Smart Phones, Lattes, and Father's Day

Well, good afternoon, everyone! It's going to be back home in Indiana once again. Be with all of you here. Enjoy the weekend and the day with you here. We, as has already been mentioned, had grandkids for the week and brought them back over and dropped them off. They're back in charge of their parents now.

And they have responsibility for them. We'll enjoy Father's Day and then go home tomorrow and back to the grind. Andy did mention that we are starting. We have the week-long ABC sampler this week. I think there are still probably some slots open if anybody has a notion to come over in the last minute. The Zohoras mentioned they may. They're thinking about it. I don't know what the exact numbers are. We usually have 50 or 60 people there for a week-long sample of what ABC is like. Usually, a lot of people come back year after year to that. I think that Linda Keeney and Debbie Booth are coming over. They're going to stay with us for the week. We'll host them and have them. ABC ended about three weeks ago. I think we finished the year. We'll start up again in mid-August. We'll have somewhere between 25 and 30 students at ABC this year. We had a good year this past year. I would rate it. We had a large class of 42 kids, which was a bit large, sometimes a bit too large for the ABC class. Somewhere around 30 is about optimum, I think. Anyway, I'm looking at Lori Mink over there. I thought, Lori, you ought to come to ABC. Just be there for a year. You would add a whole lot to the class. Zimmerman's, Ralph's retired now. You ought to come and go to ABC. Carlson, you should come to ABC, too. Every year we usually have an older couple, a retired couple, that will be a part of it. They do add a great deal to the class. It's a grind, I will tell you that. 8.30 to like 4.20 in the afternoon is a grind. I couldn't do it, but I'm sure you could. Come on and do it. Have a whole lot of fun. We'll go through the Bible and learn a lot. It's really a unique experience for all of those who do take part in that. I can't think of anything else that is new or exciting or life. It continues to go on for us as well as for you. We are just continuing to churn out various aspects of the work in the church.

I do appreciate your prayers, all of us do, in whatever part we have in the work. We are praying for you. I want you to know that as well. You and your lives and your journey toward God's kingdom will go well as well. I know we're praying for one another, and that does mean a great deal to be strengthened in that support that we do have as we bond together by God's Spirit. We appreciate your prayers, and we also pray for you. We appreciate your continued faithfulness and support of the church, and the operations of the church, and God, and the work that God is doing through us. Thank you very much for that. It's always good to come back home and be a part of things. One of the things I won't find mentioned is before, one of the things after we realized we were going to Cincinnati, I said, Great! I can watch the Indianapolis 500 now on television, because they always black it out here. Well, ever since I've been over there, I haven't been able to watch it, because we have ABC graduation on that day if it doesn't fall on a holiday like Pentecost.

Last year, I was trying to get at least the first opening of the race, and Debbie was trying to get me out the door to go to graduation ceremony last year, and Disher, I didn't even try. I always like to hear Jim Nabors sing back home again in Indiana, and at least watch the start of the race, but I haven't seen it on television yet. But I think next year, we've got graduation off of Memorial Day weekend, but next year Pentecost comes on that day, so I still won't see it next year.

But that's all right, too, so life goes on. It's been mentioned that we've had a week with our grandkids, what we call affectionately in our family camp, Kika-Tale.

And Ryan is already giving a little bit of a description of what he remembers. You know how children always have distorted memories of their childhood, and just how things were, and how bad things were. And we've continued that tradition with his two kids to be with us, and it's been fun.

Stephanie says it's more like camp relax a lot than camp Kika-Tale.

But I like to tell Ryan that what he and his brother had when they were growing up, they had a new covenant, an Old Testament experience. Their kids are not getting a New Testament camp experience with us.

We're grandparents, we've mellowed, and we like to have fun, too. So we went fishing, we went to Coney Island.

Coney Island is this neat little amusement park there in Cincinnati. If you ever get over there, if you have some kids, be sure to see Coney Island. It's cheaper than King's Island, and you can still get sick on even some of the smaller rides. I don't need to spend $100 to go to King's Island and get sick on those rides. I can do it for $698 at Coney Island in Cincinnati. I found that out the other day.

So, you know, we had this...

Are you hearing me okay? I'm getting feedback. But you're okay? You can hear me? Is it kind of loud?

Brian? Donald? Do your stuff.

I took the week off. I had vacation time that I hadn't been using, so I just decided to take the whole week off and share the responsibilities and the fun.

And I just kind of just vacated my mind for the first three, four days and didn't try to keep up with things going on in the world. And I just had fun with the grandkids and decided to take a holiday from things going on in life and the world and just focus on the kids and not worry about it. But about Wednesday night, I was flicking through on my computer, checking some sites, and I started seeing these headlines of what was taking place over in the Middle East, in the nation of Iraq this week. And as I read a little bit further and I realized this is not something small, this is big. And with the insurgencies and a Sunni-led Islamic rebellion about to basically disintegrate the country of Iraq with some attacks and insurgencies has taken place, that country is on the verge of collapse. And it's an interesting situation because of what the United States did there in 2003 and what these subsequent years have been like in that part of the world, and particularly with the cost of American lives, service people, and all of that going on over there. And all of a sudden, it is about to go up in smoke. And I got to thinking about that on Thursday and watching it and listening to some of the news on that. And at the same time, I was thinking, well, what am I going to speak on the Sabbath for a sermon? And I thought, well, I could give a Father's Day sermon because it's Father's Day weekend. And I've done many of those before, and you've heard my Father's Day sermon. You've heard my Father's Day sermon, basically, so it hasn't changed over the years.

And I thought, well, I could give a warm and fuzzy sermon. And I thought, well, the last three sermons I've given have been kind of warm and fuzzy. And looking at this, I said, no, I'm going to give a sermon on prophecy. And bringing a little bit of warm and fuzzy on the subject as well, because it struck me from a couple of angles. I wanted to take a holiday from the world with my grandkids this week. And the United States is in the same situation that they have wanted to take a holiday from history right now and these events. And we have not been as a country as engaged in Ukraine in the Middle East as we were or would have been ten years ago or more.

And it struck me, you know what? You can't take a complete holiday from history, from prophecy, from the world, while at the same time we live within this world and we do have quite a bit to enjoy and to be involved with and to get on with our lives. And so I decided I would speak to that this week because it ties in with a couple of Beyond Today programs I've been involved with. One we just taped and another one I'm beginning to write a script for that will tape in a few weeks. And I've entitled this sermon, Smartphones, Lattes, and Father's Day.

Smartphones, Lattes, and Father's Day. And maybe you'll find out why by the time I get done.

With this.

I have a smartphone. Many of you have a smartphone. I love my smartphone. I don't go anywhere without my smartphone. I type in the address. It takes me exactly where I want to go. And it's got all my contacts. It's got basically access to every file that I've got in my filing system in the cloud.

It has all my music that I have accumulated, not only on the phone but in the cloud.

It is a portal. When I travel with it, it's always there. It's telling me through GPS how to get to where I'm going, when I will arrive. If I decide to stop at a Starbucks, it helps me buy a latte. And I love a latte. I could get a cup of coffee.

And I also like Father's Day. And I like the fact that we can get together with our family and what it means and as everyone enjoys about that and as we think about all of these things as well. And in putting all of that together, I have to realize that we are living in some very interesting period and time in the world right now with technology and wealth and with a leisure to enjoy things. And there's nothing wrong with that. And we enjoy that. And yet, at the same time, as I said, as I experienced this week, you can't get away from the reality of the world that we do live in today. And yes, it's far away. And yes, it could impact us, but it's still far enough away. And yet, you know, something in our own neighborhood could impact us tonight through a burglary or some other type of an incident. And we all recognize just how close that can be. And we don't necessarily think about it. And hopefully we don't dwell upon it. But we know that at times that it is right there. And it brings to mind a warning that Christ gave to us back in Matthew, Chapter 24, that I'd like to begin with here. Chapter 24 of Matthew and the Olivet Prophecy, where Jesus talked about the conditions of the world as it would be the time before His coming. Well-known statement, but let's remind ourselves of what Matthew, Chapter 24, and verse 37 says, as He talks about verse 36, that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only, speaking of the signs of the Lord that would precede His coming.

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will be the coming of the Son of man be. And then in verse 42, He says, watch therefore, you do not know what our, your Lord, is coming. Now this example of Noah I've spoken on before, and I really picked it up a couple of months ago when this movie Noah came out, and we were writing about it and used it in a couple of sermons because of the depiction of the story of Noah as that movie did. And I hope you didn't waste too much money on that if you saw it. I mean, if any of you here saw the movie, did any of you see the movie Noah? One. Only one. I raised my hand, but I only paid five dollars and seventy-five cents to see it. I wouldn't pay any more than that. And I was very, very disappointed in it, and how they did that. It was a wonderful opportunity just to stick with the truth, but they twisted it all around, and I was really disappointed in the man Russell Crowe for being part of such a show like that and the depiction of Noah in the way that it was. However, what Jesus says here about it, as he brings it to our mind, is a matter of reality that at a time of crisis, at a time when God's judgment will come, just as it did in the days of Noah and in the days prior to Christ's return, people will be living their lives. Caught up in the eating and marrying, giving and marriage, going through the generational cycles of children and grandchildren and marriages and graduations and all of the aspects of life that we have. And this is what he is saying, and it will it can, if a person is not aware, it can be a distraction to keep one from not watching and understanding the seriousness of the times in which they live. We live. And this is really the big takeaway from the story of Noah as it comes down to us for our lesson in our time in this age. I think Christ gives us the real lesson that we should focus on, and that is that we can be caught up in something and be caught unawares even when there is plenty of signs and plenty of warning that something is changing or about to change or that God is about to intervene in history.

And that is something that came to my mind this week as I was looking at trying to figure out and watch and understand this matter within the Middle East. And I'd like to take a few minutes to do that with you because I covered some of the background to that in a script that we taped for Beyond Today a couple of weeks ago that was focusing upon the 100th anniversary of World War I, which is coming up here this summer. This August will be 100 years since World War I began. And we've used that to make some points, not just about prophecy and world conditions, but also what we should be learning from what took place back then and the conditions that are there today. And one of the points that I was making in that program is that the world that we had at the beginning of World War I was a world that was shattered by that experience. There were several large world empires, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, even the British Empire, although it stayed intact through the war. Those others, the German, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and the Russian Empire, all collapsed in the aftermath of World War I. And the impact that it had on the world then and still today is still with us. And I was bringing the point down the fact that when the Ottoman Empire broke apart, that reshaped the entire Middle East. And what happened in the aftermath of World War I was the redrawing of the Ottoman Empire's control over the region of the Middle East into the nations that we see today. So that when you see it, and you look at a map today, and you're watching Fox News or whatever, you see a map of Iraq, and you see Syria to the west, and you see Lebanon, and you see Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan, those primarily. Those nations did not exist when World War I began.

But at the end of World War I, they came into existence because the victors, the winners of the wars and diplomats, had a peace conference in Paris, and they drew the lines that became those nations. And they even moved in monarchs like the great-great-grandfather, the current king of Jordan, to become the king of Jordan. They put a king over Iraq and in Syria. Most of them didn't last because of a number of different problems. They had overthrows and corrupt dictators that came into play. The past hundred years has been one of misrule and problems, and the problems that we have been dealing with in our modern world, in large part, stem from that event 100 years ago.

We were bringing that out in the program. And then, lo and behold, this week, just in that very region of Iraq, it blows up again and threatens to basically, this time, as many fear, to so completely destabilize the government in Iraq that the nation would come apart, with implications for Jordan and Syria and the entire region. What you have is the age-old conflicts between Sunnis and Shias, and most of us don't really understand what the difference between a Sunni and a Shia is, except that they're both bad, as we might look at it.

They fight each other, and they are different aspects of Islam, and they don't like each other. And they've been fighting each other, not just for hundreds of years, but for more than a thousand years. All right? It goes back to just a generation or two after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, that Islam broke into these two basic factions, and they've been fighting each other for over a millennium.

And the only type of force that's been able to hold that region together in any type of peace has either been a power or government like the Ottoman Empire that ruled by hereditary rights with sultans, strongmen who were able to basically put a clamp down on those ethnic religious divisions. And there are other ethnic problems that cause this as well. And if it was not after the Ottoman Empire left the scene, then it became either a king or a dictator. And by their sheer force of cruel power, they were able to hold these tensions in check to keep a relative peace going.

So you fast forward to 2003, when we President Bush decided he was going to kick Saddam Hussein out of power, and we entered into Iraq, and we basically broke that country. As Colin Powell warned, we would. And we did. And we deposed him, captured him, eventually hanged him, and broke up what he had. Now, he was a corrupt dictator, but his corruption and his dictatorship kept the peace, such as it was. And when that was gone, the Sunnis and the Shiites and other ethnic groups were at each other's throats again.

And, of course, three years ago we had the so-called Arab Spring and the overthrow in Egypt and Libya and Syrian conflict that has devolved into a civil war. And it's been one mess. Now, what has happened this past week is the eruption of a group of people with an acronym called ISIS, an Islamic state, a group of Islamic extreme fundamentalists who even al-Qaeda—they're to the right of al-Qaeda.

We all know what al-Qaeda is. They're bad. These people are even more bad than al-Qaeda. And now they're about to march on Baghdad, and they're about to break the country apart, and we'll see what happens there. And the implications could be far-reaching. Some say it could set up another 9-11 for the United States. It could go that far. And you look at that, and you look at what we have done since 03 when we were in Iraq, then we almost lost it in like 05 and 06, and President Bush had to do what they called a surge—remember the surge—and a man named David Petraeus, who went in and basically with more troops they won a brief peace, and then we signed an agreement to vacate the country.

Actually, President Bush did that. So those of you that may think this current president is not doing a good job, we can debate that. I don't really want to get into all of that, but realize that George Bush signed the agreement to vacate the country. It was left to President Obama to implement it, and it's been done, and the Iraqi Army has not been able to stand up to this insurgency, and it's about to come apart.

And you look at that, and I don't know how you've looked at it. You think, oh, I don't want to get into this. You know, let's watch the NBA playoffs.

Let's go to the mall. Let's play with our grandkids. And we sometimes tend to not think about it, because frankly what has happened in the United States at present is we don't want to get involved in any wars over there. And I'm not advocating that we do. I'm a conscientious objector.

All right? And I don't, you know, I know that war is not the solution. And so I'm not advocating that we do, and it's not going to happen. We, America has vacated that role at present, and there is not the appetite to go into Iraq or Afghanistan, the Ukraine, or anywhere else at this point in time. And not that that's going to solve anything. I don't think American troops on the ground is going to solve it. We had them there, and this one is for them to decide and to work it out for not just the current reasons, but for some other matters as well. But, you know, that's where we are. Because in America, we're more interested in what the next version of the smartphone is going to be due for us, and where we're going to get that next latte, and the next family gathering, whether it's 4th of July, birthday, an anniversary, or the Feast of Taffernacles. All right? Let's just speak honestly about that. And be even more blunt, that's often how we may reason in the Church with the knowledge that we have as well.

Which is why I thought, well, maybe I'll give a fire and brimstone prophecy sermon today, instead of a touching, feeling, feel-good sermon. I'm speaking tongue-in-cheek.

But as the country goes, so can we go in the Church. You know why America doesn't want to go into Iraq again and solve this one? Or go to Ukraine to get involved in something way off over there with the people in a language they don't understand? You know why? Two words, I'll tell you why. Two words will explain why we don't want to do it. Wounded warrior.

Wounded warrior. How many of you know what wounded warrior is? You all watch Fox News.

Wounded warrior. Every night, when I sit down to watch Fox News, and I do watch Fox News, because that's what God watches. You know that.

There's a commercial for wounded warriors virtually every night on Fox News.

And I tear up sometimes when I see that. These soldiers, these men and women from Iraq and Afghanistan, who because of the miracle of modern battlefield medicine, survived.

Their legs being blown off, their arms being blown off, their mind being scrambled through an IED.

And because our medical technology is so good today, that where they would have died in Vietnam, or Korea, or World War II, they could keep them alive and bring them back home. And we see the life that they have to live. And I make no judgments on that. I'm grateful for that. I know their families are. But you see that, and of course the wounded warrior society or group is asking for money to help support these families. And you realize, as you're looking at these stories, and they're good at telling them. And again, I'm not making any judgment. They deserve all the support they can get. And you would wish that they were getting all that they were deserving from the Veterans Administration. But that's another issue. We'll not talk about that today.

And you look at that and you realize that's why we don't want to go over there again. And then when you see what happened this week, you realize that that soldier, that man, that woman, and those who died, and those who come back with their lives forever altered, did it for what? Do you see those are the questions that people are asking when the full force of what has taken place this week finally plays out over there. And if Iraq collapses, which every expert says it will, what was it all about? Why did my son or daughter die over there?

Why did America go in there to begin with? Those are the questions and the reactions come as a result of that. And we fail to learn the lesson. And we look at that and we can, it would be very, you know, I could write an article or make certain statements that this will lead to this or this or this, prophetically. And I don't know that it will necessarily. I do know what the broad prophecies of the Bible say about that region of the world, the Middle East, yes. And if it's not this particular episode that triggers something, it will be another. But I do recognize the significance of this. And I step back from it and calculate what I say.

What should be our response? And more and more, I realize that not only do we explain, we have to explain why these things in the world matter. I've kind of simplified my approach to these matters of the present world, prophecy, where we are and all these things into a very simple statement or question, however you want to phrase it. And that's why does this matter?

Why does it matter? And if we understand why it matters, then we can understand the Bible, we can understand God, and we can understand where we are in today's world. We need to understand why does it matter? And that's why I say it matters because you and I see these pictures of neighbors and family, or in some cases people we know, called wounded warriors, and we may see them out even in our community, and we appreciate their service and what they did, but then we also put it into a larger picture and have to explain to people who wonder why did they do this? Or in the extreme case when there's a death in the family, why did it happen? Why does this matter? That I lost my son or my daughter? Or that our lives have been forever altered by this, or you see a nation that has changed? Why does it matter? It does matter, and it's coming to understand that we find the answers and where we need to be with God. Turn over to Amos 6.

In Amos 6, we'll read this just to set up where I want to go from here.

In Amos 6, again keeping in mind what Jesus said there in Matthew 24 about the days of Noah, Amos, in speaking to the nation of Israel, the ancient Israel, he sketches a scene of life in that day that is uncannily, eerily like our world today.

In verse 3 of Amos 6, he says, "'Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, who caused the seed of violence to come near.'" In other words, do you perhaps want to keep things at a distance? Put off the day and don't want anything to do and don't want to let it impact our life. Not that we look for a day of doom, we wish that. That's not really what Amos is saying. I think what Amos is saying is that he says if you're not motivated by a day of judgment, by a prophetic utterance, by a knowledge that there is a God who is in charge of history, if you push that out of your conscious thinking, if you want to take a holiday from that, you're not wise. I think that's what Amos is saying.

"'Who lie on beds of ivory, who stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock, and calves from amidst of the stall, sweet spot, sweet spot, in the middle of everything, the fatted calves, who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for themselves musical instruments like David, who drink wine from bowls and anoint yourselves with the best essential oils.'" Oh, I mean ointments. It's not essential oils.

The best wine. Music. Lamb. Beef. You know what Amos is describing? He's describing a trip to Costco.

He's describing a trip to Costco. Now, I wouldn't know. I don't go to Costco. You know why? Because I still live in a part of town that Costco hasn't come to. I moved to this little town of Batavia, Claremont County, Ohio.

Costco's not there. You know why? There's not enough Mercedes and BMW drivers living in my county to warrant Costco putting a store there. I have to go to Sam's.

I'm speaking tongue-in-cheek. You know this.

I'm still living on the south side.

No Trader Joe's. No Costco. Oh, there's Costo's, but I have to drive. I'm not going to drive to another part of town to go to Costco. I just refuse to do it. Sam's is a little different version of that. Amos is describing a trip to Costco to Sam's. That's what he's describing. He's describing a life that has whatever we want, whatever we need, whatever we can afford. He's describing a life of cell phones and lattes and Father's Days. That's what he's describing.

And he's sounding a note here. Be careful that King's Size Tempur-Pedic Bed that you're lying on, he calls it an ivory bed because that was a symbol of luxury for them.

I've got one of these Dial-Up Comfort Beds I've had for a number of years. Whatever you're sleeping on, that's your business too. We live comfortable lives today. We don't want any bad news from the Middle East or Ukraine or across town to intrude on that because it could be uncomfortable or it could remind us of certain things we may want to keep far from us. And God says throughout His word, hey, that's not the right approach. We've got to stay vigilant. We've got to stay alert.

And what I'd like to do in a remainder of my sermon is go through three statements from the New Testament. One from Christ, one from the Apostle Paul, and one from the Apostle Peter to help us draw some lessons and again just some solid principles on understanding the world that we are in and our time from what Christ has said to us and what His apostles have said because that is just to summarize and to get it in our mind and understand this. The first point is over in Luke chapter 12 where Jesus Himself made this statement.

Luke chapter 12 and beginning in verse 54, He said to the multitudes, whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, a shower is coming and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, there will be hot weather and there it is.

Now, you know, we don't look so much at the sky today. Well, we do, but you know what my first look is? My smartphone, because I've got a nap for that. And it shows me a radar picture of what's happening. Now I go out and look at the sky too and always try to keep in touch with the reality that is in front of me wherever I happen to be. And that's what, of course, Jesus is saying. You look at the skies and you can discern what weather is going to be like and there it is.

But then He said to the Jews, you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? This time. Now, what He was speaking directly to here in this group of Jews that He was speaking to was the fact that they could not recognize who He was as the Messiah. They thought they were just looking at Carpenter's son from Nazareth.

And they could not see and understand that standing in front of them was the Son of God, incarnate Jesus Christ, that He was the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures.

And they were rejecting that. That was their time in the first century. They were being confronted with a completely different reality than necessarily than we may today. But Jesus' statement is no less important to us. You and I have to understand the time in which we live. We read the Bible today and we accept on faith the testimony through God's Word of Christ being the Son of God having come in the flesh, of God's plan being worked out and our calling and the knowledge that we have. We accept that on faith based on this testimony, God's Spirit drawing us, convicting us of that, and it has changed our life. This is our time. He said, and he said here in verse 56, discern this time. How is it you do not discern this time?

Now, what is it that we need to discern today? Well, certainly we need to discern the Bible and the totality of the message there and the faith in the Son of God for our sins. But also, we also recognize that there is a fullness of God's plan, that is, the Bible shows us, that is marching toward a conclusion of human experience and human history that will culminate with the return of Jesus Christ. And we see our times today and we try to discern, look around the skies and the events of our world and our time and try to figure out, as we have always done, and rightly so, where are we? Because this is our time. And we should seek to understand what's taking place in our world and match it up with certain things. Not just the big-ticket items of prophecy, but also any number of moral, social, ethical issues that impact our world today as well, that we see about it and what is taking place and understand our times there. There are other scriptures that point to the severity of those events in the time of the end as well as some of these big-ticket items about Christ's return, wars, rumors of wars, and other items there.

There are many things. But Jesus' statement here helps us to focus on what He says and that is to look at this time. If you and I right now is our time to understand where we are in the plan of God and God's march toward the end of this age, but not just for esoteric, academic, vain knowledge, sake alone. I think most of us have come to realize that that's not the reason.

I don't care anymore what you think you know, what I think I know or should know about certain details that I once thought were important about prophecy. I don't care.

I don't. Because I know they're going to work themselves out, whether I think I know every name, date, jot and tittle, or not. I tend to focus a bit more on the broader picture of things and realize God's going to work out the other details. I spoke on the Day of Pentecost over in Cincinnati and I turned to Revelation 14 where it talks about the firstfruits and 144,000.

And I told the brethren that I was going to reveal to them on Pentecost who 144,000 are.

And then I read verses 4 and 5 of Revelation 14 and that tells you who the 144,000 are. You can read when you get home. You'll know the same thing that I know. I don't care what you have written in the margin of the Bible. If it's not what's written in the Bible, it doesn't really matter. It's somebody's speculation. Maybe yours or somebody else's. God gives us the answer right there and there's enough of an answer for us to live our life on today till the end of our life. God will work out exactly who are in that 144,000 and what particular group He's going to compose it out of. There's enough of the big ticket items there for me to strive to discern and to be found without deceit, to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. You can read it all there for yourself. And if I do that in my life, God will take care of the rest of it. That's what I'm talking about when I say I don't care about some of these other details that we try to get buggy about and have in the past. But I do continue to watch and try to discern this time. Now, the Apostle Paul did this with us as well. Let's turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

Paul talks about the Day of the Lord. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 1 and 2 Thessalonians, had quite a bit to say about prophecy. He made other comments in some of his other letters about prophecy, too. But here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, he talks about specifically the Day of the Lord and the times and the seasons. Verse 1. Let's read them. Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write to you. For you yourselves know. Now, keep in mind this is right after what he said in chapter 4 of some very specific details regarding the Second Coming of Christ, including the resurrection of the just, the dead in Christ. But then he goes on, he says, as he does, you yourselves know perfectly for the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. There's that famous phrase. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. His main point is don't be caught unaware, because those events will come as a thief in the night. Just don't be caught unaware.

Bring in what Jesus said, discern your time. Discern this time. Verse 5 Paul says, you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

Light reveals. Light opens up. Light lifts and encourages. Light is warm and fuzzy.

We're children of the light. When we understand our Savior, Jesus Christ, our relationship with Him and the Father through that sacrifice, and have a relationship based on faith, day in and day out, living a life of righteousness, we're children of the light. And these matters take on a perspective and a reality to us that gives us the meaning that it should. Not what we think that it should, but what God intends that it gives. He said in verse 6, therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

For those who sleep sleep at night, those who get drunk are drunk at night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on, notice in verse 8, the breastplate of faith and love.

And as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him, therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. Back here in verse 8, He encourages us to put on the breastplate of faith and love. A breastplate that covers that part of our body, of faith and love, tells us something about these two elements of faith and love. They are of the heart of our deep, felt, passionate interest and conviction about our calling and about God and about our life. Faith and love.

Those are heart tissues, symbolized here by this breastplate as it covers that part of our body. Salvation. The helmet of salvation that He talks about here. That covers the head, as a helmet does.

But salvation is a matter dealing with knowledge, understanding of what is the process of salvation. And the wisdom of the Bible that teaches us that God sent His Son to live a righteous life, that the Word became flesh, lived among us, and by His life, death and resurrection, we have then the opportunity and the hope of salvation.

That's how you and I understand the path to eternal life. It is because God came in the flesh and died as an atonement for us that we have the hope of salvation. We get that straight in our mind. We understand that and that is protected here. This is where Paul brings this down. He says, as we are of the day, as children of light, sons of light, this faith and love and salvation is what moves us and motivates us. You know, when you look at faith, there are so many different aspects and elements of faith, but in the context of what Paul is saying and what I'm talking about here today, one of the things about the faith that we should have and a key element and component of our daily faith is that in today's world, God does rule. God is the God of history and the God of nations and we must live with that faith that God does rule today in this world. Nothing takes place that does not fit according to his plan and therefore we don't have to obsess, worry even about a world at times that seems to be getting out of control. It is not our Father's world anymore.

You know, the commercial for Oldsmobile a few years ago, this is not your Father's Oldsmobile.

Then they did away with Oldsmobile. This is not the world our parents grew up in.

It's not the world I grew up in. It has changed. But I don't worry about that. I certainly am concerned that I pray Thy kingdom come.

But I have faith that God rules in this world that He has intervened in history before and faith that He will intervene again and that whatever is happening in the Middle East and Europe, in the streets of the United States or Latin America, wherever that is, bringing this world to the signs and the culmination of this age, I don't fear. And that's the point. Our faith should be that we don't fear. We don't let it worry us to the point where we lose confidence in God. Don't worry. As Christ said the night that He, before His death to His disciples, do not be afraid. Do not fear. I have overcome the world. Several times He encouraged them to courage. Don't worry. In Acts chapter 17, the Apostle Paul made a statement to his sermon on Mars Hill and Athens that day that we don't always think about. I haven't until recently been thinking and focusing upon it, but I have done a little bit of focus on it. But in Acts 17, as he talks about the Unknown God, and reveals the Unknown God to the Athenians on Mars Hill, in verse 26, as he describes God to this group of philosophers and Greeks. He describes God, verse 26, He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.

This is repeated back in Genesis 10, in that follow-up after the Flood. God's divided the nations among the sons of Noah. And this is what Paul is saying here. He has made from one blood every nation, and He's determined two things, the pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. I described this redrawing of the lines of the Middle East by men after the end of World War I that has held for a hundred years, but it still threatens to fracture along religious and ethnic lines that have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years. That no matter what a political line says is irrelevant to these people in these regions, and the same as such in parts of Europe as well. God has set the boundaries, and those matters are going to work out according to those boundaries.

We broke that boundary in 2003 and delayed what is inevitable, what has been building for generations there and is coming to pass now, and will be reshaped along something that is a bit more ancient and in a sense realistic geographically than what has been put there by man. Paul also said here that God has determined the pre-appointed times of the nations. Nations have risen and fallen. Empires have come and gone. And that brought out a line of history and prophecy that Daniel and Revelation shows us is part of these appointed times that will come to pass. And so we don't need to worry about that, which is another reason at times you realize, you know, we just shouldn't send troops in certain places anymore. And better to let the events play themselves out according to history and ultimately Bible prophecy, because it will be done according to how God has ordained it and allows it. But this is what Paul is saying to the church here in Thessalonica. And as he talks about the thief and knight, he encourages him to faith, hope, and love. Faith and love and a knowledge of salvation. And not to be moved and not to be worried, but to live your life with those things paramount. Now, one third scripture is in 2 Peter chapter 3. I turn to this quite often. I think this is the first time I put these three verses together in this way, but I think they form a solid three-legged approach to understanding our world and our times and an approach to that. In 2 Peter 3 verse 10, what Peter says here is profound. Again, he's talking about the day of the Lord, which he says will come as a thief in the night. So he brings in that phrase as well. In which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. He combines a number of themes and elements of what God shows is going to happen here in one verse. It takes us all the way to the end of chapter 20-21 in Revelation. But he brings it all in a quick overview in one verse. And what he says in verse 11 is important. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, they're going to happen. What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

This is the whole purpose of these things and our knowledge of them. That it moves us to godliness and holy conduct. It should change us. It should keep us leaning forward, aware, watchful, understanding, not fearful, living with faith, living with love, living with the knowledge of God's plan of eternal salvation, and motivating us to godly conduct in all of those areas and much more. This is really what Peter is saying. These things are going to happen. And because they're going to happen, he says, what type of person should you be?

What should be your reaction to it? Live a holy life. Live a godly life.

Another way of saying what Solomon said at the end of Ecclesiastes is fear God and keep the commandments. Live by faith, live by love. Looking for, as in verse 12, and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We look for that world to come, that better age, and that is a part of our faith and our hope. But because of what he has said here and telling us what type of person we should be, that life of the age to come, as he puts it here, that right where righteousness dwells, should be in our life now. And our life should reflect that. We should be tasting the powers of that age to come now and living that way now, living the world tomorrow. And our life should reflect that. Our conduct, our thinking, the way we conduct ourselves within our families and with everyone that we come in contact with.

That's the ultimate end of the knowledge, the understanding, the watching of any event of the world that we come to understand that is in front of us today. Because we can't take a holiday from history, we cannot take a holiday from prophecy while we keep it all in a proper perspective. These three sections from Christ, from Peter, and from the Apostle Paul, I think, form a very solid foundation on how we approach this and what it should do with us.

God controls history and prophecy, and it's going to come to pass just as according to His plan, and it will be according to His understanding and not always ours.

Which is why, as we seek to understand it, we need to stick with what the Scripture says, the broad outlines that we do know, and what we don't know leave a little bit to God to reveal to us when the time comes. Because there's enough revealed for us to be motivated and to live with and to understand even if we may not know all the details.

God controls history and prophecy. Secondly, these Scriptures tell us that we are children of light, not dark. We live by faith, and we live by love toward God and toward one another.

And that should be our signature for children of the light, and we don't walk in darkness. Thirdly, we look for a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells.

And we can live that way today.

So, recognize number one, God controls history, God controls prophecy. We're children of light, and we look for a new world to come. And we reflect that world today in faith and in love with the knowledge of God's salvation. So, enjoy your smartphone or your dumb phone, if that's what you still have.

Whatever you have, or your big screen television, or your favorite piece of technology and slice of the good life of this world today, and be grateful for what God has blessed you with. And if it's a decaf latte or a regular latte, whatever that might be, what that symbolizes. Enjoy your family. Enjoy your relationships. May they be grounded in faith and in love as well. Not just on Father's Day, but Mother's Day and anniversaries, everything else that comes to pass that we have the opportunity to enjoy one another, our families, and to rejoice with each other. And certainly God's festivals top all of that. Enjoy that and recognize that as we live our life in our world today, God has given us a great deal to enjoy, while at the same time discerning the times and understanding where we are.