The Last Instructions of Jesus Part One

Every once in a while we have someone come up and do a testimonial. I love that when we bring someone in who um you know tells their story because this isn't about just a preacher, a singer. It's about people and and everyone's got a different story and Jesus loves each one of us in a different way. And um I'm going to introduce my daughter um Kerianne.

She is um very special to me and she's going to share her testimony and um it's it's uh it's just a blessing. So, I'm just going to pray over you real quick. Heavenly Father, thank you so much. Give Kerianne um just the truth of what she shared and uh may it may it bless the people here.

Lord, be with me as I preach later and uh just be with the service in Jesus name. Amen. >> Here you go, my [Applause] gonna sit because why not? >> Good morning, guys.

My name is Kerian. I am uh Brian's daughter. And earlier this week, as I was doing some uh you know, posting for the church, dad had asked me, you know, he'll call me essentially every day, making sure I do different tasks and everything. And so he had asked me, he was just like, "So, are you ready?

Do you want to share your testimony this Sunday?" I was like, >> "Uh, yeah, I I guess." So, here I am. Um so, essentially, um growing up, all of us kids were, you know, put in church, you know, Sunday school.

we were grown up um in in church. Uh but uh obviously as a kid you don't really understand like the um importance of a relationship with God and you just are kind of going by what you know um just by what you experience. And so I'll say I kind of lived a very um mediocre Christian life in my personal experience. Like I you know what my heart wasn't actually in it.

You know I just went to church, went on Wednesdays and everything.

But um after I graduated high school, I fell into this cycle of I I fell away from the Lord, but I fell into this cycle of um just some some sort of sad thing would happen or you know broken up with or something and then like I would go and get um uh surround myself with very poor influences and I would um do a lot of uh sinful things and then something would happen to where God pulled me out and then my you know parents are there to help and um kind of set me back on track.

But that cycle repeated over and over all throughout college. And um I will say um last year about this um last year around this time I started going to this one church where I experienced the Holy Spirit in a way I never did. But there were things that I had never uh laid down. Like I felt bad for what I had done.

And I thought that it was done. Thought that I was, you know, good, good to go. But I I never repented. I never um did any of that.

So, it was kind of just like brushed to the side. And as I entered um you know, this different season of life and everything in a um it was a very godly man. Different pressures were on me. Not in a bad way like it was his fault or anything, but um you know, it made me face a lot of things.

the Lord uh confronted me with a lot of things that I didn't want to face. But over time, I began to slip back into what I had done before I broke up with that guy. And um I went into this, it was around um it was around the time of Mother's Day and I went into that same cycle, but it was much worse than before. I was just completely avoiding God at all costs because I thought he was mad at me, but I kept wanting to go back and live in my flesh and my sin and everything.

And um so I'll I'll just be I'll just be so honest like over time, you know, it was it was drugs, alcohol, different um things. And it wasn't like wasn't like cocaine or heroin, but um but it was, you know, uh the synthetic vape pen and you do not know what and that stuff. So stay away please guys. And um but it was just and then um lustful things, fornication was all very very bad.

Just Satan had I'd given Satan so many different poo holds in my life. And so Mother's Day rolls around and it's the night of Mother's Day and it's before I go to bed and I essentially uh experience this kind of panic in my heart and like in my in my body and I just start uh freaking out. Like I've had panic attacks before. This was not it.

And I didn't know what was going on. So it's like maybe around midnight I run up to my mom's room and I'm like, "Mom, something's wrong. Like please pray for me. Like something's wrong."

And she thought that it was late and she was like half half awake and she thought that I just like dozed off and had a scary dream and I just got spooked, but like she had no idea what was going on. So she prayed over me. I went back downstairs and I did not feel any better. I was still freaking out after that.

I don't know what happened. Um, according I just know what happened, what my mom said, what family members said. Medically, they would call it I went into a state of drug induced psychosis. And um, essentially that night I completely uh, lost my mind.

I came according to my mom. I came back up to her room and um I opened the door and I just yelled like, "No, no, no. Pray, pray, pray." And slammed the door and mom like jumped up knowing knowing that something's really really wrong now.

And I was like running. I was I was not making sense, talking really fast, saying a lot of different things like I don't want to I don't want to burn in hell. I don't want to I don't want to this. Essentially, all the spiritual warfare, me trying to live for the world and also live for God.

All the spiritual warfare that had been pushed on the back burner in my mind came to a front and it just completely I I wasn't I wasn't present. I wasn't uh conscious but I was uh freaking out. Um it was a total of four days that I didn't sleep and no one knew what was going on. No one could figure out uh what was going on.

It took a little bit like a couple hours and my mom finally realized like because of the sign she was like this is spiritual warfare. this is there's a demon on her, there's something wrong. Like she knew there was something off and no one really knew what to think uh or what they're like something's wrong, but they just thought that I was maybe drugged or um you know, what whatever it may have been. So um after a couple days, I ended up finally being brought to the hospital.

Um, after a night or so of not sleeping at all, I went into a catatonic state where I'm just not responding at all and I'm just completely silent and my eyes are just straightforward and I'm just like slowly looking around, but I'm not really aware of what's happening in front of me. I didn't know what was real. I didn't know what was fake. And it was really the scared the most scared I'd ever been in my entire life.

And a lot and I was told that I would, you know, call out for God trying to just reach him and say stuff like God will not be mocked. Like it was it was very evident that there was a battle going on. And so I was finally taken to the hospital because they were like all right she just needs to sleep. She needs fluids.

So I was not accepting any kind of uh water or any food or anything. And um I just went in the hospital after a couple days. I finally got some rest. I wasn't fully I wasn't 100% but I got back to a conscious state.

Praise the Lord. And no one knew what um what was what was happening, what to uh think. And I ended up throughout this, I ended up like telling bits and pieces of the truth of what I'd been doing because when I'd been doing this stuff, I hide it from every godly person in my life, but especially my family. And because I know they would obviously not be okay with what I was doing, I was just wanting to get the truth out because I hid it and buried it for so long.

So I finally I get released from the hospital. I'm back to a somewhat conscious mind. And I thought, all right, you know, I went through that thing. It was awful.

It was scary. Praise God. I can get back to my life not in sin, but thought I could go back to my place of work. I thought that everything was fine, but it was not.

What I wasn't prepared for was the month of and a half at least of mental torment after the hospital and I was conscious in my mind and I was slowly recovering. Um, just physically in my health, but I was Satan was still having a field day in my mind. um making me, you know, twisting scriptures, making me believe that God left me, that God removed his Holy Spirit from me, making me think that, you know, um there's no hope for me, and I'm, you know, all these all these lies that just wasn't true.

And I felt the weight of my sins in a way that I never ever ever felt before. And I just couldn't I I thought that because I couldn't feel God or whatever it may have been that he left me. that that's just not true.

And um so I um I struggled for a while and my family primarily my mom and dad and Nathan were all there for me and were just God just really but all my whole family really they all chipped in and and helped and my and my friends and they were just wanting to do anything they could to help me. And um but I just felt so hopeless. Like even though I felt hopeless, I kept going to God.

Like I would go in my room in a in a quiet place and I would just fall on my knees and just feel so bad for everything that I did. And I repented like over and over and over and over again, feeling like it wasn't enough essentially. But it I had that change in my heart. Well, um throughout these this time, um I had recommitted my life to Christ on May 25th and I got baptized again, but then I I nothing felt like I I still felt the same way that I did for some reason.

I was like, "What is going on?" And so, um a couple days before June, I think 22nd, I could be wrong. I end up being brought here. My dad was trying to anything he could.

He's like, "What can I do to um help her? She needs someone to talk to. I don't know." And he was like, "Oh, Glenn."

So, he had the idea to bring me to uh Glenn because part of what I was experienced was also withdrawals. So, um but I um he brought me here along with this wonderful woman named Jen who also works at across the bridge. And um they I essentially just told just a snippet of what was happening. Like I felt bad for what I had done.

I don't want to do it anymore. I hurt God's heart. And immediately Jen saw my fragile spirit in my heart. And she said, "I see your heart.

I see your spirit. You need deliverance." Like there is just so much guilt and shame you have that's just crippling you and you you need deliverance. So, June 22nd, I'm pretty sure that's the day I um got baptized at North Georgia Revival and um if you've ever heard of it, but I and and God delivered me of all the guilt and shame that I was experiencing.

And since then, God's just he's taught me so much through all of this is really scary. And a lot of people in my life that are very close to me and who love me just have seen hopefully seen the transformation. Um and God's still working in me. But um I'm never going to be perfect and it's a lifetime sanctification process.

But um now I'm a fullfledged sold out for full on sold out for the Lord >> and um he's the Lord of my life. And um >> now it's not and There are a couple things that uh God has taught me through this that is very important that needs to be shared. Um well, for one thing, the word of God is not to be taken lightly.

Um something that uh I've noticed that, you know, everyone's kind of all over the place with different things, but something I noticed is that like people will cherrypick uh the B part verses in the Bible and only apply certain ones to their life so they can continue to live how they want. But that's not what we're supposed to do. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God." It is living and is breathing and it is lifechanging and it is something to uh live by.

You either fully accept it, you fully deny it. There's no in between. With God, it's 100%. And and that doesn't mean that you're perfect and you're always going to be the best ever, but it just means it's the heart posture behind it.

Another thing is um both love and sin are a choice. Um culture does or or Satan really does an excellent job of saying that you know love is a feeling. Yes, feelings are a gift that the Lord gives us to make real to us the truth. But love is ultimately a choice and God proved that um with what sending his son to die on the cross.

Obviously that didn't feel good. none of that the suffering he went through for us obviously didn't feel great but he did it for us and Jesus followed the will of his father because he loved us so much and that is an action God proves to us that love requires action and similarly um sin is also a choice um we're culture or Satan once again is also very good um just kind of sugar coating or brushing often like, "Oh, it's just this little thing." Or, "Oh, it's a mistake." Or, "Oh, I can live this way because God will forgive me."

But that's that's abusing God's grace if you think you can just sin and live however you want and just think that you'll, you know, you'll you'll be okay. But if you have that honest heart, posture, change, and love for Christ, you don't want to sin. You're not going to choose to practice sin. Um, another thing, um, like he God suffered for us to be free from sin, not give us freedom to sin.

He suffered to, um, let us prosper and be free from that. He's not some dictator that doesn't want you to have fun. Like, I remember a part of my life I thought, I don't want to fully commit my life to Christ or fully go all in for God because I feel like I'm not going to have fun anymore. like what what the world calls fun.

Partying and and and and all these things like it's not fun. Like spending time with people, yes, that is fun. And and enjoying, you know, the fruits of your labor and the gifts that God's given you, but sin isn't fun. The wages of Romans 6:23, wages of sin is death.

And um may not be immediate. It may not be, you know, to you specifically, but ultimately it causes death around you and it it severely causes um cause a lot of damage in your life. Another thing is um the reality of spiritual warfare. Um really a lot of people don't want to acknowledge or even think about the spiritual side of things because it's hard to grasp in our carnal minds, but it's happening all around us.

There's kingdom of darkness and there's kingdom of light. And um when you sin, guys, like you give Satan and his demons a foothold into your life, especially when you're constantly practicing that sin. You are giving him like a lot of people think that, oh, I'm saved, so I'm completely invincible. But if you choose to sin, you give Satan that foothold to work in your life, which makes the will of God that he God's will for your life so much harder to live out.

And um yeah, it's not good at all. That's why Paul warns us multiple times about that. Um I want to read First John 3 4-10. It's not put on the screen, so you'll just have to my voice.

Uh 1 John 3 4-10 says, "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness." Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in he God Jesus um he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. For God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. It's pretty sobering but it's truth. It's truth. Um it's God's word and it is it's just simple truth.

And um and another thing is John 4:14 15 says if you love me you will keep my commandments. To obey is to love God is to respect for your father who loves you so much. It's his kindness that leads us to repentance. And to my last point is the importance of repentance.

A lot of people think that once they're saved and they repent of their sins, they just they don't need to repent anymore. But that's definitely not true because when you have that heart change and that love and respect for the Lord, you see sin, sin is actually weighs a lot more on you because you know it grieves the father's heart. you know that it caused disruption and and and hurts others around you. Um, so repentance, even as a believer, you should be repenting of your sins.

If there's something that you're just struggling, like you're just struggling with that is just such a fold, like go to God. Say like fall on your knees. Like he wants you to come to him. He doesn't want you to run.

He's not going to be mad at you. He's not mad that oh, you're sinning so you don't have nothing. You can't have anything to do with me. He wants you to go to him because he loves you and he doesn't want you to be living in misery.

Um 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." And um in the past like I would feel bad, you know, for what I did, but there wasn't an actual act of repentance and it didn't weigh on my heart the way that it did. And I'm overall just very very thankful for everything that I went through. It was rough.

It was hard. And um I just want to say like please don't take it from me. Like just give up whatever sin that's keeping you captive. That's uh holding you back from fully walking um in the spirit and in the way that God called you to.

He wants you to prosper. He wants you to um live for him and help others and bring others to the kingdom. >> And yeah, [Applause] >> try this without too much. All right.

Are we on? Can we hear? >> All right. What's neat about that?

Um, I didn't go over with Gabriel what songs to play. I didn't listen to her anything about her testimony and know what she was going to do. And all of it plays into the message. Um, when she was in the hospital and she was in that codatonic state.

I mean, I looked at her and she looked right through me like you you there was no recognition there. That's might have been the scariest thing I'd ever seen. I uh I went home that night and I just was just up all night praying and um and she's back. I'm so proud of you.

You're you're precious, >> precious little thing. And um but what she talked about was what we're going to talk about today, which is more the relationship. Okay? She didn't she was saved when she first repented and asked Jesus into her heart.

Okay? She was saved. But you have to also accept that and embrace it and not still believe that your things that are happening keep you from it. Okay?

That's a that's a play of the devil. Okay? Now, if you feel uh convicted by the Holy Spirit that something's wrong, like she said, you got to keep, you know, repent of that thing. But but don't sit there for the things in the past and allow them to continue to mess with you now.

Okay? And so, we're going to talk about relationship, but in a very different way. Um today we're going to start a journey for the next eight weeks. We're going to do a deep dive into a an amazing piece of scripture.

Okay, that's found in Revelation 60 years after Jesus was crucified. Okay. Um dead, buried, and rose again. He came and visited John on the island of Patmos.

Okay. And through a vision, he gave John these words, seven letters that he wrote to seven churches. Okay? Now, Paul wrote to seven churches, ironically, okay?

Two of them twice, but he wrote to seven churches. And we study Paul's stuff all the time, okay? But Jesus wrote these letters and they're tucked away in Revelation. And I know a lot of Christians don't want to read Revelation or anything like that, you know, because it's a it's a freaky kind of a chapter, okay?

But they're Jesus's words and they're actually to his end times church, okay? They're actually incredible things that we can learn now. Now, Revelation's become my favorite book of the Bible. It's weird.

Um, I've read it many times. Okay, I probably read Revelation 2 and three three or four times. And then, um, this past November, I was reading it and it just I realized these are the last red letters because if if you have a red letter Bible, Revelation 2 and 3, you're all red letters, okay? You have the gospels you see red letters first chapter of acts where he's saying hey you know go and get disciples and then that's it nothing is read letters until revelation and these are the last words that read letters until after he comes back.

Okay so this is legitimately Jesus's last words and and for some reason that had me reading it with a with an edge that that God showed me different things that I'd never seen before. Okay. What's neat about this Bible, it's so cool, is you could read a passage and get it one way and then continue to grow spiritually and then come back to that passage and it means something totally different because you now understand it on a different level. Okay, that's the beauty of it.

It's always growing. You'll never outgrow this Bible, you know, and so it's super cool. It's a privilege to be up there and to preach the word, but it's also a responsibility because especially when you go to Revelation because it says if you don't if you add anything to this word or take anything away, okay, the things that are in here are going to be heaped on you twice. And so I don't want that.

Um, so we're we're going to stick with this deal over these next eight weeks. We're going to learn about the relationship with Jesus. And over these next eight weeks, there's one thing we got to hold to, and that's this. This word is true.

This book is true. Okay? If Jesus says X, and I believe why, I got to put down my why and accept the X. Okay?

Because it's truth. Either he is the way, the truth, and the life, or he's not. Okay? And I've tested it.

It's true and the problem why it's so hard today I think are whatever we believe we can not only support online okay but we can also the algorithms will feed that okay so if you believe one way you're going to get a lot of stuff that supports that and so it becomes very hard to put your belief aside when confronted with this book but over the next eight weeks we're just going to be confronting that and and dealing with um Jesus's words the word of God is true.

So, can we make an agreement that we're going to stick to that as our standard? The word of God, it's true. All right. Lots of heads shaking.

Okay. So, let me tell you where we're going. The seed of this message goes back to 2008, believe it or not. Okay.

Um, back then I was married. Uh, my my mother-in-law um she believed that the end of the world was coming. Okay. She had a uh belief that Obama was the antichrist and she was really hitting us with stuff.

Okay. And and so I I as a spiritual leader of the house, yes, I have spoken to her about this already. It's okay. She's not going to freak out when she hears it.

Okay. So I went down to Florida. Okay. The ex-wife is here.

That's what that all is. mother-in-law. Uh anyway, the uh so I go down to Florida, I fast for a week and I say, "I've got to figure out this revelation thing." Up until that time, I ignored the book, too, because it was a freak show.

Um it seemed like to me, okay, so I go down there, I start in Matthew, he talks about Daniel, I go to Daniel, I go to Revelation, and and at the end of the day, I didn't get when it's going to start, but I got the general timeline. Okay, the antichrist is going to affirm a covenant with many. Okay, that's what Daniel says starts in Revelation starts in in chapter 6 when the first seal is opened. Now, a lot of people believe that the when that covenant is made, there's going to be peace.

But I don't believe so because the first four seals are the four horsemen of the apocalypse and three of them are about war and one of them is about uh inflation, 200 bucks for a loaf of bread and poverty and scarcity and lack. Okay, by the time the fourth horseman is done, one quarter of the world's population is going to be dead. That's two billion people. It's a lot of people.

That's a serious thing. That hasn't happened yet. Okay? So, it's not something that's happened.

So, predtoists that believe the tribulation already happened in 70 AD. It's just it didn't they got to let go of that belief because it goes against scripture. But God didn't tell me when, but I knew it wasn't then. Okay?

So, I was good. And about 10 years later, I'm reading Second Peter. I come to um and I didn't give you these verses. Um Gabriel 2 Peter chapter 3:8 and I'm going to read it.

Um from from early 2000, I'd spend two hours every morning in the word studying and I've been doing that every day for 20 years. You guys know what time I wake up? >> Four o'clock. Um every day and it's been going and that's where my wisdom comes from is from this book and God convicting me and opening up to those sins and bringing them out.

Okay. Um, second Peter 3:8 says, "But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day." And God impressed on my heart right there, "Two days in the grave, 2,000 years. One day risen, 1,000 years."

Okay? And so, having read Revelation, I knew Revelation 20 shares about the millennial reign, the thousand-y year reign. I'm going to read it now. Revelation 20:es 1-4.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years were finished. But after these things, he he must be released for a little while.

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness to Jesus and for the word of God who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their forehead or their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. So that's what's called the millennial reign.

Okay? We live and reign with Christ for thousand years. Those who make it through the tribulation period not taking the mark and those who've been martyed. So all of the disciples basically, right?

and anyone who suffered death for for the cause of Christ. So that was the third day, the thousand years. The two days is from his um death and resurrection until he comes again. Okay?

Now, most scholars put that around 33 AD when he was crucified. Okay? Some say 30, some say 32. It's somewhere in there.

The preponderance of evidence seems to say 33 AD. So, I'm running with 33 AD. Okay? 2,000 years from 33 AD is 2033.

Okay, it's eight years away. Um Hosea 6 verses 1 through 3 share a similar thing. Um and I'm going to read that. Come and let us return to the Lord for he is torn but he will heal us.

He is stricken but he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up that we may live in his sight. Let us know.

Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. He says here that after two days he'll revive us. That can't be and then he will raise us up to live in his sight. So that that takes out the original crucifixion because he went after 40 days he hung out with people but then he went up to be at the right hand of God and he didn't take us up with him.

Okay? So this again is a time to come and again two days 2,000 years. All right. Um, if you go if it's a seven-year tribulation period from 2033, 7 years back is 2026, that could be next year.

Okay? And and people say no one knows the day or the hour. Okay? And I agree with that.

But in that verse that we get that from Matthew, okay, I'm going to read it says this is Matthew 5:32 um through 39. I not read all that. Now learn this parable from the fig tree. This is Jesus speaking red letters.

This is his oy discourse. So this is where I started my search back in '08. Uh Jesus was asked by his disciples what's going to happen when you come again. Okay.

And chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew are what's called the oliv discourse. They were on the mount of olives. So oliv discourse. Okay.

In it the first half of it he tells them what's going to happen. Then he spends the last the second half of 24 the first half of 25 fully half of his discourse giving parables about how we should be living at that time and then he finishes telling about the great white throne judgment etc. So he lays it out there basically and but also it was interesting that fully half of his time he was concerned with how we were living during that time. Okay, that was interesting.

But Matthew 24:32, we're going to read, "Now learn this parable from the fig tree, when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, know that it is near at the door. Assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." What generation?

He just described everything that was going to happen. Okay? The coming of the son of man, the the sun's going to get dark, the moon's going to give light. He describes all that.

And then he says, "Now when you see these things okay understand that it's close. And as surely I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father in heaven."

Okay. So according to Jesus, we don't know an exact day, okay? But we can know when it's close, okay? And and maybe what God showed me since then in 2018, I've been watching as the Israel stuff's happening and all these world events are happening and it seems like it's drawing closer.

I'm running into a lot of Christians now that say, "Yeah, they think it's soon." You know, I'm not the only guy out there saying that. There are esquetologists, which are guys that study this stuff. I don't really study this stuff.

I learned what I needed and I'm on because the mission that God's given me is to help the bride get ready for the coming of the Lord. Um, that's what God's wants me doing. Okay? Not arguing with people.

I'll leave the debating to Charlie Kirk who's doing a fine job. Okay? Um, but but uh, a lot of people sense and you can almost look around and sense that it's getting there, can't you? That that's getting close, right?

And so my question then becomes this. What difference is that making in your life? Okay, what are you doing different? Think about the reality.

Okay, if it's within the next 10 years and there is no planet anymore, we're we're in heaven. Okay, what does that 401k do you? Okay, what are the all the things you're worrying about right now? What my kids going to turn out in and what's this and how am I going to pay my bills and all these other things.

What difference is that going to make in the in the scheme of things if it's really going to happen soon? Okay. And that can be a sad thing when you think about, well, I want to be married with kids or whatever and you know, I hope it's not yet. You know, hey, I'd like to have grandkids.

You know, all my friends have grandkids, man. like yat yat yat on about grandkids and I'm like yeah should be nice but but I want you to remember something okay when Jesus was on the cross okay next to him was a thief who said remember me when you come into your kingdom okay do you remember what Jesus said to him today you will be with me in whatise >> in paradise okay he experienced on this earth the beautiful love of a mother child relationship right He experienced close friendships. He experienced the sun glistening on the water.

My favorite thing in the world. Okay, experienced that. He saw vineyards. If you've ever been to a vineyard, they're beautiful.

You know, he experienced the best that this world had to offer. And he called that paradise. Okay. So, even if it does end soon, we're going to be in a better place.

And that's a good thing. Okay. I'm not afraid of that because of that. Okay.

And can I be wrong? Could it be another 50 years? Sure, it could be. No one knows the day or the hour.

Okay, but there's no downside to being ready. Why? You're not promised tomorrow. >> Okay, Zach, you lost a friend this week.

How old was that guy? >> 27 years old, man. >> Okay, we're not promised tomorrow. There's no downside to getting ready for the coming of the king.

But there is a serious downside if we don't. Okay. Matthew 25 1-13 again back in the Holy Bay discourse. Jesus tells a parable to his disciples and we're going to read it now.

Okay. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them.

But the wise took all the oil with took oil in their vessels. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And whenever he gives parables like that of the master going away and coming back, he's describing himself. He goes away for a while.

And you know, and we're in that time. We're waiting for him to come back, right? And at midnight, the cry was heard, "Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him."

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise answered, saying, "No, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves." And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with them to the wedding, and the door was shut.

Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, said, "Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Okay?

Their sin, they didn't God didn't know them. Okay? The things you've done in their past aren't going to keep you out of heaven if you if you've repented and you ask Jesus in your heart. Okay?

But Jesus is warning here, if I don't know you, if you have no relationship with me, there's a chance. Now, Matthew 7 20 uh 1-23 shares the same thing. This is in his sermon on the mount. Again, another mountain, another sermon, right?

And this one I had a when I first got saved, I uh was in a Baptist church. I'm a recovering Baptist. And um I'm joking. I I read as a Baptist.

Um I'm just believe in non-denomination. Okay. But but um that was my background. And this preacher would always do an altar call at the end of all of his sermons, which I love.

Um but he would use this verse and he'd do it all the time. And I'm he'd say he'd read this. Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," and that's how he would say it. Lord, Lord, um shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? cast out demons in your name and and done many wonders in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

What was that lawlessness? Not having a relationship with Jesus. Now, there is a uh underlying doctrine that uh is kind of a Baptist doctrine, but but the Baptists have been the dominant force in the south spiritual realm. Okay?

And so, a lot of people just believe this. I believe this until I started reading scriptures that contradict it. And there's people that watch this from um around the country actually because I have a nationwide presence in my in my real job. And so for those who don't know um there's this saying called once saved always saved.

Okay? What that means is when if you ask Jesus in your heart, you're good. You're done. You're in no matter what.

No one can snatch. And it comes from John 10 27:30 that says no one can snatch them from your hand. Okay? And we're going to go there now and read that verse because it is incredibly interesting.

John 10:27-30. This is Jesus again speaking. Jesus is truth, right? My sheep hear my voice.

I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand.

I and my father are one. Okay, >> that is scripture. >> So it's true. No one can snatch them out of your hand.

But note, he has to know them and they have to follow him. You never hear that kind of It was when I was reading this preparing for this actual sermon that I saw that part and it hit me. I'm like, "Oh, wow." There's a caveat to the nothing can grab from the hand.

Right now, people who believe in the once saved always saved will say that, "Oh, those people that he shuts the door on weren't actually saved." Okay? And that makes us feel okay about it. All right?

But Revelation chapter 3 doesn't give us that out. And we're going to get to to this passage in, you know, five or six weeks. But in it, Jesus is talking to the dead church. And the sin of the dead church is that they they have no relationship with Jesus.

They have works, but they have no relationship. They're dead. Okay? And he tells them if they don't repent and come back to that relationship that he may block them out of the book of life.

So now, if you get saved, you ask Jesus in your heart, if you truly repented and got saved and and and then you're in heaven. You get written into the Lamb's book of life. Okay? You can't be blotted out of a book you weren't in.

So those people were clearly saved. He was writing to a church that has Jesus in the heart and they were in the book of life. But because they ghosted Jesus and had no relationship with Jesus, Jesus tells them he may block them out. Okay?

And that's a that's a heavy word. And this So what am I saying? Are you not saved? No.

No. No. No. If you repented of your sins and you asked Jesus in your heart, you are saved.

You are as good as gold up there. Okay? No one can snatch you out of the hands. But you do have to keep a relationship with Jesus going.

Okay? Over the next eight weeks, what we're going to do is study how much deeper we can get that relationship. Okay? Because even if you're newer Christian or if you're an established Christian, you many of you here have a relationship with Jesus.

I know you do. I know a lot of you. Okay, you have relationship Jesus. The question is, can it be better?

Can we learn something where it can be better? No one in this room has perfect relationship, myself included, with Jesus Christ. Okay, we can all learn and grow and get better. I mean, what if that is true that if you don't spend the time to get to know him, you may not get you may be the door shut.

Get away from me. I never knew you. That leaves the unsaved people with a dilemma. You've got to well do I cling to my belief and some will regardless of anything.

I mean there were John 666 from that time people walked away from Jesus and will listen to him no more. Okay. Because they didn't want to they there comes a point where they're like I'm going to believe what I want to believe. But if you believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and you believe his words are true, his words say the relationship's important to me.

I love you. I want a deep relationship with you. And we should be about that relationship with Jesus Christ. Okay.

You have free will. You know, you can walk away from it. Our beliefs can limit us. Okay?

You're either growing or you're dying. Okay? If you cling to your beliefs, it keeps you in a comfort zone. Okay?

And that makes a lot of people feel comfortable. There's no growth in the comfort zone. Okay? Jesus wants to grow, you guys.

Um, nothing is better. Nothing is better. Kianne can nothing is better than a thriving relationship with Jesus Christ, man. Nothing, right Glenn?

Nothing's better than that. Um, so my question is, why wouldn't you want to grow like over the next eight weeks? That's what we're going to be studying is how to grow this relationship with Jesus Christ. He from Jesus's own words in a way you've never seen it before.

Okay. If I'm a single guy, right? I'm never lonely because I have a relationship with Jesus. I know married people that are lonely.

Okay? If you're a Christian and you have fear, okay? You have anxiety, okay? If you're nervous about this or that, if you worry about things, if you are so busy that you're stressed out, you're worn out.

Okay? then your relationship with Jesus is not where it needs to be. That'll that'll fix that problem. Okay?

So, why not listen to the words of Jesus, not Brian Pier, Jesus Christ. Okay? And and let's get these thoughts in that Jesus shared with us and make them a part of our life. Okay?

These letters are love letters that Jesus writes in chapters two and three. Okay? They're they're letters from a loving father saying, "Hey, here's what you're kind of doing wrong. here's what you need to do.

Okay, just do this and all we have to do is do this. Like, this is not a scary thing. It's going to be a fun thing. We're gonna learn and grow and we're going to do it together.

I'm not the the coach. Jesus is the coach. I'm like the QB on the field. I'm still in the the field.

I'm still going to networking events. I'm still working a real job, you know, because I got to pay um for kids. But, uh and there's no judgment in what we're about to go, what we're about to study. Okay?

This isn't a judgment thing. This isn't about the sins you've done in the past. Those have been washed away. This is about where you're at now and where you need to go to, okay?

It's about your present and your future because Jesus knows where he wants to take you. Okay? He is he wants to us to prepare for the wedding supper of the lamb, right? In well, Paul describes the Christians as the bride of Christ and Christ as the groom.

Okay. Revelation affirms that. Jesus affirms that. Okay.

And in Revelation 19:68, we're going to read it now. We see um again that it's affirmed. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, as a sound of many waters, and as a sound of the mighty thundering, saying, "Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory.

For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and the wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saint. And so we're supposed to be the bride getting ready for him coming.

And if he's really coming soon, shouldn't we get serious about that? Right? Shouldn't we get serious about that? What kind of bride is Christ coming to?

I'm looking for a stressed out bride, an anxious bride, bridezilla, you know, or a flourishing. She said, "You should say bride silly." So there nod to Kerianne. Or a flourishing bride, one that's growing in the word and in the Lord.

Okay. Um here's the bottom line. He came to give us joy. Okay?

He says that. So that's word. That's scripture. It's true.

Okay? But we're off. Every one of us is off. Jesus came back after 60 years to tell and at that time the church had enough time to start screwing it up.

Okay? And he came back lovingly to correct us one more time. Okay? He knows when he is coming.

I don't. Okay? He knows where he wants to take you. Okay?

You don't. He knows where he wants to take you in heaven. Remember, this isn't our end home, right? We got a home in heaven.

If we've asked him into our hearts, we got a home in heaven and he's got we'll have jobs there. We're not going to be sitting on clouds and, you know, playing harps like they did in the old old, you know, comics, okay? We we're going to have jobs there. And he's preparing us here for what he has for us.

Okay? And so, and only he knows what that job's going to be. So, you got to But how are you going to know if you don't spend any time with him? All right?

We've got to spend time with Jesus. He knows why he created you. He's got a plan for each life here. Each life here he has a plan for and it's not done.

Just because he may be coming soon is not done. But we've got to be serious about this relationship um to Jesus. It's nothing is as important as staying right spiritually because this is not our home. Okay?

And Jesus heaven is and Jesus wants to prepare us for us. The world needs us. Okay? The church fell asleep at the wheel.

The woke thing should have never happened. It should have never happened. Okay? The church slept at the wheel and let that happen.

And I was in the church at that time, so I'm as guilty as anybody else. I don't want to be guilty of that anymore. Okay? I'm stepping into them to the the battlefield, okay?

And and and joining the revival that's happening because there is a revival happening. Okay? The young people are coming to to Jesus like never before. It's the fastest growing group in in America.

Okay. God is doing things internationally in in ministries and stuff like that that um that Yeah, I don't think the mic's working. Um in ministries and stuff like that where uh he's doing amazing things. The fastest growing areas are are in the most persecuted areas.

Okay. And so God is moving. And the more I'm finding out, I met with a guy Sunday who or uh Monday night who who's been traveling around America to meet different church. He says there's so much God is doing and moving right now.

It's amazing and I want to be part of that and I would hope you would want to be part of that because because that's exciting. That's us taking back this thing. Okay? We're supposed to be ready.

So it's time to get ready for the coming of the Lord. Okay? It's time to make oursel ready. There's no downside to it, guys.

None. Okay. Um you time with Jesus will make you a better husband, better father, better mother, better worker, a better son. Okay?

It's going to improve your life now, but have ramifications for all of eternity. Okay? And so the next eight weeks, that's we're going to be studying. So, are you guys with me?

>> Can we do it? I want you to invite people because the things God shared with me in this thing are wild. Okay? They're they're they're game changers.

Okay? There's going to be people that I've written a book. So, first I wrote a book from what God showed me. It's getting published in about three weeks hopefully if these people get done with with the cover.

Um but then he opened up a door for me to have this church. And so this is the message that that that I'm to share. Okay. And so it starts next week um with Revelation 2.

We're going to look at the first church, okay? And we're going to go each week through one church and um learn from it what Jesus has for us to learn. Okay? Not everything will apply to every person.

Okay? But there's going to be something you'll glean from everything every week. Okay? If Jesus is coming soon, this is the most important message that people can hear because it's a message to from Jesus himself to his end church saying, "Get ready."

Okay? It's the most important message we can hear. And and so I want to encourage you to not just come back, but invite people, man. Let's fill up these seats with people when when it gets published online.

Hoping people can hear my voice now that the microphone went out. Um, but when it gets published, forward it to people, share it with people. Just get it out there because people need to to get ready. Okay?

In case he is coming soon. All right? And there's no downside if we don't. And no serious downside if we don't.

Okay? Good. Let's pray it out. Heavenly Father, Lord, I just thank you for really a privilege to be in church with my kids.

They're grown. They are in their own lives and um yet we're we're here. Um and that's just a blessing. I I thank you for the opportunity to expound on your word, Lord.

I I I pray that um my words are taken to heart. um your words are taken to heart, Lord, and that I don't limit it in any way, shape, or form um the message you're trying to teach these these people and and everyone here, Lord. Lord, you are growing us. You you're you'll grow us as fast as we want to grow, Lord.

You can grow us uh over 20 years or you can grow us in three weeks if we'll open up and let you in. The more we open up, the more we'll grow. And I just pray that everyone here will have a desire to know you more. Okay.

And to um drink from your words and your fountain of life so that they can have that easy yoke relationship that um you you give us. And uh I thank you for everyone who came out today. I pray your blessings on their life over this next week. And um I thank you for all you do in our lives, Lord, in Jesus name.

Amen. [Applause]