Is This The End?
Pastor Ryan Akers
April 27, 2008
Video- End of World? Sermon Spice
Every time I turn on the TV I continue to get depressed by what I see on the news. There is no question we are in or very quickly heading to an economic crisis. Probably one that many of us have never seen.
1. For Sale Signs, 2. gas, 3. war, 4. Environment, 5. Weakness of dollar
Many of you in our own church are hurting greatly right now struggling to pay your mortgages and feeding your families because there is no work. I have listened to your stories. Good people who are just looking for help. We have tried to help many families financially or with food but it just never seems to be enough. We are in a crisis.
Now more than anytime in probably the last 100 years we have a responsibility as a church to understand what it means to stand firm, and support one another so that no one gets left behind and that together we can garuntee that this economic and world crisis will be overcome because we relied on the power of Christ to get us through it.
This constant bombardment of problems has to have many people wondering, “is this the end?” Are we close to the second coming of Christ? Is armageddon coming? The short answer is, “who cares.” Is there really a reason to worry about it? Because I don’t have to even open the Bible to tell you that it says one day this world will end. We don’t know the time or the hour it will happen but rest assure this world will end.
The real question we need to be asking in this difficult time is, “what does God say about being ready for it?”
Because as you and I have learned very quickly in the last few years, the government doesn’t have the answer, money does not have the answer, your job does not have the answer, fighting with your wife or your husband again about money is not the answer. I am going to show you the answer. I want to show you what it will take to be ready to get through this crisis or to get through the end of the world. Do you want me to show you the answer? (get down on knees and hold up arms with Bible in hand.) Total and utter and unhesitant and complete SURRENDER to God.
The answer is so simple and is right in front of us but it is always the last resort. We have this hope that maybe, just maybe my job will work out or money will come in or because gas goes down 20 cents we might be okay. “I know! maybe if everyone gets a tax rebate that will boost the economy and get us out of the slump. YEAH THAT’S IT.” We continue to put our hope in man and man’s laws and man’s attempt’s to fix our problems that we forget the answer to our crisis has been with us since the beginning of time. What we are going through is not the first crisis to ever hit this earth. Since the beginning of sin there has been wars, famines, disease, death, pain, suffering, job loss. There have been natural disasters and strikes and riots.
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
What is now has already been and what is now will come again. The constant that we can hope in is that God never changes. And because I am not God I cannot confidently predict if what we are seeing today is another sign that the time of Christ second return is near or not. But I can confidently say I believe we are closer than ever in our time.
Let’s look at some of the prophecy given by Christ about the last days…
End Time Prophecies
Information from Evangelical Jewish Christian and author Joel Rosenberg
Luke 21:7-11, “Teacher,” they asked, “when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to take place?” 8 He replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’and saying, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them. 9 And when you hear of wars and insurrections, don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place first, but the end won’t follow immediately.” 10 Then he added, “Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven.
What Jesus is speaking on will simply be birth pangs. The worst is still yet to come. When the end gets closer you are going to see these in greater intensity and closer together.
We know many of these things have happened but a major event that has taken place in the 20th century and is what I believe a major sign of the times is the freeing of Israel as a nation, which took place May 14, 1948. Israel was reborn and this is the super sign that sets into motion all the other biblical prophecies of the end times. The Bible is the ONLY document in history that predicted this event would take place.
Skip to today. In the book of Ezekiel 38 and 39 it is prophesied that what is modern day Russia would form an alliance with modern day Iran and Libya. In 2000 talks about this alliance were beginning. Now, Vladamir Putin has formed an alliance with Iran which has never happened in 2500 years. Russia has also just visited Libya last week to sign a new arms deal with Libya. A long term alliance has never happened. But now the prophecy from Ezekiel if interpreted corrected seems to be coming to reality.
There is also prophecy that when the end is near a 3rd temple would be built in Jerusalem where the original temples stood. Today a Muslim Mosque stands there, but we know that the architectural plans for the temple are there, clothes for priests are being sewn, the implements for temple sacrifice are done or are being built. There must be a perfect red heffer for sacrifice. Right now heffers are being genetically engineered to create a perfect red heffer.
Switch to Iraq. Bible prophecy seems to say that Iraq will become good. Iraq was originally known as Babylon. Supposedly Iraq will one day become the most wealthy and peaceful country on the planet in the last days. Babylon supposedly becomes the center for the rise of the antichrist. So are we making Iraq safe for democracy or safe for the antichrist? Some prophecy scholars will tell you it’s a little bit of both.
Suddam Hussein before being overthrown was rebuilding the city of Babylon (Vacation hot spot). It is believed that the antichrist would come out of Europe. Daniel 9 says he would be Roman origin. So supposedly the Roman Empire could potentially rise again. But after the 2nd Lebanon war in 2006 the peace conference was help in Rome. The Italians out of Rome are leading the peace keeping through the European Union (EU). It’s the first time Rome has been involved in the middle east in 1600 years.
Europe is reforming with boarderless crossings, one currency, one foreign policy zar, one economic and political structure, the EU was created by the treaty of Rome in the 1950’s.
It was in the news recently about Jimmy Carter meeting with the leader of the Hamas Terrorist to talk about peace. In their talks it was brought up by the Hamas to form a 10 year peace treaty. Significant because a time has never been given. Peace treaties have been made but never in history has a specific time for peace been proposed. Revelation says 7 year treaty.
Whether or not you might think these are the last days there is no doubt that we are seeing specific signs laid out in scripture that point to at the very least the reminder that there will be a second coming. It is during these reminder periods of time that we need evaluate ourselves and ask, “Am I ready?” Am I going all out for God? Am I really living for him? Or am I still playing the game, going with the flow and more focused on taking care of #1? Is constant and persistent worry in your life right now overshadowing the faith you should be having in God and the power of the Holy Spirit?
Is doubt and the unknown of the future causing you to lose sight on the prize that is out ahead of us for those who will remain faithful, diligent and obedient in the worst of times? What we need to be doing is instead of dwelling on what we see as bad or the end we need to be transforming or renewing our minds, the way we think, to the understanding that the difficulty we are going through right now in our lives and in our country is actually good. James 1:2-4
Hear me here. I don’t think it’s good that you are struggling, I don’t think it’s good you can’t pay your bills or you might lose your home, but what is good is that you are at a vulnerable point in your life where you have to come to the realization that YOU cannot solve your problem. You are at a great time in your life to realize that without God you will not overcome. And there is no better time than where we are at right now to move from here (standing with head high), to here (on my knees arms raised and head bowed).
To survive this turburlent time and the turbulent times that are yet to come we must be ready.
Luke 12:13-21- The Rich Man
All outward appearences of this man point to him being a good man. Law abiding, good neighbor. Family man who was above suspicion. He was living the good life in the best residential area. He wasn’t wicked or full of evil and deceit. He wasn’t an alcoholic or an adulterer. The man seems to be good yet God calls him a fool. He was a fool because he gave all thought to himself. He was covetous (greedy).
This man’s life is still our modern day philosophy which says, “eat, drink, be merry for tomorrow we die.” Our Lord said, “That is exactly the problem. That is what makes a man a fool.” If you live as though this life is all there is, and you live just for yourself, and as though there is nothing beyond death, you are a fool. If you ignore the signs that the end is coming you are a fool. The pursuit of happiness through the American dream is a pursuit of fools, because they are chasing after things which will never last. They may bring short term happiness but they will never bring joy. And as soon as the stocks go down, and gas goes up and jobs get cut that American dream just got flushed down your American toilet. We no longer live in a country that understands that without God we will perish, we live in a country that is controlled by greed and power.
Now here me out, I love my country. I love the founding principles for what our country stands for but those principles are being cast aside for an attitude of tolerance and a desire for greed and power. You may disagree but part of me wishes they would take In God We Trust off our money because at this point that sounds like a big lie. Our government and its leaders do not put their hope in God they put it in money and power. It’s all about the bottom line now. Matthew 16:26
Psalm 14:1-3- We are fools to ever put our hope in what we can see not the other way around. Because what we can see around us will not last. It’s what we can’t see that has the power to over come. We need to be ready for a time such as this by…
1. Repent- Matthew 11:27-29
To overcome the crisis there must be a new repentance to God. A seeking of forgiveness for trying to run our own lives, for putting our hope in finite things, for coveting anything besides God. We need to be renewed and righted in our relationship with God giving him total control of our lives. Have you asked Christ to be your savior. Have you moved from just a head knowledge of Jesus to a heart transformation. A life transformation. It MUST begin there. John 14:6. Not a way, but THE WAY. Not by works, or buying your way in. It is only through total and utter surrender to Jesus Christ as savior. All people must repent in order to receive salvation. When you receive salvation you give your life to Christ which means you are now to…..
2. Relinquish Authority- Who is in control of your life? Who is making the decisions? Is it you? We know that won’t work. It’s because of man making decisions by their own intelligence that got us in this crisis in the first place. Greed and power corrupts. Many of you are in financial crisis not because of something God did or did not do but because of our bad decisions that we made without seeking God’s insight. We don’t like to wait on God or give him complete authority because that means that He will probably want me to do something I don’t want to do. He will probably want to me to be smarter with money than I want to be. He will probably want me to wait longer than I want to wait. We are like spoiled children who don’t want to listen to our parents.
We don’t want that. We want it now, we want to use our credit cards to buy it and we want the American dream so we build, we charge, we finance, we impulse purchase and when the crisis comes we wonder, “where is God?” God has been here the whole time we just aren’t listening because we aren’t giving him complete control in our lives. Maybe you might be thinking, “Who are you, just a punk 28 year old kid? How could you possibly understand the struggle of what I am going through?”
I know what its like to work 2 jobs and be buried in debt. I know what its like to live off ramen noodles and wonder how your bills are going to get paid. I understand what you are worried about and I want to tell you now is not the time to sit and sulk and feel sorry for yourselves and live a life of worry, because listen, if God is the captain of your ship called life then there will be no problem that will conqueor you, there will be no crisis that will capsize your boat. There will no wave that will overcome.
You can lose your house and you can lose your money and you can lose your family and you can live on the streets but when God is in control of your life it won’t matter but you will have finally understood what matters most… which is that this life is not our home. It is only a shadow of what is to come. And the ONLY thing that matters and the ONLY THING THAT EVER MATTERED IN LIFE TO BEGIN WITH IS JESUS CHRIST.
You will know if you have relinquished all authority to God by giving yourself a test of worry. If worry controls your life then you have yet to give all authority to God. Some of you are going through difficult times but I have yet to hear about anyone who is missing meals, or who hasn’t had a place to sleep. So why are you worried. Luke 12:22, 25, 26, 29, 21:14. Stop Worrying. Luke 21:9. Give all you are and everything you own to him. When you do that you need to…
3. Rethink Priorities- This is a major obstacle for us. I MEAN MAJOR. How people prioritize their lives is a major frustration in ministry for pastor’s.
My desire each day when I wake up and when I go to bed is to see spiritual breakthrough in people’s lives whether that is seeing someone accept Christ for the first time and the joy that is on their face or seeing a believer have a revelation, something that takes them to the next level in their walk with Christ. Most pastor’s are very impatient. We are human just like you and we want to know that our work is going to produce fruit. But the reality is people mature and grow at different paces. So for some it takes a little longer than others to learn what it means to make Jesus a lifestyle. Sometimes it takes a while for people to grasp that all that matters in life is Christ.
But it is because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring that we MUST have that desire to know and love God more each day. James 4:14. The savior of the world, the one that has saved us from eternity in hell deserves our time. He deserves for us to be with him, pray, learn from His Word. Through His death we have eternal life in Heaven. We have a hope to look forward to that most in the world don’t understand yet the actions of our lives don’t reflect our desire to have God first. How important is God to you? Is he important enough that you cannot wait to get to church to learn something new from the word or to sing his praises, or do you wake up on Sundays feeling, “well I guess I better get up and get ready for church.” Or do you say, “ohhh it’s snowing maybe they’ll cancel church today.
When you repent and give your life to God and you give all authority to him our priorities must change. Romans 12:2. “let God”- there’s that total authority again, “change the way you think.” That means changing priorities. If you are not letting God in to change you then you will not grow, you will not succeed in getting joy in life. You cannot know God’s will for you without letting him change you completely. God cannot change you completely unless you are willing to change your priorities and make him first. What is first in your life?
You know what is first in your life by looking at how you spend your time and how you spend your money. We are in such a fast paced society that if we don’t get it now and if church takes too long then we get impatient and angry. God has quickly begun to take a back seat to other outside activities that we would just rather be doing.
Pastor Jason Friedman- This situation that Pastor Jason is fighting for scares me for 2 reasons.
1. I know the importance that being with believers is when it comes to growing and understanding a relationship with Christ (Hebrews 10:23-25) and 2. Because when we as parents give in and choose sports or any activity over God we are teaching our children that it’s okay to put God 2nd. When you teach them its okay to put God 2nd then you are teaching them that God isn’t that important. We need to establish new priorities so that all people know and our children know that nothing ever trumps God in importance. Not our families, or jobs, or sports or money. God is all that matters.
When we won’t stand firm for a little thing how could we ever be expected to stand firm in the end times when our faith is truly tested and our lives are on the line. We won’t be able to because we won’t be ready. Our priorities would have been so messed up by then we won’t know how to stand. The best thing you could ever do for your family is take them down a path that leads to events or programs that promote spiritual growth and the pursuit of holiness in their lives. All the Biblical prophets predicted the end would come. You have seen a glimmer of signs today that prove the end is definitely on its way. We have a major responsibility to make sure we and our families are ready by teaching them now what is more important in life.
Maybe that means we have one less day to do what we want to do. Maybe that means your kid can’t be on the team but in light of eternity does that really matter? God is looking for people who will follow his command in Matthew 6:33. When you repent, relinquish and rethink then you will hit the final point of what it takes to be ready for the end. You must…
4. Revive Holiness
Like the 4 great awakenings that have occurred over the last 200 years we need a 5th great awakening. A revival amongst God’s people to stand firm for holiness. We need a revival that will wake us up and realize that we need to quit looking worrying about the next paycheck or the next program or the next whatever and start getting on our knees and pray for God to bring real revival to our country. We need a fresh desire for prayer, for witnessing for ministry for preaching and teaching. People push salvation as the most important thing. Churches love to talk about how many they saw saved in their churches last year or what their goal is for next year, but it is not our job to save souls it is to disciple them. Salvation is the work of God’s soverign grace and, “our work as his disciples is to disciple others lives until they are totally yielded to God.”
Quote, “One life that is totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit.” We are responsible to revive the thirst for God, the desire to be totally sold out to Jesus Christ. We can’t accomplish this until we repent, relinquish and rethink. Jesus is looking right now for the spiritually hungry to rise up and bring about revival. Yes, the end is coming. It may happen in our lifetime it may not happen for hundreds or even thousands of years but family, fear not. Worry not. Because God is our rock and our refuge. There is no enemy that can stand against Him. Are you ready? Have you repented, relinquished, rethunk, and revived the fire for God in you. Are you, “Seek first the Kingdom of God…”
I hope this message will help you to think about the importance that the fellowship of believers is in the critical times. Please consider getting into a small group where you can gather people around you who can disciple you and vice versa. Seek first His Kingdom…..
