562 - Where We Are Now and Where We Are Going

What the Next Eighteen Months Will Look Like

People see the chaos all around and want to know where we are as a culture today and what the next eighteen months will look like. As a preview, we can expect economic turmoil, especially inflation and hyperinflation. There will be deception, falsehoods, and lies coming from our sacred institutions. Jesus said to expect wars and rumors of wars which will lead to the downgrading of America as a superpower. Narcissism will become the mental illness of the land, and the church will experience the great apostasy the Scriptures warned about.

In a word, our future looks dark and bleak.

For each of us, there are three questions we need to be asking ourselves: One, what is the end goal or what is going on? Two, what is the Lord’s will for me and my family during this time? And three, why do we seem to feel or sense that time is running out and the time for playing church is over?

What Can We Do? Live Like You’re Soon to Die

In June 2020, Tim Keller was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. This diagnosis had a profound impact on his life. For one, he realized his life had an expiration date, and only the important things were now important to him. And two, he realized how much time he had wasted on unimportant things. Time, he could never get back and never redeem.

The same could be said for each of us. Here is Tim’s assessment of what he has learned about prayer since his diagnosis (he died on May 19, 2023).

“Despite the pain and fear associated with cancer, Kathy (his wife) and I would never want to go back to the kind of prayer life and spiritual life we had before the cancer. Never.

I realized, I never really did believe I was going to die. At some deep level, I just didn’t. Looking back on it, I just don’t think there’s any way to go through the change that happens in you when you know that you really are going to die: the way you look at your time, the way you look at God, the way you look at your spouse— the way you look at everything just changes when you actually realize time is limited and I’m mortal.

Frankly, I would have lived a better life if I had come to this realization sooner. I’m closer to where I should have been most of my life.”

Remember, there is a blessing in knowing that nothing lasts forever, except the grace of God. And for living in the realization and expectation of the imminent return of Christ.

To download the slides for this message, click – HERE