Some people may admire God for His way is superior, as others wonder why did the Creator of all that is …choose 4 guys to pen the inspired Gospels of the New Testament? First and foremost because Almighty God preordained those who would pen His word as it is written. Hebrews 1:3-4 NKJV. “Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, (Jesus) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” The entire Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit so we might inquire of Him who is represented in all the highlighted H‘s?
Hebrews 3:1-6 NKJV “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One (Jesus) has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house.” It is wise to pause and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us individually before we dive deeper into His Word. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher and we learn all mysterious through Him. For wherever the name of Jesus is exalted, the Spirit of God is there to teach us through His anointing. Colossians 2:9 NIV “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” May this scripture burn up all that is in you that is not from God Almighty as we open our hearts and minds to be purified by the fire of Truth.
Jesus is the Architect, Creator and Builder of the church, and “He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1 Why did the Architect choose Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to pen the FOUR GOSPELS? Each Gospel represents one of the four faces on the single head of the Seraph at the throne of God. Matthew represents the Kingship of Jesus and he begins by listing the genealogy of Jesus as he quotes old testament passages. Mark depicts Jesus as the Servant. Jesus serves the brokenness of humanity. It is the shortest Gospel, without genealogy but it has the most miracles. Luke declares repeatedly that Jesus is the Son of Man who combined His humanity with His divinity at the same time. John presents Jesus Christ as a direct descendant from God. In the book of Revelation and Ezekiel we learn that before the throne of God, day and night, the Seraphs reflect the glory of God. The Seraphs have one head with four faces, one is the face of a Man (Luke the Son of man), the face of an Eagle (John), the face of an Ox (Mark depicts a Servant carrying the load) and the face of a Lion (Matthew the tribe of Judah).
Colossians 2:10 The Message “Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.” Listen to Pastor Jack as he reveals WHY there are 4 Gospels.
Matthew 7:24-25 NIV “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Jesus tells us to be wise and put His Word into practice. In this way we build our faith on the solid foundation of Scripture, alone. We must toss out any man made doctrine that was added to God’s word. If we mix cement with Jello, the foundation we pour out to others will lead people astray as we wobble and fall. God Himself declared that every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 1 John 2:24-27 NIV “ If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
John 17: 6-8 NIV “I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent me.” John 17:11 NIV “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as we are One.” The name that is above every name, Jesus, Yeshua, the King of kings and Lord of all. We are wise to be in AWE of the Creator of all that is. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To remain in Him, we are to believe that the entire Word of God is by His will, that we receive His pure unaltered Word to mean what it says. Reverential awe is due His Deity for His ways are not ours.
Living Abroad 
Pastor Greg Laurie wrote about the signs of the times in 2022 “Some Pharisees and Sadducees badgered Him again, pressing Him to prove Himself to them. He told them, “You have a saying that goes, ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.’ You find it easy enough to forecast the weather—why can’t you read the signs of the times? An evil and wanton generation is always wanting signs and wonders. The only sign you’ll get is the Jonah sign.” Then He spun around and walked away.—Matthew 16:1-4 (The Message) In essence, Jesus says to these faithless, cynical religious leaders, “I won’t show you any more signs. You’ve seen more than enough. But there will be one last sign I will give you, and you can take it or leave it. It will be the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He knew they had no intention of believing in the first place. He also knew they would close their eyes to His last and greatest sign: dying for the sins of the world, being buried in the earth for three days, and then rising again. Just as Jonah was swallowed up by the great fish, and resurfaced three days later, so Jesus would be swallowed by death. But death would never be able hold Him. After three days, He would come out of that tomb, alive forever. The Pharisees and Sadducees asked Him for a big dramatic sign in the sky. But even that wouldn’t have made any difference. He could have written across the sky in letters half a mile high, “Jesus is Lord,” but they would have only ignored it or explained it away. “It’s the work of demons,” they would have said. They had so stiffened their spines and hardened their hearts that they simply refused to believe.
In other words, signs and wonders just won’t cut it when it comes to someone turning to Jesus Christ—even as we see fulfilled prophecies so clearly taking place all around us. It has to be an act of the will. It has to be a decision of the heart. The fact is, ten million signs and wonders in the Church today would not make the world turn to Christ. On a smaller scale, maybe you’ve thought to yourself, If I could just do some kind of miracle in front of my friends, they would be so blown away they’d become Christians. No, they probably wouldn’t. YOU Are the Miracle! When a person genuinely places his or her faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, it is because he or she has taken a step of faith and made the decision to reach out toward God. And what they will always find is that He is already reaching out to them.
Jesus told them, “You want a sign? Here’s My sign. I will die on a cross for the sins of the world. I will be placed in a tomb. And I will rise from the dead three days later.”
Contrary to what we might hope or believe, some dramatic miracle or fulfilled prophecy will never convince someone to surrender to Jesus Christ. Think about it. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and everyone knew it. And what happened immediately after that? They began plotting to kill Jesus and Lazarus, to remove the evidence. (See John 12:9-11.)
Poor Lazarus. Wasn’t it bad enough that he had to die once? And then they wanted to kill him? Why? Because Lazarus was a living, breathing miracle. His very presence gave testimony to the power of God.
And guess what? You too are a living, breathing miracle-man or miracle-woman if you tell others about how God has changed your life, and transformed you. You are a powerful representative of Jesus Christ.
So get up in the morning with the determination that, God helping you, you will be that representative.
Message for a Lost World
So what is our message to a lost world as we find ourselves in the end times?
Here is how Paul summarized his message and his methodology in 1 Corinthians 2:
Dear brothers and sisters, when I first came to you I didn’t use lofty words and brilliant ideas to tell you God’s message. For I decided to concentrate only on Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. I did not use wise and persuasive speeches, but the Holy Spirit was powerful among you. I did this so that you might trust the power of God rather than human wisdom.—1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NLT)
Paul’s “method” was to simply proclaim the Gospel. And what is the Gospel? That we are all sinners, and separated from God. But God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, and then raising Him from the dead. That is the Gospel. Don’t apologize for it, don’t add to it, and don’t gloss it over. Just proclaim it and watch what God will do.
And that is our message to this culture, and to our world in these perilous times: Jesus Christ crucified, and risen again from the dead.
That is the “sign of Jonah,” and it’s still the greatest sign of all. And we need to proclaim while we still have the time and opportunity.
Make These Minutes Count
There’s an interesting 2011 movie called Source Code. It’s the story of a man who has the ability to cross over into another person’s identity in the last eight minutes of their life. At one point he asks a woman, “What would you do if these were the last minutes of your life?” And she answers, “I would make those minutes count.”
That’s just what you and I need to be doing right now. None of us knows how much time we have left on earth—whether it’s 8 minutes, 8 days, 8 months, 8 years or 80 years.
But we do know this much. Eternity can be upon us in an instant. It can happen through the Lord’s coming, or it can happen at death. That is why you need to be prepared and ready to meet the Lord at all times, because you don’t know when the end will come. It may not be the end of the world, but it could be the end of your world.
Time, once spent, can’t be recycled. It’s like a coin; once you spend it, you can’t spend it again. It’s gone.
In a much, much larger sense, God has given you years of life—an infinitely precious commodity. Each and every day, we get so many hours and minutes deposited to our account, to use or neglect.
Paul told us how to spend that time:
Live life then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as [those] who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days. Don’t be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God.—Ephesians 5:15-17, Phillips
Soon, the day will come—whether we’re aware of it or not—when we are down to our last minute. We need to use that time well.
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