Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / The End Time has Begun- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 1:10Speaker 1: You might be opening your bibles to Luke Chapter two.
- 1:13Speaker 1: Luke Chapter two. In just a moment, we're going to
- 1:17Speaker 1: read verses twenty five through thirty two. But first, let's pray.
- 1:25Speaker 1: Come thou long expected Jesus born to set thy people free,
- 1:33Speaker 1: and from our fears and sins releases, let us find
- 1:38Speaker 1: our rest in the Israel, strength and consolation, hope of
- 1:45Speaker 1: all the earth. Thou art dear desire of every nation,
- 1:51Speaker 1: and joy of every longing heart. Born thy people to deliver,
- 1:57Speaker 1: born a child, and yet a king, born to reign
- 2:04Speaker 1: in us forever. Now, Thy gracious Kingdom, bring and by
- 2:10Speaker 1: thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone,
- 2:19Speaker 1: and by Thine all sufficient merit, raise us to Thy
- 2:25Speaker 1: glorious throne. Through Christ we pray, and all the Church said,
- 2:33Speaker 1: tis the season to be looking for snow, if it's warm,
- 2:42Speaker 1: for mistletoe, if he's dense, for instructions, if some assembly
- 2:53Speaker 1: is required, Tis the season to be looking for red lights.
- 3:01Speaker 1: If you're a child, Santa is coming headlights, if your
- 3:07Speaker 1: grandma the kids are coming insights. If you're a preacher,
- 3:13Speaker 1: Christmas Eve is coming. Tis the season to be looking.
- 3:22Speaker 1: The first Christmas was marked by lookers as well. Joseph
- 3:26Speaker 1: looked for lodging. Mary looked into the wrinkled face of
- 3:30Speaker 1: the just born baby. A thousand angels looked upon the king.
- 3:34Speaker 1: The wise men looked at the star, but no one
- 3:37Speaker 1: was looking with the intensity of a seasoned saint by
- 3:42Speaker 1: the name of Simeon. Here's his story. Now there was
- 3:47Speaker 1: a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.
- 3:55Speaker 1: He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the
- 3:59Speaker 1: Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to
- 4:03Speaker 1: him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die
- 4:06Speaker 1: before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Moved by the Spirit,
- 4:11Speaker 1: he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought
- 4:15Speaker 1: in the child Jesus to do for him what the
- 4:18Speaker 1: custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his
- 4:22Speaker 1: arms and praised God, Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
- 4:28Speaker 1: you may now dismiss your servant in peace, for my
- 4:31Speaker 1: eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in
- 4:35Speaker 1: the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to
- 4:40Speaker 1: the gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. Unlike
- 4:46Speaker 1: Joseph and Mary, Simeon did not witness the birth of Jesus.
- 4:52Speaker 1: Unlike the wise men, he did not travel to Bethlehem.
- 4:56Speaker 1: By the time he saw Jesus, the swaddling clothes had
- 4:59Speaker 1: been p away and the manger contained only hey. Mary
- 5:05Speaker 1: and Joseph had caught up on their sleep, and the
- 5:08Speaker 1: shepherds were back to their sheep. Forty days had passed.
- 5:13Speaker 1: We can say this with certainty because of the Jewish law.
- 5:17Speaker 1: According to the Torah, the mother became ceremonially unclean upon
- 5:22Speaker 1: the birth of a child. On the eighth day, the
- 5:24Speaker 1: baby was circumcised after an additional thirty three days sixty six.
- 5:29Speaker 1: If the child was a female, the parents would come
- 5:32Speaker 1: to the temple and offer a sacrifice. It was a
- 5:36Speaker 1: baby dedication of sorts, and it was at this dedication
- 5:40Speaker 1: that Simeon saw Jesus. Simeon was likely an old man,
- 5:46Speaker 1: gray haired, silver beard, stooped shoulders. The years had etched
- 5:52Speaker 1: his skin and slowed his step, but nothing had stilled
- 5:57Speaker 1: his heart. We begin if you'd like to fill in
- 5:59Speaker 1: the blanks with Simeon's longing. Simeon's longing he was waiting
- 6:06Speaker 1: for the day when God would take away Israel's sorrow,
- 6:11Speaker 1: a day in which God would end the alienation between
- 6:15Speaker 1: himself and reconcile themself to him. He knew, Simeon did
- 6:22Speaker 1: that this day would come in his day. The Holy
- 6:26Speaker 1: Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die
- 6:30Speaker 1: until he had seen him God's anointed King. Now, how
- 6:36Speaker 1: did the Spirit tell Simeon in a dream, in a vision,
- 6:42Speaker 1: in a sermon, through a scripture, We do not know,
- 6:47Speaker 1: but we do know that Simeon lived with an eye
- 6:50Speaker 1: towards the future. Some years ago I preached a series
- 6:54Speaker 1: of messages that our church called perhaps Today, and we
- 7:00Speaker 1: took those two words and put them, printed them nicely
- 7:03Speaker 1: on a sheet of paper, and gave them to everyone
- 7:06Speaker 1: in the congregation. Well, some time ago I was in
- 7:08Speaker 1: one of our members homes, and I saw those words,
- 7:11Speaker 1: decades later, framed hanging on a wall. They wanted that reminder.
- 7:17Speaker 1: Every day is a perhaps today day. Simeon lived with
- 7:23Speaker 1: this possibility Perhaps Today. He lived with an expectation. He
- 7:30Speaker 1: knew he would see the Messiah on earth before he
- 7:33Speaker 1: saw his father in heaven. Consequently, on the fortieth day
- 7:42Speaker 1: after Jesus' birth, the day arrived, and the scripture says
- 7:46Speaker 1: Simeon was led by the Spirit to the temple. That's interesting,
- 7:51Speaker 1: isn't it. He was led by the spirit to the temple.
- 7:55Speaker 1: Maybe he had other plans. Maybe he intended to water
- 7:58Speaker 1: his garden that day, take the dogs on a walk,
- 8:01Speaker 1: or go play golf. He had something else in mind, perhaps,
- 8:05Speaker 1: And then the spirit led him to the temple. He
- 8:09Speaker 1: sensed a longing, a nudging, a knowing, and he turned
- 8:15Speaker 1: to his wife and said, Honey, I think I'm going
- 8:17Speaker 1: to go to the temple today. And he made his
- 8:21Speaker 1: way through those narrow, ancient cobblestone streets of Jerusalem. And
- 8:29Speaker 1: when the butcher called his name, he waved, but he
- 8:31Speaker 1: didn't stop. And when the cobbler called out Simeon's name,
- 8:36Speaker 1: Simeon acknowledged him, but he didn't pause. He wanted to
- 8:40Speaker 1: get to the temple, no matter how many times he
- 8:44Speaker 1: ascended those temple steps. Don't you know they stole the
- 8:47Speaker 1: breath out of his lungs when he saw those large
- 8:51Speaker 1: stones of double tonnage and those beautiful arcades, that miracle
- 8:57Speaker 1: of Herod's construction the temple. And so he went to
- 9:02Speaker 1: the temple. He ascended those steps, and he stepped into
- 9:06Speaker 1: the temple courts. The place was crowded. It always was,
- 9:12Speaker 1: even on non holidays, the place was crowded. Other young
- 9:16Speaker 1: couples like Joseph and Mary would bring their baby to
- 9:20Speaker 1: be dedicated. No one noticed Joseph and Mary. There was
- 9:27Speaker 1: nothing about them that would cause them to stand out
- 9:30Speaker 1: from the other couples, and there was nothing about the
- 9:34Speaker 1: baby in Mary's arms. The angels didn't go ahead of
- 9:39Speaker 1: Mary and Joseph and scatter rose petals on the ground.
- 9:44Speaker 1: And Jesus wasn't carried on a pillow. He didn't arrive
- 9:50Speaker 1: in a chariot. There was nothing unique. There was no aura,
- 9:56Speaker 1: there was no halo on his head. He was cute, sure,
- 10:03Speaker 1: but he was common. He gurgled, he snorted, he slept.
- 10:11Speaker 1: No one would have noticed Jesus, which is ironic, don't
- 10:14Speaker 1: you think. Here on the holiest acreage of ancient Israel,
- 10:21Speaker 1: indeed the holiest acreage in history, people had come to
- 10:26Speaker 1: see God. It never occurred to them that God was
- 10:29Speaker 1: asleep in Mary's arms. But it occurred to Simeon. Somehow,
- 10:37Speaker 1: Simon knew of all the people, those were the people,
- 10:43Speaker 1: And when he saw Joseph and Mary, he threaded his
- 10:47Speaker 1: way through the crowd, saying excuse me, excuse me, excuse me,
- 10:51Speaker 1: until he got right up next to Joseph, and he
- 10:53Speaker 1: tapped Joseph on the shoulder, and Joseph and Mary turned.
- 10:58Speaker 1: Mary is no longer round of belly, but she's probably
- 11:03Speaker 1: round in her face, a peasant girl, just a simple
- 11:09Speaker 1: girl from out in the country. And Joseph is a carpenter,
- 11:15Speaker 1: probably wears the scratchy robe of a blue collar worker.
- 11:20Speaker 1: There might have been a day when Joseph would have
- 11:22Speaker 1: resisted this stranger tapping him on the shoulder, but so
- 11:26Speaker 1: many weird things have happened over the last year. He's
- 11:29Speaker 1: learned to expect the unexpected. That angel came and talked
- 11:34Speaker 1: to him at night, those shepherds showed up with worship,
- 11:38Speaker 1: the wise men came with gifts, and most of all,
- 11:42Speaker 1: his wife, well, she knew what it was like to
- 11:47Speaker 1: be a mother before she knew what it was like
- 11:50Speaker 1: to be in his bed. So he's learned some unusual
- 11:55Speaker 1: things are happening. And so when Simeon turned, I mean,
- 12:00Speaker 1: when Simeon tapped him on the shoulder, he turned, And
- 12:03Speaker 1: when Simeon gestured as if to take the baby, Joseph
- 12:07Speaker 1: turned to Mary and nodded, and Mary gave the baby
- 12:13Speaker 1: Jesus to Simeon. And here's what Simeon did. This is
- 12:19Speaker 1: Simeon's joy. Simeon took the baby in his arms and
- 12:26Speaker 1: he thanked God, Now Lord, you can let me your
- 12:31Speaker 1: servant die in peace, as you said, with my own eyes,
- 12:36Speaker 1: I have seen your salvation which you prepared for all people.
- 12:43Speaker 1: The early Church took this proclamation and turned it into
- 12:48Speaker 1: a prayer. In Latin, it's called the nuke dimitis. Now dismiss,
- 12:55Speaker 1: Now dismiss, and saw this as a now moment. Now
- 13:04Speaker 1: something has happened. Now history is different. Now the door
- 13:11Speaker 1: has been swung open. And it hung on that small hinge,
- 13:16Speaker 1: that gate in Bethlehem, that when Mary gave birth to
- 13:21Speaker 1: a child, a new era had begun, a new era
- 13:25Speaker 1: that marked a new era for the life of Simeon,
- 13:28Speaker 1: but also for all of history. And so Simeon says, now, dismiss.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Everything that Israel has been longing for has happened in
- 13:42Speaker 1: the birth of this child. Everything that Simeon had been
- 13:45Speaker 1: longing for had happened. Now. Simeon did not have a
- 13:49Speaker 1: phrase with which to denote this chapter in history, but
- 13:55Speaker 1: we do because We've read the rest of the Bible,
- 14:00Speaker 1: and every writer in the New Testament refers to this
- 14:06Speaker 1: last era of history. They call it the last days.
- 14:13Speaker 1: And without exception, every person who picked up a pen
- 14:17Speaker 1: to write parts of the New Testament spoke of the
- 14:20Speaker 1: last days. Paul the Apostle said, in the last days
- 14:25Speaker 1: there will be many troubles. Peter urged us to understand
- 14:32Speaker 1: what will happen in the last days. The author of
- 14:36Speaker 1: Hebrews understood the era of history. But now in these
- 14:40Speaker 1: last days, God has spoken to us through a son.
- 14:45Speaker 1: John could not have been clearer. He said, my dear children,
- 14:49Speaker 1: these are the what these are the last days. The
- 14:54Speaker 1: birth of Jesus triggered a new and final dispensation in history.
- 15:03Speaker 1: The Bible is clear, a clock is ticking, a divine
- 15:08Speaker 1: calendar is turning, and more sand rests at the bottom
- 15:13Speaker 1: of the hour glass than at the top. Dismiss any
- 15:18Speaker 1: notion that history is simply an endless succession of circles,
- 15:24Speaker 1: always coming back to where it begins. No, the Bible
- 15:28Speaker 1: teaches us that history is a straight line, that there
- 15:31Speaker 1: is a timeline, and there is a beginning, and there
- 15:35Speaker 1: are important chapters, and there is a culmination. There is
- 15:38Speaker 1: a conclusion, and because of Bethlehem, we know where we
- 15:44Speaker 1: stand on this timeline. This is our conviction. Our conviction
- 15:52Speaker 1: is simply this. These are the last days. This is it.
- 15:58Speaker 1: The next great event is the second coming of Christ.
- 16:03Speaker 1: We're not waiting on another patriarch like Abraham, We're not
- 16:07Speaker 1: waiting on another prophet like Elijah, and we're certainly not
- 16:12Speaker 1: awaiting a different savior than Jesus Christ. We believe that
- 16:17Speaker 1: the last days are these days, and we're awaiting the
- 16:22Speaker 1: return of Christ. Jesus himself said, I will come again.
- 16:30Speaker 1: The author of Hebrews said Christ will appear a second time,
- 16:36Speaker 1: not to deal with sin, but to save those who
- 16:39Speaker 1: are eagerly waiting on him. As he came, Christ will come,
- 16:47Speaker 1: but he won't come as he came. As he came.
- 16:58Speaker 1: Christ will come, but he won't come as he came.
- 17:03Speaker 1: He came quietly in Bethlehem. He will return in glory
- 17:07Speaker 1: with a shout. All who are in their graves will
- 17:10Speaker 1: hear his voice and come out. In Bethlehem, the baby
- 17:14Speaker 1: Jesus slept upon his return. The Lord will come down
- 17:17Speaker 1: from heaven with a loud command and the voice of
- 17:21Speaker 1: an archangel with a trumpet call of God. At the
- 17:24Speaker 1: first coming, few noticed. At his second all the nations
- 17:29Speaker 1: of the world will be gathered before him. In Bethlehem,
- 17:32Speaker 1: Joseph placed Jesus in a manger. At his return, Jesus
- 17:37Speaker 1: will be seated where on a throne. The son of
- 17:40Speaker 1: Man will come in great glory with all his angels,
- 17:44Speaker 1: and he will be king and sit on his great throne.
- 17:50Speaker 1: Like Simon. We realize our place in history. We know
- 17:56Speaker 1: where we are on the journey. If we're going to Gramms,
- 18:00Speaker 1: our dad just said, straighten up, boys, we're almost home.
- 18:06Speaker 1: We know where we are on the journey, and this
- 18:11Speaker 1: affects the way we live. We realize that we could
- 18:16Speaker 1: be in the generation that sees the return of Jesus Christ,
- 18:24Speaker 1: and we long for it. There is a god given longing.
- 18:30Speaker 1: Something in our hearts says there's more to life than
- 18:33Speaker 1: this life, and more to earth even than this earth.
- 18:39Speaker 1: That there's something more than we have ever begun to
- 18:42Speaker 1: imagine or dream that awaits us. And we heed that
- 18:48Speaker 1: longing that it is a hope, a blessed hope that
- 18:54Speaker 1: gives us strength. I may have stumbled across a metaphor
- 18:59Speaker 1: for this life longing that works. Let me test it
- 19:02Speaker 1: on you. In a recent conversation, as everyone was sharing
- 19:06Speaker 1: Christmas memories, I shared one that had been long since forgotten.
- 19:11Speaker 1: My father thought that Christmas break was a great time
- 19:14Speaker 1: for his two boys to earn money. My brother and
- 19:17Speaker 1: I were the only two guys in high school who
- 19:20Speaker 1: didn't look forward to Christmas break. School was easy compared
- 19:23Speaker 1: to Christmas break because my dad, who made us living
- 19:26Speaker 1: in the oil field, would send us out in the
- 19:28Speaker 1: oil field. So the first day after Christmas break, he
- 19:31Speaker 1: woke us up early, and he took us down to
- 19:33Speaker 1: the roustabout yard and he put us to work. You
- 19:37Speaker 1: could always make money in the oil field if you
- 19:39Speaker 1: had a strong back and you could withstand the cold
- 19:42Speaker 1: West Texas winds, And so we would bundle up. He
- 19:46Speaker 1: would load us on the back of a truck, and
- 19:48Speaker 1: the routine was simple. We in about five or ten
- 19:52Speaker 1: other victims would be taken out into the middle of
- 19:58Speaker 1: nowhere to dig ditches or clean out ditches that had
- 20:02Speaker 1: already been done where pike could be laid. And when
- 20:06Speaker 1: I say deposited in the middle of nowhere, I mean nowhere.
- 20:11Speaker 1: If you've ever been to West Texas. You know it
- 20:13Speaker 1: is a forlorn, forbidden place. It is desolate. You can
- 20:18Speaker 1: see forever, which is good, Well, it would be good
- 20:21Speaker 1: if there was something to see. There's a city out
- 20:24Speaker 1: there called Odessa, and it came by that name because
- 20:28Speaker 1: it is odsso lot. Now we would be taken in
- 20:32Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere, and not only would we be
- 20:35Speaker 1: put to work, the foreman would leave and he would
- 20:40Speaker 1: drive off. He'd leave us with our lunches, with our
- 20:44Speaker 1: our igloo container, our shovels, and our picks, and he
- 20:49Speaker 1: would drive off to do other jobs. And he would
- 20:51Speaker 1: leave with the promise I will come back. And I
- 20:56Speaker 1: always was afraid he wouldn't. And as the day would
- 21:01Speaker 1: wear on, we'd start looking for him. In the middle
- 21:04Speaker 1: of the afternoon, we'd start looking because it was cold,
- 21:07Speaker 1: the wind was blowing, and that work was hard. We
- 21:12Speaker 1: kept looking. As the clock kept ticking, we started looking.
- 21:16Speaker 1: And as the day began to turn to evening, and
- 21:20Speaker 1: as that sun began to set, and is that big
- 21:22Speaker 1: blue sky got golden in that harsh wind sometimes got icy.
- 21:28Speaker 1: It was all we we would encourage each other. He's coming.
- 21:33Speaker 1: He's not gonna leave us. You think he's gonna come,
- 21:35Speaker 1: I hope, so he promised he would, He's always come,
- 21:41Speaker 1: And finally we would see those familiar headlights begin to
- 21:46Speaker 1: bounce on those dirt roads way in the distance, and
- 21:49Speaker 1: he had come and would say he's coming. And by
- 21:52Speaker 1: the time he got there, we were out of the ditch,
- 21:54Speaker 1: we were packed up, we were ready to get on
- 21:56Speaker 1: the truck. Some of if you have been digging a
- 22:01Speaker 1: long time and it's a cold, cold world in which
- 22:08Speaker 1: you live, you're tired, and the burdens are many, and
- 22:20Speaker 1: you've carried a lot of broken hearts. Some days you
- 22:23Speaker 1: think more than any person should have to bear, and
- 22:28Speaker 1: you give anything to see those who have gone ahead
- 22:31Speaker 1: of you, And sometimes truth be told. Sometimes you wonder
- 22:40Speaker 1: if you've been forgotten. Is he really coming for you?
- 22:48Speaker 1: I'm so glad to say his arrival is closer than
- 22:52Speaker 1: it's ever been, and it could very well be that
- 23:00Speaker 1: before you and I die, we will see the return
- 23:07Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ to establish an earthly kingdom and restore
- 23:13Speaker 1: this planet to its intended splendor, in his people to
- 23:18Speaker 1: their purposed glory. Now I do not know when Christ
- 23:23Speaker 1: will return. I've heard some people say they do. They
- 23:29Speaker 1: seem to know more about his return than he does sometimes,
- 23:34Speaker 1: but I don't. I don't know the day, I don't
- 23:37Speaker 1: know the hour. I really don't think anyone does. But
- 23:41Speaker 1: I do believe. There are six things, six stipulations, six requirements,
- 23:49Speaker 1: six mile markers that will happen according to scripture before
- 23:55Speaker 1: Jesus comes back. I recorded these on your outline in
- 23:59Speaker 1: case you to study them at some point. First of all,
- 24:05Speaker 1: there will be a preaching of the Gospel to all nations. Second,
- 24:10Speaker 1: there will be a great tribulation in which all saints,
- 24:13Speaker 1: in which saints will suffer and the creation will tremble.
- 24:17Speaker 1: There will be the coming of an Antichrist. He's an
- 24:20Speaker 1: enemy of God who will deceive many. There will be
- 24:23Speaker 1: the salvation of many Jews. There will be signs in heavens,
- 24:27Speaker 1: and there will be false prophets. Now, I would suggest
- 24:30Speaker 1: to you that to a certain degree, each of these
- 24:33Speaker 1: signs has seen fulfillment. The Gospel has gone around the world. Certainly,
- 24:41Speaker 1: it needs to be carried and penetrate. We need to
- 24:45Speaker 1: penetrate other cultures much further than we have. But the Gospel,
- 24:49Speaker 1: by virtue of media and television and the Internet, has
- 24:53Speaker 1: gone all over the world. Many Christians have experienced severe tribulations.
- 24:59Speaker 1: Some intend that the last one hundred years have seen
- 25:02Speaker 1: more martyrs for Christ than in all of history. The
- 25:06Speaker 1: world has suffered, certainly at the hands of global villains
- 25:09Speaker 1: that could be described as the Antichrist. Maybe another one's coming,
- 25:13Speaker 1: or maybe he has already come. Many Jews are being saved,
- 25:18Speaker 1: many have been saved, and pockets of the Jewish culture
- 25:21Speaker 1: are seeing unprecedented revival. Our skies have given up signs
- 25:26Speaker 1: that baffle even the astronomers. Our earth has shaken from
- 25:29Speaker 1: birth pains, and certainly the Church has been weakened by
- 25:34Speaker 1: false prophets. It may very well be that these signs
- 25:38Speaker 1: will see further fulfillment. No one is sure, but I
- 25:42Speaker 1: think this much is certain. Christ could return at any moment.
- 25:48Speaker 1: He could return at any moment. This could be the generation.
- 25:52Speaker 1: This could be the Bethlehem generation of the New Era.
- 25:56Speaker 1: We could be the generation that witnesses the return of Christ.
- 26:02Speaker 1: The clock is taking down to its last minute, and
- 26:07Speaker 1: if history is but a year, the autumn leaves are
- 26:11Speaker 1: beginning to fall. I don't know if you've ever noticed
- 26:16Speaker 1: in a football game, when the third quarter turns into
- 26:20Speaker 1: the fourth you'll see some of the players on the
- 26:23Speaker 1: sideline stick up four fingers. Have you ever seen that?
- 26:26Speaker 1: What do they yell? Fourth quarter? Fourth quarter? Why? Well,
- 26:32Speaker 1: the coach knows that as the game wears on, the
- 26:35Speaker 1: players get tired and they need a reminder. This is
- 26:38Speaker 1: the most important quarter. Simeon did this. He's reminding us
- 26:44Speaker 1: even today, even though we get tired, even though we
- 26:48Speaker 1: get weary, even though many of the world does not
- 26:50Speaker 1: believe that there's going to be a return of Christ,
- 26:53Speaker 1: We're going to hold fast to our confession of faith,
- 26:57Speaker 1: and we're not going to go away weary. But we're
- 27:02Speaker 1: going to keep looking. We're going to keep searching perhaps today,
- 27:08Speaker 1: and we're going to live like Simeon. We're going to
- 27:11Speaker 1: lead our lives on tiptoe. I close with this question,
- 27:20Speaker 1: if you knew Jesus was returning tomorrow, how would you
- 27:26Speaker 1: feel today? If you knew without question that Jesus was
- 27:36Speaker 1: returning tomorrow, how would you feel today? If your answer
- 27:43Speaker 1: includes words like afraid, unsure, uncertain, concerned, then with all
- 27:50Speaker 1: that is within me, I urge you take care of that. Now,
- 27:58Speaker 1: confess your need for a savior, trust in Jesus and
- 28:03Speaker 1: his death on the cross as adequate payment for all
- 28:06Speaker 1: of your sins, and he will wash away all of
- 28:10Speaker 1: your sins. And when he returns, he will look upon
- 28:13Speaker 1: you as a righteous one because you have trusted him,
- 28:16Speaker 1: as you're a Messiah, your savior. All of that fear
- 28:23Speaker 1: can be gone. So if you knew Jesus were returning tomorrow,
- 28:28Speaker 1: how would you feel? For many of you, the answer
- 28:33Speaker 1: is excitement and joy, relief, happiness you don't have to
- 28:39Speaker 1: do your homework. And for those of you who find
- 28:46Speaker 1: joy at the thought, I urge you just to hang
- 28:48Speaker 1: on to that joy. Heaven is God's ultimate answer to
- 28:54Speaker 1: human hurt. Heaven is God's ultimate answer to human hurt.
- 29:02Speaker 1: Until Christ comes, this world will always hurt. As much
- 29:05Speaker 1: as we pray, as much as we struggle, as much
- 29:07Speaker 1: as we try to help, there will always be hurt.
- 29:11Speaker 1: So Heaven is God's way of giving us hope beyond
- 29:14Speaker 1: the hurt. So you hang on to that hope.
- 29:17Speaker 2: Will you?
- 29:19Speaker 1: One last question? If Jesus were coming tomorrow, what would
- 29:24Speaker 1: you do today? What would you do? How would you
- 29:29Speaker 1: spend this day? If you knew Jesus were coming tomorrow,
- 29:33Speaker 1: what would you do? Then? Do it? Do it? Go ahead?
- 29:41Speaker 1: Make sure your family knows you love them, write that
- 29:45Speaker 1: letter of apology, spend some extra time in prayer. Tell
- 29:52Speaker 1: your neighbors about your hope. What would you do today?
- 29:58Speaker 1: May you live in such a that if you knew
- 30:01Speaker 1: Christ was returning tomorrow, you would not have to change
- 30:04Speaker 1: your itinerary for today. In the eighteenth century, many sailors
- 30:12Speaker 1: who lived on the Atlantic coast would equip their houses
- 30:17Speaker 1: with a widow's nest, a square, fenced in platform on
- 30:21Speaker 1: the roof upon which the wife of a sailor could
- 30:25Speaker 1: ascend and look for her husband. And she would, several
- 30:29Speaker 1: times throughout the day in between shores, climb up that
- 30:32Speaker 1: spiral staircase until she came up on top of the roof,
- 30:36Speaker 1: and she would search the horizon for the return of
- 30:39Speaker 1: her husband. May you do the same. May the bride
- 30:44Speaker 1: of Christ be always looking for Jesus. And who knows,
- 30:51Speaker 1: maybe one of these days, is we're searching the horizon,
- 30:55Speaker 1: we will see that eastern sky open and hear that
- 30:58Speaker 1: trumpet blast, And wouldn't that be something? Amen? Amen, So Lord,
- 31:05Speaker 1: please hear our prayer now as we receive your presence
- 31:09Speaker 1: and your spirit, to take these words and put them
- 31:11Speaker 1: deep down in our hearts so that they bear fruit
- 31:14Speaker 1: at the right time, in the right way. Use our
- 31:17Speaker 1: understanding of where we are in history to teach us
- 31:20Speaker 1: to live lives on full alert or We do not despair,
- 31:27Speaker 1: but we're always looking to you, and we thank you
- 31:30Speaker 1: for this promise. Through Jesus, we pray, and all the
- 31:34Speaker 1: church said, A A A A.
- 32:18Speaker 3: A A A.
- 32:26Speaker 4: A A A.
- 32:34Speaker 1: A A.
- 32:42Speaker 4: A A.
- 34:29Speaker 5: Loving you alone feels so beautiful, and yet.
- 34:39Speaker 1: It hurts the most.
- 34:44Speaker 5: You became my quiet sunress, the dream I never dared
- 34:50Speaker 5: to say.
- 34:52Speaker 1: Every smile you gave.
- 34:53Speaker 5: So freely took my breath a little away. I held
- 34:59Speaker 5: this love like fragile glass, so precious, soft and true,
- 35:06Speaker 5: But every beat inside my heart was only reaching out
- 35:10Speaker 5: to you.
- 35:13Speaker 6: Unspoken love is sweet and painful, like hone, even mixed
- 35:19Speaker 6: with rain.
- 35:20Speaker 5: Attend the whole by.
- 35:22Speaker 3: All so sadly while it slowly breaks me. Loving you
- 35:28Speaker 3: from just one side, now leave my soul in silent blue.
- 35:34Speaker 6: Because the deeper that I fall along, the lonelier I do.
- 35:43Speaker 5: I can blame my heart for choosing someone it could
- 35:48Speaker 5: never keep.
- 35:50Speaker 6: So I smiled through hidden heartache.
- 35:54Speaker 7: He love you quietly and spoke in love is sweet
- 35:59Speaker 7: and painful, like honey mixed with rain a'send.
- 36:05Speaker 3: The whole bow, so tightly walid, slowly breaks.
- 36:11Speaker 6: Me, loving you from just one side. Now leave my
- 36:16Speaker 6: soul in silence, Bloom, because the deeper that I.
- 36:20Speaker 7: Fall a long.
- 36:22Speaker 1: The only I do Maybe loving you in silence.
- 36:45Speaker 2: It's the closest I can stay, though leaves behind the
- 36:51Speaker 2: sorrow that may never fast away.
- 36:59Speaker 4: Spoken hello.
- 37:00Speaker 6: It is sweet and painful, like horney mixed with rain
- 37:06Speaker 6: a tender whole bil so tightly wally, slowly breaks me loving.
- 37:14Speaker 5: You from just one side.
- 37:16Speaker 6: Now leave my soul in silence, Bool, because the deeper
- 37:21Speaker 6: that I follow.
- 37:23Speaker 7: Love the loely her to