2819 Church - ENTRY & END TIMES | The Second Coming PT2 | Matthew 24:32-35 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

In this sobering continuation of ENTRY & END TIMES, Philip Anthony Mitchell unpacks Matthew 24:32–35, urging us to discern the times and respond with holy devotion.As the hour draws near, may we be found in prayer, surrendered to His purpose, and fully alive to the calling on our lives.

Be seated. Be seated. Be seated. Somebody give God praise in this house. Come on. Come on. Let the redeemed of the Lord put your hands together and give him praise in this house.

Come on. Come on. Praise him. Come on, put your hands together. Come on. Use your hands. Come on. Give him praise with those hands.

Somebody clap. Let the devil know he lost one. Come on, clap. Let the devil know you're redeemed. Come on, clap. Let the devil know you're under the blood. Come on, clap. Let the devil know you've been saved. Come on, clap. Let the devil know you've been washed. Come on, call. Hallelujah. Somebody clap. Come on. Use your hands. Come on, clap. Let the devil know. Hallelujah. If you are guests, for your guests at 2018-19, we don't apologize. I don't care for spending time in God's presence. no apology for you. If you don't like spending time in God's presence, then this is not the church for you. Yeah.

So if you're a guest, we welcome you to the presence of God. And we welcome you to our gathering and to our church family where we are serious about the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples. If you're a digital disciple watching me live right now across the country or around the world, we welcome you to 2819 and to our gathering. We pray that you felt something where you are because we felt something where we are.

We know that the spirit of God is everywhere, and he is not handcuffed by camera or technology. And although the spirit of God is everywhere, his manifest presence is not everywhere. And so when we feel the manifest presence of the Lord, we should never take that for granted. Sometimes the Lord will do something in moments like that that a sermon will never do, that the words of a man will never do. And we want to be careful not to be so idolatrous. The thing that we got to just push past the presence of God to get to the sermon of a man. Where sometimes what you need is to just lean into that moment, right? listen the Lord can heal sick bodies in moments like that he can heal tormented minds in moments like that

he can heal troubled hearts in moments like that he can bring about conviction that transforms a husband and a wife in moments like that and we got to learn sometimes to just sit in his presence and let him work in us in his presence like jump into that river and just stay there amen anybody like we'd be mad busy Martha Martha you'd be mad busy but sometimes we need to just sit at his feet for just a little while amen anybody

and if you're not a follow of Christ and you feel uncomfortable good good we know you in here we know you don't understand but my prayers a day would come when you will understand and that you will be on this side of glory on this side of revelation on this side of

the kingdom to share in the joy and the peace that we feel in the worship of our risen savior and soon coming king the Lord Jesus Christ amen anybody and that you will be brought into this family before time has run out. for like 23 minutes. And we're going to have a moment of prayer. We're at the back half of a series called Entry and End Times. We're together as a church. We've been studying Matthew chapter 21 through 25.

We are looking at the final actions and the end time teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And today our text is coming from Matthew chapter 21. 24 verses 32 to 35 titled this message the second coming part two spirit of the living God we feel you in this room to feel your manifest presence my Lord there is no greater balm for the human soul than your presence and We thank you for how you invaded this room and manifest your glory among us. What little of it we can handle.

I know that we come from different traditions, Lord, but teach us to love your presence. Teach us to enjoy when you wrap your arms around the people. Teach us to enjoy moments when we are weak and we have to fall down because your glory. so heavy we can stand teach us to love just being with you teach us how to sit in your presence in this room and at home and in the car and in the park teach us to enjoy that thing we will enjoy for the endless ages of eternity and we thank you for a house where there is dunamis and doctrine where there is the spirit and there is the proclamation of scripture combination and pray now as the scriptures are exalted and proclaimed you would give strength

to this weakened earth and vessel and ears to hear and eyes to see these amongst my brothers and sisters and draw the atheists and the unbeliever to yourself ask in the mighty and the majestic in the matchless name of our soon-coming king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of God's people said, amen. You know, family, right now as I'm preaching to you, it is raining right now on our city here in Atlanta. And I am thankful that we are in double overflow. even in the rain, that there was a type of hunger

that could not stop people from coming into this gathering in the rain. But I mentioned the rain not to brag on double overflow. I mentioned the rain to say to you that the rain that we experience it today did not catch us by surprise. For we have meteorologists who use technology who saw in a distance storm clouds that was approaching Georgia and was able to predict with accuracy that we would have a hundred percent chance of rain today and the function of those meteorologists to predict to us with accuracy that we would

have rain today was watch to prepare all of us for the weather and patterns that we have today it is these dynamics of prophecy and accuracy and preparation for a day that we approach when we lean into the prophetic teachings of Christ that we are unpacking right now in this text. How the Lord Jesus Christ, your Savior and mine, came into the city of Jerusalem and what will be the last week of his earthly life. And he cleansed the temple, and he prophesied.

And his followers heard him prophesy of the destruction of a massive temple and prophesy about the signs of the end times and the atmosphere of the earth just before his return to earth and they heard him prophesying and they asked him a question, Lord, when will these things be?

What will be the sign of your coming? That as they heard the Lord prophesied, the only thing that they was worried about is when? When will this be? When will you come? They want to know the time of his coming. they are no different than you and I

that when we come close to prophecy the first thing you want to know when you get a prophetic word is when when will the husband come when will the wife come when will the season change you get a prophetic word you write it on a no pad on your phone and then the first

thing your mind thinks is Lord when and the Lord begins to talk to them about signs of his coming the last sign of his coming, the very crack of the sky, when Jesus himself will return to the earth with all of his saints. He prophesies to them about all of those things that were coming, and then what the Lord does next in the text after he prophesies to them about the signs of the end times, he will then, what Matthew recalls for us, is answer their question about when.

In Matthew chapter 24 and beginning of verse 32, the Lord answers the question for them, when will Christ return? Here is the answer to the question. Verse 32, from the fig tree, he said to them, learn a very powerful word. It's lesson. As soon as this branch becomes tender and puts out leaves, you know that the summer is near. So the Lord begins this answer with a simple parable. And I stress the word simple because commentators and theologians try to make this parable more complex than what it really is. They say things like this parable of the fig tree here represents the nation of Israel and they pack into the text things that are not there. That is called Issa Jesus. When you force things into the scriptures that are not there, inter-American preaching.

But if we just do some exegesis, we understand that this parable right here is not about the nation of Israel. This parable right here is about, watch this word, timing, that although the Lord had cursed a fig tree earlier that represent his denunciation of Israel, this particular parable about this particular fig tree is not about the nation. It is about timing. Now, you remember earlier in our teaching what the parable was. that a parable was a short story or analogy that was used to either conceal or reveal a truth. The Lord Jesus came preaching and teaching. And when the Pharisees began to reject his teaching and Jews begin to take his teaching for granted,

he stopped talking to them in plain English or plain language. He started talking to them in parable so that he can protect his truth from being trampled from people that did not want it. Because we cannot give pearl to swine. That is, you do not. need to waste your time trying to convince people that do not want to learn you should stop arguing with fools and we're not going to preach truth to people that's going to trample the gospel and so he started preaching in parables as a form of judgment so that those who reject me you will not understand but in private i will reveal this to my followers so he starts out with a parable watch

of a fig tree now he's talking about something that is present in palestine the land is dotted with fig trees, the disciples would have understood the cycle of the fig tree. Lena and I have a fig tree in our front yard, so I understand very well the cycle of a fig tree. I understand very well how it functions. I understand what the Lord was saying because I have a fig tree in my yard. And that fig tree in my yard, it is bare in the fall and the winter. There is no leaves and no figs. But it puts out giant green leaves in the spring. And If I did not have a calendar, and I could not tell time, I would know from the cycle of my fig tree that when the leaves get big and green, I know that the summer is the next season. I know that the leaves is an indicator that something is about to change.

Not to mention, if you're staring at that tree from my driveway, you cannot see fruit. Side note, you can only see the fruit on that tree if you get up close to it. That's why we got to stop giving grace to everybody that got big plastic. You need to get up on people so you see character. Everybody with big leaves don't have fruit. Come on, man. Y'all see big leaves, big platforms, big Instagram following, man of God, check. Woman of God, check.

Not just because they have leaves. That doesn't mean it have fruit. And I know from my tree, you can stare at it from a distance and not see fruit, but you got to get up on that tree in my yard. And then you see all the fruit under the leaves. and if you saw leaves with no fruit you know that was a diseased tree big platform no character

diseased tree come on man big ministry no character disease tree big ministry no Christ exaltation disease tree so he begins the answer of when will he return

with a parable of a fig tree then he begins to answer the question a little bit more. And then he says to them in verse 33. He says to them, watch. He says, when you know what put out the leaves, you know that the summer is near. I just want to draw attention to the word no. The word no is surety. You will not be confused. You will not be caught off guard. You will know the summer is near when you see the leaves. Verse 33. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near. How close? Even at the very gates. what things is the Lord talking about?

He's talking about all the things he prophesied from verse 4 through verse 31. He says, when you see these things in rapid succession, you know that my return is there. What things is he talking about? Man, it's all there in the text. When you see the increase of wars and rumors of wars. When you see the increase of earthquakes

just had one a couple days ago, pestilence and sickness and disease and cancers. when you see the increase of the persecution of the saints when you see the increase of false prophets and they're running through the earth and y'all love false prophets especially y'all who look like me because we don't want to pray

and because we don't want to read anybody rise up with the title prophet you just believe everything they say never mind you never hold them against the scriptures you never check the word of God behind them and then people prophesied and their words fall to the floor. Deuteronomy has taught us

God did not send that person. He said, in the last days, we'll see an increase of false prophets with false messages. In the last days, we will see an increase of apostasy. People leaving Christianity saying, I tried Jesus and he didn't work. In the last days, we will see the abomination of desolation.

In the last days, we will see global proclamation. In the last days, we will see the return of Christ himself. So he said, When you start to see all these things in succession, you know that the end is near. Now, family, listen to me carefully. Although in context, these things will unfold in full force during the tribulation period. Hear me right now. I am telling you today on this platform, the storm clouds of these things are already in our society.

They're already happening right now in the globe, and Christians are not paying attention. As I'm talking to you, we're seeing the manifestations of the early signs that these things. We're seeing the increase of the persecution of the saints, increase of false prophets, increase of false teachings. We're seeing an increase of lawlessness and dishonor towards God. We're seeing an increase of all the things he prophesied in here. We're seeing an increase of AI. We're seeing an increase in Islam. Not to mention, I believe it will be Islam that will be those who suppress Christianity and persecute the saints in the end time.

For many saints will beheaded during the tribulation, and there is one faith that, has pleasure in doing that, according to the Quran. We see an increase in end-time alliances between nations like Russia and China, who are hidden in biblical prophecy, two nations that the scripture tells us will come against the nation of Israel in the end. They are already having talks coming together. And right now, as we're playing church, running in and out of rooms all around the world,

we see the storm clouds on the horizon of all these things happening right now that's why hear me i'm serious when i say this now is the time to get right with the lord now is the time to start reading the scriptures for yourself now is the time to have a prayer life now is the hour to be right with christ now is the hour to stop playing around with your walk i'm talking to you man now is the hour to take inventory of your friends now is the hour to stay inventory of your friends now is the start cutting people off who are anti-Christ, who are leading you astray, who want nothing to do with Jesus. Now is the time to take inventory of your boyfriend or girlfriend. Now is the time to say, you know what, it don't make no sense for you and I to be dating because you want

nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now is the time to build your marriage. Now is the hour to disciple your children. Now is the hour to enjoy the community of the saints because a day is coming when we won't have this anymore. Now is the hour to lean into biblical teaching and biblical preaching. Now is the hour to scrub your podcast from listening to 85 voices every single week. Now is the hour to guard your soul from all of the garbage you see on social media. Now is the hour to stop reading heretical books. Now was the hour to stop reading heretical devotionals. Now was the hour for believers to be serious about the kingdom. serious about the Great Commission, serious about your intimacy with Christ, serious about your

relationships, serious about your calling, your anointing, your gifting, your assignment, now is the hour watch to put your whole life on the altar. Let me repeat. Look at me. I'm serious. This ain't no sermon. This is a plea. my brothers and sisters in the U.S.

Now is the hour to put your whole life on the altar, to put your marriage on the altar, to put your children on the altar. Now is the time to stop having ambitions that have nothing to do with God's calling on your life. Now is the time, I'm serious, you clap. Now is the hour to push off all those idols off the table of your heart.

Now is the hour to stop worshiping things More than you worship Christ Now is the hour to stop making excuses about your past And what you can't do Now is the hour to say Christ here is all of me On the altar submitted Surrendered for your service and your purpose Now is the hour to say

Lord I don't want anything that you don't want for me Listen, now is the hour to say, Lord, I want to die empty. I want to arrive in glory, having done everything you've called me to do. I want to write every book I'm supposed to write. I want to say everything I'm supposed to say. I want to go every place I'm supposed to go. I want to preach where I'm supposed to preach. Now is the hour to say, Lord, empty me out completely because we don't have all this time left.

I'm trying to die empty. I don't want to arrive in heaven with anything in me that was supposed to be poured out in the earth. Repeat, we want to die empty. Now it was the time to stop making excuses. Do it afraid. Step into it by faith. everything God has called you to do. Now is the hour to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.

Can I go deeper? Now is the hour to start saying, Lord, wherever I'm deceived, reveal it to me. Come on, man. Frances Chan taught me that just last week. Start praying. Lord, wherever I'm deceived, reveal it to me. If there's pride in there and I don't know, reveal it to me.

If I'm headed down the wrong path, reveal it to me. If I'm dating the wrong person, reveal it to me. Like, now is the hour for Lord to wash my soul of everything that does not belong in there? I'm sorry, now was the hour to break up. Now was the hour to have a tough conversation. Like, you know what? We've been doing this for five years, and you want nothing to do with the Lord. I'm sorry, I'm not going to hell with you.

Now is the hour to be single all over again. That pipe game going to take you straight to hell. Right? Now is the hour to stop loving sin and stop making excuses for ratchet lives full of licentiousness and unholyness. Now is the hour to honor Christ. No, I'm serious about this man. Forget your little New Year's resolution.

How about a Matthew 24 resolution? Lord, after today, I'm putting my whole life on the altar. Man, maybe we've done some of y'all need to come and just lay your head. on the altar, have a Matthew 24 resolution. Lord, after today, enough is enough. Why do you worship people with fire and don't build your own? You idolize people with platforms, but you don't want to go through process. you love stages but you don't love altars

and you want to preach and you don't have a prayer life while we're all busy trying to build everything everybody want to be a chief everybody want to be a king nobody want to be a servant Look, now was the hour to deconstruct All that mess and foolishness You try to put Christianity on top of You're just going to take craziness and attach God to it

No, now was the hour to stop that foolishness Now was the hour to care about your witness And when people say about you on your job and how you govern yourself on social media, we can't keep looking at your hips. Give me a scripture tomorrow. We know you're insecure, and we know you're looking for love.

Maybe you should go into your prayer closet. and find it above you, instead of trying to find it online. No, this is love talking. I'm trying to get some of y'all free from your foolishness. I'm sick and tired. I'm people running around saying, I'm a woman of God, and I'm a man of God, but we're not disciples of the Lord. Where is your cross?

Where is your sacrifice? Where is your seriousness? How are we followers with no cross? Now is the hour to pick up your cross and run your race and finish your assignment. Why? Because time is running out. God. Now was the hour to stop being mad at conviction

and running when the Lord is trying to tap your soul, when he's trying to punch you in your soul. Now is the hour to stop running from that. Now is the hour to say, Lord, don't just deliver. me from something, but change me while I'm in it. Verse 34. The Lord says, truly I say to you,

this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Now, just stop. Okay? Just pay attention for just. Just a second. The Lord said this generation will not pass away until everything I have spoken have come to pass. Now, this is why you've got to listen, man. I have read commentaries that say, oh, he was speaking to that generation he was talking to in the media present. And some of them believe all these things that the Lord prophesied happened between the time of his crucifixion and AD 70 at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. My friends, This is Asinine. Why? Because he said, all these things have to happen.

Without one, before the generation passes away. What was the last thing he prophesied? His own return. Since the Lord has not come back yet. We know that these things cannot have happened in that generation. So the Lord Watch was not just talking to the people in front of him. He says, truly, I say to you, the word you there in Greek is plural. So he was not just talking to the disciples who was in front of him.

He was speaking prophetically through time because he knew all these men would die and one of them would die at an old age. He knew about the church age that was coming that they did not see. So when he says you, which is plural, he's speaking prophetically through time to a future generation that will be alive during the tribulation period. I believe it is my personal opinion that we are probably entering into that generation that will see all these signs and the return of the Lord. if not us, our children. I think that our children may be the generation that sees the rapture, the tribulation, and the return of the Lord. I think all these things are just around the corner.

We can feel the wind of them blowing in society. Watch. And because he said all these things will happen in one generation. That means the generation that sees the first signs will be the generation that sees the return of the sun. That means all these things will happen in a short period of time. And then the Lord finishes his thought. Look at me.

Look right at me. Eye contact. Because the Lord knew that a lot of you would be tempted to not take him serious. Because he knew people would read his words in the future and be tempted to not take him serious. Because he knew a time would come and people would. will just go to church and not take him serious, not take the marriage supper of the Lamb serious, not take the fact that we will be with him in glory serious, not to mention somebody was persecuting me on social media talking about what I'm talking about from

Revelation, because you don't read that before I talk to you about us riding on horses, why don't you go back and read the passage before that? In Revelation chapter 19, the Lord is talking about the marriage supper of the lamb. Who is present at the marriage supper of the lamb? The redeemed church. Where are they in heaven with Christ in the marriage supper of the lamb? They are where he is. And when he returns, they will be where he is.

So I will have my horse. You can keep your bad theology. I will keep my horse. I will be riding out with Christ. Let me just parenthetically insert that. Read the whole chapter. Watch. But because the Lord knew that many of you would be tempted to not take his words seriously,

he finishes this thought with verse 35. Look at what he says. Heaven and earth will pass away. But my words will not pass away. You even said heaven above. And the earth you live in, it will pass away. it will pass away, but my words, my prophetic words, this scripture, it will never pass away, i.e., the word of God is more sure than the foundations of heaven and earth.

Because the scripture teaches us in Revelation that everything you see right now is going to be burned up and Christ will recreate a new heaven. And he will recreate a new earth. And therefore he said these things that we're running after, all these things will pass away, but there is anything you can put your trust in. It's in what I have said. Why? Because the scripture says the word cannot be broken and God cannot lie. So everything Christ has prophesied that will come to pass exactly as he said. His word can be trusted above the Quran. It can be trusted above the pearl of great price. It can be trusted above every religious text. This word

can be trusted. He cannot lie. So if he said he's a provider, he can be trusted. If he said he'll never leave you nor forsake you, he can be trusted. If he said no weapon for him, the Gentry shall prosper, he can be trusted. If he said he's with you on mountaintops and in valleys, he can be trusted. If he says he hears the redeem when they pray, he can be trusted. If he says that you are in him and he is in you, he can be trusted. His promises can be trusted. His words of comfort can be trusted.

His words of prophecy can be trusted. His words of warning better be trusted For you get one shot to get this right And that is now for when we died there is no second chance And so I'll leave you again with the question of Peter Since all these things are coming And since all these things are running after is going to be dissolved What type of people should we be now? Holy

Godly Righteous people We should be people running after God with our whole heart, running after the scriptures with our whole heart, running after them and prayer at our whole heart. We should be people wringing out our hearts. Since all these things are coming, we should get up tomorrow morning and walk into our job like missionaries. We should be praying for the loss. We should be praying for our loved ones who are far away from Christ. We should be serious about the spread of the gospel. Some of our money should be invested in the spread of the gospel. Man, we should be fulfilling the calling and the assignments that He has placed upon our life. Since all these things are coming, we should take our lives and our walk seriously when? Now, and the Lord gave us all this prophecy, not for us to be curious. He gave us all this prophecy like the rain that we will be wash this word, ready. And my only question for you is, if the rapture happened next week, will you be ready? Are you ready right now?

Do you know Christ now? Are you serving him for real now? He's given us a forecast. So if you get caught in the rain, it's your fault. It's not his fault. The only question for you to answer when you leave here today and get to your little restaurant. You look across at your spouse and your friends and say,

dang, y'all, are we ready? Are we doing this thing for real? Is it just church or is it a life? lifestyle. Is it a sermon or am I reading the Bible for myself? That's my prayer for you that you would take serious your walk, your anointing, your gifting, your assignment, the time that you have left. Let me pray for you and then we're going to sing over you and just sit still. Let us wash you in the word don't move spirit of the living god your word has been proclaimed the seed has been song we know that time is running out and you're going to return soon i pray for everybody under

the sound of my voice a spirit of readiness you know what would you you just lift your hands just a little bit just like turn your palms up just just turn your palms up just a little bit father i pray for these palms that are turned up towards heaven i pray you will pour out on us a spirit of readiness a spirit of seriousness i pray we would see how you see feel how you feel love how you love and hate how you hate i pray we would be awakened and we will be like the sons of Issaqar who rightly discerned the times and knew what to do about it. I pray for marriages and for children. I pray for ministries.

I pray there will be an outpouring of readiness and seriousness upon us in this room. I ask you with open eyes and open ears and burn hearts and save the unbeliever. I plead with you for this in the mighty and the majestic and the master. and the matchless name of our soon-coming king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.