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This is the End: How to Prepare for the End of the World (Matthew 24-25) | Pastor Rod Gomez

Published on: 12th June, 2025

01:55 The Divine Deadline: Understanding the Rapture

05:47 Jesus' Teachings on the End Times

12:52 The Timeline of Future Events

14:53 The Tribulation and Its Challenges

18:52 Parables of Preparedness

20:05 The Parable of the Bridesmaids

20:50 The Parable of the Talents

22:51 Be Prepared for Jesus' Return

24:56 Stewarding Your Time, Talents, and Treasures

29:16 The Final Judgment

34:22 The Importance of Being Ready

Transcript
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Alright, so I want you to imagine that you work all four

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years of your high school career.

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You put in three really amazing years

in your junior high to get the best

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grades possible to go to your best and

most favorite school, Texas a and m.

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No.

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No.

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Okay.

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Utah, Utah State?

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No.

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Okay.

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UCLA.

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I see it.

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Alright, so you wanted

to go to UCLA with Sean.

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You put in all the, the effort, all

the work you get, you get the best

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score and the SAT, you take the a

CT, you do all the work, you get

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the extra credits so that you could

have the best possible application

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to go to the school of your choice.

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The week of the deadline shows up.

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You think, you know what I'll, I will

submit my application after work and then

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I've got, I've got a baseball practice.

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Oh, and then I've got cheer.

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'cause you're doing

both baseball and cheer.

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And then I've gotta do a

couple chores around the house.

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My parents told me I have to clean up the

floor and I have to do some babysitting,

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but then I'm gonna get the application in.

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I know I'm gonna do it.

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The deadline approaches,

it comes and you miss it.

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You've totally missed the opportunity.

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All three years of middle school, all

four years of high school only to miss

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the opportunity to attend your school

of choice for the next four years.

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Imagine what you might feel

with a situation like that.

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Imagine what, what you would be

doing to yourself or saying to

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yourself if that were you, how would

you talk to yourself after that?

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If you're like me, you might

say, man, you are such a dummy.

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Like, what is wrong with you?

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You could not get this right.

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You worked your whole

life for this basically.

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'cause if you're working junior high

and high school, or middle school

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and high school, that's basically

most of your life at this point.

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You might feel like all that

work and all that effort was

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wasted because it basically was.

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One of the things that I'm concerned

about for you is that you guys realize

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tonight that there is, there is a deadline

fixed, a deadline that God has written.

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It's a date and a time, a specific

date and time whereby Jesus will come

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back and take his people home with him.

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This is often called the

Rapture, and here's the thing.

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We have no clue when that deadline is.

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In the illustration I just gave you,

if you know the date and time that

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your application is due for your

school, you know when to turn it in.

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But in this particular case tonight

we're gonna look at what the

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Bible says about the future, and

here's what Jesus is gonna say.

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You have no idea when the deadline is.

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Therefore, you really have to be ready.

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In fact, the whole point for tonight is

that Jesus is gonna warn us about the

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answer, that we can be ready for the end.

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He's gonna tell you, you gotta be ready.

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You can't wait.

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You can't assume that you

have all the time in the world

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because you really don't.

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You have no idea when Jesus is coming

back, and the challenge for you is,

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oops, lemme get outta the way here.

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The challenge for you is to believe that.

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I remember a long time ago, I've

told you guys this before, but

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I just gotta tell you again.

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I Okay, so twice.

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Twice I talked to a psychic.

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Okay?

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You, you guys know what a psychic is.

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Psychic is someone who supposedly

has access to the future.

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They could tell you about the

things that are gonna happen.

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So one time I called a, a, a phone number.

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Back in the old days, there

was phone numbers that you

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could call to talk to people.

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Uh, one of those phone numbers would

lead you to talk to psychic mediums,

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people that would tell your features.

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I called the number, it was a, it was like

a one, 900 something, something or other.

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A lot of bad one 900 numbers

at that time in my life.

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I called, uh, I don't think my

parents appreciated that, but

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they never found out it was me.

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So I called and I spoke to a psychic

about my life, and I said, here, I

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want to know what's happening next.

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And I, it was only about your age?

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Honestly, I wasn't very old.

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I don't even remember what she said.

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I, I do not recall this, but

the second time I talked to a

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psychic, I was on the radio.

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I was listening to my local radio station

and they're like, so and so this amazing

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psychic's gonna be on the radio, call

in now if you want to talk to them.

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And I'm like, I'm gonna talk to a psychic.

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And so I called the radio station

and I said, yeah, I'm I, I changed

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my name 'cause I don't want my

parents to find out and kill me.

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And said I want to talk to the psychic.

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And I talked to the psychic on the radio.

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And so I asked, I wanna know what

my future love life looks like.

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I wanna know who I'm gonna marry.

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I was in middle school at

this time and she said.

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Uh, I'm not seeing it.

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I, I guess she saw, thought I was gonna be

single for the rest of my life, she said.

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But I feel like I'm hearing

something from someone close to you.

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A relative perhaps that recently died.

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Now, here's the funny thing.

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I did not have any relatives

that died at that point.

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I had nobody.

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So what was I to do?

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I didn't wanna embarrass her.

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And so I said, oh yeah, my

uncle Tom recently died.

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I guess I lied on the radio 'cause I

don't wanna embarrass the poor lady.

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But she made her whole

life, her work, her effort.

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She wrote books and she made lots of money

telling people, here's the future that

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you're gonna, that you're gonna have.

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Here's what you need to know.

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So funny and so strange.

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And honestly, if anyone has that power

in real life, it's because they're

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working through the power of the enemy.

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What you need to know is that God

does wanna tell you the future.

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God genuinely wants to tell you what

the future is for you, but you have

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to have the wisdom to say, okay,

am I gonna submit to what he says?

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And here's again the punchline.

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I'm telling you, the end of my sermon

right now, Jesus is gonna tell you a

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lot of things about what you can expect

for the future, but the punchline is

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that you just gotta be ready for it.

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Your job right now is to be sure

that you're ready for Jesus' return

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because it can be at any moment.

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Jesus could legitimately, if

we're understanding our Bible

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rightly, he could return right

now before this sermon is over.

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God bless you.

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He could return before

small groups are finished.

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At any moment Jesus could return.

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Let me show you though what Jesus

has to say about the end times.

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Turn to Matthew chapter 24.

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I want you to see the things that

Jesus is gonna warn you about,

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and honestly, it's frightening.

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It's terrifying.

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Not being ready for this is not just

gonna be like, oh, bummer, I missed the

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deadline to go to my favorite school.

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Not being ready for this means,

oh no, I'm not right with Jesus.

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So being right with Jesus is gonna

mean being ready for Jesus return.

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Look at Matthew Chapter 24.

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We're not gonna be able to read a

lot of these things, but we're gonna

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read a few portions together and

we're gonna start with Matthew 24.

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We're gonna start at verse

three, starting at verse three,

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as he sat on the Mount of Olives.

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This is Jesus talking to his

disciples, and this is one of the

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longest teaching sections that

Jesus has with his disciples.

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Second only to the Sermon on

the Mount, which is Matthew

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chapter five through seven.

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He sat on the Mount of Olives.

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Disciples came to him privately saying,

tell us Jesus, when will these things be?

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And what will be the sign of your

coming and of the end of the age?

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They wanna know, when are you coming

back to establish your kingdom?

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And how do we know?

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What do we look for to find

out that it's the last days?

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Pay Close attention to what

Jesus says about the last days.

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He says this.

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Jesus answered.

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See that no one leads you astray.

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The first thing out of Jesus'

mouth about the last days is be

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careful because there's gonna be

a lot of liars, people that want

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to trick you about what's to come.

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You need to be aware that there

are a lot of voices out in the

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world that want you to believe

the wrong thing about the future.

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So Jesus says, first of all,

he puts a finger in your chest.

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Imagine Jesus putting his finger

in your chest right now like this.

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See that no one leads you astray.

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Do you feel Jesus finger in your chest?

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He's talking to you.

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See that no one deceives you listen.

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For many will come in my

name saying I am the Christ.

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And they will lead many astray, lots

of people who are claiming to be

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Jesus and saying, Hey, follow me.

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I'm actually Jesus in the flesh.

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And in in the past, I mean there's

been literally thousands of people

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that have claimed to be Jesus.

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Or some form of the Messiah.

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And so Jesus says, you

need to be prepared.

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People are coming and they're

going to be successful.

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They're gonna be successful.

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They're gonna create cults.

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And cults are really good at causing

you to believe something that is a lion.

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So Jesus says, be aware of this.

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You need to be aware that they're coming.

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Many will come in my name saying I'm the

Christ, and they will lead many astray.

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Verse six, and you'll hear, listen

to this, you're, you're gonna

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hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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See that you were not alarmed for

this must take place, but the end is

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not yet For nation will rise against

nation and kingdom against Kingdom

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and, and there will be famines.

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That is, there's gonna

be a lack of food supply.

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There's gonna be earthquakes in

various places and all these are,

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but the beginning of the birth pains.

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And so Jesus is talking about

a period of human history.

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This is the future where things

are gonna get progressively worse.

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False teachers are gonna come after

you and he's saying there's gonna

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be, you hear about wars right now.

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You got Ukraine, you got

China, and you got Russia.

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You've got different nations right

Now that America is saying, these are

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our threats to our national security.

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And so Jesus is saying

this is to be expected.

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In fact, there's gonna be a period

of human history where this is gonna

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be become so intense and so high in

its importance that Jesus is saying

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this is gonna characterize the end

of times he says in verse eight,

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but these are just the beginning.

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This is just the start.

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In fact, before we even go any

further, let me just say this.

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When I put Jesus' finger in

your chest to say you need to

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be, be ready and be careful.

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My whole point in that is

actually the first point.

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You need to make sure,

in fact, here we go.

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You need to make sure to study.

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Study what Jesus says about the end

because Jesus is holding you accountable

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to make sure that you are not deceived.

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So everything that we're just about to

read, this might, this might apply to you.

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This might be your marching orders.

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Jesus is coming back to take

the church away at some point.

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And again, we believe if we're

understanding the Bible correctly, that

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that could be any actual moment right now,

which means then that if we're not gonna

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be deceived by false teachers and false

Christ, I need to know what Jesus says.

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I need to know what the master is saying.

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What is Jesus who

actually knows the future?

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Say the future is gonna be like.

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And that's what we're talking, that's

what we're talking about tonight.

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In fact.

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What we're looking at right here.

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Some people think about Jesus like this.

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Have you ever played the Shell game?

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Uh, the shell game is where

someone takes three shells, right?

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And they'll hide a ball or, or

something small and circular like that.

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Or, or cylindrical, not

a cylinder cir circular.

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Ball.

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It's a ball.

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Let's just call it a ball.

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They're hiding a ball

in these shells, right?

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You ever play this game?

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You go to the carnival, you'll see

vendors that do something like this.

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If you're a tourist in a different

country, you'll see people that

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are doing this say, Hey, win $20.

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And so you'll go and you

say, I'll play that game.

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I'm really good at this.

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And so you put $20 on the table and

they say, thank you very much, sir.

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Ma'am.

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Now keep your eye on the ball.

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They put the cover, they put

the shell over the ball, and

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they start doing this right?

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And then.

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They say, okay, pick

which one is underneath.

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Uh, pick which one you think

the ball is underneath.

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And you say, oh, it's clearly that one.

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You didn't go that fast.

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I saw exactly what you did.

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And then what happens when

they pick up the shell

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con?

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It's not there.

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It's gone because the shell

game is actually a con.

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This is a very common con because being

quicker with your hands then you are with

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your eyes is actually part of this skill.

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I can trick you into thinking that

the ball is under this shell when in

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actuality it's under the shell over here.

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Actually, if they're really good,

the ball is under none of them.

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You could pick any of the shells.

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They're all empty because they're

hiding it under their hands somewhere.

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And then when you say, oh, I

missed, how did I miss that?

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Then they secretly sneak it under

the shell that they pick up and say,

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oh look, here it was the whole time.

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So the game, the game of

the shell is a con game.

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Some people think this is what

Jesus is doing right here.

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They're confusing them.

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'cause I see wars and rumors of wars

right now and, and Jesus is saying,

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no, I'm not trying to trick you here.

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I'm trying to help you

understand what's to come.

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The problem is that Jesus knows that

there's lots of competing voices.

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There's lots of people that are trying

to tell you how to live your life

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and how to understand the future.

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There's lots of people that want

to make you think, oh, this is

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how I should live your life.

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Oh, the future not a big deal,

or the future is a big deal.

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You should be terrified and

afraid and Jesus is warning you

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against following other voices

that are gonna really confuse you.

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And so I, I'm afraid, I'm sorry

that I have to do this, but I

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need to show you a chart, okay?

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Because what Jesus is talking

about here is super important

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to how everything unfolds.

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Jesus wants you to know the future.

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Here's what it looks like, okay?

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Now, let me also say this.

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Some Christians disagree

about some of these things.

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I'm just gonna say that if your friends

go to a different church and they say,

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well, my pastor taught me something

different, uh, we're not mad at them.

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We're not, we're not enemies.

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We, we just understand this differently.

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We teach the right way.

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I'm just gonna say that we

obviously, we teach the right way.

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Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25 is talking

about this section right here.

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Okay?

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We are presently right here in the

church age, so this is us in:

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We are in what is called the

church age at some point.

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Jesus is going to come down.

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This is called the rapture and

take believers up with him.

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The rapture is his, is his idea that

Jesus is going to secretly, sometimes

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people use that word, they to come

take Christians away with him.

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This could happen at any moment.

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Jesus could return right now.

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Take people away.

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There's movies written about

this, but that's the idea.

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This could happen at any time.

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He's gonna take believers

when that happens.

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That begins a seven year period

of time called the tribulation.

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Say tribulation.

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Tribulation means fantastic.

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You're doing a great job.

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This begins a seven year

period of the tribulation.

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After this seven years, Christ is gonna

come back with Christians and he's

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going to establish his millennial reign.

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Does anyone know what

millennial stands for or means?

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Thousand means thousand.

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His millennial reign is

his thousand year reign.

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Jesus will live on the earth in

his resurrected body and govern

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for 1000 years with Christians.

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It'll be a thousand year reign.

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At the end of that thousand year

reign, there's going to be a

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rebellion in uprising against Jesus.

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Crazy, right?

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Who would do that?

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But it's gonna happen at the

end of that thousand year rain,

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Jesus will squash his enemies.

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He'll vanquish the foe.

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He will judge unbelievers and we

will then enter into the eternal

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state, which is the forever and

ever, all things happily ever after.

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This is a snapshot of what's to come.

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Again, this is us.

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The next thing in line is called

the rapture, and the rapture can

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happen at any moment even now.

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Who gets raptured?

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Who gets taken up to be with Jesus?

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The answer is believers Christians, people

that have trusted in Jesus Christ are

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raptured and taken to heaven with Jesus.

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Okay?

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This is a very simplified

overview of what's to come in.

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Matthew 24, we're talking about

this period of time right here,

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the seven year tribulation.

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This is.

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After Christians are taken

away to go with Christ.

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This time now is what we're

looking at right here.

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We're looking at what people are

doing during the tribulation, and

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if Jesus is telling us what to

expect, go back to Matthew 24.

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Matthew 24, let's pick

it up back at verse nine.

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Lemme show you more what's to happen in

the tribulation that Jesus describes.

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Verse nine.

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Then they will deliver

you up to tribulation.

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There's that word, and put you to death.

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You will be hated by all

nations, for my name's sake.

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So Jesus is saying, the future for people

on the earth at this time who become

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Christians is that they're going to

be hated because they are Christians.

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Now, if you're a Christian, now there's

some of this that we can expect.

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Even today, you should be experiencing

at least some, some, some level

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of persecution as a Christian.

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Verse 10, he says, and then many

will fall away and betray one

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another and hate one another.

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There's gonna be increased

hostility against Christians.

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Verse 12.

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Verse 11, and many false prophets

will arise and lead many astray.

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Again, you have influences that are

trying to steal your attention away

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from Jesus and put it on themselves.

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Verse 12.

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And because lawlessness will be increased,

the love of many will go, will grow cold,

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but the one who endures to the end will

be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom

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will be proclaimed throughout the whole

world as a testimony to all nations.

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And then the end will come.

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So everything Jesus just talked

about, this is the tribulation period.

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Now in verses 15 and onward, we're not

gonna be able to cover these verses,

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but 15 through 20 through 28, 15

through 28, this is Jesus talking about

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the second half of the tribulation.

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It's called the great tribulation.

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This is where the rise of the antichrist

comes and he's going to say, I am God.

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You should worship me.

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This guy is powerful and

he's effective in his work.

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You don't wanna be here

during the tribulation.

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There's a lot of bad things

that are gonna happen.

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It's gonna be really hard to be

on the earth at this time because

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the tribulation effectively is

God's judgment upon the earth.

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He's judging all the unbelievers.

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He's judging everyone who

ever stood against him.

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And even though judgment is coming,

there are gonna be Christians here,

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there are gonna be Christians.

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That's why there's, there's gonna

be people that are gonna be saved.

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They're gonna put them to death, but you

don't want to be here during this time.

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This is all the more reason why you need

to make sure that you're ready for this

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to study the end times to study what Jesus

says is to be ready for what's to come

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because Jesus is saying here, you don't

want to be here for this period of time.

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Heavy stuff I know to start with,

but you gotta know that's what we're,

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that's what we're working with here.

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:

So this is what Jesus is talking about.

392

:

Matthew 24, rapture is next

on the on the time clock.

393

:

And that could happen when, anytime,

once the rapture happens, that initiates

394

:

a seven year period of time called the.

395

:

Very good.

396

:

Okay, so that's the

starting place of this.

397

:

You gotta make sure that

you're ready for it.

398

:

In fact, you're on summer

break right now, right?

399

:

Yeah.

400

:

I was just talking with one of you

just a few minutes ago saying, what

401

:

are you doing for your summer break?

402

:

And he's like, well, really nothing,

nothing preach in a sermon next week.

403

:

But besides that, nothing.

404

:

If you got some, if you got nothing

to do this week, let me encourage you.

405

:

There are cool, easy books to, or

even sermons to go through that

406

:

talk about this period of time.

407

:

Why not pick up.

408

:

YouTube and, and do

something productive with it.

409

:

Watch a sermon or two about the end times.

410

:

Lewis has plenty of

recommendations for you that he

411

:

will give you if you want them.

412

:

Okay.

413

:

I, I need to keep going

'cause there's so much more.

414

:

Okay.

415

:

Here's what school does.

416

:

I, I'm glad we're in a classroom.

417

:

School teaches you this

awful learning habit.

418

:

You learn something so that

you can regurgitate it on a

419

:

test, and then what happens?

420

:

What do you do with it?

421

:

Forget it.

422

:

Jesus doesn't want you to do that.

423

:

He doesn't want you to

play the school game.

424

:

Jesus wants you to remember it so

that you could do something with it.

425

:

In Matthew chapter 25, he's

gonna tell two parables.

426

:

Parables are like stories

that have a punchline.

427

:

The two parables.

428

:

The first one is the

parable of the 10 Virgins.

429

:

That's what it says in your Bible.

430

:

Now, you might not understand what

he's mean, what he means by that,

431

:

but a, a virgin is like a bridesmaid.

432

:

Uh, when you get married, ladies,

you're gonna pick several gals

433

:

that stand next to you, and those

women are called bridesmaids.

434

:

They're ladies that stand next

to you and give, uh, the, the,

435

:

the witnesses to your wedding.

436

:

They stand with you to affirm

your vows and all those things.

437

:

Uh, fellas, you'll stand up

there and you'll have what?

438

:

Not bridesmaids, but groomsman.

439

:

Groomsmen.

440

:

Very good.

441

:

Okay, so these are the 10 bridesmaids.

442

:

They're here waiting for the arrival

of the groom in ancient times.

443

:

This is how they did it, so

let's just keep it at that.

444

:

Five of them are well prepared.

445

:

They're waiting for the nighttime wedding

to happen, and so they have lots of

446

:

oil in their lamps so that their lambs

are able to burn all through the night.

447

:

Five of them are ready,

five of them are not.

448

:

Jesus.

449

:

The, the groom comes at, at, at, at

a time that they're not expecting and

450

:

they're unprepared and they're like,

oh, no, we don't have enough oil.

451

:

Ladies who brought more,

can you give us some?

452

:

And they're like, sorry,

we don't have enough.

453

:

You have to go to the

market and buy your own.

454

:

And so they go off to do that.

455

:

They go buy some more oil for their

lamps to help light the ceremony.

456

:

They depart and after they depart, the

groom comes and they go into the wedding.

457

:

Here's the punchline, verses 10 through

13, while they're going to buy more

458

:

oil, the bridegroom came and those

who were ready went in with him to the

459

:

marriage feast and the door was shut.

460

:

I.

461

:

No opportunity to come in afterward,

the other bridesmaids came

462

:

also saying, Lord, open to us.

463

:

But he answered Truly I say to

you, I do not know you watch,

464

:

therefore for you neither.

465

:

You know, neither the day or the hour.

466

:

The whole point of that parable is

that Jesus is coming at an hour.

467

:

You don't expect.

468

:

You gotta be ready for it.

469

:

The second, the second story.

470

:

The second story is the

parable of the talents.

471

:

You know this one, you've heard

of this one before, right?

472

:

The master goes away for a long time,

but before he does, he entrusts an

473

:

amount of money to three servants.

474

:

Two of those servants were faithful.

475

:

One of those servants buried his

treasure, and when the master came

476

:

back, that servant said, oh, you were

kind of a, you're kind of a stingy

477

:

hard guy, so I hid your money here.

478

:

You got back what you gave me.

479

:

What did Jesus say, or what did

the master say to that servant?

480

:

Here's the punchline.

481

:

Pay attention.

482

:

Take the talent from the one

who hid it and give it to him.

483

:

Who has the 10 talents for everyone

who has will more be given and he will

484

:

have an abundance, but from the one

who has not, the one who is taken from

485

:

even what he has will be taken away.

486

:

Look at verse 30.

487

:

This is the important punchline.

488

:

Cast the worthless servant

into outer darkness.

489

:

That's a way to talk

about eternal judgment.

490

:

This is the concept of hell in the Bible.

491

:

The Bible, Jesus talks a lot about hell,

far more than he does about heaven.

492

:

And in this instance he's saying, look

for someone who hears what I say and

493

:

doesn't respond the right way, they

don't do the thing that they should do.

494

:

They're gonna cast a

servant into outer darkness.

495

:

He calls him a worthless servant

because he didn't do his job.

496

:

In that place, there will be

weeping and gnashing of teeth.

497

:

Think about someone crying, great

tears, and not only crying great

498

:

tears, but what do you think about

when you think about gnashing?

499

:

Does gnashing bring to mind this idea of

like, oh, that's, those are happy tears.

500

:

Gnashing is someone grinding their

teeth, and oh, it either means anger

501

:

or agony, and maybe it's a bit of both.

502

:

The servant who is sent to the

outer darkness, hell is angry.

503

:

In agony that he's there.

504

:

He's not happy about this.

505

:

This is a place where there's

weeping and gnashing of teeth,

506

:

and so this is what Jesus says.

507

:

Again, the punchline here is

that Jesus says this is the end.

508

:

This is what you can expect.

509

:

This isn't school.

510

:

Don't learn it and forget it.

511

:

Learn it and do something about it.

512

:

Point number two, you gotta always

be prepared for Jesus' return.

513

:

You gotta always be prepared.

514

:

And when I say prepared, I mean action.

515

:

There's gotta be something that you

do in response to Jesus' return.

516

:

If Jesus is saying, look, I'm coming

back and I want you to be ready, the most

517

:

foolish thing you could do is nothing.

518

:

I mean, imagine what your parents

will say, okay, your parents.

519

:

I imagine mom and dad go to the grocery

store and they say, when we come back,

520

:

we want these five chores finished.

521

:

I want you to make your bed.

522

:

I want you to wipe off the counter.

523

:

I want you to empty the trashes.

524

:

I want you to sweep up the floors.

525

:

I want you to clean up the table.

526

:

Whatever it is that they say, they give

you five chores to do, and they say,

527

:

we're gonna be back in a little bit.

528

:

These things better be done when we get

back, or there's gonna be consequences.

529

:

You're one of two kids.

530

:

You're either the kid

that says, I'm on it.

531

:

As soon as they said it, even before

they leave, I'm already doing the thing

532

:

'cause I don't wanna get in trouble.

533

:

Or you're the kid who says, how

long does it take you to get to the

534

:

store again about how long you think

it's gonna be before you get back.

535

:

Okay.

536

:

Can you text me before

you leave the store?

537

:

Maybe, or, or, or maybe may.

538

:

How long do you think this will take me?

539

:

You're the kid who delays and just

drags your feet for the whole time.

540

:

Jesus doesn't want you to do

this because the problem is.

541

:

You have no idea when

Jesus is coming back.

542

:

Your parents maybe you'd

be able to guess, okay?

543

:

I know that the Kroger

is about 10 minutes away.

544

:

Uh, if dad is with mom,

I know mom loves a shop.

545

:

It's gonna be two hours.

546

:

I've got a solid two and a half

hours before they get back, and

547

:

so I can hang out for 45 minutes

before I even do anything.

548

:

It'll be fine.

549

:

That might work with your parents.

550

:

It will not work with Jesus because you

have no clue when Jesus is coming back.

551

:

So you gotta always be prepared.

552

:

You gotta always be prepared.

553

:

Remember the chart, we are presently here.

554

:

The next thing on the end Times

calendar is surprise everyone.

555

:

We're going to heaven now.

556

:

And that moment is any moment.

557

:

Therefore, the only way to be ready

for something that you can't be ready

558

:

for is to be ready all the time.

559

:

You gotta be ready all the time.

560

:

You gotta be prepared.

561

:

Here's the, here's the lessons

from the parable of the virgins

562

:

and the parable of the talents.

563

:

Here's how you're ready.

564

:

Okay?

565

:

Jesus wants you to be

ready in three areas.

566

:

Number one, you gotta

be ready in your time.

567

:

You gotta be ready in your time.

568

:

How you spend your time reveals

what matters most to you.

569

:

Remember the virgins who

are there, the bridesmaids.

570

:

We're wasting time.

571

:

They could have gotten oil earlier,

but instead they just laid there.

572

:

They were drowsy, they got sleepy.

573

:

Who knows?

574

:

There's lots of reasons that they

could have offered lots of excuses.

575

:

Jesus doesn't want you to do that.

576

:

Here's the beautiful thing

about your life right now.

577

:

You're young.

578

:

You've got all your life

ahead of you, right?

579

:

And you're gonna live until you're

85, 95, maybe 115 years old.

580

:

You got so many years ahead of you.

581

:

Is that right?

582

:

Healthy life ahead of you.

583

:

Is that right?

584

:

You've got 95 a hundred

years ahead of you.

585

:

Is that right?

586

:

Yes.

587

:

No, you have no idea, right?

588

:

You don't know.

589

:

You just don't know that man.

590

:

I, I, I just reached over 40 years old.

591

:

I think that's a pretty amazing

thing because I've had friends

592

:

that didn't reach that far.

593

:

I had a friend that I was in

the same room with praying to

594

:

Jesus with who died in that room.

595

:

I'm older than he is right now.

596

:

At least physically.

597

:

Isn't that crazy?

598

:

We were, we were just around a

table praying and then he went

599

:

to the bathroom and he died.

600

:

Isn't that crazy?

601

:

You and I think and, and I understand why.

602

:

We think like we just have

the rest of our lives.

603

:

We've got a hundred years maybe.

604

:

You know, I'm gonna get

married, I'm gonna have kids.

605

:

I'm gonna go to this college,

I'm gonna do this thing.

606

:

I'm gonna accomplish these things.

607

:

That's great to have

dreams and and desires.

608

:

That's a good thing.

609

:

But when you assume and prism

upon God that I've got this much

610

:

time, you're making assumptions

that you just can't assume.

611

:

You just don't know.

612

:

You don't know how long you got, and

one of two urgent realities, you've

613

:

got to feel A, you're either gonna

die or B Jesus is gonna come back.

614

:

Both of those things you don't

know when they're gonna be.

615

:

Secondly, then, you've been given talents.

616

:

This is where the idea of

stewarding your talents comes from.

617

:

The parable of the talents.

618

:

Talents is actually a form of money.

619

:

And so you've got resources

that God has given you.

620

:

Some of you guys have gifts that

you need to use to further Christ's

621

:

kingdom, and that's exactly what

God wants you to do with them.

622

:

If God has given you gifts.

623

:

Skills to use talents that you have.

624

:

He wants you to use those things

to bring honor to his name.

625

:

This is why he was so mad at that servant.

626

:

That servant was given something by God,

and God said, go do something with that.

627

:

And he's like, great, thank you.

628

:

Let me just hide this right here.

629

:

You know, don't look at that.

630

:

I'm just gonna, I'm just

gonna pretend I don't have it.

631

:

Not even gonna think about it.

632

:

You've been given a gift.

633

:

Every single person in this room, you

have something to offer the world.

634

:

God wants to use you for that purpose and

to not use it is unfaithfulness your time,

635

:

your talent, and lastly, your treasures.

636

:

Some of you guys don't

have very much money.

637

:

Some of you guys have more

because your family gives you

638

:

cash to work with or whatever.

639

:

Really, the amount of money

you have doesn't matter.

640

:

What does matter is that you

use it to further Christ's

641

:

kingdom, whatever that is.

642

:

You've been given time, you've

been given talent, you've been

643

:

given some form of treasure.

644

:

The question is whether

or not you're using it.

645

:

To further and build God's Kingdom

or just to build your gaming setup.

646

:

Being prepared is super important

647

:

because the consequences

are so important here.

648

:

In fact, that's where we're

gonna land this plane here.

649

:

Jesus doesn't want you to play the

school game, learning about the fact

650

:

that there's an end time coming,

that he's coming back at some point.

651

:

Just so you can forget about

it and go about your day.

652

:

He tells you so that you can be prepared.

653

:

And being prepared looks at least like

these three things, stewarding your time,

654

:

your talents, and your treasures to say,

I wanna be ready for when Jesus returns.

655

:

And if you don't do it, you have to feel

the weight of the fact that if, if I'm not

656

:

being faithful in these areas, it means

that I'm probably not right with God.

657

:

I don't have a faithful

relationship with him.

658

:

Now all of us sin in a variety of ways.

659

:

And so you should not expect perfection,

but you should expect, I see direction

660

:

that's I'm going the right way.

661

:

In this last section that we're gonna

look at, Matthew 25, uh, verses 31

662

:

through 46, take a look at it with me.

663

:

I'm not gonna read the whole thing,

but I'm gonna summarize for you a few

664

:

important passages in the final judgment.

665

:

When Jesus comes back in his glory,

he's gonna, he's gonna judge the

666

:

nations, he's gonna judge people.

667

:

And here's what's interesting

is for the people on his right,

668

:

Christians, believers, he's gonna

say, look, uh, go on my right side.

669

:

And enter into the joy of your master

and says, he says here in verse 34, the

670

:

king will say to those on his right,

come, you who are blessed by my father,

671

:

inherit the kingdom prepared for you

from the foundation of the world.

672

:

And then he is gonna say, look,

you saw me and you fed me.

673

:

You saw that I was thirsty.

674

:

You gave me something to drink.

675

:

You saw that I was naked,

you gave me clothing.

676

:

And those people are gonna say,

Jesus, when do we ever see that?

677

:

And he's gonna say, well, as

whenever you, he's gonna say this.

678

:

Um, verse 39.

679

:

When did we see it this way?

680

:

Verse 40.

681

:

The king will answer.

682

:

Truly I say to you, uh, you, as

you did it to one of the least of

683

:

these my brothers, you did it to me.

684

:

So he's looking at their works and

he's saying, oh, because of the way

685

:

that you treated other believers,

the way that you treated them

686

:

showed me that you cared about me.

687

:

Conversely, he's gonna look at the goats,

the people on his left hand side, and,

688

:

and he is gonna say, depart from me.

689

:

Depart from me, you

workers of lawlessness.

690

:

He says, depart from me.

691

:

You curse it into the eternal fire

prepared for the devil and his angels.

692

:

Jesus is talking about serious judgment

and he's saying, when I was hungry,

693

:

you didn't feed me when I was thirsty,

you didn't gimme anything to drink.

694

:

When I was a stranger,

you didn't welcome me.

695

:

I was naked.

696

:

You didn't clothe me.

697

:

And then they're gonna say,

well, Jesus, when did we even

698

:

have the opportunity to do that?

699

:

Well, when did you, when

did that ever happen?

700

:

Then he will answer them.

701

:

Truly, I say to you, as you did

not do it to one of the least of

702

:

these, you did not do it to me.

703

:

Here's the punchline, verse 46, and these

will go away into eternal punishment,

704

:

but the righteous and into eternal life.

705

:

When Jesus is judging people,

at least in this occasion,

706

:

he's looking at their works.

707

:

He's not saying that

their works save them.

708

:

No one can do enough Good works

to be right with God, but he is

709

:

saying their works demonstrate

whether or not their faith is real.

710

:

The consequences of your faith

will be shown by your works.

711

:

If you love somebody,

you can say, I love you.

712

:

I love you, I love you.

713

:

You could say that all you want,

but if you love somebody, how do

714

:

you actually know if you love them?

715

:

Answering your brain.

716

:

How do you know that you love somebody?

717

:

Well, by the way that I treat them,

the words that I say to them, the the

718

:

things that I do for them, I, I show my

love in tangible expressions of love.

719

:

Jesus is saying something very simple.

720

:

If you love him, there will be

tangible expressions of that

721

:

love for him, tangible, real

expressions that you love Jesus.

722

:

And so he's saying it is not that your

works save you, but that your works

723

:

reveal whether or not you are saved.

724

:

For those on his right, he says,

come into the joy of the master.

725

:

Again, notice the stakes though.

726

:

Verse 46.

727

:

Pay close attention to what he

says is the duration of life

728

:

and the duration of punishment.

729

:

I know this is heavy, guys, and

I'm so sorry, but I'm grateful that

730

:

I get to talk to you about this.

731

:

It's such a heavy subject.

732

:

I I, I'm grateful I get to say it,

but it's heavy and I, I, I know it is.

733

:

It's awful.

734

:

It's painful, but we

need to know what it is.

735

:

Notice a duration.

736

:

I wish the Bible didn't say this.

737

:

Let's just be real about that.

738

:

I wish the Bible didn't say what

it says, but here's what it says.

739

:

For those who are not right with

him, how long is the punishment?

740

:

It says eternal, right?

741

:

And that's, it's not a translation issue.

742

:

It's not like, oh, there's

a Greek word that means it's

743

:

actually only a couple weeks.

744

:

We have good reason to believe

that that's what it means.

745

:

It's eternal.

746

:

And it makes sense because the righteous,

those who are saved by grace through

747

:

faith, enter into eternal life.

748

:

There's eternal life and there's

eternal punishment the way

749

:

that you respond to Jesus'.

750

:

Sobering words will either show that

you are being prepared for eternal

751

:

punishment or prepared for eternal life.

752

:

I need you to know how difficult

this is, but I also want you to

753

:

feel how high the stakes are.

754

:

Everything that we're talking about

through all the gospel of Matthew

755

:

really is culminating to this point.

756

:

Jesus, after, after this section of

teaching, Jesus is gonna go to the cross.

757

:

You're gonna see his betrayal.

758

:

You're gonna see his resurrection

and everything else after that.

759

:

This is the stakes that are at,

uh, these are the stakes, the, the

760

:

consequences that are on the line for us.

761

:

All

762

:

the stakes are very, very high.

763

:

A couple years ago, 2012, actually,

a guy by the name of Felix

764

:

Baumgartner did something incredible.

765

:

He went up in this balloon right here.

766

:

Lemme see if I, do.

767

:

I have it.

768

:

I do.

769

:

He went up in this balloon

right here, up to space.

770

:

Um, and from this balloon, he

jumped out from space to the ground.

771

:

Pretty impressive.

772

:

He did this with Red Bull and he jumped

in:

773

:

The video's only like a

minute and some, some change.

774

:

Long.

775

:

He jumps out of this thing.

776

:

It's incredible.

777

:

Now, here's what's more incredible.

778

:

The jump itself really

didn't last very long.

779

:

There's the launch.

780

:

They're stoked about it.

781

:

Here's what's most

incredible about this launch.

782

:

They planned it for seven years.

783

:

His jump lasted a minute.

784

:

The planning of it lasted seven years.

785

:

And here's what's super interesting.

786

:

During this whole ordeal, the

most important part of the

787

:

jump was the first 10 seconds.

788

:

If he got the first 10 seconds

wrong, the whole thing ends up

789

:

in destruction, he would've died.

790

:

This really is a jump of life or death.

791

:

And so for the fir, for seven years

leading up into this, he spent

792

:

practicing that jump over and over again.

793

:

Ensuring that he was stable and

that he was jumping exactly as he

794

:

needed to because entering in the

Earth's atmosphere, if he came

795

:

in the wrong way, he burns up.

796

:

He dies.

797

:

Gnarly, right?

798

:

Just incredibly crazy.

799

:

But you see the chute successfully opens.

800

:

This guy makes it all the way down.

801

:

Did I just mention from space?

802

:

Like this guy was just, he's super high

in the, and he makes it all the way down.

803

:

It's a moment where it's celebrating.

804

:

He doesn't last very long, but

he spent seven years planning.

805

:

Planning this jump.

806

:

Crazy, crazy.

807

:

Someday you and I are gonna jump.

808

:

We're not jumping from space to the earth.

809

:

We're jumping from life to death,

and that jump is the most important

810

:

jump of your life for Felix.

811

:

The result for him.

812

:

If he gets it wrong, maybe he dies.

813

:

Kinda a bummer for you and for I,

the jump is not just a matter of

814

:

life and death, it's a matter of

eternal life and eternal death.

815

:

And so it really matters

that you get it right.

816

:

The stakes are high because when that

moment comes, your parachute isn't

817

:

just this, this, this piece of this,

this piece of fabric on his back.

818

:

Your parachute has got to be Jesus Christ.

819

:

And here's the thing, your

parachute isn't church attendance.

820

:

It isn't coming to student

ministry on Wednesday nights.

821

:

It's not good in good grades or

giving out good vibes to people and

822

:

being kind, even though that is good.

823

:

It's not your family's faith.

824

:

It's not, oh, my dad's a

pastor, or My sister has a dog.

825

:

My family owns a cat.

826

:

Isn't that worth something?

827

:

Jesus.

828

:

It's not.

829

:

What really matters is that your

parachute is Jesus Christ because he's

830

:

the only one that can successfully

get you from this life to the next.

831

:

Free from his judgment.

832

:

One, because he himself takes

on the judgment, everything

833

:

that we're talking about.

834

:

Super scary.

835

:

Super scary because I realize if

what we're saying is true, that

836

:

means, again, tonight could be our

last night before Jesus comes back.

837

:

Or something else happens and we,

something, some part of our body fails.

838

:

You need to ensure that

you're ready for his return.

839

:

And of course, what that really means

for us is that you're right with him.

840

:

That you've turned from your

sins and put your faith, your

841

:

full weight into Jesus Christ.

842

:

And if that's true, if that, if that

is you, if you've turned to him in

843

:

faith, man, now's the time to get busy.

844

:

Now's the time to get to work and

say, what do I do in the meantime?

845

:

How do I prepare for Jesus' return?

846

:

'cause it could be at any moment.

847

:

Hebrews chapter three.

848

:

The preacher says this today.

849

:

If you hear his voice,

don't harden your heart.

850

:

It's possible that God's been

working on you for a long time now.

851

:

And scripture says, if you hear his

voice, don't harden your hearts.

852

:

It's possible to hear God's

voice and say, no thank you.

853

:

I don't want that.

854

:

It's possible to feel conviction

and say, oh no, I won't do that.

855

:

I don't wanna do that.

856

:

And either the conviction for you

tonight is, oh man, I should get saved.

857

:

I need to be right with God.

858

:

Or the conviction is I need to do.

859

:

I need to do something about it.

860

:

I need my faith to show that it's real.

861

:

That's a good thing.

862

:

Conviction doesn't feel

good, but it produces good.

863

:

And so I'm gonna ask you tonight

not to try to put that away.

864

:

One of the things that we do after

a sermon like this is like we go and

865

:

we start making jokes and talking

about the video that I saw and, oh,

866

:

this really cool thing that I saw

I was watching and it was funny.

867

:

We try to laugh things off

and get rid of the discomfort.

868

:

I get that nobody likes feeling conviction

869

:

unless, unless we know that we

want to be right with God, in which

870

:

case we welcome the conviction.

871

:

'cause it means, man, uh uh, God,

thank you that you're opening

872

:

my eyes to the truth, and the

truth is Jesus is coming back.

873

:

We don't know when and because he's

coming back, we need to be ready.

874

:

He tells us to warn us, to prepare us.

875

:

So I wanna know, are

you ready to meet Jesus?

876

:

If tonight he called your ticket,

called your number and said,

877

:

Hey, it's time to come on up.

878

:

Come see me.

879

:

Are you ready?

880

:

And if not, let's fix that tonight.

881

:

Okay?

882

:

Let's pray.

883

:

God, thank you for the night to go through

Matthew 24 and 25, or at least part of it.

884

:

Please help us now to spend.

885

:

Helpful, productive, useful

time in our small groups.

886

:

Help us to be focused and attentive.

887

:

We ask all this in Jesus name.

888

:

Amen.

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Compass Student Ministry Sermons Podcast
Compass North Texas Student Ministry Podcast
All the sermons preached at Compass Bible Church North Texas in the student ministry.

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Pastor PJ's Bible Church