I am going to try to do this very quickly, but we need to talk about something because social
media is full of this. I've had people asking the question concerning this. Is this week
Monday or Tuesday Feast of Trumpets? It's being predicted again Jesus is coming this week.
And if he comes, I'm leaving. So you know, I don't plan to stick around. But there's many
different avenues that people are reasoning with from one, you know, if you're on social
media, it's just been full of it this week. Dreams and visions and one guy was coming
from the direction of, well, we might even play that clip. I won't explain it. Explain
it. There's many different approaches. Even to one guy did a study on Charlie Kirk's name
and claimed that had to do with he kind of set something in motion that Jesus is going
to come this week. So I don't know, let's give you a couple of insights on this. If
you want to get that first little video ready, we're going to just play a few seconds
of it. It starts at about two minute mark. We'll play about 40 seconds of it. This guy,
everybody seems to point back to this guy. He's an African minister who claims Jesus came
and told him in 2018 that he's coming this week, 22nd, 23rd Feast of Trumpets. He's
returning for his church. So most of them point back to this. So I just wanted to
play this for you in case you hadn't seen it. Are you able to slide that ahead? I'll
tell you when you're there, so we don't have to watch the whole thing. We lost the
time. Just keep going. It'll show up and I'll have you a little further, a little
further. Once... now we're getting close. Okay, right after this, back up just the
hair so we get the beginning of what he's going to say. Right there. You
know, it doesn't want to do that. No, it's playing or just no sound, you know, you
guys are sitting opposite to me. Okay, back it up just the hair so we can, they do
have it so we can read it because we don't understand them. It's amazing to
me. These connections are absolutely astonishing to me. I was led to look
this up this morning. It appears as you know, you guys are sitting opposite
to me. It appears in front of me in a white robe this time. I'm looking at
you and it says these words. It says to me on the 23rd and the 24th of
September, 20, 25, I will come to take my church. The we who are still alive. You
can stop that one and then just queue up the other one. So most of the people
on social media are pointing back to him that Jesus, according to him, Jesus
appeared to him and said that this is what's going to happen and he's going
to come that Tony this week. He's going to come and take his church. So there's
all kinds of stuff going on concerning this. Can you play the next one? It's
about a minute long. Just go ahead and play that one all the way through. Oh yep
happen six times in 2025. It will be the seventh time and after that it will
never happen again in history. The feast of trumpets has always been seen as a
picture of the rapture when the trumpet will sound and the church will be
caught up and Daniel makes it clear the tribulation is a fixed time of
exactly 2,550 days. That means this year's feast of trumpets could
mark the start of everything, the rapture and the countdown to Jesus returning
at the end of the tribulation. So you can stop that one. So there's another
one and they're tying it in two days and I mean some of them get really,
really detailed on how they're figuring this out. So I'm going to, if
you can give me my PowerPoint back, I'm going to explain to you real
briefly why I believe they're wrong. Give you four points. No one knows the day
nor the hour. I'll show you the scripture here in a bit. Not men nor
angels. Well, since 2018, Joseph, whatever his last name is pronounced,
knew the day which would contradict scripture. The scripture says no one
knows the day. Jesus doesn't know the day or the hour. Well, according to
the video, Jesus told him so Jesus would have known and means he would have
known. So the scripture says the father set the day according to what he
sees. We angels, Jesus, nobody knows. Here's one of the scriptures on that.
No one knows about the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven nor
the son, but only the father. Next underlined part verse 40. And he's
talking about the rapture here because of the way he explains it. Down a couple
verses. Two men will be in the field, won't be taken the other left. Two women
will be grinding at the handmill, won't be taken the other left. Therefore
keep watch because you do not know what day your Lord will come. In Mark, he
says it this way. No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels
in heaven nor the son, but only the father. So nobody knows when this is
going to take place. On that basis, because scripture says nobody knows, I
don't believe what that man saw as God. Okay, so now here's where it gets
difficult. We have to as Christians be willing to call white, white and black
black. If we're here next Sunday, he missed it. I mean, he missed it. You
said, well, what did he see then? I don't know, but it wasn't Jesus. We have
to be that blunt and that honest. We can't just make excuse. Well, maybe
this may... No, there's no maybes about it. Okay, the next reason. Every
ethnos or ethnic group is still not reached. And this one I've talked about
before. I will show you here the scripture on it. Jesus sitting in the
Mount of Olives, disciples came to him, said to him, when will this happen
and what will be the sign of your coming? There's one question and the end of
the age. There's the second question. They're two separate things. Jesus
went into the end of the age answer first and gave all kinds of signs. End
of the age is when he comes back at the Battle of Armageddon, wraps this thing
up and then we move on to the millennium. So, end of the age is what he
answered first. He said, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the
whole world as a testimony to all nations. That word nations is ethnos
in the Greek. It means race, tribe or nation. It's ethnic groups. And
then the end will come. Well, not the rapture will come. It doesn't
mean the rapture will come. Every nation has to hear before we get to that
battle of Armageddon spot. That's one of the reasons we have 144,000 witnesses
in the tribulation. Now, sometimes people confuse that. Well, with every
nation has to hear before the rapture. No, that's not what it says. It
says before the end will come, before this age wraps up. However, we're a
long ways out from that. Now, it can happen fast, but we're a long ways out
from that. Let me say one thing here before we go to that. We are living
in the nation of the United States of America. That's not the nation he's
referring to here when he says all nations. America needs to hear United
States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, England, all the nations, not what
he's talking about. That's why I wrote it in. Ethnos. Every ethnic group, there
are hundreds, maybe thousands of ethnic groups in this nation. Every nation
around the world has lots of ethnic groups. Every ethnic group has to
have a witness, not just the major nations. So with that in mind, here's where
we're at on that right now. Global missions face urgent tasks, 3.4
billion still unreached by the gospel. Over 6,000 of the unreached groups are
located inside the 1040 window. Everybody knows 1040 window is? A rectangular area
spanning from West Africa to East Asia between 10 degrees and 40 degrees
north latitude. It's estimated that of the little over 8 billion people alive in
the world today, 3.4 billion of them live in unreached people groups,
unreached nations, and they're doing it correctly. It's people groups with
little or no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ, approximately 40% of the
population. They go on and define unreached people groups. There's an
estimated 7,290 unreached people groups, or that would be the nations Jesus
talked about. 7,290 ethnic groups in the world, meaning there are no
unreached people groups in the world, meaning there are no
indigenous Christians living within the community.
So there's over 7,000 communities of people
that have no Christians living in them at all. They have no Christian
witness whatsoever. The 1040 window, again, is where most of these are
located. And the last reason is what I believe Jesus told me is I will not
go on the rapture. I will live a long life, finish my work, and I will die
before the rapture takes place. However, I will say this. If I'm wrong and he
comes this week, I'm leaving. I'll be glad to say I missed it. I'm not
going to get stubborn and go, I didn't think it was going to happen
this soon. I'm staying. No, I'm out. I'm leaving.
So we have to be ready, no matter when it is. Personally, I don't
believe it's going to happen this week. We'll find out by next Sunday.
But we have to be ready. No matter if it happens on Tuesday or Wednesday
this week or if it happens 100 years from now, we have to have the mindset
of being ready. It's kind of sad if it happens this week because we
just spent a bunch of money sealing the parking lot.
And we did some of that stuff. But there's a bright side to that, I suppose.
There will be people who are left behind. They're going to need a good church
to go to. And Pastor Igor will do a wonderful job. I'm going to be gone, but
we're still praying for...
But anyway, we'll find out this week. The big question is, are we living ready?
Acts chapter 1, 6 through 8. I mean, this question has been around since the
beginning. Just for the fun of it, I put it into AI. I put it into
grok and I said, how many times has it been predicted that Jesus would come in history?
And it came back and it said hundreds of times. I'll give you the major ones that had
great influence over people. And it listed off, this will be the 34th time
that it's been predicted that Jesus is coming. Well, at some point, somebody's
going to hit it. You keep saying it's going to snow. Eventually, you're going to hit it.
But the question is not... this question's been around. Acts chapter 1, verse 6.
And when they met together, they asked him, Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
In other words, is this the time you're going to be the Messiah and set everything up?
And he said, it's not for you to know the times or the dates that the father has set by his own
authority. Boy, the church needs to remember that.
It's not for us to know the times or the dates on this. So quit trying to figure it out.
You're wasting your time. Well, what are we supposed to do? Verse 8.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth. The dates are not the issue. Getting
our life right and ministering is the issue. So I'll leave you with these questions as
I'm done with this. He said, it's not for you to know the times and the dates that the
father set by his own authority. Your job is to let the Holy Spirit do in you,
so you can be witnesses and martyrs. And we talked about that.
If we're alive, we're changing. If we're alive spiritually, we're changing.
Living things change. Dead things don't. How have you changed to be more like him in this last year?
What's changed in your life since fall of last year that you can look at and go, oh yeah,
this is definitely a God thing that changed this in me? Because if you can't look at something,
you better really take up some thinking here because you might be closer to spiritually dead
than alive. Because things that are alive change. What has he asked you to stop doing in the last
year that either you're working on or you've accomplished? What has he asked you to do
in the last year that either you're working on or you've accomplished?
See, these are all questions you ask the living
because those things will be happening. Do we hear his voice better than we did a year ago?
If not, that's a concern. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we'll enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus said that.
Well, I'm a believer. Well, that's how you get in. That's how you get in through the door.
But I mean, scripture flat out says it's not enough to finish the run.
Romans 10, 9, and 10. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that he's Lord.
Well, Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if we're saying
he's Lord, that means we've made him Lord. If we've made him Lord, that means we're the servants.
He's the Lord. That will show up in how we live. If how we live is not changing,
we better get that fixed before Tuesday, just in case. Or you might be here with Igor.
Just having fun, man. But seriously, if we're not changing, if we're not living as his
servants following him in obedience, you say, but I believe, well, so do the devils.
They're not going to heaven with the rapture either. They believe.
Paul said there's more than just, oh, I'm a believer. No, you've got to make him Lord and
start living this thing out of your heart. He's the Lord, we're the servants. How are we serving
him differently than we did a year ago? What changed in our life in the last year that's
more godly now than it was a year ago? See, living things grow, they change, they develop.
If we can look back and say, I don't think much changed my life from the last three years,
that's concerning. You're more spiritually dead than you're alive.
Because living things change, they grow, they develop.
I know people say, well, I'm not one of these people who gets out there and ministers and
does all this kind of stuff. I don't believe it's what I'm supposed to do. Well, that's okay.
But I'm sure you're at least supporting those who feel to do it through your tithes, right?
Since we're, you know, I got to go back to that subject here and finish the topic
a few weeks down the road. Well, next week I start.
Pastor Eager is going to take a little vacation time. Good job.
Then when he comes back, he's going to finish his series. But while he's
gone, I'm going to finish mine on tithing. Tithing is a heart test. It's a love test for God.
Do we love him more than money? That's what that test is.
And the reason is so we can fund those Romans 10 again. How can they go? How can they preach
except they be sent? Not everybody goes, but God expects all of us to send
and to be involved in that. So I'm going to ask you a real hard question. You got to answer it.
How can you reconcile not being part of a church? And this is probably might be to some,
I know some people are part of our church through online. And then some of you just sit home
and do nothing but watch us every week. And that's good. And it's like
okay. And you're local. It's not like you're, I mean, we got some people watch us from other
parts of the nation. You're local. I mean, you could show up here, but you never do. You just
sit home. You never give a dime to what God's trying to do through us. How can you reconcile
that? How can we who are not tithers reconcile? I am hot after God ready to go in the rapture.
And we can't even pass the heart test of giving.
How do you reconcile that? I mean, just something to think about.