Things to Do Before the End of the World: Always Be Ready

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible. Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog.

Go to harvest.org. Jesus is coming. Are you ready? Since we don't know when it'll happen, many aren't ready. Pastor Greg Laurie says that's the point. We need to be ready always. When we see the things happening in our world as we do now, literally Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes. We should be looking up. We can have the Bible in one hand and a news feed on our phone in the other. And Jesus said, when you see these things beginning to happen, look up for your redemption is drawing near. If we knew exactly when Jesus was returning, most of us would make sure we're ready.

We'd drop everything and get ready. Well, it's important to know just how soon Jesus could return. In this case, what we don't know can impact us for eternity. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings us trustworthy insight straight from God's word on what we can expect during the rapture and just how close we may be to that event.

There's literally nothing standing in its way. Why don't you grab your Bibles and turn with me over to the gospel of Luke, the 12th chapter. The title of my message is Things to Do Before the End of the World. All right, so let's just imagine for a moment that we knew when Jesus was coming. Now, we know that can't be true, right? Because nobody knows. Only the Father knows.

But let's just say for the sake of an illustration, we knew. Let's say we knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow afternoon at 3 o'clock p.m. How do you think we'd be doing spiritually around 2.45? I think we'd be doing pretty well. I think we'd have our Sunday morning smiles and our come quickly Jesus attitude, right?

Because why? Well, because Jesus would be coming. But we should literally live every day as though it were that day. Someone once asked the great evangelist, D.L. Moody, if you knew the Lord would return tonight, how would you spend the rest of the day?

He replied without hesitation, I wouldn't do anything different than I do every day. Get it? So why does this matter? Jesus gives us the answer in Luke 12. I want to read verses 36 to 40 and I'm reading from the New Living Translation. This is our Lord telling us how we are to live in light of His imminent return. Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let Him in the moment He arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for His return will be rewarded.

I tell you the truth. He Himself will seat them and put on an apron and serve them as they sit and eat. He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn but whenever He comes He will reward the servants who are ready. Understand this says Jesus, if a homeowner knew when a burglar was coming he would not permit his house to be broken into. You must also be ready all the time for the Son of Man will come when He is least expected.

The Son of Man is a reference of Christ to Himself. So we will stop there. So now we are talking about first century Jewish weddings. They were way different than our weddings today. We spent so much on weddings.

I was Googling prices of weddings. It is crazy how much you can spend on a wedding. 15,000. 30,000.

100,000. I was reading about celebrities that spent millions of dollars on their weddings and sadly most of them had already ended up in divorce court. Kathy and I spent $15 on our wedding. It was like a literal hippie wedding. Everybody just came and showed up and we did it but hey it worked 45 years later. So we are thankful to God.

Okay. Weddings back in the days of the Jewish people in the first century were very different. It was sort of an event. It was an extended time of celebration and fun. So everybody would be there. Everybody would be ready.

They would have a great feast. But here was the twist. You didn't know when the groom was coming. So he might come in the morning. He might come in the afternoon. He might come in the evening. An announcement would be given. The bridegroom is coming. And if you weren't ready you would miss it.

Snooze and you lose. Right? So this is the picture Jesus is drawing upon.

He is like that groom. And He is going to come and we don't know when it is going to be. It might be in the morning. When that morning finally comes. It might be in the afternoon. It might be in the evening. It might be in our lifetime.

It might not be. But we want to be ready. So here is point number one. What should we be doing before the end of the world? Number one we should be shining lights in a dark place. We should be shining lights in a dark place.

Verse 35. Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning. It is like saying keep batteries in your flashlight.

Or keep your cell phone charged. It just simply means this. It means be ready to go. And so have your lamps burning. Be ready for the return of Christ. And doesn't the Bible tell us to let our light so shine before men that people can see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. So you want to be living in a way that brings honor and glory to God.

You know sometimes they feel as Christians we are more known for what we are against than what we are for. Look for opportunities to show the love of Jesus to people. Simple things. Open a door for somebody. Say something nice to somebody. Throw out a compliment. Do something kind but do it in the name of Jesus. Say well God bless you. And you know they will see that you are a follower of Christ. And sometimes those can prompt and open doors for conversation. So we are to be bright lights in a dark place.

Number two. We are to be watching for Him. Watching for Him. Look at verse 37. Blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes will find watching. So when we see the things happening in our world as we do now. Literally Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes. We should be looking up. We can have the Bible in one hand and a newspaper or a news feed on our phone in the other.

And Jesus said when you see these things begin to happen look up for your redemption is drawing near. Number three. You need to be ready to go. Ready to go. Now when I go on a trip I pack.

And I will tell you what. I am the worst packer. I just pack too much stuff.

It is ridiculous. When I show up with more luggage than my wife. And I am not saying that in a critical way of girls. But generally girls maybe sometimes take more stuff than guys.

Not in our marriage. I take more stuff because I may need this and I may need that. Oh I need a charger. Well I will have an extra charger. And I will have this other thing and then Kathy will say why do you take all that stuff. But then when we get there she forgot her charger. I forgot my phone charger. Oh look I have another one.

Aren't you glad. I am the little pack rat now right. But I get everything packed before I go. Then you load it up and you go down to the airport and you get on your flight or however you are going to be traveling.

So the idea is be ready to go at a moment's notice. Have your bags packed and have your comfortable shoes on. You know when I travel I wear comfortable shoes because sometimes they change terminals and now you have to rush. And you know what this is like you guys that travel. If you have a roller bag you are running along.

You know I need comfortable shoes. So the idea is be ready to go at a moment's notice because the Lord can come back at any time. So are you ready. Here is something to consider. Ask yourself a question about things that you do. This place I am about to go. This thing I am ready to do. Would I be ashamed of this or be embarrassed doing this if Christ were to come back while I was doing it.

If the answer is yes I think you should reconsider that thing. I already quoted from 2 Peter 3.9 in another message on why the Lord has not come back yet. Because it says God is not slow in keeping His promises as some men call it slowness. He is long suffering toward us. Not only that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So the reason the Lord is waiting is He is waiting for that person to believe.

That last person before we are caught up to meet Him. But then those verses in 2 Peter go on and say the day will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear.

The elements will be destroyed by fire. Listen to this. What kind of people then should you be? You ought to live holy and godly lives. Look forward to this and make every effort to be found spotless and blameless and at peace with Him.

So if you really believe these things it should affect you in the way that you live. Number four. We should not only be ready but we should be anxiously awaiting His return. Looking forward to it. Look at verse 36.

Be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding and comes and knocks so open to him immediately. Years ago I used to have a dog. He came pre-named Palm. Who names the dog Palm? We had a dog named Palm. Ok. And he was a German shepherd but I think he thought he was a deer. He sort of moved around like a deer. He was a very interesting dog. But a good dog. And he would lean against our door at night of our bedroom. And sometimes he would like scratch as dogs do and it would sound like someone was at the door. You know.

What? And they would say open it up. Dog falls in. So he would just wait against the door waiting for us to get up. And when I opened that door in the morning he was so excited running around in circles. You know. Happy days are here again.

Because he wanted to go on a walk and all the things dogs like to do. So I thought that is a picture of how we ought to be. We should just be up against the door like Lord come. Like let's just say someone you really loved was coming to visit you and you hadn't seen them for a year. So they text you.

The plane just landed. Ok. We are in the Uber. Ok. We are in the neighborhood. Ok. We are one block away.

We are almost at your house. Yes. Yes.

Yes. And then you see the car pull up and you have your hand on the door and you can't even wait for them to come up the steps. That is how we need to be waiting for Jesus Christ. Looking forward to it. Anticipating it and hoping for it. We should not only be anxiously waiting. We should also be working. Look at verse 43. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

So doing. The Bible says faith without works is dead. So if watching for the Lord's return will help us prepare our own lives working will assure we bring others with us. And notice the word blessed is used. Blessed is the servant whom the master will find so doing. As you know the word blessed can also be translated happy. Happy is the servant. Happy is the man. Happy is the woman who is anxiously awaiting their Lord's return and is serving him. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Hey everybody. Greg Laurie here personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study. It's a worship service. It's church in your home. Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so, join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world.

Listen to this. We have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is helping us be ready for the Lord's return. We're seeing the Bible gives practical counsel on being ready as we look at the kind of people who are ready and the kind of people who aren't. In contrast to the believer who's watching and working, now we have the unprepared servant. Go back to Luke 12, verse 45. But if that servant says in his heart, oh, my master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come in a day when he is not looking for him. So this is a picture of a person who would appear to be a believer, but in reality they are not.

Why do I say that? It's that servant. So they look like one of us. Jesus told the story of the ten bridesmaids. Remember? Five were wise. Five were foolish. And the King James, they're called the ten virgins. The ones that were wise had oil in their lamps. Back to the lamp. And the ones that were not ready did not have oil in their lamps.

So the idea is in the last days, according to Scripture, there's going to be people that are Christians right next to people that aren't Christians, and the people that aren't Christians will initially appear as though they are Christians. So we have to be very careful. Just hearing these things is not enough.

We need to act on these things as well. Going to church, hearing the Word of God, singing these wonderful songs of worship, it's a great thing to do if you really have a relationship with God. But if you do these things and have no intention of following the Lord, or you're kind of pretending to be a Christian, you're actually in danger of hardening your heart. You want to know the easiest place to get a hard heart? Yeah, a strip club.

A bar. Yeah, you could get a hard heart there. But the easiest place to get a hard heart is right where you are right now.

You say, I'm not getting this at all. I thought church was the best place to be. It's the best place to be if you want to walk with God. But the same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay. The same message that will set one person free can be ignored by another, and they'll actually find their heart getting harder. Don't let that happen to you. The Pharaoh of Egypt saw miracle after miracle, and the Bible says he hardened his heart. He hardened his heart. So you can hear these things and go, oh, that's stupid. I don't really believe it, but, you know, I'm here anyway.

Man, be careful because you don't want to be like this person that is not prepared. Notice what it says about this wicked servant. Verse 45, that servant says, My master won't be back for a while, begins beating the other servants, partying and getting drunk. You know, people get drunk for a lot of reasons. Sometimes to escape their problems, other things that pull them in, but I just read an interesting article about how drinking heavily can actually change your DNA. This article says, and I quote, Alcohol can actually prompt dangerous and long-lasting genetic changes according to cutting-edge research from Rutgers University, and these changes actually worsen a drinker's relationship with booze by causing them to crave it even more. Drinking disrupts the natural effectiveness of two specific genes, one that governs the body's biological clock and the other that regulates stress, and this contributes to the vicious cycle of alcoholism. And this article concluded by pointing out, Drinking contributes to three million deaths a year. It's interesting that Jesus actually talks about someone getting drunk. You know, I've come to an amazing discovery. If I don't drink, I won't get drunk.

Go figure. I've never met a drunk person that didn't drink. So if I don't drink, I won't get drunk. I remember once I was pulled over for a DUI.

Let me explain. It was actually New Year's Eve. I was driving back from a service we had done at church, and it was nighttime, and I got pulled over by a cop. And so I thought, why is he pulling me over? And he has the loudspeaker. He says, keep your hands on the steering wheel. I got my hands on the wheel. And he comes around with a flashlight, and they shine the flashlight right in your eyes, and that's just really irritating.

It makes you very nervous. He says, get out of the car. I get out of the car, and he says, what have you been drinking?

I said, a bottle of water, officer. And he goes, uh-huh. And he pulls out a pencil, and now he says, follow this with your eyes. He's going back and forth with the pencil. And he says, now I want you to walk a straight line. I'm thinking, I can't believe this is happening to me.

Someone's gonna drive by and say, isn't that Pastor Craig there? And so I, you know, and I had not been drinking anything, and I don't drink. But I was so nervous, it was hard. The line was hard. I'm like, hey, hey, you know.

I did it. Well, he finally let me go. I don't know why he pulled me over in the first place.

It was crazy. But you know, but the sad thing is there are people driving under the influence. Far too often we hear the story of the family killed by the drunk driver. They all die, and the drunk survives it, you know. They're so liquored up, they're just, whatever, you know.

It's horrible. And I've seen alcohol destroy so many lives, and it's kind of personal for me. And I'll tell you why, because I was raised in an alcoholic home. And I saw what it did to my mom, and I saw what it did to her marriages, and I saw the destruction. And you know, you don't need to be filled with the spirits. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's what the Bible says.

And it's far better. The Bible says don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. But instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. So in conclusion, Jesus is coming. So we need to be ready.

How? Number one, be a shining light in a dark place. Number two, be watching for Him. Number three, be ready to go. Number four, not only be ready, be anxiously awaiting His return.

And fifth and lastly, don't just be anxiously waiting, but also be working. Coming back to that verse I quoted in 2 Peter 3, make every effort to be found spotless and blameless and at peace with Him. Let me ask you, are you ready for the Lord's return? You might say, well, does that mean I have to live a perfect life?

No, because no one does. We all sin. But we need to be right with God. The only way to have the peace of God in our life is to first have peace with God. See, believe it or not, before you're a Christian, you're actually at war with God. You're fighting with God.

You're separated from God by your sin. But God loved you so much, despite your rebellion, He sent His own Son, Jesus, to die on a cross in your place, in my place, and He suffered there for my sins. And then He rose again from the dead three days later and He's alive and He's here with us and He stands at the door of your life and He knocks and says, if you'll hear His voice and open the door, He will come in. Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus is coming back again. And I ask you in closing, are you ready for the Lord's return?

And if you aren't, would you like to be? When that morning finally comes, everyone will be there, if they're Christians. So you say, well, how do I get right with God? You admit you're a sinner and you realize that your only hope is Jesus. You need a Savior, you call out.

It'd just be like if you're out in the water and you got caught in a riptide and you can't get back to the shore. What do you do? You call out for help. Well, that's embarrassing. Well, it's better than drowning, isn't it? So call out. So in the same way, we have to see our real condition and call out to God. And the Bible says, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

So in a moment, we're gonna pray and I'm gonna give you an opportunity to reach out to God. You know, maybe you are struggling with alcohol. Maybe you're struggling with drugs. Maybe it's none of those things at all, but you've chased after everything this world says will make you happy.

And you have a lot of those things. Maybe you've even surpassed your expectations, but you've seen how empty it is. That's because you were made to know God and there's like a big hole in your heart that only Christ can fill. Drugs can't fill it. Booze can't fill it. Parties can't fill it. Sex can't fill it. Material things can't fill it.

Even religion can't fill it. You don't need religion. You need a relationship with God.

It can happen for you right here, right now. And once you do that, you can be confident you're ready for the Lord's return. So in a moment, we're gonna pray, respond to this invitation and also, if you're someone that's fallen away from the Lord and maybe you need to come back because you've been sort of playing a little bit of a religious game. You're not fooling God. You can fool all of the people some of the time. You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool God any of the time.

Don't play that game anymore. Why don't we all bow our heads and pray? Everybody praying. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit will speak now to every person here, every person watching and every person listening wherever they are. If they don't know Jesus, we pray that tonight will be the night they come to you and believe in you and that they can be forgiven of their sins and be ready for the afterlife, ready to go to heaven and ready for the return of Jesus.

So help each one to see their need. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie. And if you'd like to make a change today in your relationship with God, Pastor Greg will help you take that step in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. Now if you had any interruptions while you've been listening to A New Beginning today, you can hear this study again by going to harvest.org. Just look for the title of the message, Things to Do Before the End of the World with Don Stewart. Or request the message on CD when you call 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime, night or day, at 1-800-821-3300. You know, Pastor Greg, our listeners really love it when Kathy joins us here on the program. Yeah.

I think they enjoy hearing about the two of you. You know, you've talked once or twice of how you met Kathy and began dating. Right. But that's told in some detail in your book Jesus Revolution against the backdrop of the Jesus movement.

Yes. You and Kathy really had a front row seat for that movement, didn't you? Yeah, that's true. And you know, we did not realize at the time that we had a front row seat to a genuine spiritual awakening, but indeed we did. And I wanted to share my story, not to live in the past, but hopefully to prepare for the future. You know, if you get in a car, you'll probably notice that the rear view mirror is a lot smaller than your windshield.

That's because you need to spend more time going forward than going backward. Okay, so it's good to reflect back because we can learn from the past. And we can reflect back on the great works that God did. You know, in the Psalms we read the phrase, oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men. And we'll see the Psalmist repeat the great things that God did for the nation Israel. It's good to remind yourself of what the Lord has done.

And then it's also a great thing to say, Lord, would you do it again? We've had revivals in the history of America in the past, and I would say we're overdue for one right now. In fact, I don't know what else could change the course of our nation. We're so divided politically. We're divided racially. We're divided in every way imaginable. And only Christ can bring us together. We need a change of heart. We need the Lord to pour his spirit out on our churches and on our country. But it starts with us. So I've written a book called Jesus Revolution.

And I tell the story of how I came to faith, how I met my wife, how we came together, how we saw the Lord work, how we started our church. There's a lot there. There's also some historical backdrop there to help you understand what we are facing at the times.

And I think as you read this book, you'll say, wow, that sounds a lot like our nation right now. So it seems to me that we can learn from the past in this case. As I've said before, the fame of revival spreads the flame of revival.

So let's talk about that fame. Let's look back a little bit and let's pray that God will do it again. I'll send you a copy of this book, Jesus Revolution, for your gift of any size. Whatever you send will be used to help us continue to teach God's word and call people to Jesus Christ. And I hope this book will be a blessing for you. Order your copy now of Jesus Revolution.

Yeah, that's right. You can call 1-800-821-3300. And someone is here to take your call around the clock, seven days a week. We'll be glad to send it to you to thank you for your investment so that we can continue to bring these studies your way each day and share the gospel with hundreds of thousands of people each year. So once again, call 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514.

Or order online at harvest.org. And by the way, when we send you Jesus Revolution, we'll also include the brand new study guide that goes with it to help you get even more from the helpful insights and principles in the book. So contact us today. And then for those who'd like to make a change in their relationship with God right now, Pastor Greg, would you like to help them do that?

I would. You know, I received so many letters, Dave, from people from every walk of life, from successful businessmen to those who are incarcerated, to mothers struggling as they're trying to raise their children, to young boys and girls writing and saying they've made a commitment or a recommitment to Jesus. And maybe you need to make that commitment to Him right now. Let me lead you in a word of prayer. Yes, you can meet God right now. And I would just ask you to pray this prayer out loud after me. And this is where you are asking Christ to come into your life. Pray with me now, if you would. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I've broken your commandments and I've fallen short of your standards.

But I thank you that you have loved me and you have called me to yourself. So I turn from my sin right now and I choose to believe in and follow you. Be my Savior. Be my Lord. And be my God from this moment forward.

Thank you for calling me and loving me and accepting me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Hey, let me just say, God bless you.

You've made the right decision. And welcome to the family of God. And we want to follow up with you by sending something called our New Believers' Growth Packet to help you get started living as a Christian. We'll send it without charge if you prayed for the first time today to receive Christ. Just ask for the New Believers' Growth Packet when you call 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God. Well, next time, more insights from Pastor Greg's series called Jesus Revolution. We'll consider more steps to revival, including the importance of reading, understanding, and following what God's Word says. That's next time on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.