Things to Do Before the End of the World w/ Don Stewart | Part 1

Hey, everybody. You're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at gregatharvest.org. Again, it's gregatharvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. Well, Don, the rapture. Yeah. Sometimes it's scary. Oh, Jesus is coming. So if I'm a Christian, do I have to be afraid of these things? No, it's called our Blessed Hope in Titus 2 13. We're not afraid of it. We're looking forward to the coming of the Lord. It is a realistic hope, a blessed hope, and it's something to be very excited about, particularly, Greg, when we're seeing all these signs right now.

That's right. Oh, we know Jesus is coming back. We don't know when. The Bible even tells us that none of us knows that they are the hour.

But it also advises us to be ready. It will come suddenly and could happen when we least expect it. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie welcomes Bible scholar Don Stewart for a revealing discussion of what the Bible says about God's end times plan. Although we don't know the day or the hour of the rapture, there's so much we do know.

And we'll talk about that today. This is the day, the day when life begins. Jesus is coming. The Bible talks about this. People being caught up into the presence of the Lord. But we don't hear this as much as we used to.

And I want to talk to Don Stewart about this a little bit tonight. But you hear it like as young people, like Jesus could come at any time. And Bible prophecies are being fulfilled. Do you hear this much?

No, not really. I feel like whenever anyone brings up any kind of religion, especially the return of Jesus Christ, people kind of just shun that away. Probably more because they're nervous or scared about it and they don't want to face that. Yes. I think also sometimes the people that will sometimes give this message are kind of crazy people.

The guy standing there with the end is near sign. So all these people are nuts. Or maybe they set dates. Oh Jesus is coming back at this particular time. And nobody knows the day or the hour of course. But I think for our generation, we'll talk about it a little bit later, but it was a big deal to us. And I kind of feel like I'm going to bring this back to your generation and to people today. Like Jesus is coming.

And guess what? His coming has never been closer than it is right now. Anybody else have a thought?

You guys? I feel like non-believers are just not ready to accept the fact that Jesus could come back at any time because they don't want to be responsible for their sin yet. If they're running out of time, that's not good because I want to keep sinning and I don't want to own up until the very last second.

I think that's right. One of the reasons we're uncomfortable with this subject is because it kind of freaks you out a little bit. Like oh wow Jesus is coming back because you need to be ready. But that's the whole point. That's one of the reasons why we should teach it because number one it's biblical. Of course it's true which is a part of that.

But it does impact you in the way that you live or at least should. So let's all welcome Don Stewart right now. Thank you.

I just found out talking with Don in the back room that we both came to Christ and we both came to Calvary Chapel I think in the same year. Yeah pretty much. 1970. But you still have your hair and I don't. What happened? It looks good.

No it doesn't. So you know here we both came to the Lord in the middle of this full blown Jesus revolution. This thing that we I didn't know it was a revival.

Did you know that's brand new to the faith. Me too. I had no idea what was going on. All I knew is Greg. I needed to be there every night.

Yes something was happening that you could not explain. Yeah we would actually wait at the door. We would line up a half hour before the doors of the church open.

To get in because the place would be filled right away because God was doing something. Something wonderful. What are some of the things you remember of that time Don like you know maybe in the worship maybe in the messages maybe in just the overall atmosphere.

What kind of do you remember. You know the thing that got me the most graves of the excitement that was there that the people actually believe it was being taught. Yeah and their lives were being changed every night. We see people come to Christ.

That's right. And we saw lives you know that were hopeless right now became with hope and just watching the Lord work and just being part of that and realizing it was something supernatural and that was that's something that you know really hit me something's going on that I've never seen before. Yeah and only God can do that.

We pray it will happen again. But you know so I've said before you if you want to see a revival do revival like things you're going back to marriage. You know if you want a strong marriage I think you be romantic. You don't wait to feel romantic.

Just do those things. And I think in the same way. Well let let it so we start to kind of recreate a little of the sense of it. But I know a big deal and this is what I want to talk to you about a big deal at that time was a teaching that Christ could come back any moment. The number one book of the entire decade of the 70s was the Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey which was a book about the end times. Why did we believe that back then. Why was that such a big thing and what impact do you think it had. Well we believed it because it struck a chord in our hearts Greg things were happening in the world. This is the 60s we had all the revolution sex drugs rock and roll the Beatles that transcendental meditation. It didn't work.

We tried everything it didn't work. Then someone told a simple message about Jesus and Christ coming back and that he is alive. I'd never heard that before my entire life that there I never heard anybody say praise the Lord my entire life.

I never went to a church where people believe what was being taught my entire life. And I got there and I found this is it. You know the night I came to Christ Greg I came in I sat in the audience and about halfway through I just looked up said God whatever these guys want I want to have and I knew I was going to be doing that. That was March of 1970 doing that the rest of my life and I have been what's almost 49 years now.

Well that's fantastic. Well Don the rapture. It was taught a lot back then and you know a lot of it was things we still talk about today but everything is moved forward dramatically. Of course you know May 14th 1948 and as we've talked about before Israel the regathering of the Jewish people is not just a sign of the times it's a super sign. Super sign and we were relatively close to it back then and then there was various wars that Israel had the war of independence the 67 war when they were attacked the 73 were also called the Yom Kippur war right with the backing of Russia and why did we care about a war fought on Yom Kippur the holiest day in the Jewish calendar that the Egyptians and others came against Israel with the backing of Russia.

So what. Because the Bible talks about a war that's going to happen Ezekiel 38 and 39 that's with those participants in it. And so when that happened in 73 that was huge because we had been taught 1967 Jerusalem's United the next big war may be the war that Ezekiel talked about and we had a lot of the players in that so we were very very thrilled.

It was almost like a dress rehearsal. It showed you how quickly things could fall into place. And my understanding of last days events are sort of like dominoes that are closely stacked together when the first one falls they're going to start falling in rapid succession.

Exactly. And so we're waiting for the big domino and it seems in the prophetic calendar the next event that could happen we talk about emergence of antichrist or the attack against Israel who's regathered in their land or the rapture what do you think would be the next event potentially. The next one the dead in Christ rise first then the rapture the church that happened almost simultaneously for the scripture. But there's other things that could happen. They don't have to happen Greg. Christ could come back tonight. That's right.

We don't know. So here now you mentioned how many years it's been. So here we are today. There have been so many things that have happened not only in the decade since but in this decade. Incredible.

In the last even five years. Things that. So tell us some things that are happening right now for someone that maybe is listening saying well I don't know I've heard this whole thing about Jesus is coming forever.

I think my mom believed that my grandmother believed it her mother believed it. But tell them why this is a more relevant teaching than ever. Well it's more relevant a number of ways. Number one the stage is set so precise so well it is literally mind boggling for example in the 38th and 39th chapter of Ezekiel. It talks about a last days battle when you read through the chapters there are 10 specific things that are said the world would be like in the last days. Now this is 2500 years ago that's written so you go and read those chapters Israel will come back to its ancient homeland they'll come back to the land that's been made desolate that they will make into great wealth which will cause this invasion to come. There is 10 specific things in those chapters the Bible says will happen before this invasion. Every single one of them has already happened right now.

In other words miraculously fulfilled. So you've got that number one. The players number two. In 1973 when we were there Greg with the Yom Kippur war Iran was Israel's best friend. But as our pastor Chuck taught us they're going to become Israel's worst enemy someday.

How can that be? You know they're the best friend of America. Well we had the Iranian revolution in 79 the shah was deposed and now they're the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the entire world. Yeah let's shift gears over to the explosion of technology with the emergence of the smartphone. I mean let's just take one particular prophecy in particular. In the book of Revelation after Antichrist is revealed the Bible talks about how the Lord raises up two prophets.

And we don't know who they are Moses and Elijah maybe we don't know. And the prophets are killed by the Antichrist and they're laying dead in the street of Jerusalem and the Bible says all the world will see them. Now back in the day we had satellite technology but now literally all the world could see them because we reach in our pocket and pull out that little smartphone and we can all watch something stream simultaneously.

This is a fairly recent development. Yeah and it assumes that's the case because all the world will not only see them there'll be a three days when the whole world will rejoice over their death. Now how in the world could the word get out all over the world in three days you know two thousand years ago or even a hundred years ago fifty years ago. Now we see it in real time right. So that assumes a worldwide technology when real time people can be seen.

And how it happens well we know now because of the technology. Interesting I was reading these Bible commentators a hundred years ago. It was fascinating they said one guy said I don't know how it's going to happen I can't imagine but I don't want to twist God's word someday somehow this will come to pass.

He never saw it. We did. We live in that age right now. Okay so this is all very exciting but like I was talking with some of these young kids up here but sometimes it's scary. Oh Jesus is coming Antichrist is coming. So I mean if I'm a Christian do I have to be afraid of these things.

No it's called our blessed hope in Titus 2 13. We're not afraid of it. We're looking forward to the coming of the Lord.

Now let's face it the world which we live in it's getting worse and worse all the time. I think we can all acknowledge that. Won't it be great when there's no more sin no more death no more tears no more dying. That's what it's all about. And that's something to look forward to. It's a wonderful time. And so as believers we have a fabulous hope whether we see it in our lifetime or whether we go to meet the Lord we're going to be there in his presence.

It is a realistic hope a blessed hope and it's something to be very excited about particularly great when we're seeing all these signs right now. Pastor Greg Laurie and his guest Don Stewart will have more of this presentation in just a moment. We love hearing what Pastor Greg's teachings touch individuals and families. Hi Pastor Greg. I want to let you know that I was saved at your harvest crusade last year, along with my husband and my daughter.

After hearing your recent message on anxiety. My friend also accepted Jesus. Thank you for your continued commitment to the Lord, and may God continue to use you to bring more people to him. We're so grateful to hear of the changed lives through harvest ministries.

And if you have a story to tell of how these studies have touched your life, or that of a family member, I hope you'll contact us today. Email Pastor Greg. Greg at harvest.org.

That's Greg at harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is joined by author and Bible scholar Don Stewart. They're talking about the questions many have about the end times.

Let's continue. The rapture. Yeah, you know, I mentioned this last week, you know, critics of the rapture say we can't find the word rapture in the Bible. Actually, you can't.

You can't. Thessalonians 4 17. It's there. Yeah, but it's, it's in Latin. Yes, it's a Latin rapturous. Is that how you repair a is the verb and yeah, Arpaio is the, you know, first thing it's our puzzle.

Our pod. So is Greek. Yeah, our votes is Greek repair. It's Greek. So I always ask him, is that am I pronouncing it right?

You got it right. So tell us about the heart pot. So tell us about the rapture. What is it?

How long does it take? Could it happen at any moment? What will it be like when it happens? Yeah, there are three passages that teach this john 14 one to three. Jesus alluded to it on the night of his betrayal. He says, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place, I will come again and receive you unto myself.

I didn't develop that. It's developed by the apostle Paul. And first Corinthians 15 51 to 58, and first Thessalonians 413 to 18. And basically, what he says is this, there'll come a time when the dead in Christ will rise first. All right, those who have died in Christ will rise, they will receive their glorified body at that time. Right now they're in the presence of the Lord, but in non bodily form, they will rise and as they rise in from the dead, we who are alive will be caught up.

This is the word harpazo repair. That's the rapture. We've made a noun out of it, the rapture will be caught up. As we're caught up, we're transformed from mortal to immortal from corruptible to incorruptible.

First Corinthians 15 tells that and so not everyone will sleep in death. There will be people a generation that will see the coming of the Lord face to face as quick as you can blink or snap your fingers. You're gone just like the song. I wish we'd all been ready. You know, one one second you're there. The next second you're not. That is what the Lord promises.

And it's gonna happen sometime. You guys, do you have any questions you get in this? Is this making sense to you guys?

Yeah, so it's very simple, very straightforward teaching. Why is it important to believe that the rapture could come in our lifetime? Because you know, it's fallen out of fashion with some and some don't teach it at all anymore.

Why does it matter? It's really important because it gives us something to look forward to to hope because you know, we can live with a lot of things. But I tell you what we can't live without and that's hope. You've got to have hope to keep you going. And this is a realistic hope. Like again, it's called a blessed hope.

And so we need that. But it's true. It's you know, you know, sometimes Greg, you read something you hear this is too good to be true. No, this is true.

It is actually true. Someday we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Those of us who are alive, those who have passed will go to be with the Lord. With their bodies and spirits will join and there'll be one great reunion. And what First Thessalonians 4 18 says, comfort one another with these words, because someday there'll be that great reunion in heaven or those that have gone before us. We'll see them again. Well, there's never the word goodbye is not in the Christian vocabulary for believers in Christ. Let's just see you later, because we're going to see each other. We're going to see our loved ones someday again, face to face with the Lord. That's very true.

Thank you so much, Don. How does a person know that they're ready for the rapture or and for that matter, just ready if life were to end if they were to die? How can you know I'm ready to meet God no matter what happens today?

Yeah, real simple. The Bible gives us the answers to the three basic questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What's going to happen to me after I die? We can know that we have eternal life. First John chapter five verse 12 says the one that has the Son of God has life. The one that does not have the Son of God does not have life. But then verse 13 of chapter five says this, I've written these things that you might know that you have eternal life if you believed on the name of the only begotten son. So all of us tonight can know by faith we have eternal life if we have believed in Jesus. And you know, Greg, it's a real simple thing to do. You know, that night for me at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in March 1970, I just said, I want it, you know, and that was it. You know, God, it's like the thief on the cross.

Remember me? So it's it's not so much the words. It's just God reads our heart, right? We say that's why when I give the sinner's prayer, I tell people to repeat these words, Lord, I want to believe in you and trust you the best way that I know how.

You know, just the best way I can do it. And God God honors that. That's right.

That's right. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this hope. We have this blessed hope that one day everyone will be there that has put their faith in you.

We're so thankful for that. The family of God over generations will all be united. We ask you to speak to us as we open your word now. Speak to us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Why don't you grab your Bibles and turn with me over to the gospel of Luke, the 12th chapter. You know, many years ago over legal documents and especially financial documents, they used to write these words, momento mori. And momento mori means think of death.

It was not there in a morbid way, but there as a reminder like, hey, you may have a lot of money in the bank, but momento mori. Think of death. And I think in the same way we should just remind ourselves, God's great, whatever you have going on in life, but make sure you're living pure before him. The Bible says he that has this hope, that is the hope of the Lord's return, purifies himself even as he is pure. So I think a lot of times we will study these events like the rapture and the tribulation period and talk about Armageddon and the anti-Christ. But it won't affect us.

And if it doesn't affect you in the way that you live, man, you've missed the point. Heard a story about an old man that was walking along and suddenly heard a voice say to him, pick me up and kiss me and I'll become a beautiful princess. He's looking around, who said that? He thought, I'm imagining things. He walks a little bit further, hears it again. Pick me up and kiss me, I'll become a beautiful princess. He looks again, he sees a frog. And for the third time, this is a true story, for the third time, the frog says, pick me up and kiss me and I'll become a beautiful princess. And he reached down and he picked up the frog, looked at it for a moment, tucked it in his pocket and kept walking. The frog said, didn't you hear what I said? I said, kiss me and I'll become a beautiful princess.

He said, at my age, I'd rather have a talking frog. Talking about missing the point, right? And so that is how it can be. So we don't want to miss the point. It's interesting to talk about these things like Donna and I just did.

But how does this affect you? Jesus gives us the answer in Luke 12. 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'll reward the servants who are ready.

Understand this. Jesus is coming. So we need to be ready to go. Are you ready for the Lord's return? A salient question from Pastor Greg Laurie. That's the point of studying Bible prophecy, to help us be ready for the soon return of the Lord.

And there's more to come from Pastor Greg's presentation called, Things to Do Before the End of the World, with Don Stewart. In the new movie, Jesus Revolution, Pastor Greg points out how the time is right for another great spiritual awakening, like we saw during the Jesus movement of the late 60s and early 70s. The tension and chaos of the culture was so similar to what we see today. The Vietnam War was still raging.

Young men were coming back in body bags. There were riots in the streets. The country seemed to be coming apart at the scene. The time was right for a change. The time was right for the Jesus movement. There's two Time magazine covers that sum it up. I believe it was 1967 when Time magazine did a cover. It was black background with red type reversed out, asking the question, is God dead?

Very ominous. And then just a few years later, Time magazine 1971, this sort of psychedelic image of Jesus on the cover with the statement, the Jesus revolution. What a difference a few years made. What a difference a revival made. I think understanding the backdrop of the time helps you to understand the powerful move that took place. Well, Pastor Greg, you pointed out that your dream for this new feature film, Jesus Revolution, is that it would lay the groundwork for the next spiritual awakening. We need it, and the time is right for it. You would say the conditions are similar now to the time of the Jesus movement, right?

Yes, I would. Very similar. In fact, I can't think of any two decades that are more alike than the late 60s, early 70s, in this moment in American history. Certainly, I wouldn't say that of the 80s, the 90s, or even the early 2000s, but right now it's so parallel. It's even kind of interesting how certain drugs have made a comeback. Weed is so widespread, marijuana.

More people smoke marijuana today than cigarettes. And LSD has made a comeback. And these are bad things, by the way.

And those are drugs that my generation experimented with, myself included, searching for answers and, of course, not finding them. But then just the divide between generations. The racial division, which was very strong in the late 60s. Just the general chaos.

So many things are similar. And we had a revolution, but it wasn't a political revolution. It wasn't a moral revolution. It was a Jesus revolution. Now, interestingly, we did not call it that. We called it the Jesus movement, but it was Time magazine that dubbed it Jesus Revolution.

And I think Time saw something that we may not have seen. It was a revolution. The word revolution means an upheaval, you know, and it's where things are changed dramatically.

But revolution also means going in a complete circle, right? So it was like a returning back to what I believe was New Testament Christianity. And so when I became a Christian in 1970 at the age of 17, I did not know I was in the spiritual awakening.

I just went to this church called Calvary Chapel. It was alive. It was overflowing with people of all ages. God was at work, and I had walked right into the middle of a bona fide spiritual awakening. And I had a front row seat, and I saw spiritual things happen. I saw the birth of what we call contemporary Christian music now. Back then we called it Jesus music. I saw the birth of modern praise and worship and a whole new approach to doing church that all is rooted back in those days. And so, wow, I look back and I thank God I was able to be there, and now other people can see what it was like.

When you watch this film, Jesus Revolution, you're going to feel in many ways like you're going back in time. And that was our hope as I spoke with the director, John Irwin. You know, I had vivid memories of details. You know, I'm a designer.

You know, before I was a preacher, I was an artist. And so I remember, I noticed things. I noticed colors and textures and other things.

So I gave him as much detail as I could, and I tell you, he captured lightning in a bottle. There are scenes in this film where you feel like you're there experiencing it for yourself. It's very interesting. When older people watch this movie, it's sort of a flashback to use a 60s term. They remember, like when my character Greg is baptized, I see people get tears in their eyes. They're reflecting back on their own conversion. But when young people watch it, it's an entirely different experience.

It's almost as though they're experiencing it themselves, now, in real time. So I think this movie is going to reach people of all ages. And I'm hoping that young people are impacted, and I'm hoping that they'll see it and say, we want this to happen in our generation. We want our own Jesus movement.

And if this film played a role in that, we would be so excited. You know, it's been said, the fame of revival spreads the flame of revival. So this is a revival story, and our hope and prayer is that it's not just a film, but that it creates a movement, that it moves people toward God, and inspires a generation of younger people to pray for their own Jesus revolution.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. It's something we can all use as a tool to help bring friends and loved ones face to face with the hope of the gospel. We hope you'll plan to see Jesus Revolution when it premieres February 24th. It has the gospel message built right in. And by the way, there will be a special national preview showing February 22nd.

That's two days earlier. It will feature some bonus content, including an easy-to-understand presentation of the gospel by Pastor Greg. To get tickets to this special preview, February 22nd, go to jesusrevolution.movie.

Now that's dot movie, not dot com. Again, jesusrevolution.movie. We hope you'll pray that God uses this as an instrument to bring many people to Him. And we hope you'll partner with us to keep spreading the good news in creative ways such as this. If you can invest in this work right now, we'd like to send you Pastor Greg's book called Jesus Revolution.

Read it before you see the film. It obviously goes into much more detail, and it would be our privilege to send this to you to thank you for your donation. So call us any time at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. And one other thing, if we may. You may be familiar with 2 Chronicles 7.14, which says, If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Well, Pastor Greg is asking us all to follow that biblical direction, to humble ourselves and pray each day for revival in the church and a spiritual awakening in the culture.

It's our 7.14 campaign. Would you pray with us each day at 7.14? At 14 minutes after 7, we're all praying for revival and praying that the movie Jesus Revolution would help light the fire.

Thanks for joining us in that. Well, next time, Pastor Greg brings us more insight on being ready for the Lord's return. We'll see a biblical picture of those who are ready and those who aren't. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.