Women's Bible Study - October 23rd, 2024 - Living Ready for Christ's Return (Matthew 24)
First B Jackson
2024-10-23

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Just the in

you do that to me. I'm just going to watch your fingers. Good morning, ladies. Get your coffee, find your seat, and we'll worship together. Would you stand with us this morning and worship?

Let me pray for us as we get started. Lord Jesus, we thank you for every single person in this room. We thank you for this study, and we just tell you come have your way today. You are worthy this morning of our worship and of our praise and of this time. So we give it to you in Jesus' name.

We open our mouth and we worship you this morning. We honor you this morning in Jesus name. Amen. Just think this morning about how much your God loves you, how he's just longing to wrap you up today. Lord, we thank you this morning that you paid it all for us before we even chose you.

That's what this means about reckless love is that it wasn't a sure bet. You laid it all down. You laid it all down while we were yet sinners. And you said, here's what I've done for you. And then it's up to us to choose you today.

So we just thank you for that that beautiful love.

Shadow you won't light up. Mountain you won't climb up coming after me. Yeah. There's no way you won't kick down lie you won't tear down coming

Yes, Lord. Where would we be without you? Where would we be without you? Oh, how far we are in our sin away from you, but the moment that we apply your precious blood, we can run into your arms. All we have to give back is our praise, our worship, our gratitude.

Say thank you. That's what we're doing right now in our worship. Think about this. We're gonna teach you this chorus. And the prayer of this song, when we wrote it was just that, Lord, that on that day we see you face to face, find me ready.

Find me ready, ready for you. Use all this time until I see you face to face to refine me, to make me more like you, to be your hands and feet. Because you are coming back, and you're either gonna come riding on the clouds or I'm gonna see you and meet you up there face to face. But Lord, when we're when we are united together, find me ready. That will be our prayer today.

Find us ready. Make us ready. The chorus goes like this. That we would just be burning with a deep love, a deep desire for not only the Lord but for his people. That you would find us ready.

Sing that together. You.

You.

When I sing this song, I just picture the 10 the 10 bridesmaids. You know, they all had lamps, but only half of them had oil when the bridegroom came back. Right? And so I always think of that as, like, you know, we can't just check the box one one time to follow Lord. We can't just say yes, but then not be ready for him.

Like, those bridesmaids were not ready. They had not bought that. That.

To

time. Time.

Time. Time.

It's not too late to press into him and buy oil right now in worship. Amen? We Amen. Amen. Oh, Lord, we just ask that you would prepare our hearts for you.

Prepare our hearts for you. I'm gonna sing these verses and then the pre chorus is just asking the Lord that we would be faithful to him as he is faithful to us. So the first verse goes like this, like a bride on her wedding day.

Like a bride on her wedding day, longing for her groom. Jesus, we're longing, we're longing for you. How long must

you.

Lord, we just invite you into this space today. Be in Deborah's teaching. Let the spirit of revelation just come and touch our hearts today by your spirit. Open our ears. Open our hearts to hear what you're speaking to each one of us.

Tell you we love you in Jesus name and everybody said, amen.

Wow. Well, okay, Lyssa wrote that song. And you you can download it on your Spotify. I listen to it all the time. Was listening to it this morning.

Thank you all so much. Thank you. Yes, Casey. If anyone has extra handouts, can you hold them up? And can you hear me?

Because I feel like I'm not very loud. Okay. Yes. Anybody else need handouts? There's some up here, Casey.

Thank you. Thank you, Katie. Thank you. Okay. You guys put your seat belts on.

We're we're going for the ride of our life this morning. Okay? Are you ready? Yes. On your handout, first of all, I have a disclaimer.

The timeline. Okay? Do you see the timeline? Not everyone agrees with this timeline, and it's okay. It's not a hill we're gonna die on.

I feel like this is the timeline I have believed my whole life and every time I teach this, I go before the Lord and I say, if I'm wrong, you tell me because I will shift gears. This is the craziest thing. As I was preparing for this lesson, I woke up almost every day and in my inbox, because I follow a lot of pastors, was a new teaching on the rapture and the timeline. So I was like, okay, we're going with it again. So you be a Berean.

Do you know who the Bereans were? They were a group of people in the New Testament, and when they were taught something, they would take it to God's word and they would see if it was right. So you do that with me. You do that with me. Absolutely.

I've included scriptures, so you take this, I've included so many scriptures in here for you if you wanna check it out in God's word and just go along with me. Okay, listen song, Find Me Ready. Jesus in Matthew 24 is trying to ready us for what's coming. This is what this chapter is all about and he tees it up at the end of Matthew 23. Jesus is looking at Jerusalem and this this remember is after he gave all the woah, the seven woah statements to the pharisees because he's like, I came to you, truth was standing right in front of you and you just kept rejecting me.

So he gave them the woah statements and then he turns and he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often have I longed to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings? And you are not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. And then Jesus tees us up. He says, but I'll tell you something.

You will not see me again until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And there will come a day, that day is yet to come, but it's coming soon, when the Jews will say, blessed is Jesus Christ who comes in the name of the Lord. Now, the disciples were with him, and they're no doubt noodling on this because what probably really struck them was when he said, your house is left to you desolate. In context, in the Jewish culture, the temple was everything to them. It's where they did their offerings for their sin.

Did you know there were sin offerings every single day? And they would go. Many went to temple every day or three times a day. The temple was the epicenter of Jewish life, of Jewish culture, of festivals, of celebrations. It was everything.

So when Jesus said, look, your house is left to you desolate, I'm sure the disciples were like, what? They were like, Jesus, look at this magnificent temple. Do you know how magnificent their temple was? It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was incredible.

The bricks were overlaid with gold. The temple and its grounds covered, just picture this, over 35 acres. 35 acres, ladies. It was incredible. And Jesus says to them, Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on one on another.

Every single one of them will be torn down. Now, this is a turning point in history right here, turning point. Personally, for Jesus, in Matthew, he is done talking to the Pharisees, and we never see him again talking to the crowd. He has given teachings for three years. Those who are gonna follow him are gonna follow him.

Now he turns his attention only to the disciples and only to his followers. And he also is telling them this temple is going to be decimated. And within forty years, emperor Titus, the Roman emperor, did that. He destroyed this magnificent temple, and they killed many Jews. They dispersed the Jews throughout the world.

Historians tell us it was such a devastating time that the blood of Jews ran like a river through the streets of Jerusalem. It would never be the same again. And Jesus is saying that same shaking that came to Jerusalem is going to come to the world. And there will be a time when I will turn my attention from the crowd, and it will only be on my followers. And the disciples on the Mount Of Olives came to him and they said, Jesus, before this comes, what will be some of the signs?

What what should we teach the church to look for? What should we be aware of because we should be aware? We should not be ignorant. In fact, Paul in first Thessalonians four is talking about the end times and Paul says to the church, be informed, don't be ignorant, know the time you're living in, understand the time you're living in. There's this one little verse in the Old Testament that the Lord shines a light on these people.

They were called the men of Issachar because they knew the times they were living in, they understood the times, and they knew what to do. And Paul is saying, you, the church, you should know what to do, you should know the times you're living in. And the three parables at the end in Matthew 25, Jesus is talking to the church and he's saying some of you aren't ready, and you need to be ready. That's what those parables are about, and we'll close with those. So number one on your handout, what are the signs of the end times?

And as we go through these, I wanna just say, he's very clear. You and I do not know the hour or the day he's going to return, but you know what? We are called to know the season. We are called to know the season. And as we share these end times, I want you to ask yourself, are we coming close to the season?

Are we in the season? I don't know. You you you see what you think. So Jesus tells them, well, first of all, watch out that no one deceives you for many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah. There are going to be many people who will say to you, I can be your God, I can be your savior, follow me, I'll give you everything you want.

But Jesus says, don't be deceived. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Last night, I finished the teaching. This was a bear of a teaching because there's so much I wanted to share with you, and I know I can't keep you all day, so I had to delete, delete, delete. I finished about 08:00, and I just said to Greg, I just we never watch the news.

I just wanna watch the news and just kinda get myself together. And all the news talked about was wars. It was very interesting. The war in Ukraine, how now North Korea is getting involved with the war in Ukraine. I didn't even know any of this.

Russia, China funds the war in Ukraine. They're asking the Europeans to get more involved and fund this war. And then it talked about Israel and how everybody's teeing up to fight against Israel. By the way, this isn't on your handout, Israel is a major player in the end times. Jesus doesn't refer to it in this passage, but in Ezekiel 36, 37, and 38, there is going to be a great war that is going to come upon Israel.

Now this was crazy because Ezekiel names the countries, ladies. So when you're watching the news, do you know who the three big players are that partner with Muslim countries? But the three big players, just keep your ears open, do you know who they are? Russia, yes, Iran, and Turkey. What's interesting is who is funding the terrorists to attack Israel?

Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Yeah. So just stay tuned. Nation will will rise against nation. And then the Lord says there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

He's just saying there will be more and more natural disasters. I was just in California, and I was sitting at a table with millennials, and they were saying, oh my gosh, all these hurricanes that are coming up on us and all these earthquakes, it's climate change. And I said, you know what? It's Jesus changing things. Read Matthew 24, and they all look at me like, I'm just the craziest person.

And they're like, what do you mean? And I'm like, well, predicts this. In fact, he says, they all these are the beginning of birth pains. So what are what are two things that we know about birth pains? They hurt.

They definitely hurt, but they increase in two ways: in intensity and in frequency. So when you see natural disasters increasing in intensity and in frequency and wars and rumors of wars, then you know something is happening. But here's the coolest thing I found when I did a deep dive into these birth pain things. This was actually a word of hope Jesus was giving them. This was a word of hope.

Why was it a word of hope? Because labor pains are purposeful. They're for something. And what are they for? New life.

And I can tell you, when I was about to have Greyson and and Julia, both times I had back labor. Did any of you have that? Oh my gosh, I thought my back was going to break in half. And I told Greg beforehand, I said, wanna see how far I can go without an epidural. I got this.

My back was hurting so bad, and Greg's like, you got this, Deborah. And I grabbed him and I said, Greg, you get that doctor right now. I want that epidural. But the second I had Grayson and then later Julia, Do you think I thought about those labor pains? Are you kidding me?

I was so in love. There was this new life in in my hands. That's all I thought about. And Jesus is giving us a word of hope here. He's saying it's gonna get bad on earth.

It's not gonna be fun. It's gonna be painful like those labor pains, but there is a whole new life coming for you guys, and you can't even imagine how great it is. This is a word of hope. He goes on to say, There's going to be other signs, and one of those other signs is the world in general is going to become less tolerant of you if you follow me. If you keep my morals and my values and if you walk following me, sharing me, speaking my name, Jesus, the world isn't gonna like that.

And at that time, many will turn away from the faith. Many will turn from the faith. Do you wanna know an interesting statistic that just blew me away? So today, in 2024, churches in America have 30% less people attending post COVID. Thirty percent less people are attending church today than attended in 2019.

Many will turn away from the faith. In fact, Paul wrote to Timothy, and he said, Timothy, here's some signs that you should know about, you should teach the church about. In the last days, there will be difficult times. People will consider nothing sacred. And I was just thinking, I read a lot during the day, so at night, I I can't read, and I just I just want to, like, veg out with a good TV series.

And Greg is like, Deborah, there is no TV series that you approve of because because nothing is sacred. I mean, they take the Lord's name in vain every other sentence. The things they do on TV and say on TV, I am blown away by. Nothing is sacred anymore. Paul goes on to say, because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

And I was like, the love of most will cold. We know from first Corinthians 13, the Lord defines what love is. I mean, think about the culture we live in. He says that love is kind, it is not easily offended. Remember what Dallas Willard said, the mark of a mature Christian is not how much knowledge that you and I have, but how easily offended we are.

Are people easily offended today? They are. And it also says that love protects. We live in a country that was founded on Judeo Christian principles, and one of those principles in our country that's very different from other countries is that life has great value. Your life has value.

The most vulnerable of us have value. Our elderly, our sick, our babies, our babies in the womb, they have value. We have always believed this. What what is happening today in our country? We have one party at their convention that set up an abortion truck.

And you know what was so shocking about that to me? The women were having not baby showers but abortion showers, celebrating life has value, the love of many will grow cold. As I was researching this, the free press did some current research that is just hot off the press about sex trafficking in America. Do you know that in the last four years under this administration, sex trafficking has tripled in America. This is appalling, my friends.

Where are we? What are we doing about this? People advertise on TikTok and Facebook. And do you know what? The free press, they went to Texas on the border, they talked to people who are fighting against it.

Do you know what these people said? You will not even believe this. They said, You can order a child, a little girl, within fifteen minutes. In America today, you can order a child as easily as you can order a pizza. That is messed up.

That is not okay. The love of most will grow cold, and I share that with you to make you aware if the Lord is moving your spirit to get involved, get involved somehow. Help these organizations, A21. I love this organization. Christine Cain heads up A21.

She does a lot of good work. My friends in California work for her, support these organizations that are fighting against this atrocity. But Jesus encourages us. He says, but if you will stand firm with me till the end, you will be saved. And he goes, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Now, you know what's interesting about the gospel being preached? My husband was part of this ministry called the Men of Issachar because this ministry was going out to these crazy places. Greg went to the jungles of Burma. Burma was his territory where they had not heard about Jesus in generations, they had not even seen a white man and they they were just like blown away by him because he had blue eyes and Burma, they don't have blue eyes and he told them about Jesus And this was he started with with this organization, I don't know, probably twenty five years ago. They just had their recent meeting, and they're saying, we pretty much have gone to the four corners.

I mean, the word is out now and because of the cell phone and the Internet, it is everywhere. We have penetrated places that haven't been penetrated for a thousand years. The word is there now. Even undercover in scary places like Saudi Arabia and North Korea, the word is penetrating. Now, the disciples must have asked the question here because I just decided to do it the way Jesus did through Matthew 24 about more signs because now Jesus in verse 15, he jumps into the tribulation on your timeline.

He jumps into the tribulation here and he says, and I think this is gonna blow you away. He says, so when you see standing in the holy place Okay, what is the holy place? The temple. And he just said the temple is going to be destroyed. Was the temple destroyed?

In seventy AD, it was destroyed. Is there a temple today? No. There's no temple. It has not been rebuilt because why?

Because the Jews were dispersed and we know another sign of the end times in May 1948, like a phoenix rising out of the ash heap of history, Israel, after two thousand years, was reborn. And Jews have been coming back in record numbers to their homeland. Okay, So now there's a country of Israel again, but there's still no temple, and Jesus says when you see standing in the holy place. Over two thousand years, there was a small remnant of Jews that stayed in Jerusalem, but they knew there was no way they could have a temple. They didn't even have a country.

But since they've been a country, actually for the past forty years have you heard of the Temple Institute? Okay. So the Temple Institute for the past forty years has been reconstructing sacred vessels because we have the Old Testament, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy that are very specific about what the menorah looks like, what the altar in the temple looked like, very specific what fabrics and threads you can use for priestly garments. So for the past forty years, the Temple Institute has been researching, reconstructing everything needed for the temple down to the priestly garments. And because we live in 2024 and we have advanced DNA testing, the Temple Institute has tested young men throughout Israel and has identified men who have DNA in them from the tribe of Levi.

And why is this important? Because you cannot be a priest in the temple and you cannot sing in the temple if you're not from the tribe of Levi. Now what's very interesting about this is that these men have given their life to be trained up to be temple priests, and today, they have their teachings ready. They have their priestly garments ready. There is a Levitical choir academy, and the singers know their songs.

The hymns are ready. Everything is ready for this temple to be rebuilt that Jesus is talking about here. There was one thing, however, that wasn't ready. And if you find any research on this, I'd love to know because for two thousand years, we I could not find that this thing was here and it's called the perfect red heifer. There are these cows that they have to have, they have to be without blemish, they're red in color, and for two thousand years, there have not been perfect red heifers.

But again, with DNA, advanced DNA and in vitro, guess what? Guess what? Just two years ago in 2022, some Texas funded evangelical Christians sent to Israel five red heifer cows. Perfect red heifers that are being under surveillance now in Shiloh, Israel. And this is so important because according to Numbers 19, in order to build the temple, these red heifers have to be sacrificed in order to purify the ground for the temple to be reconstructed.

Wow. I mean, I know what you're thinking right now. You're thinking, holy cow. I think that's where that must have came from. So what is really interesting is that I found this article from LaCroix International News.

And LaCroix International News said, these red heifers have stirred up a lot of conversation in the religious and political world because it was the last thing needed to build the temple. And this was so crazy. And this article so remember last year on October 7, the massacre in Israel? Remember that? Well, one of the spokesmen for Hamas, his name is Abu Obadiah, he mentions these red cows because he said this was viewed by the Muslim world as an act of aggression.

Now, why would he say that? Well, because what sits on the Temple Mount today? A mosque and the Dome Of The Rock. And the Dome Of The Rock is the third holiest site in Islam. So Muslim leaders, radical Islamic leaders understand things are heating up for them.

I don't know how this temple is going to be built, but I just know that everything is set in motion for this temple to be built. So going back to what Jesus says happens in the temple when it's built, he says, there will be an abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel. Let the reader understand this. He's saying, Church, understand this. If Well, I will tell you what I did with this passage.

When I was in California, I went to all my Jewish friends and I said, I'm gonna read this to you, and then in my house, you know where my closet is where all my teachings are, if we're all gone and this happens, you go find my teachings because it's going down. Because Jesus says, if the abomination that causes desolation is set up in the temple, he's talking to the Jews in Jerusalem and Israel. He said, run to the mountains. Flee to the mountains. If it's cold, don't even go in your house and get a coat.

Get out of there. Get to the mountains. So what what is this all about? Okay. This is what happens in the beginning of the tribulation.

The tribulation starts not when the rapture happens. The tribulation starts when Israel signs a peace treaty with the Antichrist, and the Antichrist is a fake messiah that promises them peace. So we believe that Ezekiel 36 through 38, that war that comes upon Israel, there will be such devastation and Israel will not have any allies at this time. So this leader emerges and the Bible tells us he is a charismatic, smooth talking leader that people just follow. They're fascinated by him.

And he promises peace to the world because there is craziness happening in the world. And he promises Israel, not only will I give you peace, but I'll let you start your sacrifices again in the temple. And so for three and a half years, that's what happens. There is relative peace during the tribulation, but at that three and a half year mark, this fake Messiah sets up an abomination. What does that mean?

We just know that it's some very offensive idol that is the opposite of Yahweh. He goes into Yahweh's temple and he sets up something that the Bible tells us the whole world can see. We live in a day and age where the whole world can see, right here in our phone, some kind of idol that talks and moves. Okay, ladies, consider what AI can do today. I mean, this is this is very interesting times we're living in.

So he sets this up, and Jesus says, and from Daniel nine, first of all, write this down, Daniel nine twenty seven, I don't know if I put that on your handout. Daniel nine twenty seven tells us exactly how long this tribulational period will be. It will be seven years. But Daniel twelve eleven also tells us that in the middle of it, he's gonna set this idol up, and then it's hell on earth. Abs he unleashes hell on earth, and this is during the tribulation.

And Jesus says about this tribulational period, there will be great distress, unequal to the beginning of the world and never to be equaled again. And Jesus says, he's speaking to us, ladies. He's saying, if I had not cut those days short, no one would have survived. Okay. So I think this tees us up for the Rapture because he saves the Rapture for way down in verse 36.

He says, The day and the hour, no one knows. So we don't predict the day and the hour, not even the angels in the heavens nor the sun, but only the father. But he does tell us this, as in the days of Noah, so will be in the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage. In other words, people were just going about their everyday life.

People were just doing what we do every day, and they knew nothing about what would happen. They were completely clueless. Do you think today people are a little bit clueless about what's happening in our world? The world doesn't have eyes to see what's happening. And then Jesus says this, two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left.

If he was riding to Jackson Hole, he would say, two men will be skiing. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill. One will be taken. One will be left.

Two women will be at Smith's grabbing bananas, and one will just be gone, and the other lady will just be like, what happened to her? Therefore, keep watch. Even Jesus tells us, keep watch. Be ready because you don't know what day your Lord will come, So you must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. It's going to be a surprise.

So number two in your handout, the rapture is the next event on God's timeline. That is the next thing that's going to happen. And nothing needs to happen according to prophecy today for the rapture to occur. The Rapture, what exactly how is that going to play out? I think there is a day on the horizon where in the blink of an eye, millions of people are going to disappear.

I mean, imagine what this is going to be like. Planes will fall from the air because pilots are gone. Teachers will be teaching a class like this, and all their young students are gone, missing. Cars are gonna pile up on freeways because the drivers are gone. And as a result, there's gonna be great panic on this earth as people are running through the streets looking for their loved ones because they're gone.

And it's very interesting to know that our God is a God of justice, but he is also a God of incredible mercy and grace. And we know that all babies and all children will be gone, missing from their cribs. They will not go through the tribulation. Jesus is going to save those babies. So exactly how does this happen?

First Thessalonians four tells us, the Lord Jesus himself will come down from heaven with a loud command and the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive are left to be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with him forever. Therefore, encourage one another, this is the word Paul uses, encourage one another with these words. And I will tell you, my 32 year old daughter is like, mom, don't teach the rapture, it's so scary. She's terrified of the rapture.

She came in one day and Greg and I were out back and she's running through the house and she's so stressed out and I'm like Jules, what is wrong with you? She goes mom, I really thought the rapture happened and I wasn't taken and I'm like Jules, it is, you know you're gonna be taken, you have the Holy Spirit, you're ready. He is not gonna leave us and it's not going to be like we're gonna be like rocket ships catapulted up, that would be terrifying, wouldn't it? And here is the exciting news, First Corinthians fifteen fifty two, how quickly is it gonna happen, ladies? He says, Paul First Corinthians 15 is another chapter on the Rapture and Paul says, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye.

Okay, scientifically, do you know what that means? How fast is the twinkling of an eye? Just say one, That's a second, right? The twinkling of an eye is one third of a second. Okay, so when Jesus comes in the air, we're not gonna be like flying up, we're gonna be face to face with him like that in the twinkling of an eye, so we don't need to fear.

There's no fear in love. He is love. He loves us. He's like, don't be afraid, be encouraged. When this goes down, it's gonna happen in a second.

And what's really interesting, this word caught up is the word used in Latin where we get our English word rapture. And do you know what this word means? It is the word rapio, a r a p I o, which means like nanosecond, but it also means to be carried off with extreme happiness and excitement. And I was thinking about that, and I was like, well, okay Lord, we as humans, we just don't like change that much, and this is a big change. Like, we're just gonna be meeting you in the air, and why would we have this happiness and excitement?

And it just hit me like a rock, of course, because we're gonna what he says, we're gonna meet you. We're gonna meet you, Jesus. Do you know what that's gonna be like? I mean, you and I, we have these moments. I just had my two grandsons, one and three, for four days, and man, I love them.

I just eat them alive. My lips hurt. I kiss them so much. I love them, but I know I'm just a human. And guess what?

I get tired because three in one, they don't stop. My Fitbit sent me a notification saying, Congratulations, you had ten hours of constant movement today. So by the end of that, I'm like, Go to bed and don't get up because Nana is exhausted. But I love them. But God doesn't just love us, He is love.

And you and I have never looked into the eyes of 100% unconditional love. And in one nanosecond, I'm going to be with him. Do you know how good that's going to feel? Do you know how protected you're going to feel? How supported you're going to feel?

Sometimes you just feel like, I don't belong anywhere. I feel like that sometimes, like, I don't belong anywhere. Sometimes I just don't feel connected. You and I are going to belong. We are going to feel so connected when we come face to face with that kind of love.

So he says, Don't be afraid. It's going to be a beautiful, amazing event. So that leads to the question of why is it even necessary? Why is the rapture necessary? And it's necessary because the Lord has a history of saving his people.

He saved Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He saved Noah and his family when the earth, the world was destroyed by the flood, and he's saying there's another great shaking coming, and I'm gonna save you from that. That's why we have the rapture. Revelation three ten says, since you you, my followers, since you have kept my command to endure, I will keep you from that hour of trial that is going to come to the whole world to test the world. Hour of trial means tribulation.

That's what that means. And first Thessalonians one ten says, we look forward to with confidence and we wait for Jesus from heaven because Jesus will personally rescue us from the coming wrath. Thanks be to God, right? He's gonna rescue us, we don't need to worry. But there's this dilemma here in Matthew 24 and throughout Scripture and the dilemma is this, in verse 36, Jesus says, no one will know the day or the hour.

But Daniel 12 tells us we won't know when he's coming back down to the very day. Daniel gives us a very specific seven year period. So how is that possible? Well, point number three, Jesus is coming back twice. There are two second comings.

The first is called the rapture and the second is called the second coming. And I've included five scripture references for you to look up. So real quick, I'm just gonna go through them. At the rapture, we meet the Lord in the air. At the second coming specifically tells us in Revelation nineteen fourteen and Zechariah fourteen four that he will come down, his feet will stand on the Mount Of Olives.

So he comes to earth. The second coming occurs after the great and terrible tribulation. That's why the church isn't mentioned. The church is mentioned in Revelations one, two, and three, but from four to 18, the church is not mentioned at all until we come back with him at the end of the tribulation. The rapture is the removal of all believers from the earth as an act of deliverance and it will be in a nanosecond, but the second coming, the whole world will see.

At the end of the tribulation, Revelation one seven says, When the son of man will appear and all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see him. Why will they mourn? Because they're gonna go, Man, I got it wrong. I chose the wrong God. Jesus ends his teaching on the Mount Of Olives with three parables encouraging you and I to ready ourselves.

His purpose in sharing the end times what is his purpose in sharing the end times? So that we can predict the day and the hour? No. To scare us? No.

He has one purpose in sharing it, and that's to prepare us, to ready us, to get us ready for what's coming. He says to the wise servants and the five virgins who were ready, they had three things in common, all of them. Number one, they had an awareness that although this life is really short, it matters. What we do in this life really, really matters. It matters.

You know, those 10 virgins or bridesmaids, they all had the same lamp, guys. They all looked the same on the outside. And remember, Jesus isn't talking to the crowds anymore. He's talking to the church. So we don't know who's a believer and who's not, only God knows that.

He says you all look the same on the outside, but some of you are missing something and you're not ready. You don't have the Holy Spirit within you. Why? Why do you come and listen and listen and never never really understand, never really accept me. He's saying, once that door is shut, it's shut.

Today is the day of salvation, so ready yourselves. The wicked servants were just all about this life today, eating, drinking, being comfortable, the frantic search for happiness. They weren't advancing the kingdom at all. But the wise servants used what God gave them. God gives us time, he gives us abilities, and he gives us money, and we use it to advance the kingdom.

There's an interesting verse in Matthew nineteen twenty nine that just kinda jumped out at me. You know what Jesus says to us in the church? He says, whatever you do for me, whatever you do to advance the kingdom, whatever you do, if you share me with someone, if you help someone, if you give to someone, you're going to receive a 100 times that amount when you're with me in eternity. Wow, that's a pretty good rate of return. A 100 times that amount?

Invest wisely. The wicked servants weren't investing wisely. So number one, they were aware that this life is short but it matters. Number two, they remained faithful to God. The wise servants and the wise brides were faithful to God.

What does that mean? You know, it's interesting how often people will come to me in Bible study or in the church and say, you know, God's just not answering my prayers. I have no idea what my purpose is. I keep asking and he doesn't tell me what my purpose is. And you know, through these parables, you know what I think the Lord would say to them?

I gave you a little and you weren't faithful to me. I can't depend on you with a little, so why would I depend on you with more? There's an interesting verse that the Lord kept giving to me that I'm like, okay, someone needs to hear it. From Proverbs twenty one thirteen, whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out to me and not be answered. The Lord needs to know he can depend on you, and he will bring you opportunities.

And you know what? He's not tapping you on the shoulder physically saying, help this person. He leaves it entirely up to you, and no one but you and the Lord knows. But he will bring people that need you, and you can walk away, or you can be faithful and you can help. Matthew tells us a 100 times more, Faithfulness is showing that God can depend on you, but faithfulness also requires a lot of courage because this side of heaven, we walk by faith, not by sight.

That's gonna be one of the greatest blessings of heaven. We get to see Jesus, it's all gonna make sense. No more faith. I mean, how many times have I said to Jesus, I wish you could just sit down and talk to me about this because I'm not sure. But he says, just be courageous, just keep on doing what you're doing, keep praying for that prodigal child believing in me, stay faithful, keep praying for that husband that doesn't care about me, Stay faithful, don't give up on me.

I'm moving if you're praying. Be dependable, stay with me, just follow me, be a disciple, spend time with me, start thinking like me, do what I do. Dallas Willard says, and this is a powerful quote, Dallas Willard says, discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you. Who would Jesus be if he were you? That's what discipleship is.

It's that process of allowing Jesus free reign in my life and becoming who Jesus would be if he were you. So number two, they remained faithful. God could depend on them, he could trust them. And number three, they persevered. They didn't give up.

Even when it seems like it's taking forever for the Lord to move, persevere through it. Stick with him. Just like he said to Peter, he goes, Peter, are you gonna leave me too? You know, everyone's leaving me. Are you gonna leave me too?

And I love Peter's answers because this is what I say to the Lord when I'm so frustrated with him. I'm like, well, where else am I gonna go? So I'm gonna hang in there with you. And I can tell you I've never regretted that ever. I've never regretted that.

Jesus says in Matthew 25, Lisa, if you wanna come on up, he says, the bridegroom, that's Jesus, he came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, but the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned and they said, Lord, Lord, let us in, let us in. And you know what he said to them? I'm sorry, I don't know you. You and I haven't spent time together, I don't I don't really know you.

And then he says this, so you too be ready, keep watch. You do not know the day or the hour of my return. So church, I think the biggest question that you and I have to answer, and I pray you sit with the Lord and you answer this, Does he know you? Does he know you? Well, just your eternal life depends on that.

Does he know you? Does he know you? Did you talk to him today? Did you talk to him yesterday? Does he know you?

Father, thank you that you give us the opportunity to know you. Lord, will you please ready our hearts? Ready our hearts to just know you, to love you, to cry out to you. And I know that you'll be there for us every inch of the way. Thank you, Lord, for your word.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's just stay in this posture for just another moment. Lord, there's so much more to look forward to. And Lord, give us vision of your return and seeing you face to face.

You.

Yes, sir. Lord, we just bring the sticks, and then you send the fire. That's what that line means, that love has sparked this burning in my heart and I will burn through every storm because, Lord, we bring the sticks but your Holy Spirit sends the fire and we can't get that fire. We can't get that fire that will help us last to run this race with endurance. Like your word says, those who have endured to the end, we have to come to you and get that fire lit every day.

It's just like, Lord, how your word talks about take away the ashes of yesterday. How the priest would remove the ashes of yesterday and bring a new burnt offering because the fire from yesterday wasn't meant to be held over the night and for the next day. He longs for us to seek him fresh every day. So Lord, that part is on us to come to you, to bring the sticks of our life, the sticks of our talent, treasures, our burdens, all of it. And then you send the fire of your spirit.

We just thank you. We thank you. Lord, find us ready. Sing this one more time. You.

We'll be in our conversations in our small group. Pray that we would each dig into your word and that your Holy Spirit would reveal truth to us. We tell you we love you. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen. Isn't it awesome having Ray up here?

I I don't even wanna stop.