Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I read 1-Peter 4 this morning,

underlined a bunch. I was going to go over a bunch of different things here,

but I can't really make a pass this one sentence. First Peter 4-7, but the end of all things

is at hand. Therefore, be serious and watchful

in your prayers. That's ESV. I almost always quote ESV, but I do want to give NASB here. The end of all

things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

Sound judgment, sober spirit, serious prayers, watchful of your prayers.

John Calvin said it ought to be the chief concern of the believer to fix his mind constantly

on Christ's second advent, his second coming. We should be thinking, we should

fixing our minds constantly on the second coming of Jesus. This is Christmas, so it's all

about the first coming. That's great. But the second coming is quite important as well.

I remember joy to the world is actually about the second coming, not, it's not really Christmas

song. So I was doing some research on that sentence because that stuck out to me so much.

In my research, I came across this poem about a particular day in New England. Let me quote here

from the newspaper in 1780.

It says here, the northern states wrapped in a dense black atmosphere for 15 hours.

Again, this is 1780.

The day of judgment supposed to have come.

Cessation of labor.

People stopped working.

Religious devotions resorted to. The herds retire to

their stalls, the fowls to their roosts, and the birds sing their evening songs at noon day.

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