what's ahead? - various verses

[Music] [Music] really cool so anyways we're going to be in the book of first thessalonians this morning chapter 4 along with a couple other passages to to look at as well you know some of you are old enough to remember the comic strip the peanuts and there was one that had lucy and linus sitting watching television and lucy says to linus hey go get me a glass of water and linus responds and basically says why should i you've never done anything for me and so she says well tell you what on your 75th birthday i will bake you a cake and linus that great philosopher that he is gets up and goes to the kitchen and he says this he says life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward to and truly the bible gives us something to look forward to something amazing it gives us hope it gives us promise that in spite of what we are facing in our current present we have a glorious future ahead of us that cannot be thwarted or changed because god is faithful to his word that's what he has said so as we are facing times of covet or we're facing death or we're facing frustration and confusion whatever it is that we're facing we can leapfrog beyond what's in front of us to the point of the return of jesus and the glorious future ahead last week we looked at the word of god and how it applied to our world and we saw current events and things like that happening this week i want to look at the simple fact of what's ahead what's ahead for the christian according to the bible what's going to happen in the world as we see it before us today and really in a nutshell there's there's three things happening three things we're looking forward to what's ahead one is the rapture of the church two is the ruin of the world we're not looking forward to that but that's what's gonna happen and three is the return of jesus to reign on the earth and so let's look at some of these things we start off first with the rapture of the church and the bible tells us jesus made us a promise john chapter 14 verses 1 through 3 he said this do not let your hearts be troubled he's talking to his disciples maybe this morning your heart is troubled jesus would say don't let it be troubled by everything you're seeing he says this believe in you believe in god believe also in me my father's house has many rooms if that were not so i would have told you that i'm going to there to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come back and take you to be with me that you may be where i am so jesus who is god manifested in the flesh who has all authority on heaven and earth says i will return to get you and you can take that to the bank and throw all your chips on that one because god will do what he says we see it even in the jewish culture as we sang that song like a bride waiting for their groom will be a church ready for you well in the jewish culture you find this that god had painted this picture in a sense of the rapture here's how it works the groom who who in our case is like jesus would enter into a covenant with the bride which is us the church the groom would enter in the jewish culture enter into a covenant with the bride they would have an engagement we think about today where where somebody uh is engaged and maybe you have a ring there as a reminder of the promised life to come and you're waiting for that day well in the jewish culture this is what happened once they were engaged the groom would then go back to his father's house and begin to prepare a place or build an addition onto the house of the father where he would bring his bride to live that's why jesus says that in john chapter 14 that in my father's house are many rooms and i'm preparing a place for you when all was ready the groom would go to get his bride and and the bride didn't actually know when exactly the the groom would come and so she constantly lived with this anticipation at any moment he could come they didn't like set a date on the calendar like i did you know when i was engaged uh we we put a date you know january 6th of 1996 the day we're getting married and you do all your preparations and stuff for that well in their culture they didn't pick out a date they just when the groom was ready the groom would come and he would come with singing and dancing and tambourines and so here she was at night maybe doing her hair just thinking about the day and all of a sudden there it is he's here grab your stuff we're out of here you know so that's how it went down but before before leaving to get his bride the groom would send his groomsmen to kind of announce he's coming just like those of you that are bible students would recall this in scripture john the baptist was the forerunner to jesus the messiah and he came saying prepare your hearts the king is coming and just as you and i in a sense have a dual role of being the church the bride but also being like those groomsmen we are shouting out to the world be ready jesus is coming and we have that taking place here and so when the groom arrived that night he would snatch his bride away and take her to her father his father's house where they had a wedding feast wedding feast was not one day or two days it went for seven days and the picture is very clear that during the seven year tribulation on the earth we are there at a wedding feast in heaven called the marriage supper of the lamb and after that seven days then the bride and the groom were presented to the world and all their glory and such and so too we will come with jesus to be presented to the world when he rules and reigns here on the earth for a thousand years so you see the connection that god often paints this picture of what he's going to do through the word of god and through the the the culture of the jewish people some of you know it real well but you think about passover passover what did they do they took a spotless lamb they sacrificed it and they remembered that exodus that redemption that salvation out of bondage from egypt and what was the picture well jesus would be the lamb of god slain on passover for our sins that we may be free duh god didn't just do this by accident three days later after passover on that sunday the high priest would wave an offering kind of a first fruits to the lord and guess what leviticus 23 tells us that but guess what that pointed to what happened on the sunday after passover jesus rose again yeah and then it goes on 50 days after passover was the feast of pentecost where they actually had an ingathering of all the first fruits and celebration to god for all the abundance and blessing he gave us and well guess what happened on that day acts chapter 2 the church was born the first fruits to god and what do i say duh and then there is the season through the summer where nothing is happening nothing is happening it's just this space and we would relate that to the church age where we're just waiting until the fall there would be a trumpet sound the feast of trumpets and the gathering of all israel back together as one the rapture is the picture of it duh but anyways we see here in first thessalonians chapter 4 how it will happen check it out verse 13. paul says but i do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep lest you sorrow as others who have no hope for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so god will bring with him those who sleep or have passed away in jesus for this we say to you by the word of the lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the lord will by no means precede those who are asleep for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of god and the dead in christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the lord therefore comfort one another with these words amen wow what a good stuff so the word as it says there caught up in the greek is harpodzo in the latin it's rapturous where we get our word rapture it's a almost like a violent snatching away and that's where it comes from that's where we see this painted at the at the rapture the trumpet sound so the believers who have died today their souls are in heaven they're at the church in heaven but at the rapture the we who are alive here are changed immediately into glory and their bodies are given glory at that point too if that makes sense so the church in heaven right now and the church on earth are now joined as one to be one bride in glory that's what that's talking about first corinthians tells us it will happen this way paul says listen i tell you a mystery we will not all sleep that is die but we will all be changed in a flash in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed for this perishable must clothe itself with imperishable and the mortal with immortality and when the perishable has been clothed with imperishable and immortal with immortality then the saying that is written will come true death has been swallowed up in victory and all this will happen in the twinkling of an eye it says there now a twinkling of an eye is not a blink like you're winking at somebody the twinkling of an eye is how fast light reflects off your eyeball when it's open at 186 000 miles per second that's fast so if you can repent that fast more power to you try to repent in that time frame but in a moment i imagine it'll take us a moment just to kind of figure out whoa what just happened and and our bodies that are mortal are put on immortal glorified and we're there with the lord and with this church in the air it's and death is bypassed and all that's left on the ground at that moment is everything that belongs to this earth so your clothes are there your you know maybe your braces your your dentures are still you know all the screws and nuts and bolts your watch your glasses hey listen it's just a pile of junk i'm giving you permission if you're still here and it happens on a sunday while i'm teaching you can have my apple watch it's there so you can have my my spongebob socks and my patrick sock whatever it is you can take what you want i don't care i'll give you my keys i just washed my car today you can have that too you know it's kind of like hey take what you want i'm with the lord and we're told there in verse 18 therefore comfort one another with these words the comfort means to call alongside wrap your arm around them instruct them teach them see what's happening to this church they have lost loved ones says in verse 13. they had lost loved ones and wondered where are they going to be were you ever going to see them again and some of you even watching online you've lost some loved ones this past year it's been difficult challenging year and in despair here's your comfort as if coming alongside and wrapping our arm around you and saying hey you know what there's come in a day we're not only going to see them face to face we're going to see jesus he's coming soon and that is the comfort that holds us steady when things are falling apart jesus is coming and at the second coming it's really a two-parter it's really a two-part coming if i could explain it this way at the rapture jesus comes for his church uniting the church in heaven and earth is one one bride at the second coming when he comes to reign on the on the earth he comes with his church that's the difference at the rapture the dead in christ rise first and the living joined them at the second coming to rule the armies of heaven dressed in fine linen on white horses follow christ into battle at the rapture the rapture begins on earth and ends in heaven at this marriage supper but the second coming to rule begins in heaven and ends on earth with jesus ruling and reigning the purpose of the rapture is to unite the church with christ while the purpose of the second coming to rule and reign on the earth is to judge the nations so when is the rapture going to take place well matthew chapter 24 verse 36 says of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels in heaven nor the son but only the father so we don't know the day or the hour but we can discern the times and the seasons and i think we can look at our world and see those things jesus said when you see all these things happening around you what we looked at last week in luke 21 he says to watch and pray watch and pray and all through the new testament we are exhorted to in a sense live as if christ could come back at any moment that's what the first century church believed in fact when they gathered together they didn't say to each other hello and goodbye you know what their greeting was maranatha come lord jesus it's aramaic our lord comes is that a cool thing i think it should be re-re-started in churches you say maranatha when you come and when you go and i'll be happy reminding of each other of christ's soon return so we need to live today like it's the day we're going to meet the lord well how do we know that the rapture is not going to happen before revelation 6 through 18 unfolds which is incredible terror let me give you a few scriptures just to put away in and look at revelation 3 10 jesus is writing to the church in philadelphia and he says this to them since you have kept my command to endure patiently i will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth and the word he uses for keep means to not keep through but to keep away from isn't that a great promise i am going to keep you away from this hour that's coming to test the earth first thessalonians 5 9 for god did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our lord jesus christ and that time of tribulation is definitely a time of where the wrath of god is being poured out on the earth and we've already experienced his salvation and so we're not going to experience that the cross took the wrath of god for us and it's not a it's not going to happen again and even when you look at the timeline of the book of revelation it's quite fascinating i encourage you to read the whole book this week because that's something fun to do but here's what happens in revelation chapter 1 we are introduced to jesus revelation 2 and 3 is letters to the churches kind of that church age with exhortation and instruction revelation 4 starts with come up here john as if the church is caught away into heaven and 4 and 5 give us this glorious picture of heaven where people are singing uh about salvation and being redeemed by the blood who can only sing that song the church and then revelation chapter 6 through 18 the church isn't even mentioned anywhere in that as the wrath of god is being poured out on the earth until finally in chapter 19 when he comes again and we are with him his church to rule and reign it's a cool picture to see in the timeline there is nothing needed to take place before the rapture of the church no prophecy yet to be fulfilled before he comes to take us home and when that happens it's going to leave this world reeling like never before you imagine all of a sudden just a massive amount millions and millions of people just gone from the face of the earth what it does to an economy what it does to a society what it does there all that i imagine at that point that one world government has to come into place and have control because of the chaos and confusion that would be taking place and so we see that what's ahead for the church the rapture of the church well what's ahead for the world well not only this stuff that we looked at last week in luke 21 but there's an incredible ruin and the bible paints it this way in revelation 6 through 18 the wrath of god is poured out on the earth for seven years the earth is burned up it is plagued it is destroyed like never before life as we know it even today here and now will not be the same absolutely brutal isaiah 24 1-13 describes it in the old testament and you can check that out on your own but before this ruin of the world this man comes into power is called the antichrist capital a antichrist against christ is what that means after i believe he comes into place after the rapture of the church he comes into a ruling effect with this one world government and a one world religion it's a revived roman empire and he is going to establish a seven year peace treaty with the jewish people isn't it interesting i think that look at what's happening now and you know trump is not the antichrist but isn't it amazing to how he was able to orchestrate some of those nations together to sign that abrahamic accord and beginnings of peace i think that's fascinating because it tells us while we looked at this region and went this could never happen we can now look at it and go oh i could see it happening people are ready for it there it just takes the right person in the right place so the antichrist is going to come in and he's going to make this covenant for seven years with the jewish people listen to daniel chapter nine this is what it says he the antichrist will confirm a covenant with many that is the jews for one seven or one seven year period of time in the middle of that seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering and at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him flip to the page to ii thessalonians chapter 2 and we see a little bit more in detail what this guy does chapter 2 starting in verse 3. no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first or a departure and the man of sin is revealed antichrist the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped so that he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god that's what he's going to do so three and a half years into this seven year peace deal that he's got the antichrist is going to set up what's called the abomination of desolation it's called there it's it's he desecrates the jewish temple goes in and desecrates that altar and then demands to be worshipped as god how is this going to come down i don't know exactly but i throw out this possibility it's possible that the antichrist actually negotiates the rebuilding of the temple there in jerusalem as a place where all nations could come together for prayer maybe in recognition the jews would recognize a palestinian state for the sake of having a jewish temple you know even today they have the plans already set to build this temple they could do it in a matter of months so it's not it's not anything you know always more years and years and years they can get this done they're ready every year they want to they want to build it uh and they run into resistance but three and a half years into that peace deal the antichrist would call for the temple to be open in a sense to all faiths open this place up it needs to be a house of prayer for everybody we have a one world religion in place and everybody needs to have access there of course the jews are going to reject it and he is going to desecrate that altar blaspheme god and claim to be god and demand worship at that point he turns on the jews at that point and begins to persecute them to destroy them off the face of the earth along with other nations it's called the great tribulation that lasts three and a half years called jacob's trouble jeremiah 37 calls it definitely a time of hardship for the jewish people it's during that time that revelation 13 tells us the antichrist the one world religious leader the false prophet as he's called would actually create an image of the antichrist and and give him this image to speak if you ever get a chance look up the humanoids online in youtube and they're really freaky to think that they're not real but they're just these robots and he will institute a mark of which everybody has to take in order to pledge their allegiance and their worship towards the antichrist that mark of the beast given in the hand or on the forehead hey it's not in the arm it's not a shot in the arm it's in the hand or forehead and by the way the antichrist has to be in power for the mark to be established on and on and on there's an angel that proclaims the gospel and a judgment that would happen for anybody who takes this mark of the beast and that hasn't happened yet so you know just saying just saying but anyways as all this goes on we run across this question well where is america in all this i mean are we a superpower and these things come into pass come on man where's america in this it's not mentioned in bible scriptures so what happens to us i don't know i can speculate rapture of the church happens and boom america becomes a third world country overnight or an implosion internally economically we just drive ourselves in debt and we just decide hey whoops can't handle the load anymore sorry or could it be a civil war occurs in america because of where people are at polarized at a secession from the union that type of thing and we are no longer a united states and it's just different countries maybe without the influence in the world i don't know all i know is we're not there and if we're not there i'm sure hoping i'm not here on tour it's jesus so the rapture of the church the ruin of the world happens over seven years and then happens the return of jesus christ turn with me in your bible to revelation chapter 19 and this is awesome it's at the end of this great tribulation where the antichrist has been ruling and the world has been decimated and the one world religion is in full force and the mark of the beast is happening and all these things are happening the nations are gathered together against the lord now we see it it says in verse 11 chapter 19 of revelation now i saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war his eyes were like a flame of fire and 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 and the armies in heaven that's us clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron he himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty god and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written king of kings and lord of lords amen and amen that's good this is not meek and mild baby jesus his eyes are flame and fire crowns on his head soared out of his mouth boom leveled where are you and i it tells us there we are riding with him on white horses now take this remember you some of your little girls hey daddy can i get a pony you know that jesus heard you and i got one coming for you what are you gonna name yours puffy cloud snowball cloud nine i don't know marshmallow you come up with whatever name you want you're riding that horse down to the earth smiling ear to ear but i don't know how to ride horses don't worry about it god will take care of that those heavenly horses will saddle you in man it's going to be awesome hi ho silver wow we come back to this place we come out of heaven with our groom jesus and we come to this place the valley of megiddo the valley of jezreel let me show you a picture because i want this burned in your brain in jerusalem if you ever get a chance to go you'll see this valley incredible valley this is where it all goes down the nations of the earth have gathered together to war against israel to war against jesus coming back they turn to fight on him sword goes out kaput you're done cool place awesome place to see you may leave this earth somewhere anywhere but when you come back this is where we're coming amen revelation 19 what happens next if i could sum it up 19 through 22 is this jesus wins he wins in every way at that point after the battle of armageddon the antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire satan is bound for a thousand years in an abyss and there's a perfect rule and reign of jesus for a thousand years at the end of a thousand years the enemy is released he rallies the nations to come against jesus at jerusalem and jesus doesn't even answer the door fire comes down from heaven and devours them all and satan is then cast into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever amen [Applause] and jesus at that point calls up the souls that have died and there is this what's called the great white throne judgment where you're sentenced often to either the lake of fire or into heaven itself and then this world is is just kind of rolled up like a scroll it's burned up in a new heaven and new earth that god has created and we spend eternity with him i encourage you when you are so bummed out there's two sections of scripture i encourage you to read actually all of it but you know there's two sections that come to mind revelation 4 and 5 tell you what heaven is like in revelation 19 through 22 tell you what heaven is like and there's something that we need to see we need to see heaven more and more lord that's where i'm going that's the beauty of it all so what do we do when we're here on earth facing all these things well let me give you a couple exhortations one to look out at the world around you be aware of what's happening you want to be wise under those things sometimes we before decades we scratched our head going is this really going to happen now we see things happening today so be aware of what's happening in your world look out at the world number two look up your savior a couple verses luke 21 28 when these things begin to take place stand up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near are these things beginning to take place yes let's lift up our heads titus 2 13 we wait for the blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great god and savior jesus christ you see our focus is not on the antichrist it's on jesus christ our focus is not on a virus it's on jesus it's got to be he's coming again you see here's what happened you remember when peter was there and he stepped out of the boat and he started walking on the water you remember that account yeah yeah yeah he walked towards jesus and then he started to sink why because he got his eyes on what the waves let me encourage you with this when you take that step of faith the waves don't stop they actually sometimes get higher and often when you have fixed your eyes on jesus you have to be careful of all the issues around you that are going to cause to say hey look at me look at me look at me and you lose your fixation on jesus you get them onto the wave of this that and the other politics and everything else going on in our world and then we begin to sink you sink emotionally because it's draining you think spiritually because it's frustrating whatever it is you begin to sink the lord's gonna catch you but when you step out of that boat and you walk by faith you fix your eyes on jesus and nothing else because he can handle this wave that wave and the one behind me that seems so overwhelming stay fixed upon jesus look in at your spiritual walk luke 12 40. you also must be ready because the son of man will come in an hour when you do not expect him how do we prepare we gotta weep over our sin and repent of it draw near to god and and don't play games and just say hey lord i'm gonna go all in we need to worship the lord as if hey this could be your last time worshiping god on earth and i want to go out with a bang we need to work for god work for his kingdom and share the love of christ with the world around us we need to be active and busy about his work going forward in 2021 as a church as i was praying about lord what do you have in store for us let me just kind of close out with this what do you have in store what a lot of times the lord will give you a word or something for the year the word that he gave me for our church i believe is simply this stay focused stay focused because the reality is things could get worse it could get worse for us here in america jesus said in john 16 33 in this world you will have tribulation trials and troubles and such be of good cheer i have overcome the world and the the if persecution comes our way listen it's gonna be okay as i said last week it's fuel for the fire of the church to be strong to be real you see i think there is times when america the american church is going to start looking at their sister churches globally to say how are you doing it underneath difficult circumstances do you know right now in iran they are experiencing it's the fastest growing work of christianity in iran right now august 27 of 2020 there are 3 000 muslims coming to know jesus christ today how did it happen even in the midst of a pandemic in a government that is incredibly oppressive well the government said i want you guys to go all back into your houses because of the pandemic i want you to stay there social distance and we're going to open up the broadbands of internet more so that you can connect so what do people start doing they start well the government doesn't have answers so i'm going to start looking and they're coming to know jesus christ isn't that amazing do we need to look and go well how are you guys doing it because it could be coming our way china in 1949 china had one million believers as communism came in today there's over 100 million believers see sometimes we look at and go oh the world's fallen apart no it isn't it's going exactly as jesus intended and if trouble and trial comes our way oh lord fuel the fire because it's going to get real it's not it's going to get real before jesus and that's a good thing for us is the church of god so the second thing is don't worry worry is a weight that god hasn't called you to bear peter says cast your cares upon the lord for he cares for you and thirdly jesus is coming he will fulfill his word and the church says maranatha come lord jesus let's pray [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Chapel North Phoenix

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Length: 33min 33sec (2013 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021