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What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
So what is on this list of signs that makes it so compelling, let's jump back to verse six and read it together, Jesus says, and you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars. That's pretty self-explanatory, right? There's plenty of that that's happened over the past 150 years, and a seemingly infinite number of wars and rumors of wars flying around right now.Then Jesus says, see that you're not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. The end is not yet. Jesus says wars and rumors of wars. They're not the definitive sign that the end is imminent. In other words, when World War Two was happening, that was not the sign that the end of the world was imminent. It was a sign we're getting closer. But there was so much more that still needed to happen.
That's what Jesus said. This verse 7/4, nation will rise against nation. The Greek word used there for nation is ethnos.
It actually refers to an ethnic group. The idea is one ethnic group rising up against another. And scholars believe this also points to fighting within a country among ethnic groups in civil wars. And again, there's just infinite examples of this over the past century and even happening right now, look at America right now.
Who would have thought? That after eight years of a black president, race relations would actually be worse in America and would spiral down to the state that they're in right now.
Who would have thought that today, anti-Semitism would be the worst it's been since World War Two?
Because it is, Jews are literally fleeing parts of Europe because they're being targeted by the increasing Muslim population.
And that's not even mentioning what's taken place in the Middle East over the past 10 years, where ISIS has endeavored to wipe out entire ethnic groups such as Coptic Christians and the Yazidi.
Do you know that in China right now, they have over a million Muslims in concentration camps?
Right now, China is waging an ethnic war against them. It's horrific.
And on and on and on. We could go, despite all our talk about progress and multiculturalism, when you look around, the world is more ethnically driven wars and fighting and killing than ever before. Then Jesus says, and kingdom against kingdom. Do you know that before World War One, war was pretty much always kings in their armies fighting against other kings and their armies?
World War One was really the first time the kingdoms fought against kingdoms, where it was all in. You had even untrained men sent out to fight because it was kingdom against kingdom.
And there will be famines, famines, the awful thing about famines in our day is that they're no longer caused solely by the weather. Famines happen today for economic reasons and because of wicked leaders everywhere where there's a famine, we could end it. Did you catch that everywhere where there was a famine, we could end it. There's enough food. We have the transportation technology to solve the problem.
We simply don't do what is necessary and where famine is not weather related, it's due to wicked leaders, as we're seeing in places like Venezuela right now. We would have thought surely we could have solved this problem by now, by now we could. We just don't. Then Jesus says there's going to be increasing and more frequent pestilence. Now, pestilence is a term for a fatal epidemic, disease, a plague. The idea here is that there will be epidemics and pandemics with increasing frequency.
No present day examples come to mind on this one.
Right. But you know what? If you go back to the mid to late 90s, I started noticing this about a decade ago.
You go back to the mid to late 90s, the world had been relatively quiet as far as pandemics go, as far as serious large scale outbreaks.
RE: What's Love?
How many do you think are feeling it here?Most everyone can intellectualize themselves to death about their perception of love and getting along with one another.
Yet, how many are really feeling for anyone here?
When most everyone is building barriers and walls against the very thing they seek.
Mostly out of fear they won't be understood. How can anyone love another if they refuse to offer it or afraid by assuming that everyone is a scammer or fake or out to emotionally harm them.
If everyone is hiding behind a computer and 4000 to 10,000 miles away what real harm can anyone do to another?
What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
He says these things are just the beginning. And that's important because to this day, Christians and skeptics alike and people who are interested in end times, events in the apocalypse, all of them will look at one event. They'll look at one war, one earthquake, and inevitably someone will say, could this be one of the signs that Jesus talked about in the Christian scriptures? Could this be one of the signs Jesus talked about in the Olivet discourse?And then people will rightfully respond with something along the lines of these things are not new phenomena.
They've been happening for thousands of years and every generation of Christians has looked at this list and verse is six and seven and said, oh, look, a war we must be in the last days or oh, look, an earthquake, a famine. We must be in the end times. Here's the key given by Jesus in verse eight to understanding these verses correctly. The Greek word that he uses there for Sorrow's in the original manuscripts is the Greek word, Odin, Odin.
It's a feminine noun that refers to the pangs of childbirth, what we would call labor pains or labor contractions.
What Jesus actually says in verse eight is all these signs that I've just listed are the beginning of labor pains. Now, why does Jesus say something so strange? It's because he wanted us to understand that all these signs are going to occur like labor pains as the end times approach. In this analogy, childbirth is likened to the end times, beginning with the rapture.
And labor pains are likened to these signs that Jesus has just listed in Verse is six and seven. Now, what defines labor pains?
We all know, don't we?
If you've had kids, then you know the routine. They get more and more intense and they occur closer and closer together as childbirth approaches. If you've had your first child or you can think back to what that experience was like, if you're a woman, you had the child. If you're a husband, hopefully you got to be there for that. Then often, you know the experience, there's some pain, there's some contractions.
You call the hospital. I'm having a baby. The incredibly jaded nurse says, well, how far apart of the contractions? You say five minutes.
And she goes, oh, you're only getting started. I know it feels like the world is ended, but things are going to get a lot more intense and they're going to get a lot more frequent. That's the idea.
That's what Jesus is conveying here. All these terrible things we're going to read about in Verse is, six through seven, earthquakes, famine, disease, wars, these things. The idea is they're going to become more and more frequent and more and more intense as we get closer and closer to the end times.
So write this down.
The list of signs given by Jesus and Verse is six and seven will occur with increasing frequency and intensity as the end times approach.
They're going to increase with frequency and intensity as the end times approach. Now, when you understand this, when you get the analogy, Jesus is making you understand why the time we're living in is so significant.
Everyone's already forgotten that we thought 2019 was a bad year.
Do you remember that on January 1st of2020, most people were like, thank God a new year is here. We had no idea what 20/20 had stored, did we? The list of signs Jesus gives is now unfolding with such intensity and such frequency that we're all looking around and saying, well, how much more of this can the Earth take?
Yes, all the things we've seen right now have happened before, but not with the frequency and intensity that we're seeing right now. We've never seen so many things happening at the same time as we're seeing right now. So what is on this list of signs that makes it so compelling, let's jump back to verse six and read it together, Jesus says, and you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars.
RE: JOSEPH SMITH ( founder of Mormons ).
Happened in IL huh... lolIllinois was pretty rough in the 1800's and early 1900's.
Useless trivia
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Polygamous sect leader pleads guilty to arranging sex acts with children
Tuesday 9:45pm
Samuel Bateman, the leader of a small polygamous group near the Arizona-Utah border.
Samuel Bateman, the leader of a small polygamous group near the Arizona-Utah border. (Source: Associated Press)
The leader of an offshoot polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport underage girls across state lines in what authorities say was a yearslong scheme to orchestrate s*xual acts involving children.
Samuel Bateman also pleaded guilty on Monday in US District Court in Phoenix to conspiring to commit kidnapping in a plan to free underage girls who had been taken into Arizona state custody. His plea agreement recommends a sentence of 20 to 50 years in prison, though one of his convictions carries a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
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A 12-year-old student opened fire at a secondary school in southern Finland and wounded three other students today, police said. The suspect was later arrested.What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
One of those times is going to be in reference to the end of the disciples lives the other three times. It's going to refer to the whole time period of the end times. So Jesus will sometimes call that whole time period the end.That's the time period that begins with the rapture and goes through all of those different end times events.
Then when we reach Verse is nine through 13, Jesus is going to address things that will happen to the first generation of the church specifically.
So things that will happen to these disciples in their lifetime. So write this down. Verse is nine through 13 refers to events that take place during the first generation of the church. The early, early, early church verse is nine through 13 refers to events that take place during the first generation of the church.
So with that overview in mind, let's take a look at those verse is and discover what Jesus wants all of us to know about the end times.
So beginning in verse four, it says, and Jesus answered and said to them, take heed. That means be careful that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and will deceive many.
So firstly, Jesus cautions his disciples to watch out for imposters.
And history tells us that in the century following this teaching by Jesus, a total of 64 different men came on the scene in and around Israel, claiming to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus says, listen, don't buy it. Don't buy it. This was much more of a concern for the early church because the New Testament hadn't been written yet, the early church believed Jesus would be coming back in their lifetime, and they didn't have all the New Testament scriptures that we do that give us details about how the rapture and the second coming are going to work and the order of events and all these things.
So there was much greater danger in that first generation of the church to people being misled by fake Jesus's.
Because we have the New Testament, we know that believers, the church are going to be raptured years before Jesus returns to the earth in the second coming. We know, in fact, that will be with Jesus when he returns to the Earth at the second coming. And if you read the Scriptures, you'll realize that when the second coming happens, when Jesus returns to the Earth again, there's not going to be any confusion about who he is.
It's going to be like, hmm, there's two guys claiming to be Jesus and I can't figure out which one is actually Jesus.
Is it the guy over there named Greg who's been living in his van for the past few years? Or is it that guy flying through the sky like lightning on a white horse more brilliant than the sun with an army of millions trailing behind them? I mean I mean, which one could it be? When Jesus comes to the earth again, there's going to be no confusion about who he is, but for the early church there was a real risk of confusion because they didn't have the New Testament scriptures yet.
And so Jesus says, here's what you need to know.
Disciples don't buy it when random people show up claiming to be me in Verse is six and seven, Jesus is going to give a famous list of signs that will let us know that we're in the end times.
But in order to understand how we're meant to read and use this list of signs, we have to jump ahead. Diverse eight for a minute, because that's where Jesus shares the key to unlocking these verse is. Look with me at verse eight, Jesus says, referring to all these signs. He says all these are the. And then would you underline beginning of sorrows? All these are the beginning of sorrows. Jesus says that we shouldn't look at any of these signs and verse is six and seven as definitive proof that the end times are almost here.
What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
It's known as the all of that discourse because it takes place on the Mount of Olives.In this discourse, in this teaching, Jesus is going to answer the questions the disciples have just asked him in verse three. But before he does that, Jesus is going to give an overview of some End-Time signs and he's going to share about things that will unfold during the first generation of the church, things that are going to happen in the lifetime of these specific disciples.
I want to ask you in your Bibles to underline the questions the disciples ask in verse three, because there are many who will say, well, in Matthew 24 in the Oliver discourse, Jesus is just talking about events that happened in Israel between 70 A.D. and 120 A.D. He's just talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Israel.
But look at the questions the disciples ask Jesus. Why are those questions recorded in scripture? It's because the Lord wanted us to know the specific questions that Jesus is answering in Matthew 24 and into Matthew 25.
What are those questions? The first one is when will these things be? So in other words, when will the temple be destroyed? When will every stone be brought down, as Jesus had just predicted in verse two the first question is when is this going to happen? Jesus. The next question is what will be the sign of your coming? So in other words, what signs are going to tell us that you're about to begin your reign as Lord over the Earth?
And then lastly, what will be the sign of the end of the age? So what signs will tell us that the end times are almost here?
Those are the questions the disciples ask, and those are the questions that Jesus answers in Matthew 24 and 25.
And that right there, verse three. Those questions on its own should be enough to clearly disprove the notion that Jesus is only talking about events that took place between 70 A.D. and 120 A.D. That should settle it.
Just the disciples questions in verse three.
So write this down. It's the first fill in on your outline the disciple's questions. Tell us what Jesus is talking about in the all of it discourse, the disciples questions. Tell us what Jesus is talking about in the all of it discourse.
Now, to give you an idea of where we're going in this and in verses four through eight that we're about to get into, Jesus is going to talk about some of the things that are going to take place between this moment when he's speaking with his disciples and the rapture of the church, which is going to really begin the end times. The rapture is sort of the major kickoff event of that end times era. When I use the term rapture, I'm talking about the coming future event or Jesus will remove the church.
That means all believers from the earth before he judges the Earth by pouring out his wrath upon it. And again, if you need more detail, we just don't have time to get into it today. Go and listen to the Revelation series, because for now we got to keep moving. So here's the overview. And as I said, then we'll get into it in detail. Write this down.
Verse is four through eight refers to the church age, the church age. So the church age is really the time period between Pentecost, which happens in Acts Chapter two when the church is born, and the Rapture. So Verse is four through eight refer to the church age. These disciples would see the thing.
Jesus is going to talk about what happened, but so will we, because the disciples were part of the church age and so are we. But in different ways, we're going to see these things happen in different ways that I'll explain. In the next few minutes.
We're going to hear Jesus. You might just want to make a note of this. If you're a Bible student, we're going to hear Jesus refer to the phrase the end four times in today's text
What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
Signs of the Times......Date:8/16/20Series: Matthew.......Matthew 24:3-14........Speaker: Jeff Thompson
Jesus begins the Oliver Discourse by prophesying about things that would happen in the lifetime of His Disciples, as well as the signs that will tell believers the end times are approaching
New Hope Church has joined with God Rock Church for their study through the gospel of Matthew. And last week, Pastor B.J. got us started on Chapter 24, where Jesus begins to prophesy about future events that are going to affect Israel and then later the world. I want to encourage you in this study, as I do in every study, to be a skeptic. Don't believe anything that I tell you, study it for yourself, examine the text and then determine if I've presented it to you honestly and accurately.
My goal is not to make the text say what I want it to say or what you want it to say. My goal is simply to allow the Bible to say what it actually says. We want the word of God to speak for itself. That's our prayer for this study. And for every study, I'm going to do my best to explain everything as we go so that we can all understand what Jesus is talking about. But I won't have the time to explain every single thing.
If you'd like to learn more about what the Bible teaches about the end times, or if I talk about some concepts that you're not familiar with, the best way to grow your understanding of the subject we're going to be talking about today is probably to study through the Book of Revelation. And I've put a link on your outlines to where you can do that on our church's website. And if you do it, I'll tell you right now, it's a study that will change your life and you'll be so blessed by it.
You'll be so glad if you do it.
So as we rejoin Jesus, he's just been teaching a crowd on the Temple Mount. And as he leaves the Temple Mount, some of his disciples have pointed out the glorious structures and riches on display on the Temple Mount.
And when they do that, instead of saying, yeah, the temple is awesome or Israel's number one, Jesus said this in verse two. Do you not see all these things?
Assuredly. I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another. That shall not be thrown down. Jesus was speaking prophetically about what would happen to the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D., as Pastor B.J. taught us last week. But to the disciples, this was a shocking statement. They were under the impression that if Jesus was the Messiah, he was going to step up and conquer the Romans on Israel's behalf. He was going to usher in a new age where Israel and the Jews would take their rightful place as the supreme country.
And people grew up on the earth, and the temple was going to be at the center of it all. It was going to be the throne from where Messiah would rule the earth. And so to hear Jesus say, yeah, this is all going to be destroyed, made all of them say, wait, what? What? And as we rejoin those same disciples now just continuing in the text, Jesus is now walking with them.
He's leading them off the Temple Mount up onto the Mount of Olives, a hillside that provides the best panoramic views of the city of Jerusalem. And at its base is the famous Garden of Gethsemane.
Now, unsurprisingly, the disciples are hungry for answers, which is why we read this in verse three now is he? That's Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. The disciples will learn from all the gospels that it's Peter, James, John and Andrew came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. And this marks the beginning of one of the most important teachings Jesus gives during his earthly ministry.
RE: What's Love?
It is feeling.
JOSEPH SMITH ( founder of Mormons ).
Many of these Mormons have been brought up in families and indoctrinated since being children, and appear to have been sheltered from the normal social events that other young people experience. I spent time with a few young sisters( name given to the female missionaries), who pay money (called a tithe) regularly to the organisation and also pay for much of their travelling whilst promoting their beliefs. I bought them some items to help out, and though they appeared happy, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the world they existed in.
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Back to the top of the chat (sorry blog page)With another piece of useless trivia
And now number 9 on the most commented blogs of all time.
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Woman gives birth mid-flight and baby is gifted 90 free flights
Blog family
Daphne. Good night , good looking out and thank youRE: JOSEPH SMITH ( founder of Mormons ).
Many of these 'saviors' have their own personal motives...like Warren Jeffs and his late father...a whole community that has lead to nothing but a strange perversion in the name of faith...Be careful of who tries to influence you...
Useless trivia
A woman being detained by a security guard at a market in Santiago, Chile, managed to grab hold of a gun and fire a number of shots.The dramatic incident, which was captured on camera and was live-streamed by a broadcast network, resulted in three people being wounded.
It took place at Lo Valledor Market.
The woman was taken into police custody.
RE: Blog family
Ann...Make sure they read the small print...lots of things not to do or won't cover...including transport...
When I go on trips...I understand that if I am injured while away...it means I go back home...if medically stable...
RE: The 'worm moon' lunar eclipse...
Will look forward to viewing your pictures, got line up of cameras on it....>The Galaxy S 24 Ultra has four rear cameras, a 200 megapixel main camera, a 50 megapixel telephoto camera with a five x optical zoom, a 10 megapixel camera with a three x optical zoom and a 12 megapixel ultra wide camera.
RE: Owning a piece of Trump... stock
I guess the only losers here are the ones who will invest with 'The Donald'...It seems this investment isn't 'HUUGE'...
Owning a piece of Trump... stock
I had forgotten about this stock and Yahoo!Finance did a story about today:"Trump Media stock tanks..."
It was around 74 last week and dipped below 47 today.
I'm not dyslexic.
RE: What's Love?
because of freewill one cannot seek love in another, it will exist in them towards you or it will not.RE: What's Love?
"love does not have rules, beyond how to treat someone, but relationships do and that is where confusion between love and relationships begins. if someone says i do not want to be alone, as opposed to i want to be with you , they are thinking of themselves, and you will end up feeling alone in a relationship. love exists in all things , rarely will you find it in another human, but if you walk a path of love, it will become you."A rather unique but, valid point. However, in this arena nobody will find the love they may be seeking if most are reluctant to engage in communicating what they want.
As many put on their resume of what kind of person they think they are but, refuse to convey or communicate how wonderful they think they are or block people trying to learn of their motives, then it's a contradiction to seek but, not willing to reciprocate communication
We have about 1,000,000 people here who have their motives why they are here. Most for political reasons others for poetry and others for writing blogs and ideas that will not add or improve the lives of anyone here.
At the end of day it's hard to discern any mutual understanding between anyone.
What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
Father, I just I have a couple of specific prayers and specific transitions. I just feel compelled to pray and we and I pray this with my brothers and sisters who are watching and participating here tonight. Lord, we pray for everyone who doesn't know you, everyone who doesn't know you, our friends, our families, our co-workers, our neighbors, strangers, everyone, anyone who doesn't know you transition them. We pray, Lord, transition them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light.Transition them, Lord, from being spiritually dead to becoming spiritually alive in you. Transition them Lord, from believing and living a lie to the loving and believing and obeying the truth. Transition them from being spiritually dead and spiritually broken, to being spiritually alive and spiritually made whole. Make that transition work as the gospel goes forth, a lost and dying world. Let Your Grace lead sinners to repentance, Lord, and transition them to everlasting life. Transition them out of a relationship with you into a relationship with you.
Do that we pray. And if anyone watch and we have any friends watching tonight, Lord, who need to repent of their sins, confess their sin, turn and trust and believe in your life, death and resurrection, grant them repentance that leads to everlasting life. Now, even now, we pray together.
Lord, do that. So do that for everyone who doesn't know you, and then for us who do know you. Lord, we pray for a transition in our own life. You promised Lord to move us in our sanctification, in our maturity and our growing up in you to be moved from one degree of glory to the next, to transition from one degree of glory to the next. And we pray, Lord, together, that the work that you've begun in us, you'd see it through to completion, that you continue to transition us into the deeper levels of maturity and intimacy with you and holiness and obedience transition as more and more and more to look like and to be conformed to the image of you.
Jesus do that, Lord, for our joy, for Your glory, and for our effectiveness in this world and in this time that we have before you come back, do these things. We pray, Lord, and we pray these things in your sweet and in your powerful and your majestic name. Jesus. Amen. Amen.
What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
We can't wait for him to bring his kingdom into inaugurated. We can't wait to enter into sinless perfect joy and bliss and ecstasy, walking with intimately the presence of our king, walking with them and seeing. And we can't wait for Jesus to come back. But those who reject him have no idea what terror awaits them when he comes back. Now, there's something I want you guys to tuck away in the back of your minds as we look ahead in the weeks to come at the things that Jesus says are going to happen in our world.I want you to talk this way.
I want you to to take note of the literal fulfillment of Jesus words in Verse is one and two in our text. You see, this is so important, guys. Jesus said that the temple in Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, and that would have been impossible for anyone to believe back in Jesus day.
But then the funny thing. Well, not so funny thing. The reality is that it happened. Just like Jesus said it would. The temple was literally destroyed less than 40 years after Jesus said the words that he said for us in verse two, there is no spiritualized in what Jesus said. Now, Jesus is important because Jesus says a lot of things in chapters twenty four and twenty five, a lot of intense things, a lot of crazy things to our untrained ears.
Now, these things that Jesus says, they are also going to be literally fulfilled. Every single one of them, just like you said, the temple is going to be destroyed. And then it was all the things that he's going to say to us in chapters. Twenty four and twenty five of Matthew are going to be fulfilled.
And we would do very well to learn what Jesus says is going to happen, we would do very well to learn for our own sake so that we as Christians can be rooted in our faith and not shaken by all the calamities in our world that are only going to increase in frequency and fervor before Jesus comes back.
For us, knowing what's going to happen in the end gives us an anchor for our souls during difficult times, none of us has to be caught off guard. When terrible things happen in our world, we can be prepared for them. We have a living hope. Jesus promises many terrifying things in the last days, but he is also the one who promises to be with his disciples even to the end of the age. The one who tells us what's going to happen in the future is the one who is in us preserving us and carrying us through whatever dark times we may face.
So we need this kind of study for our own sake, for our own faith, for our own foundation. But we also need to know this study for other people's sake.
See, Christian, we have answers to give a lost and a searching world. There are so many people alive today who are so shaken by what's going on in our world and people have no clue what's happening or what's coming. But we have a clue, though.
We have the answer and we can tell people about the things Jesus has done, the things that Jesus is doing and the things he is going to do. And we can share these things with complete confidence. So this study in Matthew twenty four.
Twenty five is for us, but it is for people who wouldn't come to church, who have no idea, who don't know the Lord. We need to be able to equip them and share this with them. I mean, let me close our time together here transitions, they are a part of life. They are a major part of our life and they're a major part of Matthew's gospel. We've looked at three of them here and I pray and I pray and trust God has blessed you.
But the transitions we've looked at in this message coming out of the first couple of Matthew's story, the first couple of verses in Matthew, chapter twenty four.
Now close your eyes and pray with me as we wrap up this time together.
RE: What's Love?
love does not have rules, beyond how to treat someone, but relationships do and that is where confusion between love and relationships begins. if someone says i do not want to be alone, as opposed to i want to be with you , they are thinking of themselves, and you will end up feeling alone in a relationship. love exists in all things , rarely will you find it in another human, but if you walk a path of love, it will become you.What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
Return from your sin, turn to God, get right with God. And in this message, the Messiah is come. The Messiah is here.I am the Messiah that that's the message. But the people had rejected him. But that was what he was saying in the present time. The Kingdom of God, the kingdom of God here. And now it's at hand. Get right with God. But then in Matthew, Chapter 24 in Verse is, one to two in our verse is, Jesus transitions to talking about what is to come.
Transitions from talking about what is to talking about things that are going to be in these two verse is Jesus starts talking about the event that's going to take place in the near future, the destruction of the temple in 70 ad this event that we've already looked at here together tonight, but then starting in Verse is three and going all the way to the end of Chapter twenty five, Jesus begins to describe even further events in the future, events that take place after the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. and before the end of this world as we know it and before the consummation of the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.
Next week, Jeff's going to pick things up for us in Verse is three, and we're going to begin to look more closely over the next few weeks at what Jesus has to say about the end of the world in chapter twenty four and twenty five. And the signs that we can look for that will take place before that happens.
And thinking about this particular thought and in this moment, it dawned on me and dawns on me now that there are some people who don't think the Bible is relevant today, who don't think the Bible has any weight or bearing on our lives today.
Our world is in utter chaos, if you haven't noticed lately, is falling apart at the seams and most people have no idea what's going on. But Christian, you don't have to be afraid about what's going on in our world today. You do not have to be kept in the dark about it. You don't have to be caught off guard about what is happening and what is going to happen.
Jesus told us plainly two thousand years ago what will happen in this world before he comes back. He's like a teacher who's given the class the answer key way before the final exam is given the answer key to the final exam. Here you go. First day of school. There is your answer key to to the test, to the finals at the end. Imagine the teacher giving you all the answers to the finals on the first day of your school year.
See, we know what's on the test. We know what's going to happen before any of it takes place.
Jesus has told people what to look for before he comes back and then he's coming back.
And I hope that everybody watching this message tonight knows that Jesus came once already two thousand years ago, the lamb of God. And he didn't come the first time to judge the world. But he came to what it came to save the world. He came and he was slaughtered as the sacrifice to pay for the sins of all of humanity.
He came once the first time, and we did whatever we wanted to him. He died on the cross. He rose from the dead on the third day. And then you send it back to heaven from where he came and from where he is going to come again. And then. One day soon, Jesus is coming back again. He's coming a second time and the second time around is going to look nothing like his first time around. This second time around, there is going to be zero crucifying the king.
He came as a sacrificial lamb the first time, but the second time around, Jesus is coming as the conquering lion of Judah, the righteous judge. He's coming to save his people and he's coming to deal with unrepentant sinners and all forms of evil once and for all. And there is nothing. There is nothing. There is nothing that anybody can do to stop that from happening. All those who love Jesus, you know it, we can't wait for that day for him to come.
Useless trivia
Scientists claim to have found the key to let humans live to 120 ??Another 60 years on CS
please KILL ME now
RE: JOSEPH SMITH ( founder of Mormons ).
never be afraid to walk alone and do not believe that anyone can save you , then you will have better chances of finding your own pathThe 'worm moon' lunar eclipse...
Done. The new phone will arrive before the end of the week.What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
The Bible describes the believers as being joined together like one stone is built upon another. And we are like living stones, the Bible says, built together and joined together to be a place where the spirit of God dwells, not just in us as individual temples, but amongst us as his people. The apostle Peter says this in his in his first letter. First Peter Chapter two verses four to five reads like this. Speaking of Christians, as you come to him, the Livingstone Jesus, rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, you also like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.Christians are individual temples of the Holy Spirit, but collectively we are, as God's people, his temple that he dwells, dwells in and amongst. Do you know what this reality means for us as Christians today? Church buildings are an incredible, incredible luxury to have for people to gather together in and worship God in and to do ministry, and they are a great blessing. But. Church buildings are not necessary they're not necessary to have in order to properly worship God, so we don't need a manmade temple of any kind any more.
All we need for true worship of God is his people who are filled with his spirit, who are loving him according to his word. Which means knowing it, believe in it and doing it, and that is what we need for true worship of the true God today. So give us a tent, give us a football stadium, give us a school building or just a single classroom. Give us an open field in a park. Give us a living room, give us some office space, give us an old barn.
Give us whatever.
As long as we have God in us, which we do, as long as we have each other, which we do, and as long as we have his word, which we do, we can worship God in spirit and in truth, no matter where we are. Question for you. Church, how often do you reflect on this reality as it pertains to yourself, that you are a temple of God and that God lives in you? If you thought about this incredible reality more often, do you think that would change the way that you live your life?
If you realize that everywhere you went, everything you did, you have the presence of the living God dwelling inside of you. I wonder if we knew that and we thought about it more and more. I wonder if we would say the same things that we say. I wonder if we would watch the same things that we watch. I wonder if we would do the same things that we do or would our lives be different if we truly believed we were bringing God with us wherever we went?
This is the second transition I wanted to highlight in this message coming out of Verse is one and two in Matthew. Twenty four, this transition of moving away from a physical location, the temple where worship of God was located, transitioning into this more fluid reality, where Jesus is in his new temple that he made by his hands as he's in us now, as the church brings us to the third transition. I want to highlight all of these two verse is.
It's going to be the third fill in on your outline. And it's this Jesus transitions from talking about things that are the talking about things that are going to be. One more time, Jesus transitions from talking about things that are to talking about things that are going to be. Here's what Jesus has been mainly talking about up until this point in his ministry. In a nutshell, in a snapshot, Jesus has been going around all of Israel from town to town, publicly preaching and proclaiming a simple message repent for the kingdom of heaven and repent and enter the kingdom.
Return from your sin, turn to God, get right with God. And in this message, the Messiah is come. The Messiah is here.
What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
The physical temple doesn't exist. It doesn't exist, but there's more than one reason why there is a transition happening where worship had been to where it was going to be, another reason we know a transition was coming was because. Of what Jesus had been saying earlier about worship in his public ministry is on your outline. I'm going to take you to mid mid conversation. Gospel of John Chapter for Jesus is having a dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well.And we're going to pick up this text mid conversation to hear what Jesus has to say about worship. Sir, the woman said, speaking to Jesus, I can see that you are a prophet, so this is John, Chapter four, verses nineteen twenty six. I can see that you were a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Woman Jesus replied, Believe me, a time is coming when you when you will worship the father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we worship what we do know for salvation is from the Jews, Mark this year at a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the father seeks. God, his spirit and his worshippers must worship in the spirit. And in truth, the woman said, I know that Messiah called Christ is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.
Then Jesus declared I, the one speaking to you. I am here. Incredible, here we hear Jesus saying that a time was coming and had come where people would not worship God in Jerusalem anymore as the sole center of worship. Jesus had been talking about this transition for a while. Before we get to our scene in Matthew. Twenty four. He's been talking about it and preparing people is not going to be around, so we know no one.
It's not going to be around the temple because the temple is destroyed to Jesus has been talking about a transition coming. And there's a third reason we know that there is a transition away from worshiping at and centered around the physical temple in Jerusalem, because we're told in the New Testament that Christians are the temple. Now, we are a new living temple and we are filled with the very presence of God. We are where worship of God takes place. In us, this is this is incredible.
There is a transition that's taken place where now each Christian is a temple of God, individually, the spirit of God in us.
The apostle Paul says as much in his letter to the Corinthian church, First Corinthians, Chapter six 19. Paul says this or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God? So the moment that you placed your faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, you place your faith in his sinless life, his sacrificial death on the cross for your sins.
And his resurrection is mighty resurrection from the dead, the moment that you repent of your sins and believe in him for the first time, the Bible says that you are born again spiritually on the inside your made new and God came to live inside of you in that moment. Wow.
Wow, so, Christian, you are an individually a temple of the living God, but the church, the collective body of Christ, all the individual Christians that make up the church, we collectively are also the temple of God.
Useless trivia
Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over a decision to lock down prisons during next week's total solar eclipse.The suit filed in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates' constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.
The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.