Joyce Meyer - The Last Days

Here are my notes from Joyce Meyer's message at Lakewood Church on Saturday February 9, 2013.

The Last Days

·        We’re living in serious times

·        The world is really changing frighteningly fast

·        It’s important to see the scriptures about this

·        If you’re alive now it’s not an accident

·        God chose you to live now for a purpose

·        You have what it takes to be victorious

·        To be people God can use to change other lives

·        The world needs Christ

·        The government isn’t the answer – God is

·        So many are mixed up about God

·        They’ve been hurt by various religions

·        They aren’t going to church for answers they’re watching us

·        2 Timothy 3:1-5

¹But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

² For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

³ [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

⁴ [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

⁵ For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

·        A Greek scholar said this “last days” is different

·        It means the last of the last

·        We’re laster than we were last year

·        People will be lovers of self

·        Utterly self-centered

·        There will be lots of religious people without power

·        2 Timothy 4:1-5

¹I charge [you] in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who is to judge the living and the dead, and by (in the light of) His coming and His kingdom:

² Herald and preach the Word! Keep your sense of urgency [stand by, be at hand and ready], whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. [Whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome, you as preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong.] And convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching.

³ For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold,

⁴ And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions.

⁵ As for you, be calm and cool and steady, accept and suffer unflinchingly every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fully perform all the duties of your ministry.

·        Paul is giving timothy a charge as a young minister

·        We need to love each other enough to confront each other in love

·        A pastor individually talked to girls who saw a vulgar ungodly movie in love and they left the church

·        We need to be encouraged

·        John Maxwell is so encouraging

·        We need encouragement but that’s not all we need

·        Correcting someone can be an encouragement if it helps them to live in a better

·        Bottom line: you can pick the teaching you want to hear, and it could be stuff that never confronts you, but you won’t change

·        Joyce went to a church for years and still acted like an idiot all week

·        That’s not what we’re called to do

·        God didn’t save us so we could be entertained

·        Every one of you is a preacher

·        You may not do it from a pulpit but you are

·        You should be a sermon at work, school, everywhere without even having to open your mouth

·        We cannot blend in, we have to stand out

·        God has given Joyce a big job

·        She’ll be accountable someday for what she’s taught people

·        She can’t just give people what they want

·        Or what they feel good

·        We have to tell them what they don’t want to hear so they can get where they want to go

·        It’s not about having a good reputation but doing what God’s called her to do.

·        Genesis 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they gained possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.

·        There was a famine

·        We live in the Kingdom

·        In the kingdom there’s a protection

·        Joyce isn’t afraid about what’s going on in the world

·        I know that God is going to take care of us

·        Men’s hearts will fail them for fear

·        The best witness is being calm when we should be upset

·        Being happy when we should be miserable

·        You have to know you have a blood bought covenant with God

·        Safe in God’s arms

·        Exodus 8:21-23

²¹ Else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms [of bloodsucking gadflies] upon you, your servants, and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms [of bloodsucking gadflies], and also the ground on which they stand.

²² But on that day I will sever and set apart the land of Goshen in which My people dwell, that no swarms [of gadflies] shall be there, so that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

²³ And I will put a division and a sign of deliverance between My people and your people. By tomorrow shall this sign be in evidence.

·        God was speaking to Pharaoh thru Moses

·        God made a distinction between His people and the Egyptians

·        No blood sucking gadflies for us!

·        God’s people were always protected

·        Passover

·        God’s children were protected

·        Noah taken out of the flood

·        Lot taken out of Sodom and Gomorrah

·        If we’re right with Christ there should be an outworking which is right behavior

·        God makes us righteous and that leads to righteous behavior

·        It doesn’t mean we behave perfectly; but our heart is intent on pleasing God

·        Joyce should be able to go to any church anywhere and preach on dying to self and people should get up and clap and cheer

·        We can’t be like the world

·        It was the righteous that were taken out of Sodom and Gomorrah

·        God do everything that you need to do in me so I can represent You well in the world

·        Picture a 3 way light

·        If the church is on the 1^st bulb Joyce is asking us to brighten it up a notch

·        Joyce wore a raggedy jacket to portray the world

·        Then put on a righteous robe on Sunday

·        We can’t be Sunday morning saints and Monday morning sinners

·        2 Peter 2:7-8

⁷ And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless—

⁸ For that just man, living [there] among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard of [their] unlawful and wicked deeds—

·        The church worldwide should be the most impacting thing in the universe

·        Joyce isn’t comfortable much in the world anymore

·        She’s not comfortable with much of what’s going on

·        If we are there’s a problem

·        Joyce was at the gym working out

·        2 guys were complaining and cursing and using God’s name in vain

·        It should make us uncomfortable

·        Gossip at the lunch table should make you uncomfortable

·        God didn’t come just to make us comfortable

·        God put us in dark places so our lights could shine brighter

·        Joyce went to Indonesia and she was uncomfortable

·        And she got a stomach virus – uncomfortable

·        Are you comfortable telling a lie

·        Can you play on your computer when you should be working

·        Can you have sex with someone else while you’re married and feel comfortable

·        Proverbs 25:26 Like a muddied fountain and a polluted spring is a righteous man who yields, falls down, and compromises his integrity before the wicked.

·        A righteous man is just a mud hole if he doesn’t retain his integrity in front of the wicked

·        Be normal godly believers with a loving cool good gracious behavior

·        Let your light shine

·        Under the new covenant God gives us grace and power to live

·        Don’t just try to act better

·        Fall more in love with Jesus

·        Fall more in love with Him

·        The more we hang out with Jesus the more we want to be like Him

·        If you love him you will obey Him

·        Love Jesus more

·        Be thankful more

·        And it will be an natural outpouring

·        5 simple ways to be a good example in the world 

1. Be Stable

·        Every single one of us is strategically placed somewhere

·        There should be a difference

·        Not in an obnoxious religious way

·        Our relationship with God should be part of our normal conversation

·        Everywhere we go God has got you where you’re at

·        Find out if God’s got you there for a purpose and turn up the brightness

·        Be stable; not led by your emotions

·        Be the same everywhere – at home at church at work

·        We should be the same when we get our way and when we don’t

·        Learn how to manage your emotions

·        Often we create our own mess getting upset over petty stuff and the devil is just laughing his head off

·        Stability is a great witness

·        Joyce used to be all over the place 

2. Be A Happy Believer

·        Everybody wants to be happy

·        If people see your happiness they’ll want what you have

·        Let them get your saltiness

·        Make an investment

·        People want consistency

·        Get out there and be consistent

·        I’m different because I have Jesus in my life

·        I used to be this and that but now I’m stable

·        We’ve got to have the fruit to go with the salvation

·        We need to have a desire to grow and to change

·        When you hunger and thirst for righteousness you shall be filled

·        Can you not get what you want 10 days in a row and still be happy and stable

·        Rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice

·        The joy of the Lord is our strength

·        It’s hard to handle a really happy person

·        We can’t sink down into what’s going on in the world today

·        Matthew 24 signs of the end times

·        And many will be offended and stumble and fall away

·        Be humble enough to receive what God is trying to tell you

·        We all have blind spots

·        Things we just can’t see and someone might love us enough to tell us

·        We need to be accountable 

3. Just Be Good To People

·        Get out in the world and just be good to people

·        You can encourage somebody

·        Smile

·        Invite someone out to eat

·        But we want to be with our comfortable group

·        Philippians 4:5 Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is ^[a]coming soon].

·        We need to have something that people want

·        Joyce has learned to be good to people

·        A Christian who mistreats people is disgusting

·        Acts 10:38 How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, ^[a]in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.

·        If you’re around someone who needs help, help them

·        Be a blessing everywhere that you go

·        You can win souls when you’re good 

4. Be Positive

·        The world is so negative

·        Good news nourishes the bones

·        Be the bearer of good news 

5. To the Best Of Your Ability Keep Doing What Is Right

·        Make an effort (anointed by the grace of God) to burn a bit brighter…

·        What would happen in the world if all Christians would just not be easily offended and be good to people?

·        Imagine…

·        I forgive you, not a problem…

·        You’re in your neighborhood on purpose

·        God wants more out of you than to come to a church service and be entertained and act like the world the rest of the week

·        Altar call