Matthew 24:1-35 | Kingdom Now: No Retreat Until He Returns

Flipside. Happy birthday.

21 years.

I look back after 21 years.

And for me, it feels like we're just getting started.

It doesn't seem like it's been 21.

It feels like just yesterday that we moved to the Ranchos

and started the plans of planting this church.

Thank you for being a part of it.

Thank you for being a part of what makes flip side, flip side.

We're going to open the Bible in Matthew 24.

And for me, this is the perfect passage to look at for our birthday,

because it has to do with God's

plan for the world

and his people's role in that, and thereby our churches role in that.

I firmly believe that our church

isn't just in the ranchos for the sake of the ranchos.

I believe it is.

It has been birthed by God

for a global mission.

For the Kingdom

of God to be established in the world

and to set the stage for Jesus has returned.

This is bigger than me and you.

It's bigger than the ranchos.

It's a part of us.

It's a part of our community, but is bigger.

It's so much bigger.

And Matthew 24, we start to feel the grand of it all.

Matthew 24.

There's some deep and profound prophecy

attached to Matthew 24.

And this chapter is so big, we're going to take

a couple of weeks to go through it, and we're going to look at two parts

each week Prophecy and Future and Flesh and Bones.

What's that have to do with us today?

And I'm going to do my best, by the grace of God, to

to give you clear instruction of what the Scripture actually says,

and then application for how we live it.

Before we get into chapter 24.

I want to set it up with the end of chapter 23, because though

we went through chapter 23 last week, I didn't get to these last few verses.

And so the last portion of chapter 23,

Jesus really sets the scene for what he's going to say in chapter 24.

And he this is how 23 ends.

Jesus is is crying over Jerusalem.

He has just confronted the religious leaders.

He's just pronounced woe upon them.

He's pronounced that

that that the whole thing is going to come crumbling down and be destroyed

because they've rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

And he says this, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city

that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.

How often?

What I have gathered your children together as a

hen gathers her brood under her wings. But.

And you were not willing.

See, your house is left to you desolate.

For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,

blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jesus is weeping over the people that have rejected him.

He's not turning his anger on them for their rejection.

Now he's just weeping.

He said, you don't understand why I came.

I would comfort you.

I would heal you. I would protect you.

I would like a hand gathers her little baby chicks

and just cover you with my wings.

If you would just accept me and repent and honor me.

But you won't.

And so this whole thing.

You're breaking my heart.

This whole thing is going to be destroyed.

And his heart is just.

It's broken over these people that have said no time and time again.

And he says, you're not going to see me again

until you can say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Now here's what he's just done.

He said for you.

He's talking to to his people, the Jews.

He said, this is there's

going to be a hardening of your hearts for a while,

not forever.

There will come a time, though you've rejected me.

There will come a time when you will give yourselves in

awe of me.

And Paul helps us understand

that kind of the timeline of that.

So Paul says this in Romans chapter 11.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

He says, I don't want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

A partial hardening has come upon Israel.

So Jesus said, you have rejected me. I would have healed you.

I would have come.

I would have said you, but you've rejected me.

So there's a partial hardening.

He says, you won't see me again until you can say, blessed is he

who comes in the name of the Lord, and you honor me for who I am.

And Paul says, that has happened.

Until what?

Until the fullness of Gentiles has been adopted in so a partial hardening,

they will not say, blessed are you who comes in the name of the Lord.

They will not honor Jesus as Messiah until all of us get adopted in.

And then when, when, when those who are non-Jews

who are adopted into God's family, then

they will be given the opportunity to come back.

And they will and they will proclaim with their mouths, blessed is he

who comes in the name of the Lord in honor of Jesus as a messiah.

And so, so this is one reason right here.

This is one reason why church planting is so vital.

And as far as I'm concerned, as I understand Scripture,

this is one reason why every Christian church must make priority

one church planting, not a big campus with a fountain and a coffee shop.

Because this is how

this is what

sets the stage for the return of Christ.

Every time we plan a church so that more people don't know

Jesus are invited into his family, that ticker keeps ticking.

Until Jesus comes back.

And this is one reason why planning churches in Israel is so important,

which we will do in February of 2027.

I'm going to go there and lead a church planning movement with both Jews

and Muslims who know Christ and plant churches in Israel. Why?

Because there will come a day when the Jews in Israel were proclaimed.

Blessed is he

who comes in the name of the Lord, because churches have been planted.

People have come to faith in Jesus returns.

This is this is the purpose of the church.

And this is what we've been about for 21 years.

And it will still be about for the next 21, should God leave us here that long.

I want to give you the big idea for chapter 24.

Now, the big idea is this as history moves towards Christ's return,

his church must resist deception.

Don't be fooled. Endure persecution

and proclaim the gospel to every nation.

This is what Jesus is pushing into in chapter 24.

And so let me just we're going to read through the first portion of chapter 24,

and we'll do some explanation along the way, and then we'll say, okay,

what's that have to do with us?

So if you want to follow along chapter 24, verses one and two,

Jesus left the temple and was going away

when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.

But he answered them, you see all these?

Do you not?

Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here

one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

And so Jesus leaves Jerusalem, and he's he's headed

towards the Mount Olives to look over Jerusalem.

He makes this pronouncement about his love for Jerusalem.

And then his disciples say, but look at the temple.

Isn't this amazing?

This thing is going to last forever.

And Jesus's response is interesting.

They say, look at the temple.

And he says, well, look at all this stuff.

He doesn't single out the temple.

He's going to make a point here.

He's going to say, all this stuff is going to pass away.

Everything that you think you're building your life on, everything that you think

is, is solid and lasting is temporary

at best, and it's all going to be destroyed.

This temple that they're looking at, it was beautiful.

It was it was it was gorgeous.

It took 80 years to build the temple.

I don't know if you realize that 80 years the temple was still being rebuilt.

It had been under the first temple was built under Saul,

the King Solomon, way back in the Old Testament.

It had been in shambles.

So Herod came to rebuild it.

And then the rebuilding of the temple took 80 years in the rebuilding project,

and it was enormous.

It was fabulous. It was beautiful.

And what he did, what Herod did in the rebuilding of the temple,

they covered the outside walls with gold,

gold plates, pure gold plates.

So when the sun rose, you couldn't even look at the temple was so brilliant.

And on a few of the walls that didn't have the gold covering it, it was sheer

white stone.

So much so that when people would walk towards Jerusalem and see the whiteness

of the stone, it would look as if it was covered in snow.

It was brilliant.

80 years it took to build it.

It was still being built, rebuilt.

When Jesus was saying these words.

It wasn't completed until 63 AD.

The full temple was only in its fullness.

Completion was only lasted seven years until

it was completely destroyed in 1870 by the Roman Empire.

It was a

massive, it was beautiful and it was their identity.

And this is what their lives were built around.

And Jesus is saying, everything that you're building

your life on is going to come crumbling down and be destroyed.

And matter of fact, he says, not one stone will be left of what you see.

When the Romans destroyed the temple in 1870,

they set on fire and they burned it to the ground.

And because there was so much gold in the temple,

all the gold melted and seeped down into the cracks and crevices

of all the rocks around there.

And so the Roman government just

away and broke apart every single little rock of this

mammoth structure to get the gold out of, so that every stone was torn down,

just as Jesus said, so decisive was the destruction of the temple.

We can't even archeologically find the exact foundation of it anymore.

Jesus said, all this stuff that you're building your life on, all the stuff

that you think is so important and is so lasting, is going to be destroyed.

This this was unfathomable to them.

They had no way to understand

what Jesus was saying.

Verse three.

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him

privately, saying, tell us, when will these things be?

And what will be the sign of the coming of the end of the age?

He's just given them horrific news,

and they want to know two things.

They want to things when and what,

when's it going to happen and what's it going to look like.

It's the same thing we ask.

It's the same thing we want to know from God, God, what's going to happen?

What's this?

How is this going to play out? Right.

Especially when you get news that you don't like will win.

Like, let me get prepared because we feel like

if I'm prepared to find know the details, then I can protect

myself.

They said, when is this going to happen?

What's it going to be like?

They want to.

They figure if the temple is being destroyed, it's the end of the world.

But Jesus says,

And Jesus answered them, see that no one lead you astray.

For many will come in my name, saying,

I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

See that you're not alarmed, for this must take place.

But the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom,

and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

All of these are but the beginnings of birth pains.

It's just getting started.

Says, don't freak out.

You're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars and

famines and pestilence and earthquakes and all this natural disaster.

And you're going to start wondering, I wonder if this is the end.

For they'll deliver you up to tribulation

and put you to death, and you'll be hated by all nations, for not my name's sake.

And many and then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

And many false prophets will arise and lead ministry.

And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the enemy saved,

he says, listen.

I know

you want to know when and what's and how things are going to go down.

Because we don't like surprises.

So I understand that.

But stuff's going to happen that have nothing to do

with the end of time.

It's just the world in which we live.

Wars, rumors of wars,

famines, people turning on each other.

He said none of that is the end.

It's the beginning.

And he never defines how long that's going to take.

This is just the nature of a fallen world, and the nature of a fallen world

looks like it is failing because it is.

I remember 911, 2001,

I was in the hospital with my son Joe.

He's in sixth grade.

He just had an emergency appendectomy.

We wake up.

That was on September 10th.

We would wake up September 11th to what happened

on the in the World Trade Center.

And all these nurses, they know I'm a pastor.

All these nurses start pouring into my son's hospital room,

not wanting to take care of my son, but wanting to know from me what this means.

Where is this in the Bible?

What does this mean for end times?

And I told them, relax.

This isn't in the Bible.

It's not the end times.

This is just the nature of sin in a fallen world.

Why are you surprised?

Why are you shaken?

So these things are going to happen.

It's not the end.

It's the beginning.

The beginning of end.

Times happened the moment Jesus ended to heaven.

We've always been in the beginning of in times and till the end times.

And this is what Jesus is saying.

Don't be shaken.

Look at how bad it gets.

Wars.

Rumors of wars.

They're going to be people who are coming in my name,

who are going to lead you astray,

who are going to get you away from the Scripture, away from, from Christ.

The only way to the father.

They're going to try to lead you astray.

Don't be fooled by him.

Nation arise against nation.

Kingdom against kingdom. Famines.

Earthquakes is just getting started.

The delivery of the tribulation.

They'll put some of you to death.

You'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

Many will fall away.

They'll betray one another or hate one another.

Lawlessness is going to get worse and worse and worse,

More debauchery.

The love of people is going to go

cold towards one another.

It's going to get worse before it gets better.

Happy birthday.

Isn't that a great birthday card?

Hey! Happy birthday.

Well done. It's going to suck from here on out.

I mean, it's just like, whoa!

And Jesus says, listen, don't be.

None of that means it's the end.

It's just life

in the fallen world

in verse 13.

Those who endure till the end.

Here's what he's saying prophetically.

Don't be surprised by chaos in trouble.

He's preparing his disciples and he's preparing us.

Don't be surprised.

If you think that

because you've joined your life to Jesus that he's going to make your life better

and then you get to go to heaven, you are sorely mistaken.

You don't understand the kingdom of God.

Here's the problem with that mindset.

I've given my life to Jesus.

Now he's going to make my life better.

The moment trials, tribulation, persecution, and tragedy hit

you think God let you down?

And you're tempted to fall away?

Understand? This stuff's coming.

Those who endure.

The point of life

is to glorify Christ and to populate the kingdom of heaven,

and to and to live that testimony, whether in pleasure or in pain.

That's what Jesus is saying.

You follow.

He says, there's 14 and this gospel of the kingdom

will be proclaimed throughout the whole world

as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

This is why evangelism and church planning is so vital and so important,

and ought to be the heartbeat of every Christian church,

so that the gospel is preached in every corner of the world.

So you and I learn how to share our faith

personally and do so,

because every time we do, that little ticker keeps ticking

to the full number of Gentiles are brought in, and then the God's

people are brought back to him, and then Jesus shows up.

We go through this flip side, flow 101 two and 301401401 has everything to do

with teaching you and train you how to share your faith personally. Why?

Because the gospel does not go to the ends of the earth

except through people who share their faith.

You and I, as followers of Christ,

are on a global, eternal mission,

a transformative, a global, transformative mission

and call of Almighty God for the return of His Son.

And if we're not on mission, we're failing our mission

to proclaim the gospel of Christ

to every corner of the world where it is not known and he is not honored.

Both next door and over in Israel and over in Venezuela.

Everywhere.

Verse 15.

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by a prophet,

Daniel, standing in the holy place, and then I believe Matthew kind of adds

his little comment here.

Let the reader understand. It says, don't miss this.

If you miss this, you're going to miss everything

you want to talk about it in times you've got to get this part.

The abomination of desolation spoken

by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to let

then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Let the one who is on the house top not go down and take

what is in this house, and let the one who is in the field

not return back to take his cloak, and allows for women who are pregnant.

For those who are nursing infants in those days, pray

that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath, for there will be great

tribulation, such as has not been

from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be.

And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.

But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

Then anyone who, if anyone says to you, look,

there is the Christ or there he is, don't believe it.

For false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders.

So to lead a straight, if possible, even the elect.

See, I've told you before hand.

So if they say to you, look, he's in the wilderness, don't go out.

If they say, look, he's in the inner rooms, don't believe it.

Don't chase after this stuff, for the lightning comes

from the east and shines as far as the west.

So will the coming of the Son of Man.

Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Here's what he's saying.

He speaks of this abomination of desolation.

He goes all the way back to Daniel 11, verse 31 for you Bible students.

Daniel 11:31

He was way back to Daniel 1131.

There's a lot of interpretations about what the abomination of desolation is.

Some people believe I don't believe this.

Some people believe that when Rome ransacked the temple, destroyed

the temple,

they slaughtered a pig on the altar and splattered the blood on the altar.

And they say that was the abomination of desolation.

This is for you, Bible students.

I don't believe that to be the case, because Daniel prophesies

that the abomination of desolation that will be the sign of the end times is

when there is an object

set up in the Holy place as an act of worship that is not God.

In I, worshiping something that is not

God is an abomination, and to do so

in the temple is desecration according to Old Testament theology.

And so apparently there will be a time when there will be something

set up in the holy place of the temple that will be worshiped instead of God.

And that is an abomination, and it is desolation.

You know what that tells me?

There is no temple right now.

The temple will be rebuilt

in Jerusalem, and when that happens, there will be an object

set up as an object of worship that is not God.

That Jesus says is

when you know the end is come.

We want to know when and what we want to know.

Timings and signs I love the fact that Jesus never gives any definite timeframe.

He doesn't.

Do you know why?

Because every generation has to be ready.

If he said it's going to be on this day, then they could track it.

And here's the day.

Then all the generations will be like, good.

I love the fact that he's not specific, that he's general and broad

because every generation has to stay awake and pay attention.

Awake O sleepers, what Scripture says.

What he's saying is

this listen, it's going to get real bad.

Trust Jesus even through the tribulations that are coming.

Those who endure till the end will be saved.

Don't back off.

Don't back up.

Every generation must prepare,

must be spiritually ready.

Verse

29 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 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 into heaven to another.

He says, listen, you're going to know when I show up.

And somehow there's cosmic signs in the heavens.

The sun grows dark, the moon goes out.

Whatever these cosmic signs are, the stars fall.

Joel two, verse ten.

Revelation 612 1314, Isaiah

34 all talk about these global cosmic signs

that say, Christ is coming, the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

I don't know what that is, but I know it's going to be apparent.

Any of you who have ever heard that

Jesus is going to come back, this secret coming that nobody is going to know about.

You don't fully understand what Jesus has said about his own arrival.

Lightning, thunder, cosmic signs.

This isn't done in secret.

It's apparent he's on the horizon.

There's no secret coming of Jesus for those who are in Christ.

Let me prove it to you.

In the book of Thessalonians, Paul writes, now, brothers

and sisters, about times and dates, That's what we're talking about.

Times and dates. Don't. You do not need to write.

We don't need to write to you.

For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come and watch.

Follow me like a thief in the night, while people are saying peace and safety.

Everything's fine. Every economy is good.

There's no worries. We're fine.

Destruction will come upon them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman.

And they will not escape.

But you, you who are my followers, you who are part of my church.

You brothers and sisters are not in darkness.

So that this day would surprise you like a thief.

You're. I'm not going to be surprised.

I'm not going to be surprised.

You are children of the light and children of the day.

We don't belong to the night or to the darkness.

So then let us not be like the others who are asleep.

But let us be awake and sober.

I'm watching,

and I'm waiting for Christ to turn because I know it's going to happen.

And while I'm here on this earth, my job and your job

is that his gospel gets to every

tongue, both on our neighbor and across the oceans.

And when he shows up, it's going to be with great pomp

and great circumstance to announce that he's come back.

It's not a surprise to me because I'm ready.

If you're not ready.

Like a thief in the night.

What just happened?

I wasn't prepared.

What he's saying is, don't look for signs.

Look for the Savior.

Tries on Jesus.

Verse 32 from the fig tree.

Learn its lesson.

As soon as those branches become tender and puts out its leaves.

You know that summer's near.

So also when you see these things, you know that he's near the very gates.

Truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things

taking place. Heaven and earth will pass away.

But my words, they're not going anywhere.

He says, you know how to read the signs.

You know.

You know when the when the figs coming on the tree.

Because you know the seasons.

This is seasons.

You're in a season right now of great tribulation and difficulty

and it's just going to get worse.

But it's okay because the fruits come in.

Its see, we understand seasons.

Just don't be fooled by what's going on.

Get your eyes on Christ and on his return.

And he says, this generation will not pass away until he sees these things.

He's not talking about the generation that was alive right then.

He's talking about the generation that sees these things happen,

the generation that sees the abomination of the generation

that sees these cosmic things, then that that generation knows it's our time,

but we don't know when that is.

So every generation has got to be ready right now.

He says.

All this other stuff, the temple, these buildings, the nations,

the governments, the people, it's all going to pass away.

My word will never fail.

Friends, please believe his word.

It never fails.

Ever,

ever.

The Bible says you are alert and acting and watching

after your word to perfect it.

Complete it everywhere.

No, let me do a little bit of tie together here for you

little prophecy stuff from Matthew 24 to revelation six.

Okay, revelation.

The book of revelation is about these end times, the tribulation, the coming

kingdom, the new creation, the new order.

Revelation six is, is, is John's

recording of Jesus's revelation of the end times.

Things in revelation six talks about six seals.

There's actually seven, but the seventh seal doesn't happen to revelation eight.

So in revelation six,

there's six seals that are signs that the end times are coming.

Those six seals in revelation says correlate beautifully with Matthew

24 and Matthew 24.

Jesus says, there's going to there's going to be false.

Missiles are going to lead you astray.

In revelation six verse one and two is the first seal that's opened

with the leading astray of people who would believe.

In Matthew 24, Jesus says, there's going to be this,

this massive conquering and killing of people.

In revelation six verse three, the second seal is opened

and it ushers in a time of great killing and conquering worldwide.

And Matthew 24, seven and eight,

Jesus says, there's going to come a time of great famine and pestilence

in revelation six five, six, seven, and eight,

the third and fourth seals are open, which open a time of poverty and famine.

In Matthew 24, verse nine,

Jesus talks about how his people will be martyred, suffered, persecuted and killed.

In revelation six, verses nine, ten and 11

the fifth seal is opened, and it's the martyrdom of the saints.

And they cry out for justice.

Their blood cries out for justice.

In Matthew 24 verse 29,

Matthew 24:29

Jesus says, there's going to be earthquakes and cosmic signs.

And in revelation chapter six, verse 12 through 14, the sixth seal is opened

with those exact themes earthquakes and cosmic signs.

So Jesus has just said this.

All of this is going to happen.

And John kind of fleshes out in in revelation six,

but the Seventh Seal isn't open till revelation eight.

And here's why.

Because the seventh Seal in the book of Revelation,

when it's opened, it opens for seven trumpets.

And the seven trumpets in revelation eight.

And following is the end times.

So apparently these first six seals, everything that Jesus just said

is just life on a broken, sinful world.

That's our existence.

And we're left here

so that every corner of this broken, fallen planet

and every ear that is not heard, and every tongue that is not,

and every knee that has not bowed, hears

the gospel, that Jesus is the only hope.

And then the seventh seal will be open,

and the seven trumpets of the last days

will come.

So for us.

We have to understand.

We have to understand our role in this world.

And for 21 years, this church has been practicing

and praying and funding our role.

It will never it will.

It will never mean a fountain

and a coffee shop.

To many churches has confused

their campus with the Kingdom of God.

What it will mean is planting churches

and telling those who are far from God of the love of the Messiah

that would cover them with his feathers, not condemn them

if they would just repent.

That's why we plant

churches all over the world until the full number of Gentiles come in.

And that's why we're going to Israel in February,

so that the Jews are ready when he returns.

Because churches have been planted.

Now that's the theology and prophecy.

Let me give you the flesh and bones for us as we look at 21 years

for us, for us.

Don't let us never put our confidence in things that won't last.

That's what Jesus.

That was his whole point with the whole temple.

You're looking at stuff that's going to be gone.

Quit putting your confidence in things that don't last.

The temple look permanent.

Governments look permanent, nations look permanent, economies look permanent.

Institutions look permanent.

Big churches appear permanent.

Only Christ and His word will will last.

Everything else is going to fail. Everything else is going to go away.

Everything else is going to be destroyed.

Only the kingdom of God remains.

The church

must never, ever, ever confuse its campus with God's kingdom

because every church campus will fail unless Christ comes back first.

Don't put your confidence

in anything that won't be here through eternity.

Do you understand?

That's what Jesus is saying and he's saying, don't do.

Don't be surprised by crisis nor surrender.

Under pressure.

Crisis is coming.

Pressure is going to get extreme.

We live in a fallen world, and a fallen world means failing times.

That is the nature of the world we're in.

And it's not going to change until Jesus comes back.

He's prepared his disciples.

He's preparing us.

Get ready for persecution and get ready for destruction.

Get ready for difficulty.

The people who

who once seemed to love you and love Lord, their love is going to grow cold.

See, the danger of

this time in our lives is not what happens outside the church of the dangers.

What happens from pressure from those outside the church,

or the impact it has on those of us in sight.

And so make sure that you don't get surprised by the crisis

that's coming, and you don't surrender when the pressure gets turned up.

There's going to be

a time of great betrayal where there used to be loyalty.

There's going to come a time

when the what's being, what's being promoted

and celebrated deception, not truth anymore.

There's going to come a time

when disobedience is the order of the day, not obedience.

There's going to come a time when love has grown bitterly cold against one another.

It's going to come a time.

When the normal thing is retreat,

not endurance. Listen.

Faithfulness is not proved by how blessed something looks right now, but by

how steadily it finishes its assignment.

And our assignment isn't close to being finished.

The lessons for us

is keep preaching the gospel until every nation hears

this is what we're about.

This is what we'll do.

For 21 years, we've been doing it for 21 more.

Should God, Terry, we'll continue doing this.

Our 21 history is not just about people

who are here, which I'm so thankful you are

for sure,

but it's about how many churches we planted in the last 21 years,

since 2016 alone, with the Excel network that I'm a part of, we've

we've been a part of funding and planning 750 churches around the world,

750, 303 hundred and and

375 of those have been in other countries.

The rest have been in the States. Why?

Because we know that the best way to reach people under

heaven is by planting churches.

And we know that till the full number of Gentiles come in,

Jesus isn't coming back because we know.

We know how important this is.

The story of 21 years of flip side are the congregations had been planned,

or the leaders had been trained, or the nations that have been reached.

It's the people that have been introduced to Jesus.

It's the story of your faithfulness and your generosity.

Because we understand our global assignment,

we will never confuse our campus with the kingdom.

We will always pursue and fulfill

passionately the Kingdom of God everywhere in the world.

When the Kingdom wins, we win.

Our win is not about a fountain.

Our win is not about a coffee shop. Our win is not about a new campus.

Our win is not about a bigger building.

Our win isn't about more of for us, our win is when the kingdom wins

and churches are planning around the world.

When we plant churches in Cuba, we win.

When we plant churches in Guatemala, we win.

When we pat churches in downtown Fresno, we win.

When we plant churches in Texas, we win when we plant churches in Venezuela,

which I'm going in January to plant churches.

We win.

When we plant churches in Israel, we win.

Do you understand?

That's our win.

And we will keep proclaiming the gospel till every nation hears or till

Jesus comes back.

We just gotta trust

him through the troubles that are coming.

We've got to trust him through the troubles that are coming.

However you interpret the theology and sorry,

the chronology of the end times, there's a lot of different interpretations

that the point is, is listen to his word,

recognize the seriousness of sin.

Don't assume that your suffering means God is not in control.

And when the world fills out of control, realize that it is still marching

to the clock of Christ.

See, our hope is

not that the world becomes better or life gets easier.

That cannot be our hope.

Our hope must only be that Jesus is coming back.

That's our hope.

And we will look and wait with anticipation for his return.

Buildings are going to pass away.

Nations are going to pass away.

Governments are going to pass away.

Flip side will one day pass away unless Jesus comes back first.

But we will believe his word

because that will never fail.

And because that will never fail.

We will teach the Word of God and we will preach the Word of God.

We will proclaim the Word of God,

and we will serve the kingdom of God.

And so, flip side 21 years.

We look back with great gratitude because God has been very faithful

and gracious to us, to me,

to us. As a church.

God has built us. God has protected us.

God has provided for us. God has corrected us.

And every conversion and every baptism and every life restored

in every marriage repair and every church planet is evidence of his grace.

And so we look back with gratitude for his grace.

But looking back in gratitude does not allow us to become nostalgic.

There's so much more to be done.

See, we honor God's grace of yesterday best

by being obedient to Jesus today.

Do you understand?

So we'll look back with gratitude, and we'll look around with urgency.

Because our mission is still unfinished.

We have much to do.

People in the ranchos, people in rolling hills, people

into sorrow, people in Riverstone need the gospel.

Flipside has a lot of work to do, and as long as Jesus has not returned,

Flip side has not finished our assignment.

Should we look back with gratitude?

We look around with urgency and we look forward with great courage.

Our greatest days of kingdom of usefulness lay ahead of us.

No reserve, no retreat, no regret.

Lesson 21 years.

We're not trying to preserve anything of our pastor, trying to leverage

our 21 years for everything God has called us to in the future.

And what is called us

to is more disciples in the flip side flow.

So we understand our assignment and can do it.

What he's calling us to is more leaders trained.

What is calling us to is more churches plan.

What is calling us to is more missionary.

What he's calling us to is more gospel to unreached people.

What he's calling us to is more investment

in children's, youth and young adult ministries through this church.

What is calling us to is more courageous Bible teaching.

What is calling us to is more generosity for kingdom expansion.

That's what he's calling us to.

And we will press into it

because we know our kings coming back

and because our kings coming back, and we know we're going

to proclaim the gospel with more urgency and more power and more zeal.

And we're going to plant more churches everywhere.

God gives us an open door.

I don't care the political climate of where he calls us.

We're going and we're planting churches,

and we will more passionately do our assignment until he returns.

That's what's next for our 21 more years.

My dear friends, let our prayer be off our lives.

Tell a story.

If our church has a story

led to be him only,

Christ only

for the honor of his name, that his kingdom may come.

So happy birthday flip side.

We're just getting started.

Why don't you pray with me,

father?

Thank you.

Thank you for the high and lofting calling that you've given us.

Thank you that you've asked of us to be a part of your global work.

It's amazing.

I pray we're not squander a day,

a moment and opportunity.

I pray by your spirit that you would remind us of the beauty

of your plan, the beauty of your word, how you would gather us as your

children under your wings for our protection and comfort and healing.

If we would just repent,

God, would you use us to shape the world?

Mend what's broken, restore

what has been lost and sacrificed?

Oh God,

would you bring your people to repentance?

Friends, I want to fight you in this moment

to take the charge of our calling very seriously.

To in this moment, bring

yourself before God in repentance,

agreeing with him of what he said about sin.

I'd encourage you in this moment, as I do.

God, I admit I'm a sinner.

I admit I cannot make myself any better.

Jesus, I believe that you are

my way to be right with the father.

I believe you died on the cross and that you rose again to save me.

Save me now.

I pledge my allegiance to you.

I renounce the sin of my life,

and I choose to walk away from it.

By the power of your spirit.

Give me your power

to renounce sin

and to live a holy life.

Use me to shake the world

for your kingdom sake.

Oh, God.

I pray over our church

that the story of our church, that the testimony of our church

would be you, Jesus, at the center of it all.

May you be the sinner of it all.

We love you.

Amen.

Church, I love you.

Thank you for 21 years.

Let's freaking press into the next 21.

Stand up. Let's sing.