When Everything Feels Uncertain, Stand Here | Phil Kniesel

The future can feel uncertain, especially when we read what Jesus says about the end times. In this message, Pastor Phil walks through Matthew 24 and explains what the Bible teaches about the Tribulation, God’s judgment, and Christ’s return.

More importantly, we’re reminded that Jesus didn’t give these teachings to create fear. He gave them to help us stand firm. No matter what the future holds, our hope is found in Christ, the solid foundation that never moves.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kniesel, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately- Fills you with hope.- Enjoy the message.- There's a, there's a mindset that says, if you're gonna do something, do it right. Now, I know some of you already nudging your spouse because this is your life verse when it comes to loading the dishwasher. Now, how many of you would say across our campuses, if you're gonna commit to doing something, you want to give it your best? Hands up? Yeah. You know, our church has always leaned into that posture, whether it's in ministry, in leadership, in generosity, or even in expansion. We wanna honor God with our best. Like if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it right. And in fact, for those who are joining us at our Millwood campus, you will notice how we are continuing to move toward completing our expansion here. And I wanna say to all of those who have already sown financially into that vision, thank you for that. Your generosity is truly helping us build for future generations. And I would just simply encourage all of you to pray and consider how God may ask you to be a part of what He's doing here. It is a $15 million expansion and I'm grateful for all of you who are leaning into this. If you're gonna do something, do it right. And the reason that mindset matters is because when things are not built properly, eventually something begins to crack. Eventually weakness gets exposed. Eventually something crumbles that happened with my deck over 13 years ago, we had it built and I trusted the guy I hired to do a great job. And when he was done, it looked really good. Well, last summer I decided it was time to replace the old deck boards and I thought it would be a simple project, famous last words, pull the old boards off and put new ones on. And I even hired a really great guy from our church to come and put the new boards down. But the moment I removed the old boards, I discovered some real issues. The foundation had been terribly built. And so instead of just putting new boards on, this amazing guy from our church had to pour additional concrete piles. He had to double up every support beam and essentially build the entire structure from the ground up. Weak foundations eventually always get exposed. And the same is true spiritually. A lot of people may look stable on the outside until pressure reveals what's underneath. Because in life we know this, we all get tested, we all walk through pressure, we all have seasons of shaking. And so the question is not whether the storms will come. Jesus promised us they would. The question is, what are you standing on when they do? What is the foundation of your life? Jesus told a story about this in Matthew chapter seven, where he said A wise person builds their house upon the rocks so when the storms come, they can stand secure. And then he says, but the foolish person builds their house on the sand where everything falls apart and washes away. His point was simple. What you build your life upon determines whether you stand or fall when pressure comes. And this really matters because today we're continuing our series entitled Ready for His Return, where I'm gonna be looking at what Jesus said regarding his second coming and the end of the world. And he's kind of just saying, the pressure is coming. And if you don't have a solid foundation for your life, it could throw. You we're going through Matthew chapter 24 where Jesus was having a conversation with his disciples and the disciples, they had questions about the future. They asked Jesus, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And I think we all understand why they asked because one of the hardest parts of life is uncertainty. We can handle quite a bit if we know what's coming. But uncertainty creates anxiety and we all just want timelines. We want security. Like wouldn't it be awesome if Jesus would just hand us a prophetic Google calendar invite to his second coming? That could be much easier. And just like us, the disciples they wanted to know, but instead of giving exact dates and times, Jesus actually gives them something better. He teaches them how to stand. He gives them and us his words about his coming and the end of the age as described and found in Matthew 24. Now, Jesus is the good shepherd. And a good shepherd warns his sheep when dangerous coming. Why? Because he loves the sheep. And Jesus, listen, hopes Jesus was not trying to fill his followers with fear. He was preparing them to stand firm when the world begins to shake. He was helping them and us build the foundation for life. And so the disciples asked, what is the sign of your coming? And I talked about that last week. They also ask, what is the sign of the end of the age? And it's this final question that Jesus now begins to answer more fully. And we're gonna look at that in a moment, but I do wanna say this, friends, the Bible is clear that the world as we know it will not continue forever. History is moving us somewhere. Jesus is coming again. Evil will not reign forever. God will ultimately judge sin and establish his kingdom. And so when Jesus talks about this, it's to help us understand the times to be informed, to be prepared to live with imminence. And so last week, I read up to verse 14 in chapter 24, and let's look at what Jesus says next to the disciples about the signs of the end of the age. This is what he says. Verse 15, Matthew 24. So when you see standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee in the mountains. Let no one on the house stop. Go down to take anything outta the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers. Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress unequal from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened at that time. If anyone says to you, look, here's the Messiah, or there is, do not believe it for false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive if possible. Even the elect. See, I have told you in advance. So if anyone tells you there he is out in the desert, do not go out or here he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible in the west, so will be the coming of the son of man. Wherever there is a carcass there, the vultures will gather. Alright, let's, let's be honest, those aren't typical Sunday morning verses that I read in church. They're not cute coffee mug passages like no one has a plaque in their home that says abomination, that causes desolation on the wall. And if you do, bro, come see me. Okay, here. Jesus is talking about something known as the tribulation, a period of unprecedented distress and judgment before Christ returns and establishes his kingdom fully on earth. And so what I wanna do is take something that is extremely complex and hard for many to understand and I wanna break it down. And then after that I'm gonna drive it home practically for us. Now there's a lot of discussion and debate surrounding the details of the end times faithful Bible believing Christians have landed in different places on some of the timelines and sequences. And so my goal is not to create anxiety about it or speculate endlessly. My goal is to help you to understand the heart of what Jesus is teaching and more importantly, how are supposed to live in response to it. And so yes, I'm gonna do some teaching now. And I know some Christians get really excited about this and others think, man, I should have stayed home and just watched hockey today. Stick with me. We're going somewhere important. So Jesus refers to the tribulation, which is a seven year period of divine judgment and world turmoil that the Bible describes in passages from Daniel and Matthew and Revelation. The Bible tells us events that will happen during the tribulation. Revelation six describes Jesus opening seven seals in heaven, ultimately judgments on earth that trigger the tribulation. And it is believed that the first three seals are in the first half, three more in the second half or the last half, and the seventh seal ending the tribulation and ushering in something called the seven trumpets and bulls, which are severe calamities that the earth will experience. So what are these seals? Well, the first seal has the arrival of the antichrist. This is a powerful world leader that promises peace, gains global influence, excuse me, influence and makes a covenant with Israel. The book of Revelation calls the antichrist the beast and tells us this, the whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. The second seal is about conquest and war. The third introduces economic instability, the fourth ushers in famine, disease and death. The fifth talks about persecution and martyr Christians, stuff we've all seen and experienced. The sixth unleashes a massive earthquake on the world. And the seventh, like I said, ushers in the next stages of judgment. And this sounds, it sounds sobering, it's why Jesus said from then there will be great distress, unequal from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again but hope city. I wanna remind you, Jesus is not trying to create panic or fear. He's preparing his people to stand firm. He was illustrating why a strong foundation in our life is necessary. And there's a phrase that I want to unpack that Jesus says in this passage here of Matthew 24 and it's verse 15, it's the one I started with that says, so when you see standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes desolation spoken up through the prophet Daniel, let the reader understand what is that all about? And what did Daniel say about it? Now the phrase abomination that causes desolation refers to an act of extreme rebellion against God that desecrates what is holy and brings devastation in its wake. Daniel uses it three times in his book. And the primary cross reference from Matthew 24 comes from Daniel nine where we read this. He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. Remember that seven in the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up, here's the phrase, an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. Well, this was prophecy that was revealed to Daniel about the future of Israel and Jerusalem seven refers to a seven year period. So typically understood as the tribulation. And this prophecy from Daniel points to two events. One that has already happened and one that is to come. And theologians would mainly agree on this. The first event involved a ruler called anus. And the one to come involves the antichrist during the tribulation. In 1 67 BC and TCUs IV desecrated, the Jewish temple stopped worship and exalted himself as God. And this this guy was arrogant and even called himself God manifest. And I'm just telling you, if someone introduces themselves at a party as God manifests don't join, don't join their small group, okay? Just don't do it for the event to come. Jesus says, the tribulation is a future and final fulfillment that will occur. And so halfway through that, the seven year period, the antichrist will break his agreement with Israel, stop temple worship and ultimately exalt himself as the object of worship. Revelation chapter 13 connects directly to this moment by describing the beast. Remember that's what He uh, the language in revelation uses for the antichrist demanding worship and blaspheming God for 42 months or three and a half years. So that's the abomination that causes desolation. And Jesus says this moment will usher in even more intense suffering and deception. That's why he tells people to flee urgently and not even go back for their belongings. Remember I read this earlier, he uses vivid language things like then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let no one on the house stop, go down to take anything outta the house and so on. And I get it this, this can feel overwhelming, it can even be a little bit scary. But once again, remember Jesus told us these things so we would be prepared so that we would be faithful and know how to stand. In fact, in the middle of all this, Jesus says something incredibly important. He says, if those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, that's believers, those days will be shortened. That says, even in judgment, God is still sovereign. Even in tribulation, God still has boundaries that have been established by heaven. Even in suffering, God still sustains his people. And we see this pattern all throughout scripture. He sustained Noah through the flood, he sustained Israel in the wilderness. He sustained Daniel in Babylon, he sustained Shadrach, Micha and Abednego in the fire. He sustained Paul through persecution and he will sustain his people again, which means yes, listen, the trials that are coming are real. And yes, we should recognize things will get harder. But friend, do not fear because God is in control. Do not fret be he because he has you in his hands. Do not worry because he's sovereign over the world and he's sovereign over your life. So whatever you're facing, may you know the promise of Isaiah 43 that just reiterates this clearly. And I wanna read Isaiah's words which are actually God's words. But now this is what the Lord says. He who created you, Jacob, he who formed you Israel, put your name in there. He who created you, Phil, he who formed you. Phil, listen, do not fear for I've redeemed you. I've summoned you by name. Your your mine. When you pass through the waters, I'll be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you a blaze. For I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior, friends, when you pass through the waters, the rivers and the fire, you know what God says, I will be with you. And so if you're in the storm today, know that the Lord, your God is right there alongside of you. He's carrying you, he's sustaining you. And that truth matters not only for some future tribulation, but it matters for whatever tribulation you may be walking through right now. And I know some of you, you're walking through uncertainty. Some of you, you're carrying anxiety, some of you are battling grief, disappointment, exhaustion, fear about the future. Listen to me hopes that he God has not abandoned you but good shepherd still and will continue to walk with his sheep. And so as the tribulation moves into the second half of the seven years, which remember is marked by this abomination that causes desolation, what happens is we're gonna see greater economic frailty and something that the Bible calls the mark of the beast is introduced. Revelation chapters eight, nine. Also describe future judgments that will happen on the world. And this is where God's judgments intensify dramatically. Things like darkness, plagues, destruction, demonic oppression and worldwide devastation. Eventually we read about the collapse of the corrupt world system and in scripture that's often symbolized as Babylon. And what culminates is the gathering of the nations in rebellion against God at a place scripture calls Armageddon. I get it, I dropped a whole bunch right there, revelation. It actually gives us some insight into this. And even all that, even though all that may sound a little scary or even maybe you're sitting there and going, that sounds pretty unbelievable. You have to know Jesus takes care of things for those who follow him because hope city, the story doesn't end with darkness, defeat, or death. The story ends with Jesus being victorious. And I wanna take you to back back to what Jesus says here. He says this, for his lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the son of man. You know what he's saying? Nobody is gonna miss his return. There will be no confusion on whether he has come back. Creation itself will testify to it. This time's not gonna be hidden like his first coming. I mean the first time Jesus came as a baby in humility, the second time he returns in victory and on his thigh is written King of kings and Lord of lords, which reminds us of something incredibly important. Evil is temporary and Christ reigns eternally. The story ends with Jesus winning fear doesn't have the final say. The antichrist doesn't have the final say. Darkness doesn't have the final say. Jesus has a final say and he is victorious. And so when is this gonna happen? Well, we don't know. In fact a little later on in Matthew 24, this is what we read. But about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the son, but only the Father. Even Jesus doesn't know when this is gonna happen. And really smart Christians have debated on when that might be and what that might look like. And Christians worldwide hold different interpretations about the timing and events of Christ's return. And I wanna give you some different ways that they have landed. There's those who believe in something called a millennialism that says Jesus will return once at the end of history, the judge, the living and the dead, raise all people bodily defeat evil completely and usher believers into the eternal new heaven and new earth. Rather than returning before a literal 1000 year earthly reign, there's post millennialism that teaches Jesus will return after the gospel, transforms the world through the influence of the church leading to a long era of widespread peace and righteousness, often identified as the millennium. There's prehistoric pre millennialism that teaches Jesus will return visibly after a period of tribulation to establish a literal thousand year reign on earth before the judge. Final judgment in eternal state. And I bet some of you're going right now, I didn't even know that there were that many millennialism. And then there's also dispensationalism that teaches Jesus will return into stages first to gather his church in the rapture and later di visibly return to earth after the tribulation to establish a literal thousand year. And in this view there are different ideas of when Jesus will rapture his church. I've even heard it said that some Christians say that they are pan tribulation is meaning. It all pans out in the end and I'm just gonna follow Jesus. You know, as you can see, no one knows the day or hour and there are a lot of good Christians who had land on one of those interpretations. Even in our church we have people who would fall into those beliefs. And that's the part, the beautiful thing about our church. And in fact the global Sea Church, we hold to primary beliefs over secondary. Those are secondary beliefs to the primary truth of what I'm about to say because I don't want you to get stuck there because even though good Christians debate the timing or how it's gonna happen, we all agree on the essentials. Jesus will come back again physically and visibly. Evil will increase before the end. God will judge sin. Believers are called to remain faithful and Jesus ultimately wins. And that's important because sometimes people become so focused on all the things that are gonna happen that they miss really how Jesus told us how to live. He used words like this, may you live lives that are awake, faithful, holy, watchful and unafraid. So if Jesus has come again, if deception will increase, if the world were will experience a greater discomfort, if we're called to remain faithful, the question comes, how do we build lives that last? How do we build a foundation that is able to stand when the storms come Well hopes. Today I wanna give you five practical ways to prepare your life for the coming of Jesus. Five things that will build and secure the foundation of your life. And the first one is this, build deep roots in your faith. Now you can never build endurance during the storm. You always build it before. Deep roots are formed long before the winds arrive. And that's why your walk with God matters today. That's why being in church matters and I wanna commend you across our campuses for being here. It's awesome. Keep coming to church, keep praying, keep worshiping. Keep doing your best to follow Jesus. Keep digging into scripture. Keep following and obeying the ways of Jesus. God sees this and as you do this, you continue to build upon the foundation in your life. Secondly, don't let fear dominate your life. Some people allow the end times to consume them to the point that they only watch online content about it. They're literally one YouTube video away from moving underground. But biblical prophecy was never meant to paralyze us. It was meant to steady us, to inform us of what is to come and not to debilitate us from living. Now fear is a tool of the enemy because fear, distorts perspective and it weakens faith. So don't let fear direct your steps. Rather let the peace of Jesus guide you. Let faith inspire you to live your life loud for him. Friends, here's the honest to God truth. We can live in peace even when the world is shaken around us because we know who holds the future. There was this old song we used to sing as I grew up in church and it's decades old and it said it. It says this because he lives I can face tomorrow 'cause he lives. What's that line? All fear is gone. Jesus lives don't let fear dominate your life. So number one, build deep roots in your faith. Now number two, don't let fear dominate your life. And number three, stay faithful in the little things. Saying yes to following Jesus is one little choice at a time because nobody drifts into spiritual maturity accidentally. So don't get so consumed with and time theories that you neglect the little things that matter. More things like prayer, things like reading your Bible, pursuing holiness, telling others about Jesus, serving faithfully, walking in obedience. Stay faithful in the little things. Never become so consumed with speculation of the end that you neglect devotion in the present. Number four, learn discernment. Hope city. Listen, not every person with a microphone, a podcast or dramatic background, music is speaking truth. Jesus repeatedly warned about deception. Not every spiritual claim is from God. And discernment is knowing what is from God and what is not. It's living wisely. And so may you know the scriptures deeply enough so you can recognize error when it hits you. And here's the thing, just read it because discernment always grows when we're rooted in God's word. So number one, build deep roots in your faith. Now number two, don't let fear dominate your life. Number three, stay faithful in the little things. Number four, learn sermon and fifthly clinging tightly to Christ When the world starts to shake, listen, Jesus remains steady. When culture shifts, Jesus remains faithful. When fear rises, Jesus remains our peace. When storms rage, Jesus remains our anchor and friends, truthfully. Who else do we have? Where else would we go? He alone has the words of eternal life. So clinging tightly to Jesus in every season. He is your all. He is your hope. He is your strength. In every trial, in every scenario, you're gonna say, Jesus, I trust you. Jesus, I depend upon you. Jesus, I'm yours. Help me. Guide me. Lead me. Sustain me. Protect me. Empower me Jesus. I'm gonna clinging tightly to you. He is the name above all names. The name that scripture says One day every knee is gonna bow before every tongue's gonna confess. Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And so the same Jesus, the same Jesus who warned about the future is also the Savior who conquered sin, defeated death, rose from the grave and promised he would come again. Our hope is not in perfectly decoding every prophetic detail. Our hope is in the one who holds history in his hands and is all sovereign. And what did that Lord and Savior say? He said, therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice, it's like a wise man who built his house on the rock. A wise person, the rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. Friends, if you're gonna follow Jesus, do it right. Don't build your life on end time speculation. Don't build your life on new streams that cause fear. Don't build your life on comfort, on culture, on panic. Build your life on Christ because the storms will come, the pressure will come, the shaking will come, but so will Jesus hope. City remembered the house, the life built on the rock will stand firm forever. And so may you stand firm forever. I'm gonna ask you to stand if you are able to. I'm gonna close in prayer this morning. Jesus, I thank you for your words that that give us insight into what is coming and what we need to face. And I thank you that you didn't give that to us to stir a panic or fear and anxiety, but you gave it to us to prepare us. And so I just pray for all my friends here today. May we have a strong, a firm foundation so that when the trials come, even if we're walking through them today, God, that when the trials come, we remain steady. We remain strong when the shaking comes, we know how to stand because we have built our life on the fact that we know who Jesus is. And so help us, God. May we clinging tightly to you, Jesus, whatever may come our way, may we say, I am yours. I will follow you. I will stand upon the rock that will just give me a firm foundation. And so I pray for that over our friends here and over all of their lives. God, I know today people are feeling the uns shakiness today. May you come and just remind them you are in control, you are sovereign. And may they just walk forward as they can know, they can depend on you and trust you. So I pray this for them. Christ, if you're joining us today in the house across our campuses and you've never made the personal decision to follow Jesus friend, I believe it's the best decision you can make. And I said earlier, Jesus defeated death. He went to the cross to die for your sin. He rose to offer you life both now and forever. And that hope, that eternal trust, that confidence, that firm foundation begins with that choice. And so if you're saying today, I wanna follow Jesus, I wanna be part of his forever kingdom. Why don't you pray along with me? Jesus today I see my need for you. Thank you for going to the cross, for dying, for my sins, for rising and offering me life and hope both now and forever. And so today I put my faith in you. I put my trust in you and I put my hope in you. I believe that you are Lord and that God raised you from the dead. I don't wanna follow you from this day forward. Help me to understand and know what it means to have you in my life and to follow you. And Lord, I pray over every individual, every couple and every family. God I ask as they go into this week, may they just experience your grace, your strength, and your guidance. I pray Holy Spirit, that you speak to them in every situation they have. And I pray that you move in and through their lives and I ask that they no matter what may come, may stand on the solid firm foundation of you Christ. May we be believers that are not shaken no matter what comes our way. And I pray this over and for these incredible people in the wonderful and incredible name of Jesus. Amen. If you prayed that prayer of surrendering your life to Jesus today, can I ask you just to tap the disc on the seat back in front of you? We'd love to get a digital booklet in your hands, talks a little bit about knowing and following Jesus. It's also our way of connecting with you in a large church. If you want prayer over anything in your life, we're gonna have a prayer team available down at your front, left here after the service. They would love to pray over and for you, hope City know this. Love you guys lots. I'm praying for you. Stay strong this week. Stay strong this week. It's worth it. God bless you.