HAPPY-Jesus-is-coming-back-what-can-we-do-to-get-ready-DAY!

Jesus is coming back. He is looking for the "fruit" that will identify those to whom the Kingdom of God belongs. When Jesus came the first time it was the fulfillment of a promise made years and years earlier. That promise was made to Abraham, the Grandfather of Israel, that he would have a seed and that through that seed all the nations would be blessed. Can you imagine two thousand years of God sustaining hope in his people before the promise was fulfilled? But a two thousand year wait while being led by God's spirit is doable for His people. The same is true today as we wait on Jesus' promised return. You can't stop what's coming...but you can be ready! Don't forget to mark your calendar and bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Everyday is the day to be ready for Jesus' return. God help us do that...

John the Baptist said this about "fruit:

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:8-10 ESV)

Here are some of the passages in Matthew where Jesus speaks of "fruit":

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:15-21 ESV)

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every worthless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:33-37 ESV except worthless for argos)

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once. (Matthew 21:18-19 ESV)

"Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. (Matthew 21:33-43 ESV)

So "when the son of man returns will he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8