Skip to content Empowered for the Last Days - Last Days, Part 3 May 15 · 54 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
156K followers
Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
156K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
0:17 Good morning, Waters Church.0:30 So good to see you guys. I want to just express a heartfelt gratitude to this church for how on board you are with what we are doing with0:42 planting locations across the world and in this nation. You know, you think about how many churches just stalled out because of COVID, but our church just moved forward and advanced even faster0:54 than it had been before the pandemic. I thank you for that being on board. You're okay with video messages. You're doing such a great job with that. I've been having to spend a little bit more time giving a little bit1:06 more intention to Florida, and they're not gonna hear this, but you're gonna hear this. And I just thank you for that. We planted a church 1200 miles away. That's not an easy thing to do. And then and and and when1:16 there's a church plant, and we talked about this the first Tuesday, the devil doesn't want the church there. Can I get a good amen right there? And and so we're seeing the devil, attack, but we're seeing so many other1:26 positive things move forward in the right direction. And we took some steps. We made some changes, and God is doing some great things. Already, we feel the spirit has changed, and the Lord is on on the move down there. I1:38 wanna thank you for allowing me to do that. Can I just say thank you for allowing me and my wife to do that? I can't express it enough. You guys are great. And it's not that1:50 I'm gonna go down there permanently and never come up here. That's not gonna happen. But there are gonna be seasons. And and 1 day soon, we're gonna have a church in North Carolina. I believe it by faith. I believe we're
1:59 gonna have a church in Tennessee. I do believe it by faith. And we're gonna we're gonna reach them southerners for Jesus. Hallelujah. And we're gonna we're gonna teach them how to talk like this. Yes.
2:11 And, we're gonna we're gonna bring the gospel around the country. I feel like this is what God has put in our church, and I and I know that great things are on the way. I know that Josh Vining is watching right now with
2:22 his lovely wife, Michelle. Can you guys give them a hand? We're gonna have a church down there with you guys. We love you guys. He wanted me to tell you that if any of you wanna move down to the North Carolina area, hook
2:34 him up and, or or hook up with him and get in contact with him and and join the church movement, okay? But if you are a big giver, don't. Amen. Just kidding.
2:47 Speaking of giving, okay, let's get on to that. You know, inflation's killing everybody. It's tough. What can we do? Tough, tough, tough. It's killing a little bit of our budget for Tiverton.
2:59 So, we have a we have a gap. What we budgeted for build out there. There's always an addition. We always budget for that addition because there's always last minute things that happen, and you never know what a fire
3:09 department is gonna say about your assembly space. And so they came in and said a bunch of stuff that we didn't expect. Well, we expect that, and we budget for that. But with inflationary costs on building materials,
3:18 it's all gone up. Everything's gone up. So here's what I'm asking for you to do. Can can some of you give, again, to For the Sake of the above and beyond your tithes and offerings? For the sake of the 1 was our giving
3:30 campaign last year, if you remember with me. You did such a great job. It was 1 of our most successful campaigns, 1 of our quickest campaigns. But with the inflationary cost, would you help us out there? It's about a 50
3:41 to 60000 dollar gap. We could dip into a lot of our other options, but we don't wanna do that. We also have to have a nest egg, little little savings for emergency purposes. But but if you can do that, if it's on
3:52 someone's heart, if the Lord's stirring you right now, as Paul the apostle says, not out of grudging, not out of, you know, a sense of guilt, not anything like that. God loves a cheerful giver. Alright. So if you
4:04 want to cheerfully help us meet that gap, amen. Thank you so much for the sake of the 1 in the memo line or on the memo line on your online giving, whatever you want to And we'll get that campus done. It is close to
4:16 being completed. We're about to send Mehdi, who is our emcee down there. And we have a bunch of people ready to join the church when it opens. I'm so excited. So it's happen. That would help us out.
4:27 Thank you so much if you do that. Okay. We wanna say welcome to everybody who's watching on video. We wanna say hello to Woonsocket. Hello to Apollo Beach. Hello to Guatemala. Hello to Norwood. Hello to our future
4:39 location in Fall River Tiverton, Mass or Tiverton, Rhode Island, Fall River, Massachusetts. And everybody online around the world and everybody here, let's give them a big hand and welcome them in. And you guys, welcome
4:49 us in. We're so glad to be with you. Last day is part 3. Everybody take out your notes. It looks like this if you're in house. Notes look like this. And we want you to fill in the blanks and follow along with
5:01 us. And take out your Bibles and open up to Matthew chapter 25. Or a smartphone Bible, open up to Matthew chapter 25. And we're gonna get into a topic here that that I wanna speak on
5:13 regarding the last days. You know, we talked about Israel in in a week 1 of this series. We talked about the world. We talked about Antichrist in
5:25 week 2 of this series. But we haven't talked about this, the church. The church of the last days. What does the church of
5:37 the last days look like? And and we don't have to guess because Jesus knows what the church will look like. And he tells us what that church looks
5:49 like in Matthew chapter 25. And he doesn't tell us these things to scare us. He tells us to prepare us. Not a single thing about
6:01 the last days is intended to strike fear in the heart of God's people. But all that we are given about, you know, 30 percent of this book is
6:13 prophecy, 15 percent of it is about the second coming, not the first coming of Jesus. All that amount of biblical material regarding his second coming is not there to strike fear in our
6:24 hearts. It's to give us an anticipation that Jesus could come at any moment, That the Lord is waiting for the father to tell him son go
6:36 get your bride the bride the church of Jesus and we could be with Jesus by 6 pm tonight How many of you would be on board with that? Yeah.
6:49 How many of you are like, well, I kinda like my job. You're like, give it time. But hardly anybody. Right? He could come tonight. But here's what I wanna talk to you about today. Prepared for the last
7:01 days. Yes. There's gonna be global chaos, worldwide deception, and anti Christ spirit with if you remember, anti meaning replacement Christ. There's gonna be a replacement Christian faith
7:12 on the world, on the world stage, there's gonna be a dictator beast. There's gonna be this world leader. There's gonna be this global panic, war, blood, guts. It's a Sylvester Stallone and Arnold
7:24 Schwarzenegger movie wrapped into 1. Gonna be mega mayhem, but there's gonna be a church standing for Jesus right in the middle of all of it. Because the Lord always gives
7:36 his church the strength he that they need to stand up for him. So I wanna talk to you on being prepared for the last days. Would you stand with me at all of our locations? Matthew 24,
7:48 if you remember, we have been talking about that passage. When it talks about the darkness and the dread and the wars and the birth pains and the plagues and the famines. Again, action flick, all
8:00 the end times action flicks wrapped into 1, Matthew 24. But Matthew 25 is connected to Matthew 24, not just chronologically, but with a connecting word. And the connecting word is right there, the very first
8:12 word of Matthew 25. The word is, if you have your Bibles open Amen. Then. Somebody say, then. Then. So Matthew 24, blood, guts, war, pay
8:23 famines, plagues, pestilence, signs of the times, earthquakes. Right? Then on the heels of all that or as that's happening, then, here's what it says. The kingdom
8:35 of heaven will be like the kingdom of heaven refers to you and I. We're part of the kingdom of heaven. So the kingdom of heaven will be like, what? 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 5
8:47 of them were what? Foolish. The word in Greek is moros, from which we get the English moron. Isn't that funny? I love Jesus' sense of humor.
9:00 5 of the virgins were morons. Oh, I like that. And 5 were what? Wise. Wise. And then it says this, for when the foolish took their lamps, they took
9:12 no oil with them. But when the wise took their lamps, it says they took they took oil in their flasks. And as the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
9:25 But at midnight, there was a cry. Here is the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then all the virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil for our
9:36 lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who
9:48 were ready somebody say, ready. Ready. Yeah. Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. And the doors were shut.
10:01 Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch
10:13 therefore, for you know not whether the day you know, neither the day nor the hour and this is god's word. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, speak to
10:25 your church. Speak to your bride. May we have wisdom around what we see and hear so
10:37 that we are ready and help us in this moment to be equally as prepared in that moment to see Jesus in
10:49 his mighty name we pray and everybody said amen. Amen. God bless you. Have a seat. What what is this parable about? What is this weird parable? 10 virgins,
11:01 5 morons, 5 wise, delayed wedding banquet. What is goat? What is Jesus trying to tell us? He's trying to show us what does a last day's church
11:13 look like. On your notes, I've got a 1 word answer to that question. I want you to fill in the blank. All locations, take out your notes. If you see someone not taking notes, just tell them don't be a moron. And and
11:24 here's what I want you to write down. What does a last day's church look like? 1 word. Ready? Ready. Ready? Ready. Ready. A last church a last day's
11:36 church. So we've we've talked about the world, global chaos. And in so many ways, we see the birth pains now. Families, pestilence, plagues, earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, all these kind of things we talked about in
11:47 week 2. We we've seen the the delay the the the ability of government to manipulate news and control the narrative so that they can control your lives. We've watched this. We've witnessed this for 2 plus
11:59 years. We've seen the the the the mandates and the passports and all the things that are gonna kinda, like, lead to the mark of the beast. And it's like it's like everything is being set. The table's being set. And and
12:10 when we can look at the world, and and we can freak out, and we can think, wow. The world's getting bad, and it is. But what we really need to do is say, how's my heart?
12:22 Am I what? Ready. You need to be ready to receive Jesus when he
12:33 comes. And I want you to notice that the first parable on that word then. Let's let's put that up first 1 of Matthew 25. Then then the king when when the days of the lord return
12:45 is at hand, the church will look like this. 5 and 5. 5 will be ready, and 5 will not be. Now, any mathematicians in the
12:57 house, and you don't even need to really be 1, to tell me what percentage of 5 is what percentage of 10 is 5? 50 percent. It's even in the number.
13:09 50. Right? 5. 50. Here's what Jesus is saying. 50 percent of my church professing Christians will be ready.
13:21 Here's the sad part. 50 percent won't be. 50 percent of the people who claim to know Jesus won't be ready. Why? Because it's gonna get hard. It's gonna get
13:32 difficult. The world is gonna continue to get darker. Look at what it says here in Luke 21 36. It's on your notes. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have
13:44 strength to, what? Escape all these things that are going to, what? Take place and to stand before the son of man. Now there is and now oh, gosh. Alright. Let me just I am gonna make some
13:55 enemies today. I know. There is a theological structure. It has to be read into the text. It's a it's a very recent doctrine, and it teaches many Christians
14:07 that don't worry about the end because we're gonna go away before it all happens. It's called the secret rapture, and some of you are baking on that. You're baking on it because instead of reading the Bible, you're
14:18 playing Halo. What is this? 19 96? You're playing, I don't know, whatever the newest game is. And you're just like, no, don't worry about that because Jesus is gonna get me out of this whole thing and I'm gonna miss all
14:30 the tribulations not part of my life. Okay. Are you sure? Because Jesus says in Luke 21, pray that you will have the strength. Why would you need strength if you're gonna get
14:42 rescued? Pray that you have the strength to escape. Why would you need to escape if you're gonna go if you're not gonna be there? Why would God ask you to pray that you would have the strength to escape? And does it take
14:54 strength to get raptured? No. That's what he would do. He does that. Strength to escape means you gotta be strong to be prepared. Strong in your faith, not
15:06 a weak Christian. Let me give you another passage because this question came up on my YouTube channel, 10 questions with Tim. And I know a lot of you tune in, they ask this question. I know what you believe about the
15:15 rapture, but can you give me some passages? And I wanna show you this passage. And here's what it says in second Thessalonians 1 6. God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. Now look at this
15:26 next line. And to grant, what? Relief. Relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty
15:38 angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know god and on those who do not obey the gospel of the lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal just destruction away from the
15:50 presence of the Lord, from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and be marveled out among all who believe because of our testimony to you was believed. Why on earth would we
16:02 need relief when Jesus comes if we're already with him? I know I'm making some enemies
16:14 right now. That's why you're not so amen ing me right now. I wanted to tell you that on regards to the rapture and this secret rapture
16:25 theology, I pray you're right, but I don't think you are. And so I'm praying that you're ready. Because it's not gonna be a
16:37 joke, And it's gonna get tougher. And the Lord Jesus is coming back to give us relief. And right now, he can give you
16:49 strength to escape and not to be sucked up by the world. And
17:01 this is the picture that Jesus paints for us in Matthew 25 on the heels of Matthew 24. Theologians call it the Olivet Discourse because he was on the Mount of Olives. By the way, the Mount of Olives is where he's coming
17:11 back. It's across the Kidron Valley from the temple. He will come back on the very same mountain that he prayed his last prayer before he went to the cross. And he is telling us that when it comes to that time, many of
17:23 the church will be asleep and unprepared. Half, in fact. And I don't want you to be that church. I don't want you to be that church. I want you to be ready. The
17:35 kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. But you have to understand how weddings went down in the first century in Jewish culture. It's a 3
17:46 stage process. Step 1, the dads would get together and arrange the marriage. The dad of the girl and
17:58 the dad of the guy. I think we need to get back to biblical standards in this church. The father of a 20 year old girl speaking to you right now. Come
18:10 on. Some of you know this from your own life's experience. I wish I listened to somebody when I married this person. But in the old ancient world and even still in many parts of this world, there's something called
18:21 arranged marriages where mom and dad tell you, this is who you're gonna marry. Like our individualistic, highly individualistic American ideals freak out at them. Like, no. Not that. But
18:33 most of the world has been like this. Most of the world has been like this before America got here and decided that you could be you. Okay. So they would arrange a step 1. Then there would be
18:45 number 2, a betrothal betrothal was not a highly choreographed Instagram post with the man on his knee and the woman blushing like she's surprised
18:57 pretending to be surprised because they ordered the cameraman to be there. The patrol there was they would make vows to each other. We're going to marry each other. We're going to be true to each other and
19:09 then step 3, the well, step 2, this is the process. They would separate for a year but they were officially married. To break that off would be considered divorce. When Mary becomes
19:21 pregnant with Jesus, it's in that 1 year period between the betrothal and the consummation. That's why it says that Joseph assumed that she had had sex with somebody, and she and he thought to divorce her quietly.
19:33 And that and it says he was a righteous man because he was going to do it quietly when, actually, the tradition was to do it shamefully because there was nothing more shameful than to be betrothed to another man and then
19:41 get pregnant by another man. So a 1 year separation. What would the dude be doing during that 1 year? Dads of girls, you're gonna love this. He was getting a job.
19:53 He was working, sweating, building a house because you can't bring a bride into your parents basement. Come on
20:05 somebody. Am I preaching now? I don't know. I I don't know why we think we're so advanced in this culture. We're so smarter than the ancient world. We're so smart. You come and live with me and my parents. We'll play
20:16 Halo. Smoke some reefer. It'll be fun. No. No. He would work. He would build his house. He would get that ready. Do you know
20:27 why? Because he valued her. And so then he would 1 year later have this processional and they would march from the
20:38 bridegroom's house to the bride's father's house and it was a big celebration. And it usually was at night, and they would have torches so that everybody could just watch. It was like the fireworks on the fourth of July.
20:48 Everybody could just watch this glory. And there was nothing more exciting in an ancient world village than a Jewish wedding because it would be filled with lights and dancing and everybody celebrating. And they would
20:58 take the bride from her father's house, and they would link up together and walk back to the to the new husband's home with all of the bridesmaids with their torches lit, and it was just an exciting time. But the
21:09 bridesmaids had to be ready, all dressed the same, ready to receive the groom when he was about to come so that they could all celebrate and then enter into the celebration. And a wedding feast
21:21 in Jewish days was not 4 hours on a Saturday at the country club. It was 7 full days. The whole village was involved. It was a party.
21:33 It was glorious. And that's where we're headed at the last day, the wedding supper of lamb, a glorious party and celebration in heaven with Jesus and all the saints of old
21:44 forever. But as Jesus says, this is the look that I want you to see. And here's what would happen. And and sometimes, the bridegroom would get a little bit delayed or or something would happen. It'd be
21:56 a little bit of a wait, and here's what happens. In this moment, he delays until midnight. And and and then something exposes in the hearts of those bridesmaids. Verse
22:08 2, 5 were foolish, 5 were wise. What was the difference? The foolish ones took oil for their lamps. They were ready for the delay.
22:21 The the foolish said, no. No. No. No need. We're good. We feel like the lord might be here enough in in time or, you know, no no no worries. We'll we'll be fine.
22:34 And what what what you have to understand is this is a picture of of what we must be in our hearts regarding Jesus' return. And I wanna give you 3 ideas about this, about
22:46 being ready. Because I think there is so much of our time as a church that is moronically spent on things that don't matter. And we need to be people who focus
22:58 on what does. Point number 1, it won't matter how you look on the outside, it matters what's on the inside.
23:10 All 10 virgins would wear white garments. They would all be given these garments by the wedding coordinators in those days, and it was really strict because the wedding coordinator was Jewish.
23:23 Just letting you know. Okay. Anyway, they were very structured weddings, and so they were all wearing white. They're all wearing white gowns to accompany the bridegroom and they all
23:35 looked the same. They all had the appearance of preparedness but not all of them were. And and I think about the last day's
23:47 church, we've gotta not just look the part. We we've gotta have it settled in our heart that Jesus is lord, That
23:59 he's lord here. That I that I march to the beat of my heavenly drummer. Yes. That I'm a citizen not of America or
24:11 Guatemala. I'm a citizen of heaven. I'm not supposed to fit in. I'm not supposed to blend in. I am not supposed to go with the flow.
24:23 There is something in my heart. Something happened to me. Listen, Christianity is not some momentary emotional attachment to
24:35 acute story in the sermon. Are you following me? Christianity is not a 3 week preparation period for your baptism
24:47 testimony where you actually go through the process and get baptized. Post it to your Facebook for all the likes and the follows so that everybody can say, oh, happy his, praise his, wow, look at you. And then you check
24:57 out for 5 years. Because you think I crossed that T dotted that I. I'm good. Baptism is not graduation. It's inauguration.
25:10 It's getting started. It's just the first step. That's why you gotta go all the way under on that water. That's why you gotta get completely soaked. We don't believe in this church. A little dab will do you.
25:21 We believe in total immersion. Amen. Because what that is saying is I am all in. I am following Jesus.
25:33 Doesn't mean I'm always gonna be perfect. Doesn't mean I'm always gonna be obedient. Doesn't mean I'm always gonna make the right decision. I'm a work in progress. I'm a sinner, yet I am a saint at the same time. But
25:44 when the rubber hits the road, and when it starts to cost me, and when people start to hate me, and people start to mock me, or it's inconvenient for me, I'm following Jesus. Following Jesus.
25:56 Because there's something on the inside. You would in the ancient world, you trim the lamp and the and the wick would come up. You trim the lamp. The wick would come up. Think about the word trimming. How we like to
26:07 trim. We get our yards trimmed. We trim our hair. Even some people refer to getting your clothes trimmed, tailored because we want look good on the outside. We want to have this appearance of
26:19 having our lives together. And some of you today before you came to church, most of you, you cut your hair or you combed your I'm sorry, you combed your hair and you got your clothes on and you put on deodorant
26:31 and I want to say thank you for that. Don't stop that. Nothing wrong with that but how's your heart? How's your heart today? How's how's this
26:42 going? Are you weighed down with cares? Are you stressed about a meeting coming up on Monday? Are you are you overwhelmed with how your kid
26:54 is reacting to you or what he's doing with his life? Could I could I suggest that maybe unintentionally and and subconsciously, you've allowed your heart to get married to this age.
27:07 You're too tied up in the things, the curves, the worries of this world. You're too stressed out about your job performance because you think that your job performance makes you everything that you are. And or or you
27:17 think that your kid's performance is everything that you are. And so having good, perfect, beautiful, you know, American kids is gonna make everything better for you. It's gonna validate your parental life or whatever or
27:27 your or you think that your marriage has to look good to everybody around you, and so you have to put on your face. But behind closed doors is a different story. You gotta put on the face so that everybody thinks you're
27:34 better than you really are. And and all that is is just trimming our lamps. But if there's no oil inside, it's just useless appearance.
27:47 And this is what Jesus says, half the church, 5 virgins. They will be focused all on the external, but not on the internal. In some ways, we all made an external decision to be here
27:59 today. And and this is an external decision to be at 1 of our locations, but but can I tell you that you've got to know that there is a depth to Christianity in this church that is far
28:10 beyond attending the weekend services? We we have small groups on on on the week to get together with other Christians. We ask you to serve and get
28:22 involved. There's some something called action groups down in Apollo Beach. There's men's night on Monday, women's night on Wednesdays. We develop small group leaders for the future of that location, and and then we have
28:34 missions trips beyond this country, and and then we have ways that you can give your life away because you know that your life does not is not the measurement of
28:46 your income or your savings account. Your life is unmeasured by the treasures that you have here on this earth, but by the eternal treasures that you have sent on ahead to the next life through giving and
28:57 sharing what God puts in your lap. That's that's being prepared for there and not obsessed with here.
29:10 I think about how we judge people by how they look on the outside, and God doesn't give a rip about that. Doesn't give a rip. I think about Samuel going to Jesse's
29:22 house in first Samuel 16 to find the next king of Israel. And it says, when they came, they looked on Eliab, the firstborn son of Jesse. And and and Samuel thought, surely, the lord's anointed
29:34 is here. Elijah, he probably was clean-cut, tall, muscular, dynamics, face, facial figures, excellently trimmed, put together but the lord said to
29:46 Daniel or Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, for I have rejected him for the Lord does not see as man sees. The Lord
29:58 looks the the man looks on the outward, but the Lord looks on the heart. Oh, you do a lot of outward maintenance. But can I ask you, are you doing some inward maintenance? Are
30:09 you confessing your sins to the Lord and maybe to somebody else because you can't get over it yourself? Yes. Some sins gotta be confessed to others. Are you are you sharing your life, your
30:21 home with other Christians? Are you opening your life up to ministering to people who are like minded with you? Are are you reading the scriptures? Are you engaged in the Bible? When it talks about
30:33 foolishness, I think about how much foolishness is wrapped up in that, about just avoiding God's word. And then and then here's here's a great question. Are you full of the Holy
30:44 Spirit? Are you full of the Holy Spirit? We're gonna get to that in just a moment. But what I'm trying to tell you is don't think that it's about all of this external stuff that's just a
30:56 distraction because you can have everything. The Bible says, Jesus said, you can gain the whole world and lose your soul. You gain nothing. So let's inside. How's the heart doing? How's the heart
31:07 doing? Are you ready for Jesus to come? Number 2, it won't matter what people think of you. It matters what you think inside of you.
31:20 The scriptures talk about as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. What is your thought process? How do you think? And most of the time,
31:33 we spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about what other people think about us. Right? I really think about that when we're in sixth
31:45 grade it starts. Something about sixth grade, it all starts. We all separated our little groups. Jocks and nerds and dweebs and losers. We start to worry.
31:58 The famous first time at the lunch cafeteria. Who am I gonna sit with? I don't wanna sit with the dweebs. That locks me in for the next 7 years with the dweebs. Right? I
32:09 wanna sit with the cool people. You gotta thinking. We're trying to think. And then we're I don't know if I wanna date that person. What would you think if I date that person? I don't know what would you think if I if
32:18 I'm too expressive of my Christianity. How about this 1? What what would people think if I bow my head in prayer before I eat in the public restaurant? It's a small thing, isn't it? Dads,
32:30 lead your family in prayer before you eat at the restaurant. Yeah. What about that? Like, oh, I don't know. What would people think? Who cares? Here's the reality. They aren't
32:41 actually thinking about you. Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that. We would be far less concerned with what other people think about us would if we realize how
32:53 little they actually think about us. And and I think it's time for the church to think about that a lot. Who cares what they think? Who
33:05 cares? The only opinion of my life that matters is the opinion of my father in heaven. And my walking with him, talking with him, living with him, don't worry about what people think. Don't worry about
33:17 what people say about you. The scripture says 5 were foolish, 5 were wise. And this word wise, it doesn't just speak of having wisdom for life. The scriptures are clear that this is how you get wisdom. This is
33:29 how you get wisdom. Are you ready for it? I got a couple passages for you. Matthew 7 26, And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a
33:41 foolish man who built his house on the sand. In other words, if you wanna be a fool, hear what I'm saying, but don't do it. Believe the Bible, but never read it. Believe
33:53 in Jesus, but never take time to examine him and trust that what he is is what you need so as to point you back to the scriptures and the and time with him. The
34:04 Bible, in that passage in Matthew 7, goes on and it talks about how, but the wise man is the 1 who hears the words of Jesus and does them. Don't just listen. Don't just be a hearer of the word and deceive yourself.
34:17 Do what it says. When you want to be blessed, do what God says. Don't just hear about giving. Give. Don't pray
34:29 about sponsoring children through compassion. Do it. Don't pray about going to church. Do it. I'm always amazed, humored really, by the number of Christians who pray about things that God has said to do.
34:42 I know I should forgive them, but I need to pray about it. Why? Jesus said if you don't forgive in your heart, your brother, your father in heaven won't forgive your sins. That's pretty serious.
34:54 Like, that's not something that I wanna, like, put on my coffee cup. Anybody with me on that? But it's in the scriptures. It's what Jesus is talking about. And how about bitterness? Not letting bitterness take root in
35:05 your heart. There's a scripture about that. Don't let bitterness start to take a root in your heart. How many of us let little insults and slights from the past start to become these little things that we carry around
35:15 like we're justified not to be angry with people? Angry with people all the time because we've got bitterness in our heart. And scripture talks, don't let that happen. Well, let me pray about it. No. Do it.
35:27 Confess. I've got a bitterness, Lord. I hate some people. I want them murdered. But, Lord, this is not right. It's my evil, sinful nature, and I'm asking you to forgive me and cleanse me and make me a new person because
35:37 I cannot do this without you. Amen. Scripture says in Romans chapter 1 that although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. Now think about that. They knew God, but they did not honor
35:49 God. What are we doing today at our churches? What are we doing right now? We are honoring God by giving him the first fruits of our week. This is day 1 of this week. You are honoring God now. Good. Amen. How
36:01 about give thanks to Him? Praise Him. Glorify Him with your mouth, with your hands. When we sing, when we worship, we are giving thanks to God. He got us up in the morning. We've got air in our
36:13 lungs. We've got blood flowing through our veins. We've got something to look forward to when the second coming. Jesus is still on the throne. The grave is still empty. The devil is still defeated. Hell, it's not my
36:24 future. Praise the lord. It's good to give thanks to the lord and it says, they did not. They became futile when they didn't give thanks. They became
36:36 futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Thanksgiving keeps you from being darkened in your heart. Thanksgiving keeps you from being darkened in your heart. Proverbs
36:47 1 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? Knowledge. You want to get knowledge? You want to know what to do with your life? Fear the Lord. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. I think about the first
36:59 thing that the Lord wants I'm sorry. The first thing the enemy wants to do is to get you to distrust this book. That's really his first temptation. You know what the first temptation We
37:11 we we think about Eve and the and the serpent, and everybody assumes it was an apple. The Bible doesn't the Bible doesn't say it was an apple. What what was it? We don't know. It was a fruit. It was a forbidden fruit. We
37:23 think that the first temptation was the forbidden fruit. That's not the first temptation. Back it up in the text because here's what the first temptation was. Write it down. The first temptation was deception.
37:37 Deception. The first temptation put that on the screen, guys. Was deception. I wanna show you from the text in Genesis chapter 3 verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the beasts that of the field that the
37:49 Lord God made. He said to the woman here's the first temptation. Did God actually say? In other words, is that
38:00 is that what the Lord said? Are you sure? How many of how many Christians today are questioning this book and still
38:12 claiming to be Christians? This book is our authority. This book has stood the test of time. Nations have risen and fallen. Caesars have come and gone. They
38:24 used to rule. Caesars used to rule the world. Today, they are a salad. 2000
38:35 years from now, they're gonna be eating Democrat salads and Republican salads because they're not really in charge. Jesus is in charge. The word of god stands the test of time.
38:49 The Bible says that all men be lies. God is true. I put my faith in this word. I trust in this word. Yes, there are things that you need to do to study it, to understand it, to interpret it. Yes.
39:02 But this is your basis for life. Chris, young people, don't give into this deconstruction movement that's happening in your generation. Deconstruction where you start to question some of the wordsShow more
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.