A (2:55)

Right?

B (2:56)

Listen, the Lord can heal sick bodies.

A (2:58)

In moments like that.

B (3:00)

He can heal tormented minds in moments like that. He can heal troubled hearts in moments like that. He could bring about conviction that transforms a husband and a wife in moments like that. And we got to learn sometimes to just sit in his presence and let him work in us in his presence. Like jump into that river and just stay there. Amen. Anybody. Like we be mad busy. Martha, Martha, you'd be mad busy. But sometimes we need to just sit at his feet for just a little while. Amen Anybody. And if you're not a follower of Christ and you feel uncomfortable, Good.

A (3:47)

Good.

B (3:49)

We know you in here.

A (3:51)

We know you don't understand.

B (3:53)

But my prayer is a day would come when you will understand and that you will be on this side of glory, on this side of Revelation, on this side of the kingdom to share in the joy and the peace that we feel in the worship of our risen Savior and soon coming king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Anybody. And that you would be brought into this family before time has run out.

A (4:23)

Elder, I'm a. I'm a. I'm a Rock this for like 23 minutes and we're gonna have a moment of prayer. We are at the the back half of a series called Entry and End Times. But together as a church we've been studying Matthew chapter 21 through 25. We are looking at the final actions in the End time teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And today our text is coming From Matthew chapter 24, verses 32 to 35. Title this message the Second Coming Part 2. Spirit of the Living God, we feel you in this room. Feel your manifest presence, my Lord. There is no greater balm for the human soul than your presence. And we thank you for how you invaded this room and manifest your glory among us. What. What little of it we can handle. I know that we come from different traditions, Lord, but teach us to love your presence. Teach us to enjoy when you wrap your arms around a people. Teach us to enjoy moments when we are weak and we have to fall down because your glory is so heavy we can't stand. Teach us to love just being with you. Teach us how to sit in your presence in this room and at home.

B (6:04)

And in the car and in the park.

A (6:07)

Teach us to enjoy that thing we will enjoy for the endless ages of eternity. And we thank you for a house where there is dunamis and doctrine, where there is the Spirit and there is the proclamation of Scripture. We thank you for that dynamic combination. And pray now as the scriptures are exalted and proclaimed, you would give strength to this weakened earthen vessel and ears to hear and eyes to see. These amongst my brothers and sisters draw the atheist and the unbeliever to yourself, asking the mighty and the majestic in the matchless name of our soon coming King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

B (7:02)

And all.

A (7:03)

Of God's people said Amen. Family, right now, as I'm preaching to.

B (7:12)

You.

A (7:14)

It is raining right now on our city here in Atlanta. And I am thankful that we are in double overflow, even in the rain. That there was a type of hunger that could not stop people from coming into this gathering in the rain. But I mentioned the rain, not to brag on double overflow. I mentioned the rain to say to you that the rain that we experienced today did not catch us by surprise.

B (7:45)

For we have meteorologists who use technology who saw in a distance storm clouds that was approaching Georgia and was able to predict with accuracy that we would.

A (7:58)

Have 100% chance of rain today.

B (8:02)

And the function of those meteorologists to predict to us with accuracy that we would have rain today was watch to prepare all of us for the weather patterns that we have today. It is these dynamics of prophecy and accuracy and preparation for a day that we approach when we lean into the prophetic teachings of Christ that we are unpacking right now in this text. How the Lord Jesus Christ, your savior and mine, came into the city of Jerusalem and what will be the last week of his earthly life? And he cleansed the temple and he prophesied. And his followers heard him prophesy of the destruction of a massive temple and prophesied about the signs of the end times and the atmosphere of the earth just before his return to earth. And they heard him prophesying. They asked him a question, Lord, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming? That as they heard the Lord prophesy, the only thing that they was worried about is when? When will this be? When will you come? They want to know the time of his coming. They are no different than you and I that when we come close to prophecy. The first thing you want to know when you get a prophetic word is when? When will the husband come? When will the wife come? When will the season change? You get a prophetic word, you write it on a notepad on your phone, and then the first thing your mind thinks is, lord, when? And the Lord begins to talk to them about signs of his coming, the last sign of his coming, the very crack of the sky when Jesus himself will return to the earth with all of his saints. He prophesied to them about all of those things that were coming. And then what the Lord does next in the text after he prophesies to them about the signs of the end times, he will Then what Matthew records for us is answer their question about when. In Matthew chapter 24 and beginning in verse 32, the Lord answers the question for them, when will Christ return? Here is the answer to the question, verse 32 from the Fig tree he said to them, learn a very powerful word, its lesson as soon as this branch becomes tender and puts out leaves, you know that the summer is near. So the Lord begins His answer with a simple parable. And I stress the word simple because commentators and theologians try to make this parable more complex than what it really is. They say things like, this parable of the fig tree here represents the nation of Israel. And they pack into the text things that are not there. That is called eisegesis when you force things into the scriptures that are not there. Inter American preaching. But if we just do some exegesis, we understand that this parable right here is not about the nation of Israel. This parable right here is about, watch this word timing. That although the Lord had cursed the fig tree earlier, that represent his denunciation of Israel, this particular parable about this particular fig tree is not about the nation. It is about timing. Now you remember early in our teaching what the parable was. That a parable was a short story or analogy that was used to either conceal or reveal a truth. The Lord Jesus came preaching and teaching. And when the Pharisees begin to reject his teaching and Jews begin to take his teaching for granted, he stopped talking to them in plain English or plain language. He started talking to them in parables so that he can protect his truth from being trampled from people that did not want it, because we cannot give pearl to swine. That is, you do not need to waste your time trying to convince people that do not want to learn. You should stop arguing with fools. And we're not going to preach truth to people that's going to trample the Gospel. And so he started preaching in parables as a form of judgment so that those who reject me, you will not understand. But in private, I will reveal this to my followers. So he starts out with a parable watch of a fig tree. Now he's talking about something that is present in Palestine. The land is dotted with fig trees. The disciples would have understood the cycle of the fig tree. Lena and I have a fig tree in our front yard. So I understand very well the cycle of a fig tree. I understand very well how it functions. I understand what the Lord was saying, because I have a fig tree in my yard, and that fig tree in my yard, it is bare in the fall and the winter there is no leaves and no figs, but it puts out giant green leaves in the spring. And if I did not have a calendar and I could not tell time, I would know from the cycle of my fig tree that when the leaves get big and green, I know that the summer is the next season. I know that. The leaves is an indicator that something is about to change. Not to mention, if you're staring at that tree from my driveway, you cannot see fruit. Side note, you can only see the fruit on that tree if you get up close to it. That's why we gotta stop giving grace to everybody that got big platforms. You need to get up on people so you see character. Everybody with big leaves don't have fruit. Come on, man. See? Y' all see big leaves, big platforms, big Instagram following. Man of God, check. Woman of God, check. Not just because it have leaves, that doesn't mean I have fruit. And I know for my tree, you can stare at it from a distance and not see fruit, but you gotta get up on that tree in my yard, and then you see all the fruit under the leaves. And if you saw leaves with no fruit, you know that was a diseased tree. Big platform, no character. Diseased tree. Come on, man. Big ministry, no character. Disease tree. Big ministry, no Christ exaltation. Diseased tree. So he begins the answer of when will he return? With a parable of a fig tree. Then he begins to answer the question a little bit more. And then he says to them, in verse 33, he says to them, watch. He says, when you know and put out the leaves, you know that the summer is near. I just want to draw attention to the word no. The word no is surety. You will not be confused. You will not be caught off guard. You will know the summer is near when you see the leaves. Verse 33. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near. How close? Even at the very gates. What things is the Lord talking about? He's talking about all the things he prophesied from verse 4 through verse 31. He says, when you see these things in rapid succession, you know that my return is near. What things is he talking about? Man, it's all there in the text. When you see the increase of wars and rumors of wars. When you see the increase of earthquakes. Just had one a couple days ago. Pestilence and sickness and disease and cancers. When you see the increase of the persecution of the saints, when you see the increase of false prophets and they're running through the earth, and y' all love false prophets, especially y' all who look like me. Because we don't want to pray and because we don't want to read anybody rise up with the title prophet. You just believe everything they say. Never mind. You never hold them against the Scriptures. You never Check the word of God behind them. And then people prophesy and their words fall to the floor. Deuteronomy has taught us God did not send that person. He said, in the last days we will see an increase of false prophets with false messages. In the last days we will see an increase of apostasy, people leaving Christianity saying, I tried Jesus and he didn't work. In the last days, we will see the abomination of desolation. In the last days we will see global proclamation. In the last days, we will see the return of Christ himself. So he said, when you start to see all these things in succession, you know that the end is near. Now family, listen to me carefully. Although in context, these things will unfold in full force during the tribulation period. Hear me right now, I am telling you today on this platform, the storm clouds of these things are already in our society. They're already happening right now in the globe. And Christians are not paying attention as I'm talking to you. We're seeing the manifestations of the early signs of these things. We're seeing the increase of the persecution of the saints, increase of false prophets, increase of false teachings. We're seeing an increase of lawlessness and dishonor towards God. We're seeing an increase of all the things he prophesied in here. We're seeing an increase of AI. We're seeing an increase in Islam, not to mention, I believe it will be Islam that will be those who suppress Christianity and persecute the saints in the end time for many saints will be beheaded during the tribulation. And there is one faith that has pleasure in doing that according to the Quran. We see an increase in end time alliances between nations like Russia and China, who are hidden in biblical prophecy. Two nations that the scripture tells us will come against the nation of Israel in the end. They are already having talks coming together. And right now as we're playing church running in other rooms all around the world, we see the storm clouds on the horizon of all these things happening right now. That's why hear me, I'm serious when I say this. Now is the time to get right with the Lord. Now is the time to to start reading the scriptures for yourself. Now is the time to have a prayer life. Now is the hour to be right with Christ. Now is the hour to stop playing around with your walk. I'm talking to you, man. Now is the hour to take inventory of your friends. Now is the hour to start cutting people off who are Antichrist, who are leading you astray who want nothing to do with Jesus. Now is the time to take inventory of of your boyfriend or girlfriend. Now is the time to say, you know what? It don't make no sense for you and I to be dating because you want nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now is the time to build your marriage. Now is the hour to disciple your children. Now is the hour to enjoy the community of the saints. Because a day is coming when we won't have this anymore. Now is the hour to lean into biblical teaching and biblical preaching. Now is the hour to scrub your podcast from listening to 85 voices every single week. Now is the hour to guard your soul from all of the garbage you see on social media. Now is the hour to stop reading heretical books. Now is the hour to stop reading heretical devotionals. Now is the hour for believers to be serious about the kingdom, serious about the Great Commission, serious about your intimacy with Christ. Serious about your relationships. Serious about your calling, your anointing, your gifting, your assignment. Now is the hour. Watch to put your whole life on the altar. Let me repeat. Look at me, I'm serious. This ain't no sermon. This is a plea. My brothers and sisters in the US now is the hour to put your whole life on the altar. To put your marriage on the altar. To put your children on the altar. Now is the time to stop having ambitions that have nothing to do with God's calling on your life. Now is the time. I'm serious. You clap. Now is the hour to push off all those idols off the table of your heart. Now is the hour to stop worshiping things more than you worship Christ. Now is the hour to stop making excuses about your past and what you can't do. Now is the hour to say Christ, here is all of me on the altar submitted, surrendered for your service and your purpose. Now is the hour to say, Lord, I don't want anything that you don't want for me. Listen. Now is the hour to say, lord, I want to die empty. I want to arrive in glory having done everything you've called me to do. I want to write every book I'm supposed to write. I want to say everything I'm supposed to say. I want to go every place I'm supposed to go. I want to preach what I'm supposed to preach. Now is the hour to say, lord, empty me out completely because we don't have all this time left. I'm trying to die empty. I don't want to arrive in heaven with anything in me that was Supposed to be poured out in the earth. Repeat, we want to die. Empty. Empty. Now is the time to stop making excuses, do it afraid. Step into it by faith. Do everything God has called you to do. Now is the hour to be obedient to the Holy Spirit. Can I go deeper? Now is the hour to start saying, lord, wherever I'm deceived, reveal it to me. Come on, man, y' all don't. Francis Chan taught me that just last week. Start praying, Lord, wherever I'm deceived, reveal it to me. If there's pride in there and I don't know, reveal it to me. If I'm headed down the wrong path, reveal it to me. If I'm dating the wrong person, reveal it to me. Like, now is the hour for the Lord to wash my sins, soul of everything that does not belong in there. I'm sorry. Now is the hour to break up. Now is the hour to have a tough conversation like, you know what? We've been doing this for five years and you want nothing to do with the Lord. I'm sorry. I'm not going to hell with you. Now is the hour to be single all over again. That pipe game going to take you straight to hell, right? Now is the hour to stop loving sin and stop making excuses for ratchet lives full of licentiousness and unholiness. Now is the hour to honor Christ. No, I'm serious about this, man. Forget your little New Year's resolution. How about a Matthew 24 resolution? Lord, after today, I'm putting my whole life on the altar. Maybe we done. Some of you all need to come and just lay your head on the altar. Have a Matthew 24 resolution. Lord, after today, enough is enough. Why do you worship people with fire and don't build your own? You idolize people with platforms. But you don't want to go through process. You love stages, but you don't love altars. And you want to preach. And you don't have a prayer life. Why are we all busy trying to build everything? Everybody want to be a chief. Everybody want to be a king. Nobody want to be a servant. Look, now is the hour to deconstruct all that mess and foolishness you try to put Christianity on top of. You're just going to take craziness and attach God to it. No. Now is the hour to stop that foolishness. Now is the hour to care about your witness. And when people say about you on your job and how you govern yourself on social media, we can't keep looking at your hips Give me a scripture tomorrow. We know you're insecure and we know you're looking for love. Maybe you should go into your prayer closet and find it above you instead of trying to find it online. No, this is love talking. I'm trying to get some of y' all free from your foolishness. I'm sick and tired of people running around saying, I'm a woman of God and I'm a man of God, but we're not disciples of the Lord. Where is your cross? Where is your sacrifice? Where is your seriousness? How are we followers with no cross? Now is the hour to pick up your cross and run your race and finish your assignment. Why? Because time is running out.

A (27:25)

Now is the hour to stop being mad at conviction and running. When the Lord is trying to tap your soul, when he's trying to punch you in your soul.

B (27:35)

Now is the hour to stop running from that. Now is the hour to say, lord, don't just deliver me from something, but change me while I'm in it.

A (28:04)

Verse 34. The Lord says, truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Now just stop, okay?

B (28:16)

Just pay attention for just a second. The Lord said, this generation will not pass away until everything I have spoken have come to pass. Now this is why you got to listen, man. I have read commentaries that say, oh, he was speaking to that generation he was talking to in the media present. And some of them believe all these things that the Lord prophesied happened between the time of his crucifixion and AD 70 at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. My friends, this is asinine. Why? Because he said all these things have to happen without one gen before the generation passes away. What was the last thing he prophesied? Prophesied his own return. Since the Lord has not come back yet, we know that these things could not have happened in that generation. So the Lord watch was not just talking to the people in front of him. He says, truly, I say to you, the word you there in Greek is plural. So he was not just talking to the disciples who was in front of him. He was speaking prophetically through time because he knew all these men would die and one of them would die at an old age. He knew about the church age that was coming that they did not see. So when he says you, which is plural, he's speaking prophetically through time to a future generation that will be alive during the tribulation period. I believe it is my personal opinion that we are probably entering into that generation that will see all these signs and the return of the Lord, if not us, our children, I think that our children may be the generation that sees the Rapture, the tribulation and the return of the Lord. I think all these things are just around the corner. We can feel the wind of them blowing in society. Watch. And because he said all these things will happen in one generation, that means the generation that sees the first signs will be the generation that sees the return of the sun. That means all these things will happen in a short period of time. And then the Lord finishes His thought. Look at me. Look, look. Look right at me. Eye contact. Because the Lord knew that a lot of you would be tempted to not take him serious. Because he knew people would read his words in the future and be tempted to not take him serious. Because he knew a time would come when people would just go to church and not take him serious. Not take the marriage supper of the Lamb serious. Not take the fact that we will be with him in glory serious. Not to mention somebody was persecuting me on social media, talking about what I'm talking about from Revelation. Because you don't read that before I talk to you about us riding on horses, why don't you go back and read the passage before that? In Revelation, chapter 19, the Lord is talking about the marriage supper of the Lamb. Who is present at the marriage supper of the Lamb? The redeemed church. Where are they? In heaven with Christ. In the marriage supper of the Lamb. They are where he is. And when he returns, they will be where he is. So I will have my horse. You can keep your bad theology. I will keep my horse. I will be riding out with King Christ. Let me just parenthetically insert that. Read the whole chapter. Watch. But because the Lord knew that many of you would be tempted to not take his words seriously, he finishes this thought with verse 35. Look at what he says. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. You even said heaven above and the earth you live in, it will pass away. But my words, my prophetic words, this scripture, it will never pass away. That is the word of God is more sure than the foundations of heaven and earth. Because the Scripture teaches us in Revelation that everything you see right now is going to be burned up. And Christ will recreate a new heaven, and he will recreate a new earth. And therefore he said these things that we're running after, all these things will pass away. But if there's anything you can put your trust in, it's in what I have said. Why? Because the scripture says the word cannot be broken and God cannot lie. So everything Christ has prophesied that will come to pass exactly as he said. His word could be trans trusted above the Quran, it could be trusted above the pearl of great price, it could be trusted. Above every religious text, this word can be trusted. He cannot lie. So if he said he's a provider, he can be trusted. If he said he'll never leave you nor forsake you, he can be trusted. If he said no weapon formed against you shall prosper, he can be trusted. If he said he's with you on mountaintops and in valleys, he can be trusted. If he says he hears the redeemed when they pray, he can be trusted. If he says that you are in him and he is in you, he can be trusted. His promises can be trusted. His words of comfort can be trusted. His words of prophecy can be trusted. His words of warning better be trusted. For you get one shot to get this right. And that is not for when we die. There is no second chance. So I leave you again with the question of Peter. Since all these things are coming and since all these things were running after is going to be dissolved. What type of people should we be now? Holy, godly, righteous people? We should be people running after God with our whole heart running after the scriptures with our whole heart running after them. A prayer to whole heart. We should be people running ringing out our hearts. Since all these things are coming, we should get up tomorrow morning and walk into our job like missionaries. We should be praying for the loss. We should be praying for our loved ones who are far away from Christ. We should be serious about the spread of the gospel. Some of our money should be invested in the spread of the gospel, man. We should be fulfilling the calling and assignments that he has placed upon our life. Since all these things are coming, we should take our lives and our walk seriously. When? Now. And the Lord gave us all this prophecy, not for us to be curious. He gave us all this prophecy like the rain that we will be wash his word ready. And my only question for you is if the rapture happened next week, will you be ready? Are you ready right now? Do you know Christ now? Are you serving him for real now? He's given us a forecast. So if you get caught in the rain, it's your fault. It's not his fault. The only question for you to answer when you leave here today and get to your little restaurant, you look across at your spouse and your friends and say Dang, yo, are we ready?

A (35:32)

Are we doing this thing for real?

B (35:34)

Is it just church or is it a lifestyle? Is it a sermon? Or am I reading the Bible for myself? That's my prayer for you. That you would take serious. Your walk, your anointing, your gifting, your assignment.

A (35:52)

The time that you have left.

B (35:56)

Let me pray for you, and then.

A (35:58)

We'Re gonna sing over you and just sit still.

B (36:01)

Let us wash you in the word.

A (36:06)

Don't move.

B (36:10)

Spirit of the living God, your word has been proclaimed.

A (36:17)

The seed has been sown. We know that time is running out.

B (36:22)

And you're gonna return soon. I pray for everybody under the sound of my voice, a spirit of readiness. You know what? Would you just lift your hands just a little bit? Just like, turn your palms up. Just. Just turn your palms up just a little bit. Father, I pray for these palms that are turned up towards heaven. I pray you will pour out on us a spirit of readiness, a spirit of seriousness. I pray we would see how you see, feel how you feel, love how you love and hate how you hate. I pray we would be awakened and we will be like the sons of Issachar who rightly discerned the times and knew what to do about it. I pray for marriages and for children. I pray for ministries. I pray there will be an outpouring of readiness and seriousness upon us in this room. I ask you with open eyes and open ears and burn hearts and save the unbeliever. I plead with you for this in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our soon coming king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.