I really am excited about what, I feel like the Lord wants to communicate about himself today. And so I do have some bad news for you though, that this message is not about you primarily. And it's more so about God than it is about your life. So some of you are like, but I showed up for a message to apply to my life.
Aren't we in America? That's what the church does. We preach messages that are gonna apply to my life. And you can totally do that.
You can search for that in the message today, but really the goal of the message is I wanna look at him. And I wanna get to know him better. And so you're gonna leave, hopefully getting to know a little bit more about what the king is like. We've been in the series of visitors first time.
We're so glad you're here. And we've been in this journey of like, man, what is the king Jesus, what is King Jesus like? And what does he say about his kingdom? And we wanna know everything about him that we can.
And one of the things that you have to know is that the kingdom of Jesus is completely different than the kingdom of America. Kingdom of America is a democracy. And there's approval ratings that you see on all the major news networks, right? It's like 40%, 30%, 60% approval rating.
That's how much people like the leadership of the president. And in the kingdom of Jesus, it's always 100% approval rating, okay? And if you don't want him to be the king, then he doesn't have to be your king. In the new heavens, in the new earth, in the kingdom of heaven, guess what?
If you don't like the leadership of Jesus, you're not going to like heaven. And he would definitely not force his kingship and his lordship on you if you don't want to follow him. So if you don't want to surrender your life under the lordship of King Jesus, guess what? He's not going to force himself on you.
And so people always ask a question, well, how could a good God send people to help? Well, he's not going to force himself and his leadership on you for eternity if you just don't want to be under his leadership. And so he's freely going, it's your call and your choice. If you want to be a part of my kingdom, how my kingdom works is I'm the king and I call the shots.
So if you reject me as king, that's totally your choice. But I want you to know it's your choice and he's not making the choice for you, right? So if you don't want his leadership in this life, you're for sure not going to want his leadership in eternity that never ends. Yeah?
So, but I want him to be my king. So I want to know everything about him. Mark four, he shares the parable about the kingdom of heaven. Let's look at verse 26.
Mark four, 26 says this. And he said the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and he rises, night and day. He takes the melatonin and the seeds sprouts and grows.
That word he knows actually in the Greek, it's translated most often he sees. So he sees not how, there's 28. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe at once, he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.
This passage highlights the harvest. If you know anything about the language of harvest in the Bible, there's two sides to the coin of harvest in the scriptures. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the whole concept of harvest is perfect justice and judgment on one side of the coin. And incredible celebration and provision and redemption and salvation on the other side.
So how many of you know if it's harvest time? That means the crops are ready and praise God. We got some crops, God's providing, right? And so harvest time is a time of celebration.
So what they would do when, like in Jesus' day and historically all throughout the Old Testament, what they would do is they'd have this hill up, they would set up this like flat section on top of hills. And they were called threshing floors. Everybody say threshing floor. And what would happen is if it's the grain crops, they would take a sickle and cut down the crops and they would bring those crops of grain up to the threshing floor, that flat top on top of the hill.
And what they would do is they would start a fire and they would mingle the grain or the harvest with fire and they would take a winnowing fork and they would kind of like flip the grain. And what would happen is all of the parts of the harvest that you can't eat that aren't edible, like the ear of the grain, it would turn into chaff and it would fly away because they're on top of the hill and the wind would blow the chaff away. And so on these threshing floors, they were actually set up, they would oftentimes set up pagan altars or altars of worship to the Lord, depending on what type of people group you've got going. And so they would give offerings to the gods and they would celebrate the gods provision, but the people of Israel would celebrate the provision of the Lord that he's providing for them.
So they'd give him grain offerings on the threshing floor. It's like David, he purchases a threshing floor for the temple that would be the temple mount where the temple Jesus walked in. And the curtain moment that we talked about in worship, that's actually built on a threshing floor, a place where there was actually harvest that would be brought and there'd be offerings of praise that would be offered to God. So just historically, threshing floors were significant places and they represented extravagant worship, extravagant provision, but they'd also represent the dividing of chaff and grain, in other words, justice and judgment.
So when Jesus starts talking about seeds and then harvest time, the Jewish here is listening and going, okay, I get it, I know. And the Jewish here is also listening to the rabbi going, Joel three, and they're going Jeremiah 17. And there's these passages in the Old Testament where harvest means judgment and harvest means salvation and harvest is actually about the day of the Lord. Everybody say day of the Lord.
Day of the Lord is an eschatological term. Everybody say eschatology. Whoo, everybody's getting excited now. I just said eschatology and people are like, let's go, is it gonna be a series?
Eschatology is the study of the end of this age of history and the time frame where Jesus is gonna return and then introduce the kingdom of heaven on the earth, okay? So eschatology is like the study of the end times and then the introduction, it's like the hinge of history from now to what's coming after Jesus returns, okay? So, but the Jewish here hears the harvest language and they go, he's talking about the day of the Lord. Now, a lot of us, when we hear about the harvest, we kind of think like Luther and Calvin, they were some theologians and what they translated or interpreted this parable to mean is that we are the man.
Why, when you look back at the page, well, I'm talking just look at Mark four, they're looking at this and they're going, okay, the man is us and we sow the word of God, we sow the gospel into the ground of the earth, in other words, into souls and then we better be ready to reap whenever hearts are ready, right? So they're kind of taking their cues from the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul says, you know, I sowed Paulos reaped but God gave the increase. So they're kind of like, okay, God's talking about evangelism here, Jesus is talking about evangelism.
But most of the early church, I know that we're gonna get there, promise, so hang with me, hang with me, some of you are like, okay, get to it, no, listen, this is it, I'm setting foundation for you, okay? A lot of the early church, when they looked at this parable, they didn't put themselves necessarily as the main characters in the parable, but they interpreted this as Jesus sowing the kingdom. So Jesus is saying, this is what the kingdom of God is like. I'm the man and I'm sowing the kingdom.
I'm Yahweh in the flesh and I'm sowing the kingdom and then how the kingdom grows over time is it starts with a sprout, then it grows and it germinates and it grows and grows and grows and grows. And then all of a sudden there's the ear and then the grain in the ear and then it's right. And so he's trying to paint the picture of how the kingdom works, all right? And then it's time to reap.
I want you to understand, as we're looking at this passage, God in the flesh is kind of opening up his heart and he's going, I want you to see this about me. I want you to see how I think about my kingdom. And we're gonna look at a couple passages and I just want you to have anticipation of what the Lord wants to reveal about himself through this agricultural parable, okay? Are you guys ready?
So we know this is about the end of the age, Jesus' return. We know that harvest time is, it's baked with judgment and justice and it's baked with celebration and salvation. And that's like joyful time and there's justice. And they're the same thing, they happen on the same day.
We kind of talked to a little bit about it last week, right? With the wedding banquet. So I want you to turn in your Bible to Revelation 14. Revelation 14.
I want you to listen for similar language to what Jesus was using in Mark 4, okay? Revelation 14, say amen if you're there. All right, we're gonna look at verse 14. All right, verse 14 says this, then I looked and behold, a white cloud and seated on the cloud, one like a son of man.
Now, if you remember in Acts 1, Jesus, he's hanging out with his disciples, right? He's hanging out with his disciples after he rose from the dead. It's been about 40 days since he rose from the dead. He's on the Mount of Olives with his disciples and his disciples are ready because they know a prophecy from Zechariah 14.
And the prophecy is that in Zechariah 14, the Messiah or the coming Jewish king, he's gonna stand on the Mount of Olives and then the Mount of Olives, there's gonna be an earthquake, it's gonna split in half. And then the king, the Messiah, the anointed one, is gonna come into Jerusalem and is gonna conquer his enemies and he's gonna take the throne. So the disciples are on the Mount of Olives. And they're like, whoa, rose from the dead, check.
Mount of Olives, here we go. He's gonna take the throne right now. And so they ask him in Acts 1, if you look at it, they're like, when are you gonna restore the kingdom of Israel? In other words, when are you gonna take over the earth?
And Jesus, instead of actually riding into Jerusalem to take the throne, what does he do? He starts floating up and he starts ascending into heaven, literally, he starts floating in front of their eyes and then he's floating in a white cloud. And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And they're looking up and they're like, why?
Why are you doing this? Where are you going? And instead of taking the throne in Jerusalem, he actually takes the throne seated with the Father in heavenly places. And he's seated above the circle of the earth.
So now we're in the spiritual reign where Jesus is reigning from on high. But now we see in Revelation 14 that there's a mirroring. And we remember in Acts 1, guess what happens? If you wanna turn there, you can just like put a bookmark there for your own time with the Lord.
Guess what happens? The disciples there are going, no, right? And then there's two angels that show up next to them. And the angels are like, hey guys, they're like, what?
Right? Why are you looking up in the sky? Don't you know that he's going to return in the same way that he left? He's going to come back on some white clouds.
He's gonna ride on the clouds and he's gonna return someday. And so we're looking at that right here in Revelation 14. Lost my place, Revelation 14 says this, then I looked. And this is John the disciple, John the beloved, is having this open vision of the future.
Says, then I looked and behold a white cloud, seated on the cloud, one like the Son of Man, who's that? Yes, sure, it's Jesus. And he has a golden crown on his head instead of a crown of thorns. And he has a sharp sickle in his hand.
We just read about that in Mark 4, there's a sickle, right? And another angel came out of the temple. Another angel, or a messenger, comes out of the temple and starts yelling at Jesus. And the angel calls with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, hey, put in your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully right.
So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped. And then it starts talking about a harvest of grapes, which also represents like the wine press of the wrath of God on those that have done injustice. And God's pouring out his justice, okay? Turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter.
2 Peter, I will tell you the exact reference. Chapter three, 2 Peter, chapter three. We're just gonna go to a couple different passages. This is gonna be a longer one, are you guys with me?
All right, I want you to notice that we're seeing that Jesus is the one that holds the sickle. Jesus is the one that's actually gonna bring the reaping of the harvest. And it sounds like it's like a suddenly, right? There's like a trumpet sounds and then it happens, right?
Second Peter three, this is now the second letter that I'm writing to you beloved. In both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. This is Peter writing. He says, hey, I want you to remember the predictions of the holy prophets in the Old Testament, in the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires, they will say, where's the promise of his coming?
Forever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have been continuing as though they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlooked this fact, that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means to stick with me here. And that by the means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and Paris is talking about Noah. So he's paying this picture of, there's like a firmament, there was water in the atmosphere of the earth before Noah's flood, and there was water actually underneath the crust surface.
And then when the flood happened, water exploded from underneath the surface of the crust of the earth and water came from above. So there's water, like massive geysers that shot up and there's major downfall of water that came from the firmament over the world. Now I geek out about this stuff and I'm going to use self-control, okay? So just painting the picture of the flood, God promises I'm never gonna flood the earth again, he gives us rainbows to remind him, him and us, that that's true.
And then it says in verse seven, but by the same word, the heavens and the earth now exist are stowed, stored up for a threshing floor moment with fire, being kept into the day of judgment and destruction on the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact below it, let's lock in, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness. No, he's patient.
It's not slow that Jesus hasn't returned yet, it's not because he's slow and he takes a long time, it's because he's patient. And he's not willing that any should perish. It's his desire that none should perish, and that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
And then the heavens will pass away with the roar and the heavenly bodies or the heavenly elements will be burned up and dissolved into earth and the works that are done in them will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be? Living lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn, but according to his promise, we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We want you to turn to first thessalonians five, I'm gonna bring it all together, I promise.
First thessalonians five, turn there with me. There's an alarm, not a problem. Yeah. Oh, the whole staff knows this is not a problem.
It's basically our security system, just kind of going like, oh, somebody set the security system on accident. So we're all good. See, look at that, it's all good stuff. Right, first thessalonians five.
Now concerning this verse one, now concerning the times and the seasons brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord, right, harvest time, is gonna come like a thief in the night. While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. And they will not escape, but you are not in darkness brothers for the day to surprise you like a thief.
For you are all children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. You can turn back to Mark four.
Okay, I'm gonna bring it all together for us so we can look at this. The themes that I wanna draw our attention to, and what I believe Jesus is wanting to get across with this parable, is that his kingdom is going to grow and there's mystery to the growth of it. And it kinda seems slow. It kinda seems like the kingdom is just slowly growing over time.
And what I'm talking about is Jesus ascends into heaven. And then there's thousands here and thousands there and some more thousands over millennia, over centuries, over years, over decades, right? And it just is a slow growth very similar to how grain grows in a field. Yeah?
So seed goes into the ground, God goes to sleep, wakes up, sun is shining, goes to sleep, wakes up, whoa, it's a rainy day, the clouds rolled in, rain fell, goes to sleep, wakes up and it repeats for months and it's adding to the growth of these seeds. And then as you look at the timeline, of the grain harvest, just stick with me, as you look at the grain timeline, it's months for the seeds to be sprouting and then the sprouting to grow up into a mature ear of grain. And it takes a long time, but every farmer of wheat knows the transition from the grain is green in the ear to its ripe, happens in a flash. It happens quickly, happens sometimes overnight.
So it's been months and months and months and months and then all of a sudden, there's the grain inside the ear of the wheat and all of a sudden, it turns white in the span of 24 to 48, 72 hours. So compared to the whole process, it's quick. And Jesus is going, I want you to know, this is how the timing of my return is gonna work. This is the way that I want it to go.
This is the way that I like it. I want it to be like, we're just hanging out. And then it's almost like, my boss, my master was on vacation. And then he came back quick.
It was a surprise. Wait, he's back already, right? But we see in the scriptures, in the theme in Matthew 24, 25, in first Thessalonians, he's going, yes, it's gonna be quick, but don't let it surprise you. My people that are waiting and watching, they're not gonna be surprised by my return.
They're not gonna be surprised like it's a thief showing up to their house. They're not gonna be surprised by it, but there's many that will be. And Jesus is going, I like something about this slow ache that starts forming throughout all of human history for me. I like the ache for of Revelation 22, where from the earth, there begins to be a resounding, when are you coming back?
Come Lord Jesus, right? Where all of a sudden, there's this ache for him to return. Because it's like, when are you gonna return already? It's been too many years.
There's why is this harvest taking so long? It's just like when engagement, if you've ever been engaged, and you're like, why is this engagement taken forever? Why all this planning? This is, could our wedding day just show up, right?
Especially if you have some drama in your engagement, you're like, get me to the wedding day, right? And then you think it's gonna take forever. And then all of a sudden, letting me kiss. And letting me kiss there.
And then you're standing at the altar, and somehow it was slow, and it took forever, and then it was there. It's just like pregnancy, that's what Jesus says in Matthew 24, 25, it's just like a pregnant woman. All of a sudden, it's been nine long months of when is this thing gonna, when am I gonna have this baby? It's a child, I don't know from experience.
But my wife knows, Katie knows she had two of them in there at the same time, and she was like, ready? She was ready, okay? And you start approaching, and there's this ache of, please make it in, and then all of a sudden, labor strikes. And it came so fast, and you couldn't even believe it, how fast it happened, right?
Jesus is saying, hey, this is what my return is gonna be like. This is what harvest time is gonna be like for the kingdom of heaven. It's gonna be like when you're growing older, and then all of a sudden you get the ARP thing, and you're in your mailbox. You're like, how did that happen?
It was just, I felt like time was going slow, and then it went too fast, right? It's like you're parenting children, and all of a sudden, it seems like the years are dragging on and on, day after day, and then all of a sudden, you're an empty nester, and you walk into a quiet house. It was so slow, and then it happened so fast. It's like you're learning a skill, and it's like compound interest.
You just keep on practicing and practicing, and all of a sudden, you hit, it's like a runner's high. You know, it's like, you just keep on going, and you keep on plugging along, and then you hit it. You hit the grace, you hit the broad space, and I can't believe I'm here. It's like when you're young, and we can all relate with this, you're young, and you're like a nine-year-old little girl, a 10-year-old little girl, or a young boy, you're 11, 12, and all of a sudden, your voice is like, and then you come back from summer.
And your voice is like this. And you've got hair coming out of everywhere, and you look like a completely different person. And it was just you were growing gradually, and all of a sudden, oh my gosh, right? Yeah?
It's kind of how our world operates in a lot of different ways. Jesus could have used so many different metaphors, but I want you to understand, in the trilogy of human history, where God plans out the first portion, the first set of the trilogy, where it's the old covenant. It's beautiful, and it's masterful leadership in authoring, and then he authors the second scene of human history. And it's Jesus showing up and introducing the covenant, and now we've been in the second scene for a long time, and how he wants to end this part of the trilogy, because there's a, the third part is heaven on earth.
The third part is the dwelling place of God, meeting the dwelling place of man, and the dwelling place of man becoming the dwelling place of God. That's the third part of this masterful, author trilogy that God is writing, but he has something up his sleeve for the second part. He wants it to end in the most dramatic way that we will ever imagine. He's going, I'm gonna have it look like Zechariah 14, I'm gonna have it look like Ax-1, and this is what I'm gonna do, this is in Matthew 24 and 25.
He goes, this is what I'm gonna do. Actually, my return is gonna be set up like a storm at night, but with this storm, the moon and the stars are gonna fall out of the sky, so there's gonna be no lights in the sky, and it's gonna be like a storm that rolls through, and you're not really aware that the storm is here until a clap of thunder strikes, and he's in the sky, and every eye is gonna see him. It says his appearing is gonna be like lightning flashing across the sky, and every single human eye is gonna see his appearing. That's the type of author that we've got.
He's the one that's going, if this, we only got one shot. We only got one shot, and I'm going to make it the slow burn that's gonna result in this ache from my people, we must have you back. See, as Americans, we're so comfortable that we're not feeling the ache, but there's a cry coming from the globe, from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and we've got to, as Americans, start feeling the ache that our brothers and sisters feel. I know some of you feel it.
I know that it's in some of you, where you're getting in touch. See, some of us are feeling it because we're in the grind, because we're experiencing injustice on a daily basis, because we're not experiencing some of what our other brothers and sisters are experiencing, right? When you're living under injustice, if you know what I'm saying. If you're somebody that's experiencing, as a person of color in our culture, you're experiencing different setting than different places, where you're actually in a fight and you're going, man, when is the king of justice gonna come and make all the wrong things right?
You're more in tune with the ache for the harvest time, for ripeness to happen. So justice can roll down like the river. If you're struggling and suffering, and I'm in so many different ways, what struggle and pain does, maybe it's in your body, maybe it's in relationships, maybe you're getting mistreated, maybe it's because you're in the workplace and because of your gender, you're experiencing mistreatment, and you're getting in tune with injustice in our age that we're living in, brokenness. And you're going, I look at what I'm doing, and I pair myself next to you, and it's hard to not do this.
I pair myself next to this other person that's on staff. And I'm more qualified, I've actually been faithful, I'm more tenured, but because of my gender, I'm not getting promoted, and you sit within the tension of that moment, and you start going, this is unjust, but I'm gonna go low because I'm a son of God knowing that they have justice is coming. He's gonna make all the wrong things right? And it gives you a little bit of an ache.
You're just a little bit as an American, getting in touch with something that is meant to be far deeper than I just experienced in injustice a little bit, or a lot of it. It's to produce, listen, we all experience injustice. We all experience brokenness. I brought up two examples, and I can feel it in the room.
It's like, oh, it's ruffling feathers. Listen, I want you to know all of you have experienced injustice. All of you have experienced being wronged, whether systematically or not. We've all gone through difficult things, and I want you to know that the difficulty and the pain that you've gone through actually produces an ache, not for you to be offended and bitter and resentful, which is the way of the world.
But it produces an ache for, Jesus, you're the one that's gonna make all the wrong things right. You're the one that's gonna restore. You're the one that's gonna redeem. You're gonna bring salvation and justice.
Yeah? Listen, don't get caught up on some of those things, because this isn't political. I'm talking about brothers and sisters. I'm talking about stories from your brothers and sisters.
You don't make it a political thing. Don't turn this into politics. This is just life that our brothers and sisters go through, and I'm talking about all injustices. And I'm just saying, it's supposed to raise the water level.
When you see injustice, it's to raise the water level of ache. Going, when is this crop gonna get ripe? This thing's gotta get ripe, because I want him to take that sickle out. And I want it to be hard this time, because I want him back.
Jesus is the king of a kingdom that has an appearing, like in the story of Noah, where it's never rained before, Noah builds an ark for a hundred years, and it seems like this flood is never gonna happen. And everybody else is going, sure, it's gonna rain. And they continue eating and drinking and being given an over in marriage, continuing when they're violence, and then all of a sudden, the rain starts falling. That's what the appearance of the kingdom of heaven is gonna be like.
All of the world is gonna continue on as it has. And there will be scoffers, scoffers that are in our workplaces, scoffers in our culture, they're gonna say, you're gonna spend your time in an empty room, in a prayer room, looking at an invisible God that you've never seen. And you actually think that he's gonna come back. You think that Jesus is God, and that he's actually gonna come back and rain on the earth?
Why are you spending so much time in that room? Why are you waking up so early and getting in the Bible? Why are you praying for people to encounter him? Why are you, it's so much waste.
Do you not know? Day in, day out, day in, day out? Everything has been the same since the very beginning of the story, since evolution. It's all been the same, day in and day out.
That's what the scoffer says. And I want you to know, the scoffer might say that, but his coming is as sure as the sun that rises every single day. His appearance is gonna be in the east. That storm is gonna roll through in the east, just like the sun rises every single morning.
And it is as sure as that, we know that we know, that we know that we know that sun is gonna rise in the morning. I know it, when I go to sleep, I know that thing is gonna rise. And it's gonna be a gradual, and then it just shows up quick. Have you ever watched the sunrise where it's like, I think the sun is coming, oh, it's there.
So what his appearance is gonna be like, he's gonna come back and it's sure it's set. That harvest is gonna be ripe, and he knows it. Jesus in Matthew 24 says it's like a fig tree, that it's announcing summer. It's gonna be like a, it's gonna be like a thief.
It's gonna be like a pregnancy. It's gonna be beautiful, powerful, and it's what we all want. I wanna close with this. Jesus has a way, you know how Hollywood creates these stories?
And you're kind of like, it's a nail biter, you're on the edge of your seat. And then the story climaxes into this plot twist. Jesus is the one that started this whole thing, like the whole plot twist idea, the whole like slow ramp up. You know how you're in an English class?
And they talk about the story arc of a story. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. He's the one that came up with it, you guys.
And he is this leader, this king of a kingdom. And he has a way of creating the storyline of human history in his perfect wisdom that is going to be the most magnificent plot twist of when is this going to happen? It seems so slow, but I want to like bring you in to the reality that in our day, in this generation, we are experiencing, I just look at Mark 4, verse 28, the earth produces by itself, first the blade. The blade's already here, you guys.
Then the ear, ear is already here. Full grain, we're about there, or it's already there. In terms of the trajectory of human history, I just got to name it, everything is exponentially increasing on a daily and monthly basis, especially the kingdom of God. I'm not just talking about the increase of knowledge and AI and how knowledge is doubling every day or whatever it is now.
Those are things from the story of Daniel and prophesied about, yes, there's signs of the time. Yeah, there's earthquakes. Yeah, there's kingdom against kingdom. There's wars, yes, there's rumors of wars.
All of those things are increasing. You look at the plot and it's just like, when we look at human history, the grain is in the ear. And I just want to name that there's an urgency and it's exciting. I want to name, harvest is coming.
Rightness, we are on the doorstep of ripeness. And I want your expectation and your hope to start building, I think he's coming back. And it's to produce this ache in you, this love in you and you're going, well, are you saying that he's returning? Well, what if I am saying that he's returning in your lifetime?
I'm not saying that, but what if he is, what if it's your kid's lifetime? What if it's your nephew and your niece's lifetime? What if we are on that little dot on the time graph that any day now? Now you're going, well, but Pastor Josh, then I've studied eschatology and then there's all of these things that need to happen.
I know! This is not a message about my eschatology or your eschatology or the Bible's eschatology because sometimes it's different. Yeah? This is just to paint the picture that I feel like as I look at human history and I look at the kingdom, as the numbers get swept into the kingdom from the Muslim people around the 1040 window, as the Chinese church is growing at an accelerated rate, as the church in Iran is doubling in size over and over again and God's people are getting added, they are getting added to their number daily in the Swaz.
It's just God's kingdom is growing. And like I said last week, the cry for King Jesus to come back is starting to get louder than the cry for him to return from heaven. And all of a sudden the balance of those that have gone to be with the Lord is getting tipped. And now the people that have surrendered to Jesus, there's more people on the earth that have surrendered to Jesus, it's getting there than those that have gone to be with the Lord.
And I'm going, what is happening in this generation? Is there something here that we are all a part of? And are we closer than we think? What if it's in a hundred years or seven or 15 or 20?
All I know is I'm really excited because how he's gonna lay this whole thing out is gonna be the slow thing, but I'm gonna be in tune because I know that exciting moment, I'm gonna be ready for that moment. I'm gonna be licking my chops excited and going, ah, yes, we want you back. And I want you to split the sky and I want it to be this plot twist and surprise. And I'm so glad it's gonna be like that.
You're such a good author, you're such a good story. You all just stand with me. Jesus, we look forward to that day. Jesus, we look forward to the day when you've got a sickle in your hand and a sword in your mouth and you've got Kleenex in your pocket to wipe our tears from our eyes.
Lord, we thank you that in an instant, your appearing is gonna be like a clap of lightning and thunder and that we're gonna see you face to face. Lord, we honor you that at the trumpet sound, the dead are gonna rise, that there's these suddenlies that you've prepared and you want us to know that your kingdom is an exciting kingdom that slowly grows and then there's all of a sudden an explosion of joy and justice. We're so glad that you're the king that we got. We're so glad that you're the author, that is you and the father ideated and did a think tank moment about what this moment would look like, that it's gonna be like this.
We just say we love you for it and we can't wait. Did you come back? Marinatha, would you come quickly? We don't want you to wait until we get married, we don't want you to wait until we fill in the blank.
We just want you back. We love you, Lord. In Jesus name, everybody, said amen. Amen.
If you're on ministry team, you wanna come to the front? After the service, there's people that would love to pray with you and if you need work in the 230 that like the Lord highlighted those that are unemployed, that are searching for work and I'd love to just encourage you after the service to come and receive prayer at the altar. If that's you, we spent some time in the 230 praying for people that are looking for work and I wanna put that as an invitation out for you. If you are looking for a job, we wanna pray with you and believe for God and provide that for you.
How many of you know he's Jehovah Jaira? Is that right? Does that ram in the thicket moment? That suddenly he provides moment and we just wanna believe with you for that, okay?
All right, one more thing. Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. What we've been doing as a community is we've been asking the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, is there anything that you want me to do? Before we leave and we wanna be those people that are listening to the Holy Spirit and then obeying what he says.
So would you close your eyes with me? Thank you, Lord. And you can just whisper this question to the Lord. Lord, is there anything that you want me to do?
Maybe it's before I leave the building or it's for tomorrow at home, right work. Is there anything that you want me to do? Jesus, we say that we are your servants and we listen to you as our leader and our master and we want to obey whatever you said, even if it makes us feel uncomfortable, we want to actually obey you. In Jesus' name, everybody, say amen.