The Ever Ready Disciples | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

Okay, so what I'm going to do is I'm going

to read Matthew chapter twenty four. And when I'm reading it,

you were sort of realized why a lot of people

preach Matthew Talb. I met you straight away. We go

to twenty eight and say, go therefore and make disciples,

halle lujah. But we also need to get through this partner,

and it says this no. In I'm reading from the NLT.

It's actually entitled Jesus speaks about the future.

Wow.

See Jesus, he's talking about it, and he says this

thirty one verses Bury me.

I'm going to read as quickly as I can.

As Jesus was leaving the temple grounds, his disciples pointed

out to him the various temple buildings, but he responded,

do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth,

they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be

left on top of another. Later, Jesus said, on the

Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and say,

tell us.

When will all this happen?

Body They want to know what sign will signal your

return and the end of the world. And Jesus told them,

don't let anyone mislead you, for many will come in

my name claiming I am the Messiah. They will deceive many,

and you will hear of wars and threads of wars.

But don't panic.

Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't

follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, Kingdom

will against kingdom. There will be femines and earthquakes in

many parts of the world. But all this is only

the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

Verse nine.

Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. How many

of your go hallelujah to that, But that is what's

going to happen.

The scripture says.

You will be hated all over the world because you

are my followers. That's why I say this is a

brilliant manual for discipleship, the Book of Matthew, the Gospel

of Metheo okay, Verse ten. And many will turn away

from me and betray and hate each other. And many

false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin

will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will

grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end will be save. Hallelujah.

There's a promise right there.

And the good news about the kingdom will be preached

throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it,

and then the end will come. The day is coming

when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about

the sec religious object that causes desecration haha, standing in

the holy place and then in bracat it says reader,

Pay attention, pay attention. Okay, then those in Judea must

flee to the hills. A person out on the deck

of a roof must not go down into the house

to peck. A person out in the field must not

return even to get a cold. How terrible it will

be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days,

And pray that your flight will not be in winter

or on the sabba before. There will be greater anguish

than at any time since the world begins, and it

will never be so great again. In fact, unless that

time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive.

But it will be shortened for the sake of God's

chosen ones, Hallelujah, Verse twenty three. Then if anyone tells

you look, here is the Messiah, or there he is,

don't believe it, for false messiahs and false prophets will

rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as

to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones.

See I have warned you about this ahead of time.

So if someone tells you, look, the Messiah is out

in the desert, don't bother to go and look, or

look he is hiding here.

Don't believe it.

For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines

to the west, so it will be when the Sun

of Man comes, just as the gathering of vouchers show

there is a carcass nearby. So these signs indicate that

the end is near. Immediately after the anguish of those days,

the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light,

the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers

in the heavens will be shaken. And then at last

the sign that the Son of Man is coming will

appear in the heavens, and that will be deep mourning

among all the peoples of the earth, and they will

see the Sun of men coming on the clouds of

heaven with power and great glory. And he will send

out his angels with the mighty blasts of a trumpet,

and they will gather his chosen ones from all over

the world, from the furthest ends to the air of

the earth and heaven. The Lord bless the reading of

his word. Okay, some things to take note as you

are reading. As we read that, you will realize that

the initial part is a long time coming, and it

stretches a little bit towards the end. It's a shorter time.

That means you will see things happening a lot quicker. Okay,

just have that. I need you all to see timelines

as well. Very important because a lot of us very

very impatient. Know every time we're like, oh, Jesus come back,

Jesus come back and go to a difficult time.

Jesus come back.

Be careful what we hope for and what we ask for,

because there is a time, there is a place. So again,

the future of the world is more frequently predicted than

any other prophecies in the Bible.

There's a lot.

Jesus talks a lot about it in the scriptures hundreds

of references of Jesus's return to the el So sometimes

fitting it all together is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together,

but it can be done, okay. But usually people always

ask this question, what is the world coming to? That's

what we always ask know when we look around, when

we look at the environment, when we look at the

deterioration and how society has degenerated and things are diminishing,

we are always like, what has the world or what

is this world coming to? That is not the question

that Christians should be asking. The question that Christians should

be asking is who is coming to the world. Who

is coming to the world. That's what marks the end

of it all for us, because you see, in theory,

the Church gives Jesus writurn a lot of centrality and priority.

Every Christian creed from the apostle tree to the nici

cree to whatever creed you can find on Wikipedia. The

early Church acknowledges that Jesus will return and they are

actually looking forward to it, but in practice is actually

quite neglected. In practice, we celebrate Christmas more because Christmas

is a little bit more fun, because somehow the past

and the present always seem more relevant and more important

than the future. Okay, So his impending return, we only

like go into the mode where when things are going

very tough, that we like Jesus come home.

Jesus come home.

And as we say, let's do it's wishful thinking rather

than really you want if Jesus really appears, go ya, no.

Says coya. You're okay. So let's make.

Sense of Jesus's return. That's what I want to help us, Okay,

help us make sense of it. Don't just let it

remain wishful thinking. Sometimes we say it I pray because

the early Church had this prayer. It's called Mara nata.

It just means long come. The early Church were already

looking forward to it. So let's let's try to make

sense of Jesus's written Let's answer some questions. And I'm

going to answer a few questions today, not the five w's,

but maybe that's four here.

Okay.

Firstly, we're going to go through who is coming? And

of course you already know the answer, okay, but I

would develop and I will elaborate the answer a little bit.

Is Jesus is coming again? No one else who is coming?

Is Jesus Where will he be returning to. I think

it's important for us to know the place, how will

the return look like. I think it's also important for

us to be able to identify and then, of course,

the one that we all want to.

Know, when, When will he be coming?

Okay, okay, still in me, let's talk with who who

is coming back? Firstly, it must be emphasized that the

divine Christ and the human Jesus are one and the

same person. Okay, we have to establish the truth. The

truth is he became a human and he keeps his

resurrected body for the rest of eternity. Basically, Jesus has

also retained his humanity because when Jesus returns, the scripture

says that he will written in his resurrected body.

He's not going to come back and exist as who.

No, you will actually be able to see him.

Amen.

So actually it will be a perfect human being who

will be in control of the whole universe. In fact,

this perfect human being is already seated next to the

right hand of the Father today and he will come

back and regain control. Right now, we all know this

world is under the control of the Prince of Darkness,

but Jesus will come back and he will reclaim it. Yeah,

but you also need to remember that Jesus was not

always human being. Okay, he was not always in the

human form. Indeed, he was not always Jesus. It was

a name that was given to him when he was incarnated.

That is what incarnation means God. Incarnate means God took

the form of a human, and then only he took

the body, and after that the.

Name Jesus came.

So Jesus actually, if you think about it, is the

only person who has ever lived to choose to be born.

No one else can make the choice that I decide

to be born today. Cannot like your cannot. It has

to be you know, your has to be Johanness and Caro.

If they want to have a child, they have to

decide the child. Can't say that I'm the one that

decided that. No, no, no, no, that's all. You can

always tell your kids, I meet you, and you better

listen to me. Technically I am your creator at least

for the time being. Better listen to the creator. Really

establish a mathority in your family life. Okay, but okay,

that's something else. He was the eternal son of God.

The Lord of Glory, the Word. That's why in John

one it says that in the beginning there was God,

and then after it goes on to establish that there

was also the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

Okay, so.

We know that Jesus existed in the divine form, but

in his embodied form, in his incarnate form, we must

always face this one implication. And the implication is this,

Jesus in flesh can only be in one place at

one time on Earth. You see, even in his glorious

resurrected body, Jesus could not be in different places at

the same time. He was either in in Mouse, or

he was in Jerusalem, or he was in Galilee. But

he did manage to move around in some breakneck speed.

Read the scriptures and you realize, I don't know how

it happens, but I think I would really like my

resurrected body because I'll be able to.

I don't know.

It's almost like be me up Scotty and they know

we can tell itpot That's how I'm imagining. But what

why should we limit our imagination? Because Jesus actually showed

that he could be at different places very quickly. But

it was never shown that he could be at different

places at the same time. Okay, So if that is

what be established, then therefore, when he returns to this earth,

he can only come back to one geographical location.

Question where will that be?

Okay, let's go to the next question, where you see,

if the return of Jesus is physical, then it must

also be local. Jesus can't come back universally on SNAs

we always like. Jesus is with us, where he's everywhere.

You know, his universal the Holy Spirit is with universally

Jesus right now. Where is he? He is now seated

at the right hand of the Father. His spirit can

be anywhere and everywhere, but his body must be somewhere.

Okay, makes sense.

Before he has sent that Jesus could never be at

two places at once, and that is why he told

his disciples it was for their good that he was

leaving them and sending them a stand by. That is

what the Holy Spirit, that's who the Holy Spirit is.

The word or the description of the Holy Spirit is

in Greek paraclectos, which simply just means the stand by,

the person who is standing by you, the one who

is going to be there by your side to be

with you all the time. Because his promise was that

he will be with them always. Okay, how in the

world is he going to be with them always if

he can't be at multiple places at the same time.

And you know the believers were scattered x one. It

tells us they will be scattered. But yet the promise

that Jesus made is I will be with you always.

And that's why he says I have to go in

John chapter sixteen, because when I go, I will leave

with you the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

And the Holy Spirit is the one that can be

everywhere all the time. And the only way was for

him to remove his physical body first, and that's why

there is something called the ascension, which we all don't

really celebrate in our church, but the more traditional churches

will observe the day of Ascension because it's actually a

very very important thing that happened, the sension, and then

his physical body was replaced by an ever present, omnipresent

spirit ten days later at Pentecost.

Okay, that's what happened.

And now some people will be like, hey, if Jesus

would be written what what happened? Because sometimes we think

Jesus means Holy Spirit will disappear. No, I think I

believe Jesus. When Jesus come back, Holy Spirit will still

be with us. He is the one that already sort

had to He was like the fall guy, like the

Holy Spirit. Seriously, that's why please never undermine the Holy

spirits utimes. We always ignore the Holy Spirit. But he

is the fall guy because he's the one that had

to hang out with us for the longest time. Father

God said, or this flir is all, okay, Jesus, you

carry on, carry on. Jesus did all the hard work,

and then Jesus said, okay, time for me to go.

Holy Spirit, you carry on. Carry on. Holy Spirit has

been on for a while, if you think about it.

But yet we always forget that the Holy Spirit is

who we have with us right now. Okay, So when

Jesus comes back doesn't means the Holy Spirit. No, the

Trinity will be one. We will be doubly blessed with

the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit with us.

I like to look at it from that point of view.

But since his body, like ours, must always be a

one point on the surface of the earth, his return

means that his disciples will have to be gathered together

from every part of the globe. That is my understanding

of what the rapture will look like. That means we

will all be gathered to welcome the return of Christ. Okay,

some people believe rapture means go to heaven and end

of story. Okay, I'll leave it to you. Okay, this

is my understanding. And where will that be exactly? Well,

it is the same place where the most important event

in human history took place. When it's split time from

BC to AD. It is from this city that he

departed to return to his home in heaven, and it

is to this city that he will return to from

heaven is also known as the City of the Great Kings.

This is Jerusalem. And that's why, until today what happens

in the Middle East is still something that we take

note off. There's a reason why we pray for the

peace of Jerusalem. It's not something that we do in

a wanton manner and fashion and just no. There's a

reason because this is the place where our living Lord

will return to Amen. How will he come next question?

And we have to take note of this. His second

coming will be like his first going unlike his first coming.

That makes sense. First coming was wound, came in a

baby form. Ain't nobody knew Jesus was coming. Actually everyone

with only a few wise men, were trying to find him.

That No, he's written will be like how he ascended,

but technically in the reverse. So if Jesus went, the

coming back is is I don't know, you're you're you're

trying to imagine, trying to imagine, imagine, mean that that

is what's going to happen. And everyone you'll know that

he has come because when he left, people around him knew.

But when he first came, no one knew.

Was born in a manger in the dirty place, no

one knew of his existence. But his written will be

the most public event in the history of this world.

Thousands of angels will accompany his return, is stated in

Matthew twenty five Jude fourteen. It will be so noisy first,

Thessalonian says, he's not going to be acquired. No, that's

why we always say, when you praise and you worship God,

let people know that you're praising and worship, because when

he returns, you will know it's not going.

To be like it is not.

It's going to be noisy because people are going to

be shouting and lifting up their voice, and it's going

to be a powerful, powerful time. And that is when

you know, the world probably last saw him crucified, but

in the future they will see him crown and then

at last, every knee will bow, every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

But when will he come? And how much longer do

we have to wait? Is the question that we all

ask when now, casey beler, Okay, the truth is no

one knows except God himself, not even Jesus knows his

father's cleandor will his coming be sudden and totally unexpected?

The answer is yes, and no, Jesus could come back

at any moment. So yeah, in that sense, it will

be sudden, But there will be events preceding his written

things that have to happen first, which are signs or signals.

And this is what we are to take note off. Okay,

So what are the signs of his coming? What are

we watching for? What events should we take note of?

That is what I just read in the Gospel of Matthew.

Those are the signs. Those are the events. Those are

Matthew actually has the clearest outline Matthew chapter twenty four,

not even in Revelations. But you have to read it

together to get a little bit more understanding. Okay, it's

a four full framework. That means there are four things

that you have to take note of. Okay, so let's

we go to one by one. Okay, Sign one. Sign

one is this. It's disasters in the world. I know,

this is where we're like this doomsday message. Uh you know,

Armor Gayden Apocker lips no atieve. When I was growing

one my favorite shows was Armageddon. Who that's the show

with the Aerosmith love song. Uh, you know, and when

we think of armageddoner we always think, oh man, some

astroid's gonna hit Earth and it's gonna, you know, send

everyone to Smetherings. But okay, it's a little bit different here. Okay,

it's a little bit different. But disasters in the world.

Three things are mentioned quite clearly, walls, earthquakes, and famines.

Okay.

In true we are actually already witnessing and exponential increase

in all these catastrophes and calamities.

We actually see it, and you.

Know, What is natural from this is that it will

always spread alarm and insecurity amongst people. That is the truth,

and people will therefore be looking to a savior to

avert the tragedy. Everyone's going to look, Lord, get this,

don't let this happen, don't let this happen. And this

is where people will take the opportunity to pretend to

be christ. That's why it keeps saying, Beware, beware, beware.

You realize the number of cults there are right now,

the number of false peatures that, yeah, it's just intense

and insane in today's world. So disciples must therefore protect

themselves from such deceptions by not allowing panic to make

them vulnerable. I know the normal human reaction is to panic,

but you've got to realize this. The only way we

can avert all these things is our un understanding of

catastrophes and disasters and calamities. We have to look at

it differently from how the world looks and how.

The world reacts.

The world always looks at it as the end of

all good things. Christians must always look at it as

the beginning of better things ahead. The appropriate response is

not alarm and anxiety. It is actually anticipation. A lot

of times we are like, oh, say lo, you know

the things that come out salom is diary die. You know,

in our Manglish everything that is not bright and cheery

is always doom and gloom, and the first response or

reaction is die and die.

But we have to look at it as there is home. Amen.

The signs are clearly visible today. There has been, you know,

multiple international conflicts since the world wars have taken multiple multiple.

Earthquakes are actually doubling, tripling. I don't know.

I'm not a geolog, but I think I have some

app that keeps telling me that earthquakes around the world,

and I'm telling you is frequent.

It's frequent. Famine is wide.

Sprain in the underdeveloped world is so widespread that science

you wonder, you know, for famine to take place, it's insane. Okay,

think about it this way. God really promised that he

will never wipe away the human race. Who did he

make this promise to?

Noah?

It was actually no, no, no, no, it's okay, it's okay,

don't feel bad. Didn't you put you down?

Okay? But Yolanda got it right.

Okay, Ah, Noah, he made the promise to Noah that

he will not wipe away the human race. Actually, one

of the ways the white way human racer is is food.

You take away all food. But what did he give them?

He gives them a rainbow? What makes a rainbow? Water

and light? We always have and like therefore we will

always have produced. Therefore, Actually, every person in this world,

whether it's an economy, it's a farmer, uh, a social worker,

a comedy, they will tell you that there is enough

food in this world to feed everyone. But yet millions

die of hunger. Why something is fundamentally not right. This

is not God's doing because here real say, I will

never wipe away everyone. But this is human sin that

has led us to this place where again greed you know,

suttis we a mess? And we start we know those

doomsday flowers are America got this cycoplast? We listen, there's

this program my country, doomsday preppers. Ah, they create some

bang underground and then they have enough supply to last

them for the next twenty five years. In case the

asteroid hits, we are holders by nature in state of

people who share, So think about it. Famines should never happen,

but it will happen. It is happening already. So how

long will this state of affair continue? How much world?

How much worse will it get? Actually we don't know.

We can't tell. But this is the first sign it

it is happening. The next sign is this, you will

see people deserting the church if you think is it

a because it will always start with this. It will

always start with oppositions. There will be opposition in that

followers of Jesus will be hated by all nations, which

will then bring a corresponding increase of.

Those who will die for their Christian faith.

That's why it says that you will suffer, you'll be persecuted,

and you will die for your faith. All around the

world today we already see many Christians coming under immense

pressure for their faith. Here in Malaysia, we have freedom

and we have some level of liberty. So sometimes we

think NOLA is not happening. It is happening. You know,

those of you just came back from China. You think

China can just who praise the Lord? Cannot just praise

the Lord there? Or no, the church is actually under

tremendous persecution in the Lord of these places. If it's

not because there is a government that is persecuting you,

then it will be society that is persecuting you. And

that's the reality of it. The church is under today

and that is the truth. All around the world, church

just everywhere is so important for us to prepare our

partners for pain and suffering. We can always stand there

and preach the gospel or comfort. Everything is going to

be okay because if you think about it, I'm a parent,

I've got children as well, and you know what's a

normal thing or if suffering is going to come, I

don't think I want anything to do.

With this, but this is the truth.

How do we lead our families into the truth knowing

that in the last days it's going to be trying

and it's going to be challenged, But yet we have

to hang on to it. And that is why you

will actually see the number of believers reducing, because the

pressure will quickly reveal the difference between.

A genuine and a nominal Christian.

There will be those who will struggle to remain faithful,

that is the honest truth. But those who remain faithful

and stay fast will also cause the church to expand

because this is the very group that will be zealous.

They will be bold, They will go out and they

will preach Jesus even more confidently because they have seen

and tasted that the Lord has good. No science, We

sing songs. I've tasted that you have good. I tasted

that you are good. Then after we will spit him out.

If you taste it that the Lord is good, then

he is good all the time regardless. Accompanying all these

events will also be the increase in false profits. Who

will preach peace when there is no peace. They will

give you false assurance even when trouble is looming. Don't worry,

bad times will never happen. I'm very scared to preach

message like that one everything is going to be okay,

everything comfortable. You give your life to Jesus, smooth sailing

all the way, let yourselves and suntie all the way.

That's not how it works. Really.

Many Christians will be left unprepared if we take this approach,

because there will be challenges. Some teachings will make light

of sin in our lives. Do whatever you want.

It's okay.

God is ever forgiving, He will forgive you everything. Don't

be fool and trapped by teachings like this. Yes, I

never I will never undermine God's grace, but we should

also never undermine God's grace by living us we like,

because his forgiveness has nothing to do with our personal choices.

One we still have to make those choices to do

what is right. The sad thing is many will turn

away from the faith and for many will grow cold.

It's in the scriptures. I'm not making this up. Sign

number three, and don't have to be quiet, don't have

to like oh so so gloomy.

It's the truth. We are leaving it.

We are seeing it happening, and so I won't just

leave y'all like that. Okay, there will be a our

employ y'all to leave it right, Okay. The third sign

is this, You'll see a figure arise in the Middle East.

There will be a really bad person dictator.

Okay. This is in verses fifteen to twenty eight.

And the troubles that have always afflicted God's people will

reach this climax.

But this climax we tank God.

In scriptures is actually a short even though it's a

sharp crisis.

But it's going to be short.

The great tribulation is what you will hear sometimes in revelations.

It's called the Great Tribulation. You can read it in

Revelation seven. And Jesus actually spoke a lot about this

being ultimate signs, the second last sign compared to the

other tree. Okay, but he spoke about it in a

slightly round but the scriptures as a little bit round

about because he always based his warning on the phrase

that is taken from Daniel, the abomination that causes desolation. Manly,

you think about abomination that causes desolation? Basically, abomination is

think of the snow man. Okay, abominable snowman yet tea,

So yet it is a bad looking, ugly monster, and

this monster is going to cause desolation. I'm trying to

think of an English desolation is destruction, Okay, So the

snow man that's going to bring destruction, Okay. Daniel was

the best way to be descriptive. But Daniel was referring

to a human conqueror who, in the very city where

God had been honored, would provoke great mental and physical

distress amongst God's people. And some scripture refers to this

person as the antique crist All, the beast. Okay, you

see that in one John or you see that in Revelations,

But we know the period of time that the tribulation

will take place. It's actually in Revelations, chapter twelve, verse forty,

it says it will be for a time times and

half a time. Actually what that means is actually one

two hundred and sixty days. It's about a period of

three and a half years. It's going to be a climax,

a crisis that is intense, but mercifully brief, if compared

to how long we've already been waiting for Jesus. You

think about it. And all these will take place in Jerusalem.

That is why Jesus advise all those living in Judea

at the time to leave as quickly as possible, without

even waiting to pack. They must not remain in the

vicinity of this man, because this man is going to

be so so cruel, And that's why it says if

you are pregnant during that time, if it's during a saber,

if it's during winter, it's going to be so trying.

But again, the Lord's mercy be upon you. And it

is likely that the Antichrist, together he's got a sidekick,

another false profit, will set up almost like a totalitarian regime.

I don't know how you want to look at it,

but if you read revelations you can sort of make up.

And this regime means that everyone must submit to his

authority and then everyone will be branded with a mark.

That's where the mark sixty sixty six comes from. That

means everyone will be given a mark. And what does

that mark allow you to do? Most likely, from my

understanding of reading the scriptures, is going to either allow

you to or not to be able to trade, to

buy and sell. If you read revelations you actually see it.

It's quite clear it's a trading thing. So whoever who

has the mark, you can trade. Don't have the mark

cannot trade. You know how challenging that is. Actually, we

are already living in this world today. Think about it,

and if you're touched and go, know what in Pasa

Malama life is going to be a.

Bit difficult, right.

We are already using some things, but I think it's

going to be even more obvious that you will know

whether you are to submit to a particular mark in

order for us to buy and sell. So again, let's

be vigilant. It will be the greatest pressure followers of

Jesus has ever known terribly fears, but mercifully brief.

It's going to be fears. I don't know.

Will we live to see that happen, I don't know,

but a lot of people believe that it will be

somewhere in this lifetime. Again, if they tell you the

exact day, call them a liar, because no one knows exactly.

But look out for the signs and the times. You know.

The only one beautiful thing about us experiencing all this

is technically we don't have to dieale, if you think

about it, if Jesus comes back, we are.

Be with him.

That's my belief, Like, okay, that we will be taken

up and then we will rule and reign with him

for a thousand years. Okay, that's another story. Some people

will be like, oh no, we won't rule with Jesus. Okay,

never mind, don't worry. But if we if he's not

within our lifetime and we have to, we have to

face death flaw. So I don't know, wish on you

prefer go through tribulation, And that's why a lot of

people choose the we will be raptured. We don't have

to go through them, and we don't have to go

to tribulation. It's a popular belief, but can I just

warn you that the belief that some churches derive these

teachings from, it's really we want to almost reassure ourselves.

I don't want to go through so much, but it

can really change your entire perception on your faith, on

how you carry about, how you look at evangelism. All

these things can can alter your outlook one So just

be a little bit careful. Don't just take care Okay.

I lean towards this. I lean tow uds that. See

how it is keeping you aligned to God's word in

his entirety, very very important. Okay, I will not delve

too deep into it, because, like I said, this has

sort of split to just many ways. But just remember

there will be many rumors that Christ has written. Believers

will be told where they can find him. Don't listen

to those rumors. They will see the sign that He

has come eventually. Where they are at that time. Wherever

you are at that time, you will see the sign.

You will know it. And only those in Judea must

leave the rest of the world. I think we will

also go through very challenging times, but not as intense

as right in the heart of the middle is. But

again it can be measured in a short while. And

then the fourth sign, it says this, it will follow

immediately after the the stress of those days, so it

becomes faster. It's not a long time coming. It's when

it happens. You can almost anticipate that there will be

no more delay. And the final sign is the one

in which it will be very unmistakable, because all natural

sources of light will be distinguished. Whatever the time of

the day, it will look like nighttime. The nations will

then see the lightning coming from the east and flashing

to the west. I like to read things literally. Sometimes

we're like, wow, lightning flashing to the east to the west.

That we start imagine. No, I'll just he says, there

will be no light. You'll be dark. Okay, take it

as there's no light and it's dark. Then suddenly you

see lightning. Rest to is Okila. Then get ready for

Jesus to return. The believers who have waited so long

for this day to arrive will know this was a

call to the Lord's people together together, and that's when

the faithful followers of Jesus will be forever united. I

believe this is when the rapture takes place, and then

we will all be brought We don't have to buy

ticket to go to Jerusalem. We'll all be brought there. Okay,

again my understanding. Don't take me on it. If you want,

study revelations, study all the end time.

Scriptures, whatever floats your boat. I'm fine. Why this is

why we have to ask ourselves why are we talked so.

Much about a second coming? There must be a reason.

There must be a purpose, and I believe the purpose

is practical. It is for us to be ready for

Jesus's written our readiness. It's what is needed. You see,

a revelation for the future is given to affect the present,

not to satisfy mental curiosity, but to actually stimulate moral consistency.

It's not for information. A lot of times are we

will sit down, we will argue, we will debate, we

will like no. It's supposed to be like no. It's

supposedly this is how you read related all for information sakes,

But ultimately, what does this get you? It is actually

for incentive. The incentive is if we are ready and

we live our lives right, we will see God's fullness,

the fullness of God's grace and mercy in our lives.

The only time we have to get ready for the

future is the present. There's no other time for us

to get ready for the future. To delay is to

run the risk of being late. So how can we

be ready for His written is the question that we

have to ask ourselves? How can we be ready? Really,

you can argue and argue, like I said, no, into

the details, into how to interpret things. But if it's

just to fulfill your moral curiosity, your mental curiosity, then

just put it one side. Let's just all accept the

fact that Jesus written. Okay, that's what we all stand.

That's why the creeds, the apostles, create every church agree

he will come back. Just cannot agree on the exact timing,

on the how is going to happen, all those the details.

Cannot really agree.

But I can assure you all of us are supposed

to live a morally consistent life. And then this knowledge

that we have is really not just for information sake,

because if it's just information, say it counts for nothing.

But if you realize there.

Is an incentive for you to live it right, and

that incentive is that we will walk together with God

and that He will see us and he will acknowledge us.

I think that's something that's very, very important. So five

ways for us to be ready for Christ written. I'm

going to go to it quickly. The first thing is this,

your individual faith is so important. Individual faith, not a

borrowed faith, not the faith of my father, my mother,

my pastor do you know. Sometimes I mean my children

were born into well, sort of like a Christian household.

I think many of us have been.

I wasn't.

I'm a first generation believer, and I thought to go

to church. I thought to believe. Actually, and unless you

fought to believe. Sometimes it's so easy for us to

make everything so comfortable. And sometimes when people talk to

me about no, we've got to make it easy for

our children.

Clide.

Like again, I understand, I'm a parent as well. I

want to make it easy for them to believe. But

the thing is to carry on believing. It's not going

to be easy. I'm going to be lying to Zech.

If I tell you Zech, Everything's gonna be okay, no problem,

do whatever you want. That's what the Christian faith teaches.

That is not being honest. It's going to be challenging,

and we need as believers to have our individual faith

god men on this so that they will seek him

and perhaps reach out for him and find him. All

of us need to go through that journey. Very important

individual faith. Second thing is our continual service. Faithful service

is an essential ingredient in the readiness for the Lord's written.

You know, I take my hands off to those who

serve the Lord weak in Wiko, because that is what

we are called to do to make sure that we

continue to serve him. If you gread on in Matthew

chapter twenty four, Jesus illustrates further in three parables, there's

a household, there's a wedding, and there's commercial trading. Reading

three parables, I can't remember the household exact, but they

are all talking about well done, my good and faithful servant.

What are you doing with what I have given you?

What are you doing with the time when I have

not arrived? The Lord essentially one servants who are both

faithful and fruitful, both faithful and foodful. That's why the talents,

that's the commercial trading. He gave five two and one

five and two decided to go and multiply. The one

with one decided to bury it. And while that one

was faithful, but he was not fruitful. And the Lord

frowned upon death. And so what he wants us to

do really is to be both faithful and fruitful. All

those the parable, the wedding parable is the five and

the five what were they doing? Read it and you

will see that there is an expectation for service. So

when you serve the Lord, you're not just serving one another. Yes,

you are also serving one another, but ultimately you're serving

the lot. I know some days I look at Chester

slapping the Cahn and it's like I feel his pain.

I think either that or his hands that completely numbory.

I think it's quite painfuler to slap the Kahan. It's

not Ah. I know he holds judges hands well, probably

cannoutfeel me. But you still serve the Lord. This is

our privilege, privilege to serve him, so continual service. The

third thing is personal holiness. You see, the Gospel is

good news about holiness as well as forgiveness, and it

is now possible to have since conquered as well as cancel.

We always just look at sin has been canceled. Yes,

when Jesus came, he overcame sin, cancel it out. But

why do we still struggle to conquer it in our lives?

It will be a constant struggle. It will be a

constant challenge. Every day we have to decide, because every

day the devil is.

Gonna tempt us.

If the devil tempted Jesus in Matthew chapter four, tempted

Jesus in his flesh, tempted Jesus in terms of power

being offered to him, tempted Jesus in terms of popularity.

These are all the things that we will be tempted

in in this world. Our flesh, our image, our pride, power,

we will be given all these things. Are we able

to overcome it? Are we able to conquer it? And

I want you to know this personal holiness means that

we are making the right choice.

For God.

Sin is not just canceled. Sin can be conquered in

Christ Jesus. We have to keep on holding on to him.

We must keep asking God, God, I need your holiness,

not my holiness, not my righteousness, yours. And if we

are really convinced that our future destiny is to be holy,

this belief will be evidence in our present behavior. A

lot of times. No, we like to leave holiness to

later part in life. Okay, I want to be happy now,

holy later in heaven.

No choice. Have to be holy.

One the scriptures, if you read it, is actually in

the reverse, it's actually holy now, so you will be

happy later. That means we have to set our lives apart.

Now we have to start making right choices now. If

we fall, wish we will as humans, then go to

the Lord and confess, and he will cover, and he

will help you to overcome. Keep doing it. Don't ever

let the enemy lie to you and say that you

keep doing it so you're weakling. You might as well

just be numb to it and carry on. That is

the lie of the enemy. Confession it is a powerful,

powerful thing. Yes, we can keep falling, but I believe

one day ultimately who has begun a good work in

us will be faithful to complete it. Holiness, personal holiness

is very very important.

Four thing.

It's communal fellowship. There's the reason why we come and

meet in church. If you think I'm just fulfilling this

weekly check list, no, come, hey ha, Actually I just

come to see Joel on Hyperbundy mode. Communal fellowship. We

are called chosen people, royal priesthood, a holy nation, a

people belonging to God. I'm telling you this, there is

safety in numbers. And as pressures on God's people continue

to increase, it's not going to diminish, it's going to increase.

It will be absolutely important that we stay together. Very

very important for us to stay together. Communal fellowship. Look

forward to it. Don't don't dread it, don't frown, don't

drag my feet to church.

Teach your children.

You're going to teach your children that I love coming

to church when you actually don't love coming to church

in your actions. Look forward, look forward to it. I

know it's not always easy. It's not always easy, but

we can model it together. We can do it. Fifth

is global evangelism. And he has been said that the

Church is actually the only society on earth that exists

primarily for its non members. You think about it, Yes, yes,

I know those who are members or we will try

to take you. Very important. That's called discipleship, very important.

Discipleship is important. If the church stops discipling, basically we

forgot about them, the partners and the members. We got

to continue discipling. But together with discipleship is evangelism. If

you take away one or the other, you get a

lopsided church. You either get a church that is so

inward looking that doesn't care about outside, or church that

keeps going out and oh, come, come, come, But then

you don't disciple people and then they don't stay. You

need both evangelism and discipleship. But global evangelism will take

place because if you think, but all four gospels conclue

with a great commission Matthew twenty eight, Mark sixteen, Look

twenty four, John twenty and through them to the church

throughout time and space, because ultimately twelve at that time

was eleven could not possibly complete the job themselves. It

was a mandate given to all of them. The world

mission is worldwide. On the mission is actually worldwide to

the ends of the earth, and not until every corner

of our planet has heard the good news. Then Jesus

were written it's in the scriptures. That is why there

is an effort today to go to the unreached people group.

You're thinking, what this unreached people group?

Now?

Nothing else better to do with it. There's a reason

why missions organizations, those of you whose parents or you yourself

have been involving missions organizations. We are always talking about

the unreached group, because this is a group that has

not even hurt the gospel. But in today's day and age,

we cannot say that there's anyone that we can't reach.

Actually we can reach everyone. You don't want to go

send the dronoes those maybe still can I don't know,

drop some tracks on there. I don't know a lot,

but it's possible, and we got to keep going. And

so evangelism must never stop until the world it has

been done, until the world will be done.

Imen, I'm going to invite the banner. I'm done. You see.

The real test of faithfulness is not how we behave

if He's coming is imminent and enshuled, but how we build,

how we behave if he.

Is long time coming, If we know the exact time.

I think there's the reason why Jesus or God did

not give us the exact time. It's like, oh, twenty

twenty five, you know, exact data that we all suntie

all the way until right before.

Yeah, we all ask many people I like you or not.

He didn't give us the exact time and the exact day,

because it is not how we behave. If he's coming

is imminent. We all know he's coming, but how we

behave if he is long time coming. See, he's not

looking for us to have a panic reaction, but he's

actually looking towards loyal service. I'm telling you today, loyalty

is dead. It's dead. We are not loyal to our jobs.

We are not loyal to our families. We are not

loyal to the promises that we're made to each other.

We're not loyal to our church. Loyalty is what the

Lord is looking for. Faithfulness is loyalty. If you think

about it, God's unending and undying love for us, it's

actually loyalty. He doesn't want to panic and react. He

wants us to be loyal and consistent. It is not

what we are doing when he returns that matters so

much as what we have been doing all the time

while waiting for him. It's important. Again, I'm not here

to put anyone out because I'm also learning. I know

it's so hard to have a consistent behavior in the Lord.

But is it impossible?

No, it's not.

We have got the spirit of God in us and

with us. Are we drawing from his strength or are

we just ignoring him.

God's spirit in us.

Is what's going to help us overcome and conquer the

power of sin, which is going to be constantly at

work in our lives. Yes, we are clear that the

penalty of sin has already been eradicated. We won't die

when we believe in Jesus, always clear on that. But

the power of sin very hard because every day in operation,

every day we ask the Holy Spirit give us strength

to overcome the power of sin that is in our lives,

because one day He will lead you to a place

where even the presence of sin is going to be

no longer, no longer, Amen, Matthew twenty four, Revelation six.

You know, all these scriptures is basically to get us

ready for the worst that can happen. And that's why

the shortest prayer in the early Church was actually composed

of those two Arabic words Mara nata. It just simply

means Lord Come, Lord Come. Why were they so eager

right from the first century, right from the first BC

or no ad for Jesus to return one day because

they knew that when he does, these are the things

that will happen, Jesus will complete the good work he

had begun with every believer hallelujah. They also knew that

Jesus will fulfill his promises to his chosen people who

continue to respond to him in faith. They knew that

Jesus will ultimately conquer the devil and therefore conquer all evil,

and therefore he will rule and reign and command this world.

And then finally he will judge the ungodly when he returns.

No longer will he return as a savior. He will

come back as a judge. Question for earth now is

are we ever ready?

Disciples?

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for you. God bless