Thursday, November 7, 2024

Dallas Willard - watch

How are to be watching for the kingdom today?  What can we do to keep our eyes and ears open as we wait for His kingdom to be moving in and around us?  How are many falling asleep, thinking that waiting for His kingdom takes their own effort?  How do our eyes need to be enlightened? Eph 1:16-17)  

Dallas Willard:  

 “Watch therefore. Watch. Watching is a big part of New Testament.  Watching. Do you remember that when Jesus went into the garden to pray, there were three others, particularly Peter, James, and John, who wanted to be with Him, and He took them close to where He was praying in His temptation, and they kept falling asleep. And He said to them, watch and pray.

Watch. And that word comes up over and over. It's very good study to just study that word itself.

Watch. We have in the Old Testament the idea of a watchman, and it's a familiar figure in life in those days to watch. The watch, we speak of, a person who is on the tower, on guard, to watch what is happening, to be alert, to be ready.

The parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25) is all about watching. “This parable is not just about the second coming of the Lord. This parable is about spiritual opportunity.  It is about readiness to seize the day. The Scripture tells us in several places, for example, in 2 Corinthians 6.2, that today is the day of salvation. You cannot get saved yesterday, and you cannot get saved tomorrow.

You can only get saved today. Because the day is the only place you and I live. We cannot live in the past and we cannot live in the future.

We have to do it today. Where is the Lord coming by today? Are we watching?

At what point would we know Him if we saw Him? If He comes to us in the form of the navel of a little child, a minister or a teacher or some bigwig with a Ph.D. and a million dollars, are we watching?


Will we meet people all over? With the attitude that this may be the time to meet the Lord, to serve the Lord, to work with the Lord, you remember that in that final parable, not parable, but story of Matthew 25, Jesus said, Lord, in as much as you did it unto[…]”


From The Dallas Willard Podcast: 11. The Ten Virgins and the Evil Watchman. “A Revelation of the Heart” (1983), Nov 4, 2024

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dallas-willard-podcast/id1762596670?i=1000675581883

This material may be protected by copyright.


From The Dallas Willard Podcast: 11. The Ten Virgins and the Evil Watchman. “A Revelation of the Heart” (1983), Nov 4, 2024

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dallas-willard-podcast/id1762596670?i=1000675581883

This material may be protected by copyright.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hope 7

 What does it mean to have our eyes open, enlightened to what God is doing?  The parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25) aeems more than wai...