With the End in Mind

2 Peter 3, verses 6. And a little lengthy reading.! Verses 6-14. Whereby the world that then was, So now it goes to our present time.

By the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. So, whereby the world that was then being overflowed with water perished, but the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store.

It means there's a day coming. It's in store. Reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. God promised He wasn't going to destroy the earth with water again.

That's why we have a rainbow. No matter what the world uses the rainbow for, that was God's promise that He would not destroy the earth with a flood again. But He didn't promise that He wouldn't destroy it with fire.

And so that's what it's saying here is in the day of judgment that's coming, it's going to be with fire, not with water. Verse 8, But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord a thousand years, and a thousand years is His one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

It's not God's will that anybody would die in a flood, or anyone would die or perish in judgment of fire in the end that's to come, but it's His will that we should all come to repentance.

Verse 10, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Everything that's been built in this world, all the works therein are going to be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. All these things, what things?

Look around you. Everything. The buildings, the trees, the elements, the Bible says. Okay? Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

It's a question mark there. Because He's saying if we understand and seeing that all these things are going to be dissolved, what manner of persons should we be in all holy conversation and godliness?

Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. In verse 14, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him, of God, in peace without spot and blameless.

Amen. So quite a bit of Scripture there. We're going to break it down. Now, my title today, it's actually going to be a simple thought, is with the end in mind. With the end in mind.

Lord Jesus, I need your help today. God, I pray you anoint my lips to deliver your word. Anoint my mind. God, bring clarity. And I let your word go forth in a clear way, understandable way.

Let it be received on good ground. God, give us the spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see your word today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. The day of the Lord is a term used in several places in Scripture.

and it refers to a day in which God is going to return as the man, Christ Jesus. It is going to be a great day of the Lord for He will return to take vengeance upon His enemies.

He is going to return to set the record straight. He's going to return to destroy the false prophet and the beast that will be ruling the world at the time of His return. He's going to undo the worldly system that's in place.

He's going to undo the worldly kingdom that's ruling things on that great day of the Lord. On the day of the Lord, He's coming back to settle the score.

On the day of the Lord, it's a day of reconciliation and restitution, which I've preached about before. It's a day of justice. It's a day that justice is coming to an unjust world.

It is a day that Jesus is not coming to be the Lamb led to a slaughter. He's already done that. He's already been our sacrifice. He's already been our substitute.

He's already come as the Lamb. But on this great day of the Lord, Jesus is returning as the Lion of Judah. He is returning to hold some bad actors accountable for the things that have happened in human history.

Amen. But He is not just returning to destroy the enemy. It is the great day of the Lord also because it is the day that His kingdom on earth will be established.

And as the scriptures read, said with the Lord, a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day. There's going to be a thousand year reign. God's going to rule on the earth for a day.

Amen. And with God, a day is a thousand years. And so there's a millennial reign that's coming where God is going to reign on the earth as the man Jesus Christ. And we're going to be rulers and kings and priests with Him.

It's a great day of the Lord because of that day that when His kingdom will be established on the earth. It's a great day of the Lord because He's going to rule the earth. It is a great day of the Lord because on that day when He returns, those that have gone ahead unto the grave with the Holy Ghost are going to come out of that grave and meet Jesus in the air.

Amen. And when He returns, it's going to be the great day of the Lord because on that day of His return, those that are alive and remain faithful through the great tribulation will also meet Jesus in the air.

And on that great day of the Lord, the Bible says His people will be given crowns and we are going to rule with Jesus on the earth as kings and priests. We're going to be judges.

We're going to be given a job to judge and to help and work in His kingdom and we're going to be a part of the establishing of God's kingdom on this earth.

And when that great day of the Lord comes, it is going to be a great surprise for all of the worldly people. It says it's going to be for them like all of a sudden it's going to be a surprise for them, the people that have not accepted truth, the people that would not believe truth and would rather believe a lie and the people that did not serve the Lord while they had a choice and while they had time, those people will be caught off guard for the day of the Lord will come and it will come as a thief in the night as the scripture says.

But we, us, the church, that are part of His promise, we, His people, that have the Holy Ghost, we, the church of the living God, we are not going to be surprised for we are right now preparing ourselves for the great day of the Lord.

We are looking toward that day. We have experienced the cross, amen, in our lives and now we are somewhere between the cross and that day, that great day of the Lord and we are looking toward that day.

We are aware of it. We are expecting it. We are striving to be ready for that day. We are looking for it and we are anxiously waiting for it to come.

We are hasting towards, as the Bible says, the day of the Lord is coming, amen. We, the church, will not be caught off guard on that day for we are preparing for that day.

And so how are we preparing? The scriptures says we are to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Conversation is a Bible word.

It's a word used in the Bible for lifestyle. It doesn't mean talking with someone. When the Bible says conversation, it's not talking about, like what we think is a conversation, speaking with other people.

It's actually about our lifestyle. Our conversation is our lifestyle. It doesn't mean talking with someone. It means the way that you're living your life. And we are to be in all, meaning when it says in all, it means fully holy in our lifestyle and godliness.

That's what it's talking about. Our lives are to be lived out in a holy and godly way as we look toward and hasten to the day of the Lord.

And furthermore, the scripture says that since we are looking for and awaiting that day, we are to be diligent that when that day comes, when Jesus returns, that we are found by Jesus to be at peace with him.

And we are found by Jesus to be without spot. And we are found to be by Jesus to be blameless before him, meaning we are to be found clean by him at his return.

When he returns, we want to be found with him at peace. We don't want to be at odds with Jesus when he returns. We want to be found by him to be at peace with him and to be clean by him and blameless with him.

And so the way we live our lives today should be with the end in mind. With the end in mind. It is very important that a true Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, a disciplined follower of Jesus Christ, prepare themselves now for the great day of the Lord to always be diligent about living with the end in mind.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. In Philippians 2 and 12, we read, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul's encouraging the church in Philippi, you're obeying the word on just, you know, in my presence, but even in my absence, that's all good because each one of us have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, meaning we should be concerned about this thing called salvation.

Being saved. Okay? Being saved from what? Being saved from the day that will come. We should be very concerned about the great day of the Lord that it's approaching.

And we work out our own salvation now with fear and trembling of what could be if we aren't found to be at peace with God when He returns or aren't found to be clean or aren't found to be blameless when He returns.

Your first priority in this life right now is to make sure you are on good terms with God. That you are at peace with God. You need to work out your salvation.

It ought to keep you up at night if you're not living right with God. I'm not ashamed to preach a message that you better fear your Maker.

A lot of preachers don't like preaching a message like that because obviously it's better that if we obey this Word right here out of love for Him, not out of fear of Him.

But the Bible does say we need to fear our Maker. We need to fear the Lord. Amen. The Bible calls Him a terrible God. And it doesn't mean terrible like we know the word terrible to mean today.

But it just means multiple things. But it basically means He's an almighty, powerful God that can basically... He can...

Don't fear men. Fear the one that can kill the body. But fear the one that can destroy your soul. Right? And so there should be some fear and trembling when we think of God.

He's not just a... It's not just butterflies and daisies. And, you know, we see that we have the greatest view on God through what He did on the cross out of love for humanity and for sin to take care of the sin problem by being willing to give Himself for us.

Amen. To have our sins be able to be remissed. Amen. He did it out of love and compassion for us. But let's not forget that there is another side of God in which that He is just and that He doesn't put up with unjust things and that He's going to come and He's going to judge and there's going to be rewards and there's also going to be punishment.

And so I'm not ashamed to preach that message to you that we do need to fear our Maker. In Jude 22, verse 23, and some have compassion making a difference and others say with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garments spotted by the flesh.

Amen. We should hate the garment spotted by the flesh. We have to fear the fire. We better hate the dirty garments of the flesh. And you better work out your salvation in fear and trembling.

Amen. Make sure you're at peace with God. Make sure you're spotless and clean, blameless today in preparation for the coming of the Lord. Plant today with the end in mind.

Live today with the end in mind. Everything you do should have the great day of the Lord in mind. We can't forget about what's coming. It's hastening towards us.

365 days a year, 360 degrees of your life should be affected by Jesus and His return. Amen. I'm so glad you have made the choice to follow Acts 238 and repent and turn your life towards God.

That is how you are born into the kingdom of God. It is what Jesus called being born again. It's what we call the new birth experience. It is what we call being born again, right?

But please understand that your new birth, Acts 238 experience, is just the beginning. It is just the beginning of a new life. It's not the culmination of a new life.

It's not the end of your new life. It's not that as soon as you are born, you are automatically full of age spiritually. There's still a lot of work to be done in your life to grow up spiritually.

You cannot be satisfied in your walk with God as a newborn baby in Christ. And also, we need to continue to grow spiritually and we need to continue to grow spiritually into a mature, spiritual adult.

Jesus taught that when you start out on this journey of living for Him, there are going to be costs that have to be calculated. Like building something, building your life in God has to be planned and then executed intentionally to achieve the end results that you want.

And Luke 14, verse 28 says, For which of you intending to build a tower, Jesus speaking, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether ye have sufficient to finish it.

Lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.

Amen. We have a foundation set. Your new birth experience is the foundation which your spiritual life grows from.

Your spiritual life grows from the foundation of your Acts 2.38 experience. There has to be apostolic advancement in your life beyond just being born again. You have to start with the end in mind.

It is not enough just to lay a foundation, but the whole purpose of laying that foundation is to build something upon it. Amen. I'm so glad that you made the decision to lay that foundation.

The foundation that you have built on the Lord by obeying Acts 2.38 is the strongest, most secure foundation there is in this life. And it is designed to support a massive, elaborate structure on top of it.

a structure that is at peace with God. A structure that is clean and spotless and holy and pure and righteous. Amen. A life of holiness that is pleasing to God.

The foundation you have is the perfect foundation to build a life upon that when the Lord returns, He will be able to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.

But there must be a plan beyond that new birth experience. a plan with the end in mind. And I have found that it's not normal to be a planner.

I have found in my life's experience that it's not normal to be a planner. In my experience with people, it seems that there are many out there that do not really plan very far ahead.

When we interview people for work, I've been asking the same 20 questions for a long time with some slight changes. But there's about 20 questions that I like to ask new candidates.

One of the questions that we get to is tell us about your short-term goals over the next year. Tell us about your long-term goals over the next five years. And you would be surprised how many people have blank stares on their face.

And even, like I've noticed, just all the different facial expressions I've noticed throughout the years. And it's very rare to find someone with that can really articulate. Now they say stuff that you can tell it's kind of just off of a whim, you know, because they've got to answer a question in the interview.

But it's rare to find one that answers the question, you know, and you can tell, yep, he's got a plan or she's got a plan. But usually there's a stunned look on their face or even sometimes a smile, like, hmm, I've never thought about it before.

and just speaking career-wise, it is awfully hard to make a successful long-term career in a world if you aren't thinking ahead.

What are your short-term goals over the next year? What are your long-term goals over the next five years? In the secular job, having a job in the world that I have now, that was a five-year goal, right?

I had to get a four-year degree first. I had to have some experience under my belt along with the degree. I didn't just, you know, land in the job that I have without preparation and planning.

I had to have some experience under my belt, right? And you cannot get a job like I have without some planning ahead and being intentional. And you can't really have a good, solid career without planning ahead.

You have to start out with the end result in mind in order to get where you want to go, to get a career you want. You have to make decisions today that will affect you five years from now.

And how will this decision right now affect me and my goal five years from now? And you don't want to make decisions that don't advance your mission to get towards that goal.

And so you don't take an action that doesn't advance you toward that goal. How much more so is it for our soul's eternal destination and our goal in salvation?

A company named Kodak. Has anyone heard of Kodak before? It was pretty famous a long time ago. Anyone remember the catchphrase, that's a Kodak moment?

Do you remember that catchphrase? I'm the only one because I'm 46. Nobody remembers their catchphrase, it's a Kodak moment. Wow, that was a popular phrase back then.

They were the largest camera and film company for a long time. They were also the first company to invent the handheld digital camera. That's huge. The first handheld digital camera put to market by Kodak in the birth of a new age of photography.

Digital photography. No film, no chemicals, no dark room required to develop the images. And at its birth, the digital camera was a bit clunky. It was about the size of a toaster and it only took black and white photos and it was very low resolution and it was actually saved to a cassette.

Still a lot to be desired, obviously, but they did it. They were the inventors of the digital camera. They patented the technology but then they chose not to do anything with it because selling film and photo paper and chemicals was making them a ton of money at that time.

And they decided to focus on the short-term results that they were getting from that. And then the world moved on to the digital and by the time they tried to catch up it was too late and they went from being at the top to having to file bankruptcy.

And so I used I was searched for many different examples to try to make a point and I thought that is a good illustration. Being too focused on the short-term results it can mess you up.

I know it feels great. I know it feels like you're doing so much better than you used to but there's so much more that God has intended for you in your life. And I know it feels good since you've experienced that new birth experience.

I know it feels like your life is better. I know it feels like you're on the right track and you are. Amen. But there's so much more that God has intended for your life.

And on the flip side of that maybe you know that you've been living truth a long time and the short-term results that you're seeing today aren't what you thought they should be or think they should be.

And so I'm trying to say don't get focused on the short-term results. We have to have the end results in mind. And short-term results can feel good or they can feel bad but we don't make our decisions just based on that alone.

We have to have the end in mind. There are several things that can get us off track and distracted. There being too comfortable can distract us from having the end in mind.

Having too much pride can distract us from having the end results we need in mind. Have you ever heard of the Titanic? There's another one I came across. They were too comfortable.

They had so much comfort and pride thinking that the Titanic was unsinkable that they didn't make sure that there were enough lifeboats on the ship for the passengers.

It wasn't a priority to them that there would be enough seats on lifeboats that if something would happen to this ship and this ship would go down that all the passengers would be able to have a seat on a lifeboat.

It seems like a simple calculation to us but they were so comfortable and they were so consumed in pride that this ship could never be sunk. That they didn't even care to think that they would have to even use lifeboats.

so it was an inconvenience to them to have to have enough lifeboats for everyone on the ship and on its very first voyage it hit an iceberg and it sunk and at that time I'm sure they wished they had enough lifeboats for everyone on board and they wished they had taken the possibility seriously and they probably wished that they had practiced because they also didn't even have any drills.

They didn't practice an evacuation. They had no concept or thought of the idea that something can happen wrong. They thought everything was just going to be just fine and they built something that's unsinkable and so they didn't even have enough lifeboats and they didn't even practice or any of that and so they found out that they wished they did do those things because the lifeboats that they did have they launched only half full with still seats available on them but even though they didn't have enough lifeboats they didn't even fill them before they would launch them and it was just a disaster and the results were terrible 1500 people died that wasn't necessary but if they would have planned with the end in mind and weren't distracted by comfort and pride that that would be a different story there would have been a lot more people saved the spiritual application is obvious to me we can't be so comfortable in our spiritual conditions and have so much pride ourselves that we do not recognize our need to practice our spiritual disciplines regularly and be planning with the end result in mind amen we have a specific end result that we are expecting we're expecting the return of the Lord we're expecting the end to come and we would be planning with the we should be planning with the end in mind planning on preserving our lives first and foremost as the scripture teaches us to work out our own salvation with trembling and fear but also preserving the lives of others through our witnessing and the sharing of our testimony and the gospel of Jesus

Christ God gave us an example here and God gave Noah a precise end result preserve life through a worldwide flood a flood was going to come and Noah had to plan with that end in mind God spoke to Noah and gave him specifics to prepare for the end the dimensions the materials and the design of the art were specified in detail to Noah you can read them in your Bible God has given us the same in his word there is an end coming and we have the precise details on how to preserve life when the end comes we have all the word of God here to guide us and lead us we have the Holy Ghost to guide us and lead us unto all truth to guide us to the end amen God's given us his word amen there's an end coming and we have the precise details on how to preserve!

life when that end comes 2 Peter 3 6-7 as we read whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men he is not going to destroy the earth with water again like he had before this time it will be with fire a fervent heat and the elements are going to melt away we have the foundation laid but what are we building upon it we have been born again we have that foundation of Jesus Christ but is it what are we building upon the foundation is there anything built on the foundation and if so what is it is it fireproof first Corinthians chapter 3 verses 11 through 15 for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it what day the day of the

Lord the day of the Lord is going to declare what works and what it's made out of because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is verse 14 if any man's work abide which he has built there upon he shall receive he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet as by fire the things we build upon the foundation of the new birth experience we receive through Jesus has to be with the end in mind because at the end the fire that consumes the element is going to try and test our works and the things that we've built upon that foundation since our new birth experience and if you have labored your life building things that the Bible compares to wood and hay and stubble is going to be burnt up and consumed and there's going to be no work left but we have to build eternal things on that great foundation that we have been given let's all stand today

Noah did not improvise on the plan God gave him for the end he built exactly as required the plans that God gave him for the expected end result and when the flood came guess what the ark floated and he and his immediate family survived the flood plan with the end in mind build your life with the end in mind and all you do do it with the end in mind don't get caught up in the here and now whether it's good or bad don't get distracted in the short term results that we see right now focus on the end result that we need don't let comfort or pride distract you from the end goal practice building on the everlasting foundation of your Acts 238 experience build everlasting things eternal things there's coming a great day of the Lord in which he comes back for his church he is coming back for that bride that is spotless and has made herself holy and ready for his return amen we need to practice holiness we have to be at peace with

God every day be clean before him live in righteousness every day until his coming and all you do do it with the end in mind amen so let's make sure that we have peace with God let's make sure that we are clean before him that we are living a life of righteousness as he would expect the day of the Lord is going to come as a thief in the night to those that are unsuspecting but we look towards that day we're not going to be caught off guard today and so I'm asking us to really self assess today amen and let's find out what it is that God needs us to do let's to build upon that foundation amen that God has given us amen through his spirit through salvation amen and let's build upon that today before we leave here today let's find a place to pray Lord Jesus amen I thank you

God for who you are Thank you.