Living for Today, Tomorrow, and Forever

Greetings, brethren. Happy Feast of Trumpets! Last week, Peter Eddington said, how many Feast of Trumpets do you remember? And we tend to remember our feasts of tabernacles, don't we? That seven-day and eight-day festival, it's filled with joy and life. And God did not create the Feast of Trumpets to be seven days long, to go through the challenges that a sinful humanity will face in being corrected for 6,000 years of wrong living under Satan. And yet, here we are today celebrating that change. We are of a different mindset than society. We've been called out and given God's Holy Spirit with a desire for Jesus Christ's return. And what a beautiful, special music, celebration, and welcoming of that day. It's something we pray about. The seasons represented by the festivals in the autumn are different than summer. Summer is a very productive, very pleasant, very kind of happy time. But we're in what's called the shoulder season now. And summer is coming to an end, and we see signs even in leaves and weather that something's going to change rather dramatically. It's going to fall off towards, ultimately, winter, a time of trial and trouble, a time of lack and scarcity. And you and I begin to see some leaves of things that are beginning to change in our world around us. We see in Malachi 3, verse 1, if you want to turn there, a prophecy. God said, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek, yes, you and I seek God. We look forward to it. We have a holy day about Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible, a God of the Bible, coming. And he said, The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. It's important that we pay attention to some words here, and not think, Oh, we're part of humanity that's heading for desolation and destruction and horrible times ahead. Let's read on. Behold, he is coming. Some people don't like to look at prophecy. They just don't tell me about prophecy. And it's interesting, the closer we get to the events that are portended by this day, the more maybe reticent people are to want to hear about that. I don't want to hear about prophecy anymore. I just want to hear that God loves me. I want to think that I have a good life. But he says, Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? Now, there's a question for us. Who can endure? And who can stand when he appears?

So the whole purpose for the Bible is to endure and to stand.

That sums it up. That's why we're here in the church. That's why we're assembled today.

It says in verse 5, I will come near you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorcerers. Are you part of the sorcery and all this magic and stuff and things that are going on in entertainment today? I don't think so. Against adulterers. Are you part of a society that just mixes and matches any way they want, any time? I don't think so. Against perjurers.

Those who perjure themselves. Against those who exploit wagerners, exploit widows and orphans. Is that us? And against those who turn away an alien, a stranger, because they do not fear or they do not respect me, says the Lord. So that's what's coming. And yes, last year on Trumpets, I went through many of the events that will take place leading up before, during, and after the return of Jesus Christ. You have the seven seals. The first of those four seals are the four horsemen that ride. And there's a lot of desolation and destruction and hard times there. And then those roll into seven trumpets. The seventh trumpet, the return of Jesus Christ, and you rising with him to eternal life, then continues on with seven last plagues for humanity. So there's a lot that happens in what we might call the trumpets and atonement and those events that take place.

But you are not called to be part of those tragedies. And God wants us to be prepared for them. The Feast of Trumpets pictures boldly prophetic events that will take place in this season of change. The season from what the earth and the world thinks are normal into something dramatically different. Now many of us, when young, wonder what will happen to me. I invited Rebecca, who soloed here in special music, to discuss this message with me. And I asked her, are young people sort of not wanting to hear prophecy? Are they kind of afraid of things? I know when I grew up, I was told I will never graduate from high school, I'll never have a career, I'll never marry, just forget it. All right? And here I am having had all those things. And so I asked her, I said, what is our young people, what are our young adults, what are our young families thinking of? She says, we want to hear it straight, we want to hear it honest, and we want to be able to prepare and plan our lives around it. And that's what God gives us. This is my word, says the Lord, this is what's going to happen. Now, with all that's coming, let's remember what God intends for you in this whole process. It's not the end of living. Notice continuing on in verse 16.

Then those who feared the Lord, those who revered God spoke to one another. We are speaking to one another. We always talk to one another. We get together, we fellowship, we encourage one another. So we spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard. God is listening to us. He's listening not just to our words, He's listening to our hearts. And so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and meditate on His name. That's a special group. That's a special book. And notice, they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So if we're serving God, if we're sons and daughters of God, He said I will spare Him. So as we step into the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets and we think of what's coming ahead, we shouldn't do it with fear and worry, right? We should do it confidently knowing that we are supported by our loving husband and our Father. We are part of the family. Now we all wrestle with wanting to have a good physical life and how to mix that or blend that into being prepared for the events that are coming and ultimately for the resurrection of the seventh trumpet. That's to us, when you talk about Feast of Trumpets, we're thinking, number seven, Jesus Christ returns and we're resurrected. That's the big event. There's more to it, but that's our focus, isn't it? How can we be prepared to rise with Christ? We count it worthy for that. When you think about life and you think, wow, I'd like to have a good life now. Maybe if you're young, I'd like to marry and have a career. I'd like to have a good feast coming up. I'd like to have travel and these various things and a good life, but I also want to be prepared to miss the terrors of the end times and to rise with Christ.

How do you do that? What if you could have all three? What if we could have a good life now, have a good life through what's called the Great Tribulation, and an even better life resurrected and being with God and Jesus Christ forever? So I'd like today to look at our life through those three epochs, if it will. Today, tomorrow, and forever. And yet, we only have today. How can we live for today in the true sense, being in the present, and really enjoy God's way of life and have all the blessings and all the fruits of this way of life, and at the same time be preparing for being in the right place in the turbulence times ahead as we see the leaves in the world changing already a little bit, knowing something's coming over the horizon, and also be ready to be judged right and resurrected? How can we do all three? Well, I'd like to look at that today. The title of the sermon is, Living for Today, Tomorrow, and Forever. When we think about living for today, let's consider, first of all, living life fully today. Now, you've heard the old term, live for today, you know, don't worry about tomorrow. Well, in a sense, that means don't live God's way of life, and don't think of consequences. Well, that's not what we're talking about. But when we look in the Bible, we see that Jesus gives us a stark directive, direct in its stark, when he says, give us this day our daily bread. That's our prayer. We're to ask God, give us this day our daily bread. Oh, Jesus himself talks about living in the day and wanting God to be involved in that, wanting us to involve God in that. We wonder, well, is that really what he's saying? Well, he says in Matthew 6, verse 33, he says, seek first the kingdom of God. But in verse 34, notice he says, therefore, don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of its own things.

It is its own trouble. So you have to live in the day. In fact, the only time that you have to do anything is actually this instant. You can't do anything about when you walked in the door, right? And you can't do anything about lunch yet. You can only deal with the moment that you're in. And that's where God is judging us. Who am I? Who are you? And what will you become?

And what will the reward be? So you've got these three elements. Who am I now? What am I doing? What will I become? And in the end, what exactly will I be? What will my state be? Will it be life? Will it be not here? One of those two. Today's life with its trials, with its plans, with all of the heartaches, with all of the challenges, with all of the good things, they're temporary. You know, Ecclesiastes talks about the temporariness. The old English word vanity just means temporary and essentially not worth a whole lot. The physical realm. It's going to burn up someday. It's not going to be here. But this is where we live. And so we're supposed to be doing things here.

We can get consumed with it. And the Bible does warn us. You know, you need to really seize the day as it were. You really need to not just be associated with frivolity, but rather you need to redeem the time and have this relationship with God. The second one, though, is we need to plan for living in tomorrow. I think the first part we hear all the time, that's Christian living messages. And those are things that we need to be about every day.

I like to start my day with prayer, and I tend to get going early. And so on the way to work, I turn on UCG radio from Australia. And usually about the time I'm heading for work, it's an ABC class. And those just get you right into the Scripture.

And it's great to have that in your mind as you kind of walk in the door. Sometimes I'm still playing it as I walk in the door and go up to my office if nobody's there. And it gets you in the mood of today and what we're supposed to be about today and the work that we're doing. These are good things. Now, let's go let's look about living in tomorrow. How do you live in tomorrow? We don't exactly live in tomorrow, but in a sense we're going to the Feast of Tabernacles, and we're going to live for seven days focused on living in tomorrow and thinking about what that world will be like and trying to exemplify a world that's under the the rulership of God and living God's way.

And then an eighth day and trying to imagine and live how the whole humanity that's ever lived and never known God will have this experience. And so in one sense we are to think forward and we are to seek first the kingdom of God. Primary. That's a primary thing is seeking that relationship with the government of God. When we think of the Feast of Tabernacles and how we can sort of live in tomorrow, we should have in our mind why we're going to the Feast.

What is this Feast about? Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 13. Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 13. This isn't just about the Feast. It's actually preparing for the Tribulation period. It's preparing for the second resurrection as we'll see in a moment. You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days when you have gathered in your from your threshing floor and from your wine press, and you shall rejoice in your Feast.

Okay, we're all going to rejoice in the Feast, but notice you shall rejoice and your son. Oh, you've got to stop and think about somebody else and somebody of a different generation and your daughter. Oh, a person of a different mindset than perhaps you are. If you're a mother, a son, a mother, a daughter, father, son, father, daughter, now you've got to begin to think and plan.

There's clothing, there's events, there's discussions, and your male servant and your female servant. Oh, now you're talking about different class levels, if you want to say that, or people that are different than what you might involve yourself with daily. And then the Levite, you want to make sure that you rejoice and the Levite and his family and the ministry rejoices. And then there's the stranger, that's the person you don't know yet, or the visitor or the international person. And then there's the fatherless and the widow who are in your gates. You have a responsibility to these. They might be within your congregation or within your church.

In seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which he chooses. Oh, I can't just do this wherever I want and however I want. The ministry has to set the place and I have to go to one of those places. And it says, you shall observe this. Oh, I guess I need to do this, you see. And so we begin to then we begin to then have a type of mindset that is, I'm going to obey God even if it's inconvenient. I'm going to be traveling somewhere. I'm going to stay somewhere even if it's not ideal.

And I'm going to serve and love with agape love like God does. Wow. See, this begins to set us up for things.

We then also have the work that God assigns us. And some of those are not just today. Jesus said in Luke 13 and verse 33, nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following.

So he is planning where he's going to do and what he's going to do and thinking about that.

We find in Acts chapter 19 and verse 21, the Apostle Paul didn't just wake up each day and say, oh, it's a day. What will I do? What will I preach? I notice here in Acts 19 verse 21, he was accomplishing some visits and he says, when these things were accomplished, Paul purposed that when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go up to Jerusalem, so he purposed he was going to go to Jerusalem, and then he said, after I have been there, I must also see Rome. My point is, planning for tomorrow and sort of living in tomorrow in an advanced sense and making plans for those is something that we have biblical injunction to do.

And so in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19, we are now given a direction as a church, and especially to the ministry, to go and do a work. Let's notice what he says. Matthew chapter 28 and beginning in verse 19.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. That takes a lot of planning. That takes a lot of forward thinking. And he said, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's a lot of counseling. That's a lot of new contacts. That's a lot of teaching. And teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

Notice what he said. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So here we see in our forward looking, in our living, as it were, for what's tomorrow, and doing the work of God, that Jesus Christ is with us always, even to the end of the age, which would go all the way through the events of the Feast of Trumpets. He's not leaving us. He's not forsaking us. He's there. He's going with us. Now, like I said, last year when we reviewed the sermon, it was called the Trumpets of Almighty God sermon, we reviewed those seven seals and those four horsemen of the apocalypse. And then we reviewed the seven trumpets that just come out of nowhere. And it takes people by surprise, just like the trumpets of old did. You're going through life, and all of a sudden there's war. Oh no. Or there's an announcement. There's an assembly. It disrupts what you were doing. And so the trumpets that we hear are things that we don't know the date of. We don't know when it's going to happen. So we have to be preparing. There is a seasonal change for sinful humanity, and it's a change that we are sensing that there are possibilities sort of coming together. But those things are something that's going to be very, very difficult. We want to live now to be counted worthy to escape those things. Let's go in Luke chapter 13 and verse 34. And all of you who think that maybe life was going to come to an end at some point, when seals start to unfold and society starts to have difficulty, we need to understand this. Luke 13, 34, Jesus says, take heed to yourselves. This is now. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and the trumpets come upon you unexpectedly like those did. Or like the day he says, the day comes upon you unexpectedly.

It's not coming unexpectedly. We don't know when it's going to come. Absolutely no idea. But he does give us some science. He says, for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. If you pause and think about what a snare is. How many of you have ever used a mouse trap? Okay, that's a snare. It's a little one for a little animal. Well, that little mouse is just coming along and it's, you know, I think I'll have this. Oh, here's some peanut butter. I think I'll have a little bite of peanut butter. And bam! That's the end, right? And so Jesus said that there are things that are going to come on those who dwell on the earth. Now you might say, oh, oh yeah, well, I won't graduate. I won't get married. I won't have a good life. I won't. I won't. I won't. Unless you read on. Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

So remember, it goes right back to our Feast of Tabernacles type observance. We're obeying God, and we're loving others. We need to do that in our life every day. And you then could be counted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man. So in the future, you're prepared to escape or be counted worthy to escape, and ultimately, you're prepared to stand before the Son of Man at the seventh trumpet. Good stuff. So we need to live to be part of this future event. We find in Revelation 12 and verse 6 that the woman or the church fled into the wilderness, into an uninhabited place. This is a theme that's similar in many ways to the exodus from Egypt. Many people say, oh, there can't be a place of safety. Oh, really? God just said right here, the church is going to flee into a wilderness, a place prepared by God. God can prepare anything just by his voice. You don't have to say, well, I wonder if there's some petro caves that we'll go into. I wonder if, I don't know, maybe we should start packing food up. No, a place prepared by God that they should feed her. Oh, there's food there for three and a half years. So the point is here that we don't need to fear, we need to hope, and we need to prepare. We need to live properly.

The word fear, by the way, the word fear comes to the Hebrew word yare, and Brown Driver Briggs commentary describes it as this. 1a, to fear, to be afraid. So you can fear God that way.

And 1c, to fear, reverence, honor, and respect. The word means both of those. You can fear and be afraid, and if you're going to go out and sow your wild oats and everything, and that time comes unexpectedly, you'll fear God. Everybody fears God. They crawl into caves, they try to hide, they try to fight him. They're afraid. But there are those who revere God, revere God. Let's go to Psalm chapter 31 and verse 19 and hear the words of David, who is going to be in the first resurrection. He is a man that developed a heart after God, like you are doing. Psalm chapter 31 and verse 19. Here's what David says, Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who revere you. That's the meaning of the word here, the same Hebrew word. Is it fear and tremble and are afraid of God? No. You have laid up for those who revere you in this case, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of man, in the presence of the world. You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man. You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. We know that this time that the Feast of Trumpets portrays is a time that's going to be upheaval of all different types. And if we go over to the book of Nahum, it says in Nahum chapter 1 and verse 5, the mountains quake before him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. That's coming. That's part of the Feast of Trumpets. You know, that's coming. But what about us? Notice here.

Who can stand before his indignation and who can endure the fierceness of his anger?

His fury is poured out like fires and the rocks are thrown down by him. Verse 7, the Lord is good and he is a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who trust in him.

So yes, this is all coming, but it's not coming for you. It's coming for those who are disobedient. In Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 20, he speaks of all that's coming, but he says, come, my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you and hide yourself as it was, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation has passed. Jesus Christ is bringing correction. He's bringing judgment on a very sinful humanity and he's ultimately going to replace the governance that this world has subscribed to under Satan. That's going to be a difficult sort of ripping out and replacing and upheaval and all kinds of things. It's just like a great big civil war until it all gets sorted out at the end. But he says here, my people, you'll have chambers, you'll have doors. For a little moment, you be there. We'll take care of you. Jamison, Fawcett, and Brown commentary says of this verse, When God is about to take vengeance on the ungodly, the saints shall be shut in by him in a place of safety, as Noah and his families were in the days of the flood, and the saints and his Israel was commanded not to go out of doors on the night of the slaying of the Egyptians firstborn. See, God has times where he has to do things to humanity who are disobedient, but he always puts his people in a safe place. Continuing in verse 21, For behold, the Lord comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. Do you and I need that? Will we need that? Depends on how we live for tomorrow, right? Living for today and in preparation for tomorrow. That's what it all depends on.

The third element is to live for the eternal life event.

Ultimately, it's not just about missing the tribulation. It's about life forever.

Be preparing for eternity. You know, the book of, or sorry, the chapter 25 of the book of Matthew has three parables. I refer to these probably too often for you, but anyway, three parables. Wise virgins, foolish virgins, be a wise virgin. This is your time, right? Because Jesus is coming, and if you're not prepared, you won't go into the wedding supper, and the door will be closed. This is the time to be converting from any kind of grass or tares or whatever that is sort of worldly into wheat for the harvest, right? And so the next parable is wheat and tares. Make sure that you know you're putting a lot of wheat into that head, some fruit to be harvested for the kingdom. This is our time, but we're doing it for thin. Ultimately, that's our goal is to have harvestable fruit, the fruit of God's Holy Spirit, that we can then say, or God can say to you, yes, come on in. You're like us. Let me gather you into the barn with the family.

And then, of course, the last one. Let's see, the last one. Jesus Christ welcomes you. Welcome. Come on into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. We have been waiting for you forever, until now. I mean, it's been a long wait, you know, because, you know, you're sheep, and you're not, you're not goatish anymore. You used to be goatish. You run around batting things and didn't care about anything. You wouldn't follow my direction. You just stood on the car, and you, you know, did all kinds of crazy things, and ate the neighbor's flowers, and ate everybody's garden up. But, you know, you converted, and you follow me now, and you're sheep. Welcome. He's going to bring the sheeps in. And so, that's what we're trying to do. We need to live for the eternal life event. Now, the greatest thing that we could ever have is that. If we go to Revelation chapter 14, a lot of scary things in Revelation. Believe you me, John, as he wrote this, was kind of scared to death. And Daniel, as he wrote what he wrote, was scared to death. He had to take some time off afterward, because what's coming, you don't want to be part of, right? You want to be in the right place. So, if we go to Revelation 14 and verse 1, we see here Jesus Christ is come and standing on the Mount of Olives. I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000, having his father's name written on his forehead. That's what we want. We drop down here to verse 4.

It says, these are the ones who are with him standing there. These are the ones who were not defiled with false religion, for they are virgins spiritually. They are just looking at God and Jesus Christ. That's all they're following. They're not mixing it up with the world. They're not mixing it up with Satan. They have cleaned themselves up. These are the ones who follow the Lamb, wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Now, notice, and in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. That's a beautiful thing. That's how they've lived their life. They're making mistakes, but they're without fault because they're forgiven as they repent, and they're constantly growing into the holy, righteous character of the God family. We go to Revelation 19, skipping through some more scary stuff, in verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. That's what we're doing. We're living and we're preparing for the future as we live each day, and we're making ourself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. It's the right living of the saints, living God's way, having great lives. Now, the place is safety forever. And he says in verse 9, write, blessed, Greek, Oh, how supremely blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. They become the bride. We roll into chapter 20, and we see in verse 6, blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.

They shall be priests of God and reign with him a thousand years. Chapter 21, new heavens, new earth, new Jerusalem. Verse 9, breaking into the verse, come and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. So forever we have this wonderful exalted relationship with Jesus Christ going into eternity. Now, the purpose of all of these autumn festivals that we're going through, leaves changing, seasons changing, reflect a change that is going to take place in the future that we all are on board with. And we're sad that humanity will go through what it did.

We're sad that Jesus Christ had to come and be tortured to death so that ultimately everyone would have the opportunity to be in the kingdom of God. And yet the purpose of these is to provide the scope of change that will happen and ultimately change into an eternal kingdom of God.

Jesus was asked, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

You and I need to not just say, I don't want to hear about prophecy. I don't want to think about it.

These things are just reminders for us to be doing what we should do today and tomorrow and we'll be doing forever. Jesus gave a pattern as an answer. He didn't give a date, didn't give an event. He gave a pattern and he said, there's going to be an acceleration of converging things and the convergence there will involve governments, nations, weather, events, all types of things. And you'll see these down through time. The end's not yet, but when these things all converge in one generation, that generation will not pass until the events you and I are celebrating today or celebrating about come to pass, come to happen.

And so we don't just look for an event, oh there's a big storm, I guess Jesus is coming tomorrow. No, that's not it. But when you begin to see wars and rumors of wars and a convergence of things, it's kind of like those leaves. He gives this thing about leaves again. When you see the tree begin to bud, right, and that's a leaf, when you see a leaf begin to change, you know that summer's near. You know that there's another seasonal change. So what we find here is intensifying events will take place. And if we don't, if we just close our eyes to them, what a shame. I grew up at a time in the 1960s and there was a lot of talk about the return of Jesus Christ coming in. You won't ever be old enough to have a life, etc., etc. I didn't buy into that personally. I was kind of shocked by it when 1972 came January. I didn't even know about it. Nobody told me. I was living in England at college. I came back for a visit and everybody was going to the Bible study that night. I'm like, so what's up? Oh well, you know, 75, you back up three and a half years, here we are.

I'm like, I don't think so. It's a pretty nice day. Beatles, I know the Beatles broke up, but they had some good songs there on their last album. And that night the announcement was made that I think we were going on Radio Free Europe or something and everybody was disappointed. But, you know, so here you have these things and you think, well, what's going to happen? Well, we had at that time what was called the the News Bureau. It was a news bureau and Gene Hoggbert, bless his heart, was in charge of it. And it was his job to watch for events. And Gene was a good friend of our family. And he had this office. It didn't have any windows in it, but it had, as I remember, three teletype machines. They were just coming in and rolls of paper coming out of them. UPI and, I don't know, maybe AP, something else. But he's always watching the news. Supposed to be alert for the news. And, you know, honestly, there wasn't much there. So we kind of tried to look at people and we told Franz Joseph Strauss, I think you're the beast. And he's like, I don't think so. But you come forward in time. What is interesting now, if Gene Hoggbert were still alive, and he was just a few years ago, I talked to him like a couple years ago, just before he died, it's like, wow, have things ever come up now on those teletype machines. You would just be shocked at all the things, all the indications of something brewing, something coming together. I don't know if you've noticed, but just this last week, a political party in Germany won. And it is so far right wing that it sort of embraces Nazism of the past. And it's so popular, even though it's just in one district right now, it's so popular that the government cannot prohibit it from going forward. You just see things like this. The United Nations just published, let's see if I can pull this up, published this warning. This month, El Niño is expected to become the strongest since monitoring began. It will deliver a major blow to communities, economies, supply chains across the globe. It will include impacts on agriculture, trade, health, energy, transportation, water resources, and disaster management, to name a few.

Is this the end of the world? No, it's not. But you can see how there's a season kind of brewing, isn't there? When you look at the global state of things, it's very interesting as well.

We see in BT Magazine September 4th, this month, this came out electronically. Perhaps you got the BT Magazine on your phone, like I did. Concerning end-time events, Jesus Christ repeatedly gave the command, watch. This isn't limited just things he mentions, such as look out for false Christ, earthquakes, and heavenly signs. Rather, it's a command to be observant of all things, including our own spiritual condition, as well as the world around us as we see end-time events described throughout the Bible beginning to take shape. Beginning to take shape. So, yes, these things are going to happen. You know wars and rumors of wars. Well, we're kind of almost, we're customed to wars now, aren't we? I mean, there's fighting over there, and they're bombing over there, and they're sending missiles over there. Everybody's dropping drones, and they're sinking ships, but I hope the price of oil goes back down, so gas will be cheaper. And, you know, some of these things come along. You see the West sort of disappearing, and nobody likes America anymore, and they're trying to recreate things. Foreign policy newsletter on Tuesday wrote this, as the West's ideological and material hegemony continues to wane, a new multipolar world is taking shape.

This change is structural, a product of unstoppable diffusion of power. The transition from the industrial era to the digital age was destabilized, has destabilized the liberal democracies that long oversaw global governance. In other words, this nice, peaceful time that we've all lived in, it's over, going on. These dual tectonic shifts are stoking geopolitical rivalries and eroding international rules. This must be offset by order that comes from the top down. Multiple regional orders will require collective supervision. Anything come to mind, prophetically, about, you know, one world government? You know, you just begin to see these things. Not anyone adds up to anything, but there is a beast power that is coming, and there will be a time when no one can buy or sell except one who has that mark of the beast. What is the right response we should have? Well, as we just heard, it's to watch. It's to watch the self, to examine, to live rightly, to trust God, to love and have relationships, to proclaim the gospel. You know, these prophecies aren't to scare us. They're to give us a heads up. Oh, by the way, just a reminder, things are coming. This is coming. Like the Bible said, it will come.

We can be prepared through obeying God, loving Him, loving this way, and really being serious about it, really being serious about it. In the general epistles class I'm giving right now, starting into 1 and 2 Peter after going through James, but that's not the right response. But that was a time of persecution in the church. You know, you're talking there about the 40s into the 60s into the 70s, and the the Roman Empire had once protected Judaism and along with all the other religions, but this one suddenly under Nero got singled out and identified as Christianity. And that was not protected anymore by the Roman Empire. In fact, the Roman Empire clamped down on it. Nero claimed that the Christians had caused Rome to burn when it burned to the ground, and so they began to do terrible things to Christians, and that spread from the city of Rome out throughout the Roman Empire. It was a tough time. So when you read the New Testament, you're looking at people who are convicted. Are you convicted like that? When you talk about persecutions and enduring and all these things, the patient endurance, that's the audience that our writers in the New Testament are speaking to. You and I, I don't know about you, but I've come through a pretty soft time in life. I've lived in America, and we've had good things, pleasant things, and the world has been sort of kept in check by the nuclear bombs of the United States as a threat. But now everybody seems to have those, and everybody else wants them, and all of a sudden we're out of munitions, even, it looks like, and everything's breaking loose. So, you know, we need to ask this question. Psalm chapter 15 verse 1. David is inspired to write, who will dwell in God's tabernacle. Psalm 15 verse 1, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle, who may dwell in your holy hill. You don't need to know prophecy to get the answer. You don't need to know what's over the horizon, or what's ahead, or watch your news, and try to calculate everything, and go through the adding, you know.

Five years from today, by the way, this is true, as far as my math is, five years from today, be 2031 AD. Jesus Christ died to Passover in 31 AD. That'll be the 2000th anniversary, five years from today, 2000 years from the Feast of Trumpets that occurred after his death.

Is there meaning to that? I have no idea. I have no idea what's over it. Probably not, but I'm just saying, how much time is going to go on? You know, can it go on and on and on and on, I mean, now we're coming up to 2000 years of people expecting the return of Jesus Christ. It's going to come at some point. Who will abide? Well, it says here, He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart.

So you don't have to worry about what's going to happen in Y2K Trumpets.

He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend, and whose eye is a vile person is despised. But he honors those who fear or revere the Lord. He swears to his own hurt, he makes promises, and he keeps them. He does not change. He who does not put out his money at usury, for those the Bible says not to do that for, the poor. Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. He'll be in the right place at the right time, always.

One major way we can do that is to love one another. Let's go to Romans 13 and verse 8. Romans 13 and verse 8. Because you see, I'm mixing a prophecy with daily living and planning for tomorrow and being prepared for the seventh trumpet. It's all a process. It's all the same thing. It's not one thing and then another. Romans 13 8, love one another fervently with a pure heart. That word love is agape. It's the same love that God has. Love one another. That means everybody. Now, let's come back to what we've been talking about of oneness, of forgiveness, of loving everyone, including those who hate you and despitefully use you. Bless them. He who loves another has fulfilled the law, that part of the law that God gave to Israel. Love your neighbor as yourself. And of course, there's another part of that law. And that is love God with your heart, soul, and mind. Verse 10, love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Sometimes we think about, well, I'm not eating pork and I'm keeping the Sabbath and I think I know when prophecy is going to happen and I've got the right thing over here and I've got this thing set up in my life that I think I'm going to be approved. And I've got a gun under the pillow and I've got some food in the cupboard and I think I'm ready. Nonsense. Look here. It says that those who love one another have fulfilled the law and do this knowing the time. Oh, this is what we're supposed to be doing, knowing the time, trusting God and loving people that now is high time to awake out of sleep for now salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Well, there's your clue about when salvation is. It's nearer now. That's what the Bible tells you. It's nearer now.

And that's the only thing that really counts. Okay, there's some things coming and it's nearer now. For the night is far spent, the day is at hand. You can't do anything about last night. The day is here. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. So that's what we're to be about. Not calculating, not planning, not scheming, not trying to interpret things. Being the people of God. Jesus is coming. He's coming for His bride. When you think about it, Jesus is not coming desirous to conquer the nations and beat everybody up and punish them. Jesus gave His life for the bride that He chose from the foundation of the world. He is excited. And we just read there in Revelation chapter 19 that there's great celebration and joy because the bride has made herself ready. God's about good things. He'll get through the bad things, get them out of the way, and then have a wonderful world tomorrow. Great second resurrection. Wonderful eternal life. The message that we are celebrating today is sobering. It's powerful. It's bigger than anything that you and I can imagine and certainly more than probably any of us could go through. And therefore, God knows that we're weak. He calls the church in Philadelphia. I know your strength. You're weak. But, you know, He says, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to take care of you. And I will be with you. So in conclusion, we see wars and rumors and wars. We'll see these things that are scary in a way. We see a global environment that is being weighted down under heavy debt and trade issues and warfare, searching for a new order. We see all of these things, and they're parts of something that's coming together that someday it will all show up about the same time. Those are not to give us stress, but a heads-up to continue to patiently endure living God's way today, tomorrow, and forever.

Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 3 says this, Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. It's coming. So young people, old people, all of us know it's coming. You don't have to fear it. You just have to be ready for it. So live God's way fully each day, redeeming the time. Plan faithfully for tomorrow by growing in holy, righteous character, that obedience, that love of God, and prepare to live forever. Prepare to live forever. Prepare at the Jesus's. When you see these things, those last things event, the heavenly signs and the darkness and the whole world's in darkness, look up, for your salvation is near. You're about to lift off or come out of the ground one way or the other. That's what we need to have. I'd like to close with the scripture. It's 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 through 24. We'll do part of this. 1 Thessalonians, sorry, chapter 5, and beginning in verse 16. Rejoice always. There you go. Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing. Remember, Jesus said, Be a person of prayer, and that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things, and be watching yourself and overcoming. And everything give thanks. It's quite a different mindset, isn't it, than looking with fear and dread of what's coming?

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. For you.

Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. And now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit and your life and your body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful and who also will do it. God will continue to bless the lives of all those who revere him today, tomorrow, and forever.