74. Eschatological Fried Pickles (End Times Series Part 25)

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Welcome back to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf.

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This is episode 74 eschatological fried pickles The evangelical echo of Narcissus As Greek mythologies go a young man named Narcissus once lived blessed with an ethereal beauty that outshone all the other lads of his great day He was the half-breed son of a river God and tree nymph from his earliest days It was apparent that Narcissus possessed a rare and otherworldly charm that drew admirers from every corner of the realm Yet despite his captivating allure He was an incredibly aloof man who was far too distant in his demeanor casting aside the affections of whoever sought his favor one faithful day as he wandered through the enchanted wood Narcissus encountered echo a Nymph who was ensnared by the curse of Hera now echo as her name suggests could only repeat back The words that were first spoken to her and she could not generate an original thought at least not verbally and as comedies often go She fell head over heels in love with the bristly chap all while lacking the physical ability to express it Just an endless string of echoes now like sting peering in your windows humming every breath you take she followed Narcissus around like a real creeper in the night And so he obviously spurned her advances and callously dismissed her affections which shattered her heart into a million microscopic particles on that occasion the gods became so incensed with Narcissus's conceit and Cruelty that they decided to enact a fitting punishment upon him Guiding him through the wooded realm.

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They led him to a crystalline pool of water its surface Which was as clear as polished sapphire as Narcissus bent down to the tranquil pool for a generous gulp He beheld his reflection for the first time shimmering in the water surface and at that moment He became so profoundly entrapped by his own image enthralled by his Unparalleled beauty that he fell deeply in love with himself and he refused to move from that spot Hours soon turned into days and then days quickly morphed into weeks such that he was neglecting his own body avoiding sustenance and and thirst and he so that he began to wither away as Time wore painfully onward Narcissus's beguiling visage collapsed utterly into decline yet Narcissus would not pull away in the throes of his obsession He realized his self-love was going to kill him and instead of relenting from such a foolish action He whispered a final farewell a goodbye to the magnetic reflection and then he breathed his final breath in some ways The modern American Church has followed Narcissus's decline.

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Let me explain Instead of falling in love with herself the devil led her down the church to the murky fount of dispensational waters and she became so captivated by eschatological futurism and defeatism That she has since withered away in the present instead of standing up and leaving that toxic vision to serve God with all of her heart soul mind and strength and retake culture by making disciples of all the nations She sits idly by that squalid pool Consumed with negativity Refusing to see the plain reading of the text and has become so captivated by a future that will never come That she has squandered her witness in the present That is exactly why we began talking about eschatology 25 weeks ago and That's why we started in the Gospels in general and in Matthew's account of the Olivet discourse in particular, which is in Matthew 24 Because there's so much eschatological doom and gloom attached to these verses today that it took us multiple months of this podcast to even untangle it Now that that work is complete It makes good sense to keep moving forward deeper into the New Testament Forest proceeding past the Gospels now and into the book of Acts So that we can see what futurist and defeatist lies are left to be untangled there as well Now this is intended to strengthen the church and get her to stand up and to walk away from the noxious waters of Dispensationalism more than any other I believe that that Destructive doctrine has caused the Lord's Church to wither in the present day in the same violent way as Narcissus long ago And is my hope before that lampstand fully blows out in the West I want to do everything I can to call her to stand up To stop looking at that cursed pool and to get back in the fight.

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That is why we're doing this.

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So with that Let us begin with our text for today.

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We're gonna be in Luke second book the book of Acts We're gonna be in chapter 1 and we're gonna look at verses 1 through 11 the Word of the Lord The first account I composed Theophilus about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven After he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the Apostles whom he had chosen To these also he presented himself alive after his sufferings by many convincing proofs Appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God Gathering them together.

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He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the father had promised Which he said you heard of from me for John baptized with water But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now So when they had come together, they were asking him saying Lord Is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them it is not for you to know the times or epics which the father has fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth and After he said these things he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of their sight and As they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going behold two men in white clothing stood beside them They also said men of Galilee Why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come again in just the same way as you have watched him Go into heaven acts 1 1 through 11 Eschatological fried pickles Now on the rare occasion that I get this treat before those mouth-watering sub rare ribeye tips arrive mooing on my plate I Often enjoy a basket of deep fried pickles with a healthy cup of boom-boom sauce when visiting my favorite local restaurant again a rare treat The steak, of course is the main course, but the fried pickles are too good to skip That's how I'll be approaching this passage today The main course comes at the end, but there are a few little pickles that we need to chew on before we get there Pickle number one when do the events of eschatology begin? The radical futurists would have us believe that the majority if not all of the events of eschatology are situated somewhere in the not-so-distant Future kind of like a carrot that dangles just beyond the exhausted bite of a weary ass Instead of those events already having begun for 2,000 years The futurist has just kept kicking the old can clattering further down the road The refrain echoes over and over again throughout the centuries.

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The end is just around the corner.

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The end is near and Yet Jesus disallows this from even being a possibility.

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What do I mean? Well, according to Jesus in the in this passage the end is not something that we are waiting for It is something that we are already living in How could I make such an incredible claim? Well, let me give you a single word the word began Luke tells us the first account that I composed which was the book of Luke and he wrote it to a man named Theophilus was all about When Jesus what Jesus began to do and teach that's Acts chapter 1 verse 1 Luke does not tell us of a Christ whose work was buried away in the remote recesses of a distant future epic Luke tells us of a Savior who began that work when he burst upon the scene and that we can trust his most trustworthy Accounting of these events it is at this point.

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You may object humbug Luke didn't say anything about eschatology in this passage He talked about how Jesus came and he preached sermons and he did some miracles.

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He died on the cross He rose from the grave.

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He ascended into heaven and he poured out a spirit on his people These are not eschatological events.

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You may say well to that I would offer a hearty Retort by simply saying really Let's find out when Luke mentions that Jesus ascended up Into heaven and that he went on the clouds He was was he not referring to the Old Testament eschatological prophecy of the Messiah in Daniel chapter 7 Who in the last days will ascend up to the father on the clouds and he will be given his end time kingdom That is an eschatological passage in Daniel 7 and Luke is referring to it in the very ascension of Christ Let me read you what Daniel says in chapter 7.

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It's verses 13 and 14 Daniel says I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like the Son of Man Was coming and he came up To the ancient of days and was presented before him this passage does not say that the Messiah comes down It says that the Messiah comes up which is the ascension Jesus even quotes this passage in front of Caiaphas The passage continues and to him the one who ascended up to the ancient of days He was given dominion glory and a kingdom and all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed Luke tells us that Jesus went up into the clouds because it actually happened, but He also tells us this using precise keywords and phrases in Order to remind his readers that Daniel's prophecy was being fulfilled before their very eyes The end times where the Messiah goes up to the ancient of days were inaugurated in their midst Now 40 days after Jesus his resurrection He did ascend into heaven and he went up on the clouds in order to sit at the right hand before the ancient of days Is that a coincidence or do we believe that that as the dispensationalist believe that Daniel 7 is talking about a far distant Millennial kingdom that's that's yet to even begin you and I better hope not Because on that very day when Jesus ascended in Danielic fashion victoriously into the heavens He was fulfilling scripture When he arrived in heaven and when he was given a kingdom to reign over by sitting at the right hand of the ancient of days Which that kingdom included all the souls of all the saints that he had just purchased on Calvary if we're still waiting on that Danielle that Daniel 7 Danielic kingdom to begin if we're still waiting on that then our Atonement has not yet been secured This is that important Jesus really did rise in victory He really did ascend in victory and he really is sitting at the throne of the father in victory And he really has been given a kingdom to reign over that will be victorious If we miss that we miss so much so we have to get this, right? on that very day Jesus ascended into the heavens and That passage was accomplished and thankfully Christ was successful in everything that he determined to do He rose from the grave defeating death He ascended to the father to reign over a kingdom that would never end and for the last two thousand years Our glorious King Jesus has been seated in royal matchless majesty Exerting his expanding dominion over the world and cosmos We are not waiting on these events to occur in the future they're already here they have already began now Before we move on in case there's any holdouts here and you're you're not Tracking with me or you don't believe that Daniel 7 is referring to the coming of Christ Even though Jesus said that it was and even though Luke said that it was so if you want to disagree with Jesus and Luke Okay, let me give you another example from the writers from the writer of Hebrews This is what he said God after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days in these last days Has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed heir over all things.

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He appointed to reign He appointed to have dominion and authority and power The writer admits that in the old days God spoke through Moses the patriarchs and through the prophets He recognizes and he's gonna develop that theme all throughout the entire book How God chose various means in the olden days such as a priesthood a temple and a sacrificial system To communicate his message of salvation, but that was never the complete version That was always a foreshadow was a type of the things that were to come now The author of Hebrews says now that we're in the last days aka the end times God has chosen to speak his most explicit and final revelation the crescendo of all creation, which is his son The obvious conclusion dear Christian is that we are not waiting for the end times to begin They already did Pickle number two.

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When is the Holy Spirit given? Luke mentions the Holy Spirit three times in this passage and it's worth noting each of those occasions First he says that Christ gave his orders to the disciples by the power of the Holy Spirit Acts chapter 1 verse 2 Second Luke quotes.

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Jesus is promised that the Holy Spirit would soon not many days from now Be poured out on his followers in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

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That's Acts chapter 1 verse 5 and then third Jesus promises his own disciples that they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit in the coming days so that they Can become his witnesses to the ends of the earth Now just so we're clear No one who heard these words who were standing there on that beautiful day when Jesus ascended into heaven None of them would have believed that they were waiting for thousands of years before the Holy Spirit arrived They certainly would not have thought that this message was for another people at another time The text says and not many days you It doesn't say and not too many millennium.

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They even Dispensationalists do not believe that sort of tomfoolery and yet Ironically, they misunderstand the eschatological underpinning of the coming of the Holy Spirit Let me speak more plainly when the Old Testament speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit It does so in the context of the end times Even more simply when the Holy Spirit comes it is an eschatological event That means that the last days have already begun and the evidence for those last days is the Holy Spirit's arrival For instance Joel does not say that the outpouring the Holy Spirit is the sign of a church age But he says that it's the sign of the end of the ages that have come Look at what Joel chapter 2 verses 20 through 29 says It will come about after this That I will pour out my spirit on all mankind and your sons and daughters will prophesy your old men will dream dreams Your young men will see visions even on the male and female servants I will pour out my spirit in those days Joel 2 28 through 29 Now for brevity, I will not cite all of Joel chapter 2, but I you should read it This passage is universally considered to be an eschatological text It is a chapter where God is going to war with his rebellious people it describes events where the King of Israel is punishing them for their covenantal crimes and It is a passage that the Apostle Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Quotes and he quotes it as the beginning of the last days in Acts chapter 2 Look at how Peter quotes Joel chapter 2 He says and in the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh acts 217 Joel does not say the words last days But Peter does and Peter who was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says last days That means that the Holy Spirit is interpreting Joel chapter 2 and the giving of the Holy Spirit as an eschatological event Let me sum this up Joel says that the Spirit was gonna come on all flesh and it was gonna come at the issuance of the Messiah Check that happened that happened at Pentecost.

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We know that Peter says that that event happened in the last days so Pentecost Which was not millennium into our future, but it was to millennium in the past when the Spirit was poured out That's when the end times began This fact may not be convenient for our dispensational friends But it is an unassailable fact right here in the text that the coming of the Spirit Signals that the end of the days had come we are living in the end times right now pickle number three When does the kingdom come? Well Luke tells us in verse 3 to these his disciples he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and Speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God Luke expects his listeners to understand that the kingdom of God was a promised eschatological Reality that was prophesied throughout the Old Testament era People knew that it was coming Not only that it was always promised in the context of the end of the age and of the last days And while we might not be comfortable hearing it in that sort of schema We understand intuitively that there was an old and that there was a new covenant era The old covenant era represents the former days or the previous age ages of temples and priests and sacrifices and the new covenant era Which is which is about the centrality of Christ who is the one who fulfills all the types and shadows that era Brings an end to the old age and it ushers in the last days That is what Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 is all about and that's what several other passages in the Bible are getting at So in the context of the kingdom of God several Old Testament prophecies Connect the kingdom with the coming of the Messiah and the last days all of those Concepts are embedded in a few passages in the Old Testament that we're going to look at so in that way the appearance of Christ was an eschatological event that brought about eschatological time and brought that time into present time for instance in Isaiah chapter 2 verses 2 through 4 God promises that in the latter days The Lord will establish the kingdom of Zion.

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That's a synonym for the kingdom of God How will the Lord do this by having the nation stream to Jesus so that he can teach them God's ways? Instead of inviting the countries of the earth and various ethnic peoples to come to an old covenant temple Which was the old covenant system Isaiah for sees a day When the world is gonna stream to the risen Christ when the mountain of Zion is gonna be lifted up So that all the world will stream to Christ when his teaching ministry began Which is recorded in the Gospels and from that point onward his word has gone forth into all the world and the world will know that we're living in the latter days because of the fact that they are now streaming to Christ for salvation if We were going to a temple if we were making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem We would know that we're in the former days, but the fact that we all Everyone on earth can come to know God through the resurrected Christ That is an evidence according to Acts chapter 2 not only that the kingdom of God has come But we are living in the last days Another example that connects the coming of Messiah's kingdom with the eschatological end is Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1 and then verses 6 through 7.

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This is what Isaiah says in The former times he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali But in the latter time He has made glorious the way of the sea for to us a child is born to us a son is given and The government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace and of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and Over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forever more Isaiah 9 verse 1 and verse 6 through 7 It barely requires explanation that Isaiah foresaw a period that was known as the latter times or the last days When the Messiah would be born in his incarnation and his birth would be evidence that the last days have become that the former days were over that now light is shining out of Zebulun and Naphtali When the Messiah was born in his incarnation and in he comes and sets up his world-conquering kingdom That is an eschatological event This is not a future reality that we're waiting on for some distant millennial kingdom But it's a reality that we're living in now.

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We are in the end time kingdom of Jesus Christ We are serving that end time Messiah who is in his millennial reign Right now and he will continue to bring about this eschatological Kingdom until the entire earth is under his rule and his reign and his authority and his power he promised his disciples this very thing in Acts chapter 1 and the Word and the Spirit are testifying that these things are still true for us today We live in the kingdom of Christ the kingdom that will never fade the kingdom whose government and whose peace There will be no end Now if you'd like just a little extra boom-boom sauce to go with those first three pickles that I just told you Check out Daniel 2 44 through 45 and Micah 4 1 through 4 These are two additional passages that offer very poignant examples that connect the coming of the Messiah with the kingdom of God in the last days The Father promised it we see in Old Testament Scripture The Son delivered it we see at Calvary and the church by the power of the Holy Spirit Are the ones who are called to advance it to the ends of the earth.

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That's Acts 1 8 the eschatological stake the main course Now In the same way that I would not finish my fried pickles and forget to eat my steak We will not neglect to see the overarching Application and the point that this passage is making and it makes it in verses 9 through 11 Luke says this and when he had said these things as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight and While they were gazing into heaven as he went behold two men stood by them in white robes and said men of Galilee Why do you stand looking into the heavens? This Jesus who was taking up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven Acts 1 9 through 11 Now we've already talked about the ascension and how that's an eschatological event and you can look in Daniel 7 for a confirmation of that Also, look at Jesus has come from conversation with Caiaphas where he references that passage Caiaphas was so blown away by that.

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He rips his clothes and accuses Jesus of blasphemy That he would claim to be the son of man of eyes of Daniel Well, we've already covered that so let's cover an aspect that's really commonly avoided or maybe not even noticed the two angels The two angels we see in the scriptures in several different occasions There's two angels with flaming swords who stopped Adam from re-entering the garden There's two towering cherubs who are pictorially depicted Safeguarding the way back into the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple There's two angels that are standing inside of the Holy of Holies that are that are looming over the Ark of the Covenant There's two angels that are sitting over the mercy seat that are protecting the way To God where God's presence the white hot intense most intense Magnitude of his presence.

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Those are where the angels are located.

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They're protecting humans From being consumed by the presence of God Now when we look at these two angelic beings that appeared in the book of Acts They're they're appearing in order to forbid Jesus's disciples from following him back to the Holy of Holies of heaven Why would they do this? Well because the disciples hills still had work to accomplish the end.

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The final end was not yet here One day the disciples are gonna follow Jesus to heaven, but it's not them following him It's him coming from heaven back to earth to get them and bring them with him He's the one who went to heaven first and the angels come down and they look at those men right in the face and they Say no, you're not going this way.

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You have work to do.

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Jesus will come back for you But until then do the work that he commanded you You see we don't follow Christ into the new heavens in the new earth until the kingdom of God is fully accomplished here on earth Jesus has returned to heaven is the true high priest.

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That's Hebrews 9 23 to 28 and he is serving in that heavenly temple It's what Hebrews says He's doing that to begin assembling an eschatological and spiritual temple that is made out of living stones Which will be constructed out of every single believer that he predestined an eternity and pardoned on the cross first Peter 2 5 Why so that the mountain of the Lord's house would fill the entire earth Isaiah 2 1 all in summary Jesus ascends to heaven as true high priest into heaven's temple to build out of his church a living temple That would fill the entire world with the glory of Christ until that's finished There's work to be done The angels were warning these disciples to stop staring into the heavens to stop twiddling their thumbs to stop putting their hands in their pockets He's essentially telling them boys.

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You've got a lot of work to do right now before Jesus comes back to finish the job So get to it That work that he's referring to is gonna cause them to bring the gospel to all the nations That's acts 1 8 to disciple all the nations Matthew 28 18 through 20, which is something we're still working on today And it's a work that's gonna see all of the nations of this earth come under the government of Jesus Christ Which has not yet been fulfilled Isaiah 9 6 through 7 Until that kingdom is finished until all the world is under the reign and the rule of Jesus We are living in the last days and we have last days work to do We have not been commanded to sit on our laurels and to study charts and and Eschatology blogs on when Jesus is gonna return to 88 reasons.

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He's gonna return in 1988 because you know that happened We're not commanded to idly waste our life and waste our time Thinking about what's gonna happen in the future We are actually commanded to get on with the work that Jesus commanded us to do in the present Instead of wasting our time trying to pin down every eschatological detail.

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We got to get to work Instead of assuming like John MacArthur recently quipped that we lose down here.

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Shouldn't we expect that the Lord who? resurrected in victory Who ascended in victory Who came up to the ancient of days when the angels are declaring his praise? Because of his victory who's reigning over a kingdom who's promised to have eternal dominion and victory Shouldn't we assume that that that victorious Christ will have victory here How can you say that we lose down here we win and we win not because we're great We win because he's great and he will get the glory from the victory that God has promised Eschatological futurism, which is so prevalent among dispensationalist and among evangelicals today Assumes that the end times are always in the future, which is why they act like it has no relevance on our lives today Why should we care about a doctrine if it's far away in the future in some in? Some sort of world that we're not even gonna be living in because we're gonna be zapped out of it before it all begins We should just move on about our life skip the book of Revelation Skip the Olivet discourse skip all the passages It don't make sense and just kind of go along with the ones that make sense for us because we're not gonna be here Jesus is gonna rapture us out of here.

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That's the way most people think But the scriptures don't teach that they teach that we are living in the end times right now and we have specific work to be doing in the end times now and Jesus has promised us success and victory in these days and He's told us to get to work If we believe that then we will put a tremendous amount of energy and effort into this doctrine And it will change the way that we live We are not pan millennialist.

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And what I mean by that is everything is somehow gonna pan out in the end, but nobody knows how No, we are living in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ Knowing that his chosen means of advancing his end time kingdom is through his end time people who are doing his end-time work and That work will continue until the kingdom is finished when it's finished first Corinthians 15 tells us Then he will return and then he will give us imperishable bodies final thoughts It's time for Christianity in the West and it's time for the church to stop staring at the clouds to stop Staring at those murky waters with all the evangelical descendants of Narcissus.

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It is withering us Like we said last week don't just stand there doing nothing do something repent of any dispensational defeat ISM Repent of any discouragement that you have that's causing you to sit on the sidelines of your faith Understand that the theology that we've covered this week will have a tremendous theological and practical importance for how you live your life and When you've done that when you've considered that go and live with all of your heart to the glory of Christ Work to build his kingdom labor for the kingdom of God while you're here.

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And when you're ready to die Hand off your hammer to the next man.

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Wish him well, and we'll see you all in heaven that is what we are to do and May we do it to the glory of Christ.