‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’  Acts 2:17-21 NKJV

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet Joel prophesied of these days that he called the “last days”. And this was fulfilled approximately 2000 years ago on the Day of Pentecost.

2 Peter 3:8 says that – with the Lord – a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. If Pentecost was the “last days” then right now, then surely we are in the LAST of the last days! Jesus has appeared to many in the last few decades and told them to tell the people to get ready because He is coming soon! Even if you didn’t believe that He’s coming in your lifetime, you still need to keep your sense of urgency about you. You can’t afford to be complacent! Jesus said that this Gospel needed to be preached in the uttermost parts of the earth, before His return. That is our responsibility! We must reach the uttermost parts of the earth with the Gospel – not just sit in our holy huddle waiting to be airlifted out of here!

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]  John 16:33AMP

The Bible says that as the last days approach, things in the world will get worse and worse, but it also says that God’s grace is enough – even more than enough to meet and conquer sin and death (Romans 5:20b-21).

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  James 5:7-8 NKJV

‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.  Haggai 2:9 NKJV

Before Jesus comes we will see the greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God that the world has ever seen! But we’ll only see it if the Church does not yield to the sins of compromise, complacency or criticism. The devil always tries to hinder the move of God by tempting them to sin in these areas.

Compromise:

Some Christians compromise the Word of God to be acceptable

to the world. The devil uses certain people to put pressure on you to quit and to water the Gospel down. However, Jesus told us that we are IN this world, but we are not OF this world. (John 17:16). We will NEVER be acceptable to the world, no matter how hard we try. They want you in as big a mess as they are in. They don’t want you to be free and they don’t want you to get anyone else free; they don’t want you – or anyone else – to be victorious! If you compromise, you’ll just let the devil win. You can never win people to the Gospel, when you have compromised the Gospel. Either it’s the TRUTH or it isn’t! If it IS then preach it – if it’s not then just go and join the worldly crowd and stop pretending that you are a Christian!

If you belong to the world – and act like them – then they would love you, but if you are like Jesus, they won’t like you at all. Understand that the world hated Jesus and they’ll hate anyone who walks in His footsteps – a servant is not greater than his master (John 15:18-20). We can’t compromise because someone doesn’t like or understand the Gospel. We can’t compromise the Truth of the Word of God – we can’t compromise on the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, the gifts of the Spirit, prophecy, miracles, healings, casting out devils, or laying on of hands, etc.

Complacency:

Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  2 Peter 3:3-7 NKJV

Jesus told us to “occupy till He come” (Luke 19:13) – in other words: get on and do the works of Jesus till you go home or He comes to get you. He didn’t say: sit on your “blessed assurance” and do nothing till you die! People go about their business as if Jesus isn’t coming at all. We need to have a sense of urgency about the things of God and we need to act and do what He’s told us to do. If the Lord is delaying His coming it’s not because he’s tardy – it’s because He’s giving the world plenty of time to repent and straighten themselves out! (2 Peter 3:9)

Criticism:

You are either a player, or you are sitting in the stands. You are either getting up and being a doer of the Word of God, or you are sitting, doing nothing and critiquing those who are doing something. We have too many armchair critics in the body of Christ and too few who care enough to get up and do something to build the Kingdom of God! Make up your mind to be a player and not merely an arm chair critic.