[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in.
Thank you. Come on, make some noise for Jesus this morning.
I'm so glad you're here. If you're watching online, I'm glad that you could take the time to watch this. It's gonna be great. Come on, High Ridge family. Let's welcome in all of our online watching from wherever you're watching from. I think God's got something important to say to you. I think God wants to speak to you. I think there's a reason why you woke up this morning. There are reason why you're, there's a reason why you're here. I think God is going to respect the fact that you've prioritized him first in this very first part of your week. And God's going to show you something. He's going to speak to you. So take, you take your finger and point it back at yourself and say, self.
Come on, point your finger back at yourself and say, self.
I need to listen now. Look at the person next to you and say, you're crazy. Again, you're talking to yourself.
No, I'm so glad that you're here. Welcome, welcome. Good morning. Grab your Bibles, if you would. We're going to spend some time in two different passages of scripture. Second Peter, chapter three. And then also we're turning there to Second Thessalonians, chapter two, First Peter, chapter three. I'm sorry. Second Peter, chapter three, First Thessalonians, chapter two.
And I am embarrassed. And I have a confession to make.
And that is there are two subjects that I have avoided like the plague. There are two things I do not like to preach on no matter what.
And the first and most important of those is money. I cannot stand to preach on money. I hate it. And the Bible has so much to say about money that it's, it's hard to avoid that. But anytime the Lord's like, okay, it's time to speak about money and about giving, about generosity, about stewardship, about tithing. I'm just like, are you sure you, you know what you're doing?
Let's preach something fun. And, and so I just, I, I hate that. I, I, I don't like it at all. And the second thing I cannot stand to talk about. You'll understand if you grew up in the 70s,'80s, and 90s in church culture like me, and that is end times.
Ugh.
And there's just so much junk out there about the end. I can't stand talking about it because you're always going to come up against people's opinions, and they know more than you think that you do. And so I sat down this Monday and I was praying. I was talking to the Lord, like, father, where are you leading us this week? He said, we're going to talk about the end times. He began to lead me to this scripture. And I'm like, this is perfect, because if I'm going to do this, and I know I don't like to do this, but this is a great time because there's no crazy wars going on right now. There's no. There's no pandemics going on right now. We're. We're in a good time, so we're not going to add to anybody's anxiety. And I had no idea what was going to happen as I panned on later to this, to the rest of the week.
So the Lord knows what he's doing. Bottom line. He understands what we need to hear and what we're. What we're talking about. And so today, I want to bring a message called Left Behind.
I wish we'd all been ready, baby. I wish we'd all been ready.
No, I think it's important when you've grown up in church like I have, especially 70s, 80s, and 90s. We grew up in rapture culture. It was all about the rapture, all about end times, all about turn or burn.
And after a while, it's just like, okay, you've got it. You got me. I'm afraid.
We took God fearing to the next level. Like, I am scared to death. Like, what do you want from me?
And to paint a picture over and over in my theological mind of this judgmental God that is coming back to destroy the entire world. To do that in the mind of a small child, it produced a lot of things inside of me that I'm not too proud of. But it also painted a very strange picture of my Father, my heavenly Father.
And here's what I found out, is that fear is not a great motivator for change.
Now, you may hear some things that make you afraid. You're like, you know what? I'm going to change that.
I've heard some things from my doctor. My doctor was in the first service. I've heard her say things like, you are way too fat.
And then she shows me my blood work, and I'm like, okay, I'm afraid. Like, that looks bad. I'm not going to live to be 50.
But then the first time I pass it, Annie Ann's, I'm like, I don't care. I'm here for a good time, not a long time.
And we're all going to be raptured anyway.
So I want. I want Jesus. When he has to rapture me, I want him to be like, ugh, come on.
Okay, okay. All together at the same time. Everybody pull. Like, I want. I want that kind of.
No. When you. When you make people afraid, it's not a great motivator for lasting change. It'll only make you change just until something else comes along.
And here's the thing. When we look about the end times and we deal with wars in the Middle east and all the different things that are going to set off a chain of events on your social media page, when we look at all those things in context, we find that based upon how we were raised theologically, we tend to either slap fear or apathy on either one of those. And growing up a child of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, it was a lot of fear. And now it's changed to complete apathy. I'm just like, you know what? Burn it all. I don't care.
And after you've lived. I'm serious. After you've lived through multiple wars in the Middle east, after you've lived through things like the fall of the Berlin Wall, after you've seen the Challenger explode, after you've lived through Covid and vaccines and mandates and masks, after you live through all those things, you're just like, burn it all. I don't care.
Aren't you afraid about it? No, I'm not afraid about nothing.
Burn it. Don't care. Rapture me. Take me now. Jesus don't care.
But here's the thing. God's Word speaks to a different mindset when it comes to the end times. And it's important for us to. To go back to the truth of God's Word.
There are things that God's Word clearly says, and there are things that His Word is not clear about. And there's so much junk out there theologically that it's difficult for us to process through what is true and what is just bad theology.
And I grew up in a time where we were told that there was a God that you should be scared to death of, but you should love him like how does this, how does this settle in my mind? I. I don't have a really good picture of who the Father is. And until you start reading God's Word for yourself, until you start capturing his heart, it's difficult to get past the things that you've been taught.
And here's what we see in God's Word and, and in Second Peter, chapter three, he begins to show us some things about the day, and the day, meaning the. The last day.
And he's speaking to a group of people that were concerned. They were freaked out, they were uninformed. And he begins to tell them exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
In light of the fact that this world has an expiration date, a time clock attached to it.
And so he says this above all, or most importantly, chapter three, you must understand that in those last days, scoffers will come and they're following their own evil desires. And they'll say, where is this coming that he promised?
Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.
But don't forget this one thing, dear friends, with the Lord. A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. He's saying, essentially, God doesn't see time the way that you see time. And your clock that you think has to be this way. And the things that people have taught God doesn't go by your clock.
The way that God sees time is different than the way that we see time with a day. The Lord, it says it's like a thousand years. A thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Slowness was a word that they applied to me a lot when I was about five or six or seven years old. When it comes, never mind, that's completely different subject.
It says, as some understand slowness. Instead, God is patient with you, and I want you to see this. Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
God wants everyone to have a relationship with him. God wants every single person to know him to come to repentance.
He says, I don't want anybody to perish. That's important for us to see, since everything will be destroyed in this way.
What kind of people ought you to be?
Okay, we recognize that there is a day where all this is going to expire, where the world's going to pass away. In light of that, what are we supposed to be doing? And notice that in this next part, he doesn't tell them, just hunker down, just shelter in place, just detach from anybody and everything. It didn't tell them, sell all your possessions. That's what happened, by the way. 70s and 80s people just sold everything. Just wait around, okay, Jesus is coming back. It's going to be tomorrow right about this time. And then tomorrow come. Like I did my math wrong. It's actually, it's actually tomorrow tomorrow or you know, oh, I forgot to carry the one, it's next year.
Like that's exactly what I grew up in.
But it says here very clearly in God's word, what kind of lives are we to live?
He says, you ought to live holy. Somebody say the word holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That's interesting words. He says, I want you to look forward to it and hope it gets here sooner.
That is not the kind of rapture talk that I was taught.
He says, look forward to it. Pray that it comes quickly. He says, so then, dear friends, since you are, here's the next words again, looking forward to this.
Make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with God.
Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means. Somebody say the last word.
Salvation.
Our Lord's patience means salvation.
So there was a time in my life where I, where I can kind of pinpoint the loss of innocence. The moment where I really viewed the world completely different from one moment to the next. And some of you, you understand this, but it was the moment that the Challenger exploded, the space shuttle exploded live on television. And many of us as children were watching this in school and there was a, happened to be a teacher that was on board and watching this blow up, I mean, it did something in, in my mind, it did something in the, in the, in the minds of my peers. We had, we had never seen death like that before this, this, this, this split in my timeline that just things were never, never the same after that.
And so when we would come to church on Sunday morning, when we would talk about the things that we would talk about, it seemed to always revolve around end times. It always revolved around rapture, always revolved around the judgment of God. And it was always hell and fire and brimstone and judgment and it was all about, you know, you guys, you know, we, we need to be set apart because God's going to burn this whole world and everybody on the outside of us is going to burn.
But we would never witness to people, we would never go out and try to get people to be saved. We were Just like, hope you got your fire insurance.
And the amount of fear and the amount of bad theology really put me into a difficult place when it comes to taking a fresh look and what the Lord's word is saying.
And so as I'm digging into this, and especially as I was talking to the Lord this week and spending some time processing through this, he begins to show me some things that I think are important for us to see in the attitude of which we approach the end times. For those of us that grew up in rapture culture, it was fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.
And then we've come to the place after you've lived for a while and gone through some things that you get to a place of apathy, like, I don't care, whatever.
And I think generally most believers that have lived for a while will fall into either one of those two ditches.
Total fear or complete apathy.
What does God's word say? Here's the first thing that we're going to see. If you're a note taker, you might want to write this down. Number one, the day brings doubts. There's always going to be doubts about the day, the day that Christ returns. And he says, in the last day, scoffers are going to come and they're going to say, where is this coming that Christ promised? Where is this rapture that was supposed to happen? Where is all those things? I don't know. I don't know about that anymore. So notice that there was a ton of fear.
And then he says, in the last days, you're gonna have a ton of doubts.
And I recognize that I've been on both sides of those things. As a matter of fact, as I was approaching this subject and realizing why I kind of avoid it when I'm preaching on it, because I have a lot of apathy.
Like, I don't. Who cares about that stuff? I don't care about it.
And when he says scoffers are going to come saying, where is this Jesus? When's it going to happen?
I recognize that that kind of points the fingers at me. That's kind of my attitude.
And so he says, in the last day, scoffers are going to come and there's going to be a lot of doubts about all these things. They're going to say, where is this Jesus? Where is this Rapture? When all this. Is all this stuff going to happen? No, everything's going on just as it always has been. And I found that that's really true.
Peter's kind of describing our culture today.
And the reason why we, why we think that way, not only is it because God's word says you're going to think that way, but it's because we want things to just stay the same.
We want our world to be okay. We want our children's world to be okay. We want to be able to see our grandchildren. We want to be able to see them have all the things that we wish that we could have. And we want things to just stay the way that they are.
Can just like, just keep things the way they are.
And so when we look at God's word and we look at what he's saying about the way that things are going to end, we find ourselves apathetic in a lot of ways because we just want things to stay this way forever.
Here's what I found that doubts about the end times are usually rooted in desire, not scripture.
It's because it's what your heart wants and that's the filter that you're looking at scripture through.
But how many people know? It's time to let God's word speak for itself, let it say what it says.
So those of us that grew up in time, petrified. Now we find ourselves on the opposite end of the spectrum. We find ourselves apathetic in a lot of ways.
I think God's word is bringing us to a different place. I can't afford to look forward to Christ's return with fear or apathy. I need truth. Somebody say truth.
What does God's word say?
Should I be completely afraid? Should I ignore it completely?
I think there's a filter that we need to put on a lot of end time stuff. And I wish more people would view it this way. This is something that the Lord's challenging me with, but I want to show you this. Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse one and two, says this. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you very clearly. It says not to become easily unsettled or alarmed.
Well, the church that I grew up in would like to just omit that scripture completely out because we want everyone to be completely unsettled and totally alarmed. 24 7. Why? Because then they'll behave. Because they're afraid.
And church is just so much easier, especially on the pastor, if everyone would just behave.
Subtle hint.
Just behave for the love of God. Makes my job so much easier.
Just. Just love your spouse. Just be nice.
Just take good care of your kids. Just don't do crack. Please, for the love of God, leave meth alone. You don't need that. That's not good for you.
But as returning to God's word, we recognize that fear is not the greatest motivator for real change.
We need truth. And God's word tells us about the end times. Don't become easily unsettled or alarm. So notice when Paul is writing that to the Thessalonians, he. He doesn't give them countdowns, he doesn't give them charts, he doesn't give them a ton of details. What he does give them is a calm heart.
He says, don't, don't get all nervous about that stuff.
Don't get all shaken up about that stuff.
Wars and rumors of wars, those things are going to happen.
You're going to see it, he says. And about the end of all things, don't let your heart get into a weird place.
That's a great scripture for us to see through today. Use it as a lens as we're processing the end of all things. Don't become easily unsettled or alarmed.
What do we do when we don't understand things, when we're not quite sure how this works out or who's right or who's wrong or who? I agree with most.
Here's the thing. We have to look at God's word and let it speak for itself and tell us who God is, Who is he?
And when you understand. When you understand God's. God's character, when you understand his ways, when you get to know him, when you. When you see the things that he's telling you about himself, it helps you to fill in the gaps where you're not sure that you. That you. That you can figure it all out.
As a matter of fact, let me say it this way. When we don't understand completely, we completely trust God's character.
And I recognize that in God's character, please hear me. He's good.
In God's character, he's always right.
I might not always like it, I might not always agree, but he's always right. It's just like having an argument with my wife. She's always right. And it gets old after a while.
I don't agree. I'm still wrong.
God's always right. He's always good.
He always knows, he always knows better.
And in his character, we're able to find hope, we're able to find some peace when we're walking through parts that we don't completely understand.
And please, please hear me. There are a lot of things about the end times that I don't understand. And nobody else does either. So if anyone tells you that they completely understand, just walk away from that stuff. No, they don't. They don't know the time, they don't know the date, none of that stuff.
It ain't good.
It's not the truth. You can get lost in it.
What we do know is I can trust the character of God. And he's good.
He's merciful and he's kind. He's just.
He's a healer. He loves deeply. He cares about me. Cares about you.
I have a statement that I like to say, and we keep it in our culture here, that if God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. He loves you.
He has good thoughts towards you.
As we're thinking about the end times, we have to recognize, I need to know God's character.
Who does he say that he is versus who have people told me that he is and what he's going to do?
And I found that some people, when they're looking at the end times, they're starting to think, yeah, I'm really excited to watch what he's going to do to the people. I don't like.
Like, you may have some issues.
So the day is always gonna bring doubts. There's always gonna be things that we don't understand. What do we do with those doubts? We trust the character of God. Amen. You still with me? Here's the second thing I wanna show you. Number two. God's delays are proof of his mercy.
God's delays are proof of his mercy, his patience, his compassion. And so it says in multiple places, our God doesn't, doesn't judge time the way that we judge time. And look at the way that he's. He's delaying. Like we, we don't understand that. What's taking him so long?
God's patience means salvation. Peter says. And it says he does these things because he doesn't want anyone to perish.
God waits because he doesn't want people to perish.
That's important when we see his character. God doesn't want people to go to hell. God doesn't want people to be judged.
He wants them to know him. He wants them to repent.
And every single time that he delays, he gives them another opportunity to do that. See, we measure time differently than God does. He stands outside of time. He exists outside of time. Time is important to me and you. It isn't important to him.
It matters to you.
We measure delays in clocks and calendars.
God doesn't see time the way that we See time.
Let me say it this way. The clock of heaven runs on compassion.
Compassion for people.
Your God is a compassionate God. He is a merciful God. He is kind, he is loving, he is good, and he is just.
And every moment that he delays is because he is compassionate. I love this scripture. In Lamentations, Chapter 3, One of My Life verses here, it says, because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed. For his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. I love that scripture. Every single morning. He said, there's new mercy, there's new compassion, there's new grace.
What does that mean when we're looking at the end times and the fact that God's delaying and we're not sure what's the hour of his coming? And are we here? Are we there? Where are we in the timeline of all things ending?
God says, my mercies are new. Every morning we see that his clock runs on compassion. That means every single time that that sun comes up in the morning, it's another chance for some person that is far from God to come home.
Every time the sun comes up in the morning, it's another chance for somebody to repent of what they did yesterday and to walk in his grace. Every time the sun comes up, it's another opportunity for somebody that was far from God to come back. Every time the sun comes up, it's another chance for a prodigal to come home. It's another chance for an addict to get set free. It's another chance for somebody to repent and to turn their back on their sin because his mercies are new every morning. He's a kind and compassionate. He's a merciful God. And his delays are proof of his great mercy. That flips the narrative on the God that I was taught, the God that many of us grew up with thinking about and the that they're thinking of his.
Of his judgment.
He's a compassionate God. His mercies are new every morning.
Let me say it this way. The end times isn't about God speeding toward judgment. It's God slowing down for people.
So when I went to high school for the very first time, many of you know my story. I went to a 5A high school straight out of homeschooling, homeschooled situation.
And it was the very first time that I was. That I. That I'd ever heard bells in between classes. And for some of you, you're like, oh, what are you talking about? Like the first bell, the second bell, I didn't have any idea what that was. That first bell went off. I thought Jesus was coming back, so I started repenting and stuff, Lifting, I don't know.
And what I had to realize is that, no, that means you've got five minutes in between this class and the next class. One bell tells us the class has ended. The next bell tells us the new class has begun. And they would lock the door if you were late, pass that other bell, they would lock the door. And you had to go straight to the office and get a slip. And you get enough of those slips and you have to go to detention, all that stuff. Don't ask me how I know that.
But because I was brand new to high school, I had no idea how to get from one room to the other. Like, I was raised in homeschool, and I had one classroom, which was also my bedroom, and you didn't get lost. Very small.
And so when I finally figured out, okay, this room is over here, and this room is over here, I realized there was another distinct bell that gave you 30 seconds before the door got locked.
So the first bell would ring, class is over. You got five minutes to get to the next class. And just a few seconds before that door would lock, you'd hear another quick ding.
And then once that bell rang, the teachers would close their doors and lock them.
And I remember there's a few teachers that, like, at three minutes, just locked that door. Like, sorry, I'm having a bad day. Like, are you going through a divorce or something? Why are you so the whole class is late.
Why are you so mad at me? They would do that. But the cool teachers, like, the really good ones, like, as soon as that last bell would ring, they would stand at the door and they would hold it open. They'd be like, get in here. Get in here quick. Get in here quick. Come on in here right now.
And I learned something about intentional mercy, especially for a kid that didn't know how to get to class.
I didn't know where I was.
But for a few of those teachers that had a little bit of mercy, had a little bit of compassion, had a little bit of grace, instead of just locking me out and sorry, I said, get in here. Hurry, hurry.
And there's something that we have to apply to our father and his delays. He. He's intentionally being merciful.
By delaying, every single day is another opportunity for us to get in here to start living for him. And even though the day brings a ton of doubts, God's delays are proof of his great mercy.
So Peter ends the letter by telling him, telling the people that were definitely afraid of what was happening. And then in Thessalonians, they were afraid that the Rapture had already happened and that they missed it, like they'd been left behind and wish we'd all been ready.
So he gives them a lot of things that they should think about.
And here's the third and final point.
The end shapes how we are to live.
He doesn't tell them, sell all your possessions and stock up on water like we did in Y2K. I don't know why water and toilet paper seem to be the thing that I. I can't figure it out.
He doesn't tell them shelter in place.
He doesn't tell them to stop going to work.
He doesn't tell them be afraid.
He also doesn't tell them to ignore it and pretend like it's not ever going to happen.
He gives them three things.
The first thing he tells them to do in light of the fact that there is a day coming. He said, be holy.
Holy.
Now, for those of us that grew up like I did in Holiness Pentecostal, let me just tell you that word holy was used a little bit outside the context of Scripture because the word in the Greek language means to be set apart. Holy means to be set apart or not for common use.
But we took that word set apart. We said, oh, that means set apart from people.
We are not going to associate with anyone that doesn't believe like us, think like us, dress like us, and nobody dressed like us. Let me just tell you, set apart.
And we would say, oh, that means that we're not going to associate with anybody that's a sinner. Here's the thing, if that was true theology, then Jesus wasn't holy because Jesus spent a lot of time with people that did not look like you, act like you, think like you, vote like you. Same difference, lots of differences.
They said Jesus was a friend of sinners, but remind yourself, Jesus was holy in every way. He was completely set apart, but he's also Emmanuel. God with us, with us, with people and all of our mistakes, all of our flaws. He is God with us. So when it says, when Peter says that in light of the fact that Jesus is coming back, you need to be holy, that doesn't mean set apart from people. It means set apart in your character. Set apart in the way that you deal with your life and the way that you act, the way that you think, the way that you process, the way that you speak, the way that you treat people, the way that you Tip. Oh, step it on your toes.
Being holy is much more about your character than about your isolation. No, no, no. I want my. I want my character, my holiness to be a witness, not a wall to people saying, you're not like me. You're not as good as me. That's not the point.
Peter says, be holy, be set apart. Stop living like tomorrow doesn't matter.
Be holy, be spotless and blameless.
Then he tells them another word. He says, I need you to be at peace. He said, at peace with God as the day approaches, be at peace with God. Now, thankfully, God loves us so much that he sends his son so that we could be at peace with God. And I think if I'm doing my job correctly today and bringing this word as the Lord has, has told me to do it, there are several of us that would say, if I'm going to be honest, I'm not at peace with God right now.
There's some things in between me and God.
Let me just remind you, he's good and he's always right. So the problem in that relationship is 100% me and 100% you.
He's right.
And I think this day would be wasted if you didn't take advantage of God is saying, I want you to be at peace with me.
I've sent my son to be at peace with you.
So if there's things between me and you, let's make those right today. Let's turn from those things, let's confess those things, let's get those things out so that we can be at peace with one another. Why?
Because he's coming back and he's saying, I want you to be at peace with me. Not panicked about your future, but living with peace between me and God.
So he says, I want you to live a life that's holy, set apart. I want you to live a life that's at peace with God. And then he talks about compassion for the lost.
Compassion for the lost.
It's interesting in church circles that we'll say the lost. And in the lost, we have this mental image of some imaginary crowd of lost people. I want to encourage you to not think that way. As a matter of fact, when you think about the lost, start listing down and thinking about writing down actual names.
The lost is not some anonymous person out there.
The lost is people that are surrounding you every single day.
Compassion for the lost. He said, God's patience means salvation. He's speaking to a group of people that are already saved.
So why is that so important? It's like, this ain't about you anymore.
You've got your fire insurance. Now it's time to get people in the classroom. He's holding the door open. God's patience means salvation for them through Christ, and they'll know him through you.
Compassion for the lost.
So as we await Christ's return, we live holy by honoring him, walking in his peace and showing compassion by inviting others into the grace that his patience still offers. Let me just remind you the blood has not lost its power.
God's grace has not run out. His forgiveness didn't stop with you. His forgiveness is still there. It's still free for the asking. His grace is still enough to cover every single sin.
And God is saying, I need you to get on mission. Get on board.
Get people here safe. Bring them in.
How are we to live with compassion for the lost?
He tells us to look forward to the day multiple times in scripture. Look forward to the day.
That's an important scripture for me personally, growing up in rapture culture, to look forward to the day.
Why is that a hard thing for me to do? Because I grew up homeschooled and I had some words spoken to me multiple times that I bet you had spoken to you as well, probably by your mother.
And when I was particularly disruptive or disobedient, my mom would say what your mom probably would say to you. And my mom was watching today so she can remember this. She would say, ooh, just wait till. Come on, you had a mom just like mine. Just wait till your dad gets home. And by the way, that was hardly ever a good thing.
Just wait till your daddy gets home. I'm going to tell you, I never looked forward to my dad coming home after that was told to me until those same words were said to, like, one of my siblings. Then I'm like, oh, I can't wait for you to get it. And here's the thing. When it comes to the end of the end of all things, sometimes the only time we look forward to the day is what God's going to do to people we don't like. Like, oh, get him, God.
Smite him.
Smite him.
It's difficult for me when he's talking about the end of all things to take his word seriously when multiple times in scripture he says, look forward to the day. Because I have that mental image of my mind as what happening? What is happening when dad comes home?
Why? Because I've viewed the Father as judgment, but His Word paints a much clearer picture.
And depending upon whether or not you've accepted Christ, that picture becomes completely the opposite.
Now, instead of, ooh, when your dad comes home, I can't wait till your dad comes home. Now it becomes something completely different. Ooh, I can't wait till dad comes home.
And here's God's word saying, look forward to the day Dad's coming home.
And for those of us that have a relationship with Christ, that's a good thing. It's a good thing to look forward to. And for those that do not have a relationship with Christ, it's time for us to get on board to lead them to Christ.
Almost 100% of all believers will never lead another person to Jesus. Why?
Because we've neglected what to do in light of the day. We've become apathetic when it comes to the end of all things. But it's time for you church to get on mission, to have compassion for the lost, to look forward to the day. You know, one of the scriptures that really helped me to understand this and really change my way theologically of thinking is found in First Thessalonians, chapter 5. And this, this I think is going to really help some people that have a.
Just a whole mindset of things that have been clouding your mind. As we look, look at the end, verses 9 through 11, some of the greatest words ever printed in this Bible.
It says, for God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation.
What a great scripture.
He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore, look at these next words. Encourage one another and build each other up. It's very difficult to encourage one another and build each other up when you're talking about end times. Unless you have a much better view of the character of the Father, when you understand who he is, you can start encouraging each other, hey, this ain't heaven. We're going to fight through some stuff here, but, but, but he's coming. It's going to be all right.
Our God hasn't forgotten us.
He's going to take good care of us. And it's interesting, by the way, if you want to do a deeper study on this, if you're really looking to get into some end time stuff, I want to point you to one word that we just read, and that's that word salvation.
God didn't point us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation. Go look at that word in the Greek language. Go look at it in context and see what that word means.
Let me just tell you, you're going to come To a couple of words, a couple of great definitions. And the first is the word rescue. I love that.
The second one is deliverance.
God didn't appoint us to suffer wrath, but so he could rescue us through Christ, so He could deliver us through Christ. Those are important things for us to understand. And it says, therefore, encourage one another, build each other up as the day comes. You're not supposed to be afraid. You're not supposed to be apathetic either.
Encourage one another, build each other up. There's a clock on this thing. Are we in the end times, Pastor? Absolutely, yes.
What does that mean? Shelter in place.
Just hunker down. Maybe they'll sniff you and just go away. No, no, no, no, no. Live holy. Be at peace with God. Have compassion for the lost. God didn't appoint us to suffer wrath, and he doesn't want any single person to perish. But God is waiting. He's holding the door open saying, get in here. And he's expecting us as believers to bring a lot of people with us. I want a ton of people standing in heaven saying, I'm here because of you. That's the goal of my life.
And that should factor into the way that you live tomorrow as well. Because if the sun comes up tomorrow, it's another opportunity for you to do what God has purposed you to do.
I'll leave you with a final statement. We don't look forward to the end because we crave escape, but because we trust the One who is coming. And we want as many people as possible standing with us when he does. Can you receive that? Everybody? I want to finish up right there, if that's okay.
And as we finish up, I want to give you a chance. I feel this strongly in my spirit that maybe there's some of us that need a chance to be at peace with God.
So would you take a moment as you put away your Bibles and put away your phones? Would you take a moment to bow your head and close your eyes and just ask yourself, am I at peace with God right now?
Is there some things between me and God that I need to get this? I need to get this right?
My friend, this day would be wasted if you gave this opportunity away.
Today is the day where you become more than just a hearer of God's Word. You become a doer of God's word.
Are there things that God has done that you're like, I don't understand that. Are there things that you've done that you're like, I. I don't know If God can forgive me, let there be peace between you and God right here and right now.
There might be some things you want to confess.
There might be some things you need to say, Lord, I hear you and I'm turning away from that. Right here and right now. I'm letting go of that. It might be a habit, might be things that you've said, might be attitudes that you've had. It might be things that you've looked at.
Let's just take a moment, say, lord, can I have your forgiveness so there can be peace between me and you?
His Holy Spirit is stirring your heart right now saying, let's make this right.
It's time to live holy blameless before the Lord set apart in the way that you think, the way that you operate.
It's time to have compassion for the lost.
So, Father, we recognize that you have placed us here where we are in the timeline of heaven for a reason and that you don't want anybody to perish.
So I know that there are people around us that don't know you, and I pray that you'd use our lives, Lord, to represent you well.
Help us, Lord, to have compassion for those that don't know you and maybe for those like me that were raised in church but walked away.
Show us, Lord, how to do that in Jesus name.
With heads bowed and eyes closed all across this place. Maybe you came here today and you're saying, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, I don't have a relationship with Jesus. I need that relationship with Jesus. My friend. Yes, you do. And you're in this place for a reason. God led you here for this moment. For others, you might be in this place and saying, pastor, I'm so far from God right now. I know I need to come home. My friend. Yes, you do. If you could see it, God is holding the door open and saying, come home. Come home. Get in here and this is your moment. This is your opportunity. You may say, pastor, I don't really know what to do. My friend, let me help you the same way somebody helped me. I love you enough to tell you the truth. God loves you and wants a relationship with you. And all of it starts with a prayer, a prayer of repentance.
So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to invite you to pray this prayer with me. I'm going to say the words out loud, and I want to invite you to. To say these words out loud with me. As a matter of fact, all of us are going to pray this out loud. So you don't feel embarrassed or ashamed in any way. You're not going to be singled out. I would never do that. But you need this prayer and this is your moment.
So, saints, let's pray this prayer out loud together. Just say Jesus.
Come on, say it like you mean it. Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
And I believe you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for my sins.
Please forgive me.
I need your help.
And I'll give you my life in Jesus name.
And with heads bowed and eyes closed with no one else looking around, if that was you and you prayed that prayer, if you meant that prayer, can I just see your hand all across this place? Would you lift it up nice and high and proud. Good, good, good, good. I see you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'. Am.
Yes, sir. You guys can put your hands down. You might even be watching online and say, that was me. I prayed that prayer. I want you to know that there's going to be a phone number that appears on the screen behind me. And just those of you that prayed that prayer, if you lifted your hand, there's a phone number just for you. I want to ask you to text me, text the words I prayed to that number. And I'm going to send you back the link to some things I prepared for you that will help you understand what just happened in your heart and what to do next.
It's the greatest honor of my life to help people meet Jesus.
This isn't the end of your walk with Christ. This is. This is the new beginning.
And we would love to help you keep walking with him and fall deeper in love with Him.
It's a beautiful thing.
Harris family, go ahead and look up at me if you would, and would you stand to your feet with me as we finish up our service today, I'm going to invite our elders and their wives forward to be available to pray with you about anything you might need prayer for.
Also want to remind you we've got Easter coming up in the next few weeks. We will be having five services on Easter weekend. Two of those will be on Saturday at 4:30 and 6 and then our normal service times on Sunday. We need people to serve. And so in order to be able to serve here, I need to know that you're in with us.
And so that starts with the growth track. Growth Track is our membership class. That happens every Sunday during our three. During our third service, which is the 12 o' clock service, starts here in about. About 25 minutes. And so that's in our youth building across the street. So if you've been kicking the tires around here saying, I think this might be my home church, welcome home, you're just as weird as the rest of us. It's not a competition. We're glad that you could be a part of what you're doing, what we're doing right here. So if you feel like this is your home, then that's your next step for you. And then we'd love for you to be serving somewhere on Easter Sunday especially. There's a lot of people that are going to meet Jesus this Easter Sunday. So I want to challenge you to invite them, invite them to church.
You're gonna be shocked, but a lot of people, surveys have proven it. People say yes when you invite them to church. You just have to have the courage to ask.
And so I just. I give you full permission if you invite your friends to church on Easter Sunday. And I say, would you bow your head and close your eyes and I start presenting the gospel and asking for people to respond to that. I give you full permission to peek, because I want you to see what happens when the people that you've invited to church start responding to what the Holy Spirit's doing. It's a beautiful thing, and you need to see that you get to be a part of that. It's a wonderful thing to watch people take that next step.
I believe God's gonna do some great things on Easter weekend. So I just want you to pray about and think about.
Just let me challenge you. Just. Just pray about it.
Would you think about Saturday service? Think about one of those two Saturday spots, because Sunday is going to be really, really full. We're already out of parking. All three services are pretty full on Sunday as well. And so there's a lot of people going to come, and there's a lot of people that need a church home.
Longview has been hit hard, especially in the church circles, by a lot of things. And there's people that are far from God right now. They need this.
So I want to invite you, if you wouldn't mind. Just make room for our friends that need Jesus. They need a church home. And I believe the same way that God led you here, he's going to lead those people here, and it's going to watch. We're going to watch and see some beautiful things. Amen. It's going to be awesome. So once again, our elders are here, and they would love to pray for you if you have anything that you would need prayer for if you enjoyed this message today, I want to ask if you wouldn't mind do us a huge favor, share this on whatever social media platform that you're watching. This. Lots of people need to hear just some down to earth truth, simple, plain about end times. There's a lot of junk out there and so this is our attempt to help alleviate some of that. Amen. Let me pray for you and bless you as we go. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Would you lead them by your spirit? Would you show them what to say and how to say it? Father, I pray that many people would be in heaven because of their willingness to represent you well. Lord, would you bless their families? Would you bless their finances? Would you bless their friendship circles? Would you bless their homes? I pray that you give them rest and peace and favor and blessing and protection. We ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus and all of us said together.
Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an awesome week.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
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