[This is a transcript of a sermon given by a Christian pastor
in Philadelphia, PA.] "Father, we settle our hearts in these days
we live in, Lord, we don't want to just give lip service Lord
to the idea of your 2nd coming or the urgency of the
hour we live in. Lord we don't want to just act, Lord, like we
know about it, we don't want to honor you with our lips but have
our heart be far from you. And Lord, so often we find ourselves
like that, I find myself like that, Lord. All of the signs of
your return, Lord, surround us. There is nothing that forbids
you coming this evening for the church, and yet Lord, so much
of the time we find our hearts longing after things in this world
instead of the souls of men, longing Lord after material blessings
instead of your presence--negligent, Father, in prayer and study
of your Word. And yet Lord, we with all of our hearts believe
in your love and in your grace, that you have placed some unimaginable
value upon us that you would send your Son into the world to die
in our place. And Lord, because of that, Lord, our hearts are
lifted toward heaven...for your best Lord, because we know you've
given your best, given your only Son. And that you won't deny
us anything else Lord, but will give us all things with Him freely.
So Father, we pray for your best this evening. Fill us with your
Spirit, Lord. Receive our thanksgiving Lord, for a time that we
can sing your praises and study your Word, and fellowship. And
Lord we pray that we might be different when we leave than when
we came, that we would love you more when we leave than when we
came. And we know that we are praying according to your will.
And so Father we lift our hearts--do surgery on us Lord, challenge
us, encourage us Lord, draw us after yourself. Lord draw me, stir
my heart. Lord, you are the Good Shepherd. Lead us, and come quickly,
Lord, we pray in your Holy name, Amen."
[I'm typing the whole of Luke 21:10-28 here so you can get an
idea of the whole passage in context, as you read the sermon.]
Luke 21:10-28. "Then he said unto them, 'Nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom [world wars]:
and great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines,
and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall
there be from heaven.
But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons,
being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And
it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your
hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will
give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall
not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head
perish.
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know
that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in
Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst
of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter
thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things
which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are
with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! For there
shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
And they shall fall be the edge of the sword, and shall be led
away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;
the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear,
and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:
for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to
pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption
draweth nigh..." Verse 31, "So likewise ye, when ye see these
things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at
hand."
"Luke chapter 21. We have gotten to verse 11. Beginning in verse 5, "Some spake
of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts, and Jesus
said, 'As for these things which you behold, the days will come in the which
there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.'
They (of course, astounded with that) asked him saying, 'Master, when shall
these things be and what sign will there be when these things shall come to
pass?' He said, 'Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in
my name saying I am Christ, the time draweth near, go ye not therefore after
them. But when you shall hear of wars and commotion's, be not terrified, for
these things must first come to pass, but the end is not or by and by. Nation
shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes
in diverse places and famines and pestilences and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven." Now it picks up in verse 25, where it says "And
there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars". In keeping
with this idea of signs in the heavens verse 12 begins a parenthesis that we
only have in Luke's gospel, and we'll look at it together. And it's only in
Luke's gospel where Jesus warns in regards to the persecution and trouble that
would take place prior to 70 A.D. and we'll look at that together.
Jesus says this, verse 12, "But before all of these things, they
shall lay their hands on you, persecute you, delivering you up
to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings
and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a
testimony." It'll be an opportunity. "Settle it therefore in your
hearts not to meditate beforehand what you shall answer, for I
will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall
not be able to gainsay or resist. You shall be betrayed, both
by parents, brethren, kinsfolk and friends, and some of you shall
they cause to be put to death. You shall be hated of all men for
my name's sake, but there shall not a hair of your head perish.
In your patience possess ye your souls." He begins to talk to
them about a persecution they would face. And he gives them some
points. Now, important for us as we hear Jesus talk about persecution
and his care for believers during a time like that, you know in
America we feel very removed from that. Last year when there were
testimonies before our Congress about Christians that are being
persecuted in other countries, about Christians that are being
crucified in Sudan today, and I'm sure you've heard James Dobson
talking about persecution globally, things about persecution going
on--the testimony before Congress last year [1997] said, more
Christians have been martyred in this century than in the last
1900 years combined. More Christians have been martyred in this
century than in the entire history of the Church. Now
see, that seems far removed from us. When we hear when Jesus talks
about trouble and persecutions in the last days, it seems like,
'Well, things gotta get worse.' Well, to most of the world they
don't think this evening 'Things gotta get worse.' They think,
'Things can only get better.' William Brady, in his book
"Behind the Iron Curtain" says in this century alone there have
been fifteen million Christians martyred in Russia alone. So there
are many who greatly appreciated these words, and I'm sure that
they thought of them as they were being hauled in front of a judge
or executioner or a prison guard or a warden, remembering that
Jesus said 'You know in the very hour that you need the words
I'm gonna give them to you. I'll give you the grace you need in
the moment that you need it.' Now we know he does that, he's faithful.
Think, of course, of Peter on the day of Pentecost, how he stood
up and 3,000 souls were saved as he preached the gospel. We think
of him in [Acts] chapter 4 again, when he's brought before the
Sanhedrin and the religious rulers which were the very men that
he had denied Christ before previously. Remember he said, that
night when Jesus was taken from the garden of Getheseme to the
home of one of the religious rulers, they asked Peter, "Are you
one of his disciples?" and three times he denied the Lord, you
remember that. Well Jesus clearly told them "When they bring you
in the synagogues and before the magistrates..." this is Luke
chapter 12, verses 11 and 12, "...and powers, take ye no thought"--same
idea--"how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say,
for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought
to say." Very interesting, in Acts chapter 4, when Peter is brought
before those religious rulers, it says, Peter, being filled with
the Holy Ghost, stands up and delivers one of the most incredible
messages you'll read in all of the New Testament. The same man
who had cowered in front of them in the gospels and denied Christ,
now filled with the Holy Spirit, gives great testimony to Christ.
The same Lord, yesterday, today and forever, the same promise
to us that he will give us what we need when we need it. We see
Steven in Acts chapter 7, it says that his face was glowing like
an angel and it says he, Steven, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
it says that they actually held their ears, they couldn't understand,
'Steven being full of the Holy Ghost, looked steadfastly into
heaven and saw the glory of God, Jesus standing on the right hand
of God, and said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of Man standing on the right hand of God', and they cried with
a loud voice, and they stopped up their ears and they ran on him
in one accord and they stoned him', Steven in that very hour.
We see Paul before Agrippa giving such a clear testimony that
Agrippa says to Paul, 'Paul, you're trying to make me a Christian,
I know what you're doing.'--so much conviction in his own heart.
And of course in II Timothy chapter 4, Paul there, talking about
his hearing before Nero, said, 'Everyone forsook me.' He said, "But
the Lord Jesus was with me. At my first hearing before Caesar,
no man stood with me, all men forsook me. I pray God that it may
not be laid to their charge, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with
me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully
known, and that all Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out
of the mouth of the lion." So Paul says the Lord was with him.
The very promise that we're reading. Now I think that's important
to us, you know what? As we look at friends and relatives, you
know that I know that in your life there are people that you love
very much, and you've been sharing the Lord with them. You know,
sometimes you get a bad time from them. They get tired, like these
guys in the book of Acts, they just want to stop up their ears
and run at you and stone you, you know. They just want you to
shut up and leave them alone. And I am convinced that more than
ever what we need is what Jesus said, we need to be filled with
the Holy Spirit. I don't care what your theology is on the Holy
Spirit. I'm just saying that we need what the apostles needed.
Fine, put baptism wherever you want it, we need the Holy Spirit.
We need His empowering, we need to be filled. When we give a testimony
to relatives and people that we love, are we praying before-hand and
saying, 'Lord, fill me with your Spirit, because I've said these
words a thousand times.' Reading the life story of Moody it says,
when after a huge successful ministry and then a greater filling
with the Holy Spirit, it says, 'He said the things he had always
said, but there was such power and such unction that people, millions,
were giving their lives to Christ.' And I think how desperately
we need that same thing. And Jesus is promising that even when
there's hostility toward the things that we believe and that we
want to say, that we can depend on him. And even then, against
all odds, when we think people won't listen to us, that he'll
give us the words to say in that very hour that no one will be
able to gainsay or stand against. I think that's great encouragement
as I look at this and I think about persecution. That promise
is to us also.
This troubles me a little bit. Verse 16, "You shall be betrayed
by both parents, brethren, kinfolk, friends; and some of you shall
they cause to be put to death. And you shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish." Those
two are hard for me to put together. "Some of you they shall put
to death,--but not an hair of your head shall perish." I'm not
going to worry about that after they put me to death. I know some
of us are worried about that now, a few hairs have perished. In
another place he says, "Don't fear those who can merely kill the
body"...I think that's what he's talking about. Even if we lay
down our life for Christ, not a single hair on our head will perish.
In fact, in the resurrection, ones that are already gone will
be back.
Verse 19, "In your patience possess ye your souls", enduring,
speaking to those who will face this persecution coming on Jerusalem,
because he says it in verse 20. "When you see Jerusalem compassed
with armies", surrounded with armies, "then know that the desolation
thereof is nigh. Let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let them who are in the midst of it depart out. Let not them who
are in the countries enter thereinto, for these be the days of
vengeance that all things that are written may be fulfilled. But
woe unto them that are with child, to them that give suck in those
days, for there shall be wrath upon this people. And they shall
fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive unto
all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." That gives us
a key to this passage. He begins this passage by saying "when
you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies", he ends this passage
by saying "then you shall be driven out amongst all the nations
of the world."
That gives us the context. Matthew chapter 24 said something very
similar, only he says this, "When you shall see the desolation
of abominations spoken of by Daniel the prophet, then let the
reader understand...let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains--pray
your flight's not on the Sabbath"--but it says nothing about worldwide
dispersion at that point in time. This is something different.
This is not the anti-christ, this is "When you see Jerusalem surrounded
by armies"--70 A.D.--"then let them flee"...Early church historians
tell us that the Christians took this warning to heart. And they
fled out the East Gate one night and by chance--that's not a Biblical
word, rabbi's say
"coincidence" is not a Kosher word--coincidentally, the
Roman guards were not at that gate, and they fled to Pela, not
Petra, Pela, east of Jerusalem, still within the borders of Israel,
and survived the siege of Jerusalem. Many Christians, warned by
this passage, fled Jerusalem, which was surrounded by armies,
Titus, Vespasian, the Roman Legions. And at the end of this siege
it says, "They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall
be led away captive into all nations." That is the Diaspora--"and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles"--that's been
for the last 1900 years--"until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Now
again, take notice, there is another warning, and I believe written
to those who will be alive during the tribulation period. "When
you see the abomination of desolation's spoken of by Daniel the
prophet"--speaking of the anti-christ, we know that Israel's rebirth
is necessary, because it tells us he will exalt himself above
all that is called God and that he will go into the temple and
seat himself in the temple in Jerusalem. So it's very interesting
for us to watch the news today and see the news centering around
Israel. Very interesting for us to see articles written everywhere
about those who want to rebuild a temple in Israel, very interesting
for us to watch the tensions in the Middle East today, and know
that some world leader will soon come on the scene. Maybe he's
alive this evening. And the Bible tells us clearly that he will
come on the political scene as an orator, as a political genius,
and that when he comes on the scene, he will sign a seven year
treaty with the nation of Israel [some think 3.5 year treaty,
eschatological differences exist from group to group, but the
event will happen nonetheless]. I get the feeling when I read
that--and by the way it says "he shall confirm a covenant"--it
could be the Oslo Accord, I don't know--he's going to come on
the scene and confirm a covenant for seven years with the nation
of Israel. That tells me that we are looking for some shaking
to take place, a limited nuclear exchange--something's going to
happen to shake the world, because this evening it would be an
impossibility to sign a seven year treaty with the nation of Israel
guaranteeing them peace for seven years--could never happen with
Islam, with the tensions in the Middle East tonight. Something
will happen that will shake the world and make the civilized world
clamor for peace. And this man at thatpoint in
time, will arise on the scene, stabilize the oil cartel, and sign
a seven year peace treaty with the nation of Israel. Now it's
very interesting, because, as we've been reading through these
passages, "signs and wonders, nation against nation, famine, pestilence,
earthquake, deception"--all of those things seemed to be restrained
and under God's governing, not let fully go. But it tells us in
2 Thessalonians there's a point in time coming when the Holy Spirit
will stop restraining all of those things, an they will be allowed
to move forward with full force. So then it will no longer be "look
out for deception and false christs", you have "the false
christ" coming on the scene, as restraint has come
to an end. Then it won't just be 'wars and rumors of wars', Revelation
6 then shows us, after the White Horse, the Red Horse riding forward,
and war goes forth, and it tells us in one hour one fourth of
the world's population is gonna be wiped out. That's in one hour,
every human being in South America, Central America, Mexico, the
United States, Canada and Europe, gone in one hour, if you can
imagine that. [He's talking population-wise. It won't necessarily
be those particular countries being wiped out.] And then pestilence
comes forth, which always follows war and disease. Right now we're
seeing the restrained versions of all of that.
Then this anti-christ, this person who's deceived the world, it
says is gonna require that everybody on earth receives a mark
on the back of their right hand or their forehead, and without
it they won't be able to buy or sell or get a job. Now that sounded
farfetched for years, I know, but the technology is in place.
Is it the technology that Revelation 13 is speaking of? I don't
know that. I don't know that. Time Magazine, and this is April
27th, this spring, 1998, there's an article in here.
It's called "The Future of Money."
And it talks about electronic funds transfer, cash, credit cards,
ATM cards, ID cards, Insurance cards, about one card, a smart-card
that does all of this, and it says, the old fashioned checking
accounts will be done away with. It says,
"Your daughter can store money any way she wants, on her laptop,
on a debit card, or even in the not-so-distant future, on a chip
implanted under her skin." That was Time Magazine, this spring
[1998].
I was out with someone from Washington several weeks ago, [he]
told me in the Panama invasion a number of American soldiers,
I don't know whether it was a division or a company, they took
chips and implanted them under their eyebrow, because they knew
that was the most visible place they could see them. And they
watched them in battle by satellite. They could see every man,
they could see where he was, if he was wounded, it was thermally
sensitive, loosing blood, cooling, they could see they had a man
wounded. From satellite they knew every man's name. When a prisoner
of war was taken they couldn't hide him, because they knew where
he was. This is Panama, you know how long ago that was. And this
was a man who was involved with the technology. All of this is
in place. Now I'm saying this mainly for those of you here
who don't know Christ, who may have been dragged here by a
friend who promised to take you out to a steak dinner afterwards.
And you're thinking my mouth's watering, I can't wait till
this screwball finishes. Well, you know, I just want to tell
you, call this person a screwball in Time Magazine, the technology
is there. For you believers, we are not watching fort the anti-christ,
we are watching for Jesus Christ. And the question for us
is, as we see this technology in place, what is it doing to us?
You know, Time Magazine, that's speaking kind of loud to me. You
know, not Time Magazine itself, but the Lord, you know, the Spirit
saying you know, 'to look, watch, to be vigilant, to be sober,
to see these things, to take note of them, to scenario together
in your heart and mind.' And we can differ in our eschatological
perspectives. But I don't think that the Holy Spirit will
allow us to differ as we sense the urgency of the hour that we
live in, as we see the darkness that's around us--as we see the
difficulty in the world that we live in. If the Lord doesn't come
for 100 years, we still are closer to the coming of the Lord than
any generation in the church that's ever walked this earth. So
these things are more important to us than any generation of the
church that's ever lived. Remarkably, he says here,
"Israel would be carried away into all of the nations of the world,
Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the
times of the Gentiles--the only time that phrase is used in the
Bible, in Romans [11:25] there's a similar passage that talks
about the fullness of the Gentiles, I don't know if there's a
difference--until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled Jerusalem
will be "trodden down of the Gentiles." Now I'm not sure what
that means. In June of 1967 Israel took back Jerusalem. In 1948
they became a nation again. Never happened! You don't know any
Babylonians? A people gone for 2,000 years are reborn, in their
own land, against all odds. I was in Pathmart, in northeast Philadelphia.
And over the radio in that Pathmart, it was in a Jewish neighborhood,
the announcer came on, in June of 1967, "The Israeli Army is in
possession of Jerusalem and the Western Wall." People began to
weep all over. That is miraculous. Where are we living now [in
prophecy], in a semicolon?--in a comma? Is the Times of the Gentiles
fulfilled, or is it just a precursor to let us know how close
it is? I guarantee you that no matter what happens in the rest
of the world, our attention will always came back to Jerusalem.
It is a rocky hill, I've been there fourteen times. There is no
gold, there is no silver, there is no oil, there's no natural
resources on that hill, in that country--the diamond capital of
the world--but they import the diamonds from everywhere else.
There's no diamonds in Israel, no diamond mines. And that rocky
hill, 25 hundred feet above sea level, Friday is the Muslim Holy
Day, Saturday is the Jew's Holy Day, and Sunday is the Christian's
Holy Day. Everybody wants that rocky hill, and there ain't nothing
there but conviction in men's hearts. And you can't negotiate
that. You can negotiate nuclear arms, you can negotiate weapons,
you can't negotiate Jesus Christ, YHVH, and Allah. It will never
happen. It will be a stumbling block, Zechariah says, Jerusalem,
of all the nations of the world. How incredible to see it again
in the center of the news, in the days that we live in--trodden
down of the Gentiles, until--makes me wonder
where we are today--the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. [For
the latest current events evidence backing up what he's saying
about Jerusalem, CLICK HERE.]
Now verse 25 then picks up from verse 11 and gives us the context,
when we see Jerusalem again, when we see it's no longer trodden
down of the Gentiles, under Jewish control--"there shall be signs
in the sun, and in the moon and in the stars; and upon the earth
distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring..." Signs
in the sun and the moon and the stars, you see we're picking up
from verse 11 where it says "great signs shall there be from heaven" fearful
sights. What is it talking about? I don't know--asteroids? That's
in the movies now, isn't it? Doesn't it seem funny that they make
fun of everything that's coming? Can you see Satan desensitizing
the people of this world?--turning Armageddon into a, you know,
an R-rated movie, a PG-13 rated movie, instead of a reality--Sudden
Impact, or whatever it was called, turning that into a movie instead
of a reality. We think of the crater at Winslow, Arizona, where
a meteor hit the earth--557 feet deep and 4,100 feet wide with
the force many nuclear blasts. We think of the one in Siberia
that we hardly know about, but we saw the forest flattened for
miles. They say that if a meteor ten miles wide hit the earth,
it would be 10 times all the nuclear weapons on earth, the detonating
power of that hitting the earth. We would go immediately into
a nuclear winter, a nuclear night, for ten years, for a decade.
And of course, we have these plans, if we see an asteroid or meteor
coming, we're going to send up a nuclear missile and blow it apart--you
know, they're working on these plans. The problem is, the last
big one--they didn't see it till it went by! You
see the trick is to have to see them coming, or there's no sense
shooting them after they've shot you. As for me and my house,
we're gonna serve the Lord, we're going to trust Him, not the
guys who can shoot down meteors. Signs in the heavens, solar flares,
they're talking about power going out all over, that there's a
series of solar flares coming in, I don't know. UFO's, space travel,
I think they're deceptive, I don't know if that's part of it,
but don't you believe it. Man is the pinnacle of God's creation.
There ain't nobody smarter flying around in some ship somewhere.
We were created in God's image and likeness. All of the creation
was put into dominion of man. And if "they" show up, you just
plead the blood of Jesus on them and they'll get out of your back
yard, because that's where they come from. I don't know what it
means, "signs in the heavens"--deception? I know that in Revelation
13 it says that the false christ and the anti-christ are going
to call down fire from heaven. I know that it says that the two
prophets that are seated outside of Jerusalem, Revelation chapter
11, will call down fire from heaven. There will be no rain, shut
up the heavens in regard to rain. I know that it tells us in Revelation
chapter 16 that there will be 90lb hailstones falling. Now some
argue whether that's a Greek measure or a Hebrew measure, one
is 110lb, one is 90lb, you get hit with one of those babies, you
won't care. You know, it is interesting that after in the Bikini
Islands, our nuclear tests, we took ships, we took ships out of
mothballs we were no longer using and put them at certain distances
away from the explosions in the Bikini Islands to see what kind
of damage would happen to them in the open sea, and the ships
that were further away they found huge dents all over the decks
of the ships like somebody with a huge ball-peen hammer had worked
them over, and they realized that when that mushroom went up to
the stratosphere, that it produced hailstones over a hundred pounds
of what they call "space ice", fell on those ships. I don't know.
It's fine with me. New improved, or the old classic, I'm planning
on watching from the Mezzanine.
Verse 25, "signs in the sun, the moon, the stars, upon the earth
distress of nations"--now we don't have to look real far for that--"with
perplexity." Distress simply means to be under pressure or to
be compressed, speaking simply of stress of nations. With perplexity--is
a Greek word that means "unable to squeeze through a narrow place", "no
way out"
some translate it. Or "national problems without solutions" is
what it's saying here--"nations in perplexity" that we've become--we're
in gridlock, that globally, nations will find themselves in gridlock,
or when a human being dies in a hospital, they sometimes say, "That
person died of complications."
Well, that's what it's saying about the political world, that
it will, that complications will start to shut things down--first
the lungs go, the kidneys go, can't pass urine, the breath is
lessening, the heart is straining--that's the idea--perplexity
of nations, things become so complicated, "perplexity of nations"--no
way out. Not the UN negotiating. Think how starved today the world
is for a leader, someone to provide answers. All of this, see,
perplexity, no way out, is all of these things happening at one
time in greater frequency and intensity--wars, rumors of wars,
famines, pestilence, earthquake, all of that with Israel at the
center, the tension over Jerusalem, terrorism, nuclear threat,
nuclear proliferation--we're living in the middle of it, and we're
worried about who the Eagles cut today. The whole world's gonna
blow up (and I worry about who the Eagles cut today!)
Very interesting, verse 26 says this. Because of this perplexity
of nations, signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, the sea
and the waves roaring--is that from a meteor striking? They say
that if a meteor a mile wide hit the Atlantic, that there would
be tidal waves hundreds of feet tall, all over the eastern seaboard,
all over Europe, that they would go all the way around the world.
Sunamis, tidal waves, who knows--"the waves roaring", it says, "men's
hearts failing them for fear, looking after those things which
are coming on the earth." The only time that phrase is used in
the Bible, "men's hearts failing"--it is the Greek word that means "to
stop breathing"--that's "failing". Men literally dropping dead,
heart attacks, fear, looking at the signs in the sun, the moon,
the stars, the wars, rumors of wars, the tidal waves, the things
that are going on, --men's hearts literally stopping for fear
of those things that are coming upon the world. It sounds really
depressing, doesn't it? This is really a bummer, for some. "For
the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Now, there's three ways
we can look at this. The powers, which is the Greek word dunamis, and
some like to point right away to nuclear war and say, 'Well dunamis
is where we get [the word] dynamite. Heaven, Uranin, where
we get Uranium (235 of course), that the explosive power of Uranium "will
be shaken" is literally "to be loosed", and what that's talking
about is nuclear exchange, nuclear war, men's hearts failing them
for fear, looking at those things. I don't know. Maybe. Other
people say it's just talking about the natural, that if we get
a, you know, somehow the solar system, the magnetic fields. It
does talk about the earth wobbling to and fro like a drunken man,
the powers of heavens being shaken, men's hearts...it's just something
in the natural, the astronomical that will happen. Could be. Fine
with me. Some say it's spiritual, that the powers, principalities
and powers of the heavens shall be loosed, that there are fallen
angels that have been bound since the flood, that God will once
again lose in the last days when he brings judgment on the earth.
Fine with me. You know why? Because I'm in 28th [verse].
That's where I'm at. Verse 27 says "then shall they see the Son
of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory." That's
speaking about the end of the age. We know that when Jesus comes
the prophets tell us the sun's going to refuse to shine, that
the stars will look like they're falling from heaven like untimely
figs, that the moon will turn to blood, turn red. And it tells
us in Revelation chapter 19, then when Jesus returns, in a cloud,
it seems to be in a cloud of witness, the believers following
him. The sun goes out, the moon refuses to shine, the stars go
out, and the only visible light in the heavens is Jesus Christ,
coming through the heavens on a white horse with his vesture dipped
in blood, with the armies of heaven and the angels following him,
and on his thigh and vesture is written Lord of lords and King
of kings, the Word of God--and that's the only visible thing,
because the first time he came they spit in his face, they ripped
out his beard, they mocked him, they crucified him. But when he
comes the second time, the Father in heaven will not allow the
sun to have any glory, or the moon, or the stars. One light in
the heavens, Jesus, lighting up the heavens as he comes, it says,
with royal crowns sparkling on his head, his vesture dipped in
blood. Isaiah 63, "Who is this that cometh from Bosra, that cometh
from Edom with his vesture dipped in blood, the Lord." And it
says he touches the Mount of Olives and it will split in half
[Zechariah 14], to the north and the south, making a big ravine
that runs east and west, and it will cross the valley of Kidron
which will be running with blood up to the horses bridle--maybe
his horse. The blood of all nations, the Prince of peace and crossing
a river of human blood because men could not govern themselves--entering
into Jerusalem. It says that Jerusalem is divided into three parts
in the book of Revelation, and elevated. Very interesting, that
article in Biblical Archeological Review, where under the East
Gate of Jerusalem, which is blocked up today--the Muslims blocked
it up an put a cemetery in front of it because they knew it was
Holy to the Jews--when they were digging the cemetery a Muslim
worker fell through, and underneath that East Gate is an East
Gate that is over 2,000 years old, intact, open, underneath of
that gate. Maybe, as that city begins to elevate, we have "lift
up your heads Oh ye gates, be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors
that the King of Glory may come in. Who is the King of Glory?
The Lord, mighty in battle--lift up your heads Oh ye gates, be
ye lifted up Oh ye everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may
come in. Who is this King? The Lord, the Lord of hosts." What
a day. What a day.
But look at the next verse, very important to us. It says, "When
these things begin to come to pass, then look up, lift
up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." Very interesting
passage, because it divides itself from verse 31, [which] it says,
"so likewise when you see these things come to pass"--come to
completion--"then know that the kingdom of God is nigh." So it's
telling us two things here. To a certain group of people, when
you see these things come to completion, then know that the kingdom
of God is nigh. But to another group it says, "When these things
are"--literally--"beginning"--just when you see the beginning
of them--"then lift up your heads, because your redemption"--which
is a word only used through the New Testament for the believer--four
times it speaks of the redemption of the body being caught up
to be with the Lord. The other times it talks about our salvation.
It is a believer's word. Study it through the New Testament. See
for yourself the places that it's used--ten times: Luke 21:28;
Romans 3:24; 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Eph. 1:7; Eph. 1:14; Eph.
4:30; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:15; and in Hebrews 11:35 it is translated "deliverance".
Every one of those places except the last one in Hebrews talks
about the redemption of the believer. Here is says, and
I love this verse, "when you see these things are beginning..." Let
me tell you something. They have begun. Look
around the world, they have begun. Wars and
rumors of wars, famine, like we have never seen--pestilences,
deeply infectious diseases--earthquakes, like we've never seen--persecution,
like we've never seen--deception, like we've never seen--"when
you see these things beginning," then you,
who believe, you Christians, "lift up your heads, because your
redemption draweth near"--is the same phrase we have in other
places, which means "is at hand."
Here it's in the present tense--"is and has drawn near and stands
at the door"--when you see these things happening.
You say you believe in the 2nd coming of Christ. You
say that Jesus could come [for you] at any moment. Is that
being expressed through you life? Is there an urgency?
It says in 1 John 3, "Any man that has hope purifies himself,
even as he is pure." It is a purifying hope in the church, it
is a strengthening hope in the church. It speaks of imminence.
There's no way that we can get rid of that. Romans chapter 13,
and you don't have to turn there, I'll read these passages to
you. It says, "The night is far spent, the day"--here's our phrase--"is
at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and
let us put on the armour of God." It tells us this in James. "Be
ye also patient, establish you hearts, for the coming of the Lord"--same
phrase--"draweth--eth in the king James--"nigh", literally "has
drawn near and is imminent." Peter, telling us the same thing,
1 Peter 4, verse 7, "The end of all things is at hand." What it
says is, there is nothing preventing Jesus Christ from coming
this evening. [For those who believe he's coming first to "rapture
his church, his Bride to safety, wherever that is, heaven, Petra,
I don't care, just so it's a safe place away from World War III!]
If you say he can't come till the end of the tribulation, "Who
is that wicked servant that says in his heart, 'The Lord delayeth
his coming'". It says what it produces is drinking and fist fighting
and laxity. It says that if you believe that Jesus Christ could
come tonight, what it produces is purity. It's called the 'blessed
hope of the church.' It's not 'we're waiting till the end of the
tribulation to get out of here.' It says, "Men, treat your wives
the way Christ treated the church." Well you wives better hope
that your husbands are Pre-tribulationists, because if they're
post-tribulationists they can set you on fire and persecute you
and just, you know, tidal waves and all kinds of stuff--"treat
your wives the way Christ treats the church."--nourishes it and
cherishes it and cares for it. The Bible's clear, Christ is coming.
Are we living like that? Do we think about that? Does it bring
to bear on my own heart the pressures that is should bring to
bear on me?--that he could come at any time [to take me to safety]?
When we witness to our friends and to our relatives, so what if
we get some persecution. He'll give us the words that we should
speak in that very hour. That's what is says. And he'll give us
the unction, he'll give us the power. We should be seeking the
Lord for a filling of His Spirit. We are not looking for the anti-christ,
but we see the signs. It tells us in 1 Thessalonians "You have
no need that I write unto you in regards to the times and the
seasons, you yourselves know that the coming of the Lord will
come like a thief in the night." He says 'you don't need any more
explanation about the times and the seasons--we see them around
us--Christ is coming.
You know, as a parent, what kind of hope could I have in this
day? What kind of hope could I have for my grandchildren? Look
at what's happening in our nation. I think we should pray for
our president. We should pray for our policy-makers. But what
we should pray for, if we're gonna be here, is a God-given outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, a revival, an Awakening, and a Great In-gathering. "Lord,
if you're gonna leave us here, fill us with your Spirit and set
us on fire! If you're not going to that, then get us out of here!" Why
just be here in neutral? Why just be here in neutral?! All of
the signs are there. I believe Christ is coming [for his Bride]
at any time. As I look at all these things happening in the world,
I am not depressed, because all of these things are prescribed,
they're written on the "prophetic menu." This evening, where is
your hope? As you see nuclear proliferation, what does that mean
to you? If you don't know Christ, what does that mean to you?
You know, the difference between, one of the differences between
the Scripture and the Apanashadze and the Bagvaguita or the Koran
or any other religious writings in the world is the Scripture
is almost two thirds prophecy. None of the those
other books lay out for us in great detail exactly what we're
seeing today. The Bible is very clear. And in Isaiah 40, 41, 42,
and 43 God says,
"Talk to your gods. Can they tell you what will happen before
it comes to pass? I alone am your God and your Savior. Talk to
your idols. Talk to your religious leaders. Can they tell you
from the beginning..." The Bible's saying it's a message to us
from another domain--God's Kingdom--with all of the things necessary
that we need to see for us to be on our toes. Examine your hearts
tonight. If you're living in compromise, if your living in sin,
you're taking drugs, and you're calling yourself a Christian--you
are self-deceived. How can you say you believe Christ is coming
and live deliberately in sin? But you can come to him. We confess
our sins. He's faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. He, like the father of the prodigal son, will
run to his returning children with His arms open to embrace them.
He's done everything that's necessary.
I'm gonna have the musicians come, I want to challenge you that
don't know Jesus personally. You know, it's interesting, I remember
even before I was saved being interested in the book of Revelation.
You know, before I was a Christian I'd have gone to see Armageddon
right away, soon as that came out, because I had that morbid curiosity
about the future. I wanted to know what Nostradamos said. I may
have even been foolish enough to read some of the check-out stand
prophets and see what they had to say. But that's when I was in
darkness. That's before the Lord brought me into the light. The
news is here. CNN hasn't got a clue. Here's the news, right here,
you can read today's news, tomorrows news, you can read the Good
News. The Good News is Jesus Christ is coming. When he comes are
you going to be with him? Or will you be left behind? Your choice.
[And I don't care, personally, whether the rapture is to heaven,
or a place of safety on earth--just so it's not where the bombs
are falling.] The Bible says that all we need to do is accept
him as our Savior. It's not a religion, it's not playing church,
it's not Calvary Chapel. You can be from any denomination, any
background, any religious background, the Bible says what's necessary
is that you need to come to him as a sinner and ask his
forgiveness. He's not a great teacher, he's not
a guru, he's a savior.
That's why it's so offensive to talk about Jesus to friends and
relatives. That's why he says, "I'll give you the words" because
as soon as you say "Jesus", people want to run. You can talk to
them about dieting, you can talk to them about Yoga, you can talk
to them about marshal arts, you can talk to them about vegetable
juice...or anything you want. When you say
"Jesus", they're outa town. Isn't that interesting? You never
hear anybody smash their thumb with a hammer and go "Harikrishna!", "Oh
Buddha!" Isn't it interesting that it all aims at our Savior Jesus?
I encourage you tonight, don't leave this building tonight if
you don't know tonight, if you died on the way home, where'd you'd
spend eternity--you can know before you leave. And as we sing
this last song I want you to come and accept Christ as your Savior.
Or you can refuse him. God will honor that in you. He's given
you the ability, the freedom to choose. Don't point the finger
at him and say "How could a God of love send people to hell?" He
puts a simple choice up, Ask Jesus for forgiveness and go to heaven
[or receive eternal life, spent with Jesus, wherever he ends up--read
Revelation 21], or refuse his forgiveness and go to hell [and
hell may not be ever-burning--read Revelation 20:14-15--depends
on your eschatological interpretation]. Don't say "What about
the guy on the island?" because that's no longer your worry--because
your worry is you came here tonight [or you're reading this article
about the second coming of Jesus Christ], you heard [or read]
that Jesus loved you and he loved you so much that he laid down
his life so you could be forgiven. He loved you so much he wrote
you ahead of time and told you about the very days we live in.
He loved you so much he drew you to this building [or this article]
tonight so that you could hear a warning and that you could hear
it's not too late, and you could hear that just like in the days
of Noah, the door of the ark is still open--and that you can enter
in and be saved. That's tremendous love.
Let's stand together and let's pray. I don't want anybody to run
out, I want everybody to pray. And as we sing this last song,
if you want to be saved tonight, maybe a friend brought you, they'll
walk down with you. Maybe you've been thinking over the last couple
of weeks, "Boy this end-time stuff is getting scary." Get saved,
please, tonight, because we don't know if we'll be here next week.
We know we're here now. We can't guarantee you if you walk out
this door without Christ that you'll have another chance. We can
guarantee you that if you receive Christ as your Savior tonight
you will go to heaven [or eternal life spent with him wherever
he ends up residing, as some interpret Scripture] forever. We
can guarantee that. Let's pray.
"Father we settle our hearts before you and we thank you for this
continual opportunity to gather and study your Word. Lord we lift
our hearts, Lord, all of us that believe and ask that you really
challenge us Lord and exhort us, inwardly by your Spirit, reprove
us Lord. But encourage us and lead us onward. Lord, in these days
we're so desperately in need of your power and your strength and
your love. You give us a new hunger for your Word and new thirst
for your presence. And Lord, we pray for those here, Lord, that
don't know you, that this evening would be the night they would
enter eternity. Lord we pray for our friends and relatives that
we could think of this evening, that kind persecute us and give
us a hard time Lord. The next time we're with them, Lord, instead
of thinking about our argument ahead of time, let us trust you
Lord for the filling of your Spirit and for the very words to
say Lord, to those that we love. And Lord as we sing this last
song we pray you draw with your love and your grace all of those
here who don't know you. You draw them to you personally, to heaven,
to forgiveness, and Lord we pray in Jesus name Amen."
We're going to sing through again, you continue to come. And listen,
if you feel a tug-of-war going on in your heart, and I want you
to forgive me, because it's with human language I'll try to describe
this. I'll describe this as best I can. If, as we're singing this
song, inside of you there's a struggle, a war, kind of a tug-of-war--I'm
using human words trying to describe something supernatural that's
going on, so forgive me please. [You may feel this tug-of-war
going on in your mind as you're reading this. If so, the Lord
is calling out to you as well.] But if inside of you you're feeling "Naw,
I'm not going to do this, and who, Ah, I want this, but I'm not
going up--this is weird--my friend set me up, he brought me to
church, promised to take me to Friendly's, now this Altar Call
stuff is going on, you know." Look, if all of that is going on
in your heart, you have to understand, we don't know that. Who
are you arguing with? You're arguing with God, because Jesus said "No
man or no woman can come unless the Father reaches down in his
love and draws them" (John 6:44). And he said, if you're willing
to acknowledge me before men I will acknowledge you before my
Father, and all of the angels in heaven. [Some preach that the
Altar Call is our public statement as well as our sincere request
for the Lord to enter into our hearts with his Holy Spirit, whereas
others teach that the Altar Call can be a private request, and
that baptism is our public statement of what's already been done
and of our faith in Jesus. It can be either way, both work, the
Lord honors both the public and the private altar call. It's
what's in your heart that counts when you confess you're a sinner
and call for him to enter your life and be your Savior.]
As we do this, listen to the words of this song. "Come just as
you are." That's good news. You don't have to get it together
first, you don't have to get rid of all your sin first, you come
the way you are--drug addiction, suicidal thoughts, violence,
murder, whatever it is, you just come the way you are. The Lord
took me out of drugs. I didn't have to get it together first.
I couldn't get it together. And when I came to him he forgave
me and got my life together. And that's the Good News, and that's
what he'll do for you this evening [or now when you ask him as
you read this].
And I'm just trying in human words to describe something you may
feel going on inside your heart, inside your chest, inside your
being. So I put that challenge out as we sing through, if you
feel that tug-of-war, you feel that struggle, then the question
is no longer "Is this real?", the question is
"Will you respond?". Now he hung naked before the world for you,
they stripped him of his clothes, they brutalized him. You can
come stand here with your clothes on for him and say "I'm a sinner,
I believe Jesus died for me, I want him as my Savior." And that
will give you a moment in time that no one can ever, ever take
away--not your own conscience, not Satan, not your critics. It
gives you the privilege to have this moment that will be on video-tape
in heaven. There's a replay button there, and it will be on record
forever. So we're going to sing through again. You have to listen
to your heart, because I'm just trying with human words to describe
what will go on. As we sing the words of the song, "Come just
as you are"--if you feel the drawing--somewhere in your heart
you're hearing that, "Come just as you are" and the Lord's love
is drawing you, come, you come, come just as you are.
"Come just as you are,
Won't you hear the Spirit call,
Come just as you are,
Come and see,
Come and see,
Come believe,
Come and live f o r e v e r,
Come just as you are,
Won't you hear the Spirit call,
Come just as you are,
Come receive Christ the King,
Come live forever,
Life everlasting, strength for today,
Taste the Living Waters,
And never thirst again."
The Bible says that when one sinner comes, all of heaven rejoices,
so we always like to ask a third time, because I know there's
somebody here still wrestling. You can fool everybody, you can't
fool God, you can't fool yourself. The Good News is, you come
with all of your sin, all of your problems and you let him take
you and change your life. Things are uncertain [in the world].
You know every opportunity we have to do this, we need to do it
with urgency because we don't know if we'll
be here another week, we don't know what will happen. [And if
you think, "Naw, things aren't that bad", click on that hypertext
and read the article and email about Jerusalem. This is being
transcribed two years after it was spoken, and things are worse,
not better.]
So now, tonight, this third time, if you've been putting it off
I hope you'll say "This 3rd time is too much, I can't
hack it anymore, I'm going." We're praying. And all you who believe
pray, because this is struggle is over eternal things, it's a
real struggle, because Satan wants to see some people go to hell
forever, and there are spiritual forces at work. It's not a game.
And you don't want anything phony, I don't believe Jesus wants
anything phony either, he doesn't want you to play church or Christianity,
he wants a relationship, not a religion, and the way that starts
is by you responding He's done it all, he's paid the price for
you. He hung on the cross and cried "My God, My God, Why hast
Thou forsaken me?" so that you wouldn't have to cry it. He went
to the electric chair in your place. He paid your penalty. But
he's not going to put your arm behind your back and force you
in a headlock and drag you up here. You don't want that with the
person you love, or the spouse you love. You want them to come
with their heart. And he wants your heart. He paid for it in his
own blood, he loves you...
I'm gonna have a prayer with you guys that have come forward.
Why don't you guys move in toward the center here. And if you
couldn't get yourself up here for some reason, maybe you have
a physical handicap and your heart came forward and your body
couldn't, or maybe just embarrassment and yet you know in your
heart--"I need Jesus, I need forgiveness." You can be saved right
where you are [even as you read this article]. But you pray in
all sincerity, because that's what he cares about. The Bible tells
us man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on our hearts.
And he wants something genuine with you like any father from their
child, they want something genuine. And how many of us who are
parents if we have one of our children ask genuinely, "Dad, forgive
me." It doesn't matter where they stand, how we receive them with
open arms. He loves us more multiplied times than we could ever
imagine any human father could. So I'm gonna lead these folks
up here in a prayer. In your heart, if you want to, in all sincerity,
you pray the same prayer. You ask Christ to forgive you tonight
[or right now as you read this]. When the service is over, you'll
come up to the front, we'll give you the same Bible, we'll give
you the same literature. We're not going to give you offering
envelopes, we don't want your home address, we're not going to
hock you for money. We don't want anything from you. We want everything
for you. We want heaven for you, and forgiveness for you, and
life for you and freedom for you, and new life, and we want everything
for you because he's given everything to us. Why could we ever
begrudge anything to anyone else. So you guys who've come forward,
this is your moment, no one can ever take this from you. We'll
be on record in heaven forever. I'm gonna lead you in a prayer,
and I want you to say this prayer out loud so I can hear you.
Let's pray together:
"God Almighty, I'm ready to be saved. I know that I'm a sinner,
and that I need forgiveness. But I believe you're the Savior,
the Savior of all men. I believe you died for me. So Lord Jesus,
wash me, cleanse me, remove all of my sin, once and for all.
Fill my life with your love, with your Spirit. Take away the
guilt, the emptiness, the struggle and fill me with your grace.
Be my personal Lord. Be my personal Savior, and be my personal
friend. Teach me to love your Word. Lead me for the rest of
my life. And thank you for heaven [or for ushering me into the
kingdom of heaven]. Thank you for forgiveness. And thank you
for life beyond the grave. In Jesus name, Amen."
End
The
Purpose of Prophecy
What is the real purpose of prophecy, anyway? Human curiosity
about the specifics of what, when, where and how often tends to
obscure the overreaching why--the truly important lessons God
gives his people through prophecy.
First and foremost, Bible prophecy (which makes up at least one
third of the Bible) leads us to God. First, fulfilled prophecy
clearly demonstrates the infallibility and veracity of God's Word
as being authored by none other than God himself. Further, it
reminds us God is in control, supervising and intervening in human
affairs whenever he desires. By his power he will bring about
the future he has promised. In the end, good will win over evil
(Daniel 4:17). We can see the sovereignty of God through prophecy.
Bible prophecy reminds us God is Judge, the final arbitrator of
all things. Through prophecy we learn that nobody really gets
away with anything. Oppression of the poor and the weak by the
wicked will not last forever. Every action will be brought into
account. Judgment will surely come. Prophecy also reminds us of
God's love and faithfulness. The time will come when his kingdom
will be established over all nations, and all people will come
to know repentance (II Peter 3:9; Zech. 14:9).
Even though there will be wars, small and large, Bible prophecy
tells us the world will not be totally destroyed by nuclear, or
any other kind of human warfare. God himself will, at the close
of his purpose for humanity, burn up the earth and create in its
place new heavens and a new earth in which dwells righteousness
(II Peter 3:12-13; Revelation 21:1). Through Bible prophecy, then,
we are comforted and encouraged, assured that the course of history
is being controlled by God, the God of love, peace and mercy.
We are guaranteed that our labor of love in Jesus Christ is not
in vain --and yes, a major part of that labor of love is through
our efforts in evangelism and our efforts within our congregations
to help nurture new-believers into becoming active mature members
of the body of Christ. We are given the confidence all wrong will
be righted, all crooked places will be made straight, and there
is life beyond death--happy, peaceful, fulfilled life forever.
Exactly when God will do that, we are not given. But, through
the revelation he gives us in Bible prophecy, we rejoice in the
sure knowledge he will do it. And we are motivated by the Holy
Spirit to live according to his will for our lives, the job he
gave all of us Christians to do until he comes again in great
glory and power. Also, through prophecy, God reassures us that
our faith is not in vain. All that he has promised will surely
happen. We are not told when--but we are
told what to do while we wait: Just before Jesus was taken
up into heaven his disciples asked him when he would re-establish
the kingdom to Israel. His response was, "It is not for you to
know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus
gave a similar command, to evangelize, baptize and disciple. This
is called the Great Commission and it is the Christian's primary
job and responsibility given by Jesus to do until he returns.
So our job, what we are told to do while we wait for his return,
is to pursue evangelism--personal, local church, national and
international. And as spelled out in Matthew 28:18-20, it is to
baptize and disciple those who respond to the message. In Ephesians
4 Paul points out that the church has been raised up to complete
the task started by evangelism. It is the church, with its structure
of apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers, who are the ones
to strengthen and unify the body of Christ, those who have been
baptized. So the unified task or job Christians have been given
by Jesus, encompassed in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20
is to evangelize the world, the whole world, and to baptize those
who respond, and to disciple and nurture those same who respond--in
a body called the church--until they are spiritually mature Christians,
no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, as Paul
said in Ephesians 4. This website is full of resources that explain
what evangelism is and how we can go about effectively doing it--on
the personal, local church, national and international level.
It is also full of resources that can be used to spiritually strengthen
the body of Christ. Jesus our High Priest and Commander-in-Chief
has given us our marching orders--to evangelize the world, and
build up his body of believers, the church, with those who respond
to our evangelizing efforts--to nurture those new-believers to
spiritual maturity. Those are our marching orders. This web site
is designed specifically to make those marching orders clear and
facilitate their implementation by Christians online. So when
you're finished reading about Jesus Christ's 2nd coming, log onto
the section on evangelism and check out those marching orders.
For some, the Lord may lead you to directly evangelize. Others
will be led to use their talents to strengthen and help mature
new-believers and the body of Christ within the church congregation.
And then, we can all support evangelism on the international level.
To see how, log onto http://www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM/gifts5.htm .
Try giving $5.00 or $10.00 a week to one of the major international
evangelism missions, like the JESUS Film Project, or Samaritan's
Purse, or Gospel for Asia (which supports native evangelists in
countries where North American and European evangelists are no
longer allowed). Pick one of those three and faithfully give that
amount week in, week out, and see the Work of the Lord go worldwide
in great power. Many hands make light work, and Jesus has given
you and I the privilege of being able to participate in his great
work of saving the world and building his kingdom on earth--which
will become a holy nation, raised up in one day, at his return
(I Corinthians 15:49-54; Revelation 11:15-19;Daniel 12:1-3).
So when you are finished digging into this interesting study on
these prophecies of Jesus 2nd coming--which present current day
events have helped generate a tremendous curiosity for--dig into
the section which explains the job Jesus gave us to perform until
he arrives again in great glory. Those are our marching orders,
explained, made clear and broken down into fine detail. We are
soldiers of Jesus Christ. A good soldier would not think of going
into the battle without reading the specific marching orders and
intelligence reports pertaining to the battle he's about to go
into, and we need to apply the same diligence toward our marching
orders--to evangelize the whole world, and to baptize
and disciple those who respond favorably. Prophecy is
interesting, but are these events being held up while Jesus waits
for us to finish the job he gave us to accomplish? If you ask
me, we have a job to do, and it isn't accomplished yet. Enjoy
this study, and then let's get busy.
If you are not quite sure of your relationship with Jesus, or
what it means to believe in Jesus, or if recent events (September
11th) have you wondering how you might develop a relationship
with Jesus, http://www.unityinchrist.com/faith/whatis.htm.