Orders From High Command

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Orders From High Command
Keywords: “alert” “take heed” “watch”
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Passage: Mark 13:32-37*

32. But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father [alone.]

33. Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the [appointed] time is.

34. [It is] like a man, away on a journey, [who] upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, [assigning] to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.

35. Therefore, be on the alert — for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning —

36. lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.

37. And what I say to you I say to all, 'Be on the alert!'

Questions

1. What day or hour is Jesus referring to in verse 32?

 

2. What does he mean in verse 33 by “the appointed time?”

 

3. Who runs your life — you or someone else?

 

Practical help

Our Forefathers fought for our independence didn’t they? Isn’t liberty at all cost the battle cry of the American? And if you are reading this from another country, don’t you as well have this “yearning to live free?”

So who are we kidding that we should take this statement from Jesus seriously about waiting like servants for our Master to return? Shouldn’t our accumulated wealth and brains be enough to be able to set up an alarm system that will tell us ahead of time if the Master is on His way? Besides, it’s been 2000+ years, and He hasn’t peaked through the door yet!

I guess it all boils down to your confidence in your own abilities to carry the day (if and when it arrives). So let me ask you a few questions. These are intended to get you ready for what Jesus is warning will come.

1. When exactly was it that you decided to be born?

2. How did you decide how much strength you would give yourself?

3. Why haven’t you been perfect up to this point? (Remember the porn?)

4. How did you decide who you would be born to?

I could go on, but I suspect you're doing well with the questions posed thus far, so I think it’s safe to say it won’t get any better. Of course, God was much harder on Job than I was on you just now (check it out in Job 38 and 39 — it was ugly!).

Face it, your just lucky you were born on a planet with oxygen and water. Don’t push your luck by ignoring God’s warnings.
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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."