Ten Things to Do as The End Draws Near #110

As we watch world events unfold, we see Biblical prophecy about the end times being fulfilled before our eyes.  Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 24 that nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.  He also said that in the end-times, there would be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  In Ezekiel and Revelation, we read about many nations going to war against Israel.  This is all happening right now!

As Christians, we don’t need to be afraid, but we do need to prepare.  In I Peter 4, Revelation, Ephesians, and Isaiah we are given ten specific things that we need to do. In this edition of Finish Strong, we unpack these ten important actions. We all need to be doing them now.  Watch, listen, and be ready for the soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Transcript

Dan Wheeler: 0:02

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See this you're not troubled for all these things has come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. What I just read sounds like the news. It sounds like our headlines today. But it was actually spoken by Jesus over 2000 years ago. And he was telling his disciples what to expect near the end of time, just before he would come back to take us who have him in our hearts to be with Him forever. He also said that when we see these things, though, we know that his return is imminent. It's from Matthew 24, verses six to eight. Well, none of us know specifically, when the end will come. We can certainly see the signs. I'm Dan Wheeler, and this is finished drawing, and I'm joined by Terry Steen, and Brian Roland. And guys, Jesus told us the signs, and we're seeing them all around us.

Terry Steen: 1:08

It's kind of mind boggling, isn't it? You know, we've lived all of our lives. And we've heard things and we've seen some things, but I don't think it's ever been more poignant than it is today.

Brian Roland: 1:20

Especially so when it comes to the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel else, how many how people have turned so many things around? And the hate that's coming out? Semitism? It's just amazing to me, never thought, I never thought it would turn out like this. But it says what's happening?

Dan Wheeler: 1:37

Yeah, well, we didn't think we'd be alive. I remember growing up, we'd always heard about it that, you know, the Lord could be coming soon, every New Year's Eve. But now with the things that are happening. We know it's coming soon. I mean, everything has aligned, all the prophecies have been fulfilled. And you're right, Brian, Israel is the focal point at the end of all time. And that is certainly the case today. But you know, we've discovered that God really told us how to prepare the 10 times. And Terry, he gave us 10 things in the New Testament in first Peter that we need to be doing. And that's what we're going to discuss today.

Terry Steen: 2:15

Yeah. And I was reading in Peter and realize that he was preparing us because he knew the day would come. And as we're seeing, there's some people freaking out, there's some people that are excited, everyone has voices in their head, or people they listen to that are impacting them, and how they feel about how things are going. And Peter told us in the fourth chapter, first, Peter, that we're to be clear minded. And I think he knew ahead of time that there would be so many things that would confuse us and people wouldn't know what to believe. And, you know, the reality is, nobody can make you think what you don't want to think we can have self control over our thoughts, can't we? And he said in the seventh verse, Let me read at the end of all things is near which he warned us, he said, therefore be clear minded and self controlled, so that you can pray. And it's it's just interesting that one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, of course, is self control. James talks about self control of the tongue. But Peter here is talking about self control of our mind and of our thoughts. You know, Timothy said, that to not have the spirit of fear because we can control our thoughts. And so it's kind of interesting as to why he says, control your thoughts. So you can pray, if we're scattered, if we're doubtful, if we're not believing. If we have those thoughts in our head, we can effectively pray. And if we ever needed to pray, it's now isn't it?

Brian Roland: 4:05

Sure is. Sure. The second thing that he tells us is to pray always and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We read that in Psalms 122. And it's the sixth verse where it says, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I made those who love you be secure. And you know, I was looking at that and thinking, we're praying for the peace of Jerusalem daily. We're supposed to be doing this. And we're thinking now about all that's going on. And fears are the same from Peace, right? So people, people are being killed It's war. And that's going to happen the Bible tells is going to happen. But what I what I look into it, the praying for the peace of Jerusalem, is actually praying for Christ to return. Because until Christ comes back and sits on the throne, there's not going to be peace in Jerusalem. So we're actually praying for His return. And as more we pray for His return, and more we look for it. This Who's going to come? I think he's, he's, he's right at the cusp right now. Because all that we're seeing, but that's what I get out of that right now. It's just praying for the peace. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem all the time, I pray for them and for the people there, and the leadership there. But I also pray for Christ's return because I know it's going to be true peace in Jerusalem. Well,

Dan Wheeler: 5:18

you can see that people have no knowledge of the Word of God when they're out on the streets, just shouting hatred and death to Israel. And, you know, from the land of the sea and calling for their the total annihilation of Israel. They just don't know what they're doing. I mean, they're speaking against God's people. And we do need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, which Pam and I do every day. But you're right, Brian, I never quite thought of it that way. We are praying for Christ's return when we will have ultimate peace. And one thing I want to add on that first point about being clear minded, Terry, I think, when we're clear minded, that's when the Holy Spirit can really speak to us. Yeah, I know, you guys have had moments where you feel like God just dropped something into your head, and you're like, ah, that's the answer I've been looking for. I think that's been clear minded and being open to His voice. Yeah,

Terry Steen: 6:15

I agree. And following up on praying for the peace of Jerusalem, it reminded me of our last two podcasts, with John Hope. And anybody listening today, if you haven't listened to the last two, which I think are number 108, and 109. They were a two parter. And John specifically talked about how he and his wife every day, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And that's something that I have to honestly say, I haven't done so it was kind of a push to me to begin that process. Yeah,

Dan Wheeler: 6:51

in fact, we've already had requests to do a part three and part four, on that one with John Hope people just love him. He's fascinating. His knowledge of the Bible is inspirational. We all need to be spending time in the Word. The third thing that we read about in first Peter four, is that we need to have a fervent love for fellow believers. Now, I had a pastor once who said you can give without loving but you can't love without giving. And when you're really loving your fellow believers, you're going to be giving. And Pam and I have had an experience lately, which has made us realize that and do it put our love into action. Our good friends, you guys have been praying for him. George and Tori. George has been in the hospital for over two weeks in a coma. And while he's making, you know, improvements and little signs of movement here and there. Boy, poor Tori has just been through the wringer. And so Pam and I took her out to dinner the other night, just after she was done with her visiting hours. We went out late just so she could have some social interaction. We took her a bunch of food one day and left it on her porch, you know, things that she likes, like minestrone soup, and, you know, chili and things like that. And then she needed water. We took her water every day, we're asking her what do you need today? It's almond creamer for coffee. But you know, it's such a joy to do that. And I know that when I was going through my very difficult time with Beth, people would just show up with food or pretzels or just say hi and give us a hug. And man, it meant the world to me. And people often don't ask, so we need when we have fellow a fervent love for our fellow believers, we need to be aware of their needs. And we need to really be thinking, how we can meet them how we can put love into action.

Terry Steen: 8:51

Yeah, yeah. And a couple other things that it does is it's number one, it's obedience. God tells us to love. So if we're not loving, then we're not being obedient to God. And then of course, he said, you'll know we're Christians by our love. And so obviously, as we prepare and plan for the End Times, love should be on the front burner of everything we say and do should. Really should yeah. Which of course leads right into the next one, which is being hospitable to others. Peter talks about that in the ninth verse As he's walking through some of the things that we should be doing as we prepare for the End Times. And he said, Be hospital, be hospitable to others, even strangers without complaining. It's really easy to help your friends. It's real easy to help your neighbors people you really like or people that can do something in return for you. But are you being hospitable to the store? Ranger, you know, Hebrews tells us that you might be entertaining angels unaware, you know, it is so important to do that. And it reflects unconditional love. Once again, it shows that we're Christians. And, you know, it creates opportunity to share our faith, if we're being hospitable to someone and helping, that opens their heart, it opens their mind to be more receptive. Maybe they're in fear as to what's going on in the world today. And we can help alleviate that fear and just a matter of helping the needy if there's a need fill it. And that's part of being hospitable. That's actually a it's a gift of the Holy Spirit to have hospitality. One

Brian Roland: 10:49

thing reminds me of Terry's when we were with Danny we were in Dan and I were in the front seat of the car and you and Scotland were in the backseat another friend of ours from school. And this little lady was trying to get across the street there remember to get to the shopping center. And he was got jumped out the car and you helped her across? Don't ever forget that.

Dan Wheeler: 11:08

Yeah, yeah, cuz I remember Brian, you wanted me to speed up?

Brian Roland: 11:12

I did? Get them no.

Terry Steen: 11:16

meter? I think

Dan Wheeler: 11:22

no, we have we have splittable to Terry because it says to strangers, I don't know anyone stranger.

Brian Roland: 11:35

Joke. But be in hospital will the strangers I like that. And we use our gifts just like it says on our next point number five. All of us have different gifts. I mean, not everyone has an order. Not everyone's a writer, not everyone's an organizer. But everybody has a gift. And First Peter 410 tells us each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. So we need to use what we have in this time that we're living in, which is the end times I saw a program last night and a gentleman on there said something that I thought just hit me hit me hard hit and hit home. He said that we need to be out there right now using our gifts and to reach others. And we need to ask everyone, anyone you see, you need to be asking them if they're prepared that do they have Christ in their life. He goes if they have an opportunity to receive Christ, and they don't accept that that's on them. But if you have an opportunity to tell someone and you that you don't tell him, that that's on you, you failed. And I thought, wow, that just really hit home. And we need to use what God has given us because he will use it. And he will multiply that and if you have no Bolton's to give you boldness, you think I'm too shy, they'll take that away to he'll lead you to the people, you need to talk to me who you need to be witnessing to we need to be serving, which

Dan Wheeler: 13:05

is why we formed fearless faith, we thought what can we do? When we can speak we can write, we can do create videos. But so often I hear what you just said, Brian, that people say I'm too shy. I can't talk to people. Well, I mean, hey, the stakes are high. It's we have to get out of our comfort zone in using our gifts. That's often the case. I know some people are afraid to commit time to the church or to a new program or whatever. And I often hear oh, I can't write or I can't speak like you well, there's something everybody can do. You can assure you can get involved in worthy causes. Right now, our church has a collection drive for needy children across the bridge and a lower income area. And, you know, that's something we can all get involved. We need to look for those ways. Now more than ever, when you say Terry,

Terry Steen: 14:01

yeah, and and being a servant. That's, that's one of the fundamental foundations of being a Christian and God tells us so much to serve. It's an outgrowth of our faith. And when you think about it, God promises to provide every need a person has or a Christian has, and sometimes, frequently, he uses a fellow Christian, he's expecting us to step up to serve others as the way to meet that person's need. If we don't do our part, then we're leaving a Christian in need, and someone else is going to have to come around to do it, but God will see that it's done. Right.

Dan Wheeler: 14:43

Yeah. A few years ago, the group Alabama, I kicked off their first ever gospel CD inspirational CD on QVC. And one of the songs that Randy wrote was called Angels among us. And it's, you know, I believe there are angels among us sent down to us from somewhere up to above that come to you and me in our darkest hours. And as you hear the song, you realize the angels among us are us, you know, fellow believers, people who step up and hear that divine call. So yeah, using our gifts, Brian, that's so important. And sometimes that involves stepping out of our comfort zone. Our next point is do all things for God's glory. Boy, there's one for you. So many times we think we're doing it on our own or on our strength, and we are tempted to say, wow, look what I did. Boy, it's all God, we owe everything to him. And First Peter 411 says, If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides. So that all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Could it be that everything we do can be for God's glory? I mean, even just speaking a word of encouragement to somebody, it may not sound like much. But when you do it to God's glory, Oh, my You're way out of your, your league, and you're beyond yourself. But you're doing something great.

Terry Steen: 16:23

Yeah, yeah, I was thinking, I think we did an early podcast on it. But the idea of everything you do is with a view of eternity in mind, right. And this goes right along with that everything we do for the glory of God, if we have an eternal mindset, as we get up in our day, and everything we think about has eternal consequences. Yeah, I watched a movie a couple of weeks ago, that was in the theater called after, I think it was called after death. And one of the ladies who died and came back, one of the things she remembered most distinctly was, you know, if we do something for someone else, that's beneficial. And we see them do something and we go, oh, man, we help this person and and they help that person that's two degrees out. Well, it was interesting to me that when she saw heaven, she saw 30 degrees out of some of the things she had done on earth, how it impacted that many people. And I don't think we think about that. But that was overwhelming to me, that if we look at everything we do today, we will not know till we get to heaven. how extensive the results are of doing things for God's glory.

Dan Wheeler: 17:49

I want to see that movie, you saw it. Right. Right. What stood out to you about

Brian Roland: 17:55

what Terry just said there that that's that spoke to me as well, because I knew it was coming. They mentioned that made mentioned that you're going to be surprised when you when you hear how far out your witness will go or helping others will go. And when they said that I thought, wow, it's it you makes you think he said, you start going back and thinking what not only what I've done workwise or, you know, around in church wise, but around other people. And I thought about how much negative I put out there to tell you the truth instead of the good. Because it made me reflect thinking, you know, i How much did I hurt other people instead of help in those times? So it made me maybe think about that hard,

Dan Wheeler: 18:36

Terry, and I've been meaning to talk to you about that. But we'll do that. We'll do an offline intervention right now. Well, you know, John Matarazzo, our fine producer, interviewed, I think it was the producer, one of the producers of that movie. And I remember when she was talking about that it was like a pebble dropping and you see all the waves spread out. And you don't realize that and we've talked to three of us that will never know the effect the impact that fearless Faith Ministries have had or this podcast until we get to heaven, but we're always surprised the things that people write us and how it's helped them. And it seems like God always knows. The other day I did a take on I did a couple takes. And I was talking about are you are you broken? And do you need fixing and I was reading these verses and for some reason the first two takes I only read the first verse, and for some reason, the third, third time I said to go read, go ahead and read the next verse after God says I will rebuild you he says, and you will dance again. And this lady wrote me and said she just tears came to her eyes when she heard me say that. She said that was so for me because she'd been in a car accident and it had been through therapy. years of therapy and she was a dancer in her younger life and that's what she looks forward to and she said when you knew that it just when you said that It spoke to me those are things I don't know why the third take I read that and that's the take I used you know, but God is is those things well, man, we're we got to keep moving. Where are we? So I guess dairy your next I did all things for God's glory. That's

Terry Steen: 20:23

yeah, another thing He tells us to do is not to fear and in second Timothy one seven, we all know this verse For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, timidity, but a spirit of power, love and a sound mind. And so we always hear that don't fear, you shouldn't fear it's almost a sin to fear. Is it a sin to fear? Because when you think about it, fear is part of our emotions that God gave us. I mean, would we be fearful if we don't know where our next rent payments gonna be? Or if we got a health diagnosis, or our job was in jeopardy, it's human nature to have fear. So we're not robots, we are going to have those emotions. But I think what he's saying is, and what the Bible tells us, is that even with that fear, what do we do with the fear? Who do we go to when we're fearful? And how do we overcome the fear? And that's the key because fear is powerful. But God is more powerful. And first, John four says that there's no fear and love when we're surrounded by God's love, that casts out fear. So that's a good example, in in Psalms I was, you know, David, he's great. He was fearful as well. And in Psalms it says, The Lord's my light and salvation, so whom shall I fear? He was fearful, but he didn't have to, because he relied on the Lord. Even though I walked through the value the shadow of death, I won't fear evil for your with thee. And he said, I sought the Lord, He answered me, He delivered me from all my fears. So there were fears there. But if we'll trust in the Lord, if we'll rely on the Lord, if we'll be in his presence, we can overcome this fear that n times seems to allow to rush in.

Dan Wheeler: 22:21

Yeah, 12 years ago, I was going through a really difficult time. And I ended up in a mental facility. And they kept telling me, Dan, you gotta get off these sessions. You got to be more sociable, you got to quit read your Bible. But I kept coming back to Isaiah 4110, which says, Fear not for I'm with the Be not dismayed for I am the god, I will strengthen the I will help thee and I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. I read that over and over, I read the Psalm For Isaiah 41 over and over, in that verse, and that chapter, got me through and ultimately, that's what pulled me out and God broke through and I began to truly hell. Fear can be crippling cannot Brian, it can

Brian Roland: 23:07

be, as you know, I went through, about what that to where I didn't know what I was afraid of. But I was afraid of something. My hormones were all off balance. And it's, it's amazing because you just sit there and I'm shaking, going, I have no idea what I'm afraid of. But something was making me fearful. So my, what I was doing was, I was singing in my head, I was reading verses, my cousin, Marlene sent me a bunch of verses that would really hit home. And I kept singing peace, peace, wonderful peace. And the more I would sing that, the more I would come down from the fear and come off the ledge like that. And I just kept referring to that, because that is true peace is commonly come from Christ. And yeah, that's what I had to guess what I had to go to. And that's what I stood i. And I believe that. And you know, it's, it's like, I tell everybody, if we don't agree on things, one thing, if we can't agree on is the Bible, my Bible, the Bible is my TrueNorth. If you if that's not your TrueNorth, and we're never going to agree on things, but that's my TrueNorth. And I know it says that God is peace, and he gives us peace. And I stood on that, and he delivered. Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 24:17

Okay, well, man, guys, we got to keep moving here. What's number eight? Brian? Whoa,

Brian Roland: 24:22

that goes right to it testify to the truth about God, and revelations 1211. That says, They triumph over him by the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Other words are they overcame the deceiver, or Satan, by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony. And we got to depend on that. We know that God, Jesus shed his blood on the cross for us. And we have to stand on that because that's the truth. And that's comes from the Bible. He said, once again, as a true north and that's a platform you can stand on. And you can believe in and you can testify to and there's no way that can be disputed. I mean, it's history, people know that Christ was on the shirt, they know that he died, they know that he arose from the dead. And they ascended into heaven. It's been proven by people that saw it. And I've seen him live seen this happen. And you can see by all the disciples and the people that were discipled, through Jesus that went out and started these, all the churches, and we started spreading the word, and all the disciples. Most of them was just a fit for one, maybe they were martyred. But they were not going to do we're not going to say no, this isn't true. I saw it. I heard it. I know what it was there. And they testify to it. And that's what we're supposed to be doing not to testify to that.

Dan Wheeler: 25:42

And when people say they, they're too shy to witness, I say, tell your story, your testimony. So they overcame the deceiver, bind their testimony, right in the power of God's word. I mean, people can argue all day about theology, but they can't argue with your experience in your testimony. So just tell it if you want to witness Yeah,

Terry Steen: 26:01

and if if people want to know or hear more about that we did two podcasts. One was number 83, where we just talked about witnessing and sharing and then 107 We just recently did on telling your story. So those are two great ones to go back to and listen to,

Brian Roland: 26:20

I think series or podcast, a story.

Dan Wheeler: 26:23

Podcast Torian tutorial. He goes into the vaults, and All right, number nine, and this is a big one, guys, we've got to study God's Word, and know how to use it against the devil Ephesians 617. I'm reading from the New International Version that says, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. It's our sword. Remember, we used to do sword drills Bible. But it is if you look over in Matthew four, when Jesus was being tempted by the devil, what did he do? He quoted Scripture. He said, you know, Man shall not live by bread alone, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God in verses four through 10. We read all about it, but and eventually, the devil loved him. He couldn't compete with God's Word, and the devil knew God's word. But Jesus was reminding him of

Brian Roland: 27:25

that we'll try the word against him. But he was taking us out of context. And Christ said, no, no, that's not it. Right? I had to tell him that I'm right.

Dan Wheeler: 27:33

But boy, there's ever been a time we need to know the Bible. It's now

Terry Steen: 27:37

it's the truth. Second, Timothy 316. All scripture is given by inspiration that God's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished and do all good works. If we want to move toward perfection, it's not going to come without the word, the word is going to really bring the dross to the top. And we've got to have it. And then within that process, we can begin to do things like forgive others. And that's the last point is forgiveness. And we all know how important it is to forgive. So we can have a clear conscience our self, if we don't forgive others, he doesn't forgive us, right tells us to forgive 70 times seven, there's no, there's no questioning the importance of that and what that means. And if we can get that in our spirit to some people, it's a hard, hard thing to do. There's some things that in the flesh, you might think it would be impossible, but with God, you're able to do it. And that helps bridge and deepen relationships with others, as we see the incoming.

Dan Wheeler: 28:55

Yeah, we've done things on forgiveness, too. And by the way, one place you can go if you want to get some of our past episodes of finish strong is the charisma Podcast Network. If you go on their page and scroll down, you'll eventually see our picture and finish strong and you can click on our logo, and you can find every episode there. So that you don't miss one. But yeah, that's, that's a good one. practice forgiveness. So many people hold on to grudges and we've talked about how it doesn't hurt. The person that they're holding the grudge against. It just hurts them.

Terry Steen: 29:30

Right, right. Yeah, well,

Dan Wheeler: 29:33

you know, we need to be finishing strong as the end draws near. In these 10 things are so important. So I'd encourage everyone to read Ephesians four, and then Psalm 122, and Isaiah 41. There's, in first Peter four just tells you the 10 things, but let's review them. Be clear minded and exercise self control. Pray always pray for the peace of God. Rouge Salam have fervent love for fellow believers, not just love but fervent love Boy, that's really an intense love and putting it to action. be hospitable to others, even strangers without complaining. And use your gifts to serve others do all things for God's glory. Do not fear testify to the truth about God. Tell your story. study God's Word, and know how to use it against the devil put on the full armor of God. And practice forgiveness.

Terry Steen: 30:31

It's as simple as that.

Dan Wheeler: 30:34

Yeah, dumb things. Easy see? Yeah. Well, guys, I don't think there's any doubt that the end is drawing near. And yeah, boy, you know, I try not to dwell too much on the news because it can get depressing. But, man, people that don't know the word they just be once you know the Word of God and the prophecies and you seem contradicting like, wow, there's no doubt this is true. This book is true, right?

Terry Steen: 31:04

Yeah. It's like we have an unfair advantage. It's like knowing the end of the basketball game. If you record the basketball game, but you already knew that your team won. You can just sit back and relax. With scripture, as a Christian, we know how it ends. We can sit back and relax. That's a

Dan Wheeler: 31:27

good analogy. Like Like if someone were to steal signs in football, they don't need to do that because probably the best team in the land anyway.

Terry Steen: 31:38

bringing that back around

Brian Roland: 31:42

No, I see it.

Terry Steen: 31:44

I think we're out of time, I think

Dan Wheeler: 31:47

all right. Hey guys, another great podcast and our next podcast we're going to answer your question so stay tuned to finish strong. God bless you and thanks so much for listening.

John Matarazzo: 32:01

Thank you for listening to finish strong for more information about finish strong and fearless faith. Check out there website F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong