Endurance
This is the heart of the person who endures the end time :
I John 4:17-19 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
The goal: Boldness in the "day of judgment", which is the day of the Lord...the time period that surrounds the return of Jesus. My favorite Bible teacher, Mike Bickle, describes the day of the Lord like a hurricane: on the front end of the hurricane, the winds lash the land, then the eye of the storm...the day of Jesus' appearing...comes ashore, and then on the back end of the storm, there is more intensity as Jesus takes over every nation by force. This is all describing the return of Messiah to take physical possession of His kingdom.
On the front end, birth pangs...the first stirrings of the wind...then clouds as tribulation first touches the church. The tribulation is directly related to men and women coming into agreement with God about being ready for Jesus' appearing...proclaiming the day, receiving the day with gladness, preparing for the day by feeding the other servants to endure, and then enduring the day in the gathering in of the great harvest. When the church is prepared to endure, the heavy beating winds and waves of the storm come as the seal and the trumpets are released over the course of 1,260 days, the Great Tribulation.
Tribulation hitting the church "feels" like tribulation because of the disruption of the existing power structures of the church. God is going to either convince the existing shepherds to agree with the new thing He is doing, or replace them with people who agree with Jesus in the critical time of His return. Jesus has been patient in His coming for 6,000 years, but because there is a "day"...there comes a time when truth begins emerging...ready or not. This will actually force a choice for readiness by arranging the circumstances of the earth to hem people in.
Jesus refuses to violate free will...He won't make you get ready. Jesus commands the wind and waves, but woos the hearts of people. He is arranging the earth to force this choice: do I fully agree with the return of the rightful owner to His garden...or do I hold out for life to work out the way I want it, WHEN I want it to?
Many who love Jesus really aren't that into His return just yet. They love the idea that "someday" He will return, they just don't so much want that day to be "today." This is a big problem with Jesus. He has wanted the people of His body to get the earth positioned for His return since Acts 2. We CAN hasten the day:
II Peter 3:11-13 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Because that day MUST come, there comes a moment when Jesus stops waiting on the Bride and begins arranging the circumstances of the earth to get her to choose: do I start hastening, or do I hold out and try to save MY ideal life?
Many think Jesus' coming will mess up their lives! This idea opposes truth! Jesus is the author of life and the light of mankind! Life doesn't start UNTIL Jesus comes! To oppose this truth has serious consequences.
If you are not hastening, you ARE hindering, and there comes a day when hindering the massive movement of God...the transition to the age to come...will crush you. It hasn't happened yet because that day hadn't come. Friends, the day has come. This is the last hour.
The proclamation of the day is causing trouble already. It is just beginning to emerge, but already it is disrupting things. For 2,000 years the church has been saying "it is the last hour"...but now those words are really stirring things up. This is evidence of the real unfolding of the day happening. This is what Joel called the valley of decision.
This all has to do with apathy of God's people to Jesus' program for Israel and for the earth. God doesn't like Israel being messed with, and He is coming to own the earth...physically...it is a hostile takeover for anyone who opposes Him!:
Joel 3:4-6, 9, 12, 14-16 “Indeed, what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia? Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate against Me, Swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head; Because you have taken My silver and My gold, And have carried into your temples My prized possessions. Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem You have sold to the Greeks, That you may remove them far from their borders....
Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations....
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.
This is describing a new thing God is doing in the earth. It is related to the earth turning against Israel one last time.
I will now point out the news of our day. Have you been watching? The entire earth has basically turned against Israel. The latest example you could see over the last two weeks as Netanyahu begged the US, the EU, the UN...even Canada..."please do not recognize Hamas, the group sworn to our destruction, as a legitimate negotiating entity in Israel"...silently, and not so silently, the whole earth said "we will not come to your aid. You will do what we say or face the consequences." This is bad news for the whole earth.
You don't need to go to seminary to understand God's theology. It is simple. God has laid His plans and purposes...the signs that accompany the changing times...and 150 Chapters of the Bible describing exactly what to do...fully out. Uneducated fisherman could totally tell you exactly what God was doing and why. God is going to shake the whole earth...that means thresh...that means He is separating the wheat from the chaff...those that really want Him from those that want anything less than His immediate manifest presence and the storm that comes with that. He is shaking the earth to get a people who will stand with Him. A people who love His appearing. All of it. Including the tribulation...the seals, trumpets, and bowls. This "love perfected" is evidenced by boldness "in the day of judgment."
At the same time people that the Bible calls "scoffers"...in and out of the church...will actually cause division...tribulation...among God's people! It isn't the people saying "this is it, get ready for the intense events of tribulation" that cause division! It is the "scoffers" that say "no one could know." They say "God isn't doing a new thing"...this lie is what causes division:
II Peter 3:1-7 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Peter said that those who like things the way they are....don't want the return of Jesus to mess up their lives...they walk according to their own lust, instead of Jesus' intense desire to return. They will say "come Lord" but then they will quietly hope he comes later...on someone else's watch. They will secretly think "come after I have done this, or my kids experience that." Come in a way I can control the outcome for me. This is treason to Jesus. Jude said these same people would be the source of division:
Jude 1:17-19 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Those "perfected in love" are bold FOR the day of judgment. This is what the heart of love perfected declares:
Philippians 1:19-21 For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
A heart perfected in love wants Jesus...no matter what comes with Him... more than some faint idea of life without Him. Come, Lord! To live for the day or die are both gain! This is the boldness in the day of judgment that reveals love perfected.
I John 4:17-19 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
The goal: Boldness in the "day of judgment", which is the day of the Lord...the time period that surrounds the return of Jesus. My favorite Bible teacher, Mike Bickle, describes the day of the Lord like a hurricane: on the front end of the hurricane, the winds lash the land, then the eye of the storm...the day of Jesus' appearing...comes ashore, and then on the back end of the storm, there is more intensity as Jesus takes over every nation by force. This is all describing the return of Messiah to take physical possession of His kingdom.
On the front end, birth pangs...the first stirrings of the wind...then clouds as tribulation first touches the church. The tribulation is directly related to men and women coming into agreement with God about being ready for Jesus' appearing...proclaiming the day, receiving the day with gladness, preparing for the day by feeding the other servants to endure, and then enduring the day in the gathering in of the great harvest. When the church is prepared to endure, the heavy beating winds and waves of the storm come as the seal and the trumpets are released over the course of 1,260 days, the Great Tribulation.
Tribulation hitting the church "feels" like tribulation because of the disruption of the existing power structures of the church. God is going to either convince the existing shepherds to agree with the new thing He is doing, or replace them with people who agree with Jesus in the critical time of His return. Jesus has been patient in His coming for 6,000 years, but because there is a "day"...there comes a time when truth begins emerging...ready or not. This will actually force a choice for readiness by arranging the circumstances of the earth to hem people in.
Jesus refuses to violate free will...He won't make you get ready. Jesus commands the wind and waves, but woos the hearts of people. He is arranging the earth to force this choice: do I fully agree with the return of the rightful owner to His garden...or do I hold out for life to work out the way I want it, WHEN I want it to?
Many who love Jesus really aren't that into His return just yet. They love the idea that "someday" He will return, they just don't so much want that day to be "today." This is a big problem with Jesus. He has wanted the people of His body to get the earth positioned for His return since Acts 2. We CAN hasten the day:
II Peter 3:11-13 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Because that day MUST come, there comes a moment when Jesus stops waiting on the Bride and begins arranging the circumstances of the earth to get her to choose: do I start hastening, or do I hold out and try to save MY ideal life?
Many think Jesus' coming will mess up their lives! This idea opposes truth! Jesus is the author of life and the light of mankind! Life doesn't start UNTIL Jesus comes! To oppose this truth has serious consequences.
If you are not hastening, you ARE hindering, and there comes a day when hindering the massive movement of God...the transition to the age to come...will crush you. It hasn't happened yet because that day hadn't come. Friends, the day has come. This is the last hour.
The proclamation of the day is causing trouble already. It is just beginning to emerge, but already it is disrupting things. For 2,000 years the church has been saying "it is the last hour"...but now those words are really stirring things up. This is evidence of the real unfolding of the day happening. This is what Joel called the valley of decision.
This all has to do with apathy of God's people to Jesus' program for Israel and for the earth. God doesn't like Israel being messed with, and He is coming to own the earth...physically...it is a hostile takeover for anyone who opposes Him!:
Joel 3:4-6, 9, 12, 14-16 “Indeed, what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia? Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate against Me, Swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head; Because you have taken My silver and My gold, And have carried into your temples My prized possessions. Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem You have sold to the Greeks, That you may remove them far from their borders....
Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations....
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.
This is describing a new thing God is doing in the earth. It is related to the earth turning against Israel one last time.
I will now point out the news of our day. Have you been watching? The entire earth has basically turned against Israel. The latest example you could see over the last two weeks as Netanyahu begged the US, the EU, the UN...even Canada..."please do not recognize Hamas, the group sworn to our destruction, as a legitimate negotiating entity in Israel"...silently, and not so silently, the whole earth said "we will not come to your aid. You will do what we say or face the consequences." This is bad news for the whole earth.
You don't need to go to seminary to understand God's theology. It is simple. God has laid His plans and purposes...the signs that accompany the changing times...and 150 Chapters of the Bible describing exactly what to do...fully out. Uneducated fisherman could totally tell you exactly what God was doing and why. God is going to shake the whole earth...that means thresh...that means He is separating the wheat from the chaff...those that really want Him from those that want anything less than His immediate manifest presence and the storm that comes with that. He is shaking the earth to get a people who will stand with Him. A people who love His appearing. All of it. Including the tribulation...the seals, trumpets, and bowls. This "love perfected" is evidenced by boldness "in the day of judgment."
At the same time people that the Bible calls "scoffers"...in and out of the church...will actually cause division...tribulation...among God's people! It isn't the people saying "this is it, get ready for the intense events of tribulation" that cause division! It is the "scoffers" that say "no one could know." They say "God isn't doing a new thing"...this lie is what causes division:
II Peter 3:1-7 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Peter said that those who like things the way they are....don't want the return of Jesus to mess up their lives...they walk according to their own lust, instead of Jesus' intense desire to return. They will say "come Lord" but then they will quietly hope he comes later...on someone else's watch. They will secretly think "come after I have done this, or my kids experience that." Come in a way I can control the outcome for me. This is treason to Jesus. Jude said these same people would be the source of division:
Jude 1:17-19 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Those "perfected in love" are bold FOR the day of judgment. This is what the heart of love perfected declares:
Philippians 1:19-21 For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
A heart perfected in love wants Jesus...no matter what comes with Him... more than some faint idea of life without Him. Come, Lord! To live for the day or die are both gain! This is the boldness in the day of judgment that reveals love perfected.
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