April 17 devotion and announcements

You can watch today's devotion here.

The next devotion will be on Monday.

Worship video posted by 9:00 AM on Sunday.

In a couple of weeks Pastor Berg will take over teaching the online Tuesday night Bible class.  Thank you so much to Tom for everything he does for the people of St. John!

Any moment now.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

4/17/20

Pastor John C. Berg

⁵¹ Look, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

This is your daily devotion for April 17^th.  How long will we have to shelter in place?  Will normal school start when it’s supposed to?  When will a vaccine be available?  For many of us one of the most difficult aspects of this pandemic is that the end date is so open ended.  If we knew when it will end it would be much easier to deal with it right now.  I’m that way about a lot of things.  If I’m going through something hard it’s much easier for me if I know when it will end.  If I have something really good to look forward I also have an easier time dealing.

Yesterday we heard in 1 Corinthians 15 that when Jesus raises believers from the dead he will give us glorified and imperishable bodies.  We certainly have that to look forward to!  But when will that happen?  In Matthew 24 Jesus said, “no one knows when that day and hour will be.”  So no, we can’t look forward to that the same way we look forward to Christmas or something else that is firmly scheduled.  But what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 is helpful:

⁵¹ Look, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

It’s not just dead believers raised to life who will be given perfect bodies.  Even those of us who are still alive when Jesus returns will be blessed this way!  It will happen in the blink of an eye.  It could happen before I am able to upload this video or before you finish watching it.  No, we don’t know the date Jesus will return.  It’s actually better than that.  He could come back at any time. 

It’s good to make plans and prepare when it seems like hard times might be coming.  God has given you responsibilities.  But isn’t dealing with hard times so much easier when we remember that Jesus will return for us, and it could be at any moment?  It’s imminent!  Rejoice, Jesus is coming! 

Let’s pray:  Jesus, fill us with hope in your return and the eternity of peace that will bring with you.  Amen, come Lord Jesus!

Your moment of joy is good news for our friend John Elliott.  You may remember that John was transferred from the V.A. hospital in Minneapolis to the V.A. hospital in St. Cloud.  There was some anxiety about this because John had developed some good friendships here and would be leaving them behind.  It turns out that John’s friends got transferred along with him and John is receiving better care in St. Cloud.  Praise God!