What Every Last Days Believer Needs to Know

all right well how many of you know that it's a Super Bowl today did you know that yes this is the highest holy day of America trumping Christmas and Easter I think in the minds of many I hope not yours how many fans that we have out there are the Green Bay Packers okay how about Pittsburgh Steelers oh really you know the other surface service that was the reverse of that so you guys may want to keep distance from each other that's interesting how many of you don't care about the teams and you just want to watch commercials you yeah it's one of the rare dates are somewhere everything's reversed you turn it up when the commercial comes on and then turn the game down if you're not all that interested well you would be hard-pressed to miss the fact that today is Super Bowl Sunday because the signs are everywhere the commercials are everywhere etc well in the same way I think you'd be hard-pressed to not note that things are happening in our world that are indeed signs of the times and I want to share a message with you today called what every last days believer needs to know and it's from Matthew 13 so turn there with me if you would Matthew 13 if you've been watching the news you're aware the fact that chaos is broken out in parts of the Middle East especially any judge and I do believe that these are bonafide signs of the times alerting us to the fact that Christ is coming back again the way I see the prophetic events is similar to dominoes closely stacked together you've probably seen the people put thousands of dominoes together and they tip the first one and all the others follow and that's how the prophetic events are they're closely stacked together and when the first one falls the others will go in rapid succession so we're on the verge of it the Bible describes it as labor pains you ladies know little about this that have had children you know that your labor pains would increase with intensity in frequency as you got close to the time a birth and then when your water broke it was like time to get down to that hospital as quickly as possible or we could liken it to tremors before a big quake and so these signs of the times are happening more often their closer together and their frequent but the first big one I think that will happen that will alert us to the fact that game is on is the rapture of the church in my opinion that is a next event on the prophetic calendar what is the rapture of the church I have no idea but anyway no idea the rapture of the church is at moment when the Lord will call all true believers to meet him in heaven in a moment in the twinkling of an eye sometimes people confuse the rapture with a second coming there are two events a one is at before the tribulation the other is after the tribulation the rapture is when he comes for his church and the second coming he returns with his church the rapture is before the judgment the Tribulation Period and the second coming he comes with judgment so were caught up to meet the Lord then the Antichrist emerges on the scene he's not going to be dressed head to toe in black with his own ominous theme song playing and whenever he walks into a room with glowing red eyes he's going to be a charismatic brilliant politician type who's going to have the answers for many economic solutions military solutions and such but then after he reveals himself initially as a man of peace three and a half years into the tribulation the midway point he commits the abomination of desolation this is after his help the Jewish people rebuild their temple he erect an image of himself in it commanding people to worship it and then we see the tribulation culminating with the battles of Armageddon fought there in the Middle East and then Christ comes back again and the kids coming were the as the light shines from the east of the West so will the coming of the Son of man be and then the millennium the thousand year reign of Christ on earth this is that period of time when the Lamb Lies with the lion and so forth and then finally heaven and earth become one as a new jerusalem descends down from heaven to the earth okay these are the events that are yet to come but the Bible tells us to be aware of the signs of the times what are some of those well I would say the emergence of China as a military and economic superpower is a sign of the times as is the diminishing of the United States of America as a superpower because quite frankly we don't find America and the last day scenario and then there's a growing aggression of Russia the emergence of Islam and all of this unrest in Egypt the mainstream press has described this situation in Egypt as a democratic uprising now there may be well-meaning people who want a much needed change in their country but the problem that I see is the dangers of the Islamic extremists taking control of this if they haven't already and using it as a Trojan horse to unseat one of the few allies the United States has in that part of the world and more to the point a nation that has had a peace treaty she is honored with Israel there's this group that has emerged called the Muslim Brotherhood that are supposedly a moderate group and we should not be concerned about them because they're not wanting jihad but yet in their stated mission the Muslim Brotherhood says and I quote Allah is our objective the Prophet is our leader the Quran is our law jihad is our way dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope moderate indeed and then they recently said that if Egypt turns the other way the people should be prepared for or against Israel wait a second how did Israel come into this I thought they just want to changes in their country listen it's always going to be about Israel and the Bible tells us as these events come together it's gonna send her around Israel and around Jerusalem Zechariah 12:3 says on that day I'll make Jerusalem a heavy stone a burden for the world and none of the nations who try to lift it will escape unscathed and so the Bible student will pay careful attention to all of these events especially any mention of wiping out Israel scripture tells us that a large force from the extreme north of Israel will invade her in the end times after she has come back to her homeland what she has many scholars believe this force known as Magog is modern day Russia one of the allies that marches with Magog is called Persia and up until 1935 that was the name of what we now call Iran interestingly Iran has had has not had a very close relationship with Russia over the years yet I just read an article that said President am in a job of Iran in this Russian counterpart have agreed to boost ties between their countries and then there's the wild card now of these terrorist groups I read a headline recently that said al-qaida on drink abusing a nuclear bomb al Qaeda is on the verge of producing radioactive weapons the article says after sourcing nuclear material and recruiting rogue scientists to build dirty bombs according to leaked diplomatic documents Wow what are we supposed to do when we hear things like this well as jesus said when you see these things begin to happen freak out and that phrase freaked out is from the greek word freak itis out know it and I'm making this up you didn't say that did he when you see these things begin to happen do what look up that's what he said why because your redemption draws near when do you see them begin to happen when you see the labor pains or the tremors building up look up for your redemption is drawing near so here's the question what are we supposed to be doing as believers living in these last days well we are to live in a certain way and we are to avoid certain dangers and that's what we're going to explore together here in Matthew 13 you know our numbers have never been greater in the church today so-called mega churches dot our landscape across the United States and now around the world what an amazing thing when you stop and consider the fact that our faith had such humble beginnings when Jesus Christ was born in that manger in Bethlehem due to the decree of Caesar Augustus that everyone should be taxed who would have ever thought that that little baby would grow into a man who had changed the world in world history from that point forward and really during his ministry I don't think the Romans paid a lot of attention to Jesus Christ or to his claims they tolerated Judaism and they would allow it to exist as long as the Jews conformed to Roman law Jesus got into trouble in their minds with his own religious leaders and so Pontius Pilate tried to keep his distance from it but got pulled into it ultimately symbolically washing this hand saying this is not on me it's on you and send Christ to be crucified thinking that was the end of the matter then the message starts circulating Jesus is risen from the dead I don't think most Romans really believed it but this movement began to gain momentum a more and more people were becoming followers of Christ then the day of Pentecost happened then the church began to spread out throughout the Roman Empire and beyond miracles were being performed the name of Jesus was on so many lives so the Romans tried to suppress it and they would arrest these people and God would said angels and free him in the middle of the night and they would beat them and they would become bolder it's Rome ultimately decided to wipe Christianity out completely and secular historians are an agreement that there were ten great persecutions ten major attempts to wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth starting with the wicked Caesar Nero up to Diocletian as you know believers were fed alive to wild animals and Roman arenas for sport they were torn apart tortured burned at the stake Christians would be covered in pitch and set on fire and would light the garden of Caesar Nero as he would ride around laughing convulsively and the Romans thought they were so successful that the Emperor Diocletian had a coin struck to commemorate it and on the coin were these words quote the Christian religion is destroyed and the worship of the Roman gods are restored and quo hmm famous last words worse Rome today well it's still there it's a nice tourist destination we're Caesar today well nowhere to be found you have Caesar salad which is quite nice if you hold the anchovies but no they didn't stop Christianity because the church march is on Jesus said the gates of Hell will not prevail against it okay so that's where we are today that's the good news the gospel goes out the church begins to grow continues to grow so it's all good right not necessarily listen to this numerical growth is not necessarily good let me explain we're in Matthew 13 we're looking at the parables of the kingdom these parables deal with the spiritual condition of the world leading up to the return of Christ what is it parable a parable is an earthly story with the heavenly meaning it's a picture that Jesus would use to tell us about something important something deeper and in our last message we noted that there's good and bad news and at times and what you are living the good news is God is going to be at work right up into his turn to this earth bringing people into the kingdom acts 2:17 says that the Lord will pour his spirit out on all people and our sons and daughters will prophesy and our young men will see visions and our old men will dream dreams but the bad news is it's right alongside that Satan will also be at work seeking to undermine people's faith 2nd Timothy 3:13 says evil people and imposters will flourish they'll go on deceiving others and they themselves will these be the see did you hear that word Impostors so here's what the Bible is saying in the end times which we are in there will be imposters genuine imitations as who called them and our last message fake Christians posers these are not people that are struggling as followers of Jesus these are people that are pretending to be something they are not hypocrites and the truest use of the word and actor they're putting on a performance so this is what the Lord told us to be aware of so we're not going to create a perfect utopia and the end times where everyone believes in Jesus nor will we have complete anarchy where no one believes in Jesus right up until his return we're going to see the good and the bad the godly and the ungodly together and the Lord will ultimately have the victory see here's the devil strategy he believes if you can't beat them join them and one of the most effective ways that he undermines our faith is through infiltration so let's see how that plays out now in Matthew 13 starting in verse 31 another parable he put forth of them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed and if you would underline the phrase like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in the field which indeed is the least of all seeds and when it's grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so the birds of the air come in rest in its branches this is the parable of the mustard seed that became a tree I want you to notice that Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like he did not say the kingdom of heaven is it's like this what is it like it's like a mustard seed well that doesn't mean a lot to us but people of this day would understand it a mustard seed was regarded as one of the smallest of seeds in fact Jesus himself senses right here in verse 32 it's the least of all seeds on another occasion he said if you have faith the size of a mustard seed and yet say to this mountain be moved it will so the idea was even the smallest of seeds are the smallest of things now here's the thing you need to know mustard seeds don't grow into trees they grow into bushes or shrubs though this is an unnatural growth so you're saying the kingdom of God is like something small that grew really big let me put it another way the kingdom of heaven is like something small that grew freakishly big maybe he would have said it this way today the kingdom of heaven is like a chihuahua that grew to be the size of an elephant what you know if a chihuahua was the size of an elephant maybe it would finally stop shaking what are they're always seeking they're so nervous if everyone's against me they're against me they're against me and then they put outfits on them now they're mocking me they're mocking me for the size of an elephant who's laughing now but see it's something that not is not normal that's the idea this being conveyed you know things can be cute when they're small right a kitten oh they're cute and then they turn into cats our bunnies turn into rabbits and chicks what's cuter than a chick not talking about girls now but then it becomes a chicken you know back when I was a kid at Easter I remember that they used to sell chicks and bunnies you don't really see this in pet stores anymore but you know you might even give them as a gift if you wanted to make someone miserable give their children chicks and bunnies because you know it's only months until there are chickens running around the house and rabbits so things can be cute when they're small but then they get big and they can be problematic you know really a great pet is a rat they're not very expensive they are they're good pets if they contain very well and we've had a few rats over the years we didn't ask for rats our boys just brought them home and there they were from the pet store and so forth but you know when a rat gets big it's pretty scary I actually read about a new rat species recently discovered in New Guinea they're 32 inches long from nose to tail and weighed 3.3 pounds not sick and I don't mean that the way teenagers say sick like good I mean sick like weird imagine a three pound rats but it even gets worse than that I read actually about a certain rodents that's called a capybara that gets huge listen to this they get up to a hundred pounds they're in the rodent family and I read this article this woman asked when it looked like a dog you know that there's a size of a dog at least it looked like a rodent frankly and she would take it around and a crowd will always gather wherever she is with it and in this article she was interviewed and she said that she likes to snuggle in bed with this rodent and I thought you sleep with a giant carry rodent seems a bit hard my wife says I've been doing it for years what's the okay so nothing like a joke at your own expense but here's the thing here's this little bush if you will that grows into a giant tree what does it mean well one interpretation of it is the kingdom of God in the last days is like something small that got big in a positive sense you know this tiny little movement there's now a global movement and in a tree in the Bible is always a picture of something powerful you may recall that Nebuchadnezzar was compared to a tree Pharaoh was also compared to a tree so in Scripture a mighty tree is something of a power and influence of the church it's powerful and influential and impacting the world and that's a good thing and all the birds come in and nest in our branches well that's one interpretation that doesn't seem to fit other scriptures to me in fact Jesus even says when the Son of Man returns will he find faith on earth I don't think we're gonna create a super Church on planet earth and besides remember in the first parable of this series the parable of the sower we found out that birds were a symbol of evil right and really if you look at all these parables are about God working and Satan opposing parable of the sower see this zone most of the seed 3 out of 4 falls in the categories where it comes under attack by the enemy parable number 2 the parable of the wheat and the tares the good we this on but then the devil comes along and Sosa's tares are as imitations of the real thing then we move to the what we're reading right now and this parable of the tree that grew freakishly big with the birds a symbol of evil in it think Alfred Hitchcock's movie the birds for a moment you never looked at birds in exactly the same way after seeing that film right so I believe this is a picture of the church growing freakishly big in a sense but also being invaded by Impostors and I think that fits what we're seeing right now the Bible says one of the signs of the last days is there will be a form of godliness but they will deny the power there let's personalize this because the church is made up of people and you're one of those people this is about compromise in the life of the follower of Jesus Christ and one of the most effective weapons and the C tenant Garson Allah is that of compromise the devil knows he can't take you down at once oh he takes you a bite at a time you know the devil doesn't walk up to you and say hey you happily married man yeah you with that stupid smile on your face I have a plan for your life and I wanted you to consider it for a moment if you would I'm thinking you are time let's see being faithful to your wife how about multiple affairs even she tries to make it work she gives up she leaves you then you turn to drink and you come full-blown alcoholic or a drug addict whatever you prefer uh and then you can be estranged from her from your children ruin your life and then maybe one day you blow your brains out what do you say that's my plan what fools gonna suck though yeah so the devil's more clever than that so he comes with compromise and says hey you happily married man you've done so well what a good father you are what a great husband you are you know you deserve a break today why don't you have a little fun you know a little flirty never hurt anybody it'd be a little interesting oh hey you don't want you to check out a little pornography on the internet not too much just a little he have a drink over here have another drink oh just try this drug this one hey wouldn't you see little things lead to big things that's the whole point and this is where a lot of believers fall through compromise it's like the story of the hunter and the bear hunter was out looking for a bear to kill and he was tromping through the forest and saw a large bear with his back to him he pulled out his gun he got the barrenness sight he was getting ready to squeeze the trigger and suddenly the bear turns around and says that the hunter excuse me isn't it better to talk than to shoot this is a true story quick poll how many of you have heard the story of the hunter in the bear raise your hand okay how many of you have not heard it how many of you want the Steelers to win Green Bay Packers commercials okay you're gonna hear the story again isn't it better to talk them to shoot says the bear to the hunter hunter says well you may have a point there the bird says tell me exactly what it is that you want well the hunter said I want a fur coat very good said the bear I want a full stomach let's try to work out a compromise so the bear and the hunter disappeared into the forest a little bit later the bear emerged alone apparently the negotiations were successful everyone got what they wanted the bear got a full stomach and the hunter he got a fur coat that's how a compromise works that's how deals with the devil work you're always gonna be on the losing side now we come to the parable of 11 in verse 33 another parable he spoke to them the kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal so all was lovin now that again doesn't mean a lot to us today but it would have been immediately understood by the people leaven is yeast and the idea here is something bad because leaven always has negative connotations to it in Scripture I remember when Moses was having the Israelites leave Egypt he said get rid of all of the leaven in your life before you celebrate Passover picking up in this picture Paul writes of the believers in Corinth who are actually boasting about welcoming a compromising believer who was living a morally into the church and they were saying look how liberal we are we encourage this guy to come and join us even though he's in this twisted relationship I'm Paul saying you guys are messed up this is not the way you should be living then he says in 1st Corinthians 5:6 your boasting is not good don't you know that a little leaven leavens a lump or a yeast works through the whole batch of dough so get rid of the old leaven another translation puts it this way don't you realize if even one person is allowed to go on sinning soon all will be affected see leaven represents corruption infiltration and compromise it's always negative jesus said beware of the leaven of the Pharisees beware of the leaven of the Herodians beware of leaven so you say well then okay great so I'll get rid of all of my yeast no but that's not really what we're talking about is it this is a picture of compromise in your life little things turn in to big things you ever seen a baby rattlesnake they're actually kind of cute it's just like they took a rattler and shrunk him in the miniature you know that they're mean from birth ah they've got the little tiny battler and they're little tiny things and you can almost hold it in your hand a look at the baby red you know good you do we bit me the little guess what the venom of a baby rattler is more potent than that of an adult so in the same way we'll say oh look at this little sin it's not a big thing that's a little bit you do do sin now wait till I bite you compromise works its way into your life permeates every area of your life here's what the psalmist said in psalm 66:18 if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me okay what does that mean paraphrase if I hang on to sin in my life God will not cheer my prayers here's my question for you is there sin in your life right now that is undealt with do you think it's a secret do you think you've covered your steps listen to this secret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven listen to this - there is no secret there are no secrets rather with God he is aware of it now what is this sin in your life I don't know what it is but I know that you know because right now as I'm talking about it you're thinking about it that guy can't even tell what you're thinking sir I see no I'm just kidding no I can't see and it wouldn't matter if I could see Who am I I need to just take heed to myself but you know what I'm talking about and the Lord sees it just like it was written over your head there it is and you've rationalized it and you've somehow managed to find a way to live with it but right now it's come to the forefront of your mind that could be the compromise in your life that could be the thing that could bring you down get rid of that leaven in your life lest it undermine you spiritually cheer about the guy who went hiking and got his arm trap beneath that Boulder and ended up cutting it off his name is Aron Ralston and his story has told in the film 127 hours a Ralston was rock climbing when he put his right hand on the side of a boulder and it shifted pinning this hand so he tried ropes and anchors and everything to remove the boulder a couple of days past he was cold he was out of water he knew the only way he was gonna get out of there was to free himself no one was coming to his aid so he decided to cut his arm off he did it with a pocketknife it took a long time it was very painful and then amazingly after doing such a thing he repelled 65 feet to the canyon floor and walked out now that's a crazy story but listen better to be alive and have one arm than have two arms and be dead right is there an area in your life that you need to cut off and he's there an area you need to deal with and what do I mean by that well there might be a relationship that just as a complete spiritual drag on you every time you are around this person it just pulls you away from your faith and let me say a word to you that are not yet married you want to make sure you find someone that builds you up in your faith don't even consider a person who is not a believer as a romantic possibility as a marital possibility I'm not even saying just a believer you should be looking for a godly man or woman my wife told me that when we first started dating I said to her I don't remember saying this but she said I said it you know if you ever get in the way of my relationship with God you're out of here I said I said that she said yes I said boy I was quite the romantic wasn't I she said oh but I liked it really she said oh yeah because other guys had been around they always did what I wanted him to do and I could sort of manipulate them and you you know you had conviction and and I thought that was a great thing and now when you get married that changes by the way so okay that's a whole nother story and that's a whole nother message and we'll deal with that in another time but I'm talking about you that aren't married yet but maybe there's a step you need to take now you said now Greg you've kind of grossed me out in this message you've talked about giant rodents cutting arms off okay let's shift gears let's look at two more parables here and one final one the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price drop down to verse 44 Matthew 13 again the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man finds and hides and for joy over for joy over it he goes themselves all that he has and buys that field again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls when he has found one pearl of great price he went and saw so all that he had and he bought it now some parables are interpreted for us parable of the sower is interpreted parable of the wheat and tares is interpreted the last two we looked at are not so we just tried to see them from other scriptures now we don't know the exact interpretation of these parables I think there's two possibilities number one we're like the person who finds the treasure in the field we're like the person who finds the pearl of great price we sell all that we have for it in other words one day we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ we realize that's the most important thing out there and we give up everything to follow Christ he's the treasure hid in a field that's a valid interpretation but there's another that I would suggest that personally I lean toward I think both are fine and however you want to view this but the other interpretation is instead of us being the person that buys the field for the great prize or treasure Christ is the person that buys the field and we are the treasure you know it's interesting because we read here that in verse 44 he finds it and for joy sells all that he has and you remember that Jesus and Luke 15 talked about a shepherd that had a hundred sheep one one is straight he went after the stray sheep and found it bringing it back in his shoulders rejoicing and then Jesus said there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that comes to repentance and ninety-nine who need no repentance so there's a theme of joy Jesus keep up everything he didn't give up his deity but he came up the privileges of deity and walked among us as a man and went to the cross and suffered and died and rose again from the dead he bought the treasure if you will about the field if you will to get the treasure whatever the interpretation they're both valid but there's no question that Christ did that for all of us one final parable verse 47 the parable of the dragnet again the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet which was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind which when it was full Judah Shore and they sat down and gathered the good and the vessels and threw the bad away now this is the idea of just a net being drug through the water now have you ever seen that TV program called is it world's greatest catch or Deadliest Catch or something what is it how many like the Green Bay Packers okay anyway so you see these guys and the tumultuous seas pulling in these massive Nets and they pull in a lot of fish and sometimes they pull in some other sea creatures I mean a shark or an octopus or a squid or maybe some junk you know who knows what you're gonna pull in and that's the idea the kingdom of God is like a net just being pulled through the water you're gonna gather all kinds of stuff okay so here's our job if you will as a church we are to pull that net through the water and grab whoever we can are we gonna get some bad with the good of course are we gonna have false believers next to true believers no question we've already seen that but we're gonna have the genuine as well jesus said follow me and I will make you fishers of men right and that phrase fishers of men could be better translated follow me and you will catch men alive and that phrase is used only one other time in the New Testament and it's over in second Timothy where Paul speaks of those who have been taken captive by the devil to do his will or caught alive by Satan so really we have a choice before us either God's gonna catch people alive or the devil is gonna catch them alive which will it be so let's go fishing for men because these people that don't know the Lord they're like people who are in prison you could even describe them as POWs our job is not to search and destroy but to find and deliver I just read an amazing book about a man his name is Louie Zamperini and the title of the book is unbroken are they're gonna make this book into a film and I think that's a really good idea let me just tell you a little bit about Louie's story because we've contacted Louie and we're gonna bring him here and I'm gonna interview him but I want you to hear a little of this guy's story Louie was the son of Italian immigrants he was born in 1917 he moved from the east coast to the west coast was living here in California in and he couldn't speak English when he arrived here so he was mocked by fellow students and so he toughened up fast started getting into fights was winning almost all of those fights pretty soon he was picking fights he enjoyed fighting and he enjoyed getting even he was smoking by age five beating kids up stealing beer from bootleggers and just living a crazy life he was a criminal in training well he had an older brother named Pete who was sort of the polar opposite of Louie uh he was a hard worker very polite a great student and a great athlete in fact so good that USC offered him a scholarship to run track-and-field for them so Pete felt his younger brother Louie could be a runner as well and he urged Louie to Rhambo Louie I didn't want to have any part of that but Pete kept urging them finally Louie agreed and entered a few track meets and started winning them and before he knew it he was breaking records and earned the nickname the Torrance tornado Louie Zamperini was so fast that he was given a place in the Olympics held in Germany and on the way over to the Olympics he shared a cabin with Olympic legend Jesse Owens who ended up winning four gold medals well Louie didn't do that well in the Olympics but as he was running the 5000 meter Olympic final he finished the last 1/4 mile in just 56 seconds he got the attention of Adolf Hitler presiding there over the event who insisted on meeting Louie and Hitler said ah the boy with a fast finish and so Louie dreamed of going back to the next Olympics and doing even better but world war ii broke out the nazis bombed Pearl Harbor excuse me the Nazis the Japanese let's get the right people bombing the right things and so Louis joined the Air Force and he became a b-24 bomber dear and he was so successful in many of his missions there in the Pacific Theater that he earned the nickname lucky Louie one day he wasn't so lucky as this plane that they call The Green Hornet was shot down over the Pacific and crashed into the ocean 800 miles south of Hawaii of the eleven men on board only three survived they were only able to partially inflate their life raft and there they were floating in the middle of 65 billion square miles of water with no hope of rescue immediately the shark started circling them even bumping them underneath the raft after a while the shark started jumping on board the route trying to pull the men into the water one night a 20-foot great white shark cruise by and lily and his friends were frightened and stayed very still and prayed Louise didn't really have any upbringing in the church he had seen some prayers and movies and prayed a couple of those prayers hoping that God would somehow be with them and they survived when various birds would land on their route and they'd grab him and strangle them and eat them and then use their bones for hooks to catch other fish altogether they were out at sea 47 days now after 27 days at sea they were spotted by an aircraft and so they signal hoping for rescue and realized it was a Japanese aircraft that strength them with bullets and so two of the men stayed on the raft Louis got underneath the raft in the water having to literally fight off sharks with his bare hands punching them in the nose because he had spoken with a Hawaiian man before he went out on this mission and asked him what to do of a shark attack he said hit him in the nose good thing to remember apparently it worked and so finally after all this time at sea they make their way over just floating and end up in the Marshall Islands that were actually under the control of the Japanese and they were sent to a Japanese POWs camp and they were treated cruelly they would be given one little rice ball a day just thrown on the ground rolling in the dirt they would scramble for every little bit of it and lost a lot of wait and then we're beaten over and over there was one particular guard in the camp that Louie was in that they nicknamed the bird and this man made it his mission to personally torment Louie Zamperini he would beat him every day he would take his belt off with a heavy buckle and knock Louie down unconscious and Louie would get up and he beat him down again and this just went on and on and on and Louie and thought he would die and many did but finally World War two came to an end Louie was able to come back to the United States and the bird the camp guard went into running because he was on a list at General Douglas MacArthur had compiled of war criminals that he wanted to arrest so now fast forward a little time Louie's back home he's a national hero because he had been gone so long at sea that he was thought dead the US government said he was dead and his death certificate was signed by Franklin Roosevelt himself so now all of a sudden Louie is alive and well and he's a hero and and everybody wanted to take him out for a drink and everybody wanted him to tell his stories and he married his childhood sweetheart and things were going pretty well but every night he would have nightmares about this guard the bird feeding him feeding him and he just couldn't shake it so he started drinking more and more and then his life started spiraling styro spiraling downward and he couldn't get control and he would pass up on the wheel of his car and would get into fights with people and just drank more and more there was no question he was headed toward death and one night he was having a nightmare about the bird beating M&E in his nightmare he was choking the bird to death and he woke up to find his hands around the neck of his wife and dad who he was choking to that she said that's it I'm divorcing you and but then someone told her about some preacher that had come to town he was going to be in a tent there in LA speaking he was from North Carolina it was 1949 and the preachers name was Billy Graham so Louie's wife went to Billy's la crusade and accepted Christ and she decided to forgive Louie and to try to make the marriage work and then she urged him to join her to hear Billy preach and Louie wanted no part of that and refused and she kept pressing him and he said no no and finally he went one time and as Billy was extending the invitation Louie bolted out the back and didn't want to hear any more of it and just continue to drink and his life continued to spiral downward again he was urged to return one more time so we went back and already determined when he starts calling people to believe in Jesus I'm leaving and as Billy started his invitation once again Louie's bolting out the back door when he comes under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and Louie remember something that happened to him when he was stranded on the life raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean he said to God if you spare my life and get me through this war I'll seek you and serve you it was time to keep his end of the deal lucky Louie realized it wasn't luck but God's providence that had spared him so Louis turned around and went forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ now you have to understand that Louie up to this point had dedicated his life to killing the bird he decided after the war he was gonna track this guard down and kill him and now he decided he didn't want to kill the bird anymore now he wanted to forgive him he wanted to meet him face to face tell him what Christ had done for him his nightmare stopped immediately his drinking stopped immediately his marriage changed everything was for the good now or turning for the good and Louie actually traveled to Japan went to a prison where many of the guards word that he had treated him cruelly and he shared the gospel with them and many of them put their faith in Jesus Christ and he spent the rest of his life doing that by the way Louie is still alive he's 94 years old and he's living in LA so after I read this book I said I gotta meet this guy and so we've already made contact with him and he'll be coming out to sometime in the future and I'll tell you one that is it's not a great story though it's just fantastic will might not make a great film but here's the thing God is just dragging his net through the ocean and you know I'm so glad that those pastors had the vision to invite that preacher from North Carolina and look who they pulled in their necks this man that surely would have ended his life and ruined and that's what we're to do we're to just pull that net were to just throw that seed but here's the other thing we are to keep our lives pure listen if we know anything about the return of Jesus we will know this it should affect us and the way that we live if you're driving down the freeway and as CHP pulls up behind you what are you gonna do first you're I will go to your speedometer and you'll probably slow down you'll probably just tap that brake even if you're going the speed limit exactly you'll probably still slow down why because the presence of an officer changes your conduct that's how we should see the return of Christ if we really believe Jesus is coming it should affect our conduct he that has this hope first John says purifies himself even as he is pure we should be seeking to live godly lives so is there any compromise in your life right now is there something you are doing you know you should not be joined I urge you today deal with that turn from it repent of it look up and live pure those are your marching orders from Christ himself look up and live pure because Jesus will come in a moment and the twinkling of an eye and those that believe will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air but not everybody will go in the rapture Jesus said to will be in a field one will be taken in the other left two will be in a bed one will be taken and the other left so here's my question to you will you be caught up or will you be left behind here's your choice get right or get left get right with God or be left behind I hope you're ready and if you're not I'd like to give you a chance to get ready and put your faith in Jesus today

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 26,833

Rating: 4.8717203 out of 5

Keywords: Greg Laurie, last days, antichrist, fake, military, wars, labor pains, Jesus, death, Romans, crucifixion, venom, sin, devil, compromise, pearl of great price, Revelation, dragnet, Louis Zamperini, jail, billy graham, olympics, vietnam

Id: r6oSTfUZXQs

Length: 48min 28sec (2908 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 11 2011