Show #324, EndTimes, Prophecies and World Issues

Transcript from show #324

(Please note that the transcripts are written pretty well as they were delivered on air).

Radio Show...

This program continues on various series of different topics on theology such as end times, prophecies, daily living, etc. as the subject matter comes up.

The e-book on end times and Revelation, answering the questions “where are we in the events of the end times?” and “Are we now in the tribulation?” is available on this web site, which you can find throughout the pages.

Opening Narrative

We continue today on a series of a blast from the past in celebration of the seven years of “Virtual Church for the Spiritual Unchurched“...

This program follows from last week's, but gets into world issues as we are witnessing around us and around the world today... it picks up as it was delivered years ago but with some updates from today.

I didn’t know if I would continue on the subject of “sinners saved by grace” from the last programs, as you will recall if you listen to this radio service every week, but I had left it up to the guiding of the holy spirit…

There is so much going on around the world these days that I felt the Holy Spirit leading toward these end times happenings.

I’ll get into that right after this opening song and time of prayer…

(Let us pray...
The Lord's Prayer...
Praise God Doxology...
Worship Music...)

Narrative #1

Alright so let’s get back to our message for today… as I was saying there is so much going on today, everywhere, that there is no room to cover it all … there are more items and issues and news than all communication outlet can take on…

I was reading about the fast moving events going on in the Middle East, in America, here in Canada – even here in BC… I mean, it is worldly, nationally and provincially… and most of it is stressful and discouraging and frustrating and downright fearful at times…

And that reminds me of the words of Jesus who said in Luke 21:26, that men's hearts would be “failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

And I’ve got to read more from that passage of scripture because it is so appropriate to today… this is when Jesus was with his disciples and they and people around them were asking all kinds of questions that led to the future signs of the end:

It says in chapter 21, verse 5…

5. "And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,

6. "As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

And of course Jesus was speaking here of the Temple where the people of God worshipped God… and in AD 70 that prophecy came to pass… and isn’t it amazing that ever since that time, the Jewish people did not have a Temple to worship in even right to this day… and of course that is about to change soon… but more on that in another program…

Verse 7 -- “And they (meaning the disciples) asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?

8."And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

(don’t be deceived by others who will come in His name)

9."But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified… so here’s an encouraging word right here… be not terrified…. for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.” -- Or just yet, the end is not just yet…

The word ‘commotions’ here is ä-kä-tä-stä--sē'-ä which is translated as instability, a state of disorder, disturbance, confusion…

And in the book of Matthew chapter 24, the writer reports it as “wars and rumors of wars” and so does Mark – both use the terms ‘wars and rumors of wars’…"

v. 10 – “ Then said he unto them,

“Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:"

11."And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

12."But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake."

(and this has happened throughout history, and is happening today in many countries around the world)…

v. 13, "And it shall turn to you for a testimony. (in other words this persecution will be opportunities to witness of their testimony and the gospel).

14, "Settle it therefore in your hearts, (v.14), not to meditate before what ye shall answer:

15,"For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist."

So Jesus is saying, don’t worry about what you will say when that happens, for He will give them the words and wisdom that the adversaries shall not be able to speak against it, nor to resist…

Wow there’s a whole Bible study right here – for another time…

So, let’s continue at verse 16 of Luke 21….

v. 16 – “And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.

17,"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."

And that’s been happening throughout history too , and is happening in many places around the world… and parts of this are even starting to happen in the western world also, as we all know…

But… and here again are some encouraging words from the Lord:

18,"But there shall not a hair of your head perish.

19,"In your patience possess ye your souls."

And on this difficult portion of scripture, I like what the ‘Matthew Henry’s Commentary’ says:

“Shall some of them lose their heads, and yet not lose a hair?

Take it figuratively in the same sense that Christ said, ‘He that loses his life for my sake shall find it.’ To this end (Christ) had said in Matt. 10:30… ‘The hairs of your head are all numbered.’

“We do not recon that lost or perishing which is laid out for good purposes.
If we drop the body itself for Christ’s names’ sake, it does not perish, but is well bestowed. “It shall be abundantly recompensed.”

Now most of us listening in today may not experience the hardship of persecution to the extent of losing our lives… but let’s not forget that around the world there are many believers who are experiencing this reality…

I was reading a news item just recently about the Christians in anti-Christian countries who are suffering these exact realities… it said that there are many more Christians losing their lives for their faith today than at any previous times, but we don’t hear about it out in the open…

So to those people, what we’re reading here is true reality…

Let’s continue on… with Matthew Henry’s commentary:

“Though we may be losers for Christ, we shall not, we cannot, be losers by him in the end. “It is therefore your duty and interest to maintain a holy sincerity and serenity of mind, which will keep you always easy… (or at ease, peaceful)."

and of the next verse, (v.19) “In your patience possess ye your souls.”…

Matthew Henry continues: “It is our duty and interest at all times, especially in perilous times, to secure the possession of our own souls, that they be not distempered now, nor our possession of them disturbed and interrupted.

“ ‘Possess your souls, be your own men. Keep under the tumults of passion, that neither grief nor fear may tyrannise over you.” It is by patience, Christian patience, that we keep possession of our own souls. ‘Set patience upon the guard, and keep out all those impressions which would ruffle you and put you out of temper.’ "

In other words let us not lose our patience and our souls in these times of
Stress, discouragement, frustration and fearful…

So let us ‘Set patience upon the guard, and keep out all those impressions which would ruffle you and put you out of temper.’

Good advice for us today

I am reminder of the advice of Paul in Philippians 4:8 –

“finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things…"

Then he says, “Those things, which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

Now this is good advice for these times that we live in today… these times like we’ve never seen before.

Music Interlude

Narrative 2

So continuing on from Luke 21 and verse 20 …. Jesus says:

“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

21."Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

22,"For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

23,"But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.

24,"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

This is not a pretty picture…. Now there are different views and theories about these verses about Jerusalem and Judea… which we are not covering here today … some say that part of this refers to times of destructions that have already taken place … and others interpret other parts of these scriptures to refer to refer to the end time yet to come during the great tribulation... again this would take another program to discuss.

Personally I tend to subscribe to the latter view of things yet to come.

Whatever the ultimate meaning is, it is not a pretty picture for God’s people. And all of these things to do with end times is not given to us to scare anybody… but it is given for our information, for our knowledge of things to come….

God let’s His people know what is to come …
we shall not be taken by surprise…

We will not know the exact day or moment, but we know the season and we need to be informed of the things to come as we get deeper into the end of this age as we know it…

Jesus said that the generation that sees the budding of the fig tree (Israel), will be the generation who will see these things… let us not be deceived is the message of these end times and prophecies…

And Jesus continues – about the coming of the Son of Man – - and that is the blessed hope that we are awaiting:

v. 25, "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

26,"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Here’s that scripture we read which started us in this whole passage of scripture…

v.27 – “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (and this is the blessed hope that we are looking for…

v. 28 "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

And v. 29 – “And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;

30,"When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.

31,"So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

32,"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

Then He says:

33,"Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away."

His words are true… we can be sure of them… we can bank on them. Just as the prophecies of the old testament came true in His first coming, these prophecies from God Himself in person, will be true for His Second coming…

WoW! Amazing. What an awesome thing to anticipate.

Then we are given a warning to watch and pray:

v. 34,"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, (krī-pä'-lā in the original word -- which means the giddiness and headache caused by drinking wine to excess) … so surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

But we will not be caught unaware if we read and heed the Word of God.

35,"For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. – meaning those who are not listening to the Word of God…

v. 36,"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

So all these are the words of Jesus, written in red letters in my Bible…

Then this intense chapter passage ends with this about the Lord:

v. 37 – “And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode (or stayed) in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.

38,"And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him."

And this end times prophecy we just read is from Luke chapter 21… which took place around 30 A.D. during the very last days of Jesus’ ministry… and is also reported by Matthew in chapter 24, and Mark in chapter 13… which you can read when you have a moment.

Music Interlude

Narrative #3

And so, continuing on… yes there is so much of what we read in these passages happening right now… I mean here we are … we have arrived in the book of revelation…

Just this week I was reading some headlines:

--Floods & Drought Devastate Crops Around The Planet - Global Food Crisis Coming?
--New Concerns About Health Effects As 5G Networks Go Up Nationwide
--Asleep At The Wheel? Fewer Pastors Concerned About Religious Liberty
--Poll: Half Of American Adults Expect War With Iran Within Next Few Years
--Nuclear Showdown in Iran: Revealing The Ancient Prophecy of Elam - Book & DVD Special

And it goes on and on – this is just 1 prophecy news outlet… there are many more as I’m sure many of you already know…

But, again, keeping people aware and informed of these things is not to scare people, it is to prepare people… we need to be ready…. Some skip over these hard readings but, how will we know if we don’t talk about it… and what better place is there than to read about it in the Word of God…

For God does not deceive… what man says can be, but not God… he is not a deceiver nor a lyar… we can trust Him and we can trust that He is in control and that He will take care of His people, no matter what…

Yes God is in control and we don’t know the time nor the hour… in the meantime though, in the midst of it all, there are good things taking place and being reported…

Really…

There are some good news...

As I said at the opening of this service, there are some good news and let me now get to that…

(List was given of news items from the previous program of some years ago which are now out of date, including some elections that had been won stretching across the U.S., Brazil, Hungary and Italy.)

This kind of thing is happening in other countries as well where people are praying for change to happen in their own localities… and that is very good news…

And that means there is hope for the Americas, US and Canada and any other country where YOU might be living…

...but as we can see, it takes people fasting and praying, and working in each their own communities… supporting the right leaders and expecting miracles from God… people have to do also, not just fast and pray… but they have to support and talk and help their local representatives…

We see that even in the Old Testament where the people got on their knees and repented and called upon God…

Unfortunately, they usually did not do that until they were down and desperate – it’s not during times of affluence that the people think about God… it is when they are at the bottom and nothing else can work – except God…

It shouldn’t be like that… we would not get into trouble if we kept God in our lives, schools, public places… and kept the 10 commandments at hand as our manual for living a good life…

So let’s not wait until we’ve reached desperation – which some have already done in some places – before we call on the Lord… as it was so well said by Lincoln” “our task is not to claim whether God is on our side, but to pray earnestly that we are on His side”

(Music Interlude)

Narrative #4

(Referring to the previous music above which is given in the link below)...

...yes the Crimson river speaks of the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross for our salvation, the redemption – of the whole world – one individual at a time… that means you and me…

Do you know this Jesus that we are talking about…

If you don’t, just ask Him to come into your heart… and He will… “Come to me , all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Are you laboring and weighed down with the troubles of this life? Come to Him, He is inviting you right now… just say,

"Lord, I come to you right now and I ask that you would come into my heart, and take over my life… I’m tired of trying on my own, I want to do it your way… thank you for your Word, thank you for the message of the Gospel… I repent of my sins and ask that you wash me and make me a brand new child of God… from this day on..."

Closing Narrative…

Before I dismiss the service today, I want to read to you the Blessing that was read to the people of God in Numbers 6:24-26 which is the benediction from God to you today:

“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

I hope and pray that you will come back next Sunday at SpiritFM.ca, 7 am and 7 pm pacific time. And if you want to hear the service again at any time, you can go to my website at TimingRevelation.com, and click on the Radio Shows navigational tab along the left side. The replays are available there for five weeks, then they are transcribed into articles as new radio shows are put up.

I encourage you to go to your Bible and read further on the scriptures that were given throughout the program today. And if you like these programs and you've been blessed, call or write the station and let them know... if you said the prayer and have accepted the Lord or you've been healed or touched in some way by the Holy Spirit, write to me on the contact form of this web site...

...and this web site is also where you will find the Free Offer of the “Christian Growth and Maturity Chart” that I talked to you about in the last weeks... you will see the graphic on any page called “Get your free CGM Chart”, click on it and it will take you to a page that will tell you about it and how you can subscribe to my newsletter to get your free copy of the Chart sent to you.

Until next week, Maranatha, the Lord is coming, very soon. Goodbye and Blessing.

/DMH

Click here to hear the song "A Crimson river".

/DMH

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Blessings,