Understanding the Times
1 Chr.12:32 - Tells us the men of Issachar, “understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”
Incorrect expectations result in dismay, failure, frustration, loss, fruitlesslness, etc.
Not about doom and gloom but about correct Biblical perspective.
Mt.25:1-13 - Parable of the 10 virgins, interestingly precedes the parable of the talents.
Mt.24:32-33 - “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”
Know the season, but remember, Mt.24:36-44 - No one knows the day or the hour...
Many have thought they were in the last days, we may or may not be.
Always be ready but don’t be consumed with it’s imminence.
Overemphasis and overeagerness both setting yourself up to be deceived.
Mt.24:14 - Not until every nation has heard...2025-2033 but who knows???
The World, where it is at and where it is going...
2012 is nonsense...But those who are worried are kind of on the right track.
Mt.24:3, the disciples ask Jesus what the signs of the end times will be, He answers them and then promises, in Mt.24:25 - “See, I have told you ahead of time.”
Daniel 9-12, Isaiah 13 and 34, Mt.24, Mr.13, Lk.21, Revelation all tell us what to expect.
7 Big areas:
This generation.
Where we’re at - what’s in the news:
Revolution stuff
Previously we hated change, this new generation embraces it.
Postmodernism - tolerance and focus on relationship over productivity.
The means justify the ends.
Political correctness is killing us.
In the past excellence mattered, now relevance is most important.
Authenticity over performance.
Technology.
Information
Communication
Community.
Casual observance of events vs. participation in reality.
This Generation will be unlike any in history.
The 1st raised in the info age.
Capabilities unparalleled in human history for good or bad.
Believers are no different than non-believers.
Barna (in Revolution) - over 90% of families rely solely on the church for their childrens’ spiritual growth.
Unparalleled moral depravity evidence that they are searching and empty.
Where things are going - What God’s Word tells us (in Mt.24, Mk.13, Lk.21, and 2 Tim.3:1-7):
People will be happily ignorant, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, they will have a form of godliness but deny its power; they are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
What we should do about it:
Mt.24:42-44 - keep watch, understand, be ready.
Know that the hotter the dessert the thirstier people become.
Mt.9:37 - the harvest is ripe.
Pr.3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Nationality and politics.
Where we’re at - what’s in the news:
Globalization.
Political climate - PC nation, Resurgence of socialism and communism, dictatorships prevalent, UN pushing a global secular worldview.
Worldwide shifts.
Where things are going - What God’s Word tells us (in Mt.24, Mk.13, Lk.21, and Rev.13 and 17):
Nations will rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms, and eventually, the Antichrist will establish a one world government, a new world order.
Remember...USA not really in Revelation. Don’t put your hope in this country.
Quoting End Time Ministries - “In 1993, 6000 religious leaders, representing 125 relgious groups from around the world, gathered in Chicago for the Parliament of World Religions, an event promoted by the United Nations. The stated purpose of this parliament was to formulate a "global ethic" that would provide the basis for a non-biased, non-exclusive, religious world order.”
What we should do about it:
Exercise your freedoms, pray for your leaders, take a stand for the right issues, vote your faith but recognize your only lasting hope is in Jesus.
The Jews sought a political savior in the Messiah and didn’t recognize Jesus.
Jn.6:15 - They wanted to make Him king, by force.
Pr.3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Peace and security.
Where we’re at - what’s in the news:
More troops to Afghanistan.
Iran acquiring nukes, Israel’s only option, oil doubles, the economy collapses.
Pakistan’s arsenal???
China’s increase, America’s softening.
Rise of S.American Socialism/Communism.
Other conflicts - India/Pakistan, Venezuela/Colombia, Russia/Georgia, the Ukraine and E. Europe, etc.
Where things are going - What God’s Word tells us (in Mt.24, Mk.13, Lk.21, and Rev.6, 9, 14 and 16):
Wars, rumors of wars, great warfare becoming so fierce that at one point there will be a lake of blood several feet deep and 200 miles long and finally, Armageddon.
What we should do about it:
Mt.24:6 - don’t be alarmed...
Pr.3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
The environment.
Where we’re at - what’s in the news:
Pollution, air, water, etc.
Manmade Global warming (a farce), but Biblical references.
Resource scarcity.
Loss of nature.
Where things are going - What God’s Word tells us (in Mt.24, Mk.13, Lk.21, and Rev.6, 8, 9 and 16):
Sickness and disease, earthquakes and famines, tsunamis and hurricanes, hail and fire will destroy most of earth’s plant life, some hail reaching up to 100 lbs, metorites, death of sea life, rivers turning into blood, hard core Global Warming (Big note on that), darkness, hard core drought (the Euphrates dries), the largest earthquake in history, islands and mountains will be devastated and eventually the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light; metorites will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
What we should do about it:
Pr.3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
The economy.
Where we’re at - what’s in the news:
The DOW has dropped nearly 30% from 14,000 to 10,000 since October 2007 - one of the the biggest drops in history.
Total unemployment at over 10%, Unemployment including those underemployed and given up searching - near 20%.
Numerous bank failures including some of the largest in history.
Other investment banks, Like Lehman brothers have dissolved.
And even more, like Merrill Lynch, have avoided those catastrophes only by selling out.
AIG, the largest insurance company in the world, survived only through an 85 billion dollar government bailout.
2 largest morgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have collapsed.
Home values are plummeting; some areas have seen values drop over 20%.
Foreclosures are at their highest level in history.
Many other economic indicators are down and multiple economists, politicians and leaders are fearing and predicting a recession at best and a global depression at worst.
The president and congress have passed hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts which so far have done close to nothing and world leaders are scrambling for answers.
Either way, we’ll be in debt for centuries.
Note: Paul Johnson describes the Great Depression in his book A History of the American People and notes that nearly every maneuver our government has taken over the past year is identical to what they did to avoid the Great Depression - to no avail.
One world currency proposed - China, Russia, Venezuela (the Petro) and even OPEC.
Seeds and Monsanto?
Where things are going - What God’s Word tells us (in Mt.24, Mk.13, Lk.21, and Rev.6 and 13):
Famines in various places, terrible poverty - it will take about a days wages for enough bread for one person for a day and eventually a one world economy and the mark of the Beast.
What we should do about it:
The economy is not my provider - Job.31:24-28 - "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ’You are my security,’ if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
Phil.4:19 - “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Remember 4:18 - Barna - the average Christian gives 3% and fewer than 10% tithe.
2 Cor.9:6-8 - “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
Mal.3:10 - As we give God says, “Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
Mt.6:25-34 - “Therefore I tell you, do not worry...but seek first His kingdom...”
Mt.25 - Be a good steward of the resources God gives you.
Don’t live in debt.
Rom.13:8 - “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”
Ps.9:10 - Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Pr.3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Morality and society.
Where we’re at - what’s in the news:
Crime, mass shootings, Kidnappings and rapings, taxpayer funded abortions, sexual perversion, porn, gay marriage, etc. A backwards society - freedom of speech at stake (Saskatchewan) and potential threat of hate crimes legislation.
G.K. Chesterton - “You are free in our time to say that God doesn’t exist. You are free to say that He exists and is evil. You are free to say, like poor old Renault, that God would like to exist if He could. You may talk of God as a mystification or metaphor. You may boil him down with gallons of words or boil him down to the rags of metaphysics. And it is not merely that nobody punishes but that nobody protests. But if you speak of God as a thing like a tiger as a reason for changing one’s conduct, then the modern world will stop you if it can. We are long past talking about whether an unbeliever should be punished for being irreverent; it is now thought irreverent to be a believer.”
Where things are going - What God’s Word tells us:
Mt.24:12 - Wickedness will increase.
What we should do about it:
Pr.3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
The Church and revival.
Where we’re at - what’s in the news:
Worldwide - S.America (34,000 new believers each day), China (28-37,000 new believers each day), Africa (23-25,000 new believers each day) and the Muslim world (16,000 new believers each day).
Remember S. Korea and Guatemala.
USA - Complacent, worldly, ignorant, apathetic, disobedient to God, out of touch and shrinking.
Barna - 80% of believers feel like they’ve never connected with God, most don’t share their faith and only 9% of Born again Christian adults have a Christian worldview.
Where things are going - What God’s Word tells us (in Mt.24, Mk.13, Lk.21, and Rev.6):
Many false prophets and false Christs will deceive the believers, even performing signs, wonders and miracles (Big note: The greater emphasis you put on these the more you set yourself up to be deceived) believers will be hated, persecuted, put to death and martyred (Remember the persecuted church now and recognize that persecution will spread), many will fall away from the faith, hating and betraying each other and the love of MOST will grow cold.
But, God is still working.
What we should do about it:
What we should do - (Mt.24:13, 16-26)
pray, flee persecution (but not persecuted areas), stand firm to the end and don’t be deceived -
20 signs of a false teacher:
1. Do they claim to have a "special" revelation from God - truth that only they have (Gal.1:6-10)
2. Are they proud and arrogant? (2 Peter 2:18)
3. Are they greedy or materialistic? (2 Peter 2:3)
4. Do they take advantage of people? (2 Peter 1:3)
5. Are they physically rough with people? (2 Cor.11:20)
6. Do they have a hidden agenda or are they secretive about their true beliefs and teachings? (2 Peter 2:1)
7. Do they flatter people, using fine sounding arguments that are actually empty but deceive the naive? (Rom.16:18, Eph.5:6, Col.2:4)
8. Do they claim to show great signs and wonders? (Mt.24:24, Mk.13:22, remember Jesus’ warnings in Mt.7:22-23, 12:39, 16:4 and Lk.11:29)
9. Do they promise people freedom? (2 Peter 2:19)
10. Do they enslave people - either through legalism or demanding you follow their methods or uncommon form of Christianity ?(2 Cor.11:20)
11. Do they consider themselves teachers of God’s Word yet have a poor understanding of it? (1 Tim.1:7)
12. Do they turn away from sound doctrine, confidently teaching strange doctrines, myths and stories they have made up, which differ from sound doctrine and appeal to peoples’ fleshly desires? (1 Tim.1:3-7, 2 Tim.4:1-5, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 17-22)
13. Do they act foolishly? (2 Cor.11:19)
14. Do they act sensually and cause others to also, appealing to peoples’ fleshly desires? (2 Peter 2:1-3, 17-22)
15. Do they act out the kinds of things they did before knowing Christ? (2 Peter 2:19-20)
16. Do they lead people away from simple and pure devotion to Christ? (2 Cor.11:3)
17. Does their ministry cause speculation and fruitless discussion? (1 Tim.1:3-7)
18. Does their ministry distract people from doing God’s work by faith? (1 Tim.1:4)
19. Does their ministry continue going further and further away from the truth, getting crazier and crazier; does it go from bad to worse - remember the law of diminishing returns? (2 Tim.3:13 - and remember 1 Cor.4:6 - “...Don’t go beyond what is written...”)
20. Do people malign and talk bad about Christianity because of them? (2 Peter 2:2).
Pr.3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Keep “end times issues” in their right place.
Avoid end time prophecy extremes of overemphasis and ignorance.
Hendricks - “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
What about the rapture?
What about it - either you will die or be raptured...
Live for today.
Pre-trib, post-trib or pan-trib!!!
Mt.24, Mk.13, Lk.21 and Rev.13:7 all seem to imply after tribulation.
Whatever your position, you should be prepared for persecution.
2 Tim.3:12 - “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Keep world issues in perspective correctly: Hunger, war, poverty, homelessness, etc.
Committed to help, not distracted from the main thing.
Mt.6:10 - His will should be done on earth but His Kingdom won’t be realized till eternity.
Lk.19:10 - His will - to seek and save the lost.
Read Ps.91 - DO NOT FEAR!!!
2Cor.4:18 - Big Picture: this world is not our home, it’s all going to burn.
Rejoice that THE battle is won and commit to the fight.
2 Tim.4:8 - Long for His return.
Heb.12:1-2 - what is the joy set before you - Christ Himself, Heaven, Fruit!!!
Faithful servants...
Mt.24:45-51.
Serve God by...fulfilling your role in His plan.
Mt.25:21 - Well done good and faithful servant.
Mt.24:46 - Be found faithful when he returns.
Closing...
Don’t be ignorant, understand the times.
Do vote, but remember, the election in 2012 is not THE answer.
Walk by faith, live with hope, love God and others actively (Mt.28:18-20).
Lk.21:36 - Watch and pray
1 Tim.4:12 - Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Mt.9:37 - work in the harvest that is plentiful!!!
1 Cor.16:13-14 - Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.
