03/09/2025-Steve Marsh - Mark 13:1-13

E you work [Music] you e [Music] e for e [Music] I e for e [Music] e test one two test all right hey good morning everyone good morning everyone it's good seeing you here at First Baptist Church my name is Cody I'm the pastor here it's really good to see each and every single one of you I know who was expecting it to be 7 de today anybody else yeah and so anyways glad that you guys are here it's always a blessing to gather together and worship before we go too deep into this in the chair in front of you there should be a connection card if you don't mind filling that out dropping in dropping it in the offering plate as it goes by it be that would be huge and us being able to connect with you and also if you have prayer requests please please please use that to fill it out and that way we remember to pray for you I have a lot of folks that grab me on Sunday mornings they say Pastor I need you to pray for me about this I always say please fill out one of those because it's a lot of information to try to remember and I want to pray for you it's my duty and my privilege as your pastor to do that now before we get into announcements and everything like that I do want to take a moment and introduce to you guys Larry Mary he's with vision 316 who's telling

You about a great opportunity as we go to Mexico here this summer in ways that you can be part of that so Larry if y'all would come welcome Larry to the [Applause] stage it is always good to be back at First Baptist camton First Baptist here and vision 316 have worked together for over 10 years doing eyeglass clinics in Mexico I can tell you that the work you all have done and the ones who have gone and the wor in the glasses I can tell you that you have touched the lives of thousands of people in Mexico I've got a few pictures I will show you how that works assuming I can figure out which button to push here so we take eyeglasses we go to Mexico we do clinics when you arrive at a clinic in the morning and there is 50 60 70 people already waiting in line and some of them have been waiting there 3 hours four hours to get a pair of used glasses when you see that you know that what you're doing is important and it is when you have the opportunity to hand a pair of used glasses to an individual who sometimes has never had Vision their whole life they've never seen clearly for most of the people this is a lifechanging event 90% of the people we serve have never had a pair of glasses and never will Mexico is a third world country developing country and most of the people simply can't afford a simple pair of reader glasses you're changing their life for some people for men it may be the difference between giving them an opportunity to get a job to support their family for kids the dropout rate in school grade school is high in Mexico part of it is due to the fact that it just gets too frustrating when you can't do the homework because you can't read the words on the page so they drop out of school glasses will let them finish their education or my favorite one is for

Grandparents who have never seen the face of their grandchild now I am a grandparent so that means something to me we had a little old lady gave her a pair of glasses she had never had glasses she put them on and she looks around and she can see people and it suddenly dawned on her I can see my grandkids she says are We Done Yet I need to go home that is awesome so you significantly impact somebody's life and what is it for you well when you touch somebody's life in a way that they can't you get a reaction and it's always a smile you always get a big smile of thank you and gratitude you have blessed somebody's life but in the process you've been blessed as well so we go to hand out glasses but that's not the reason we go we go to share the Gospel the glasses is just a cookie to get people to come in to the to the clinic and in a 3-day Clinic we have 500 to a th000 people in every Clinic every person that comes has the opportunity to hear the Gospel Mexico is a pagan culture many of the people that come to the clinic will hear the Gospel for the first time in their life we get a lot of elderly people that always have vision problems some of the elderly people who are coming to the clinic are hearing the Gospel for the last time because of their health because of their age but that's why we go Vision 316 will do Seven Trips to Mexico this year I'm here to promote one of those in September September the 20th through the 27th we would like to I'm here to see if I can convince you to sign up and go with us on that trip it's a it takes it's a week trip Saturday to Saturday 20th through the 27th Diana scogan is I'm sure you know her she's in child care this morning she is the coordinator putting this trip together I'm going to be here at the end of the service with some information if you'd

Like to know more please stop and see me Diana will be here but then I'm going home back to Jeff City this afternoon Diana will be around if you tomorrow this week think yeah I'd like to know more about that trip please reach out and to Diana so I'm here to promote mission trips in particularly but there's a couple other ways you can serve not everybody can or should go on a mission trip for various reasons so there are two other opportunities that you can get involved in this ministry number one is going to happen next Tuesday March the 18th right over in the gym we're going to wash glasses we get thousands of used glasses from the Lion's clubs first thing we got to do is clean them up they're pretty dirty when they've been laying in a drawer for several years so we're going to be here 2 p.m. Next Tuesday till 700 p.m. Please come and help us my mom would say mini hands makes like work we've got to we've got to clean thousands of glasses that's one opportunity the second opportunity is Diana scogan put a measuring instrument here in the church that you can learn to measure the glasses after they're cleaned and washed next thing they have to be measured we have to know what those prescriptions are before we can take them to Mexico and give them away this is a this does not this these two Ministries do not involve money or travel they do involve time it takes time and this is kind of a time intensive task but it is a critical task it is not hard when I mention to people I want you to measure glasses I don't know how to do that you don't need to Diana scogan will teach you and will train you it's not a hard process and right now we are really in need of people to sign up and help us get the glasses measured so there's three opportunities I just want to share with you've got a we got a trip coming up in September we've got washing

Coming up next week and this opportunity is always available just see Diana scogan thank [Applause] you and so be sure to get that information today from Larry from Diana we want to send a whole crew down and that way we can make sure they are fully equpped equipped for every good work as they go to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ you know down in Mexico and so we want to reach those people hey a couple of things right after service today we got our potluck and then we got church business meeting that will take place around 1 p.m and so please be sure to be here for that if you are a member if you're not a member you are allowed to come you just can't speak up and share a whole bunch of information or anything like that we do have the John 3:16 celebration that's next weekend we do have a chili dinner afterwards for that so I guess that we're in that season where we're all fattening up for whatever reason so hey one of the things that we're going to be doing next week is we're going to have all of our little friends from Weare they're going to be sharing John 3:16 John 3:17 I think even John 146 and all that kind of stuff and as you can tell we got just a little bit of space where we can accommodate but next week what I want you guys to do is I want you to scooch all the way wherever you typically cuz I know I know that we're creatures of habit right I want you guys to scooch as far as you can towards the middles wherever you're at okay that way we leave the edges for our friends our visitors our neighbors as they come in many of them without a church home that way they are able to get accommodated in there's all sorts of information in the bulletins please make sure that you get this and we'll get everything all squared away hey why don't we just take a moment as

We transition into this time of worship if you would just bow your heads and close your eyes and quiet your heart and ask the Lord to speak to you today and so Lord we do thank you just for this time that we have together we thank you for your grace thank you for waking us up today thank you for the sunshine and the breath in our lungs thank you most of all for the Salvation that we have in Jesus Christ and Lord this morning as we as we turn our eyes toward you and we really just focus on worshiping you we ask that you would bless us and that you would be blessed Lord by the things that we sing the position of our hearts God I pray that they would be full of gratitude and humility and I just ask father that you would continue to work in our church church and in our lives father today as we talk about your coming your second coming Lord we just look forward with eager anticipation to that and we just celebrate it Lord and we do ask as the Scriptures say come quickly Lord Jesus we ask this in Jesus name amen if y'all would stand with me I'm going to read our call to worship today our call to worship comes out of Psalm 97: 8-2 it says Zion hears and it's glad and the daughters of Judah Rejoice because of the judgments oh Lord for you oh Lord are most high over all the Earth you are exalted far above all gods oh you who love the Lord hate evil he preserves the lives of his Saints he delivers them from the hand of the wicked light is sown for the righteous in joy for the upright in heart rejoice in the Lord oh you righteous and give thanks to His holy name let's all praise the Lord [Music] together what love could remember the

Wrongs we have done om all knowing he counts not their thrown into a sea without bottom or Shore our SS they are many his Mercy is more praise the Lord his Mercy is [Music] more stronger than Darkness new every our sins they are many his Mercy [Music] more what patience would wait as we constantly Ro what father so tender is calling us home he weles the weakest the viest the poor our s they are many his Mercy is more praise the [Music] Lord his Mercy is more [Music] stronger than Darkness new every morning our sins they are many his Mercy is [Music] more what Riches of kindness he lavished on us his blood was the payment his life was the cost we stood NE a debt we could [Music] never our sins they are many his Mercy more praise the Lord his Mercy is [Music] more stronger than Darkness new every our sins they are many his Mercy is praise the Lord his Mercy is [Music] more stronger than Darkness new every our sins they are many his Mercy is more our SS they are many his Mercy [Music] more one of the things that we're doing over this next couple of weeks is we're talking about the second coming of Christ in Mark 13 and Matthew I think it's 23 24 somewhere in there it's called the oliv it discourse and we're talking about the return of Christ and so the worship team they wanted to teach you this song it's not a

New song by any means but it is a cry of our hearts asking the Lord to come to come quickly Lord Jesus and so if y'all would the chorus goes like a bride waiting for her groom will be a church ready for you every heart longing for her King we will sing even so come Lord Jesus come so if y'all would sing that with us as we worship [Music] together all of creation all of the Earth make straight A Highway a path for the Lord Jesus is coming [Music] soon call back The Sinner wake up the saint let every nation shout of your thing Jesus is coming soon like a bride waiting for her groom will be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing even so come Lord Jesus come even so come Lord Jesus [Music] come just prob beew your name forever faithful and true Jesus is coming soon like a bride waiting for her groom will'll be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing even so come Lord Jesus come even so come Lord Jesus come wait we wait for you God we wait your coming [Music] soon so we wait we wait for [Music] you God we wait your

Coming soon like a bride waiting for her group we'll be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing like a bride waiting for her groom will be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing even so come Lord Jesus come even so come Lord Jesus come as the ushers come forward if y'all would go ahead and have a seat as Spencer comes prays over our offering well until he comes this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad so I want to see a lot of smiles out there today where where else could you be but in God's church on Sunday morning worshiping him and we also get the privilege of giving back just a portion of those blessings that he has given to us today so let's pray God our Father as we come before you this today we pray that everything we do bring glory and honor to you and just have the privilege of giving back of the blessings that you have provided to us that this ministry throughout the world may continue we just pray this in Christ's name well the question today is what is sin and don't point to me when I ask that question but what is sin 1 John 3 verse4 says everyone who makes a practice of sinning and also practices Lawless lawlessness sin is lawlessness and in Joshua 1 verse 18 says whoever Rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words whatever you command him shall be put to death only be strong and courageous but this is me now we have life not death through Christ Jesus amen [Music] and did myor B and did myign die would he

Deot that for such a worm as at the cross at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart R away it was there by fith I receiv received my sight and now I am happy all the day was it for crimes that I had done he gred up upon the tree amazing pity gra the Lord and love beond degree at the cross at the cross where I purged all the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his clo Reon when Christ The Mighty Mak di for men the creatur sin at the cross at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was there by faith I received my and now I am happy all the day th might I hide my blushing face while his dear cross appears disolve my heart in thankfulness and melt my eyes to tears at the cross at the cross where I first saw the light and the bur of my heart rolled away it was there by faith IED my sight and now I am happy all the day but drops of grief can pay the Deb of love I go here Lord I give myself to all that I can do at the cross at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart R away it was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the [Music] day the love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever

Tell it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell the guilty down with care God gave his to win his ling child he reconcile and pardon from his s oh love God how rich and pure how and strong shall forever more endure the Saints Andel when years of time shall pass away and Earthly throne and kingdoms fall when men who he refuse to pray on rocks and Hills the mountains call God's love so shall still end all measur and strong Redeeming Grace to Adam's r Angel song Oh of God how rich and pure how measureless and strong it shall forever more endure the Saints and angels [Music] could we with the o f and were the Skies of parchment made where every St on Earth the quill and every man ascribe by tra

To the love of God above would drein the O dry nor could the scoll contain Theo those STS from Sky to Sky oh of God how and pure how measur and strong it shall forever more endure the sa and Angel song oh love of God how rich and pure how measur and strong it shall forever more end the Saints and Angels [Music] s and so Lord we do thank you just for that promise of your love that we received by faith through your son Jesus Christ thank you for sending him to die on the cross for the sins of every sinner that would trust in you God and I just pray and ask that if there's anyone here that maybe they don't know you that today would be that day that they know your grace in your faith we ask that you would please speak through brother Steve as he comes forward and he shares the word of God with us we pray that you would just anoint him with your spirit that he would speak clearly the truth that's found here in the Scriptures father we submit to you deal with our hearts today help us to present ourselves righteous before you in every way not based on what we do but by faith in Christ it's in Jesus name we pray amen Is it

Alive not yet good now okay good I can hear the echo okay we're looking at Mark 13 this morning but it's going to take us a little bit of time before we get into Mark 13 because there's a lot of background I want to give you we have a big shift here we've been going all the way through Mark and a lot of the teaching that Jesus did was in conversation with a crowd the Jewish leaders scribes phes or just with his disciples so he was focused on a lot of different people groups now you're seeing a big shift in that from this point on in Jesus ministry he primarily going to be focusing on his disciples there's another big shift that takes place here that some people have been waiting it's about time we're getting to the good stuff and some people been dreading because oh no not this again but the shift is from here and now present day teaching that Jesus has been doing to his second coming and so we're shifting from the present to Future and everybody has their own ideas about what it's going to look like when Jesus returns and I want to give you a little bit of context in that Realm before we jump into it because what do we have here 180 200 people I would guess we have at least 100 different ideas of what the end times are going to look like probably more even among the elders there's only four of us but we have several different varieties of what the end times are going to look like over the years a lot of Scholars for the last 2,000 years have written a lot of scholarly books about end times and you'd think they'd get it all figured out right but there's lots and lots of different varieties out there and so what we're looking at here is what we would call

Open-handed theology it's not salvation it's not like if you don't believe the way I believe about the end times you can't be in this church or you're not saved these are different that we can have in our theologies that they affect how we walk with the Lord but they don't prevent us from walking with the Lord and so we want to keep that in mind that our focus is on our day-to-day relationship and walk with the Lord not on how you know we see the end times playing out because we don't see them clearly they're out there somewhere that somewhere might be this afternoon or it might be another 2,000 years we don't know God hasn't told us and the funny thing is his disciples had same unease he would tell him something about well in this case he responds to a comment they made and their first question is when's this going to happen you know they want to know when human nature any of you have ever been a kid or been in a car with kids on a long trip and the question you're going to hear are we there yet that's where we're at with the end times are we there yet and how will we know when we get there okay so that's all kind of background so at the time that Jesus was speaking here the Jews had been expecting their Messiah for thousands of years God had promised he was going to send the Messiah and the frustrating thing if you were a Jewish scholar was that God didn't say when you know so it was just kind of out there and so over the years they had put together kind of a mindset of what it might look like when the Savior comes and their biggest concern at the time 2,000 years ago was Romans you know

Romans ruled that whole Mediterranean area and the Jews didn't like that so they're thinking back into their history we had a King David who he conquered everybody he was the ruler he was the big dog and that's what they were hoping the Messiah would be like when he came so they'd kind of built up this picture of good now we know what it's going to be like and here comes Jesus and he said several things in his teachings that he was communicating to them I really am your Messiah but they couldn't handle that because he didn't look like what they expected their expectations were just kind of built up in their heads but that was where they were at so the point of all of that was that they missed the Messiah man a lot of the Jews just went right past them that Jesus was the Messiah they'd been waiting for but since he didn't look like what they expect excuse me what they expected they missed it so that's all back there right we don't have any problems like that fortunately that's wrong we do we've we've got history on our side here because we've seen the Messiah come and we saw him go that was 2,000 years ago and he established his church here on Earth praise the Lord here we are yet he also said I'm going to come back he didn't say when so now we are kind of in the same boat that the Jews were in okay we're waiting for something we're we're longing for it the last words in the Bible are even so come Lord Jesus and we want that but when's it going to happen what's it going to look like how are we going to know that he's here we're not going to go into that part of it this morning but that's all kind of background that will help us kind of get in the heads of the

Disciples because they were listening to Jesus as he's teaching here and their mindset is man how's it going to look when's he going to come so the questions that we have are different a little bit than what the disciples had but we've got these 200000 years of scholarly writings that we've picked things out of how many of you have heard the term tribulation okay that's a good church word right how about millennium another good one okay how about Rapture okay do you have all those neatly put into place you know what's going to happen when some people are going like this and this but yeah we have these questions and then we look at the Scripture here and Jesus is predicting prophesying events that are going to take place so we look back at 2,000 years of history and okay now these things he's prophesying is it all done has it already all taken place or is there more to come and we're not sure but some people are very sure U so you have all these various ideas about when and how it's going to look at the end times so some would say that all that Jesus is teaching here has already taken place it's history therefore the Lord could be here anytime others would say well no that hasn't happened yet so we're still waiting to see something or several somethings take place and because of that we have different opinions about it and some people can get pretty fixed on their opinion and we don't want that and I'm not here to tell you this is how it's going to work and if you don't believe me you're wrong what I do tell you is that I do have it all figured out and you can wait until you

Get to heaven to find out I'm right or not but it's that kind of a I don't know it's that kind of a concept where it is not a Salvation concept you can actually believe different differently from me and I'll see you in heaven praise the Lord for that so hold these things Loosely that's what we mean by open-handed Concepts rather than tightly closed- handed salvation is closed- handed we know how Christ has told us to come to him and we have the alone through grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone and that's where our salvation is based it isn't based on our eschatology our end times views so don't don't lose that so with all of that let's take a look at the passage for this morning that one good and I'll read it from this because my Bible is a New American Standard and that's an ESV so would y all rise with me and we'll stand in honor of God's word and then we'll look at what his word has to say to us so here's Jesus that's the he as he came out of the temple one of his disciples said to him look teacher what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings Jesus said to him you see these great buildings buildings there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down and as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished Jesus began to say to them see that no one leads you astray many will come in my name saying I am he and they will lead me many astray and when you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed this must take place but

The end is not yet for nation will rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom there will be earthquakes in various places there will be famines these are but the beginning of the birth pains but be on your guard for they will deliver you over to councils and you will be beaten in synagogues and you will stand before for Governors and Kings for my sake to Bear witness before them and the Gospel must first be proclaimed to All Nations when they bring you to trial and deliver you over do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say but say whatever is given you in that hour for it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit and brother will deliver brother over to death and the father his child and children who rise up against parents and have them put to death and you will be hated for all my name's sake but the one who endures to the end will be saved father thank you for your word thank you for your promise of your return the end is coming we can trust you for that and we ask you come quickly Lord this Earth can get to be a tiresome place and we want to spend eternity with you we thank you for this time now and we ask as we look into your word that you'd speak to our hearts and help us to understand this time that we live in and how it's interacting with your church and your return so we thank you for that in Christ's name amen and you may be seated that is the definition of the word amen it means sit down when a pastor says amen I guess that isn't always true but it works pretty often so we have this issue of Time Peter and John say when's this going to take place and Jesus doesn't give them a direct answer and we'll see that as we go through the passage or through chapter 13 of Mark but it kind of starts off

With they're in the temple Jesus has been teaching the crowds they're leaving the temple and one of the disciples kind of looks at the thing and man look at this is an amazing building it's look at the size of the stones that are put together and how well it's built they're just amazed by the building and it was a pretty neat structure Herod had rebuilt the temple about 40 years before this time after it had been kind of falling into ruins over a lot of years and it was a national point of Pride even though King Herod had built it but they were pretty amazed at it so Jesus turns to him and says yeah and this is my translation it's pretty cool but it's not going to last it's going to be torn down thrown down and the disciples were kind of thinking what so he goes on now to provide an answer or more illumination to what he said but from the temple across to the Mount of Olives it's about a half mile walk down and up and so they as a group Jesus and his disciples went over there and found a comfortable place to sit on the side of the mountain where they can look out over the valley in between and still see the temple so at that point we see here in verse three Peter and James John and Andrew two sets of Brothers come to him kind of take him off to the side and say when's this going to take place what's it going to look like when it happens they want to know are we there yet so at this point now Jesus has shifted he's really not going to be talking to the crowds anymore at least not specifically they will hear him but his focus is now on the disciples this is roughly Wednesday afternoon in Jesus last week on Earth so he's got really a full day left before he is arrested tried crucified rises

Again so time is being compressed here and he's spending the this last time with his disciples if you look at the last of the Gospels in Mark chapter 13 here in Matthew 2425 in the Gospel of John all the way from chapter 13 through verse 17 your Luke 21 couple other chapters there are all about what's coming end times and Jesus is talking specifically to his disciples about that so he spends a lot of time with them and we have a lot of it recorded for us so his teaching isn't just to the disciples it's also to us but one of the things that is hard to understand that we want to get a handle on whoops I went the wrong way ah I went too far the wrong way there we go Peter one of the guys that Jesus was talking to has written this for our benefit he says don't overlook this one fact beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and A Thousand Years is as one day the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance okay so take that literally for just a moment how long has it been since Jesus rose again two days a thousand years this is a day the idea behind this is that God's timetable is not ours we live in a fixed time environment and we measure time there's a clock on the back wall that's telling me when to shut up there's clocks in your pocket with your cell phones we do things on schedule like Cody said earlier we're going to have a business meeting this afternoon at 1 o' so we time it that way God's timetable is not like that he's not

Dependent on time he created time he's above time he's Beyond it so Jesus is going to tell us here and he's telling his disciples then that the end will come but not on our schedule we won't have it predicted even though a lot of people try you worked a minute ago there we go this is part of the same discourse to his disciples but concerning that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of Heaven nor the son but the father only for as were the days of Noah so will be the coming of the son of man for as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the Ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away so will be the coming of the son of man it'll it'll be a surprise you won't have it on your calendar but he'll come and that's what we're waiting on is the fact that he is coming okay I should give you a what do they call a full disclosure I actually do have opinions on how the end times are going to play out and I need to tell you that in very general form because it will color how I present things but I am what they call a pre- Prem Mill Rapture guy I believe the church will be raptured before a literal tribulation before a literal M Millennium all right so because of that I don't see all the events that Jesus is saying as past history I think there are still to come others don't agree with me and I try to straighten them out but sometimes it doesn't work so I'm really not trying to sew confusion this morning but I do want you to realize that everybody's opinion mine included can affect our communication so that's where I'm coming from even among four Elders you'd think we

Could all agree on something major like that nah but we still have unity in Christ and good Fellowship so let's take a look at the passage here you've had questions arise from the disciples because Jesus said this Great temple is going to be torn down okay so they come and ask him when's this going to take place and Jesus right away tells them many will come to you proclaiming saying that I'm the one okay he also had some comments for that this is earlier he was talking to a Jewish leadership and a crowd said I told you that you would die in your sins for unless you believe that I am and the he is just added in there when he says I am he's saying that is Jehovah God I am he you will die in your sins that's that's the core of his message that he is God he is God's son he is the Messiah but there's going to be others coming they say nah n not him it's it's me and we've seen that in pretty short order there'll be a guy called Antiochus that is going to you know overthrow the temple see it torn down and he is going to be proclaimed that he should be worshiped then you have about 600 more years go by and we have another guy that shows up and I am God's spokesman and billions actually today follow Muhammad U he's claiming to be the one and he has deceived many U much more recently there's a fellow named Joseph Smith that oh man thank you Angel I am I'm the one that gives God's message and you have millions of people following his Proclamation that he's the one so this has been going on that and that's just a couple of names there have been a

Lot of people over the years that say I'm the one U Jesus said I am he and he meant it and he was right so we want to keep that focused and not get distracted by all of the background noise of people saying I'm the one or I've got it all figured out or more that Jesus told them he said there'll be Wars rumors of wars and certainly enough that happened Rome the ruling power was fighting on their borders the whole time you know they had the barbarians that wanted to come and take over Europe was in a state of constant War as different tribal groups battled back and forth up until our days we've had world wars and we still have wars going on today over in the Middle East in Ukraine and probably a lot of others that are smaller level that don't make the news central Africa has been at War for I don't know how many millenniums another thing that Jesus predicted was earthquakes okay we don't see many earthquakes here in this area I grew up in Southern California earthquakes or yeah oh good we had two or more that's no big deal because they haven't had a really big one for a long time but earthquakes are not a one-time phenomenon Jesus said there will be earthquakes there still are he said there will be famines famine is like a normal state of events in parts of this world has been for years currently the what they call the Horn of Africa Northeastern Africa you have Somalia you have Ethiopia rria that's they never have enough to eat that's always a famine area so that's still going on so these things that Jesus predicted are still with us and Jesus was predicting that these things will take place before the end will come but then he made another shift

To his disciples he said now you watch out because you're going to be called before Kings before Governors and you're going to have to give an account and that happened very directly to two of the guys that he was speaking to Peter and John says as they were speaking to the people the priest and the captain of the temple and Sadducees Came Upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening then so the disciples had heard Jesus say you're going to have to stand before Kings and governors give an account there's Peter and John and the followup was that Jesus said don't worry about about what you're going to say because the Holy Spirit will speak through you and a couple verses later in Acts 4 chapter 8 Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers of the people and elders and then he went and preached a sermon at them but that was exactly what Jesus predicted would happen you know they were called before the authorities and then the Holy Spirit directed them to communicate praise the Lord too bad that was just a one-time event we were also given the same warning if you will that we need to be prepared this is in 1 Peter 3:1 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and respect and that's to us we don't know what's in our future God does but he's told us to be ready so basically that would be ready to share with somebody why you believe Jesus is

Lord our testimony so another thing that Jesus knew which is background here he knew that his disciples weren't going to be alive when returned you know we look back and say well duh but the disciples didn't know that because here's Jesus telling them here's what's going to happen and there's going to be earthquakes and there's going to be Wars then you know once all of that's out of the way then the end will come but [Music] please ah okay when Jesus this is a little bit later Jesus is praying to the Lord in John chapter 17 and he's praying for his disciples but he says I'm I do not ask for these only but also for those who will believe in me through their word now who Could That Be who's he praying for here I'm hearing us he is God is praying for us God himself praying for us because we've believed through the disciples testimony over the years and so he's preparing us for situations that we don't know about but might involve Us in some of these same conditions of disciples were caught up in and to kind of underscore in 2 Corinthians says all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against him and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God and so not only did Jesus pray for us he gave us direction for Ministry to come and he said in 1 Peter 3 get ready

So his word to us from all of that would be that we need to be confident enough to tell somebody who says why do you believe that we tell them that might just be a neighbor it might be a clerk at Walmart or it might be somebody in high Authority but he's asked us to be ready to be his ambassadors to this world that is so needy want to move on here a little bit because Jesus did he then told his disciple or excuse me these four disciples that there's going to be family breakdown brothers would turn in their brothers fathers would turn in their sons children would turn in their parents now the Jewish family was a strong focal point of their culture they had tight family structures and their whole genealogy was tracing their family connections and now here Peter or excuse me Jesus Is Telling two sets of Brothers James and John are brothers Peter and Andrew are brothers and he's saying brother is going to turn against brother and can you imagine being those four guys you they're they're squirming a little bit and that did not take place with those two sets of Brothers but the family breakdown has really hit us hard in our society we have nothing like real tight family groupings we tend to be scattered we tend to not be as close as we could be the family has broken down quite a bit so the things that Jesus predicted here have come to pass are still coming to pass are still happening so you could look at that and say all right Jesus could come at any moment because all these things he's predicted have taken

Place they're still taking place but we can't say that they're all done or that they are done U so the word to us is to be ready there's nothing that would prevent the Lord from coming before lunch you know lunch is going to be good so we kind of hope you'd wait but not really with this I want to go back to the concept that these are not foundational salvation truths this is prediction of what's coming and the Lord is the one predicting it is going to come but our Salvation isn't based on how we handle the prediction so it's not something unsettled that's out there somewhere our salvation is based on our relationship with the Lord if we have no relationship with the Lord might want to think that one through that would mean that we're not saved okay if we have the relationship with the Lord as Believers we want to walk with him we want to follow his leading day by day by day and so I want to take a look at these things from that perspective the Lord is coming okay he said he would all these other things that are predicted gee it's working out the way he said it would what a what a concept but what he also predicted hasn't happened yet he has not yet returned in power and Glory as the king of kings and Lord of lords so our trust is that he has this all figured out and this is one of my favorite verses especially when arguing with somebody about theology or doctrine or something 1 Corinthians 2:9 as it is written what no eye has seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those that love him Heaven you know we think okay we're we know what it's going to be like and I'm I'm going to ask Jesus all 15 of these questions I have when I get to heaven

And maybe we'll have opportunity maybe but if you read through Revelation chapter 4 and five we get a glimpse of what's going on in heaven eternally and they're not sitting around waiting in line to ask Jesus their questions they're grouped together all the ones in heaven they're praising the Lord they're just overwhelmed by his presence and it's beyond anything we can imagine you know we kind of want to dream it up but we can't our minds are not able to imagine what God has prepared for us which that's a mindblower at least for my mind so look at what Jesus has predicted which he has and it's been happening for the last 2,000 years what he's predicted here in this passage we've had Wars we'd have rumor of wars we've had earthquakes we've had famines we've had family breakdown and yet the end has not come so where where do we go from here and that's what we want to look at now head what do we want to understand from this passage that God is working out his plan for mankind and this world will come to an end you know he said A Thousand Years is as a day but that isn't just random that's so that people will have time to come to the Lord and that's what we need to be using this time for as how the Lord will return the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a Roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed okay has that happened yet no he is returning and it will be cataclysmic no eye will miss him every eye will see him every knee will bow before him that's still out there and so we need to understand that is coming so understanding that in our hearts what we want to

Believe is that no matter how things look to us God is in control and he loves us we're not just drifting at random couple of verses for that I think yes this is Jesus Christ for by him all things were created in heaven and on Earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together he is in control these things aren't accidental but he loves us right in through it and these are verses to hold on to when you're having tough times or even when you're not who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake we're being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else and all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord no matter how bad things look remember that God loves us he loves you and acting on that knowledge with that belief act on the belief and walk with God following him day by day hour by hour minute by minute sometimes we just you know need to keep coming back to the Lord every 30 seconds every five minutes every 10 minutes sometimes things are rolling okay that's good but God tells us that we need to walk with him and several verses say that but this in Galatians 5:25 if we live by the spirit which we do as Believers let us also keep in step with the spirit day by day hour by hour minute by

Minute so let's commit our time to the Lord now and we'll sing a song to him and then we'll be looking to head over to do some lunching father we thank you that all of these things that you've pred icted we can see it happening and we thank you that you're working in this world and that it's not random you're doing these things with a purpose so help us to recognize your purpose not just for the church in general but for us in particular and to follow you in it trust you to accomplish in us and through us what you would want we thank you for that in Christ's name amen [Music] all of creation all of the Earth make straight A Highway the path for the Lord Jesus is com soon [Music] call back the S wake up the saint let every nation shout of your F Jesus is coming soon like a bride waiting for her Gro will be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing even so come Lord Jesus come even so come Lord Jesus [Music] come there will be Justice all will be new your name for ever faithful and true Jesus is coming soon like a bride waiting for her groom we'll be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing even so come Lord Jesus come even so come Lord [Music] Jesus we wait we wait for

You God we wait your coming [Music] soon so we wait we wait for you God we wait your coming soon like a bride waiting for her Gro will be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing like a bride waiting for her Gro will be a church ready for you every heart longing for our King we sing even so C Lord Jes Jesus come even so come Lord [Music] Jesus well church I do want to take a moment and just introduce to you a family that said hey Cody can you let us come forward today to join the church I said absolutely so if y'all would just give me a moment to unhook here and try to get myself make sure I'm not dropping everything got all these wires around me brother Steve thank you so much for preaching the word this morning I do want to take a moment and introduce you to the Brenton as they come forward y'all go ahead and have a seat that way y'all can y'all can see this beautiful family they've been here oh I don't know three months four months or so somewhere around there and they just said you know we feel like this is the place that the Lord has for us and we said okay they went through the new members class they've given good testimony of knowing the Lord and trust in the Lord and I highly encourage you to get to know this family as a church if y'all would receive them by statement correct by statement would y'all say amen any a post awesome praise the Lord we will update that in our business meeting minutes today and so we just thank the Lord

For what he's doing thankful to be y'all's pastor and look forward to ministering to you and your beautiful family church I love you very much if y'all would just join me in prayer and then if you're if you're not hacking and coughing and things like that please feel free to shake their hands things like that so just looking out for youall Lord we love you we thank you for this day I thank you for the promise of your return and we do look forward to that however it plays out we just want to be found faithful Lord I just pray that you would bless us bless the food that we will receive and we just ask that you would you continue to work in our church we love you in Jesus name amen hey if got a couple of young guys go down to the gym and help set up tables and chairs and all that kind of oh they're already set up okay all right well