Truly, it is high time to awake from the sleep of our sin-darkened minds and make ourselves ready for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is God Himself in the flesh, the judge of the living and the dead!

Are you ready for Jesus Christ to return on the Last Day? Jesus told this parable to admonish us to be watchful and ready at all times for His return.

It’s so easy to neglect to thank and praise the LORD God and to forget that it is He who has so richly blessed us with all that we have and need. And, when we do speak words of thanks, it is so often only an outward expression and not the true and sincere response of heart and soul.

On the Last Day, when Jesus Christ returns with all His holy angels to judge the living and the dead, He shall separate the believers and unbelievers from one another as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, putting the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left.

Like David, we look to the LORD God for mercy, acknowledging our sins and failures to the LORD and turning to Him in faith for pardon and forgiveness for the sake of the Son, Jesus Christ, and His innocent sufferings and death in our stead.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]

As the battle rages on here in this world and the Scriptures warn us of the suffering yet ahead for believers, Jesus shows us a vision and picture of the end. He wants us to know we have the victory in Him. The eternal joys of heaven are certain for all who trust in His shed blood.

Christ has entrusted us with the task of "discipling" the nations for the Triune God. We do this, not through church-growth programs or through having exciting and emotion-stirring styles of worship. We do this by going out into the world and encountering people of all ethnicities and nations. We do this by baptizing in the name of the Triune God. We do this by teaching all that Christ taught and commanded as is recorded for us in His Word, the Bible.

Are we saved by God’s grace alone and through faith alone in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world, or must we also keep certain commandments and traditions of a church?

How do you know your sins are really forgiven when your minister announces God’s grace and mercy to you in Jesus Christ and, in the stead and by the command of Christ, absolves you of your sins for Jesus’ sake?