Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Here He Comes, Ready or Not Msg 1121

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Here He Comes, Ready or Not Msg 1121 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: When I was growing up, my older brother and older
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Speaker 1: sister and I would, on occasion, experience an unusual time
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Speaker 1: of quietness. Sometime in a car, when we were with
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Speaker 1: our folks, sometime in our home. My mother would sometimes say,
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Speaker 1: just Stay quiet for a few moments. There's an angel
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Speaker 1: passing through. I thought of that as we sang together.
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Speaker 1: There's a wonderful Hebrew word that you wouldn't know because
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Speaker 1: we always use the word glory. It's a hard word
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Speaker 1: to define, isn't it? Perhaps it is a word limited
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Speaker 1: to our Christian vocabulary. How often do you read the
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Speaker 1: word glory? Outside of a Christmas carol or a Christian
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Speaker 1: piece of literature, the Hebrew word is kavod. Kavod, it
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Speaker 1: means heavy. Isn't that great? There's a sense of weight,
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Speaker 1: heavy weight, connected with that word glory. I thought of
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Speaker 1: that also as we sang of his holiness. We are
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Speaker 1: to be holy as he is holy. Not pious. Not
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Speaker 1: phony holy. but pure, pure of thought, pure of tongue,
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Speaker 1: pure of motive, holy. Jesus often gathered his 12 disciples
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Speaker 1: for a few moments of quietness, And he took advantage
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Speaker 1: of those moments by teaching them, giving them insight they
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Speaker 1: would otherwise never have. And he chose unusual moments for that.
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Speaker 1: As we go through this gospel by Matthew, we find
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Speaker 1: him where we are today in the 24th chapter. Of
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Speaker 1: all places, sitting down on the... easy flowing slope of
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Speaker 1: a mountain called the Mount of Olives. When you travel
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Speaker 1: to Israel, you will visit the Mount of Olives. There's
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Speaker 1: a western slope and after the crest, the eastern. And
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Speaker 1: he is moving from Jerusalem, which is on the western
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Speaker 1: side of the mount. He's on his way to the
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Speaker 1: little village of Bethany. which is on the eastern side.
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Speaker 1: And along the way, a conversation arises spontaneously as the
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Speaker 1: disciples ask about something regarding the future. Jesus, realizing this
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Speaker 1: is the moment, knowing his arrest, trials, and death, will
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Speaker 1: soon come. This is the moment he needs to tell
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Speaker 1: them about things in the future. So he sat down
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Speaker 1: and he taught them. It's called a discourse. Theologians call
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Speaker 1: Matthew 24 and 25 the Olivet discourse. On the Mount
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Speaker 1: of Olives, he taught them. Matthew covers it in two chapters,
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Speaker 1: and then it's over. When you read it, it's intriguing,
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Speaker 1: it's captivating, because it has to do with the future,
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Speaker 1: but it's brief, very brief. And he doesn't answer all
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Speaker 1: of our questions. He simply, like a good teacher, lays
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Speaker 1: out the facts and lets you wrestle with it. Think
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Speaker 1: about them. We're in the middle of that in chapter 24.
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Speaker 1: We're in the latter half of the chapter. It's a
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Speaker 1: long chapter, 51 verses. So we'll only take a couple
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Speaker 1: of excerpts for the sake of time. Be sure you
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Speaker 1: listen carefully to what Jesus said to his disciples about
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Speaker 1: the future. I'll be reading from the New Living Translation
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Speaker 1: because it is easier to understand for those who are
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Speaker 1: not well acquainted with their Bibles. My desire is always
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Speaker 1: to interest those who don't know a lot about the Bible,
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Speaker 1: even though I'm surrounded by many of you who know
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Speaker 1: a great deal. But we're going to be reading excerpts
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Speaker 1: from Matthew 24, if your Bible is open. I'll begin
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Speaker 1: reading at verse 29. Then we'll skip a little section
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Speaker 1: and read another few verses. If you have your Bibles open,
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Speaker 1: please stand together for the reading. Chapter 24, verse 29.
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Speaker 1: Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will
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Speaker 1: be darkened. The moon will give no light. The stars
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Speaker 1: will fall from the sky. And the powers in the
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Speaker 1: heavens will be shaken. And then at last, the sign
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Speaker 1: that the Son of Man is coming will appear in
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Speaker 1: the heavens. And there will be deep mourning among all
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Speaker 1: the peoples of the earth. And they will see the
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Speaker 1: Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with
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Speaker 1: power and great glory. And he will send out his
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Speaker 1: angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet. And they
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Speaker 1: will gather the chosen ones from all over the world.
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Speaker 1: from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven. Verse 37.
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Speaker 1: When the Son of Man returns, it will be like
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Speaker 1: it was in Noah's day. In those days before the flood,
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Speaker 1: the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right
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Speaker 1: up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn't
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Speaker 1: realize what was going to happen until the flood came
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Speaker 1: and swept them all away. That is the way it
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Speaker 1: will be when the Son of Man comes. Two men
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Speaker 1: will be working together in the field. One will be taken,
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Speaker 1: the other left. Left. Two women will be grinding flour
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Speaker 1: at the mill. One will be taken and the other left.
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Speaker 1: So you too must keep watch. For you don't know when,
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Speaker 1: for you don't know what day your Lord is coming.
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Speaker 1: Dear Father, with our Bibles in our hands, as we
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Speaker 1: stand to our feet, we pause to give allegiance to you,
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Speaker 1: our great God, worthy of our deepest praise. We have
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Speaker 1: sung that to you, and now we say it. We
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Speaker 1: lift up your name, O God, above all other names
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Speaker 1: and all other gods. We acknowledge that your son is Emmanuel,
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Speaker 1: God with us, the God-man who came to his own
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Speaker 1: and his own refused him May our response be different.
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Speaker 1: May we welcome you. May we welcome your truth, though
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Speaker 1: much of it is beyond our comprehension. May we embrace
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Speaker 1: what you have given us. May we take by faith
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Speaker 1: even those portions we cannot explain with logical reasoning. May
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Speaker 1: they remind us that you are high and holy and
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Speaker 1: above us and beyond us. You are God incomprehensible, worthy
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Speaker 1: of our heaviest words of glory. And because that is true,
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Speaker 1: we give without reluctance or reservation. We give that others
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Speaker 1: may be helped in hearing truth and coming to terms
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Speaker 1: with it. We give by faith as we walk and
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Speaker 1: not by sight. We will not see those who will
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Speaker 1: receive the benefits of these gifts, but they are many.
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Speaker 1: and they are scattered across this globe. Bring encouragement to
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Speaker 1: those who will be encouraged by these gifts. Sustain this ministry, Father,
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Speaker 1: by the generosity of your people. And may we, without hesitation,
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Speaker 1: continue to live your message, even when the sermon has
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Speaker 1: been forgotten. May we do what is right. May we
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Speaker 1: love what is kind. May we walk humbly with you,
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Speaker 1: our God. We pray this in the name of Emmanuel,
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Speaker 1: even Christ, your Son. Everyone said, Amen. Amen. The return
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Speaker 1: of Christ never fails to create mixed emotions. For those
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Speaker 1: of us who anticipated, there is great comfort and relief
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Speaker 1: in the thought. Finally, the promises will be fulfilled. At last,
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Speaker 1: we'll be able to see the one we have believed
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Speaker 1: in by faith. and we will know him as he is,
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Speaker 1: just as he has always known us. However, to those
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Speaker 1: who are not ready for his return, the spectrum is
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Speaker 1: as broad as one extreme to the other. There are
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Speaker 1: those who fight against the thought and are skeptical to
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Speaker 1: the core, with even the idea that there will one
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Speaker 1: day be an end of the world and a return
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Speaker 1: of Jesus, all the way to the sort of a
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Speaker 1: passive indifference that might occur, and what difference will it
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Speaker 1: make anyway? I have a friend who was a skeptic
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Speaker 1: before he was a believer. And during his years of skepticism,
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Speaker 1: he sort of kept all religious things at a distance,
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Speaker 1: nice safe distance. He either didn't think about them or
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Speaker 1: if they surfaced, he would have a quick comeback and
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Speaker 1: then would pass it off with little thought any further.
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Speaker 1: He was hitchhiking across America a number of years ago
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Speaker 1: and clouds were forming and night was falling And he
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Speaker 1: really did need a ride, not only to get to
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Speaker 1: where he wanted to go ultimately, but to get in
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Speaker 1: out of the rain. Just as the sprinkles began to fall,
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Speaker 1: a car pulled over and a door flew open and
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Speaker 1: the driver yelled, hop in. And my friend was delighted.
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Speaker 1: to get in before the rain. As soon as he
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Speaker 1: got in the rain, started pounding on the car, he said.
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Speaker 1: So he just sort of settled into the seat and
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Speaker 1: then was shocked to look in front of him and
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Speaker 1: to see a small card that had been taped to
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Speaker 1: the glove box right in front of him. It read, WARNING!
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Speaker 1: In the event of Christ's return, this driver will suddenly disappear,
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Speaker 1: and this car will self-destruct. At the bottom, in bright red,
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Speaker 1: handwritten letters, you better get ready, G-I-T, you better get ready. Well,
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Speaker 1: I asked him how he felt, rain falling, now pretty
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Speaker 1: close to nightfall, And he's in the car with this fanatic,
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Speaker 1: as he would call him, a guy about to exit
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Speaker 1: while he's driving. How did that feel, I asked. And
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Speaker 1: he said, well, I didn't know whether to write my will, pray,
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Speaker 1: or jump. I really didn't know. So I said, well,
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Speaker 1: what did you do? He said, you're going to laugh, but...
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Speaker 1: So the first thing I did was unlock my door.
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Speaker 1: He said, I don't know why. How would that help
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Speaker 1: if suddenly the whole thing went up in flames? But
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Speaker 1: he said, the other thing I remember is I engaged
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Speaker 1: him in constant conversation. Because I thought, Jesus won't interrupt
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Speaker 1: our conversation while we're talking. And he said, we talked
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Speaker 1: about everything you could imagine. The guy kept wanting to
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Speaker 1: bring it back to Jesus, and I kept wanting to
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Speaker 1: stay away from Jesus, but at least he said we
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Speaker 1: were able to talk. We were discussing nonsensical things just
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Speaker 1: to keep talking. Isn't it funny how superstitious people can
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Speaker 1: be as the spectrum runs from one extreme to the other?
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Speaker 1: Here sits a guy who couldn't wait for Jesus to
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Speaker 1: come back. Sitting next to him is a man who
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Speaker 1: doesn't have time to even think about it until he
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Speaker 1: reads about it from a card written in front of
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Speaker 1: him there in that car. While I was going through
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Speaker 1: these chapters in Matthew 24 and 25, I began to
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Speaker 1: think back over a number of years and that I've
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Speaker 1: spent in passages like this that deal with future things
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Speaker 1: and climax with the return of Christ. And I remember
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Speaker 1: being taught carefully by professors at a seminary that took
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Speaker 1: these words seriously, as they took all the words of
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Speaker 1: the Bible seriously. And I remember having explained to me
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Speaker 1: how the Lord would come in the clouds to receive
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Speaker 1: us from the earth as believers would be taken, leaving
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Speaker 1: on the earth only unbelievers to go through a terrible
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Speaker 1: time of anguish and tribulation. that would reach greater intensity
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Speaker 1: toward the latter half of that time and ultimately would
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Speaker 1: wind up with Jesus returning to the earth. There's a
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Speaker 1: difference between his coming in the clouds, often referred to
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Speaker 1: as the rapture of the church, which is the next
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Speaker 1: event in the future, and his coming to earth to
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Speaker 1: judge the earth and to set up his kingdom where
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Speaker 1: he fulfills his promises to Israel and carries out the
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Speaker 1: events that are set forth in prophetic passages like the
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Speaker 1: one we're dealing with. I also have lived long enough
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Speaker 1: to have heard a lot of foolish predictions, as many
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Speaker 1: of you have. I've heard people literally put dates when
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Speaker 1: Christ would return. I remember back in 1974, I was
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Speaker 1: preaching and I had a pastor a number of miles
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Speaker 1: away from where we lived and where I was ministering
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Speaker 1: who had made an announcement that on a certain date
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Speaker 1: Jesus would come. We'll say May 20, 1975. And I
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Speaker 1: remember waiting until May 21 of 1975 and I wrote him.
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Speaker 1: And I asked, how you doing? Because he had predicted
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Speaker 1: Jesus would come on the 20th and obviously he didn't.
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Speaker 1: And I wanted to know his reaction. I never heard
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Speaker 1: back from him. And there are others I could have
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Speaker 1: written and you could have, who have made predictions. In fact,
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Speaker 1: I did some research and I came up with two
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Speaker 1: pages of predictions. where people determined Jesus would come all
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Speaker 1: the way back to AD 500 to January 1, 1000
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Speaker 1: to the year 1415. Pope Innocent III in the Middle
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Speaker 1: Ages took the number 618, which is the year Islam
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Speaker 1: was founded. and he added the number 666, which is
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Speaker 1: the number of the beast. And that came up with 1284,
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Speaker 1: as he claimed would be the year Jesus would return.
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Speaker 1: He didn't. And then February 14, 1835, Joseph Smith made
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Speaker 1: his prediction. He was wrong. William Miller made a prediction
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Speaker 1: between 1843, 1844. He was wrong. Another guy, Joseph, I
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Speaker 1: thought this one was interesting. Where is this? Yeah, here
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Speaker 1: it is. In 1998, which was a good year for prophecies,
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Speaker 1: since the number 666 times 3 equals 1998, a psychic
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Speaker 1: named Edgar Cayce taught that a secret underground chamber would
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Speaker 1: be discovered between the paws of the great sphinx in
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Speaker 1: Egypt and Within the chamber would be documents about the
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Speaker 1: history of the lost city of Atlantis, and this new
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Speaker 1: revelation would activate the second coming of Jesus. It didn't.
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Speaker 1: There was also no document. Then the year 2000, remember Y2K?
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Speaker 1: Oh my, how many people predicted Jesus would come? He
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Speaker 1: didn't even foul up the computers. We went right on.
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Speaker 1: And then Harold Camping made his comments in 1994 and
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Speaker 1: on and on and on and on and on and on.
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Speaker 1: It's like you've never read Matthew 24, 36. Look, you
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Speaker 1: read English, all of you. You're able to read verse 36.
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Speaker 1: Just the first few verses. However, no one knows the
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Speaker 1: day or the hour when these things will happen, not
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Speaker 1: even the angels. Look at the words, no one knows.
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Speaker 1: May I give you a tip that kind of insults
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Speaker 1: the intelligence of any thinking person. If you're under the
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Speaker 1: teaching of someone setting dates, you're following a false teacher.
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Speaker 1: Get out. Get away from that teacher. He or she
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Speaker 1: is dangerous. They'll tell you other things that are fallacious.
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Speaker 1: No one knows. No one will ever know. That's what
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Speaker 1: God says in his word. Let's believe it. And there
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Speaker 1: are details here that are debatable. And if you study
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Speaker 1: as I've studied it, and I continue to study it,
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Speaker 1: I keep coming across the debatable issues. And I decided,
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Speaker 1: not only do I not want to do any kind
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Speaker 1: of prophesying, which would be ridiculous and wrong, I don't
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Speaker 1: want to get into any of the debatable stuff. Because
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Speaker 1: I'm honest with you, when Christ has a stand before
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Speaker 1: him hear this, no one will have to pass a
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Speaker 1: theology exam. No one will have to go through a
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Speaker 1: Bible quiz. No one. He'll not ask you how you
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Speaker 1: handled Matthew 24 and 25. That won't be the issue
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Speaker 1: in eternity. The issue in eternity will be what did
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Speaker 1: you do in your life with Christ? Did you trust
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Speaker 1: him as your savior or did you reject him? What
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Speaker 1: did you do with Jesus? If you trusted him, you're
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Speaker 1: standing before the Lord comfortable, confident, in the full assurance
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Speaker 1: that it's the blood of Christ that was given for
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Speaker 1: you on the cross that forgave you of your sins
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Speaker 1: and opened the door to heaven for you all by
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Speaker 1: his grace, which you do not deserve and will never
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Speaker 1: be able to repay. That's why you're there. If you're
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Speaker 1: without Christ, as we will emphasize today, your future is
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Speaker 1: dreadful beyond imagination. No one is gifted enough to describe
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Speaker 1: how dreadful your future is. And you are a fool.
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Speaker 1: To live your life and die in unbelief. I tell
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Speaker 1: you to your face, or if you're not here, to
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Speaker 1: your ears. I tell you, the most intelligent thing you
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Speaker 1: can do is to act by faith and believe in
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. And then live
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Speaker 1: a life that honors him. And I'll tell you, you
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Speaker 1: have before you the most marvelous future, not without its problems,
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Speaker 1: not without its surprises, not without the unexpected things that
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Speaker 1: happen to people regularly, but you will have the inner
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Speaker 1: assurance that if you died that night, you would stand
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Speaker 1: completely safe before your God. Now, in light of that,
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Speaker 1: I've decided to take a whole different tack. What I
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Speaker 1: want to do is simply provide you with six or
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Speaker 1: seven facts based on these two chapters. Just several facts.
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Speaker 1: Someone once wrote, everyone is entitled to his or her
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Speaker 1: own opinion, but no one is entitled to his or
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Speaker 1: her own facts. Facts are true Whether you believe them
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Speaker 1: or accept them or not, they're facts. If we believe
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Speaker 1: God's word is God's word, there are several things set
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Speaker 1: forth here that you can count on as fact. That's
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Speaker 1: what to me is the most important thing we can
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Speaker 1: take from a message like this. Since he is coming,
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Speaker 1: ready or not, he is coming. We just don't know when.
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Speaker 1: So let me give you the facts as I see them.
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Speaker 1: And they will not be based on superstition or opinion.
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Speaker 1: They will be drawn from the scriptures. We can kind
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Speaker 1: of click them off. One, two, three, right down through seven.
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Speaker 1: I gave you an outline. I completed mine this morning.
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Speaker 1: You may want to go through yours as well to
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Speaker 1: complete it. It's up to you. Fact number one. His
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Speaker 1: delay will be lengthy. I rarely hear people talk about that.
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Speaker 1: But I find that that is set forth in these chapters.
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Speaker 1: And I think the lesson we learn from that, with
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Speaker 1: each fact, I'm going to give you a lesson that
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Speaker 1: I think we can take with us. The lesson we
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Speaker 1: learn is let's wait with patient anticipation. Let's wait. Because
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Speaker 1: his delay will be quite some time. between when he
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Speaker 1: said it and when it would occur. In fact, we
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Speaker 1: know now it would be centuries. From the time Jesus
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Speaker 1: spoke these words in Matthew 24, 25, until he returns
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Speaker 1: for his own, will be centuries. Now we believe it's
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Speaker 1: closer than ever, of course. We believe it's imminent. Could
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Speaker 1: be at any moment he could come for us and
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Speaker 1: take us to be with him, leaving unbelievers behind. on
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Speaker 1: this earth. Look at 24, 36. Again, no one knows
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Speaker 1: the day or hour when these things will happen. Not
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Speaker 1: even the angels. Look at 24, verse 30. And then
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Speaker 1: at last, the sign that the Son of Man is
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Speaker 1: coming will appear. At last. Sounds like time, doesn't it?
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Speaker 1: When I read that, I think of it When we
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Speaker 1: say to someone, you're here at last, meaning you've waited
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Speaker 1: a while, sometime a long time. You're home from the
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Speaker 1: war at last. You made it home safely at last.
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Speaker 1: There'll be a delay. And the delay will be lengthy.
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Speaker 1: But don't let the length of the delay make you
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Speaker 1: think it won't happen. Peter writes about this. Check it
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Speaker 1: out for yourself. 2 Peter 3 and verse 8. God's
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Speaker 1: timing is totally different from our timing. One day is
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Speaker 1: as a thousand years with the Lord. So the Lord says,
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Speaker 1: plan is just when he's ready to send his son,
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Speaker 1: he'll send him. Not until. Here's the second fact. His
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Speaker 1: return will be unexpected and sudden. So the lesson we learned,
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Speaker 1: don't get too comfortable with Don't cling too tightly to
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Speaker 1: anyone or anything. See 2437, my Bible is open to
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Speaker 1: that verse. When the Son of Man returns, look at this.
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Speaker 1: It'll be like it was in Noah's day. In those
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Speaker 1: days before the flood, people were enjoying banquets and parties
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Speaker 1: and weddings. right up to the time Noah entered the ark. Why?
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Speaker 1: Because they didn't realize what was going to happen until.
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Speaker 1: That's an eloquent statement. You and I didn't realize 9-11
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Speaker 1: would occur until that morning. And looking back, we remember
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Speaker 1: exactly where we were and what we were doing. Until then,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't a blip on our screen. Even among the
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Speaker 1: bright minds in Washington, D.C., even among the military strategists,
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Speaker 1: they talked vaguely of something like that. No one predicted
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Speaker 1: that day, that hour. Because we've lived through 9-11, you'd
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Speaker 1: think people would take this kind of statement more seriously.
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Speaker 1: His return will be unexpected and sudden. Or at least expected.
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Speaker 1: The people in Noah's day felt the rainfall. Most don't
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Speaker 1: realize it had never rained until that moment on the earth.
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Speaker 1: The earth was watered by a divine appointment of dew
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Speaker 1: that came on the earth during the antediluvial civilization. Rain
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Speaker 1: didn't come until then. So they doubted it. They were skeptics.
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Speaker 1: Noah built that ark for those years and they poked
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Speaker 1: fun at him and looked at him critically and sarcastically.
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Speaker 1: Nobody was ready, and here he was with this massive ark,
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Speaker 1: already believing God, but it came unexpectedly and suddenly. Here's
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Speaker 1: the third fact. God's judgment will be irreversible. His judgment
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Speaker 1: will be irreversible. A lesson we learned from that? Learn
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Speaker 1: to take him seriously. God doesn't waffle and God doesn't stutter.
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Speaker 1: Woven through the verses of chapters 24 and 25 are
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Speaker 1: words related to being too late or not being ready
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Speaker 1: or thinking there would be another opportunity. When God arrives,
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Speaker 1: he doesn't grade on the curve. You won't be given
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Speaker 1: a second chance after you die. I've never lied to
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Speaker 1: you and I wouldn't start today. You have your opportunity
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Speaker 1: to believe while you're alive. Once you breathe your last,
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Speaker 1: your opportunity is over. God's judgment will be irreversible. Take
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Speaker 1: him seriously. He keeps his word. Fact number four, the
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Speaker 1: truth will be revealed. Look at 25, 11, and 12.
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Speaker 1: Referring to these who were ready for the wedding feast.
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Speaker 1: Then those who were ready went in with him to
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Speaker 1: the marriage feast and the door was locked. Verse 11.
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Speaker 1: Later when the other five bridesmaids returned, they were the
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Speaker 1: ones who weren't ready. They didn't have their lamps ready.
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Speaker 1: They stood outside calling, Lord, Lord, open the door for us.
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Speaker 1: And he called back, believe me, I don't know you.
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Speaker 1: I don't know you. The truth will be revealed. He
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Speaker 1: will tell you he doesn't know you if you've never
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Speaker 1: trusted in his son. So learn from this. There will
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Speaker 1: be no place to hide and there will be no
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Speaker 1: way of escape. Those who didn't get in the ark drown.
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Speaker 1: There was no exception. You know, currently it's possible to
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Speaker 1: live a life of a hypocrite and get away with it.
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Speaker 1: Happens every day. Some of you act one way in public,
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Speaker 1: but you're altogether different in private. You're a hypocrite. You
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Speaker 1: carry your life out as though it is this way
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Speaker 1: so that people will think better of you, but truth is,
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Speaker 1: your own family privately behind the scenes, maybe those who
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Speaker 1: work with you, they know the real truth. Your private
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Speaker 1: life is something you've not really allowed to to be
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Speaker 1: invaded with the truth of God. But in that day,
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Speaker 1: there'll be no hypocrisy, no phony baloney, no masks worn,
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Speaker 1: all of that's ripped off. The truth will be revealed.
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Speaker 1: You'll be either in Christ or out. Number five, each
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Speaker 1: life will stand alone. 24 verses 40 and 41. We
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Speaker 1: read that earlier. Two men will be working together in
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Speaker 1: the field. One will be taken, that's taken to judgment,
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Speaker 1: and the other will be left, left for the pleasures
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Speaker 1: and joys of the kingdom. Two women will be grinding
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Speaker 1: at the flour at the mill. One will be taken
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Speaker 1: to the judgment, the other will be left to go
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Speaker 1: into the kingdom and the joys that the Lord has bestowed.
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Speaker 1: For them, each person will be individually accountable. That's the
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Speaker 1: lesson we learned. Each life will stand alone. You won't
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Speaker 1: be able to stand behind your wife or husband, your parents,
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Speaker 1: or your family name. You won't be able to claim
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Speaker 1: your partner's faith in your business world. It'll be all
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Speaker 1: on your own. You'll be accountable alone before God. One
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Speaker 1: is taken, the other is left. Please remember, this is
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Speaker 1: the second advent of Christ. This is not a reference
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Speaker 1: to the rapture of the church, which has taken place
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Speaker 1: before then. Always keep those separate in your minds. Let
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Speaker 1: me get to fact number six. The future of the
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Speaker 1: faithful will be joyful. Of course. Why? Because God's promises
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Speaker 1: will be fulfilled. He will never forget his own promises.
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Speaker 1: Look at 24, 31. 24, verse 31. He will send
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Speaker 1: out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet.
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Speaker 1: They will gather his chosen ones from all over the world,
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Speaker 1: even the farthest ends of the earth. He will leave
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Speaker 1: no one out. His chosen ones He will find and
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Speaker 1: he will reward. Drop down to verse 46. If the
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Speaker 1: master returns and finds that the servant, he has done
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Speaker 1: a good job, then there will be a reward. Listen
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Speaker 1: to this. I tell you the truth, the master will
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Speaker 1: put that servant in charge of all he owns. Beautiful words.
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Speaker 1: Look at 24, 25, 34. Then the king will say
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Speaker 1: to those on his right, come, blessed by my father
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Speaker 1: and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation
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Speaker 1: of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me.
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Speaker 1: I was thirsty. You gave me drink. God's promises will
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Speaker 1: be fulfilled. He will never forget his own. Let me
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Speaker 1: say that to you who are faithfully serving Christ. You
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Speaker 1: may be helping one other person as their life is
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Speaker 1: lingering in an illness that is irreversible. And you are there.
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Speaker 1: You are taking care of them. You are lovingly showing
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Speaker 1: them compassion and mercy that will be rewarded. Others of
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Speaker 1: you teach a small group, maybe a group of special
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Speaker 1: needs children, who perhaps are not able to say thank
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Speaker 1: you for your faithfulness through the year, God will never
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Speaker 1: overlook one hour spent with them. Some teach thousands of
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Speaker 1: people and bless their lives. Some write books and the
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Speaker 1: books distribute and they help people grow in the faith.
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Speaker 1: God will reward all of those efforts because he keeps
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Speaker 1: his word by the way there's an old song that
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Speaker 1: used to be sung will there be any stars any
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Speaker 1: stars in my crown when at evening the sun goes
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Speaker 1: down we don't know of anything in the scriptures that
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Speaker 1: teach of stars in the crown Sounds pretty, written by
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Speaker 1: a songwriter with a little imagination, but we don't know
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Speaker 1: if stars and the crown, but we do know of crowns.
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Speaker 1: Five separate crowns are mentioned in the New Testament. All
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Speaker 1: five are based on specific acts of faithfulness done for
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Speaker 1: the glory of God. you will, if you are faithfully
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Speaker 1: serving him in any one of those, you will be
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Speaker 1: rewarded with crowns. And when we get into glory and
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Speaker 1: the crowns are handed out, we place them at his
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Speaker 1: feet in worship. I always loved that scene. I wrote
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Speaker 1: on that in seminary when we were required to do our,
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Speaker 1: what we called a baby thesis. In the end of
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Speaker 1: our second year, we were required to write a small
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Speaker 1: thesis And I wrote on the crowns. I remember writing
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Speaker 1: about the crowns that I discovered in the scriptures and
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Speaker 1: found myself very motivated. There's a crown for leading people
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Speaker 1: to Christ. There's a crown for serving faithfully, though under trial.
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Speaker 1: There's a crown for resisting temptation. Repeatedly, crowns for that.
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Speaker 1: crowns that will be provided, and the Lord will not forget.
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Speaker 1: Right in the margin of your Bible, Hebrews 6 verse 10,
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Speaker 1: listen to it. God is not unjust to forget your
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Speaker 1: work and labor of love which you have shown toward
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Speaker 1: his name in that you have ministered to the saints
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Speaker 1: and continue to minister. Isn't that great? You faithfully minister,
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Speaker 1: God will not forget your work. There will be a
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Speaker 1: day When all of the curtains will close and all
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Speaker 1: of earth will have passed and God will have you
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Speaker 1: receiving rewards for your faithfulness. And I think some of
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Speaker 1: it will be beyond our ability on this earth to comprehend.
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Speaker 1: But it will happen. Now the sad news is the
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Speaker 1: flip side of that. The destiny of the lost will
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Speaker 1: be dreadful. That's a fact. You read through this passage
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Speaker 1: and you read of there being weeping and gnashing of teeth,
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Speaker 1: the last verse of chapter 24. You read it again
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Speaker 1: in chapter 25 in verse 30, where there will be
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Speaker 1: weeping and gnashing of teeth. In verse 46, chapter 25, 46,
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Speaker 1: they will go away into eternal punishment The righteous will
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Speaker 1: go into eternal life. What we learn from that, changing
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Speaker 1: that destination must happen during your lifetime, not after it's over.
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Speaker 1: Nothing in the word of God even hints at a
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Speaker 1: second chance after you die. There is no purgatory. There
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Speaker 1: is no such thing as being prayed out of torment.
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Speaker 1: There is no such thing as lightening, lightening the pain
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Speaker 1: of punishment. For a moment, allow yourself to ponder the
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Speaker 1: words eternal punishment. Beggar's description, doesn't it? Your destiny is
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Speaker 1: determined while you're living, not after you've left. So this
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Speaker 1: brings me to three questions that only you can answer
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Speaker 1: and only I can answer for me. One begins with,
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Speaker 1: will I? The second begins with, do I? And the
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Speaker 1: third one with, am I? The first is a question
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Speaker 1: of decisiveness. The second is a question of assurance. And
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Speaker 1: the third, a question of faithfulness. Question number one. Will
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Speaker 1: I continue to ignore the truth or will I respond
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Speaker 1: to it today? Will I believe what God has said
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Speaker 1: about the future and about my life and about eternity
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Speaker 1: and about Christ and about his cross. Well, I come
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Speaker 1: to terms with that today. God is looking for our
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Speaker 1: being decisive. Here's the second, do I? Do I know
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Speaker 1: for sure that I'm ready to meet my master? That
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Speaker 1: I'm eternally secure? At any moment when I draw my
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Speaker 1: breath and it's my last breath that I'm ready to
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Speaker 1: step into eternity and face my Lord clothed in the
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Speaker 1: righteousness of Christ. Am I sure of that? Do I
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Speaker 1: know that for sure? Only you can answer for you.
45:25
Speaker 1: I thought people in my lifetime knew the Lord only
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Speaker 1: to find out later when they told me the truth
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Speaker 1: it had all been a sham until something occurred and
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Speaker 1: they were brought face to face with the reality of eternity,
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Speaker 1: and then they gave their life to Christ. Today's the
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Speaker 1: day to take off the mask, to cast aside the hypocrisy,
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Speaker 1: come to terms with, do you know for sure? And
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Speaker 1: the third, am I living my life as if he
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Speaker 1: were to call me home this day? That's a question
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Speaker 1: regarding faithfulness. Again, I cannot answer for you. Only you
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Speaker 1: can answer that. I said earlier there'll be no theological question,
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Speaker 1: there'll be no Bible quiz as we step before the Lord,
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Speaker 1: but there will be the issue of what have you
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Speaker 1: done with my son, Jesus, when you stand before the Father,
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Speaker 1: your creator. how we responded to Christ, why we were
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Speaker 1: able to stand before him, and what kind of life
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Speaker 1: we lived as a result. That's it. Bow your heads, please.
46:50
Speaker 1: With one another, let's bow before the Lord. Let's sit
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Speaker 1: quietly before him. Let the Lord speak to each one
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Speaker 1: of us. Are you absolutely certain that Jesus Christ lives
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Speaker 1: in your life? That you've claimed him as your own Lord?
47:14
Speaker 1: That you've dethroned yourself and you've enthroned him as the
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Speaker 1: one who is to control your life, take charge of
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Speaker 1: your motive, cleanse you from sin, prepare you for eternity.
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Speaker 1: If not, take care of that right now. Right now.
47:44
Speaker 1: Don't put that off. We're here to help you on
47:51
Speaker 1: your journey from earth to heaven, and if we can
47:55
Speaker 1: do that, even in this matter of trusting in Christ,
47:58
Speaker 1: we'd love to do that. Our ministry is always active
48:03
Speaker 1: and available. Individuals who will talk with you privately and
48:08
Speaker 1: intelligently and calmly to assist you in answering your question.
48:15
Speaker 1: You may prefer just to write us and get a
48:17
Speaker 1: hold of us and let us know your concern about
48:21
Speaker 1: your soul. We'll help you find peace and a reason
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Speaker 1: to go on. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for opening
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Speaker 1: our eyes to what you have written in your word.
48:38
Speaker 1: We ask not that all of our questions be answered,
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Speaker 1: but we do ask that there be a peace within
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Speaker 1: our lives because of Christ and his role as our master.
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Speaker 1: May we all search our hearts and leave no question unanswered.
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Speaker 1: No issue ignored as we think about eternity. May it
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Speaker 1: not frighten us, but may we welcome the thought of
49:11
Speaker 1: standing before you, our God, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: It's in his name we're pray and for his glory
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Speaker 1: alone everyone said.
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Speaker 2: Amen the preceding message here he comes ready or not
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Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2017 and 2021 and the sound recording
49:38
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R.
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Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
49:43
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
49:47
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.