The Great Contrast - Introduction

My mind has been on these two passages as of late:


Hebrews 10:23-25 - "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."


Matthew 24:9-13 - "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.  And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.  And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved."


I will be blogging about these passages for the next several posts.  While both passages initially had Hebrew audiences, they have application for everyone in the church as well.  Both have eschatological references, that is, they have references to the Lord's return, which I have highlighted in orange font.  Both also mention love, which I have highlighted in red font.  The Greek word, agape, is used - the love of the will where we choose to put others before ourselves.  These passages also talk about the perseverance of the saints.  The Hebrews passage calls for holding fast the confession of hope and the Matthew passage speaks about those who will endure to the end.  We also see there will be those who will no longer be loyal and persevere, but will betray and fall away, whose love was once warm but will diminish into coldness.  
Jesus used love and grow in the same sentence.  Stay tuned, I'll talk about that some more...


I hope you were able to be in church yesterday...and are you watching?  We are seeing the Day of His return drawing closer, as the unrest continues to increase in the world.