Matthew 24:10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.

  • We are in the end days, and the Bible has informed us that many would fall away
  • We have to stay rather than quitting too quickly

Four Signs before Christ Return

  1. Peace and Security

1 Thessalonians 5:3 (NKJV) For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

  1. In the days of Noah

Matthew 24:37-39 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

  1. Deception and Complacency

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good , treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

  1. The rise of the “Progressive”

Isaiah 5:20-21 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

How to move forward for the coming of End days.

  • Two main attacks that may hinder us: Doubt and Discouragement
  • What help us move forward? The Promises and the Power of God.

 

Staying in His Promises

Key verse: Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

  • God is a promise keeper, whatever He promises He will do.
  • Ultimate purpose of God to fulfil His promise in our lives is that He gets the glory through us
  • Therefore, put His Kingdom and His will first, and the promises of God will be fulfilled

 

  1. Prerequisite

2 Chronicles 14:2-6 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him. And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.

  • All the things that King Asa did are the prerequisites: removal of foreign gods, commanding the people to seek God, to observe the law and the commandment.
  • The Fulfilment of God’s promise – Kingdom was quiet under him and he was given rest

Other examples on the fulfilment of God’s promise

  • Mat 6:14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you
  • Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.
  • James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Therefore, take action now, start removing any and every altars and high places in our lives, in our career, our money, our fear, our wants, our family.

  1. Proclamation

2 Chronicles 14:9-12 Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!” So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

  • Proclamation – Asa cried out (Hebrew (verb): qara’ – to call, call out, recite, read, cry out,
  • After proclaiming the character of God, God kept His promise and struck the Ethiopians
  • We have to proclaim aloud the promises of God, even though God can hear our prayers in silence, we proclaim to let the devil hears
  • We must know the promises of God well and remember them in our heart
  • Internalize the Promises of God’s word and Pray His promises over our circumstances

2 Chronicles 15:1-2&7 Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you… But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”

  1. Perseverance

2 Chronicles 16:1-3 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

  • We would think he would learn from his past experience when God defeated the Ethiopians
  • Instead of trusting in the Lord, he trusted in men, he trusted in himself.
  • King Asa got what he wanted; Ben-Hadad king of Syria heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel and Baasha king of Israel withdrew.
  • Though he got what he wants, but it is not God’s will.

2 Chronicles 16:7-9 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

  • King Asa may say “It is different now, the last time is only Ethiopians, but now it is Israel joining forces with Syria. They are too powerful for me…”
  • But the Prerequisite is to have a heart that is loyal to God, and His Promise is to show Himself strong on our behalf
  • Thus, we must persevere even though circumstances seem unfavourable.

Application: This week as you read the word of God, look out for His promise and start taking action on the prerequisites.