What's This World Coming To — Isaiah 26

0:00 Good morning. Good morning. Have primitive PowerPoint and PowerPoint today. So I got both end of the year, oh that's next week too, right? So okay, next week.

0:23 I'd like to ask you a question, because it's a question that a lot of people have thought about. They really have, especially in our culture today. Especially if you listen to any of the news services, you know, especially if you listen, if you're a news junkie, you might be asking this question. I mean, when you talk about the possibility, the possibilities of North Korea with an ICBM, intercontinental ballistic missile, with multiple warheads on the end of it, you get a little nervous about things. Seoul, Korea Seoul is really nervous because what would North Korea do if, you know, all interplay.

1:20 And so we asked the question, we asked this question, and I'd like to put it up here. I'm going to make white letters with a black paintbrush. Okay. If I make a mistake, it's... I don't know if it's my fault.

1:48 It's a pretty good question, I think, and I think you have probably said it if you're a thinking individual. You ever asked this question? What's this world coming to? I'm getting older, and I realize that even during lifetime, the fear of things have really been there. There really have been a lot of fear in terms of global expansion.

3:05 We have the Cold War. I grew up... I was actually born during the Truman administration. That puts me at a few waybacks there. And some of you were born during the Roosevelt.

3:25 The Roosevelt then, I mean, you know, couldn't help it. So, you look at this, but I was in the Truman administration, and during the Truman administration, 07/06/1952, and then that's when Eisenhower was running for office for the presidency and won it, and then became president in '53. But this is, you know, the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, Winston Churchill coined that phrase, Iron Curtain. There has been a curtain, and its iron has dropped over Europe because of the Soviet expansion, etcetera. And he's the guy that said during the, I think it was the Potsdam Accords, when they were dividing up Europe, He said, it was Winston Churchill that said we need to shake hands with the Russians as far east as possible.

4:23 But they got pretty far west and split Germany, etcetera. And it was really, really tough. And then you had the Communist purge in China, and the Republic Of China, ROC jumped to Taiwan, and they they took over with Mao Tse Tung, and they took over the whole country in the communist purge, and many Christians went to prison and were killed, and political dissidents, and etcetera, etcetera. And people are looking and so scared, it was just so scared, everybody was so scared. And then as I was growing up, you had situations, you had Vietnam, you had the Korean War, then Vietnam, then etcetera, etcetera.

5:09 And what, you know, during the sixties, early 60s to mid 60s, had actually to the late 60s, you had this constantly being asked, and this is, and in fact, it was John Lennon, I think he wrote it, and the Beatles sang it, you know that song, it's really a real popular song. All we are asking is give peace a chance. Right? Do you remember that song? Okay.

5:46 I did a really great rendition of it. And so this, I saw this on backs of rhinestone studded army jackets. You were not a student in college unless you owned an army jacket. And this was on the back of it, and they said, well, you know, this what we want. We want peace, we want to have this, and the march, my brother marched at the, he marched at the, what do you call it, the Washington Peace March.

6:18 My sister was shot at at Kent State, 05/04/1970. She was shot at. She hid behind a tree when the Ohio National Guard had live ammunition. My sister was there. And it was really a freaky thing because when Bill Schroeder was killed, he was one of the four that died at the, everybody from across the country were calling my parents in Los Angeles, wondering if they had made a mistake with the bill and thought it was my sister.

6:49 You know, these things, right? The Washington Peace March, they had campus riots all over the place, and people are just, peace, we want peace, you know? And I'm for peace, that's for sure. I'm for peace, but a lot of people are saying no, no, no, no. What really is going to come down to it is this right here.

7:16 And maybe you saw Tiananmen Square where the students stood in front of the tank, And then they had tanks rolling. I mean, you know, The United States arsenal has the Abrams A1A tank. I think it's A1A. It goes 60 miles an hour on a desert floor. The shocks shock absorbers are unbelievable.

7:38 Can shoot laser guided missiles. It's just unbelievable, the technology. And people are so afraid of this, and rightfully so. People would say, we really want to go to war, we really want to get them. They don't understand it.

7:56 They don't understand it. I was, my father saw combat. My father was in four major engagements. He was in the Ardennes, he was at the Battle of the Bulge, he saw his friends die. He was in hand to hand combat.

8:14 You talk to those guys, they're not for war. They're for peace, they really want it, but they're willing to pay the price and to do the job that's necessary to ensure peace. And so we ask the question, what's this world coming to? Some people say, oh yeah, it's peace, we want peace. This is exactly peace at any price.

8:36 And we see this with Israel today. Land for peace, land for peace, this is what the people are trying to say to them, and that they have to do this. But people are going, well no, it's going to be war, we're going to have a conventional war, and then they're starting to talk about tactical nuclear weapons. I like the way they talk like that, tactical nuclear weapons. The hole is not as deep, you know?

9:04 The hole is not as deep, and radiation is not as bad, maybe. I don't know about the tactical nuclear weapons type of thing. But people are absolutely scared to death, because what happens is they are fearing, and the CIA, I'm sure, is on this, can put a nuclear device or a dirty bomb as big as this, and just put it in a subway like they did in Japan. It's already happened in Japan, a dirty bomb in Japan, in a subway, put a bag like that. You know, in Israel, the children are trained that if they see a bag like this by itself, to go near it and go tell somebody with authority right away.

9:50 Just go and tell them there's a bag there, we don't know what it is. And they're going to send the bomb squad out, they're going to look it over, and whatever the situation, if it's by itself. Because of this next one, the threat, the fear, the fear of this, You know where this is going, right? And the threat of extermination, of wiping out a whole city, of destroying a city, and people with ideologies that would do it. That wouldn't have any problem doing it.

10:55 This is the this is the big issue that that The United States is facing today with North Korea. The idea that they can send a ballistic missile and wipe out any any city in The United States, and just send it off, and wipe us out. And you know, think what is this world coming to? Some people say peace, some people say war, some people say extermination. And people are distraught.

11:52 Boom. And they're just walking around. I've been I've followed people with those things in the open air, and I've, you know, there's no, I have to touch them. Like this. And they get all nervous, that kind of thing.

12:05 Just so I can communicate with them, oh what do you want? What do you want? You know? Because people are insulating themselves. Me personally, I'm not watching much news anymore.

12:18 I'm watching Andy Griffin's show. Because I think, wow, that is it. That is it. I'm insulating myself from all the terror and the heartache and the incredible pain people around this world are feeling. What's this world coming to?

12:43 And I'd like us to look at a passage of scripture. I want to look at a passage of Scripture, and it's Psalm two. Psalm two. And I'd like us to look at the pick, if you would read, can you read that for us? Can you stand up and read it for us?

13:05 Psalm two, the whole thing, if you would.

13:09 Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples' plot invade? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the lord and against his anointed one. Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their feathers.

14:18 Thank you, thank you so much. When we look at this passage, we have to understand that there's an end game with God. I play chess, I love playing chess, and I hate losing. So I don't play it too often, I always play people who can't maybe see the board, or that have never played before, and I try to play for money for those people. No, I'm only kidding.

14:41 I'm only kidding. But I understand, you know, when I taught my son when he was four years old, I wanted to teach him how to think ahead. And the way you teach a child to think ahead is to teach him chess. Because the way you play chess is you have to think so many moves ahead. The big grandmasters like Bobby Fischer and these different grandmasters that are fantastic and world champions, they think sometimes 30, 40, 50 moves ahead.

15:13 They know exactly what when Fisher played Boris Spasky for the world championship, in one game, they played many games, it's a tournament type of thing, just he and Spasky. Spasky opened, Fischer moved, Spasky moved, no actually Fischer opened, Spasky moved, Fischer moved again, and Spasky resigned. That's it, three moves, he resigned. And he said, I knew what he was going do. He's not going to make a mistake, it's over for me.

15:47 Thinking ahead. One of the things us Christians do not do, we might think ahead in terms of next week, we might think ahead in terms of next year, or maybe even the next five years, or whatever, that kind of thing, But we need to think ahead of what God's endgame is. And he's got an endgame. I've read the end of the book. I know what's coming down the pike.

16:54 And I believe it was December 25. Edersheim, in massive work, Jesus the Messiah. Check it. It's pretty good. And makes pretty good sense.

17:14 This former Orthodox Jew who became a Christian talks about, and he talks about the dates, and he lays the whole thing out. And so you might say, well Edersheim is passe. Let's go with newer scholarship. Well, I don't think we'd want to do that, but it's alright. Whether it was April or whether it was December 25, it doesn't...

17:37 He came. And that's the key. That is the key for me. He came. And He came the first time, and He...

17:46 And it was prophesied in the Old Testament. It was prophesied in the Old Testament. And it's really interesting because when you have here, if you look in the Old Testament, specifically Daniel chapter nine. Would you turn there with me for a moment? Daniel chapter nine.

18:06 I think we've talked about this before, but I'd like to maybe talk about it again, because I want to make a point, because when we look at Psalm two, and we observe Psalm two in

18:19 the

18:19 passages that Shane read for us, I appreciate it very much because what's happening is taking place right before our eyes. Notice what he says, seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy, this is verse 24, Daniel nine twenty four, and upon thy holy city to finish transgression. And as we go forth in knowing this, and notice this, know therefore and understand verse 25, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince. So this was, this decree in Nehemiah chapter two, that would be decree that went forth. That decree was, and some people put it at, actually, Sir Robert Anderson puts it at March fourteenth, four forty five BC.

19:13 He puts it March fourteenth, four forty five BC. And so he has it here, the decree of King Artaxerxes in Nehemiah two:one, that you go forth, and this is exactly what Daniel is getting. So when that decree went out, here's what happens. You're going to have seventy weeks of years, and this is an interesting thing in the Hebrew, it's Heptats. And so notice in verse 25, again, unto Messiah, and it says in the middle of the verse, the prince shall be seven weeks, and this is seven weeks of years, and threescore and two weeks, so that's nine weeks.

19:52 And the street shall be built upon the wall, and in trouble as times. And after threescore and two weeks, and that's right here, that's the forty nine threescore and two weeks, so this would be sixty nine weeks after seven years, forty nine years, the rebuilding of Jerusalem was complete, and then you had sixty two weeks, and then what happens? What takes place after sixty nine weeks? Silent night, holy night. All is come, all is bright, the birth of Messiah.

20:31 Birth of Messiah, thirty three years he lives, and then his first coming in '32, Christ was came and was cut off, but not for himself. He died for me. He died for you. He paid the penalty I deserved, richly deserve to pay. This is all prophesied in the Old Testament.

21:01 All of it. And you have the cross. We read some of that today, Isaiah 53, you have this. And it's just really powerful. And then he dies on the cross and the ascension takes place.

21:12 Then you have the prophetic clock stops. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, we've only seen sixty nine weeks of years. There is one more week that comes. The prophetic clock stops, you have what they call the church age. You can't even see, I got a little pointer, see that?

21:35 It doesn't even work. Okay, so you have here the church age, the prophetic clock stops, that's the present era that we are in. And then something takes place. It's called the rapture of the church. Now this is not, this particular diagram is not real clear, because it's an unknown date that the Antichrist, So the rapture of the church, and the Latin Vulgate, the Latin Vulgate translates one Thessalonians chapter four thirteen through 18, the snatching away, the Latin Vulgate, which was a translation that they made from the Greek, the Latin Vulgate, they translated the word snatched away with violence with the word rapturo.

22:30 This is where we get the word rapture. The rapture of the church, one Corinthians 15. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a twink in a moment. And that word is so cool.

22:45 Moment is translated from the Greek, atomos. A, no, t o m o s. Atomos. No time. In other words, you cannot cut the time.

22:59 We say nanosecond. I don't even know if scientists are dividing time up anymore like that. We say nanosecond. The scriptures say you cannot divide the time, it's so fast. This makes it so much different.

23:54 We don't know, there's a period of time, could be three weeks, three months, but I think the world's going to get itself, the Antichrist will appear, Second Thessalonians chapter two, after we're gone, and he'll sign a covenant for seven years. That's the last week. That is the seventieth week. That is the seventieth week, and it's divided, and we're not going to get into that. But to make a distinction here, Because at the end of this seven week, seven year period, the seventieth week, which is in the Old Testament when we just read it, We just read it.

24:41 There's gonna be an extra, that this extra week, Jesus is coming, not in the rapture, but to set his feet on Mount Of Olives. This is what's going to happen. This is what's going to happen. If you go back with me, please, to Psalm two. If you go back and turn to Psalm two, and then I'm going to take you to another verse in the Old Testament that will really depict today's culture.

25:20 It'll depict today's culture for sure. Psalm chapter two. Notice what it says, because we see two perspectives here that the psalmist, and I believe it's David, he's going to talk about the king. Because when Jesus comes at the right hand side, the second coming of Christ, he's going to set up his millennial kingdom. There's a seventy five day period, as per Daniel chapter 12, and a seventy five day period to have three or four different judgments.

25:53 There's seven total, and there's going to be three or four different judgments. Judgment of Israel, the judgment of the Gentiles, the judgment of how you treated Israel, etcetera, are going to take place in that time, and then he's going to rule the world with the rod of iron. He's going to sit on David's throne. And notice what it says here, because we see the world's perspective in verses one through three, and then we see the Lord's perspective. The world's perspective we see, why do the nations rage?

26:27 Are we seeing this today? The United States makes one move in the UN and says we are going to make Israel, Jerusalem, our capital, you know, it's the capital city of Israel, we're gonna move our ambassadors there. We're to have our, what do you call it, embassy there. We're going to have our embassy there. Ain't that a kicker?

26:53 A 129 nations condemned it. A 108 voted with us. That's just that. Just moving our embassy, they condemned it. Can you imagine this?

27:10 It's amazing to me. It's just amazing to me. Why do the nations rage? And you want to know the center of the earth? You want to know the center of the earth in terms of geopolitical issues?

27:24 You look at Israel. You watch Israel. Israel is the key to geopolitical issues, not the, you know, not any place else. It's not even the center, The United States is not even the center of it. It's Israel.

27:44 And so when you look at why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? It is amazing to me, it is amazing to me as we look, and some Christians will follow this advice, they'll follow the advice, and the question should come into our minds and into our hearts and ask, why would we follow this advice? Because notice what Zechariah chapter 10 says in verse two. Zechariah ten:two, it says, the idols have spoken of vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams. They comfort in vain, therefore they went their way like a flock, they were troubled because there was no shepherd.

28:33 Isn't this depicting the world? People are going after the god of the NFL, the god of the NBA, this is America now, we're talking about that. The Manchester United, if you're in Britain, you know, or even if you're in The United States. I mean these people are making idols, they're going and following these things, why? Because they can't deal with this.

29:00 They don't know where they're going. And it doesn't matter what degrees they have, it doesn't matter how much money they have, it doesn't matter any of that. I gave a piece of literature out when I walked today, and I drive every two hours and walk for fifteen. Fifteen minutes, not fifteen hours. I walk for fifteen minutes, and I gave a guy, said this is the best news you'll ever read.

29:26 This is it. This is the best thing. This is the best news you'll ever get. You know, I'm talking to two custodians at the rest stop on the Ohio Turnpike, and I said, you know, if I had a million dollars, and I had this may I ask you a question booklet, I'd rather give you the booklet because you can never take it with you. You can never...

29:48 I said if I had $2,000,000 and I give it to you, you know, you'd be, wow, that's fantastic. I'd get hit by a cab outside. You know, you can't take it with you. I said I've never ever seen a hearse with a U Haul on it. So why would we go after this?

30:23 Is Maryam here? She's teaching? Okay. Seventy nine people died just two days ago in the Philippine Islands from flooding. You're having monsoons right now, is that what you're having?

30:45 We don't give it a thought unless it was our loved one. Oh, seventy nine. Wow, that's not bad. At least it wasn't seven ninety. Come on.

30:58 We're so desensitized by it, by the human pain and death that is taking a place across this world. The cheapness of life, and we go like that, we say, well that might be true in Beirut. But it's true in Harlem, it's true in Week Wake Park in Newark, New Jersey, it's true in Detroit. We look at this and we say people are looking and desiring to find life and find happiness and satisfaction and are not finding it. They're not even finding it in the sports realm.

31:40 They're not finding it in the money. They're not finding it. And you know what's really interesting is I think people are starting to realize this, so they'll go after something else. Our task, our task as Christians, is to tell them about Jesus Christ. That he is the only one who can quench the insatiable hunger of the human heart.

32:14 Only him. Because the nations, you know, they're believing the idols have spoken. The idols have spoken, and the diviners have seen the lie, and they have told false dreams, and this is people are buying it lock stock and barrel, even from religious people, or what they would consider religious people. You had so many guys, I saw this thing from the Polish Federation or something, and they had all these men of the cloth get up. One Anglican Catholic, an eman, a person, a zero Astron, or whatever, all, you know, Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, because an Imam wouldn't say Merry Christmas.

33:10 You know, the blending of religions, and you're a bigot if you say that Jesus Christ is the only way. You're a bigot, you're a narrow minded individual. That's funny, because if they ever go through the Holland Tunnel, they're narrow minded. They've ever been through the Lincoln Tunnel, extremely narrow minded, and if somebody were to put a bag over their head and cut off their oxygen, they become extremely narrow minded. Because the only way for me to oxygenate my blood is through and possibly through the skin, but I'm not going, cut this off, it's over.

33:57 Why don't I, why aren't there's more proliferation in the way to breathe, or to drive through that tunnel. Crazy, because people have told a lie, and they're buying it. They're buying it. And my heart sometimes, if I get caught up into this, this political wave of, you know, this is bad, and you know, all this kinds of thing, I need to know, as a Christian, the end game. I need to know.

34:28 And notice what he tells us, too. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and his anointed, saying. So this is not only we see the question about the world, but we also see the desire of it. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. Do you have any mind, do you have, in your mind, you have any idea that this country or the world will become Christian?

35:04 It's gonna get worse and worse. Isn't that what Jesus said? As in the days of Noah? It's gonna be worse and worse not getting better, so why in the world do I really want it to get better? Not that I'm for evil, no, I'm not for that at all.

35:26 But you look at the ideologies of people that are being published. Socialism is basically communism. And did you know that on the college campus socialism is becoming an accepted thing with young people? Socialism, I read the book witnessed by Whitaker Chambers. Whitaker Chambers became a communist in 1925 and stopped becoming a communist, stopped, and he did, was a Soviet spy, an American, for the Soviet Union in The United States Of America for so many years.

36:03 He's the guy that turned over the state's evidence regarding Alger Hiss, one of the highest diplomats in The United States. He was in the State Department like an Undersecretary of State, Alger Hiss. He was at Potsdam, he helped develop the after the war philosophy on how The United States should treat, right? Alger Hiss. Well it was Whitaker Chambers that turned it over because he worked with Alger Hiss.

36:35 It was a big, big kerfuffle. You know what he said? Why he stopped being a communist? You know what his thing was? And he said, I know we have all these guys, all these, he said all these guys from the Ivies came and worked with us as communists.

36:52 Undercover. He said, you know what the key was? They did not believe in God. And he said, there has to be a God. I can no longer be a communist.

37:07 He won posthumously, he died in '61, but he won the Medal of Freedom Award from Ronald Reagan. He was awarded that the Medal of... Highest highest award in The United States a civilian could possibly get. He won it in 1983 or something like that. Anti God.

37:44 He said, he who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them with his great displeasure. Yet I have set my king upon the Holy Hill Of Zion. I will declare the decree.

38:04 The Lord had said unto me, thou art my son, this day I have begotten thee. Silent night, holy night. And not only did he come one time, the first time, he is coming again. And what's this world coming to? A conclusion.

38:57 He came once and died on that cross between two thieves. He died on that cross, and he shed his blood to blot out my sin. To wash away my sin. To wash away the sins of the world, and this is the peace, peace on earth and goodwill towards men. Only to those who would believe on him, that's where you get it, that's really what it means.

39:35 And not only did he die on the cross, but three days later he rose again from the dead physically. And then he's coming again, as we have pointed out, the second coming of Christ. The rapture is not the second coming of Christ, it is an event. It's also a program. It starts after the rapture.

39:56 The program of the second coming. But you have an actual event of the second coming in which he will fulfill this passage. In Psalm two, ask of me and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

40:20 He's going to speak it. He is going to just say it. Armies will disappear, they'll be obliterated. He'll just say it. Sword coming out of his mouth, Revelation.

40:35 He'll just say this, and they'll be wiped out. They're going

40:39 to go against him, he's just going to speak it.

40:43 Be wise now therefore, oh you kings, and be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish from the way. When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are they who put their trust in him.

41:05 This is God's endgame. He came one, he's coming again. And when it says kiss the son, my my I heard him actually preach on this, and you know what he said? My friend, actually I'm not real close, but I heard him preach live when I was a student at Moody Bible Institute. He said, My brethren, when it says kiss the son, it's saying the same as J.

41:33 Vernon McGee, right? Yes. He's saying kiss the son means believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same thing. And that's the invitation that God says to the whole world, believe on my son.

41:53 Kiss the son lest he be angry. Because it's either heaven or hell with people. Heaven or hell. And without Jesus, it's hell. With him, it's heaven.

42:10 I had a, I was preaching one day, one night actually, and it was really interesting. I was preaching, and this is in Times Square. Now, if you've never been in Times Square, we averaged in those days, in the 80s, early 80s, we averaged about 20,000 people passing our board an hour. That's Times Square for you. It's even more now.

42:37 It's even way more than that now. And so when I'm preaching, I'm preaching away, and all of a sudden after I finish, I give the invitation and somebody comes up to me and says you're Chris Schroeder. When somebody says that to you in Times Square, I wasn't raised in New York, and I'm not famous. And I look at, and he says, you're Chris Schroeder, and I'm going, who's asking? You know, who is asking?

43:00 He goes, hi, I'm Joey LaForrest. Now I remember Joey, he graduated from high school a year behind me. He was plump, round faced. That is not the guy I'm talking to. This guy was bald headed, chiseled, nicely addressed, and he came and we talked for a long time about Christ.

43:20 We went to the same Willoughby South High School, Joey LaForte. I said, you're Joey LaForte. I mean this guy, totally different look than what I remember him by, right? And we talked and talked and talked, and it was really nice, but he didn't trust Christ. Sad.

43:43 I found out about a year and a half later, he died of AIDS in San Francisco. He was a homosexual, and he died of AIDS in San Francisco. So now I'm on Facebook, and I see his brother on Facebook, and I tell Bob about that encounter with his brother. I don't think Bob appreciated it. He didn't yell at me, didn't go crazy or anything like that, he just stopped communicating with me.

44:18 I don't know if he unfriended me, I still had him on mine. About two weeks ago, Bob passed away from pancreatic cancer. And I think to myself, the end game of all this is where are Joey and where is Bob? Where's Joey and where's Bob? Where are you going?

44:50 Heaven. And it's not silly, and it's not pie in the sky. Because of his death, burial, and resurrection, and his washing away my sins, I know I'm going to heaven. But I know that's his first coming, and it affects me, what he did on that cross affects me now, and it could affect me then, and can affect now. Anyone who comes to him, kiss the son lest to be angry, and you perish from the way.

46:00 What are you doing with your life? If you know Jesus as your personal savior, praise God. But what are you doing with what God has given you? And why would I want to focus and park my brain on stuff that is going to it is so transitory, so just transitory in this. Even the issue of my body, you know, cardiologist is here, he's a great guy, you know Bob, some of you know Bob, right?

46:35 My thing is, Bob, I'm going to come to you, you're going to come to me and say to me, we did the blood work, we did the EKG, we did all this kind of stuff, you're perfect! Triglycerides are down 117 cholesterol, All this kind of, you're an incredible specimen. I'll go, thanks Bob, and I really appreciate it. I'll walk out and get hit by a cab. Over.

47:03 How am I spending my life? What am I doing with it? If these things are true, and they are, what are we doing with our life? Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift, but how about thanks be unto God for you giving your life back to him, to do whatever he wants with your life. And you might be a gray top.

47:39 I shave mine away, bro. I shave my and it'd be gray, I mean I'd look old. Know, why'd you grow it out, Chris? I don't want to do that. I don't want to scare anybody.

47:58 Even in our growing older, God can use us in significant ways if we just let him. What do you say? What do you say? I looked at these two perspectives, I see the world's perspective, and it doesn't it doesn't have any future. It doesn't have any future.

48:22 I see the Lord's perspective, he is the future. I want to hitch my star to his wagon. I want to go with him, I want to do what he wants me to do, because I know that when I see him face to face, and I will and you will, I want to hear from him, well done, good and faithful servant. How about you? Seriously, how about you?

48:47 Because only one life 'twil soon be past, only what we do for Jesus will last. That is it. That's the end of the story. Merry Christmas. And a blessed New Year.

49:53 And then after you do that, turn your whole life over to him for whatever he wants for you. Good idea? I think not only is that the end game, it should be the end game for us, but it's also the best investment you could ever make in your life. Father, we just do pray that you administer to us. We thank you for your son, who came the first time and who is coming again.

50:29 We thank you for this, and we ask you that you would take our lives and let them be consecrated, Lord, to thee. We ask you, Lord, that you would just really minister to us and through us, that we can minister to a lost and dying world. We ask you, Lord, to really help us in this. Help us to see the world the way you see it. Help us not to be attracted to it.

50:55 Help us, Lord, to be attracted only to you. And help us to fulfill that prophet, or that passage in Isaiah 26, Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, for in the Lord God Jehovah is everlasting strength. We thank you for that, and we ask you that you would take our lives and make them count for you, for as much time as you have for us. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.