So he's weeks away from being whisked away to far off lands. So he needs all the churchy experience he can get, because who knows what they'll have him doing up there. So he's gonna lead our music here in just a second. We're gonna open in a word of prayer. I do want you to, is that too high? Is that better? Okay, I'm sorry. Sorry, Jordan. Sorry to disappoint you, Logan. I failed. But now in all seriousness, we do want to pray for a few things this morning. I'm gonna say a prayer in just a moment. Some of you have heard of Dustin Williamson's sister was stabbed yesterday. And I have not gotten an update this morning. She was stable last time I talked to Dustin, but very serious. And so continue to pray for her. Her name is Megan. And pray for the Williamson family. Dustin flew from where he was working to be down there to be with her. But pray for her. And then keep praying for Miss Belva. So Miss Belva has COVID. And when you're in your 90s, that's a very naughty good thing. But so far, she's hanging on fine. And well, you know, Miss Belva's a fighter. Those of you that aren't here, let me tell you a little bit about Allison's mom. So years ago, she was right over here in a church service. We had a missionary there that Sunday, it was Missions Month, and Miss Belva fell out during the service, and heart had stopped basically, and Wilbur Keene gave her And Alicia, yeah, they revived her, but Miss Belva's a fighter, man. She's not, she ain't scared of no COVID apparently, so she does not. That sounds like, I can believe that. But we do wanna pray for Ms. Belva that she has a recovery and pray for the Williamson family this morning. So I'm gonna pray and then Isaiah will come and he'll lead us in our first song. And then right after that, Brother Matt, if you'll come up and share your things. And then we'll do our scripture reading. But I do want to mention before I forget, because I meant to do this last Sunday, I have a box of books up here. If y'all know me, I'm a book collector. I'm a book lover. And so when I see books, even if I already have and they're cheap in a thrift store or whatever, we buy them. And occasionally I give them away. And so I have a box or a bag of books up here that you're welcome to pick through. they're free. Please just, I mean, don't take the whole bag, like maybe pick through and get one or two so other people have a chance to look, but at the end of the service if they're still here and you want to grab them, grab the whole bag, go for it. I just got to get rid of some books, but they're good books. Disclaimer, obviously we don't necessarily agree with everything maybe every author teaches, but they're good resources for you to have, so use your discernment on that. Actually, I'm going to move them down when Isaiah comes. I'm going to move them down to the front row so they're not on stage because that looks kind of tacky. Well, let's pray. And then Isaiah, you'll come and lead us in a song. Father, thank you, Lord, for bringing us today. Lord, I do want to continue to pray for those in our state that are dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane and families that are still grieving, families that are waiting on word of loved ones and communities that are rebuilding. Father, we pray for those that are doing the work, Lord, that you'll keep them safe. Lord, for those who have seen terrible things and have had to haul bodies out of areas, Lord, I pray that you'd give them healing from the trauma of dealing with that. And Lord, we do pray for Dustin Williamson and his family, and especially his sister, as she is, Lord, now healing from this traumatic event. Lord, would you give grace there and heal her body and raise her up, Lord, and be with the family as they process all this. And Lord, we pray for Miss Belva that she would get well from COVID, that her body would be strong and she would be healthy and that her immune system is able to fight this off quickly and raise her up. This is what we pray. Lord bless our services today. We are excited to be in your house and Lord, we ask you to speak to us today in Jesus name. Amen. All right, get your song books and stand and brother Isaiah is going to come and lead us in a song. Alrighty. How y'all doing? Y'all doing okay? I didn't sound okay. Well we're gonna be singing when we all get to heaven. Whenever you're ready. Number 78. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing His mercy and His grace. In the mansions bright and blessed, He'll proclaim the love's afflames, when we all What a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory When we walk the pilgrim pathway, clouds will overspread the sky. But when traveling days are over, not a shadow, not a sigh. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory Is that it? Onward to the prize before us Soon his beauty will behold Soon the pearly gates will open We shall tread the streets of gold When we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Amen. You can be seated. Brother Matt's going to come. Thank you, Isaiah. Good morning, church. It is a blessing to see all of you here today, and I've got a couple of announcements, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet and to the point, but don't forget that on Thursday, October 31st, we are going to be hosting our Trunk or Treat again, okay? So, for those of you families out there who like to decorate your trunks, we ask you to please come in early, get it all situated, because we're going to be starting at 6 p.m. Now, no scary decorations, Chris. No scary decorations, all right? Let's welcome people in, all right? If you can't make it to the Trunk or Treat, but you still want to help out, all right, you can bring your donations, your candy donations, and place them in the back, okay? If you do want to come, but maybe you don't want to set up a Trunk or Treat, we're also looking for volunteers to help out with the hot dogs, because we're going to have a little concession stand out there for people to come up. Because you get hungry when you're out there, right? And we're doing this right at 6 o'clock, so it's right there at dinner time, right? And there's nothing better on a cold day than a nice hot dog with chili and onions and all that good stuff, right? So we're going to have that set up out there, cakes and cookies, hot dogs. We're looking for volunteers. We're looking for people who want to donate some stuff, the buns and the weenies and so on and so forth. And all of those sign-up sheets are right outside the doors here in the Welcome Center, okay? So if you want to, we encourage you. We thank you very much. Let me go ahead and keeping on the subject of the trunk retreat. So if you're not aware, my wife and I are teaching the teens for Awanas on Wednesday nights. And the teens that we have, thank you, thank you. The teens that we have are such an amazing group of young individuals. It is an inspiration to be in there with them because it is actually their idea and their desire to do mission work. So what we have done is we've got together and we're asking for volunteers, specifically maybe with the parents of the teens. But on Sunday, the 28th, so next Sunday, after church, we're going to have dinner in the nursery prepared for all the volunteers, okay? And then we're going to travel over to Overhills Creek. which is on this road. It's a big housing development. Brittany has flyers made out, and we're going to put flyers on the doors of houses. If people are in their front yard, we may converse with them, talk with them, do a face-to-face, letting them know about trunk or treat, but also What we will be doing is setting up a trunk where individuals can bring their donations for Western North Carolina. We have a point of contact who will ensure that it gets to the communities. So as these individuals come in, they get to see our church. They get to see our church family. They get to have some hot dogs. They get to have their kids go around in a safe environment for trunk or treat. But also, they get a chance to help out the individuals of their home state. And they'll bring their donations by to us. We'll put them someplace safe and get them to where they have to go. That is the work of the teens inside this church, right? This was their idea. This is what they wanted to do. We're just helping facilitate it. So your teens are incredible, and I can't say enough. It is a blessing to be with them. It's an inspiration, really, to be able to help them out as they do this. So we are asking for, if the parents are available, please stay behind on Sunday, help your kids out. That way we can attack that, not attack, but that way we can, that way we can reach as many people in that community as possible by setting up small groups and maintain accountability of everyone, okay? And we're also looking for any ideas. that anyone in the church may have as far as missionary work that they would like to see the teens get into. So link in with us, Brittany and I, after church if you want to help volunteer that way we know how much food to prepare for. And then last but not least, Tuesday, November 5th on Election Day. So right across the street, right, is Anderson Creek Primary School and they are a main source for the elections. They always do the elections over there, okay? Well, since we're right across the street, what better way to get our name out as to who we are and how much we love God then to set up a table over there and offer them coffee and snacks and water and all other kinds of stuff as they wait in those long lines, because you've all done it before. You've waited in those long lines to try and vote for who you want to vote for. So we're going to set that up. The church is going to set that up. We're looking for volunteers. Again, there's a sign-in sheet in the back. Now, we're not asking for you to volunteer at every single thing that comes up. We're happy to get any volunteers that we can for these things. You know, we think it's a great thing. It's a great cause. And we're just trying to lead as many people to the Lord as we can. So thank you all very much. If you have any questions about these announcements, you can see me after church. I'll clear anything up that I might not have said correctly. But other than that, that's it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Brother Matt. I never get applause when I get done. Wow. But thank you. Thank you. Now I'm just, now I'm just ashamed. Now I'm just ashamed. But anyway, all joking about Isaiah and the song leading aside, they did not have an opportunity to rehearse right before the service. And I will tell you this, brave on Isaiah, you men, Mike knows, you think this is so easy and you can laugh. If you think it's easy, you want to do it, you come see me. We'll put you up here, man. We will humble you in a heartbeat. Leading the music is, is not always easy, but thank you, Brother Matt, for doing the announcements. Doing the announcements is not always easy either, and Brother Matt did a fantastic job. I'm excited to hear. When he said, your teens are amazing, I saw at least a couple of parents look over like, what? No, I'm just kidding. We have great young people at our church. We love our teens. And that's how Bethany and I got started was serving in teen ministry. And so we have a heart for that particularly. Seems like I was going to mention one other thing and I can't remember what it was. That was an announcement that was not in the bulletin, but I can't think of it. Whatever it is. For trunk or treat, if you think you might have a job already lined up, like a specific place to serve, but you're not sure, please talk to Lisa, because she has the list of who's doing what. And if you would like to serve and don't have a specific job, talk to me or Lisa, and we'll get you plugged in somewhere. Let's get our Bibles. We're going to do our scripture reading, and then we'll have another song after that. Colossians 3, verses 16 and 17, when you find it, if you'll stand. Colossians 3, 16 and 17. This is a great passage. It's actually one of the few passages in the New Testament that specifically talks about singing in the church. You'd think that that would be all over. Singing is all over in the Old Testament, but it's actually kind of rare in the New Testament. It's a good passage here. So we're going to read verses 16 and 17. We'll read this all together, beginning and ending with The reference, let's read. Colossians 3, 16 through 17. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Colossians 3, 16 through 17. This is one of the passages that we try to use as a guide to follow in how we structure our church services. So we do have singing, we do have the teaching of the word of God. And then we also pray and do all in the name of the Lord and we give thanks. And we try to make sure that all of those things are a part. of our worship, our corporate worship. So right now we're going to take a moment to pray. And in this time of prayer, let's specifically focus this morning on our prayer, on giving thanks for our church. As you pray, I was reminded this week, some of you know, I got the chance to go to be in a pastor's conference. So I was in a big auditorium with, I don't know, probably 1,200, 1,500 other pastors and, I heard 12 sermons in three days, okay? So I don't want you looking at the clock when the 12 o'clock comes around. I sat through 12, but no, they were great messages. But just reminded of how diverse the body of Christ is and how churches are very different and the people they serve are different. But hearing all that and talking to all those other pastors just really made me want to come home and be with my church, be with my people. So I was particularly thankful for the church this week. Let's take a moment and pray. Thank God for the church and ask him to meet with us today. Father, we love you. Lord, we love this place. It's just a building, but it's a special place to us because for those of us who are members, for those of us who are faithful to the body of believers here, this is the place where we meet. This is the place where we're taught, we're fed, where we fellowship one with another. This is a very special place. And I believe you've met with us here many times, and Lord, we're asking you to meet with us again when we gather in your name for the purpose of making your name great, lifting up the name of Christ, preaching your word, teaching your word, praying and serving one another, loving one another. Father, there's power here. So we thank you for our church. I pray today our hearts would be opened, Lord, that you would convict those that need convicting. You would comfort those that need comforting. You would uplift those that are downtrodden. You would strengthen those that are weak. You would humble those that are proud. Lord, would you meet with us today in a mighty, mighty way, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, we'll get your songbook one more time. Brother Isaiah's gonna come. and lead us in amazing grace. Hymn number three, get your songbooks, and we appreciate Isaiah leading the music today. To avoid confusion, like last time, let's do the first and the last. Does that sound good? And before we start, I don't know if you've ever actually just read the words to Amazing Grace and just read it out loud instead of just singing it, but it says, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. That's talking about our life before Christ and now where we're at. That's why Amazing Grace is so amazing, because he saved a wretch like me when I was a sinner. So with joyful noise, let's sing Amazing Grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found. Was blind, but now I see. Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we first began I did it again, Logan, oh my goodness, twice. You can be seated and children can go to children's church. Speaking of church, we love having kids in our church, four years old through second grade. And so many of our men and ladies do a great job teaching our kids. And they have a special church service just for them. And we appreciate all the work that goes into that. The rest of you are stuck with me. Amen. Matthew chapter 24, if you'll turn there, Matthew 24, and we're going to, Lord willing, finish this chapter that we actually began studying through nearly a month ago. Sometimes special things and special speakers come up and you forget how much time has passed, Yeah, it's been a little bit of a while. So we're catching up on Matthew 24. We will have our missionary Steve Davis with us tonight with two of his sons. The Davises have been in Lithuania for over 20 years. They had nine children on the mission field. Many of their kids are now married and gone. And so Miss Mary, his wife will be with their daughter, just had a baby not too long ago. And so she will not be with us. She's up in Pennsylvania, but Steve and his two boys will be here tonight. Give us an update on what the Lord's doing there. Brother Steve is a wonderful person, wonderful family there. and excited to hear about the work in Lithuania. So come back tonight. Next Sunday morning, we'll have with us our Gideon representative. Jamie Goff is going to be here. We appreciate the Gideon ministry of printing and distributing Bibles. And I mentioned this last week, but if you noticed the greeting card rack on the wall close to the watch team closet, over there close to the entrance of the ladies restroom. That's a Gideon ministry, a way that you can support their work. So they put these cards in churches and the idea is if you take a card and use one that you donate money towards the purchase of Bibles in exchange for the card. And so go back there and look at those and he's gonna be coming next week to tell us more about how that operates and the greater work of the Gideons and what they do. So he'll be presenting for part of the service next Sunday morning, and then I'll preach a message after that. But that's good. We've been supporting the Gideons, I don't know, a long, long time, ever since I've been here, and we're thankful for them. Matthew 24. We're going to talk today about the coming thief. I was doing a little bit of reading this week in the global home security market. The technology is exploding. Everything from, y'all remember ring cameras when they first came out? And now there's dozens and dozens of camera systems and different security things that you can get for your home. This year, the global home security system market will do over $55 billion worth of business, up from 20 billion just a couple of years ago. And by 2035, it's expected that that sector of the market will do over $200 billion worth of business annually. By the way, 2035 is not that long away. I know it sounds like it is, but it's coming up quick. So that's not too far from now. Security. People want to guard their stuff. People want to be safe. They want their possessions to be safe. I remember in 2008, the summer of 2008, Bethany and I's first full summer here at the church. We took a load of teenagers to our first week of camp in Ohio. And it was a long drive. It was a long week. And then it was a long drive back. Then we got back to the house. We came back with the kids. We had a van we had rented. Got the van parked, got in our car, unloaded our stuff, got back to the house. It was late at night. I think it was already close to dark. And we're pulling into our driveway, and I noticed one of my belongings in the driveway when we pulled up that I had not taken to camp, obviously, and I had not intended to take to camp. And I remember pulling up thinking, that's weird. Why is that out there? And then the realization slowly comes over me. And sure enough, we go in the house. Somebody had kicked in the door while we were gone and thoroughly ransacked the whole house, been through every drawer, every closet. Everything was on the floor and stole some of our possessions. And if you've ever been there, you know what a terrible, terrible, terrible feeling that is. It's awful. And we hated it. Just a few years later, We had a string of parking lot robberies in the church parking lot during services. While service was going on, people were busting windows and stealing things out of cars, which led to the creation of the Watch Team Ministry. So if you wonder why we have guys roaming around with vests and radios, that's one of the reasons, and we thank God for the men, and they do a good job keeping us safe. And since then, we've upped security at the church. We have indoor cameras, outdoor cameras, and a lot of stuff, and it's just, Again, you try to protect things that you think are valuable because here's the thing, even if you prepare and there's only so much you can do, robbery always takes you by surprise. And if somebody's determined enough, I remember when we put the fence around the bus, because somebody stole the catalytic converter on the bus. And I remember being told, you know, this is all only a matter of how much can we slow them down. If they really want it, they're going to get it, right? Is that the case? You might be shocked to realize this, if you read your Bible, one of the more common pictures in the New Testament for the return of Christ Also for his first coming, but his return certainly, one of the most common pictures is that of a thief that comes. He comes unexpectedly. He comes suddenly. That's what a thief does. It would be to the thief's great disadvantage to tell you when he's coming. Can you imagine getting a call one day and be like, hey, are you going to be home Thursday night about three in the morning? Because I was planning to come and steal your TV. You're not going to get a call like that. Why? Because they come unexpectedly. They come suddenly, quickly. And usually they try to come when you're not there or you're not noticing. In the passage today, Jesus is going to speak about his coming and he's going to compare himself to a thief that comes in the night. I want to mention just three things in this passage as we go. We got a lot of verses to cover, so I'm going to talk a lot, we're going to read a lot, and hopefully this will all make sense to you like it did to me. First thing I want you to notice from this passage is that the Lord's return is affirmed by His Word. the Lord's return is affirmed by His Word. Now I want you to remember this, if you can recall the beginning part of the chapter, the disciples had asked about the destruction of the temple, because at the end of chapter 23, that's what Jesus had talked about. He said, see all this temple, all these buildings, they're going to be torn down. The beginning of chapter 24, the disciples came to Jesus and they said, they asked Him, when shall these things be? When is the temple going to be destroyed? And then they asked him kind of a follow-up add-on. They said, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? So they kind of asked him two things in one. That's what he's been talking about. So we're going to pick up here in verse 32, because we already had studied up to verse 31. Look at verse 32. Jesus says, now learn a parable of the fig tree. Now here's the thing, they had asked Jesus for signs. They said, what will be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And so Jesus had given them some things to look for. And he's going to continue to do that in just a moment. Just as when you're driving through town, or driving in the mountains. We were driving here from Kentucky yesterday and we were looking at the leaves starting to change in the mountains. Beautiful. Just starting to change color. That's wonderful. When you see the trees changing, you know the season is changing. And just as the appearance of leaves on the tree towards spring going into summer. Jesus is talking about the fig trees here. You know there's a change of season coming. You know summer is on the way. Jesus is saying here, when you see these kinds of things that I've been talking about, when you see them beginning to take place, when you see them widespread, you know that the time is drawing near for the Lord's return. So look at verse 33. He says this, so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verse 34, verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Now I didn't go into great, great detail at the beginning of chapter 24 when we were studying it about the big disagreement among Bible students of how to interpret Matthew chapter 24 because some think that Jesus is primarily talking about the time leading up to the destruction of the temple and that he's not really talking too much about his return and the end of the world. Again, my view, the disciples clearly ask Him about both. They ask Him about the destruction of the temple and His return and the end of the world. So I believe Jesus is talking about both. I think part of what Jesus says in chapter 24 is about the time leading up to the temple. We talked about that when Rome come through and all that. But I think a lot of these verses are looking further. They're looking towards the return of Christ. So that's our not jurisdiction, but that's our domain. That's where we're living today. We're living in the time prior to the return of Christ. So this is important for us. If you were to just read the passage, I believe some of those verses don't fit what happened leading up to the destruction of the temple in AD 70. For instance, Jesus is talking clearly about his return. He did not come back in AD 70. He has not returned yet, but he said he was going to. Also, Jesus talked about there would be signs in the heaven, the moon and the sun, there would be signs. They would see the sign of the son of man in the heavens. That didn't happen in AD 70. They asked him, when shall be these things, the destruction of the temple, and what will be the sign? Now he had already given them the answer to the when about the temple. He talked about that earlier in the chapter. And now he's talking about signs. That's why he mentions the fig tree. When you see these things, you know that it is going to come to pass. But here's the thing, regardless of your understanding of the timing of certain details, that's one of the things about the study of eschatology, that's the fancy name for it, the study of last things, of prophecy, of the end of the world, of the return of Christ, there is a great diversity. It's one of the most diversely understood doctrines among conservative evangelical Christians. I mean, there's a lot of diversity there. It doesn't matter how you understand the timing of it, some of the details so much, especially in this passage. I don't want you to focus on that today. That's for deeper study. You should study it. I'm not saying don't study it. I'm just saying today what we're going to look at and what we're focusing on, what we have to agree on when we read this chapter, regardless of where you land on, when things happen, we have to agree on this. Jesus' words are true. All these things will come to pass. All of these things will be fulfilled. Jesus did not leave any ambiguity. He did not leave himself a back door. I don't know if you've studied much about other religions. You know, people used to talk about the Nostradamus prophecy. Everybody heard of Nostradamus, you know? It's funny that that guy was like maybe really famous when he was alive and then he's dead for all these years and nobody ever cared about him. And then all of a sudden people are like, oh, Nostradamus said all these things. Well, here's the thing about Nostradamus prophecies. Number one, they're very vague. And number two, they always have to be interpreted backwards. So you have to look at an event and then you have to look at Nostradamus's really weird sayings, because if you ever read them, they're really weird and ambiguous. And then you have to say, well, that kind of could fit, you know, September 11th. Maybe he was talking about that. I want you to know when it comes to Bible prophecy, Bible prophecy is unique among all all the world's religions for two reasons. Number one, it's much more specific. God gives incredible detail. We did a study in the book of Daniel a couple years ago and how God predicted the rise and fall of empires and who would lead them. And there were several times in the Old Testament where God named a ruler by name a hundred years or more before he was born. Nothing like that in any other religion of the world. Here's the truth. Jesus claims an authority when he speaks about the future that is only equaled by the voice of God in the Old Testament. When Jesus is talking about the future, he claims infallibility. Now sometimes, my wife is the weather watcher amongst us, okay? I never watch the weather because Bethany gives me the weather update. And she'll say things like this. And every marriage needs one weather watcher. Somebody's got to do it. So Bethany does it. And she'll say something like this. It's supposed to rain tomorrow morning. Now, she's looking at the data. She's looking at their best guesses and their models and all that. And the forecast says it's supposed to rain tomorrow. But here's the thing. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes it doesn't. Bethany is not an infallible meteorologist, OK? She does her best. Sometimes she's wrong. Jesus never said, eh, this might happen. Here's my best guess. No, Jesus spoke with authority and he said, all these things that I'm saying, all these things will come to pass. He spoke like God did in the Old Testament. You don't have to flip here, but you might wanna write this down, it's on the screen. Isaiah 46, verses nine and 10. Here's how God said, I am set apart from any of these other false gods that these people worship. He says, remember the former things of old. I am God, there's none else. I am God, there's none like me. Here's what I do. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, declaring the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. God's staked his reputation so high that he said in the Old Testament, here's the test for a prophet that was truly sent from me. If somebody says something will come to pass and it does not come to pass, kill that prophet. He's a false prophet. That's how highly God placed the stakes of prophecy in the Old Testament. And Jesus here is speaking with that same kind of confidence and authority. His words are infallible. What he says will come to pass. And I certainly appreciate good Christians study Scripture and they arrive at different understandings of some of the passages of Scripture dealing with the Lord's return and when and how things are going to happen. I totally get that. But here's what I would not do in Matthew chapter 24. One of the temptations on difficult passages when you don't understand something is just to explain it away as a symbolism, hyperbole, exaggeration. I would not do that in Matthew 24. For one thing, Jesus' next phrase would make no sense. Here's what he says in verse 35, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. This is a statement of both warning and assurance. He's warning those who might not believe, those who might choose to reject his word, those who might choose to live indifferently to the promise of his coming. He's warning them, heaven and earth will pass away. And we know that's true. Second Peter chapter three, Revelation tells us this heaven and earth will pass away. But Jesus says, my words will not pass away. They cannot fail. So it's a statement of warning, but it's also a statement of comfort because here he's talking to his disciples. And he's talking to them and he's getting ready to tell them to watch and be ready. That's how we're going to end in just a little bit. But he knows this, that the waiting is hard. Now it was hard for them. They were ready for Jesus to come back as soon as he left. As soon as he ascended, people like John were writing letters and they were saying, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, even so, come quickly Lord, we want you back. They were ready. And God knew that the waiting was hard and for us who's never seen Jesus face to face, God knows we live in a wicked world. and we see the death, and we see the destruction around us, and we see the wickedness around us, and we see the persecution of God's people, and we see creation groaning under the curse of sin, and we think, Lord, how long will this go on? How long can this world last? And waiting is hard. And Jesus says, don't worry, children. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away. All these things will be fulfilled. The promise of my return is sure. Jesus affirms it. Don't lose heart. Don't give up. Don't grow weary. Don't doubt. I will come again. He gave us His word. He left us His word. Peter writes this in one of his epistles. He says, there'll be scoffers in the last days, people that mock the idea of the Lord's coming, the Lord's return, and they'll ridicule us for believing it. Look at, it's on the screen, 2 Peter 3 and 4. Knowing this first, there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts. By the way, those go hand in hand. The reason they don't believe is because they want to live how they want to. That's why they're walking in their own lusts. And they say, where is the promise of his coming? For since the creation, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. It's been so long. He ain't come back. Give up on it. Give it a rest already. People say that to us to this day. It's been 2,000 years. What proof do you really have that Jesus is coming back? And I'll tell you the proof that we have right here is His Word. He gave us His Word. He gave us His promise and He said, Heaven and earth will pass away but My Word shall not pass away. This is enough proof for us. So Jesus' return is affirmed by His Word. Now, in a couple of weeks, we're gonna talk about Matthew 25. This is all part of one big long dialogue Jesus is having. In Matthew 25, He's going to stress the readiness of believers, that we need to be ready for His return and for His kingdom, and we'll talk about that a little bit today. But in Matthew 24, the emphasis very much seems to be Jesus pointing out the unreadiness of the unbelievers. the unpreparedness for them. They are heading for judgment. They're not spiritually ready for the Lord's return. They're not ready for that final day when they're going to stand before the Lord and then their fate will be sealed for eternity. They're not ready for that. That's what Jesus is talking about. So my question for you today before we go any further, we got several more verses to study. But I'm gonna ask you, are you ready for the Lord's return? Are you ready to stand before Him today? If you were to meet Him today, if He were to come in the clouds, if the world were to end today, would you know the outcome of your soul for all eternity? That's a very important question. Jesus came so that you might know that you have eternal life. And my question for you is, do you? Do you know? Jesus says in verse 36, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Now he'd already talked about a generation that will not pass till they see these things happen. Again, some people think this is all talking about the temple, but here's my question. If the generation that's not going to pass is talking about the generation that sees the destruction of the temple in AD 70, then Jesus' word here doesn't really make a lot of sense because they would expect that in their lifetime. they would expect before they die to see the destruction of the temple, but Jesus says nobody knows when it's going to happen, only the Father knows. I think that day in verse 36, this is a little bit of Bible study for you, this is how you have to do when you're studying the Bible, you have to circle things and draw notes back to what is this referring to, this is referring back to this and referring back to this, I think in verse 36, that day, He says of that day and hour, I think that's referring back to the it that He talked about in verse 33, So he says, when you see all these things, know that it is near at the door. And what is that it talking about? Well, I think that's talking back to verse 30, when he's talking about the sign of the son of man in heaven, and the coming of the son of man in the clouds of heaven with great power and great glory. That's what he's been talking about. That's the immediate context here. And again, Jesus gave them signs to look for. And for that generation that's gonna be alive when Jesus comes, there's signs to look for. But there's no predictor. There's no event that immediately precedes it. Those of you who know what we teach here, we believe in the rapture of the church. And that rapture is imminent. That means it can happen at any time. It can happen at any time. There's nothing that has to happen immediately preceding it. There's no warning there. That's why Jesus refers to his coming like the coming of a thief, suddenly and without warning. So first of all, the Lord's return is affirmed by His word. Secondly, quickly, the Lord's return is not anticipated by the world. Now we've talked at great length about the devastation from the hurricanes. The U.S. recently been hit by two very devastating hurricanes, several states here in the Southeast have a lot of damage from that. By the way, I should mention this. We are still, I'm glad the teams are doing that. We're still collecting supplies for relief. We store those in the small modular over there. Let's see one of the watch team people, if you ever come to church and you need to put some stuff there, we'll get it to where it needs to go. But here's the thing, the people in Florida, all right, both my grandmother and Bethany's grandparents live in Florida. They've lived there for decades and they're Florida people, okay? Hurricanes are a way of life. There was a degree to which they were prepared. I mean, Florida people have to live in some kind of preparation for the annual threat of storms. Here's the difference, okay? People in the mountains of North Carolina, It wasn't that they didn't know that a storm was coming. They had no idea of the destruction and the devastation that would take place when the storm came. They could not have imagined it. They heard there's gonna be a lot of rain, but they had no way of knowing just how bad things would possibly be for them. Now, I want you to think in a similar way, there are gonna be people in the world who have heard of the coming of Jesus and have heard of the end of the world. All right, this is, it's so widely known, even though it's mocked a lot and Hollywood makes regular use of it, either in satire or mocking or, you know, they love to use biblical imagery for like cataclysmic movies and things like that. So it's not that they're unaware, but here's the thing. In spite of all the warning, and faithful Christians have been warning about the return of Christ and the judgment for thousands of years, still in that day, many, many, many, many millions of people are gonna be totally taken by surprise. They will not be ready. for what is to come. They don't imagine it to be true. They don't imagine it to be something they need to prepare for, and they're going to be caught in that judgment unexpectedly. Look at verse 37. Jesus gives us an Old Testament example. He says, but as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." This is describing the world and their attitudes and their actions prior to the judgment. Now you think about it, does that sound like people that are preparing for a cataclysmic judgment on the world? No. What are they doing? They're totally indifferent. They are eating, they're drinking, they're marrying. They are carrying on with life like nothing's coming. And that is how the world will be, carrying on life without any regard to God, without any regard to judgment, without any preparation for eternity. That's what the world will be before Jesus comes back. And can I just tell you, we're already very much there. We're already very much there. By and large, the world is completely indifferent to the coming of Christ and the judgment that awaits them. But that's the big world. I'm going to bring it down to this room today. I'm going to ask you sitting in the pews. Do you just carry on with life like there's no judgment coming? Do you just carry on with life like you're not going to stand before God one day and give account of your life? Is that how you live? Do you live like the people in Noah's days that just were eating and drinking, carrying on, having a good old time and not trembling at the coming judgment? No preparation, no readiness, no plea for mercy. Man, I'm here to tell you, I thank God I got saved when I was four years old. All I knew was that I was a sinner and Jesus died for me. And if I believed in him, he'd forgive my sins and save my soul. That's all I knew at four years old. But if I was older, if I was an adult, didn't matter how long I was, and I knew that there was a day of judgment coming, I knew that the end of the world was coming, I would be falling on my face begging God for mercy. They were ignorant. willfully ignorant, Peter would say, but it wasn't that they didn't know. So in verse 39, Jesus says, they didn't know, they knew not until the flood came and took them away. It wasn't that they hadn't been told. Okay. So second Peter chapter two, verse five, Noah is described as a preacher of righteousness. What was Noah doing all those years while they were building the ark? He was preaching righteousness. No doubt he was warning of the judgment. God had told him, I'm destroying the world because of their wickedness. No doubt he was telling them, hey, there's a flood coming and it's because you're living wicked and you're not living right before God and you're not believing in God and you're not submitting to God. And he was preaching that. He was preaching righteousness. And so the people knew they had heard, but they didn't listen. Earlier in chapter 24, Jesus had said, before the end, the gospel will go to all the world for a witness. They'll hear it. They'll hear it. And we got more gospel preaching being broadcast today than at any time in history. We've got satellite and radio, internet, the gospel is out there. And it's not that they don't hear it, but they don't listen. They're not listening. Part of their condemnation will be that they had the opportunity to hear and that they still rejected the gospel. They still did not care about it. And so again, asking the people in this room, not somebody out there, nameless, faceless person, I'm asking you sitting on the pew right here, are you hearing but not listening? Are you actively rejecting Christ's offer of salvation and looking at the face of judgment that's coming? That will be your condemnation too, that you heard, but you did not listen. Jesus says, like the situation with Noah, all that wickedness going on, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. And here's what God did in the Old Testament in Noah's day. God gave a warning to his people. Not specific knowledge. Now, Noah did not know what day the rain would start. He had no idea. All he knew was build an ark. When the day came, God said, hey, Noah, you and your family get in the ark. I'm going to shut the door. And then it started raining. He didn't know when. God delivers His people from wrath. So Noah and his family got spared. Everybody else suffered the wrath of God in a very similar way. God is giving warning to the world. And God's people have made the preparation. We have believed in Christ. We have secured eternal life, salvation. And maybe like Noah, we're preaching, warning others the wrath to come. A day's going to come when God's going to deliver his people from that wrath. He's going to take his church out of here. He's going to rapture his church. And then his wrath is going to be poured out on those who are left. That's what he did in the days of Noah as well. Why did Noah survive the flood? Because he believed God's word and prepared for it. Hebrews 11, seven, I think it's on the screen. By faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the witch he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith." So he was saved by faith because he believed God and he took him at his word. How did he condemn the world? That's an interesting phrase. You know why? Because he didn't have any information anybody else didn't have. He was preaching righteousness. The difference was he believed it. He took wise action on what he heard and he got in the ark. The others were condemned because if Noah knew and Noah believed, they could have believed and they did not. Number three, and we got to cover a lot of verses in a short amount of time. This is like a lead into our study on chapter 25 that we'll get into here in a few weeks. But number three is we must watch and be ready for the Lord's return. What's the difference between us and the world? We believe in the Lord's return and we wait for the Lord's return. That's the difference. That's the difference. We're preparing for it. So Jesus gives this awesome yet awful picture in verses 40 through 42. He says, then shall two be in the field. the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Again, no man knows, only God the Father knows. Now here's the question, are the ones being taken to judgment Or are the ones that are left being left to judgment? Are the ones taken being delivered or the ones left being delivered? Well, again, if you follow the picture he just gave of Noah, the ones that were taken out of the world were the ones delivered. Based on what Jesus just said, the taken ones are the delivered ones. And again, I'm so glad for the blessed hope, the promise of Christ's return. that the Bible tells us that one day the Trump's gonna sound and we which are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds. We're gonna be spared from God's pouring out of His wrath on the earth. The ones that are left are gonna be the ones left for judgment. And I believe we'll see that again in chapter 25 when Jesus is talking about the wedding party and the virgins that took oil in their lamps versus the ones that didn't take oil in their lamps. We'll talk about that in a few weeks. But Jesus is coming in the same manner like a thief, suddenly, without warning. But it doesn't mean that we can't prepare. It doesn't mean that we can't get ready because we're told. Look at verse 43. Here it is, here's the picture. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Now earlier in his ministry, Jesus had used a similar picture talking about him coming to earth to rescue the souls of men from Satan, Satan being the strong man, Satan being the householder, the owner of the house. And Jesus says somebody stronger than him is going to come and he's going to bind the strong man and he's going to plunder his house. And so the picture here is that Jesus is the one that's coming to deliver the goods from the house. And so here, what does a thief take? Okay, let's be honest. What does a thief take when he breaks into your house? A thief is going to take the most valuable thing that he can get his hands on. He's going to take the thing that's most valuable to him, right? In that case, and knowing that Christ said he's coming like a thief, what is it that he is going to take out of this world? What is he coming to get? And the answer is the souls of men and women. Now I want you to think about this. Spurgeon said something like this. Charles Spurgeon was a great Baptist preacher in the 1800s. He said, consider how precious a soul must be when both God and the devil are after it. You know what God finds valuable? The souls of men and women and boys and girls. That's what he's coming to rescue. That's what he's coming to deliver. Jesus said this just a few chapters before in Matthew 16. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? How highly does God value your soul? Well, God says you shouldn't give your soul in exchange for even the entire world. That's how highly he values it. He's coming like a thief, He's coming suddenly, He's coming without warning, He's coming unexpectedly and quickly and He's going to take the most valuable things that He can and that would be the souls of mankind. Several other scriptures in the New Testament, Jesus coming is compared to a thief in the night. 2 Peter 3.10, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Revelation 16.15, behold I come as a thief. And now Jesus tells a parable here in Matthew 24 starting in verse 45. And he's going to illustrate the kind of person that's going to be unprepared for his return. Again, remember, chapter 24 kind of emphasizes those unprepared. Chapter 25 will emphasize those who are prepared for his return. Look at verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. very last saying to you that He shall make Him ruler over all His goods." And by the way, that is what God has promised to His people that faithfully serve Him. If we are faithful to the Lord, He has promised rewards for us. He has promised that we will reign as kings and priests with Christ. This is a promise that He made. So blessed is the servant who is doing what his Lord commands when He comes. That servant is blessed. He receives a reward from his master. Look at verse 48. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken. Now, hold on just a second. Let's stop right there. Who does that sound like? It sounds like the people who weren't ready in Noah's days when the flood came. Eating and drinking, carrying on like nothing's getting ready to happen. Verse 50. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him as portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." That's a terrible picture. My point for you today is, if you are a servant of the Lord, if you are a believer, you be a faithful and wise servant. And you be ready. You be ready. A good part of the next chapter is going to be talking about being ready and how we ought to live until Christ comes. That's what he's saying here. Faithful. Faithful and wise servant. Faithful in doing what the Lord commands. Persevering. I love the picture there. It means you plot a straight course and you don't deviate from it. You put one foot in front of the other and you just keep going on until Jesus comes. That's what a faithful servant does. And then he says he's a wise servant, this faithful and wise servant. Why is he wise? Well, he's wise because he's watching and waiting for his master's return. He's expecting His return. It's the foolish ones, it's the scoffers that don't expect Him to return. It's the carnal mind that thinks, well, it doesn't matter if the Lord comes back, it doesn't matter when, it doesn't matter if there's a judgment, it's not going to change the way I live. That's a foolish person's outlook. It's clear in the scripture, the fact that Jesus is coming again must change the way we live. It must. And if you're not a believer today, I have a very simple message for you, and the message is this. The Lord will come again. He promised that. He's affirmed it by His word. Heaven and earth will pass away. My word will not pass away. And your soul is what's hanging in the balance. Your soul is what is at stake. And the question is, are you ready? Will His return catch you off guard like a thief in the night? And you might ask the question today, no, I'm not ready. How do I get ready? And I'm so glad you asked, because the Bible tells us, Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10, very simple gospel. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." I mentioned 2 Peter chapter 3 a couple times here. It's a great, the whole extended passage is talking about the coming of Christ and the end of the world. And right smack dab in the middle of that chapter, Peter writes this. This is beautiful. 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. He's not struggling. He's not slowed down. He's not having second thoughts. He's long suffering to usward. Listen to this. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I think it's pretty clear here. There's two options. You repent or you perish. You turn to God. You turn from your sin. You embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior. You do that or you perish. Those are your options. So how do I get ready? Well, you get ready by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you get ready. Let me show you how this might look. We're getting ready to have invitation time. We're coming to the end of the service, and you're like, yeah, Brother John, I still don't know. What do I do? Where do I go from here? Let me show you what it might look like to get your heart ready. You come to realize, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. This is what the Bible testifies is true. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every one of us. Nobody is excluded. And if you search your heart, it doesn't take long for you to discover, yeah, you're a sinner too, just like the rest of us. We know that's true. So first of all, you come to realize, I am a sinner. I'm in need of a Savior. I deserve judgment, and I'm not ready for judgment. That's the first thing, is realization. Secondly, you humble yourself in your heart before the Lord. Romans 10, 13 says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So you might pray something like this, and you can pray this silently to God. I don't have to hear it. Nobody else does. You can say it out loud, but you can say it loud. This is your heart in God. You might say something like this, okay? These are not magic words, but this is what a heart that is humbling itself before the Lord might sound like. Lord, I know I'm a sinner and I know I deserve your wrath. But I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins. And I believe he rose from the grave to show his power to save me. And I'm trusting Jesus and Jesus alone as my Lord and Savior. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me as you promised. And then end with a thank you. Thank you, Lord, for giving me eternal life. That's his promise. He made that promise. And if you believe in your heart, the Lord Jesus, and you sincerely pray and call out to Him, a prayer like that doesn't have to be the exact words, then God's promise is. Now remember Jesus said, heaven and earth will pass away, my work shall not pass away. That same assurance of His return also is for His promise to save those who call out to Him and believe. So if that's your heart, you have the same confidence that just like He will come again, He will save those to the uttermost who come to Him by faith. That's a promise that you have. And I'm gonna give you an opportunity. if that's your heart today, and you would like to make that known in just a moment when we have an invitation, while everybody's heads are bowed and eyes closed, and you come forward, and you come tell me and say, Brother John, I did that today, for the first time. I placed my faith in Christ. I called out to Him. I asked forgiveness of my sins. We will rejoice with you. We will rejoice so much with you. Or maybe you're thinking about it, but you're just not sure and you want a little more maybe you got some questions, hey, we can help you with that too. And in just a minute when we have the invitation time, same thing, while everybody else is praying, you walk right up here to the front to me and you say, Brother John, I just, I need some help. We will take a Bible. See that room over there? There's a sign on the door that says counseling room. There's nothing in there but a couple of cabinets and a table and some chairs. And if you come forward and you say, I need some help, I wanna know what the Bible says, I need somebody to pray with me, we'll get a man if you're a man, we'll get a lady if you're a lady, and we'll take you to that room and we'll show you what God's Word says about being saved so that you can know, the Bible says you can know that you have eternal life. You can know that today. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes and Bethany's gonna come and we're just gonna have this time to respond My heart's desire is that nobody leave this building today.