Week 1| The End: Are You Ready?

All right, all right.

Good morning, everybody.

Welcome to church.

I'm glad you're here, and I'm glad to see each and every one of you.

It is good to be in God's house.

Amen.

Would you just tell somebody next to you, I'm glad you're here?

No, but this time tell them one more time, but this time tell them like you mean it, because some of y'all were just hey, I'm glad you're here.

Come on, man.

That was sad.

I can tell you that I am excited about moving into the season of giving, the season of generosity, and uh, you guys are always so generous and always so ready to be a part of a program that especially the ones that impact kids' lives in a way.

It's not just about the shoebox, it's not just about the gifts that we give, but the impact that it makes in their life for a very, very, very long time.

So I just want to encourage you, if you maybe you've been a part of that in the last few years, there are a limited number of boxes, and you'll need to jump on it there at the cafe on your way out.

So when you're grabbing your coffee and donut or whatever you're grabbing, go ahead and pick up one of those boxes so that we can touch so many kids' lives this week, this week, this month, as we move towards Christmas.

God is doing really, really big things, and it's it is thrilling to see.

Today we start a brand new series, and I am uh a little bit pumped about it.

It's called The End.

And you have probably seen some of the stuff online.

I've had so many questions already from people about hey, are we gonna talk about this?

Are we gonna talk about uh real end time stuff?

And I've already had questions about aliens and questions about um last night I had a long discussion about ancient alien theory.

Listen, we're not gonna talk about that.

That's that's not on the agenda.

Um, but over the next three weeks, we're gonna talk about some um, I think really powerful things, really what matters to us as it relates to the end of the world, as it relates to the end of the age or the end of um what God is doing before Jesus returns.

And so uh before we jump into the message, and I'm gonna get right to it, but I just want to take just a moment and uh talk to not just those of you who are in the room, maybe you're new to relate.

I want to tell you that it means a lot to me, it means a lot to our team, Angela and I, that you guys are here today with us, that you've chosen to celebrate who God is and worship with us this morning.

And maybe if you're watching online today, I would say the same thing.

I'm so thrilled that you clicked in and are streaming or on demand or whatever that looks like for you, that we get to do this through technology together and share this message and our worship.

So, are you ready?

If you're ready, say I'm ready.

Okay, pull out your notes.

We're a note-taking church.

I wanted to stick with you.

I wanted to stay with you this week as you go to small groups and study and dig dig further into it.

I hope that this message is not just uh this message is not to feed you for all week.

You can't live on one message, but it's a it's a good start.

And we're gonna take God's word and we're gonna continue to feed through through the week.

We're gonna open up God's word every day and study and dig in.

So the series is called The End.

And I think probably as even October is a great month to talk about it.

There's lots of good things happen, there's lots of bad things happening, there's lots of dark things, there's lots of um sometimes the the light gets overwhelmed and feels like there's so many bad things, there's so many bad stories, there's so many trends and headlines, and it sometimes can make us feel like where's God in all this?

Where is the church in all of this?

How do we fit?

And so the question I want to talk about first is this are we living in the end times?

Is this the end of the world?

This is the title of the series, is the end.

Is this the end of times?

Is this the end of days?

Are we living in the last days?

Are we living is how far, how long till Jesus comes?

How long until the world is no more?

That's the kind that's where I want us to really start this morning, and it's not a question that can just be answered in a moment in the snap of a finger.

Um, in fact, in uh 1982, television evangelist Pat Robinson, he'll we'll throw his picture on the screen, he prophesied, foretold, that in the fall of that year the end of the world was coming, and Jesus would return.

And still, in 1983, he's still preaching.

I don't know how we can live with certain prophecies and certain foretellings, and hey, the end of the world is coming.

But it continued throughout history that has been the case.

In 1988, there was a book released um called The 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Happen in 1988.

Oh wildly successful popular book where people were clamoring to get it and to put their life in order and to think about what do I need to do now before Jesus comes?

What is the uh what's on the agenda for 1988 if this is when Jesus comes?

In September of 1994, a radio preacher named Harold Camping prophesied and foretold that definitely, according to his uh calculations, Christ would be returning in in September 1994.

He didn't come.

Jesus did not return.

The church was not raptured, the church was not taken up in the clouds with Jesus.

So the same guy, Harold Camping, in 2011, bought 5,000 billboards saying, I was wrong.

And he'll definitely be coming in May of 2021.

So he went on world tour, traveling, telling, teaching, talking, uh, encouraging, championing the idea that Jesus would be coming.

He did not come in 2021, and so he actually, after May of 2021, he said, Oh, I made a miscalculation.

That's gonna be October 2021.

Again, it didn't happen.

In fact, the Bible says, uh, Jesus said, and we're gonna read it in a few minutes, that no man knows the hour, the time.

And yet we get this uh, the church, we we think about when is Jesus coming?

It would how great would it be to know that Jesus is coming tomorrow?

How great would it be to know that Jesus is coming next year or next month or tonight?

How do we measure?

If we don't know the day or the hour, how do we know that this is the last days?

Because I that that is my uh thought and many others that we are living in the last days, and even though you may have heard that for years or since you were like for me, since I was a kid, I've been hearing we're living in the last days.

How do we know that we're living in the last days?

How do we know that these are the end times?

Well, I came up with a list of a few things, and I'll just we're not gonna spend all day on them, but if you want to take a picture and dig into it yourself, the first thing I got 12 of them for you.

The first thing, Zechariah 12 talks about Israel and Jerusalem being at the center, center of global conflict.

Right now, they every year that goes by, we see Israel as is at the center of global conflict and continues to be.

Matthew 24, Jesus talked about wars and rumors of wars in the last days.

We see war everywhere, and it's it's a constant conversation in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, Gaza.

Jesus also talks about in Matthew 24, which we will read in a moment, global famine and food insecurities.

Luke 21 talks about natural disasters, floods, heat waves, earthquakes, storms all over the world.

More than ever, we're seeing that happen.

The persecution of Christians and religious freedoms will become worse and worse.

All prophesied.

Revelations 13 talks about technology or the ability for there to be a world economy.

Now, more than ever, we're starting to see that a world economy could be possible.

For there to be world control through the economy.

Luke 21 talks about pestilence.

What have we seen recently?

Pandemics and diseases and threats of uh wiping out so many people.

Revelation 13 again talks about spiritual deception and confusion like never before.

And we're seeing that with social media and AI and the ability to produce fake news, things that seem like they're true, but they're not true.

Do we even know the truth?

Can we know the truth about anything?

We certainly can know the truth about God's word, but about any event, Matthew 24, unprecedented global reach of the gospel.

Despite the fact that darkness is growing, despite the fact that all of these negative signs are happening, we still see the church driving and advancing like never before.

The message of the gospel is being spread, the good news, the Bible is being translated into more nations and more tongues than ever before.

We are at the place in time where it's possible for every ear to hear the gospel.

2 Thessalonians talks about uh the preparations for the third Jewish temple to be built, and in the end times that it's necessary for there to be the rebuild of the temple.

Lots of things are happening on that front.

Revelation 16 talks about the Euphrates River declining water supply.

That's happening.

I don't think it's to the degree of uh what we see in Revelations, but it's it's moving in that direction.

Daniel 9 says the possibility of future Middle East peace agreements.

At some point there will be peace in the Middle East.

And the closer we get to through conflict into peace, it's just letting us see that, hey, things certainly will get worse before they get better.

But all of these things combined let us know, hey, these are the foretellings of the end of the world and the end of times.

And so, what better time I thought than to take a moment and uh we're just gonna do a three-week series and talk about what does this mean?

Where does the church fit into the end times?

Where does what is God's design for us?

And so I want us to go, you can open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24, and I'm gonna read quite a bit of it, and I typically don't read as long a passage, and hopefully I'm gonna really attempt to not stop and talk about each passage, which that's what I want to do.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

But I'm gonna just read, we're gonna read uh a few of the passages from Matthew 24, starting with verse 3, because I need you to hear what Jesus says about the end of the world.

Because if you've ever thought, are we living in the end times?

Is this the end of the world?

Like you see a headline and you think we should be getting pretty close by now.

Think about that.

Jesus was having the same conversation with the disciples when he walked the earth 2,000 years ago.

The disciples were having the same conversations, like this is the end.

And uh we'll watch what Jesus has to say about later.

Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives.

His disciples came to him privately and said, Tell us when all this, when will all of this happen?

Same question.

The disciples with Jesus wanted to know the same thing that you and I want to know.

What's going on, God?

Tell us what the end will look like.

What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?

Jesus told them, Don't let anyone mislead you.

Like tell you that his return will be in September of 1994.

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 threats of war, but don't panic.

Notice right there, as he's saying, there's gonna be terrible things happening, and he'll go on to give more terrible things, but even before he gets to all the terrible things, he says, But don't panic.

It's like this is not meant to scare you.

This is not meant to be a Halloween surprise where, hey, it's gonna get bad, everybody.

Don't panic.

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

Nation will go to war against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There'll be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world, but all this is only the first of the birth pains.

With more to come.

How many moms do we have in the room?

How many dads?

Moms, dads, parents.

You know what it means to go through birth pains, right?

You could be pregnant for a long, long time.

There could be uh there could be a plan in action, there could be a baby coming for a long time, but when the birth pains start, that's the end.

And the birth pains don't happen in month one or two, usually, right?

When do the birth pains happen?

When do you start getting those Braxton Higgs?

You start getting the the push the pressure starts in month nine.

Like towards the end, hopefully.

But it's not the actual end, it's just near the end.

And so when we start to see these hap, these things happening, we're seeing the signs of the time showing us that we're getting close to the end.

He says, Then you'll be arrested, persecuted, and killed.

You'll be hated.

This is verse 9, all over the world because you are my followers.

We already see some of that happening.

Persecution in some places more than others, 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.

Is that sound familiar?

Starting to seem like, hey, he knew what was going on in 2026.

Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved, 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.

Another prophecy, another sign of the time.

The last passage is we'll pick up in verse 42, because this is where I want us to.

Well, we're going to carry this part with us for the rest of the message and the rest of the series that in the middle of all these things, the point is not that all these things are happening.

The point is not just that, hey, we're getting near the end.

But there's a at there's a meaning behind it.

There's a meaning within it.

He says, so you too must keep watch.

Everybody say, keep watch.

For you don't know what day your Lord is coming.

You don't know what day your Lord is coming.

He will return.

The word rapture is not in the Bible, but the the return of Christ is in the Bible.

Understand this, Jesus says.

If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into.

He's giving some urgency, saying, Hey, first don't panic.

Things are gonna get bad.

I think throughout the, if you read Jesus' ministry, if you read his walk with the disciples, how often did he tell them, hey, things are gonna get bad, but it's gonna be okay.

Things are gonna get tough, you're gonna have trouble, you're gonna be persecuted for my namesake, but that's okay.

Don't panic.

Take courage, take heart.

There's purpose behind it where the birth pains are for a reason because there's a baby coming.

The whole time he's giving them the imagery and the warning and the urgency, and then he says, This you also must be ready all the time.

For the Son of Man will come when least expected.

In the twinkling of an eye, like a thief in the night.

He'll come just there won't be any forewarning, there'll just be a trumpet, a trumpet sound in the sky, and then we'll be taken up.

So for the introduction of this series and of certainly today, I just want us to just settle ourselves in this that hey, I believe it is the end times.

I believe that we are approaching the times that it's it can't be argued that all of the things I just listed, and we can get into the weeds and get into the details about each of the prophecies and what they mean, and speculate on this and that, and all through Revelation, there are things that we don't fully understand.

It's like looking through uh uh a glass darkly.

It's like looking through, like it's a little bit murky.

We don't quite understand it, but we get the gist of it that there's bad things coming, but on the other side of the bad things and in the midst of the bad things, God's doing something.

And the church should be in the middle of it.

I believe we're living in the final chapters of God's plan of redemption for mankind.

This started when God created the world.

It's not something that God came up with midway.

He thought, you know what, I probably should save these people.

It was all meant to create a people that could commune with him, that we would be his sons and his daughters, we would be, and now he sends his son 2,000 years ago to pay a price for his church.

In 1 Thessalonians, and we're gonna we're gonna be in Thessalonians for these three weeks.

I'm gonna be showing you a lot of the um the verses in in 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians.

He says, Paul says, and he's addressing the same thing that Jesus is addressing.

Hey, there's bad stuff happening.

What are we supposed to be doing in the middle of all of this?

And where is Jesus coming back?

He said he was coming back.

Paul is writing this letter to the church in Thessalonica, and he says, to the church of the Thessalonians, we always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.

It's a greeting to his letter.

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor promoted by love, and your endurance inspired by the hope in our Lord Jesus.

Like right there, the hope in our Lord Jesus.

He's gonna get deeper into it that Jesus is coming, but we have hope.

This is not a letter of darkness, this is not a letter foretelling how bad things are gonna get.

So just hold on.

No, there's hope.

There's hope in the middle of it.

And I love that he starts this letter with like a relational tone.

He doesn't say, beware, church and of the Thessalonians.

You're right to be afraid.

No, he doesn't say that.

He starts it very relational, and while we're gonna get into some dark things, he sends this letter, I believe, because the message of the gospel has to be spread.

And um, Thessalonica is a city on the port, and as Paul is building the church and raising, he's sending letters, but he's raising up the leadership of the church, and and that city is so important and influential to the whole world because people are sailing in and sailing back out, and the message of the gospel can then go all over the world.

It's the capital of Macedonia.

And in the very next verse, verse 4, he says, As for we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power.

How many of you guys were here uh a couple months ago?

We did uh a whole series called the Holy Spirit.

Why?

I'm gonna remind you, I'm just gonna jog your memory a little bit.

He says the gospel came to you not.

Simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.

Why did God, why did Jesus say, Hey, I'm going, but I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit?

Because He gave them a mission that they could not accomplish on their own.

He what was the power of the Holy Ghost for?

It's not so we can live our life feeling good about ourselves.

Hey, I got the power of the Holy Ghost.

It's not so that we can walk around and look at ourselves and say, Hey, we have the Holy Ghost.

We're better than everybody else on the planet.

No, it's because he gave the disciples, he gave the church a job that was impossible to do without being empowered by the Spirit of God.

He's like, I'm gonna give you a job that you would never be able to accomplish on your own.

You'll get so full of yourselves, you'll be so uh overwhelmed by the problems and the struggles of sin and your life and bad decisions and the abuses, all the things will just overwhelm you.

But I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit so that you can overcome those things and accomplish the mission.

And so Paul's reminding the church, the Thessalonians, he's reminding them God sent the Holy Spirit to empower you with power.

So everything we're gonna talk about is possible.

And then he gives, he talks about three things that I want us to carry with us this week.

Three things that are necessary to be ready for the end.

Like if we're gonna be ready for the end of the world, even 2,000 years ago, Jesus says that the end of the age, he refers to it as the age, we're we're entering into the end of the age, and things are gonna start happening and we're still in that time.

We're still in the season of the end of the world, and it could come at any time.

Even though Jesus says through 2,000 years that a day is as a thousand years to God.

Like it could, he could come tonight, he could come tomorrow, and if we're going to be ready as a church, if you're gonna be ready and I'm gonna be ready as a as a human being, as a person, then we have to pay attention to a few things.

So Paul reminds the Thessalonians and points out three things that I think are absolutely necessary for us to carry with us.

So write this down in your notes.

Number one, the first way we need to be ready for the end, in verse 9, he says, they tell how you turned to God from idols.

I think the first thing is that we need to leave our idols.

We have to be willing to let go from let go of our idols and turn around.

So let me just point out that the Thessalonians in those days had physical idols.

And there's a we'll throw a few pictures up on the screen, but they, the people in those days had small little carved stone idols that they would carry with them and believe and pray to and offer sacrifices to, and believe that they would have prosperity, that they would have financial gain, that they would have blessings, they would have children, that they would they would have wives, that they would have property, that these that they if they did the right things and offered the right sacrifices to these little idols, they were trusting the idols for their benefit and to take care of them and for their security.

And Paul's saying, first thing, it's important that you leave the idols behind.

Some people even worship Caesar as an idol, calling him Lord and bowing down and trusting that if I just put my life and my trust and my hope and my worship in this ruler and this emperor, then Caesar, then my life will be taken care of.

Thank God, none of us, I hope, are worshiping the president and trusting the president on that level on one side or the other, right?

Because I think as soon as I say the word president, I'm offending somebody.

But I'm talking about both sides.

So thank God we're not saying Lord Biden, Lord Obama, Lord Trump.

It just got really quiet.

You guys, I'm willing to offend at least half of you.

I don't know.

We cannot carry someone or something as an idol in our life, trusting it more than God.

Some trusted in the Greek gods, Zeus, Apollo, Artemis.

They were believing in something, but leaving the idols and turning from the idols was saying, okay, none of these things have power.

All of these things promise something that they can never fulfill.

And I'm going to trust in the one who can fulfill his promise.

And while today you are probably not traveling today with an idol in your purse or in your backpack or your car on purpose.

I'll give you a definition of an idol.

An idol is anything you put in God's place.

And with that definition, I think we can all say we have idols.

We carry things, we depend on, we trust in things before God.

And this is something I, even if you love God, if you've been going to church and you've been serving God for decades, there are still things that on a daily basis we pick up and say, My priorities reshift, they shift around and I reprioritize things above God.

So the I think the conversation, if this is the end of our days, the end of our times, even if it's not the end of the world, we only have a few days left.

If that's true, then the first thing that we have to think about is what are we putting our trust in?

What am I believing for?

Some of us, a lot of us, I think it's the American way, is to put our trust in success.

Hey, success speaks it speaks for itself.

I don't have to even defend it.

We value the endless hustle and climbing the ladder and reaching for more and being successful and making more money and having a bigger house and a car and a boat and a lake house.

And if I have that, then I'll be doing all right.

If I can get ahead, we value our worth based on what we can produce.

And our value comes from what we do rather than who we serve.

So if that's you, if you're if you're hanging on to the value of success and that has been an idol in your life, I'm challenging you.

It's my job as your pastor to challenge you to think about the things in your life and move closer to Jesus.

Maybe it's not success, but it's just pleasure, and you're living, we we live for money, we live for the the things that this world can offer.

I deserve to feel good in this life.

I deserve a little bit of luxury.

We all I think that anyone who's been in church any amount of time understands that, hey, money can be an idol.

It can't, the love of money can be an idol.

But what about the other stuff?

What about my control issues?

What about the things that I have to be in control of?

And if I just can maintain control, then I'll be alright.

Then tomorrow will be okay.

I can trust that I'll make it for I can keep going.

And we displaced the trust that we should be putting in God with ourselves.

What about our wounds that we carry?

What about the things that hurt so badly that I'm not letting go of that because as long as I've got to, as long as I can hang on to that?

What about the relationships?

People around us.

We trust people.

There are people listen, I know you well enough and I know me well enough to know that we trust in.

We have we live in a world where it's almost possible to have a relationship with someone that they don't even know about us because we keep up with them and we follow them and we uh we're tracking them on online, and I saw when nobody else even knew about them.

I know everything about Taylor Swift.

Where are your idols?

Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3, but mark this there will be terrible times in the last days.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

People be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power, have nothing to do with such people.

There's a turning, there's a leaving behind of the things of this world that we have to, as the church, we have to be in the world, we have to go out and spread the gospel, we have to share the light of Christ with everybody around us, but we can't embrace those things and depend on them.

That's not what we're here for.

Jesus says, wake up, be aware, be be alert.

You're living in the end times.

Instead of turning and leaving the things of this world and our idols behind, listen to me.

And then we're gonna move on to number two.

This is what I think happens.

We don't do a lot of leaving them behind, we do a lot of splitting our attention between, oh, I go to church, I trust in God, but also I trust in all these other things.

And we try to hang on to both at the same time.

That doesn't work.

Part-time Christianity, a part-time relationship with God does not work.

And what'll happen is you'll be frustrated and you'll be resentful of the church and resentful of people because the you're not truly living in the love of God, you're splitting your time in both, and you're lukewarm.

And I know that's not a word we like to hear in church.

For the pastor to tell you you're lukewarm.

But if we if we can't leave the things of the world behind and embrace holiness and righteousness and truly follow what he's asked us to do, we're splitting our attention.

We have to turn.

In fact, he doesn't just say, turn from your idols.

He says, turn from your idols and toward God.

So that's number two.

We have to do the work that lasts.

What are we working toward?

What are we walking towards and reaching for as the church?

What are the things that matter to us?

What are the things that are in your heart?

Is it what you're gonna do next week, or the vacation you're going on, or the money you need to earn so you can spend and buy and do and have and do all the things you dream of?

Or is it, God, I exist for you and I'm serving you, and I'm gonna do something that matters for eternity, not just something that matters until next weekend.

Some of you right about now, you're thinking, this is not the series I was hoping for.

Can we do one of those ones, one of those fun series?

I feel like it's my responsibility.

Just as Jesus said, be aware, be alert.

Listen, when the time is short, then priorities become very clear.

What matters in the time that we have left?

What are we supposed to be doing?

Who are we supposed to be following?

And are we really doing that?

In verse 9, he says, they tell you, turn from from to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

We're not just trying to get sin off of us, we're not just trying to get the world off of us, we're trying to get into a place where we're doing what God created us to do.

So are we the church?

Are we the believers, the sons and daughters of the Most High God?

Are we living the life and accomplishing what He told us to accomplish?

Are we on mission?

Are we serving each other and the body of Christ and telling the world that the end is coming?

Oh, that's just played out.

That's all cliche, is it?

Jesus says, keep watch and be ready.

The time really matters.

What happens in how many football fans do we have?

Football's or basketball.

It doesn't matter.

If we get some.

I know you're all fans because when we wear our jerseys, everybody, everybody, maybe you just don't want to talk about your team.

And I know that we got some.

Most of the game goes pretty casually.

There's some moments of intensity, and we're fighting, and we're trying to win and try to put points on the board.

But what happens in the last 60 seconds of the game?

Nobody's casually walking around the field.

Nobody's just goofing around and playing around unless the game's already won.

No, everybody's got their heads down, and these last moments they count.

Because we're gonna do whatever can be done.

We're gonna finish this game and leave it all on the field.

We're on the last few moments of the game right now.

And I think some of us are still wandering around, like, wow, this is a fun game.

I'd like to play sometime.

If we're in the last moments of the game, it's up to us to continue to stay in the game, like not to just get distracted and think, oh, it's been the end of the game for so long, I can't even keep focused.

No, we're still in the end.

We're still in the moments that matter, and we've got to do what we can while we can.

Because at some point the buzzer will ring.

Jesus said, You don't know when the buzzer will ring.

You don't know when the end will actually be, when the cutoff will be, so make the moments count while you have them.

And whether it's a trumpet in the in the in the in the sky in lets us know that the the that the end has come, or whether it's a car wreck that takes your life, or a bad report from the doctor that says, hey, time's up.

You have a limited time.

We have a limited space of time.

And in that time, we have to drop arguments and grudges and uh pick up relationships that matter and share the words that we need to share and do the things that we need to do.

Maybe there's some avoided conversations that you've missed.

But when your time is really short, if you found out today that you have a week to live, your life would be totally different.

And all of a sudden there will be a bunch of things that don't even matter.

In fact, it's kind of split down the middle when people were prophesying in 1994, and uh when people were saying, Hey, Jesus is coming in September, it it was very interesting that there were a lot of people who got very serious, but there was also people who quit their jobs.

There was also people, why should I even pay off credit card debt?

Let's just run it all up.

I'm not telling you to do that.

Don't do that.

But it should get pretty serious about what really matters.

Eternity matters.

The mission matters.

What if we lived that intentionally?

What if we took the time?

Because urgency doesn't mean panic, it means purpose.

It means that we walk with purpose.

We can't confuse being busy with being fruitful.

We need to start measuring our few our fruit.

Start working together, start fighting for for eternity, to win the lost.

That's what this church exists for.

It doesn't exist for you and for me, so we can just come have church.

Although I love that.

You love that.

That's the problem with the church.

We love to have church.

Let's go to church.

Let's sing some songs, Pastor.

What about that one song?

I love that song.

Great.

Let's sing some songs, but let's also win the lost.

Let's also live our lives like it matters that Jesus could be coming next week, and we have a limited time left to do what we can, serve while we can, make our efforts, our blood and our sweat and our tears in the last few minutes of this game.

Let's stay alert, stay aware, raise our kids.

And finally, in verse 10, Paul tells the Thessalonians, We're gonna turn from idols to God, and we're gonna serve the living and true God.

And then he says this, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead.

Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath.

This is an end times verse.

This is a uh a reminder that we have to turn from sin, turn from idols, turn from the world to God and serve him like it matters.

And then also we wait faithfully.

And I just want to point out that that word wait is it's not a okay, y'all sit back, relax, we'll just wait it out.

Just come to church faithfully and we'll see you.

And when God shows up, we'll be ready.

No, this is this is not that kind of wait.

I'm gonna invite the band to join me, and we're gonna close with this.

This kind of wait, that word in the Greek means to wait actively, faithfully, and with great expectation.

Everybody say great expectation.

Expect faith is expectation.

Faith is like this.

I know it's coming.

I'm I'm reaching for it, I'm waiting.

Uh, how often do we wait expectantly for God?

I remember when I was a kid waiting, uh, there were a few times, sometimes I was waiting on something good, sometimes I was waiting on something bad.

And if you were raised like I was, my mom would tell me, just wait till your dad gets home.

You just wait till your dad go to your room and wait till your dad gets home.

I knew that my only real hope was from then till my dad got home, if I could just go to sleep, if I could just curl up in my bed and go to sleep, then I wouldn't be in trouble because they would not wake me up to punish me.

So I had a mission and I had a I gotta go to sleep.

And the the more intense I would lay there and try to go to sleep, it's not easy to go to sleep whenever you're expecting.

Whenever you just know that something's coming.

There's also the expectation of hey, company's coming over, let's get ready.

We gotta do some things, we gotta put some things in order, get the house clean because something someone's coming over.

We gotta get ready.

I think we don't have to be afraid, we don't have to panic.

We're right where God wants us, but we need to clean the house.

We need to get ready, we need to make our time count.

So, three questions as we close, and then we're gonna pray.

What are we doing while we wait expectantly?

What are we doing while we wait expectantly?

Number one, am I forgiving those who hurt me?

That's something that only you can do.

I can't do it for you.

The church can't do it for you.

Am I forgiving those who hurt me?

Matthew Jesus says in verse in chapter six, he says, For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others' sins, your father will not forgive your sins.

It's our job.

We've already been forgiven.

We just have to be willing in sometimes the most painful ways, in the most challenging ways, to take the power that the Holy Spirit gives us and to overcome the wounds, the the unforgiveness.

Number two, am I sharing my faith with those who don't know Jesus?

Since I was a kid, I've I've kind of heard this question asked that what would it be like to be standing at the gates of heaven and then people that I knew in life to come and ask me, why didn't you tell me?

Why didn't you make me understand that this was real and that my time mattered and that my life mattered and my decisions matter?

There are people in your life, your loved ones, there are the people that you work with, the people that you live by, there are people that will only ever know Jesus if you tell them.

Because they're not listening to me, they're not here.

There are people that only you can reach.

And are you sharing your faith?

And it's just sometimes we don't share our faith, and we don't have time to go into this, but sometimes we don't share our faith because it's overwhelming or intimidating, because I don't know all of that.

I don't know the Romans road, and I don't know all the scriptures, I don't know what the Bible says about getting saved, and I don't know how to.

It's as easy as saying, hey, come sit with me on Sunday.

Can you imagine if we could change our city and our families just by saying, hey, come sit with me?

Because I promise you this whoever sits in this room is beginning is going to be given an invitation to accept a free gift of salvation.

That's something we can do together.

It's just say, come sit with me.

And finally, this last question Am I putting my trust in God alone?

Ephesians 2.8 says this, for it's by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

Am I putting my faith in God alone?

If you were to stand before the Lord today and he were to ask you, why should I let you into heaven?

If your answer is anything like, well, I did this, I did, I I thought this, I look at all the things I did, then if your answer is I did anything, then it's the wrong answer.

The only way that you and I can have salvation and that we can walk into eternity with him is to say, and to know that the reason I get to go to heaven, the reason that I'm saved, the reason is just grace, it's because Jesus did something on a cross 2,000 years ago.

And it covers me.

So would you just bow your head right where you are?

I'm gonna I wanna pray with anyone in the room that you you've never given your life to Jesus.

You've never submitted, you've never surrendered your life to him.

This is a moment of decision where my hope for you is that we can in this moment say, God, I give you my life, I choose to follow you.

So I would invite you to say this prayer with me.

Would you say these words out loud?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son to die on a cross for me.

Today I receive that gift of life.

So come into my life and save me.

Forgive me of my sin.

Breathe new life into me.

And from this day forward, I will follow Jesus.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Would you stand up on your feet and we're gonna close with worship?

Thank you for being with us today.

I'm excited.

If you said that prayer, I'd love to meet you.

Otherwise, let's worship together, and I will see you next week.

God bless you.