Difficult Times

Well, the Mayans may not have accurately predicted the end of the world or perhaps those interpreting the calendar were wrong...

The first time I remember hearing that the world was going to end was probably 1982.  I remember being scared and hearing how the planets were all supposed to line up and the gravitational pull created would tear the world apart.  There would be earthquakes and volcanoes.  Real chaos.  Didn’t happen.

Oh, remember the hype around Y2K.  People were storing up food and building shelters because come the end of the millennium 1999, major catastrophes would usher us into the Last Days.

There are many who study what scripture has to say about the last days and end times; it is called eschatology.   And while the study of end times is fascinating, there is much conjecture and interpretation that divides various mainline Christian churches.  This morning I am not going to delve into the twists and turns that end time purveyors report, but I do believe it is vital for us as followers of Christ to know that we are in the last days.

Friends, the Disciples knew that they were in the last days.  They knew that the Kingdom of God was at hand.  They knew that their time on earth was limited and that Christ would soon be coming back.  They had a sense of urgency.  Unfortunately, the church of today has lost that urgency.  Too many Christians are more comfortable living for today than setting their hope on eternity.

You might ask, “Pastor Ryan, how do you know we are living in the last days?”  Turn with me to our text for this morning, 2 Timothy 3:1-5

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 

Those warnings were about the contemporary as well as the future condition of the church. The dangers that plagued the New Testament church would continue and become worse throughout the church age, as “evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13).

Understanding the threat of the last days, how are we (the church) to react; how are we to respond?

Drop down to vs. 14-17

“You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

For the full message shared on 01-20-13 at First Church of God, Racine, WI; go to:

Difficult Times