What Jesus Said About the End of the World | Phil Kniesel

The world feels unstable, people are anxious, and questions about the future seem louder than ever. In this message, Pastor Phil begins our new series “Ready for His Return” by walking through Matthew 24 and what Jesus actually said about the end times.

This message reminds us that Jesus never called His followers to panic, but to stay faithful. As culture shifts and pressure increases, we’re challenged to stay rooted in truth, keep our love for God strong, and live with confidence in Christ.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kniesel, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills- You with hope.- Enjoy the message.- Scouting America has a tagline for their corporation and it says, be prepared. It's about the constant state of readiness and mind and body to face any problem or challenge that may come because the truth is you never know what life may throw at you. Just a couple weeks ago, my family and I boarded a plane to fly home to Edmonton and we were scheduled to leave at 2:00 PM All was good. People were getting settled. Some had their neck pillows on before the plane even moved. Someone else behind me already had their shoes off, which by the way, I think should be illegal on planes. But while we're seated, time started to pass

and it was almost 3: 1:13

00 PM when the pilot came on the intercom and announced that we are having a security threat and we can't take off at this time. But a half hour later, four police officer officers with massive guns boarded our plane. And it was shortly after that the pilot decided she was gonna cancel our flight. So what happened was someone boarded our plane that without telling anyone, left the plane and left his luggage behind. And so this pilot made the right decision for her team and for all of us passengers be prepared. The truth is we all understand preparedness in almost every area of life, we prepare for retirement, we prepare for storms, we prepare for exams, we prepare for emergencies. We prepare for weddings like 18 months for one day. We prepare because important moments deserve preparation. One of the greatest universal beliefs of the Christian faith is that Jesus will return. And so it makes sense for us to be prepared for this. We just finished the series entitled The Non-Negotiables, where we looked at the things Christians believe worldwide, the core convictions of Christianity. And I just wanna encourage you, if you missed any of those, you can check them out at our YouTube channel or even on our website. Today I'm starting a new series entitled Ready for His Return, where we're gonna walk through one of the most important teachings Jesus gave regarding the future. It's found in Matthews Matthew, chapters 24 and 25, and it's called the All of It discourse, primarily because Jesus gave it while sitting on the Mount of Olives. This is his fifth discourse that Matthew records. The first one is the Sermon on the Mount in chapters five to seven. Those are the core of Jesus's ethical teachings like the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer and more. The second one is called the Missionary Discourse in chapter 10. And here Jesus is instructing the 12 disciples on how to do ministry life, how to preach, how to heal, how to rely upon God during persecution. The third one is called the parabolic discourse. That's in chapter 13. And there we have a collection of parables from Jesus where he's revealing what the kingdom of Heaven is like. The fourth teaching is called the Community Discourse. That's in chapter 18. And here Jesus focuses on humility, forgiveness, church discipline, and how believers should treat one another. And the fifth one, the one for this series again, is called the All of It discourse chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew. And here Jesus gives an eschatological teaching focused on the end times his second coming and more, and I'm just gonna be honest, as soon as I start talking about end times, some Christians suddenly become experts on charts. Nobody understands . There's a whole bunch of different ideas, viewpoints, convictions and more within Christianity. And the Bible gives certainty on some things and is unclear on other things, which means well-meaning Christians come to different conclusions. Here's what this series is not. I'm not gonna be going through the current events and aligning them to what I believe scripture is saying. Here's what this series is. We're gonna unpack the words of Jesus to help us better understand our times and to help us be prepared for that inevitable day of his return. The purpose of all Bible prophecy is not just to inform us of what is to come, but to transform how we live today. And so that's my prayer as we go into this month, that you have ears to hear the words of Jesus and that they will motivate you to live well today. There's always been something about the future that captivates the attention of humanity. Like we just wanna know what's coming next. We wanna understand the signs of our times. And truth be told, every generation of Christians has looked around and wondered is the end near. I'm sure some of you have looked at the current state of our world and you've asked is the end near if you jump onto social media, you can find countless videos connecting our current headlines to the book of Revelation. You'll see entire platforms and ministries, they're built around predicting dates, identifying who the antichrist is or trying to decode world events. And I'm not saying that's all bad, but you can spiral pretty quickly if this becomes your focus. What this does is spread fear more than anything else. And so when Jesus gave his discourse on the end times, his goal was never to create panic. He wasn't trying to produce fearful Christians obsessed with timelines and events. He was preparing his followers to remain faithful in unstable times. He was telling us to be prepared. And so let's go to Matthew chapter 24. This is how it begins. Verse one, Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. Do you see all these things? He asked? Truly, I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another. Everyone will be thrown down. Now to the disciples. The temple represented strength, performance, identity. It was this form of godly power. It was magnificent. It was the center of Jewish life. It seemed like nothing could bring these incredible buildings down. And yet Jesus says not one stone will be left. And those words, that prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. And so Jesus says that and and it provokes some questions from the disciples, almost like the discussion around the destruction of the temple triggered them to ask about the end of the world. This is what we read next. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately tell us, they said, when will this happen? That's in regard to the destruction of the temple and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Three questions. When will this happen? What is the sign of your coming? And what is the sign of the end? Now, the real question of Matthew 24 for us is not can you figure out the future and exactly what it all means regarding his second coming. The real question is, will you be faithful when the pressure comes? Because as you're gonna see, Jesus did say the pressure was coming that life would get harder. And so I want us to read what Jesus said and as we go through this, you're gonna say, man, that sounds a lot like today. In fact, the disciples experienced everything Jesus talked about except for one thing. And it's why every generation since then has lived with a sense of urgency toward the return of Christ. So Jesus says this next, watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah and will deceive many. You know, I find it very interesting that the first thing Jesus says when answering, what's gonna be the sign of your coming? It's not about earthquakes or unsettling times or even war. It's about deception, which tips our hat to how dangerous and real deception can be. Maybe the greatest danger to believers is not the external chaos, but internal compromise. Jesus knew that in the last days, many voices would rise claiming to speak truth while leading people away from him. So false teachers, false prophets, distorted gospels, distorted theology, counterfeit spirituality, all these things will become increasingly normal. And here's the thing about something like deception. It rarely appears obviously evil at first. It can actually look spiritual, maybe even godly. Sometimes it can sound compassionate, sometimes it just sounds intellectual. But if it pulls people away from the truth in scripture, as Jesus said, it's deception. I read recently that we are living in a generation flooded with opinions, but starving for truth. People are flooded with endless online content. Theology is is shaped by influencers and those who have the most hits. Some Christians spend more time listening to podcasts about the Bible than actually reading the Bible. See, today our beliefs are so easily formed by cultural nuances, by entertainment, by politics more than the scripture itself. And Paul actually wrote about this, the apostle Paul, he said, for the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. That's why for Christians, that's why for you friends, discernment matters more than ever. And hear me, you can't survive spiritually on inspirational quotes and 32nd clips. We must know the word of God personally. We must internalize it regularly. We must understand it because if we don't, we can drift. And Jesus is saying spiritual confusion will increase as the world moves closer to his return. And so our challenge as believers is to stay rooted and anchored to what the scriptures say, even when everything else around us may be unstable. Jesus continues. He says, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. He's saying the world is gonna be marked by instability. There's gonna be conflict, fear, division, natural disasters, famines, earthquakes. It's this scent of global unrest. And this has really been the case for years, yet many would say it feels like we're currently at a tipping point. And division isn't just between nations, it's between people at a high rate. And what these things do they they typically create fear inside of us. Global unrest. You know this, you open your feed, it is a daily news occurrence. So there are people who live in constant fear. But I want you to notice what Jesus says. He tells the disciples, these are all the things you gotta look out for. And I don't know if you caught this, but he says this. But see to it that you are not alarmed. That word alarm means panicked, frightened, shaken, or troubled. See to it that you don't freak out when this is happening. Don't panic every time the world shakes. And let's be honest, our world loves panic. We panic over everything. One bad news headline. And someone somewhere is storing a year's worth of canned foods in a bunker underground. Jesus says, don't be alarmed. And you know why he can say that? Because even when the world shakes, God's throne does not. He is our firm foundation. He is the solid rock upon which you can stand. And so fear and panic is not the posture of his followers. Faithful people are steady people. So if you're living in fear or even a sense of trouble with what's happening in our world, friend, I wanna tell you, you can find calm, you can find peace, you can find confidence in who Jesus is. And in the promises he gives, he is present. He will never leave you. He's the one that you can depend upon. And so Jesus makes an interesting statement. After declaring these things must happen, he says this, all these are the beginning of birth pains. And that's an important analogy. Birth pains increase both in frequency and intensity before delivery. In the same way as history moves toward his return, the pressure on the world is going to intensify. It will happen in increasing measure. And I think a lot of people are feeling it today. Our world is volatile. There's natural disasters consistently. There's a growing anxiety in our culture. You know, a lot of younger believe that they're never gonna have it as good as their parents. Our moral foundation seems to be slipping. Truth feels negotiable. People are exhausted, overwhelmed. They're searching for meaning. And this doesn't surprise Jesus. He said it would happen. And he wants his followers to remain faithful when it does. He doesn't want us to be fearful. Listen, we, we can become so obsessed with headlines instead of Jesus that we can easily lose the peace that Jesus gives us. And so when you see things unfolding instead of panicking, recognize this is a reminder. God is sovereign, he is in control. He's got this even when the world feels chaotic. And so friends, yes, he's got this and listen, he's got you. Even though things may shake, God's throne does not. And so we put our faith, our trust, our hope, our confidence, our peace in the forever mighty God who is all powerful and does all things perfect. See to it that you are not alarmed. Jesus goes on, then you'll be handed over to be persecuted and put to death and you'll be hated by all nations because of me. It's going from bad to worse there baby Jesus moves from global pressure to personal pressure. He's describing persecution, betrayal, and hardship for those who stay true to him. It's pretty sobering. Now, this was a reality for all the disciples except for one that would be John, because every one of them was martyred for their faith and belief in Jesus. Friends, following Jesus costs you something. He said, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. That doesn't sound like, Hey, come to me. And everything in your life is gonna be amazing. Yeah, he brings peace. Yes, he brings an internal joy and comfort. He brings reassurance when we can't find it elsewhere. He brings forgiveness and eternal life. But following him costs us something. You know, one of the greatest tests of faith is pressure. Because pressure reveals what is real. I like reading biographies and there's one that really captured me. And it was the one on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German pastor who stood up to the Nazis in Hitler. And he was executed by hanging on April 9th, 1945 because of his convictions, witnesses to his execution recalled that he went to his death with immense bravery, offering a final prayer. And these last words, he said, this is the end for me, the beginning of life. That's faithfulness under pressure. It speaks of a deep conviction. Here's the thing I've seen. A shallow faith may survive in comfort, but it collapses in suffering. If your Christianity is merely cultural, emotional, or at times just convenient, you're gonna have a difficult time when hardship comes. It's why Jesus says next. At that time, many will turn away from the faith because many can't handle the pressure. Not everyone who appears committed to Christ will remain faithful when faith becomes costly. And we've seen this, people who once passionately followed Jesus have walked away from faith because of the cultural pressures that cause them to compromise biblical convictions or even deconstruct their faith. But all throughout scripture, God has always been looking for people who remain faithful under pressure. Let me give you some examples. Noah, faithful, when nobody else was Joseph faithful through betrayal and delay, Moses faithful while leading difficult people, Joshua and Caleb, faithful when everyone else compromised, job, faithful in suffering, he didn't understand Daniel faithful in a hostile culture. Shadrach, meek and Abednego, faithful under threat. Esther faithful despite fear, Jeremiah faithful without visible success, Peter, faithful after failure. Paul faithful through relentless hardship. God has always been looking for people who remain faithful under pressure. And friend, I don't know what pressure you're under today, but I know you have some. And God is saying, stay faithful. You can count on me. He's saying, I see you. I'm here for you. Revelation six actually illustrates this. We read about believers who were killed and faced hardship. And then we read about how heaven sees their faithfulness. Here's a harder question. Are you all in for following Jesus even when it costs you? Faithful is never proven when life is easy. It's always proven when obedience costs you something and listen, emotional hype doesn't sustain you through spiritual battles. Only death of relationship in Christ will and can. So hope city. Let's be deep Christians. Let's not just be comfortable consumers of church. Let's be disciples of Jesus who say, no matter what may come my way, I trust you, Lord, I believe in you. Lord, I put my faith and my confidence in you. And Jesus then gives one of the most heartbreaking statements in the chapters or in the chapter. This is what he says. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Many people will slowly drift spiritually. And you don't have to look far today to see outrage, division, selfishness, immorality, even emotional numbness. Compassion has disappeared. Cynicism is rant. Rampant hearts are cold. And Jesus is saying, that's not only the world, but this can also affect believers. You see, our love for others is spurred on from our love for the Lord. And if our love for the Lord is lost, then our love for others becomes easy to displace. Did you know it's possible to attend church and still be spiritually cold? It's possible to know all the right things about Christianity and still lose intimacy with God. It's possible to sing worship songs while drifting from genuine love for Jesus. And so hope city, listen to me, my heart, my passion, my prayer, my desire for you is that you may know God deeply, that you may walk with him in a real relationship, that you have a great love for Jesus, that you're never lacking in zeal, but you keep your spiritual passion, your drive in serving the Lord that you would know the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, that he influences your thoughts, your directions, your patterns, your convictions, and ultimately how you love others. This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, a day where we commemorate when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early church. May that same Holy Spirit, I pray this over you, be poured out on your life to give you the same boldness it did back then. May you consistently pray Holy Spirit, come over my life. See, a great danger for believers is not just persecution outside of the church. It's apathy inside of our lives. So may your love for Jesus never grow cold. And maybe you're wondering, well, what does that even look like? Here's a few things I've noticed. Love grows cold when prayer becomes routine. Love grows cold. When worship becomes mechanical, when telling others about, Jesus disappears. When holiness feels optional. When you become more passionate about politics, entertainment, or personal success than the presence of God, friends, don't allow the spiritual temperature of our culture to cool off the fire in your hearts. Don't become spiritually distracted or numb. Never lose compassion for those who don't know Jesus and never see your faith as something that just entertains you, but rather as something that transforms everything in your life. A great danger in the last days is spiritual drift. May that not be said of your life. Jesus says one more thing. And the verses we're looking at today, he says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come at the end of all this, all these warnings, Jesus gives massive hope the gospel will advance. The gospel is that Jesus loves you so much that he gave his life for you on the cross. You've been forgiven of your sins. He died because the wages of sin is death. But he didn't stay dead. He rose three days later to say, I've overcome death and I, I've overcome the grave. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father. And that message will keep advancing. The Jesus saves message. Even while it seems like darkness is increasing, the kingdom of God will not lose ground. It will keep on moving forward because the gospel message is powerful. It's one of hope, transformation, life and goodness. Governments can't stop it. Opposition can't silence it, and spiritual darkness can overcome it. In fact, history tells us that the greatest movements of the gospel have happened during seasons of persecution and instability. So even in dark times, Jesus still saves people. He's still transforming lives. He's still building his church. And we're living it here at Hope City. We're seeing it again this weekend with the baptisms. And you heard that this weekend across Canada is called Baptized Canada. And across our country, there are over 70 churches involved with baptizing people This weekend and all across our land from BC to Nova Scotia to Quebec, we are seeing over 1500 people get baptized this weekend. It's incredible. Despite all that's going on, the mission still moves forward. The mission remains clear that the answer to our broken world is still Jesus. It's still the gospel of Jesus. It's not self-help, it's not political theology or ideology. It's not motivational speeches. It's not watered down Christianity designed to entertain people. It's the gospel. And so church, we're not called to obsess over prophecy while forgetting about the world. Rather, let's obsess with the mission of God. Our role is to make Jesus known, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit. Jesus doesn't want us to remain in these holy huddles till he returns. He's asking us, be the church. Preach, serve, disciple, love, advance his kingdom until he returns. That's why we have this massive vision at our church to reach 1% of our city because we wanna reach the masses with the unchanging ever powerful message of the gospel. The first section of Matthew 24 comes down to a question, will you be faithful? One day Jesus will return and nothing this world offers will matter. What's gonna matter is faithfulness. Revelation says, be faithful even to the point of death. And I will give you life as your victor's crown. Paul says, let us not become weary and doing good for at the proper tie. We will reap a harvest if we do not give up. So here Jesus gives us some clues to the signs of what must happen before he comes. It's not gonna be easy, and he's asking for faithfulness. So friend, my prayer for you is that you may be found faithful. I'm gonna ask you to stand if you are able to. I wanna close in prayer this morning. God, I thank you for the challenge of your words through Jesus here. Jesus, I thank you that you've given us insight into what may come. But you, you, you tell us not to fear, but just to remain faithful. And so I pray for my friends here today. I ask God that today marks a moment in their life where they just say, God, I'm all in. I'm all in. I'm gonna serve you with my whole heart, my mind, my soul, my strength. I don't want anything to distract me in this world. I'm gonna follow you with all that I am. Help me to know you more. Help me to know you greater. Help me to love you Jesus. I pray that we live as passionate people for you Christ. May we not play church. May we not play with our faith. May we say no. This is life and life to the full. And so we press in. And God, I pray today that you just encourage my friends, I pray today that you lift them up. I pray they know God, that you love them and you wanna walk with them and you desire that deep relationship with them. And so God, we commit ourselves to you and just say, God working our lives. You might be joining us today on one of our campuses to Whitaker King's way online here in the house. And you don't know Jesus personally. I said it. Jesus went to the cross of the doubt of your sins. He rose to offer you life both now and forever. And making the best decision of your life, which is to follow him, allows you to begin that journey of a relationship with him. If you're saying, you know what, today I need to know Jesus or friend. If you're saying today I've been in church a while, I've been playing the gay man, I need to get back in serious relationship with Jesus. If that's you, just pray this with me. Jesus, today I see my need for you. I thank you for going to the cross, for dying, for my sins, for rising and offering me life and hope both now and forever. And so today, I just commit my life to you. I rededicate my life to you maybe. And I thank you for your goodness, your grace and all that you bring to me. I wanna follow you with all that I am and help me to know what it means to make you Lord and leader of my life. I look forward to doing that from today on. And God, I pray over every individual, every couple and every family. I just pray as they go into this week, may you surround them, carry them, go before them. I pray, holy Spirit, that you show up in their lives in incredible ways, that you are the comforter, that you are the one that brings boldness, that you are the one that speaks words of life and insight over every situation and every decision. And I pray that as they go from this place, may they be truly faithful people to you. God following you with all that is within them. And so I pray this over and for them in the incredible, wonderful, powerful name of Jesus. Amen. If you prayed the prayer of surrendering your life or maybe even surrendering your life to Jesus today, can I ask you just to tap the disc on the seat back in front of you? We'd love to get a digital booklet in your hand that talks a little bit more about knowing and following Jesus. And it's our way of also connecting with you in a large church. If you desire prayer over anything, we're gonna have a prayer team down at your front, left after the service they would love to pray over. And for you, hope City know this. I know that that was a little harsher today, maybe. I love you guys so much. I pray for you and I cheer you on. So thank you for being in church today. God bless you guys. Have an incredible Sunday.