Introduction:
Deuteronomy 18:20-22 - And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
It's Going to Get Bad: How To Get Through Birth Pains (Matthew 24:1-14):
- See that you're not Deceived . (Matthew 24:4-5)
- See that you're not Alarmed . (Matthew 24:6-8)
- See that you're not Wavering . (Matthew 24:9-13)
AND SOME GOOD NEWS (Matthew 24:14):
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:08-01:10
Matthew chapter 24, are you there?
01:10-01:14
Over the next two months, we will be looking at Matthew 24 and 25.
01:15-01:19
And this passage is known as the Olivet Discourse.
01:20-01:27
And in this passage, Jesus lays out events leading to his second coming.
01:29-01:35
So we're not just asking, what are we waiting for?
01:36-01:41
We're asking, what are we waiting for?
01:43-01:44
And there will be spoilers.
01:45-01:45
So let's pray.
01:45-01:53
I'm gonna ask if you would please just take a moment to pray for me, and I will pray for you, and then we'll get to God's word together.
01:56-02:05
Father, we're approaching a subject over the next couple of months that either don't know or don't wanna know, or they're all kinds of sideways about it, or they're all mixed up about it.
02:06-02:12
And I'm just asking, Father, that your word is clear.
02:14-02:35
And I'm asking, Father, for this church that we wouldn't come here with preconceived notions or ready to object to everything that your word says, but instead ready to hear what your word actually says.
02:37-02:40
So Father, glorify your name through your word.
02:41-02:46
But please ask this, Father, in Jesus' name.
02:47-02:47
Amen.
02:48-02:51
Matthew 24, let's look at verse one.
02:51-03:03
It says, "Jesus left the temple "and was going away when his disciples "came to point out to him the buildings of the temple." All right, I gotta be honest with you.
03:03-03:04
Let's just stop there for a second.
03:04-03:05
I gotta be honest with you.
03:05-03:11
Like, that verse always kind of bothered me because isn't that kind of weird?
03:14-03:21
And I never really did a deep dive on that until this week, that verse in particular, but isn't that kind of weird?
03:21-03:23
Look at what the verse says.
03:24-03:34
"Jesus left the temple and his disciples "came to point out to him the buildings of the temple." Nobody else thinks that's weird.
03:35-03:40
Like Jesus walks out of the temple and the disciples are like, "Hey, did you see the temple?"
03:40-03:41
(congregation laughing)
03:42-03:57
Jesus is like, "You mean the building "I just walked out of?" And in fact, when you go to the gospel of Mark, the verse, Mark chapter 13, it gives us a more specific description.
03:57-04:01
It says that the disciples were saying how wonderful the buildings are.
04:03-04:05
And that doesn't make it any less weird for me.
04:05-04:13
Jesus walks out of the temples and the disciples are like, "Hey, pretty wonderful, huh?" Like, what is going on there?
04:14-04:19
I think it's important for us, as we get to this passage, we have to understand what's at the scene here.
04:20-04:22
What in the world is going on?
04:22-04:27
Why are they pointing out to Jesus the building they just walked out of.
04:29-04:30
Here's why.
04:31-04:42
In Matthew chapter 23, the disciples just saw the Lord give scathing rebukes to the religious leaders.
04:43-04:48
They just watched Jesus light them up, up one side, down the other.
04:50-04:54
And then, Jesus laments over Jerusalem.
04:55-04:57
You know, Jerusalem, God's city.
04:59-05:06
I I fully believe that this conversation was them being uncomfortable.
05:07-05:09
It was kind of awkward. Could you imagine?
05:09-05:14
They just watched their pastor rebuke everybody else.
05:14-05:17
And they're just I think they walked out and they're like, so.
05:20-05:30
"Buildings are pretty, right?" I mean, obviously you had issues with what's inside the building, but the buildings are pretty.
05:31-05:33
Well, Jesus shocks them, look at verse two.
05:34-05:37
But he answered them, "You see all these, do you not?
05:38-06:19
"Truly I say to you, there will not be left here "one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." Wait, what? I mean, that had to have been a shocking statement from Jesus. He says, "It's all coming down." These buildings you're so impressed with, you're not going to see a stone on top of another. And then, for Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus goes on to lay out the future.
06:21-06:24
all the way up to the end time events.
06:24-06:28
That starts in verse four, and that takes us all the way to the end of chapter 25.
06:30-06:41
So here's a question, listen, I need you to dial in, because this is important, not just for this message, not just for this series, this is important for you as you read the whole Bible.
06:41-06:43
Okay, this is an important thing to understand.
06:44-06:54
The question is, why did Jesus give the temple prophecy before he talked about the more distant future?
06:54-06:55
Why did he do that?
06:55-06:57
What's all this stuff about the temple?
06:58-06:59
Let me show you what he's doing.
07:00-07:07
What Jesus is doing here is showing his credentials as a prophet.
07:10-07:12
What are the credentials of a prophet?
07:12-07:14
Well, Deuteronomy 18, look at this.
07:14-07:15
Here's just part of it.
07:15-07:36
Deuteronomy 18 says, "And if you say in your heart, "how may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?" When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken.
07:37-07:43
The prophet has spoken presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him.
07:45-07:47
Listen, this is so important, please, my friends.
07:48-07:51
This will so help your understanding of reading the Bible.
07:51-07:56
If you understand this principle, how prophecy works.
07:56-08:02
'Cause look, when it comes to predicting the future, you realize anybody can do that.
08:04-08:07
Anybody can walk around and say, here's what's gonna happen in the future.
08:07-08:08
Anybody can say that.
08:09-08:10
Let me tell you what's gonna happen in the future.
08:11-08:15
But the thing is, how do you know he's right?
08:16-08:17
He can say anything.
08:19-08:20
How do you know he's right?
08:20-08:22
How do you know he's a real prophet?
08:22-08:25
How do you know he's right at the time of him saying that if it's all future?
08:26-08:30
How can you verify what his future predictions are?
08:30-08:31
How can you verify if they're true?
08:34-08:35
Well, this is how prophecy works.
08:35-08:36
I'm gonna give you a dumb example.
08:38-08:41
You can probably think of a better one, but I'm gonna give you a dumb example just to illustrate this.
08:42-08:45
Like, what if I told you, okay, I'm a prophet.
08:46-08:47
I'm gonna give you a future prophecy.
08:47-08:48
You ready for this?
08:49-08:52
In the future, China is gonna take over Russia.
08:53-08:54
She's gonna take over the whole country.
08:57-08:59
How could you verify that?
09:00-09:01
How would you know if I'm a true prophet or not?
09:02-09:03
Because it's all in the future.
09:04-09:06
Oh yeah, trust me, I'm a prophet.
09:08-09:10
You can't verify that, right?
09:10-09:14
But, but, what if I did this?
09:14-09:17
What if I said, I'm going to lay out the future for you.
09:17-09:24
In the future, the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to win five World Series in a row.
09:26-09:28
And then China is going to take over Russia.
09:31-09:44
And then over the next five seasons, the Pirates win five World Series in a row, which obviously has to be the hand of God.
09:47-09:56
But you see the point, the verification of something that happened in the immediate authenticates what's happening long-term.
09:57-09:57
See what I'm saying?
09:59-10:06
That if the Pirates won those five World Series, you'd be like, hmm, maybe I need to take a look what he was saying about China invading Russia.
10:10-10:12
That's how prophecy works.
10:12-10:15
The prophets, you see this all through the Old Testament.
10:16-10:20
The prophets would give a prediction of something in the near future.
10:21-10:27
And if a prophet did that and it didn't come to pass, then you can just toss the rest of his stuff out.
10:27-10:36
But if what the prophet said about the near future did come to pass, then that prophet's authentic.
10:36-10:46
And you should probably take a really close look at the stuff that he's talking about further down the road in the future.
10:49-10:50
You get that?
10:50-10:52
It's authentication is what it is.
10:53-10:57
Oh, and Jesus was right, by the way, about the temple.
10:58-10:59
He was right.
11:00-11:01
You know what happened in about 40 years?
11:03-11:05
Roman siege over Jerusalem.
11:06-11:13
Long story short, you can look this up, but the Roman soldiers under Titus, big siege over the city of Jerusalem.
11:13-11:18
And it got to the point when they finally did break through and started destroying the cities.
11:18-11:28
Titus said, "Save the temple, don't touch the temple." But the soldiers were so angry at the Jews that they burned the temple down.
11:29-11:32
Well, the temple was actually overlaid with gold.
11:34-11:49
So sometime later, when they came through to pillage the remains of the city, they took big pry bars and pried apart the stones in the temple because the gold had melted in between the stones.
11:49-11:52
So they pried them all apart to get the gold that was in the middle.
11:53-11:57
And you see what they did was perfectly fulfill Jesus' words.
11:57-12:03
Jesus said exactly, "There's not going to be a stone on top of another." And they came and fulfilled that exactly as our Lord said.
12:04-12:17
And because that happened in the near future, perfect, perfect fulfillment, that gives us confidence that everything else Jesus talks about in these chapters that come further down the road are also going to come true.
12:20-12:24
So, it prompts some questions from the disciples.
12:25-12:25
Look at verse three.
12:26-12:35
It says, "As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be?
12:37-12:44
And what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?'" It's a three-part question.
12:46-12:52
And I feel like I need to insert all of you small group leaders that complain about me having three-part questions.
12:53-12:54
It's in the pattern of Scripture.
12:56-12:59
as our Lord preserved, as the disciples spoke, right?
13:00-13:00
Right, Murph?
13:00-13:02
There's just not a sliding scale.
13:03-13:07
You know, the disciples were like, "A scale of one to 10, Lord, how would you?" There's not that.
13:08-13:12
But the three-part question, yeah, it's kind of in there.
13:13-13:15
But there's three questions here.
13:15-13:19
One, they're like, "When?" Okay, okay, when's this happening?
13:22-13:24
Two, what's the sign of your coming?
13:25-13:30
And three, what's the sign of the close of the age?
13:32-13:35
See, I understand the disciples believed that Jesus is the Messiah.
13:35-13:38
At this point, they're like, yeah, you are the Christ.
13:38-13:46
And we know from our Old Testament scriptures, our law and prophets, we know that the Christ is going to establish a kingdom.
13:47-13:50
So can you please tell us, Lord, when that's going to happen?
13:51-13:52
But here's the thing.
13:53-13:57
In the Old Testament, can you see that from where you are?
13:58-14:02
Don't you regret not sitting in the front row if you can't?
14:02-14:07
In the Old Testament, it says that the Messiah would come and suffer and the Messiah would reign.
14:08-14:12
That's all it said, Messiah suffers, Messiah reigns, Messiah suffers, Messiah reigns.
14:12-14:13
We just did a whole series about this.
14:14-14:15
And then we're like one sermon about that.
14:15-14:27
But something you don't see in the Old Testament, it's not revealed until the New Testament, is there is a period of time between the suffering and the reigning of the Messiah.
14:28-14:29
There's a period of time.
14:30-14:34
The disciples didn't know that because you don't see that in the Old Testament.
14:34-14:36
It's not revealed until the New Testament.
14:39-14:46
The Old Testament says nothing about the church age, the days that we live in now.
14:48-14:50
Again, that comes up in the New Testament.
14:50-15:05
The disciples did not understand that Jesus was going to leave and that he was going to come back further down the road.
15:06-15:10
Again, this stuff is being revealed fresh, it's new.
15:11-15:13
You see that even in the book of Acts, right?
15:13-15:16
Acts chapter one, there, Jesus is about to ascend to heaven.
15:16-15:17
Remember what the disciples said?
15:18-15:20
They were like, "Lord, is it at this time that you're gonna restore the kingdom to Israel.
15:21-15:25
They still thought it was gonna be like right now, but it wasn't.
15:26-15:35
Jesus says, "Down the road, down the road." And those are the days that we live in now.
15:36-15:48
So in Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus is telling them what's going to happen between his first coming and his second coming, the church age, through the tribulation, all the way to revelation events.
15:48-15:54
So in Matthew 24, about 30 AD, you see what Jesus is doing.
15:55-15:59
He's laying out future prophetic history.
15:59-16:01
Jesus said, let me tell you about the temple.
16:02-16:03
We saw how that was fulfilled.
16:03-16:05
And then let me tell you what's next.
16:06-16:11
And then ultimately we're gonna talk about the seven year tribulation, which is yet future.
16:13-16:14
Talk about that next week.
16:15-16:24
But today, today, we are going to talk about how Jesus described today.
16:27-16:37
And like the temple prophecy, bless you, like the temple prophecy, he nailed it perfectly.
16:40-16:41
Look at verse eight.
16:41-16:47
Verse eight's kind of the verse to me that kind of is the undercurrent of this whole passage.
16:48-16:58
Verse eight says, "All these are but the beginning of the birth pains." Birth pains.
17:00-17:02
How does that typically work?
17:02-17:09
Typically, when a woman is pregnant and is going to give birth, how does that typically happen?
17:11-17:14
You know, I asked the first service and they acted like they had no idea.
17:15-17:16
Like, come on.
17:17-17:18
Have you been to our kids' ministry?
17:19-17:25
Or like the church of the little old woman that lived in a shoe, and you're all pretending you don't know how babies are made.
17:28-17:30
How do birth pains typically happen?
17:32-17:37
When it comes close to the time, it's, oh, labor pain, right?
17:38-17:40
Now, I'm speaking from secondhand experience.
17:40-17:41
(congregation laughing)
17:45-17:47
We live in a day where I probably had to say that.
17:48-17:48
(congregation laughing)
17:51-17:54
Oh, I had a little labor pain there.
17:55-18:02
And then they get closer and closer together and they get more intense.
18:04-18:12
And then you get to the point where they're really close together and they're really intense And we got to get to the hospital because what comes next?
18:14-18:15
Okay, the four of you that knew that.
18:16-18:18
The baby's coming, right?
18:19-18:28
Listen, that is the metaphor that our Lord selected so appropriate because here's, this is it through history.
18:29-18:31
As you go through history, there's going to be birth pains.
18:31-18:33
More and more closer together, more intense.
18:34-18:35
More and more closer together, more intense.
18:35-18:37
More and more closer together, more intense.
18:37-18:50
And then once you get here to the seven year tribulation, that's like when the woman's at the hospital, like, "Whoa, the baby's coming." And then, then, then he's coming, but he's not coming as a baby this time.
18:53-18:53
No, no, no.
18:55-18:57
That's how it is leading to the end.
18:58-19:00
More pains, closer together, more intense.
19:00-19:03
So it's gonna get bad.
19:05-19:07
on your outline, I want you to jot some things down.
19:09-19:10
How to get through birth pains.
19:12-19:13
How to get through birth pains.
19:16-19:17
Three things.
19:19-19:20
How to get through birth pains.
19:20-19:21
Number one, see that you're not deceived.
19:23-19:24
See that you're not deceived.
19:26-19:26
Look at verse four.
19:27-19:29
And Jesus answered them.
19:30-19:31
Okay, this is in response to their question.
19:33-19:35
And Jesus answered their three-part question.
19:36-19:41
Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray.
19:44-19:57
"For many will come in my name saying, "I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray." See the warning?
19:57-19:59
See that no one leads you astray.
20:01-20:03
My friends, Jesus is warning us.
20:04-20:14
In these days in which we live, around every corner, someone is going to try to lead you astray.
20:16-20:19
Someone is going to try to deceive you.
20:23-20:26
And here Jesus talks about false Christs.
20:26-20:29
The Bible talks about antichrists.
20:30-20:31
1 John chapter two.
20:31-20:34
Now we talk about false Christ and antichrist.
20:34-20:54
Listen, we're not talking about people that are coming out denouncing the Lord, as much as we're talking about people that are coming out saying they are the Lord or they represent the Lord when they really don't.
20:58-21:11
My brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by these people that would say that they are the ones, they're the Christ or representing the Christ when they're leading people astray.
21:12-21:18
Cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Christian scientists.
21:20-21:28
If you're like, really this leading people astray from the truth of God's word and the worship of Christ, like, is that really a thing?
21:28-21:30
Aren't you sensationalizing this, Pastor Jeff?
21:30-21:33
Take a drive up to Cranberry and check out the new Mormon temple.
21:34-21:39
There are so many people being led astray from the clear truth of God's word.
21:41-21:47
This is what Jesus is talking about, is going to be happening, and you're watching it right before your eyes.
21:48-21:51
Birth pains, birth pains, oh, oh, it's happening.
21:52-22:03
Closer together, more and more intense, And you are constantly bombarded with lies, things that will entice you away from the truth of God's word.
22:04-22:07
Like, yeah, yeah, them cults, am I right?
22:07-22:08
Not just them.
22:09-22:21
I'm talking about authentic looking churches or churches that used to be authentic, but have gotten away from the mission.
22:24-22:34
And now all of a sudden these churches that I imagine started because they wanted to proclaim the gospel and see people saved from their sin.
22:34-22:36
I imagine that's why they started.
22:36-22:40
But now we're waving rainbow flags and we're and we're scratching ears.
22:41-22:42
What?
22:45-22:47
Jesus says, see that no one leads you astray.
22:49-22:54
You have to know what God's word actually says.
22:57-23:01
And that's why we are walking through this text.
23:02-23:10
You can fact check me, everything that I say, is it representing what the word of God says?
23:16-24:23
That's why we preach God's word at this church verse by verse at Harvest Bible Chapel. Bible is our middle name, and that is the hill that I will die on. And I will go to the matter of this and have, and I'm sure I'll have to again. But whoever stands up here has to represent the Word of God clearly and accurately. Not a little spin, not a little twist, not a little inserting something else and I'm going to tell you my biggest concern for this church. Now hear me, I don't mean the church general, the church universal, the church across the street. This is the church that I love. You are the people that I love And I have a serious pastoral concern for this church, especially in light of what our Lord says.
24:23-24:33
And my concern is lack of discernment. So concerned, I have a whole series about this coming up.
24:34-25:08
Lack of discernment. That's my concern for this church, because people just gobble up unbiblical things. They just gobble it up. You're like, "Well, what kind of unbiblical things?" Please hear me. You've got to hear my heart on this. Things like end times fear-mongering. People gobble that up. Things like self -affirming, man-centered empowerment talks versus Jesus Christ as the center proclamation.
25:09-25:20
People gobble that up or some kind of weird Christian patriotism. America is the chosen nation.
25:20-25:37
America is the new Israel. USA! USA! USA! We are like Jesus to the world. People gobble up so much stuff that just is not biblical.
25:40-25:41
And I hear it all the time.
25:42-25:54
People say, "Oh, this podcaster I listen to said this." Or, "Oh, I saw this YouTube video proving that." Or, "You know, there's this preacher I follow who lives far away.
25:55-25:59
Listen to what he said." Oh, that's always a weird thing to me.
25:59-26:05
Do you realize the further away a preacher is from you, geographically, the more authority he has?
26:06-26:07
Did you ever notice that?
26:09-26:11
Like if a guy down the road says it, whatever.
26:12-26:16
But if the guy lives on the other side of the country, ooh, he must be an expert.
26:19-26:22
Maybe there's a lot of people like in California that think I'm an expert.
26:28-26:31
Listen, here's what matters.
26:31-26:33
What does the Bible say?
26:33-26:35
What does the Bible say?
26:36-26:39
I don't really care what the Mickey Mouse Podcaster says.
26:40-26:41
I care what God said.
26:44-26:46
I don't care what the YouTube video says.
26:47-26:49
I care what the scripture says.
26:51-26:52
And you know what the scripture says?
26:53-26:53
You know what it says?
26:56-26:57
See that no one leads you astray.
26:59-27:00
That's what Jesus said.
27:02-27:06
Listen, not everything calling itself Christian represents Christ.
27:07-27:13
And people, you've gotta know the Bible and you've gotta have discernment or you're gonna get suckered.
27:15-27:16
It's gonna get bad.
27:18-27:19
How to get through the birth pains.
27:21-27:23
Well, see that you're not deceived, number two.
27:24-27:25
See that you're not alarmed.
27:27-27:28
See that you're not alarmed.
27:30-27:31
Look at verse 6.
27:33-27:37
He says, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
27:39-27:40
See that you are not alarmed.
27:43-27:46
For this must take place, but the end is not yet.
27:46-28:18
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Stop there. Jesus said you're gonna hear about wars and rumors of wars. So we're, Jesus said in this age in which we live, you're either gonna be in a war or you're gonna hear about a war or both.
28:20-28:25
And it's birth pains, it's birth pains. Closer together, more intense.
28:26-29:18
It's happening. It's happening on a global scale. And by the way, when Jesus says, "You shall hear," the Greek tense is continual. What Jesus was saying was, "In this day, you're constantly going to be hearing about wars going on. Constantly." Have you noticed? Have this minute, you notice what's happening with Ukraine and Russia? Do you hear about that? Have you heard about what's happening in Haiti? I just read the other day rumblings about war with Iran. This is my shocked face. Israel and Hamas. It's Oh, and then he talks about famines and earthquakes.
29:18-29:21
Luke gives us a little more detail.
29:21-29:26
He adds pestilence, various places all over.
29:26-29:31
And we're gonna be talking about some of these manifestations of these signs here in a couple of weeks.
29:34-29:35
We'll talk more about that.
29:35-29:37
I have a whole thing about that.
29:37-29:38
We'll roll out.
29:40-29:41
Isn't it interesting?
29:42-29:46
Jesus says, "See that you're not alarmed." Because that's not the end yet.
29:52-29:53
That's kind of funny actually.
29:55-30:12
Jesus is like, okay, so nations are gonna be warring and the earth is gonna be shaking and people are gonna be dying of diseases and some people are gonna be dying because they don't have enough food and don't be alarmed about that.
30:15-30:20
I'm sorry, but this seems like the perfect time to panic.
30:20-30:20
To me.
30:24-30:35
And you're like, how can I turn on the news and see all of this stuff and not panic?
30:37-30:39
I mean, how am I supposed to be okay with this?
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Well, Jesus tells us exactly how to not panic.
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Look at verse eight.
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All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
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Boom, there it is.
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You will not be alarmed if you understand how birth pains work and what they result in.
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If you get that, You're not going to be alarmed.
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Nick, what do you mean?
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Well, let's just pretend for a second.
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Can we pretend?
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Can we pretend here for a second?
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Let's pretend that I don't know how a child is born.
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Let's just pretend I'm ignorant of that whole process of how a child is born.
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All right?
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But we're here in church, and I'm standing up here, and you're sitting down there, and there's a dear woman in our church that is nine months pregnant.
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And right this minute, during service, she goes, "Oh, oh." And I'm like, "What's the problem?" says she's having a birth pain and I'm like a birth pain now here oh what are we gonna do oh god why would you let this happen to this woman? This is terrible!
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You would come up on the stage and you'd put your arm around me and you'd say Jefe?
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This is not terrible.
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This is expected. This is expected. But you realize this is how some people respond to the news. Whether you're watching it on TV or you're reading your news that gets sent to you on the emails. This is That's how some people respond.
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"Oh, this is terrible, God!
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"Why don't you do something about this?
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"Why is this happening?" Jesus said, "This is how birth pains work.
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"They get more intense and they get closer together "until the big events." Don't be alarmed, come on, man, don't be alarmed.
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Aaron and I had a dear friend who, during COVID lockdowns, she's with the Lord now, she's having a good day.
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And her breath, she's breathing the air of heaven right now.
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She's having a good day.
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But I felt so horrible for her.
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Because during the COVID lockdowns, all she did was stay at home and watch CNN 24/7.
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And the poor woman was panicked out of her mind, scared to death.
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And it didn't really matter what Aaron and I said to her, because our voice was very small compared to the garbage it was being pumped into her from CNN.
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This is exactly what Jesus is talking about.
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Don't be alarmed.
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Birth pains, it's birth pains.
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So yes, yes, watch the news, absolutely.
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If you're like me, maybe you get the news in the email.
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And if you don't know what email is, you're either really young or really old.
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But that's, yes, watch the news.
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But listen, do it through a biblical filter.
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See that you're not alarmed.
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Listen, you're not meant to live in fear.
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God did not intend for you to live in fear.
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The Bible is crystal on that.
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If you're a born again follower of Christ, you know what that means?
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That means your sin's been taken away.
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That means you have the promise of heaven through believing, receiving Jesus Christ.
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You're a child of God and you are guaranteed that your best days are ahead of you.
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You're not meant to live in fear.
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You're meant to live in a humble confidence that your heavenly father has given you and will give you everything that you need.
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So my friends, we should watch the news, seeing all these bad things that Jesus is talking about.
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We should watch the news just seeing these as birth pains.
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Again, I'm gonna talk about these signs in a couple of weeks but if you see it as our Lord described it, I get those emails, earthquake here, war happening here, disease happening here.
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Just like Jesus said, just like he said.
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And just as birth pains mean that the baby's coming, these events that he's talking about mean that our Lord is coming.
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So see that you're not deceived and see that you're not alarmed.
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And number three, see that you're not wavering.
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See that you're not wavering.
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Look at verse nine.
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Jesus goes on, doesn't get any softer by the way, he says, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake." Hating, arresting, killing God's people, That's nothing new.
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That's always been a thing.
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Read Fox's Book of Martyrs.
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Oh, here's a not so fun fact for you.
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Do you know which period of history saw the most persecution against Christians?
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Do you know which century?
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How about the last 100 years?
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True.
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It's birth pains.
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It's happening closer together, more intense.
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There's pregnant women in our church that have not enjoyed this sermon.
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But notice Jesus said, "It's for my namesake." Okay, people hate you for Jesus' namesake, right?
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If you identify with Jesus Christ, you are public enemy.
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Why does the world hate Christ?
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Oh, the world does, by the way, but why?
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Why does the world hate Christ?
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Because Christ will not affirm you in your sin.
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Jesus Christ will not redefine your sin.
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Jesus Christ calls sin, sin.
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Jesus calls you to do things like deny yourself, the hardest thing possible to do.
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Say no to yourself.
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Jesus calls you to do that.
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Jesus calls you to pick up your cross and follow him.
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Jesus calls us to a lordship way of living where he is Lord over every area of my life.
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So the world hates him and the world hates his people when we echo his message.
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So my brothers and sisters, we can't waver in our walks.
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We can't waver in our walks, not in our homes, not in our schools, not in our workplaces.
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And God help us, not in our church.
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We can't waver.
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We can't waver.
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And for you parents, for you parents, I just wanna challenge you.
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How are you preparing your kids for verse nine?
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How are you preparing your kids for that?
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Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, 100%.
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But you know what else the Bible tells me so?
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Is that those kids that you're raising to love Christ, the world's gonna hate them just because of that.
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Are you preparing them for that?
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We can't waver.
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We can't waver.
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Jesus promised an ever increasing manifestation of evil that's going to see people fall away from faith.
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Some people are going to fall away from faith because of persecution as we just saw, but he goes on, look at verse 10, says that many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
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So many people fall away because of persecution.
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Jesus talks about betrayal.
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There are going to be people that you love and you trusted who will betray you, turn you in, sell you out.
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It's the worst kind of pain.
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Have you ever trusted someone who stabbed you in the back?
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It's the worst kind of pain.
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Some people fall away because of persecution.
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Some people fall away because they're deceived.
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Verse 11, look, Jesus says, and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
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Again, church discernment, discernment.
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You've got to know your Bibles and you've got to be unwavering on that.
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What does the Bible say?
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Some are going to fall away because of sin.
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Look at verse 12.
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Verse 12 says, "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." Love will grow cold.
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Boy, that's not a hard sell, is it?
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Have you noticed?
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Have you been paying attention?
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The love of people is gonna grow cold.
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People are becoming more and more cold.
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People are becoming more and more heartless, just completely heartless.
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Again, in a couple of weeks, we're gonna be talking about some of these signs.
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But here's one, if you're not convinced that people are becoming cold and heartless.
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You know what I think is the most savage, heartless thing?
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Is when a woman will march and scream and protest for the right to murder her own baby.
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I can't think of anything more savage than that.
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A woman screaming, demanding the right that she should be able to murder her baby.
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And that's what's happening.
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Love going cold.
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Birth pains.
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So many people waver and fall away.
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We're seeing it.
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We're seeing it.
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People stop coming to church.
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People stop serving.
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People stop pursuing Christ.
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We see it.
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And at this point you're like, man, so people are falling away for all these repersecution and deception and sin.
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Like how in the world would you know who actually is saved?
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I'm glad you asked that because look at the next verse.
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Jesus says, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
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The saved people endure.
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The saved people won't waver.
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You see persecution and deception and sin, those things show you.
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They show you who is real because real believers will never fall away.
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They won't.
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If you're a true born again believer in Jesus Christ, you will not fall away.
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And if you're just a pretender, you will.
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If you're just a church goer, you will.
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So let me ask you, what's gonna get you?
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What's gonna get you?
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What's going to make you fall away?
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Is it persecution?
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Is that gonna get you?
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You're like, I'm committed, oh, until it gets hard, until people hate you, until people treat you differently because you said you love Jesus.
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Oh, it's just too, it's just too hard.
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Oh, it's just too hard.
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Is that what's gonna get you?
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Is that your testimony?
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You wanna stand before the Lord someday?
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Well, I wanna follow, Jim, but I got hard and I don't like doing hard things.
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Really?
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That's your testimony?
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It just got too hard?
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You didn't find Christ worth it?
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You didn't find eternal life worth it?
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You didn't find all the promises of heaven worth it?
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"Why did you do so hard?" "Yeah, for like 15 minutes, it's hard." Really? Is that what got you?
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Or maybe it's deception.
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Is deception what's gonna get you?
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Is that what's gonna make you fall away?
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That you don't know your Bible well enough, that some jamoke's gonna come along and preach some garbage doctrine, and you're like, "Well, I guess I'll follow him." Because you don't know your Bible.
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Is that what's gonna get you?
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Really?
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Is that gonna be your testimony on that day?
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Yeah, Lord, thanks for writing your truth down, Lord, and thanks for putting it in all the hotel rooms I stayed at.
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That was helpful.
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But you know, I just didn't really spend the time to get to know what it said.
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That's why I fell for that stupid stuff.
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Was that what's gonna get you?
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or maybe it's sin.
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Is sin what's going to get you?
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That you're going to find that your love for sin is hot, and your love for Jesus is cold.
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Your love for God's people is cold.
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Is that what's going to get you?
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You just lost heart.
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Don't really love Jesus as much as I thought I did, because I'm not willing to give up my sin.
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Is that what it's gonna be for you?
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See that you're not wavering.
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Who's up for some good news?
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Couple of you are?
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Great.
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Look at verse 14.
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And the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.
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And then the end will come.
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You know, the Bible calls the gospel, the power of God.
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Did you know that?
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Romans 1 16, not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God.
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Do you think there's anything on this planet that's going to stop the gospel?
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Really?
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You think these wars and earthquakes and viruses, You think all this stuff is going to stop the gospel?
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Really?
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Look, that's what Jesus says here.
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Hey, the gospel of this gospel is going out in spite of all of...
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Actually, let me rephrase that.
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Because you know, sometimes the gospel doesn't go out in spite of all the bad things.
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Sometimes the gospel goes out because of the bad things.
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I get it, I'm ashamed to stand here and admit this to you.
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But when you remember COVID, all that hysteria, I'm ashamed to admit I thought it was gonna sink the church.
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How's our church gonna survive if nobody's allowed to be here?
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They're locking the doors, they're not letting people, you know, we saw what was happening up North, pastors getting arrested.
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I shamefully and faithlessly thought that COVID was gonna sink this church.
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What's gonna happen?
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Do you know what did happen?
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Well, we got like the most brilliant minds in the world that work in our AV ministry.
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So they got these high pollutant cameras and they got this high pollutant streaming equipment.
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I don't even know what that stuff is called.
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But COVID forced us to up our streaming game.
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And do you know what happened as a result of that?
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I get messages literally from all over the world.
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Hey, Jeff, you don't know me, but I watch you every week.
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We are so blessed by studying the Bible with you.
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We're talking all over the United States and Ghana and Uganda and Japan and Thailand and, and, and, and.
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I believe Satan was like, "Hey, watch how I stopped the gospel with COVID." And God's like, God's like, "Watch this, watch this.
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I'll reach people that they never imagined would be reached through this." What a privilege, what a privilege to be a part of what God's doing.
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It's gonna get bad.
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You know, that's what I called this before the bulletins were printed and it was too late to change it.
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But if I could change it, I'm not sure bad is the right word.
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How about difficult?
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That's a better word, isn't it?
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And it is difficult.
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Do you know what the church needs, though?
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Do you know what this church needs?
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This church needs born-again disciples of Jesus Christ who will not be deceived, who will not be alarmed, and who will not waver.
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And I'm blessed to be a part of a church that has such people.
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Are you one of them?
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Are you one of them?
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Are you serving Jesus Christ faithfully in his church?
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What about giving?
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Are you giving?
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Are you investing in what God's doing?
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We realized on Friday we close on a piece of property.
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And we are putting a building on that property.
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And we need the funds.
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Are you investing in that?
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And this isn't just a building on a piece of property.
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This is an opportunity in the face of all of these difficult things that are coming.
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We can raise a generation of kids will stand for Jesus Christ.
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This is an opportunity where we can reach even more people in this community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I have to ask you, what are you investing yourself in?
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If you consider that not a worthy enough cause to invest in, what are you investing in? How are you spending God's money. We have a tremendous opportunity. Let's grab it.
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Let's grab it. So thankful to be part of this church, to be part of the faithful who are serving and giving.
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And if you're not on board though, you can step up.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 24:1-14
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Some people believe all these events Jesus described (Matt 24:4-14) happened in the 1st century, and some people believe they are all in the future tribulation. What reason do we have to believe that these events take place during the “church age” (=now)?
Jesus said when we see these signs, we should not be alarmed (Matt 24:6b). Do you get alarmed at the news? What’s the difference between “not really caring about what’s happening” to “not being alarmed”?
Read Matt 24:9 again. If you are a parent: how are you preparing your children for this?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
Want more eschatology teaching?
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through Revelation
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through 2 Thessalonians
