These Last Days | Marcus Mecum | 7 Hills Church

[Music] first thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 for the lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of god the dead in christ will rise first after that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so we will be with the lord forever i like this last phrase here i really like it therefore encourage one another with these words the purpose of talking about end times according to the bible is that we can encourage one another with it so the purpose of talking about end times is not to be fearful is not to be negative is not to talk about destruction and the end of everything as much as it's to encourage you and so i'm going to show you how encouraging this subject is over the next few minutes if you were in the nation of israel if you were alive at the time of paul speaking to the church of thessalonica you would have known what he was discussing in the imagery when he talked about how we're to go out and meet the lord in the air and together we will forever be with the lord he was speaking of something that would happen in every village or every city whenever caesar would come to visit that city or that village the watchmen would be on the wall he would look out afar off and he would see caesar coming and he would announce to the city announce to the community caesar is coming caesar is coming they would shout from the city walls caesar is coming and every person in that village and every person in those cities would stop immediately whatever they were doing they would cease to work they would leave their homes they would grab their children they would come together and the entire city would exit and go out to meet caesar and like a parade they would celebrate and cheer and shout as they would lead caesar into the village and right before they would walk through the city gates they would stop and let caesar enter the city gates first and so the idea was that this is when it comes to the return of christ it's something we're supposed to be looking for it's something that we're supposed to be watching for it's something that we're supposed to be excited about that whatever we might do on a daily basis we're supposed to be willing to let go not to be clinging to the things of this world so much but we're supposed to be willing at any point in time to let go of all of those things because we know that our destiny is not here on this earth but we have a greater call a greater destiny and we're supposed to be celebrating watching and and rejoicing about the soon return of our lord and savior jesus christ one out of every 30 verses in your bible deals with the return of christ and end times 216 chapters in the new testament there's over 300 references in the new testament concerning the return of christ and end times 23 of the 27 new testament books deals with this subject of course jesus talked about his second coming often so much so that the disciples wanted to know when is this going to happen paul the apostle in second timothy chapter four is laying on his death bed and he's talking about how he's finished his race he's fought his fight and he's received the crown of righteousness and he says because i longed for his appearing and then he goes on to say anyone who wants to finish their race anybody who wants to fight their fight anybody who wants their crown they have to be like i was they have to long for the appearing of christ they have to long for it there has to be a desire for it last week we talked about it there has to be an eager expectation for the return of christ there has to be something in you that's looking for it waiting on it expecting it that you're supposed to be desiring it and if you do that paul said what you're going to experience is you will finish your race you will fight that fight that you have in front of you and you'll win that fight and you will get the crown that god has in store for you so a lot of people want to know what does all this stuff mean what is it what does it mean that we're living in the last days well hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 says in times of old god would speak through his prophets but now it says in these last days everybody say these last days in these last days he speaks to us through his son i want to break that phrase down these last days because i think in looking into that phrase it can help you understand a little bit more about the time that we're living in or the subject we're talking about these that first word there in the phrase is a demonstrative word meaning it demonstrates something so these speaks of closeness it speaks of nearness if the writer of hebrews would have said those most believe luke wrote hebrews if he would have said those it would have meant something that's afar off or distant these is close those demonstrate something distant for example this is also a demonstrative word this pulpit means it's close this podium means it's close this stage it's something close that stage in the children's area that podium in the children's area that's far off that's distant so when the writer said these he's speaking of something close the word last many other translations say end days there's different words there but my favorite word even though it's not translated very much in our bibles in the hebrew i love that it it can also speak of destiny probably the best way to think of the phrase last is to see it as a destiny word because it's actually not really inferring last and i'll help you understand that in just a minute because last infers the end or something being over but really this is more of a moment of destiny than it is the end of something and then days you have maybe seen the word age like the end of an age or the word time is also used the end of time or world or universe the the end of the world and so immediately everybody thinks those things and they immediately think of something negative but notice the word days there is plural it's a plural world word because it's speaking of two worlds or two ages or two times coming together at once the age that that is and then the age that is to come happening at one moment of destiny and in that moment that's what the bible says these last days it's speaking of the destiny of all god's creation of everything we've been created for coming together in one moment where the age that is and the age that is to come collide meaning in the hebrew because the reason we have so many translation issues here is because we have a translation limitation the hebrew word for that phrase last days is a man climbing up a mountain to reach the summit and one generation climbs the mountain and then they pass the baton to another generation and they climb up a little bit further and then they pass the baton to the next generation and they climb a little bit further eventually you get to the point where you're close to the top of the mountain eventually you reach the summit that's these last days and when you reach the summit of the mountain before you were limited in what you could see because the mountain was in front of you but when you reach the summit there's no longer that limitation you can look at a 360 degree radius and you can see the over the full expanse of what what are we seeing from that summit the age that is and the age that is to come we will be able to see the full destiny of all god's creation on that day so when you hear end times instead of think end or destruction think the destiny of all god's creation romans chapter 8 and verse 19 says in my opinion whatever we may go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future god has planned for us the whole creation is on tiptoe that's how we're supposed to be on tiptoe eagerly expecting notice what it says to see the wonderful sight of the sons of god coming into their own that's you and i realizing the day that we live in and when this happens the world and creation cannot yet see reality not because it chooses to be blind but because in god's purpose it's been so limited yet it has been given hope and the hope is that in the end the whole created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay and have it share in the magnificent liberty which can only belong to the children of god it's describing the moment where all of a sudden the limitations of us being able to see what we'll see on that summit top the limitations of of our our world because of the curse that's come on our world because of the fall of adam and eve all those limitations not just on us but on all creation will immediately be lifted and all of creation will be freed from the tyranny of death and decay ancient rabbis would say this they would say when the lord returns listen to what they would say even the the dirt will cry out get off me curse in other words even the dirt when god comes back even the dirt will say now finally i get to be who i'm supposed to be and do what i'm supposed to do and that is the glorious magnificent destiny of all god's creation i heard a preacher one time who had a just a flare for the dramatic he loved to you know do things to illustrate his messages and so he was going to read a scripture about the end times and he told a young boy before the service he said hey what i want you to do is i'm going to read this verse and when i get to the point where the bible says and the trumpet of god will sound i want you to turn off the lights and i want you to blow a trumpet in a microphone so he gets to the bible verse and the young boy turns the lights off and he blows the trumpet and everybody freaks out they scream they're scared to death he turns on the light and half the church is running for the door half the church is crying and repenting in the altar making sure that they're getting right because they don't want to miss you know jesus is coming back and then there's three little old ladies on the front row and they're flapping their arms looking up towards the sky come on that's cute think about three little old ladies can't wait to go be with jesus and the point is that's what we're supposed to be like it's not supposed to be scary to us it's supposed to be something we're excited about we're supposed to be those flappers on the front row can't wait until jesus comes back the last days speak of an appointed day where the baton is passed from the age that is to the age that is to come this is the glorious destiny of all god's creation this is the destiny moment for jesus where this time he's not coming to hang on a cross as a suffering servant this time he's going to come as king of kings and lord of lords and he will establish his power his glory and his authority on the earth the bible says god will pour out his spirit on all flesh this means what we see in the book of acts chapter 2 where the 120 are in the upper room and the holy spirit fills that room and he shows up like a mighty rushing wind and divided tongues as a fire sits on each one of them what happened in acts 2 to 120 will happen to 2 billion plus people all at one time that's what we're looking at this is the glorious destiny of all god's creation a lot of people say well when is it going to happen how close is it can you give me an idea well the bible says in matthew 24 36 that no one knows not even jesus knows the day or the hour so no one knows so if you ever hear anyone say that they know exactly when jesus is coming back jesus himself doesn't even know the bible says only the father knows this is a big deal for us so if you ever see someone write a book 88 reasons jesus is coming back in 1988 they're just trying to sell you a book they don't know what they're talking about some of you are too young for that but the point is no one knows in that same chapter it talks to us about the signs it talks to us about things that we're to look for that surround the end of time or the wrapping up of time on god's calendar it's not been unusual that every generation since christ has believed that he's coming in his generation including the apostle simon peter he believed he was living in the last days but he gave a caveat concerning the attitude that that we should not do anything as far as planning for the future because we're living in the last days and he teaches us this in second peter chapter three they'll put it up on the screen but what he says is he says if it appears like the lord the lord is slow concerning his promise in other words it seems like he's god's holding back why isn't he coming back quicker we've known for generations they've talked about the coming of the lord maybe your great-great-grandparents talked about it and their great-grandparents talked about it maybe maybe you heard about it as a child and in your mind it's not going to happen because it appears like it's being slow like it's not going to happen because it seems like god's up there taking his time well it's pretty clear that god introduces the reasons why he's waiting is that so none could would perish but that all would come to repentance so weeks like last week where 448 people get right with jesus that's why god waits that's why he's patient and so people can end up getting saved but he goes on to say that what christians should be careful of is not believing that he's slow he's patient but he's not slow he will return as he promised is what the apostle simon peter said and he said when he does show up it will be like a thief in the night in other words the image of jesus his return every time the image is unexpectedly and suddenly and people will not be ready and so you might be saying are we living in the last days and the answer to that is yes but even if that's not in our generation or in our day can i just help you out real quick you're still living in your last days and the golden rule in the bible is people will not be ready whether that's him coming to us or us going to him and the main reason people are not ready we can find in philippians chapter 3 paul the apostle with tears in his eyes he's weeping and he says christians will not be ready because they do not focus on eternal things they focus on this world they're enamored with this world they're not focused on their destiny instead their focus on what james says is a vapor or a mist or your life is the little dash between two dates and that little dash is what everybody gets consumed with instead of the immeasurable timeline the massive timeline of god is what we're supposed to be focused on not that little dash we're supposed to focus on that eternal timeline instead and so the apostle paul with tears streaming down his face with tears in his eyes weeping he looks at the church of philippi and he says people will not be ready and the reason why is because they'll be consumed with the here and now day-to-day living attached to this world and then jesus is going to come back and they will be surprised and it will meet them unexpectedly because they don't understand our attachment is not to be to this world but our attachment is to be on the massive eternal timeline of god which by the way sarah's out of town right now she wanted to get out of town and went with a friend to florida and i couldn't find socks this morning what's up with that i have two massive i mean ma i mean these are they're overflowing they're what do you call the laundry baskets with socks and none of the socks match and i had this thought is there like a sock rapture that's happened and no one told me about it and a bunch of socks got taken and all these ones got left behind it's just a thought psalms 139 you form my inward parts you knit me together in my mother's womb i praise you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful are your works my soul knows it very well my frame was not hidden from you when i was being made in secret intricately woven in the depths of the earth your eyes saw an unformed substance this is my favorite part of this verse in your book were written every one of them the days that were formed for me when as yet there were none of them god formed you before he formed the very first day on this planet which teaches you and i that when god formed these days he formed them for you and for me that before the foundations of the earth god knew the exact day and hour you and i would show up on this planet and god sent us into this time and when you were born what happened is you collided your destiny your purpose collided with time and in this day because you're here because you're breathing air that's the evidence that god has gifted and called you and equipped you to live in this day and this exact time and my hope is that you would fully grasp during this next few weeks that every single second minute hour every day every week every month and every year was formed with you in mind and your job is to recognize that god created this day with me and mine and time is expecting the bible says all of creation is groaning waiting for the sons of god to come into their own in other words time is waiting for the believers for christians for children of god to get to the point that they pick up their mantle they pick up their destiny and they realize i'm living in these last days and i need to long for his appearing say well how do we do it how do we do it what how do you practically live in these last days i'm so glad you asked me that first peter chapter 4 verse 7 the end of all things is near therefore be alert and a sober mind or clear mind so that you may pray now notice verse 8 above all above all above everything else what are you supposed to do love each other deeply how do you do that how do you love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins [Music] sounds like she doesn't have one sin or two sins or three sins she's like me she's got that multitude of sins and it was covered it goes on to say offer hospitality to one another without grumbling i'll say that one more time offer hospitality to one another without grumbling one more time offer hospitality to one another without grumbling [Applause] [Music] each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of the grace of god's grace in its various form and it goes on to talk about if you have the gift to speak speak if you have the gift to serve serve and it just basically says and when you do it do it unto jesus giving him the glory and the honor you're not doing it unto people you're doing it unto to the lord so three things that the apostles simon peter says we need to do the end is near we're living in these they're close this is the destiny last this is this is the destiny of days where the two worlds the age that is and the asian is to come boom they collide together we're on our way we're climbing we're close to the summit closer than any other generation's ever been before we're getting close to that summit where we can look back at the age that is and we'll be able to look forward to the age that is to come when the destiny of all god's creation is realized and that dirt cries out get off me curse we're we're getting closer and closer that what do you do number one he says be clear-minded be clear-minded don't live your life believing that the best days are behind us don't live your life believing well god did so many great things in past generations wouldn't it have been great to live in the book of acts wouldn't it have been great to live during this great revival or that great revival can i tell you all of heaven is full of a great cloud of witnesses and the apostle simon peter and paul and moses and elijah and abraham they're jealous of you and i getting to live in this day because we're so close so you have to be clear minded how not romanticizing past days past moves of god and you're also to not be so caught up with the future that it paralyzes your today that's what a lot of people do all throughout history we would know that some generations did nothing to plan for the future because they believed jesus was coming back in their day so they didn't plan for the future so we're supposed to live as though he's coming today but plan as though he will not come back for a thousand years that's being clear-minded it's being clear he could come back today but he may not come back for a thousand years and if he chooses to wait for a thousand years it's because he's wanting to be patient so more people can come to the knowledge of the truth so be clear-minded the reason that we do things like we did last week is because we're clear-minded we're being clear-minded it really does come back that scripture that we read earlier about the idea that god may be slow or slack concerning his poc his promise it actually says in there that you and i can speed it up by winning souls we can actually speed up him coming back if we just get to making sure that we reach the world with the gospel go back and read it it says you can accelerate i don't know how we do that but i know that weeks like last week help with that i think about so many just when i think back to this last week i think back to you know we trained a hundred youth pastors this last week to reach students i think about the dream team night i think about this last week we were in uh high schools doing school assemblies um this last week we were at football games giving out coffee and cocoa and water at high school football games all across the region over these last several weeks we in over 30 neighborhoods across the tri-state on halloween night we had parent pit stops big tents with hot cocoa and coffee and the biggest possible candy bars you could think about right there in the middle of neighborhoods so all these parents with their kids going from house to house they would drop by that seven hills tent and you have a bunch of people there volunteers there from the neighborhood and they would be giving the parents cocoa and coffee and and all that stuff and because many of these neighborhoods have been doing it for for several years uh the parents can't wait to get to that person's house because they know seven hills is going to be there and giving them all kinds of and and one of our leaders gave me this example this week he said i live right beside someone that's a leader in another church and he didn't bring this up to be belittling to them we know so many people are taught oh you can't if you do anything for halloween it's celebrating halloween is it whatever okay okay that's fine that's fine that's fine but i just want you to hear me out for a second just for one second and then the next verse will help you because you'll have to forgive me when i read the next verse said but the kids would come to the house right before they would get to the that place where we had that big tent and the cars were in the driveway the porch lights were off but you could see the lights were on in the back of the house and these kids would come to this house and they would knock on the door and they would knock on the door and they'd look at their mom and mom say knock again they would get every family would come and knock by because they could see their cars there they could see the lights on the back of the house they knew they were the kids would be knocking and they would walk off the porch and they would come to that big tent where they would be given candy bars and all kinds of things and it hit me when they said that they weren't trying to talk anything about it but it hit me the problem with the church is seen in that moment we actually think that we're serving god in the back of that house with our porch light turned off and we think somehow a little kid's uniform is going to take away from our christianity is going to somehow retract from the power of the cross instead of getting out in the midst of darkness get out and come on sometimes the only time you'll even meet your neighbors is on halloween and i think that those kids should grow up if they're lost and don't know god thinking to themselves the church gives the best candy come on the church gives the best why because we're the light in the midst of the darkness we don't retreat from the darkness we engage the darkness i think that's being clear-minded i think it's being clear it's being as clear as possible no reason to retreat no reason to get freaked out engage these things the church for far too long has gotten so goofy about that kind of stuff we just get all caught up some weirdo on facebook put out some video how it's some demon thing no get out there be a light in the midst of it god you don't have to pull back i don't even care if it is a demon thing put on some angel uniforms put bible verses on your candy bars if you have to i don't know hand out a bible with the candy bar but engage the darkness well not my kids my kids won't do that well that's fine that's that's fine but i'm just helping you out that there are so many things that we retreat from instead of engage and we call it holiness we call it righteousness and meantime god's sitting back there wanting to come back but the church is so slow we're so we're so apathetic when it comes to engaging the moments that are set out for us to reach people that are far from god number two notice this one it says above all love one another and it teaches us how we love one another you guys hurried up out here didn't you it means they want me to end that's what that means they want me to end that's your fault thanks caleb now you're distracting from the rest of my sermon this is the best part by the way which by the way i was told i need to warn you that this part gets a little rough right here so just go ahead and put your seat belt on it says above all love one another deeply huh how love covers a multitude of sin so love does not expose sin doesn't say it defends it didn't say it justifies it said it covers it call still calls sin sin but it covers it meaning love does not take a moment in someone's life a sinful act someone's past someone's season of missing the mark someone's failure someone's behavior that was beneath what you think it should be love doesn't allow that to disqualify that person love says you know what let me cover that because that person is bigger than their past and that person is bigger than that sin and that person is bigger than that divorce and that person is bigger than that addiction and that person and the love of god calls people out and says come on you're greater than that moment in your life where you miss the mark and love covers it [Music] remember when noah after he built the ark and the flood happened and the waters receded and do you remember what happened noah goes out and he has too much to drink right and that's your bible the same god that heard from god for decades built the ark drinks so much wine that he gets so wasted that his clothes fall off which is why you shouldn't get drunk [Music] come on there's a song out there about that tequila come on make you i i just was walking through actually it's probably one of your cars it was blaring out of i i'd never listen to that kind of music sarah would listen to that kind of music i would not listen to that kind of music [Music] now did the bible when noah did that did the bible say that his drunkenness was not sin [Music] no it's sin come on we all know that right in case you didn't know that seven hills i'm gonna help you out drunkenness is a sin okay just make sure you got that okay so we ever skipped over that piece drunkenness is a sin but one of noah's sons actually exposes his nakedness and you know what the bible says god does to that son he curses him but his other son walks in turns his back and walks backwards towards his dad's drunkenness and nakedness and he covers his dad and god blesses him and the bible says we love each other deeply how how love covers sin doesn't expose it doesn't defend it doesn't justify it but it covers it it doesn't say noah your whole life is now disqualified because of a moment no the covering says noah you're greater than that moment your life is bigger than that moment and the church is never going to be able to be who we're supposed to be in the last days if we're so busy being judgmental and harsh and nitpicking one another hey listen i say this with all the compassion i can possibly muster up hear my heart right now i'm not judging you if you're a judgmental person i'm saying it's not effective what's effective is love covering that love covering that outfit you're not convinced yet okay let's talk about jesus for a second the apostle simon peter meets a young girl denies jesus the bible says with a curse that means he cusses this young girl out i don't blankety blank believe that guy i don't blankety blank follow that guy read your bible jesus shows up peter's out fishing he gets on the beach the apostle simon peter jumps in the water swims to shore dripping with water peter knows that he's failed he knows that he's denied jesus he knows he's not honored god and jesus does not for one second bring up the the apostle simon peter cussed think about that doesn't i can't believe he cussed [Music] the son of god doesn't bring up that there's a cussing apostle is that the truth is that your bible but what does he do does he tell him to continue it no what does he want to know do you love me man you know i do come on do you love me what's jesus trying to do he's trying to cover let love cover why because he wants the apostle simon peter to remember that i told you simon peter even though you have made mistakes i still want to build my church on you and the gates of hell will not prevail and i just think that what the bible is saying here is you have to love each other deeply why because when god goes and chooses to raise people up and he wants to build his church in such a way that the gates of hell will not prevail against it can i help you out he overlooks the religious pharisees he overlooks the pious and those self-righteous christians and he goes out and says let me find myself a cussy an apostle let me find a tax collector let me find a prostitute let me find them and why because at least they know how to love one another at least they know how to overlook someone's faults at least they know how to say that person is bigger than something they did or a mistake they made and if the time the end of time is near we got to get bigger than nitpicking one another being so easily offended and critical and judgmental and we got to get bigger in our heart and cover one another and love covers not one sin not two sins not three but a multitude of sin we could build a great church if half of you would get that i'm not saying we're not a great church i'm just saying we could really do something special and then finally i will go really fast with this this one will be one minute this point will be one minute each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others in other words you should be about making a difference i believe we live in the greatest generation in history with seven billion people on the planet do you know more people have come to christ in the last five years than the previous 2004 years combined [Applause] islam that began in 708 a.d in its first 1300 years of existence there was zero movement towards christ every single year for the last 20 years in all nine branches of islam over a million muslims give their lives to christ every single year in china every day over 35 000 people get saved of the 1.3 billion chinese under that communist regime right now right under 10 or 130 million of them are born again bible-believing christians we live in the greatest generation in history not because i said it but because the facts and the stats are verifiable god is pouring out his spirit and god is moving more than he ever has and yes darkness is increasing yes sin is increasing but where all that abounds grace much more abounds which means you need to be a part of what god's doing in the earth your gift is how god administers his grace to other people and my dream is that every one of you would use your gifts use your talents use the way god's equipped you and live your life saying i know it's the last days and i'm expecting jesus to come back which means i have to give all i can serve all i can love all i can pray all i can do all i can live my life to the fullest why because i want to be ready for his return in jesus name if you believe that could you give the lord a good praise with me real quick [Applause] thank you for watching seven hills church's youtube channel i think there's a couple next steps for you as you're watching first of all i want to let you know you can join us live for our online experiences totally interactive live 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Channel: 7 Hills Church with Marcus Mecum

Views: 11,072

Keywords: Church, Religion, love, jesus, God, bible, end times, end of the world, apocalypse, last days, these last days, second coming

Id: 3cbn5hemGKI

Length: 41min 23sec (2483 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 11 2019