excited because we're starting a brand new series today called return of the
King. We have been praying for you all week long that in the midst of
uncertainty, in the midst of what seems like a chaotic world, God would use
this to bring peace and bring purpose into our lives. Let's pray together. As
we dig into God's word Jesus, we love you. And we are so thankful for your
word. And we're thankful God for this time we have together. God, whether
people are worshiping in person or are through North Alabama CW or on line
campus, God, I pray that you adjust, meld our hearts together. God, and give
us great unity father. I pray that your Holy spirit power would be evident in
this place in people's homes and people's hearts and God, my desires that you
would do what you want to do with each of us father, I pray that you would
speak through me. God moved me out of the way and let the words that come out
of my mouth come directly from you. It's in Jesus' name. We pray. And
everybody said, amen. During this past year, we've all dealt with some worry,
fear and anxiety for most of us, it's the uncertainty about what's going to
happen next. Add to that people all over social media, talking about the, in
times the antichrist Jesus coming back. And if you don't understand what
they're saying, that can be very unnerving
as well. That's why we're starting this series today. It is important for us
to study the end times, but we want to be careful in the way that we do it.
We want to do it in a way that is safe and biblically accurate and empowers
you to be everything God has called and created you to be. And see some of
the events we're going to talk about are going to be complicated and some may
even cause you to have more questions. And I'm going to ask you, please bear
with us. Please stay engaged over the whole series. I don't normally do this,
but I'm going ask you, write your questions down and save them to the end of
the series. The reason I say that is we already get so many questions every
week and there's no way we can answer everyone's questions if we get hundreds
at a time, but if you will stay engaged for the next six to eight weeks, we
may answer the questions you already have half. I also know that there are
many, many viewpoints on the, in times in Christianity, like anything else
that we study here, you have the freedom to study God's word for yourself and
decide what you believe, but I'm not going to entertain arguments. My goal is
to the best of my ability and understanding, teach you in the most biblically
accurate way possible information about this topic. So if y'all are
ready, let's jump in and let's get started. I want to start with an expert
from our refuge church statement of faith. And this is about Jesus Christ. We
believe Jesus Christ is the son of God. The second person of the Trinity on
earth, Jesus was a hundred percent God and a hundred percent man. He is the
only man ever to have lived a sinless life. He was born of a Virgin, lived a
sinless life. Performed miracles, died on the cross for mankind and thus
atone for our sins through the shedding of his blood. He Rose from the dead
on the third day, according to the scriptures, ascended to the right hand of
the father and will return again in power and glory. See revelation 22 versus
two, 12 and 13 say, look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to
repay all people, according to their deeds. I am the alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last, the beginning and the end and our church leadership
beliefs that Jesus is coming back. Literally, physically. He is going to come
back to this earth, empower and glory. The King is going to return, but the
Bible is clear that there are many events that are going to take place
surrounding this glorious return. And that's where I believe God wants us to
focus over the next several weeks together. What are the events who are the
important characters and what does this
all mean to me? The study of the end times is called eschatology. This word
derives from two Greek words, meaning last and study eschatology is the major
branch of study in Christianity that deals with the end of the age, the end
of the world, or the nature of the kingdom of God. Now we think about the, in
times we typically go straight to the book of revelation, but there are many,
many books in the Bible that give us prophecies or tell us what will happen
in the future. We see these in Joel and Amos in a ZQ Daniel Zechariah, melica
Matthew, John first Corinthians, first Thessalonians, second Thessalonians
and revelation. You see approximately a quarter of the Bible was prophetic
when it was written and beans. It was a written about events that were to
come. And some of these prophecies concerning Jesus can be easily understood,
but some can be difficult to understand. And scholars are still today
debating whether these prophecies were fulfilled in the events of the first
century or throughout history, or are yet to be fulfilled in the future.
Regardless, we can say with confidence that many, many of the Bible
prophecies have been fulfilled. And the number of prophecies about Jesus that
have been fulfilled is over 300, but like anything we study in the Bible, we
have to, it'd be careful not to cherry pick the scriptures, but we have to
look at the totality of the Bible
to see what it has to say about a subject. So as we start this series, I want
you to have a foundation of the major events and people and the end times,
and then we're going to unpack each of these events separately every week.
Now, as I've studied over the years, there are many, many timelines about the
end times. But the one that I believe is the most accurate is what's called
the pre tribulational pre-millennial model. Again, today, we're going to talk
about the overview of the events in this timeline, because each of the events
is packed with other events that's going on in heaven and going on on earth
at the same time. And so if you're taking notes, the first event in this
timeline of the in times is the rapture of the church. We're going to talk
about that next Sunday in detail, the rapture of the church, we see this in
first Thessalonians four verses 13 through 18. You see the word rapture comes
from the Greek word, which means to snatch away the rapture is the snatching
away to heaven of all Christians before the beginning of the tribulation,
which leads us to the second event. The tribulation, we see this in
revelation chapter six through 19, following the rapture of the church is the
time we called the tribulation. It is a seven year period that begins with
the antichrist signing a peace covenant with Israel, and it ends
with Armageddon. And the second coming of Jesus Christ. The third major event
is the second coming of Jesus. We see this in revelation, 19 verses 11
through 16, and this is Jesus's visible return to earth to establish his
kingdom. And we believe that Jesus will rule on earth for a millennium for a
thousand years. That's the next event, the millennium, we see it in
revelation chapter 20. This will fulfill God's promises to Abraham and all of
his believing descendants. Next is the great white throne judgment in
revelation, 20 verses 11 through 15. This is God's final judgment against all
unbelievers who have ever lived. And then we have eternity future in
revelation chapters, 21 through 22, any eternity future refers to the
permanent state of believers on the new heaven and the new earth and
unbelievers in the Lake of fire. That's the timeline. Those are the major
things that are going to happen at the end of time. And in case you're
wondering, we're also going to be talking about the people, the Bible
mentions in the last days, the antichrist, the false prophet, the two
witnesses. And of course, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about
Jesus. So as we get ready for this next few weeks together, I want to go give
you some foundational things that will help you because I know what the
question for many of us is, uh, Jason, what does this mean to me?
What? To all these events, all of these happenings, what does it mean to be
first? If you're taking notes, don't be scared, prepared. Don't be scared. Be
prepared, listen to what Psalm one 39 verses 23 to 24 says, search me O God
and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything
in me that offends you and lead me along the path of ever lasting life is see
for the believer in Jesus Christ. The in times are nothing to be afraid of.
In fact, it's something to be excited about because we will get to see Jesus
face to face. But this is a good time to examine yourself, to examine your
walk, your relationship with God. And if you were unsure about your
relationship with God, if you were having deep doubts about whether or not
you're a Christian, listen, you can know for sure you can have conflict,
abundance. And I'll talk more about that in a moment. Typically, CLI we let
anxiety creep in when we are uncertain about the future future, but no, the
one who holds the future in his hands and he's already told us what is going
to happen in the future. Don't be scared. Be prepared. Number two, don't
believe everything you read or hear don't believe everything you read or
hear. Matthew 24 11 says, and many false prophets will appear and will
deceive many people. First, John four verse one, dear friends
do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the spirit. You must test them
to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false
prophets in the world. Friends, we have more access to preaching and teaching
than any other time in history. And not everyone on Facebook or YouTube or
tech talk are preaching. God's word. Some are trying to build a following.
Some are trying to make money because someone's opinion matches your opinion.
Does it mean your opinion is the truth? This is why it is so important that
we learn to study the Bible for ourselves. I want you to listen to what
Matthew 24 36, this says, however, no one knows the day or the hour. When
these things will happen. Not even the angels and heaven or the son himself
only the father knows if someone tells you, they know when Jesus is coming
back, they're not telling you the truth. They're lying because no one knows
except for the father. The Bible says the third thing that this means us. We
need to prioritize sharing Jesus with other people. Second, Peter three nine
says the Lord. Isn't really being slow about his promise. As some people
think, no, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be
destroyed. But once everyone to repent, you see, God does not want people to
be restored or destroyed. God wants people to be restored. God
wants people to be saved. God wants people to be rescued. God wants people to
repent. And so many times we think, well, what is God doing? What is waiting
on? Have you ever thought that God is being patient with us so that we could
reach more people for a son, Jesus Christ. And we need to learn how to
prioritize evangelism. How do we prioritize sharing our God's story, making
it a focus to tell other people about Jesus. And lastly, the Bible says that
we can expect God's blessing revelation. One three says, God blesses the one
who reads the words of this prophecy to the church. And he blesses all who
listened to its message and obey. What it says for the time is near God says
that by spending time, studying prophecy, by spending Tom stunning
revelation, by spending time looking at these future events, we will be
blessed. And I'm going to tell you every time we have studied this as a
church, that scripture, that scripture has been so true because individually
we've sent blessing as a church. We've seen blessing because we listened to
God and we obeyed. Now a few minutes ago, I talked about being prepared and
being prepared starts with knowing Jesus personally, we're talking the second
coming of Jesus in this series. And so if he's coming back again, that means
he's already come one that's right. And the Bible is clear that you and I, we
are
born sinners. We're born with this propensity to do our own thing and do it
our own way. We want to be our own God. And because of that, our relationship
with God is broken. It is our sin nature. That causes us to be far from God.
But God loved you so much that he sent his son Jesus Christ to live a perfect
life, to die on a cross, to be our substitute so that we could be forgiven
and set free from our sin. Jesus has come once and he came as a rescuer. He
came as your savior and the Bible is clear if place your faith, if you will
place your trust in Jesus and what he did for you on that cross, you will be
saved. You will be rescued. You will be forgiven of your sin and you will be
set free. Jesus died on that cross. They placed his body in a bar two and
three days later, he Rose again from the grave and he proved to everyone that
he was exactly who he said. He was the son of God in the flesh. And one day
he will come back to this earth to reign as King. Are you ready? Are you
prepared? I want to ask you if there's never been a time in your life where
you've placed your faith in Jesus, would you consider it now? That's you? And
you'd say, Jason, yes, that's me. I want
to give my life to you. Jesus. Today, I invite you to pray a prayer, just
like this God today. I realize I'm a sinner and I need to be saved. I need to
be rescued. And I believe that your son, Jesus is my savior. I believe that
Jesus died on a cross for me. And I believe he Rose again from the grave so
that I could have a brand new God, let you save me. Would you forgive me? I
want to follow Jesus for the rest of my life. Jesus, you are my Lord. And
when it's in Jesus name, if that was you, please don't change the channel.
Please don't turn this video off without letting us know, because I want to
reach out to you this week. I want to pray for you by name specifically by
name. I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your new
found faith. And I want you to know that you have experience family that
loves you and wants to care for you and wants you to be everything God has
called and created you to be it, that digital connect card on our website or
on our side, social media. And I want you to know we're going to be reaching
out because Jesus loves you. And so to wait now, end of every service, we
dedicate time to worship and prayer. And so in just a moment, we're going to
worship together one last time today, and we're going to pray. And if you
need prayer for anything going on in your life, anything at all, and invite
you to fill out a prayer card or you can post in the comments below. If
you're online and we have a team ready to pray specifically for your needs
and lift your name up to Jesus, let's worship together. And if you need
prayer, let us Jesus. We love you so much. We thank you, God that you have
come to earth before. And we thank you that you are coming back again. First
God, you came as a savior and next you're coming as a warrior key. And got we
give you all honor and glory for who you are and what you've done in our
lives. And father, I pray for every person watching for every person,
listening, God, whatever they're going through. Father OD declare, I
acknowledge that you know that you are keenly aware of what is happening in
their lives. And father, I just ask you, would you meet people right where
they're at today? God, would you do things that only you can do in their
lives and in their hearts? God, would you call them closer to you? God, would
you cast out fear and anxiety? God would you give people confidence in their
relationship with you and Lord, if there are needs that people have God, we
pray in agreement with them to
you. We lift them up to you right now. Jesus and Jesus. It's in your name. We
pray. Amen. Thank you again for spending a little bit of time with us, but
more importantly with God today, we would love to hear from you. So please
let us know if you have any questions about the message or any prayer
requests. Did you decide to give your life to Christ today? If so, we want to
congratulate you. It's truly the best and most important decision you will
ever make. The Bible says that you are reborn when you acknowledged Jesus as
your personal Lord and savior, and we would love to help guide you through
what that means and your next steps as a new believer. But we can only do
that if you let us know. So please fill out the digital connect card. We have
some awesome resources. We want to send your way. If you love worshiping with
us week after week and are interested in connecting on a deeper level, we
have a new live zoom class called starting point. Click the link on our
Facebook event page to register or send an email to online at find refuge
here. For more details. If you are already a member of the refuge family, and
we'd like to support the mission, God has given us. There are three easy ways
to give online by text, or you can mail a check to the church office. Thank
you so much for your generosity. We get to live out the mission. God has
given us. When you give refuge church, we love you and hope you have a great
week. See you next time.

you don't speak in.
Once you have spoke on
nature and science,
follow this zone over
you, you speak. I can
see your heart,
everything you say and
silence. So you chase
down my heart through
all of my failures.
Who are you creating
the light of the
world, abandon
darkness to use and
failures disappear
when you lost your
life. So I could find
it. If you left the
gray behind you so I
can see everything
you've done. Every
part design hello,
everyone. I'm Tina. We
are so excited that
you chose to worship
with us today. And I
pray that God uses
this message to speak
specifically into your
life and minister to
your heart. If this is
your first time
worshiping with us,
please let us know by
taking a moment to
fill out our digital
connect card. It is so
important to us to be
able to connect with
you. We want to pray
for you and care for
you as best we can. If
you're a returning
guest, welcome back.
We want to get to know
you, and there's a
couple of different
ways we can do that.
Start a conversation
with us online, or
take part in starting
point a new live zoom
class that gives you a
quick intro into
refuge church, and an
opportunity to join
the refuge family. We
also have a new small
group semester
starting, and there
are a couple of great
online options. Please
let me encourage
you this morning. Not
to stay where you are.
Take a step toward
growth and connection
for more details on
ways to connect.
Please send an email
to
online@findrefugehere.com.
God loves you. And we
love you too. Now
let's get to the good
stuff and tune into
pastor Jason. As he
digs deeper into the
book of reverence
uncertainty always
scares us. It always
has. It's. One of the
reasons this past year
has been so difficult,
not knowing from day
to day what's coming
next. And for many
people, the events of
the past year have
caused us to think and
be afraid of future
events that will take
place on the news. And
on the internet,
people are talking
about things like the
end of the world, the
apocalypse Armageddon
Gog, and Magog the
Mark of the beast and
so much more. And if
we don't have a proper
lens within which to
view these complex
topics, they can be
scary and confusing.
But my hope is that we
can look at these real
future events in a way
that is safe and
biblically accurate
and empowers you to be
everything God has
called and created you
to be. Now last
Sunday, I gave you an
overview on how we
study the end times,
what books of the
Bible that we look at
in a general timeline
of the major events.
And if you weren't
here, I would
encourage you go back
and watch online. It
will help
you have a solid
foundation for this
series. And remember,
these are just the
major events. There is
going to be a lot
going on on earth and
in heaven during each
of these, we talked
about the rapture of
the church, the
tribulation, the
second coming of Jesus
Christ, the
millennium, the great
white throne judgment,
and then lastly,
eternity future. And
today what we want to
do is we want to focus
on the first major
event. See, there are
many Christians and
I'm one of them that
believe that Jesus is
going to come back in
two phases, the
rapture, and then the
second coming you see
we're currently in
what scholars call the
church age. And the
church age is the
period of time between
Pentecost until the
rapture, during which
Gentiles are invited
to participate in the
covenant in the church
age, God has extended
his invitation lists
to be a part of God's
kingdom beyond the, to
anyone who would
accept his offer of
salvation. And the
church age will end
with an event. Many
people refer to the
rapture of the church.
Now the word rapture
is not in the Bible,
but it comes from a
Greek word which means
to snatch away this
event, the rapture is
the snatching away to
heaven of all
Christians of everyone
who believes in Jesus
Christ. And it is
described in first
Thessalonians four
verses 13 through 18.
Let's read it
together. It says, and
now
dear brothers and
sisters, we want you
to know what will
happen to believers
who have died. So you
will not grieve like
people who have no
hope for, since we
believe that Jesus
died and was raised to
life. Again, we also
believe that when
Jesus returns, God
will bring back with
him. The believers who
have died, we tell you
this directly from the
Lord, we who are still
living when the Lord
returns will not meet
him ahead of those who
have died for the Lord
himself will come down
from heaven with a
commanding shell, with
the voice of the arch
angel and with the
trumpet call of God.
First, the believers
who have died will
rise from their
graves. Then together
with them, we who are
still alive and remain
on earth will be
caught up in the
clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. Then
we will be with the
Lord forever. So
encourage each other.
With these words,
there were many
Christians in the
church at Thessalonica
who were puzzled over
how believers who had
already died would
benefit from Jesus's
return. And Paul gets
to the point. He says
any believer who has
died prior to Jesus's
return will have his
or her transformed
physical body reunited
with their soul at the
rapture. Then Paul
says that Christians
who were living on the
earth at this moment
in history will be
transformed and be
caught up in the air
to be
with Jesus. It's
incredible. And some
of you don't even like
to fly, right? Hey,
listen, here's some
thoughts, thoughts
about the rapture
you're taking notes
first. It will be
sudden it's going to
be a sudden unexpected
event. First
Thessalonians five
verses one through
two. Now concerning
how, and when all this
will happen to your
brothers and sisters,
we don't really need
to write you for, you
know, quite well that
the day of the Lord's
return we'll come
unexpectedly like a
thief in the night.
Like I mentioned, last
Sunday, only God
father knows when
these events are going
to take place. And
just as a thief
catches a household by
surprise, Jesus will
catch the unbelieving
world by surprise.
When he returns, Oh,
Christians don't know
the timing of when
Jesus will come back,
but we don't have to
worry about it because
of our position in
Jesus Christ. Many
scholars believe that
this phase of Jesus's
return will be secret.
What I mean is is that
believers will know
what is going on, but
the unbelievers will
not see him. They
won't see him until
the second phase of
his life. It's going
to be sudden. The
second thing we need
to understand is it
the rapture, it will
be disturbing to
unbelievable. First,
it's going to be
disturbing the effect
of this removal of
believers, the absence
of multitudes of
people. Well, that's
going to be evident on
earth and it will be
very
disturbing to this
world. When millions
of people are suddenly
gone, there will be
chaos. It's going to
be disruptive, but we
have to understand.
Number three, it has
purpose. There is
purpose behind this
event called the
rapture and God
explains it. In first
Thessalonians, five
nine for God chose to
save us. That's
important that word
saved through our
Lord. Jesus Christ not
pour out his anger on
us. The word save. And
verse nine has a
threefold, meaning he
is saving us from the
past. He is saving us
in our present and he
will save us in the
future. We were saved
when we first trusted
Jesus Christ. We are
being saved as the
Holy spirit works in
us and changes us to
become more like
Jesus. And we will be
saved as we share in
Jesus's final trial. I
want to look at that
verse again in a
different translation.
The new international
version for God did
not appoint us to
suffer wrath, but to
receive salvation
through our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the same
verse, different
translation. He keeps,
he saves believers
from the wrath of the
tribulation. Again,
that's coming next. So
only is, is Jesus
saved us and saved our
souls. But through the
rapture, Jesus is
saving believers in
him from all the
events that are coming
next. The ride capture
also has purpose
because it is a
catalyst for these
events to come.
Because now there will
be global chaos.
And because the church
of Jesus has gone to
heaven to be with him,
there is nothing
stopping from
revealing the
antichrist. Lastly, it
will be incredible.
First, John three two
says, dear friends, we
are already God's
children, but he has
not yet shown us what
we will be like when
Christ appears. But we
do know that we will
be like him for, we
will see him, how he
really is. It's going
to be incredible
because believers who
have not yet died will
get to meet Jesus
Christ. And this rapid
sure will involve an
instantaneous
transformation of our
bodies to make spit
for eternity and was a
glorious event that we
should be longing for.
Believers in Jesus
will finally be free
from sin and we will
be in God's presence
forever. But I know
what you're thinking,
Jason, when is this
going to happen? Is
this going to happen
in our lifetime? Is
this going to happen
in our generation? I
just don't know, given
all that's going on in
the world right now,
it's hard not to think
that Jesus would be
coming back soon. But
think about this. Can
you imagine what it
was like to be a
believer in Rome under
emperor Nero or
Domitian to face the
arena, to face the
stake or to face the
lion's den for your
faith? Or what do you
think Christians were
thinking when
Jerusalem was captured
and the temple
destroyed in Ady 70 or
when Attila overran
Europe in the fifth
century or the Vikings
and the ninth or
Gangas Kahn in that
13th or the Ottomans
in the 16th century,
maybe Christians
thought the end was
near when the black
death decimated
Christians wiping out
entire towns and
claiming over 25
million lives in the
13 hundreds. How did
the situation look to
Christians at the
beginning of the last
century, when the
great war brought 37
million casualties or
even a few decades
later, when the shadow
of Hitler and the
third Reich was rising
over Germany and
Eastern Europe,
clearly the 21st
century has no
monopoly on death or
disaster or
devastation or terror.
We just don't know
when the rapture is
going to happen. I'm
not going to say it's
going to happen in
this generation. I
don't know that, but
what I do know, I do
know that we need to
be prepared. Let me
share with you a few
thoughts. This one on
how you can prepare
number one, do good
works. Galatians six,
10 says we should help
people whenever we
can, especially if
they're followers of
the Lord, God has
called us and
commanded us to do
good, works, good
works. Don't save us.
But good work is a
result of our
salvation because
Jesus changed us
because of our love
for him and our love
for people. God has
called us to do good
works in our schools.
And in our workplaces,
in our churches, in
our
communities, God has
placed a call. He has
placed a purpose
inside of you. It is
Tom to step up and do
the things that God
has called you to do.
Second, we need to
share the good news
Mark 16, 15 says, and
then he told them, go
into all the world and
preach the good news
to everyone. The good
news about Jesus.
Isn't just for a
select few it's for
everyone. God wants
the whole world to
know his good news.
And we said, last
week, maybe God is
being patient so that
more and more people
can hear about him.
Did you know, there
are still some
cultures. There are
still some tribes
where the Bible has
not been translated
yet. We need to have a
passion for reading
chink people with the
good news of Jesus,
whether that's through
our online ministries,
whether that's through
missions, whether
that's through you,
investing in people's
lives and sharing what
Jesus has done for
you. God doesn't want
anyone to go to hell.
He doesn't. And it is
incumbent upon us to
do everything we can
to reach people with
the good news of
Jesus. Third, you need
to teach your family
God's word. You need
to teach your family.
God's word. I love
this verse from
Deuteronomy six. This
is the amplified
version. These words
talking about God's
word. God's all these
words, which I am
commanding you today
shall be written on
your heart. And mind
you shall teach them
diligently to your
children, impressing
God's precepts on
their months and
penetrating their
hearts with his truth
and shall speak of
them when you sit in
your house and when
you walk on the road
and when you lie down
and when you get up,
we are responsible for
the discipleship of
our children, not the
church, but, but we as
parents in it coming
upon us to raise our
children up in godly
homes, to teach them
about God's word, to
teach them about
Jesus, to teach them
about loving God and
loving other people.
How can you prepare by
preparing your
children by investing
with them in them, the
word of God. And as
the church, the church
wants to come
alongside of you and
give you tools to help
your children grow.
But we've got to teach
our family God's word.
And lastly, you need
to make Jesus your
priority. Second,
Peter, three 11
through 12 ICB
version. And that way
everything will be
destroyed. He's
talking about the end
of time and that way
everything will be
destroyed. So what
kind of people should
you be? You should
live Holy loves and
serve God. You should
wait for the day of
God and look forward
to it's coming
friends. We need to
make Jesus a priority
in our lives. We can't
be distracted by
what's going on in the
world. What's going on
at work. Jesus has to
be our focus. Jesus
has to be our
priority. Again, for
many of us, we can
remember that time. We
gave our life to him.
We can remember the
excitement. We can
remember the passion.
We can remember
wanting to pray. We
can remember wanting
to read God's word,
but somehow over the
years, we've just
drifted away. Let's
make Jesus our
priority. Again, let's
get into his word.
Let's spend time in
prayer. Let's serve
like never before.
Let's be generous.
Let's focus on Jesus
in order to focus on
Jesus. You've got to
know him and maybe
you're watching today.
And there's never been
a time in your life
where you've placed
your faith. You've
placed your trust in
Jesus. Every one of us
is born a sinner.
We're all born
naturally wanting to
rebel against God,
naturally wanting to
be our own boss,
naturally wanting to
be the Lord of our own
life. And the Bible
says because of that
rebellion, our
relationship with God
is broken and we are
destined for a very
real place called
hell. But God loves
you so much. The Bible
said that he sent his
one and only son,
Jesus Christ, that
anyone who believes in
him will not perish,
but have everlasting
life. God sent Jesus
because he loves you.
God sent Jesus to save
you. God sent Jesus so
that you could live in
eternity, in heaven
with him after you
die. But while you're
on this earth, you
could have an abundant
and blessed life
following him. Jesus
died on the cross. He
was buried in a
borrowed tomb and he
Rose again three days
later to prove to
everyone that he's
exactly who he says.
He was the son of God
in the flesh. The one
that had the ability
to forgive and set
free. And if you will
place your trust in
Jesus today, he will
forgive you of your
sin. He will set you
free. He will restore
relationship with God.
You will know with
confidence that you
have a home in heaven
and he will send his
spirit to live inside
of you to lead and
guide you each and
every day. But it's a
decision only you can
make. Are you ready
for the return of the
King? Are you
prepared? It all
starts with Jesus. You
say Jason, that's me.
I want to give my life
to Jesus today. I
invite you to pray
this with me. I know
I'm not ready. I know
I haven't followed you
like I should today. I
realize I'm a sinner
in need of a savior.
I've been going own
way with my life. I've
been trying to make my
own decisions and be
my own boss. Be my own
God, no more today. I
decided to trust
Jesus. I believe that
Jesus died on a cross
for me and Rose again
from the grave. I'll
place my faith in him
today to save me, to
change me, to give
me a brand new life.
Jesus, you are my
Lord. And I want to
follow you for the
rest of my life in
Jesus. It's in yours,
your name. I pray as
you listen. That's the
greatest decision you
can ever make with
your life. But I want
to ask you, please
don't change the
channel. Please don't
turn this video off
without letting me
know. You can go to
our website and fill
out the digital
connect card. You can
fill it out in the
post above or the
comments below police.
Just give me a name
and email address.
Just some way to reach
out to you. I want to
pray for you by name
specifically. And I
want to send you
resources that will
help you grow to
become more like
Jesus. At the end of
every service, we
dedicate Tom to prayer
and to worship. And so
in just a moment,
we're going to worship
together one last
time. And if you need
prayer, I invite you
to stop what you're
doing. Just cry out to
God. Maybe you have
some prayer requests
you want to let us
know about. You can
post them in the
comments below if
you're comfortable or
you can fill out our
online prayer card,
our website and our
pastoral team, our per
team is ready to lift
up your name to Jesus.
Let's worship
together. And if you
need Jesus, we thank
you. We thank you that
everything that's
going
to happen in the end
times has purpose God.
We thank you that
there is nothing that
is outside of your
control. We thank you
that you were aware
that you have purposed
each and every moment
for your honor and for
your glory. And we
thank you that we can
have peace that we
don't have to live in
fear because we trust
you. Jesus and God, I
pray today for those
who got need to just
recommit themselves a
fresh and a new to
you, God, that you
would just give them
great faith that you
would pour out grace
and purpose into their
lives. God, that you
would give them a
great peace and
father. I pray that
you would give them
fresh wind and fresh
fire as they follow
you. Lord, for those
who are just
struggling this
morning, dealing with
hurts or bad habits or
hangups in their life.
Father, I pray for
healing over each and
everyone. Father. We
love you. And we're
going to give you the
honor and glory for
what you do and it's
in Jesus' name. We
pray. Amen. Thank you
again for spending a
little bit of time
with us, but more
importantly with God
today, we would love
to hear from you. So
please let us know if
you have any questions
about the message or
any prayer requests.
Did you decide to give
your life to Christ
today? If so, we want
to congratulate you.
It's truly
the best and most
important decision you
will ever make. The
Bible says that you
are reborn when you
acknowledged Jesus as
your personal Lord and
savior, and we would
love to help guide you
through what that
means and your next
steps as a new
believer. But we can
only do that if you
let us know. So please
fill out the digital
connect card. We have
some awesome
resources. We want to
send your way. If you
love worshiping with
us week after week and
are interested in
connecting on a deeper
level, we have a new
live zoom class called
starting point. Click
the link on our
Facebook event page to
register or send an
email to online at
find refuge here. For
more details. If you
are already a member
of the refuge family,
and we'd like to
support the mission,
God has given us.
There are three easy
ways to give online by
text, or you can mail
a check to the church
office. Thank you so
much for your
generosity. We get to
live out the mission.
God has given us. When
you give refuge
church, we love you
and hope you have a
great week. See you
next time.

This morning, we are continuing
our in time series of the return
of the King with everything going
on around the globe. There's been
a lot of talk about the end of
the world and Jesus coming back.
The Bible does teach that there
will be certain events that
happen in the last days, but we
want to make sure that we are
looking through the hype and
through the fear-mongering in
order to get the most biblically
accurate information possible.
And I don't want you to just have
information. I want you to be
encouraged and empowered to make
a kingdom impact in this world.
Now last week and the week before
we quickly walked through the
major events of the, in times the
rapture of the church, the
tribulation, the second coming of
Christ, the millennium, the great
white throne judgment and
eternity future. And today we're
going to hone in and talk about
the tribulation. Last week we
discussed the rapture of the
church. We said that the next
major event that is going to
happen is that Jesus believers in
Jesus are willing to be
transformed and meet him in the
air. And if you'll remember,
there are two purposes for the
rapture first to save the church
from the wrath that is going to
be poured out on the earth and to
with the church removed some
scholars referred to the church
as the restrainer or the Holy
spirit. As the restrainer with
that remove, Satan can finally
empower and reveal the
antichrist. Now I've said many
times that during each of these
major events, there are going to
be multiple other events
happening in heaven and on earth.
So what I want us to do today is
I want us to look at what happens
after the rapture. So the first
question is what's going on in
heaven after the rapture, if
you're taking notes first, there
was going to be an event called
the judgment seat of Christ.
Matthew 16, 27 says for the son
of man will come with his angels
and the glory of his father, and
will judge all people according
to their deeds. The Bible talks
about a special judgment that God
will hold for believers in Jesus
Christ. Only it's known as the
judgment seat of Christ or the
judgment seat of God. This is not
a judgment to determine who will
enter heaven. The sins of
believers will not be an issue at
the judgment seat of Christ
because the ju the sins of
believers have already been
forgiven with the death of Jesus.
On the cross. The destiny of
Christians has been once. And for
all settled, there is no
condemnation for those who are in
Christ. Jesus, you see the
judgment seat of Christ is not
designed to punish believers, but
rather reward Christians for
faithful service. All of us will
give an account for what did with
our lives after trusting Christ
as savior. So the judgment seat
of Christ is a judgment of
believers works after their
salvation. Then there will be an
event called the marriage supper
of the lamb it's described in
revelation 19, starting in verse
seven, let us be glad and
rejoice, and let us give honor to
him for the Thomas come for the
wedding feast of the lamb and his
broad has prepared herself. She
has been given the fondest of
pure white linen to wear for the
fine linen represents the good
deeds of God's Holy people. And
the angel said to me, write this
blessed are those who were
invited to the wedding feast of
the lamb. And he added, these are
true words that come from God. If
you remember John, the writer of
revelation, he had seen a vision.
And in this vision, he heard all
of heaven praising God, because
the wedding feast of the lamb,
literally the marriage supper was
about to begin. This is what the
Bible describes as the wedding
between Jesus Christ and his
church. Now concept of this
marriage, supper is better
understood when we know how
Jewish weddings took place while
Jesus was on the earth. First,
these wedding customs had three
major parts. A marriage contract
was signed by the parents of the
bride and the groom, and then the
parents of the groom or the groom
would pay a dowry to the Broad's
parents. And this was what was
called the betrothal
or what we would call an
engagement period. Then the
second step of the process
usually occurred about a year
later, when the groom accompanied
by his male friends would go to
the house of the bride at
midnight, creating a torch light
to parade through the streets.
The broad would know in advance
that this was going to take place
and she would be ready with her
maidens. And they would all join
the parade in up at the groom's
house. And why don't we still do
this? Isn't that fun. And then
the third phase was the marriage
supper itself, which may go on
for days. It was a huge
celebration. And in these verses,
we just read, we see a picture of
the wedding feast of Jesus Christ
and the church, and it's in the
third phase. And the implication
is, is that the first two phases
had already taken place. The
first phase was completed on
earth when each individual
believer placed his or her faith
in Jesus Christ as savior,
because Jesus paid the price for
us by shedding his blood on the
cross. And the second phase
symbolizes the rapture of the
church when Jesus Christ came to
claim his bride. So what we see
going on in heaven is this
marriage supper, sometime between
the rapture and the second
coming, and the Bible describes
it as a glorious celebration,
Jesus is going to throw a party
and we get to be a part
of it. Now what's happening in
the earth during this time, while
celebration is going on. And
after the rapture, Kayla breaks
out on the earth, millions of
people have vanished and
unbelievers will be left behind
to face a series of disturbing
events called the tribulation.
Jesus spoke about the tribulation
and Matthew 24 21. He said, this
will be the worst time of
suffering since the beginning of
the world. And yet nothing, this
terrible will ever happen again.
And the tribulation is a period
of seven years, which God's
judgment will be poured out on
sinful humanity. And this is the
fulfillment of a prophecy that we
find in Daniel chapter nine,
starting in verse 24, 70 sevens
org decreed for your people in
your Holy city to finish
transgression, to put sin, to end
to a tone for wickedness, to
bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision
and prophecy and to anoint the
most Holy place. No one
understand this from the time the
word goes out to restore and
rebuild Jerusalem until the
anointed one, the ruler comes
there will be seven sevens and 62
sevens. There will be rebuilt
with streets and a trench, but in
times of trouble after the 62
sevens, the anointed one will be
put to death and will have
nothing. The people of the ruler
who will come to the steroid, the
city and the sanctuary, the end
will come like a flood war will
continue until the
end. And desolations have been
decreed. You see what the Bible
is talking about with those 70
sevens? It is a period of 490
years. And based on this
prophecy, when it was written,
there would be 49 years until the
rebuilding of the Jerusalem and
the temple, and then 434 years
until the Messiah would come and
be killed. And so according to
this prophecy, there are seven
years left. There are seven years
left to be fulfilled in this
prophecy. And that is the time we
call the tribulation or the time
of Jacob's trouble. And so what I
want us to do is today, I want us
to talk about the first three and
a half years of the tribulation.
What's going to be going on all
on earth during that first three
and a half years, if you're
taking notes, the first thing
will be the battle of God. And
may God. We see this in executive
chapters, 38 and 39 at the
beginning of the tribulation, a
leader referred to as God of the
land of may, God will lead a
great army from the North of
Israel in Alliance with several
other countries from the middle
East and Africa. And they are
going to attack the nation of
Israel. But the scriptures say
that God will send wild animals
and confusion and fire and
disease and hailstones and
burning sulfur. And he will super
naturally protect the nation of
Israel. It says that so
many of Israel's enemies will be
killed. It will take seven months
for the dead to be buried. Now,
this is not the battle of
Armageddon. That is something
that happens much later, but
there will be this battle. There
will be this war at a time of
relative peace in Israel. And God
is going to show up in a powerful
way, just like he did in the old
Testament, Tom and Tom again. And
he is going to fight for Israel
and protect the nation. We also,
we're going to see what we call a
revived Roman empire, Daniel
seven seven says then in my
vision that night, I saw a North
beast terrifying, dreadful, and
very strong, outward, and crushed
its victims with huge iron teeth
and trampled, their remains
beneath its feet. It was
different from any other beast.
It had 10 horns. Now in this, the
vision that Daniel had in this
prophecy, he was talking about a
government that is going to rise
up because after all of the chaos
of the rapture, there will be
many world leaders who will be
gone. There will be many
governments that have no
leadership in some people call
this a one-world government. As
I've studied. I believe that this
will be a revived Roman empire
and a powerful government will
rise to power and dominate the
world. During the end times. Now
this could be either a world
political system or more likely a
specific nation
or a Federation of nations.
That's going to be led by one
ruler. And the fact that it
mentions the element, iron
suggests a connection to Rome,
and the 10 toes could imply that
there will be a 10 nation
Confederacy, but revelation
describes this government has
last and less and full of tyranny
and it's require absolute
submission and financial and
spiritual and political matters.
There will be a government that
rises up that really tries to
dominate and take over the world.
After the rapture, I mentioned
that there will be a ruler over
this nation or this Confederacy
of nations. And we called this
ruler, the antichrist. And so
after this begins to happen, we
are going to see the rise of
someone we call the antichrist or
the Bible refers to them as the
beast. We see this in second
Thessalonians, two, seven, and
eight for this lawlessness is
already at work secretly, and it
will remain secret until the one
who is holding it back steps out
of the way. Then the man of
lawlessness will be revealed, but
the Lord Jesus Christ will slay
him with the breadth of his mouth
and destroy him by the splendor
of his coming. You see this new
powerful government will be led
by a satanic empowered person who
promises world peace, but they
will really be after world
domination and this person, well,
it's not an all-inclusive list,
but the antichrist, the Bible
says will be a
genius in the areas of concern,
immerse, and war and speech and
politics. Antichrist will be able
to perform counterfeit and
miracles. This person will
receive their power directly from
Satan. He won't magnify himself.
He will want people to see him as
a God. He will want to be worse.
And the triple we'll start with
him brokering a seven year peace
treaty with the nation of Israel.
Now, at first people in the
world, they will be sieved into
thinking that this person is an
incredible leader. Someone who is
going to heal the world after the
chaos and the grief associated
with the rapture. I mean, he's
going to be able to broker middle
East peace, right? Something no
one's been able to do, but as
time goes on, the world will see
who he truly is because
ultimately he wants to be
worshiped. He wants people to see
him as a God. That's something I
see a lot of people doing right
now on social media is accusing
world leaders of being the
antichrist or trying to figure
out who the antichrist is. It is
important to understand since
Christians will be raptured
before the beginning of the
tribulation, those who are alive
before the rapture will not see
the antichrist rise to power.
It's possible that Christians
will see this person on the world
stage, but they will not be able
to recognize him as the beast or
the antichrist because this
person will not
have yet made moves towards world
domination. You see, since Satan
doesn't know the timing of the
rapture, he always has to be
ready with what many people call
the unholy, Trinity, Satan, the
antichrist, and another figure
who is going to have a prominent
role in that is the false
prophet. But sometimes the Bible
refers to him as the second beast
revelation 1311 says, then I saw
another beast come up out of the
earth. He had two horns like
those of a lamb, but he spoke
with the voice of a dragon. He
exercise all the authority of the
first beast and he required all
the earth and its people to
worship. The first beast whose
fatal wound had been healed. He
did astounding miracles, even
making fire flashed down to earth
from the sky while everyone was
watching and with all the
miracles he was allowed to
perform on behalf of the first
beast, he deceived all the people
who belong to the world. You see
where the antichrist is going to
lead the world political system.
The false prophet will be a say,
tonically empowered leader who
will lead a world religious
system. He is going to give the
impression that he is gentle and
harmless, but he will speak with
the very words of Satan. The
false prophet will actually
promote the worship of the
antichrist as God. And people are
going to listen to this false
prophet because he's going to be
able
to perform miracles. One specific
sign. The Bible says is that he
will be able to make fire come
from heaven in front of people.
And these spectacular miracles
will mesmerize and deceive the
world. The false prophet will be
there. The driving force behind
the Mark of the beast that we'll
talk about next week. Now I know
what you're thinking, Jason, this
sounds discouraging. And it
sounds bleak. And it sounds
scary, but you don't understand.
Even in the midst of the
tribulation, God is still going
to be moving. God is still going
to be working and God is still
going to be changing lives
because the Bible says that God
is going to provide two witnesses
in revelation 11 three, and I
will give power to my two
witnesses and they will be closed
in burlap. And they will prophesy
during those 1,260 days, God is
going to send two people to share
the gospel of Jesus Christ,
accompanied by miraculous signs
and wonders. And we don't know
who these two people will be, but
many scholars believe that this
will be Alijah and knock from the
old Testament because each of
them were taken up to heaven.
Without dying revelation says
they will be so powerful that no
one will be able to stop them
while they are doing God's work,
work. And at the end of their
ministry. And they have said
everything that they needed to
say, the Bible says the
antichrist will
kill them. And the evil world
will rejoice. Their bodies will
be allowed to lie in the streets
of Jerusalem, but three and a
half days later, the Bible says
these witnesses will be
resurrected. And in full view of
their enemies, they will ascend
to heaven to be with God. In
addition to these two witnesses,
the Bible there'll be 144,000
Jews who give their lives to
Christ. And their mission will be
to evangelize the post rapture
world and to proclaim the gospel
during the tribulation. I love
this even while God is pouring
out wrath on earth, God in his
great love and compassion is
still providing a way for people
to be saved. It breaks my heart
when people accuse God of being
unloving or unfair or impatient,
because over and over again,
throughout history, he has given
and will continue to give people
the opportunity to accept his
gift of salvation. But he has
also given us the responsibility
and the mission of reaching
people with the gospel. I don't
know about you, but I want people
to experience the marriage,
supper of the lamb. I want people
to experience eternity with Jesus
and not the tribulation. And so,
as we read all of this today,
everything that is going to
happen, I think the question we
have to ask ourselves as Jason,
what does this mean to me? What
am I supposed to do with all
knowing what's going to happen in
heaven, knowing
what's going to happen on earth?
What do I do with this? What we
do with this friends is we learn
how to share the gospel with
other people. We make sharing the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the very
vision and mission of our lives.
We fulfill the great commission
that God has given us because
every person watching every
person listening, who has given
their life to Jesus Christ, you
are a missionary. You are a
minister and God has commissioned
and you to tell people about
Jesus. And so real quickly, what
I want to do is I want to teach
you how to share the gospel with
other people, because information
just makes us arrogant. But when
we know how to apply, God's word
to our life, we can make a
kingdom impact in the life of
others. And so if there is
nothing else, you rat down the
day share with you four simple
steps. This is from Billy
Graham's evangelistic
association, four simple steps to
share the gospel with people.
Number one, tell them about God
God's plan, which is peace and
life. God loves you and wants you
to experience the peace and life
that he offers. Bible says for
God. So loved the world that he
gave his one and only begotten
son that whoever believes in him
should not perish, but have ever
lasted life. God has a plan for
you. Number two, share with them.
Our problem separation from God,
being
at peace with God is not
automatic, but nature. We are all
separated from him. The Bible
says for, we have all sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God.
God is Holy, but we are human.
And don't measure up to his
perfect standard. We are sinful
and the wages of sin, his death.
Then you talk about God's remedy
the cross of Jesus Christ. God's
love, love bridges. The gap of
separation between you and him.
When Jesus Christ died on the
cross and Rose again from the
grave he paid penalty for your
sins. The Bible says he himself
bore our sins in his body on the
cross so that we might die to
sins and live for righteousness.
By his wounds, you have been
healed. The crown cost is God's
remedy an hour response. Number
four, our responses that we
receive Christ you cross the
bridge, the God's family. When
you accept Jesus, Christ's free
gift of salvation. The Bible
says, but as many as received him
to them, he gave the right to
become children of God, Romans
10, 13, whoever calls upon the
name of the Lord will be saved.
And so maybe, you know, people in
your life, maybe it's people in
your family, maybe it's people at
school, people in your workplace.
And you say, Jason, I know, I
know that they need Jesus. You
can walk through these four steps
with them and help lead them to
peace and life
in Jesus Christ. It may be.
You're even watching right now.
And there's never been a time in
your life where you've given your
life to Jesus Christ. The same
words apply to you. There is
peace and there is life available
in Jesus. We may be born
separated from God, but because
of God's great love for you. He
gave up his son, Jesus, to die on
a cross and then resurrect
himself from the dead so that you
can have forgiveness and freedom
and accepting. This is a decision
that only you can make, uh, a
pastor cannot make it for you.
Your parents cannot make it for
you, but you have to decide to
choose Jesus today. And if that's
okay, you and you say, Jason,
yes. I want Jesus to be the Lord
of my life. I invite you to pray
a prayer with me this morning.
Pray, dear Lord, Jesus. I know
that I'm a sinner. And I ask for
your forgiveness. I believe you
died for my sins and Rose from
the dead. I trust and follow you
as my Lord and savior guide my
life and help me do your will.
Jesus. It's in your name. We
pray. Amen. And if that was you
today, I want to congratulate you
because that is the greatest
decision that you could ever make
with your life to place your
faith, your trust and follow
Jesus. But please do not change
the channel. Please do not
turn this video off without
letting us know, because we want
to reach out to you and pray for
you by name and give you
resources to help you grow in
your faith. So if you made that
decision today, please go to
website and fill out the digital
connect card. If you're watching
online, it's the post above or
the comments below Jesus loves
you. And he is for you and we
love you. And we are for you. And
we want you to be a part of our
family here. Now at the end of
every service, we dedicate time
to worship and prayer, and today
is no different. Maybe you're
watching and you've got something
going on in your life. And you
would say, Jason, I just need
somebody to pray for me. Pray
with me. It would be our honor
and privilege to do just that. If
you feel comfortable, you can
post your prayer requests in the
comments below, or you can go to
our website and fill out our
prayer card online. And we would
love to be praying for you. I'll
also want to share with you that
over the next few weeks, as we
prepare for Easter, our prayer
team and our staff is going to be
praying for anyone in your life
that needs to give their lives to
Jesus. And so we want to pray
with you on that point. And so if
you have people in your family,
people
in your workplace and they don't
know Jesus, and you would like
for us to pray for them, I invite
you to email their first names
only to
online@fondrefugehere.com. And it
would be our honor and privilege
to pray over each other. Every
one of those nights, let's
worship. And let's pray together
this morning. Jesus. We love you.
And we thank you, God that even
though we don't know everything,
that's going to happen in the
future at Jesus. We know the one
who holds the future in his hands
and Jesus, we say, we trust you.
We love you. We adore you. And we
worship you and father today. I
know that there are so many
people that are going through
tough times. They're going
through difficult circumstances
and father. I thank you in
advance that you are aware of
what is going on. That nothing
has taken you by surprise and God
that you have grace set aside for
each and every person and each
and every situation. And so God I
ask you today, would you meet
people where they're at in this
moment? And God, would you give
them everything they need
spiritually, emotionally God, to
make it through father of people,
situations need to change. God, I
pray that you would change him.
God, maybe it's not the situation
that needs to change. Maybe it's
them. Maybe it's an attitude.
Maybe it's a belief about you.
God, I pray that you would just
transform
us and make us more like you, Oh
God, would you pour out peace and
joy and the love into our hearts?
May we be everything that you
have created and call us to be
Jesus? And it is in your name. We
pray. Amen.

throw me won't scare me. hello
everyone. I'm Tina. We are so
excited that you chose to worship
with us today. And I pray that
God uses this message to speak
specifically into your life and
minister to your heart. If this
is your first time worshiping
with us, please let us know by
taking a moment to fill out our
digital connect card. It is so
important to us to be able to
connect with you. We want to pray
for you and care for you as best
we can. If you're a returning
guest, welcome back. We want to
get to know you, and there's a
couple of different ways we can
do that. Start a conversation
with us online, or take part in
starting point a new live zoom
class that gives you a quick
intro into refuge church, and an
opportunity to join the refuge
family. We also have a new small
group semester starting and there
are a couple of great online
options. Please let me encourage
you this morning. Not to stay
where you are. Take a step toward
growth and connection for more
details on ways to connect.
Please send an email to
online@findrefugehere.com. God
loves you, and we love you too.
Now let's get to the good stuff
and tune into pastor Jason. As he
digs deeper into the book of
revelation. good morning refuge
family. It is so great to see you
again today. Hey, I'm excited
about what God's going
to do in our midst, in our homes.
As we continue our series, the
return of the King. Last week, we
started talking about the
tribulation and this week we want
to finish up talking about the
end time events that happen in
the last part of those seven
years. Again, remember this isn't
to scare anybody or freak anybody
out. I want you to understand the
end times in the most biblically
accurate way possible and more
than anything else. I want us to
have an urgency and a heartbeat
to lead our friends and our
family and our coworkers and our
neighbors to Jesus Christ,
because we don't want anyone to
experience the future events that
are coming. We want them to be at
home and the heaven with Jesus
Christ. Also want to remind you
that next Sunday is Easter Sunday
morning, and we would love to see
you either in person at one of
our campuses or on North Alabama
CW at 9:00 AM, or we'll have
three special services online at
8:30 AM, 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
Easter Sunday is going to be an
incredible day of worshiping
Jesus and celebrating our savior.
Hey, let's pray together before
we jump in to God's word Jesus.
We love you. Thank you for today.
Thank you for just the
opportunity to worship you.
Jesus. I pray that as we dig into
your word father, that you would
speak directly to our hearts
today. God, would you move me out
of
the way? And may the words that
come from my mouth come directly
from you. Jesus and Jesus. It's
in your name. We pray. Amen. Good
morning. During this past year,
we've all dealt with some worry,
fear and anxiety for most of us,
it's the uncertainty about what's
going to happen next. Add to
that. People are on social media,
talking about the in times and
Jesus coming back. And if you
don't understand what people are
saying, that can very unnerving
as well. That is while we're
teaching this in time series,
it's important for us to study
the end times, but we want to be
careful to do it in a way that is
safe and biblically accurate and
empowers you to be everything
that God has called and created
you to be. Now I know some of the
events we've talked about are
complicated, but don't worry.
We're going to talk about even
more complicated ones this
morning. And some of you may have
started to have some questions.
It reminds you that you can email
your questions to
online@findrefugehere.com or
place a Q and a card in the
offering bucket at church. We'll
spend a few weeks at the end of
this series, answering your
questions about the topics we
weren't able to cover. Now, last
week we started learning about an
in-time event called the
tribulation. And if you'll
remember, the tribulation is a
period of seven years and what
God's judgment is poured
out on sinful humanity. Jesus
said in Matthew 24 or 21, this
will be the worst time of
suffering since the beginning of
the world and nothing this time
will will ever happen. Again. Now
we looked at the first three and
a half years of this seven year
span last week that included the
battle of Gog and may God a
revived Roman empire, the rise of
the Christ and the appearance of
the false prophet. But I want to
make sure we understand the
context of all that is happening
during this time. The Bible is
clear that even during the
tribulation life goes on, people
are still working jobs. They're
still getting married. They're
having children, they're dealing
with grief life. Doesn't go on
pause during this time period. So
there will be real people living
real lives during a time period
in history, that is going to be
real bad. It's going to be a
difficult time for people to live
through. And the Bible uses
symbolism to describe some of
these events when it refers to
the four horsemen of the
apocalypse, is he, the first
horseman is the antichrist. We
talked about him last week and
we'll talk a little, a bit more
about him today. The second
horseman is war. There will be
war and battles going on during
this time. The third horseman is
fam and then the fourth horseman
is devastation. These are
symbolic things that are actually
going to help.
It happened during this seven
year period. We also said that in
the, in the midst of all the
chaos going on in the world, God
is still going to be sending
people to share the gospel of
Jesus Christ and make a way for
unbelievers and those born during
this time to be saved and
scholars refer to those people
who give their lives to Jesus
during the tribulation, as
tribulation saints. Now there's
another important event that
happens during these seven years,
and that is the rebuilding of the
Jewish temple in Jerusalem. If
you'll remember throughout
history, the temple was the
center of Jewish, religious life.
The place that sacrifices were
made for the forgiveness of sins.
This is something that the
antichrist will not only allow,
but he will encourage and protect
because ultimately it will be a
part of his plan for the sea. The
word world. We see this in a
verse we introduced last week,
Daniel nine 24, 70 sevens are
decreed for your people and your
Holy city to finish
transgression, to put in, into
sin, to atone, for wickedness, to
bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision
and prophecy into anoint. The
most Holy place you see these
prophecies in the book of
revelation indicates that several
in-time events are going to
happen in the temple and the
antichrist is going to allow it
to be rebuilt. So the Jews can
start their sacrifices and
worship again. But during the
halfway Mark of the tribulation,
approximately three and a half
years in there is going to be an
event called the abomination of
desolation Daniel prophesied this
event and Daniel 1211. It says
from the time that daily
sacrifices stop and the
sacrilegious object that causes
desecration, it's set up to be
worshiped. There will be 1,290
days. Jesus also talked about
this event and Mark 13, 14, he
said, the day is coming. When you
will see the sacrilegious object
that causes desecration standing,
where he should not be reader pay
attention. Then those in Judea
must flee to the Hills. You see
the abomination of desolation is
when the antichrist shows the
world who he truly is, the
antichrist is going to break the
peace treaty with Israel. He's
going to stop Jewish sacrifices.
He's going to sit in the temple
and he is going to claim to be,
be God. And he's going to begin
to persecute Jews and tribulation
saints. And this persecution will
culminate with the bands that the
people declare allegiance to him
and worship the anti-Christ
revelation. 13, 14 through 15
says, and with all the miracles
he was allowed to perform on
behalf of the first beast, he
deceived all the people who
belong to this world. He ordered
the people to make a great statue
of the first beast who was
fatally wounded, and then came
back to life. He was then
permitted to give life to this
statue so that
it could speak. Then the statue
of the beast commanded that
anyone refusing to worship, it
must die. You see the antichrist,
the Bible says is either going to
be wounded and fake death and
resurrection, or he will die and
God will allow Satan to resurrect
him. Then the false prophet will
build a statue to the antichrist
that will be supernaturally,
empowered, to speak and continue
to deceive people. And the false
prophet is going to Institute
something. We call the Mark of
the beast. The Bible talks about
it in revelation 13. He, the
false prophet required everyone
great and small, rich, and poor
free, and slave to be given a
Mark on the right hand or
forehead. And no one could buy or
sell anything without that Mark,
which was either the name of the
beast or the number representing
his name. Now let's pause. And
let's hang out here for a moment
because the Mark of the beast is
probably one of the most
misunderstood and misrepresented
parts of in time events. Again,
we see people on social media and
on YouTube trying to guess what
it is, or even declare that our
government is trying to Institute
it right now, frankly, we don't
know what the Mark of the beast
look like for years. People
thought that was a stamp or a
tattoo. More recently, people
thought it might be a barcode or
a QR code. Now a popular
speculation is that it's an
implanted microchip or even a
vaccine, but the reality is the
Mark of the beast does not exist
yet. It doesn't exist yet. A
literal reading of revelation and
other in time, prophecy in the
Bible shows that there is a
schedule for end time events and
the Mark of the beast cannot
exist until after the antichrist
himself is empower during the
tribulation. In fact, believers
in Jesus Christ who lived during
the church age will never have
the opportunity to receive the
Mark of the beast because they
will be raptured before the Mark
of the beast is instituted. You
see the Mark of the beast is
closely tied to the worship of
the antichrist. It will be a Mark
of loyalty and devotion to the
beast, to the antichrist. We
spend so much time worried about
the Mark of the beast, but
listen, when you read revelation
seven and 14, you'll notice there
is also a Mark given to God's
people given to God's servants in
order to identify them and to
protect them. They get the Mark
of the lamb because they are
United with the lamb because they
worship Jesus. It seems pretty
evident. All of this is the case
because these two marks the Mark
of the beast and the Mark of the
lamb are two opposite signs
marking out two different types
of people. The wicked on one hand
who were following the antichrist
and the righteous on the other,
who were following
Jesus, many scholars believe the
Mark of the beast will be a
spiritual non-visible Mark, just
like the scripture say that
believers are sealed or marked by
the Holy spirit. Since then as a
Mark of loyalty and worship, it
is not something that a person
during the tribulation is going
to accidentally, except they will
be making a choice to accept the
Mark of the beast and be included
or follow Jesus and be
persecuted. And while those who
accept the Mark of the beast may
be able to participate in
commerce, their choice to worship
the antichrist will cause them to
experience some of the worst
judgments that were ever poured
out on the world. And these are
referred to as the seven bowl
judgment, like a bowl of cereal,
because the Bible says in heaven,
these bowls will be poured out.
These judgments will be poured
out on the earth by the angels,
the seven bowl judgments or the
final judgments during the
tribulation period, because under
the antichrist, the wickedness of
man will reach its peak. And it's
going to be met with God's wrath
against sin. So let's talk, talk
about these for a moment. The
first bowl will be painful
source. The first angel pours out
the first bowl on the land, an
ugly festering source broke out
on the people who bore the Mark
of the beast and worship its
image. This plague, this judgment
is targeted at those who have
committed themselves
to the antichrist, but the
believers, the tribulation saints
will not be effected by the
source. The second plague or
judgment or bowl will be the
death of all seasons. Yeah,
they'll be poured out onto the
sea turning water into blood. And
every living thing in the sea
will die. You see, there were
trumpet judgments that happened
earlier in revelation and a third
of the sea life had already
perished. Now the rest of sea
life will be gone. The oceans
will be dead in the third bowl.
Fresh water will turn to blood.
And so rivers and streams will
turn to blood in anything that
lives within them will also die.
The fourth bowl, the Bible says
is intense heat from the sun. The
fourth angel will pour out the
bowl and the sun will be allowed
to scorch people with fire and
they will be seared by intense
heat. The fifth bowl is total
darkness. The kingdom of the
antichrist will be plunged into
darkness and the pain and
suffering of the wicked will
intensify so much that people
will even begin to knock out
their tongue in agony steal. The
followers of the antichrist will
refuse to repent kit of what they
have done. The six bowl is the
Euphrates river drying up. And
that seems like a little weird,
but theorist purpose behind it
because the dried up Euphrates
will facilitate the movement of
troops for the battle of
Armageddon. And then the seventh
ball. The seventh is the worst,
and that is widespread
destruction. The seventh bowl
poured out on the earth salts and
flashes of lightning and an
earthquake so severe that no
earthquake like it has ever
occurred since mankind has been
on earth. Jerusalem will be split
into three parts. Cities of the
world will collapse. Islands will
be flooded. Mountains will
disappear. Giant. Hailstones will
fall from the sky. This will be
the greatest destruction the
world has ever seen. The judgment
is so severe that everything is
literally crumbling, kingdoms,
mountains, islands, everything,
anything except the hearts of
sinful men, hearts that are so
hard that they will continue to
curse. God, God. Then at the
lowest point in human history,
something will happen that all
creation has been yearning for
the return of the King. Jesus
will come back and I hope you'll
join us for Easter Sunday. Next
week, as we explain that glorious
reappearing, see Jesus is coming
back because he's already come
once and maybe you're watching,
maybe you're listening today.
Okay? And you've never heard that
story, or you've heard that story
and it's never made an impact on
your life. You see it Christmas.
We celebrate the savior coming as
a child coming as a baby into
this world. But that savior, that
savior didn't stay a child that
savior grew up and that savior
Jesus Christ lived a perfect
life. He never did anything
wrong. He healed people. He loved
people.
He taught people. And one day he
willingly gave himself up to
doubt on the cross to shed his
blood so that you and I could be
forgiven and set free from our
sins. Yeah. Beautiful thing is,
is Jesus didn't stay dead. They
placed his body in a borrowed
tomb. And three days later, the
Bible says that he Rose from the
grave. God resurrected Jesus. And
he is still alive. And he is at
the right hand of God. And he is
calling us to himself. Jesus
loves you. Jesus has a purpose
and plan for your life. And Jesus
wants to transform you. He wants
to give you a brand new life
today. It's a decision that only
you can make. And then I want to
give you that opportunity. Maybe
you're watching and there's never
been a time in your life where
you've placed your faith. You've
placed your trust in Jesus
Christ. I want to encourage you
if you need Jesus, make the
decision now. And remember, it's
a decision only. You can make a,
a parent. Can't make it for you.
A priest can't make it for you. A
pastor can't make it for you.
You've got to choose Jesus. If
that's you and you would say,
Jason, that's me. I need to trust
in Jesus today. I want to pray a
prayer. And if this prayer
reflects what God is doing in
your life, I invite you to pray
it along with me.
Pray something like this, dear
God, today, I realized that I am
a sinner and I need a savior.
God, I believe that your son,
Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect
life, died on a cross for me and
then was raised for the dead so
that I could be forgiven and set
free. God would you apply what
Jesus did on that cross to my
life? Would you save me? Would
you rescue me? Would you forgive
me and change me? God, Jesus, you
are my Lord. And I want to follow
you for the rest of them. Life.
Jesus, it's in your name. I pray
amen. Now, if that was you,
please don't change the channel.
Don't turn this video off without
letting somebody know you. See,
we want to reach out to you this
week and we want to pray for you
by name. If you don't have a
church family, a church home
welcome home, we would love to be
your family. But more
importantly, we want to help you
grow in your faith and become
everything that God has called
and created you to be. So if
you're watching, you can go to
our website@findrefugehere.com
and fill out our digital connect.
Or maybe if you're online, you
can click on the digital connect
card in the post above or in the
comments below. We want you to
know that Jesus loves you. And so
do we and Jesus has for you. And
so are we.
And we want to help you become
everything that Jesus has called
you to be. And then at the end of
every service, we dedicate time
to prayer and to worship. And
today is no different than just a
moment. We're going to worship
together one last time. And if
you need prayer for anything
going on in your life, please do
not hesitate to let us know. If
you feel comfortable, you can
post in the comments below, or
you can fill out our prayer and
care card online. But we have
people on standby who want to
lift up your name to God right
now. So let's worship together.
And if you need prayer, you let
us know Jesus. We love you so
much. And we thank you for today.
We thank you for this opportunity
to meet God, right where we're at
with you. We thank you that your
Holy spirit is in our homes. Your
Holy spirit is in our hearts this
morning. And father, I pray for
everyone watching everyone
listening, Lord Jesus, that you
would just fill us with peace
that you would fill us with joy.
God, you would fill us with
purpose this morning and got our
pray. If there is anyone got
whatever they're going through
right now, God, I pray that you
would meet people, right where
they're at and do what only you
can do in their lives. God, would
you show up in great power or
Jesus. We
love you. And we're going to give
you the honor and glory for what
you do. And it is in Jesus name.
We pray. Amen.

Good morning Refuge Church, and it's so great to see
you this morning. It is resurrection Sunday. When the
women got to the tomb, nobody thought that there would
be no body happy Easter. I cannot wait to see what God
does in our homes and in our hearts, this Easter
Sunday, let's pray together and jump into God's word.
Jesus love you. Thank you for the empty tomb. Thank
you, God, that you are a God that transforms that there
is nothing that is impossible for you, father, would
you speak directly to our hearts today? It's in Jesus'
name. We pray. Amen. Hey, uncertainty scares us. It
always has. It's. One of the reasons that this past
year has been so difficult, not knowing from day to day
what's coming next. And for many people, the events of
the past year have caused us to be afraid and think
about future events that are going to take place. Now,
for those of you that are first time guests today.
Welcome, we are so glad that you're here. You are
joining us in the middle of a series called the return
of the King for four weeks. Now we've been teaching
through events that will happen in the end times. And
at the end of the world, you may have noticed on the
news and on the internet, many people are talking
about things like the apocalypse or Armageddon, the
Mark of the beast, or Jesus coming back. And while
these are events that are going to happen someday, if
we don't have a proper lens within which to view these
complex topics that can just be scary or confusing. My
hope is that we can look at these real future events in
a way that is safe and biblical and empowers you to be
everything that God has called and created you to be.
Now on our first Sunday together, we laid out a
timeline for these future events, according to several
books in the Bible, and according to the book of
revelation, and we're going to put them on the screen
for you as a reminder of where we're at in the context
of these events. First, there's going to be the rapture
of the church. First Thessalonians four talks about
that event. After that, there will be a period called
the tribulation a period of judgment on the earth. We
see that in revelation, chapter six, through 19, even
what we're talking about today, the second coming of
Christ, which is noted in revelation 19 verses 11
through 16, then an event called the millennium in
revelation 20, the great white throne judgment and
revelation, 20 verse 11 and determinative future, which
the Bible describes and revelation chapters 21 through
22 last week, we finished talking about the tribulation
and we said that during those seven years, there will
be the greatest destruction the world has ever seen.
The judgment will be so severe that everything is
literally crumbling, kingdoms, nations, mountains,
islands, everything, but the hearts of sinful man art
stuff. They're so hard that they are going to continue
to curse God. Then at the lowest point in human
history, something will happen that all of creation has
been running for the return of the key. You see, we are
currently living between two advents. Now an advent
means the arrival of something that has been long
awaited and it Christmas, each year we celebrate the
first advent God coming to earth as the God-man Jesus
Christ, Jesus lived a perfect life so that he could be
our perfect sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Jesus
died on the cross. He experienced God's wrath so that
we wouldn't have to. And he was resurrected from the
dead. He literally came back to life to prove that he
was exactly who he said. He was the son of God in the
flesh. That's what we're celebrating today on Easter
Sunday. And then the Bible says in front of his
followers, on the Mount of olives, Jesus ascended into
heaven to be at the right hand of God, the father, and
as exciting as all of that is the Bible says that there
is a another incredible event that is coming. There is
another advent that we are waiting for and we call it
the second coming of
Jesus Christ. You listened to what acts one 11 says,
men of Galilee. They said, these are angels speaking to
Jesus's followers. As he ascends into heaven, men of
Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring
into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven,
but someday he will return from heaven in the same way
that you saw him go. You see Jesus Christ is going to
literally return to earth. And I want you to see what
is happening here, friends. The first time Jesus came,
he came as a suffering, servant, a baby in a manger, a
sacrificial lamb. But I want you to hear what Matthew
24 30 says it says. And then at last, the son that the
son of man is coming, will appear in the heavens. And
there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of
the earth. And they will see the son of man coming on
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. First
advent, the first time Jesus came, he came as a
suffering servant, but Jesus will come back as a
conquering warrior, a King, the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords. Let me explain the context of what's
happening at the end of the tribulation. The world is
going to be in total chaos. God's wrath will be poured
out against the antichrist and sinful world who was
following the antichrist. And the climax of the
tribulation will occur during
an event called the battle of Armageddon. The battle of
Armageddon will be the final showdown between good and
evil on earth. And I know whenever we hear that word
Armageddon, it scares us a little bit. Listen, the word
Armageddon itself means Hill of Macado. The scriptures
refer to the Hill of Macado into the Valley of Macado.
It is a very famous place where Josiah was slain, where
Saul was slain. And in the book of Joshua, it is listed
as a town that was taken by Israel. As they entered
into the promised land, Deborah and Barak fought here,
Gideon fought the media nights in this area. It's a
site known throughout the old Testament for Wars and
for battles. And this battle of Armageddon is going to
be triggered by demonic influence throughout the world.
Revelation 16, 14 says they are demonic spirits who
work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world
to gather them for battle against the Lord on that
great judgment day of God. The almighty see there is
going to be a day when demonic influences are going to
deceive the rulers of the world and the armed forces of
the world will gather and March against Germany, alum
being led by the antichrist. Israel will be isolated.
There will look like there is no hope. There are no
allies to come to their aid, to come to their
protection. Then listen to what revelation says in
revelation
19. This is John speaking about his vision. Then I saw
heaven opened and a white horse was standing there. Its
writer was named faithful and true for he judges fairly
and wages, a righteous war. His eyes were like flames
of fire in on his head were many crowns. A name was
written on him that no one understood except himself.
He wore a robe dipped in blood and his title was the
word of God. The armies of heaven dressed in the finest
of pure white linen, followed him on white horses from
his mouth, came a sharp sword to strike down the
nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will
release the fierce wrath of God. The almighty like jeez
use flowing from a wine press on his robe at his thigh
was written his title, the King of Kings and the Lord
of all Lords. I don't care if you're at home by
yourself. Somebody shout, if that doesn't fire you up,
I don't know what is our Jesus is coming back literally
physically to rule the earth. And the Bible says,
here's, what's going to happen. When Jesus physically
comes back, he is going to set foot on the Mount of
olives, the same place where he ascended into heaven.
That is where he will come back and it will cause an
earthquake. The Bible says that it's going to split the
mountain. It is going to split Jerusalem. We see that
in a prophecy in Zechariah, 14 believers in heaven will
return to earth with Jesus revelation. 1914 says, and I
know some of you were worried about riding that horse.
Some of you are worried about fighting that fight, but
don't worry because the Bible says that Jesus will
destroy his enemies. Every one who stands against God,
well face his judgment. The people of Israel will turn
to Jesus as their Messiah, Zechariah 1210 says, and the
anti-Christ. We all want to know what happens to him
and the false prophet. The ones that have brought so
much evil into the world during this time, the Bible
says that Jesus will throw them into hell at that
moment, Satan and his demons are going to be bound up
for a thousand years. Revelation 20 says, and Jesus
will physically reign as the King over the entire
earth. We'll talk more about that next Sunday,
incredible our world that has been broken by sin starts
process of restoration it's process of completion, but
maybe you're watching and this doesn't excite you.
Maybe you're watching and this doesn't fire you're up.
Maybe just, maybe you're nervous. You're afraid great
of this event. You're afraid of what happens when Jesus
comes back. If that's the case, what I want you to do
right now in this moment is I want you to evaluate your
relationship with Jesus. Do you have one? Has there
ever been a time in your life where you
placed your faith, placed your trust in him? I want you
to understand that at the end of this video, at the end
of this show, this message. You can turn it off, off
the TV. You can change the channel. You can turn off
the video and you can know you can have peace. You can
have confidence in your future and your eternity. You
can today. If you want, choose to trust Jesus with your
life, the same Jesus, that's coming back as a
conquering warrior. He loved you. He died on a cross
for you. He Rose from the dead for you. I love how
Titus two 11 through 14 puts it for the grace of God
has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.
And we're instructed to turn from godless living and
sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world
with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. While
we look forward to the hope to that wonderful day. When
the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ will
be revealed. He gave his life listen to free us from
every kind of sin to cleanse us and to make us his very
own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. The
Bible is clear. Jesus loves you. He died for you. He
Rose again for you. And if you place your faith in him,
he will free you from your sin. He will cleanse you. He
will wash your sins away and
he will make you his own. You will become his son or
daughter. Maybe you're here and you're watching. And
there has been a time where you've trusted Jesus. You
would consider yourself saved. You would consider
yourself a Christian, but you know, your life doesn't
look like the things that we just read about in those
verses. Maybe you're watching and you're not devoted to
God. Maybe you've fallen into chasing the pleasures of
this world. I want you to understand today. You can
rededicate your life to Jesus. You can make a decision
to reprioritize your life and make Jesus. Number one,
you can choose to follow him wholeheartedly with
everything that you are. You can get that fresh wind,
fresh fire, that fresh start today. And regardless of
which group you fall into, you can decide to be
baptized. Baptism is a public declaration of your faith
in Jesus. It's really your first active OBT to him. So
whether you choose to trust Jesus for the first time
today, or, or whether you rededicate your life to him
today, or maybe you've been following Jesus for years
and years, and you've never been baptized, we would
love to make that a reality for you. And we're going to
be doing that next Sunday and our campuses. And all you
have to do is reach out and let us know. And we would
love to serve you. We would love to minister to you in
that way, way.
Listen, maybe you're watching, you know, Jason, I need
to trust Jesus today with my life. Listen, God loves
you and wants you to have peace eternal life and an
abundant life. We see that in John three 16 for God. So
loved the world. He gave his one and only son that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have ever
lasting life. But there is a problem. You and I, we are
sinful and we are separated from God. And Romans six
says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Jesus Christ. Our Lord, we may be
sinner separated from God, but Jesus, Jesus chose to
pay the penalty for your sin and for my sin when he
died on the cross. But God demonstrates his own love
for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us and you must confess your sin and received Jesus
Christ as your savior and Lord, it is a decision that
only you can make. No one can make it for you. First,
John, one nine says if we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and purify
us from all unrighteousness. Maybe that's you in this
moment. You know, you need to give your life to Jesus.
I want to invite you to pray this prayer along with me
today, God, I've been doing life on my own. I've been
trying to
do things my own way. I've been trying to be my own
boss. God, I've been trying to be my own God. And today
I realize I'm a sinner separated for you. And I need a
savior. And God, I believe that savior is your son.
Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus died on a cross for
me. And I believe he was raised from the dead so that I
could have peace. And I could have an eternity with
you, God, in heaven today, God, I choose Jesus, Jesus.
I love you. And I'm going to follow you for the rest of
my life. Jesus, you are my Lord in Jesus. It is in your
name. I pray. Amen. If that's you, congratulations, it
is the greatest decision that you could ever make with
your life. But please, please do not turn this video
off. Do not change the channel without letting us know,
because I don't just want you to fund faith. I want you
to live God's best life for you. I want you to
understand that God has a plan and purpose for you. I
want to help you get rid of the hurts and the hangups
and the bad habits that have held you back in your
life. Please reach out. You can fill out the digital
connect card on our website, or if you're online, it is
in the post above and in the comments below. I want to
reach out to you this
week. I want to pray for you by name and I want to send
you a free ebook called next steps for new believers.
That'll teach you about prayer and Bible study and
church and how you can be everything thing God has
called and created you to be. Now, if you made the
decision to re dedicate your life to Jesus today, or
the decision that you want it to be baptized, I'm going
to ask you, please fill out that same digital connect
car and our team is going to be happy to reach out to
you this week and help you be everything that Jesus has
called you to be help. Get you registered for baptism,
or maybe you just need prayer. Maybe it needs some
care. We would love to do that as well. Now at the end
of every service, we dedicate time to worship and
prayer. And I know that you may be watching today and
you are in need of prayer in just a moment. We're going
to worship together one last time today. And as we're
worshiping, I invite you. If you need prayer, you can
post in the comments below. If you're comfortable with
that, you can fill out a prayer and care card. And our
prayer team will be calling your name out to Jesus. You
be assured of that. But if you need prayer, this time
is for you. knowing this was of salvation. Jesus Jesus.
Thank you. We
worship you. We magnify you. We love you. We adore you.
Jesus, and we thank you for what you did for us on the
cross. Jesus, if you never did anything else, you did
enough for us when you died on that cross and Rose from
the grave. Thank you for new life. Thank you for
transformation, Jesus, God, I know there are people
watching needs. They have great hurts. Scott and
father, I just ask you right now that you would meet
people, right where they're at God, that you would do
what only you can do. You are the God of the
impossible. And so God, if people are facing impossible
things, Lord, we just pray for breakthrough in their
lungs. God, maybe there's someone watching right now
and they just need peace. Could you are the Prince of
peace and maybe they need comfort. You are the
comforter God for each person. Would you be exactly
what they need in this? Jesus. We love you. And it is
your powerful name. We pray. Amen.

Who are you creating the light of the world, abandon
darkness to use and failures disappear when you lost
your life.
So I could find it.
If you left the gray behind you so I can see everything
you've done.
Every part design.
Possible. And I don't want you to just have
information. I want you to be encouraged and empowered
to make a kingdom impact in this world. Now last week
and the week before we quickly walked through the major
events of the, in times the rapture of the church, the
tribulation, the second coming of Christ, the
millennium, the great white throne, judgment and
eternity future.
Biblically accurate information possible. And I don't
want you to just have information. I want you to be
encouraged and empowered to make a kingdom impact in
this world. Now last week and the week before we
quickly walked through the.
Want to share with you that over the next few weeks, as
we prepare for Easter, our prayer team and our staff is
going to be praying for anyone in your life that needs
to give their lives to Jesus.
And so we want to pray with you on that point.
And so if you have people in your family, people in
your workplace and they don't know Jesus, and you would
like for us to pray for them, I invite you to email
their first names only to online@fondrefugehere.com.
And it would be our honor and privilege to pray over
each other.
Every one of those nights, let's worship.
And let's pray together this morning.
Jesus.
We love you.
And we thank you, God that even though we don't know
everything, that's going to happen in the future at
Jesus.
We know the one who holds the future in his hands and
Jesus, we say, we trust you.
We love you.
We adore you.
And we worship you and father today.
I know that there are so many people that are going
through tough times.
They're going through difficult circumstances and
father.
I thank you in advance that you are aware of what is
going on.
That nothing has taken you by surprise and God that you
have grace set aside for each and every person and each
and every situation.
And so God I ask you today, would you meet people where
they're at in this moment?
And God, would you give them everything they need
spiritually, emotionally God, to make it through father
of people, situations need to change.
God, I pray that you would change him.
God, maybe it's not the situation that needs to change.
Maybe it's them.
Maybe it's an attitude.
Maybe it's a belief about you.
God, I pray that you would just transform us and make
us more like you, Oh God, would you pour out peace and
joy and the love into our hearts?
May we be everything that you have created and call us
to be Jesus?
And it is in your name.
We pray.
Amen.
Possible. And I don't want you to just have
information. I want you to be encouraged and empowered
to make a kingdom impact in

hi refuge family, I'm Tina. And on behalf of our team,
we are so thankful you chose to spend a little time
with us today, wherever you're joining us from, we're
honored to get, to spend it with you. I also want to
say a special welcome to those of you who are with us
for the very first time. Please let us know by taking a
moment to fill out our digital connect card. It is so
important to us to be able to connect with you. If
you're a returning guest, welcome back. We want to get
to know you, and there's a couple of different ways we
can do that. Start a conversation with us online or
take part in starting point. I new live zoom class that
gives you a quick intro to refuge church, and an
opportunity to join the refuge family. For more details
on ways to connect. Please send an email to
online@findrefugehere.com. We love you refuge and hope
you enjoy today's service. If any word can best.
Describe this past year, I believe the word would be
uncertainty. That's one of the reasons this past year
has been so difficult, not knowing from day to day
what's coming next. It's caused fear and anxiety and
frustration. The events of the past year have also
caused us to think about future events that will take
place more specifically the end times on the news and
on the internet, people are talking about things
like the end of the world, the apocalypse Armageddon,
the Mark of the beast, and so much more. And these
events can be scary and confusing. If we're not careful
to look at them through a biblical lens for the past
six weeks. Now, we've tried to look at these real
future events in a way that is safe, biblically
accurate, and with the hope that you're not only
informed, but you're also transformed. And if you've
missed any of these messages, I would encourage you to
go back and watch them online. They're available on our
website. Now let's look one more time at this in Tom's
timeline that we've been working off of for the past
few weeks. First, there will be an event called the
rapture of the church where believers in Jesus Christ
will meet him in the air and go to heaven, to beat with
him. After that there's a seven year period of judgment
called the tribulation where we'll see the rise of the
antichrist. There will be devastation. It will be a
time of judgment on the world. At the end of that time,
we will see the second coming of Jesus Christ, where
Jesus literally and physically comes to the earth and
he sets up a 1000 year kingdom called the millennial
kingdom. And today we're going to talk about an event
called the great white throne judgment. The final
judgment we see in the end times, which will lead us
into
eternity, future the new heaven and the new earth and
eternity with Jesus Christ. If you'll remember last
week we discussed the millennium or the millennial
kingdom where Jesus literally and physically rules the
earth for a thousand years as King, we said there would
be universal justice and peace, incredible prosperity.
And his rule will be characterized by health and
healing. And we sit at the end of the thousand years,
it would be let loose one last time and he will try to
deceive the people, the world. He will gather a great
rebellion against Jesus, but it will be over with a
flash of fire from heaven. Then Satan will be thrown
into the Lake of fire fully and completely defeated for
all time. And after this happens, the Bible says there
will be one final judgment. Now. Well, we talk about
this spinal judgment. I want to remind you about two
other judgements that take place before the final
judgment happens. This is a review from earlier weeks,
but it is my hope that this helps give us a clear
understanding of what's happening. If you'll remember
from week two, we talked about the judgment seat of
Christ. We see this in second five 10, and this is a
special judgment that God will hold for believers in
Jesus. After the rapture, the judgment seat of Christ
is not meant to punish believers, but rather to reward
them for their faithful service for expanding the
kingdom
of God, all of us will give an account to Jesus for
what we have done after accepting Jesus as our savior
and the Bible mentions five crowns that will be given
as rewards for our faithful service. We see one called
the crown of a life and revelation two 10. This is for
the people who stand strong in times of persecution and
suffering and temptation. The Bible talks about the
incorruptible crown in first Corinthians nine. These
are for believers that live a life of discipline and
self control. We see the crown of glory in first, Peter
five for believers who lead with integrity and with
love and compassion. The crown of rejoicing in first
Thessalonians two for believers who tell about Jesus
and help people grow in their faith and the crown of
righteousness. And second Timothy four for people who
give their lives to Jesus and follow him passionately.
Here's what I love though. The Bible says that
believers will give our crowns back to Jesus as an act
of devotion and a warship. I don't know about you, but
I don't want to end up empty handed because of all
Jesus has done for me in my life. I want to earn crowns
that I can cast at his feet. I want to earn rewards
that I can give back to him as an act of love and
worship. There was another judgment. We talked about
the separation of the sheep and the goats.
And we saw that in Matthew 25 verses 31 through 46.
This judgment happens at the end of the tribulation
when Jesus separates believers from the unbelievers and
only the believer survived to live into his millennial
kingdom. And then John writes about one final judgment.
We see it in the book of revelation and we call it the
great white throne judgment or the final judgment. I
want to read it to you in revelation 20, starting in
verse 11, John wrote, and I saw a great white throne
and the one sitting on it, the earth and sky fled from
his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw
the dead, both great and small standing before God's
throne. And the books were opened including the book of
life and the day we're judged. According to what they
had done as recorded the books, the sea gave up it's
dead and death, and the grave gave up their dead and
all were judged according to their deeds, then death
and the grave were thrown into the Lake of fire. This
Lake of fire is the second death and anyone whose name
was not found recorded in the book of life was thrown
into the Lake of fire. You see this final judgment will
take place after with a 1000 year rule of Christ. And
after Satan is removed from on the earth, the Bible
says that during this judgment, Jesus will be the
judge. Jesus will
be the one sitting on the great white throne acts 10 42
says, and he ordered us to preach everywhere and to
testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be
the judge of all the living and the dead. You see this
right to act as judge over the universe. It's something
that God the father has given to the son. It is a
responsibility. It is an authority that Jesus has from
God. John five says it this way. The father has life in
himself and he is granted the same life giving power to
his son. And he has given him a thorny to judge
everyone because he is the son of man. Jesus will be
the judge at this judgment. We also know from the
scriptures that this judgment, the unbelievers will be
judged. We know this from revelation 20 and from Romans
chapter two and unbelievers people who do not believe
in Jesus Christ, those that have rejected Jesus Christ,
they'll be judged for their sin. There'll be judged for
their careless words and they'll be judged for the
secret sins in their hearts. You see, it's clear that
unbelievers will stand before Jesus at this judgment.
And many scholars agree that there will be degrees of
punishment because the scripture say they will be
judged by what they had done for unbelievers. Every
wrong deed will be remembered and taken to account. In
fact, the Bible says in Matthew that every careless
word that was spoken will be judged. Even the secrets
and people's hearts will be revealed field and made
public. We also know that at the great white throne
judgment demons or rebellious angels will be judged. We
see this in Jude chapter six, and I reminds you of the
angels who did not stay within the limits of authority.
God gave them, but left the place where they belonged.
God has kept them securely chained in prisons of
darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. If
you'll remember, demons are angels who rebelled against
God. They were cast down to earth when they chose to
follow Satan. And the Bible says that they will be
judged by Jesus for rejecting God, for rebelling
against him. And for choosing to follow the enemy. We
also know from first Corinthians that believers in
Jesus Christ will help in the work of judgment. Listen
to what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. First
Corinthians six, starting in verse two. Don't you
realize that someday we believers will judge the world.
And since you are going to judge the world, can't you
decide even among these little things among yourselves,
don't you realize that we will judge angels. So you
surely should be able to resolve ordinary disputes in
this life. You see the believers in the Corinthian
church were taking their legal disputes to secular
courts that were led by unbelievers rather than
handling matters themselves. Basically Paul was saying
he
all have got to get it together. You better figure out
how to judge these small things, because one day you're
going to be given the authority to judge things that
really matter. This is rather an amazing part of new
Testament teaching that Believer's will take part in
this judgment, frankly, we don't know what that means.
We don't really understand it. Some scholars believe
that believers in Jesus will be watching this judgment
and approving of it. Some scholars believe that we will
be given the authority to participate in it, but all
scholars that I've read agree that believers in Jesus
will watch this judgment as it happens, which is one of
the reasons why I believe it is reported to remember
that the will says he will wipe away every tear from
their eyes after this judgment. I do believe that we're
going to see this happen. And I believe that we're
going to know at this judgment. And I believe that we
may even cry out and compassion for friends and family
members that we know and love that didn't accept Jesus
Christ because the unbelievers who faced this judgment
are ultimately destined for a very real place called
hell. Now let's spend some time here for a moment
because when we approach the theology of hell, we have
to do so humbly. I never want to teach on hell from a
position of arrogance or moral superiority, because we
are talking about the real
destination, the eternal destination of real people,
real people that we know, I don't know about you, but I
have personally lost friends who didn't know Jesus and
my heart breaks for them because we have to remember
that heaven is not our default destination. No one goes
to heaven automatically, unless our sin problem is
resolved. The only place we will go is our true default
destination. And that is hell. And unfortunately there
are three incorrect assumptions about hell that people
are believing right now. Some people believe in
universalism that all people will ultimately be saved,
but the Bible doesn't teach that Jesus made salvation
available to everyone, but we have to personally choose
and decide to follow Jesus with our lives. Some people
believe in annihilationism that people will be punished
for a time and then we'll just ceased to exist. But
that's not what the Bible teaches either. Or some
people, some people believe that we are experiencing
hell on earth right now. And although the earth is
broken, what's happening in this world. Doesn't match
with the Bible says, hell will be like the reality is,
is that hell is a real place of eternal conscious
punishment for the wicked. It exists for God to deal
righteously with Satan. It exists for God to deal
righteously with unbelievers. And the Bible says that
it is a place of unspeakable suffering. The Bible
describes it as an unquenchable fire in Mark nine. And
Luke 16
is intense unsatisfied thirst in Luke 16, a place where
people will remember what their life was like. And they
will have remorse for the things that they have done. A
place of misery and pain, a place of frustration and
anger in a place of eternal separation from God. I've
heard people say before, and maybe you're even thinking
now, I don't see how a loving God could send someone to
hell. We have to remember that our God is far more Holy
than we could ever understand. And we are far more
sinful than we could ever understand. And God's
understanding of justice far exceeds our understand
standing of justice, but we have to ultimately
remember, God doesn't want anyone to go to hell, listen
to what second Peter three nine says, this means that
contrary to man's perspective, the Lord is not late
with his promise to return as some measure lateness,
but rather his delay simply reveals his loving patients
towards you because God does not want any to perish,
but all to come to repentance, you see the heart of God
is he does not want people to die and go to hell. He is
patient with us. He is loving towards us. He is
compassionate towards us because he wants people to
come to his son. Jesus, no messages like this today.
They're hard. They are hard to teach because this is a
reality of something that is to come. Something that we
don't
want anyone to experience. So my question is, how do we
respond? How do we respond to this great white throne
judgment? How do we respond to the reality of hell
missing? If you were a believer in Jesus Christ, there
are four things I want you to do. First, ask God to see
people, how he sees people. We have to stop looking at
people through ends of bias. We have to stop looking at
people through a lens of judgment. And we have to
understand that since we have been forgiven, God calls
us to love. God calls us to compassion and God calls us
to forgive, Oh God, may I see people as you see people,
number two, I would encourage you share your God's
story with others. There are people that you know in
your life and they need to hear what God has done for
you. They need to hear how Jesus has changed you, how
Jesus has transformed you. They to know that theory is
good news. They need to know that there is a loving
savior that wants to rescue them from sin and rescue
them from hell, share your God's story with people. And
if you don't know how, let us know, we would love to
share that with you. We would love to help you to be
able to give your testimony of what's. God's done in
your life. Number three, invite people to come to
church with you, listen every
single Sunday. We're going to tell people about Jesus,
whether it's online, whether it's on TV, whether it's
one of our in-person services, we are always going to
tell people about the grace of Jesus Christ, about our
savior, who has rescued us and changed us and has given
us a second chance. Yes. Invite people to come with
you. Many studies show that 85% of people who were
personally asked to come to church will do it, but
they're not looking for an ad on social media. They're
looking for a friend with the compassion to say, Hey,
do you want to come to church with me this Sunday,
invite someone and always, always number four point
people to Jesus. Point them to Jesus. Because a moment
with Jesus can change everything. Now, maybe you're
watching and you aren't a believer in Jesus. If you've
never made the decision to follow him, please listen.
You need to make the decision to follow Jesus today.
We're right now in this moment, because everything that
we've talked about it is real. It is going to happen
and we want you to live an abundant life. We want you
to live a God first life. We want you to be everything
that God has called and created you to be. And that
starts with following Jesus. You see, I know, I know
this things that we've talked about today. They are
difficult. I know talking about hell. It can be scary.
Listen,
God in his great love for you while you and our still
sinners while we were rejecting God, while we were
being disobedient to God, God said, I love you so much.
I'm going to send my son Jesus Christ to live a perfect
life. And he is going to die on a cross. He is going to
suffer punishment. He is going to suffer the wrath of
God. Be your substitute. Jesus is going to die so that
you can live. Jesus died on the cross. He spilled his
blood so that you and I could be forgiven and be set
free from our sin. But he did not stay dead. And three
days later, the Bible says he Rose from the grave in
victory, over sin in victory, over the enemy in
victory, over death. And if we will choose to place our
faith in him, to trust him with our eternity, to follow
him with our lives. The Bible says that he will forgive
us of our sin. He will wash us as wide as snow. He will
rescue us from hell and you can live an abundant life
on this earth. We need a second chance today. Do you
need a fresh start today? And it all starts with Jesus.
And if that's you, I want to invite you to pray this
prayer with me this morning. You can pray. God. I've
been doing life by myself. I've been trying to live my
life my own
way. I've been trying to be my own boss. God, I've been
trying to be my own God. And today I realize I am a
sinner that is separated from you and God. I need your
forgiveness. I believe your son. Jesus died on a cross
for me. And I believe he Rose again from the grave. And
today I choose to follow him with my life. God, would
you forgive me? Would you change me? Would you give me
my fresh stuff today? Jesus, you are my Lord. I want to
follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus. It is in
your name. I pray. Amen. Listen, if that was you, I
want to congratulate you. The Bible says that all of
heaven is celebrating you. The decision that you made
and we celebrate along with you, but please, please
don't turn this video off. Do not change the channel
without letting us know. You can go to our website and
fill out the digital connect card. Give us a name and
email address a phone number. Just some way to reach
out because I want to pray for you by name. And I want
to send you resources that will help you grow in your
faith and become more like Jesus. Now, at the end of
every service, we dedicate Tom to prayer because I know
you're going through tough stuff. I know you may be
dealing with doubts. You may be dealing with Hertz.
He may be dealing with health issues or financial
issues. I get it. And you may be saying right now,
Jason, I just need somebody to pray for me. I want you
to know we are praying for you right now. Now, if you
want to let us know your prayer requests, you can say
in a prayer card online, you can email us. You can post
in the comments below. If you're on our online campus
and our prayer team will be calling out your name to
Jesus. So here's what we want to do. Let's worship
together one last times a day, as we worship, let's
pray and I want you to no, that we love you. And we are
for you and Jesus loves you. And he is for, and if you
need prayer, you let us know. Let's pray together.
Jesus. We love you so much. And we thank you. We thank
you that even though our default destination is hell
Jesus, you stepped out of heaven. You lived a perfect
life. You sacrificed yourself in our place so that we
would not have to experience cell so that we would not
have to experience punishment. No, we could experience
eternal life with you. We could experience abundant
life with you. Jesus father, I pray. I pray for all
those that can hear the sound of my voice today,
father, I pray in Jesus name that you would just meet
them, right where they're at and
got other, whatever, doubt, whatever hurt, whatever
health issue, whatever financial issue, whatever
relationship, issue, God, whatever they're going
through. Father, I pray that you would just show
yourself strong and their situation and God, if people
need to reach out for help, Lord, I pray that you would
give them just a confidence Lord to reach out and ask
for help today. Lord Jesus. We love you. And we're
going to give you the honor and glory for what you do
and it's in Jesus' name. I pray. Amen. Thank you again
for spending a little bit of time with us, but more
importantly with God today, we would love to hear from
you. So please let us know if you have any questions
about the message or any prayer requests. Did you
decide to give your life to Christ today? If so, we
want to congratulate you. It's truly the best and most
important decision you will ever make. The Bible says
that you are reborn when you acknowledged Jesus as your
personal Lord and savior, and we would love to help
guide you through what that means and your next steps
as a new believer. But we can only do that if you let
us know. So please fill out the digital connect card.
We have some awesome resources. We want to send your
way. If you love worshiping with us week after week and
are interested in connecting on a deeper level, we have
a new
live zoom class called starting point. Click the link
on our Facebook event page to register or send an email
to online at find refuge here. For more details. If you
are already a member of the refuge family, and we'd
like to support the mission, God has given us. There
are three easy ways to get online by text, or you can
mail a check to the church office. Thank you so much
for your generosity. We get to live out the mission.
God has given us. When you give refuge church, we love
you and hope you have a great week. See you next time.

You came from his little quaint dude with two tree
dead. We use name Mashiach. There is no there is no hi
refuge family. I'm Tina. And on behalf of our team, we
are so thankful you chose to spend a little time with
us today, wherever you're joining us from, we're
honored to get, to spend it with you. I also want to
say a special welcome to those of you who are with us
for the very first time. Please let us know by taking a
moment to fill out our digital connect card. It is so
important to us to be able to connect with you. If
you're a returning guest, welcome back. We want to get
to know you, and there's a couple of different ways we
can do that. Start a conversation with us online, or
take part in starting point a new live zoom class that
gives you a quick intro to refuge church, and an
opportunity to join the refuge family. For more details
on ways to connect. Please send an email to
online@findrefugehere.com. We love you refuge and hope
you enjoy today's service. During this past year, we've
all dealt with some worry, fear and anxiety for most of
us, it's the uncertainty about what's going to happen
next. Add to that. People are all over social media
talking about the end times, the antichrist and Jesus
coming back. And if you don't understand what they're
saying, that can be very unnerving
as well. That's why we started this series, the return
of the King in the first place we wanted you to be
informed, but more importantly, we wanted you to be
transformed, not to be scared, but to be empowered,
empowered, to live a God. First kingdom focused a life.
And today we come to the last major event. In our end
times, timeline, let's run through it one last time. So
everyone is on the same page. The first major event in
the end times is an event called the rapture. We're
believers are taken in the air and transformed to meet
Jesus and they get to go to heaven to be with him.
After the church is raptured. The tribulation starts.
There's the rise of a political leader called the
anti-Christ, who is empowered by Satan. And he is bent
on world domination. And this seven year span of time
starts judgment, judgment. Like the world has never
seen before the tribulation ends with the battle of
Armageddon and ultimately the second coming of Jesus
Christ, where Jesus comes to this earth, literally
physically to rule and terrain, to set up a government,
to set up a kingdom, a kingdom that we called the money
or the millennial kingdom after that is the final
judgment. The great white throne judgment were
unbelievers. People who have rejected, Jesus will be
judged and they'll be sent to a very real place called
hell. And after that happens, we have something
called eternity future. You see, last week we discussed
the great white throne judgment, which will be that
final judgment. We said it was for unbelievers and the
ultimate destination for those who reject Jesus as a
real place called hell. But the question is, what about
the believers? What about Christians Christ followers?
What happens now that Satan is defeated. Sin is
absolved and evil is no more. After the final judgment.
John writes this in revelation 21, one, he says, then I
saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old heaven and
the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also
gone. I will says that Jesus will create a new earth.
Now this is one of those areas of our theology that may
not be clear to us, depending on our experience with
church, many people use the word heaven as something,
all inclusive to describe where we will reside for
eternity. But it is important to understand that the
present heaven is only temporary because the Bible says
that God is going to create a new heaven and a new
earth. At that time, there will be a joining of heaven
and earth together. As one you see in the present, when
we die in Christ, we go to heaven to be with God. But
one day, God is going to bring heaven to a brand new to
earth. The Bible says there is a place that Christians
go. When we die,
that theologians refer to as present heaven or
intermediate heaven. This is before the return of
Jesus. And before the resurrection of our bodies,
before the curse is lifted from this present world,
then there is the place that we will live after the
return of Christ. After the final judgment, the eternal
heaven, which we call the new earth. I love how second
Peter three 13 puts it, but we are looking forward to
the new heavens and the new earth. He has promised a
world filled with God's righteousness. This is what the
Bible promises us. We will live with Christ and each
other forever. Not in present heaven, but in a brand
new earth where God will come and live and dwell among
his people. We're resurrected. People will live with
the resurrected Christ for all of eternity. You may be
asking yourself, Jason, what is this new earth going to
look like? Well, I'm glad you asked. First, the new
earth will be a renewed earth. You see this Greek word,
new in the original language. The word is kindness. It
means not merely new, but superior superior in
character, fresh, innovative, nothing like this has
ever been found before Isaiah 51, three talking about
the new earth. The prophecy says the Lord will comfort
Israel again and have pity on her ruins. Her desert
will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness, like the
garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found
there. Songs
of Thanksgiving will feel the air. You see this new
earth will be superior to what we live on. Now it'll be
familiar. It will be like earth. It will feel like
home, but it's going to retain the good while. Adding
more than we could ever imagine. You see the beauty.
And I love the beauty that we see. I love being
outdoors. As many of you do. I love seeing the
mountains. I love going to the ocean, but the beauty
that we see now on this earth is just a sample. It is
just a preview of the beauty that we will see on this
brand new renewed earth, the new earth. Number two, the
Bible says the new earth will be Holy. Not only will it
be renewed, it will be Holy revelation. 21 three says I
heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God,
home is now among his people. He will live with them
and they will be his people. God himself will be with
them. I love that over and over again. This verse
reinforces that we will be in the presence of God, that
we will not just worship God, but we will be able to
see God. We will be able to spend time with God because
God is going to be with us. Verse five. And the one
sitting on the throne said, look, I am making
everything knew. And then he said to me, write this
down.
What I tell you is trustworthy and true. And he also,
you said it is finished. I am the alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, listen to all who are
thirsty. I will give freely from the Springs of the
water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all
of these blessings. I will be their God and they will
be my children. You see, on the new earth, we will not
only have a God to worship and a God to serve, but we
will always be in his presence. There will be a
universe. The Bible says to rule with him, we will have
purpose, true purpose, truly a purpose driven life with
a purpose driven work and eternity of learning and
discovery. We will be in the presence of the wonderful
everything we do, desire and nothing that we don't boat
desire. The earth will be Holy. Thirdly, the Bible says
that this new earth, this new earth is going to be
perfect. 21 three through four. I heard a loud shout
from the throne saying, look, God's house home is now
among his people. He will live with them and they will
be his people. God himself will be with them. He will
wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be
no more death, no more sorrow or crying or pain. All of
these things revelation says, all of these things are
gone forever. This new earth will be
perfect. There will be no more death. There will be no
more mourning. There will be no more weeping. There
will be no more pain. There will be no more night.
There will be no more curse. The Bible says, God will
set everything right. Again, the world will be, as it
was intended to be when he created it, it will be
better than eaten. All of the things that we
experienced now, all of the hurt, all of the pain, all
of the heartache, it will be gone once. And for all the
Bible says this new earth will be perfect. Finally, the
Bible says that this new earth, it will be spectacular.
It will be beautiful. It will be like nothing that we
have ever seen or experienced before revelation 21 two
says, and I saw the Holy city, the new Jerusalem coming
down from God out of heaven, like a bride, beautifully
dressed for her husband. You see Jerusalem. Jerusalem
is God's city. God's heart is for this city. The Bible
says that when the new earth is created, there will be
a new Jerusalem that comes from heaven. And I'll
describe it to you in a minute, but it will be
spectacular. And it will be the center of God's
economy. It will be the center of God's government. It
will be the center of God's new earth revelation, 2112
two 27. This is the message. Paraphrase. The city
talking about Jerusalem, the city shimmered
like a precious gym light field, pulsing light. She had
a wall majestic and high with 12 Gates at each gate,
stood an angel and on the Gates were inscribed. The
names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel, three
Gates on the East three Gates on the North three Gates
on the South three Gates on the West, the wall was set
on 12 foundations, the names of the 12 apostles of the
lamb and scribe on them. The angel speaking to me, John
wrote had a gold measuring stick to measure the city
its Gates and its wall. The city was laid out in a
perfect square. He measured the city with a measuring
stick, 12,000 stadia, its length, the width and height
all equal using the standard measure that angel
measured the thickness of its wall, 144 cube. The wall
was Jasper. The color of gory. The city was pure gold
translucent as glass in the foundations of the city
walls were garnished with every precious gym
imaginable. The 12 Gates were 12 pearls. Each gate, a
single Pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold
translucent as a glass, but there was no sign of a
temple for the Lord. God, the sovereign strong and the
lamb are the temple. The city doesn't need sun or moon
for light God's glory is the light. The lamb is its
lamb. See, we don't know a whole lot about the new
earth, but the
Bible tells us a lot about the new Jerusalem. This
heavenly city that descend from the sky. This city will
be glorious, shining like a rear Juul. And it's clear
as crystal, the Bible says it will be huge 1400 square
miles with walls, just as tall 12 Gates. Each of them
made from one Pearl. Can you imagine how big that Pearl
has to be? These Gates will all be open, never to
close. And most scholars believe this city will just be
one part of the new earth that we will be able to
explore in our new transformed glorious bodies. It will
be adorned with precious stones, Jasper Sapphire, Onyx
Topaz with streets of pure gold. And God's glory will
be the light, right? And we won't need a temple. We
won't need, uh, a church building because God will be
with us forever. And always, he turned it into such a
difficult concept to understand every time I try to
think of it, it's like eternity, but it turned into he
on that new earth will be truly amazing. But listen,
until then until the end times until then God has given
us the responsibility to bring heaven to earth each and
every day. How do we do it? Three quick thoughts first
serve Jesus with bold courage. You know, for many of
us, there was a point in our lives where we gave our
life to Jesus Christ. We accepted him. We started
following him.
And when we did, we were excited. We were fired up. We
were pumped. We were telling people about Jesus. We
were serving Jesus. But maybe along the way, somebody
said something to your, somebody asked you a question
that you didn't know the answer to, or maybe somebody
embarrassed you, or maybe somebody called you out, or
maybe you got hurt or maybe life got in the way. And
maybe you're not living in your life with a bold
courage for Jesus anymore. My prayer for you is that
you would get fresh wind and fresh fire and fresh
passion to serve Jesus with bold courage, Jesus, Donald
across for us, Jesus experienced shame. He experienced
punishment, not so we could just have a get out of hell
free card, but we could serve him passionately, wholly
with everything that we are. And he has called us to
serve him with the bold courage. If you want to bring
heaven to earth each and every day serve Jesus boldly.
Number two, live a life that Jesus can bless today and
reward forever. Live a life that blesses the heart of
Jesus live a life that blesses other people live a life
that is aligned with the word of God. Live a life that
one day Jesus can reward you for at the judgment seat.
Let's not just live each day. Thinking about the
present let's live each day, thinking about eternity,
that there is a another life that there
is an eternal life that we get to be a part of. And it
starts right now. Let's live a life that Jesus can
bless. Some thirdly, do all you can to help everyone,
you know, get to know Jesus, do all you can to help
anyone. You know, get to know Jesus. The stakes are too
high. People's eternities are in the balance. I know I
get it. This busy there's there's ball and there's
work. There's fam I get it. But these are attorneys
that we're talking about. And I gave my life to Jesus
is a fifth grader because someone took the time. Tell
me about him. Who do you need to tell? Maybe you're
watching. And there's never been a time in your life
where you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ. There's
never been a time where you've chosen to follow him.
Listen, if you follow Jesus with your life, if you
place your trust in him, the Bible says that one day,
when you die, you will spend eternity with him on this
brand new earth. But until then you can have heaven on
earth. Right now. You can live an abundant life, not a
perfect life, but an abundant life, a blessed life
right now with Jesus. But it's a decision that only you
can make a priest. Can't make it for you. Your pastor
can't make it for you. Your parents can't make it for
you. You've got to choose to follow
Jesus with your life. And if that's you and you want to
make that decision today and invite you to pray this
prayer along with me, God, today, I'm choosing Jesus. I
realize that I'm a sinner. God I've been disobeying.
I've been making my own decisions in a way. I've been
the God of my life. But today I'm rejecting my sin. I'm
turning from it and I'm choosing Jesus. I believe that
Jesus died on a cross for me. And I believe that Jesus
Rose from the dead so that I could be forgiven and set
free. God, I ask that you forgive me, ask that you
change me. I ask that you apply what Jesus did on the
cross to my life. Jesus, you are my Lord. And I want to
follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus. It's in
your name operating. Amen. If that was you, please
don't change the channel. Please don't turn this video
off without letting us know you can fill out the
digital connect card on our website. If you're online,
you can fill out the digital connect card in the
comments below or the post above. Please give us a name
and email address a phone number some way to reach out
because I want to pray for you by name. And I want to
send you an ebook that will help you start rolling in
your faith. It will teach you about prayer. It will
teach
you about Bible study. It'll teach you about worship
and how to become more and more like Jesus. We want to
pray with you. We want to celebrate for you and this
incredible decision that you've made at the end of
every service. We intentionally dedicate time to prayer
because I know that you may be watching and you need
somebody to pray over you right now. If that's you, you
can send in a prayer card online. You can comment your
prayer requests in the comments below. If you're
comfortable with that. And I want you to know there are
people that are going to be praying for you by name and
praying for your situation because we love you. We care
for you. And we believe that prayer works. Let's
worship together one last time, the day. And if you
need prayer, let us know if the stars Jesus. We thank
you. We thank you for the new heaven and the new earth.
We thank you that there will be an eternity with you
and eternity with your glory on display. We thank you
that you loved us so much Jesus, that you gave up your
life so that you could spend eternity with us. Thank
you for your love and your compassion and your
forgiveness. God, thank you. Thank you for every person
watching every person listening. God, thank you that
you're moving in their lives. Thank you in advance Lord
Jesus, that you're going to work
in a way that only you can father. I pray for those who
were hurting. I pray for those who have deep doubts. I
pray for those who feel rejected. I pray for those God
who were experiencing loneliness. Father, I pray for
those that don't know how they're going to pay their
next bill. God, I pray for those who are dealing with
marriage issues, relationship issues, issues with
children. God, I pray for those. Who've experienced
deep hurt and abuse and have walked through trauma.
God, I pray father right now in Jesus' name that you
would just pour healing into their hearts. God, I know
that there will be a day where there is no more hurt
and no more tears and no more death and no more
mourning, but God, right now, would you be the Prince
of peace in our hearts and in our lives? Jesus, we're
going to be careful to give you the honor and the glory
for what you did in Jesus. It's in your name. We pray.
Amen. Thank you again for spending a little bit of time
with us, but more importantly with God today, we would
love to hear from you. So please let us know if you
have any questions about the message or any prayer
requests. Did you decide to give your life to Christ
today? If so, we want to congratulate you. It's truly
the best and most important decision you will ever
make. The Bible
says that you are reborn when you acknowledged Jesus as
your personal Lord and savior, and we would love to
help guide you through what that means and your next
steps as a new believer. But we can only do that if you
let us know. So please fill out the digital connect
card. We have some awesome resources. We want to send
your way. If you love worshiping with us week after
week and are interested in connecting on a deeper
level, we have a new live zoom class called starting
point. Click the link on our Facebook event page to
register or send an email to online at find refuge
here. For more details. If you are already a member of
the refuge family, and we'd like to support the
mission, God has given us. There are three easy ways to
give online by text, or you can mail a check to the
church office. Thank you so much for your generosity.
We get to live out the mission. God has given us. When
you give refuge church, we love you and hope you have a
great week. See you next time.

Good morning chrch family! Pastor Jason here. I'm so
excited to see you this morning. As you know, over the
past eight weeks, we've been walking through our in
time series, the return of the King. And during this
time you send in your questions about the end times and
for the next two Sundays, I'm excited to spend some
time digging into God's word with you to answer your
questions. I believe that God is going to use the next
two weeks in a powerful way. As we conclude our series,
the return of the King also want to remind you if you
haven't seen yet. Last week, we had the opportunity to
feed 507 families in our community. In the past year,
since the pandemic started, you have given away 150
tons of food to our community. Thank you. Thank you for
giving. Thank you for serving and thank you for
praying. I'm excited to see what God is going to
continue to do through each and every of you let's pray
together. And then let's jump in to our Q and a portion
of our series, the return of the King. Jesus. We love
you. Thank you for today. Thank you for the opportunity
to worship you, God, at our campuses and in our homes
and God, wherever we're at father.
I pray that through this Q and a portion of the series,
God, that you would speak into our hearts and into our
lives. Thank you for the book of revelation. Thank you
for the blessing of revelation and thank you God for
your son, Jesus, Jesus. We ask for your power and
presence to move in our midst today. And it's in Jesus'
name. We pray. Amen. The first question that we have
today is what can the letters to the churches in the
book of revelation teach us now in this series, we've
been looking at a timeline of in-time events that come
from several books in the Bible, not just the book of
revelation. So there were several parts of the book of
revelation that we just didn't get to cover. As we
spent time together over the past eight weeks, if
you'll remember the apostle, John wrote the book of
revelation during the reign of the emperor, Domitian
this emperor demanded that people worship him as Lord
and God. This posed a huge problem for the Christians
of that day because they face tremendous persecution
for refusing to worship demission church tradition
tells us that it was because of this, that the Roman
emperor, banished John to an Island called Patmos,
where he would be forced to live in exile because John
continued to share with people about Jesus Christ. Pat
must was a commonplace for the Romans to send their
peer their prisoners.
During this time period, while John was on this Island,
he had a vision, which is like a dream, but you're
awake. And this vision came from God with a message to
send to seven local churches in Asia minor. Not only
did this messages apply to the churches of this time,
but revelation still applies to our lives. Today. Let's
quickly look at the seven churches. The first was the
church at Ephesus. We see the church in Ephesus in
revelation two verses one through seven. We call this
the Loveless church. You see the Ephesians church had
enjoyed some pretty incredible leadership over the
years, Paul Timothy and even John himself. And Jesus
starts by affirming the Ephesians church. He said, I
see the way you were serving the way you are busy,
expanding God's kingdom. They kept going. Even when
times were tough, even while suffering persecution, the
Ephesians church had endurance. They also carefully
evaluated any visiting pastors to see if they were
genuine and make sure that they were not false
teachers, but everything wasn't perfect. This busy
sacrificing patient church suffered from heart trouble.
Jesus said that this church had great qualities, but
their works were not motivated by love for him. You see
what we do for God is important, but so is while we do
it and the Ephesians church had lost their first love.
The second church we see is the church at Smyrna.
We call the church at Smyrna, the suffering church,
living in worshiping in the United States. We don't
understand what it's like to experience persecution,
but there are places in the world even today where
Christians are torture and even killed for their faith
in Jesus Christ. And this was the case for the church
at Smyrna, they refuse to worship pagan gods and Roman
emperors. And because of that, they experienced
persecution and great poverty. In fact, the word for
poverty here means that they literally had nothing. Two
of the seven churches had no accusations made against
them by Jesus and Smyrna was one of them. We see that
they may not have had man's approval, but they
definitely had God's approval. And the main focus of
the message to the church at Smyrna was simple and
profound do not be afraid, man, don't we need that
message today in our lives. Don't be afraid in a world
that thrives on fear and panic do not be afraid. Jesus
assured the believers there that he knew the devil's
plans and that Jesus was ultimately in complete control
of this situation, that third churches, the church at
Pergamum and we called the church at Pergamum the
compromising church. You see the city of Pergamum had
the first temple dedicated to worshiping the emperor.
And it was a rabid promoter of this cultish emperor
worship. This is probably why Jesus called this city.
The very seat of Satan, like Christians and Smyrna.
The believers at Pergamum suffered persecution. And one
of their men even died for their faith. In spite of all
their suffering, this church remain committed to God,
despite their stand against the persecution. Jesus
still found some fault with them because they allowed a
group of compromising people into the church. And Jesus
did not like their beliefs. These people were trying to
trip the church up and they were trying to take the
church in a wrong direction. They said, there's nothing
wrong with being friendly with Rome. What harm is there
in putting some incense on the altar or for the
emperor? This church was beginning to compromise their
beliefs. Remember this, whatever Satan cannot crush. He
seeks to corrupt with compromise. Fourth church is the
third church at Thyatira, the church at Tyra. And we
call this the deceived church. Thyatira attire was a
wealthy town and Jesus affirms some qualities of this
church. He says that they are full of love and faith
and service patient endurance, and that they were doing
greater works. But Jesus also notes their sin. You see
the church was engaging in sexual immorality and they
were dabbling in idol worship. A false teacher had
risen up in the church and rather than rebuking her and
sending her out of the church, the believers there were
allowing her to continue their deception. But Jesus
encouraged those that had remained faithful.
He said, now I say to the rest of you and Thyratira to
you who do not hold to the false teaching and if not
learn, Satan's so-called deep secrets. I will not
impose any other burdens on you only hold on and to
what you have until I come, he see these faithful
believers did not fall into Satan's trap and they
needed to just remain faithful until Jesus's return.
The fifth church we see in revelation is the church at
Sardis. And we call this the dead church Jesus quickly
and clearly condemns the lifeless state of the church
at Sardis. He says, I know your deeds. You have a
reputation for being alone, but you are dead. This
church may have had a good reputation, but the Bible
says that they were simply lifeless. In other words,
the church was filled with unsaved people going through
the motions of religion. After the warning, Jesus
encourages those in Sardis who had remained faithful.
He says, yet you still have a few people in Sardis who
have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me
dressed and why for they are worthy. The sixth, the
church is the church at Philadelphia and we call this
the faithful church. Jesus affirms the positive actions
of the church at Philadelphia. He says, I know your
deeds. See I've placed before you an open door that no
one can shut. I know you have a little strength yet.
You have kept my word and you have not. My name, the
church in Philadelphia may have been weak in some
respects, but they have remained faithful in the face
of trial. And because of this, Jesus promised them an
open door or of blessing. And then finally we see the
church at Laodicea and we call this the Luke warm
church in contrast to the other six churches. Jesus did
not have anything encouraging to say to this church at
all. Jesus actually begins the message to the Liata see
in church with condemnation, he says, I know your
deeds, that you were neither cold, nor hot. I wish you
were either one or the other. So because you are
lukewarm, neither cold or hot, I am about to spit you
out of my mouth. You say, I am rich. I have acquired
wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize
that you are wretched and pitiful and poor and blind
and naked. You see Jesus emphasizes their lukewarm
apathetic nature three times as a result to their
ambivalence, to spiritual things. Jesus wanted nothing
to do with them. He wanted to spit them out, vomit them
out of his mouth. Just as the people of Laodicea would
spit out the loop, warm water that ran through the Aqua
ducks below their city with their apathy came a
spiritual blindness. They may have been rich and
things, but spiritually, they were poor.
And what made it all the more worse is they could not
see their name need. They were blind to it. It was a
church field with self deceived hypocrites. Our next
question, this is a good one. And we received this
question many times over the course of the last few
weeks is the United States of America mentioned in the
end times, prophecies, you see the United States as
never explicitly mentioned anywhere in the Bible, in
regards to the, in times the nation that the Bible
seems most interested in and most concerned about is
the nation of Israel. So, wow. Why is that? Why is the
United States not mentioned? The reality is, is that we
don't really know, but there are three common theories
that scholars believe first, perhaps the United States
does not play an important role in the, in times maybe
they don't have as much influence as they have in other
times in history. During this point in time, number
two, perhaps the United States does not exist anymore.
Once the end times begins, or number three, perhaps the
United States is included all the other nations that
revelation talks about that rejected God. In the end
times, we do not know for sure, but most scholars
believe that number three is the most likely option.
And when the Bible talks about the nations of the
world, rejecting God that the United States will be
among those nations. Our next question is about the
Mark of the beast.
And we had two people ask this question, will anyone
with the Mart of the beast, be able to get saved, be
able to accept Christ after they take the Mark of the
beast. And the simple answer to that question is no. If
you'll remember from week four, the Mark of the beast
is a more closely tied to the worship of the
antichrist. Taking the Mark of the beast will be a
blasphemous act of willful defiance against God
receiving this. Mark will essentially mean that the
person is choosing to worship Satan. Those who take the
Mark will make the choice to serve Satan rather than to
obey God and receive Christ as savior. When people make
that decision. During the last three and a half years
of the tribulation, God will grant their request to be
eternally separated from him. You've mentioned
transformed our glorified bodies several times during
this series. What will our glorified bodies be like?
That is an incredible question. You see, when Jesus
redeemed us, he did not just redeem our souls. He
redeemed us as whole and complete persons. And this
includes the redemption of our bodies. The application
of Christ work of redemption will not be complete until
our bodies are entirely set free from the effects of
the fall and brought to a state of perfection for which
God created them. Listen to what?
Second Corinthians 15, starting in verse 42 says it is
the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our
earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die,
but they will be raised to life forever. Our bodies are
buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory.
They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in
strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but
they will be raised as spiritual bodies for just as
there are natural bodies. There are also spiritual
bodies. The Bible teaches us four things about our
glorified or transformed bodies. Number one, our new
bodies will be imperishable. That means that these new
bodies will not be subject to disease or pain or
injuries. These new bodies will not age. They will be
immortal. They will never experience death. Again, the
Bible says they will be healthy and strong forever. Our
present bodies are fallen and destructible, but our
future bodies though, still bodies in the fullest sense
will be untouched by sin. And indestructable, they will
be like, Christ's resurrected body, both physical and
indestructible. Now we don't exactly know what age our
bodies will be, but most scholars agree that our bodies
will be in the prom of life. In these new bodies. We
will see humanity as God intended it to be.
Number two, our new bodies will be raised in glory
first Corinthians 1549, just as we are now like the
earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.
The Bible says that our new glorified bodies will look
beautiful in appearance. A brightness or radiance will
surround these bodies and we will be fully transformed.
There will be continuity. It will be our body, but it
will not be identical. It's not our same body. Our new
bodies will be honorable and that they will not be
shamed or shameful because of sin. They will be pure
and undefiled. Number three, our new bodies will be
powerful. Philippians three 21 says he will take our
weak and mortal bodies and change them into glorious
bodies like his own, using the same power with which he
will bring everything under his control. You see our
earthly bodies are weak in many ways. Not only are we
subject to the natural laws of gravity and time and
space, but we are weakened by sin and temptation. Our
glorified bodies will be fully empowered by the spirit
that owns us and our weakness will be no more. Our
bodies will have a fullness of strength and power, not
infinite, power light God, but full and complete human
power. The Bible says we will finally have the strength
that is sufficient to do everything that we desire to
do in alignment with God's will.
And number four, our new bodies will be spiritual
bodies. First Corinthians five 44 says it is sown a
physical body. It is raised a spiritual body. If there
is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body just
as our earthly bodies are perfectly suited to life on
earth. Our resurrected bodies will be perfectly suited
for life in eternity. We will have form and solidity to
touch, but there will be no hindrance to travel. We
able to enjoy food, but we will not be driven by it or
have a necessity for nourishment or a fleshly desire.
Our glorified bodies just like Christ will have extra
dimensional capabilities. It will be able to appear and
disappear to travel like through locked doors. It will
be able to fly or sin into the sky. Now, when we're
told that our resurrection bodies will be like the
Lords, many scholars believe that we will have the same
capabilities that Jesus's body had. Our last question
for today is this series has really made me think about
my sin and God's forgiveness. Jason, do you think we
can lose God's forgiveness, Rosalynn Goforth, a
well-known Presbyterian missionary to China often felt
oppressed and burdened with a sense of sin. Even though
she knew she had been forgiven one evening, she
searched through the scriptures, determined to find out
everything that God said about forgiveness.
And what I want to do with you right now is I want to
share with you the results of her study. The Bible says
that God lays our sins on his son. That Christ takes
our sins away. That since or removed in a measurable
distance. As far as the East is from the West, when
sought for our sins are not found. The Bible says that
the Lord forgives them. He cleanses them all away. The
blood of his son, he cleanses them as white, as snow
are wool abundantly, pardons, our sins. He tramples
them under foot. He remembers our sins no more. He
casts them behind his back. He cashed them into the
depths of the sea. He will not impute us with sins. He
covers them. The Bible says he blots them out. He blots
them out as a thick clay out. He blots out even the
proof against us, nailing it to his sons, cross
Ephesians two eight through nonsense. God saved you by
his grace when you believed and you can't take credit
for this, it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a
reward for the good things we have done. So none of us
can boast about it. Can we lose God's forgiveness? No.
The Bible says that we can, he will never leave you.
And he will never forsake you.
Maybe you're watching today and there's never been a
time in your life where you've placed your faith in
Jesus Christ. You've never decided to trust him with
your eternity. I want you to understand that every one
of us is born separated from God, because we all have
sin in our lives. We all rebel against God. We all do
things and say things and think things that dishonor
him. But listen, God loved you so much that even though
you were separated from him, even though you had sin in
your life, he loved you so much that he sent his son
Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, to become a
sacrifice, a substitute so that you and I would not
have to face the punishment for our own sins. No Jesus
took it on himself. He took our punishment. He took our
sin. He took our shame. So we, you wouldn't have to.
The Bible is clear Jesus spirit separation from God so
that you could experience an eternity with him. You see
Jesus did live a perfect life. And he gave himself up
to die on the cross. He spilled his blood so that you
and I could be forgiven and set free, but Jesus did not
stay dead. Three days later, the Bible says that Jesus
was resurrected from the grave to prove to everyone
that he was exactly who he said.
He says the son of God in the flesh, the one with the
power to forgive sin and the Bible is clear. If you
will place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today,
he will save you. He will rescue you from hell. He will
forgive you for all of your sins past, present, and
future. And one day when you die, you will get to
experience eternity with him. Maybe that's you today.
You say, Jason, I need to place my faith in Jesus
Christ. If that's you, I want to invite you to pray a
prayer with me. If this prayer reflects what God is
doing in your life today, you can pray it to yourself.
You can pray it out loud. God can hear you either way,
but pray. Something like this God. Today, I realized
that I've been going my own direction with my life. I
realized I've been doing things my own way, and I've
been trying to be my own God today. Lord, I realize
that I'm a sinner separated from you, but because of
your great love for me, you sent your son Jesus Christ
to die on a cross and to be resurrected from the grave
so that I can be forgiven and set free. God. I believe
that Jesus died on that cross. I believe that he Rose
again and I believe you have a brand new life for me
right now. Jesus.
I want you to be mom and I want to follow you for the
rest of my life. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you
for a brand new line. Thank you for a home with you for
all of eternity. Jesus. I love you. And it's in your
name offering, Hey, if that was you, please don't
change the channel. Don't turn this video off without
letting us know, because your faith doesn't stop today.
Your faith starts today and we want to walk with you on
this new faith journey. As you become more and more
like Jesus, you can go to our website or you can fill
out the digital connect card online. And one of our
team members will reach out to you personally. We want
to pray for you by name. We want to send you resources
to help you grow. We want to be your church family. And
if you're watching right now and you don't have a
family that you call home, welcome home, we would love
to be on this journey with you. At the end of every
service, we dedicate time to worship and prayers, and
today is no different. Maybe you're watching, maybe
you're listening and you have something going on in
your life that you would say now, I really wish
somebody would pray for me. That's what we want to do
right now. As we worship.
If you have a prayer request, you can turn in a prayer
card online, or you can comment in the comments below
and our prayer team will be lifting your name
specifically up to Jesus. Let's pray and worship
together. Jesus. We love you so much. Thank you. Cut
again and again for your power and your presence. Thank
you for the truth of your word. Thank you, God, that no
matter where we're out in the world, you are meeting us
right where we're at right now. And God, I pray that no
matter what people are going through God, that you
would open up heaven and pour out your grace and pour
out your joy and pour out your peace and pour out your
power. God, Jesus, would you meet people? Would you do
what only you can do? Would you show yourself strong?
Would you do the impossible and people's lives and
Jesus, we're going to be careful to give you the honor
and glory for what you do and Jesus it's in your name.
We pray. Amen.

Good morning, refuge family, my name's Tina. And on behalf
of our team,
we are so thankful. You're joining us for refuge church
online,
wherever you're joining us from today,
we're honored to get to spend it with you.
I also want to give a special welcome to those of you
joining us for the very
first time before service begins.
We want to give you a few helpful tips for our time
together.
Make sure you grab your Bible so you can follow along with
the scriptures and
the message. If you don't have a Bible, don't worry.
The verses will be available on your screen. Also,
please engage in the live comments. We would love to connect
with you,
to pray with you and to care for you.
If you're joining us for the very first time,
please fill out our digital connect card so we can get to
know you better.
We love you and we hope you enjoy today's service.
[Inaudible].
Good morning, refuge, family, pastor Jason. Here.
It is so great to see you again this Sunday morning. I love
you.
And we have been praying for you all week long that God
would just move in an
incredible way this morning. Hey, I want to remind you that
next Sunday morning,
May 16th.
We are having a church wide outdoor worship service at camp
Helen at 10:30 AM.
We won't have services at our campus that day.
We'll all come together for an incredible outdoor service.
And then we're going to have our church picnic immediately.
After you can bring your own picnic lunch,
or you can purchase a $6 Jason's deli lunch box,
you can pre-order online on our Facebook page.
We would love to see you. We're going to have inflatable
snow cones games,
and it's going to be a great time together. Fellowshipping
as a church family,
we would love to see you. Hey, let's pray together.
And then let's dig into God's word. Jesus. We love you so
much.
Thank you for today. Thank you for this opportunity to
worship.
You got in our homes and our workplaces,
wherever we are father,
I pray that your Holy spirit would move in such a powerful
way.
Speak to our hearts today. God, God, I just ask you to move
me out of the way.
I pray that the words that come from my mouth come directly
from you. Oh God.
And Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen. Hey everybody.
Today we are wrapping up our series,
the return of the King over the past nine weeks together,
we have walked through a timeline of in-time events.
We said from the very beginning that we know with everything
going on in the
world today, that there is so much fear and anxiety and
uncertainty.
We hear people talk about on TV and on the internet that
Jesus is coming soon.
And the end of the world is near. And if you don't
understand,
what's going to happen, that can be very unnerving for
anyone.
And so we've tried to take a very safe and careful and
biblical approach
as we've walked through these in time events,
looking at the book of revelation and also so many other
books that have
prophecies about the end times and these past two Sundays,
we've been answering your questions and you've had some
incredible questions
that you've sent in over the past several weeks.
And today is no different.
We're going to answer your questions about the end times,
and then we'll move into a new series next week. Hey,
let's start with this first question.
We got so many questions about this same thing. The question
is,
does anything else need to happen before the rapture takes
place? Now, if you'll remember back to week two of this
series,
we talked about the rapture.
When the church is transformed and meets Jesus in the air.
And we said that no one knows the timing of the rapture,
except for God,
the father himself.
Jesus said that he is coming soon though,
in revelation 2220, this is Jesus speaking.
He who testifies to these things says, yes,
I am coming soon. And then John adds these words.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
You see John's book was pinned nearly 2000 years ago,
which means a lot of people wonder what did Jesus mean when
he said I am
coming soon? Obviously soon is a relative term.
If we look into the original Greek language,
the word that is translated soon or quickly actually means
without unnecessary delay. It does not mean immediately.
That same word is used other places in the new Testament,
but it's used most often by Jesus in the book of revelation.
The meaning seems to be that there are events that have to
be set in
motion that will usher in these in Tom's and his
arrival will be without any unnecessary delay.
So you may be asking yourself the question.
If there have to the events that happen, Jason, what are
those events?
Jesus actually shared them with his disciples.
One day when they were on the Mount of olives together,
we see this in Matthew 24. I'll read the verses in a moment,
but let me go through the list of things with you.
Jesus said that there would be false teachers and false
religion
that rise up during the,
in times he said that there would be worse and there would
be rumors of Wars are
threats. Of course there would be famine.
There would be earthquakes.
There would be persecution of believers in Jesus Christ that
we would see widespread evil in the world.
And that there would be global evangelism.
Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 24, beginning in verse
four,
Jesus answered them. Don't let anyone fool.
You many will come and claim to be me.
They will say that they are the Messiah and they will fool
many people.
You will soon hear about Wars and threats of Wars, but don't
be afraid.
These things will have to happen first,
but that isn't the end nations and kingdoms will go to war
against each
other. People will starve to death.
And in some places there will be earthquakes,
but this is just the beginning of the troubles.
You will be arrested and punished and even killed because of
me,
you will be hated by the nations.
Many will give up and betray and hate each other.
Many false prophets will come and fool. A lot of people,
evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving
others.
But if you will keep on being faithful right to the end, you
will be saved.
When the good news about the kingdom has been preached all
over the world and
tow to all the nations, the end will come.
You see the Bible teaches us that Jesus has returned for his
church
is eminent. Which means that the rapture can happen at any
moment.
The apostles seem to believe that Jesus was actually going
to come back in their
lifetime.
They often referred to the days that they were living in as
the last days and
they urged believers to be ready.
It appears that Jesus also intended for us to believe in his
imminent
return because he often urged his followers to be ready
because no one knows the day since no one can predict when
Jesus is coming back,
we should all live an expectancy that he could come at
any moment.
Our next question is what temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem.
Is it Solomon's temple is the veil recreated. Now,
when we talk about the temples, we're going to talk about
three temples.
The first is the first temple and the first temple was built
by King Solomon
as a place of prayer and sacrifice to God.
The plans were actually given to his father King David,
but Solomon was the one who got to build it.
It was destroyed by the Babylonians 400 years after it was
built.
Then there was the second temple. 70 years later,
a group of Jews returned to Israel led by the prophets,
Ezra and Nehemiah.
And the second temple was built on the same site sacrifices
too,
God resumed.
And the first century Herod the Roman appointed head of
Judea
made substantial modifications to the template. Well,
enlarging and expanding it.
But the second temple met the same fate as the first,
because cause it was destroyed by the Romans.
Following the failure of the great revolt.
All that remains of Harrod's work is the Western wall or
wailing
wall that we hear of today.
The Bible says that there will be a third temple.
According to the prophecy in Daniel nine 27,
it appears that there will be a third temple because there
will be sacrifices
given to God there that the Anton cross is going to stop.
Since the other parts of Daniel's prophecies were fulfilled,
literally leading up to Jesus's life and death.
We believe that this part will literally be fulfilled as
well.
And that this temple will be built made to the
specifications that we see in the old Testament.
Another question that we got worded in different way was
about old Testament
believers. So I'm going to answer these two questions in
one.
How were people saved before Jesus died for us or what
happened to people in the old Testament who believed in God
is see the
basis of salvation has always been the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
No one either prior to the cross or since the cross would
ever be
saved without that one pivotal event in history, Jesus,
his death and resurrection Jesus's death paid the penalty
for the past
sins of old Testament believers and the future sins of new
Testament saints.
The requirement for salvation has always been faith.
The object of one's faith for salvation has always been
God. For example, Apple, listen to what Genesis 15 six says,
and Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as
righteous
because of his faith.
Genesis 15 six tells us that Abraham believed God.
And that was enough for God to credit it to him. As
righteousness.
You see the old Testament sacrificial system did not take
away sin.
It did however,
point to the day that when the son of God would shed his
blood for the sinful
human race,
what has changed throughout the ages is the content of a
believers, faith,
God requirement of what must be believed is based on the
amount of
revelation he has given mankind. Up until that time,
this is called progressive revelation throughout the old
Testament.
Believers came to salvation because they believe that God
would one day take
care of their sin. Today,
we get to look back believing that he has already taken care
of the sin problem
on the cross.
Now we are not totally sure what happened to the old
Testament believers
when they died,
but there were three prominent views that are taught by
Christian scholars.
The first is called soul sleep.
And this new teaches that when an old Testament believer DOD
they're sold
internet state of rest or sleep,
this contention was temporary and lasting until the
resurrection of Christ
or as most teach it. It will last to a believers,
future resurrection at the time of Christ return.
But this has never gained much acceptance in church history.
And there are only certain denominations in Christianity
that believed this.
And number two is the idea of paradise.
This view teaches that when old Testament believers died,
they were ushered into a temporary paradise.
Some people call it Abraham's bosom.
It is understood by this view that this place was not
heaven,
but rather a section of shield where the righteous dwelled
and there was another
section of SHEEO the young righteous dwell it is said,
or thought that Jesus went here between his death and
resurrection and
release the old Testament saints so that they may go to
present heaven.
And then the third viewpoint is called present heaven.
And this view teaches that when old Testament believers,
Dodd, their bodies,
went to the grave and their soul went to heaven to be with
God.
There they wait for the future bodily resurrection that will
happen most
likely at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now,
regardless of what actually happened,
we know that today to be absent from the body is to be
present with the Lord. Now,
maybe you're watching and there's never been a time in your
life where you have
placed your faith in Jesus Christ.
I want you to understand that all of us are born sinners,
born separated from God. And because of that,
we cannot spend eternity with him.
We are destined for our very real place called hell,
but God loved you so much that in his great compassion for
you,
he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on a cross,
but Jesus didn't stay dead. The Bible says that three days
later,
he Rose again from the grave in victory, over sin and
victory,
over death and in victory over the grave and the devil.
And because of that,
the Bible says that if you place your faith in Jesus Christ,
you can be forgiven and set free,
but that's the key you have to choose to place your faith in
Jesus.
And the Bible is clear that if you play your faith in Jesus
Christ,
you will be forgiven. You will be set free. You will
experience a second,
a brand new life with Jesus Christ, but it is a decision
only.
You can make a pastor. Can't make it for you. A priest can't
make it for you.
Your parents can't make it for you.
You've got to choose to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and
savior.
And I want to give you the opportunity to do that.
Maybe you're watching you say chasing that's me. I want to
follow Jesus.
I want to pray a prayer.
This prayer reflects what God is doing in your life right
now.
I invite you to pray it with me. God, I've been going my own
way with my life.
I've been doing my own thing and God today,
I realized that I'm a sinner that needs to be safe.
I believe you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me.
So that can be forgiven and set free.
And I believe that Jesus Rose from the grave. God,
today I choose Jesus to be my Lord and savior and I choose
to
follow him for the rest of my life. God asks you to forgive
me.
I ask you to rescue me from my sin. I ask you to change me,
Jesus, you are my King and I love you in Jesus.
It's in your name. I pray. Now, if you prayed that prayer,
I want to congratulate you because that's the greatest
decision that you can
make with your life.
The Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating right now
and we are
celebrating along with him. But please do not change this
channel.
Do not turn off this video without letting us know,
because I want to reach out to you this week.
I want to pray for you by name and I want to send you
resources that will help
you grow in your faith. In fact,
I want to send you an ebook for new believers to teach you
how to
pray,
to teach you how to study God's word and to teach you the
importance of having a
church family. And if you're watching and you don't have a
church home,
let me be the first to say welcome home.
We would love for you to be a part of our church family.
Now,
all you have to do is turn in that digital connect card
found on our website or
in the comments below.
And we'll reach out to you this week and tell you how you
can become a part of
everything that God is doing here. Now, at the end of every
service,
we dedicate time to prayer and worship and maybe you're
watching and you say,
Jason, I really need somebody to pray for me. I would ask
you,
please fill out our prayer card online.
If you are on Facebook today,
you can place your prayer requests in the comments below.
And I assure you that our prayer team is going to be lifting
up every prayer
request to God. Jesus is for you. And so are we, Jesus loves
you.
And so do we, and we want to intercede on your behalf.
So let's pray together today and worship together.
And if you have prayer requests, please don't hesitate to
let us know.
There was a battle.
[inaudible] the tree.
The lamb of God was crucified.
He took back every
[inaudible] Jesus. We love you. Thank you again for this
morning.
Thank you for my church, family and God,
thank you that even though I may not be aware of what's
going on in every
person's life, God,
I know that you are aware and that you care and that you
have great
compassion for my friends and family. And God I ask you in
Jesus' name,
would you meet people right where they're at?
Would you open up heaven and pour out your grace and pour
out your peace and
pour out your joy? Oh God, for those that need healing
today, God,
would you be their healer for those that need provision,
would you be Jehovah,
Gyra, their provider? And God,
I promise we're going to give you the honor and glory
because you're the only
one that deserves have Jesus. It's in your name. I pray.
Amen.
Thank you again for joining us for this morning service.
We truly hope our time together made an impact in your walk
with God.
If you made the decision to trust Jesus as your Lord and
savior.
Congratulations following Jesus truly is the greatest
decision you could ever
make. Please let us know by filling out the digital connect
card,
we want to reach out to you and help you grow in your faith.
Remember,
our pastoral staff is always available for ministry.
If you need pastoral care or have a prayer request,
please submit the care and support form@findrefugehere.com
slash care.
And a member of our pastoral team will contact you.
If you are a member of our church,
family and would like to financially support the mission and
the vision of
refuge church. There are three easy ways to give online by
text,
or you can mail a check to the church office, refuge church.
We love you.
And we hope to see you again soon, but until then have a
great week.