Hey there! Is today your first time here? Or
maybe your first time in a while? If so, maybe
you're wondering exactly who we are and what
this church is all about. Well, we'd like you
to know that we're a group of ordinary people
who are on an amazing journey together following
Christ. Our guide is the Bible because it's the
divinely inspired Word of God and it will never
take us in the wrong direction. Along the way,
we hope you'll see that we are welcoming and
spiritually passionate. and that getting to know
you is a big deal to us. We know that the road
is rough sometimes, but we'll work really hard
to bring you practical and relevant messages
to equip and encourage you through life's ups
and downs. We want you to know that we care about
this community, and we believe that it's our
job to make it a better place. So no matter who
you are or where you've been, we're glad you're
here with us today, and we hope that you'll join
us on our journey, following Christ and living
out His plan for us. So welcome to church. Thankful,
God. Pray that, Lord, your word would meet us
right where we're at. We're confident in the
fact that, Lord, it's your desire to talk to
us and meet with us, Lord. You want to speak
to us, Lord, and minister to our hearts, remind
us of your love, challenge us, warn us, all the
things we need, Lord. So I pray you do that this
morning, God, that we as a church would have
an ear to hear what you'd have to say today.
In Jesus' name. We had a whole wall full of baptism
pictures at one time here. Almost 20 of them,
20 years of them, plus give or take different
other times we baptized people. We had men's
retreats on the Genesee River and several baptisms,
Silver Lake. Currently, we do it at the Breezeway
Barn at our kind of church anniversary in August
every year. But I remember looking at them. At
one point, we would look at baptism pictures.
We baptized 20, 25 people at a time every year.
Great, super encouraging. A lot of people would
show up. And then as we began to look at those
pictures, What you'd see is one of the signs
of the last days is people began to disappear.
The people that were getting baptized, they weren't
just not attending Calvary Chapel. Because it's
great. If you're not attending here and you're
going to a Bible -believing church, amen. That's
where you need to be. Find a good, healthy church
that teaches the word of God and find a home,
a family. That's it. It's where you want to be,
and you want to be connected. You want to be
part of it. You're part of a family, part of
the church. It's the bride of Christ. It's one
bride. It's not all these different brides. It's
the church. So plug in. But what we were seeing
is people were just falling off the map, falling
away. And that's the warning in these last days.
One of the earmarks, and we talked about it last
week, is that people would fall away. They would
begin to walk away from God, walk away from the
Lord. And typically, it's a gradual descent,
right? It starts small, maybe with just becoming
busy, too busy to get together, too busy. We've
got so many things going on, or fears, or finances,
and then it turns into something else, and pretty
soon, you're gone. You're out of a place of fellowship.
It's easy not to go to church. It's easy not
to. But church is the place where you hear the
word of God. You get stirred up, but you're part
of a family. You get sharpened, challenged. There's
accountability. You should have friends at church.
You should be making friends. That's part of
it. But slowly, as you get drawn away, pulled
away, all those things, they begin to crumble.
And then you're a target. But the devil does
not want to see you in church, does not want
you part of a body, wants to pull you away. You
become a very easy target. It says this, one
of the most sobering verses in the Bible, a little
portion as Jesus is talking about kingdom living
in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. He issues a
warning at the end of chapter 7. It says in verse
21, you don't have to turn there. But not everyone,
Jesus will say, he's telling his disciples, everyone
who followed him up onto this mountain, not everyone
who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will
of my Father in heaven. Then he goes on to say,
In fact, many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name, cast
out demons in your name, and done many wonders
in your name? Haven't we done this? We've done
these works. You owe us heaven. I've been a good
person. I've tithed. I've served. I've done this
and that. That doesn't get you into heaven. It's
the work of Calvary and what Jesus Christ did.
And Jesus says, then I will declare to them,
I never knew you. Apart from me, you who practice
lawlessness. There was never a relationship.
The relationship was based on what you could
do to be good enough and not what Jesus did to
make you good enough. That's the problem. But
I can't imagine being there that Jesus literally
says people will be standing there someday. Saying,
Lord, Lord, they're not claiming some other God,
but they're claiming Jesus Christ, the God of
the Bible. Lord, Lord, didn't we do this? Didn't
we do that? To hear those words, the final words,
depart from me, I never knew you. That's it.
No do -overs, no second chance. It's here to
get your chance. Now. And so the Bible, we're
looking at these signs. One of those signs is
a departure from the faith. I pray that God,
his spirit would move one more time and there
would be a great revival again. And I think what
we saw back in, I think it was September, that
God used the seed of another martyr, which God
always does. Charlie Kirk, as he died, it stirred
and ignited faith again in this country. Bible
sales went up exponentially. Church attendance
went up. because of what he represented, who
he represented. And it just started stirring
hearts in people. Who is this guy? And people
were looking him up and pretty amazing. And so
I pray God does do a great revival, but we know
what's going to happen is there'll be a departure
from the faith. There'll be people leaving the
faith. And so Jesus gave his disciples signs
of the last days. As we're looking through Matthew
24, there'll be wars, rumors of wars. There's
always been that, but nothing like we know today.
Today we see wars, rumors of wars. We know what
is going on in Iran today, Persia. Iran is Persia
in the Bible. And they're very significant players
in the last days. We're going to read in Ezekiel
38 and 39 because there's one great war that's
coming. It's not the final war, but there's a
war coming. And the Bible lists all the players.
Amazing. These people, some of them that never
had a relationship before are now coming together
and very close ties, very close relationship.
especially Turkey and Persia, Iran, and Russia.
Kind of amazing. And you're hearing threats from
Russia, right? If you do something, we're going
to do something. They're threatening nuclear
war on Europe. Nuclear force. It's kind of amazing
that these guys are in place, that the Bible
says it before. It's never even happened. Calls
these people out hundreds and sometimes thousands
of years in advance. How could God know? How
could God know? But the Bible clearly states
it. And so Jesus gives the earmarks of these
things. Wars, rumors, rumors of wars, famine,
pestilence, natural disasters, earthquakes, persecution.
And he begins to talk about this time of tribulation
that's coming on the earth, which the number
one, and you need to know this because we're
going to talk about Israel today. But you need
to know that the tribulation period, there'll
be many people who get saved during the tribulation.
The seven year period on planet earth that God
pours out finally judges the planet. Kind of
like in the days of Noah. In fact, Jesus is going
to say that. In the days of Noah, when there
was a global judgment, a flood, there's going
to come another day of judgment. But God is so
patient, not willing, the Bible says, that any
would perish, but that all would come to repentance.
He's giving people time. A space to repent. Time
to hear the gospel. Time to understand that,
yeah, what is life after death? Why are we here?
How did we get here? Answer all these questions
that are in the DNA of every person. He's giving
us time and space and room to answer those questions
and come to Christ. And so Israel is a key player.
Ezekiel chapter 36 or 37 and 36. We'll look at
that. But God has given people a space, a time
to repent. As the tribulation period, many people
will get saved during that time. But it is the
time. And if you remember, Daniel chapter 9.
People are like, don't say Daniel chapter 9.
Daniel chapter 9, we're not going to go there,
but it's something very important. The angel
gives Daniel this 70 week of years, period. 490
years. It's going to take place. The first 69,
God gives Daniel to give the exact day that Jesus
Christ was going to ride into Jerusalem. And
he did. But there's a space, an age of grace.
It's the church age. There's one more week, week
of years, seven years. We know as the time of
Jacob's trouble, Daniel's 70th week. And it's
a time where God is going to save people in the
tribulation, but he's going to deal with this
nation, Israel. Israel is key during the tribulation
period. And we have that. You read the book of
Revelation. It's laid out. Chapters 6 through
19 is the tribulation period. There's no quiz
on that, so don't worry. But it's important.
God saves 144 ,000 Jewish people. They're Jewish
Billy Grahams, evangelists. They're proclaiming
the gospel to Jewish prophets in Jerusalem. It's
very Jewish. So as we're going through this,
we're seeing different signs, looking at them.
And we get to a verse. In Matthew 24, it says
this. Matthew 24, it says in verse 32, Now learn
the parable of the fig tree. When its branch
has already become tender and puts forth its
leaves, you know that summer is near. So also
when you see all these things, you shall know
it's near even at the door. So he's relating
this to the signs in the same way you would see
a tree. In fact, Luke just talks about. Any tree,
the way you see the leaves come on the trees
or fruit coming, you know, you can tell the seasons
by what you're seeing in a tree, right? You look
outside, there's, if you live in New York, there's
not many leaves on the tree. If there are, they're
shriveled up, right? We're waiting for another
couple months and we start seeing some buds come
out and everyone starts talking about the crocuses
that are, oh my gosh, look at this, it's amazing,
right? We want. the warm weather to come. Well,
that's part of what Jesus is relating this to.
He says, when you see all these, know this, that
it's at the doors. Assuredly, I say to you, this
is important, that this generation will by no
means pass away till all these things take place.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words
will by no means pass away. Something's going
to happen. Because the fig tree is also emblematic
of the nation of Israel. The Bible talks, if
you read the Old Testament, Micah, I think it's
Chronicles, where Israel is looking for a day
where it sits under its vine and its fig tree.
And it's emblematic of this nation, Israel, the
fig tree. And Jesus says something that I think
is significant here. He says, when you know this
parable of the fig tree, when its branch is ready
to become tender, and it brings forth leaves,
you know that summer is near. And something the
Bible declares and promises, and it's unfortunate,
and I've talked about it before, Martin Luther,
unfortunately, John Calvin, and many of our forefathers
who did not understand or see Israel, the potential
of them becoming a nation again, created this
thing. And believed in something known as, and
I mentioned it before, replacement theology.
Wherever you see Israel in the New Testament,
the church replaces Israel. Israel is no more.
They're insignificant. And the church has replaced
Israel. Well, God doesn't say that. Paul doesn't
say that in Romans. It's very important to know
because it's the super sign of the last days.
Israel becoming a nation again. But it's something
that most people wrote them off. Lots of people
wrote Israel off. Like there's no way they can
become a nation again. It's impossible. Because
they're out of the land. But Jesus said that.
We won't go there. But Jesus said that your house
is left to you desolate. Because they rejected
their Messiah. And we know 70 AD, it's not overly
important. It is important. that Titus of Aspasian
comes into the city and ransacks. It kills over
a million Jews. Cannibalism is part of what they're
doing in the city, and they take 100 ,000 people
captive because they rejected their Messiah.
And the fruit of that was they went back into
this last day's dispersion during the church
age. But the Bible promises that there's going
to be a regathering. That Israel is going to
become a nation again. Most people didn't believe
that. Most people thought it is impossible that
that could happen. It says this. I wrote down
a couple of quotes. Encyclopedia. Anyone ever
have an encyclopedia Britannica at their house?
When I was growing up, my grandmother had this
whole shelf of encyclopedia Britannicas. I would
just go through them. Well, the one from 1911
says this. If you look up and. Maybe you could
look this up online. It says this with the entry
of the Hebrew language. It says, the dream of
some Zionists that Hebrew, that is to say a would
-be Hebrew, will again become a living popular
language in Palestine has less prospect of realization
than their vision of a restored Jewish empire
in the Holy Land. Like, that ain't going to happen.
There's not going to be a Hebrew language again.
The Jewish people are not going to be in the
Holy Land again. It's impossible. I mean, that's
just over 100 years ago. Mark Twain, on his tour
to the Holy Land, said this in 1867 in his writings
called Innocence Abroad. It says, of all the
lands of dismal scenery, I think Palestine must
be the prince. Israel is desolate and unlovely,
a barren wasteland, rich in soil, but wholly
given over to weeds, a silent, mournful expanse.
He remarked that he didn't encounter one single
human being and hardly a tree or shrub. That's
in 1867. He wrote that. And now we're talking
about a nation that is birthed May 14th, 1948,
produce goods, distribute goods. They're top
15 in the world on certain things, but top 25
in the whole world, which may not seem like a
lot, top 25. Gee, that's not great. There's a
lot of countries. There's 15 million Jews on
the planet, on the whole planet, 15 million Jews.
Seven and a half million live in Israel. Jews.
There's 10 million in the whole country, but
seven and a half million Jews and their top 25,
in some aspects, in some ways, they cut flowers
to Holland, who was the number one exporter in
the world. They sell flowers, cut flowers to
Holland. Their top five or top 10 in citrus,
avocados, pomegranates. I mean, Israel has become,
from what Mark Twain said, to our day and age,
this major superpower. In fact, in terms of military,
they're top 10 or 15 in the world today. Top
five in some instances, their Navy, their Air
Force, and their tank divisions. Top three in
terms of secret service. I mean, we're talking
about a nation that was born less than 100 years
ago. And they become a global superpower. That
at one time, the church itself that had the scriptures
thought, this is impossible. There's no way they
can become a nation. And guess what they have?
May 14th, 1948, to become a nation. It's incredible
what God has done. And he said it before it ever
happened. And some people, Christians. Had to
replace the church with Israel because they were
in such disbelief. Just kind of amazing. Isaiah
27, 6 says, in those days, the days that God
is going to bring Israel back into the land,
it says, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom
and bud and fill the world with fruit. So I'm
going to look at my notes for a second and tell
you guys exactly what they're. They're tropical
fruit exports. Avocados, dates, mangoes, citrus.
They're number seven in the world in tropical
fruits. Who would have thought that? They sell
cut flowers to the Netherlands and Holland. Netherlands
is the number one exporter in the world, and
they purchase flowers from Israel. This land
that was barren, desert. The army is top 15 in
the world of 145 countries, but top 10 in their
air force. Naval fleet, top five in the tank
fleet. And like I said, they're intelligent agencies.
The Mossad and Chimbat, they're top three behind
the CIA and the UK's intelligent agencies. And
you remember what happened with Hezbollah and
the pagers. You guys remember that a couple of
years ago where Hezbollah has all these pagers.
And Israel convinced them to buy pagers from
them so they could track them. And then one day
they have this little bomb in them. And Israel,
the Mossad ignites them, sets them off. People
die because these people are constantly attacking
Israel. Israel, their intelligence is amazing.
But the Bible declares that people are going
to go back to Israel. It's called Aliyah. They're
going to go back to their homeland. And I was
talking to someone recently who works with Jews
in our area, Jewish people, Jewish community.
And he was just telling me how much they get
together and they're in contact with the Mossad
in their country. They send billions of dollars
back to their country all the time. Like these
groups of Jews, these communities, Rochester,
Buffalo, New York City, they're in contact with
the CIA, the Mossad. They get updates on alerts,
things to watch out for, and they're constantly
sending money back to their homeland. And since
the massacre October 7th, thousands of, tens
of thousands of people have gone back to Israel
to live, to move. Right? But the Bible says that
they're going to do that. That they're going
to go back. That they're going to enter back
into the land in unbelief. Like they're not Christians,
but they're God's people. If you turn with me
for a second to Genesis chapter 12. This fig
tree is going to blossom. It's a promise. As
God calls Abraham out of his country and his
nation, it says this in verse 1 of Genesis chapter
12. It says, now the Lord had said to Abraham,
Abraham, get out of your country and your family
and from your father's house to a land that I'm
going to show you. I'll make you a great nation.
I'll bless you. I'll make your name great and
you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who
bless you and curse him who curses you. He's
talking about this nation. That he's reestablishing,
not just Abraham. And in you, all the families
of the earth will be blessed, right? Messiah
is going to come out of this nation, this Abraham
seed. In chapter 15, you turn there with me for
a second. God reiterates a promise to them. And
makes a covenant with Abraham. It says in verse
1, after these things, the word of the Lord came
to Abraham in a vision saying, don't be afraid,
Abraham. I'm your shield, your exceeding great
reward. And then Abraham argues and says, listen,
I don't have a seed. Only Eleazar in my house
is my only seed. I don't have anyone from my
wife and I. What are we going to do? What am
I going to do, Lord? And God makes Abraham, and
I'm skipping through this because I don't have
enough time to read the whole chapter and explain
it. But God basically tells Abraham, do this
for me. Take these animals and cut them in half
and spread them out. One on one side, one on
the other. Kind of a gruesome scene, but it was
the way they would cut a covenant. And then you
would make this promise to each other and you'd
basically hold hands and walk down the middle
of these animals that were cut in half. And it
was such a severe thing that, hey, this is what's
going to happen to you if you don't keep your
promise. You'll be like these animals. And but
when Abraham was there and he cuts the animals
in half, it says that he fell asleep and all
he was trying to do is keep these birds from.
from landing on these animals. That's all his
job was. Then he finally fell asleep and it says
that God went through the midst of it by himself
and burned up these animals. And it was a sign
to Abraham that Abraham, listen, I'm not depending
on you to keep your side of the promise, but
I'm going to keep my side. You don't need to
come through the center of these animals, Abraham,
because I'm going to keep the promise. You're
going to have a seed and this seed is going to
last forever. This land is yours forever. And
no nation on the planet has ever been out of
their country, off their land for 1900 to 2000
years and gone back to take it over again. But
that happened to a nation of Israel. They're
out of their land for almost 2000 years and they
go back. There's no other nation, country or
people. that God says that that's my land and
these are my people and I gave it to them. It's
the only place in the Bible. Those are my people.
This is my land and I gave it to them. And God
brought them back in and gave them land. So turn
with me to Ezekiel 37 for a second. I'll just
read this to you, what God says. Ezekiel 37.
If you're a note taker, you can write down Isaiah
11, verse 10 and 11. And there's tons of scriptures
in the Bible talking about God bringing his people
back into the land in unbelief. But it says this
in chapter 36, verse 22. Therefore, say to the
house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do
not do this for your sake, O house of Israel,
but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned
among the nations wherever you went. But I will
sanctify my great name, which has been profaned
among the nations, which you have profaned in
their midst. And the nation shall know that I
am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I'm hollowed
in you before their eyes. For I will take you
from among the nations and gather you out of
all countries and bring you into your own land.
That's God's promise. And we can bounce around
and spend a lot of time talking about this. Chapter
37 is pretty profound because these are the last
days. This is the vision of these dry bones.
It says this in chapter 37. The hand of the Lord
came upon me and brought me out in the spirit
of the Lord and set me down in the midst. of
the valley, and it was full of bones. So if you
can imagine this valley full of bones, they're
dry bones, he's going to say. He caused me to
pass by them all, and behold, there were very
many in an open valley, and indeed, they were
very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can
these bones now live? And I answered, O Lord
God, you know. I don't know, you know. And he
said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to
them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God to these bones, surely
I will cause breath to enter into you and you'll
live. I will put sinew on you and bring flesh
upon you and cover you with skin and put breath
in you and you'll live and you'll know that I
am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded.
And as I prophesied, there was a noise and a
sudden rattling and the bones came together bone
to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and
the flesh came upon them and the skin covered
over them, but there was no breath in them. And
he said to me, prophesy to the breath. Prophesy,
son of man, and say to the breath, thus saith
the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe on these slain that they might live.
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath
came into them, and they lived, and they stood
there on their feet. Listen, an exceeding great
army. That's who Israel is today. And he said
to me, son of man, this is important, these bones.
are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say,
and this is what they said, our bones are dry,
our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off.
And that's what the nation was saying for a long
time. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus
saith the Lord, O my people, I will open your
graves and cause you to come up from the graves
and bring you into the land of Israel. You'll
know that I'm the Lord when I've opened your
grave. Oh, my people and brought you up from
your graves. And I'll put this is future. This
is during the tribulation. Verse 14. I will put
my spirit in you and you'll live. Right. They're
going to become a nation that's saved, redeemed,
born again. You'll live and I'll place you in
your own land and you'll know that I, the Lord,
have spoken it and performed it. They're going
to be in belief during the tribulation. They're
going to get saved. We don't have time. We're
not going to look there. Ezekiel 38 and 39. I
just want to look at a couple of verses. I want
to read more. There's coming a battle that's
significant. The timing of it is in question.
When's it going to happen? Ezekiel 38 and 39.
I believe before the tribulation kicks off. And
I believe. Maybe in close correlation with the
rapture of the church. But these players are
in play. So I'll just read them and then tell
you what these names are. Verse 2. Son of man,
set your face against Gog, the land of Magog,
the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. That's
Russia. And the prince of Russia, Gog and Magog.
And say, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I'm
against you, God, the prince of Rosh, Meshach,
and Tubal. I will turn you around and put hooks
into your jaws and lead you out with all your
army, horses and horsemen, all splendidly clothed,
a great company with bucklers and shields, all
of them handling the sword. And listen, here's
who he's gathering with them. Persia, that's
Iran, Ethiopia, Libya. Are with them, all of
them with shields and helmets. Gomer and all
its troops, the house of Tagarma from the far
north and all its troops. Many people are with
you. Prepare yourselves and be ready. You and
all your companies that are gathered about and
be on guard for them. And then if you keep reading,
these people come together. I just want to tell
you who they are. It says this. Gog and Magog,
that's a title. Rosh, that's Russia. Meshach,
Moscow. Tubal, that's a city of Russia. But that's
this northern, far north. If you put a line right
from Israel straight north, that's who it is.
It's Russia. And they're aligned with Persia.
And you could follow all their war spending and
military might. A lot of it comes from Russia.
and China and these nations that are aligning.
And Russia is pouring into this nation. Why?
For money. We're going to see that people question,
you know, why are you doing this? Why are you
going to war? As you continue reading the chapter,
which I encourage you to do, why are you going
to war? To take a spoil? And yeah, that's exactly
what they're doing. They're coming down for a
spoil. They want to take Israel. They want to
take the land. They want to destroy them. And
people will question, but nobody's going to step
in. God has to step in himself, it says, in this
battle. But it's Iran. Ethiopia and Kush is Sudan
and Ethiopia. Libya is Algeria, Tunisia. Gomer
is Poland, the Czech Republic, East Germany.
Tagarma is Turkey. The people, Sheba and Dedan,
verse 13, I didn't read it. One of those people,
that's the Arabian Peninsula. And one of those
places is Saudi Arabia, where you think of Osama
bin Laden and 9 -11, right? But now with the
Abraham Accords and the new president, they're
sympathetic. They're friendly to Israel. In fact,
they're worried about Iran themselves. They said
that... Iran and its leadership, it's the next
Hitler. And they're worried. And they said, no,
we don't have nuclear weapons. But if Iran has
them, we have no choice. But we'll have them
too. Because they're worried. Right? It's all
shaken up. Zechariah says that Israel is going
to be a cup of trembling. And the whole world
is going to tremble. At that one little nation,
the size of New Jersey, they're going to worry
about this one little plot of ground on this
whole planet. Why is it significant and important?
Because they're God's people and he's not done
with them. Romans says that. Not done with them.
Blindness in part has happened to Israel until
the fullness of the Gentiles. The church comes
together. God raptures the church out of here.
We're going to look at that next week. And then.
Antichrist comes, tribulation starts, and God
deals with this nation of Israel that came out
of nowhere, that people wrote off, even people
in the church wrote that nation off. And they're
back in the land. They're a major player. They're
a world power. They're a global influence, financially,
militarily, intelligence -wise. 15 million on
the whole planet. Add them all up. There's 15
million Jews. There's 10 million people in New
York City. One city in the United States. And
the whole world is worried about Israel. Every
Muslim nation around there, many of them, not
all of them, want to push them into the sea.
They're not happy with a peace agreement or a
little more land. They want them dead, wiped
out. And we could go on and on. There's a lot
of history here. Track it in your Bible. I challenge
you. The devil has always attacked this nation.
Why? Because of the promise of Messiah. God can't
lie. But if the devil can do something to thwart
God's plans, that's what he wants to do. He can
stop it some way. So listen, here's the reality.
Is if you don't know the Lord, listen, the Bible
says that God knows the end from the very beginning.
Your future matters. Where are you going to spend
eternity? God wrote this not to, and it's fun
to look up. It's fun to study these things. I
really enjoy it. But here's the reality. It's
written there for a reason. It's a warning. God
knows the future and he knows if you don't receive
him, guess what? You'll be separated forever.
For all of eternity. Because the Bible's true.
God is real and he sent his son. On your behalf
and mine, he loves you.