Skip Heitzig, pastor of Calvary Church in New Mexico, discussed how Christians should live as the coming of Christ approaches.
In his sermon titled "How to Live and Love in the Last Days" on Feb. 14, reported by The Christian Post, Heitzig shared the "three elements" that could help Christians become strong and effective as they live in the world, citing 1 Peter 4:7-11.
These elements, he said, are "pray," "love" and "serve."
"Pray diligently, love deeply, serve wisely," he stated.
Noting that prayer was mentioned first in 1 Peter 4:7, Heitzig stressed its relevance, adding that it is basic, "primary" and is "always first on the list."
He further highlighted the importance of prayer, observing that in the verse, Peter was just "almost repeating" Jesus' statement while He was in the Garden of Gethsemane during his last days on earth.
At the time, Jesus told His disciples to "watch and pray" for them not to fall into temptation - an advice that they were not able to follow because of their heavy eyes.
The pastor said that according to research, people tend to spend very little time praying, which they only often do during meals. He revealed that even pastors are struggling with it too, wherein only 16% of them are "very satisfied with their prayer life."
Hence, Heitzig suggested that people should "figure out" how to improve their habit of praying.
"As your days become fewer, you should pray harder," he advised.
The pastor discussed the second element by sharing the verses in 1 Peter 4:8-9, pointing out the supremacy of love.
"Love like you're trying to win the love Olympics. Love people like you're trying to get the gold medal in love," he declared.
He said that there are two types of love, including one that "covers" and the other that "recovers or restores."
In the love that "covers," as 1 Peter 4:8 states, a person chooses to protect an individual who has wronged him instead of exposing the mistake. While in the second type of love, the minister said that it is about loving strangers or people who are different, which he draw from the Greek translation of the word "hospitable," as mentioned in 1 Peter 4:9.
In the last element, which is about serving, Heitzig shared that all Christians are blessed with spiritual gifts, which they just have to discover and use to serve other people.
He went on to say that the reason of serving is to glorify God. Thus, by a person's unwillingness to serve others or get involved, "God doesn't get as much glory" as He deserves.
Before he expounded on the "three elements," the pastor explained the meaning of the words "last days," which have been spoken about since the time of the early Christians.
"The last days began with the first coming of Jesus Christ and it will end with the coming of Jesus Christ," he said.
The pastor declared that believers must be living in a way in which they are anticipating Jesus' "imminent" return.
"The New Testament does teach that believers from the New Testament onwards should live in the anticipation that Jesus Christ could come for them at any moment," he said, recalling passages in the Bible, such as Mark 13:35, Luke 12:40, Titus 2:13 and James 5:8.
