Having the Right Perspective

Welcome to God First, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible.

Now in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Please join us for today's episode. And as always, it is a joy, an honor, and a privilege to join you each week.

I want to thank you for tuning in. Well, for people who know me, they know that I teach a lot on prophetic passages. I teach a lot on the return of our Lord, the scriptures that tells us what things to look for concerning the return of Jesus Christ. And the reason I do that is because I'm excited about our Lord's return. As a born again believer, I'm looking forward to seeing our Messiah. I am looking forward to Him coming back and taking me to be where He is. Because again, I have trusted in Him. I put my faith and trust in Him. And I have given my life to our Lord by accepting the sacrifice that He made.

And so I'm looking forward to being able to praise our Lord, to give Him adoration, and to magnify Him throughout eternity for what He's done for me, for standing in my place, for dying for my sins. But on the other hand, there are people out there who are in rebellion to Jesus Christ. And the idea, the thoughts of His return is not something that they're looking forward to. The idea of His return causes them to have fear. It causes some to even have anger. They don't want to hear about it.

They want to continue living in their sin because they know that a judgment day is coming if they continue with their sinful lifestyle, if they don't repent and give their lives to Jesus Christ. And so what we have is two people looking at the exact same event, but having two different feelings. And that is because we have two different perspectives. When my son was about three years old, I had to take him to the pediatrician one day, and he was scheduled to get four vaccinations. And so when we arrived, the doctor pulled me off to the side and she explained to me what was going to happen. She said he needs to get four shots. She said, I need you to hold his arms to make sure he can't move.

Just hold them down. And she said, the nurse and I, we're going to each give him a shot in his arms at the same time. And she said, continue holding them.

Don't let them go because we're going to quickly do two more. So she said, do not let go of him until we have given a total of four injections. And so said, OK. And I went over to my son, held his arms and tried to talk with them and just distract them so he wouldn't be fearful of what was going on. And he was very cool and calm.

He didn't seem to be bothered or worried at all about with with about what was going to take place. And so as they came in with the needles and everything, he was sitting there on the table and I'm holding his arms. And again, he was he was fine. And so they gave him a shot in each arm, just as the doctor said, one in the right arm, one in the left arm at the same time.

He didn't make a sound. He didn't try to move his arms, but he did look to his left and he looked to his right and back to his left, back to his right. He did that several times trying to figure out what's going on here. And so they immediately.

Remove those needles and then gave him two more injections. And at that point, he hollered. He started crying. And so by the time, though, he really started crying that it was all over.

They were done. And so they put bandages over his arms, the bandaids and got him dressed and we went on our way. And so what I did on the way home, I decided to stop off at a retail store to allow him to get a toy for for doing such a good job at the doctor for for just just weathering that, you know, without putting up a fight. And so we got to the checkout counter and the cashier, she spoke to me, she said, how are you doing today, sir? And I said, fine, thank you.

How are you? And then she leaned down and looked at my son and she said, how are you doing today, young man? And my son said, my daddy held me down while those ladies were stabbing me.

The cashier looked up at me with this incredulous expression on her face, and I thought I better clean this up as quickly as possible before she calls the authorities. And so I explained to her that he had to go to the pediatrician to get some injections, some shots showed her the bandaids. And so she seemed satisfied with that explanation.

And so we went on our way. But again, it's all about perspective, because, you see, from my perspective and from the doctor's perspective, we knew that they were giving him medications to try to keep him from getting sick. But from his perspective, it was a physical assault taking place and he thought that his daddy was a part of it.

But it's all about perspective is all about what angle you are coming from. And likewise, when I had another experience with my daughter, same thing, I had to take her to the pediatrician. She was not getting injections, but she simply had to just go through a physical examination. And the doctor wanted her to lie on her back on the table so she could easily look into her her ears, nose and mouth. And so my daughter, again, she's three years old. She did not like doctors, had a high level of anxiety for doctors, and she did not want to lie on that table.

And if you've ever seen an alligator, the way in which it takes down its prey, the way it contorts its body and it twists and turns. We should have named our daughter Allie because that girl, when it came time to have a doctor's examination, she would twist and turn. And so much was going on with her body. And I thought I never knew a three year old could be so strong, especially a girl at that. But it was so much work and effort to hold her in place so she could have an examination. But it's all about perspective because I knew that the doctor simply wants to make sure she's healthy.

But to her, only thing she could think is something painful may happen. So I need to get away. I need to to get myself removed from this as soon as possible. And folks, that is the thing that happens again when we look at the coming of our Lord, because there are people who are not looking forward to his return because of their rebellious nature. And I want to encourage you today to come to Jesus Christ because there is life in him.

Without him, you are going to eternal damnation. Don't listen to the tricks of the devil where he tries to give you that false perspective, like the way my kids had a false perspective of a doctor. The devil will try to make you think that if you give your life to Jesus Christ, then you won't have any fun in life. But people, I'm here to tell you that Christians have the most joy. Christians are getting the most out of life.

Those who believe in Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that that means Christians do not suffer. There is suffering that comes along. There is persecution. And Jesus said in his word that if they persecuted me, referring to himself, he said they will also persecute you. And Jesus also said that to be a follower of him means you have to die to yourself, meaning we have to die to our own desires, to our own wants. And we have to take up the cross and follow him, meaning we have to be willing to live for his cause, live for his way. And so that will mean some persecution.

That will mean some suffering. And so I don't want to give this false picture, a false narrative that so many today give in which they are saying your best life is now. And we hear that kind of thing a lot.

Your best life now. And they talk about all these blessings and what God is going to do for you. Yes, we will be blessed and we are blessed as believers in Jesus Christ, but our greatest blessing is coming in eternal rewards. Now, we are still going to have great things happening in this earthly life. Jesus said, I came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly. And so, yes, we are very blessed. But the joy that we have is not because of things that are happening necessarily in the here and now, but it's because of Jesus Christ and what he's done for us and the fact that we're going to live for millions and millions and trillions and trillions of years with our Lord in his presence.

It will never come to an end. We're going to live in the joy in the presence of our great Lord. And that is why we as believers are so joyous. That is why we can we can rejoice even in the midst of sorrow. That is why I attended a funeral once and a woman was funeralizing her son and he's lying there in the coffin and she's standing there giving praises to our Lord, giving praises through singing and dancing.

And she's just smiling and lifting her hands. And I thought, how amazing it is to be one of our Lord's children that that we can even in the midst of something like that, we can still praise him because she understood that her son had gone away to be with the Lord. His physical body was still there in that coffin. But she understood that his soul and spirit was with Jesus.

And so he was rejoicing. And so she was rejoicing with him, giving praises to our Lord. And she also knows that our Lord promised that for those who put their faith and trust in him, that the day would come in which her son would get up out of that coffin again, his physical body would rise. And that is what we call the rapture, the rapture of the church. First Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13. It says the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so there's so much great hope and joy for those of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ, who put our faith and trust in our Lord.

And so I urge you today, if the thought of our Lord's return causes you to be fearful, if it causes you to have apprehension, I want you to examine your heart and ask yourself, why is that? Is it because you've never truly received him? Or maybe you have received him, but you're really not living for him in the sense of really giving him your best. You're not dedicated to him. Maybe you are like the the church that our Lord said in Revelation that it left its first love, that at one time they were on fire for him and and they were were talking with him and worshiping him, praising him, reading the Bible, praying to our Lord. But then as time went on, they drifted away and he said, return to the things that you used to do. Return to your first love. Maybe that's what's happening to you.

So you need a rekindling of that relationship. But whatever the reason is, I want you to examine yourself and I want you to change it so that the thought of our Lord coming back does get you excited. The thought of our Lord coming back puts a smile on your face.

The thought of our Lord coming back just brings so much joy to your heart because it's going to be a great time that we have so much to look forward to. Because, again, it's all about perspective. Which side are you on? Are you on the Lord's side or are you on the devil's side? And I know there are some out there that may say, oh, I'm not on the devil's. I'm not with the devil.

I'm not looking to him. But if you're not on the Lord's side, there's only one other side to be on. And that is the side of the enemy, the great deceiver, the father of lies, and that is Satan. So I want to encourage you today to come to Jesus Christ. Give your heart to him because I want you to be on fire and excited and looking forward to the day when our Lord is going to return. He promised. He said, I'm going away when he left the apostles at his first coming. He said, I'm going away, but I'm going to come back again to receive you, to take you to where I am.

He promised to do that. And so we're looking forward to that time. And again, folks, I'm excited about it. And I see the things that our Lord said to look forward to. He gave us signs to look forward to concerning his second coming. And now when I say second coming, I'm talking about the day in which our Lord's feet will touch Mount Olives.

It's going to touch the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. And that is where our Lord is coming back to rule and reign. But the Bible says the rapture of the church in which we are called up to be with him, he doesn't come all the way to the earth. We are called up into the clouds to meet our Lord and then we go to heaven to ride out the seven year tribulation. And so we already see the signs, though, that are pointing to our Lord's literal physical touching of the earth to rule and reign. And so therefore, we know that the rapture is not much nearer because there are no signs for the rapture.

The rapture can take place at any moment. It's like if you're driving out on the highway, let's say you're out on Interstate 40 and you're driving to Winston-Salem. And let's say the Department of Transportation has removed all the signs that point to Greensboro.

So there are no signs to show you when Greensboro is coming. But you're out there and you're driving along and you see a sign that says Winston-Salem 90 miles. You drive a little bit further, Winston-Salem 60 miles. You drive a bit further, Winston-Salem 45 miles.

You know that because you get to Greensboro before you get to Winston-Salem, that as you get nearer to Winston-Salem, Greensboro is even that much nearer. And that is what it's like when we look at the rapture of the church. We already see the signs coming pointing to the coming of our lower second coming.

And so therefore, we know that the rapture is even that much nearer. And folks, I'm excited about it. I am looking forward to it. And I hope you are excited and looking forward to that time as well. Well, we're going to take a short break for a brief announcement, but don't go away. We're coming back on the other side, continuing to talk about having the perspective of being excited about our Lord's coming. Get ready because the King is coming soon.

Don't go away. You are tuned into the God First program. You are listening to God First. If you believe in what we stand for at God First Bible Fellowship, would you consider partnering with us? Our God First partners program is based on Matthew 6-33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added on to you. For a recurring donation of $6.33 per month, you can help us share the message of placing God's commands first when viewing the issues of our culture. Please visit our website, GodFirst.org, or write to us at God First Bible Fellowship, P.O.

Box 266, Knightdale, North Carolina, 27545 for more information. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's program. Welcome back to the program.

My name is Brian Thomas. And today I am talking with you about perspective. When it comes to the coming of our Lord, are you excited or are you fearful? We are created to be eternal.

Everybody is going to live forever, exist forever, either in eternal life with our Lord or in eternal damnation. That is something that we always must keep in mind. What I think is happening with so many people, especially here in our nation, we are so blessed. We have so much. We we have so many things, not only our needs, but we have so many luxuries and pleasures that people are so happy here that they're not looking forward to something that's to come in the future.

People are so comfortable here. We have our luxuries, our pleasures and our money and our nice houses and nice cars and and all the food that we want, clothing. We just we have so much and so many people are so blessed that rather than giving thanks to our Lord and looking forward to being in his physical presence, to give him praise and adoration for the things that he's blessing us with in this life and the things that he has blessed us with in the life to come by dying for our sins and giving us the opportunity for eternal life. If we would simply accept the gift because they are so caught up on the things that we have now, people are not looking forward to what's to come. And I think that's the tragedy that happens sometimes when people are blessed. They tend to forget about God. They tend to think, well, I have need.

I don't have need of anything. And especially when it comes about through a person that has climbed the ladder in their career and they're they're doing well with their job and they're making a lot of money. And they they contend to think I did all of this and they don't give glory to God for it, but they think they did it through their own power. But folks, there is nothing that we have that comes through our own power. Everything that we have comes from only the power of our Lord. And that's even for nonbelievers, even the nonbelievers are being blessed because the sun that shines on the righteous, it's the same sun, the same sun that shines on the unrighteous, our Lord blesses us all.

But you have to make a choice to come to Jesus Christ because either you're going to live with him for eternity or you're going to live in eternal damnation. Our Lord in Matthew 24 spoke of one of the signs concerning his return, he said, because lawlessness will abound, the love of meaning will grow cold. I am seeing the love of people growing cold on a level that is unprecedented in my lifetime. Never have I seen before so many family members that are falling out with one another. And I don't mean just like first and second cousins. I'm talking about siblings, talking about parent and child. No longer speaking to one another, no longer having things to do with one another because of a betrayal.

I've never seen it on this scale before. And I look at Matthew 24 and I say, is this the fulfillment of what our Lord said would take place? And I do believe that it is happening.

And I think it's going to continue to happen even more as we get into the seven year tribulation leading up to the second coming of our Lord. But I want to encourage people out there today because I know a lot of people are hurting due to relationships in the family going wrong, arguments and betrayal. I personally have experienced deep hurt through relationships and family. I have experienced things in which I thought this person would never in a million years do what they did. If someone would have came to me 10 years ago and said, this is what is going to happen between you and that family member, I would have said, no, there's no way.

You're crazy. There's no way they would ever do that to me. They would never betray me in that way. They would never hurt me in that way.

But yet those things happened. And I carry that hurt. And there are times when I ask myself the question, how long will the hurt last? And some say, well, you know, you give it all to Jesus, give it all to the Lord and the hurt will go away. But there are times in life in which the hurt may not be completely lifted. And I don't want to say that as a discouragement to anyone.

I want to encourage you through what I'm sharing with you. Because if you remember the apostle Paul, he had a thorn in his side and we don't know exactly what that thorn was. We don't know if it was something physically related to a physical ailment or something emotional.

We just don't know. But he said that the Lord gave him a thorn in the side to keep him humble. And Paul asked the Lord to remove it. He prayed to him not once, not twice, but three times. And the Lord said, my grace is sufficient. So Paul kept that thorn in his side, whatever it is, for his living days on the earth. And I'm sharing that to say this, not to discourage you from praying for things to be healed, but I'm sharing this to say that there may be hurt that you may carry for the rest of your life. But understand that Jesus said he's not going to give you more than you can bear. And he's also going to carry it with you.

So you give it to him and allow him to carry it. But it's like when we look at the death of a loved one. I've heard people say the death of a child is something you never get over. I've heard people say that hurt never completely goes away. You learn how to manage it. You learn how to cope with it, but it never completely goes away. And so there are people that are suffering today because of a betrayal from a mother, a betrayal from a father, a betrayal from a brother or sister, a betrayal from a son or a daughter. And I want to encourage you today.

Keep your hand in the master's hand. And you see, for me, I look forward to the day when our Lord returns, because I know that when he comes back, when he raptures me up to be with him, then that hurt instantly will come to an end. The pain of that betrayal will instantly go away. I won't have that anymore. I won't have that weight to carry anymore.

And it could be that the Lord may be allowing you to feel some of the sting of it in order to to help you to look forward to being with him. And so I just want to encourage you. Don't quit.

Don't give up. Don't give up on the relationship because it can still be repaired. But the sad thing about it is because of the sinfulness of mankind, there are some people out there that will betray you and they'll never come back and say they're sorry. They'll never come back and apologize.

They'll never come back and ask for forgiveness. You have to move forward in life. You have to still forgive them.

Don't be bitter. Don't allow the resentment to to eat at you, because that is what the devil will do. He will try to to cause you to hang on to it and to allow it to to defeat you. And it can cause you physical ailments and it can cause you to have even psychological problems. So don't allow that to happen.

But the simple hurt of a relationship that has been broken, that hurt may go with you throughout your life. But again, look to the coming of our Lord and know that when he comes back, all of that instantly comes to an end. And I know people out there, I've heard some pastors even say that they don't teach and preach on Bible prophecy because people need to hear things that are going to help them with their problems that they're going through right now.

People need to hear answers to how to to handle a wayward child or or how to handle financial troubles or how to be healed by physical ailment, different things of that nature. And my response to that is what could be a better answer than our Lord coming back? And when he does, all of those things instantly come to an end. That is for all who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and accepted him as Lord and Savior. Folks, there is great hope. And that is why Titus says it is the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have a lot to look forward to for those who have put their faith and trust in him.

So I want to encourage you that no matter what you're going through, don't stop living for Jesus Christ. Be excited about his coming because he is coming again. And folks, it's going to be a glorious time when we come to be in the presence of our great Lord. And he said we will rule and reign with him.

And so I am so much looking forward to that day. So it's all about perspective, though. You have to keep things in the right perspective. Don't get caught up in the here and now. The false teaching out there by so many that the best life is here and now. It is exactly that, a false teaching, because the best is yet to come. We are just getting started. When we look at eternity compared to this life that we're living, no matter how old you are, you may be 20 years old. You may be 30, 40, 50, 75, 80. This life is going to seem like a blink of an eye in comparison to eternity.

And so that is what we should be focused on, living for our Lord for eternal purposes. And my grandmother used to say all the time that she was very rich. And when she said that, she would smile because she knew she didn't have a lot materially, a lot of money. But she said, I have Jesus Christ. And she said, therefore, I'm the richest woman in the world.

And she's exactly right. Because when you have Jesus Christ, you have it all. There's nothing else that you're in need of. He says that for those who drink of what he gives, you will never thirst again. For those who eat of what he provides, you will never hunger again. And so I'm asking today to give your heart to Jesus Christ if you've never received him. And then for those of us who have received Jesus Christ. But if you're not looking forward to his return, if you're not sharing the good news with others that, yes, he died for our sins. He rose from the dead.

He's he's made a way for us to have eternal life. But if you're not sharing that he's also coming back again for us, I want to encourage you to start doing it today. Share with others.

Share with your friends, your family, your co-workers. Tell them that Jesus is coming back again. He said it would be like it was in the days of Noah. And Noah was telling people that a judgment was coming, a flood was coming. People laughed at Noah and they mocked him until the rain began to fall. And then they realized that Noah was telling the truth, that Noah was right.

But then it was too late. Let's reach those people before it's too late, because Jesus is coming back again. The Bible is true. The Bible is real. It's not a fairy tale.

He is coming back again. We should be excited and looking forward to that day. So, folks, don't get discouraged by the things that are going on in this world. Yes, there are spirits that have descended upon the earth.

We can sense them, evil spirits. But keep our eyes focused on Jesus Christ. He will see us through to the end. He said, for those that endure to the end, they shall be saved. And enduring to the end doesn't necessarily mean living your physical life through the end, to the end, because during the tribulation especially, there are people who will put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. They missed the rapture because they were not saved, but they will come to know him. But they're going to be beheaded because they will refuse to accept the Antichrist as God. And Jesus said, for those who endure to the end, they shall be saved.

So, that is, for those who remain faithful to him, they will be saved to have eternal life. So, continue to endure these times that we're living in. Continue to endure the hurt.

Continue to endure the pain. Have the right perspective that our Lord is coming soon for those who have put their trust in him. Well, folks, we are all out of time for this week. I want to thank you for tuning in. Please come back next time as we continue to encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. And to the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Thank you for tuning in to the God First program. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. And seek first the kingdom of God.