Return of the King

Transcript

excited because we're starting a brand new series today called return of the
King. We have been praying for you all week long that in the midst of
uncertainty, in the midst of what seems like a chaotic world, God would use
this to bring peace and bring purpose into our lives. Let's pray together. As
we dig into God's word Jesus, we love you. And we are so thankful for your
word. And we're thankful God for this time we have together. God, whether
people are worshiping in person or are through North Alabama CW or on line
campus, God, I pray that you adjust, meld our hearts together. God, and give
us great unity father. I pray that your Holy spirit power would be evident in
this place in people's homes and people's hearts and God, my desires that you
would do what you want to do with each of us father, I pray that you would
speak through me. God moved me out of the way and let the words that come out
of my mouth come directly from you. It's in Jesus' name. We pray. And
everybody said, amen. During this past year, we've all dealt with some worry,
fear and anxiety for most of us, it's the uncertainty about what's going to
happen next. Add to that people all over social media, talking about the, in
times the antichrist Jesus coming back. And if you don't understand what
they're saying, that can be very unnerving
as well. That's why we're starting this series today. It is important for us
to study the end times, but we want to be careful in the way that we do it.
We want to do it in a way that is safe and biblically accurate and empowers
you to be everything God has called and created you to be. And see some of
the events we're going to talk about are going to be complicated and some may
even cause you to have more questions. And I'm going to ask you, please bear
with us. Please stay engaged over the whole series. I don't normally do this,
but I'm going ask you, write your questions down and save them to the end of
the series. The reason I say that is we already get so many questions every
week and there's no way we can answer everyone's questions if we get hundreds
at a time, but if you will stay engaged for the next six to eight weeks, we
may answer the questions you already have half. I also know that there are
many, many viewpoints on the, in times in Christianity, like anything else
that we study here, you have the freedom to study God's word for yourself and
decide what you believe, but I'm not going to entertain arguments. My goal is
to the best of my ability and understanding, teach you in the most biblically
accurate way possible information about this topic. So if y'all are
ready, let's jump in and let's get started. I want to start with an expert
from our refuge church statement of faith. And this is about Jesus Christ. We
believe Jesus Christ is the son of God. The second person of the Trinity on
earth, Jesus was a hundred percent God and a hundred percent man. He is the
only man ever to have lived a sinless life. He was born of a Virgin, lived a
sinless life. Performed miracles, died on the cross for mankind and thus
atone for our sins through the shedding of his blood. He Rose from the dead
on the third day, according to the scriptures, ascended to the right hand of
the father and will return again in power and glory. See revelation 22 versus
two, 12 and 13 say, look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to
repay all people, according to their deeds. I am the alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last, the beginning and the end and our church leadership
beliefs that Jesus is coming back. Literally, physically. He is going to come
back to this earth, empower and glory. The King is going to return, but the
Bible is clear that there are many events that are going to take place
surrounding this glorious return. And that's where I believe God wants us to
focus over the next several weeks together. What are the events who are the
important characters and what does this
all mean to me? The study of the end times is called eschatology. This word
derives from two Greek words, meaning last and study eschatology is the major
branch of study in Christianity that deals with the end of the age, the end
of the world, or the nature of the kingdom of God. Now we think about the, in
times we typically go straight to the book of revelation, but there are many,
many books in the Bible that give us prophecies or tell us what will happen
in the future. We see these in Joel and Amos in a ZQ Daniel Zechariah, melica
Matthew, John first Corinthians, first Thessalonians, second Thessalonians
and revelation. You see approximately a quarter of the Bible was prophetic
when it was written and beans. It was a written about events that were to
come. And some of these prophecies concerning Jesus can be easily understood,
but some can be difficult to understand. And scholars are still today
debating whether these prophecies were fulfilled in the events of the first
century or throughout history, or are yet to be fulfilled in the future.
Regardless, we can say with confidence that many, many of the Bible
prophecies have been fulfilled. And the number of prophecies about Jesus that
have been fulfilled is over 300, but like anything we study in the Bible, we
have to, it'd be careful not to cherry pick the scriptures, but we have to
look at the totality of the Bible
to see what it has to say about a subject. So as we start this series, I want
you to have a foundation of the major events and people and the end times,
and then we're going to unpack each of these events separately every week.
Now, as I've studied over the years, there are many, many timelines about the
end times. But the one that I believe is the most accurate is what's called
the pre tribulational pre-millennial model. Again, today, we're going to talk
about the overview of the events in this timeline, because each of the events
is packed with other events that's going on in heaven and going on on earth
at the same time. And so if you're taking notes, the first event in this
timeline of the in times is the rapture of the church. We're going to talk
about that next Sunday in detail, the rapture of the church, we see this in
first Thessalonians four verses 13 through 18. You see the word rapture comes
from the Greek word, which means to snatch away the rapture is the snatching
away to heaven of all Christians before the beginning of the tribulation,
which leads us to the second event. The tribulation, we see this in
revelation chapter six through 19, following the rapture of the church is the
time we called the tribulation. It is a seven year period that begins with
the antichrist signing a peace covenant with Israel, and it ends
with Armageddon. And the second coming of Jesus Christ. The third major event
is the second coming of Jesus. We see this in revelation, 19 verses 11
through 16, and this is Jesus's visible return to earth to establish his
kingdom. And we believe that Jesus will rule on earth for a millennium for a
thousand years. That's the next event, the millennium, we see it in
revelation chapter 20. This will fulfill God's promises to Abraham and all of
his believing descendants. Next is the great white throne judgment in
revelation, 20 verses 11 through 15. This is God's final judgment against all
unbelievers who have ever lived. And then we have eternity future in
revelation chapters, 21 through 22, any eternity future refers to the
permanent state of believers on the new heaven and the new earth and
unbelievers in the Lake of fire. That's the timeline. Those are the major
things that are going to happen at the end of time. And in case you're
wondering, we're also going to be talking about the people, the Bible
mentions in the last days, the antichrist, the false prophet, the two
witnesses. And of course, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about
Jesus. So as we get ready for this next few weeks together, I want to go give
you some foundational things that will help you because I know what the
question for many of us is, uh, Jason, what does this mean to me?
What? To all these events, all of these happenings, what does it mean to be
first? If you're taking notes, don't be scared, prepared. Don't be scared. Be
prepared, listen to what Psalm one 39 verses 23 to 24 says, search me O God
and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything
in me that offends you and lead me along the path of ever lasting life is see
for the believer in Jesus Christ. The in times are nothing to be afraid of.
In fact, it's something to be excited about because we will get to see Jesus
face to face. But this is a good time to examine yourself, to examine your
walk, your relationship with God. And if you were unsure about your
relationship with God, if you were having deep doubts about whether or not
you're a Christian, listen, you can know for sure you can have conflict,
abundance. And I'll talk more about that in a moment. Typically, CLI we let
anxiety creep in when we are uncertain about the future future, but no, the
one who holds the future in his hands and he's already told us what is going
to happen in the future. Don't be scared. Be prepared. Number two, don't
believe everything you read or hear don't believe everything you read or
hear. Matthew 24 11 says, and many false prophets will appear and will
deceive many people. First, John four verse one, dear friends
do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the spirit. You must test them
to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false
prophets in the world. Friends, we have more access to preaching and teaching
than any other time in history. And not everyone on Facebook or YouTube or
tech talk are preaching. God's word. Some are trying to build a following.
Some are trying to make money because someone's opinion matches your opinion.
Does it mean your opinion is the truth? This is why it is so important that
we learn to study the Bible for ourselves. I want you to listen to what
Matthew 24 36, this says, however, no one knows the day or the hour. When
these things will happen. Not even the angels and heaven or the son himself
only the father knows if someone tells you, they know when Jesus is coming
back, they're not telling you the truth. They're lying because no one knows
except for the father. The Bible says the third thing that this means us. We
need to prioritize sharing Jesus with other people. Second, Peter three nine
says the Lord. Isn't really being slow about his promise. As some people
think, no, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be
destroyed. But once everyone to repent, you see, God does not want people to
be restored or destroyed. God wants people to be restored. God
wants people to be saved. God wants people to be rescued. God wants people to
repent. And so many times we think, well, what is God doing? What is waiting
on? Have you ever thought that God is being patient with us so that we could
reach more people for a son, Jesus Christ. And we need to learn how to
prioritize evangelism. How do we prioritize sharing our God's story, making
it a focus to tell other people about Jesus. And lastly, the Bible says that
we can expect God's blessing revelation. One three says, God blesses the one
who reads the words of this prophecy to the church. And he blesses all who
listened to its message and obey. What it says for the time is near God says
that by spending time, studying prophecy, by spending Tom stunning
revelation, by spending time looking at these future events, we will be
blessed. And I'm going to tell you every time we have studied this as a
church, that scripture, that scripture has been so true because individually
we've sent blessing as a church. We've seen blessing because we listened to
God and we obeyed. Now a few minutes ago, I talked about being prepared and
being prepared starts with knowing Jesus personally, we're talking the second
coming of Jesus in this series. And so if he's coming back again, that means
he's already come one that's right. And the Bible is clear that you and I, we
are
born sinners. We're born with this propensity to do our own thing and do it
our own way. We want to be our own God. And because of that, our relationship
with God is broken. It is our sin nature. That causes us to be far from God.
But God loved you so much that he sent his son Jesus Christ to live a perfect
life, to die on a cross, to be our substitute so that we could be forgiven
and set free from our sin. Jesus has come once and he came as a rescuer. He
came as your savior and the Bible is clear if place your faith, if you will
place your trust in Jesus and what he did for you on that cross, you will be
saved. You will be rescued. You will be forgiven of your sin and you will be
set free. Jesus died on that cross. They placed his body in a bar two and
three days later, he Rose again from the grave and he proved to everyone that
he was exactly who he said. He was the son of God in the flesh. And one day
he will come back to this earth to reign as King. Are you ready? Are you
prepared? I want to ask you if there's never been a time in your life where
you've placed your faith in Jesus, would you consider it now? That's you? And
you'd say, Jason, yes, that's me. I want
to give my life to you. Jesus. Today, I invite you to pray a prayer, just
like this God today. I realize I'm a sinner and I need to be saved. I need to
be rescued. And I believe that your son, Jesus is my savior. I believe that
Jesus died on a cross for me. And I believe he Rose again from the grave so
that I could have a brand new God, let you save me. Would you forgive me? I
want to follow Jesus for the rest of my life. Jesus, you are my Lord. And
when it's in Jesus name, if that was you, please don't change the channel.
Please don't turn this video off without letting us know, because I want to
reach out to you this week. I want to pray for you by name specifically by
name. I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your new
found faith. And I want you to know that you have experience family that
loves you and wants to care for you and wants you to be everything God has
called and created you to be it, that digital connect card on our website or
on our side, social media. And I want you to know we're going to be reaching
out because Jesus loves you. And so to wait now, end of every service, we
dedicate time to worship and prayer. And so in just a moment, we're going to
worship together one last time today, and we're going to pray. And if you
need prayer for anything going on in your life, anything at all, and invite
you to fill out a prayer card or you can post in the comments below. If
you're online and we have a team ready to pray specifically for your needs
and lift your name up to Jesus, let's worship together. And if you need
prayer, let us Jesus. We love you so much. We thank you, God that you have
come to earth before. And we thank you that you are coming back again. First
God, you came as a savior and next you're coming as a warrior key. And got we
give you all honor and glory for who you are and what you've done in our
lives. And father, I pray for every person watching for every person,
listening, God, whatever they're going through. Father OD declare, I
acknowledge that you know that you are keenly aware of what is happening in
their lives. And father, I just ask you, would you meet people right where
they're at today? God, would you do things that only you can do in their
lives and in their hearts? God, would you call them closer to you? God, would
you cast out fear and anxiety? God would you give people confidence in their
relationship with you and Lord, if there are needs that people have God, we
pray in agreement with them to
you. We lift them up to you right now. Jesus and Jesus. It's in your name. We
pray. Amen. Thank you again for spending a little bit of time with us, but
more importantly with God today, we would love to hear from you. So please
let us know if you have any questions about the message or any prayer
requests. Did you decide to give your life to Christ today? If so, we want to
congratulate you. It's truly the best and most important decision you will
ever make. The Bible says that you are reborn when you acknowledged Jesus as
your personal Lord and savior, and we would love to help guide you through
what that means and your next steps as a new believer. But we can only do
that if you let us know. So please fill out the digital connect card. We have
some awesome resources. We want to send your way. If you love worshiping with
us week after week and are interested in connecting on a deeper level, we
have a new live zoom class called starting point. Click the link on our
Facebook event page to register or send an email to online at find refuge
here. For more details. If you are already a member of the refuge family, and
we'd like to support the mission, God has given us. There are three easy ways
to give online by text, or you can mail a check to the church office. Thank
you so much for your generosity. We get to live out the mission. God has
given us. When you give refuge church, we love you and hope you have a great
week. See you next time.