The Most Important End Times Sign.

 "...the disciples came to him privately, saying, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Mat.24:3b

Wanting to know the future is a common issue with people. Wanting to know Bible prophecy is common to many believers. Let someone stub their toe in the middle east and it's the end of the world to some preachers. By focusing on issues happening that Jesus clearly said "the end is not yet", we miss the important things about Bible prophecy.

Jesus says that there is one word to define the nature of the end times and that word is deceive. To answer the disciples question about when, Jesus gave this reply.

"And Jesus answered and said to them: take heed that no one deceives you." Mat.24:4

Jesus used the word deceive 4 times in this chapter. Simple biblical interpretation tells us that words repeated are important to understand. The Greek word is planao. It basically means to lead into error, to cause to wander, to lead astray, or to seduce. There is a mental and spiritual and moral element in deception. Eve was not intellectually beguiled to eat the fruit, she was seduced by the serpent.

Satan is a master deceiver. Deception is his nature. His main activity in the end times is to deceive the nations.

"Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth..."Rev. 20:7-8a

The promise of general AI is to make people super human, almost like making them gods. AI is more a sign of the end times than the Arab/Israeli conflict. There are plenty of people living today who would love to rule the world. They are evil people.

"...For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth." Rev.18:23-24

Just remember, man as god is chaos. God as a man is grace and salvation. God is way ahead of this game.

Past, Present, Future

 Recently I talked to my old high school friend who I haven't seen in many years. It was nice to talk to him. I spent some time reminiscing about my high school days. And then I realized something. I do not live in the past.

Some people talk about the good old days like they were current events. It is fresh to them. Not me. I have memories, mostly fond ones, but I have to work to remember those things. I find that I live in the present, and I am looking towards the future.

I left Prescott partly because I felt that I was being smothered by memories there. I moved here partly because I had no memories here.

Some people love reminiscing. Some love to talk about the past. Some people get comfort from remembering what once happened. I love to ponder what might happen next.

My 50th high school reunion was two years ago so I missed all of them. The 50th one might have been fun to attend. We have all reached an age where accomplishments and degrees are not as important as they once were. Old age is a great leveler of people.

The houses where I grew up are still there. A few of the people I knew growing up are still around the old home town. My aged mother still remembers those early days. I wonder what happened to all of the kids I went to school with. Are they still alive? 

I would enjoy talking with some old friends. I am a lot smarter now than I used to be. It might be fun to visit on the phone. I do not see myself traveling to see any of them in person. At least not right now.

Child Like, or Childish?

 "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread." Psalm 37:25

In a youth oriented society, older folks sometimes have a hard time finding their place or fitting in. They feel ignored, or irrelevant, or unimportant, to the rest of society. No one sells them anything anymore. No one tries to get their support anymore. They are not as strong or as wealthy or as healthy as they once were. I think that part of this is somehow,  we grow up with a fear of growing old. 

This is not just a problem for society. It is a problem for the church world as well. Evidently it has been a problem for a long time. In many towns you can find old church buildings with just a handful of old folks who meet there. In our Fellowship we have first wave saints who got saved a long time ago and we do not have a clear idea of how they fit in or what they are good for.

I am not advocating that we send out senior citizens. I'm not calling for a conference on aging saints.

Prescott is trying to do something. They have a pastor on staff whose job is primarily to care for senior citizens. They have a music scene for older folks who used to be the cutting edge of coffee house evangelism and who have aged out of the whole scene. They call it Cafe One80.

The worst thing you can do is to make people think that the key to revival is to act like a teenage new convert again. Run for your life if your pastor advocates acting childish. The call of the gospel is child like, not childish.

My prayer is that pastors will find a way to retire, and that older saints will be appreciated for their contribution to where we are today. We are here because they were there.

God Keeps Good Books

 "...the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous." Prov.13:22

This proverb is no doubt based on something that king Solomon saw in real life. It was not wealth gotten by evil schemes that caught his attention. It was good money gathered or earned by evil people that he noticed. It is not because God is unjust. It is that God keeps good books. And all the wealth of the world is God's. It is those who chose to love money instead of loving God that is unjust. They probably did not pay their tithe much less give offerings. It will pain the heart of the covetous on that day when their wealth is transferred to someone who will honor God with it.

"but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give it to him who is good before God." Eccl.2:26.

It's funny that seeing wealth earned by the wicked to give it to the righteous offended Solomon. He called this vanity and grasping for the wind. Evidently Solomon was a grasping kind of man.

The Christian life is not just pie in the sky, in the sweet by and by. It is seeing the goodness of God in the land of the living. Amen!

Sunday Thoughts.

 Years ago pastor Mitchell said that America's greatest sin was covetousness. It wasn't abortion or homosexuality or murder. It was the love of money that was at the top of the list. The love of money is behind unaffordable housing and unlivable wages. Greed has provoked more armed conflicts than religion in the modern world. Politics is no longer about character or ethics or morals. It's about the economy, stupid. One preacher said that covetousness is the fear of not having enough. Is that what motivates the uber rich to want even more? Are they just plain scared of not having enough?

Pastor Mitchell also once preached a sermon on being kingdom builders or earth fillers. Whether we, as the church, are focused on building ourselves bigger, like the people in Babel, or whether we are more interested in filling the earth to fulfil the great commission. God has a great kingdom. For planet earth God's plan has always been to fill the earth and subdue it. Going into all the world to preach the gospel is consistent with God's earth-filling mandate.

It costs a lot of money to do what we do. We must be careful not to let money become our focus. We must be careful that we focus on making people Christian and not creating a Christian nation.

If our vision has become boring to you, maybe you ought to retire and let someone with fresh faith take over. And remember, it would be a demotion to go from behind your pulpit to winning an election.

Pastor Mitchell once said that truth is hard on church growth. He was right on all accounts.

Is Our Story Too Small?

"Then said I, lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me," Psalm 40:7

Pastor Warner preached a deep sermon Friday night. He reminded us that the Bible is God's story. It is a book about God not us. It is a great story with a beginning, middle, and end. There is a plot, a protagonist, a villain, and a hero. It tells us a far reaching story about God's plan of redemption and Christ coming to do God's will on the cross.

I wonder if maybe we as Pentecostals have made God's story too small.

Some people have a simple answer to the biggest, most complex problems. They play the God card and that solves everything. Except when it doesn't. Always playing the God card only tells us how immature you really are. Besides, if God is the answer for everything, where are the miracles we have heard about?

The Bible is readable and easy to understand because God deals with people throughout history just as He deals with people today. People are people no matter where or when they lived. And God, who is a great story teller, included people in His story to help us understand how God works in history.

There are times in the Bible where God breaks out with words that blow us away. Prophets might see visions of God's grandeur or speak words that are so much greater than their learning or intellect might justify. This is evidence that it was God speaking, not the prophet.

One more thought. God is more than willing to help ignorant and unlearned men and women. As long as we involve ourselves in God's story and God's work we will receive God's help.

 

Help My Unbelief!

 "Then many came to Him and said, John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this man were true." John 10:41

As Pentecostal believers we believe that God is an active presence now. We pray for the sick. We preach the Gospel. Some get healed, and some don't. Some get saved, and some don't.

But our job is to tell about the one who never fails, who always heals, even if we do not see healing happen, our testimony will convince people that all we say about Jesus is true.

There was an old time evangelist who came to Prescott. When someone asked him what he does if he prays for someone and they do not get healed he said, bring me the next one. He did not let results dampen his enthusiasm and zeal.

I prayed for my wife many times. Pastor Mitchell prayed for my wife many times. And in the end she died too young. I still believe in Divine healing even though it did not work for me. I still believe that the Bible is true.

Often the lack of results is blamed on us, not on Christ.

"Now he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Mat.13:58

Lord, help my unbelief!