Be The Church In The End Time

well paul called it a blessed hope a blessed hope a hope that blesses us that one day there will be no more dying there will be no more crying and we would we would not be honest to say that doesn't appeal to us it does but here's what really appeals to us in fact it's the reason we're in this service tonight the presence of the lord jesus christ we're going to see him and be with him and that's why we want to go and we are coming sooner we are coming closer to that day praise god romans chapter 13 and if you would like to receive a lesson sheet and you did not there are some notes to be able to follow along and if you just lift your hand the ushers will see that and will respond god bless you for your faithfulness to his house tonight i felt to do a bible study continuation of the message closer than we think in fact as we were singing that song soon and very soon every time we use that word soon and that phrase very soon i just wanted to take a step closer to his coming because that's how we're moving that's what's happening and it is soon and very soon i preached that message closer than we think on sunday september 12th concerning the coming of the lord i preach mainly from this chapter verses 11 and 12 on that sunday but the remainder of verse 12 and the following verses of 13 and 14 give us as the church as believers instruction as to how to be ready for his coming and how to prepare as we're moving closer to that day and this end time of his coming so romans 13 and beginning with verse 11 and it's good to see several bibles out there and there's different ways to have your bibles these days but you have them and that's good and if if you don't we've got it and brother

andrew's got an alexa that'll preach to you also that that'll work verse 11. and that knowing the time and he was referring to a very special he used a special word right there a significant time that has a character of its own and wouldn't we say the time we're in has a character of its own that now it is high time to awake out of sleep why because now is our salvation and that salvation is not the holy ghost salvation as we receive it by new birth there he's talking about the ultimate salvation of up and out of this world rapture coming of the lord it's nearer than when we believed verse 12 the night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore and here's where the instructions uh have begun in verse 12. let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor or the weapons of light verse 13 let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting drunkenness chambering wantonness strife and envying and we'll talk about those in a little bit but here's what we are to do put on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh don't give it space don't give it room don't give it its desires to fulfill the lust there of let's join together and let's pray that the word of god it's already anointed but we want it to have its perfect will and rule in our life tonight lord we give ourselves to you and your word i'm thankful for the power of your word for the impact of your word god it's truth lord it it's it's it's very very true and i thank you for the influence of that word i pray that you would help us to give attention to it tonight yes with our physical hearing but also with a spiritual hearing and then open our understanding tonight to a greater

understanding of what you wish for us and what you want for us and what you command from us in jesus name we pray it in jesus name amen and you may be seated he begins with instructions to the righteous when he says knowing the time the first instruction is and i've listed it here in the notes is to know and be aware of the time in which we are living in other words to understand that this is a unique time because of how close we are to the coming of the lord and then also to understand and we won't understand everything that is happening around us but if we read enough we will see parallels from the word of god and to our world now to show us that there are signs that are appearing of the lord's coming so the times that we live in are full of significance and god wants us to be aware of that not just check through another calendar day wednesday october 13th but significant things are happening today and i'm not talking about there's always a great news headline or some spectacular event happening but just to understand that we're one step closer decisions that are being made and many of them we do not agree with but it's setting up the context for the coming of the lord and this end time so every day is full of significance i would also add every service is full of significance we can't waste a service folks every service it counts when i as a leader or a preacher or speaker prepare for a service it's got to be more than just coming up with another sermon or a message everyone is full of significance because of what god wants to do in our life and i hope and i pray that we hear it and heed it tonight and god wants us to before it is too late because we are coming closer

to his coming the second instruction is in that same verse he says awake out of sleep this is a reference to lethargic christianity non-aggressive here's a a less nice word lazy covid made us lazy when it comes to many things it did many good things but it set a trap of laziness but it wasn't only coveted it wasn't only in that era it's it was before that time and it was evidently in this time when paul was writing and he said if there ever was a time to wake out of sleep if there ever was a time to take the actions that he is getting ready to describe to us he said this is the time this is the hour if there ever was a time to be praying now is the time if there ever was a time to be faithful to god and commit and serve him his coming this rapture is nearer he said that when you and i first believed and i preached that sunday how we tend to think that yes the coming of the lord is out there and as we move one day forward that the coming of the lord just seems to move one day forward but the gap is not staying the same the gap is shrinking between this day and the day of his coming there is a sleepy at ease in zion i have seen it as a leader there is a procrastinating lethargic mindset that can hypnotize us and we can be in it and not realize and the writer in the old testament the prophet amos says woe to them that are at ease in zion in that context in that particular instance god was concerned with those who had become soft are complacent god help us not to become complacent and just go through the ritual or go through the motion they had lost their concern for god or his values and for the needs of those around him and and i'll have to admit i've battled those to become

soft or complacent and loss of concern but here's what faithfulness and wakefulness says no matter how many years i've been faithful to church and to church events and to ministry and no matter how many years i've served i can't and i won't ease up now do you feel that way do you really no time to ease up now no time to put it in neutral now if there was ever a day that we must stay awake it is this day that we must stay awake spiritually and it's about more than just an attendance record it's about more than because we've always done it or because of what others are doing or not doing it's about staying awake spiritually why are we here tonight because we want to stay awake spiritually why do we attend services we want to stay awake spiritually why do we pray every day we want to stay awake spiritually it's more than just going through a checklist of spiritual disciplines and and that's fine and good to do that but behind it must be the fact i want a relationship with jesus christ staying awake happens by way of hearing and receiving from the word of the lord you know and i i do believe and i know that was probably just happenstance true but you know if god wants to use alexa he can use alexa hey he used a raven to bring food i think we need to perk up our ears and say god what are you trying to say to me what are you trying to talk to me about what do you want me to know staying awake comes from hearing messages preached hearing bible studies like this one whether it's corporately together i tell you i'm still feasting on our sunday night time that that lesson probed my spirit it's still working on my spirit it's those kind of times that helps us to stay awake don't lay

out anything don't lay out a church don't lay out a connect group don't lay out of anything that you any way you can get a hold stay awake fellowship with others in whether it's church services or small groups or celebrate recovery or grief share we're strengthened by the faith of prayer here's the first prayer request for every day the first prayer request for every service is this an improved relationship with jesus christ our first prayer tonight was not god give us a good service that's not a bad request but our first request is god i want to have a better relationship with you and i want you to use me in this service and i want you to use this service whether it's through a song whether it's through the bible lesson or whatever it is to have an improved relationship because we must stay awake in this hour he said do that awake out of sleep he wouldn't have given the instruction if it wasn't possible apc we've been here for 86 years but it's possible to go to sleep it's possible to go to sleep after having the holy ghost 31 years or 42 years or 16 years or any number of years it's possible to go to sleep as a pastor or a leader it's possible we've got to stay awake we gotta so to speak pinch ourselves are you awake okay you know it's one thing for the physical body to take its ease it's another thing for our soul here's what the the unwise person said i will say to my soul soul you've got much goods laid up for many years take thine ease take your spiritually and there's all kind of excuses to be used for why we go to sleep or or why we don't receive what we should from god but the terry shock made this statement and i put it on the screen the biggest enemy of all is

not none but some i'll be there some of the time i'll pray some of the days i'll get connected to ministries in the church some of the time the biggest enemy of all all of our heart all of our soul all of our strength is some we can't afford to think hear me we can't afford to think i'll let others do it i'll let the younger generation i'll let a new believer carry the law i've already done my part i'm mentioning those things because those are thoughts that can come to our mind and our spirit and hypnotize us to where we feel like oh it's it's okay it's okay but we must not just live day to day we must live with an awakening and awake out of sleep here's what he said in verse 12. talking about it being so close the day being at hand he said therefore here's another instruction cast off the works of darkness cast off now he doesn't say here that the holy ghost will take them off of us what he says is we've got to be intentional number one to recognize that work of darkness when it's trying to work in our life and then we've got to be intentional to remove or set aside any behavior any actions any if there's ever a time to drill down and tighten the screws and put up the boundaries and put up the fences it is this day and this time as a leader i am not going to back up or apologize for anything we believe and anything we stand for we've got to put off the works of darkness any thoughts any involvements anywhere from shady to stark dark and this could mean what and who we associate with it can mean what we read it can mean what we watch he deals with the works of darkness in verse 13.

and if you just jump down there he gives a summary of dark behaviors and if you want to summarize it and i may have done that in the notes he he calls these things out immorality their sexual perversion there is unbridled passion and unbridled lust and and unbridled behavior that happen and here's some of the things he lists he lists he calls it rioting and basically what this was it was a description of a riotous procession of half drunken or full drunken people who would go through the streets and have their drinking parties or their feasts protracted till late at night in other words very little boundary if if any and then he mentions drunkenness drunken festivals and it wasn't only drinking but these festivals were accompanied with all kinds of unclean music and unclean abominable sexual acts happening our world has agreed to those things our world has said that's just the normal culture but god has not agreed with those things the church must not agree with those things he mentions chambering and literally this is a nice way of talking about sexual intercourse and immoral uncleanness that was happening and who knows how we we'd see how widespread this is and you know and i know many of these things we we may not physically partake in but when we're watching shows where that stuff has taken place we're participating that was a week amen but it's the truth anyhow we've got to be careful i know i've heard the explanation i hear it right now oh there's not all that much that's not gonna affect me all that much he said if you see it as darkness you cast it off otherwise we either cast it off or we wear it envying envious contentious rivalry lust craving passionate desires

they can be good but they can also be bad and he's referring to this evil evil desires here in ephesians 5 and 11 he uses works of darkness that phrase and he calls them unfruitful works of darkness the word unfruitful is literally barren or empty those kind of activities that were just listed will not produce the result that somebody is looking for in them they're looking for that sexual high they're looking for that pleasure as they go to be with someone they shouldn't be with and it ends up leaving people empty of true happiness but full of guilt and shame it's the reason he said put off the works of darkness and then he turns around to the positive in the verse and he said so you put off the works of darkness and the way you keep those off is to put on the armor of light i love that phrase the armor of light literally that word armor right there is weapons put on the weapons and immediately you think of the armor of god in ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11.

here's the way to battle darkness with truth he said put on truth as the armor of god the way to battle darkness is to have righteousness live righteousness believe righteousness teach righteousness that's the way to battle darkness don't give in to it the gospel of peace hold up the shield of faith put on the helmet of salvation use the sword of the spirit and then pray always darkness cannot win against that armor of light sin abounds but the grace of god much more abounds your precious family is trying to live righteous i don't care how bad it gets in movies how bad it gets on television how many books they produce and how out there all of this uncleanness is in the world it cannot overwhelm what you stand for is you have the armor of light don't lay down your weapons do not lay down those weapons darkness cannot win and we must be intentional again this instruction here didn't say the holy ghost would put that armor on he provides it for us but it you is understood there we've got to put on that armor you can do it my wife does this she prays on the armor there in ephesians chapter 6.

there's all there's different ways of putting on the armor of god and one of those you you can pray on truth and righteousness and just pray through those verses the point is we must be intentional as believers we're talking about being believers in this end time hour there's going to be a church it's going to be a holy church he said it's going to be without spot it's going to be without blemish it's going to be without any of those things there's going to be a church we must be intentional about staying in the light intentional about being influenced by the light and i've just listed uh from my perspective the light that we have we have the light of jesus christ his spirit in us is the light and it brings light his holiness inward and outward is a light and we have the light of his word it's a lamp and a light to our feet and to our pathway and i know i'm teaching to people right now that have had that word shined in your hearts and in your life where it has illuminated your pathway and it has showed you where to go and what to do the light of his word the word of god has so many enemies today and is being challenged on every hand there's a challenge for even us as believers to hold fast to the word of the lord and really believe that this is true if this book says he's a healer he can heal somebody tonight if this book says you can be born again you can be born again you can be filled with his spirit somebody at home you can be touched by the power of god and healed by the touch of the power of god or filled with the holy ghost or chains can be broken god's still a deliverer his word says it and the word of god is the final authority the word of god is the final authority

in our life and our family and our ministry and our church we can and we must trust the word of god pastor todd nichols said this i believe i put the quote in in the notes if you are going to survive what is coming next in this world you better get it settled what you believe on the fence isn't going to work the very faith of the faithful is under attack just recently a popular cnn commentator said both the constitution and the bible need to be amended that's the way the world feels the apostolic church needs and i believe we want a restoration of faith in the word of god apc read it like you have never read it before i i'm appealing to you as a leader in this church read it as never before apply it and trust it and live by it the word of god never changes what was true 2 000 years ago is still true today put on the armor of light and when he gave these instructions in verse 12 it doesn't come out in the english translation and in the rendering but really how he was saying it is this therefore about putting this armor of light on and those works of darkness off therefore let us at once in other words immediately presently don't wait any amount of time at once and once and for all cast off those works of darkness and put on that armor of light our mindset can and should be i'm doing this once and for all i'm committing to god once and for all we can't just test the water and say well i you know i'll just kind of i'll just kind of be committed for now and if something better comes along i'll just kind of no we gotta we gotta be all in folks i'm making up my mind i'm staying in the church i'm not gonna entertain sin i'm not gonna let down on faithfulness or honesty or holiness

our commitments are valued a decisive committed oh i don't hear it a whole lot thank god but i am sick of this mealy mouth well maybe are you in or are you out excuse me but don't excuse me are you in or are you out do you love him or not once and for all i'm committed now and i'm committed for the future and if some better thing comes along just let it come along because there's nothing better than god verse 13 let us walk honestly as in the day in other words conduct yourself honestly now now that means being honest don't go switching price tags at the store i mentioned that because i know there's a big problem with that at abc there is not but it's bigger than that it's more than that living honestly okay nobody cheats do they you know you don't cheat on your income tax nothing nothing here's what he's talking about if you and i claim the holy ghost experience be honest of that confession live in honest alignment with the holy spirit the holy ghost our outward expression should demonstrate the inward holiness that occurred by the regenerating changing power of jesus christ we are called to display holiness inward and outwardly lifestyle conversation our thoughts what we do where we go what we read what we watch in other words he's saying we should be honest about our holy ghost nature be honest live and talk dress and live in alignment with holiness and to do otherwise is dishonest paul and god are calling us to an honesty of lifestyle we can and we should and personally i'm glad to claim our god god-ordained identity an unashamed confession and profession of who we are in god this is what he's talking about by living honestly claiming and owning our god-ordained identity

don't be ashamed of your holy ghost nature you don't have to duck your head avoid hear me now avoid being apologetic about what we believe and our standards that's walking honestly well i i don't believe the church believes that man up excuse me ladies woman up chicken be apologetic we don't have to be arrogant with it we don't be contentious with it but we can know our calling and our identity here's how that lives out we need to claim our identity in life decisions i'll just pick one there's a lot of a marriage this is why we counsel in concert with the scripture when it comes to the choice of a life partner be assured the person you choose chooses god first chooses biblical values biblical worldview biblical doctrines and make sure they choose apostolic doctrinal beliefs and be cautious not to play that down own our identity be honest in our life decisions be confident and comfortable with our separation and our pentecostal identity we need not be ashamed or hide or camouflage our values that the holy ghost calls for us to live and i'll talk a little bit to ministry and preaching and teaching right here we must honestly preach and teach and live the truth of god's word there's no need in fact there is a great danger in watering down what we stand for and believe to preach teach pastor lead outside of apostolic doctrine is being dishonest he said live honestly walk honestly cannot preach and teach our own version of his word we must preach what he says i've got this quote and it has helped me pastoral leadership means not worrying about who might be offended when we speak the truth instead it's worrying about who will continue to be deceived if we don't and there is that

pressure that comes with stating the truths of god's word because they are in such contrast to this culture that we are living in today walk honestly one more thing on this and then i'll move on we need not bemoan who we are and what we stand for you know i have observed a few times and i've even observed it a few times throughout my leadership years here i haven't currently in times past it's like um it's like apostolics don't like themselves don't we we need to avoid allowing neo or pseudo pentecostals to define what believers really are they may look like us and they may seem to be apostolic in doctrine but we've got to be careful about wanting to try to be like others and do like others everybody has their own choice about what they choose to believe and others may choose to go another direction but we will embrace who we are praise god embrace who we are and not be ashamed i want to encourage every believer of apc lift your channel and without arrogance but with a confidence in god do not let anybody make enough fun of you or question you enough to move you off or to cause you to apologize for anything that you believe we believe there is one god and his name is jesus and we will baptize in that name it does make a difference how one is baptized in the and it must be in the name of jesus and i'll just say on that point there are a lot of folks that are very close to a biblical stance but they give an option the bible does not give an option now pastor you're being too strong you're being too hard no i'm just going to embrace this is who we are and we need not apologize for what and who we are now we've got to be right and we've got to have the right spirit and we've

got to have the right kind of confidence to let people know that this is who we are and what we believe but we do not have to run and hide we can embrace who we are i thought of the song and i could teach on worship right here we sing the song praise is who i am praise is what i do well i do it when i sing that song well what about the rest of the time praise is who i am prayer is who i am you don't have to be ashamed for praising god or praying and calling on the name of the lord or believing in the laying on of hands this is who we are by the grace of god and by the goodness of god and by the revelation aren't you glad somebody preached his truth to you and the revelation of the fullness of god came into your life oh i'm thankful no we're not going to back up on that and then verse 14 and i'm going to preach this verse backwards in other words i'm going to take the last part first i'm not going to change anything it reads put ye on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof make not provision for the flesh literally translated that is don't let yourself think about ways to indulge yourself you know our thoughts as a person thinks so are they if we think enough on that those list of things or anything else that i gave a while ago we think enough on that we'll tend that direction make not provision don't let yourself think about ways to the you know i kind of wish he would insert it in there the holy ghost will help you not make provision and it will but here he's given us a responsibility we've got to keep those works of darkness out we've got to control our thoughts and our thinking and our mind and what we see make not provision

for the flesh don't let yourself even think about ways to indulge the flesh let alone indulging the flesh in other words avoid giving into the flesh just because the flesh craves it and then he begins it by saying put on the lord jesus christ put it on you know if there's this guy behind home plate and it's got this cardinal jersey on and it's number four and there's a name on the back of it m-o-l-i-n-a i'm not really wondering who that is now i know somebody could impose themself but in the regular scheme of things that's molina i wish he was still putting it on but he's not right now we're identified by what we put on put on a jesus jersey when you see when you see one of those jerseys those birds on a bat there's not too many of us and there may be a few but there's not too many i'm saying i wonder if that's the astros or if that's the brewers or one of those other teams no we we just know put on jesus christ identify with jesus christ put on the attributes and the characteristics of jesus christ one man said this when a christian puts on christ he clothes his soul in the moral disposition and habits of christ what will christ's habits be like tomorrow and what will my habits and attitudes be like tomorrow put on we all know this but being a child of god is more than just coming through those doors and setting on a pew it's lifestyle it's everyday living it's putting our life where the rubber meets the road our values our principles put on jesus christ and he clothes his soul there's something good to pray about as you start your day god i want to wear you i want to wear you i want to put on jesus christ somebody sent me an email today it was a beautiful testimony of faith

and generosity and tears started welling up in my eyes when i started writing a response it was anna i said anna it that looks like jesus to me that sounds like jesus to me putting on jesus christ because our righteousness is as filthy rags but we identify and paul said one of the instructions for these last days don't make a way in provision for the flesh but put on the lord jesus christ would you stand with me please give me your attention just another couple of moments here's what's happened if we were here september 12th we're over here at least october 13. and who knows we may even be here he said it's nearer than when you first believed it's near that's why he was saying i can almost hear paul yelling it's high time it's high time he wasn't going to let anybody go to sleep in that congregation he and i'm talking about natural or spiritual it's time to wake up church hear me right now let's stay awake in every service and i mean by awake i mean sensitive to what the holy ghost is wanting to say and what the holy ghost is wanting to do that's how we live anyway that's the only way we're going to survive that's the only way this church has survived for its 86 years it's the only way we're going to survive and he said as you get closer here's what you do stay awake put off those works of darkness you know i it seems to me like it's getting darker the closer we're getting getting darker i mean we're seeing some stuff when i first started pastoring in 80 we're seeing some stuff now i would brother rome told me when i first assumed the pastor and he said steve he said i'm seeing things now that was in 1981 he said that i didn't dream of when i first started pastoring he was

trying to help me and he was helping me but now all of this other time closer and closer but we don't have to fear folks the weapons of light the armor of light is going to win over every work of darkness any work of darkness let's put on the lord right now let's avail ourselves ask god help us now lord you you gave us these points in your word you gave us and i pray that you would illuminate to us and you would help us to understand and know and each of us may have a different point where we are stronger or maybe some area we're weaker i pray that you would lift it up to us and lift it out to us and help us to awaken oh god and not to grow lethargic in any sense of the word oh god if we've ever been awake help us help us help stir us by your word stir us by your spirit stir us by a word from a brother or sister stir us in prayer oh god thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord we need you we want you and i thank you for who you've made us i thank you for who you've made us i claim you god i claim my identity as an apostolic believer i am not ashamed lord oh hallelujah hallelujah help us to walk honestly help us to live honestly lord oh i thank you jesus oh i want us to give him a thanksgiving right now for saving us give it give that's right really if you're really thankful put your voice with your hands if you're really thankful don't tell him right now tell telling god i'm thankful i know i could be in darkness i know i could be in confusion i know i could be miles away from any sensitivity but it's your grace it's your mercy it's your goodness oh i thank you for it lord i thank you for it lord i thank you for it lord i thank you jesus i thank you jesus fill your life

fill your life with the word of god i know there's a lot of danger on the internet but there's a there's a good side to that too we have more at our disposal now the word of god than we have ever had preaching and for instance i'll just tell you every night of general conference was the heart of god through the heart of ministers to the heart of the people our bishop preached a wonderful message of vision if you want if you want to end up in tears or on your face listen to nine bucks and a burden the commitment of people to the work of god but it's it's all around us there's i feel your life fill your life i'm not saying that's all you have to listen to or watch but it wouldn't hurt sometimes to measure it out you know it a 56-minute sitcom we just kind of do that there's been times i've been kind of afraid to preach 56 minutes i probably did that tonight but fill your heart and your mind the word of god don't go a day without reading this don't go a day without his word