Creflo Dollar - The Behavior and Character of the Last Day Society - Part 3
Well, I tell you what. What we're gonna talk about today, I don't know if it's ever been discussed in the lengths that we're gonna talk about it. I don't even know if I'll finish it today. But it is so big, it is so big. When you grow up, and you're moving in life, and you sit, and you bump into things and try to figure out why is it that certain things are not working well for me in my life, maybe today you're gonna find out the answer of that.
And so, Father, we thank you for this, another opportunity to minister to these, your precious sheep. Thank you, Lord, that revelation knowledge will flow freely, uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force. And Father, I pray that you will speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind, none of me and all of you. It's in Jesus's name. And everybody said amen.
If you have your Bibles, go with me to Matthew chapter 24, verses 1 through 8, and then we'll go to 2 Timothy 3. This is our two text Scriptures for what we're talking about. We're talking about the behavior and character of the last day society, the behavior and character of the last day society. In other words, we're trying to locate the signs of when Jesus is going to return. Let's read Matthew chapter 1, and let's read 1 through 8 together. Ready, read. "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple; and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, 'See ye not all these things? Verily, I say unto you, 'There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.' And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming.'"
What shall be the sign of thy coming? What shall be the sign of thy coming? Just in case you didn't know, Jesus is coming back again. And he said, "'What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?'" Verse 4, "And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, 'I am Christ;' and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass. They must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nations," or ethnos, or ethnic groups, "shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilence, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows.'"
Now, we talked to you about all these things are gonna happen, but we're not looking to see if these things are gonna happen. We're looking at the frequency and the intensity of these things happening. Jesus described it as birth pangs, and said if you understand how a woman gives birth to a child, then you will follow the contractions. And the more intense and frequent they occur, then you know something is gonna be born. Well, over the last months and years, we have seen intensity like never before. You're seeing it right now. You're seeing and hearing about things that have never happened the way that they're happening right now. And Jesus said, "That's a sign that I am coming". We spend a lot of time on those things, and we should, but he also mentioned this in 2 Timothy chapter 3, and verse 9, that if you're not convinced with the earthquakes, and the deception, and all that stuff, he says, "I want you to also pay attention to how people are going to behave in the last days. I want you to pay attention to the character of people on the earth in the last days".
2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1, he says, "This know also, that in the last days perilous," or dangerous, "times shall come". Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in one of the most dangerous seasons and times in the earth's history. He says, and somebody, you don't believe that, but you can drive down the highway now and not be sure you make it home 'cause somebody might get mad that you jumped in front of them, and then decide to shoot you on your way out. There's crazy things that are going on in the earth right now.
"For men shall be lovers of their own selves. They're going to be covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers. They're going to be disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce. They're going to be despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God," wow, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such," he said, "turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with different lusts. Ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith".
Now, we located almost 20-something characteristics of this last day society. I am gonna be teaching on about 18 of them. We have already talked about self-centered lovers of self, and that is an immoderate concern with one's own interests and well-being, egotism, thinking of yourself higher than what you ought to think, considering yourself and never considering other people. He said that is what will be demonstrated in the last days, people who are self-centered and lovers of themselves. I won't ask you to raise your hands, if you know somebody like that. Then we talked about lovers of money, and money's not the problem. It's trusting money more than you trust God. And there are people who place more value on money than they do on God, and that's idolatry.
When people, men and women are willing to do anything, anything that they can do to get paid, and they're not concerned about how they do it, just as long as they get paid, and they have an abundance of websites that allow you to get as perverted as you want to and get paid. You don't trust God anymore. And we live in a society that don't trust God anymore. They trying to get paid, trying to get they paper. That's a lover of money. And the Bible says watch that. "That's a sign that I'll be coming soon," when that becomes so intense that people trust money more than they trust God. They treasure money more than they treasure God. He said, "Look up. Your redemption draws nigh".
Last week, we talked about this third area: being boastful and proud, speaking with that exaggeration and excessive pride, especially when talking about yourself. Pride, showing a high opinion of yourself. And he says, "You will know that I'm getting to come because check out the behavior and the character of people. They're going to be boastful and proud". If you'll just notice, you know, when you go to work and you're out in public, if you'll just take a checklist of all these things, I guarantee you, before you get back home, you'll bump into each one of these.
Number four, we talked about it last week, scoffing at God, mocking God, laughing and rejecting, and refusing, and ignoring what God said, that when now you mention God, people think it's a joke. They make big fun of God. They say things like, "Jesus is never coming back. They said that for 2000 years, and it hasn't happened yet". He said, "When that increases with such intensity". And it has, it has. It's on movies, it's on talk shows, it's in your family. He said, "That's a sign that I'm coming back".
But number 5, and this is something huge today that I'll spend all my time with today. He said, "Here is a sign of the time: disobedient and disrespectful children to their parents". That's something that we've not spent a lot of time with, but everybody I talk to, it seems like, of course, not everybody, but it's like most people that I speak to talk to me about what's going on with their children. And what I'm about to teach, I cringe when I think about the disrespect that I showed my parents, coming up. Thank God, I had a chance to get it fixed. But because we hadn't spent a lot of time of it in church, it's almost like your teenager doesn't even know he's supposed to be respectful, and it's like your adult child doesn't have a clue that they're supposed to be taking care of you. Ah, y'all ain't gonna like me here today. You're gonna learn a lot about my deliverance, amen.
And so, I want to start this, and today we're gonna look at this area. He said this is a sign of the time. I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen anything, the relationship between children and their parents, I've never seen anything like it. And there are serious consequences of dishonoring parents. It's the only promise, it's the only commandment, the only moral law that had with it a promise. None of them had it except this one. And so, I think I need to spend some time with it. And those of you who are streaming in, if you're a parent, contact your children. If you're children, contact your parent. Let's get into this today, amen?
Now, I want to show you just scripturally, I want to show you about five Scriptures. I want to go back to Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 18 through 21. In the Jewish community, it was a civil law that if your child was disobedient, that you would have to put them to death. It was a civil law. Let me show you this. Now, it's no longer a law there. They had to change that law. I'm sure they got together at city hall and voted that out, but it used to be a law. Look at verse 18 through 21. "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened or directed him, and then he will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of the place, of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of the city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton, and a drunkard.' And all the men of this city shall stone him with stones that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you, and all Israel shall hear, and fear". That used to be a societal civil law amongst Jewish people.
Now look at Exodus 21, verse 15 in the ESV version. Exodus 21:15, now he says, "Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death". Now, I'm showing you what happened back then, so you can see God's attitude where this is concerned, that this is like, this was so serious that he said, "If you strike your father and mother, you die. If you don't hearken to your father and mother, you die". Now, y'all listening to this like, "Well, I just don't agree with that". Now, please listen to me. I'm gonna show you the Scripture. I'm gonna show it to you carefully and in context. And after I do that, whatever you choose not to hear, that's between you and God, but you will not be able to go to heaven and say, "My pastor never showed me that". So, let's look at what the Scripture talks about, some consequences now. So, that's what the law was back then, and I'll reiterate this a little bit later on. But I just want you to see that. When I saw that, I was like, whoa.
Look at Colossians chapter 3, verse 20, in the ESV. Colossians 3, verse 20 in the ESV, he says, "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord". Now, adult children, you're not necessarily obligated to obey after you become an adult, but you are obligated to honor them. See, they can only offer suggestions when you get grown, but children, teenagers, the Bible says, "Obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord". Look at Ephesians 6, verses 1 through 3. Ephesians 6, 1 through 3. In order for me to nail this home, you've gotta see this. Ephesians 6, 1 through 3, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord," he said, "for this is right".
And then he's talking to adult children. "Honor thy father and mother". He said, "It's the first commandment," it is the first moral law, and remember, the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, is moral law in the New Testament, so it is still valid. It is still good for you to honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, verse 3, "that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth". So, here's the promise: if you want it to be well with you, if you want things to go well, and if you want to live long, he says you need to do that. Your prosperity is on the line. The kind of success you have as an adult son or daughter is gonna be based on honoring your parents. So, if things are not going well with you, you need to follow this train back to the root. And a lot of people don't even look at that. The root to why things are not going well with you, a lot of times, is lack of honor.
And then he says... here's another promise. Not only will all things go well with you, and you'll prosper and all these kind of things. He says, "But you're going to live long on the earth". You're going to live long on the earth. Your life on the planet is tied to your relationship with your parents. Your life on the planet is tied to that relationship. I'm so glad I got it right with my father, after grossly dishonoring him. I'm so glad I got it right with him before he left. I'm so glad my mother is still alive, so I can continue to walk in honor there 'cause my life was on the line. But I had wisdom to know, if this is gonna change, I've gotta go back to this, 'cause this is the only one with that promise.
Look at Proverbs 23:22, Proverbs 23:22 in the ESV. He says, "Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old". And that very thing is happening today. There are kids that still despise their parents. There are kids that still won't listen to their father, who gave them life. You know, that blew my mind. You know, I always gave the credit to the wife 'cause she went through all of the pain, and the suffering, and stuff like that. But when I read this Scripture, I was like, "Oh, Lord, have mercy. I'm a life giver".
Look at that Scripture. Look at Jeremiah. I want to encourage you, I mean, before I start teaching this. After seeing those Scriptures, you need a little encouragement. Jeremiah 31, 15 through 17 in the New Living Translation, he says, "This is what the Lord says: 'A cry is heard in Ramah, deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for her children are gone.'" Now, some of you may be experiencing that right now, but look at this promise. "But now this is what the Lord says: 'Do not weep any longer. For I will reward you,' says the Lord. 'Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.'"
Isn't that good? I don't care how long it's been. That's a part of the end-time prophecy, too. They're coming back from the enemy. Praise the Lord. And look what happens when that happens. Zechariah 9:12, NLT. Now please understand, I ain't started teaching yet. I'm just setting this table. Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 12 says, "Come back to the place of safety". That's what's gonna happen. "Come back to the place of safety, all you prisoners who still have hope. I promise this very day that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles". That's powerful, isn't it? So, take those two Scriptures and tuck them away, and let's go ahead and get started with this, the consequences, the serious consequences of dishonoring parents. Jesus said, "In the last days, you will see it worldwide".
If you're thinking that it's only happening to you, it's not. And I pray that as I teach this today, maybe some things can change. The question is, for everyone that has a parent, are you losing your blessings? Are you losing your blessings? Every time I bless my mother, I get blessed. I started noticing that every time I do something to bless her, it's like a boomerang and come and get me. Glory be to God. There's a serious problem in the body of Christ. There is a growing number of adult children who are ungrateful, who are critical, who are disrespectful towards their Christian and non-Christian parents. They are magnifying their parents' faults, and they are minimizing their parents' sacrifices and love. They kind of forgot the sacrifices. They don't even remember. You don't even know what it was like when you was two. You don't even remember how messy you was, and that diaper had to be changed.
They magnify the parents' fault and minimize the parents' sacrifice and love. They expect grace from their parents, but they give very little in return. And unfortunately, many in the church, many church folks are sympathizing with these fault finders, in direct contradiction to God's Word. You don't sympathize with children, whether they're adult children or teenage children, who find fault in their parents. And I'll balance this in a moment. That's in direct contradiction to the Word. Now, I'm gonna talk about crazy parents and all that other kind of stuff in a minute. But you've gotta get the point. 'Cause even if they're crazy, you've got to figure out how to honor them, even in the midst of their crazy.
Now, I don't suggest you live with them, and I don't suggest you participate with their crazy, but that's still, that's still my daddy. That's still my mama. He crazy, but he's still my mommy, he's still my daddy. When we become adults, we take on adult responsibility towards our parents. So, you're not a child, you're not a teenager. You're an adult. And when you become an adult, you take on adult responsibility, and that adult responsibility to our parents is we now have to find out, we're supposed to be taking care of, there's a level of honor that goes to a parent once you are an adult.
It ain't, "I'm out the house, I ain't gotta deal with y'all no more". You've gotta deal with them the rest of your life, because now, as an adult, you have an adult responsibility to your parents. Now, we no longer obey them. That's not what I'm saying. But we do our part to have a meaningful relationship with them. God never excuses, he never excuses disrespect toward parents, because disrespect towards parents shows disrespect for his commandments, his moral law, and for his promises.