(A WARNING AND ENCOURAGEMENT)
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
“I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”
WE JUST EXPERIENCED A SOLAR ECLIPSE / AND AN UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK BY IRAN ON THE NATION OF ISRAEL
PEOPLE ARE ASKING QUESTIONS:
WILL THIS BE THE SIGN OF CHRIST’S RETURN?
*WILL THIS BE THE CRASH OF THE AMERICAN AND WORLD ECONOMY?
*WILL THIS BE ISRAEL’S RECONCILIATION TO MESSIAH?
*WILL THIS BE THE SIGNAL OF A WORLD WIDE REVIVAL?
THIS IS ALL WE KNOW FOR SURE….
WE ARE SEEING PATTERNS HERE THAT ARE RIVETING AND UNUSUAL….
BUT WHAT IS GOD SAYING TO HIS CHURCH? FOR IT’S THE CHURCH THAT IS ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS;
1. IT’S TIME TO CLEAN UP
2 Peter 3:10-11
But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment…Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live.
1 Corinthians 15:34
Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Luke 21:28
When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Romans 6:4
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Ephesians 4:17-24
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
EVERY TIME GOD VISITS HIS PEOPLE THROUGHOUT HISTORY THEIR FIRST RESPONSE IS ALWAYS DEEP REPENTANCE…
2 CHRONICLES 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Compromise must be replaced with conviction
Shallow Lust of the flesh with Deep love for the Lord
Wasting of OPPORTUNITIES with redeeming of time
◦ Prayerlessness with A NEW DETERMINATION TO Seek His face
◦ IRREVERENCE WITH A FRESH FEAR OF THE LORD
◦ SELFISH AMBITION WITH A NEW PLACE OF PERSONAL SURRENDER
2. STAND UP
Luke 21:2 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near
Galatians 5:5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
STEPHEN WAS MARTYRED BECAUSE HE TOOK A STAND!
WE NEED TO STAND UP FOR THE GOSPEL!
THE MOST POWERFUL AND RELEVANT AND PERSUASIVE YOU WILL EVER BE IS WHEN YOU ARE SPEAKING THE WORD OF GOD!
STAND UP FOR THE WORD AND EVEN IN THE DARKEST NIGHT OF CONFUSION YOU WILL NEVER BE LOST….
(YOUR WORD IS A LAMP UNTO MY FEET AND A LIGHT UNTO MY PATH)
STAND UP FOR THE WORD AND YOU WILL NEVER NEED ANOTHER FOUNDATION / HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY BUT MY WORD SHALL NEVER PASS AWAY.
STAND UP FOR THE WORD AND YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE A CLEAR REVELATION OF JESUS/ JOHN SAID.
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD…AND THE WORD WAS GOD…AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US…AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY.
STAND UP FOR THE WORD AND YOU WILL POSSES THE HEALING POWER OF JESUS…THE BIBLE SAYS HE SENT HIS WORD AND HEALED THEM.
EVERY ATHEIST, AGNOSTIC, GOD HATER,
WILL ONE DAY BOW THEIR KNEE AND BE JUDGED BY THE WORD THEY REJECTED.
BUT YOU MY FRIEND WILL BE VINDICATED IN HIS PRESENCE BECAUSE OF THIS WORD OF GRACE/ RECONCILIATION. REDEMPTION/ JUSTIFICATION/ THE WORD OF YOUR SURE SALVATION!
IF YOU KEEP HIS WORD HIS WORD WILL KEEP YOU.
3. LIFT UP
Luke 21:28
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
LIFT UP YOUR HEADS THIS IS YOUR FINEST HOUR….
WE ARE AT OUR BEST IN TOUGH TIMES. WE THRIVE IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF SPIRITUAL CONFLICT. OUR GOD WINS IN THE END.