Who Cares About Bible Prophecy?

And so, we're looking at the final thoughts, which are a lot, but this is the final thoughts of our opening message together. Where we should begin is the title of this, and it's introductory. Last Wednesday, tonight, introductory. And next time we get together, we will be diving in.

We saw this church last time regarding Bible prophecy. Why should we even care? Because a lot of people freak out about the topic of Bible prophecy. And this is one of the things that we're going to dispel. Applied Bible prophecy to our lives, we ask these questions: What is Bible prophecy? And we saw in detail three things, and I'll just paraphrase it real quick, folks.

Number one was this, that it's evidence that God exists outside of our world. This is very, very important that Bible prophecy announces that the God of the Bible, I want to stress that to the point of being so redundant. The God of the Bible is a prophetic God. No other gods are prophetic. The gods of various cults, the gods that go by all these various names of various religions are not prophetic gods. The God of the Bible writes down the future in advance, it's called eschatology, Bible prophecy. He writes it down in advance and then waits for you to catch up to that time and place, and then he says, "And you see, I wrote it down before it ever happened. Now you know that I'm he."

In fact, we'll read some verses very similar to what I just paraphrased a moment ago. Do you remember what our theme verse is? If you don't, I'm going to give it to you again. It's John 14:29. You're going to so love this verse as we go through this series. Jesus said, "And now I have told you before it comes." That's prophecy. That when it does come to pass, you may believe. So, according to Jesus, Bible prophecy fulfilled builds faith. What kind of faith? That you might believe.

And so, um, I know that I'll have your forgiveness in advance. This topic gets me excited. Bible prophecy is how I got saved. I heard a message that talked about the future, and I thought, "Now that's the kind of God that's worthy of worship." Because if he's that big and knows that much, then he'll be able to take care of me. And so, he's wonderful.

So, we saw this. What is Bible prophecy? That it's the evidence that God exists outside of our world. Number two, we saw this, that it's the evidence that God has pre-existed before our world. I mean, that kind of sounds the same, but it's not. He's outside of our. Listen, our. The God of the Bible is not limited by time. He doesn't have a watch. He's outside. He's eternal. There's no time where he is. Isn't that a freaky thing? 'Cause you and I cannot even fathom that. Because he's spirit, think of this, wherever there's material matter, there is time. Did you know time, scientifically, if you put a time into the into a lab, time itself is a physical property, and thus it is limited to the physical world. It kind of. It's kind of a a bizarre thought, but time can be sped up, and time can be slowed down based on mass. It's remarkable.

Scientists at Stanford have have discovered, for example, that the most constant way of telling time is by what? Is by light. See, that's the most constant. Light's the most constant, but listen, material thing that we have. But at Stanford, they've discovered that light has been slowing down over the last couple thousand years, and it's slowing down. Light? See, that's impossible. No, it's not, because it's material. All material things are unwinding. Just like you. Just like me. We are unwinding. We're coming apart, just like a new car. All brand new at the beginning, but over time, it comes apart. Time itself comes apart. God is outside of time. This is the God that saved you. This is the God that went to the cross for you. This is the God that loves you. Aren't you glad that he's that big of a God?

Today on the news, I heard someone shout, "Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!" And I don't know if you know what that means in Arabic, but it's quite telling. Their god, the Islamic God's different than the Hebrew God. Allahu Allahu Akbar is "Our God is greater." God is greater. So, they're shouting in Iran, "Allahu Akbar! God is greater. God is. Their God's greater." Interesting. Greater than who? It's not that they say God is great. They don't say that. They say God is greater. Didn't Satan say in Isaiah chapter 18, I think it is, "I will be greater than the God of heaven. I will be greater. I will build my throne above his throne." Yeah, it's not going so well, and it's not going to go well for him.

And then, thirdly, we saw last time that it it's evidence that our faith is founded upon fact. And uh, that's something that I love to say a lot, and uh, it's true. But we saw this that in 2 Peter, uh, 2 Peter chapter 1, beginning at verse 16, it says, "For we did not follow." This is Peter announcing that we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He's referring to the Mount of Transfiguration, where Peter, James, and John saw Jesus in glory as Moses and Elijah appeared to him, there recorded in the Gospels. Verse 19. And so, we have the prophetic word confirmed. Verse 20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. Do you know what that means? It means that you cannot say, "Well, I know it says this, but I think it means this." Can't do that. Can't do that. That's what cults do, by the way. That's how they become a cult. Verse 21. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved. I love that. Possessed, animated by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit's the author of the Bible.

Point number two, we just touched on this before we had to end, and you'll recognize it in a moment. Remember the buckets from last week? Do you? Okay. So, why is Bible prophecy important? It's extremely important. In fact, it's all important. And you're going to see the reasons why.

We saw in Revelation chapter 1 verse 19. Revelation, the book of Revelation. "Pastor Jack, I don't want to read that book, it's too confusing." Don't say that anymore, because you will be admitting to those who know the Bible that you do not study or read the Old Testament. You'll never understand the book of Revelation unless you read and studied the Old Testament. If you're Jewish tonight and you're here, read all the Old. All of the Old Testament, I say all of it. Not part of it, friend. If you're a Jew and you have your Hebrew scriptures, read all of the Old Testament. Genesis to Malachi, skip the entire New Testament, which you don't read anyway, and take a big breath and dive into the book of Revelation, and you're going to be shocked at how well you understand the book of Revelation, because you know the Old Testament. And there's a reason why it's at the end of the book, and there's a reason why it has more Jewish or Old Testament uh connections as the last book of the Bible, and there's a reason why the last book of the Bible after uh Revelation chapter 3 never mentions the church again until it's in heaven, but it's all about Israel while it's on earth and its evangelistic efforts to all those that are on the planet. It is amazing. And it has its own built-in, as you learned last week, uh outline. God tells John to write this down. Write the things which you have, number one, seen, and the things which are, that is present for John, and the things which which will take place after this. And we we noted this, that why Bible prophecy is important is because it has left us a record. It's left us a trail that we don't have to guess.

And so, we saw this. In a moment, we're going to put those buckets up, but remember this. God told John, "Write down what you've seen, and what you." What John saw was chapter 1. Remember, it's not rocket science, but if you missed it, write it down. "John, write down the things that you've seen." Oh, that's chapter 1. Yes, John, that's good. Now, John, write down the things that are right now. Well, John was hearing everything about the seven letters to the seven churches. John was writing all of that down. Revelation chapters 2 and 3. John was recording all of that. And sometime in the future in this series, we'll talk about in detail those seven churches. Why those? There's a big reason why. And was there only seven churches? No, there were many, many, countless uh number of churches throughout the ancient world, but those seven are very specific for a big, big reason. The write, which you've seen what is now, and from Revelation chapter 4 on to Revelation chapter 22, those things which shall be or those things which will come to pass.

And can we put the buckets up? If we do this, everybody, remember I got excited and nobody. I was all alone. I got excited and nobody else really cared. That in your Bible reading, daily reading, and in your personal study, Revelation 1:19 is a great, great model by which to interpret your Bible when it comes to Bible prophecy. If you're reading from Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, which is the first prophecy of the Bible, Genesis 3:15, all the way to the end of the book of Revelation chapter 22, what is being spoken of in the book of uh Habakkuk, could be Zechariah, it could be. It could be Mark, it doesn't matter, but what is what's prophetic and you're not sure about it, you write it down and you see where it might apply. Is what I'm reading about the past? Is it about the present? Or will it be about the future? And I'm going to put this in one of those three buckets. And I told you last time that as you learn more and as time goes on before your study and your study develops, you might pull some of those verses out and put them in different places. The beautiful thing is you wind up establishing a firm understanding of Bible prophecy because God wants you to know it, folks. He wants you to understand it. He wants you to live. In fact, every generation has lived in Bible prophecy. The danger is who recognized that? You see, the Bible says the sons of Issachar in the Old Testament, God says that they're the ones who knew what Israel should do because they were able to discern the times and the seasons in which they lived. That should be us. Amen.

So, here's the here's a big flash bang. This. Now, I'm not saying I'm not. I didn't get a phone call, nobody called me, nobody. I'm just. I look at a lot of sites and some of them uh are pretty cool sites. You look at memory, m e m r i.org, uh Jane's Defense, uh Jane's Military Briefing, uh Proceedings by the US Naval Department. All that said, I'm not telling you anything that's a secret. In fact, who knows it's even going to happen at all. But I. Do you know that right now if you have a son or daughter in the US Navy or in the Marines or Air Force, there's a high probability that they are either involved uh at their station, wherever they're at, or they are physically on scene in the Middle East right now, tonight. Either in the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, or the Red Sea right now. Did you know that there's the largest United States military build-up right now as you and I sit here since I believe it was Gulf War I. What has been rumored is that what might take place this weekend may take only a matter of hours. We don't know what that means, folks. But Iran, you. Have you been following the news where now it's just horrible what has happened to these nearly 50,000 of Iran's choicest young people, highly educated, they wanted freedom. They wanted to just live their lives without having to be commanded by these religious crazies. And they're dead. And and many of them were killed by by snipers on built on tops of buildings, their own people. And now Iran is threatening the area. And it's very ugly right now. And uh supposedly this weekend is supposed to be a a big weekend. Now, I don't know. I don't. Again, I haven't. I. I'm only telling you what you can go and read. You say, "Well, where do we put that in Bible prophecy?" I don't know where we put that in Bible prophecy. What? Is is the US going to get blown up or is Iran going to get blown up? Well, if we know this, Iran is Persia in the Bible, so we don't know what that exactly means, but we know that uh something intense is going on and it's a big deal. You may be on the threshold of watching some grand historic event, but what prophetic significance will it hold? We don't know, but we are ready to be watching. These are real things in real life, folks. It's going on now.

I don't know why I've called you folks twice tonight. Like, is that like a sign of old age all of a sudden? I had a birthday, maybe that's it. So, as we dive in more, now here we go. We. We. We pick up where we left off. So, the things which will take place after this. Revelation chapter 4 verse 1. I want all of you to write this down, please. Revelation 4 verse 1. John the apostle is writing this down and I want all of you to think very critically. After these things, meta tauta is the Greek word. After these things, after this look. So, John, after all this stuff, after these things, now look. It's a command. And behold, that is I saw a door standing open in heaven. Everybody walk through with me now. You're John. You've seen what was, what is, and what's going to happen after these things. So, the outline is given. John writes it down, he's grateful for it. The description of the churches, got it. All of a sudden, now that that letter, those seven letters written by Jesus to the churches is complete, it's as though God rolls up his sleeves and goes down to business. And he says to John, "After these things," behold, John says, watch what happens. A door was open. Where, folks, where? Third time, folks. Pray for me. I don't want to say the word again. It makes me feel old. A door standing open in heaven. The first voice which I heard was like a trumpet. That's interesting. Why not water? The voice of water is often recorded in scripture. I'm not making this a hard press biblical interpretation. Let's just take on the thought what John is saying. I heard a voice speaking to me like a trumpet. Hmm. In the believer's life, what role does a trumpet play if anything in the church's life? Well, just. Well, we don't know yet. We're playing. We're playing dumb right now. It was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, "Come up here." Class, where is here? Where the door is open, correct? Everybody got that? Not hard. "Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this." After what? After you have come up here. Look how smart you guys are. This is understanding Bible prophecy. This is fun.

So, John, some scholars, I'm just pushing the envelope, some scholars throughout the last 2,000 years believe that John is a type or symbol of the church. John is the oldest living apostle. Did you know that John is the only one who died of natural causes? All of the rest were killed, uh, martyred. Uh, John's longevity, John's age, John receives the book of Revelation, John hears the trumpet, a door is opened in heaven. And so, watch this. At this moment, Revelation chapter 4, some say is the last mention of the church because John is a member of the church. Maybe. Maybe that's a stretch. But we do know this, John's the last apostle we're going to hear about in the book of Revelation. His career is. His career is done. He. Listen, can you. If you have to. If you have to close your eyes to get this, that's fine. From where he's standing, he sees a door opened in heaven up there. The next time John sees a door, he sees a door with you and me with him and we see the backside of the door and it is opened and we depart. Revelation 19, it says there the bride of Christ, the church with Jesus Christ comes out of heaven through the door to earth. So, yeah, I mean, that's exciting stuff. Some of you are kind of like, "What?"

So, listen, here's the amazing thing. From John. From Revelation chapter 4 verse 1, the church is never mentioned again in the book of Revelation until Revelation 19. And when you see her again, she's quite a gal. She's on a horse. We are wearing fine linen, clean and bright, which is the righteous acts of the saints, it says. And so, when you put the. You. When you put the Christian as the bride of Christ together, she's got a wedding gown on. But she's going out with the Lord as he makes war upon the inhabitants of the earth during the tribulation period and at that point at the end. So, she's riding a horse. I don't like horses, but I. I'm apparently I'm going to warm up to them. Reason why, it's very vain. I don't like animals that are smarter than I am. So, [laughter] what's and stronger. But, okay. So, John. I should say Revelation 4 verse 1 so important. John chapter 14, the same John, by the way. John 14 verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house up there are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Did not Jesus ascend up to prepare a place for you and I? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. Watch the flow of this, everybody. Watch the flow.

First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16. First Thessalonians 4:16. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we. Isn't that interesting? Paul the apostle used the word we for himself. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. That's the word rapture in Latin, together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Notice the flow of this. Titus 2:13. Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. One more. First Corinthians 15 verse 50. This is awesome. Cuz you. Before I read it, there's a period of time coming. We don't know when that there will be those who are living that will not see death. They will be caught up by the Lord himself. Those who have died in Jesus, their bodies will be resurrected just momentarily beforehand. Can you imagine? Resurrected glory by. Their bodies will come out of the ground. Resurrected glorified bodies will be united with their spirit. Right now, if your mom, your dad, your sister, your child, your son, think about. Think about your baby that died or think about aborted babies. They're in heaven. Some of these people who are debating, side note. Some of these people who are debating about. Does a. Does a baby that's aborted have a soul? God. Exactly. God said, I was in your mom's womb before any of your parts were put together. I was there assembling you. >> [applause] >> Sometimes, you know, people want to play God or somehow uh change the narrative and and. No, no, no. Listen, God's the giver of life. Watch this. Watch what happens here. Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood, like you and I are now cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We. In other words, this spacesuit doesn't work up there in that realm where he's at. We need new constituted skin. Glorified skin. I'm all for that, by the way. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep or die. But we shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an [cheering] eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. And all God's people said. That's our future. That is thrilling and very exciting.

The third point is this. Who cares about Bible prophecy? The more that you read about these things, the more that you start to get stirred up and say, "Wow, I want to be part of that crowd." I want to know that. And so, when you really begin to understand that God's word that he tells us about the future is not to freak us out. Now would be a good time for me to insert what we are not talking about when it comes to prophecy. Many people have been offended and abused and I agree with you where you've been raised up or you went to some kind of a church and brother John or Joe or sister Susie had had the gift of prophecy and she's going to tell you your future. What? There is the gift of prophecy in the Bible given by the Holy Spirit, but it ain't the telling of the future. The gift of prophecy in the New Testament is the one of heralding forth the word of God to a particular situation or to a people. It's applying the word of God to a particular people or or whatever the need is. It's the spirit of God working through you. If you have the gift of a prophet or prophecy, you will not tell them about their future. You will project and announce the word of God which already is. When somebody comes along and says to you, "Oh, I have the gift of prophecy and so, why don't you sit down? I'm going to tell you about your future." Dude, you need to get up and run. That is insane, sick, and that is mind control trip. And a lot of people who are in hyper-Pentecostal movements have been really damaged by that stuff. "I know you love that person, but you can't marry them because God's got somebody else for you. God told me to tell you that." You know how many times I've heard that from people? They've come here bruised and broken and that's what happened in their lives at some other gathering where they were going to get married. The. This couple was. Everything was great and then one the leadership stepped in and said, "No, we have a word from the Lord. It's a word of prophecy. You're not to marry him. You're to marry him over there." Hey, everybody. If you're in that situation, get running now. Get out. It's wrong and it's manipulative and it's not of God. That's not the prophecy we're talking about. We are talking about the prophecy that God himself has written down in the Bible and we are to know that.

So much so, when we say who cares about about Bible prophecy, um, I wrote myself this little note that's on page five if you guys scanned the notes. It says recorded human history has proven that biblical prophecy has never been fulfilled vaguely or generally or casually. >> [laughter] >> But rather biblically. Biblical prophecy has been fulfilled accurately, specifically, and consistently. You know that's true. When God's. When when one of God's ancient prophecies are fulfilled, uh, it's not. It's not like it goes. It goes by and nobody notices it. Those who are watching and knowing the word of God, they get it. Listen, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the little donkey, do you remember what he said to them? He started crying. He was the only one crying in the entire crowd. And he said, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if you had only recognized this thy day, the peace that awaited you. But now it's taken from you and you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" That's what Israel will say at the second coming. More on that in the future. Remarkable.

Who cares about Bible prophecy? That you do and here's the reason why. Number one reason. Say, "I don't. I don't care." Yes, you do. Are you Christian? Yes. Are you saved? Yes. Well, do you want to know why you care about Bible prophecy? Because the first Bible prophecy ever is in Genesis 3:15. And it's all about you. It's all about me. God says, "I will put enmity, warfare, between you, Satan, and the woman, Eve, and her descendants. And between your offspring, seed." The Greek word is sperm. And her sperm. What? She doesn't have that. That's because this is a Messianic prophecy. That's why the S is capitalized, folks. That means from the woman will come the Messiah. And the war there is going to be between your descendants, Satan, and her descendant. That God would become flesh to save mankind from our condition. He, Messiah, the seed, shall bruise your head. And you shall bruise his heel. Some of your Bible translations on the margins say bruise or to crush. >> [snorts] >> And I like the word crush better. You can. Listen, you can get your heel crushed and be fine. Satan is going to crush or Satan crushed the heel of Jesus in his humanity when when Jesus was living on Earth physically. But you cannot survive a head crushing. The Messiah is going to crush the head of the serpent, of the. Of Satan. And >> [applause] >> uh, wow, we could go a lot of directions with that one because Zechariah tells us that when Jesus returns in the second coming, Israel, the Jews, will look up at him as he's returning and they will. They will say, "Where did you get these scars in your hands and on and your side and on your feet?" And he. And the Messiah responds to the house of Israel and says, "I received these wounds in the house of my friends." And their eyes will be open to him. That's the book of Zechariah. That's a prophecy for some other day.

The danger. Who cares about Bible prophecy? Well, we all should because there's a danger of ignoring Bible prophecy. I don't mean to be mean. I don't mean to be ugly or rude about this, but I. I've. I've said it before. I'll just say it gently, but it's. It's so serious. Do not. If you go to a church, and I know some of you Wednesday nighters, you go to other churches and they don't teach Bible prophecy. You got to ask your leadership why. Why you don't. Why do you not teach Bible prophecy at our church? Why does this denomination not teach Bible prophecy? When 27 to 33% of the Bible is Bible prophecy. Don't ignore it. Most young pastors today will tell me, "We don't do it because it's too difficult and it just causes confusion." Number one, everything good's difficult. What you're really saying is, "I'm going to have to study hard if. If I got to teach this." Yes, you do. And why don't you trust God, if you have the gift of teaching as a pastor, to teach them and it won't be confusing? Let God teach his own sheep his own word. We're just as pastors supposed to study up and let it all out. It's between you and him. But don't ignore it.

First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13 commands it. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning. And he goes on to talk about the coming of the Lord. Do not be ignorant. The word ignorant in Greek is this. Do not be willfully ignorant. Wow. To intentionally not want to know, to not be aware of or to decide to not know that which can be known. In other words, can you imagine somebody holding a flashlight in front of you and you. No, I don't want to know the way. No, here's the flashlight. Here's the path. No, no, I can't see it. No, it's not there. Open your eyes, man. I can say that right now. Watch this. In this day and age, this is. This will just get people flipped out. Here you go. A lot of people right now, because of I believe demonic influence, are being willfully ignorant of the fact that is standing right in front of them. They're willfully not wanting to know that Israel became a nation a second time just like Isaiah said it would in Isaiah 66, chapter 66, on May 14th, 1948, and Ezekiel says that when they are made a nation, they will not believe in God when they become a nation. They won't believe. Isn't that amazing? I had somebody tell me, "Israel's illegitimate. It's not real." And I said, "Why?" "Because there's homosexuality there, there's drug abuse, there's human trafficking, there's fentanyl." And he starts describing all this stuff and I said, "You mean California?" Everything the guy went down the list on, America is probably more guilty of of it all or probably manufacturing it. The Bible says they are going to come back to their own land not believing in God. They won't believe in God until the tribulation period starts. Read your. It's clear. It's crystal clear. That's some of the time.

Who cares about Bible prophecy? The danger of fearing biblical prophecy. Don't do that. Don't let the danger of fearing biblical prophecy derail you. Don't let that happen. Just because when you open it up, for example, you'll see in the book of Daniel, we shall see later on or maybe in the book of Revelation, and a dragon rose up out of the sea. And it had 10 heads. And out of its mouth. And you go, "What?" Now, it's funny. We will go to a movie at the theater and pay extra for that and eat popcorn while we're looking at Godzilla. But God says, if you keep reading, he begins to tell you the dragon that you saw. It explains itself. People see the first a dragon, a fiery red dragon, and they stop reading. But if it was any other book, you'd keep reading. You say, "Well, this Bible. I mean, it's this Bible's true." Yes, it is true. And the Bible says that there's a devil and God shows you what he's like. Satan is not a dragon. You understand that? He's not a dragon. He is like a dragon. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. That means he's not a dove. We know this immediately. The Holy Spirit's not a dove. And a dove didn't land on Jesus when he was baptized. The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus after being baptized by John like a dove and immediately rules out a dove. Isn't that [snorts] interesting? Kind of fun. Kind of fun.

John chapter 13 verse 19 says, "Now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am." The. The he should be capitalized because it's been inserted by the translators. Now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe that ego emi in Greek ego emi is the "I am that I am" that Moses spoke to in the burning bush. Same. Same word. Same person. Does that kind of freak you out? It should. It should freak some of you out. You say, "Well, what? What?" When Moses was talking to the burning bush. By the way, you know, we make fun of him. He's talking to the burning bush like he's weird. The burning bush. God was not the bush. The bush was burning. Moses talked to the bush. I don't think Moses said, "What a nice bush you are." God, you know, God. I think God assumes we're smarter than than that. The reason why Moses tells us why he talked to the bush. He said moments earlier, "I see a bush and it's burning and it's not being consumed." So Moses went to go to see what was going on with this bush that won't burn out. And out of that burning flame of fire, God spoke to Moses. And God revealed to him, you could argue, prophecy. Moses, this is what I'm going to do. Is that not a prophetic statement? You see how you need not be afraid when God says, "This is what I'm going to do for you."

How about this? You guys know this. Jeremiah 29:11, everybody's favorite verse. "I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of hope and thoughts of good, not of evil, but thoughts to bring your life to a full and complete end." Did you know that's a prophetic statement by God? You have a prob-. You have a problem with that verse? Somebody told me not too long ago, they they said, "Pastor Jack, you always quote that verse, but it's to. It's in the book of Jeremiah. It's to the Jews only." And I said, "You are almost right." It was written by the whole. By the spirit of God through the prophet Jeremiah to the Jewish people. You are correct. But the Bible tells us in the New Testament that all the promises of God that have been given are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. >> [cheering] >> So, that's why we get to adopt those verses. Very, very wonderful.

Now, put on your prophetic glasses. We're going to go through a little test here with the time that we have left. Kind of. Kind of fun. John chapter 16. Let's see what you. See how you catch this. You're going to look down. You're going to. You might even have your three buckets. Something might pop up where you might want to take this portion and put it in a bucket. But what might be future here? Let's see. Maybe nothing at all, maybe something. "These things I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God's service." Wow. Okay, well, first of all, Jesus was telling that to the disciples who were Jewish. He was about ready to leave and go back to heaven, and he tells those Jewish disciples, "They're going to come after you. They're going to throw you out of the houses of worship, synagogues, and they're going to try to kill you." Is that a prophetic statement? 100%. Remember again, I said it last week at Heintzen. This is a perfect time to to repeat it. God didn't give us Bible prophecy to scare us. He gave us Bible prophecy to prepare us. See how preparatory that is? It's awesome. Verse three. "And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. But now I go away to him who sent me. And none of you asked me, 'Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, the Paracletos, Holy Spirit, will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And he. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more. And of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged." By the way, who's the ruler of this world? Satan. He's judged. Verse 12. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of Truth, that is the helper, has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what uh of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you. A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me because I go to my Father." Then some of the disciples said to among themselves, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me, and because I go to the Father?'" And they said therefore, "What is this that he says, 'A little while'? We do not know what he is saying." Now, Jesus knew that they desired to ask him, and he said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while and you will and not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? Most assuredly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. And you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman when she is in labor has sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world." Amazing, huh? "Therefore, you now have sorrow, but I uh will s-. But I will see, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Uh, until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in a figurative language, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name. And I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you. It's because you'll be connected. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. And I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." Church, you can read that. That's that chapter over and over again, and you will see more and more of prophetic Bible statements that bring you comfort. That was a huge test, but a. But one that is necessary.

There's the danger of obsessing over Bible prophecy. Did you know that? You want to be careful about that. Who cares about Bible prophecy? A lot of people don't, but some people go cuckoo crazy on it. They just. They. They don't even go to a church. They just go to prophecy conferences. And that's not good. And uh, I'm going to say something about the future, but not from any source of my own. Listen carefully. But from the source of scripture. I'm going to accurately say something about the future that will come to pass, not because I am saying it, but because it is God's word given to us in advance. Okay, so I'm. I'm going to. What I'm going to give you, it's paraphrased. But watch this. There is going to be an increasingly weird time. Yeah, here it is. There is going to be an increasing in weird things being said and done in the name of Jesus by a lot of people. These people will be false prophets, false teachers, and deceivers. They will teach false things, give false prophecies with such supernatural influence and charisma that unless someone is grounded in biblical truth about these false believers, they themselves will be powerless against these spiritual powers and will be deceived by them. So, I just. I actually. You know what I did right there? I just read to you paraphrased uh scriptures put together right out of the Bible. In other words, everything that you just saw right there, I. I queued it up by saying, "I'm going to tell you something from myself, but it's biblically based." And what I just shared you shared with you is 100% true. But notice what I just did. I told you something about the future, but I told it to you from the Bible. Don't. As I said earlier, don't let somebody tell you that God revealed this to them in a dream. And they. And I have been sent to tell you. Folks, the Bible's crystal clear on this. Run. God is done giving prophetic revelation. He is not going to reveal or add to the scriptures. He said that.

Matthew chapter 24. We're going to blow through this quickly. Matthew 24, verse 24, 25. Now, this certainly applies during the tribulation period, but it applies to today. "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, thank God for that, if. Even the elect. See, or behold, I have told you beforehand." By the way, everybody, it's. It's like a freshman course in logic. Let me read it again. Do I. Do I have your attention? This is very important. Watch. Watch. I'm going to change it, but not the truth of it. Watch. "For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect, which makes it impossible for the elect to be deceived." Did y'all get that? That's exactly what it is saying. You should take a deep breath and relax. Because none of God's kids are going to be deceived. Well, I had a friend, he was a Christian and some cult knocked on the door and he went away with the cult and he's gone. If that's true, he was never a Christian. He might have been your friend. But none of God's kids will be deceived. Let's keep going. Matthew 24:11, "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many." That's a prophetic promise. Next verse. Matthew 7:15, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." Wow, listen, if you don't have the word of God rooted and grounded and understand Bible prophecy, they're going to eat you up.

Second Thessalonians chapter 2:9, "The coming of the lawless one," that's the Antichrist, "is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders, miracles, super duper amazing off the chart people miracles." Wow. Oh, this is weird. I'm just having a weird thought. It's just my thought. It's insane. The coming of the lawless one, of course that's referencing Satan, we know. I mean, the Antichrist, we know that, is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders. And I. I just had this thought. Gosh, we're all watching AI come together. And after watching the this weekend's football games, I think all referees should be fired and we should only use AI for football games now. But isn't it weird to think ooh if deception's super duper deceptive that only God's kids will be able to figure it out and discern what's true and false? And if Satan is a gradualist, and he is, he takes little steps so you don't see. You know, like you. Like you watch a snail. Ever watched a snail? You never watch a snail. You watch a snail and then you stop watching it because it's not doing anything. And then you look away for a couple of minutes and you look back and it's like, where'd you go? Have you noticed? Satan works like that. He just sneaks into your marriage. He gets his foot in the door. So you don't notice. And then a week or two or a month later, wait, where'd you go? Gosh, how much of our world already is deceiving us? Or tricking us as a culture. What about AI? What if? What if AI gets possessed by a demon? I shouldn't have said that. We'll be up all night. Um, because they. Oh, listen in verse 10, "And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. Why? Because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved." Friend, here's. Here's the love of the truth. You're a sinner, God is the savior. You can't. If you die without Jesus, you go to hell. If you die with Jesus, you go to heaven. He died on the cross for your sins to pay your sin debt. If you put your trust in him, he applies that work to you. You are saved and are secure in Christ and you become a Christ follower. Okay? Listen, if. If you. If you reject that, if you don't receive that love of the truth that you might be saved, there's nothing left for you. Right there. I didn't. I didn't say it. It says it right here.

First John chapter 2:18. 1 John 2:18. "Little children, it is the last hour. I love John, he's not messing around. It's the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come. By which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us but they were not of us." Next verse. We're going to go quickly now. Acts chapter 20:26-31. "Therefore I." This is Paul the Apostle speaking. "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent."

of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

For I know this that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for 3 years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears, said the Apostle Paul, regarding deception.

You know Bible prophecy, you will not be deceived. 2 Peter chapter 1. Actually, we already covered that verse. Well, no, let's go down. Let's Let's It's It'll be a little bit repetition, but watch where it goes. Knowing this first that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. Remember that? Can't make stuff up. It's got to be in the Bible. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 2:1, but there were also false prophets among the people, even as Here's a prophetic statement. Even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on them bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. Wow. All of a sudden, so much of the Bible has our attention regarding prophecy.

Um and I just jotted these things down. We don't have time. Uh Watch Watch out for things like this. Uh page nine. Watch out for people who name names like this. Oh, you know, God showed me that that guy's the Antichrist. You get This book's on this. You can buy There's books people have written. How to find How to How to do the math to find out who's the Antichrist. Did you know I'm so Listen, I'm so old I remember where people were talking about JFK was the Antichrist. And then Henry Kissinger was the Antichrist. Did you remember that one? Um I'm I'm drawing a blank now, but there's a bunch. No, no one ever thought Obama was the Antichrist. No. We're going to be talking about him soon and in detail though. Not Obama, the Antichrist.

>> [laughter] >> There's There's stuff you're going to learn about him that the Bible Oh my goodness. All scripture. But listen, watch out for people who say that that guy's the Antichrist. Yeah, listen. If I understand 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 right uh there's no way that the church can know who the Antichrist is. Think about that. Read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 real slow. Real slow. We'll talk about that when we do talk about him. Not Obama, the Antichrist.

And then uh we'll we'll leave you off with here with this. Don't Don't listen to people who seek to predict dates. And uh there was a book written 88 reasons Jesus is coming in 1988. You can get that book on Amazon now for like a nickel. I'm No, I'm kidding. I don't know if you can or not. How about this? October 21st, 2011 is the rapture of the church and the end of the world. Um that was uh that was uh Harold Camping said that. December 21st, I don't know what's with the 21st the number, but anyway, December 21st, 2012, it was said that the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world. There was a certain day it was all going to come to an end. I remember when I was in junior high when a prophet prophesied that on a certain day California would fall into the ocean. Remember that? Did they let us out from school for that? No.

How many times did we hear this not all that long ago? Jesus is going to return during the next blood moon. Red Remember the red blood moons, the blood moons, this this four blood moons. Did you ever hear about that stuff? Raise your hand if you heard about all the blood moon stuff. Did Listen. Did you hear anything from this pulpit about the blood moons? You want to know why you didn't? Because the Bible says that in that day the moon will turn to blood and the sun will not shine. Everybody wrote books and had conferences on the blood moon conferences and the end of the world is near because of the blood moons. No one had a conference that the sun was going to stop shining. How did I know to keep my mouth shut during that time? You guys all thought that "Oh, I wonder why he's not talking about it. I wonder why he's not talking about it." It's because I knew Bible prophecy. I I'm not smart. I just read his smart book. Right, think about it.

Oh, could the world end next week? Nope. If you know Bible prophecy, the answer is nope. We know this. The world cannot end for at least 7 years and 1,000. 1,007 years, the world cannot end as of tonight. Because there's the 7-year tribulation that has to take place and Christ must reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem for 1,000 years still. Then the world will end.

>> [applause] >> Watch therefore. Verse We are ending. You can stand. That will encourage me to end. This is how we end. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. So, watch everybody. Watch. Read it this way. Because you don't know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming, what are you supposed to do? Next verse. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. In other words, be busy, occupied till he comes, be doing the work of God, feed your family, get your degree, uh plan your vacation, LIVE YOUR LIFE. All the while, by the way, telling others about Jesus. And just know this, when God comes back, let him catch you being busy about his father's business, okay? Next verse. Matthew 24:44, "Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect." Can you imagine? So, if all of us would just not expect him, >> [laughter] >> and then we we've read it earlier, we'll read it again. Looking, active verb, now continuous. Looking, looking, looking, looking, looking for the blessed HOPE AND THE GLORIOUS APPEARING of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And all God's people said, "Amen."

>> [applause]