Scary End Times Prophecy and Preparation - Purity 1459

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a clear blue sky over a tranquil lake scene comes to us from Nicole Furch, who shared this picture of Lake Tahoe back on social media— well, on social media during her trip out west back on September 11th. Well, it's Tuesday, and while our future may not be as clear as the skies in today's photo, we can rest assured that God knows the end from the beginning. No matter how uncertain things may seem to us, uh, nothing will take him by surprise as he moves history to align with his ultimate purposes. This morning I was reading in Luke 17, and I wanted to share two things that I, I have gleaned from the words of Jesus. The first involves how we can increase our faith. As Jesus's disciples, we have a real desire to be more like him and to grow in our faith. And apparently it was the same way for Jesus's first disciples, as they request that he increase our faith in Luke 5, to which, uh, Jesus responds by saying in Luke 17:6-10, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the seas, and it would obey you. And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and sit down to eat? But will he not rather say to him, prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do. Um, while the mulberry tree reference may inspire us to try for the impossible, Jesus's ultimate advice here is to, to increase our faith is to obey his commands and to not think that we have done anything particularly special for doing so. His words indicate that an increase in our faith won't just be gifted to us, come at once and sit down and eat, um, but that our faith will increase in the process of and as a reward for faithfully serving. And his words say, 'And afterward you will eat and drink.' So if we want to be blessed with an increase of faith, we should consider serving and following the Lord with simple obedience rather than by expecting a magical increase in our faith, uh, by just asking. Are we— as we are disciples, we walk in Christ's ways obediently and find the increase our faith as we go. This advice helps us to stay faithful even when we don't know what is coming around the bend. This brings us to point number 2, uh, which comes from Jesus's response to the Pharisees in Luke 17 when they ask, um, when the kingdom of God would come. In Luke 17:20, Jesus had a lot to say about that, but the point I wish to focus on can be gathered from his, uh, his verses in Luke Matthew 17:26-30, where Jesus said, and as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all, destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the days when the Son of Man is revealed. These statements make it clear that just as people in Noah and Lot's day didn't know anything that was coming, we won't know beforehand when Jesus makes his return. Um, that could be pretty scary, but it could also be a relief. Um, even though there is much concern, uh, for the future, um, because of wars and uncertain future outcomes like an election year, uh, that will affect our, our lives, we won't be able to predict when Jesus will come back to deliver God's wrath and reclaim the Earth. As scary and as uncertain as the end times may seem to us, we should carry on about our business by faithfully obeying and following Jesus each day. Because we can trust him with today, tomorrow, and forever. Um, David Jeremiah's, uh, Turning Point devotional for today touches on the subject of prophecy and the end times, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage us, uh, all that the end times are actually good news, uh, for the believer and follower of Christ. David Jeremiah writes, Runaway Train. And he shares, uh, 1 Thessalonians 4:18 that says, therefore comfort one another with these words. And David Jeremiah writes, a man once told his pastor, I really don't have much interest in studying prophecy. His pastor said, oh my, that means you must be neglecting the books of Daniel, Zechariah, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Revelation, and vast portions of Isaiah and Ezekiel, along with Matthew 24 and 25. That's a lot of the Bible to ignore. After the Apostle Paul wrote the predictions God gave him about the rapture of the church, he said, therefore comfort one another with these words. The study of prophecy is tremendously comforting. It reminds God— reminds us God controls the course of history and has a glorious conclusion for all his children. We're not destined to crash with the hopelessness of a runaway train. Instead, God is the conductor, and he will get us home— or safely home. Just as the predictions of his first coming were peacefully— or perfectly fulfilled, so will the prophecies about his second coming. Hope is the anticipation of wonderful future events. The details of prophecy may seem daunting, but the basic outlines are pretty simple. Jesus coming again, and heaven is our destiny. Let's comfort one another with these truths. And, uh, he also shares a quote from Tim LaHaye who said, Bible prophecy helps us to better understand the future and gives us hope in a hopeless age.

And I say amen.

Those of us who are in Christ need not fear the— for the future The words of Jesus and Holy Scripture show us that we won't be able to prepare for Christ's return with any degree of certainty, but we are assured that God's plan for the future is good and that we will be ultimately protected and welcomed into his kingdom and his presence, whether we go to see him at the hour of our death or if Jesus should suddenly return to earth. God is good and we can trust him. So we need not fear the end times, and we can live with expectant hope and joy knowing that God has already rescued us when we put our faith in Jesus. And I have to apologize for the clickbait title. I'm titling this message Scary End Times Prophecy and Preparation. But and so I apologize for that. But if we are in Christ, we don't need to be afraid of the end times and all we have to do to be prepared for them. Is to faithfully follow Jesus in the way we should go. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on the forgiveness of sins, and, uh, today's verses come from 1 Timothy, uh, chapter 2, verses 5 and 6. And the word of God tells us, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Today's verses are the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the 32nd point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiveness of sins. That 32nd point is: Jesus is the only one through whom one can be saved and enjoy the forgiveness of sins. Today's Bible verses remind us that there is only one who can be a mediator between God and men— Jesus Christ. One thing this brings up to me as a former Catholic is that we need not go to— we need not go to God through anyone else than Jesus. And after we put our faith in Jesus, in Christ, we can go right to the Father ourselves. Jesus is the mediator. He gives us peace with God, and once we have it, we don't need any go-betweens to speak to God for us. Uh, we don't need a clergyman, priest, or beloved saint to speak on our behalf. So don't pray to Mary or any other saint in eternity to help you. Take your prayers to Father God, because Jesus, acting as our mediator, has brought us into his kingdom as beloved sons and daughters. We can pray and go to our Father who art in heaven all by ourselves. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Allpert. And in Allpert's devotional, he He shares— well, he prompts us to read a chapter of Scripture, and from— and today's chapter is James 1. And from James 1, he shares a portion of verse 19, which says, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. And Alford writes, James' great theme is works. He teaches that faith without works is dead. He puts forward the manward aspect of the Christian life. Emphasizing what the Lord said when he gave utterance to these words: By their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:20. Thus James' epistle is one of practical religion. Here are 3 practical truths: Swift to hear, ready to hear. This is a thing lacking in many lives, the readiness to hear. How ready was the Lord Jesus? Slow to speak. This is, of course, in proportion to hearing. One should always be more ready to hear than to speak. Slow to wrath.

Hastiness.

But James says the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James 1:20.

And Alfred ends his devotion by praying, oh, that my life and testimony would be known by these truths.

Amen. Amen. Yeah, let's be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Amen.

Um, yeah, that's just good practical advice. And we love, you know, the book of James can really trip some people up, uh, because of the whole works— faith without works is dead, you know.

Um, I know some traditions sort of distort the gospel because of James' insistence that we have, you know, proof to our pudding, that we would put action to our faith. And it can easily become twisted, whereas if you don't, if you don't do this, that, and the other, you really don't have faith. And, you know, if we you know, we have to earn our faith, where there is no grace. It doesn't work that way. Um, Ephesians points out that we're saved by faith, uh, you know, and graced by faith in Jesus alone, and that we are prepared for good works.

So after we put our faith in Jesus, we're to do good works. We don't do good works to get to Jesus.

We don't get to do good works to get to God.

Uh, it's a response, a love response, um, for our— for what the Lord has done for us.

And, uh, let's not get the horse before the cart. So we're saved because of what Jesus did, and, uh, for God graciously revealing that truth to us, and our obedience, you know, and agreeing to follow Jesus, to make him our Lord and Savior. And then we represent the kingdom by doing good works and You know, we can't—

we shouldn't just say, yeah, I believe in Jesus and then live an earthly life.

There's no— there's no proof to your faith. And the proof of our faith would be good works and the fruit of the Spirit, um, which is peace.

So you should be at peace in the matter and not be griffin about, you know, oh, I haven't done anything good for the Lord.

I mean, that should be a conviction, but never a condemnation. So, um, Yeah, this is the dynamics of our faith. It's, it's simple, but sometimes it's— it can be a little complicated. So let's not get it complicated, because when we understand that love for the Lord, we just want to do his will and do good things in his name to give him glory. Amen. And when we—

and that's why we ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Do you have good works to show that you actually have faith? Um, have you surrendered? Uh, have you done something with what God's word tells you about— tells about, you know, says about you, uh, as a believer, as a follower of Jesus?

Um, if not, you know, we invite you to do that, because when you do, um, things change. Become, um— well, you become saved, you become filled with joy at your salvation, and that should drive you to sanctification and good works. And that's really, really where the transformation comes from, is from the Lord and what he's done in our lives.

When you follow, he'll lead you in all kinds of things like ministry. All right, in my case, I was blessed and blessed by being able to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, which meets in Clifton Park on 6th— at the Starpoint Church on 6th at 6:30 on Wednesdays. We invite you to come see us tomorrow night.

Basically, if you're in the upstate upstate New York region and can get to Clifton Park, the doors are open, and we'll be in the K-3 classroom to welcome you and tell you that we're happy to see you. It's a Christian recovery and discipleship group, and that means anybody can come to get encouragement, prayer, and instruction in walking in the Spirit and being set free.

However, and however, not everyone's in the upstate New York, but we believe that you can find or increase your Freedom in Christ by joining one of our, uh, podcast classes on YouTube. We provide playlists for Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Disciples— Celebrate Freedom Discipleship Course.

Um, basically that's filled with biblical teaching from Dr. Neil Anderson in the Bible, and basically it leads you to know who you are in Christ and to resolve the issues in the past and to walk in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we encourage you to check those out.

And we end every day by asking, are you empty for Christ too? What's that mean? That means we empty ourselves of the world's ways and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us and lead us in the way we should go according to God's word and his, his, um, you know, his wisdom. Um, so if, if you have, that's great. Keep on walking and talking with God.

If not, we just, just We pray that you would pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you and to draw you closer to him, because we know that when we make prayers, when we pray for the Lord to reveal himself, things happen.

And that's why we pray every day, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom.

Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've done in our lives to set us free, to give us a hope and a future, and to give us the assurance that, uh, We don't have anything to be afraid of, and all we have to do is, um, follow you faithfully, and our faith will increase.

Lord, we pray for anyone listening or reading or watching today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests, Lord, and, uh, to, to help them in the way they should go.

And while you're at it, Lord, we pray for ourselves as well. We just pray for you to open our eyes to what you want us to see, lead us in the way we should go today as we prepare for another day of work and ministry tonight. As we, uh, lead another Freedom in Christ course, uh, group tonight. So Lord, we pray for your Holy Spirit to be with us, to guide us, to protect us, um, and to do your will on Earth. Um, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.