(low string music) (logo whooshing) - Things to do before
the end of the world. How many of you believe that Jesus Christ could come back in your
lifetime, raise up your hand? You believe it's possible. How many of you believe that Jesus Christ could come back at any time? Okay, that's good. Let's just say, for the sake of a point, that we knew that Jesus
Christ was returning for us at three o'clock
in the afternoon tomorrow. I think the first thing you'd wanna do is make sure our clocks
are set properly, right? Now, we know this isn't possible, because no man knows the day or the hour, but having said that, just
for the sake of a point, let's say we knew Jesus was
coming tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock p.m. I am sure we would all look
like saints at 2:45, right? Nobody would be messing around, we'd be wearing our Sunday morning smiles and we would have our come
quickly, Jesus, attitudes. Well, the fact is, that's the
way we ought to be every day. Martin Luther once said, quote, "There are two days on my calendar, "this day and that day." And that day he was referring to was the day of the Lord's return. The fact is, we should
live every day as though it were the day Christ were coming back. We should live every day as
though it were our last day. Someone once asked the
great evangelist D.L. Moody "How would you spend the last day on earth "if you knew it was your last
day, how would you spend it?" His response was, "I wouldn't
do anything different "than I do every day," and that is the way that we
should live as Christians. So this is our last message
in the book of Daniel. And Daniel is, to a large
degree, a prophetic book, which means it speaks of things to come. That's why we've called it end of days. It's a counterpart in the Old Testament to the New Testament book of Revelation. There's a lot in Daniel about
the Lord's imminent return, and there's a lot in the Bible about the Lord's return as well. There are 260 chapters
in the New Testament, and Christ's return is mentioned no less than 318 times in those chapters. In fact, statistically, one
verse in every 25 verses in the Bible mentions the
return of Jesus Christ. So this is very, it's an
emphasis of scripture. I just wrote this book, Jesus Revolution, about the last great American revival, and I pointed out in our last message that one of the earmarks of that revival was we believed Jesus
was coming back again. So some of you are hearing this and you're thinking, well, your timing was just a little bit off,
like, maybe by 45 years? Yeah, well, look, here's my response. We've never been closer
to the return of the Lord than we are right now,
we're 45 years closer, and I still believe that
with all of my heart. Besides, the Bible says, one day with God is as 1000 years, 1000 years as one day, the Lord is not late as
some men count lateness, but he's longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Yes, it's true we were
praying for Jesus to come back in the early 70s, but let me ask you a question to make a point. How many of you have become
a Christian since 1975? Raise your hand, if since 1975. Aren't you glad God
didn't answer our prayers? (congregation laughing) You'd have gone through
the tribulation period. So good news is, the Lord's waiting for that last person to believe. Can you imagine if you actually knew who the last person was that
was holding everything up? (congregation laughing) Like, God's waiting for the last person and when they believe, we're outta here. Well, you know, the rapture happens. And if you knew who it
was, would you be tempted to apply pressure on them a little bit? It's like, will you get saved already? Well, we don't know who
that last person is, but the Lord does, but of
course, we need to be ready. So here in Daniel 12, the prophet
is given one final vision. He's given sort of a
glimpse behind the veil of the supernatural world,
the world of God and Satan, of demons and angels, and
of the afterlife as well. Daniel 12, verse one. At that time, Michael the archangel who stands guard over
your nation will arise, and there'll be a time of anguish greater than any since nations
first come into existence. But at that time, every one of your people whose name is written in
the book will be rescued. Daniel is referring, here,
to the tribulation period that we've talked about at length. It lasts seven years, it
begins with the emergence of Antichrist, and ends with
the return of Jesus Christ. It continues on, many of
those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will
shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine as the stars, forever. We'll stop there. The Bible teaches that
there is coming a day when Christians will be judged. Now understand, the Bible speaks of the Great White Throne Judgment toward the end of Revelation. That is a judgment that only non-believers will stand before, we read the small and the great stand before God, and the books are opened,
and a book is opened, which is the Book of Life, and whoever is not found written in the Book of Life is cast into the lake of fire. That's for non-believers only. No Christians will be there. No Christian would wanna be there. But there's another judgment
seat for Christians, this one is not about whether or not you get into heaven, because in fact, this judgment seat I'm talking about happens in heaven, it's called
the judgment seat of Christ, where we will receive rewards for our faithful service to the Lord. And God does give rewards out. I went to my grandson's
soccer game yesterday. It's Christopher, he's only five. He's playing soccer quite well. I bribed him ahead of time. I said, "If you score a
goal, I'll buy you a toy." It worked for his sister. She wasn't scoring any goals. I said, "If you score a
goal, I'll buy you a doll." She scored a goal, and
the next game, I said, "I'll get you a doll." She scored three goals,
I stopped saying it, it was getting too expensive. But I don't think Christopher
has scored a goal yet, so I said that to him, and
sure enough, he scored a goal. Now, here's the problem with
sports for kids nowadays. They don't keep score, right? Because everyone's a winner, right? So it's like, who's ahead? Nobody knows, they're all winners. And I think this is
ridiculous, by the way, I think we should keep
score and there should be a winner and a loser.
(congregation applauding) Because we're setting
them up for real life, 'cause in life, there's
winners and losers. And guess what, in heaven, there are those who achieve and receive rewards, and there are those that
don't achieve so much and will receive no reward. God doesn't say, everyone's a winner, well, in a way we are,
'cause we're in heaven. But, do you want to really have nothing to show for your life
when you're in heaven? You see, I'm gonna get to heaven because of what God has done for me by sending Jesus to die on the cross. By grace I'm saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast, the Bible says, but now,
because I'm a Christian, because I've been saved by God, I should want to do things for him. So, describing this judgment,
First Corinthians three says, on that Judgment
Day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a
person's work has any value. If the work survives, that
builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be
saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. So, we want to be rewarded in that day, because of our faithful
service to the Lord. All right, let's shift now, from Daniel 12 over to Luke 12, Luke 12. This is a story that Jesus
told about how we are to live as we await his return,
it's called a parable. A parable is simply an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, an illustration. I'm reading from the
New Living Translation. Luke 12, Jesus says,
"Be dressed for service, "and keep your lamps burning
as though you were waiting "for your master to return
from the wedding feast. "Then you will be ready to open the door "and let him in the moment
he arrives and knocks. "The servants who are ready
and waiting for his return "will be rewarded, I tell you the truth, "he himself will seat
them, put on an apron "and serve them as they sit and eat. Verse 38, "He may come in
the middle of the night, "or just before dawn,
but whenever he comes, "he'll reward the servants who are ready. "Understand this, if a homeowner knew "exactly when a burglar was coming, "he would not permit his
house to be broken into. "You must be ready all the time "for the Son of Man will
come when least expected." Now Peter asks an interesting question, "Lord, is this illustration just for us "or is it for everyone?" The Lord replied, "A
faithful, sensible servant "is one to whom the master
can give the responsibility "of managing his other household
servants and feeding them, "and if the master returns and finds "that servant has done a good
job, there will be a reward." Now, drop down to verse 48. "When someone has been given much, "much will be required in
return, and when someone "has been entrusted with much,
even more will be required." Now, Jesus is using a
first century illustration of a wedding, weddings were different back in the days of
Jesus than they are now. Weddings are very expensive now. There's a whole industry catering to it and people can spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a wedding. Now, my wedding cost about $10. (congregation laughing) Early 70s wedding, it was
a hippie wedding, okay? Everybody had long hair
and my wife was a vision, a beauty, she actually wore the dress her mother was married in, a classic white wedding dress, timeless. I don't know what I was thinking. I picked the ugliest tuxedo ever made. I had this kind of ruffly shirt, a bowtie, wide lapels.
(congregation laughing) I'm being honest, I look
like a pimp, that's this. I had long hair, long red beard, I don't know why she went through with it. Seriously, she should have looked at me and said, eh, I don't know. But you know, underneath all that hair, Cathe could see a bald man, and that's exactly what she got. (congregation laughing) But it was, 44 years
later, we're going strong, so we're thankful to God. It's not how much you spend. (congregation applauding) Well, back in biblical times, their weddings weren't like ours. Our weddings, we send out the invitation, you arrive, the ceremony takes place, there's a reception following, et cetera. Back in these days, a wedding could last upwards to a week, it was a big event, a big feast, and there was
sort of a fun element to it, everyone would arrive ready to go, but you did not know when
the groom was coming. So the groom might come in the morning or in the afternoon or in the evening, and when he was on his way an
announcement would be made. The groom is coming, so
everybody fell into place and the ceremony took place. So with that in mind, that's
what Jesus is talking about. Maybe he will come later
than we're expecting, okay? So, here's point number
one if you're taking notes. We should be shining
lights in a dark place. We should be shining
lights in a dark place. Look at verse 35, be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning. Now, back in those days, everyone wore these long flowing robes. So, when it says that you are
to have your lamps burning and be dressed, or as King James puts it, have your waist girded, it
means tighten your belt. So they would wear a belt over
their long flowing garment, in those days and on the
belt you might have a flask with oil for your little
lamp and other things, and so the idea of tightening the belt was sort of pulling your
robe up above your knee, tightening the belt, giving
you freedom of movement, right? So that's the idea that's being conveyed. So if we were to put it
into our vernacular today, it would be like saying,
have fresh batteries in your flashlight, or
have your phone charged. Or have gas in your car. I don't know why it is, but my wife loves to run my car to the bottom of empty. (congregation laughing) And she'll say, "It says we
have another nine miles," and I'll drive the car, just praying I make it to the gas station, right? That's not a good way to live. And so, in the same way, you
wanna have your tank filled, you wanna have your phone charged, and in light of the Lord's return, you wanna be ready for his return. So you take that fuel, that oil, and you pour it into your little dish. Now, back in those days, their lights would be like a little clay dish, and you would have oil in
it and a floating wick, and so that's how you fueled your little first century flashlight. So always have a little extra
oil, that flask on your belt. So, the idea is, be brightly shining. Always have oil to shine brightly. And as our culture gets darker, we as Christians need to shine brighter. Jesus said, "Let your
light so shine before men "that they may see your good works "and give glory to your
Father who is in heaven." Notice it says, let your light shine so people see your good works. So it's not only talking about the gospel, I think you know we believe
in talking about the gospel here at Harvest, if you
know nothing, you know that. We believe in verbal proclamation. We're not ashamed of the gospel. But having said that, we
need to live the gospel and we need to demonstrate
and show the gospel to people, being a good and godly neighbor. If someone's in a hospital,
you go visit them. If someone needs prayer,
you pray for them. If someone has hit hard times,
you take a meal to them. Doing those things that we
do in the name of the Lord. Hey, if a child has no hope,
you bring hope to them. Today is Compassion Sunday. Harvest is partnered with
Compassion International. You know, there's a lot
of organizations out there that help people in need around the world, but the reason we've
partnered with Compassion in particular, is because
they not only believe in filling the stomach
or clothing a child, they believe in sharing the gospel with every one of them, and
leading them to Jesus Christ. And that's very important to us. And we think of all these children that are living in
impoverished situations. We're focusing our
efforts toward two places, Tanzania and Peru, something
we can wrap our arms around. My son, Jonathan went to Peru recently and we shot a little film there, which we'll show you a little
bit later in the service, so we wanna give you an opportunity to let your light shine
and help these people. Here's our goal, we committed
to support 3,000 children. And we've reached 2/3 of that goal. We've already sponsored
2,000 through our crusades. (congregation applauding)
Isn't that great? So we've already been
able to sponsor 2,000 through Harvest America
and the SoCal Harvest, and we're well on our
way to that final 1000, and I think we can do this today. You don't have to do this,
no one's pressuring you to do this, don't do it
if you don't wanna do it. All I'm saying is,
would you pray about it? Because you can take a
child, and by the way, we're sponsoring three
children now, I think four, actually, and so this is
something we're personally doing. Think about this, for, I
think it's $38 a month, let me check my note there, that's right, $38 a month you can sponsor a child. Think about how much you spend on a latte, if you get a latte every day. What are lattes now, like 20 bucks each? I don't know, they're a lot. (congregation laughing) You could sponsor, for what
you spend on a latte every day, three children, it's crazy. So you can do so much
with just a little bit. So I'm gonna ask you to
prayerfully consider that and we'll give you an
opportunity to do that a little bit later in the service, but we want to show compassion, why? Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, "When I was hungry, you fed me, "when I was thirsty, you gave me drink, "when I was a stranger,
you took me into your home, "when I was naked you gave me clothing, "when I was sick, you cared for me, "when I was in prison, you visited me." His disciples said, "Well,
wait, when did we ever see you "hungry and feed you, or thirsty "and give you something to drink, "or a stranger and show you hospitality, "or naked and give you clothing, "when did we see you in prison
and come and visit you?" And he said, "I tell you the truth, "when you did it to the
least of these my brothers "and sisters, you were doing it to me." So we're doing it for the Lord. Listen, we all have three
things we can give to God. Three things we can give to God. Our treasure, our talent, and our time. Our treasure, our talent, and our time. First, there's our treasure,
and that's those finances that God has put under our care. This is why we encourage every believer to give generously to the Lord, because I find that your
heart follows your money. Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If you've invested in a certain stock, I'm certain you will follow that stock, 'cause you want it to do well, 'cause if it does well, you do well. So when I have invested
in the kingdom of God, I'm interested in the benefits of it, where we put our treasure,
our hearts will follow. Number two, there's our talent. God has blessed every believer,
every person, with talent. You have natural talent,
and then you have gifting from the Holy Spirit, God
gives gifts to people. I was talking to a young man the other day who is getting involved in ministry, and he's still trying to find his place and what his real gift is, and I said, "You know what I did when I was your age? "I volunteered for everything. "I offered to do anything
that no one else would do. "And you know what I found out? "I was bad at a lotta stuff." But I also found that I
was good at a few things, a few things, and some of
those things surprise me. I didn't know that I had a
gifting there, but I did. And so we have these gifts
that God has given us, and we come and say, I wanna
serve the Lord somehow. Everybody at Harvest can be involved in some way, shape or form in serving. And we rely so heavily on volunteers, but we also know it's a
blessing to them to serve. And finally, there's our time, our time. God gives to each of us 1,440
minutes to use every day. 24 hours to invest, now you
have to sleep for part of that, of course, but for those other hours, we're responsible for
what we do with them. That is why the Bible
says, redeem the time because the days our evil. And that word redeemed
could be translated, make sacred and wise use
of every opportunity. So back to our story, Jesus is saying, have your bags packed and be ready to go, even if your master doesn't return as quickly as you had hoped. Look at verse 38, "He may come
in the middle of the night "or just before dawn,
but whenever he comes, "he will reward the
servants who are ready." So Jesus is saying, even if I come later than you originally expected, be ready. Y'all remember in one
of the stories of Jesus sending his disciples
across the Sea of Galilee, and he went onto a mountaintop,
no doubt to pray for them. He said, go to the other side. Which meant they're gonna
get to the other side. It doesn't mean it
would be smooth sailing, but it meant they would
get to the other side. So as they're making their way across, a great storm arises, and it's so bad, they're really starting
to panic a little bit, they're wondering if
they're gonna survive, and they're praying, and
they're calling out to God, and they're living in complete fear, and we read that Jesus came to them on the fourth watch of the night. Now what does that mean? Well, back in those
days, a day was divided into four watches, and the
fourth watch of the night was that time just before dawn, which meant that the
disciples had been battling that storm for nine long hours. And I wonder if you're going
through a storm right now, a storm that just won't seem to let up, and just about the time it
seems to be getting better, it actually gets a little bit worse, and you're wondering, does God know what I'm going through right now? Is he paying attention? Did he hear what the
doctor just said to me? Does he know about my marital problems? Is he aware of these challenges I'm facing with my kids right now? Does God know this hardship that I'm dealing with, is he aware? Yes, he's aware, 'cause even
when they were out at sea, even though he wasn't in the boat yet, he was watching and he was praying. And you need to know that
God is watching over you, Proverbs 15:3 says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching
the evil and the good. Yes, he came, seemingly
at the last minute, but sometimes he does that so we will completely
exhaust our resources. When we've come to the very end, it's been said, when you
get to the end of yourself, you get to the beginning of God. Are you at the end of yourself right now? You've just pulled all your hair out. I have.
(congregation laughing) Yeah, I don't know where to turn. Reminds me of King Jehoshaphat, clearly he had a weight problem. First service laughed at that, I don't know what your problem is. (congregation laughing) Jehoshaphat? And I said he had a weight problem, and you didn't even laugh. They thought it was funny, I don't know, what are you, the more
sophisticated people, what's going? Nah, I'm just kidding. And I didn't even think it
was funny the first time. I was surprised when
they laughed, frankly, anyway, Jehoshaphat was the king. No, don't laugh anymore.
(congregation laughing) That was his real name,
it was his real name, and that's kind of cruel
for you to laugh at it. No, he's not here, but there
might be a Jehoshaphat here. I'm not gonna ask, 'cause
there probably will be. It'll be a very awkward moment. But anyway, here's Jehoshaphat, he has this enemy approaching
him, a massive army. He has no way to protect himself. He's standing there with
the wives and the kids, and all the people are pretty helpless. Then he said, "Lord, we
don't know what to do "about this great army, but here we are, "and our eyes are upon you." And the Lord came through for them. Is that how you feel right now? The Lord will come through for you, sometimes in the fourth watch. You just need to be ready. He may come in the third
watch, the fourth watch, but know this, he's coming. I love Peter, verse 41,
"Is this illustration "just for us, or is it for everyone?" Well, answer, it's for everyone. Because 2,000 years later,
we're talking about it. And as I've said, we've never been closer to the Lord's return than we are now. Number one, we're to be
bright and shining lights. Number two, we are to be watching for him. We are to be watching for him, verse 37. "Blessed are those
servants whom the master, "when he comes, will find watching. "You should be watching." What does that mean? Standing around, on a street corner, staring at the sun, come quickly, Lord. No, you'll probably be arrested. That's not what it means. To be watching means to be alert, to be aware, to pay attention. When you see things happening
that are fulfillment of Bible prophecies, the Bible says, when you see these things begin to happen, look up, for your
redemption is drawing near. Scripture tells us that Christ will return a second time for those
who are looking for him. Number three, we are to be ready to go. Ready to go, when I leave on a trip, I pack my bags the night before, 'cause I usually take morning flights. And by the way, I always overpack. I'm the worst, I pack
more than my wife packs. It's embarrassing, big suitcase, Greg, smaller suitcase, Cathe. And she always will say, "Why do you schlep all
that stuff everywhere?" And I say, "You never
know what you'll need," and sure enough, she forgets something, and I have it in my bag.
(congregation laughing) My bag is like Felix's
magic bag of tricks. Remember that? ♪ Felix the cat ♪ ♪ The wonderful wonderful cat ♪ ♪ Whenever he gets in a fix ♪ ♪ He reaches into his bag of tricks ♪ Right? So, oh, I forgot my power
source on my computer. Oh, look here, I have an extra. Oh, I forgot the charger for my phone. Well, look at this, I have
one extra one for you. So you know, and then
when we're out and about, I keep things in the trunk of
my car, like extra jackets? Cathe'll say, "Why do you
carry all that stuff?" You never know when you'll need it. We're in a restaurant, she's cold. Oh look, I have a jacket
in the back of my car. I'm just rationalizing the fact that I'm a hoarder, okay?
(congregation laughing) But you have your bags packed
and you're ready to go. You have the right shoes on. Think of your running shoes. We have shoes for
comfort and we have shoes for maybe a certain outfit. Now, when Cathe and I
went to the White House, we had to get her just the right outfit. And she brought home some dresses, and I said, "No, those aren't quite right, "we have to get just something perfect." And so we found a great dress, and she got some shoes,
some heels to go with it, and I don't think we realized
how uncomfortable they were. She didn't think she'd have to walk far, but when you go to the
White House, you walk a lot, 'cause you walk in from the street, you go through all
these little checkpoints and you walk and walk and walk and walk and you're finally there,
and by the time we got there, she was just in such pain. But hey, she looked good.
(congregation laughing) It would not have been appropriate to go in with Nike running shoes, though those would have
been very practical. And so, but the idea that
Jesus is communicating in this is have your comfortable shoes on, get ready to go, have gas in your car, have your phone charged, in other words, be ready for the Lord's return. Live that way, ready
for the Lord's return. So, when you're gonna go somewhere, ask yourself the question, this place, that I'm gonna go, these
people I'm gonna hang out with, this thing I'm about to
do, would I be ashamed or embarrassed to be doing this thing if Christ were to come back again? And if the answer to that is
yes, then change your plans, and live in such a way
that you're in a state of readiness for his imminent return. Because if you really
believe Jesus is coming back, it should affect you and
the way that you live. Number four, we should not only be ready, we should be anxiously
awaiting his return. Look at verse 36, "Be like
men who wait for their master "when he will return from the wedding "and knocks, they'll
open to him immediately." Imagine if Jesus were coming over to your house for lunch today. And so he says, I'm on my
way, and then he texts you, 10 minutes out, five
minutes out, getting close. Pulling into your driveway. You'd just be (excited panting), right? You'd be excited, you'd be
seeing him come up the walkway. Here he comes, here he
comes, open the door. That's how you would
welcome Jesus, I'm sure. We had a friend coming over the other day to pick up Cathe, one of her girlfriends, they're going to some planning meeting. She likes to have planning meetings to plan meetings to plan other meetings, and so, anyway, it's one
of the many meetings, and so, she came and so I saw
her coming up the driveway, so I grabbed the door,
I'm gonna open the door before she knocks on it, so
she's right there like that, and I go, (imitates door
exploding), pulled it open, she jumped sideways four feet, like this. And I almost gave her a heart attack, and I felt very bad. She wasn't ready for
that, but that's the idea. Jesus is coming, open the door. I think it all comes down to how your relationship is with God. Remember when you were a little kid, and you would get into trouble, and your mother would
use those ominous words, just wait until your father gets home. (congregation laughing)
(panting) And here comes dad,
pulls up in the driveway, oh, ugh, right, but if you
had done nothing wrong, oh, Daddy's home, excellent! See, if you're walking with God, you don't dread the return of Jesus, in fact, your reaction to this idea that Christ could come back at any moment is a real indicator of
where you're at spiritually. I think when you're right with the Lord, you will say, along with the Apostle John, "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus." If you're not right with the Lord, you probably wouldn't say that. Point number five, we're to
be not only waiting anxiously, we are to be working, working, verse 43. "Blessed is that servant
whom his master will find "so doing when he comes," so doing. The Bible says faith
without works is dead. If watching is the evidence of faith, working is the evidence
of faith in action. Watching for the Lord's
return will help us prepare our own lives, but working will ensure we bring others with us. And notice that Jesus
says, blessed is the person that is living this way. The word blessed can be translated happy, it's a happy thing to live a life always ready for the return of Jesus. Let me take it a step further, and this might sound odd, but hear me out. It's a happy thing to
be ready to die, what? Yeah, because only those
who are prepared to die are really ready to live. Look, nobody wants to die. We all want to get to
heaven, nobody wants to go there through death,
we would all prefer going there through the rapture, and that could happen, but if it doesn't, the idea is that I got that taken care of. I've made that commitment to
Christ and I'm ready to go. So I wake up in the morning and say, well, if this is my last
day, then I'm gonna live it for your glory and if you
give me 1,000 more days, or 10,000 more days,
Lord, that's up to you, but I'm gonna enjoy each
day walking with you. But it's sort of an attitude of, I've got the big things taken care of so now I can live my life the
way it was meant to be lived. Let's summarize and conclude. Number one, we should be
shining lights in a dark place. Number two, we're to be watching for him. Number three, we're to be ready to go. Number four, we're not only to be ready, but anxiously awaiting his return, and finally, we are to be working. Now, a final warning from Jesus for the person who's not ready. Luke 12, verse 45, "But if that servant "says in his heart, my
master's delaying his coming "and begins to beat the
male and female servants "and who eat and drink and be drunk, "the master of the
servant will come in a day "when he is not looking for him." I think this is a description of a person who thinks they're a Christian
who is not a Christian, because he's called a servant, which would imply he looks like one of us, but in reality, he isn't. Because he's not ready,
he's living a bad life. He's getting drunk, do we
have to actually tell you don't get drunk, this comes as
a revelation to some people, it's like, well what, what? Yeah, don't get drunk.
(congregation laughing) Technically, don't get drunk. Don't be drunk with wine, the Bible says, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. But, you know, such as alcohol (coughing), why'd you say something?
(congregation laughing) What are they putting in
this water around here? It's not just alcohol, it can be drugs, but it can be other things. Other things can dull our senses. Jesus warned about the cares
and riches of this life. And it's not so much that, it's not a bad thing to be concerned about what you're gonna eat,
or what you're gonna wear, or where you're gonna live
or where you're gonna work, those are important things, but don't be obsessed with those things. Be focused on Christ primarily, and those things will
find their proper balance and so the idea that's being communicated is be ready and looking and
don't be living an ungodly life. He's beating his people that work for him. I mean, don't be doing
wicked, sinful things, because you're not ready
for the Lord's return. And I ask you, in closing, are you ready? Going back to Daniel 12 for a moment. It says that there's gonna
be this resurrection. Those who believe will be
raised to everlasting life. Those who do not because will be raised to shame and everlasting disgrace. The believer has everlasting life. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world "he gave his only begotten son,
and whoever believes in him "should not perish," but have what? Everlasting life, that's ours. But a non-believer, they're gonna face everlasting shame and
everlasting disgrace. Look, the way to be sure
that you're ready to meet God is by believing in Jesus Christ. Let's go back to that analogy of Jesus coming over to
your house today for lunch. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand
at the door and I knock, "and if you hear my voice "and open the door, I will come in." So if you want Jesus to come
into your house for lunch, you open the door, you welcome him, you give him a seat, you put
the meal in front of him. Or you leave the door shut. So Jesus is standing at the
door of your life right now. And he is knocking and you have a choice to either say, Lord, come in,
or Lord, I don't want you. And those are your only choices. Well, I don't wanna do either. I'm just kind of, like, neutral. So I'm just not gonna answer the door. Look, if I come over to
your house for lunch, and I'm out there a half
hour still knocking, and by the way, I can see
you through the window, (congregation laughing) and you're enjoying a nice meal, in fact, you're on dessert now, and I'm still knocking and
you haven't opened the door, I think, maybe after an
hour I'll get the hint. Maybe they don't want
me to come in, right? I understand that's a rejection. Well, I'm just not sure, I
don't wanna open the door. Well, yeah, but it's a rejection. Call it what it is. You either say yes or no, you either open the door
or you leave it shut. Have you opened the door to Jesus yet? Have you opened the door to him now? He'll welcome you into heaven then. If you leave the door shut to him now, he will turn you away
then, sadly, but he will. It's all up to you. If you want your sin forgiven and you wanna be ready
for the Lord's return, or just know with certainty
that you'll go to heaven when you die, why don't you
respond to this invitation that I'm gonna close
with now as we all pray. Let's all bow our heads,
and everyone pray together with me please, and Father, I pray now for every person here and every person that's watching on all of our campuses. Woodcrest and South Corona, Eastvale, Orange County, Maui. Lord, I pray for all these people. They need you everywhere. People watching online,
people that need you. Lord, I pray for any that are here or are watching or listening. If they don't know you, help them to come to you right now and believe. While our heads bowed
and our eyes are closed and we're praying, how many of you would say today, I need Jesus? I want to know that I'll
go to heaven when I die. I want to open the door of my life and invite him in, I wanna
be ready for his return. If that's your desire, if you want Christ to come into your life, if
you want him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to
go to heaven when you die, would you raise your hand up
right now wherever you are? And I'd like to pray for
you, raise your hand up where I can see it, God bless you. God bless you, hands
are going up all over, I hope yours is one of them. God bless you, raise your hand up. Now you guys watching screens
right now, you're thinking, well, Greg can't see me
through a screen, can't I? No, I can't, actually,
but the Lord sees you, and this is a commitment
you're making to him. You that are watching this screen, would you raise your hand up right now saying yeah, I need Jesus right here. Pray for me, just raise your hand up, wherever you are, anybody else? If you haven't raised your hand yet, lift it now, let me pray for
you, God bless all of you. Now, I'm gonna ask everyone of you, if you would please, that raised your hand to stand to your feet, and
I'm gonna lead you in a prayer of commitment to Jesus Christ. Just stand up, if you raised your hand, even if you did not, but you want Jesus to come into your life,
you want him to forgive you of your sin, you wanna be
ready for the Lord's return, let me lead you in a prayer,
just stand to your feet. By the way, people are standing right now, do you need to be one of 'em? Stand up, wherever you are,
and we'll pray together. God bless you that are standing. God bless you, anybody else? Stand now, and we'll pray together. God bless you, God bless you. I'll wait one more moment. There might be a few more. You know who you are. This is your moment, let me pray with you. Anybody else, stand now. All right, all of you that are standing, I'm gonna lead you in this simple prayer. I would ask that you would pray this prayer out loud after me, again, as I pray, pray it out loud
after me, right where you stand, pray these words if you would, please. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. And I'm sorry for my sin. I turn from that sin now. And I choose to follow you, Lord, from this moment forward. Be my savior, be my God, be my friend. Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering it, in
Jesus' name I pray, amen. God bless everyone of you that stood and prayed that prayer, God bless you. (audience applauding)
God bless you, amen. God bless all of you, too. (low string music) (logo whooshing)
