Turn to the gospel according to Mark chapter 13.
I have enjoyed the way we've restructured the service and done the offering right before the sermon with the music, but
I'm going to read to you verses 1-13.
And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him,
Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings.
And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great 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?
And 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 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 beginnings of the birth pains.
But be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues,
and you will take stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them.
And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
And 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 will rise against parents and have them put to death.
And you will be hated by all for my name's sake.
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
This is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
Let's pray together.
Father God, we need you in this hour.
And we would ask your favor on the preaching of your word today.
It was written by you under the inspiration of the Spirit.
Here, carried along by the pen of Mark.
It was written for us.
That we might know you and know how to better honor and glorify you with our lives.
Exalt Jesus in our hearts and minds today so that he will be exalted in our living this week.
We're dependent on you to accomplish this.
And so we pray this in the name of Christ.
Amen.
Well, we find ourselves still in Wednesday of the Passion Week.
You remember at the beginning of chapter 11, Jesus has entered into Jerusalem.
It's called the Triumphal Entry.
That evening he goes and he visits the temple and he can see that there's been this money-changing activity happening in the temple.
He goes back out of Jerusalem to Bethel, comes back in on Tuesday,
and for the second time in his ministry, goes and flips over tables and runs out money changers,
stops it being used as a thoroughfare, a cut-through for the city,
essentially shuts down all of this apostate swindling that's going on in this day.
And he's immediately then challenged as he sets up camp on Wednesday in the temple by the religious elite of the day.
And we've kind of seen these waves of aggression come at him,
and he quickly shuts them down as they seek to trap him in such a way that he will be killed.
He's not done yet, though.
He still has some time and some things that he wants to teach,
and so he waylays that, and we see him finally now stepping outside, still on Wednesday,
but leaving the temple court, presumably through the east gate,
down a steep path that crossed through the Kidron Valley,
which is where all of the sacrificial blood flowed,
which we'll get to learn more about in a month or so,
to the Mount of Olives, where they observe what's going on from afar.
And we see in this a question asked by an unidentified disciple.
And I can't say for sure, but I want to imagine that it was Mark's kindness that spared
naming the individual who asked the question,
because he's apparently missed the point of Jesus' teaching that week,
all about the spiritual bankruptcy of the system that existed there,
and all that it included as they look back on this building,
which was a rather magnificent building.
It was a building that all of us would have been in awe at.
But he hadn't seen that what Jesus was saying was that this was not where the worship of God take place.
This was not the way in which God was meant to be worshipped.
And so the question we see asked,
look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings,
this admiration of this.
And it was certainly that.
The Jewish historian Josephus tells us a bit about it in the Wars of the Jews.
We read,
Now the outward face of the temple in its front
wanted nothing that was likely to surprise either men's minds or their eyes,
for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight.
And at the first rising of the sun reflected back a very fiery splendor
and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away
just as they would have done at the sun's own rays.
But this temple appeared to strangers when they were coming to it at a distance
like a mountain covered with snow.
For as to those parts of it that were not gilt or covered in gold,
they were exceeding white.
White rare stone.
It made it look like a mountain of snow as you approached Jerusalem.
This magnificent building.
Jesus gives to us this direct prophecy that it will in fact be torn down.
And he's not just simply referring to the building itself,
although we're going to talk about that in a moment.
But more than that,
the system that the building represents would soon be destroyed.
The building itself was destroyed in 70 A.D.
Jesus says there will not be left here one stone upon another
that will not be thrown down.
There was a revolt that started a movement called the Zealot Movement in A.D. 66,
which eventually led to Rome finally and fully sacking Jerusalem
and destroying almost to the complete rubble,
almost the entire city of Jerusalem.
They saved a bit of the wall to show people how mighty the wall once was
where the garrisons would camp,
but the rest of it was torn down
to the degree that they took the foundation stones of the wall
and flipped them over just to show their power over this.
You remember back in Mark 12, verses 13-17,
there's this question asked by the Pharisees and Herodians about the tax.
And should we pay this particular tax they're referring to known as the poll tax?
And this was a tax that was instituted
when Joseph and Mary traveled with baby Jesus in the belly
to Bethlehem where he was born.
They were being counted.
And this is the way in which Rome said,
not only is your land ours,
but the people themselves belong to us.
So this tax was a head tax paid as a citizen of Rome.
And it was that that led to this revolt
that eventually saw the temple destroyed.
Again, Josephus in the Wars of the Jews,
Now as soon as the army, the Roman army,
had no more people to slay or to plunder
because there remained none to be the objects of their fury,
for they would not have spared any
had there remained any other such work to be done,
Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish
the entire city and temple.
And so it was brought down,
just as Jesus said that it would be,
not too many years later.
And they go from this place as they're traveling
and they go and sit down on the Mount of Olives,
presumably looking at the temple opposite of it.
And Peter and James and John and Andrew
get into the side and they say,
tell us when will these things be?
And what will be the sign when all these things
are about to be accomplished?
Now there is some debate concerning this text
about what it means for this
to have been fulfilled and accomplished.
Certainly, we know that the temple itself
was destroyed in A.D. 70.
And there are some people that say
that the entirety of this passage is fulfilled.
For example, verse 10,
and the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
That that was in fact fulfilled,
which is why the temple was then destroyed.
And they base this argument off of passages
like Colossians 1.23.
Well, Paul writes,
if indeed you continue in the faith,
stable and steadfast,
not shifting from the hope of the gospel
that you have heard,
which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven,
and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
So they would say, see, look here,
Paul says that the gospel was in fact
proclaimed amongst the nations,
and this is why we can now then presume
that that's been fulfilled,
and now the temple has been destroyed.
But you get into some Greek issues
with Colossians 1.23
if you don't study it carefully.
This phrase which has been proclaimed,
the word proclaimed there is in the aorist tense,
which denotes no specific time whatsoever,
meaning that Paul is not saying
that it is a completed action done in the past,
but he's defining the gospel and its scope,
and that is that it is global in scope.
So it would be improper to look at Colossians 1.23
and go back then to Mark 13.10
and say, oh, and the gospel has then been preached
to all nations.
We're going to say a bit more about that
towards the end of the sermon.
We'll come back to verse 10,
but I want us at this point to see
that this is not what Jesus is trying
to communicate to them,
simply summing up for them
the things that will happen
before the temple is destroyed.
However, it is the question
that the disciples are asking.
They're saying, tell us all the things
that are going to happen
before the temple is destroyed.
They still were so hungry to know
the practical, the tangible things
that could be known about the kingdom of God.
They still seem to not understand
that the kingdom of God primarily
was going to come and bear in their hearts.
This is the way in which God
meant to establish His people,
spirit and truth, a heart worship.
And so I believe He's correcting
their misconception as He goes on
to tell them the things
that are going to come to pass,
including for us, verse 10,
that all of this, the gospel
must be proclaimed to all nations,
putting a timeline, a way out there,
a far-reaching timeline for them.
Their question itself drew my mind
back to Mark 8, verses 11 and 12,
where the Pharisees seek a sign.
And He says to them that a sign
will not be given to this generation.
They wanted to know the tangible.
They wanted to be able to measure it.
They wanted to be able to mark it out
and know when the kingdom of God
would fully arrive.
It's not the way we walk.
We walk by faith.
So Jesus then begins to give them
this prophetic information.
And I think we can really quickly,
in a chapter like chapter 13,
get incredibly distracted
into end-time theology,
really trying to work out all the details
and miss the point altogether.
So we're going to deal with it in brief.
There's a time and a place for it,
and now is not the time,
here is not the place,
this morning.
But we can't neglect it altogether.
We need to look at kind of the driving force
of what He's trying to say to them.
And so in 5 through 9,
He starts out by saying,
see that no one leads you astray,
and that many will come in His name,
claiming to be Him,
and they will lead many astray.
So it's a warning.
Once again,
as we saw back in verse 38 of chapter 12,
a warning against false teachers,
particularly ones that are going to claim
to be the Christ themselves,
but we can certainly broaden it beyond that as well.
Those who are going to take advantage
of the way in which the world is functioning,
the wars and the earthquakes,
all these calamities that we see,
to gather to themselves followers.
People like Margaret Rowan,
the prophetess, quote-unquote,
of the Seventh-day Adventists,
who said the world would come to end in 1925.
Jehovah's Witnesses,
which have been writing and writing
and writing and writing.
1975 was the big year for them.
Not sure what they say now.
Or guys like Pat Robertson,
the chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network,
a station you should block on your TV,
who first said that the world would come to end in 1982,
and now, 2007,
haven't heard a new proclamation.
I tried to find to see if Pat Robertson's telling us
when the world will end now.
This is a dangerous thing.
It's not for us to know.
The Scriptures even teach us that.
And yet, many men will claim
that they know when the world will end
and lead people astray.
We should know that it is going to end,
and we should see that the signs are here,
that it is coming to an end.
But that doesn't change what we do
and how we live.
We should always live in light of that reality.
Observing the effects of sin on the world.
Look at the things that he says.
Wars.
Rumors of wars.
We live in a day like this, do we not?
Nation rising against nation.
Kingdom against kingdom.
Earthquakes.
Famines.
He says, but these are the beginnings
of the birth pains.
Paul uses a very similar language
in Romans 8.
Verse 19-22, he writes,
For the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of what?
The sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to fertility,
not willingly,
but because of him who subjected it
in hope that the creation itself
will be set free from its bondage
to corruption and obtain the freedom
of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation
has been groaning together
in the pains of childbirth until now.
And that is that the world itself
is longing for the day when Christ
will come and restore all things.
And Jesus here is saying,
and Paul is later saying,
that the things we are seeing
is the beginning of that process.
Now I have a four-year-old
and a two-year-old,
and so I have, as a faithful husband,
walked beside a labor.
I have not been in labor, praise God.
Nothing I will ever experience.
I can't possibly imagine
exactly what it feels like.
I will not be one of those fools
who puts the electricity
on their stomachs.
Have you seen those guys
that experience the pain of labor?
No thank you.
But certainly in Sam's labor,
they increased in intensity.
It started off at one level of pain,
a talking, even happy time kind of a pain,
to a, if you crack another joke,
I will kill you kind of a pain.
When Sam goes quiet and she's hurting,
leave her alone.
Just leave her alone.
But all of this led up to,
all of the suffering
that my wife experienced,
all led up to a final,
great deal of joy.
I couldn't believe it.
On the day that she had caged,
she said,
I want to have another one.
I went, are you kidding me?
Did you just,
do you have any idea
what you just went through?
But joy filled her heart so much.
And this is the way in which
the creation is groaning
and longing for the returning
of Christ.
For the church to be completed
one day.
For the new heaven
and the new earth
to be established.
And this is what's happening in that.
There will be pain
before this great,
great deal of joy.
And he doesn't simply limit it
to the apostles.
This is expanded to us as well.
The apostles are going to be part of it
in their suffering
for the kingdom.
They're going to be delivered.
They're supposed to be on their guard.
Delivered to councils.
Beaten in synagogues.
Standing before governors and kings.
Verse 12.
Brother will deliver brother over to death
and the father is child.
And children will rise up against parents
and have them put to death.
And you will be hated by all.
For my name's sake.
Look at the breadth of this pain
that will be experienced.
That it's going to go down
into the family unit.
Many of you experience this kind of tension
in your families
as those who claim the name of Christ.
Trying to be around them at mealtimes
and do things
and hear the conversations.
And see that they don't exalt Him
in their words
or in their living at all.
Jesus says here it will get
much more severe than that.
That children will deliver parents
and parents' children
to death.
We will take place in this suffering.
It's recorded in John 15.
Verse 18 and 19.
Jesus says,
If the world hates you,
know that it has hated Me
before it hated you.
If you were of the world,
the world would love you
as its own.
But because you are not of the world,
because I chose you out of the world,
therefore,
the world hates you.
Jesus Christ,
our Lord,
who came to be a servant of all,
has already told us now
in the Gospel of Mark
three times,
He said to the apostles,
this is what's going to happen
when I go to Jerusalem.
I'm going to be delivered up,
I'm going to be killed,
and then I'm going to rise again.
This is the way in which
I'm coming to ransom many
for myself.
And somehow,
we think we're better than Him.
That we ourselves
won't suffer in the same way.
That it won't be given to us
as the same kind of task.
Paul writes to Timothy
in 2 Timothy 3.12,
Indeed,
all who desire to live a godly life
in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted.
It's a reality,
a necessity of Christian living.
Not that we ask for it
or that we invite it upon ourselves,
but He's telling us
that it will happen.
Those of us who are disciples
of Jesus Christ,
those of us who laid down our lives
to pursue Him
with all that we have,
are going to experience suffering
in this world.
But we don't have to be
concerned about this.
We have a hope.
A lasting hope.
An eternal hope.
A hope that helps us
drive through momentary affliction.
And we have a helper.
In verse 11,
When they bring you to trial
and deliver you over,
do be anxious beforehand
what you are to say.
But say,
whatever is giving you that effort
is not you who speak,
but the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said,
promise this to them.
And it comes in Acts 1,
verses 7 and 8.
He said to them,
It is not for you to know
times or seasons.
Isn't this a fitting verse?
It is not for you to know
times or seasons
that the Father is fixed
by His own authority.
Verse 8,
But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you,
and you will be My witnesses
in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea,
and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.
And in chapter 2,
the Spirit in fact does come
on them with power.
And Peter preaches
his great sermon
on the day of Pentecost.
And thousands and thousands
are included
in the church's number
on that day.
We don't have to be anxious.
We have a helper in this.
One who will carry us along
and who will speak
on our behalf.
Why are we so afraid
to open our mouths
and share the Gospel?
We have a helper.
A person of the triune God
that Jesus has said
will speak on our behalf.
To what end?
The last half of verse 9,
to bear witness before them.
Verse 10,
And the Gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ,
must first be proclaimed
to all nations.
In the last half of verse 13,
but the one who endures
to the end.
will be saved.
How are we to function?
How are we to live?
As the apostles are about to be
left behind by Jesus Christ,
they're about to stay where they are,
empowered by the Spirit,
what is their task?
The very mission
that's set before them?
And that is for them
to go into the world
and make disciples
of Jesus Christ.
To proclaim His greatness,
to be a witness
before these councils
that they'll be brought before.
To proclaim the good news
of the Gospel,
not simply to make converts,
but to make those
who will endure
to the end,
which is the necessity
of the Christian life.
If your heart is regenerate,
if God has in fact
changed who you are,
you will not go back on that.
And I would say to you
that it is an impossibility
that you could,
you will in fact,
endure to the end
for His name.
So all of this
will come to pass.
The entire passage
will come to pass
back on verse 10
when the Gospel
is proclaimed
to all nations.
We see a glimpse of heaven
in Revelation 5-9.
John writes,
And they sang a new song
saying,
Worthy are you
to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain,
this is Christ,
and by your blood
you ransomed people
for God
from every tribe
and language
and people
and nation.
God has always
been about
His global glory.
And He is still
about that to this day
because the task
is yet to be finished
because the end
is not here.
Now as we look
at the world,
there's a lot of statistics
out there.
I'm just going to give you
a few.
Categorically,
we tend to talk about
peoples in terms
of unreached,
reached,
unreached,
and unengaged.
The definition
of unreached
is typically a group
that has less
than 2%
that claim
to be Christians.
This is a broad
definition of what
Christian even means,
self-professing
Christians.
It is estimated
that of the
7.1 billion people
alive in the world
today,
2.91 billion of them
live in unreached
people groups
with little or no
access to the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
So unreached
being less than
2% of the population
that just says,
just professes
to be
a Christian.
According to
Joshua Project,
which is a great website
if you ever want
to peruse it,
there are approximately
16,500 unique
people groups
in the world
with about
6,900 of them
considered
unreached.
Now,
unengaged
unreached
people groups,
according to
finishing the task,
there are 440
unengaged
unreached
people groups
with populations
over 25,000
together numbering
over 24
million souls
that are still
beyond the reach
of the gospel.
These 440
are perhaps
the neediest
of the needy
as they are
unengaged,
which means
that no church,
no missionary,
no mission agency,
no one has yet
taken responsibility
to tell them
about Jesus Christ.
Nothing has
happened
with an
unengaged
people.
And beloved,
this should break
our hearts.
as you look
back over
this past
year
at your
activity
for the
kingdom,
it should break
our hearts
that we know
that the end
is coming.
We don't know
when,
but it will
come.
Jesus will
someday return
and judge
the world.
Those who
are not in
Christ will
be eternally
damned,
and we do
almost
nothing
about it.
Shame on
us.
The great
aim of our
lives
is to be
given to
the mission
of God
in the
world.
And that
is,
He came
to seek
and save
the lost.
That's why
He came.
And we're
meant to be
part of
that work,
not because
He needs
us.
Hear this,
God doesn't
need you.
Don't begin
to think so
much of
yourself.
But God
loves you.
And God
knows the
best thing
for you
is to have
more of
Him.
And you
know how
you do
that?
You join
Him and
you walk
alongside
Him in
the work
that He's
accomplishing
in the
world.
You get
busy about
the work
of God
and you
experience
Him in
it.
We can,
of course,
argue over
definitions,
talk about
unreached and
unengaged,
but one thing
can't be argued,
the end has
not yet
come,
so the
job is
yet to
be
finished.
And we
should see
this as the
people of
God
as a
great
opportunity
to have
our joy
made
complete
in
advancing
the
gospel
where
we
live
and
beyond.
Look at Paul's
attitude concerning
preaching of the
gospel.
He writes in
1 Corinthians 9.16,
For if I preach
the gospel,
that gives me
no ground
for boasting,
for necessity
is laid
upon me.
Woe to me
if I do not
preach
the gospel.
Woe to me
if I do not
preach
the gospel.
Are we ashamed
of the
gospel?
Paul says in
Romans 1
that he's not
ashamed of it
because it's
the power of
God for
salvation.
It's what
snatches people
out of the
fires of hell.
And we
don't warn
them.
How cold
and callous
are we?
Wes reminded
me this week
of a
great sermon
which is
from the
book of
Revelation
by a
pastor I
love
by the
name of
Arturo
Azerdia.
If you ever
want to
peruse his
stuff,
spiritempoweredpreaching.com
maybe.org
I encourage
you to check
it out.
But he
tells
this story
of a
dangerous
sea
coast
where
shipwrecks
often occur
and on
that
sea
coast
was
a
single
crude
life-saving
station
with only
one boat,
a small hut
where people
could come in
and be
warmed
after surviving
a wreck.
And many,
many lives
were saved
by this
little station.
They were
all about
the work
of getting
out into
the sea
and saving
those who
were tossed
overboard
in these
wrecks.
So much
so that it
became famous.
And many
of those
who had
been saved
by the
station
or heard
telling of
the station
wanted to
in some
way become
associated
with it.
And so they
gave of their
money and they
soon became
embarrassed by the
crude nature
of the little
station, the little
hut and the
single boat.
So they
enlarged its size
and they
improved its
interior to the
degree that it
became a place
they desired to
spend their free
hours.
A lot like a
small club, a
bit of a
monument to
life-saving.
Soon the
members were
no longer
interested on
going on
life-saving
missions, having
to be trained,
getting out and
doing the hard
work.
So they hired
life-saving
crews.
They began to
pay some men
who went off
and did that
on their
behalf.
And as many
people were
saved by the
newly hired
life-saving
crew, the
people they
plucked from
the ocean
ruined the
general appeal
of the
club.
After all,
they were
wet and
distraught and
they needed
further assistance.
They needed
people to
come alongside
them and
help them.
And so a
committee was
quickly formed
to address the
issue and a
building outside
of the
life-saving
station was
promptly built
to clean up
these individuals
before they
were permitted
inside the
station.
A meeting
soon was
held where
some of the
members insisted
that the
primary purpose
of the
life-saving
station was
to save
lives.
After all,
they were a
life-saving
station and
they were
simply told
they could
go down
the coast
and begin
another
life-saving
station and
so they
did.
Over some
years, the
process repeated
itself, the
new station
becoming like
the old, and
this repeated
itself again
and again.
If you visit
that coast
today, you
will find
many life-saving
stations.
Shipwrecks are
still common in
those waters,
waters, but
most everyone
drowns.
This is the
place that we
live, right?
People damned
to hell for
eternity because
of their lost
state.
And we get
together in the
niceties of our
club, and we
don't get out
there and get
and brave the
oceans and be
where they are
and share the
good news of
Jesus Christ with
them.
drag them
back onto
shore.
Beloved, if we
are to be
disciples of
Jesus Christ,
even claim
His name, we
are to follow
Him where He
leads.
And what did
He come to
do?
Luke 19.10,
the Son of
Man came to
seek and
save the
lost.
We spend so
much of our
time distracted
by absolute
vanity in
America.
We are
entering one
of the
seasons that
ought to be
so much about
Jesus Christ
and come so
much about the
vanity of this
world.
I absolutely
want to throw
up my
Thanksgiving meal
with this
Black Friday
insanity that
goes on.
Pursuing the
frivolity, the
stuff that fades
away, it means
absolutely nothing.
We take so
much effort to
position ourselves,
to compare
ourselves to
others, to
look good by
what we have
and what we
can do, the
leisure of our
days.
It's a shame.
Let me give you
an insane version
of this, which
is not too
unlike much
of what we
do.
Did you know
that in 18th
century England,
wealthy landowners,
there was a
trend for a
while where they
competed with
one another to
have hermits
living on their
properties in a
hermitage.
they would
build them
tiny little
homes and
they would
hire a guy
to grow a
long white
beard and
wear robes and
not talk to
anybody but
just hang out
in the garden.
This was his
job to do.
The ones who
had the most
money actually
were able to
contract these
guys.
They would
contract them
typically for a
period of seven
years and at
the end of that
time they would
pay them enough
that they would
never have to
work again.
So it was an
appealing draw for
someone with no
skills but a
long white beard.
Because the
emotion of the
day that was
most valued was
melancholy.
So the hermit was
to sit contemplatively.
Those who
couldn't afford the
hermit, the real
life hermit, would
get a mannequin or
sometimes an
animatron, I guess.
A puppet that
would be worked by
a lesser servant,
one that didn't
have a long white
beard, would lay
behind him and
work his hands and
arms.
When people came
walking by on the
streets.
This has been
replaced by the
garden gnome.
This is the
origin of the
garden gnome if
you weren't making
the connection
yourself.
Insane, right?
Competing with
such a stupid
thing.
If you ever get
to visit England,
apparently these
little homes still
exist in these
big fancy house
gardens.
What's your
hermit?
What thing do
you care so
much about that
you wouldn't give
it up to follow
Christ?
Beloved, we have
many of them.
Would you give it
all?
Would you sacrifice
every bit of it to
gain more of
Jesus?
I think we
initially say,
yes, of course,
I would.
Your heart needs
to catch up to
your head.
We would look
different.
We would spend
our days differently.
We would do
different things.
If we loved
Him the way
we should.
If we desired
Him the way
that we should.
Listen to
John's correction
in 1 John
chapter 2.
Do not love
the world
or the things
in the world.
If anyone
loves the world,
the love of the
Father is not
in him.
For all that is
in the world,
the desires of
the flesh,
and the desires
of the eyes,
and pride of
life is not
from the Father,
but is from
the world.
And the world
is passing away
along with
its desires,
but whoever
does the will
of God
abides
forever.
What is the
will of God?
That we would
seek and save
the lost.
That we would
be disciples
who make
disciples.
You want to
know what it
looks like in
verse 13
to endure
to the end?
It's that in
spite of all
of this activity
going on around
us,
in spite of
the way in
which the world
is going to
hate us,
the way we're
going to
suffer in
this world,
we still
make disciples.
We still
show people
a more
excellent
thing
than all
of the
frivolity
of this
world,
all the
things that
they can
touch,
all the
little
bobs,
and all
the little
whistles of
this world.
We show
them that
Jesus is
better.
And we
do that
in our
own
experience,
and we
do that
in the
way we
live,
in our
display,
and we
do that
in our
proclamation.
We must
go and
show the
world.
Do you
long for
the return
of Christ?
I do.
Is there
anything in
this world
that you
want to
see
accomplished
before
Jesus
comes
back?
It's an
idol.
You just
need to
stop
worshiping
it.
Come,
Lord
Jesus,
come.
It should
be the
cry of
our
hearts
every
single
day.
And we
ought to
be about
the work,
not that
we can
change
the
date,
but we
ought to
be about
the work
of getting
to that
day as
the Gospels
proclaim to
all nations.
The primary
thing,
not just for
your pastor.
It's my
job to do
spiritual
things and
not yours.
It's our
job to do
spiritual
things.
It's our
job to
reach out
and love
this community
and beyond
with the
Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
I just
play a
different role
in that
process.
What is
your role
in that
process?
Submit
yourself to
the Lordship
of Jesus
Christ,
whose son
is the
Christ,
back in
chapter 12.
We talked
about what
it meant
to submit
yourself.
Do you
get up
daily and
do you
say to
God,
you rule
over my
day.
I'm going
to die
to myself
today.
I'm going
to pick
up my
cross.
I'm going
to follow
you wherever
you'll
lead me.
I won't
be anxious.
I'll open
my mouth
and I'll
speak because
I know
that I have
the Spirit.
I know
that the
Gospel is
the power
of God
for salvation.
Do with
me what
you will
this day
and begin
to seek
out the
opportunities.
So many
of us are
so spiritually
fat because
we get
fed and
we get
fed and
we get
fed and
we never
go exercise
our faith
at all.
You combine
those two
things,
you begin
to learn
things,
you learn
doctrine and
you affirm
it by
experience and
your faith
will grow
exponentially.
I promise
you.
Begin to
ask that
God
would put
you in
situations
to work
things out.
Young
people,
you're
in a
stage in
your life
where you're
preparing for
the next
step.
This is
not true
of the
Gospel.
You've
been recruited
as an
ambassador.
You claim
the name
of Christ,
you are
His and
He's got
a mission
for you.
Go get
to the
mission.
You don't
spend years
languishing
getting ready
for the
mission.
The mission
is now.
The mission
is your
roommate and
your classmates
and the
places that
you work.
be active
about this.
When was the
last time you
or someone
you knew
saw someone
come to
faith in
Christ?
It's a
piercing
question,
is it
not?
We should
see people
coming in
droves to
know the
one and
only Lord
and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
Do you
believe that
God wants
to do this
in our
communities?
I do.
I think He
has plans
for this
area.
I think He
has people
that He
loves
desperately,
that He
wants to
be part of
the family.
I want to
be a part
of that.
I want to
be involved
in that
process of
bringing people
into the
fold,
bringing them
underneath
the Great
Shepherd.
What is
wrong with
us?
let's pray.
Let's
pray.
Let's
pray.
Let's
pray.