What Can We Do About the World?

An Understanding About the World and the Church

“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12

“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:13

1. Satan and antichrist are called lawless ones (2 Thessalonians 2:8,9) and those in the world (1 Timothy 1:9).

2. The world is not your indicator that God answers prayer.

3. Terrorism - both international and domestic.

4. Threats are out for the rest of the world - including the United States.

5. Laws seem to protect criminals - not the innocent victims.

6. If you focus on the world, you can become discouraged and your love for the Lord and church can grow cold.

7. God already knows the course of time and we win.

8. The Rapture and the Second Advent are our great hope - not the world.

Are World Conditions Getting Better or Worse?

1. Is there an agenda?

   a. TV Sitcoms?

   b. Movie Language and substance?

   c. Sex trafficking and slavery

2. Moral decline?

   a. Homosexual agenda

   b. Abortion

   c. Godless schools

   d. Socialist agendas rising

“For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” Matthew 24:38, 22

Are Church Teachings Getting Better or Worse?

1. 80% question infallibility of the Word.

2. No mention of the Holy Spirit.

3. Universalism / Inclusion.

4. Acceptance of homosexuality.

5. Homosexual marriage.

6. Homosexual ministers.

2 Views of the Church’s Mission

1. The world is a ship carrying believers and unbelievers. When the ship docks, all will be saved (kingdom theology).

2. The world is a slowly sinking ship. The band is playing while the ship sinks. The Church is a rescue ship pleading with passengers to jump on board.

Definitions of the Church

1. Church - “ekklesia” - called out ones.

2. Two churches - one within the other.

   a. Universal - Invisible - taken out of Satan’s family.

   b. Local - Visible - taken out of the world’s system.

3. The Church is always a portion of the population.

4. Today’s churches are trying to change the intellectual currents of the age.

   To change the Social and economic order to build a new civilization for our children.

5. We will never build a better world for our children. We must build better children for the world.

6. Jesus will build a better world at His Second Advent.

Who Controls the Church?

“I will build My Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

1. Jesus is the builder and owner of the Church.

2. The Church is indestructible, the world will be destroyed.

Definitions of the World

1. World - “kosmos” - the system of this world.

2. Two worlds - one within the other.

   a. The world’s system, or order - used often.

   b. The people of the world - used rarely (John 3:16).

3. The world is a way of thinking, a mindset, opposed to the thinking of God and His word.

   This is why we need our minds renewed to the word - the mind of Christ.

4. It is alright to love the people in the world, yet hate the world’s system (James 4:4, John 3:16).

5. Jesus did not die for the world’s system. He died for the people.

6. The world’s system will never be redeemed. It will be destroyed.

Who Controls the World?

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” 1 John 5:19

1. We cannot expect moral improvement in the world.

   a. If we could change the world’s morals they would still not go to heaven. There are many moral sinners.

   b. We will not change the world. Jesus will not win the lost.

   c. We do momentarily affect the world but not change it.

2. This age, just like ages before, are under Satan’s control and set against God. Until Jesus returns.

   a. Like Satan, the world cannot be redeemed.

   b. Like Satan, the world will always hate Israel and the Church.

   c. It is just useless to pray for the world to change as to pray for Satan to change. Both are unchangeable.

Our Mission - To the World - Is The Great Commission

1. Two-fold mission (Mark 16:15, 16, Matthew 28:19, 20).

   a. Evangelism

   b. Discipleship

2. We are here to sow good seed. Satan continues to sow evil seed and produce tares (Matthew 13:24-30).

3. The Church is being built with people removed (called out) from the world (John 17:6, Acts 15:14).

4. We will never win the whole world.

   a. Multitudes too large to count will go to heaven (Revelation 7:9).

   b. More will go to hell than to heaven (Matthew 7:13, 14).

   c. God has always had a remnant (Romans 9:27, 28, Romans 9:6, Isaiah 46:3, Romans 11:5).

Jesus’ Example of How to Pray for the World

“I pray for them (the disciples). I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep (guard) through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 

But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  O, righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

How We Should Pray Toward the World

1. For open doors for those spreading the gospel.

2. For sinners to respond to the gospel.

   a. For those who will hear the gospel to be saved.

   b. For sinners to receive Jesus and come out of the world.

3. For blinders to be removed from the eyes of sinners so they can see and have a clear choice (2 Corinthians 4: 3, 4).

How We Should Pray Toward the Church

1. We pray for Christians to evangelize.

2. Workers to go into the world.

3. More to be called and more to accept the call.

4. We pray for their converts to grow, become disciples, attend church and grow in the word.

“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:37, 38

How Do We Pray for Our Nation and Government Leaders?

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” Proverbs 29:2

1. We pray for our leaders to be saved and discipled (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

   a. Stop praying for leadership to leave, but to be saved.

   b. Have you prayed for those in leadership with who you disagree?

   c. Have you prayed for our president to grow spiritually?

   d. Pray for the world to experience revival.

   Revival comes to the Church - not the world.

   Enough people saved will affect the world.

2. We are to vote

   a. We are to find good candidates to back and support.

   b. Don’t put your full trust in these people.

   c. Don’t be discouraged if things only slightly change or do not improve at all.

   We put human beings in office until Jesus comes.

   Even good candidates do not keep every promise.

The Mission of the Church

1. We are not to try to change the opinion of the world - we cannot.

2. The Church has not been inserted to stop or change the world - but to block it, slow it down, delay, and hinder it (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

3. We are the mud Satan and sinful leaders have to swim through to get anything done.

   a. What should take a short time to accomplish has taken Satan over 2000 years.

   b. This is why Satan and world leaders hat the Church and Israel.

The World’s Attitude Toward the Church

“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed, saying ‘Let us break their bonds in pieces, and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure.” Psalms 2:1-5 (Acts 4:25. 26)

The World’s Attitude Toward Israel

“Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult, and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most HIgh over all the earth.” Psalms 83:1-5, 17, 18

1. When the Church is gone, the world will go down in record time - seven years. It cannot last one day longer.

2. There is no hope for the world. Only for those who come out of the world and put their trust in Jesus.

3. God is not transforming a civilization, but calling out a people to a new creation who will honor His name.

4. Quit working against God and His plan.

   a. Egypt is a type of the world in which the gospel was preached.

   b. The miracles and messages of Moses did not change Pharaoh or most of the people of Egypt.

   c. But, a believing mixed multitude came out of Egypt.

5. Stop trying to bring the whole world into the Church.

   a. We cannot and never will win the whole world.

   b. We are to win as many as possible out of the world.

6. We cannot bring the world’s system into the church.

   a. We must not justify sin from the viewpoint of society.

   b. We must be quick to label sin while being concerned and loving toward the people caught up in the sin.

7. Worldliness is the justifying by Christians of sin whether in the world or in the church.

   a. Why do we look for compromise with the world. They don’t look for compromise with us.

   b. The world hates Christians. They want to destroy us like they did Jesus.

   c. Jesus loved righteousness and hated iniquity (Hebrews 1:9).

8. We must stay with the Word of God yet love people.

9. Quit trying to please the world to win the world.

10. Quit trying to change the stream of social order. Jesus will do this at the Second Advent.

11. Preach about the new order - the New Creation.

12. Warn men of the folly of going after the order of the world - the downward flow of the currents of this age.

13. Warn men of the folly of going against God’s plan of redemption and encourage them to accept His plan.

14. We must not work contrary to God but with Him until the beginning of the new age - the Second Advent.

Being a Friend to the World Makes You God’s Enemy

“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4

1. God is against carnal believers.

2. Carnal believers imitate the world.

Two Wrong Views Toward the World

“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:37-39

1. We can change the world into a godly place.

   a. Noah could not - but preached the gospel and warned.

   b. The world can be affected but not permanently changed.

   c. A small group was saved out of the world.

2. I will ignore the world and live as normal of a life as I can.

   I can eat, drink, and watch my children get married. Then I hope the world will improve.

The World Will Never Change - But Neither Will God

1. The world hates God and Christians (John 15:18-20).

2. We live in a world that hates Christ. This will not change.

3. Jesus never hinted there is any hope for this world, only for those who believe in Him and come out of the world.

4. Even Jesus refused to pray for the world.

Our Message is Foolishness to the World

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

“The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; so what wisdom do they have?” Jeremiah 8:9

1. The world’s message should be foolishness to us.

2. Their message is only wise when you are ignorant of God’s