Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This morning I'd like to take you to a scripture to start off our talk together today. Matthew's gospel, chapter 26 and verse 40. And it says this talking of Jesus. Then he came to the disciples and he found them sleeping.
He asked Peter, so couldn't you stay awake with me for just 1 hour?
Earlier this year I slept through my alarm clock.
Nita slept through her alarm clock. The problem was we were both supposed to be leading a 06:30 a.m. Prayer meeting and we slept through our alarm clock.
Thankfully, one of our amazing elders, Diana, was up cracker dawn and she was ready to lead the service and not drop us in it too much. But it's slightly embarrassing, isn't it?
Slightly embarrassing. That moment when you look across to the alarm clock and you see the time through your blurried eyes and suddenly the reality hits you that you have slept through something that you should be doing.
And that moment, that feeling that you get at that moment in time is like a thousand cups of coffee being injected into your veins that wakes you up with a bolt like nothing else.
And here in this story, Jesus is asking his disciples to do something with him that's really important.
And yet, tiredness is winning the order of the day. Being asleep when we're supposed to be awake is a very regretful thing.
And in this interaction that Jesus is having with his disciples, possibly the most regretful moment of all is right at this moment. Because Jesus, in this most pivotal moment in the history of the world was asking his disciples to comfort and to be with him in this moment of intense pressure just on the lead up to him being arrested and then being crucified and carrying all the weight of the sin of the world upon his shoulders. And Jesus was weeping with that sense of the burden. Lord, if it's possible for this cup to not be mine, then may it be.
But of course, this, he knew, was part of the plan of God.
And he was surrendered and submitted and just inviting his disciples to partner with him. But they kept going to sleep.
If you've missed a flight because you slept late, if you've missed a job interview because you slept late, if you missed the opportunity of a lifetime because you slept in, then you will know what it feels like to regret a missed opportunity because of your tiredness. But you can't fully comprehend to the same degree as what was taking place in this story.
Jesus was agonizing over this most pivotal moment and they were asleep.
It's possible that you have missed opportunities this past year because you have not been fully awake to the significance of the opportunity that was before you. It's quite possible that you have missed things that were staring you in the face, but you were so sedated by other things that you missed it. It's possible that as we step over the threshold into the new year, that you could miss opportunities in 2024 that the Lord is setting up for you simply because you are not fully awake to them.
It's possible in this coming year that the Holy Spirit will be enacting the purposes of God in the earth in a significant way. And he is calling us to be awake and partner with him. But it's possible that we miss them because we are asleep.
Romans 13, verse eleven, says these words.
Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
The writer in Romans says these words, since you know the time. Do you, do we. Do we understand the times that we are in?
The Bible talks about the end times, talks about a moment that leads and proceeds to the return of Jesus. We've just celebrated him arriving as a baby. But there is a day coming. Church when the trumpets will sound, the dead in Christ will rise, and King Jesus will return, this time not as a baby, but as the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And there's a day that's coming when the church will be called up to meet him. There's a day that is coming that is promised. Now, the Bible says that no one knows that hour. In fact, this is an interesting one. Jesus said, not even I know the hour. Only the father knows. Now, I find it hard to believe that in heaven right now, Jesus is sat on the throne not knowing when that hour will be. And I can only understand that scripture in the sense when he said, even I don't know. I can only understand it in the way that when he came to earth, he laid aside many of the privileges and blessings of being a part of heaven. And he laid that down, and he laid down the knowledge of some of the things that the Lord was doing, that his father was doing. But I suspect that today, that the Godhead are working together for that moment, that day.
In fact, my talk is not about the end times today. It's about waking up. But there's a short two and a half minute video that there's all sorts of different opinions around issues of end times, around issues of the signs of the times. But this video off the Got Questions website just for two and a half minutes gives us a little bit of an appraisal of the sort of things we should be looking out for as an identification of the end times. Let's watch this together.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: What signs indicate that the end times are approaching?
Matthew 24 five through eight gives us some important clues for discerning the approach of the end times.
Many will come in my name, claiming I am the Christ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains, an increase in false messiahs, an increase in warfare, and increases in famines, plagues, and natural disasters. These are signs of the end times. In this passage, though, we are given a warning, we are not to be deceived, because these events are only the beginning of birth pains. The end is still to come.
Some interpreters point to every earthquake, every political upheaval, and every attack on Israel as a sure sign that the end times are rapidly approaching. While the events may signal the approach of the last days, they are not necessarily indicators that the end times have arrived. The apostle Paul warned that the last days would bring a marked increase in false teaching. The spirit clearly says that in latter times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
The last days are described as perilous times because of the increasingly evil character of man and people who actively oppose the truth.
Other possible signs would include a rebuilding of a jewish temple in Jerusalem, increased hostility toward Israel, and advances toward a one world government.
The most prominent sign of the end times, however, is the nation of Israel. In 1948, Israel was recognized as a sovereign state essentially for the first time since 80 70. God promised Abraham that his posterity would have Canaan as an everlasting possession, and Ezekiel prophesied a physical and spiritual resuscitation of Israel. Having Israel as a nation in its own land is important in light of end times prophecy because of Israel's prominence in eschatology.
With these signs in mind, we can be wise and discerning in regard to the expectation of the end times. We should not, however, interpret any of these singular events as a clear indication of the soon arrival of the end times. God has given us enough information that we can be prepared, and that is what we are called to be. As our hearts cry out, come, Lord Jesus got questions, the Bible has answers, and we'll help you find them.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: I believe we are living in the last seconds of the last minutes of the last days.
I believe that while we may not be able to identify, will 2024 be the year that the Lord returns? I do absolutely believe that 2024 needs to be the year that we're prepared for the Lord to return.
How prepared are you? How prepared am I? Would he find us asleep on a time when we should be on watch?
I believe that the Lord is knowing that moment when he will return.
Whether or not he returns in our lifetime, eternity is our destination. And eternity is calling each of us to live our lives ready in light of this.
But back to the question of understanding or knowing, discerning the times let me just pick on a few things that I see in the times that we're in, we see an increased time of shaking in the nations.
Hebrews 1227 to 29 says these words.
This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed so that only unshakable things will remain.
Since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.
If we build the entirety of our lives on unshakable foundations, then I make you this promise. We will not be shaken.
But it takes us building our life upon that firm truth and understanding of who God is, of what he says, of not only picking out the bits of this that we like and spitting out the bits that we don't. That's a shaky, manmade foundation. We have to build our life upon the full counsel of God and his word. And if we build our life entirely upon the unshakable one, then we will stand strong.
There's a lot of negative voices around for 2024. There are some in the realm of politics. A third of the world will be going to the polls in the next twelve months, including in America, Russia, probably the UK. A third of the world. There will be all sorts of responses and changes that take place. There are some prophetic voices that are saying that things that we've known, institutions that we've known, like politics and finance, are going to experience some very strong difficulties in 2024.
But I'm not here to comment on those things. I'm not a politician. I'm not a financial advisor. I'm a minister of the word of God. And the word of God is unshakable. And if you and I build our life upon his word, we will not be shaken.
But it says in these verses in Hebrews, let us, those who are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable, let us first of all be thankful.
Thankful in a world that is filled with entitlement, jealousy, injustice, it's all too easy to live our lives resentful, to live our lives ungrateful, because there's always someone else you can hang out with that has got more than you, or has got something better than you, or has got something that you desire or wish that you had. Whatever circles you move in, you can find people that will be able to say and show and demonstrate something that you wished you had in your life.
And we have a choice. We either live our lives trying to grab on to other people's reputation, other people's ministries, other people's financial resources, or we live our lives deeply thankful for what we have.
And I believe that those whose minds are set on heaven, those whose lives are built upon the unshakable foundation, those whose lives are orientated towards preparing for eternity, they live their lives thankful.
Therefore, you and I, we are to be awakened to thankfulness.
It also says in these verses in Hebrews that let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
Holy fear and awe.
We live to please the king of the unshakable kingdom in every setting, whether surrounded by witnesses or whether we're in an environment that no one will ever find out about it. We live to please him.
Who you are when no one is looking.
And it seems that in so much of today's society, even good things are showcased publicly online, that there is often those moments on the street of capturing a selfie with someone that you've given some finance to, to help who's in a difficult place. And it feels like there's such a sense of living for the audience of the world around us. But there is only one audience, and that is Jesus. He is the one that we live for. He is the one that even if you can sin and get away with it, and no one will ever find out that even then, we choose to follow Jesus, to live in holy fear and awe of him.
That's what people who are fully awake do.
If you're fully awake to God, that's how we will live.
But we understand that we are in times not of peace, but of war.
And I'm not just talking now about the wars that we see playing out in Israel and Gaza and the war we see playing out in Ukraine and the wars that we see around the nations of the world, but generational and philosophical wars are all around us. And even within us, we are in a time of war. And that shouldn't surprise us because the Bible tells us that we are in a time of war. Ephesians six, verse twelve says, for we are not fighting. Some of us have put a full stop there.
We're not fighting.
No, that's not what it says. We are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in their heavenly places.
In the 1930s, Britain adopted a policy called a policy of appeasement.
This policy allowed Hitler to expand Germany's territory unchecked. Although history looks back and has discredited that policy of appeasement as a policy of weakness. The prime minister of the day, Neville Chamberlain, his decision actually had lots of support from the british people because it seemed a pragmatic response.
In 1936, Hitler's forces entered the Rhineland. In 1938, he annexed Austria. It was also agreed that there were in Munich that there would be an allowance for them to occupy the german speaking parts of Czechoslovakia. Some of you will need to ask your parents where that is.
An appeasement was popular in Britain for a few reasons.
First of all, Britain was keen to avoid the slaughter of another world war which it was still recovering from.
Secondly, Britain's resources were already overstretched, policing its empires around the world.
Its allies, France being one of the primary allies, was severely weakened. And you put all those things together and it seemed to make sense to so many people that we'll just try and contain through appeasement.
But if the enemy is advancing and we adopt a policy of appeasement, there's only one consequence, we will lose territory.
We are in a time of great war, but living like we are in a time of peace.
Two corinthians ten, verse four says, the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but our weapons are divinely powerful to the destruction of fortresses.
We are in a time of battle, church, and we need to know how to use our weapons of our warfare.
Spying out the year ahead if I asked you if you fancied a journey with me in a time machine to take a quick overview of the coming year, who would like to come along with me?
[00:21:20] Speaker C: Yeah, quite a few.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: There is a story in the Old Testament of where some people, they didn't get in a time machine, but they went into another land in order to spy out what was in the land, in order to try to work out what was ahead of them.
There were twelve chosen by the leader of the day, Moses, to go into this place called Canaan, which would be known as the promised Land.
And they were asked a few questions, and they were invited to give the responses to these questions. Let's look at this text in numbers. Chapter 13.
It says, when Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, go up this way to the Negev, then up into the hill country. See what the land is like.
See what 2024 is like. See whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications? Is the land fertile or unproductive?
Are there trees in it or not?
Be courageous.
Bring back some fruit from the land.
It was the season for the first ripe grapes. So these twelve spies, they went out to seek the answers to these questions, and they went to spy out the land.
All twelve of them saw the same thing.
All twelve saw fertile land. They saw abundant fruit, they saw opportunities, and they saw hopes. But only two were fully awake to God.
Ten wanted to pull the duvet over their face and rest where they were.
But there were two who were awake to the prophetic possibilities. There were two who were awake to the promises of God. There were two who were awake to God's power. There were two who were awake to the memories of God's provision in the past. There were two who were awake to the understanding, if God is with them, then who can be against them? Ten were asleep and two were awake. Ten thought that they were more woke to the world around them, but they were asleep. To the purposes of God. I want to be awake not to the things of this world. I want to be awake to the things of God. I want to be awake to the promises of God. I want to be awake to the purposes of God. I want to be awake to the ways of God. I want to be awake to the values of God. I want to be awake to the word of God.
Wake us up, o Lord.
They all saw the same thing.
Ten were asleep, two were awake.
2024 will have giants in the land.
2024 will have opposition.
2024 will experience shaken but do you know your God?
Are you awake to the purposes of God?
Isaiah 52, verse one puts it like this.
Wake up.
Wake up. O Zion says it twice because sometimes we need that alarm clock to sound more than once.
Wake up. That would have been enough for God, through the prophet, to have said it once, wake up. But he says it twice because he knows the propensity in our hearts is to be dulled to the things of God.
Wake up.
Wake up, O Zion.
Clothe yourselves. Get out of bed. Put your clothes of strength on. Put on your beautiful robes of righteousness in your clothes, o holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer. Maybe there have been people crossing the threshold of your life. There have been philosophies crossing the threshold of your heart. There have been ideas and purposes that have been crossing the threshold of your mind that have caused you to be polluted to the things of God. They have sedated us to the things of God and we have been asleep no longer. Wake up. Wake up for those who are awake.
And just because you have at some point in your life, given your life to Jesus does not mean you are awake. It means you are saved. But you could be saved and asleep.
God is looking for his church to be saved and awake.
For those who are awake.
For those who are clothed in strength.
For those who have put on the beautiful clothes of righteousness that prohibit the entrance of any of those false things across the threshold of our lives. For those who are awake, 2024 will have promises to claim 2024 will have miraculous provision from the Lord.
2024 will have victories as giants are slayed for those who are awake.
Back to the opening scripture of Matthew 26.
Jesus said, so couldn't you stay awake with me? 1 hour.
Quite a number of people in the church of today completed reading through the Bible in twelve months.
Well done to you.
And one of the verses is in revelation 22 and it says both the spirit and the bride.
The bride being the church.
Not just this church, but all of the churches in this city who love and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord. The church in the UK that acknowledges Jesus as Lord. The church in the world that acknowledges Jesus in Lord together we are the bride of Christ and both the spirit that is working around the face of the earth right now. And there are burdens that the spirit is engaging with. There's darkness that the spirit is pushing back.
And the spirit says, will you not wake up in the same way that Jesus said to his disciples, will you not stay awake with me?
Both the spirit and the bride say, come.
Let anyone who hers say come.
Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.
I wonder if we can metaphorically push back the quilt.
I wonder if metaphorically we can hear the alarm of the spirit saying wake up, wake up. I wonder if we can hear the voice of Jesus say, could you not carry this with me?
There was a moment when the spirit of the Lord grabbed Ezekiel, and he lifted him up, and he placed him among one of the most ruinous environments you could imagine. One of those darkest environments lifted him up. And there was this voice that said, I searched the world looking for one, just one that would wake up, just one that would partner with me, just one that would carry the burden, just one that would stand in the gap.
We can do practical teaching, and we will.
We can give you advice on how to best look after your finances, how to steward your relationships. We can give you advice on how to resolve conflict. And it's all based on things in the scriptures, and we will unpack those things in the year ahead.
But the best thing I can say to you at the threshold of a new year is wake up.
Wake up.
No more slumbering.
No more sleeping.
It's time to wake to the possibilities. Let's pray together.
Jesus is one of your understudies.
I've sought to honor you, love you, love your people.
I ask, o Lord, I ask that your grace will touch our hearts and our lives.
I pray, o God, that we will not live with a policy of appeasement when the enemy is advancing in our communities, when he's ravaging families, when he's breaking up generational connections.
I ask, o God, that we won't pull the covers over our head and just say, it's too much. It's too much.
I ask that we will not live in denial of the giants and the opposition, but, o God, I pray that we will come awake to the power and the reality and the truth of your word.
I pray, o God, that we will live built upon that unshakable foundation, that this year ahead, we will be fully awakened to the purposes of the Lord.
Now, there are some things that people in this room, you have been not choosing to be asleep, but you're living in that place of slumber, and your alarm keeps getting delayed, and you keep lifting your hand out from under the quilt, and you keep hitting the snooze button, and you keep delaying for another moment and say, I will do it soon. I will do it soon. And there are things in hearts here today that you keep saying, I will do it soon. I will do it soon. And God says, I want you to do it now. Awake. Awake, o zion. Clothe yourselves today. Choose this day whom you will serve. Come awake to the purposes of God. This day, this moment, this time, that 2024 will not just be a land of giants. But it will be a land of victory. It will be a place of promise. It will not be a time when we will feel intimidated by the prospects of darkness around us but we will feel inspired by the power of the light that is filling our hearts and our lives. May the glory of the Lord shine in the hearts of his people. May the glory of the Lord radiate through his church his living, awake, vibrant bride who together with the spirit say come Lord Jesus, we are ready.
[00:34:43] Speaker C: Oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him Christ the Lord for he alone for he alone is worthy for he alone is worthy Christ the Lord we'll give him all the glory we'll give him all the glory we'll give him all the glory we give him all the glory Christ the Lord oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore holy Christ lo.
