This is a continuing series of posts where I am summarizing and reflecting on the sermons in our senior pastor’s four part series on biblical prophecy, “So What’s Next?”.
The third message in the series on biblical prophecy was entitled “Coming Attractions”, and it dealt with 4 major events to take place in the end times.
- The Rapture
- The Great Tribulation
- The Second Coming
- The Millennium
I would like to reflect briefly on each of these events and the Scripture passages used during the sermon, but that is too much for one post, so I’m splitting this one up.
But in this post I want to first identify the elements in the sermon that I found extremely beneficial, even though I disagree with much of what was taught during the sermon.
I appreciate the reliance on the Word of God.
At each point in the sermon, our noses were pointed back to the Scriptures to see where the teaching was coming from. Additionally, further relevant and crucial Scripture references were given to aid us in further individual study after the message.
And finally, he made an acknowledgment up front that there was a lot of information to digest in this sermon, and he encouraged us to listen to the message again later and investigate the claims and the Scripture for ourselves.
It’s always a good thing when the pastor is pushing the congregation back into Scripture for themselves, and not just pontificating his own views without biblical justification.
I appreciate the passion displayed while discussing the glorious future awaiting us
The sermon had a sense of urgency and intensity to it all the way through. At the very beginning, he made a strong point that the events being discussed in this sermon will affect everyone for eternity.
This isn’t something to ignore or pass by or leave up to the bible scholars to worry about. This is reality, a reality with eternal ramifications.
Also, when he was preaching on the Second Coming of Christ, he was beautifully moved to tears while reflecting on the moment when Christ appears to deliver His people. It was wonderful, authentic, and worshipful and I found myself moved along with him.
I appreciate the respectful mention of dissenting positions related to the end times
Multiple times during each sermon in this series, he has been careful to point out that there is much room for different views on the end times, and that these views shouldn’t divide us or break fellowship among fellow Christians.
And this time, he specifically pointed out that he has many close friends in the ministry who are amillennialists, and he hung on this point for a moment saying that there are very good reasons and very legitimate arguments for this view.
I really appreciate this, not just because I am an amillennialist, but because it displays humility to the congregation, and also indirectly tells them to study these things and decide for yourselves; again, pointing the congregation back to Scripture themselves is always a good thing!
I appreciate the closing point showing how a knowledge of the end times should affect our lives right now
It’s so easy to dismiss the end times as irrelevant and meaningless for our walk with Christ now. But throughout this sermon series, I appreciate the emphasis on the intensely practical and relevant application of the end times to our daily lives.
And this sermon made it even more explicit. The closing point was from Titus:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
— Titus 2:11-14
From this text, he made four quick points about how we are to live while waiting for our blessed hope:
- We are to live our lives gratefully in light of the grace God has shown us in Christ
- We are to live our lives intentionally by pursuing Godliness and fighting sin
- We are to live our lives expectantly ready for the appearance of Christ at any moment
- We are to live our lives confidently knowing that our God is for us, our God has redeemed us, and that our Redeemer is coming for us
A greater knowledge of the end times should have a sobering effect on our lives now.
I truly appreciated this sermon and was brought to worshipful moments during it; however, I do disagree with much of the content of the sermon and will interact with those elements in future posts.
So next time, I’ll dive in to “The Rapture”.
