Amen.
Well, I am very honored to be here this morning. Oh, by the way, just one other birthday.
Stick around for another day.
He did to see all the young people leave like that, but I have that. I think they probably are allergic to me.
And that's fine.
So, you know, it's really kind of interesting because Later on, when we're done here, I'm going to check my try to make sure I'm really as old.
As Fred thinks I'll be. But it really is true that I started attending this chapel in 1975.
Wow, that really… kind of freaks me out. I remember Jim Quint when he was young.
Oh, yeah. Those were interesting days. Well… So there's a movie, actually what we're going to do in this worship service is try to chill a little bit.
And you'll understand what I'm talking about here. But there's a movie called Cool Runnings, old movie. I mean, older than most people in this room right now, hopefully.
But anyway, it's about the Jamaican bobsled team. Ah, right. Jamaican bobsled team. How did that happen? Apparently it was a real event.
Now, the thing I want to mention about that movie that's interesting is When they really got serious, when they were wherever the Winter Olympics were that year and competing, what they had to do was they had to study the motion. So what they did was they memorized the course
And then you've got these three or four guys sitting behind each other on the floor in their room. And what they're doing is they're going.
Now, if you just turn the sound off and you saw that, you would think, these are apparently crazy people. But you kind of understand what they were doing. They had to memorize the course and know when to do that, and they were really putting themselves into studying and everything.
Now, I'll tell you why I think that's interesting. This last week we had a class called Islamic Context.
Well, actually, the last two weeks we've had people come in and talk to us.
So actually, Noah's the one who kind of introduced this subject. This first guy, Jameel, this tall Palestinian Christian It's a question of… What is Western? Is Christianity Western? Or is Islam Eastern, you know, Middle Eastern and everything. And so that question kind of came up and it got my head a little spun around. So really, is the Western world Christian?
Is it? Well, that's what they think it is. I mean, we might differ in some respects, but they think it's like that.
And then this week was even more interesting because we had a… a lady there who was born in Morocco As a Muslim, that's how you become a Muslim. You're just born that way.
And then she came to the United States And then she became, she said, a Christian. But then she realized at some point.
She wasn't really a Christian. She was just Western. So she had adopted certain things about the church and certain things about Jesus. You realize that, you know, a lot of people talk about Jesus and everything.
But then she kind of like stunned us a little bit and she said, but then I was working for a Christian organization And I kept hearing it and we kept going to prayer meetings. And then I realized I wasn't a Christian. And then I became a Christian.
And hmm, you know, so this got me thinking. And how that fits together with the opening thing about cool runnings is the idea of going through the motions.
In other words, if all those guys had done was sit in that room going like this and going like this, that would have been crazy, except they really did get out on the course.
And they really did it. So they weren't just going through the motions. They were really out there doing it.
And I just want to say it like this. Is that I think a lot of times In the Western world, in the United States, where we are right now, we just go through the motions.
And we need to kind of come before the Lord and ask ourselves.
How real is this really to me? If it's not real, Lord, then help me to break out of it. Help me to figure out the way it's supposed to be.
The good news about this message is you should all be encouraged when we're done here.
Even if you're going through the motions, I'm going to hopefully show you some texts here that will give us a little bit of oomph, but the idea is is that there are greater days before us. I don't care what your age is in this room.
I can almost start talking from experience. By the way, I want to tell you that I'm really convinced that 70 is the new 50.
In case you're wondering. So everybody can sort of adjust appropriately.
For you 20-year-olds, you just got born. But anyway, there are great days before us, but it's time to break out of justice.
Doing the motions. So one of the things I wanted to tell you about is this.
When I started attending the chapel. We had preachers from all over. We would haul in guys from Moody and guys from Emmaus. At that time, it was in Chicago and all sorts of other guys here. And I remember… Just having come to faith or following the Lord
Some guy preached a sermon on the love of God. I'm loving God.
And I remember, I was probably really depressed that day for whatever reason. I had a lot of things to work through.
But I remember walking out the front door, I can almost show you where I was standing on the sidewalk out there.
And saying, you know, nobody was out there so I could talk out loud and going, you know, God, I really believed everything he said.
I really do. And if you ask me right now if I love you, I'm going to tell you no.
I want to get there, but I don't know how to do it.
And the only thing that occurred to me was get in the word of God. And this is what I'm, I have to, you know.
I studied discipleship, so I've got to give you a little bit of discipleship here before I get into text.
But it is the thing, and it starts with us. It starts being in the word of God. Now, I'm not going to go there, but John… 14 through 17.
John 14 talks about love. You find the word love so much. And if you're reading a one-year Bible, if you just underline that word, you will find it over and over and over again.
In the Old Testament. Jesus says, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. I mean, love always is shown by doing something, right? If you love a girl, what do you do?
You treat her nice and you kiss her, right? Eventually, okay? But there's actions involved in it, right?
There are actions I love. Well, what do you do? Nothing.
Well, what is that, right? If you love, you do stuff.
And he says, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, he who loves me will be loved by my father. And I will love him and will manifest myself to him.
I'm going to come close. We are going to be together. You are going to sense that love. And I will tell you, after 50 years, it works.
Ephesians chapter 1 through 3. I remember issuing the challenge here one time to memorize that. Probably nobody did. It's okay. My feelings aren't hurt.
But if you look at that chapter, you will find the word love. Those three chapters, you will find the love. And it culminates with a love that you will never accomplish on this planet, but it's put there by God.
For us to pursue. And if we do that, I guarantee we will not Because here's the thing about Christianity. In some places, when they think of Christianity, they think of Hollywood, they think of our political system, they think of all this stuff, being Western.
Christianity, if you really want to boil it down, is being saved by Jesus and falling utterly in love with him and telling others.
About him. That is all it is. But it's the biggest thing in the world.
It's huge. Why is it so hard to witness? It's because our hearts start shrinking. Why is it so hard to witness? Because we think we're here to be busy.
Why is it so hard to witness and talk to our neighbor? Because We're scared to death of what?
I don't know. If Jesus looms bigger in our hearts. We've got nothing to fear.
It's about him, not us. And, you know, the verse about on discipleship that I like, I mean, it's a great three-point sermon, by the way, for you younger people who might be preaching sermons or giving devotionals or whatever the case is.
Mark chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, and he called them to be with him.
That is the privilege. That is the wonderful thing about Being saved is we can be with him.
We could be with him. And I think discipleship groups encourage other people, groups of three or five or whatever, that meet regularly. We're encouraging each other to be with him and stay in the word. You know the thing where it says…
Come to me all who are labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.
And learn from me. See, disciplining, humbling ourselves.
To take his yoke upon us. I think of Martha and Mary. I mean, everybody pretty much knows that illustration, right? You got Martha. She's this ambitious, ministry-driven person. She's got people at her house and she's making plates and she's putting that pork cutlet right
Well, it couldn't be poor cutler. She's putting a lamb cutlet right there and she's drizzling the gravy all over it. She's making this beautiful plate, losing her mind, by the way. So she starts yelling at Jesus.
About Dopey Mary. You know, those who can… Do those who can't sit at Jesus's feet because they're dopes So she's sitting at Jesus's feet.
I mean, just picture that. What would it be like for a woman to sit at any man's feet What would it be like for a man to sit at another man's feet? That's even worse.
I mean, that's super dope. But the point is, Jesus says she has chosen a good portion that will not be taken away from her. And then the next thing Don't Be Merry does is she takes this alabaster flask worth a year's wages at minimum wage. That's still a hunk of money.
And she breaks it and pours it on Jesus's head and she puts it on his feet. And what does Jesus say?
She's doing it for my burial. And the disciples those bright bulbs of devotion, you're not going to die. What?
She caught it. She understood. She believed him.
And he says, wherever the gospel is preached. What she has done here will be told in memorial.
In memory of her. Are you able or willing to humble yourself and sit at Jesus's feet?
That, I think, is the greater mark of being a disciple.
Than running against the wall at 50 miles an hour. Like some of us do in ministry. And then it says in Mark 3, that he called them to be with them, to be sent out to preach. It's just telling people
What God is doing in our lives. The demoniac.
Had no formal training. We probably would have accepted Amatimaeus. I don't know.
He had no formal training. Jesus just says, go out and tell them how God has had mercy on you.
That being explained, how he's had love on you. How did that love look up?
Play out. He freed you, and now you're in your right mind. So go tell other people the guy goes.
And you can do that too. We were listening to this. We took a group to Wheaton for Amplifying. There's one guy who's who was teaching there, he says.
You have hundreds, thousands of testimonies. Hopefully. Tell people what God has done in your life this last week.
Just share that with people. Because he's living.
And he's amazing. And then the third thing is… to have authority.
And there is have authority to cast out demons, but we know at the end of the road, it's have authority to make disciples. Now, here's the deal.
I mean, what is one of the beloved verses with the Plymouth Brethren? I like this one, where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.
Now, for some assemblies I've been in, that is an excuse to stay small.
In other words, as long as there's two or three of us, we're, you know, we're in high cotton, we're doing good.
You know, kind of justifying our existence. But if you look at that verse, what that verse is saying, this is in this incredible portion.
I think I even have it here. Matthew 18. 19 through 20, for where two or three had gathered in my name, there am I in their midst.
He says that if two of you on Earth agree on anything.
And in election year, is that possible? If you agree on anything, my father in heaven will give it to you for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.
It's authority. We have authority on earth to ask God to do things, to bind this and to loose that, to open this door and to close that door.
And he expects us to use it. But here's the thing. We have turned… Christianity into a solo adventure.
But he says where two or three are gathered in my name. So you need discipleship groups. You got to have two or three guys so that you can come together. Here, I'll give you a prayer request right now.
I don't know, do any of you know Frank… Yamini.
Frank Communi used to be the missions prof a missions prof at Emmaus.
His son works there right now and does… tech. But Frank has just been asked, this guy has got to be As old as I am, if not older, he has just been asked by the government of Suriname So north, eastern South America, over that way.
To set up the infrastructure to fight against corruption in their country because they're about to start Drilling for oil and they're expecting a huge windfall from that and they want the money to be used properly.
Here is a brethren guy, a believer who is respected by the government, and he's pulling another brethren guy who's a believer into this so they can set up some governmental controls So that money can go out and To show you that he's already being successful, he's receiving death threats.
Because South America is known for many things, including local corruption.
Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst. And we can pray, God.
See, there's tons of stuff we can be praying for. You can be praying about your neighbor.
For your neighbors, but you need to get together in groups and do this.
And God says, Jesus says, when my father hears that, he'll start opening doors.
He'll start closing doors. I mean, this is the whole genius of what he says in 1 Timothy chapter 2.
Why we pray for kings and for those who are in high positions.
So that he will open up doors for the gospel. We need to be doing that. Okay, well, that's sort of my public service announcement here in all of this.
But what we're going to be talking about is this. The Lord has stuff that he wants you to do. He still wants you to do.
We don't get to retire. We don't get to retire. Now, he may slow us down a little bit, and you know how that happens. But the thing is.
Don't give up because better days are coming. So, for example, you've heard the expression before of some person being buried with a spoon.
And you go, what? You know, you go and you look at the body there and you got a spoon up in front. It's like, what's that?
It's like they expect that when they get to heaven, they're getting dessert.
Well, here, what I'm going to tell you is take the knife and fork also, and if you can get a snowboard in there, do that.
That's kind of funny, but that's not going to work that way.
But the thing is, we have better days before us. And what we're going to look at, of all things, is the millennial kingdom. So if you have a Bible, look at.
Revelation chapter 20.
I was kind of betting you didn't have somebody preach on the Millennial Kingdom last week, and if you tell me you did, now I'm really… messed up, but so don't tell me. The millennial kingdom, what in the world is that thing?
The millennial kingdom just happens to be a very, very important thing in God's plan of redemption. I mean, it's like amazingly important. We hardly ever talk about it anymore. We got tired of talking about that stuff back in the 80s and 90s.
And we don't, you know what? At school, and you can ask Noah this because he's in one of my classes But I have a party countdown calendar.
The party countdown calendar. And what that is basically is it's just me being silly But it's like if the Lord was going to come back.
You know, say in five years, how many days would there be?
And I picked a random date, and I know it's not going to be that date, so don't accuse me of saying there's a date.
But it's the idea of looking forward. When we used to have Iwana here at the chapel, like back in 1975 and 6, It was for… One of the Awana verses that I memorized as an Awana leader was for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lest we should live
Wholly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior.
Jesus Christ. We are supposed to live like that every single day.
In the expectancy of his return. And we go… Yeah, we know he's coming back.
Going through the motions. I think we should be excited. So I've got a party countdown calendar. I don't expect he's going to come in that day, but we will have a great party. It will be the 2000th birthday, even older than me, of the church.
And the Holy Spirit coming and Jesus taking his throne. Oh, anyway.
But this fits into all of that because this is where God is going. This is an important event, the millennial kingdom.
Now, I don't know if you know this. But God.
Has sort of very graciously held himself up for examination. By mankind.
In a sense, by the angelic community. This all fits into how he is doing things.
When Abraham said, when Abraham looked up in that sky that one time, this is 2,000 years after Adam and Eve.
Or after the creation. When Abraham looked up into the sky.
And God said, if you can number those skies, if you can number them, I'm showing you what your descendants will look like. Here's a 99-year-old man.
Or a 90-year-old man, and he's looking up and it says, Abraham, believe God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Now here's what I want to tell you. That shook, that had to have shaken the spiritual world. Do you know why?
Because all men are guilty before God. All men are hopelessly sinful.
No person deserves better treatment than this other person God to say at that juncture, Abraham is now righteous in my sight because he believed. It's like.
How can you do that? Nobody has died for that man's sin. That wasn't even in the question.
He has to face you by virtue of his own self And he is guilty before you, on what basis can you say, well, he's believed me and now I'm going to make him righteous. He has to die for his sin.
Back then, that's all there was. It would be like me taking a piece of paper, and I've done this in class actually, and I've just taken some random blue piece of paper and I've cut it off a little bit and I've written on there I will pay so-and-so's full tuition up to a million dollars and I give it to one of my students.
It's like, wow. You want me to do that for you?
The problem is it's worthless. I don't have money like that.
So how in the world does that work? How does that faith work? What would be the gold standing behind that paper?
What would be the value? You financial people know better of what I'm trying to talk about. You know what I mean? A dollar bill has to have a real dollar in value somewhere else.
Well, we have a lot of paper that's not even worth a dollar anymore. But the point being.
On what basis could God make those decisions back then? And the thing is… He kept it a mystery. He kept everybody guessing.
So when you get to Romans chapter 3, this is what it says.
For no human being will be saved by works of the law since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God. Has been made manifest.
Even though the laws and the prophets bore witness to it, the righteousness of God which is through faith In Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Whom God put forward as a full payment in his blood.
This was to show this was to God's righteousness. For in times past he had passed over former sin. Like what basis could he do that? He knew Jesus was coming.
And Jesus would pay it all. It was to show at the present time that he himself is righteous and justifies him who has faith in Jesus Christ. That piece of paper that he gave Abraham back there that said Abraham is going to be righteous through his faith
That had no basis back then until, but God saw it coming, until Jesus laid down his life.
And gave himself. And that is solid gold. Tons and eternal worth.
And they covered every promissory note that was out there of those who had had faith in God. Why he put some people in a place called Abraham's comfort and why he put some people in a place called Hades.
On what basis could God do that? They were all guilty in his sight. All of them should go to hell.
And Satan's been telling him that ever since, by the way.
But in the fullness of time. Now, what does that have to do with the millennial kingdom, it's huge.
So if you look at Revelation chapter 20, What has happened at this point, it says that right here it says.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent, the old serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut it up and put a seal on him so that he could not deceive the nations anymore.
Until the thousand years were ended. But when these thousand years are ended, he'll be released.
So here's what's happening in the millennial kingdom.
God. Is going to do a couple of judgments here. There are two resurrections that are written of in this book.
The idea is when he resurrects these people. What if somebody had the question.
Well, wait a minute. I wouldn't have really been a sinner and I really wouldn't have done that if it weren't for the devil.
We used to have a comedian years ago, and his favorite line was, the devil made me do it.
Well, that's a pretty interesting thought Satan is pretty powerful, and he does influence a lot of people. And couldn't people come before God and they would say, hey, wait a minute, God.
He made me do that. If he hadn't been there, it would have been a whole different thing. How's God going to prove that?
Well, he locks up Satan here for a thousand years. There's something else that's going on here because actually this chapter 20 is like a huge chapter. The millennial kingdom just happens like… And a thousand years go by.
A thousand years would not be going back to 1925. It would be going back 1025. That's a long time.
That period of time is going to be a great time. God is going to accomplish a lot of things. The other thing, and this is just for God's righteousness, is what if people said, you know, God, if you caused me to be born in that family where my mom and dad were lunatics, I would have really loved you.
I would have followed you. If you would have had me grow in a country, if you hadn't put me in this country, but you put me Like the United States where there were benefits and where there was health care and where there was Mickey Mouse
At one time, that was a really healthy thing. And all of that stuff, I would have been a believer. I would have followed you.
But you didn't do that. So if you're going to judge me.
Can I come back to you and say it's your fault?
So what God is going to do, and then the other thing too is Israel.
Is going to fulfill their destiny during the thousand years. Basically, Jerusalem becomes the center of the world.
And Jesus is on a throne there. And a lot of good things are happening. But during the millennial Kingdom, I just want you to understand this is very important for God to prove some points.
So that when he gets to the final judgment, that would be over here.
Final judgment, no one will have anything they can say against God.
Because he is going to prove something during this thousand years.
And what he's going to prove is, if I gave you a perfect environment you would still sin. Mankind is mankind's own problem. Not without Satan. Your sin nature is big enough to destroy your life. If I gave you a perfect earth
Your sin nature is big enough to destroy you so that when he gets to that final judgment, everyone who has called before him will be judged by basis of their basis actions, the actions wrought in faith in God or actions just
Wrought in their flesh. So this is an important thing. This isn't something you can just, you know.
Say, ah, it doesn't matter. God is making it important. Now, the thing I want to draw your attention to, and this is where the interesting thing comes in. It's like, who in the world I mean, if you're going to create a perfect world and you've got sinners there, then who in the world is going to be perfect to help the sinners?
Aha. So reading further, it says, verse 4, I saw thrones And they who sat upon them, to them judgment was committed. Then I saw the souls of all those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus.
And for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast in his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads.
Or hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not come to life again until a thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection
Over such, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him for a thousand years. So very specific here.
This is a small group of people. These are believers who come to faith during the tribulation and they are put to death, they are raised Right after Satan gets thrown into the… thrown into jail there and they are raised, they're resurrected.
They're resurrected believers and they will reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Okay. Now, this is one group, but I just want you to understand what this means. What this means is these people In a sense, they have already proven their faith and their worth.
In chapter 12, if you look there, it says, they defeated Satan.
By the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, because they love not their lives even unto death. What further proof do you need?
Of their faith and their faith in Christ. They gave it all. They left it on the planet, and God raises them immediately.
And they're going to serve on the earth. So how are they going to serve on the earth?
Now, the one thing to note about the millennial kingdom is you find more written on it in other places. For example.
If you go to Ezekiel, there's a whole lot written about the millennial kingdom there.
What the temple is going to look like. And… God says… Israel has labored under all these bad guys.
But I'm going to give them good shepherds. And you know, the good shepherd, one good shepherd I'm going to give them, I'm going to raise up David.
King David. He's going to raise up King David and David is going to be like the king of Israel, like the king of Jerusalem or something like that. But David is going to get raised. So we know one guy who's got a job already, David.
And David is going to be their shepherd. And you know when David's judging.
You're not going to mess with David and you're going to lie to David.
Even during his lifetime, they said you could hardly sneak anything past them.
But the point is, he's going to be resurrected. He's going to be perfect. He's going to be whole.
And so at least you know there they're going to have good judgments and good leadership. Well, what about the 12 apostles?
Jesus says that you will sit on thrones judging or ruling over shepherding. There's a verse that says shepherding.
The 12 tribes of Israel. So the 12 tribes of Israel, the way God is going to line up Israel, they're going to have great guys as governors.
Wouldn't it be if every state in the union had a great governor? Wouldn't that be cool? A resurrected governor, a governor who could… correspond directly with Jesus? I mean, just say, that would probably help a lot of things. Well, here's the thing.
These people who are raised right here will be resurrected They will be without a sin they will They will be holy and righteous before God. They will hear him when he speaks. When they have a question and they say, God, what should I do in this situation? They will have direct communication with Jesus.
These are going to be good guys. And they're going to be in all places of government, all places of influence, all places of You know, like bosses at work and things like that. Nobody's going to be able to say, I went to that judge
And he didn't like me because of the color of my skin.
Or I went to that police officer and that police officer You know, he lied. I didn't say that.
That's going to be gone. But what about more people, are they going to need backup? Well, look at Revelation chapter 2. Here's the backup.
You look at the church of Thyatira in verse 18 and you get down to the end where it talks about what their gift will be.
And these gifts obviously apply to all the church. And it says… Verse 26, and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over nations.
He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and they shall be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel.
As I also receive power from my father, and I will give him the morning star.
What Jesus is saying here is he's talking about, and you see this in other places like in Peter.
Where it says that we are a kingdom. Of priests.
And that we will reign. And what he's saying here to this church is that The church will be given power.
Over nations. And put in positions of responsibility. Now, what's interesting here is none of us really like the ways is said, right? It's like.
And we'll rule over them with a rod of iron. What in the world is a rod of iron?
It's the truth. How bendable is the truth, by the way?
In our society, man, you could do curlicues with the truth here.
You know, it depends on the person you're telling the truth to. The truth is always… immovable. There will always be, however, grace. There will always be mercy.
There will always be forgiveness for the repentant. But truth, if truth is truth, you cannot bend it. And that's what he's saying.
But here's the deal. I'm from Milwaukee, right? I don't know, Lord, that you ever want to give me the wrought iron. I don't know that you ever want me even over… to be the king over the south side. You don't want that.
Right? There's like bad deal going on here. Except for the fact that, look what it says right at the end.
And I will give him the morning star. Jesus. In other words, we will be, when we are resurrected, we will be intimately connected to Jesus.
A thought away, maybe even less than a thought away. This is that mystery that Paul talks about when he says.
That he's talking about, you know, for this reason, man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and two shall be one flesh. This mystery is a profound one, and I'm saying it has to do with Christ.
In the church. We are the bride of Christ.
The church has a distinct beginning. It has a distinct end.
We are those people and we have… we will have, when we're resurrected, this relationship with Jesus. So imagine what that earth is going to look like I mean, at first it's going to look pretty terrible, right? I mean, they just went through seven years of tribulation.
Pretty much everything got wrecked. I don't know. You know, Jerusalem is going to be fixable I think the whole earth is going to be fixable.
Because that is this earth. When it says to these people in Revelation, and you shall reign on earth, he's talking about this earth He's talking about there being the Milwaukee still. And he's talking about there being a Madison still. I think Las Vegas gets swept away somewhere.
But there's still going to be an earth here. And here's what I want you to understand as a follower, a lover of Jesus Christ.
You are going to serve again on this planet. This isn't the end.
We've got this foggy idea of heaven, like sitting on a cloud. Why should I want to sit on a cloud when all the gusto is here in Milwaukee, right?
Go for the gusto. That's our motto, right? That's what I grew up with. You know, the point is, is we are going to rain on earth. We are going to serve on earth.
There are still going to be people who need to come to faith. You know how I know that? Because when they let Satan out, he finds people like the sand of the sea all over the world who are willing to rebel against God. Why? Because they're sinners.
People are still going to have to come to faith in Jesus Christ And we're going to serve them.
I mean, I feel bad for churches I've served in the past.
I mean, I've made awful mistakes I probably made such mistakes that I should be really down on myself and just give up.
But I don't see that written anywhere in Scripture. I think Jesus keeps saying, Dan.
Sit at my feet and allow my love to flow over you and just close your eyes.
Everything's good. You're good with me. Now get up and follow. And the thing is, whatever I've done here, I'm going to be doing again somewhere.
On this planet. And I'm not making this up. Those people are going to reign on earth for a thousand years with Christ.
His church will too. Nobody else will. Those people and us. And so this is what I'm saying is whatever things the Lord has used you for, whatever capabilities you still want to develop, keep developing them.
Because you're going to be serving here on this planet. This is not the end. Keep sharing the Word of God because even if you said, you know, the rapture is going to happen in two minutes.
Well, still getting the word out is going to lay a seed in somebody's heart because during the The tribulation, lots of people will come to Christ.
Don't give up now. If you love Jesus Christ, talk about him.
Keep building those muscles. Keep doing those things. And I've got, you know, I don't know. There could be a lot of speculation on this whole snowboard thing, but I think it's still going to snow on this earth.
There's still going to be youth who need to come to Christ, so maybe you guys are the youth leaders. I don't know. But what I do know is you will have ministry and you will serve here and this is not the end.
And whatever is coming is going to be so much better. Now.
Jimmy, have you ever been able to play the violin? No, I don't think you will there either. But there might be cars to repair. See?
Some of you don't even know that about Jim, that he used to be a car mechanic. I took an old Galaxy 500 in there once.
And they wanted to do the last strides right on the Sears parking lot, but we still drove it to Texas.
Anyway, he's not going to stop using you. He's not going to stop using you and it is going to be so much better. Imagine what it would be like never to be depressed again.
Never to doubt yourself again. Never to be overcome by your past failures ever, ever again.
And you're going to serve him. And you're going to serve him with love and you're going to serve him with strength. So the point I'm getting at here in all of this is this is absolute.
This is not theological conjecture. This is absolute truth.
It's going to happen. And for those thousand years, we will be serving people and helping them come to faith.
And that guy over in Jerusalem. Can you imagine being born you know if you're if you're born like the day after Jesus comes back, you grow up always knowing about the world was wrecked and there's that guy over there. You grow up, you're born 500 years into the millennial kingdom and you're asking mom.
Mom, who's that guy over in Jerusalem? Well, honey, that's, you know, really?
He doesn't look special. Can he do a trick? You know, when Jesus was on earth He didn't do tricks.
Herod tried to get him to do tricks, you know, walk across a swimming pool or something. Jesus wouldn't do it.
The Pharisees, they confronted Jesus a lot and said, do tricks. Imagine if Jesus just looks like a guy.
But he's the king, and they still have to believe in him by faith.
We're the servants. You're the people who are working in companies. You're the people who are showing justice. You might be police. You might be You know, those parables that Jesus told about, you know, you've been faithful little, I'll put you over 10 cities. You've been faithful over here, I'll put you over five cities.
Dan, how about scrubbing out the running the cleanup crew in the New York subway? Okay, Lord, I'll do it.
We won't care. But we're going to be serving those people and so Start the engines again.
Let's get out there and tell our neighbors about Jesus Christ.
This is not done at all. At all. Heaven for us is going to be that big.
It's going to be that place before Jesus comes back, but the minute that he takes the church, we are instantly resurrected. Our resurrection is not in the book of Revelation.
Only the other two. Our resurrection, the dead in Christ shall rise and we shall be changed.
In a moment in the twinkling of an eye. We're the ones who attend.
The marriage supper of the Lamb, we're the only ones resurrected who can sit on those horses.
At the coming of Jesus. Great days ahead.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your grace.
We thank you that you have given us a life as we look in your word, it's full of adventure.
What we're weighed down with, of course, is our sin. And you know how we struggle with that. And therefore, Lord.
What more can we say? What a privilege it is to be invited to sit at your feet every day.
Your word is amazing. Your word is like… water that flows over us and it flows over our conscience and it flows over our hurts and it flows over our hearts.
And it's just great. And when you prayed to your father in John 17, you said.
Keep them from the evil one, but sanctify them in your truth.
Your truth is what makes us strong. Your truth is what keeps telling us who we are and what days are ahead. Your truth is what tells us to go out and to reach out to lost and perishing people.
And to not give up on them any more than you've given up on us and you never, ever.
Ever give up on us, and that's what your truth says.
And now we have this time that we're on Earth, and these are desperate times. We may not see it in the West.
But everywhere I read about Pakistan and Afghanistan and North Korea and even in South America, some of the things that are happening there, this is a tragic planet.
And we're here right now and we can share the love that you've given to us.
I mean, again, if it can flow over us, Lord Jesus, can it flow through us?
That's what we have to ask ourselves. Can it flow through us to a neighbor? Can it flow through us to somebody at our workplace?
To some kid that we just meet someplace, to some guy who is down and out or woman who is down and out, and we just share and say, you know what? I used to live like this too in the love.
That I found in God. I can hardly even describe it to you, but I know he loves you.
Can we at least do that? Because that's what we're going to be doing for a thousand years.
During the millennial Kingdom. So help us to start Practicing the motions now.
Of being able to talk to people and love them for the sake of our Lord.
We thank you. Lord Jesus, bless your name. Amen.