Preparations for the Arriving King: First Arrival, Second Arrival [Return of Our Mighty King]

hey welcome to 2021 it's wonderful to have the beginning of the new year i always love a fresh calendar in that sense of a fresh start but a part of the awkwardness of this year is that we'd understand we're not finished with 2020 yet the virus isn't gone the disruption isn't gone and there's some disappointment in that there's a little bit of a hangover from 2020. well i don't want to begin the year discouraged or disheartened we're going to finish this race what god has called us to he will help us to complete triumphantly the king is coming now jesus has been here once he came to bethlehem a stable you know the story we just went through that together in the christmas season i've been to bethlehem many times i lived in jerusalem i walked there one christmas eve with my brothers and celebrated the birth of jesus it's a beautiful place it's a wonderful memory it's not a fantasy it's reality well just as certainly as bethlehem is a real place jesus of nazareth is coming back to the earth he's not coming back this time as an innocent baby born in a stable he's coming back as a conquering king he will rule and reign on the earth and when he arrives you and i want to be busy in service to him it's an exciting year don't let kova discourage you or the confusion of 2020 that's washed over into the beginning of this year dissuades you we're going to finish this story that god has invited us to it's his plan we serve it his pleasure grab your bible open your heart god has an invitation for us today and i don't want to miss it [Music] the title for this particular session is preparations for the arriving king and we're going to focus on his first arrival and his second because i believe they inform one another there's a king coming and between where we stand today and his arrival there are some birth pains that we will have the privilege of coming through you know at christmas time we celebrate that first arrival i think we're a bit more apprehensive about that second arrival and yet the scripture talks a great deal about it many prophetic passages jesus himself talked about it in fact in the new testament the greek of the new testament there's a word that is used uniquely for the second coming of jesus perusia we need to know what the bible has to say about that season about what will be happening in the world jesus challenged us he said you know how to interpret the signs of the weather to anticipate what the weather forecast will be but you're not spiritually astute enough to understand the spiritual signs of the seasons in which you live we would like to avoid that if we can we want to be aware it's one of the reasons we read our bibles i hope you're in the habit of doing that with us if you're not it's a wonderful habit to put in place and not just to read it as if you're taking medicine but begin to read it and ask the lord to help you to see the character of god his nature in the pages of the book you don't have to pronounce every name technically correct or know where every city is and be able to find it on a map but we want to get to know the character of god well typically when we think of the coming of our lord kind of the default image in our head i think is built out of christmas and the nativity scene in bethlehem we're all familiar with that we recognize it when we see it it's kind of a pastoral setting complete with sheep and camels if it's an upgraded version the lowly shepherds are typically gathered around and on the periphery of that we understand there's something to do with magi these mysterious characters from the east and perhaps even king herod will make it into your awareness of the story but i think beyond that kind of peaceful shot of the stable and the newly arrived infant and the tranquil mary and joseph in time out because he forgot the reservations it's been more inconvenient to be honest to think of the priests and the religious leaders ignoring the events surrounding jesus birth that's who we would have expected to be there i mean we we see that scene and we know immediately what it is but there's things missing from it that we would anticipate would have been there after all they told herod the magi where the messiah was to be born they were there following a star and the religious leaders gathered to tell herod what the prophets had said it's in matthew chapter 2 when king herod heard that what the magi said it says he was disturbed in all jerusalem with him the whole city heard the news they've arrived to see the new king of the jews so he called together all the people's chief priests and the teachers of the law and he asked them where the christ was to be born in bethlehem and judea they replied that's what the prophets have written so it was no secret where the messiah was to be born yet there's absolutely no mention of them the priests aren't mentioned the temple rulers aren't mentioned their names are totally absent when the gospels report to us that the male children in bethlehem are slaughtered there's no outcry from the temple there's no voices crying for mercy in fact there's a stunning silence from the inhabitants of the city of jerusalem bethlehem is just five miles from the city of jerusalem it's a short walk i've made the walk bethlehem wasn't removed by a continent from the city of jerusalem no one responded when the infant jesus is dedicated to the temple in jerusalem there are multiple persons who acknowledge him as the messiah not just one multiple voices it's not plausible to imagine that the information didn't cross the paths of those who had influence and power after all the magi had been here just a few days earlier with that message that had stirred the city now the child is brought to the temple on the eighth day for his dedication and there are voices that say this is this child it was an inconvenient fact it was an intrusion into their well-ordered system they had plans and job descriptions and income streams it's an inconvenient truth i believe one purpose of the narrative that we have is to help us to be prepared for the arrival of the king the second time to be more aware more alert better prepared his entry again into time will once again cause disruption there are some who will be awaiting his arrival and be prepared but there's others that will recognize jesus return as a threat and they'll respond with anger and violence the bible tells us that we need to be aware jesus of nazareth is not returning to the earth as an infant he's not coming this time for a pleasant stable scene he's not coming as a meek lamb to be offered as a sacrifice for all humanity he's returning he's coming back this second time the second arrival of the king he's coming as a conquering king and he'll he'll reign on earth in righteousness his enemies will be made his footstool the bible says that first arrival was predominantly a local event now it had implications for all of humanity the savior of the world had arrived the lamb of god to take away the sin of the world the redemptive purposes of god breaking into time to change the destiny of the descendants of adam but the circumstances around it were very local the second arrival of the king is very much a global event both in scope and in implication it won't be limited to a small village on the outskirts of jerusalem it'll be a global event and it'll have implications for the whole globe luke chapter 21 beginning in verse 25 it says there'll be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and on the earth distress of nations imagine that nations under stress with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of these things which are coming on the earth the powers of heaven will be shaken i don't believe that means heavenly bodies i think it's the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies will be shaken then they'll see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory he's coming this next time the glory of god won't be displayed to a handful of shepherds in the fields in the rural part of israel his glory will be made known in all the earth now when these things begin to happen look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near in matthew 24 jesus described it a little differently these are his words as the lightning that comes from the east and is visible even in the west so will be the coming of the son of man again not a subtle thing prepare your hearts get ready when the king arrives the whole world will know he's here this time now not everybody will be happy you can clap for that it's okay with me in fact in some places in the scripture we just we just read the book of joel if you're doing the readings with us on the the plan we're following and joel describes it as the great and dreadful day of the lord the arrival of a new king the arrival of a new world order the judgment of god upon the existing order in this world judgment doesn't have to be against you judgment can be for you judge wapner never passed judgment against anybody i learned that on the people's court in joel chapter 2 and verse 30 says i'll show wonders in the heavens and on the earth blood and fire and billows of smoke the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord and everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved matthew 24 again verse 30 at that same time at the time the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and all the nations of the earth will mourn the word translated nations there perhaps is more literally translated as tribes it's not about nation states not governments the groups of people around the earth will mourn they'll see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory i know the words are in the bible but i think we need to pause just a moment why can that day how can that day be both great and dreadful why will the arrival of the king be a day of mourning for many people they're important questions you know the bible tells us that god has revealed himself to every person so that people are without excuse now we don't all have the revelations or the same opportunities god says he will judge us according to the opportunities we've been given but every human being on planet earth has been granted a revelation of almighty god every person has a choice to make that means the arrival of the king the recognition that that revelation was in fact the truth has implications for the choice you make we'll regret the fact that we spent too much time quibbling about trivial secondary things i think when the king arrives whether the podium was made out of wood plexiglas or steel will not make a great deal of difference when the king arrives whether we had musical instruments or a pipe organ i don't think will be the point of discussion romans chapter 1 and verse 18 tells us about this revelation it says the wrath of god is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men you can be certain of this when you see godlessness and wickedness proliferate only god's mercy and patience causes the expression of his wrath to be withheld god is a just god just as certainly as he's a god of love and in this first chapter of romans it says that the wrath of god will be revealed from heaven against godlessness and the wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness did you know that suppressing the truth is wicked you want to be a conduit for god's truth you don't want to suppress the truth you don't want to hide the truth that you know for fear of what other people will think don't get don't get torqued up about other people who suppress the truth ask the lord to help you recognize any place in your life where because of you you wanted the respect of other people or the approval of other people or you wanted a business op whatever it may be you've been after that you've chosen to suppress the truth i don't want to do that since what may be known about god is plain to them because god has made it plain to them for since the creation of the world god's invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse the good southern shorthand on that is in creation god has revealed himself to every person that we have no excuse every person doesn't have to sit in a church building and endure a sermon we'll be judged according to the opportunities we've been given now that should sober us the bible says to whom much is given much will be required and if you speak english you have been given a disproportionate opportunity to know about the kingdom of god the numbers of bibles that are available to us we have unprecedented opportunities christian teaching radio broadcast now the internet has made the world a much smaller place so when the king returns the whole world will stand before him understanding there is a god and recognizing that we've made a choice about our alignment with him or against him some will rejoice and many will mourn it's a great and a dreadful day i borrowed a phrase i've heard it a lot in recent months and years we're told that we should think globally but act locally it's not bad advice jesus was really one of the first to launch a multinational multi-national organization in matthew 16 he said i'll build my church and the gates of hades the gates of hell won't be able to overcome it the church isn't defined by national allegiance or language or ethnicity the church or the capital c of jesus christ is not defined by denominations or the translation of the bible we read the church is defined by who the head of the institution is if you're under the headship of jesus of nazareth if you acknowledge jesus of nazareth as the incarnate son of god and acknowledge your sin and your need for forgiveness and will yield the lordship of your life to jesus you are a component of the church a part of the body of christ we will one day gather together an innumerable throng before him people from every race language tribe what a glorious day it will be it'll be a good day we've got to raise our sights a little we've been a little too competitive a little too filled with selfish ambition it's been about us and me and mine in matthew chapter 9 and verse 36 it says when jesus saw the crowds he had compassion on them you need to pray for the people that live around you and work with you until you can pray with them pray for them with compassion if you pray with them pray for them with judgment or anger or resentment or bitterness you have work to do yet internally jesus is praying for with compassion for a group of people who would not stand on his behalf when he needed friends he's praying for compassion with compassion for a group of people who who didn't have the strength of character or the force of will to stand on the side of right when he is threatened and yet he prays with for them with compassion we're called to do something similar he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd then he said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few ask the lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field those are the instructions that our lord has given to us he said he's in the business of building the church we should pray that others will join us in that assignment the truth is we've drifted off course a bit honestly i think we've lost sight of our assignment in matthew 28 and verse 18 jesus came and said all authority and heaven and earth's been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit teaching them to obey everything i've commanded you and surely i'm with you to the very end of the age you know for many years for many years decade upon decade our nation the united states of america was a powerful voice for a christian worldview it resonated not simply across the the borders of this nation from city to city and town to town and state to state but it echoed from our nation to the nations of the world we may not identify ourselves as a christian nation but i assure you the nations of the world understand us to be a christian nation because of that heritage i don't know how familiar you are with our history but institutions like the american bible society an organization in this nation it was committed to the dissemination of the scripture and they were very effective not uniquely because of them but bibles in general have become so ubiquitous so available to us most of us have multiple bibles stacked up at home and now the digital formats just chase you wherever you go yay god we gave bibles to children in schools within my lifetime as old as i am i know they used to distribute bibles in the schools we gave bibles to soldiers we placed bibles in hotels and hospitals we actually used the scripture as a part of curriculum in public schools that's our heritage it was commonplace and in many places still is to place your hand on a bible and swear to 12 tell the truth before you'll give public testimony presidents of the united states have been sworn into office with their hand on a bible we've had nationwide little cities big cities sunday school systems available for our children to learn biblical principles we've held revivals in tents in the open air camp meetings in stadiums wherever we could find a place to gather people we've said we need a revival a renewal an awakening it's a part of our history we've prayed in our schools before the days began we've prayed in our homes before meals we've prayed before public events for many many many years we had public postings of the ten commandments in our public buildings we have national holidays that are centered around christian events long before they were co-opted by marketers things like easter and christmas thanksgiving on a biblical holiday but definitely a christian one in fact we have shared a national commitment to share the christian faith with our world now for a while for more than a decade or so for a good bit more than that there's been a brutal assault on that idea our children have been indoctrinated how inappropriate it is i know i was in some of the university settings where that garbage was poured forth we don't know the stories anymore i've told you before about one young man but it bears repeating his name was william borden he was not an heir to the family that came up with the canned milk but i love the description of him on wikipedia that vast source of truth and righteousness is this what wikipedia says about william borden william whiting borden was a philanthropist and a millionaire christian missionary candidate now that's not a string of words you get put together very often they put it in the order of significance to them he was a philanthropist and the millionaire and inexplicably a christian missionary candidate who died in egypt before reaching his chosen field he was headed to the gansu province in china he made it as far as egypt where he contracted cerebral meningitis and he died made the national news his story was carried on the headlines of the major newspapers in america the major news outlets at the time imagine that the travels and outcomes of missionaries being the lead items on the news you do know that at one time in american history the major newspapers in america on monday morning carried the text from the the sermons and the leading pulpits in the cities we've come a long way and it's not all progress well borden's fortune had not come from milk it had come from the business ventures of his father he was in silver mining his mother traveled was en route to egypt to be with him they were going to take a short vacation in the middle east before he completed his journey on to china she arrived in time to be present for his memorial service and at least tradition i don't know we don't have the bible that he wrote in but it was reported that in the front of the bible that was his that was with him in egypt there were these three two-word phrases written no reserve no reserve he'd chosen missions over his family fortune no retreat no retreat he said his father was displeased at his choice and so that if he persisted in it he wouldn't welcome him into his family business and the last two words he wrote in the front of his bible after he'd contracted the disease that took his life was no regret no reserve no retreat no regret from one of the most outstanding young men of his generation do you know there was a time in our history where the finest young men and women from the nicest families many of them the wealthiest most influential most educated gave their lives for the advocacy of the gospel of jesus christ i believe we could see that again you know it was printed on his tombstone it intrigued me apart from faith in christ there is no explanation for such a life that's not a bad epitaph folks when people look at your life and the choices you make and how you choose to conduct yourself and how you do business and how you expend your time and your resources i pray it may be said of each of us that apart from faith in christ there's just no explanation i want the secularists to puzzle a bit about our choices now i think we need to be honest sharing the gospel with the broader world is no longer chic it's not chic in our finest universities it's not encouraged in many of our prominent seminaries worse than that it's often seen in our children and students are educated that it's an expression of colonialism an attempt to push our values our religion upon other people with the ultimate objective the desire of dominating them so you wouldn't want to be engaged in something that's so crass so unaware as trying to share your faith with a group of people who hold another faith well the more awkward truth is that we're reluctant to share the gospel with one another in our own nation we understand the messaging we've been given we may not say it out loud in very many places but we very much understand the messages that have been delivered separate your faith from the public arena no ten commandments no nativity scenes no bibles in the workplace or schools any longer no attempts to influence thought or culture do not challenge public thought that's politics they'll say stay out i disagree i think the church has to understand and i think the church has to have a voice i believe we are a conscience in our culture i believe we are called to be salt and light and we can't bend to the public pressure or the threats of our economic well-being we have to decide who our lord is and if we have the courage to stand with him i believe abortion is the taking of life and we still on a daily basis offer 3 000 children on that altar of convenience it's not politics it's a matter of faith or the lack thereof i believe family was defined by god long before the courts decided to get involved on what constituted a family and for as much as they want to tell us they've redefined it i've read my bible god has not amended his perspective i believe that our gender is determined by the creator of heaven and earth it's not left to you and me to decide and i don't understand these matters to be the church intruding into politics quite the opposite i believe the government is intruded into matters of our faith you know it's commonplace and it's as commonplace amongst us as anywhere to discuss the nations of the world as if we're all the same and absolutely you know our foods are a little different and our style of dress might be vary a bit from place to place and our languages are different but thank god google translate has erased that gap but you know beyond that there really aren't really significant differences between us afghanistan somalia china middle tennessee we're all pretty much the same well that messaging is pretty frequent after all if you watch tv at all you know that mike lindell has offered to let us sleep on sheets made with cotton from giza please buy those sheets so he'll quit it's a region of egypt between the sahara desert and the nile river we are truly a global people i believe the disruptions of 2020 have given us an opportunity to recalibrate a bit we've been shaken from our slumber just a bit the spiritual conflict in our world has caught our attention if not directly at least peripherally we have an opportunity that's unlike any i have seen in many many years the truth is we think very little about the people of the world most of our thoughts are pretty self-centric i'm not throwing stones i think we all wrestle with this we're just not very much aware because we have some friends around the world we get messaging and have dialogue on somewhat of a routine basis did you know that in july of this year armenia was attacked by azerbaijan we have friends there churches that we work with that are struggling to care for the orphans that are the result of that war this summer their christmas is very much disrupted but not so much because of the virus because of of a war that plagued them in recent weeks we talked to some friends in guatemala they are battling hunger and starvation in the rural parts of that nation because of the isolation and fear that was attached to the coronavirus people in remote areas barricaded their driveways and they didn't have resources for food south africa has been tottering on the precipice of civil war brutal murders in that nation tearing at the fabric of the people china they get a lot of discussion these days we celebrate their great culture and their historic contributions to civilization we don't talk so much and the chinese people are are as precious to god as you or i are but the system that dominates their lives is not so precious it's a repressive state over the world's largest population the nba the national basketball station association they don't want to criticize china it's too large of a market they're pretty willing to criticize our nation they don't mind offending christians they'll advocate strongly and loudly and consistently for the lgbtq community but those professional athletes they don't want to disrupt china there's little mention of the years in china of forced abortions of limiting births in a family or of chairman mao's ideas of bringing a great realignment to china we're in a four-year window of time as many as 50 million chinese people were murdered that's in my lifetime it's not ancient history russia we have friends there churches that we work with there they live under a constant threat of oppression property is being confiscated they don't live with freedom and liberty so what are we supposed to do how do we respond more missionaries well the shortest answer i have are the four little words i've been sharing with you for weeks now watch listen think act you can't give something away that you don't have if we forfeit our freedoms and liberties if we won't stand for the truth of the gospel in our backyard we're useless to the people across the oceans we have to watch and listen and think and act there are a lot of voices speaking to us now they're more calm these days we've endured four years of bitter angry dialogue and suddenly everybody's saying things are peaceful i think they're more deceptive than ever if you'll allow me an aside i don't believe the vaccine that's currently being released is the mark of the beast i'm a pastor i can speak to that portion i'm not a doctor but in luke 17 verse 26 jesus said something that i think is insightful to the season we're in just as it was in the days of noah so also it will be in the days of the son of man before jesus comes the world will be very similar to noah's days remember what it says in genesis 6 about the days of noah the god was grieved about the condition of humanity that their every thought was evil so before jesus comes back before the king comes the second time the human character is going to deteriorate so we're going to have to be prepared to see that we're gonna have to be prepared to see the glory of the lord being demonstrated in a remarkable outpouring of the spirit of god at the same time we're going to see the deterioration of human character proliferate you'll have to decide where you are the fence is not going to be a good destination much longer just so it will be in the days of the son of man people were eating and drinking marrying and being given in marriage up till the day that noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all it was the same in the days of lot lot lived in sodom people were eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building but the day lot left sodom fire and sulfur rain down from heaven and destroyed them all it'll be just like this on the day that the son of man is revealed remember he's going to be revealed broadly there's a parallel passage that's luke 21 luke 17 but in matthew 24 jesus it's the same discourse it's just recorded in two gospels jesus said no one knows about that day or hour not even the angels in heaven nor the son but only the father nobody knows when jesus is coming so if somebody tells you they know when he's coming you know for sure they don't know now they don't know that they don't know or they wouldn't be telling you they know so if somebody tells you they know what day he's coming back don't stress just smile turn around and sprint the other direction as it was in the days of noah saul will be at the coming of the son of man from the days before the flood people were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage up till the day that noah entered the ark and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away that's how it will be at the coming of the son of man two men will be in the field one will be taken and the other left now there's four pairs of behaviors given in those two passages of scripture and none of them are immoral or ungodly they're very normal things we've been engaged in all of them eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage i participated in a wedding ceremony last weekend buying and selling planting and building so what is the challenge in what's happening in those passages why would jesus go to the effort to to point it out in such specific detail because the broader population in noah's day and in lots day had absolutely no awareness of spiritual things they were totally shut down to those things they were clueless spiritually asleep they were on the precipice of destruction and they were blissfully ignorant if you knew that the systems of the world were going to collapse on monday that the economies would collapse you probably wouldn't be inclined to spend all day sunday trying to put together the biggest deal of your life if you knew that everything about your life was going to implode on monday you probably wouldn't spend the afternoon cooking a recipe you never tried before it seems to me that the invitation is to lead a life that is spiritually aware in fact jesus goes on in that matthew 24 passage to say be aware pay attention and then he tells a parable you see our installation on this point has been an idea that i do not think is helpful we have had a tremendous focus on personal salvation are you saved have you been born again have you made a profession of faith now i believe in that i believe in the new birth i believe in conversion initiation into the kingdom of god i believe you need to do that so please don't misunderstand me i'm not downgrading the new birth jesus said in john 3 nobody will enter the kingdom of heaven unless they're born again but what that is almost a solitary focus we haven't really talked about serving the king or growing up in the kingdom we've described our faith in terms of when we were born again when we experience the new birth we have a certificate that validates our baptism and once we've established those points whether we've said it out loud or not at least internally many many many of us have thought i've done my god business after all i'm not declaring myself muslim i'm not buddhist i'm not saying i'm new age or pagan i've identified maybe we go as far as establish a membership in a congregation of people and think i have a letter of standing in a in the midst of a community of faith and i'm grateful for that i'm not opposed to that i've spent my life working in the church but the assignment is to serve the king and if you'll read the balance of matthew 24 jesus gives this parable about a landowner that entrusts to his servants a responsibility and he's gone for a lengthy period of time and he said i tell you the truth it'll be good for the servants to be busy with the master's business when he returns we don't want to be so engaged in the world that we're clueless about the ark on the edge of town we don't want to be so oblivious to spiritual things that if angels offering deliverance spent the night in the city we wouldn't know it it's not about being immoral or ungodly or wicked it's about what has captured our hearts jesus assignment to us remember he said he would build his church he told us to ask the lord of the harvest to raise up workers for the harvest field the implication is that we would volunteer lord here we are send us folks just as certainly as we celebrate jesus arrival in bethlehem he's coming back he is [Applause] and i think it's most probable that the season will be challenging prior to his return i'm happy for whatever provision god makes for the protection and the deliverance of his people but i want to be prepared to be faithful to the end and i would encourage you to do the same humble yourself tell the lord the truth tell yourself the truth if you've been more engaged in trying to be victorious in the systems of this present age then you have the age to come begin to say lord help me [Music] if we've been more obsessed with being fashionable and flourishing in the present age then we have being pleasing to god we need to begin to say lord help me if we've been angry at the wicked more than we've been watchful over the condition of our own heart we've got to begin to say lord help me if we have harbored unforgiveness or resentment or greed or immorality or whatever else we have excused we need to begin to say lord be merciful to me god will care for his people he will deliver us through whatever comes to the earth i trust him it may be he will let us see righteousness flourish for a season and have opened doors to proclaim the gospel and the freedom to push our resources into the middle of the table and and make the greatest impact we can it bugs me we'd spend 16 billion dollars on an election when half the contributors are going to be agitated and christians quibble about spending petty resources on the proclamation of the gospel we're confused i'm not receiving an offering for some crazy outreach i'm not above it i'm just not doing it today but we've had our priorities messed up we want the athletes for the schools that we champion to have the best possible resources available for them to train and i'm okay with that but then we talk about church and we talk about well it's good enough or no it's not how lavish our buildings are or how deep our pockets but we want to give the best we have to the king it's important and we've been trapped a bit in this narrow little imagination of what it means to be a christian a christ follower and the spirit of god has begun to shake us a little bit they say do you recognize the freedoms you have and the liberties you have and the blessings you have have come from me do you realize that and the answer is no we really hadn't thought that we thought we'd worked hard and sacrificed and gotten ahead or we're angry because somebody else got ahead and we want them to give us something that they have because they think they did it inappropriately folks neither of those positions come from the heart of god he's the one who blesses us seek him he is the only author of justice and righteousness and peace if the church will be awakened god will move in ways we've never seen you're not powerless [Applause] you are not powerless your prayers are not small being together with one another is not insignificant almighty god is watching over us some of my favorite statements in the bible are in the early part chapters of the book of acts in four and five when the disciples are just trying to get their legs under him jesus is gone and the day of pentecost happens but it happens around them they're surprised on the day of pentecost as the people who gathered in the streets and peter comes to his wits enough to tell the jesus story and thousands of people who days earlier had screamed crucify him say what do we have to do to be saved and all the hot tubs around the temple mount they're there they're carved in the stone of the temple mount they called them a mikvah it was origin it was a ritual bath it looks like a baptistery or a stone hot tub they baptized 3000 people in the streets of in the temple around the temple in jerusalem the whole city was shaken with it and by the next two chapters later the sanhedrin the group that ordered jesus execution or orchestrated it through the romans they're saying to peter and john don't you mention that name again in this city and they're saying back we have to obey god and you can hear what they're thinking if you read the gospels into acts they we didn't stand with him when he needed us we betrayed him when he needed a friend we we didn't have the courage you intimidated us once but you won't intimidate us today we're going to talk about jesus today and tomorrow folks i think it's pretty analogous to where we are we've been intimidated and bullied and threatened and so we've been quiet and timid and i think god has given us an opportunity and we believe jesus of nazareth is christ lord and king and we believe he did come to the earth and he was born in a stable in bethlehem we also believe he's returning to the earth and we intend to be busy in serving him until that point in time and we'll tell you what he's done in our lives we're not perfect we're broken god recruits cracked pots it's how we got in the team [Applause] and you may have known me in the broken season of my life and you may have photographic evidence of how broken i was but i'll tell you through the blood of jesus i have been washed and cleansed and redeemed and justified and i'm grateful and if you will humble yourself he'll do the same for you because you look like you're as big a cracked pot as i am and they say but the church is filled with hypocrites yes i know but we'll squeeze in one more if you'd like to join us i'm tired of aren't you concerned the church is too big no i'm embarrassed it's so small i'll park wherever and hike in i'll come to church on tuesday at two if we need two to make room we'll worship outdoors or indoors or four rooms or six rooms or twelve rooms it doesn't matter to me we're going to honor the king amen that's our christmas wish we may have to gather differently this year it's okay we're not broken because of that oh goofy virus is defining our future we may have to adjust for our well-being for a short season but we will triumph don't give up the joy of the lord i know i got to hush we're going to pray why don't you stand with me i want to pray for you just getting warmed up no no no no that's not true but i will tell you the truth because it surprised me i left the last two pages of my notes on my desk they weren't in my bible that is not a blessing might have spared you though so that's a good thing i want to pray that god will continue to awaken us and give us the boldness to speak the truth that when the king arrives we will be engaged fully in serving him you up for that all right father i thank you for your people i know they are of great value to you and they're precious to you that you love each and every one of us lord you've gathered us gathered us from so many places and backgrounds you have lifted us out of places of great despair and failure and lord you have washed us and cleansed us you have mended our broken hearts and written a new future for us and we thank you for it today and lord after receiving all of those things far too often we've turned our backs on you lord we've stepped back into the world and behaved as those who don't know you and we come today in humility to repent to say we're sorry to choose a new path a new response to write new dreams and to order our lives in new ways forgive us father holy spirit help us any place within us there are things that hinder what you would call us to be or you've created us to become help us to see them and may we may we have the the tenderness of heart to repent may the fear of the lord be more real to us than the desire for the approval of someone else or for some ambition that we hold apart from you and lord i pray you give us a new boldness a new courage to speak the truth one that comes from you lord that doesn't draw attention to ourselves but that causes you to be honored to you to be glorified lord may once again we see the name of jesus honored in our nation the biblical values once again be taught in our schools and honored in our courtrooms where they once again be debated in the halls of congress but only you could do that but you're well able we ask for your mercy upon us lord may once again the name of jesus resonate from our nation across the oceans to the nations of the world thank you for your faithfulness thank you for your goodness thank you for the privilege of celebrating christmas in jesus name amen hallelujah you better give the lord a hand huh hey this is pastor allen thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed it like it and most importantly share it with your friends if you want to be notified when there's new content when we post new material if you'll just subscribe to my channel and hit the bell you'll get the notification most of all i pray god blesses you as you continue on your spiritual journey and open your heart to the lord god bless [Music] you

Channel: Allen Jackson Ministries

Views: 8,605

Rating: 4.9143729 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Allen Jackson, allen jackson ministries, world outreach church, alan jackson, sermons, preachers, how to be saved, Finding Jesus, pastor allen jackson sermons, Preparations for the Arriving King, First Arrival, Second Arrival, second coming of jesus christ, Second Coming, Christmas, End of the age, return of jesus

Id: fNl3Gms-914

Length: 51min 27sec (3087 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 14 2021