Fourth Quarter Fire - Eternity Eyes & Legacy Lives

I am just going to tell you a little bit about the high school football team I got to work with for a few years.

I was a tackle dummy And uh it was actually our local high school where I was campus life director in New Jersey.

And uh when they started out, um when I w was with them they yeah they are the Wayne Valley I Indians, believe it or not, and they were um They were two and nine uh in their uh yeah, win two lose nine in um early on.

And then they got a new coach.

And that new coach worked him like crazy.

And uh they, I mean, he really, I mean, they had triple sessions in the heat of August and pulse runs and I mean it was brutal.

He really made sure they were in the weight room.

The coaches dropped in to make sure you were there.

And actually, before long they were in the state championship.

They won the state championship In fact, one of their players, let me introduce to you, that's number 76, Brad Hutchcraft.

And he would like a round of applause, please, for playing on the now The rumor in our high school was that our linemen, which Brad was one, actually uh there was significance to their numbers Because the linemen wore their IQ on their jersey.

So isn't that right, Brett?

So that that's what the backs all said.

So anyway, that was the uh that was the rumor.

They um they they really they worked so hard.

I mean and he was building endurance in this team and they had uh a real they had a battle cry.

And it it put them in good stead even in their final championship game.

You know, like, coach, you're killing us.

And he said, guys, the fourth quarter's ours.

We're gonna own the fourth quarter.

And when the other team is wearing out, what I'm doing right now is building a team that can be a fourth quarter team.

And so their battle cry was, right Brad?

Where are you?

Yeah, the fourth quarter dozed off.

Brett, we're talking about you.

Um the fourth quarter is ours.

Well That is very much what we're going to talk about this morning.

Because that's what Jesus is going to talk about this morning in week zero, the final week before the cross.

Guys, the fourth quarter.

We got some tough stuff coming up here, but I just want you to know the fourth quarter is ours.

It's interesting that as the cross is literally, and you know, Jesus knows when that's coming, he says the time has come, the cross is literally looming in front of him.

We may be something like 96 hours before or less before he will be arrested, tortured, and nailed to a cross.

And it's amazing what he spends time talking to the disciples about.

He starts looking way past the cross.

And looking at that event through eternity eyes, I'll say it again.

When you see what's going on right now against a backdrop of eternity, you make a whole different set of choices.

So he is looking way beyond the cross at much more and eternity.

So since he did, we're going to.

The countdown to the cross, and it is, this is interesting.

It is as he is counting down to the cross that he does more teaching about his return.

Than any other time in his ministry.

He doesn't talk a whole lot about that in the Gospels until the cross is almost there.

And suddenly he's looking past the cross And he's looking at his glorious return.

Well, apparently, again, I say there must be a lot for us to learn from his last week.

So what what he does is he's he's going to ask us to get the wide angle lens out, not right now, and look at the big picture and do what he's doing to see our story against the backdrop of how the story ends.

You cannot rightly write the next chapter of your story unless you make, you know how this story ends and you line up The chapter you're living now with how the story is going to end.

He knows his disciples are their world is going to be rocked.

The bottom will drop out of it.

And just before that, he says, guys, you need to know the end of the story And so, of all times to be thinking about his return, it's right before the cross.

This is going to create a backdrop for what would otherwise be just the despair of the cross.

Look at Luke 21, 27.

I'll take you to the end of the story before we even develop it.

At that time Now, I'm gonna yes, he will be hanging on a cross in about 96 hours.

But there's a time coming, boys, when they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

What an incredible piece of news to see how the story is going to end.

So just before he's leaving, he's talking about his returning He said, if I go, I will come again.

I will come again.

And for 2,000 years that has been called by believers, in the words of the Bible, the Blessed Hope.

And indeed it is.

Now, let me just say this.

When you look at your life through eternity eyes, And you look at the chapter you're in in light of how the story is going to end, you make very different choices.

If you just look at your current situation and what you can see right now, you will make Probably choices that will not stand the test of time.

If you look at your situation in light of how this story is going to end, you'll make very different choices.

This changes everything.

This eternity perspective You know, we got uh so let's say uh this has actually happened.

Um Doug is in the car with three kids in the back seat, enjoying every minute.

Of a 12-hour drive.

I want you to tell me what they're saying.

Are you No no you need to do it like a kid, you ready?

Are we dangerous?

They're still in Arkansas.

And somehow they they pull it off.

Now we didn't have little video games to play when our kids were growing up.

No.

No, we just had aren't we hanging out?

Our kids were eminently patient.

Not.

And we would sell them, we just simply said Guys, leave each other alone.

And we had something we called a five-finger surprise.

One, two, three, four, five.

Surprise!

So we said if you don't want a five-finger surprise Shut up.

So But you know what?

They were able to navigate the trip.

Because we're going to Disneyland We're going to Disney World.

And you know what?

You can tolerate the trip if you know you're going to end at Disneyland You can tolerate, because you know the end of the story, you can tolerate.

You keep, we say, how many times do we say to God, am I there yet?

No, but you're gonna love where we're going.

You make totally different choices.

You can get through a lot of stuff if you know that Disneyland's at the other end.

Um How many of you uh how many ladies in the room have had more than one baby?

Yeah, okay.

I said did and I that was probably because you enjoyed labor so much, right?

You said, honey, that was so much fun.

Could we do that again?

And I mean there are people who go back, I mean Karen went back two more times after we had Lisa.

And some of you have just really enjoyed it and taken personally the charge to multiply and replenish the earth.

And uh you you no, you hated the pro you don't like the process.

I don't know firsthand much about it, but been very close to it.

But you see, a woman knows this, that this painful process, which lasts a relatively short time, it may not feel like it at the time , ends in a beautiful result that lasts a lifetime.

You see what we should know from how we come into the world how the processes of God work.

Painful process. relatively short, leading to a beautiful result that lasts a long time.

So this is why eternity eyes are so important To be able again to see where this is going to go.

After Karen 's homegoing , May of 2016 , I wanted to read again 1 Thessalonians 4, and some of you will know that's the uh You know that the dead in Christ, the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and uh the dead in Christ shall rise first, and so on.

But three words just leaped out of of that passage that then weren't to me main words before.

Suddenly these three words were like some of the most important words in that great passage.

It says, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up.

Together with them.

And I put her name in there.

Forget them.

Together with Karen.

I underline that again and again, together with them.

You see, eternity eyes, when you can see the end of the story, it makes the dark chapter.

A whole lot easier to deal with and you make different choices.

Well Jesus is doing that.

He's doing that in the what we're gonna look at today.

So remember I told you there's six mountain peaks?

I was surprised.

I wasn't surprised by Palm Sunday But I was surprised to see that in the context of the cross, in his last week, when he's going to cover the stuff that really matters, We go to a second mountain peak.

I guess we could call it Mount Return.

Because now. . .

He has one of his most important things that week is the perspective of his return.

That's what we're going to look at this morning.

Now here's how it got started.

Mark chapter 13.

This is after Palm Sunday.

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, look at these massive stones.

What magnificent buildings, huh?

Wow.

Do you see all these great buildings?

Replied Jesus.

Yeah, yeah, that's what we're talking about.

Yeah, not one stone will be left on another.

And in fact, in about thirty-five years that would happen.

Everyone will be thrown down.

You know, it's interesting that this whole conversation is triggered by the disciples' fascination with earth stuff Like, Lord, this is pretty impressive, isn't it?

And Jesus said, no, earth stuff doesn't impress me.

Because guess what, guys?

It's all going away, boys.

It's all the the center, the epicenter of of God on this planet, that massive, glorious temple, stand on the Mount of Olives, look at the sun gleaming on this beautiful white majestic temple.

It will be a pile of rubble within some of your lifetime So oppressed with Earth stuff.

We're all oppressed with buildings and organizations and political things and all kinds of stuff.

And Jesus says, it's all going away, boys.

In fact, let me tell you what really matters.

I want to put everything in the perspective of the thing that ought to be, the thing that shapes your future choices.

Do you know where he's standing?

He's standing on the Mount of Olives.

Let's uh go over to the book of Zechariah and see why this is pretty cool Where Jesus is going to talk about his return.

On that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two.

From east to west, forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

I'll tell you what, I stood on Temple Mount in Israel.

I looked over at the Mount of Olives And I thought, man, that thing is going to be split.

Jesus is going to land there.

That's his landing zone.

Boom!

And it will just move.

I guess it will be mounts of olives, then I don't know.

But he is standing telling them about this where he's going to come back to.

Is this cool or what?

So What does he tell them and what does it have to do with us?

We're going to find the second life accelerant as we get toward the end of this, but there are two revelations in his last week about the end of the story.

Let's take the first one.

The final countdown.

He describes the final countdown to the ultimate, the one who will write the last chapter of human history will be King Jesus.

So let's look at what he describes.

Luke 21, verses 8 to 11.

He replied, Watch out that you are not deceived, for many will come in my name, claiming I am He, and the time is near.

Do not follow them.

When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened.

These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.

Then he said to them, nation will rise against nation.

By the way, that when you see the word Nathan, a nation like that, usually That is the word ethnos in the Bible from which we get ethnic groups, and it doesn't necessarily mean nation-states like we know today countries.

It means the ethnic groups, the people groups of this of this world.

Ethnoi will rise against ethnoi and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events, and great signs from heaven.

Now, Jesus gives signs of what's going to happen, and this is not, you know, there are people who like to play a cosmic game of clue.

And have this all figured out, you know, and they they they get fascinated.

I'll tell you what, people have had Jesus coming back so many times And and thus making it shaking people's confidence in Scripture by trying to do exactly what Jesus said nobody should do.

I know a guy in Southern California who's a Prophecy Guru and he's so frustrated cause his sixth Antichrist just died on him.

He's had six guys and they're all gone So um there's any, I mean there are people who see a lot of stuff going on, you know.

One guy said to me, he said, Ron, you know, we uh we are in the end times.

He said, you see Prophecy being fulfilled, I said, what are you talking about?

He said, Well, the Bible says the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend.

Come on.

Now I don't I don't know.

But so don't go there.

Um This is we are not a political movement at all.

So um you know why I think and I of course people argue over the rapture.

When is there are we gonna are Christians gonna be taken up before the tribulation or in the middle of it or not, you know, they're post-trib I believe I have got a way to bring peace to the body of Christ on this issue if they would only all subscribe to my, what I think is a very unique rapture theory.

I believe everyone is going to be raptured when they thought they were So the pre-tribs will go before, the mid-tribs will go in the middle, the post-tribs will go afterwards.

Everybody can be right.

Some just might wish they had a different view.

That's all.

So um aren't you glad you came?

So um no Jesus is not giving this what the world's going to be like so we can play cosmic clue and say, oh, I think I got this piece figured out and this piece figured out.

You know why I think he gives us this?

Because he wants Us to be reminded by our world, by our news, by our headlines, that he is coming back and he wants us to always be ready.

And so these events that seem to line up, you say, man, we have a lot of earthquakes.

Man, we have the pestilence.

Boy, the conflict in the world and the the danger of the world.

It's true.

Yeah, a lot of it sounds He wants us to be ready.

He wants to keep this on our radar, and he uses world events to do that.

Now, let's look at real quickly a description of the world Jesus said he would come back to.

First of all, it's going to be dangerous times.

2 Timothy 3.

1.

Look at this.

Mark this.

There will be terrible times in the last days.

Why?

Well, let's go to some things that Jesus said.

First of all, in Mark 13, watch out that no one deceives you.

Many will come in my name, claiming I am He will deceive many.

There are going to be times, it's going to be times of deception.

There are going to be So many deceptive but attractive ideas about God and about heaven and about truth.

It'll be times of deception deception.

Mark 13, 12, another thing Jesus said.

Brother will betray brother to death.

And a father, his child, children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

It's going to be a time of disintegration of the family.

Literally, families disintegrating.

Thirdly, according, we already read the verses about this, it's going to be times of distress.

Distress in families, in nature, we heard the verses, didn't we?

Among nations and even between believers And that literally where uh there's a ver we saw the verse that said that um there will be um, I forget which one it was now, we're going through a bunch of it once.

No, before, no, don't try to find it.

It's a few times ago.

But in one of the gospel accounts, he talks about perplexity, that there will be, and my Bible says, times of perplexity.

I looked up the Greek word and it's a porei and it means not knowing what to do.

The whole world will be in a state of not knowing what to do.

That's what this word means.

Not knowing which way to go, a state of someone who has lost their way.

The whole world will be like, we have no idea, we have no answers.

Nothing seems to be working.

That's the kind of world.

It's also going to be a time of twisted love.

And treasures lost.

Go with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3 and let's get to Paul's perspective here in just a minute.

Some things you need to know about this and this might sound a little bit like a news uh report on today's news.

Uh let's go so keep going here.

Terrible times in the last days.

People will be Lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving.

Slanderous.

We could match this up with the newspaper probably, without self-control.

Brutal, not lovers of the good. treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

Having a form of godliness, they're spiritual.

But denying its power having nothing to do with such people.

That word, terrible times will come.

In the Greek, it means full of trouble, savage, fierce times will come.

I think, not to say that we're seeing all that now, but we are seeing all that now.

Why?

Why will it be a dangerous time?

It's not because of weapons.

It's not because of armies.

It's not because of terrorism.

It's because of what people will become That's what's going into dangerous world.

People will trade love for God and love for each other for loving three things.

Here's what this passage said.

Number one, they will love themselves.

Lovers of themselves.

It will be a selfie generation that precedes the return of Jesus.

Lovers of themselves.

Secondly, they will love their money They will love themselves, they will love money, and they will love pleasure.

Those are the three things that the three twisted loves, three things where never meant to be loved, but you notice what they all have in common?

themselves, money, pleasure, they're all about me.

My pleasure, my money, me.

It's all about me.

That's why it's a dangerous world Now I said it's a time of twisted loves.

Love gets twisted, because it all turns into me.

I love me And tragic losses.

Let's go back to chapter 3 in 2 Timothy there, Justin, the later verses from 2 on.

Yeah.

What you know in C, let me give you a quick Greek lesson here.

If you put an A in front of a Greek word, it means without.

It's literally like saying without.

So you say ah and when you say ah in Greek, you're saying it's without this.

You don't see this in English, but if you read it in the Greek New Testament, you see ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, all the way through this passage.

I just said this.

This is how Paul described the last days world.

There will be without gratitude, there will be no gratitude.

Without obedience, there won't be obedience.

Without mercy, there won't be mercy.

Without self-control, there won't be self-control.

Without holiness, no.

Without love, without forgiveness, and without a love for goodness.

This is the final countdown that Jesus was talking to his disciples about.

Also, according to what he told them on the Mount of Olives, it's going to be a time with Christians collapsing.

At the time, Christians should be at their most animated, their most active.

They will be falling apart.

Look at Mark 13, 5, 6.

Many will come in my name, claiming I am He, and will deceive many.

And as we get into other scriptures, they're going to deceive many Christians.

So many of them are going to be, these people are going to come corrupting the faith and bringing in, kind of sowing darkness in the middle of the light. and bringing in false teaching with the teaching of truth.

So there will, and this is apostasy.

Then and look at Matthew 24, 10.

It says this.

Not only will they be corrupting the faith, Matthew 24, 10 says, at that time many will turn away.

From the faith.

And we'll betray and hate each other.

This is deserting the faith.

Not only are they corrupting it, but they're deserting it.

This is abandonment.

We've got apostasy, we've got abandonment.

And then we'll go to another verse in a minute, but just take my word for it.

This is the most common thing it's going to be, the Christians will look like will be extinguishing the faith.

The fire is going to go out Here's what we're going to find out as we look at this next passage.

Don't lament if you don't like what's going on, don't lament the culture.

Lament the Christians.

We come into this room and it's totally dark.

Don't blame the darkness.

Darkness is always dark.

Because the light isn't on.

We can do something about the darkness if we just turn the lights on.

But if you say, boy, this world, it's those, it's those, yeah, Republicans, Democrats Progressives, abortionists, pornographers.

God says, nope, it's my people.

The light is not on.

So don't blame the culture.

Dark is always dark.

Blame the absence of the light.

So here we go.

This is where we get into it now.

Two unprecedented explosions Jesus said would precede his return.

Here in his waning hours before the cross.

Let's go to Matthew 24.

These are are just pivotal verses for my understanding of our times.

Because of the wickedness, the increase of wickedness.

We're going to have standby a little Greek lesson here in a minute.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most, and this is speaking of believers, most Most.

The love of most will grow cold.

But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom, this good news of my kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all ethnic groups, all nations.

And then, then, when you see those two things happen, listen for some trumpet sounds.

I'm coming.

First explosion, there's going to be an explosion of sin.

Literally, there's going to be a massive explosion of sin before Jesus comes back.

There's always been wickedness in the world.

But what that word means in the Greek is rapid multiplication.

You are going to see viral sin.

Sin viralized across the planet.

Like a deadly virus.

Going faster than it's ever gone, farther than it's ever gone, deeper than it's ever gone.

The word for sin there is anomia.

Hear the ah part?

That means no law.

Ah no meyah.

No law.

No boundaries.

Total disregard for God's law.

If you want a word for it, I call it a sinami.

Not a tsunami.

There will be a tsunami before Jesus comes back.

But side by side with that, there's going to be an explosion of gospel So you've got, on the one hand, you've got sin exploding across the planet.

On the other hand, you've got the gospel and this race for lives, this race for souls.

So you're going to have viralized sin and viralized gospel.

And you know what?

When Jesus said that, I think some people must have been scratching their heads.

If you're standing there in Jerusalem in those days, you're like.

How in the world could the good news of Jesus get within the reach of everybody on this planet, basically?

How in the world could sin spread, sin rapidly, just quick spread?

How would that happen?

Technology.

Two thousand years after Jesus tells his guys about this, on the place where he's going to return.

Both of those are possible in our generation because of technology.

And let me just say this, I think you can tell.

This ministry is as committed as we've ever been to capturing the power of the most powerful delivery system of any message in the history of the world, online, internet, digital communication, to deliver this message to the ends of the earth.

There is a race going on in our world, folks between the explosion of sin and the explosion of gospel.

So in the days leading up to the coming of Jesus, Christians will be in one of two groups.

One group is the cold.

The cold.

These are the people whose love has grown cold.

Why?

Because the explosion of sin has numbed them.

Um when I m our family moved while I was um in uh junior high to a a town in northern Illinois.

And when I, first time I went into town, I said, what in the world does that smell?

What do the locals say?

Yeah, what smell?

We don't smell.

There was a green giant plant there.

They made green giants.

No, it was but here 's Green they said, oh that's the green giant plant.

I've said, what in the world?

They said, yeah, that's rotting pea vines.

I I don't know much about rotting pea vines except do they smell.

But nobody there smelled it.

Pine Bluff, Arkansas, beautiful Savannah, Georgia, charging, charming place.

To me, they have one thing in common.

They both stink Because they have paper mills.

Go there and what do the people say?

What smell?

They've been around us so much?

They're immune to it That's what's going to happen to God's people before Jesus comes back.

Sins so deep, so common, so accepted, so permeating everything.

What smell?

Won't even notice the stink.

Jesus said the love of most will go cold.

What happens when love grows cold in a human relationship?

Say a marriage.

Well, people who were close become distant.

Things become more mechanical in your relationship.

Kind of just going through the motions and little time spent together.

When the love of God's people go cold.

What was close would become distant.

Mechanical.

Going through the motions.

Checking the boxes.

Little time spent together.

Sin kills love.

And it will before Jesus comes back.

And God's people simply will be the decisive days of human history, and most of God's people will be asleep.

When they have never been needed more.

Seven and a half billion people on planet Earth.

When Jesus gave the Great Commission, there were 300 million.

Or 25 times the number of people.

If that was a great commission, what is it now?

It's the Great O mission.

That's what it is.

Recent survey said 76 % of American Christians can't even tell you what the Great Commission is.

Jesus' final orders And we have a very comfortable Christianity.

I wonder where my glasses went.

Well, they're probably back there somewhere.

I think I did not bring them up here.

But um let me I think I can read this.

All I have to do is have a long arm.

Listen to this very interesting observation by John Piper.

How many Christians set their sights on a Sabbath evening of life?

Thank you.

These have been elusive all day.

Today.

I don't know why my glasses don't like me.

They keep running away from me.

Listen to this.

This is very interesting.

How many Christians set their sights on a Sabbath evening of life?

Resting?

playing, traveling, and so on, the world substitute for heaven.

Because they do not believe that there will be one beyond the grave, apparently.

The mindset is that we must reward ourselves in this life for our long years of labor Eternal rest and joy after death is irrelevant.

What a strange reward for a Christian to set his sights on.

Twenty years of leisure while living in the middle of the last days of infinite consequences for millions of unreached people.

What a tragic way to finish the last lap before entering the presence of the king who finished his so differently.

You know, that's why I tell people that my definition of retire is to retire, put new tires on, and go faster and farther than ever.

I don't know any sport where you slow down when you get near the end of the game Right?

Don't you speed up?

Don't you don't you dig deep?

Find new reserves?

To push harder than ever before?

And so there's no slowing down The decisive days of human history, and good night to God's people.

So you got the cold.

Bad news.

Jesus said that would be most of us.

But there's the bold.

There's also the bold.

These are the people who see what time it is on the game clock, and they start playing fourth quarter offense Because let me tell you, it's a world with no middle ground.

There's no gray So that now that we've got Jesus' description of the final countdown, that's the context.

Now let's get down to how we're supposed to live.

This is the fourth quarter call.

This is fourth quarter stuff, and the call from Jesus is going to help us know how to be.

2 Peter 3. 11 asks this question.

What kind of people ought you to be?

I think the King James says, How should we then live?

In light of all this.

Now comes.

We've seen eternity eyes.

Now here's what legacy living looks like.

And I'll tell you what I can summarize You step up your game.

When it's late in the game, you step up your game.

And you're not happy.

You're not content with how you played the first three quarters No, we step up our game.

Because I'll tell you why, the other side sure will Oh, let me tell you, the other team.

Oh yeah.

Revelation chapter 12, it says this, woe to you, O earth, the devil has gone down to you.

He is filled with fury.

Why is the devil so angry?

Because he knows his time is short.

And you can bet his fourth quarter offense is fully engaged with a masterful strategy game plan.

You don't lose the game because you didn't have the power to win it.

It's because you slow down or give up.

Oh, don't show up.

So, let's get the bees.

Here's a bunch of bees.

Right out of Jesus.

Be alert.

Given the times that we live in, be alert.

Let's go to chapter 21 of Luke and verse 36.

This is what he said.

I told you all this so you know how to be.

Be always on the watch.

Pray you'll be able to escape, escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.

Jesus said, be on guard, have your be uh watching.

Why?

Because Satan's attractively wrapped lies will be relentless the closer we get to Jesus' return.

I remember when we had a garbage strike in our town and uh that's just the worst kind of strike Well, they're all negotiating the unions trying to figure out how to get more money.

You know, your garages I I did notice the smell.

Well, I remembered then that there had been a a major uh garbage strike in New York City some years earlier, and it called to my mind a a very interesting approach because this guy's garbage like everybody's was building up and building up So he had to figure out there was nobody to take your garbage.

This is in the news.

It had to be true, right?

That he simply took his garbage, put it in boxes.

And gift wrapped it.

And then left those packages on buses and subways.

Gift wrap garbage.

That's the devil's business, baby.

Gift wrap garbage.

Something you would never pick up, but boy, you put it in a funny show on TV, you put it in a blockbuster movie, you put it to music.

You have lots of Christians buying into it?

Folks of church talking about it?

Oh yeah.

Jesus said you're gonna have to be wide awake.

You're not gonna be able to be careless.

Wide awake.

It's time to be fiercely committed to measuring everything we see and hear by God's truth.

Which leads us to the second B.

Be anchored.

Be anchored.

Matthew 24, verse 35 says, Heaven and earth will pass away.

That's what's good.

It's all going away, boys, but my words will never pass away.

Hooper Bay, Alaska, we have team members from there.

I've talked to you about it before.

It's on the Bering Sea , 400 miles from a road, 200 miles from Russia.

We need to get back there one of these days Many of those Eskimo villages, desperate places.

Well, you have to fly everywhere.

You know, you know how Alaska is.

Over here are all the roads.

This looks like I'm from Michigan, doesn't it?

Here's the thumb.

Um but over here's all the roads and everything else is just pretty much you don't you don't have an activity bus, you have an activity plane you go to your basketball games on.

Well, we we had to fly in there and it is really tricky.

Like I said, it's right on the Bering Sea across from Siberia where a lot of the weather begins.

And so uh it's very tricky flying.

And I think the first time we were flying in, there was a little strip of runway um right next, literally right next to the within a few hundred yards of the ocean.

And uh it's tricky landing.

These missionary pilots are miracle workers, and Karen actually took a course uh called a pinch hitters course. before we went to Alaska because she knew we'd be in planes, which is for to help people know what to do if the pilot croaks.

I mean honestly that's what I mean.

If the pilot dies, you know what to do.

So she, you get a basic This is Karen, you know.

So she knows what she's looking at.

She at least, you know, could save us if the something happens to the pilot.

But man, it was a horrible day.

It was, you know, a kind of a gray l clouds very low very low ceiling.

The pilot is checking the weather almost minute by minute.

And um and they're trying and you can't see Hooper Bay.

You can't see anything to land on.

All you see is this soup.

Karen was not worried.

People in the back were great for a prayer life.

It was wonderful to encourage prayer.

They landed just safely there, no problem.

Because the pilot didn't believe what his stomach said, or what the weather said.

He believed it was on the instruments.

Because they never lie.

Your feelings might.

Your environment might.

But you keep your eyes on the instruments.

Hello?

If it was ever more important to be anchored, to be knowing, to be memorizing.

God's word.

It is now.

To be alert and so your anchor, God's word that will never pass away.

2 Timothy 3, verses 13 to 16, after the dangerous days passage, evildoers and impostors are going to go from bad to worse.

If you're expecting things to improve, this is the weather forecast.

Bad to worse.

Deceiving.

And being deceived.

But as for you, but now he said this to Timothy, but as for you, child of God.

The whole world's going rapidly running away from God.

You continue in what you have learned, what you become convinced of, because you know those from whom you have learned it.

From infancy, you've known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All scripture. is God-breathed and is useful for teaching and rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness So what God says is this, you stay anchored to the truth of my word while the world is moving rapidly away from me.

But here's how Christians get seduced.

How we get spiritually seduced by erosion.

Not so much explosion.

The devil knows that if he just said, hi, I'm the devil, come with me to hell, not many people are going to be interested in that offer.

He just slowly gets you to incorporate and begin to do things and believe things and act in certain ways that still make you feel righteous because you're a whole lot better than everybody else.

I call it, and you all know this, I'll keep preaching it, the equal distance theory.

There is always an equal distance between the world of the church and the world of the lost And the lost are over here, away from God, and we're over here feeling very good about ourselves because we're not like them.

But as they start to move away from God's law and away from God's lifestyle, We move with them.

And the distance is always the same.

We're never like them.

We just end up where they were.

Except now The pace of moving away from God's stuff is highly accelerated.

And we're still equally distant from the world.

But we have moved so far into enemy territory and didn't feel a thing.

Remember that old experiment about if you put a frog?

in in room temperature water, they'll just kind of swim around.

You turn it up gradually.

They'll keep swimming around.

Bubbles will start to come.

Eventually you will have frog legs.

Because they will die.

But they didn't know they were dying, because it was only a little at a time.

Death by erosion, not explosion.

So if we drift, as our culture drifts, we will end up on the rocks.

So let me say to my brothers and sisters, you must draw your lines.

And not cross it.

Because we're going to continue to be seduced and the magnet of the world is going to continue to pull us away.

And in these days, you got to be anchored.

Several years ago, St.

Louis was fearing a record 500-year flood.

Mississippi and Missouri were converging together.

Come by St.

Louis.

Back in 93 there was a terrible flood, and so they built a high levee wall.

They said, we we that that didn't really work back then.

So they built a 50-foot levee wall In St.

Louis.

And either crossed their fingers or prayed as the water was piling up just north of St.

Louis. about to make a major onslaught to down, and if you know the downtown area is right there on the river.

Fifty foot high wall.

Build that levee high.

And that water rose to a record level.

Just short of fifty feet.

Because they were smart enough to see a flood coming and build their levy high.

Folks, the times we live in, Jesus would say to us, Build a build your wall high.

Yeah, you need to build your wall high because the flood that's coming will be unlike anything we've ever seen before.

I just mean to build a wall between you and the people who need Jesus.

Some people think build a wall means let's get in our cocoon.

But no.

How's the gospel going to spread?

But it just means you've got to know where your lines are and not exceed them, which leads to the third B, be unmovable.

Matthew 24, 13 said, in the midst of the increase of wickedness, the one who stands firm is the one who's going to make it through this.

Luke 21, 19, Jesus said, stand firm and you will win life.

Here's what I I don't know if you feel this happening already, but in these days that Jesus is describing His loyal warriors who are true to his word are going to become increasingly more unwelcome.

You feeling that at all?

You won't necessarily be the most popular person in the room.

No, you become more unwelcome and more alone.

Even at church.

If the love of most is growing cold and yours isn't, the price for faithfulness is steadily going up.

So you must make a decision And here I stand, as Martin Luther said, and I cannot do otherwise.

The Cheyenne were some of the most legendary warriors in Native America.

They weren't that big a tribe, but man, they did a lot of damage before they were finally overcome.

Partly because of the dog soldiers That was a compliment.

They were the most highly respected men in the tribe.

The dog soldiers were the last line of defense for the Cheyenne people.

They would be the last to leave the battlefield if they left.

They would be the ones who would always be out around the perimeter of the village protecting them.

They wore a sash over their shoulder.

Now it wasn't a cloth sash.

It was actually made out of twisted animal hide, so it was tough And there was a pin that would be pinned to the ground with this sash over their shoulder and down here, so they could not move, they could not leave. unless they were released by another warrior.

The point was that many of them said, I can't, I will not move.

This was a commitment to stand their ground in the battle.

I'm not leaving, I'm fighting to the death.

I guess Jesus needs some dog soldiers.

Who've got their stake in the ground and say, I'm not moving, but I have a word of caution for you Today, the gospel is being greatly hurt in this country because we are perceived as being angry, mean.

Condemning intolerant people.

Look at your notes.

We forfeit our influence if we don't speak the truth in love.

Remember this folks.

It's about winning a heart.

It's not about winning an argument.

Hello, Facebook.

It's about winning a heart.

Yes, take your stand.

Yes, be anchored.

Yes, be unmovable.

Yes, be watchful.

Be alert.

But you must be known for your love.

Speaking the truth in love.

Peter, the man who cut was the ear surgeon.

Peter is the one who tells us that when you tell about your hope, do it with gentleness and respect.

1 Peter 3.

15.

That's how people ought to feel when they're with you.

If you are standing for Jesus, you are gentle and they feel respected.

Yeah, you stand for the truth.

But you do it in a way with that's gentle and respectful.

Number four, be unafraid.

Be unafraid.

All this stuff going on in the world, it's gonna be a scary world.

Jesus said this.

When you hear of wars, uprisings, all this stuff, don't be frightened.

These things have to happen.

This is all part of the plan.

And then he said, you know, the end won't come immediately then, but you don't need to be afraid.

And then over in Matthew 24, he says.

Um yeah, once again, see to it that you are not alarmed.

Look How do you live in a world where it's increasingly lonely to stand for the truth, where you pay a higher and higher price for being a Christian, where wickedness and sin just seem to be winning?

How do you not be afraid?

You look through eternity eyes.

You look at the end of the story and you go, God 's got this.

Jesus said, when you see all that, don't worry.

I'm telling you about it.

I know it's going to happen.

It's part of the it's all happening.

I got this.

I've got this.

He doesn't want us to be overwhelmed by worry.

How many of you have ever driven through the night?

Yes?

Many of us have.

How many of you really enjoy that?

Is that your your favorite thing?

You know what?

I never understood that old saying until we drove through the night.

It's always darkest.

Just before the dawn.

Isn't it true?

The other lights in the night sky start to dim.

And it's really dark, whatever, 5 a. m. whatever it is.

And then you just see that first little first little thing gleam, you know, on the on the horizon.

Just a little couple clouds are getting a little lit up.

And slowly but surely the sun rises.

I've been around for many, many sunrises.

Remember that.

That what Jesus is saying is the darker it gets The closer it is to sunrise, baby, the darker it gets, the closer it is to the eternal sunrise.

Be faithful.

Oh, here we go.

Now we're in the home stretch.

Woo!

This is where it gets good.

He says be faithful.

Matthew 25.

It's in this context, right before the cross.

He tells the story of the man who gives 10 talents, 10 currencies to one man, five to another, two to another, says, make something out of it.

I'm not going to read the whole story to you.

You know it, but it would be like a man going on a journey, called his servants, and he entrusted what he had to them.

Every one of us in this room. is a trustee of something that's God's that he's given to us.

To one eighty five bags, another two bags of gold, another one bag, each according to his ability, then he went on his journey.

Jesus said, if I go, I'm going to go, but I will come again.

The man who received one bag of gold came.

Now the guy who had the guy who got five had ten.

The guy who got two, he got more.

The man who received one bag of gold, okay, Master, I know you're a hard man harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you've not scattered.

See, that I don't want to take any risks, you know.

So um uh basically I didn't do anything with it.

And let's go on.

So I was afraid I went out and hid your gold in the ground.

See?

It's safe.

Just like you gave it to me.

Here's what belongs to you.

His master replied, You wicked lazy servant, you knew that I harvest for I've not sown and gather what I've not scattered seed.

Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers So that when I returned, I would receive it back with interest.

I didn't give it to you to sit on it.

I gave it to you to make something out of it that would last forever.

So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.

For whoever has has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.

Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

Let's stop right there.

Now, Jesus says, okay, be faithful, because what does he say To the ones who multiplied when he gave them.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Here's my question to you.

What's been entrusted to you?

I will tell you, there is no one in this room who has not been entrusted by Jesus with something he gave to you to make something out of.

Maybe you have an ability to make friends.

What are you using that for?

Maybe you've got a musical gift.

What are you doing with that?

To make it maximally productive for Jesus.

Maybe you have a great empathy for people's feelings.

What are you doing with that?

To change lives before your master comes.

Maybe God's blessed you with the ability to make money.

What about when he comes back and looks for his ROI?

Yeah, what Jesus is saying here is I'm coming back and look for my return on my investment.

Maybe he should entrust you with artistic ability.

What are you doing with that?

To affect eternity.

You can just do stuff with it, but not what you have technical ability.

You understand the world of of digital and online stuff.

What are you doing with that?

What's his RI gonna be on that?

Um maybe you have some management ability Um what are you gonna do with that now between now and the rest of your life?

Sit on that or are you gonna multiply it?

And Jesus says, I love it.

You gave it back to me with interest.

Maybe you've got a gift of hospitality.

Yeah, you know how to just make people feel at home and safe.

So what are you doing?

Just having folks over for dinner, or are you are you doing something eternal with that?

When is he entrusted to you?

Can you write?

You see, I can't talk very much, but I write.

It's a lady right here.

Who encourages God's workers and on Ingleswings Warriors because she writes the most beautiful notes of encouragement.

She's got an ability to write.

She's giving it back to Jesus with interest.

How you doing?

On your ROI.

The question is, is is he getting back what he's given you?

Back with interest?

And how much of what you have is being invested in eternity ink?

Time to step up our game.

Whatever you've got.

Fourth quarter's ours.

Step up your game.

Whatever you've got, it's for eternity ink, looking through eternity eyes that you have.

Whatever you've done with until now.

I look at our whole ministry this way.

I look at a What I know will be the culmination of everything God's been doing in Native America that we've seen unprecedented in missions history is going to be a place to train and disciple and heal Native leaders so they can go and be the change agents for their people from now on We need people with incredible gifts.

We need a manager just to head all that.

We need so many things.

I mean, the kingdom is waiting.

So this gospel of the kingdom can be preached in the whole world.

And then the end will come.

Ireland Schindler, you know from Schindler's list. used his a lot of his wealth and his connections to save the lives of hundreds of Jews from annihilation by the Nazis At the end of the movie, Schindler's List, one of Spielberg's masterpieces.

He's saying farewell to many who have gathered together whose lives he has saved.

And they're so grateful.

But he's standing by his car.

And he says, look at this car.

That could have been ten more Jews.

He looks at a couple other of his possessions and says, five more Jews.

This gold ring.

Two more Jews.

And there's a sadness at the end.

As he said, I could have done more When Jesus comes back for his ROI we stand before him and say, I did a lot, but Doggone, I could have done more.

Step up the game And finally, Jesus said, be about the gospel.

Be about the gospel.

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, Jesus said.

John Piper made it, he boiled it down.

He said, there are three possibilities with the Great Commission.

You can go, you can send, or you can be disobedient.

Ignoring the cause is not a Christian option.

I had the privilege of being at um Billy Graham's funeral.

I was amazed to be invited.

And um there were a lot of memories of that I could tell you, but One was one that I didn't see the Brad or I think Brad saw on the telegraph of it.

All of the Graham kids stayed behind and talked to everybody who wanted to talk to them.

They were, it was time to bury their daddy right up the hill.

And they were there talking to everybody, they would not leave.

They focused, looked you in the eye, took time with everybody.

I thanked them for what that said And um Anne Gramlots, who they call Billy with the skirt, his daughter, um Anne was in a conversation with a man who came up to her.

And he said, he was telling her about the strategy he had, a plan, an idea he had to reach a lot more people for Christ.

And she was pretty simple in her response.

Here's what she said.

Do it.

But hurry up.

Jesus is coming.

I guess that's what I'd say to you.

Do it.

And hurry up.

Because Jesus is coming.

Understanding the time.

Understanding what the stakes.

And living and giving and praying to give everyone a chance at Jesus.

So from atop Mount Return, we can see this second accelerant for a high impact life.

Last night was to live authentically.

It is to live urgently.

Live with a sense of the times in which you live.

Live urgently.

Teach us to number our days aright that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

For there will be two reactions when Jesus suddenly comes among Christians.

John says in 1 John 2. 28, remain, continue in him, so that when he appears, you will be confident and unashamed before him.

At his coming, I take from that, there'll be one of two reactions the moment that Jesus breaks through those clouds in the eastern sky.

One will be hallelujah, it's what I've been living for, it's what all this is for, he's here, and the other will be shame.

Oh Jesus.

I'm so ashamed.

Continue in him.

So you'll be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

Douglas MacArthur was in the Manila Hotel when he was told that they had to leave the Philippines.

The Japanese were prevailing.

He made the very famous statement, I shall return.

There were Filipino gorillas who risked their lives in the jungles fighting the might of the Japanese army.

And when asked what kept them going, they said nothing but the promise of his return.

As the war started to turn in the favor of the Allies, MacArthur was told to skip certain places, hit certain islands, and go to Japan.

My uncle, from whom my middle name comes, was part of the invasion of the Philippines, the retaking of the Philippines.

And MacArthur said, I'm going back.

I said I would, even though he wasn't supposed to.

Many of you have seen the old movie footage.

Of him coming out of walking through the splashing through the water there and coming on shore.

Walking on shore.

There would be a parade down what is now called MacArthur Boulevard in Manila of the victorious general and the warriors who had stuck with them.

And fought because of the promise of his return.

I want to be in that parade.

When Jesus returns.

For today we are those who fight Because of the promise of his return.

We know how this ends.

We know who wins.

And however dark the day, and however huge the odds, and however high the price.

We will fight with the winning general.

And one day we will march in victory with him.