Open House “Revelation: End Times…nah?”

“Revelation: End Times…or nah?”

John14:1-3

1. End Times Stats
   • In 1988, Edgar Whisenant sold 4.3M copies of “88 REASONS Why The Rapture will be in 1988” and predicted that the Rapture would happen on Dec. 31,1988.
     • In 1989, he did the same thing with “The Final Shout Rapture Report”
     • When none of these dates were correct, he said he would tell the Lord “at least I tried”
   • Heaven’s Gate in 1997 thought that Jesus would pick them up on a spaceship behind the Comet Hale-Bopp and committed mass suicide
   • Y2K was the year the world would stop moving and the Lord would return
   • Dec 21, 2012 is the end of the Mayan Calendar & it was predicted that the end of the world would come
2. Scriptural References to the End Times
   • Revelation 22:20
     1. Are We in End Times? Yes! Since Jesus ascended to Heaven and promised His return we have been in end times awaiting His return!
   • Matthew 24:4-14
     1. 1100 people have claimed to be Christ since 1900
     2. Since WWII ended in 1945, the world has only experienced 3 weeks of peace from major conflicts/wars
     3. 41,000 people die of starvation every day (28 people a minute) & 1 in 8 go to be hungry
     4. Since 1970, there have been over 70,000 earthquakes over 5.0 (major earthquake)…that’s about 4.5 major earthquakes a day
     5. Over 100,000 Christians are killed because of their faith and over 100M are persecuted for their faith every year in the 2000s
   • Matthew 34:32-36
     1. Jesus lives a life that is an example of full surrender to the Father. Even He does not know the time or hour
     2. The Fig Tree mentioned here is Israel
   • Ezekiel 38:1-7 ; 19
     1. Map of Nations in Ezekiel’s prophecy
        • These nations that are against Israel are all Islamic and Muslim except Russia. For the first time ever, this prophecy is set up to occur
        • Get Ready, Be Prepared
        • A Great Earthquake (sounds a lot like what Jesus said in Matthew 24)
   • Revelation 16:17-18
     1. God uses earthquakes to signal new beginnings…Jesus’ death, Jesus’ Resurrection and the End of the World
   • 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
     1. 18- “Encourage one another with these words”
     2. How can we be encouraged with all of this?
        • We live a life that is like Heaven on Earth
        • We live a life that actually won’t be surprised at what Heaven has for us because we have seen glimpses of it on Earth
          • And when we share those glimpses others, more will get to CELEBRATE
        • When we live full of the faith of Heaven and not the Fear of the earth we get to be the peculiar people to show others the thing they have been searching for!
          • That’s how we get to spread the Gospel

TakeAway:
Where in my life am I not living like Heaven on Earth?

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