The End of All Things is at Hand

Okay, well good morning, and I greet you in the name of Jesus. It is good to be here. Thank you very much, youth, Austin, and everybody else that made that possible.

What you just did there with the singing, that was, that was, uh, yeah, I loved it, and tried to capture at least some of it on a video, but I'm not sure how good I did, but we'll, we'll see. But thank you, that was, that was a huge blessing. The song about Jesus, songs about Jesus, I can say.

His peace that he's leaving, his, his resurrection, all of that. Wonderful things to be reminded of. You heard a verse this morning that Benjamin read from 1st Peter, and if you want to turn to 1st Peter for a while, you can do that.

I will say this, that I have an experience this morning that is not normal for me, and that is changing gears at the last minute. Making a, you know, thinking I'm going to be preaching a certain way all week long, or maybe several weeks, and then at the last minute feeling like, I think this needs to change. You say, well, what, what is it that has come up? Well, this, this week's been an interesting week.

I'll say, I'll share a couple of things that happened this week. Number one was with our daughter, Corrie. She was, some things changed with their living arrangements, and she was debating, is she going to come here or not? There was some kind of back and forth.

There were some decisions, what kind of expectations that we should have, if any. And anyway, at this point, she is not planning to come back here to live right now. That could change, I suppose, anytime.

I will, we'll have to just see how God leads. But that's been on my mind. Another thing that's been on my mind, especially since yesterday morning, I was listening to Anabaptist Identity Conference.

It started on Thursday evening back in Ohio, and went all day Friday, and then it ended up, ended Saturday at noon their time. And so noon their time is nine o'clock our time. So I wanted to get up yesterday, and when I say this has been heavy on my mind, this is something I haven't shared with anybody yet.

If anybody listened in, they heard the same things I did. Thought about sharing it with my family, decided, well, I'll just, just wait. I guess I'm sharing it with all of you now.

But Saturday morning at six o'clock, this was going to start our time. Nine o'clock their time. And there was going to be a couple of sessions by Chester Weaver on the two kingdoms, and the history of the two kingdoms.

And then after that there was going to be a series, a panel discussion, I should say, by John D. Martin. He's going to lead this panel discussion of the various speakers. And so there were six or seven men up there taking questions.

So I wanted to listen to this. So I dialed in at six o'clock, but what they normally do at this Anabaptist Identity Conference is they have a devotions, and they hire someone, or they engage someone else, not hire them. They get someone else, come up there, and just have like a five minute devotions, and then prayer, and then you go on with the main session.

And so these are people that are not on the schedule. So the very first thing on Saturday morning, Brother Nathan Overholt, he was the one that was moderating, he says, come on forward, Jesse. And so I didn't know who this Jesse was.

He said, Jesse, can you just share a little bit about who you are, tell about your story, and then if you want to share verses or whatever, then lead in prayer, and then we'll go on with the session. So Jesse, his name, he said, was he got up there and he says, okay, well my name is Jesse Hershberger. And he sounded like kind of a young man, probably in his 20s or 30s, articulate, he knew how to speak, he seemed to have a good command of the English language, and so he starts telling his story.

Jesse said, first of all, my name is Jesse Hershberger, and I am the grandson of Daniel Hershberger. Some of you know him. Grandpa, are you here somewhere? He looks out across, and sure, oh yeah, there's grandpa.

And his grandpa's name is Daniel Hershberger. Jesse said, here's my story. He said, must have been about 20 years ago, my mom left home.

He says, my mom left in order so that she could get married to a divorced man. This divorced man that she married had children already, had older children, but my mom wanted to get married to him. And I'm starting to gather, now what kind of a background is this Jesse? And I still don't know for sure, but I kind of gathered he's probably Amish, maybe New Order Amish, I'm not sure, maybe even Beachy Amish.

He knows German, I know that, so that gives a little bit of a clue as to where he might fit in. But some sort of a conservative Anabaptist setting. And Jesse says, my mom left home, and she married this divorced man, and together they had four little boys.

He says, I was one of those four boys, about two years apart. And after they had these four boys, through the influence of my grandpa, through the influence of some of my uncles, my mom began to be convicted that maybe she shouldn't be in this divorce and remarriage situation. They talked to her about this.

Eventually her heart softened, and she decided it's time to separate. He says, I still remember, it was Father's Day weekend, about 20 years ago. He says, me and my brothers, we were on the way to the racetrack with my father, and we're gonna go watch cars race.

And he says, on the way there, my dad got a call from my mom, and she's explaining to him that she can't go on in this divorce and remarriage relationship. And he got extremely angry. They never made it to the racetrack.

He said, my dad, stop. They turned around, and they headed to a babysitter. He says, you dropped me and my brothers off at this babysitter, and he drove home.

And there he took the life of my mother, and then he took his own life. So these four little boys are orphans. Where are they gonna go? The older siblings thought maybe they should take them in.

But he said, my grandpa, Daniel Hershberger, he fought for custody of us, and he won. And he said, we were raised with my grandfather. We were raised in this conservative Anabaptist setting.

Today, Jesse says, he says, I'm happily married. He says, I'm a deacon in my church. He had his wife stand.

She was back there in the audience. I think her name was Rachel. She said, would you please stand? So she stood.

He now has children of his own. He now is leading a stable Christian life. And he wanted to say thank you to those who played a part in his own upbringing.

Thank you to his grandpa. Thank you to other family members who had a part in this. I think you know why that hit me hard.

I think you know enough about our situation with our own daughter that why that hit me the way it did. That wasn't the only thing that happened this week. It was probably one of the bigger ones, but it was probably the biggest thing.

Earlier in the week, a day before Friday, we had a meeting with the people from CAM, the people who design these billboards. Recently, just this past year, I was asked to be on the panel or the discussion group where we design these billboards. And so on Friday, we were talking about some new billboards, especially for college students.

You know, if there's any person, any group of people in the world today who are gonna be hard to reach with the gospel, it's probably college students. Number one, they're young. They got their life before them.

Number two, they're probably wealthy if they're going to college. And number three, they're having, you know, better health than their older peers are. And spring break is coming, and these people are gonna be on the road.

And we're trying to think of a message that would target these college students that are out to have a good time. And so on Friday morning, we pushed this thing back and forth, and we finally came up with one. I'll show you a picture of it.

This was sent out to the...after...okay, here's what the billboard looks like. And let me, before I show it to you, let me show you why you're seeing it, why I was seeing it, why we as a phone team were seeing it. Now, I'm on two different groups.

I'm on the team that designs them, but I'm also on the team that takes calls. And so it came out to us as a group that takes calls and said, here's the design. Can you guys think of some...a Bible verse? We always try to put a scripture reference down at the bottom, very small letters, but just something for people to look up.

And so my question to you is, as you look at this billboard, can you think of a scripture reference that would go with it? What scripture would you put on this? So here it is. Can everybody see that? I'll read it to you, but if you want me to tip it one way or the other, I can. It says, alcohol, partying, lust, consider eternity.

Raise your hand if you can read it from where you're sitting. Most of you can. Alcohol, partying, lust, consider eternity.

And so it went out to these billboard team members, and they said, can you give us some ideas of what kind of a scripture reference we could put on there? I'd like to read to you, and maybe you want to raise your hand, I'm going to read to you some of the Bible verses that came back from the billboard team. And I want you to consider these, because these aren't just Bible verses about the people out there. They're Bible verses for us.

Where are you at with the Lord? Are you considering eternity? Here's one of the verses that was suggested. Matthew 16, 26. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Galatians 6, 7, and 8. Be not deceived.

God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.

But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Another one, Ecclesiastes 11, 9. But know thou that for all these things God shall bring thee into judgment. Another one, Ecclesiastes 12, 13, and 14.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Here's another suggestion. John 5, 28 and 29.

Marvel not at this. For the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.

We also got a call this week. When I say we, the Billboard team did. I did not take this call.

This was a lady named Hannah. Hannah, she says, I am from... She talked to Brother Dale Eby. She told him that she is at a college in the state of Oregon.

And she said that one of the men who was there in that college, this inter-varsity chapter, whatever that is, was killed yesterday biking home from a church service. It must have been probably about a week ago today this happened. This man was 28 years old.

He was an international student from the country of Kenya. And she said he was a person who freely shared his faith. He was a Christian and he would share his faith with others.

Now, Hannah is a believer, so she's not mad about this, but she just was asking questions. She saw the potential in this man, this man from Kenya as a Christian, a believer, to take the gospel back with him to Kenya. He wanted to preach and teach about Jesus, but now this man is gone.

So she was just calling. She was calling just to talk about her feelings. They had prayer together.

She said there's going to be a debriefing at the college that night, this place where this man was living. They're going to have a debriefing, people to process this death. He was on a bike.

I guess I even looked it up. It was actually at the U of O in Eugene. I found it on the news, some news site, but it said it was the corner of 22nd and Patterson where this happened, where this bike and a speeding car collided and this man died.

I looked it up and was wondering whether maybe it'd be a good sign holding corner. Not sure, but we'll see. But this is where it happened.

And they're thinking about this. They're thinking about this death. And as we prayed together, we prayed that God would move among those friends who were not believers, that there would be something good come out of this tragedy.

And then he's also sent her some resources. And so again, these are the college students. Are they reachable with the gospel? Is it possible to touch people at that stage of life with everything that they supposedly have going for them? And that's a question in my mind.

That's a question with us as we think about putting up these billboards. If you have your Bibles open to 1 Peter, I'd like to just look at this chapter. I've been thinking about this chapter for a while.

Again, we're going a little different direction than what I had envisioned earlier that we would. But there's something about this book of 1 Peter that seems to be a forefront in Peter's mind. And he says it in chapter 4, verse 7, when he says this, the end of all things is at hand.

The end of all things is at hand. And this is a, I don't know if you'd say, is it a cloud that's hanging over Peter's writing? The end of all things is at hand. Or you could say it another way.

The end of the world is coming soon. Now, that was 2000 years ago. Peter must have had it wrong, we might say.

Peter thought it was coming soon, but no, it didn't actually happen then. But you know, for Peter, it did. He's gone.

All of his peers are gone. And for us, I don't know when this, it's been something that's been in my mind lately. The end of the world, how soon is it coming? Or maybe the end of my sojourn in the world.

And it's just, it's been something I've been thinking about. And Peter brings this out. He says the end of all things is at hand.

And then Peter, you know, if we back up now to the beginning of the chapter, 1 Peter chapter 1, we're going to read a number of instructions. And every one of them, we could say, is because of the reason that the end is at hand. The end is coming.

And because the end is coming, why should, you know, why should we do these things? Well, first of all, he says that we should be born again. You are born again, verse 3 and verse 23. Why should we be born again? Because the end of all things is at hand.

He says in verse 6, we should greatly rejoice. Why? Because the end of all things is at hand. We heard about that last Sunday, the sermon on joy.

Why should we rejoice? Why should we have joy if we're right with God? Because the end of all things is at hand. The verse that Benjamin read, gird up the loins of our minds, or you can say it this way, prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. That's how the NLT puts it.

Prepare your minds for action. Be self-controlled. Why? Because the end of all things is at hand.

Verse 15 says, be holy in all matter of conversation or in everything you do. Why? Because the end of all things is at hand. Verse 17 says, pass the time of your sojourning here.

That's not a term we use very often, but it means basically you're just here temporarily. You're just a sojourner. Pass your time in fear.

Fear doesn't sound very pleasant. It doesn't sound like the same as rejoicing, but they go together. The fear of God and the joy of the Lord are both extremely important.

Why should we do that? Why should we pass our time in fear? Because the end of all things is at hand. Verse 22 says, you should purify your souls. Why? The end of all things is at hand.

It says we should love one another. And then go up to chapter 2 verse 11. It says, I urge you to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Why should we do that? Because the end of all things is at hand. So let's read this chapter here. 1 Peter chapter 1. And I'm going to start out in the King James.

I may be bouncing around to some other translations or another translation that I have here in front of me. I do have the NLT. Maybe somebody else has another one that they like.

But let's read this. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Let me read that in another translation.

All praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again. Because God raised Jesus from the dead.

Now we live with great expectation. And we have a priceless inheritance. An inheritance that is kept in heaven for you.

Pure and undefiled beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation. Which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

Now it says you're going to receive a salvation. Some of you are saying well I've already received salvation. Are you saved? Some people ask.

That's a good question. And hopefully you can say yes I'm saved. If not get saved.

But here he's saying there's a salvation that is yet to come. And what is that salvation that is yet to come? Ready to be revealed in the last time. Let's start here with verse 6. Wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be you're in heaviness through manifold temptations.

That the trial of your faith be in much more precious than of gold that perisheth. Though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Jesus whom having not seen ye love.

In whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And again it says receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls. It says whom having not seen Jesus but you love him.

Is it possible to love someone you've never seen? I hope so. Here it says it is. Is it possible to love somebody you've never known? The answer is no you can't do that.

You can love someone you've never seen but you can't love someone you've never known. So I hope you know Jesus even though you've never seen him. Because if you know him you can love him.

And if you don't know him you can get to know him. Verse 8 in the NLT says you love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now you trust him and you rejoice with a glorious inexpressible joy.

The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. Verse 10 back to the KJV of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come to you. Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.

Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they'd administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts and your ignorance but as he which has called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy.

Here's how the NLT says verse 14 so you must live as God's obedient children don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then but now you must be holy in everything you do just as God who chose you is holy. Verse 17 and if you call on the Father who without respective persons judges according to every man's work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.

For as much as you know you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by your tradition by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you. Now there is talking about redemption to be redeemed. In the NLT it says a ransom you know that God paid a ransom to save you.

What's a ransom? What does it mean to be redeemed? An illustration has been going through my mind what this thing redeemed means. Suppose we would have a country a war going on actually let's just say what if it was 30 years in the future North Korea is now more powerful than ever North Korea has taken over but let's say it's the son of this guy who's in power right now and this this son we hoped he would be better but he's not he's worse and now he's trying to take over the continent first of all he convinces China to become part of his empire and then he convinces Russia now you got all the nukes in Asia all on one side of this evil man and then he starts looking down at the largest country in the world India it's a democracy it's not a communist country but he wants to take over India and suppose you have a man there in India who's very loyal to he's very loyal to democracy he wants freedom he doesn't want to surrender to these these evil people that they are looking at that want to take over the world these communists but this man is running for president and he runs for president and he wins but that makes the Kim dynasty man over there in North Korea absolutely angry and he starts sending in his nukes into India and he wipes out a huge portion of the population although with India 1.4 billion people it's gonna you know it's gonna there's gonna be a lot of surviving going on even after millions and millions are dead but then they they they they get on the news and they say we're gonna wipe out this country and we've already wiped out all your defenses your missile defenses and so this man this prince this this president-elect he gets on the phone and Kim I'll surrender to you I will give my life as a ransom for my people preserve their lives take me now imagine what that would be like when they arrest this man this prince this president-elect and they say yes we'll do it that's a deal well this will get rid of all this this democracy influence if we can just get this prince and arrest him and take him and torture him and kill him back to North Korea suppose what happens as they take this man and they put him on a train and they they're heading out across China open-top train high-speed train people are pelting him with eggs they're pelting with stones are pelting him with all you know all the abuse that they can until finally this man this prince this prince of democracy from India he arrives in North Korea and the the news goes back to India your prince will be dead within 48 hours we haven't fed him any water we haven't fed him any food he's gonna he's been tortured he's gonna be dead you might as well have the funeral so they call the funeral everybody in the capital city New Delhi let's have a day of mourning we're gonna also give thanks and pay honor to him for saving our lives but you know on the third day after he's gone out he comes walking on the balcony with this with with this through this curtain and he says I had a key that I smuggled all the way into North Korea this key was a was a was a super intelligence key that could unlock everything I unlocked the prison where I was I also unlocked the prison doors of all the people that the political prisons there in the basement of Kim and they've been set free he says furthermore I disarmed every one of those nuclear weapons in in North Korea he says I'm now back here to establish a kingdom I want you to join he says we we've gotten help from we've got a promise of help from America they're gonna help us and we're going to attack and we're going to win this war against this evil communist dynasty he says how many want to join and how many people do you think would want to join there in India if he's paid his for his life with these with the with his life his torture his blood how many people would join that army to go and conquer the world it's gonna be long it's gonna be bloody it's not gonna be hard it's not gonna be easy you're going to have to make some incredible sacrifices you see he's paid a ransom for his people he's paid a redemption for his people 2,000 years ago Jesus did that he came to this earth the devil had a finger had a hand on this earth the devil had the rights to this earth not because he built this earth but because he stole it by deception the deception there in the garden he did he stole the rights to your souls and my souls but Jesus says I will pay for that I will redeem it I will ransom you not ransomed with cheap things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ and now he says will you join my army we're going to win we're going to conquer we're going to win this war against Satan it's not going to be easy don't expect you can get by without doing some suffering without denying yourselves and taking up your cross but we will win if you join my army and this is a this is this is where we're at today you were redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot when Jesus entered into the dungeon of the devil he had a key the power of a sinless life and it translated then into the power of an endless life and nothing the devil could do could hold him if the devil would have known he wouldn't they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory if he would have known that he was smuggling that key in there but he had that key and he you could say he deceived the devil and he won the battle but he's winning the battle we can see around us the battles not done yet there's people we read about this morning people who were still denying Jesus people who were still destined for ultimate destruction a destruction worse than Sodom and Gomorrah but Jesus is inviting them not to take part in that to start destruction seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit and to unfeigned love of the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently you were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters love each other deeply with all your heart for you have been born again but not to a life that will quickly end Peter keeps talking about this he keeps talking about this end this life we're in right now is ending and Peter is it's quite it's right in the front of his mind but you have another life coming that's not going to end your new life will last forever becomes because it comes from an eternal living Word of God as the Scriptures say people are like grass their beauty is like a flower of the field the grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of the Lord remains forever and that word is the good news that was preached to you so even though this life that we're living right now it will not last forever there is a life that will last forever one last story here I just picked this up every home for Christ is an organization that is well that's what they want to do they want to reach every home in the world for Christ and down in Costa Rica there's a pastor there named pastor Melvin and they had a bunch of churches that they brought together they'd use some of these scripture books booklets from World Missionary Press is pure scripture pretty much and they're handing them out but they had a they had a goal there to go and pass these out to go share the gospel with people around them it was all going according to plan from pastor Melvin's perspective churches from all over the community had gathered to carry Christ to their neighbors and homes in the public spaces it was a perfect Saturday for outreach to bright warm Sun filled the park where Melvin and his team were chatting with people as they passed prayed and gave away Bibles and gospel literature for some of the believers this was their first outreach some were nervous naturally about finding the right words or having enough courage the mood was joyous and full of anticipation for what God was going to do in this place with this humble earnest offering of time and love God's presence filled the area Melvin could see in the gentle hands on the gentle hands on the soldier shoulders as people prayed together and the focus expression of his team as they listen to neighbors tell their story but as captivating as it was his attention Melvin's attention was drawn over and over to a man sitting by himself on a bench a little distance away it was as if the Holy Spirit was pulling Melvin's eyes toward the man our team our home team our every home Costa Rica team says though others were ministering Melvin felt a strong and unmistakable prompt unmistakable prompting from God to approach him so Melvin followed the tug of his heart he sat beside this man and he began to share about God's love and mercy and the forgiveness that we can have through Jesus almost as soon as Melvin began speaking the man on the bench burst into tears Melvin leaned in to hear the words the man's words through his weeping the man said this he says I have a knife with me right now he said I was planning to kill somebody today the man shared his story with Melvin how anger despair and darkness had overwhelmed him consumed him and now he knew he stood on the edge of a life-altering choice at that moment through pastor Melvin God interrupted the gospel words of life revealed a new path touched by the Holy Spirit the man repented and surrendered his life to Jesus as an expression of his choice to leave violence behind the man handed Melvin his knife he chose our team writes he chose he chose life instead of destruction and hope instead of despair through these outreaches God was at work orchestrating moments that would change lives forever this testimony stands as a powerful reminder that no heart is beyond God's reach but the story doesn't end there our Every Home Team reports that local church embraced this man walking alongside him providing discipleship and spiritual support through the steadfast love and fellowship of believers God was has continued to restore his life in remarkable ways he now has a job bringing stability and dignity his marriage which was broken has been restored and reconciliation has taken place in his family God's provided a means to pay off his debts this is a story about a moment an interruption our team writes it reminds us that when the gospel reaches people the right moment God can rewrite even the darkest chapters would you all stand with me we'll pray Lord we come to you in the name of Jesus thank you for this reminder that you can rewrite even the darkest chapters and one of the darkest chapters ever was when Jesus the Prince of Peace was nailed to a cross and buried and yet God raised you raised him from the dead and we are thankful for that Lord and we are thankful that because he lives we can live also and I pray Lord that you would touch this congregation here if there's anybody here that doesn't have that life flowing through them that life of Christ they don't they're not experiencing that new birth they're not experiencing that salvation that's ready to be revealed in the last time I pray that you would touch them and draw them to yourself that you would build your kingdom today you would save souls and and Lord for those of us that that are following you are doing as as as best as we can with the help and grace that we've availed ourselves of to follow you Lord I pray that you would renew our passion for you you'd renew our commitment to your kingdom you'd help us to walk with you you'd help us to fight the devil thank you that we're on the winnings the winning team we're on the winning side and Lord I pray that you would just just give us that commitment to follow you wherever you would lead and let nothing stand in the way so Lord build your kingdom today let your kingdom come your will be done on earth like it is in heaven may you forgive us our sins as we forgive others what they've done against us may you just guide and direct us in everything in Jesus name amen you may be seated