← Lakepointe Church with Josh Howerton
Lakepointe Church with Josh Howerton
When Will Jesus Return? 4 Predictions About the End Times | Investigating Jesus | Pastor Josh Howerton
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Hey, guys, thanks for checking out this Bible teaching. Every week we release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon. It's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free. An episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Pointe YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now enjoy this Bible teaching.
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I didn't realize how much I wasn't in tune with my spiritual needs. Didn't grow up with faith. Never talked about religion or God.
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My dad was an atheist. He grew up Muslim, however, walked away early on in his life. So I felt like it was pretty important just for our family unit to follow something versus nothing. We ended up meeting somebody. He told us to take a look at Lake Point. We checked it out. One message, Pastor Josh had us all close our eyes and asked, if you here to commit yourself to Jesus, raise your hand. That day, I felt the urge to put my hand up, and next thing we knew, we were like, we're committing to this church we love.
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It started going to rooted. What stood out for me was that opportunity to talk about the Bible, to understand the Word, and to really develop a relationship with Jesus. After reading week one, I went, this is what I've been looking for. And as each week progressed, my faith grew. I realized it's my relationship with God, it's my connection with him that was the turning point for me.
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I started rooted. What I ultimately ended up finding was a community. You need some people to be around you to help push you forward in faith.
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Our relationship is the healthiest it's ever been. And I think that's because we do have such a healthy relationship with God that helps us have deeper connection, too.
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I feel like a better father at home. I feel like a better leader because it is just this sense of freedom that allows me to really live my life. My name is Madia R. My name is Michelle.
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And this is how Jesus changed our lives.
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Come on, man, let's give it up. Come on, man. Amen, God. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, man. Hey, this is going to be awesome. I just. You just need to know you're in for one. Here we go. You guys got your Bibles? Turn over to Luke, chapter 21, and then put your finger in Matthew, chapter 24, Luke 21, Matthew 24. Real quick, before we get into the text today, we would be insane not to celebrate what happened last week at Easter at Lake Point. So real quick, let me tell you what happened last week. It's gonna be great. First of all, we, last week, we crammed in one weekend, 53,000 people into our campuses. Last week, Lake Point. That was awesome. That's great. You know, golf clap, golf clap, golf clap. That's great. But here's the deal, here's why. Honestly, that's not the big deal to me. Because Jesus, we're gonna read this verse today. Jesus did not say, go into all the world and make big crowds. He said, go into all the world and make disciples. And at the end of the day, I just, I wanna say this over and over and over again. When Christ returns, by the way, that's what we're talking about today. It will not matter if you attended a Lake Point service in person. That's not gonna matter one bit. What will matter is did you cross a line of faith and begin to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? So the number that matters to me from last week is insane. Number that matters to me from last week is this. In one week we had 22,772 people cross a line of faith and indicate a first time decision to follow Christ. Come on, man, let's celebrate it. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. That's right. And if you're one of those people, you just need to know this is the first week of the rest of your life. It's gonna get on you. You just put a miracle in motion. And God's not just gonna change your life. He'll change your legacy and your lineage because of something you did in 2026. To bend your knee to the lordship of Jesus. It's gonna be awesome. Okay, now here's what we're gonna do today. We are in week whatever of a series called Investigating Jesus, where we are preaching through the Gospel of Luke. And here's what this is. This entire series is a dude named Luke that was a medical doctor that got radically saved. And then he started falling around. Primarily the apostle Paul. And then he had a one more. This guy Luke, he had a one more named Theophilus. He writes the book of Luke and the book of Acts as two. It's one story, two part compendium. So it's like Avengers, Infinity War and Endgame. For real. That's not even a joke. People laugh every time I do that. I don't mean it's a joke, for real. And so Luke and Acts are that it's Luke writing to his one more that doesn't know Jesus yet. And what he says in the beginning of Luke, Luke, chapter one is he says, I have carefully investigated all these things concerning Jesus. So here's all this book is, man. This is why I love it. Is Luke answering all the questions that his unsaved buddy had about Jesus to help his buddy know Jesus? So what we're doing during this series is we're doing that. We're just answering all the questions. So the question we're answering today, heads up, is when will Jesus return and what will he do then? Now, I need to give you a disclaimer on this sermon. You need to know for real. For real. This sermon is going to be different than any sermon I've ever preached at Lake Point. I will read. I probably spent more hours studying for this sermon than maybe any sermon I've ever preached. I will read more of verses than I think any sermon I've ever preached before. And here's why I'm doing that. I will read as much Bible as I actually preach this week. Here's why I'm doing that. Because the Book of Hosea says my people perish for lack of knowledge. And what you need is not some guy's opinion. You don't need. That's not what you need. What you need is to go, man, what does the word of God say about this stuff? So heads up, it's gonna be a little different. It's gonna be a little heavier. It's gonna be a little richer. It's gonna be a little thicker. This is not a sermon I would preach at most churches, but Lake Point church is not most churches. Okay, so let's get in. Let's get in. Okay, now let me set it up like this. I'm fighting off something from last week. Just roll with me. When I am preaching every week, there is a clock right in front of me. You're going to be able to see it for about two seconds. That is a countdown timer. It's a big countdown timer. And so even when I'm looking at you in my peripheral vision, every second, what I'm seeing is second by second, my time counting down. And it begins at one number and counts down. And when that clock gets to zero, it flips from white and it turns red. And every second that I'm preaching, every single second, I'm seeing that and it's reminding me that my time is limited. And so what that means is that I don't have time to get distracted. I can't get off task because I have a thing that I have to accomplish and that my time is limited. It's not limitless time. And what it means is that every second that I'm teaching, I'm not allowed to take it for granted. Because this moment matters. Because eventually my moments are done. And when that clock counts down to zero and flips to red, then a transition is going to take place. And we will transition out of this room and we'll transition into another room. Luke 21 and Matthew 24, they're corresponding passages. I'll get to this in a second. And what Jesus Christ does is he is explaining to his disciples before he goes to the cross that all of human history is on a countdown timer. That all of human history is, in fact, divided into three epochs, eras, or some theologians will say eons, that you are in the end of the second age, and that eventually there is a countdown timer that will flip. And what this means is that this age will come to an end. And it means that you are not allowed. That we are not allowed as disciples of Jesus Christ to take any moments for granted. We can't get distracted. Our time is not limitless. It is limited. And at the end of this age, a transition will take place. Whether you believe it or not, whether you accept it or not, whether you think it or not, it will take place exactly as Jesus Christ tells us it will take place. And our job is to be ready for that transition. Now, what I'm going to do here in the next few minutes is we're just going to walk right through Luke 21 and Matthew 24. And what you're gonna see is that you are in the middle of the second age in human history, and you are on a countdown timer. Okay? So we're gonna get right at it. We're gonna read a whole lot of Bible, and let's just. Here we go. Okay? So here we go. Age number one. Jesus said that. Age number one, that has already come to an end. But it's important you understand it. Age number one. It was the age of Judaism. Let me begin by reading this. This is Luke 21, starting at verse 5. It says some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, as for what you see here, the time will come. This is really, really important. Listen close. When. Not one stone. Now, as I read this, you're going to Notice, Jesus is going to make four very specific predictions. Important that you know this. He made these predictions in 33 A.D. so he predicts the time will come when not one stone will be left on another. Every one of them will be thrown down. Verse 7. Teacher, they ask, when will these things happen and what will be the sign that they're about to take place? Here's prediction number two. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the city get out. Let those who are in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers, there will be great distress in the land. And wrath is the word Jesus uses against his people. They will fall by the sword and they will be taken prisoners to all the nations. Now, let me teach for a second. So in 33 A.D. note this very importantly, Jesus makes four specific predictions. Number one, Jerusalem will be surrounded and left desolate. He said this in 33 A.D. number two, he didn't just say the temple would be torn down. He said not one stone would be left upon another. Number three, he said that judgment. He actually specifically used the word wrath. Wrath would fall on the Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem. And then number four, he predicted in 33 AD that the Jewish people would be scattered among the nations. Now, let me explain what happened in the next few years. When Jesus would have said this, all of his disciples would have been like, bro, ain't no way. Because they were standing on the Mount of Olives. I actually should show you a picture. They were standing on the Mount of Olives looking at the Temple Mount as they're looking at the Temple Mount. This is, by the way, this is called the Olivet Discourse because Jesus is standing on the Mount of Olives, his favorite place to pray. And he gives the longest answer to any question he ever gives in his entire ministry about when he'll come again. That's what he's doing right here. So as he's standing on the Temple on Mount of Olives, looking at the temple, they would have been looking at this massive temple, bigger than anything you can imagine. It was like one of the great wonders of the world, this massive temple built by Herod. It took. It was massive, 1,000ft by a thousand square feet. Stones made out of stones larger than school buses, some of them upwards of 100 tons. I've got pictures next to some of these things. Massive construction project. 8th wonder of the world. It took years and years, decades and decades to build this thing. Think Great Pyramids of Egypt. Think I 30, bridge over Ray Hubbard. Yeah. Decades and decades to build. This is what they were doing, okay? And so this is what they're looking at now. The temple was beloved by all of the Jewish people. And here's why. I'm gonna tie all these dots together here. In a second, we're gonna get into it. The temple was beloved by all those Jewish people. It was the center of their religion. It was the center of their national identity. It was the place where they. It was the intersection point between heaven and earth, between a holy God and sinful man. It was the place where you would go where the whole priestly system was set up so that you, as a sinful person could go to the priest. Listen real close. You could go to the priest, and they would serve. Listen as mediators between sinful people and holy God. The priestly system was a media. A mediatory system. And then that's where all the sacrifices were offered for the forgiveness of sins. The blood of bulls, goats, rams, lambs, all these things. So the temple was the center of everything. Okay, now let's go a layer deeper. 37 years after Jesus said, says this, in the year 70 AD, a dude named Titus, who is a Roman military leader, he comes and listen. He sieges the city of Jerusalem. Both the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus both record this. He sieges the city of Jerusalem. That's a military tactic where they go, hey, man, actually, we're not going to bust in and kill all of you. What we're going to do first is surround the city, cut off the supply lines, and starve you and dehydrate you. So Titus comes, sieges the city, so people begin to starve and people begin to dehydrate. Now, remember what Jesus said. Jesus said Jerusalem would be what it would be surrounded. And then he said, how dreadful for pregnant women and nursing mothers. Why did he say that? Because as they began to get dehydrated, they can't, you know, nourish their bodies. They can't feed their babies. History records. This is exactly what happened. Now, further, he keeps going. Eventually, they. They get in and they sack the city. Now, interestingly, if you've been around Lake Point for three, four months. Thirty seconds to review. But this is important today. Eventually, when they go into the city, Titus commands all of his soldiers don't touch the temple because he knew it was a big deal and it was like filled with gold and stones and all this stuff. He was like, don't touch the temple. History tells us one rogue soldier grabs a torch and throws it through the window of the temple. And as he does it, the temple catches on fire. Now remember, the temple is full of stones and gold. So as he does this temple catches on fire. One historian tells us that the gold in the temple, it begins to melt and begins to cascade down the stones inside the temple and gets in the cracks in between these massive stones in the temple. Historians record at that point the soldiers lose their self control, get inside the temple and they begin to watch this. They begin to pry apart stone by stone, every single stone that made this thousand foot by thousand foot temple, cast them over off the temple wall so that they can ransack all the gold and jewels from the temple. And to this day, if you ever go with me to Jerusalem and you stand on the Temple Mount with me, if you look over the western side of the temple wall, I took this picture, you will see this right here. And guess what happened. Not one stone stands upon another. Listen to me. Not one word that Jesus Christ predicts will fall to the ground. Not one word. Heaven and earth will pass away. My words will never pass away. Exactly. What Jesus said would happen did happen. Now what Jesus is saying in this passage, stay with me, is he saying that there was the end of the era of Judaism. So at that point, the old system of Judaism, the temple system, the sacrificial system, the priestly mediatory system, Jesus goes, now that's done. Now for you theologians, stay with me. Let's go a layer deeper. If you go home and read the book of Hebrews, Hebrews says that everything that came before was, listen. It was a type and a shadow of him who was to come. So we could literally spend hundreds of hours going through everything in the temple and how everything pointed forward to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who had come to take away the sins of the world. We could do that. I'm just going to do a little microcosm, okay? It's going to be awesome. So remember, type in a shadow pointing forward to him who was to come. Okay, so remember, what did the temple do? It was the listen real close. It was the intersection between heaven and earth, between a holy God and sinful man, number one. Number two, it was a place where you would go to find a mediator that could mediate between you, sinful you and Holy God. And number three. It's a place where you could go to make sacrifices. The sacrifice of an innocent lamb for the forgiveness of your sin. Okay, now listen, check this out. At the center of the temple was this one room. It was called the Holy of Holies. Nobody could go in there except one dude on one day. I'm gonna explain it. Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. That's where the present, what theologians call the manifest presence of God dwelt in highest density between the wings of these little golden cherubim on top of the Ark. All right, check this out. Now, what separated that from everything else was a woven curtain as thick as a man's hand that separated the presence of God from the people of God. Only one dude on one day could ever go in there. On the Day of Atonement, the great High Priest would come and what he would do. Check this out. All this is going to blow your mind here in a second. Just get all the dots together. He would take two goats. He would take one goat on the Day of Atonement, and they would confess all the sins of the people of Israel on the head of one of the goats. It was called the scapegoat. And they would, as it were, place all the sins on the head of this substitutionary sacrificial animal. And then they would just release it out into the east or the west, into the wilderness, and it would walk away. And it was God visually representing that as far as the east is from the West. So has he separated our transgressions from us? Then check this out. Let's go a little deeper. They would take the other one. It was called the Azazel. It's a whole thing. And they would slay the other one. They would take the blood of the innocent slain animal and they would sprinkle everything. One of the things they would sprinkle as they walk in. And that High Priest, he would sprinkle the Ark of the Covenant. Now check this out. What was inside the Ark of the Covenant? One of the things was the broken copy of the Ten Commandments that Moses broke on Mount Sinai. When the people broke the Commandments, he broke those commandments. They put those inside of the Ark of the Covenant. So check this out. What's happening is the High priest. Check this out. Who's mediating between sinful man and holy God, is covering the Ark of the Covenant with the blood of a slain animal so that when God looked down from heaven, he didn't see broken commandments. He saw people covered by blood. Years later, Jesus Christ would come and John the Baptist would look at him and he would say, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And he would come and he would be slain. And the New Testament says that in a sense, you and me have been sprinkled by the blood of the lamb. So that when God looks down on us, he doesn't see our broken commandments. He sees the blood of the slain lamb and we're innocent in his sight. Now listen, man. So check this out. So when Hebrews says everything was a type and a shadow of him who was to come. And that's why again, this is. Here's what this sermon is. It's like one massive in home Bible study. Okay? So that's what. This is a little different. That's why when Jesus hangs on the cross and he pushes up on his nail, pierced hands and feet, and he cries out, it is finished. Do you remember what happened? The curtain was torn from top to bottom in the temple. And that was signaling. Now this era of Judaism, this temple system is done. You don't need a temple anymore. But because Jesus Christ is the intersection between God and man, you don't need a mediator anymore. Because the Bible says now there is one mediator between God and man. The God man, Jesus Christ, who lives every day to intercede for you by his blood. And you don't need a sacrifice anymore because he is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. The Lamb of God that took away your sins. That's the best news we've ever heard. Okay, so this right here, this signaled the end of the system of Judaism. The era of Judaism is the done. It's vain religion. You don't need it. I don't need it. Nobody needs it. There's nothing there. Okay, that's number one. Now check this out. Jesus says what come next comes next. This is where we are right now. This is the in the mall. You are here sign. Something comes. It's called Jesus calls the time of the gentiles. Check this out. Actually, I'm going to show you on the screen because I want to show you something. So this is what he says next verse. Jerusalem is going to be trampled on by the Gentiles. Until. And he calls it the times of the gentiles. Now, I don't usually do this, but I'm going to show you the Greek word because there's one Greek word that gets translated in multiple ways in English. And it actually becomes confusing when you're Talking about this concept. So when he says time of the gentiles, the Greek word is ethnon. That's the Greek word from which we get the English word ethnicity or ethnicities. Now that's going to be really important. So the time of the ethnon, the time of the ethnicities or the ethnicities. Now, what does this mean? What's that mean? Now, Bible study. Let me show you. Here's how we figure this out. Let me show you another place where the same Greek word is used, but you don't know it because the translators use a different English word. So let's connect a dot. Now I'm going to take you to a very, very familiar verse. This is Matthew 28:19. Christians now call this the Great Commission. Now here's Matthew 28:19. You didn't know this, but in Matthew 28:19, Jesus is talking about this age that we are in, the age of the gentiles. Watch what he says. He says, all authority in heaven, on earth, has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples. Now, in English, we translated all nations, which is fine. But the Greek word is the same word that Jesus uses in Luke 21 that gets translated Gentiles. Check this out. All nations. In Greek, it's ta ethne. Same word. Ta ethne, same word. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the what? The very end of the what? Age. The age of the gentiles that we are in right now. Now what's Jesus doing here? And actually, stay, camera shot, stay right here. What's Jesus doing here? Okay, well, check this out. Jesus says, in this age, I'm gonna jump. He says, all authority. Five, eight, white guy. That's what I gotta do. He says, all authority. All authority. Now why does he say all authority? Because now what Jesus is saying is he's going, hey, guys, now I don't just have authority in one nation among one people. He's going, now that I've gone to the cross, the Father in heaven, because of my suffering, has elevated me to his right hand. And now I have all authority over every nation, everywhere. They've been given to me. So he's saying, now I don't got authority just in Jerusalem or Israel. He's going, I have authority in Jerusalem, Judea, Egypt. I have authority in the Sudan. I have authority over China. I have authority over Iran. I have authority over Pakistan, I have authority over Argentina. I have authority over Mexico. I have authority over the United States. All authority in heaven on earth has been given to him over all nations. Ta ethne all peoples. By the way, if you've been around here for a minute, what we say is that Lake One Church is a movement for all people. That verse is where we got that. A movement for all people. Now, what's happening during this second age that you're in the time of the Gentiles? Check this out from Galatians 3. It says, now, in this age, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. There is neither slave nor free, nor are there male or female. For you are all. And I want you to say this word out loud. You are all one in Christ Jesus. Now notice it says you are all one. It did not say you are all the same. This is important. You are all one. It didn't say you're all the same. Now, so what he's doing is he's reconciling people from every tribe, tongue, nation, language, and he's making people who are different into one. Okay, now I want to give an analogy of what this is, and then I want to move on and talk about the third Age and what's going to happen next. So here's my analogy. If you've been around for a minute. So here's a picture of my family. This is my family. I know. It's a good picture. I had to, by the way, I had to change which picture I used after last service because one of my children, who will remain nameless, told me they didn't like that picture. Okay? So let me just. So this is new. This is the approved picture. Okay? Now, if you've been around Lakepoint for a minute, if you're brand new here, just looking at my family, you can probably figure out we're not all the same. We're an adopted family. We've adopted three kids. Now, if you look at my family, just notice something. And it's not awkward for me at all. If it's awkward for you, I don't care. It's not awkward for me. In my family, Eliana's a little lighter than Felicity. Hudson's a little lighter than Eliana. I am a little lighter than Hudson. And poor Jan is a redhead. She barely shows up if it's sunny outside in pictures. Okay? So I just want to get that out there. By the way, I love getting this in. Do you guys know how you can tell the difference? What's the difference between a redhead and a Terrorist. You can negotiate with a terrorist. Okay, let's keep going. Let's go. That's a joke. That's a joke. Jana's the best ever. She's the best ever. That's not one. Now here's my point. Go back to the picture. So check this out. We're not all the same, but I'm gonna tell you something about the. How we call ourselves the Howard team. We're not all the same. Can I tell you something about us? We're all one. Not all the same, but we're all one. Okay? Why? Now watch this. Watch. How has that happened? Through a covenant that we've entered into with one another through a marriage covenant, and through three adoption covenants, people who were different became one. Can I tell you something about Lake Point? It's like one of the best things. This church is one of the best representations of the time of the Gentiles. Hey, if you just look across all our campuses, Lake Point family, we're not all the same. We are all one. We are all one. Okay? You look around, you look around this church, and we got blue collar folks, and we got white collar folks, you know, we got black folks who know how to have church. They're fun. They talk back to me when I'm preaching. They're my favorite people to preach to. We got Hispanic folks who know how to eat in Jesus name. Come on, man. I'm coming to your house. I'm coming over to your house after you come find me afterwards. We got y' all folks, we got a bunch of young families are reaching. That's fine. Y' all are great. We got senior saints, by the way. Let me just. I hear you. I hear you. Let me just. I just seriously, I want to say this. Hey, Senior Saints, we need you. It's real. I just real deep in my spirit. We're reaching tons of these young families. Hey, Senior Saints, we need you. Because all these young families are reaching who they've never been a part of church. They haven't followed Jesus. They're brand new to team Jesus. They're going to need some spiritual parents with some tread on their tires following Jesus for a minute. They need people like you to get up in their life and be spiritual parents. We need you. And I know, listen, I know what some of you are saying is like, ah, I'm not perfect. I'm not perfect. Listen, you don't got to be perfect. You just got to be one step better than us. That's all we need. Okay? So listen, we need you. We need you. And here's what I also know. There's a whole bunch of you who, like you're brand new. Last week was your first week. You're looking around at all these shiny little families and going, ah, I could never fit in here. I got too many issues. Let me help you understand something. Here's all we are at this church. We are one big dysfunctional family that's been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. You're gonna fit right in. You're gonna fit right in, man. Welcome. Welcome to Team Jesus. In fact, let me just remind us of this. There is only, you know, you got the black, you know, black, white, Hispanic, all the things. Listen, there is only one color that matters is red. The red blood of Jesus Christ that has ransomed people from every tribe, tongue, nation and language and made us a kingdom of priests unto God. Okay, now, so that's the time of the Gentiles. Now here's the question what that we're answering right now. What is going to signal the end of the age that you are in the time of the Gentiles? Jesus answers that question in Matthew 24:14. Check this out. He says in this gospel, this is one thing. I'm gonna give you four other signs here in a second, but this is one thing he says in this gospel of the kingdom is going to be preached in the whole world as a testimony. And here's that same Greek word again, as a testimony to all nations, all ethnos. And then the end will come. Now it says the end will come. The end of what? The end of the second age, the time of the gentiles. So at the end. So once this happens, when the gospel gets to every tribe, tongue, nation and language, that will be one of the signs this age is over. Christ will return. He's gonna crack the skies, and all kinds of awesome stuff's gonna happen that I'll talk about here in a second. Now, if you're asking like, well, man, if he's gonna come back and wipe away every tear from every eye, and I get to see my loved ones again and I gotta be with Jesus forever. If you're like me, sometimes I'm like, why is he so slow? What's he waiting on? First Peter 3 says this. It says, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some count slowness. But listen, watch. But he is patient, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to a knowledge of the truth. So if you're asking, what's he waiting For Can I be honest with you? If you don't know Jesus yet, he's waiting for you. If you got a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter, he's waiting for your prodigal son, your prodigal daughter. He's waiting for people in Russia and China and the Sudan and Sri Lanka. He's waiting for them because he didn't want anybody to perish. He wants to bring as many with him into glory as he can. Let me just put this in perspective and let's get to age 3. I read this little study from this Christian missionary organization recently. Every single day in Africa, the Gospel is exploding in Africa. Every single day in Africa, 16,173 people cross a line of faith and bend their knee to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Every day. Every day. In athletes. Every day. One day. Now break that down. That means every single day Jesus waits, he gets to bring 16,173 more people home with him. Watch this. Every hour Jesus waits. If you do the math, he gets to bring 673 more people just from the continent of Africa home with him. Every minute Jesus waits, he gets to bring 28 more people from Africa home with him. What's he doing? He's not slow. He's patient. He wants everybody. He wants to bring all of us. So check this out. What's happening is God has given us one more day so that one more person would have one more chance to bend their knee and come to Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing. Okay, Now, Lake Point, I just want to remind us. Let me just remind you, because, man, some of you new here, you kind of don't know, like our vibe. Let me just remind you what I just said. That's why we aggressively plant 100 churches and counting in the hardest to reach least Christian cities in North America. That's why we aggressively start campuses. That's why we have 23 and counting international partners in nations all over the globe, taking the gospel to every tribe, tongue, nation and language. Let me speak very frankly with you. That's why we give upwards of $8 million a year away out of our doors to missions. Why do we do that? Very frankly. Check this out. Why do we give away millions of dollars every year to the spread of the gospel around the globe? When can I be really honest with you? We're bursting at the seams here and we seem to need it here. Why? Because the Gospel must go out to ta f all people everywhere. And Jesus Christ has purchased those people by his blood on the cross. It's our job to go get them. Okay, so that's what happens during the Second Age, the age of the Gentiles. Now, number three, let me do this quick. Third Age. What will come at the end of this age is something that the Third Age. It's the return of Jesus Christ, the judgment of the living and the dead, and he will return to make all things new. Let me read it. Okay. Is what he says. I think I'm on Matthew 24. Now. I'm in Matthew 24. No, I'm still in Luke 21. At that time, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things. Now I'm going to tell you what these things are. I don't want you to be scared. I do want you to be prepared when these things begin to take place. I'm going to say this how I memorized it as a little kid in Sunday school in the kjv. Stand up and lift up your head because your redemption draweth nigh. Now, some of you, I know this, maybe last week was your first week ever at Lake Point, and we're talking about the end of the world. And you're honestly, you're like, bro, y' all are. You're crazy. Like, honestly, you're like, you're crazy. I wish I had time to do this. I don't have time to do it. I actually tried to get in the sermon. I had to cut it. I just. One, I would point out to you, literally every worldview, philosophy and religion that has ever existed in the history of the world has a view of how the world and history will end. And they're all weird. I'm serious. I'm serious. Even naturalism and atheism, it's weird. The whole universe collapses in on itself and becomes a singularity. That's weird. So, one, I'm just going to point out everyone everywhere has a view of the end in some way, and they're all weird. Okay? But number two, if you're saying I'm crazy, can I just gently press back and say, I think you're crazy? Because check this out, Jesus made. We read them today. Jesus made five very specific predictions in AD 33 before any of these things took place. Let me remind you what he predicted in AD 33. Jesus predicted Jerusalem would be surrounded and laid siege. The judgment would fall on the people of Jerusalem and that not one stone of the temple would be left on top of another. That the Jewish people would be scattered among the nations and that people from. Remember before I say this last one. When Jesus made the prediction that people from every nation would be following Christ, there was not a single disciple of his that was outside of Jerusalem or Judea. And in AD 33, he predicted that people from every nation would follow Christ. And five for five, all five of those predictions took exactly place. Listen to me. Not one word the Lord Jesus speaks will ever fall to the floor. Not one word. When he speaks life, you believe it. When he speaks salvation, you can trust that and listen. When he speaks judgment, you better believe it. Every single word that he speaks will take place. Listen, if what Jesus said would happen did happen, then listen, what he says will happen is going to happen. Okay? Now let me just. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna finish the sermon doing this. I'm gonna rapid fire, read through. I'm just gonna give you a heads up. I'm gonna do something at the end of this section that even if you thought some of the things I said so far were weird, you're gonna think something I do at the end here in about three minutes is 2 degrees more weird and it's gonna freak. It's a little freaky out a little bit. Just stay with me, okay? Just stay with me. What I'm going to do is rapid fire, just walk through what the signs Jesus said would happen right before his return, and then we're done. Okay, so here we go. Matthew 24. Now here's what I'm doing. Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Matthew 24 are Siamese passages. So in the same way that I preached, I preached this sermon in the service before this, and then I preached this same sermon. But there's some things that made it into this sermon that didn't make it into the previous and vice versa. Same sermon, different tellings. Luke 21 and Matthew 24, they're Siamese passages. Same sermon, different telling. So there's a few different things there. So that's why I'm doing Matthew 24. Here's what he says. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us, they said, when this will happen, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? What age? The time of the Gentiles. Here we go, Verse four. Jesus answered, here we go. Sign number one, watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah. And will what? And will deceive many. Sign number one is A rise in global deception. Jesus says that as it gets closer to his return, there will be more and more spiritual leaders in the world that are. I'm just going to say it. That are demonically empowered to deceive people away from Jesus Christ towards their quote, unquote path or plan of salvation. And Jesus predicts that some of them will say that they are following his way. Behold, I am the Messiah. Behold, I point to the Messiah. So can I say this to you? Some of them will use. I'm gonna use that later. Some of them will use this book to deceive you. Can I remind you of something? Just because somebody's got a verse doesn't mean they're right. Listen, Satan can quote Bible verses 2. He knows it better than you. This is why. Listen to me. I'm pleading with you. I'm pleading with. I prayed this for you. This is why you got to read this book. You got to read this book. I'm in Revelation in my personal Bible reading right now. What Jesus says at the beginning of the Book of Revelation to John Anna Allapatmos is. He says, blessed are those who read this book. Read. How do you avoid being deceived as this time comes closer? You read this book. Some people, they listen to tons of podcasts. Who cares? Read. Some people listen to tons of sermons. That's great. Awesome read. You gotta. Every time somebody said, don't listen, don't trust me on everything, you gotta read behind me and go. Is what he said in that book. And if it's in the book, accept it. You gotta accept it. If it's not in the book, discard it. You got to read this book and measure everything against the word of God. Listen, watch out. I'm talking to you digital disciples, online especially. You gotta watch out who you listen to. There are people who will hold this book in their hands and they will twist it and they will tell you things that your itchy ears want to hear. And they will be lying to you, deceiving you. And Jesus says that will rise the closer it gets to him. You got to read this book. Watch out who you listen to. Watch out who you watch. If you're online, you're not a part of Lake. Watch out what church you're a part of. There are churches that use this book to deceive people, and they are not churches. In the words of Revelation 2 and 3, they're synagogues of Satan, leading people away from Jesus Christ, deceiving him. And they will lead you away. Take inventory of your Circle. This is why it matters. Who are you running? Who's your squad? Do you have people who, when you listen, I'm like you, man. My heart, in the words of the psalm, is prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. When you got that spot in your life, do you got a circle around you who can pick you up and bring you back so that you don't depart and you are not deceived? That's number one. Sign number one, global deception. Number two. Jesus says you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen. But the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are the beginnings of. And he uses this word that's used both here and in second Thessalonians and in Romans chapter 8. He says all these are the beginning of the birth pain. Sign. Number two. There will be an increase in global chaos. Now, I know what people say. People see that and they're like, man, Josh. But there's always wars and rumors of wars. There's never been a time in history where there was wars and rumors of wars. You're right. But remember, he said that he used the analogy of birth pangs. Now, if you saw that picture of my family earlier, you probably figured out me and Jana have never done a full term pregnancy ever. We never done that yet. But we did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one time. So I've heard some things. So here's the deal. If you've ever done the pregnancy thing, you know this. There's no birth pains when you conceive. There's no birth pains in. There's no birth pains in the first month. There's no birth pains in month 3, month 6. There's no birth pains in Month 8. But watch. Watch when you get closer to the ninth month, when the pregnancy comes full term, there comes a moment where those Braxton Hicks start. And now all of a sudden. Watch how it works. Why did Jesus use this analogy? There's spasms happening inside the body because something is trying to come forth. It's not destruction, it's birth. Something's trying to come forth. And when those start, those contractions start. They start far apart. At first they're 15 minutes apart, and then 10, and then five, and then three, and then it's boom, boom, boom, boom. Jesus is saying that the closer you get to the end, wars and rumors of wars, global chaos. That's Always taken place. It'll just be boom, boom, boom, boom, rapid fire, over and over. What's happening? Romans 8. Creation groans in eager expectation of the revealing of the sons of God. Creation is groaning like a pregnant woman's body trying to bring forth something that was foretold from of old. So the closer we get to this time, increase in global chaos. Okay, I lost my spot. Here we go. Let's keep going. Verse nine. Next one. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death. And you will be hated. Listen to me. Listen. You will be hated by all nations because of me. One of the great fears of my preaching ministry laypoint family is I have not done a good enough job of preparing you to be hated by all nations for the name of Jesus Christ. This says, you will be hated by all nations because of me. Sign number three, an increase in global persecution. Now listen, some of us are like, well, man, we're clearly not towards the end because that's not a big deal. Can I. Can I say something to you? You need to bless God and thank him every day that you were born in the United States of America. You need to bless God for that. Because, listen. So listen, some of you, you have been the recipient of. Of an undeserved grace from heaven handed down to you. That's a spiritual inheritance, hard earned, that people in other countries are not experiencing and have not experienced for centuries. In fact, in America, we don't know this, that there have been more martyrs for the Christian faith in the last one century in the world than in every previous century of church history combined. Let that sink in. So this sign, this is happening in our day as tolerance for Christianity is decreasing. You know, we're getting closer and closer to these times. Listen, man, you don't understand. This is happening all over the globe. We have church planters that we planted their church dude in Canada. I'm not gonna say his name for legal reasons. We planted their church that has preached on this stage. Who. Because of legislation that was passed in Canada in the last two months, There are parts of the Bible that if he preaches clearly, he risks prison. I got a pastor buddy in Seattle whose family was put on FBI watch, whatever that little witness protection thing, because he's a clear Bible teacher and there is an increase in hostility to clear Bible teaching. Dude's family's under threat of death. Listen, I'm gonna say something. And listen, I know it ticks people off when I say stuff like this. I don't care. I love you. Listen, be Careful what you watch, be careful what you read. You be careful how you vote. Some of you are voting for things, for movements that when they get in power, they consistently, when they get in power, criminalize aspects of faithful Christianity. You need to be aware of what you're doing. Jesus predicted these things would happen. Watch out what kind of preaching and podcasts you're listening to. Is it milk that just does this thing that's like, oh, you're awesome and you need to feel awesome and realize all your dreams. And is it milk or is it meat that prepares you to be content in the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are hated by everybody else because you have the only approval that matters, the approval of Heaven, you need to know this. Are you ready for this? Okay, verse 10, last one. At that time, many will. Now listen. This is where I'm going to do something a little freaky. And if you think this is weird, just, hey, man, just write me off and come back next week. It'll be a lot more fun. Okay, so verse 10. At that time, many Listen close. Will turn away from the faith. So watch this. He says they're going to turn. People who said they were on Team Jesus are going, you know what? I'm not on Team Jesus anymore. Team Jesus is dumb. They're going to turn away from the faith. They're going to join another faith. I'm coming back to that. They will betray and hate each other. Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. So watch. I'm going to start connecting dots when we get close to the end. People who are on, it's called apostasy. There's a difference between a lost person and an apostate person. A lost person is like, dude, I've never been on Team Jesus. An apostate person is somebody who once said they were on Team Jesus. Then they took off the Team Jesus jersey, they walked across the battlefield, they put on the Team World jersey, and now they spend all their time shooting at Team Jesus. That's an apostate person. Second, Thessalonians talks about the same thing. It talks about all throughout the scriptures. It says, the closer we get to the end, there's gonna be a bunch of people who once said they were on Team Jesus that pull that jersey off and put on a different jersey. False prophets will appear and deceive many people. False messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform. Watch this. Great signs and wonders. Just because somebody does a miracle does not mean they're from the Messiah. There are two spirits. There's the Holy Spirit. And there's unholy spirits. Just because somebody does a miracle, that doesn't mean they're empowered by the Holy Spirit. They might be empowered by unholy spirits. The Bible calls demons. And Jesus says in the end there will be religious leaders who you watch with your eyes, perform miracles. And they're not empowered by the Holy Spirit. They are empowered by unholy spirits. The Bible calls demons to deceive if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time, sign number four. This is where I'm going to get a little weird. There will be a global apostasy caused by persecution and false religion. Jesus, you just read it. People are going to turn away from the Christian faith to another faith. That other faith will be led by a false prophet that is demonically empowered to perform miracles. Now, what I say right here. I don't mean to scare you. I do mean to be honest with you. Let me just really quick and listen. If you think I'm an idiot, that's fine. Just come back next week. Test everything I say against the word of God. It is really. I'll be honest. It's really hard for me if I'm trying to connect dots. It's hard for me not to at least wonder if some of these things correspond with the rise of global Islam. I just need to talk about this real quick. And if you think I'm nuts, just test what I say against the word in the next 30 seconds. So check this out. In John 16, Jesus says at the end, watch at the end. He says, a time is coming when they will kill you and think they are offering service to God. That's what Jesus said. Now, what we've been doing in the American church for the last 30 years is we've been focusing on secular progressivism. Hey man. Atheism, big problem. Secularism problem. But watch this. According to Jesus, the final boss, like Bowser. I don't know where that came from. The final boss is not going to be in the end. It's not going to be secularism. It will. Jesus said it. It will be another religion that in that religion they will kill Christians. And when they kill Christians, they will think they're doing something holy and pleasing God. Let's go a layer deeper. If you fast forward To Revelation, chapter 20, John is given a prophetic vision of the throne. Watch what he sees. I'm going to have you say a word out loud. He sees in the end, the souls of those who had been. What? Who had been beheaded because they refused to worship the beast. I'll just simply point this out. There is only one world religion whose religion specifically prescribes beheading as the way to quote kill infidels. There is only one religion. The Quran specifically calls it striking necks. That's the language it uses. So I will simply point that out to you. That's interesting. Now let me go one layer deeper and this is where I'm will freak out a little bit more. So if you start studying Islamic eschatology. Eschatology is a big theological word. Eschaton is the Greek word that means last or end. Ology means study of. So when I say eschatology it means study of the end. If you study Islamic eschatology, their view of the end times, here's what they believe will happen. They believe that there will be a messianic prophetic figure that they call the Mahdi. The Mahdi will come and he's a messianic leader that will usher in the Islamic end times events that will result in the entire world becoming a one world Islamic nation state. Now what I'm going to do right here is I'm going to just read to you the things that they believe the Mahdi will do. And if you are a Bible aware Christian, as I read these, every little red light is going to start flashing in your head and you're going to see why. This is what they believe about him. He will emerge as a charismatic messianic world leader during global chaos. He will take control of the world and destroy everyone who resists him. He will invade many nations. He will rule and reign for seven years. He will broker a seven year peace treaty with the Jews. He will conquer Israel and massacre the Jews. He will establish an Islamic one world government headquartered in Jerusalem. He will establish Islam as the only acceptable worldwide religion. Watch this. He will come on a white horse with supernatural powers doing signs and wonders. This is what they believe. He will be assisted by a powerful prophet. Now if that sounds familiar, it's because it is a precise description of the biblical Antichrist. The Islamic Mahdi is the biblical Antichrist. We know the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6 is the Antichrist. They use that verse to describe their Mahdi. Now I'm going to go one layer deeper and then I'm going to shut her down. Okay, if you go later, homework and you read Ezekiel 38. Almost every theologian believes Ezekiel 38 is an eSchat, an end times prophecy about what will happen right before Jesus returns. It describes. Don't give me keys Yet. Just stay with me. Don't. Don't do it yet. It describes a group of nations aligning against Israel to attack Israel. And then the moment they do that, Jesus gonna crack the skies and do something awesome. I'll talk about it in a second. Now, here's the nations that Ezekiel 38 describes in their. In that times language. Gog, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer, and something called Beth, Torgamah. But those were the names of the nation in the era when Ezekiel wrote. What are the names of those nations, those geographic regions today? What are the nations that correspond? Well, here's who they are. Russia, Turkey, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Turkey and Turkey. Can I point something out to you? Even though that was written 1200 years before the birth of Islam, every single one of those nations, except one, is an Islamic nation. The only one that's not is Russia. And guess what the fastest growing religion is in Russia? Islam. I'm just saying. Now listen when that happens, and listen, you may see that with your very eyes when that happens, in the words of Jesus, do not be afraid, and let not your hearts be troubled, because greater is he that is in you than anyone that is in the world. And listen, listen, listen, man. In that moment, what's going to happen is all those nations come to attack. And in that moment, Jesus Christ will crack the skies. He will descend. White horse, fire in his eyes, sword out of his mouth, tattoo on his thigh. King of kings, Lord of lords. And the Bible says he will come down. He will defeat all of the enemies of God. And he will. Watch this. He's going to take his bride home. He's going to bring us home. And he will wipe away every tear from every eye. Neither shall there be death, nor pain, nor crying anymore, for the former things have passed away. And behold, the new things have come. That's going to happen to you. You're going to be there when that happens, man. So what do you got to do? Okay, here's where we're done. Here's what you got to do, my little I'm in way in the red. Don't leave. I hate when y' all do that. Okay, so you also must. You say it out loud. You must be ready. Hey, y', all, let's be ready. Let's be ready, because the Son of Man will come at a, what, at a hour? You don't expect him. All right, so what I got right here, I don't have a watch, but I got a. I got a little clock on my iPhone and it says 6:48. I don't care. Don't leave. Okay. Says 6:48. 6:48. Now, I can tell you what time it is. I can't tell you anything about how this thing works. I don't know. I don't know how the little microns and chips and processors and gears. I don't know how that works. I don't know any of it. But I can tell you what time it is. I don't know how the details are going to tell you what time it is. Now, if you start studying all this end time stuff in the Bible, you can study Ezekiel 38, Ezekiel 39, second Thessalonians. You can go to the Book of revelation, Matthew 24, Luke 21. You can do all this stuff. Let me tell you, man, there's more details. And you're gonna be able to get your. I got halfway into studying this week. I was like, this is insane. I want to call Mike. Bro, you come in and do it. You come and do it. I don't want to do this. Listen, I can't tell you how all the details fit together. But you know what? The only thing that matters is, you know what time it is. Only thing that matters. You know what time it is. Can I tell you something? The hour is late. The hour is late. And it's time for you to be prepared for what comes next. Now listen, here's how we're going to close this service. We're not going to sing anything after this. You saw us celebrate all these people going through Rooted. What Rooted is, is a 10 week discipleship experience. Guess what it does? It prepares you to walk as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. 10 week discipleship experience teaches you how to get in the word of God, study and understand the word of God, how to pray, how to share your faith, how to activate your spiritual gifts, how to get free all this stuff. So here's what I'm asking you to do. If you have never been through Rooted. I'm asking you, like with a pastoral forcefulness, I'm asking you to go through to sign up to do this. 10 week. Not till Jesus returns. Well, maybe, who knows? Just ten week discipleship experience. Every single member of our church, you need to do it at least one time, every single one. So you can do that in a couple ways. You can scan this little qr. Grab this dude right now. You can scan that little QR code and you can register right there. You can text the word. It's gonna be on the screen right here. You can text the word rooted to 20411 and register service is over. We can keep your kids for a couple more minutes. I'm asking you if you have not been through rooted to sign up for Rooted 10 week discipleship experience tonight before you leave to prepare yourself to walk faithfully with Jesus Christ as a disciple. That's your homework. I'm done preaching. Have fun. Peace.