Victory Life KY by Pastor Gary Toney

December 10, 2020 Occupy Until I Return

Luke 19 discusses the parable of the minas, and when the master passes out the minas, he makes this statement, “OCCUPY TILL I RETURN”

Occupy, do my business, exercise dominion, run things
Till I return, there is a day He’s coming back

A conversation many have been having lately has been centered around the return of the Lord. So I felt like maybe we should talk about it, but as we get into it, the thing I want to stress is that Jesus’ main point was us occupying until He returns.

In Luke 12 Jesus is once again talking to His disciples about occupying and in v.37, Jesus says, Blessed in the servant that the master finds watching. In v.43, He says, “Blessed is the servant that’s busy about the master’s work when he returns.”

Then He said to the multitudes in v.56, “You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times.”

Just like Jesus expected the people of that time to be able to recognize His first time coming, He absolutely expects the people of this time to be able to recognize the time of His coming.

One of the things His disciples repeatedly asked about was the timing of the restoring of the Kingdom, and in Acts 1 He basically tells them, timing is the Father’s business, but you will receive power. In other words, be ready and occupy till I return.

Matthew 24:36, The day and hour no one knows, not even the angels, only the Father.

But in v.32, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.”

So as we approach the age of the church coming to its end, we should definitely be about the masters work. Because after the church, that’s when the judgement of God will come on the earth.

The only judgement the church will face is the judgement seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10,NKJV- “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

1 Corinthians 3:11-15,NKJV- For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

I believe Moody was right, everything we do this side of Heaven is preparing us for what we’ll be there.

And I realize there are many different views around the events of the end, so what we have to do is go to the only true source to support any belief.

You heard me say this so many times, “The new is in the old contained, the old is in the new explained.”

God gives us a simple revelation that will make understanding events of the Bible much easier to interpret.

1 Corinthians 10:32,NKJV- “Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,”

Here’s the thing, having this simple understanding concerning any truth from the scriptures is a key component of clarity; who’s talking, who they’re talking to, and what they’re talking about.

So with this in mind, there are glimpses of Jesus’ return throughout the scriptures, but the major players are, Daniel, Revelation, Jesus In Matthew 24, and Apostle Paul.

We’re going to start with Paul’s revelation Jesus specifically gave him.

Galatians 1:11-12,NKJV- “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Even though we are able to get a glimpse of what’s next on God’s calendar, we stay about the masters work until!! Maybe even get a little more dialed in because we recognize our time is short.

That being said, the next event the church should be ready for is our departure.

This revelation from the Lord to Paul for every born again was pinned to the church of Thessalonica.

Keep in mind that after Jesus’ resurrection He appeared, disappeared, and reappeared many times over His last 40 days on the planet. To the degree that those closest to Him got used to it.

Acts 1:11,NKJV- “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

This would be Jesus’ last disappearance for a while, but there were many that were expecting the same thing they had seen repeatedly over the last month.

But days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, and no sign of Jesus.

And as saints begin to pass away and the Lord still hasn’t returned, and keep in mind they didn’t have any kind of reference, like a bible, not to mention this new revelation of the resurrection from the dead is just now being taught.

So Jesus calls Paul to Heaven and teaches him.

2 Corinthians 12:2-4,NLT- “I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows.
Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body.
But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.”

In 2 Peter he actually acknowledges Paul’s revelation contained things hard to understand.

They hadn’t heard Paul’s revelation yet since he had just received it from the Lord. So the Holy Spirit is going to use this churches concern about saints that have already passed on to the other side, as well as for the saints that will be on the planet at the time of this special event.

Now as we get into this remember what Jesus told us in Luke, blessed are the one that’s busy about the master’s work when He returns.

Paul actually gave the Corinthian church just a little glimpse.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52,NLT- “But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18,NLT- “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.
14, For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15, We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.
16, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.
17, Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
18, So encourage each other with these words.”

And I know there are different views on this subject, and I can take some scripture and partially support some of those beliefs, but I can only support one with 100% confidence from the scripture, and it is this same revelation God gave the apostle Paul.

Remember, The new is in the old contained, the old is in the new explained.

So when it comes to this event that we call the rapture, there are types throughout the Bible. But God’s children going through the great tribulation, we can’t find them.

As a matter of fact, Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:21, There will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Here’s just a few types of God taking His people from His judgement:
Noah and his family, Lot and his family from Sodom, Enoch, Jesus in Acts 1, John in Revelation 4

So the next event in the history of God’s people is the churches departure to meet the Lord and take part in the marriage supper of the Lamb.

But until then, Jesus was very clear, occupy till I return. We are to use this revelation God gave Paul as an evangelistic tool, not some religious scare tactic.

But if we cant have a confident, intelligent conversation about these truths, people will be just like they were in the days of Noah when God delivered his people from the wrath to come.

Jesus actually tells that it will be as it was in the days of Noah when this event takes place. They went about they’re business, ignoring, mocking, even coming against what Noah was doing, until the day the Lord shut up the ark.

When this event takes place, just like any major news that breaks, the kingdom of darkness controlled media will determine how it’s portrayed, millions won’t even believe it happened.

But there will be those we’ve shared the truth with that wouldn’t accept it while we were here, but they’ll know exactly what happened because we’ve told them in detail what it will look like.

Listen to Paul’s words very carefully, Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

Here’s what we’ve got to stay open to, this revelation stands along side all other Holy Spirit inspired words He gave to His creation.

Listen again to v. 18, So encourage each other with these words. These words in Thessalonians has carried many saints through some unspeakable situations, not only knowing they would instantly be with the Lord, but now on the other side they could no longer be harassed by the enemy about going through the Great Tribulation.

One of the main reasons for this talk is to eliminate any confusion around this subject.

Think about it, if you’ve read the book of Revelation, how is there any way we can comfort and encourage each other to look forward to facing the antichrist.

In Luke 12 Jesus is once again talking to His disciples about occupying and in v.37, Jesus says, Blessed in the servant that the master finds watching. In v.43, He says, “Blessed is the servant that’s busy about the master’s work when he returns.”

Then He said to the multitudes in v.56, “You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times.”

Just like Jesus expected the people of that time to be able to recognize His first time coming, He absolutely expects the people of this time to be able to recognize the time of His coming.

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