Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Listen to this week's message from ACC's Worship and Small Groups Minister Brian Morrissey

How we doin’ ACC? For those of you who don’t know, my name is Brian Morrissey and I am the Worship and Small Groups Pastor here and I am excited to bring you a message today that I feel God laid on my heart.

This is the second message of a series entitled “How to Survive the End of the World”, and in this series we are exploring a discussion that Jesus had with his disciples on the Mount of Olives regarding the signs of the end of the age.

In Matthew Chapter 24, we find our focus text for this series, and I would love to start this morning by reading it with you. So, open your Bibles head over to Matthew 24 and let’s dive right in:

“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For 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.

"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:1-14, NIV)

When I was 12 years old, I became a seventh grader. Seeing as how the elementary school was 1st through 6th grade where I lived, this graduation brought a new school into my life, and that school was Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Chantilly, VA. Having grown up in a government family for my young life, I had already lived in three different states: Alabama, (where I was born), Ohio, (The Cleveland area for the curious), and Virginia, (right outside Washington DC.

Living in Virginia for three years, I had begun to develop some closer friends and we all prepared ourselves to make the leap to Junior High School. Now, to say that we were afraid was an understatement. We were petrified. There were some big kids at our new school, and some of them even had hair on their faces. We just weren’t ready for something like that.

So we went the first day and got our class schedules and began to get to know our new school. Quickly, we settled in to a pattern. Get to class fast, and avoid the eighth graders before they pounded our heads into the lockers. After a month or so, we had a routine down, and we were adjusting to our new life in our new school.

It was just about then that the boom was lowered. My dad came home one evening and sat my brother and me down and announced that he had been transferred to a management position and that we would immediately be moving to the East Bay of San Francisco, California.

Now, let’s stop for just a second and recap. I had already been nervous and anxious about Junior High School, and after adjusting to the unknown with my peers and friends, now we were going to pick up stakes and go to a completely different school in a completely different state with a vastly different culture?

I began to panic. How would I fit in? It was all I could take to have finally ditched my southern accent I was born with in Alabama. How would California kids react to me? Would they shun me? Would I find kids who were like me? Would anybody even like me? How was I to keep up with the extremely fast-paced culture of California? I thought all they did was surf and lay on the beach while driving 90 miles an hour everywhere.

I couldn’t surf; I was white as a ghost and got a sunburn every time I walked out of the house, so the beach was out. What was a pre-teen like me to do? I became alarmed at the prospect of moving. I thought that moving would be the end of my life. And church, that’s what each and every one of us do everyday. We encounter situations that rock us to the core and get us out of our comfort zones and just like Chicken Little, we run around screaming at the top of our lungs, “The Sky is Falling – It’s the End of the World!”

But go back to our text for a minute and let’s have a look at what Jesus says to us in verse 6. 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.

See to it that you are not alarmed. Don’t worry about the future. And here’s the simple truth that you can pull from this Scripture, God knows everything. He will provide for you. God ultimately wins. It’s going to be okay.

I remember waking up on that cold September morning in 2001 and turning on the television to see New York City covered in smoke. And I specifically recall feeling afraid. We had been attacked in our country on our land, and for the first time in my life, I felt like our nation was vulnerable.

I remember watching the buildings collapse one after the other and praying for the families of those people who had been trapped inside and I remember people saying that it was the end. Chicken Littles were running around on the streets saying that God’s judgment had come and it was the end of the age.

People have a natural tendency to fear the unknown. I mean, think about it for a second, why are most people scared of the dark? It’s because they can’t see anything. Why are people scared of death? Because what happens after you die has never been “scientifically” documented. It’s all about what is unknown and it can cripple you until you begin to realize this simple truth found in Scripture.

God knows everything. Isaiah 40:13-14 puts it this way: Has anyone told the LORD what he must do or given him advice? Did the LORD ask anyone to teach him wisdom and justice? Who gave him knowledge and understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13-14, CEV)

There’s an absolutely awesome story in the book of Mark where the disciples are scared to death of the unknown. Let me set the scene for you. In Mark chapter 4, Jesus has been teaching and it’s been a long day of discourse with people and so when evening comes, Jesus is absolutely exhausted and he tells the disciples that they need to hit the boat and get out into the middle of the lake to escape the crowds. We’ll pick it up in verse 35 of Mark Chapter 4.

That day, when evening came, he said to the disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

Picture this scene – calm lake, boats travelling along, and all of a sudden, BAM! A storm breaks out. Not just any storm, but a furious storm. A storm with waves so big that the boat nearly sank. And let’s not forget who we’re dealing with here. These guys were experienced fishermen, so they had seen their fair share of storms, but this one was the BIG ONE. Let me ask you, how many times do the storms of your life come in out of nowhere and you begin to fear for your lives? You begin to wonder where God is. I mean, if he knows your situation, where’s he at? Why doesn’t he just show up? That’s exactly what the disciples thought too. Where’s Jesus? You want to know where he was? Keep reading, ‘cause this gets funny.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

Yeah, where was Jesus? Sleeping. Catching some “Z’s”. It’s pandemonium up on deck and Jesus is napping in the stern of the boat. Why? That’s what the disciples wanted to know. Why was Jesus sleeping? You can hear it in their voice when they find him asleep. “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

How many times have we asked that of God? How many times have we asked God? Don’t you care if I don’t have any money? Don’t you care that I lost my job? Don’t you care that I have this disease? Sometimes, we feel like God just doesn’t care, but it’s not that at all. You see, God knows about your situation. He knows about your finances. He knows about your job. He knows about your medical conditions and your families. And Jesus knew that this storm was coming. Check out his response to the disciples cry for help in their fear of the unknown.

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:35-40, NIV)

Jesus tells the wind and waves to be still and then he wheels on his disciples, upset that they have woken him up in fear and says to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

You see, the only thing that can combat fear is our faith. If we know that God knows everything and he knows what situation we’re facing, even if we don’t, then we should have the faith to trust that he has everything in his hands, and that leads us to another simple truth about fearing the unknown, and that’s this one, God provides everything we need.

God is our provider. When I was in college, I made some seriously stupid financial decisions that I paid for, for many years after I incurred them, but one of the dumbest things I did, besides not tithing, was that I fell behind on some bills and went and did some business at a little place called Cash Advance.

Now surely you guys have heard of them. They’re the people that loan you money to get by until its payday! I thought it was a great idea. Borrow a little money now and then pay it back when you get your next check. They provided money that I needed now and we’d worry about the details later. What I didn’t realize was that they were going to charge me 75% interest on what I borrowed from them. Now let’s put that into meaningful terms.

Let’s say that you and I go to Wendy’s for some hamburgers, and you’re really hungry. You decide to order 4 of the Junior Cheeseburger Deluxe sandwiches and then you reach for your wallet to find that you forgot to bring it with you. So you turn to me and say, “I forgot my money, can you spot me for these four cheeseburgers. My response is, “Sure, but it’ll cost you 75% interest.” You’re really hungry and you see that I can provide you with four cheeseburgers for no money right then, so you take the deal.

Then, next week rolls around, and all of a sudden, I come collecting on those cheeseburgers. At 75% interest, now you have to pay for my SEVEN Cheeseburgers. Yeah, that’s right. The original four, plus seventy five percent interest which is another three.

I didn’t realize what kind of a financial mess I was getting into, I just used Cash Advance to provide for my immediate needs, and I ended up paying for it big time.

You see, I wasn’t trusting God to provide everything for me. I didn’t trust him to come through in the most dire of circumstances. When the end of the world happens, we’re going to have to trust Jesus to provide in the midst of some pretty dire circumstances.

Look at what Jesus said again in Matthew 24 “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)

Nation against nation. Kingdom against kingdom. Have you watched the news recently? There are all kinds of conflicts going on around the world. Not only that, but Jesus goes on to talk about famine and earthquakes.

Now, famine is not something that we understand very well over here in America. We live in the richest and most culturally obese nation on the face of the planet. Only in America can you have someone who struggles with poverty and obesity at the same time. But, famine is not something we struggle with. There is an overabundance of food to be had.

In most nations around the world, however, famine is a reality. Let me describe a famine stricken nation for you. We’ll look at Kenya.

Kenya is home to more than 40 different ethnic groups, which represent many languages and cultures. While once able to feed its people and sell surplus food to its neighbors, Kenya has suffered the strains of rapid population growth, particularly in rural areas. Soil and weather conditions, including drought, can also threaten the food supply. Only 17 percent of Kenya's land is suitable for farming. The rest is arid and subject to frequent dry spells.

In Kenya, every three seconds, a child dies because he or she is either malnourished or has contracted a deadly disease which also runs rampant in famine stricken lands. Most children in that country do not even see their fifth birthday.

Let me ask you something? How many of you own your own garbage disposal? When was the last time you put garbage down it? Mostly it’s food that you can’t eat because you’re full. Yet, kids are dying in countries around the world because of famines. God sees that. God wants to provide for that.

Psalm 146:7 says this – “He gives justice to the poor and food to the hungry.” (Psalm 146:7, CEV) God does provide for everyone. Right now, you’re saying to yourself, well, it doesn’t look like he provides for everyone, because there’s famine happening all over the world. Well maybe God wants to provide for them through you and your overstuffed bank account. Maybe there wouldn’t be famine across the world if you would actually take an interest in what’s going on and let God provide for someone else through you.

God provides for our needs. We don’t have to fear the future. Famine, War, Disease, we don’t have to fear them because God is bigger. He knows everything and he will provide for everything and everyone.

The other things that Jesus mentions in this passage are earthquakes in various places. Some of you may have turned the news on last Sunday, only to discover that there had been an earthquake in Mexico. That earthquake was so strong that my in-laws felt it in their home near San Diego. It was so strong there, that my Father-in-Law told us that our family picture fell off their wall and almost hit him in the head.

I decided to do a survey yesterday of how many earthquakes have happened around the world in the past three months. I’ve heard about the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, Mexico, and even Illinois, but I wanted to see how many have happened around the world since the beginning of this year. I figured, maybe a handful.

According to the US Geological Survey, as of yesterday, April 10th, 2010 there have been 3105 earthquakes worldwide that measure over 2.0 on the Richter scale in 2010 alone. That’s more earthquakes then we had from 1700 – 1900 combined.

Jesus said that nation would rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There would be famines and earthquakes and we can all look at the headlines from any paper around the world and say, “I see that everyday.” So logically, we could conclude that Jesus must be coming back soon. Well, possibly. Jesus is coming back, but here’s the kicker: Speaking of his return, here was Jesus’ response.

No one knows the day or hour. The angels in heaven don't know, and the Son himself doesn't know. Only the Father knows. (Matthew 24:36, CEV). Only the Father knows. Jesus doesn’t even know. So when God knows everything and God provides everything, what is left to fear?

Do you know what worry is? When you worry about something, you are carrying a burden that you were never meant to carry. Worry is the opposite of faith. Worry is nothing more than taking a burden onto your own shoulders because you don’t have the faith that God can carry it for you. Trust God. Don’t worry. Have the faith that he will do what He said He would. Your friends and family might abandon you. God will never abandon you. He loves you.

You can’t worry about wars and nations against nations and famine and earthquakes because God has it all under control. The disciples didn’t get that, and often times, we don’t get it either.

The disciples were worried about the signs of the end and these are the things Jesus told them. These are the signs of the beginning of the end.

The End. Those two words are able to really make people worry. When I was younger, I was an avid video gamer. My favorite game of all time was the Legend of Zelda. Sorry Mario fans, Link is the true hero. You all know it. Anyway, I used to spend hours and hours playing that game and every so often, I would come up against an enemy that I couldn’t defeat yet because they were too strong and that enemy ended my quest on the game and I was presented with this screen:

Three Options: Continue, Save, Retry. Apparently what I thought was the end, wasn’t the end. I was able to Continue my game from the spot I died at; I could Save if I was tired of playing the game and if I thought I was doing really bad, I could Retry everything. The problem is that most of us have come to view our lives that way.

We all want to continue, save, or retry because we feel like we didn’t get it right the first time. Look, only one man in the history of the world was perfect. His name was Jesus. And He told us not to be alarmed about anything.

You shouldn’t fear anything, because God knows everything and God provides everything, but you especially shouldn’t fear because ultimately at “The End”, there will be no Continue, Save, or Retry because in the End, God ultimately wins.

Go back to what Jesus said in Matthew 24. “See to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. God ultimately wins. At the end of time when all has taken place, Jesus has come back, Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire and those of us who love Jesus will go home to live with him forever because we win!

Most of us know that and yet we’re still confused by the idea of it because we get tangled up in the “how” of how it’s going to happen. Look, we don’t need to know how it’s going to happen; we just need to know THAT it’s going to happen.

Read what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:18-21 - I am sure that what we are suffering now cannot compare with the glory that will be shown to us. In fact, all creation is eagerly waiting for God to show who his children are. Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope that creation would be set free from decay and would share in the glorious freedom of his children. (CEV)

There are two things church Creator (God) and creation (everything else) Creation is under the curse of sin. Because we have sin in our lives, this world is under its curse and without getting into theology too much, that’s why we suffer through illness, disease, famine, earthquakes, and pain.

But ultimately God wins and he will send His Son, Jesus back to claim what is rightfully his; His people. The Creator (God) wants to set his creation (us) free from decay (sin) so that we can share in glorious freedom.

That’s exactly why Isaac Watts wrote this lyric in his song Joy to the World, “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.”

Look, God didn’t send his son Jesus to the earth so that you and I would have to follow a bunch of rules and be afraid of everything and everyone. Jesus came to set each and everyone of us free from sin and to give us hope not fear.

Jeremiah 29:11 is what I would call a life verse for me. I use it whenever I need encouragement, or I start to doubt, or I become fearful. Here is what it says. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” Where do you see the fear in that verse? Where do you see rules that have to be followed? You don’t. Jesus came to set us free. The trade-off is this. If you love someone enough, you would be willing to follow their every example and do whatever they needed you to do.

If my wife asks me to do something, I don’t tell her no, because I feel like she’s ruling over me. I do it because I love her. Hear this: If you don’t want to follow Jesus just because you don’t want to follow his rules for your life, you don’t understand a thing about love. Jesus died on a cross and gave his life for you. The least thing you can do is love him for it.

For most people, that’s the hang up. We don’t want to follow him because of our fear. We fear the loss of control over our lives. It’s a good thing that Jesus didn’t turn back from the cross because of fear. He kept his cool. He knew what had to be done and he went willingly to die on a cross that should’ve been ours. We deserved death, he deserved life. Yet he died to give us a hope and a future and we have the audacity to be afraid of what he wants us to do.

The bottom line is this. If you don’t have a clue who Jesus is, you need to know him. Out of everything I’ve said today, one thing still remains. If you don’t know who Jesus is, you should be afraid. You should fear.

The Bible tells us that when we die, one of two things will happen. Jesus will either look at us if we knew and loved him by following his example and say, “Well Done good and faithful servant,” or he’ll say, “depart from me, I don’t know who you are.”

We’ve already looked today in the Scripture and found that no one knows what day or hour Jesus will return. At that point, it’s the end. There will be no Continue, Save, or Retry.

There was a story I heard a few years ago about a teenage girl who loved her mom and dad and didn’t want to tell them that she had developed an alcohol addiction. One night, her mom confronted her as she was leaving the house for a party and asked her if there was anything she wanted to talk about. The girl, nervous, screamed no there’s nothing mom, why do you always have to invade my life, and slamming the front door, she headed out of the house to her boyfriend’s car where they drove to the party.

All night long, the fact that she hadn’t told her mother about her problem ate away at the girl until she finally couldn’t stand it any longer. She decided that the time had come to tell her mom and dad and so she asked her boyfriend to drive her back to her house so she could tell her mom and dad.

Her boyfriend was more than a little drunk and by the time they started heading back down the mountain, their car was reaching top speeds of over 90 miles an hour. Her boyfriend never saw the oncoming headlights and in a flash it was all over.

Lying in a hospital bed, dying from internal injuries, the girl whispered to the nurse, I wish I could’ve told my parents about my alcohol addiction and tell them that I loved them. Then the girl died in her hospital bed. The nurse later recounted that she didn’t have the heart to tell the girl that the people driving in the other car had been her parents and they had died instantly.

When Jesus comes back, it’s GAME OVER. You either knew him or you didn’t. No second chance. No final thoughts. It’s OVER, and you either get to spend eternity with or without God.

For those of you who are here today and you’ve been living the life where you know who Jesus is and maybe for some of you, you’ve even given your life to him, yet you practically live as if he never existed, you need to do some serious soul searching and find out whether you need to be afraid of the approaching day or not.

Don’t wait and let another day go by without giving Jesus control of your life. There’s nothing to fear, and nothing to worry about. God knows everything, God provides everything and ultimately God wins. Don’t let today go by without surrendering all to Him.

Brian Morrissey

Tags: end times, fear, How to Survive the End of the World, Matthew 24, worry,