Transcription
Hello man. Today I want to talk to you about something that I feel is very important. It has been on my mind, and um, that is the fact that we are truly, truly in the last days. We are, to quote Charles Dickens, in the best of times and the, and the worst of times at the same time. He started his book, *The Tale of Two Cities*. It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Two cities living in the same city. And today, it seems that we have two churches in the same church. The best of revival, growth, and harvest is happening, while at the same time, the worst things are happening. It seems like, and there is almost no, no middle ground.
We literally live in an hour that is so much different than the church that I was raised in when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. There were a lot of mediocre, mediocre saints in the church. Just, you know, mediocre people. They warmed the pew, paid their tithes, but they weren't going to win any races or win any prizes. And today, it don't seem to be that way. It doesn't, uh, seem to match. We've shifted until now. You have your dedicated people and you're rebellious. You have those that are on fire and those who are absolutely, um, living in full sin. We no longer have that, that middle group. The request of God in Revelation seems to be being fulfilled. We now are pastoring people who are either hot or cold.
And I believe this is a sign of the last days. I believe that if there's any evidence of the last days, it is being evidenced in the type of people that we are dealing with now. And that's this hot or cold group. This group that's either on fire or absolutely backslid on the pew. The middle ground or the middle class saints, the lukewarm, seem to be no longer with us. And this can be very encouraging and very discouraging at the same time. And what you've got to do is keep your mind and your focus on your people that are on fire. And just don't worry about the people who are backslid. I'm telling you, sin, God, and life will take care of them. If you get focused on the rebellious, if you get focused on the backslid, if that's who you focus on, is the ones that's not doing right, not living right, then your people that's on fire will pay for it. They'll be neglected while the ungodly and the rebellious take up all your time.
And this is why Jesus warned his disciples and, and those that were following. He said, "The poor you have with you always." And that's not just people that are poor in money, people who are poor in character, poor in spirit, uh, poor in ethics, poor in self-discipline. They're always going to be there. You can't focus on them. Your focus needs to be on the people in your church that are coming to the prayer room, living for God, shouting, dancing, ministering, teaching Bible studies, backing your ministry. That's who your focus needs to be on. And if you're not careful, what you'll do is you'll focus on the handful that you're not going to help anyway. You're not going to change them.
And to say it is a sign of the last days is an understatement because it really is. Jesus said, "I'd rather you be hot or cold." And six days before the crucifixion of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, Mary brings in an alabaster box and breaks it at Jesus's feet. Here was a woman that up till that point was not a follower of Christ. We, we don't find any record that she was a part of the church. She was a, a sinner at best, maybe a prostitute at worst. And she brought the best, the very best that she had, and broke it at Jesus's feet, surrendered it to him willingly, full of joy. And here's Judas, who was a disciple of Christ, had had seen much evidence that he was the Messiah. Th, this little lady that brought the alabaster rock box, she, she hadn't seen any proof. She had just heard he was the Messiah. He was the savior. Judas, on the other hand, he had seen the miracles. He had witnessed the miracles. He had heard the teaching of Christ. He was intimate with all that made Christ the Messiah. But here he was angry that he couldn't get his hands on what that alabaster box was worth. He, he said, "Man, if she'd have give it un, given it to Christ unbroken, I could have sold it and pocketed the money." Six days before the crucifixion, it was the last days of Christ on earth, the last days before he left, before he ascended. We're in the last days before he comes back.
In the last days, the pressure of the end time will bring out people's best or their worst. There will be no middle ground. The last days exposes you for what you are. And that's what we're dealing with. Whether you're an evangelist, whether you're a pastor, whatever you are, we're dealing with the last day church. We're going to see saints, people do things that are going to be so noble, so giving, and so grand that it's going to shock us. We're going to weep that a saint, a, a child of God could be that giving and that sacrificial. And at the very same time, in the same church, in the same congregation, among the same group, we're going to see people be so corrupt that we're going to weep in shock that something like that could happen in the church. It happened under the banner of Christianity. But really, what the last days does is he exposes what we've always been able to hide. What's always been hidden. What's always going to be underneath. What the last days exposes what people really are. We're going to see them for what they really are in these last days.
So when I, I want to encourage you, if that is the case, don't get caught up in the sinners. Don't get caught up in the ungodly. Don't get caught up in focusing those on those. It's so easy to focus on the squeaky wheel, the problems, the people in our church who are doing horrific things. Focus and minister and preach to the people that are doing right and let the chaff be exposed and let it blow with the wind as it will. Jude said that they're, they're, they're brokenists. They're whales without water. They're, they're stars without any, they're wandering stars. They're going to be blown around by every wind and doctrine and just let them go. And focus on your people, on the people in a church. Evangelists, focus on the ones that are shouting, that are dancing, that are on board. Even an evangelist can go into a church and get so focused on trying to move a dead head, on trying to get the ones on board that's not responding. You know, you can get so focused on the ones that's not saying, "I'm," the ones that's not responding, the ones that's not coming to the altar. Forget them. Focus on the ones who are. Let your focus and your ministry. Don't starve the sheep while you're trying to get a few old goats to move.
I'm going to tell you, I made that mistake as an evangelist. I'm just going to be honest with you. As an evangelist, I would go into churches and I took it as a challenge to try to move the ones that no one else could move. What happens in that is the, the ones that are right, you know, you, it's like whipping an entire classroom of kids because two kids is, is not doing right and so everybody gets a spanking. We can't do that. Ignore them. You ain't going to help them anyway. Focus on the ones who are responding, the ones who are coming, the ones who are backing. That's where you put your focus and you put your response. I love you. We're in the last days. We're in the days of the pressure of the end time. The end times is revealing what people really are. They've been able to hide it and put it under charades up till now. But now the pressure of the last days is revealing what people really are. And it's going to bring out either their best or their worst. Paul, in one of his writings, I should have looked it up, but I didn't intend to bring it in, but it fits here, says in the last days, there will be those who, who cannot cease from sin. Sin gets a hold so a hold of them that they cannot cease. It's not, it's not within their power to stop. That's the day we're living in.
I love you guys with all my heart. I'm recording this as a video because I'm driving back down to Pine tonight to preach on Monday night and the service is intermittent. And so I'm going to, I'm going to post this video link on the, on the, uh, thread and that way you can link on and watch it. God bless you. I love you so much. Good talking to you today. If you have any responses or you want to add to this or say anything about it or whatever, uh, just post your response on the, on the text thread. Love you. God bless you. Bye-bye.