as churches, care enough to do anything about the ever accelerating moral decline and do what we can to help make an impact on our societies? Do we, as individuals as well as churches, care enough to do everything we can to help spread the saving gospel of Jesus Christ across the street and around the world? For without Jesus, people are lostâ€"forever.

Thank God that he cared enough to send his only Son, Jesus Christ, to give his life to die in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins so that we could receive God's forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. And thank Jesus Christ that he cared enough for us to die for us. And because Jesus cared enough to give his life to die for us, do we care enough to give our life to live for and to serve him?

As the first coming of Jesus Christ to earth 2,000 years ago is an indisputable fact of history. His second coming to take his true followers to be with him forever is just as certain. Jesus is coming again. Let us make sure that we are ready for and actively serving him when he comes.

If you would like to commit or re-commit your life to Jesus and daily make yourself available to serve him, please pray the following prayer: "Dear God, in gratefulness to Jesus for giving his life to pay the penalty for all my sins and for your gift of forgiveness and eternal life, I surrender, commit and trust my life and way to you. I am available. Please make me usable and use me today to be 'as Jesus' in some way to every life I touch. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name. Amen." I encourage you to pray this prayer of commitment at the beginning of every day for the rest of your life.

Note: If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and received God's gift of forgiveness and eternal life, I urge you to do this today. For help please read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian." Click ON www.actsweb.org/christian.

1. Mark 13:33-34 (NKJV).

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