The Stage Is Set For The Second Coming

[Music] imagine being invited to the biggest event in the world imagine being told this is the grandest event in all of time do not miss this and yet you miss it you've been given all the signs on how to get there you're told this is what to do this is what not to do everything is written down for you in spectacular detail in order to remind you to guide you and to keep your mind focused on not missing this event and as if that wasn't enough imagine being given a road map a road map on how you should present yourself how you should carry yourself and how you should live in order to be eligible for entry to this event you're told plain as day hey we're going to conduct some background searches on you we're going to look at your choices and your decisions we're going to look into what motivated you and what kind of things you were committed to imagine being told all of that being given all of that but yet you still miss this event ladies and gentlemen if you haven't picked up on it yet i am speaking about the rapture i'm speaking about the return of christ the bible is our invitation to the biggest event in all of history first thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 and 17 and the amplified translation says for the lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of the trumpet of god and the dead in christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain on the earth will simultaneously be caught up raptured together with them the resurrected ones in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so we will always be with the lord now i don't know about you but i wouldn't want to miss this i wouldn't want to miss that glorious day when the lord comes down from heaven and snatches his beloved church he will do it suddenly he will do it quickly and without warning the bible said for the lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of the trumpet of god when that trumpet sounds where will you be will you be caught up in the sky to meet the lord when that trumpet sounds what state will your heart be in will you be living in sin or waiting patiently faithfully prayerfully for the lord when that trumpet sounds will it be a day of reckoning for you will you take into account the fact that you were given an invitation to this most spectacular and glorious gathering but you didn't take enough care to read that invitation will it be a day where you fall to your knees in complete despair asking yourself how did i miss it how did i get left behind as you listen right now i encourage you to take heed [Music] pay careful attention the day of the lord will come like a thief it will come at a day and time unknown to anyone on this earth but when that day comes what a glorious and spectacular gathering in the clouds it will be don't miss out on the biggest event the world has ever seen [Music] i find it interesting that the bible uses the words take heed to take heed is to pay special attention to take heed is to add an extra level of consideration than you would normally before i take things further i would like to submit to you this short passage of scripture mark chapter 13 verse 28 to 33 now learn this parable from the fig tree when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves you know that summer is near so you also when you see these things happening know that it is near at the doors assuredly i say to you this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place heaven and earth will pass away but my words will by no means pass away but of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels in heaven nor the sun but only the father take heed watch and pray for you do not know when the time is so here is the first time we come across the phrase take heed meaning we are to pay special attention when it comes to the return of jesus and how does one take heed you may ask well the bible says take heed watch and pray watch and pray saints let me ask you a question are you watching are you praying are you observing that the bible says in the last days perilous times shall come the word perilous means full of danger or full of a risk so that means we should be observing for the days when there is danger in this world danger when it comes to our health as humans danger or risk when it comes to economy danger or risk when it comes to nature itself perilous times shall come and in context to our two key words we are to take heed we are to take heed and take careful consideration when we notice that men are lovers of themselves lovers of money boasters proud blasphemers unthankful unholy now i could go on and point out the entire list described in the bible but there are further occasions where the words take heed are brought to our attention matthew 24 verse 4 says and jesus answered and said to them take heed that no one deceives you once again you and i are told to take heed be careful that no one deceives you this means that there will come a time when there will be a prevalence of deception jesus warned us and advised us to take heed and be on high alert in order to discern deception and so back to my opening passage of scripture in mark chapter 13 verse 28 to 33 verse 29 says so you also when you see these things happening know that it is near at the doors this parable given to us by jesus is meant to serve as a warning to all of us his return is near at the doors and so my message to you is take heed because ii timothy chapter 4 tells us that a time will come when some will no longer tolerate sound teaching they will no longer tolerate godly teaching they will not be able to stand to hear the pure gospel of jesus christ the pure undiluted unadulterated gospel of truth a gospel that preaches repentance so men will reject this sound teaching and instead they will live by their own desires they'll scratch their itching ears by surrounding themselves with teachers who approve of their lifestyles and tell them what they want to hear take heed man of god take heed woman of god do not fall into the trap of listening to a gospel that approves your sinful lifestyle the gospel should challenge you to righteousness it should push you toward holiness the gospel should convict you to repent and fall at the feet of jesus christ seeking his mercy saints take heed take heed of matthew 24 7. it says or nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines pestilences and earthquakes in various places take heed of matthew 24 10 which says and then many will be offended will betray one another and will hate one another take heed that lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold so as you listen i will once again ask you the questions are you watching are you praying are you observing that the bible says in the last days perilous times shall come [Music] you'll never find anyone saying they see light and darkness in a person you stand for one or the other jesus christ made it so clear about what you should stand for when he gave us the beatitudes in the book of matthew chapter 5. they describe a set of standards to live by a set of values and attitudes that go way beyond how you act on a sunday or what you just say they become what you stand for what you are committed to and yes this is hard to live out it's hard to be the peacemaker when as people test you and emotions run high it's hard to hunger for righteousness when the world offers so many glittering distractions but that's where commitment to christ comes from the kind of commitment that says not my will lord but thy will be done the kind of commitment that will crucify the flesh with his passions and desires the kind of commitment that galatians 5 20 talks about when it says put away with the deeds of the flesh such as idol tree sorcery jealousy outburst of anger envy drunkenness and at the end of the verse god says i warn you as i did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of god and while it sounds like harsh judgment it is true god does not stand for any of those things his kingdom stands for love joy peace long-suffering kindness a life of pursuing god and seeking him people should be able to see the fruit of christ in your life [Music] matthew 16 verse 26 for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul if you were to assess your actions your decisions everything you do and everything you decide not to do is it to the benefit of your soul or are you looking to gain the whole world do you stop and think no i shouldn't be telling a lie because proverbs 12 22 says the lord detests lying lips do you slam the breaks in your mind and tell your eyes no look away don't stare at that lady for too long don't turn around and give her a second look because the bible says in matthew 5 verse 28 everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart i guess what i'm really trying to get at is how many of us are living in such a conscious way that we are mindful we are diligent that our actions need to profit our soul because if your actions don't profit your soul if they aren't beneficial to your soul then where does that leave you this world is temporary our bodies are temporary but your soul needs to have a home in eternity are you mindful of that are you living in a way that reflects you being a christian who is alert to what they expose their soul to when someone has heart problems one of the things that the doctor usually tells them is to change their diet the emphasis is going to be for you to guard what's coming in guard what you allow to enter into you now the same is true for our spiritual condition our relationship with god you say we ought to guard what's coming into our lives and can potentially harm our spiritual heart so take note of these areas guard the doctrines that you hear and the word doctrine means the teaching the information the belief system that you are taught be discerning don't accept everything you hear the sad thing is that many people are being swept away today by new modern teachings so-called new contemporary doctrine be alert the devil is doing all he can to try and add new things to our faith deceptive things to the gospel don't get caught up in spiritualism and reincarnation be careful not to get caught up in these teachings of mysticism and new ageism christ and christ alone is the rock upon which we stand the gospel of jesus christ is all about repentance turning away from sin loving god with all your heart and soul and mind the gospel of christ is what we believe in for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life that's the gospel we believe as christians so guard your heart every day proverbs 4 verse 23 says keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life you have a spiritual heart the bible uses this term the heart in a spiritual sense to refer to the real part of us the very inner part of you which is our soul our spirit our mind all wrapped up in this concept of the heart so what goes on in your heart affects the world around you out of the heart spring the issues the issues of life do you have an issue with anger look at your heart do you have an issue with self-control an issue with gambling do you keep cycling in and out of the same sin well it's a hard issue keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life the bible says the issues of life are heart issues so think twice before blaming your husband or wife what's really going on in your heart what is really affecting your marriage and your relationships and your finances so do what you have to we are the gatekeepers of our physical hearts and spiritual hearts so guard it protect it keep your heart and nurture your heart for it is the wellspring of life and throughout the scripture we read about the importance of our hearts and the condition the spiritual condition of our hearts the bible says in first samuel 16 7 but the lord said to samuel do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because i have rejected him for the lord sees not as man sees man looks on the outward appearance but the lord looks on the heart we look at the outward appearance we look at the suit the dress we look at the hair if they have any swagger about them we unfortunately make too many judgments and opinions based on the observation of our physical eyes however god goes beyond that he's concerned with the state of the heart matthew 15 verse 8 says these people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me so you can say the right things you can speak in the right kind of manner all you want but it's not prayer until you give god all of your heart soul and mind it's not worship until you worship him with every fiber of being inside you it's not sincere if it doesn't involve your heart guard your heart saints it's crucial all too often we're concerned about things that don't benefit our heart our soul when instead we should be committed to say jesus you can have my heart in closing to guard your heart means to guard what comes into your heart you can usher in the godly and the ungodly you can allow things that will renew your mind and transform your mind to the lord's standard or you can allow things that pollute your mind with this world learn to listen with filters learn to be discerning guard what comes in learn to be decisive about whether or not each action you take or don't take will profit your soul or if it will lead you to lose your soul but gain the world do not be in that group of people who perish because of lack of knowledge what you don't know when it comes to the spiritual world can be used against you a lack of knowledge means you will give the enemy an inch and he will take a mile a lack of knowledge means that the enemy will present himself up as something innocent and harmless he will deceive and make you think there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with watching this there's nothing wrong with listening to this type of music beware of the gate you are opening people of god be vigilant about what you're inviting into your life do you know the spirit behind that type of music do you know what spirit what atmosphere or what you're inviting into your home when you're watching that film i encourage you today to fill your life with sounds and visuals that edify and build upon your faith open the door only to things that can build upon your faith and invite the presence of god close every gate that can potentially corrupt and pollute the mind things that can harm our faith i encourage you to only open the door to answer the knock of christ the bible says in the last days i will pour out my spirit on all people so open your door to the spirit of god and the great thing about opening the door to the holy spirit is that he can lock things out through the power of the holy ghost you can lock out the evil that has been working against you and your loved ones with the power of the holy spirit you can lock out generational curses you can lock out principalities and dark forces so invite god in today his spirit will bring wisdom and revelation in your life his spirit will give you access to gifts that we would otherwise not have access to open the door to the word of god the word that can provide keys and to all your problems open the door to jesus christ the one who can give you peace the one who can heal and also give you eternal life there are books in the bible verses in the bible that we choose to put aside because they don't tickle our taste buds the same way as others for example the first message of john the baptist in matthew 3 verse 2 was about repentance the first message when jesus began his ministry in matthew 4 verse 17 was about repentance peter after the day of pentecost in acts 2 verse 38 spoke the same message repent however i believe that most of us would rather not hear the message of repentance nor do we want to have to hear about or acknowledge the sin that requires us to repent and to take it even further let me ask you this how many of us venture all the way to the end of the bible right to the back to read about the future of humanity and mankind how many of us have read and know in detail revelation 20 verse 11 to 15 which reveals a great white throne judgment in which those who did not adhere to or perform the acts recorded in the word of god will be doomed to what is recorded as the second death but of course to be politically correct this is the part of god's word that many will fail to eat because it's simply not good for our taste buds to speak it's sad but true that many people who call themselves christian will never make it into heaven because the bible says we'll all be judged according to our works and i'm sure we can all be honest enough with ourselves to know that all of our works are not and have not been good or acceptable to the lord all the time so the message goes back to one of repentance have you repented truly repented there are those who are in church week after week that look and play a good part but in the end they will hear the words depart from me i never knew you it's sad but true and another fact that's also sad but true is that jesus said these people will claim to have prophesied cast out demons and done many wonders in my name but they will still be rejected passage into eternity with god perhaps many of these people will truly be surprised by the verdict it's sad but true that jesus did teach that false prophets would arise and deceive many according to matthew 24 11. [Music] in every element of life there is a division between what we love what we tolerate for the sake of our good and what we despise for instance there are things that we really love to eat things that naturally excite our taste buds for some it may be chocolate or ice cream or others it may be cakes or pies for some it may be more healthy things like fruits and vegetables whoever you are there are things you love to eat then there are those things that we eat for the sake of our well-being some of these things we may not even particularly like but we know they are good for us and keep us healthy you may not like apples but you'll tolerate them for the sake of a healthy diet you may not like drinking water or broccoli but you know it's good for you so we tolerate these things but then there are those things that we know that we probably need to eat but we just can't bring ourselves to do it because we simply detest the taste and you know what i'm talking about how many of us have moved the spinach the brussels sprouts or kale aside so that we can enjoy everything else so remember that there are things we love things we tolerate and things we despise at your job this is true in any romantic relationship this is true in fact in every area of life you can find things that fit into one of these three categories now the bible and gospel message of jesus christ is no exception when it comes to the divisions we have between what we love what we tolerate and what we despise let me give you some examples many of us simply love the book of psalms because we can find verses like the lord is my shepherd i shall not want we feel good when we read though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil or how about a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not come near you these are powerful verses comforting verses good verses that everybody loves to read and memorize we could decree and declare these all day and every day we all love to be encouraged it arouses our spiritual taste buds and stimulates us to be confident full of faith and we feel like we can crush the devil if he even thinks of trying to attack us on the other hand when the scripture reminds us to study to show ourselves approved when the scripture reminds us to meditate day and night and observe to do according to all that is written in the word or when we are reminded to pray without ceasing we struggle to get too excited because we realize this requires effort and time of course we realize these things are healthy for us and that we need to do it to remain spiritually healthy so many will study meditate and pray because we cannot survive spiritually without it and be honest these examples don't give many of us that same sense of confidence that good feeling inside that we get when we read the psalm why well we tend to love the verses that tell us all about what god can do what god will do we love to read that god will lead us he will bless us and keep us but we tend simply to tolerate the verses that tell us what to do we're told to study and show thyself approved okay not the most exciting thing to do we're told to meditate on the word day and night but how many of us can say we love that verse but we tolerate those aspects of scripture and unfortunately there is also the element of scripture that many choose to simply ignore and not eat because it doesn't give you the same good feeling as other scriptures much of what we know of the church today resembles the world and many people are simply blinded by its delicacies they are blinded by what is good to their spiritual taste buds we are enticed by social groups entertained by light shows and musical talents and made to feel good by messages that are more concerned with tickling the ears than with teaching sound biblical doctrine jesus said when speaking of the end days that if it were possible even the very elect would be deceived it is sad but true that countless people believe that they are living by a standard set by god when in fact they are abiding in a standard prescribed by fallen man providentially god has given mankind a plan by which he can be certain in his quest for eternity what may seem impossible with man is emphatically possible with god from the beginning in the fall of man in the garden of eden god has proposed to bridge the gap between fallen man and himself because of his love for his creation god was willing to go beyond human comprehension by giving his only begotten son to die for the purpose of reuniting god with his creation and his only condition for eternal life was belief in the son paul wrote if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved paul also said in ephesians 2 verse 8 that for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is the gift of god you see all god really desires is that we would seek to know him through a deep meaningful relationship with his son scripture teaches the ones who do the will of god will enter the kingdom of heaven jesus said that he did not come to do his will but to do the will of the one who set him it is sad but true that there are many who will never enter heaven because all they really care about is themselves for our eternity to be secure all we really have to do is the will of god and you can find his will in the bible you can find his will when you become a doer of the word and not just someone who reads it you see we believe in jesus christ and therefore should strive to have a personal relationship with him this relationship is our salvation we hold on to him and acknowledge him to be the way the truth and the life [Music] you

Channel: Grace For Purpose

Views: 784,768

Rating: 4.8942366 out of 5

Keywords: Christian, Motivation

Id: ImRKz9aMDQE

Length: 36min 12sec (2172 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2021