Till He Comes (With Greg Laurie)

good morning everybody you know that video that we produced for this little series in this series that we're doing was posted on Facebook last week and it's been viewed over a million times and has been sent out to four million other people so it's really um it's as they say gone viral right so if you are on Facebook or Twitter you might want to get the word out you can just get the length on our website or go over to my Facebook page or my Twitter page and I will give you a link and you can share with others but it's really just a scripture I with some music and some video but I think the thing that it touches on is people know something's going on in this crazy world right now and I think people are searching for answers as Christians we want to sort of sort this out in our mind like what happens when and and what are we supposed to be doing but I think there's a lot of dumb believers out there let's see that chaos from the craziness and our culture in our country as well as the violence and war around the world and they're wondering could this be it well it could be and that's what we're gonna talk about what Jesus said about the end times let's pray father we ask now that you will bless as we open your word we don't want to just accumulate some information here we want the teaching of your soon return to have it's appropriate effect and you tell us in Scripture he that has this hope it is the hope of the Lord's return purifies himself even as you are pure let this teaching have a purifying effect on us so every one of us will want to be as close to you as we possibly can be we give this time of Bible study to you now blessed we pray in Jesus name Amen all right well let's all grab our Bibles and we're gonna turn to two passages today on Matthew chapter 24 and that's what we're sort of anchored right now and also Revelation chapter 19 and the title of my message is till he comes you know newspapers have a certain kind of type they say for mega-events you know what they call it Second Coming type they only use it on certain occasions for instance when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese they used Second Coming type it's a mega type that's much bigger than normal on September 12th after the attack at the World Trade Center they use Second Coming type when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas again they use Second Coming type down why don't they just call it mega event type or big news type because it seems like everybody understands that there is no bigger event than the second coming of Jesus Christ by the way we Christians aren't the only ones who believe that a Gallup poll recently taken revealed that 66 percent of the American people believe Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth in the future what's interesting about that is that's 25 percent more than those who claim to be born again which means not only do Christians believe Christ is coming back but a many non-christians believe it as well you know you wonder how it will be reported by the press when Christ comes back again I'm thinking it's here's some of the headlines from some of the publications out there The Wall Street Journal from more of a business perspective whatever headline after the Second Coming Dow Jones plummets as world ends or the Victoria's Secret catalog would have the headline our final sale Microsoft systems journal would have the headline Apple loses market share you know Microsoft and Apple they're always fighting right Sports Illustrated headline on the magazine game over USA Today they're always very brief and succinct they'd have the headline we're dead Wired magazine sort of a high tech magazine are always talking about the new thing that's coming out their headline might be the last do thing how about this Rolling Stone magazine whatever cover story on the second coming and then say the Grateful Dead reunion tour or Ladies Home Journal lose ten pounds by Judgment Day with our new Armageddon diet or the Food Network would just have this headline on their magazine cooked goose recipe look I don't know how the press is going to report it but I know this much Christ is gonna come back again how many of you believe that razor again he's coming back again it's true and why is he coming back again he's returning to this earth to judge his enemies set up his kingdom and rule over the earth for a thousand years Satan's heyday will finally be over it'll be chained up for that thousand year period and by the way this great event the return of Christ has mentioned many times in Scripture there are 300 passages in the Bible that deal with the return of Jesus Christ Jesus spoke of it at least 21 times when he walked this earth and statistically one verse out of every 25 refers to the Lord's return and one of the most well known statements about the Lord's return is from Christ himself and what is known as the Olivet discourse also known as Matthew 24 this is in response to the question of his disciples what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world and Jesus says in Matthew 24 verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory so the question is sometimes is the second coming of Jesus spiritual or is it physical well the answer is this is the physical return of Christ to the earth his first coming was physical and his second coming will be physical as well now though it is true that Jesus and dwells every believer when you put your faith in Christ he does come to take residence in your heart it is also true that he is bodily in heaven right now remember when Stephen was martyred he had a vision of glory and he said look I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God so he saw Christ in heaven but Jesus will come back bodily to earth after his ascension into heaven in acts 1:11 the angel said to the apostles this same Jesus who has taken away from you in a heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him going into heaven so why is Jesus returning to the earth again to judge the world in righteousness and there are so many and justices in this world aren't they're criminals that seemingly get away with their crime terrorists that commit horrific acts and we wonder when are these wrongs going to be righted well when Christ comes back he will right the wrongs and bring justice to a world of injustice but before the second coming there is going to be an event that must transpire we know it is Armageddon it's the final battles of mankind now that word sounds so ominous and threatening and final and indeed it is for Armageddon is the name of where the final conflict will happen usually when the word Armageddon is invoke it's talking about something ominous for instance when General Douglas MacArthur stood on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbor signing a peace agreement with Japan and effectively bringing world war ii to an end he made this statement quote we have had our last chance if we do not now devise some great and more equitable system Armageddon will be at the door and quote soon after he was inaugurated as a 40th President of the United States President Ronald Reagan was overwhelmed by the complexities of the Middle East and on Friday May 15 1981 he scribbled in his diary sometimes I wonder if we're going to witness Armageddon or maybe he said it to someone well sometimes I wonder if we're going to witness Armageddon Bill Clinton was there and he said I'll feel your pain ah those are my presidential imitations a few weeks later one Sunday on June 7th President Reagan heard that Israel had bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor and he wrote in his diary these words got word of Israel bombing the Iraqi nuclear reactor I swear rights the president I believe Armageddon is near end quote I wonder what the president will say when Israel bombs the Iranian nuclear reactor which may happen we don't know but here's something that we need to understand Armageddon is actually the name of a place it's the valley of magetta that's over in Israel many battles have been fought in that battle I mean in that field already a gideon defeated the Midianites in the valley of Megiddo Deborah and Barak defeated the Canaanites there King Saul was killed in the valley of Megiddo but why is the valley of Megiddo the location of the final conflict well not less an expert than the military leader Napoleon stood there in 1799 and made this statement and I quote all the armies of the world can maneuver their forces on this vast plain there is no place in the world more suited for war than this it's the most natural battleground on the whole earth end quote so in our last message we talked a little bit about the Battle of Armageddon raging on and that was symbolized by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or in Revelation six first we had Antichrist emerging on the scene initially as a man of peace but eventually showing his true colors after he's helped the Jews rebuild their temple he commits the abomination of desolation that is the desecration of the temple and people realized that this man is evil incarnate if Satan ever had a son this is him the Antichrist in this white horse of peace is followed by the Red Horse of war remember I pointed out in Revelation six first Antichrist comes off like a good guy then he shows himself for what he is the worst guy ever so in the immediate heels of the white courts of so-called peace comes war revelation six for another horse fiery red went out it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth and that people should kill one another there was given to him a great sword note that it says his horse is fiery red that reminds us of another description of Satan in the book of Revelation where he is called the great fiery red dragon here's what we need to know Satan is behind the wars and struggles on this planet when Christ was born as a baby in Bethlehem there in the manger the angel said peace on earth among men with whom God is well pleased Jesus came to bring peace on earth and I Christ to take Antichrist comes to take peace from the earth sometimes people are perplexed when they see another barbaric act of terrorism from a group like Isis or Boko Haram or someone else an innocent child killed a person beheaded someone crucified a individual put in a cage and set on fire and and the pundants sit around and try to explain it we don't know why people do these horrible things I'll tell you why because there's a devil and the devil loves carnage and the devil loves violence and the devil loves war and he is the one that's whipping all of this up Satan loves death and Satan loves war we've had some massive Wars and world's history of course there was World War one and that was called the war to end all wars and it was said that there would never be another world war because 10 million people lost their lives in World War 1 but it took only 20 years for another conflict to develop and World War two was far worse with 50 million people dying in it but the worst wars are still yet to come because Jesus said in the last days there would be wars and rumors of wars and this is going to happen in this tribulation period and right now consider the fact that mankind has approximately we don't know exactly but approximately up to 27,000 nuclear weapons each with the capacity to blow so much of these combined could blow our planet up many times over and we wonder how bad is it gonna get it's gonna get real bad and where is America gonna be in those last days scenario I pointed out to you in our last message at the USA is no longer a major player of the world stage in fact we have new superpowers emerging one is called the kings of the East that I'll talk about in a moment and another superpower are the Confederated nations behind the Antichrist these represent a whole new world order that is coming to this planet the kings of the East are an interesting group describing them revelation 16:14 says the spirits of demon will go forth into the kings of the east and of the whole earth and gather them to the Battle of the great day of the Almighty he gathers them together in a place called in the Hebrew Armageddon so it's the kings of the east marching into the valley of Megiddo for Armageddon and then revelation 9:16 tells us a little more about this group the kings of the east they have an army that's 200 million strong a specific number decided 200 million men in their army killing one-third of humanity who are who is the kings of the east while many believe it could China there's a cover of a Newsweek magazine that said China's century and here's some statements from that article does the future belong to China a new power is emerging in the East China's rise is no longer a prediction it's a fact it's already of the world's fastest large economy and the second largest holder of foreign exchange reserves mainly dollars it has the world's largest army and the fourth largest defense budget would AZ which is rising by 10 percent annually it's the powerful new force on the global scene for centuries the rest of the world was a stage for the ambitions and interests of the West great powers but China's rise along with that of India and the continuing weight of Japan represents the third shift and global power the rise of Asia and quote now China we know as a major economic power but now they're becoming a major military power consider this fact China has a population of 1 billion 357 million people basically they have 1 billion more people in China than we have in the United States and they've been escalating their military machine much to the alarm of our military experts it was described as unprecedented an unexpected military expansion in China announced in 1997 they could raise an army of 352 million soldiers who on earth could field an army of that size 352 million soldiers that means they could send 200 million soldiers to the Middle East and leave 152 million at home to watch over their country so you see they have the capacity now look I'm not saying China is the kings of the East I don't know well talk about Israel next time and her place of Bible prophecy and we'll look at that large force from her north invading her and many believe that could be Russia I think that's possible I'll tell you why but no one say with certainty that mangakas russia are the kings of the east is China but this much we know Magog will attack Israel this much we know the kings of the East will face off with the nations under the Antichrist and the valley of Megiddo but despite all of these dark things it might be a surprise do you know to know that God's light is gonna shine in the Tribulation Period as I said before I believe the next event on the prophetic calendar is the rapture of the church however caught up to meet the Lord in the air then Antichrist emerges then the Tribulation Period begins at first it's peaceful then I Christ then Antichrist shows us true colors but yet despite the fact that he is persecuting Christians and Jews we see great revivals breaking out and we see the gospel going forth in fact we read about sort of an angelic mop-up operation because in revelation 14:6 we read of an angel flying in the midst of the heaven during the Tribulation Period proclaiming the everlasting gospel to every nation and language by the way that fulfills what Jesus says here in Matthew 24:14 the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the nations then shall the young come and this answers that often asked question what about the person who has never occurred the gospel how could a God of love send them to hell for some reason there are always in Africa - what about the person living in the middle of the jungles of Africa guess what God's gonna reach them because when we get to heaven one day the Bible tells us there will be people from every race every culture every language every nation bringing praise to God ultimately everyone is going to be reached because revelation 7:9 says I saw a vast crowd too great to count from every nation every tribe every people every language standing in front of the throne before the lamb now that does not excuse us from our responsibility to get the gospel out that is just saying that God's gonna finish up of what we started as I described it earlier an angelic mop-up operation in addition to this the Lord is gonna raise up a hundred and forty-four thousand Messianic Jews to travel around the world sharing their faith 144,000 Marty gets us released they'll all have like Marty gets here little pianos though they won't but but Jews who have found Jesus as Messiah traveling around proclaiming the gospel and then this is really interesting Lord's gonna raise up to prophets to witnesses in the end times and they're gonna have a miracle ministry the Bible tells us that allow the ability to call fire down from heaven when those people are attempting to hurt them they can also stop the rain and turn the waters to blood so who are the two witnesses well some think it may be Moses and Elijah I happen to agree with that and one of the reasons is remember Moses was the one who turned the now river to bladder God did it through him I should say and Elijah was the one who could stop the rain and called fire down from heaven and also don't forget man Christ was transfigured who appeared with him but Moses and Elijah well regardless of if Moses and Elijah are the witnesses they're gonna have a powerful ministry and reach many people and then suddenly Antichrist kills them and they're lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem the Bible tells us as these two prophets are lying dead in the street all the world is watching now that's an interesting statement for someone to make on an island called Patmos two thousand years ago all the world will see them is that possible today for everyone to see something at the same time well of course it is not just because of satellite technology it's been around for a long time but not with the internet and that we all have through our devices ranging from laptops to tablets to smartphones to even watch us now and who knows that the technology will be at this point but everyone can watch it so the whole world is watching and by the way everyone's havin a big celebration they're so happy these pesky prophets are finally dead and people are giving gifts out one to another I find that fascinating it's like a big holiday happy dead prophets day aren't you glad they shut up finally everyone's watching them the Bible says this revelation 11:1 after three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered them and they stood up and tears struck all who were staring at them and a loud voice shouted from heaven come up here and they rose up into heaven and a cloud as their enemies watched here's a bottom-line God always has the last word remember that sometimes things look bleak we have setback after setback and we say wait wait wait I thought that God was God's word would prevail well it will in time but sometimes there's gonna be some darkness before that but God will have the last word well now this this party's over it's time to pull out the Second Coming type Christ is ready to return let's go now to Revelation 19 and read about the second coming of Jesus I'll read verses 11 to 14 I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war his eyes were like a flame of fire on his head were many crowns he had a name written that no one knew except himself he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God I want you to underline verse 14 we're gonna come back to it and the armies in heaven followed him clothed in fine linen white and clean now there are some important things that we see here about the second coming number one it will be public and seen by all it will be public and seen by all there's gonna be no question as to whether or not this is the second coming it's not like someone was gonna say was that just a bad storm or did Jesus come back no you'll know it was him jesus said there's the Lightning signs from the east to the west so also will the coming of the Son of Man be number two his return will be accompanied for some by sadness and weeping sadness and weeping there'll be mourning on the part of Israel as they realize Jesus was indeed their Messiah Zechariah 12:10 says a pour out a spirit of grace on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem the look Amin who they have pierced and mourn for kima's for an only son they'll greet bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died and this event and this have been only what an end to the senseless Wars of mankind we'll never be able to wipe out terrorism and violence when military or political solutions this will only happen when Christ comes back and establishes his kingdom now please don't confuse the Second Coming with the rapture sometimes people have a hard time with this they they don't get it there are two events it happened at two times the rapture happens before the Tribulation Period the Second Coming effectively brings the Tribulation Period to a conclusion here's a little contrast in the rapture he comes before judgment and the second coming he returns with judgment and the rapture he comes for his people and the second coming he returns with his people and the rapture he comes as a thief in the night and the second coming everyone will see so here comes Jesus leaving the armies verse 11 says it's a white horse think of this as air horse 1 verse 11 I saw white horse he that sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war I love how Jesus is called the faithful and true witness listen here's what you need to know God is faithful and true and God will keep every promise he has made to you because sometimes we're in despair sometimes we're frightened sometimes we're scared maybe you're afraid right now and you feel as though you're all alone here's the words of the faithful and true witness to you Jesus says lo I am with you even unto the end of the world and by the way that's not just a promise to short people lo I am with you it's a promise to all people Jesus also said in Hebrews 13:5 I will never never leave you or forsake you maybe you're afraid of death maybe someone hearing this message right now is that death store don't be afraid because Jesus says in Revelation 1:17 don't be afraid I'm the first in the last I'm the living one I died but look I'm alive forever and ever and I hold the keys of death and the grave I'm so glad Christ has those keys because if he gave him to me they would have been lost by now because I'm always losing keys am I the only one but he doesn't lose his keys he has the keys to hell and death he says don't be afraid I've been there I've come back it's covered of course in John 14 jesus said let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid in my father's house are many mansions our dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you if I go I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also don't be afraid maybe you're living under a load of guilt because of the wrongs you've done you can't escape your past you don't know how to put it behind you here's the words of the true witness Jesus Christ first John 1:9 if we will confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness our God is faithful now here's an interesting thing what did Jesus look like has that ever struck you as curious that there's not one physical description of Christ in the Bible could not one of these guys have just taken like four minutes and just written down a few details he was tall he was medium height he was shorter his hair was blonde as hair was dark something tell us anything not one physical description of Christ and all of the Bible but actually we do have a description of him here but it's more of a spiritual description revelation 19 verse 11 he sees a white horse he that sent him on him as faithful and true his eyes were like a flame of fire on his head were many crowns he had a name written that no one knew except himself and he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God so we have three things that stand out the eyes the head the row first are the eyes verse 12 is eyes are like a flame of fire you know when you meet someone you shake them for the first time usually look them in the eyes they say the eyes of the window to the soul if a person doesn't make eye contact that's not a good sign look away but then there are some people that you know they make eye contact and they sort of stare at you it's like could you look away for a second you're making me uncomfortable or even worse they stand too close really close I call these people's space invaders look you see this this is my space stay out of it don't stand here and talk to me like this it's just weird but you know you look into a person's eyes imagine looking into the eyes of Christ he walked this earth he looked at people the Bible tells us he saw Matthew sitting at his text table and we read Jesus looked at him and said follow me just looked at him and I could better be translated he looked right through him have you ever had anyone look right through you let me restate the question do you have a mother remember when you were a kid you're on a little lay your mother says where have you been look at me you started confessing things you didn't even do she looks right through you so does Jesus here are the eyes of the Lord like flames of fire his penetrating gaze cuts through the masks of hypocrisy he sees the heart Hebrews 4:13 says there is no creature hidden from his sight all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account the number 2 there's the head verse 12 on his head are many crowns he wears many crowns because he rules many kingdoms he's Lord of all and lastly there's his robe verse 13 he has clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God this phrase dipped in blood could be better translated spattered in blood so there's not just a little bit of blood there's actually quite a bit of blood so here comes the Lord in the second coming as Rob there there's blood why reminding us of what he came to do in the first place he died on the cross for our sins now he comes back as our conquering king compared his first coming to his second coming and his first coming there in the manger in Bethlehem he's wrapped in swaddling cloths and his second coming he's clothed royally in a robe dipped in blood in his first coming he's surrounded by animals and Shepherds in his second coming he's accompanied by saints and angels in his first coming the door of the inn was closed to him in a second coming the door of heaven is open to him in his first coming he comes as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world in a second coming he returns as the ferocious lion of the tribe of Judah to bring justice to the earth and Christ will be finally vindicated before all humanity because the Bible says every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father now this is kind of cool look at verse 14 he has people with them armies follow him in heaven on white horses who are these armies we would think well they're just a bunch of angels no angels will play a role but these are not angels in fact Enoch tells us in Jude 14 the Lord comes with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment okay coming with the Saints you say well that rules me out I'm certainly not a saint oh I'll contraire that's French for snails with garlic no that's escargot au contraire to the contrary if you put your faith in Jesus Christ you are a saint st. is just an interchangeable word with believer every Christian is a saint every saint is a Christian I heard about a send useful teacher that was talking to her class about Saints one day and she said can someone tell me what a saint is the little girl was looking through the beautiful stained-glass window would have the Apostles in them and she said to the teacher I know a st. as someone that the light shines through and that's true you know we follow Christ as light shines through us but who are these saints Colossians 3:4 gives the answer when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory that means that you and I are gonna come back with Jesus Christ in the second coming and he said well I don't like courses don't worry about it they'll be nice horses I'm with you on that I like horse power not horse says I like brakes that work and turning ignition off or you know but anyway we're coming back with him again so this is the ultimate Holy Land tour you are going to see the Holy Land and Jesus will be your guide when he brings you back again but this might be a nice time to mention we're also taking a holy land tour next year it won't be as good as this one but in May of next year we are going to keep that in mind we will turn with him all right so let's bring this home let's wrap it up what are we supposed to do till he comes how are we to live our lives you know interest in the other Bible says nothing about stockpiling gold food water and weapons in fact the Bible tells us there are specific things we should be doing as Christians as we await his return Jesus told a parable in Luke chapter 19 you don't have to turn there I'll just sort of paraphrase it for you but the story of a man of great wealth who is preparing to leave in a long trip so he called his servants together and he gave each of them a sum of money now this is different than another parable that Christ told were some were given more than others in this particular parable everyone was given the same amount of money says I'm gonna go on a journey here here's some money here's some money for you here's some for you here's some for you and then he said occupy till I come that's King James occupied till I come a moment in modern translation would be to business till I come or invest till I come here's what I'm giving you use this wisely till I come back again so basically everyone was given the same thing so here's the question how does this apply to us what one thing has been given to every follower of Jesus without exception answer the message of the gospel the Great Commission is given to every follower of Christ now granted not everyone is called to be an evangelist but everyone is called to evangelize Paul mentions in this Limor Limor I don't know what a liver is I was gonna see a letter to Timothy and it came out Limor anyway so he I don't I don't think Paul ever wrote a Limor he wrote in his letter to young Timothy how the glorious gospel was committed excuse me I choked up when I think about it how the glorious gospel was committed to his trust and the glorious gospel has committed been committed to your trust as well so here's sort of a paraphrase of what Jesus is saying to us right now based the parable look I'm coming back soon so take this message I've been trusted to you and get it out to others do God's business until I return there's nothing wrong with having a career there's nothing wrong with finding that right guy that right girl in marrying them and having a happy family there's nothing wrong with enjoying the things that the Lord has given you because he has told us to enjoy those things that have been provided by him but here's the question you need to ask yourself the question I need to ask myself how am i personally taking care to get the gospel out you might say well Gregg that that's why you're here that's your job oh it is it's my job I'm doing what I can though I'm sure I could do more but it's your job to do it too well we give money to harvest and so you guys did take care of it we'll do what we can but it's more than just giving money for the work of evangelism though that's a very good thing to do it's looking for those opportunities that God puts in your path Jesus made that clear in another parable Luke 16:9 he tells this really fascinating story that in a way doesn't make sense it's a guy that was gonna get fired and he knew his days were numbered so he's represented as master and collected bills collected money so this guy knowing he's going to be terminated goes out to a bunch of the people that owe money to his master says hey you owe 10 grand give me five grand that death is subtle to sign it I'm representing him you're good to go hey you all this Kimmy have as much your debt is paid he does this to a bunch of people instead of for approving him the master commends him fact he says in Luke 69 Jesus is concluding use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so when it is gone you'll be welcomed into eternal dwellings the idea that say you know what this guy he was smart he was shrewd and in the same way we need to take our money our resources and use them to gain friends you say what are you talking about bribing people to become Christians no no using your money for the work of the gospel investing your resources into the kingdom of God God has given to every one of us three things to useful for his glory there's time there's talent and there's treasure we all have that in varying degrees we have our time every day that we can dedicate to him we have our talent our skills our abilities our gifts and finally we have our treasure to give to him that's what this man did Paul writes in Thessalonians what is our hope or our joy or our crown of rejoicing is it not you and the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming Paul seems to be implying that when we leave this world and were caught up into God's presence we will have gathered around us those that we help bring to Christ he might say well Greg I'm gonna be pretty lonely because I haven't led many people to Christ haven't you maybe you've done more than you thought see God doesn't hold you responsible for success he holds you responsible for faithfulness in that final day Jesus is not going to say well done good and successful servant he's gonna say well done good and what faithful servant so all you can do is take what God has given you and do the best you can do with it so maybe you sow a seed and how do we sow a seed hey just for starters by living a godly life you know you just love your wife you love your husband you seek to do the best you can you you're a caring person you're a loving neighbor you're you're a good example of Jesus Christ so you're so a little seed or you mentioned as someone your faith in Christ and then sometimes you wanna Racine at somebody else's sound he shared a little bit about your faith and other times God gives you the opportunity to reap or others have sown and others have watered but Paul writes look one sews and other waters God gives the increase it's God that does it but there might be seeds that you've sown that will not break ground too much later maybe seed you sowed in your children or in your grandchildren or in someone you talk to and that person will come to Christ three years after you die and then they will lead for people at Christ and then those people gotta reach others and then one of those people will reach someone who will be the next Billy Graham whole reaches generation and guess what all that is fruit to your account it all comes back to you because you did your part see we're all interconnected so here's the bottom line just do what you can just don't beat yourself up I'm such a failure hey do what you can do what you can for God's glory sell those seeds one of those seeds reap when the Lord opens the door but I think you've done more than you realized and know this also when you see people come to Christ a and a Harvest Crusade and you've invested financially in that you share and the fruit of that as well that's fruit to your account we all have a part in this great process but here's the thing one day our worldly wealth is gonna go somewhere he can't hang on to it one day our most precious things will fit in a hospital drawer let me say that again one day our most precious things will fit in a hospital drawer you die oh here are their possessions you can take them now see and we live our whole life thinking about these things working for these things stressing about these things and we'll leave it all but when we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven they'll be waiting for us so do your given while you're living then your knowing where it's going but the most important thing and I close with this is I want you to personally be ready for the return of Christ though today I've talked about the second coming of Jesus Christ but guess what the rapture of the church where he comes for us is well seven years before it to be exact which means if the second coming of Christ is close and certainly the rapture of the church is even closer that means Christ could come back at any moment again again life could just end we just don't know when that's going to happen so we need to be ready are you ready right now if you were to die today would you go to heaven if Christ were to come back tonigh would you be one of the ones who would be caught up to meet him in the air or are you not sure about that let's get that settled I said earlier the Christ lives in the heart of every one of his followers does he live inside of you heard about a mom that was talking to her daughter but how Jesus lived inside of her and then the mama was hungry and her stomach was gurgling the little girl put her ear up to her mom's stomach and said mom right now I think he's making coffee is he but he does live in the heart of the Christian does he live in your heart well I I think so you know I think you will know if the creator of the universe has taken residence in your heart and if you don't know that would be a good indication he doesn't live there I know he lives in my heart and you can know that he lives in yours and if you haven't asked him in you can do it right now the same Jesus who died on the cross and rose from the dead and will come back again stands at the door of your life and he knocks and says if you hear his voice and open the door he will come in he wants to come into your life right now and if you've never asked him in do it right now let's all bow our heads for a word of Prayer father thank you for your word to us thank you for sending Jesus to die for us and how we pray for those that are here those that are watching those that are listening if they don't know you yet help them to come to you now so they can be ready for your return and so they don't have to fear death speak to them now we would ask in Jesus name when our heads are bowed and while our eyes are closed and we're praying how many of you would say today Craig I'm not sure if Christ lives inside of me I can't say with confidence I know that I'm a Christian I don't know for sure and I will go to heaven when I die and I do not think I'm ready for his return but I want to be I want Jesus to come into my life I want him to forgive me of my sin would you pray for me 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 be ready for his return would you lift your hand up wherever you're sitting and I'll pray for you lift up your hand let me pray for you God bless you wherever you are lift your hand up saying I want Christ in my life today I want my sin forgiven I want to be ready for his return lift your hand up I'll pray for you god bless you anybody else raise your hand a part where I can see it anybody else god bless you god bless you some of you are watching a video screen I can't see you right now that really doesn't matter would you lift your hand as well the Lord sees you anybody else you want Christ to come into your life raise your hand up let me pray for you god bless you now I'm going to ask every one of you that are raised here again I want you to pray this prayer right where you sit just pray this prayer after me and this is a prayer of asking Jesus Christ to come into your life again as I pray pray this out loud after me just pray this Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner and I also know that you are a Savior who died on that cross for my sin and rose again from the dead now I turn from that sin and I choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me in Jesus name I pray amen god bless you there pray their prayer I know many of you did you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 13,995

Rating: 4.9053254 out of 5

Keywords: Greg Laurie, Harvest Church, Bible, End Times, Revelation, Gospel, greg laurie live, greg laurie 2020, greg laurie sermons 2020, till he comes, bible study, christs return, bible study with me

Id: 5VcPn72N8VU

Length: 50min 15sec (3015 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 08 2015