God’s people are in need of a fresh infusion of courage, comfort, honor, and hope. People across the globe are living in utter fear, primarily regarding issues over which they have no control, and sadly, that includes many Christians.

    However, the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” Actually, born-again believers are the only people who can have real courage, real comfort, real honor, and real hope because to trust in the Lord is to trust His sovereignty, and that is something we all need to start practicing.

    So, as we see the events of the final days of God’s plan of redemption unfolding, we need to read and heed Paul’s admonition to remain steadfast in our faith and to walk worthy of our calling every day and in every way, in light of our Lord’s imminent return. We will explain this further in our next sermon in this series – “Steadfastness in Light of our Lord’s Imminent Return” – This sermon is entitled: “Courage, Comfort, Honor, and Hope.” 

I believe the increase in evil and the intensity of wickedness we see in the world today is one of the major signs that God is about to unleash His final judgment upon this world. If that is true, the level of evil we are witnessing today is a picnic compared to what it will be when the Restrainer of evil is removed. In Matthew 24, Jesus described it as a time of “Great Tribulation, such as the world has never seen before.”

 To parallel the words of Jeremiah 12:5, “If we can’t tolerate the level of evil in which we live today without getting mad and angry, how will we respond when God lifts His hand of protection and allows the evil of man to come in like a flood?”  We will explain this further in our next sermon in this series – “Steadfastness in Light of our Lord’s Imminent Return” – This sermon is entitled: “When Evil is Unrestrained”

In 1983, Dr. Billy Graham published a book entitled “Approaching Hoofbeats,” describing the ride of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse during the first half of the Tribulation. Beloved, if Dr. Graham heard the sounds of those hoofs in 1983, what would he say about the events of our day?

By every measure, we are well into the Laodicean church age.
The apostasy the Apostle Paul said would come at the end of the church age is now here, as thousands of those who claimed to be Christians are turning away from God’s Word and embracing Satan’s lies.
The Antichrist’s economic system is being instituted globally.
We are being warned of global famine, perhaps as early as this fall.
The nation of Israel is in existence, and the Jews are back in Jerusalem.
The Gospel is being preached throughout the world.

The evil authorities and spiritual forces in charge of this Satanic agenda are quick to tell us that we will never return to “normal.” While “normal” may not be coming back, the Lord Jesus is, just as He promised His disciples in John 14:1-3. According to the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:4 and 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9, Jesus will soon rescue His bride from this present evil age and deliver us from the terrible Day of the Lord’s wrath. The rapture of the Church is the next event on God’s prophetic calendar.

However, this does not mean that believers of this age will be exempt from persecution. I believe there is much suffering ahead for those who truly believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, including martyrdom. We will explain this further in our next sermon in this series – “Steadfastness in Light of our Lord’s Imminent Return” – This sermon is entitled: “The History of the Antichrist.”

In His first Epistle, the Apostle John said many antichrists had already gone out into the world. He identified them as “those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.” In other words, anyone who denies the deity of Jesus Christ, or His oneness with God the Father is an antichrist.’ (1 John 4:3)

However, there is one soon to come who will be a God-denying, Christ-denying, pseudo religious leader, who will rise to power as the Antichrist.  The Apostle Paul referred to him as the lawless one, for he will be the most destructive human to ever walk on this earth. Paul also referred to him as the son of perdition, for he will be the culmination of all the Satanic forces before him, including all the false prophets, all the false teachers, and false preachers who have claimed to be spokesmen from God, but who were, and who are, in fact, speaking for Satan, and today’s pulpits are full of them

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, the Apostle Paul said, what he was telling them regarding the rapture of the Church was “by the word of the Lord.”  In other words, what Paul penned in these two letters is the clearest teaching on the subject of eschatology in the New Testament. What Paul says here is in agreement with the prophecy of Daniel, the teachings of Christ, and the divine revelations received by the Apostle John.

Yet, the divine truth Paul revealed is never taught from the majority of pulpits across the nation. The majority of today’s preachers have not studied the subject of the end times, which means they cannot preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. Secondly, they would rather preach the more pragmatic sermons to their congregation than to run the risk of filling their hearts with fear about the future.

Beloved, the only antidote to the apathy and apostasy plaguing today’s church is a proper understanding of the end time events. Living in the imminent expectation of the rapture of the Church, and looking forward to the day we will return with Him in all of His glory actually relieves us from the fear of the future, and the greater our expectation of it happening, the greater our desire to inform those we love to prepare for it.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, the Apostle Paul said, what he was telling them regarding the rapture of the Church was “by the word of the Lord.”  In other words, what Paul penned in these two letters is the clearest teaching on the subject of eschatology in the New Testament. What Paul says here is in agreement with the prophecy of Daniel, the teachings of Christ, and the divine revelations received by the Apostle John.

Yet, the divine truth Paul revealed is never taught from the majority of pulpits across the nation. The majority of today’s preachers have not studied the subject of the end times, which means they cannot preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. Secondly, they would rather preach the more pragmatic sermons to their congregation than to run the risk of filling their hearts with fear about the future.

Beloved, the only antidote to the apathy and apostasy plaguing today’s church is a proper understanding of the end time events. Living in the imminent expectation of the rapture of the Church, and looking forward to the day we will return with Him in all of His glory actually relieves us from the fear of the future, and the greater our expectation of it happening, the greater our desire to inform those we love to prepare for it.

As you know, Jesus’ first coming to this earth was in humility. Paul said, Jesus “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross,” to pay for our sins.

But, when Jesus comes again, it will not be in humility but in glory. It will not be in forgiveness, but with condemnation and judgment. His return will conclude the Day of the Lord, and that is where human history is headed.

Today, we live in “the day of man!”–   We are living in the kingdom of man, within the kingdom of darkness, which is under the authority of Satan, the god of this world. (Look at the confusion)
On the horizon is “the day of God!”- When God establishes His kingdom in that new heaven and new earth, and those He redeemed will live with Him in that one, forever day; the day of God!
However, in between those two periods of time is another period of time called “the day of Lord!”– It will begin the day after the rapture of the Church, as God pours out His judgment upon those who would not confess Jesus Christ as their Savior and submit unto Him as Lord, and it will conclude with the physical return of Jesus Christ to this earth as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

It is that period of time that we want to look at in this sermon entitled, “Understanding the Day of the Lord.”

On June 5, I will continue our new series of sermons: “Steadfastness in Light of our Lord’s Imminent Return,” and the title of this sermon is, “The Next Event on God’s Prophetic Calendar.”

Beloved, while I know these are difficult times in which to live, the fact is that God has chosen us to live in the most exciting times in human history as we watch the ancient prophecies of Scripture come to pass. While the rise in the spirit of the Antichrist is a bit unnerving, we can rejoice in knowing the Antichrist himself is not far behind, which means the rapture of the Church is even nearer, and please don’t let anyone disturb you about this, the Bride of Christ will never be under the authority of the Antichrist. I say this with absolute certainty: Those who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior and submitted unto Him as their Lord will not endure the wrath of God as described in Isaiah 13 and 24 and the judgments of Revelation 6-18.

That is not to say that Christians will be spared from the Lord’s judgment upon the United States, for I believe His judgment upon us will continue to increase to the point that the way of life we once knew will be over forever, and the goodness of America will become a memory. However, I have a peace in my heart that more than cancels out any fear about the future, and I want you to know the source of that peace, for the truth of God’s Word has become the anchor of my soul.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, the Apostle Paul assured his readers that God did not appoint us to endure His wrath which is to come upon those who rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior.
In Titus 2:13, rather than watching for the signs of the wicked Antichrist, believers are to be “looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.,” That “blessed hope”  inspires me to continue to “warn every man, and teach every man in all wisdom, that I may present every man perfect in Christ.”

We will explain this further in our new sermon series – “Steadfastness in Light of our Lord’s Imminent Return” – This sermon is entitled: “A Description of an Exemplary Church.”

How Then is He Called Son