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Welcome to the Bridge Church VB Podcast, your weekly source for uplifting and transformative Sunday messages! Each episode features insightful, practical teachings rooted in Scripture, designed to inspire and guide you on your spiritual journey. Led by our passionate Lead Pastors, Archie and Tangie Callahan, we strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages individuals from all walks of life to connect with the person, power, and purpose of Jesus Christ.
In this podcast, we delve into relevant themes and timeless biblical truths that speak to the challenges and joys of everyday living. Whether you’re commuting, exercising, or simply seeking encouragement, our messages aim to empower you to grow in faith and discover your unique purpose.
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Take out your Bibles and turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
We begin a brand new series today.
It's called Last Days.
Last Days.
And we're going to talk about five problems in the last days.
Five problems in the last days.
And when we talk about the last days, we must understand these characteristics of the last days that we're going to be discussing is the characteristics of what's happening outside of God's kingdom, not what should be happening in God's kingdom, his house, his church.
See, Jesus' people lived differently in perilous times in the last days.
We are called to stand out and not blend in to a culture that is pushing pressure or putting pressure on the church to conform to its image.
I mean, we're called to conform to the image of Christ and not to the image of culture.
I remember in 1997, at the end of 1997, the end of October, about this time, my dad had a heart attack.
I drove from Augusta, Georgia, along with my wife, to see him in the hospital.
He was in ICU.
At that moment, a few days later, the doctors gave my dad three months to live.
Let me ask you this question.
If you had three months to live, if you had 90 days to live, how would you live your life?
What adjustments would you make?
What would be different in your life?
My dad was given 90 days to live, and in those 90 days, I saw my dad go through a transformation.
He became more introspective.
He thought deeper.
He became more quiet.
He gained a greater eternal perspective.
He understood that his days were limited and that he had to maximize them.
My dad liked watching the 6 o'clock and 6.30 news every day.
He set that aside once he figured out he had 90 days to live.
Every time I would go to visit him, I would have to drive three hours to go see him.
I did that every week until he passed away.
When I would go see him, he would ask me, what is heaven like?
What happens when I die?
Why did he become like?
Because that was his last days.
When we talk about the last days, how many of you know the last days could be now for you?
This could be the last day.
We are not promised tomorrow.
But when you think about the last days, you've got to understand the definition of the last days is the time from the Jesus coming to earth, his incarnation, up until now.
It can also mean that the last days happened at the resurrection of Christ.
Some commentators believe that the last days started at the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.
Wherever you put that moment when we began the last days, you must realize that we're in the last days.
And I believe this generation is in the last of the last days.
That we are coming to the precipice and the moment where Jesus comes back.
How many of you know, we can be assured that Jesus is going to come back just as he said, because he conquered death, hell, and the grave through the resurrection from the dead.
And if he could do that, guess what?
He's coming back to take his own to himself.
He is coming back.
The question is, are we prepared for the last days?
Are we living ready for the last days?
And so when we look at this book of 2 Timothy, we begin to understand Paul is writing 2 Timothy to his spiritual son in the faith.
He actually calls him a true spiritual son.
His name is Timothy.
Timothy is a young whippersnapper.
He's around the age of early 30s.
And Paul has to encourage him.
He had bouts with anxiety.
He had bouts with fear.
And Paul would have to encourage him that God has not given him a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind.
And so as Paul is writing this young...
This young spiritual son who is now pastoring a church at Ephesus to encourage him to stand strong, to encourage him to preach the gospel, to encourage him to remain steadfast.
Now, Paul understood that his time was limited because at the writing of second Timothy, anywhere from 60 to 65 AD, Paul is in prison for the second time in Rome.
He is in the Mamertine prison.
He is in the very inner cell of that prison.
He is down in a cave and he is writing a book, understanding that he is in his last days.
That he is getting ready to die.
He's going to be executed by Nero.
For preaching the gospel.
And he's writing to Timothy.
He was on the outside.
But living in perilous times.
And he wants Timothy to understand that he has to make his life count for eternity.
This is a question I often ask my life.
Will my life...
Count for eternity.
William Borden was born in 1887 in Chicago.
He was born into great wealth and prestige.
At 21 years old, he inherited almost a million dollars.
Adjusted for inflation, that would be $36 million today.
I don't know about you, but that's a good sum to have at 21 years old.
He became a millionaire overnight.
He began to travel the world through ocean liners and discovered that God had called him to missions.
He was willing to give up all reserves.
retreats and all regrets to see people one to Christ he eventually went to Yale where he set up missions of hope for that college he graduated from Princeton
He was called into missionary work to go to China.
And so he goes to the China Missions Agency and they call him to go reach Muslims in West China.
But before he could go there, he had to go to Cairo, Egypt and learn Arabic.
So he goes to Cairo and he begins to study Arabic and he understands that there are 800,000 people in Cairo.
He gets out on the street and decides he wants to reach all 800,000.
He begins to hand out flyers.
He begins to preach the gospel.
Within a few weeks, he contracts spinal meningitis.
In 19 days, he dies at age 25.
Most people would say his life was a bust.
Most people would say his life was meaningless.
He gave up all that money to go to Cairo to study Arabic and he died.
His life was meaningless.
However, his life inspired thousands of missionaries with the motto,
No reserves, no retreats, no regrets.
He lived his life in light of eternity.
Can I ask you this?
When you die and there's a dash between your birth date and your death date, will that dash mean anything for eternity?
When people think of you, what will they say?
Because the fact is, people, that 100 out of 100 people die.
Nobody escapes the planet.
Even if you go in the second coming, your earth suit will die and you will receive a glorified body just as Jesus has.
And so Paul, with the like of that, begins to speak to Timothy.
And he says, Timothy, this is what I want to tell you.
Come here, Timmy.
I got something to tell you.
I'm not going to be here much longer.
I have run my race.
I have kept the faith.
I have finished the course.
And now there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness that God will give to me, not only me, but to all who love his appearing.
And he says this in verse 1 of chapter 3, 2 Timothy.
But mark this.
Mark this.
Look what he says.
There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves.
Lovers of money.
Boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents.
Ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control.
Brutal, not lovers of good.
Treacherous, rash, conceited.
Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
Having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Have nothing to do with such people.
At the time of this writing, Paul is in prison and he envisions what Timothy is going through.
Timothy is pastoring a church.
He is a young man.
Apostasy is invading the church.
Heresy is invading the church.
And he tells him that in the last days it will be marked by perilous times.
Now, what is the word perilous?
What does it mean?
It means difficult times.
It means dangerous times.
And I don't have to say that much for you to understand that we're living in dangerous times and gun sales have skyrocketed.
Because people feel insecure and they feel like they could be harmed at any time, at any place.
We are living in dangerous times.
Now, I want you to understand something about what Paul is saying.
He is not telling Timothy that this is off in the way future.
Paul is writing Timothy in the nasty now and now.
He's writing Timothy in the present.
He's saying, Timothy, this is your present reality.
This is not some future event.
This is not a famine.
This is not wars.
This is not volcanic activity.
This is not typhoons or hurricanes or tornadoes or wildfires.
This is not government being overbearing on its citizens.
No, this is not something that's out there.
These are terrible times and these perilous times are connected to perilous people.
I want you to get something today.
Paul does not connect perilous or terrible times to events that happen outside.
He connects them to the people that reside in the world.
That out of people will come danger.
Out of people will come difficulty.
Out of people will come difficult situations.
And Paul says to him, you were built for this.
Timothy,
There was a faith that resided in your grandmother.
There was a faith that resided in your mother.
And Timothy, I'm persuaded that same faith is in you.
And I want you to carry this gospel to the four flung corners of the earth.
And I want you to be resolute when you preach the gospel in every way.
Ephesus was full of paganism.
It was full of idols.
It was full of debauchery.
It was full of perversion.
It was full of danger.
He says, you're in this situation, but you must realize there is a generational faith that has been passed to you.
And the same faith that was in your grandmother, the same faith that was in your mother is now in you.
And I have raised you up as a spiritual son.
So that same faith that was in me, I am giving it to you.
And in chapter two, he says, I want you to entrust faithful men with the gospel that I've given you.
Meaning Paul was saying this gospel, this word, this gospel of the kingdom cannot be stopped if we learn to pass it down.
It has to be a generational gospel, not something that just stops.
He says, but mark this, terrible times will come.
He gives them five problems that will happen in the last days.
Number one, there'll be a love problem.
Say love.
A love problem.
What are you talking about, pastor?
A love problem.
Look what he says.
People will be lovers forever.
Of who?
Themselves.
Themselves.
How many of you know, we don't have to be encouraged to love ourselves.
We naturally do that for the most part.
But he says people will be enamored with this thing called self-love, self-care, self-preservation, selfishness.
Self-delight.
Self-pleasure.
Self-exaltation.
Self.
They'll be lovers of themselves.
What is media constantly telling you?
It's all about you.
Delight yourself.
Appease yourself.
Pleasure yourself.
Exalt yourself.
I mean, that is not in the Word of God.
John Calvin once said, the love of self is the starting place for all human depravity.
The love of self.
He goes on and says, they'll be without love and not lovers of good.
What does it mean to be without love?
It means to be inhumane.
It means to be heartless, unloving.
Jesus said this in Matthew 24.
He says, because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.
It's very easy in a world where you're constantly seeing news media feeds to become heartless, to become inhumane.
In fact, the book of Romans in chapter one in the message Bible says this, they did not know how to be human because they did not know God.
The more we disconnect people from God, the less human they become and they become inhumane and heartless.
The love of most will grow cold.
He says they'll not be lovers of good.
What does that mean?
It means people who don't just neglect what is good, but they resent what is good.
They resent what is good.
And the goodness of other people begin to irritate them.
And you'll live in a culture like Isaiah 520 says, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.
That's what he's saying.
He's saying you're living in a world where good will become evil and evil will become good.
See, there's some problems with this love thing.
And we know that 1 Corinthians chapter 13 defines love for us.
We don't have to define it.
God already defined it.
You don't have to redefine it because God already defined it.
Look what he says.
They'll be lovers of pleasure.
rather than lovers of what?
Rather than lovers of what?
He said they will be lovers of pleasure.
Have you ever seen a time where pleasure has become the American idol?
From one movie to another movie, from one concert to another concert, from one ball game to another ball game, from one retreat to another retreat, buying one gun to another gun.
Come on.
One golf course to another golf course.
No, we're not content to play 18 holes.
We need 36.
And we need it five days straight.
So let's all go to Myrtle Beach and play golf all week.
We have just become enamored with this thing called pleasure.
We have exalted it and we made it an idol and we made it a God and we're doing that in our kids' lives.
We travel sports.
I am.
I said, Pastor, are you against sports?
No.
All my kids played sports.
I just didn't take them out of church.
Why?
Because when I take my kids out of church a whole quarter to travel, to pay to get them to play, and if we were smart enough, we would see professional athletes don't do that.
LeBron James don't even let his kids in travel sports.
But we think, oh, if they get travel sports, they'll make middle school.
If they make middle school, they'll make high school.
If they make high school, they'll make college.
If they make college, then they'll be in the NBA or the MLB or the NFL.
I mean, I just want to be realistic.
Your kid has a 0.03% chance
of making the NBA.
You know what that is?
That's three out of 10,000.
They have a 0.08% chance of making it to the NFL.
You know what that is?
That's eight out of 10,000.
I just want to make it realistic for you.
Your kid probably won't be that eight and they won't be that three.
Stop trying to live vicariously through your children.
Have sober judgment.
If you need somebody to help you with that, just take me to their practice and I'll tell you what they think.
I'll be honest.
I said, no, Johnny doesn't have it.
Lucy's not going anywhere.
She's good, but she's good at probably something else.
She'd probably be a good engineer.
She's not going to be WNBA material.
Only less than 1% of all high school athletes make Division I.
You say, Pastor, I just want my kids to explore that.
But let me tell you what you're saying to your kids and you don't even realize it.
When you take them out of church for 12 weeks to travel, what you're saying is travel ball is more important than God.
And so when they age out and they get tired of traveling because you forced them to do it.
They leave church when they get 21 and then you're like, why didn't my kids leave church?
I raised them in church.
No, you just told your kids by leaving three months from church that the world is better than God and you've made that an idol and your kids saw it and you didn't even recognize it.
You've got quiet in this gospel church.
But the truth is real, folks.
Truth is real.
That we have to honor God.
We can't love pleasure more than
Then God.
Second problem will be a pride problem.
It's easy for us to take the ride of pride down the autobahn of life.
Man, at a high rate of speed.
It's an inflated self.
He says they'll be boastful and proud.
Pride is somebody who looks down on others because of their position.
Because where they're at in life.
You know what is right in the middle of pride?
I. P-R-I-D-E.
If you have become the
Middle part and everything revolves around you and you become the center of your universe.
You have become full of pride.
And the Bible says pride comes before downfall.
And it's easy for us to look down on people.
Where do you live?
Oh, I live in Punggol.
And we take pride in where we live.
Who gives a flip?
Oh, I live over an Indian River plantation.
Who cares?
It's a house.
If you don't do anything to it, it will decay.
Oh, I live in courthouse estates.
Heron Ridge.
Sandridge.
I live on the north end.
I live on the south end.
We take pride in stupid stuff.
I mean, that's crazy.
The only reason you live there is because God graced you with ability.
He graced you with talent.
He graced you with intellect.
He graced you with a drive.
And when you get there, don't start looking down on people.
Because you never know, you might end up back there where you started.
Life comes full circle.
Second, third problem is this right here.
A relationship problem.
Break down at the home.
Look what it says.
You'll be disobedient to what?
Parents.
What is that saying?
There will no longer be natural affection for family.
That family will not matter anymore.
Close-knit family will not matter anymore.
They'll be fighting over inheritances and fighting over positions and fighting mom and dad and parents fighting kids.
There'll be no affection, no natural family affection there.
The word love in that context is storge, which is a family love.
There'll be no love.
There'll be disobedient love.
Disobedient.
Have you ever seen that before?
Disobedient to parents.
Fourth problem is a character problem.
How many of you know character matters?
Your talent will get you into position, but your character keeps you there.
Character is forged through hardship.
You have to persevere.
Have you ever seen a time where people are so soft they just give up so easy?
I'm saved, but I'm not soft.
You don't have to be soft when you get saved, guys.
You can still be a man.
Amen.
When you get saved, your wrist doesn't have to go limp.
See, there will be a character problem.
Look what he says.
They will be without self, what?
Control.
What does that mean?
They will have no power to restrain their appetites.
It literally means to be without power.
The power's gone.
And there's no backup generator.
There's no power within the people to restrain themselves.
No restraint whatsoever.
Then he says, they'll be treacherous and rash.
A treacherous person is someone you can't trust.
They'll turn on you when it costs them to stay loyal.
They're traitors.
They're betrayers.
Those are treacherous people.
He says, in these last days, Timothy, they'll be treacherous people.
They'll turn on you at a moment.
They'll be rash.
What does rash mean?
It means people are led by their emotions and not God.
These people just change and they're impulsive and they're reckless and they're hasty.
He's saying these last days will be marked by people that are driven by their emotions and not common sense.
Well, common sense is not so common anymore.
They'll just feel their way through life.
They'll just be emotional people.
How many of you know you are never called to be led by your emotions?
As a believer, you're called to be led by the Spirit.
How many of you know sometimes when you're led by the Spirit, sometimes your emotions get uptight because you don't want to do what the Spirit is telling you to do.
So I'm led by the Spirit.
Number five, this is where I want to land.
Say he's going to land.
It's a religion problem.
Look what he says.
They'll have a form...
of godliness without power.
They'll deny the power.
Now I'm gonna get real touchy right here, but just hold on.
Don't throw your shoe.
I'll duck like George Bush.
We live in a day where people have a form of godliness.
What Paul was saying, people will gather.
They will look Christian.
They will talk Christian.
They will appear to be Christian.
But when they leave, there will be no power in them to transform their lives.
They will come to what people call churches and be very religious and not hold to the truth.
The American Christian landscape is littered with denominations and churches that have a form but deny the power.
If you don't believe me, just look at the major denominations that were so influential in our nation at one time.
Like the Methodist Church.
John and Charles Wesley would roll over in their grave.
if they knew where that organization was.
We would rather ordain homosexuals and lesbians and have a form of religion and deny the transformative power that can change a person.
It's happening in the Presbyterian church.
It's happening in the Lutheran church, but it will not happen at Bridge Church because we believe the gospel has innate power, resident power to change a human being.
We will love all people, but we will not falter on the word of God.
Amen.
That God came, he sent his son to die on a cross, to be buried and resurrected.
And the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is able to transform every life.
Every life.
It's not about form, it's about the power.
Yeah, I know you look good on Sunday, but how do you act on Monday?
Come on, I know you look good on Sunday, but do you cuss your wife out on Monday?
I know you look good on Sunday, but how do you treat your boss on Monday?
I know you hide on Sunday, but what do you look like on Monday?
What Paul was saying, they will have an exterior that does not match interior.
They will have a form.
Pastor, I want to help you take the city for Christ.
You can't even get over an addiction.
Come on.
Wine has clouded your mind and addicted you to a point that you can't even conquer that.
How are you going to conquer a city?
I was in a psychology class and I don't like school.
I know I got a doctorate, but I didn't get a doctorate because I loved education.
I hate it.
I did it because I need to push myself.
I need to really have something that would push me to grow.
But I was in a psych class in my undergraduate, and I was praying, Lord, man, I wasn't even listening to Pavlo's dog and slava and all that kind of stuff.
I was just sitting there.
I was praying.
I said, Lord, I want to shake the world for you.
I felt like this guy that I talked about earlier, William.
I felt like, God, I want to shake the world for you.
I want my life to count.
And I heard the Holy Spirit.
It was like a clear, audible voice, but it was inside me.
He said, before you can shake the world from me, you got to allow me to shake the world out of you.
There has to be an inward, innate power that can transform your life, son.
If it doesn't transform you, if it doesn't change you, if it doesn't transform your thoughts and your heart, how can it transform society around you?
I'm telling you, there is a gospel that has power.
It's the power of Jesus.
It will transform your life, whether you're online or in the
building if you'll submit to it God will come in and he'll make a difference in your life he will transform your life he'll transform it he'll change it I'm not talking about something that I heard about I'm talking about something that I have experienced I'm talking about somebody that was so anxious when he was a teenager he had to go to doctors to get help
I'm talking about a boy that was addicted to a lust and God helped me overcome that.
I'm talking about a boy that would never stand up and give an oral presentation.
And now I'm preaching the gospel every week and leading leaders and helping out planting churches around the world.
Why?
Because I submitted to the Lordship of Christ and I wasn't content with a form.
I wasn't content with just going to church.
I wasn't content just to look like a Christian or speak Christianese on Sunday.
No, I wanted the real thing.
Why settle for fake and ordinary?
When you can have the real thing in your life.
Why?
Man, I wouldn't even come to a building if I just wanted to be religious.
I can do that at home.
Come because I want to meet with God.
And meeting with God is more important than my coffee.
Meeting with God is not just standing there and looking at the worship leader.
It's entering into his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.
I put down my coffee and I raise my hands because he is worthy of my praise.
He is worthy of my praise.
We have become so lethargic, so complacent in the house of God.
We have left our first love.
Who is Jesus?
I want you to understand what church...
It's Timothy pastoring.
Ephesus.
It's the first church that Jesus speaks to in Revelation.
He said, you've done some good things, but I have this against you.
You have left your first love.
Repent.
Repent and do the things that you did at first.
Was there ever a time in your life that you were more passionate about God than you are right now?
You remember some of you so old you got saved in the Jesus movement.
But you forgot your first love.
Man, everything has robbed you of your love for God.
Man, comfort, the American idol, ease, the American idol has robbed us of this passionate first love relationship with God.
Let me tell you, your snooze religion, the button that you keep hitting every week is not enough power to help your family.
It's not enough power to transform your workplace.
It's not enough power to transform your life.
You need the power of Jesus in your life.
Come on.
Some of you say, man, I'm a Christian, but you don't have enough power to get up on Sunday morning and even come to church.
And if you do, it's one time a month or three times a year and you become Christian and Easter and Thanksgiving Christians.
That's not enough power.
That is a form of religion.
That is a form.
That is a form.
You say, Pastor, I ain't coming back.
I don't care.
I don't care.
You will hear the truth that Jesus came to give you more than a form.
He came to give you a relationship.
A relationship.
It's not enough.
I'll stand before God one day and I'll lay every crown that I have at his feet and say, Lord, I was not scared of the people that sat in my church.
I told the truth.
And if you die and go to hell today, you'll go because you went there, not because I didn't tell you the truth.
And some of you sitting at home today, you could have been in the house of God, but now you're at ease.
God's saying, get out of your chair and get to the house of God.
Get to the house of God.
You have created a habit out of watching church and not being the church.
I can't find a church.
You can't find a church because you're lukewarm.
You're lukewarm.
You don't love God.
You love the social networking of church.
You don't love God.
You don't love God enough to weep over a city.
You don't love God enough to even pray for your family and let times get hard.
You don't love God enough to even go out and vote.
God changed the planet.
Well, he wants to change it through you if you'll cast a vote.
40 million Christians didn't vote.
You have left your first love.
You left it, totally left it.
And you're at ease, thinking that everything's okay.
Well, it's not.
When's the last time you felt liquid love flow over your heart?
When's the last time that God overwhelmed you?
Like, man, I don't care.
I'm gonna cry.
When's the last time you felt a tear run down your cheek?
When's the last time you were obedient?
God told you to give that single parent mom some money, but you acted like you didn't even hear it.
When?
Timothy's last days are our last days.
Magnified.
But here's the deal.
That's not bad news for the church.
That is good gospel news for the church.
That we can be on fire.
That we can be passionate.
And we can be a church that stands out in the world.
Not cowering to culture and society.
But becoming a place that is counterculture.
And when the world rises up and says, man, those people are different.
Their marriages are different.
Their children are different.
The way they handle their finances is different.
The way they treat people is different.
The way they love their families.
They're different, man.
There's something different about that people.
and in our culture the world will stand out if we don't blend in if we don't blend in stand with me I preach myself where I'm gonna have to sleep in between service there was a camper fire yesterday in Tulsa camper called fire fire department came and put it out
It's on time change day.
And every firefighter will tell you to check your smoke detectors when the time changes every year.
The fireman that was there said this.
He says, we have more fire detectors in homes than ever before.
But here's the problem.
They have no power.
Because when they start chirping, the man reaches up and grabs it, takes the battery out, and sticks it back up.
We're all guilty.
It looks good.
It's beautiful.
It's white.
It gives the appearance of safety.
But the truth is, it has no power to protect the family.
And that's the way we have become.
We look good like a smoke detector.
It's beautiful.
It's white.
But we have no power to help people in time of need.
I'm telling you, church, we have to have the power of God resident on the inside of us.
We need to be that person in a world that can say, hey, man, I'll pray for you.
Not just say I'll pray for you, but lay hands on people.
I'm going to pray for you right now.
And watch people transform people's lives.
You are a transformer when the power of God is resident on the inside of you.
Let's bow our heads.
Lord, I just thank you for the grace of God today.
The power of the Holy Spirit.
God, we repent today.
We repent, Lord, from where we have fallen.
We have left our first love.
We have treated you and we've treated your house common as an add-on, appendage to our lives.
Forgive us, Lord.
Forgive us.
We repent.
We change our minds, Lord.
We know we're people that are living in the last days.
Help us to be ready for your return.
Help us to be prepared for your return.
Help us to be actively serving when you return.
Help us to occupy, do business until you return.
Because one day, Lord, we want to hear well done, thy good and faithful servant.