Ready Or Not
READY OR NOT: HERE COMES JESUS
1/6/2001 & 1/7/2001
John 14
1 ¶ Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Acts 1
6 ¶ So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
PRAYER
-The early church amazingly went many years, probably several decades before they actually began to record the events and story of Jesus’ life.
-The reason for that is very simple. They didn’t expect anyone to around to read it.
-They anticipated that they would finish the job of evangelizing the world and Jesus would return.
-It is obvious that they didn’t expect this thing to go on for 2000 years.
2 Peter 3
3 ¶ First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4 They will say, "Where is this `coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 ¶ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
9 ¶ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 11 ¶ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
-There are two extremes of this movement.
-One extreme says give me a break, Jesus is flying back to earth to take it over right?
-The Bible is clear in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Covenant that there is coming a time of judgment and a new deal.
-The Old Testament refers to it in terms like “the day of the Lord”, “the time of Jacob’s trouble” etc.
-This is basic Bible.
-The other extreme is the doomsday cults that tell you details of the end of the world as we know it and usually tell how they have a unique role in that plan.
-David Koresh is an example of that.
-Some cults and even some Christian groups have a skeleton in the closet with date setting.
-The Jehovah’s Witnesses had a date set and had to adjust it. They then said it was an invisible coming in the early 20th century.
-The Millerites climbed trees and waited for Jesus’ return March 21st, 1843. They tramped home to breakfast the next morning to jeers and catcalls.
-In 1988 Edgar Whisenant sent out 4.5 million books in English plus some in foreign languages..** REASON WHY THE RAPTURE WILL BE IN 1988.
-Look at the Y2K madness. There is a real tendency to respond to things like that.
-In spite of that, Jesus is coming.
HIS PART
1. JESUS is preparing a place for us while He prepares us for that place.
-There is a reason for the delay.
-God does everything in the fullness of time.
-He doesn’t have an instant mentality.
-Patience is defined as waiting with no reference to time.
-A thousand years is like a day…in other words…don’t rush it.
2. He will catch us away to be with Him forever.
-Time as we know it will disappear.
1 Corinthians 15
49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 ¶ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
-In a flash/moment is literally a segment of time that can’t be divided any further. An ATOMIC SECOND.
1 Thessalonians 4
13 ¶ Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
-Caught up is where we see the principle of rapture.
-It means to snatch away by force.
3. Prophecy will continue to line up as it always has then Jesus will come.
-It could be today….it could be in 200 years.
-My personal opinion is that the founding of Israel in 1948 as prophecied by Ezekiel and the retaking of Jerusalem by the Israelis in 1967 mark this as the final generation.
-My personal opinion is that almost everything is in place except the gospel getting to the uttermost parts of the earth.
YOUR PART
1. BE HOLY
2 Peter 3
11 ¶ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
1 John 3
1 ¶ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
-If this is the real deal…..how should we live?
-We should live like Jesus is on His way to get us.
-Don’t let compromise steal your victory.
2. LIFE GOES ON
-In other words…..don’t be a nut hiding out in your basement until Jesus returns.
-Jesus said to “occupy until He comes”.
Matthew 24
36 "No-one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
-Keep living. Be real and live with a sense of the future but ENJOY LIFE.
-Be a light of joy to the people around you. Jesus said to go preach GOOD NEWS.
3. ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
-Paul said to the Thessalonians to encourage each other.
-Don’t discourage each other.
-In a practical way:
Some people are living in fear.
If you are a young person…get life insurance.
Plan for retirement.
Go to school if you are supposed to.
Start a business…get married.
-We are responsible to each other.
Heb 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
4. PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD
Mt 24:14 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.
-We are in a position to reach the whole world with the message.
-It is going to take a wartime mentality.
-It is going to take people who are committed to go short term and long term.
-Its going to take money by the millions but it is out there. Most Christians spend far more on their pets than on missions.
-We are a nation of very wealthy people. Thank God. Why do we have it? Because God trusts us.
-The Bible says we can hasten the day of His coming.
-He is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth.
Jesus said to Martha:
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
-That’s my hope. Where’s yours?
-Are you ready?