CCF Weekly Services Podcast

Jesus gives His disciples an overview of the prophetic calendar as far as God's restoration of Israel is concerned. While the information He gives us is concerning, it wasn't intended to make us despair for the future. The more certainty God has about our future, the more certainty we can have that the promises He's made in spite of it will still be kept.

1. Prophecy produces confidence in God's Word.
2. Prophecy provides peace through God's Word.
3. Prophecy gives us perspective through God's Word.

The first of the three woes is horrifying. Creating an atmosphere of total vulnerability, the world is given over to the alternatives to God they have been choosing. These creatures, much like the prior trumpet judgments, are restrained to a point. However, the greatest lesson in avoiding something can be allowing someone to see exactly why you're being warned about them. If God has to show Himself the better option than the devil by contrast, He'll allow as sharp a contrast as possible if it gets the message across.

1. If the plain sense of scripture makes sense, seek no other sense lest you believe in nonsense.
2. Fear is a good thing from God. It recognizes when you're in danger and vulnerable along with the motivation to get out of those circumstances. It can potentially be what God uses to save souls.
3. The only answer to the demonic is through proximity to our Lord. Anything less is foolishness. Anything more is nonexistent.

Jesus goes from answering the challenges of the Scribes and Pharisees to taking preventive steps with His disciples. The state of spiritual pride that prevented them from recognizing the Messiah is one we can easily fall into as well if we aren't paying careful attention to our motives. How we pray, how much we give, and where we worship are irrelevant if we forget why we're doing those things in the first place.

1. Prayers have an audience. It will either be God to deepen our fellowship with Him, or others to build ourselves up.
2. Giving has a purpose. It will either be to express outwardly how much of a priority God is to you, or to build ourselves up.
3. Worship has a goal. It will either be to focus us on who God is, or to focus on our magnanimity.

In the opening Trumpet Judgments, we are shown a systematic deconstruction of what God introduced at Creation. He introduced the stars to give us light and heat, and now takes a third of them away. He introduced a certain division between land and sea, and now a meteor makes that division a questionable reality. He introduced water and plant life to preserve it, and now it's only serving to take that life away. We don't know how good God has been to us. And it shouldn't take the removal of those things to appreciate that.

1. If the plain sense of scripture makes sense, seek no other sense, lest you believe in nonsense.
2. God's Wrath against sin is mostly found in taking away the good things we take for granted.
3. Thankfulness is recognizing the good things you have as the gifts they are.

Jesus demonstrates for us exactly how and when to properly engage with people about the difficult questions of life. When it comes to politics, religion, or the reasons you have to provide any explanation about the two, it all has to come back to two things. Who is Jesus and what does His Word say? If you can stand on those foundations, you're following the example of the One who stood His ground against the very same challenges before us.

1. Don't engage in topics that won't ultimately point people back to the person of Jesus Christ.
2. Understand what you believe before you're put in a situation where you have to explain it.
3. Recognize why the Bible is where you derive your beliefs from.

As we transition from the seal to the trumpet judgments, we're not only given a proper context of the Tribulation, but also of the prayers we've prayed in the mean time awaiting this day. While judgment is something God delays, Justice will be done. While God is patient with the people who persecute His own, this world will see what it deserves. In the mean time, we only do ourselves a favor by putting our hope and our hurt in the same place. Before the Throne of God.

1. The purpose of the Tribulation is as much for mercy as it is for judgment.
2. God enjoys when His people pray to Him, especially when they do so honestly.
3. Where your hope is, there your peace will be also."

Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees for acting out what only the Messiah should be doing. In proper order with how to handle a hostile audience, Jesus answers their question with a question in order to get them to think through their own position. He then immediately goes on the offensive in order to confront them about the real issue between God's heart and their minds. This shows us that it isn't unChrist-like to deal with people seriously and directly about the gospel. The key is to make and continue to establish who Jesus really is as the focus of any meaningful conversation about God. That's the foundation of spiritual warfare. Always bring it back to who Jesus is.

1. You can't share God's word if you don't know it for yourself.
2. Living in anticipation of Jesus' return is the most Christ-like attitude anyone can have.
3. This world is a battleground, not a picnic-ground."