January 2023 set 90 seconds to midnight = threat nuclear war Ukraine
Now – Israel @ war 1st time 50 yrs
Nation size/pop NJ now fault line in world
With Israel – US, France, German, Italy, Great Britain, Israel
With Palestine – Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Iran, Turkey, Russia, China
=US sending missile defense systems, Gerald R Ford carrier 5k crew, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower 5k crew, 2k soldiers standby, Airforce in place more F16’s & C17’s
-Deeply spiritual – Hamas a demonic spirit = WAR seen & unseen realms
According to a recent survey of 6,200 Americans 71.2% say they have no faith in the U.S. government to save them from or prevent a doomsday event. The state that most distrust the government to protect them is Arizona (82%).
We are watching evil & death unfold
Are you ready to die?
The World and the Church are different
2 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
Paul, Silvanus, Timothy – Senior Leader & Lead Team
Paul – of 27 NT books; wrote 13/14, pastor to Luke, featured Acts 13-28
Grace – Jesus took your place & put you in His place (NOT WORKS)
Peace – 1. With God 2. Of God
-Anxiety comes when you don’t know future
-Bible prophecy tells us future (2000 fulfilled, 500 remaining)
Jesus’ Resurrection Is the Key to Your Future
-Resurrection – someone alive, dead, return to life in body never to die again
= Eternal Life
John 10:31-33 “The[y] picked up stones again to stone him…Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The[y] answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus said he was the Only God
Mark 8:31 [Jesus] began to teach them that [He] must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Jesus prophesied
Jesus’ died and was buried in a well-known tomb
cross/spear/wrapped/stone -Joseph Arimithea)
Jesus’ appeared to crowds of 500 people over forty days (Acts 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:1-6)
Jesus’ tomb was not enshrined
50 tombs enshrined in area at time
Jesus’ resurrection is unique in history (
Greeks N.T. Wright (studied Oxford, taught Cambridge) “The Res. of the Son of God”
Jesus resurrection is verified by history
Jewish historian Josephus born shortly after Jesus rose (A.D. 37-100) “…there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man…. he was one who wrought surprising feats…He was the Christ…Pilate…had condemned him to be crucified…On the third day he appeared to themrestored to life…And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”
The burden of proof is on those who deny Jesus rose
Thomas Arnold (former prof Modern History Oxford) “No 1 fact in the history of mankind…is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort [than] Christ died and rose from the dead.”
= Jesus ascended, returned to Heaven. Awaiting HIS return, 2nd Coming
Heaven or Hell? Your Choice
2 Thessalonians 1:5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
History 2 views
Cyclical – no clear beginning or end, series of repeating events
Linear – beginning, clear end
Evolutionary linear – we are good & getting better
Biblical linear – we are bad & getting worse
Genesis 1-2 – Sin – Jesus’ 1st Coming – “latter days, last days, the end, Day of the Lord”
= endtimes – Jesus 2nd Coming
Jesus will return, possibly very soon
Jesus will bring Heaven & earth together Jesus will put a final end to Satan & all evil
Jesus will raise the dead & you will be alive, healed, & perfect forever
Jesus will judge you and there are only 2 options
1). 2 Thess 1:8-9 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
2). 2 Thess 1:10 glorified in his saints &…marveled [PERFECTED]
2 Thess 1: fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith [REWARDED]
Jesus is asking you if you will be a Christian and live for Him, or
