The Return | Week Three | 8.22.21 | The Pursuit

awesome hey welcome to church glad to have you uh in the house of god uh this morning uh god is doing some incredible things in our community and uh we're excited uh that you're a part of it hey one reminder next next week uh we're doing an event on sunday night called pursuit summer nights we've rented out the aquatic center in snohomish we're doing a big pool party for the church and so i want to extend an invitation to you it's going to happen at 6 00 p.m uh next sunday night and so watch it join us for pool night now no speedos no speedos russ no speedos but other than that we'd love to see you we just wouldn't love to see that much of you so just anyways the next sunday night we'll be glad to have you for a pursuit pool party hey i want to say thanks to all of you who helped share our content in our videos throughout the week just last week one of our our preaching moments from this series on the return of christ went viral we crossed 1.3 million views just last week and so anyways just wanted to say thank you for helping us share the word about what god is doing here at the pursuit now now if you if you ever have the unfortunate privilege of something uh like a video of you going viral just never read the comments ever just don't ever read the comments on anything because uh the comments are never comments are where you where people go to die not where people go to live and so somebody said well that pastor looks like he's doing cocaine no uh no i know that it may look like that but but it's just starbucks and so anyways that's starbucks but anyways glad to have you uh in the house of god hey we're in week three of our our service series titled the return and we're talking about the reality of not just a bodily resurrection of jesus christ but the bodily return of jesus christ you hear me say this all the time i know how the story ends i think based on my interpretation of the book of revelation i know some details and and maybe could even construct a a a broad scale timeline of of when things might happen but i want you to know from me to you i'm not offended if it doesn't happen the way that i think it happens because i still know how the story ends so i'm just thankful to be counted in the number of the family of god and so uh it to me it's like it's like thinking you're gonna win the lotto on tuesday but instead you win it on wednesday even if you win the lotto on a different day you're just still thankful you got a million bucks in your bank account and so that's kind of how i am and and i try to demonstrate in my teaching um some some theological humility saying hey here's kind of how i understand it but at the end of the day we don't have to agree on all the details as long as you and i can agree on the orthodox outcome which is simply this jesus is returning soon i believe jesus is returning soon i believe that not only are we living in the last days but in the last hours of the last days i believe there is a coming judgment i believe both hell and heaven are real in eternal places i believe we are living in the midst of two dueling revivals a revival of righteousness and a revival of iniquity not only is the light getting brighter but the dark is getting darker i believe no one's theology on the end times is perfect but we ought to teach as best we can about this important reality and you can believe differently about the details as long as we agree on the outcome friend normal isn't coming back soon jesus is and not only that but jesus is coming back for a victorious bride not a victim not a bystander not a girlfriend not a one-night stand but a covenantal bride who has oil in her lamp who is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom friend as sure as i am standing here today jesus is returning soon i got criticized by somebody this week they say well pastor you're not saying anything new and just let me help you this morning the goal of preaching the goal of homiletics is not to say anything new it's to say really old things in a new way if you go to a church and there's pastor that are saying new things you're a part of a cult we're preaching out of this word because this word is still sufficient it's still authoritative it's still more than enough for every season of our lives and so sometimes people say well i know i read that story i want to hear that new stuff no no we're preaching old stuff because his word is still sufficient we are we are founded on the rock that is higher than i that's why it's so important in this hour that as a believer you have a high view of scripture you know see what we have in the church often is a high view of culture and a low view of scripture therefore we reinterpret scripture through the lens of culture instead of reinterpreting culture through the lens of scripture and i'm just telling you scripture is true heaven and earth will pass away but not one of his words will pass away our lives are built on the unchanging reality of what god has declared to be true not just about us but about his son who is the living word who now takes residence in our hearts by the work of his spirit in revelation 1 john's vision begins in revelation 2 through 3 john records seven letters to seven churches in asia minor in revelation 4 john sees the throne room of heaven in revelation 5 john declares the lamb is worthy and the lamb is holy and in revelation 6 through 18 john records a period of time called the tribulation sometimes referred to as the time of jacob's trouble or the 70th week or the day of the vengeance of our lord but prior to getting to the tribulation this morning i want to start in the book of acts and in chapter 3. and i want to center your attention on an event that happens with the apostle peter and the apostle john not just what they do but where they do it and why it is significant as we talk about the return of jesus christ in acts three and and starting in verse one watch what the bible says the bible says this one day peter and john were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called beautiful where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts and yet when he saw peter and john about to enter he asked them for money peter looked straight at him as did john and peter said look at us so the man gave them his attention expecting to get something from them and peter said silver and gold i do not have but what i do have i give you in the name of jesus christ of nazareth walk taking him by the right hand he helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong and he jumped to his feet and he began to walk then he went with them into the temple cords walking and jumping and praising god when all the people saw him walking and praising god they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called beautiful and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him now let's just take a moment this morning to understand exactly what's happening in acts 3 that peter and john are going to the temple to pray as was their custom meaning that peter and john as jewish boys who are raised in a jewish system have walked through the beautiful gate to pray at 3 pm at this point in their life literally thousands of times but this time it was different the man who had been born lame likely this was his designated spot to beg alms for the poor for those who couldn't help themselves and peter and john are walking through this gate as they have done so many times before but this time it was different this time it is following the dramatic experience that we read about in acts 2 where the disciples are filled with the power of the holy spirit to be a witness in the world around them this time they're operating from a place of being endued with god's power and god's fire not to just be a victim of the world's narrative but to help change the pages of history peter and john are walking to the temple to pray there's a man who has been lame from birth begging for money and peter and john do something very interesting here the first way that they respond to this man is by communicating what they don't have now we don't have silver or gold but in fact that's not what you need what i've found when working with people in great need it's often the first thing that they ask for that isn't really the core issue of their life now this is what i think i need but it's not what i actually need it is not what i need at a core foundational level at the part of who i am that molecular spiritual part of who i am as an individual what i think i need is money but what i actually need is revelation healing and transformation in my life peter and john respond no we don't have what you're asking for but we have something better and the bible says something very interesting it says the man who was born lame looked at him with expectation let me give you a key this morning today you will receive exactly what you're expecting to receive see some people come to church and they make it the pastor's responsibility to change their attitude as it pertains to what they're going to receive see if you expect to receive nothing you won't receive anything if you expect to just receive a bad attitude you walk out with a bad attitude if you expect to receive a boring time you'll walk out with a boring time everybody else will get fed around you except you because scripture says this let it be done unto you according to your faith the man looks at peter and john expecting to receive something and in this moment the expectation of man meets the faith of the disciples and in return produces a miracle from god watch one man plants another man waters it's god who brings the increase when the faith of a believer meets the expectation of an individual that is what triggers a response from heaven peter and john say we don't have the gold that you're looking for but instead what we say to you is in the name of jesus christ of nazareth watch now watch taking him by the right hand he helped him up and instantly his bones his ankles became strong i want you to see the order of operations for the miracle that's happening they didn't pray and then wait for the man to receive strength in his legs and walk in front of them it was an act of faith that triggered the resulting miracle that followed they said in the name of jesus christ get up and walk and then they grabbed him by the hand lifted him up and then at that moment strength came to his legs see there's a part that you play there's a part that others play and there's a part that god plays but all of heaven responds to faith i love this the bible says he jumped to his feet he began to walk and then he follows them into the temple court you've got to understand something in this context people who were born lame were not allowed into the temple courts via jewish law in custom this is likely the first time that this man has ever been able to go from being one who sat at the gate to one who was inside the temple courts this experience was transformational in his coming home to where he was truly created to be can i tell you friend there are people all across this community who are born lame and they don't even know it and i think sometimes in the church we operate with this kind of ecclesiastical misnomer like somehow people who don't know jesus are just going to be walking by the church they're going to trip into the church on a sunday morning just as i'm giving the altar call and then respond to the invitation to receive christ and although i'm sure that can happen and it probably has happened a time or two what i have found is the thing that most contributes to the growth of a healthy local church is when people take responsibility to be ambassadors of christ throughout all of the gates that surround their cities and as this man receives his strength now he follows peter and john into the temple courts here's what i love the gate called beautiful and around it sits the men who were born lame isn't that dichotomy such a great description of how god works in the middle of our mess taking us out of the myrik clay and setting us on his foundation taking us out of the pit of despair and seating us at his table taking us out of dysfunction and bringing healing and restoration in our lives that he makes beautiful things out of the ash heap of our history god sets us up for success at the gate called beautiful now if you've ever been to jerusalem and in specific temple mount what you will recognize is that it is a city that is surrounded by a wall and of course this is how cities in that era were built it was as the defense mechanism and there in in the time of jesus would have been eight significant gates and it would have guarded the traffic in and out of the old city and of course the reason that was done is so that if there was ever an invading army they could close the gates they could man the wall they could man the gates and in doing so protect the city but this gate called beautiful was also called the eastern gate sometimes it was referred to as the golden gate but maybe my most favorite designation for the name of this gate comes from the jewish custom of that day they called it the gate of god's timing the gate of god's timing and i want you to see this because in a moment i'm going to connect acts 3 to the book of isaiah to the book of ezekiel into the book of zechariah and i'm going to share with you what it's going to look like when christ returns because this gate is significant but i want you to think about that for a moment this morning friend the word time it comes from two different greek words that we see used in the new testament the first greek word is kronos and it just means natural time what is the time well it's it's 11 21 on on august 22nd in the year of our lord 2021 it is that exact time right now that is kronos time but there's another word that's used for time in the new testament that i think is even more significant and it's the word kairos and the word kairos designates a supernatural window of opportunity by which god's sovereign pejorative interrupts the human narrative and things supernaturally change in an instant and can i tell you friend as a church we are not in kronos time we are in kairos time and what we are seeing in this community and more broadly what we are seeing in the northwest is god responding to the prayers of people just like you and just like me offered in this place shifting the very clock of time and in doing so invading this place with his presence we are in cairo's time not kronos time this man had been born lame he had sat by this gate all his life he had been begging for money just to survive as long as he could remember but this time was different why because it wasn't kronos it was kairos we are operating under a canopy of god's divine timing and god's divine strategy what we will see here over the next few months here at the pursuit i promise you it's going to blow your mind i promise you it's going to be exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask think or imagine we're going to see other churches and ministries and campuses and cities and fields come under the canopy of the church and you're going to see things shift just in an instant and you're going to not even have words to describe it you're going to feel like you're caught up in a suddenly of god where all of a sudden everything shifts where all of a sudden the blessing and the favor of the lord comes upon the house comes upon your you're not even gonna have words to describe the things that you're feeling but remember one day to us is like a thousand years to him and a thousand years is like a day to us and in a moment when god interrupts the human narrative he says it's my time now that's where we're at prophetically as a church just let me help you understand let the reader understand he who has eyes let him see he who has ears let him hear let me help understand the almost anxiety that you're feeling in the atmosphere this morning you are sitting on the edge of awakening and god says it's now it's kairos it's not krotos now watch i'm going to talk a little bit about the tribulation it's what's recorded in revelation 6 through 18. remember this gate remember this gate because it's integral where we're going what is the tribulation i'm glad you asked it's a seven year period of time after the rapture of the church by which the world experienced the judgment that comes from unbelief and rebellion both immense blessing and immense judgment are happening at the same time friend this is the great paradox of the last days i refuse to adopt new age universalism as the lens by which i read the book of revelation let me be very clear there is coming a judgment on the earth and just like the love of god is deeper than you could ever imagine so the justice of god is more serious than you could ever imagine and friend if you profess faith in christ jesus you will not be subject to the coming judgment because our sins were judged when jesus died in our place on the cross hear me you didn't escape judgment christ took your judgment and in doing so presented you righteous before the father that's the best deal that there's ever been in all of history [Applause] now my sins have been judged they were just judged two thousand years ago when the handwriting of requirements the note of debt that i owed was wiped away by the blood of jesus no christians were judged we were just judged by the blood of jesus and in doing so have been now declared and seated in heavenly places righteous with the father in the book of revelation we see in revelation 6 what john calls the seal judgments he talks about conflict and warfare famine and death justice and earthquakes moving on to revelation 80 talks about the trumpet judgments hail and fire mixed with blood a third of the water supply supply being poisoned a third of the sun moon and stars turning dark locusts a third of humanity passing away and finally in revelation 16 at the end of the seven year tribulation period john announces that there will be terrible sores that break out across the earth salt water will be turned to blood fresh water turned to blood people scorched by the sun complete darkness covering the earth the euphrates river drying up and finally it will end with the greatest earthquake in all of human history and at the end of the tribulation time period christ returns but this time with believers for a final battle that the bible calls armageddon and after victory is won the world enters into a thousand-year rule and reign of god's peace by which we call it the millennium i've told you about the rapture but now let me tell you about the second coming in the rapture you go up with christ but in the return you come down with christ and at the end of the seven year tribulation time period christ returns with believers and we rule and reign with him let me set the scene for you this morning jesus is standing on the mount of olives in matthew 24 and he's teaching what is referred to by theologians as the olivet discourse it is the fifth discourse recorded in the book of matthew and in matthew 24 and in matthew 25 he has gathered his disciples to him on the mountain and he is teaching them about the things that must happen in order for the end to come and there is a reason why the mount of olives is significant not just to the ministry of jesus but to what the prophets declared how it would look like when the messiah would return for in fact if you read the book of zechariah you will see that in zechariah 14 the prophet prophesies that when christ returns he will physically land on the mount of olives there will be a violent earthquake the mount of olives will split between east and west forming a great valley and christ will descend as jesus is standing on the mount of olives he is teaching about what the end will look like and all of his listeners who were grown up in the jewish custom would be painfully aware of what the prophets declared about what the end would look like where jesus stood he will return to and where he returns to he will march from and where he marched from he will enter into jerusalem and rule and reign with peace it's not just that zechariah prophesies that christ will return to the mount of olives ezekiel prophesies that when christ returns he will march from the mount of olives through the eastern gate destroying the enemies of god and establishing his rule and reign in jerusalem which will extend to the whole world let me encourage you with something this morning you must view the nations of the earth through the lens of the gospel instead of viewing the gospel through the lens of your national identity this is what helps protect you from unhealthy over political politicization of the scriptures this is what helps prevent you from from drifting either too far to the left or too far to the right is that we allow the gospel to inform the way that we view nations not our national heritage to view the way that we see scripture you know sometimes people say well for god so loved america that he said his one and only begotten son we over westernize the gospel by reading our national narrative into everything that jesus says and i want the gospel to shape the way i understand my nation not my nation to unders shape the way that i understand the gospel zachariah prophesies that when christ returns with his angels and his saints he will land on the mount of olives in doing so there will be the greatest earthquake that there's ever been in human history to such a degree that the very land is rent between east and west it will form a valley and christ will walk through that valley directly through the eastern gate the golden gate the beautiful gate the gate of god's timing and he will restore his rule and reign and peace to earth now let me show you why that's significant let me show you a picture today of the eastern gate the gate called beautiful the one that i just told you about in acts chapter 3. if you were to go to jerusalem today you would see this gate this is the gate that peter and john walk through in acts 3 this is the gate that ezekiel prophesies christ will walk through after he returns and lands on the mount of olives and you might be saying to yourself pastor it doesn't look like an open gate what's going on let me explain this to you it's very important the muslims take this prophecy so serious that in 1535 solemn the magnificent the longest reigning muslim leader of the ottoman empire ordered the eastern gate to be sealed shut with 16 feet of cement and a cemetery was planted in front of it thinking that the jewish messiah would not set foot in a cemetery because of the levitical law it was to prevent the fulfillment of these messianic prophecies and as i researched this i felt like the holy spirit asked me a question and that question was this why do muslims take more serious the return of christ than christians [Applause] in 1535 they understood jesus is coming and so they blocked up this gate and they filled it with cement and stones and see in leviticus 21 moses records the laws of aaron for what the priesthood would be and the laws of aaron for the priesthood said that no jewish rabbi or priest should be allowed to walk through a graveyard for any reason and so in thinking that they could prevent the return of the messiah they sealed this up and let me show you another picture this is me sitting on the mount of olives i want to show you where this is watch if you were to go to israel today and we'll take another church trip there i encourage every believer make a trip to jerusalem prior to leaving the earth it's important because because when you see things in the physical that you've only read about in the spiritual it does something in your heart this is why i'm saying it's not make believe no i've been there i've this is where jesus teaches i'm sitting on the mount of olives this is where jesus teaches as he talks about his return this is where zachariah prophesies that christ will land the valley will split and he will march directly through the eastern gate and i want you to notice directly behind me there's also a graveyard and that graveyard is filled with jews because even the jewish people understand that they want to be planted and buried right by the place where christ will return in preparation for a resurrection from the dead and i'm just shook this morning that there are other folks on other sides of the religious issues who often time take these verses more seriously than us and jesus will land and he will march straight through the valley that has been split because of the great earthquake and all of a sudden those doors will fling open that cement will crumble christ will walk into jerusalem and he will rule and reign not just from a spiritual seat but from a political seat and the earth will enter into a thousand-year rule of millennial peace it was this gate which jesus entered the city on palm sunday it was this gate through which he exited the city the night of the last supper of prey in the garden of gethsemane it was this gate through which jesus passed through 40 days after his resurrection and it is this gate through which christ will march through when he returns according to ezekiel the prophet and let me end here let me end here this morning this is important if you've been to this church any any number of of of of weeks you've heard me quote psalms 24. and psalms 24 is a song of david it's a prophetic poem of david and the bible says of jesus that he sits on the seat of david eternally in order for jesus to be the messiah in in in fulfillment of old testament prophecy he had to be born of the lineage of david that's why when you read the gospels uh the the writers of the gospel especially matthew and luke they take time to tell the genealogy you know all the stuff that you skip because you don't understand why it's there well it was written for a jewish audience and the followers of jesus were proving that he is in fact the jewish messiah david in the book of psalms is a type of christ meaning he's an old testament picture of the messiah who is to come and in psalms 24 something interesting happens david begins to prophesy about this gate now you've heard me quote the scripture before but i'm going to quote it again in light of what i just preached and i want you to understand the significance watch psalms 24 open up ancient gates open up ancient doors and let the king of glory enter who is the king of glory the lord strong and mighty the lord invincible in battle open up ancient gates open up ancient doors and let the king of glory enter who is the king of glory the lord of heaven's armies he is the king of glory friends psalms 24 is a maranatha prayer from king david it's this prayer come lord jesus come and when you return your glory will be so profound not only will it split the earth but it will open ancient gates and you will march as a triumphant king into jerusalem and in doing so the prince of peace will establish his kingdom on earth and we will never be the same friend that is what it means to believe in a bodily return see when you go there and you walk the land it gives you a different perspective you're like oh this is where jesus said matthew 24. this is where he talked about the parable of the wise and foolish virgins this is where he talked about the parable of the master who comes back for a return on his investment this is where jesus tells these stories see it's significant it's important and it's our reality as believers we serve a jesus who is returning soon now you heard me say this and just let me reiterate i know that there's a lot of details in the book of revelation it's a 2 000 year old apocalyptic book filled with a bunch of things that are happening literally a bunch of things that are more poetic a bunch of things that are being described by john as he's trying to use human words to describe heavenly realities it's difficult to understand but i know this there is a blessing that comes upon those who read the words of this prophecy and take it to heart i'm not going to be disappointed if it happens differently than my timeline i'm not going to be upset if it it it looks a little different in the in in in in the final estimation of how things go down but i want to be a believer who lives in this ever-present reality jesus is coming soon and his glory will fill the entire earth and in doing so we will be transformed not only is psalms 24 i believe a prophetic verse about the return of the messiah i think it's a prophetic invitation for the church of jesus christ you know what we do here as we stand in community and as we worship and as we pray and as we rally and as we gather we are declaring all across this region to all of the spiritual gates that have been sealed up by unbelief by false religion by hurt by pain by universalism by syncretism by bad teaching we are communicating to the gates in this city swing wide you ancient gates open up you ancient doors why because the king of glory is coming to the northwest and when his glory arrives your life is transformed friend that's who we are that's what we believe and that's what we're giving our lives to in the season come on would you stand with me as we close at the end of every sermon for this series i'm giving people an opportunity and an invitation to give their lives to jesus there has never been a better time to put faith in jesus christ all of our world and all of our cultures groaning with birth pains as they recognize that time is coming up friend tomorrow isn't guaranteed but eternal life with jesus is if you'll put faith in him in just a moment i'm going to count to three we're going to read this prayer together and in doing so we're going to confess the lordship of jesus christ come on let's do that as a church family one two three dear god i know i'm a sinner and i ask for your forgiveness i believe jesus christ is your son i believe that he died for my sin and that you raised him to life i want to trust him as my savior and follow him as lord from this day forward guide my life and help me to do your will i pray this in the name of jesus amen

Channel: The Pursuit NW

Views: 1,879

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Id: W7ZZHWErMXo

Length: 33min 29sec (2009 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 23 2021