Birth pains of the end

We'll be reading from Matthew 24, the first 35 verses.

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But he answered them, You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples 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 Jesus answered them,

All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

And the end of the day will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

And then the end will come.

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand,

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house.

And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.

And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days.

Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now.

No, and never will be.

And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.

But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

Then if anyone says to you,

Look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it.

For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders,

so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

See, I have told you beforehand.

So if they say to you,

Look, he is in the wilderness, do not go out.

If they say,

Look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it.

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west,

so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days,

the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will fall from heaven,

and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man,

and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn,

and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven

with power and great glory.

And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call,

and they will gather his elect from the four winds,

from one end of heaven to the other.

From the fig tree, learn its lesson.

As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves,

you know that summer is near.

So also, when you see all these things,

you know that he is near at the very gates.

Truly I say to you,

this generation will not pass away

until all these things take place.

Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Well, before we get into the passage,

this is Chris and Jess Brown's final Sunday with us.

Chris, you've been in this church your entire life, right?

Yeah, wow.

And Jess meeting Sam Jenkins at uni,

and then Chris eating broccoli in church,

and coming into this church, coming to the Lord.

We're going to miss you both so much.

You've been faithfully serving.

I'm not going to list them all,

because I'm going to forget all the ways

you've been serving in the church over the years.

What came into my mind was even quench back in the day.

But, anyway, many years of relationship.

So please grab them before they leave today,

because, yeah, they're going to Taree.

Chris has got a full-time job there.

So, yeah, let me pray for you now,

and pray for us as we come to God's Word as well.

Yeah, Father, we thank you for Chris and Jess,

and just more than friendship there,

our brother and sister in the Lord Jesus.

And every goodbye hurts,

even when it's for good reasons.

And so I pray that you would comfort them in this change.

Thank you that we have...

We know that there is a great reunion when you return,

when we'll never have to part ways again.

We pray that you'll give them a Bible-based church

that they can flourish in and serve in.

So we just ask that you'll go before them in this new season.

And, Father, I pray for us now as we come to sit under your Word.

Give us understanding.

Give us belief.

And I pray that we will be changed from your Word,

what we hear today.

In Jesus' name I pray it.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, the late Pastor Tim Keller,

many people, many Christians use some of his phrases

and they don't even realise it.

And one person calls them Kellerisms.

People just use his phrase, they don't realise it.

I want to start today with a quarterwoodism.

Major on the majors and minor on the minors.

Now, he's not having a go at little children.

But I pray that that phrase,

or at least the principle of that phrase,

we never lose sight of

because we're going to unravel as a church if we do.

When it comes to unity in this church

and unity with other gospel-believing churches

in doctrine and in church practice,

we need a major on the major doctrines

and keep the minor details,

keep them in their proper place.

We get that reversed

and we get ourselves in all sorts of trouble.

Some Christians die on this hill

of end times theology called eschatology

and we can divide much too quickly on this.

Minoring on this doesn't mean you ignore these passages

and become a pan-millennius

that is just going to all pan out somehow in the end.

We're meant to study all these passages

but we need a major on what all Christians believe

and we express it in the ancient creeds.

Christ will return.

And the ultimate result,

as we heard in the children's talk,

is judgment

and rest for his people

in the new heavens and earth.

We all believe in that.

We need a major on that

and all the details we need a minor on.

For the average secular person,

the future is uncertain.

It is filled with the prospect of death and decay.

The present is big.

That's all that matters.

The present is big, future, uncertain.

But the Christian, it's the other way around.

It's the present.

That's small and uncertain.

But our future is massive and bright.

The Christian life is always,

it's like tiptoeing over the edge

of the threshold of eternity.

Not in a panic,

but there is an urgency

that these days are short,

are small.

We can't think too often about the hope

that scripture gives us.

You can't think too often about it

because it's that hope

that fuels us being faithful to Christ

and persevering.

We need to think about it often.

So, where we're up to in Matthew's Gospel,

Jesus has just pronounced judgment

on the Pharisees.

And until he goes to the cross,

his attention is now turning to his disciples.

He's preparing his people

for how we're to live

until he returns.

Now, his disciples are looking

at the beautiful temple

and they might have expected

significant reform,

really profound reform,

but what he says shocked their expectations.

Verse 2,

Truly I say to you,

there will not be left here

one stone upon another

that will not be thrown down.

Now, in 70 AD,

Jewish national zealots

to make Israel prominent,

they rebelled against Rome,

they murdered their own people

and they installed false priests.

And that precipitated the Romans coming in,

besieging the city on all sides.

No one could get out.

There was such a famine

that historians record

they ate their own defecation.

Mothers were boiling.

I'm not going to finish that sentence.

Some escaped to a place called Masada

and the Roman army pursued them

and utterly destroyed them.

Now, there have been horrific persecutions

of the Jewish people

under Hitler and Stalin,

but what's terrifying

about what happened at 70 AD,

no one,

no one escaped.

Now, that happened

within a generation

of Jesus' prophecy here.

And there's historical evidence

that Christians heeded this warning.

When they saw

these events starting,

they got out of there.

Now, there's three,

I've come across three main ways

of interpreting Matthew 24.

And there's so many

little offshoot variants

of how to interpret this

that I'm not going to go into all that.

I want to avoid confusing today.

So I want to just ask,

when do Christians,

reading Matthew 24,

where do they see

the 70 AD happening?

Because that might help us

understand these three views.

The first view

for understanding Matthew 24

is that 70 AD,

the temple destruction,

happened in verse 2 alone.

So when Jesus said,

not one stone will be left on another.

And they see the rest

as literal events

that are still to come

at the end of history

with a seven-year

great tribulation.

That view means

that verse 15

is talking about

another literal temple

is going to be built.

Now, a problem

I see with this view

is that it stretches

the meaning of generation

in verse 34.

Truly, I say to you,

this generation

will not pass away

until all these things

take place.

The natural reading of that

is those who are

hearing his words.

So that's the first view.

The second view,

so you see 70 AD

from verse 15

all the way through

to the end of verse 35.

So it's taking

verse 29 to 31 there

as symbolic.

Not as Jesus' second coming

but as symbolic

of the destruction

of the temple.

Now, the advantage

of that view,

let's see if I'm losing,

trying to read body language here

if I'm losing you,

the advantage of that view

is that it all took place

in that first generation then.

But those phrases

in verses 29 to 31

really do sound like

the second coming of Christ,

especially when you see

those same phrases

in other New Testament passages

and it's about

the second coming of Christ.

I know I'm not doing

these views justice.

There's probably some

just wriggling in their seats,

want to cry out this moment,

but by all means,

talk about it over morning tea.

just keep that quarterwoodism

front and centre

in our minds

as we talk about it.

I'm leaning heavily here

on Don Carson.

He's co-founder

of the Gospel Coalition.

So a third view is

verse 15 to 21

is talking about 70,

what happened at 70 AD.

It's a one

and a thankfully done

sign.

The abomination

that causes desolation

was that murder

and installment

of false high priests

causing the destruction

of the temple.

And the remaining signs

in this chapter

happened in that

first generation.

But they also happened

in every other generation,

including our own.

As the New Testament

elsewhere says,

since Christ's death,

resurrection and ascension,

we are in the last days.

There are many things

that can make life

feel uncertain.

As a parent now,

I'm starting to fear

for my children

what world

they're coming into.

There's so many things,

aren't there?

The political tensions,

just the social

and moral breakdown,

AI.

There's so many things

that are just

unsettling.

A guy called

Gavin Ortland

in the US

says that there's

a growing trend

of evangelicals,

Christians,

converting to

Eastern Orthodoxy,

especially young men,

for whatever reason.

Now, this isn't like

a Baptist

becoming Prezi

or Anglican.

They must renounce,

publicly renounce,

Protestantism,

that it's heresy.

And one of the converts

to Eastern Orthodoxy

suggested a reason

why the trend.

What's the attraction?

Here's what they said.

Everything's changing.

Protestant churches

are changing.

The Catholic church

is changing.

The culture is changing.

The government

is changing.

People want something

that is historic

and not going to change.

They want something

that's stable

and solid

and is not built

on sand.

And so,

the liturgy of

it's so ancient

in Eastern Orthodoxy,

it feels

unchanging.

That desire

for stability

and security

that doesn't change,

that is good.

Don't you have that desire?

We all have that desire.

Nothing wrong

with that desire.

But there's only one thing

that can't change.

It is not

man-made tradition.

Jesus tells us

these things

ahead of time

so that we have

an anchor

for our lives

into something

that is rock solid.

more solid than rock.

He's telling us

these things

ahead of time

so that we won't

be led astray.

We won't latch on

to something else

that says,

put your life on me

because I'm unchanging.

He's telling us

these things

to give us an anchor.

So,

verse 8

describes

how we're to

interpret these

distressing things

we see

that rock us

and give us

that sense of

distress.

All these

are but the beginning

of the birth pains.

Like a woman

going into labour,

there's joy

to look forward to.

Labour pains

are evidence

that the end

is close.

There is permanent

lasting joy

up ahead.

But it could be

that the labour

lasts one hour

and she barely

makes it

to the hospital.

Or the longest

recorded labour

is 75 days.

Poor.

We might

pray for Lauren

it's not that long.

Jesus

is preparing us

to face

pitch black times

and interpret them

with hope.

Like a woman

can persevere

through the pain

because she knows

joy

is so

close.

He's telling us

these things

so that we can

interpret events

in hope.

So,

let's go through

what the pains

are,

the birth pains.

the end times

are characterised

by international

rivalry,

wars,

the world wars

of last century,

hundreds of millions

killed.

So many Christians

were talking about

this is evidence

of the end of history

and you can understand

why.

But there was also

huge upheaval

in the sacking

of Rome

around the 400s,

the fall

of the empire.

When we read

these events,

when we see them,

Jesus says

the end is not

yet.

Verse 7,

we've got natural

disasters like

the 2004

Boxing Day

tsunami.

Over 200,000

people killed.

Some speak

of climate

change as

we're about

to annihilate

ourselves.

This panic

but there was

also a massive

earthquake

in the

Philadelphia

area

in AD 64.

The Apostle

Paul raised

funds for the

famine in

Jerusalem

because

the crops

in Egypt

failed.

If we were

living in

Myanmar

with what

they're going

through,

you can

understand

why you'd

feel hopeless.

The earthquake,

civil war

and all the

social effects

things.

But they're

just birth

pains.

Then we've

got spiritual

afflictions on

the church.

We've got

persecutions,

verse 9.

There's still

many Christians

being killed

around the

world today.

Last century,

we had more

martyrs than

all the

previous

centuries

combined.

You can't

live a

godly

life of

integrity

and not

get insulted

or not

feel left

out or

kicked out.

You can't.

We shouldn't

expect religious

freedoms to

continue.

by all

means use

the avenues

to say

they should

but it

is not

the norm

in history.

What he's

saying here,

we shouldn't

expect it.

It gets

worse.

We should

expect

apostasy.

Verse 10.

Jesus

himself warns

that public

declarations of

faith of

individuals and

teachers and

churches,

some will

renounce

their faith.

The

definition of

a Christian

from the

New Testament

is someone

who endures

to the

end.

There's

such a

work on

the inside

that they're

born again.

They're

breathing in

the gospel

truths in

their local

church.

Divine

Grace is

causing

them to

repent of

their sins

regularly.

All these

things mean

they will

persevere to

the end.

That's the

definition of

a Christian.

they will

persevere.

So as

distressing as

it is when

someone

renounces,

that too is

a birth

pain.

It's just a

spiritual

attack on

the church.

Love will

grow cold.

Many people

feel that

society is

getting morally

worse.

I think most

generations say

that.

some

believers

won't

apostatize

dramatically

but

their love

for God

and love

for one

will grow

cold.

It's the

lawlessness

that will

do it.

It's being

inoculated to

wickedness

that creeps

in.

I think

I find

myself

laughing

with TV

series that

have got

an agenda

of

trying to

say you

should embrace

this wickedness

and I laugh

along.

we're letting

our kids

breathe in

these movies

saying ultimate

truth is found

inside you.

It's just being

inoculated to

the wickedness.

It's like a

frog in water

slowly rising

to the boil

which I know

is reversing

the metaphor.

It's growing

cold.

It's this

hypothermia

setting in.

But we

should expect

that sort of

thing to

happen.

It's a

warning to

us but we

should expect

it to

happen.

These

birth pains

are all

bracketed at

the start

and finish

by the

warning of

false

Christ and

false

prophets.

Verse 5

For many

will come

in my name

saying I

am the

Christ and

they will

lead many

astray and

you will

hear of

verse 6.

And then

verse 23

to 26.

Look here

is the

Christ.

Don't

believe it.

This age

this time is

marked by

false teaching.

Don't expect

that false

teaching to

come out

obviously

going here

I am I'm

false teaching.

It sneaks

in.

Half

truths.

Human

reasoning

that just

twists

scripture and

relegates

scripture to

the side.

Now there

could well be

an intensification

of all these

things at the

very end of

history.

There could

well be

a ramping

up at the

very end

including an

antichrist.

But here

Jesus is

warning of

many.

Many.

There

haven't been

many who

have claimed

to be

Christ in

the flesh.

There's

been a

few.

Some

devastating

cults.

There have

been some.

We could

potentially

apply this

broader.

Anyone who

claims this

unique

connection to

God.

This

special

empowering.

If you

don't follow

them, you

are not

part of

God's

kingdom.

Be

suspicious

of anyone

who claims

a unique

authority.

A special

relationship

with God.

One, this

person is

going to

fix the

church.

They're

going to

fix the

world.

If only

everyone

got on

board

with

that kind

of talk.

These

self-appointed

prophets,

often

inducing

fear, like

that South

African guy

just recently.

The rapture

was meant to

be two

Wednesdays

ago.

But their

reach online

to people

here is

incredible.

Causing

lots of

bad

things.

But not

just

self-appointed

prophets,

but I

think any

Christian

institution

or Christian

so-called

teachers,

we've looked

at recently,

that says

Christ and

his cross

isn't

enough.

You need

to add

something.

You need

to add

works.

You need

to add

rituals.

You need

spiritual

gifts.

You need

another

book besides

the Bible.

You need

a human

tradition and

institution.

You need

enough

repentance.

You need

anything that

adds to

his cross

and simple

faith and

lead us

astray.

I don't

like thinking

about all

this.

I don't

know about

you.

Are you

sick of

me saying

all this?

Jesus loves

us too

much.

He's

preparing

us.

He's

telling us

these

birth

signs so

that we're

anchored

to

something,

to

someone

more

rock

solid

than

the earth

itself.

Verse 35,

heaven and

earth will

pass away

but my

words

will not

pass away.

God

will not

change.

His word,

his gospel,

all about

him is the

only thing

that cannot

change.

His church

can change

but his

word,

his gospel

is the only

rock solid

thing.

God

please

don't

settle

for

anything

less

than

that.

He

tells us

these

things ahead

of time.

We may

not

understand

his

reasoning

but he's

told us.

He's

ruling.

He

knows.

I don't

know.

He knows

though.

And he

even says

he's cut

these days

short so

that we

all make

it to

the end.

I think

like a

jeweller

getting a

diamond ring

out of the

cabinet,

they don't

just place

it on the

bench,

they'll

place a

black

mat so

that the

diamond

shines all

the more.

You've got

all these

distressing

pains.

And then

verse 14,

it just

shines really

bright in

the midst

of this.

And this

gospel of

the kingdom

will be

proclaimed

throughout the

whole world

as a

testimony to

all nations.

And then

the end

will come.

This is

what God

is doing

in this

era.

Which is

why I think

eschatology is

that make us

focus on

interpreting

day or

hour,

literal

events or

filling

politics and

media and

businesses with

Christians.

It's

distracting from

God's agenda.

God's agenda

is this

gospel,

this good

news,

the victory

of the good

news going

to all the

world.

This isn't an

instruction to

us.

He's just

saying,

that's his

agenda,

he's going to

do it.

We can get on

board with that

or not.

I hope we

do.

Well, we

are.

Let's do it

more and

more.

There were

apparently two

Scottish

prisoners of

war in

Germany in

World War

II.

There was

two camps

side by

side.

One was

with the

British and

one with

the American

POWs.

They acted

as chaplains.

They were

allowed to

meet at

the fence

in the

middle every

so often.

They realised

the German

guards didn't

know Gaelic.

They could

share news

with each

other.

One of the

soldiers had

a secret

radio.

One of

these chaplains

told the

other one,

Germany has

surrendered.

It was so

broken down,

the communication.

The guards

didn't know

that yet.

It took

three days

for the

guards to

know that.

But when

the other

chaplain went

back and

reported the

news, there

was just

this cheer

that went

up and

they didn't

complain about

the food

anymore.

They weren't

complaining

anymore.

They had

rifles in

their faces

and they were

smiling at

the guards.

They were

walking around

like it was

a party,

they said.

The chaplain

said we

were liberated

by the

news before

we were

liberated by

the guards.

That's the

power of the

good news of

the kingdom,

of Christ's

cross and

resurrection and

ascension.

He is on the

throne amidst

such hardships

and change and

uncertainty.

We can

smile at the

guards.

Christians can

even willingly

enter more

affliction

sharing this

good news with

those sitting

in darkness

because of

this news.

It liberates.

It feels like

the spiritual

war is raging.

It can even

get us down

that God's

agenda is

losing.

But the

war has been

decisively won

2,000 years

ago.

That's the

good news.

When he died

and rose

victorious,

Satan,

he's done.

Our sin is

done.

The world

is done.

Death is

done.

It is

decisively

won.

It's

finished.

We're

living in

between the

times of

that decisive

victory and

just the

wrapping up.

Someone's

used the

illustration,

another World

War II

illustration,

is when the

Allied troops

landed on

Normandy,

once they

got

conquered

there.

The war

was decisively

done.

Everyone knew

that.

Germany knew

that.

The Allies

were advancing

on the

Western Front.

Russia was

pushing on the

Eastern Front.

It was done.

But the war

was still raging.

People were

still dying.

But the

victory was won.

The cross and

resurrection is

our D-Day.

day.

We're just

waiting for

that V-E

day when

we're just

going to be

shouting and

celebrating in

the streets

when all the

rifles are put

down.

Like the

birth pains,

to mix

metaphors,

we can look

at all these

distressing,

changing

things and

we can go,

joy is so

soon.

which brings

us to

verse 27

to 31.

They

describe the

obvious,

indisputable,

glorious

appearing,

coming of

Christ.

I don't

know about

you,

sometimes I

see lightning

in the sky

and I start

counting in

my head to

work out how

far it is.

Sometimes I

just keep

counting because

I never

hear the

thunder.

That's not as

close as I

thought it

was.

It's just so

far away.

That's the

point of this

lightning metaphor.

When Christ

comes,

everyone will

see it.

East and

west,

everyone will

see it.

I won't have

to tell you,

you won't have

to tell me.

It will be

obvious,

you won't

miss it.

I think that's

the point of

the vulture

thing too.

When there's

a carcass,

no vulture

is missing

out on that.

Everyone will

know.

After this

whole era from

that first

generation where

all those

signs were

taking place

through to

our day

today,

all these,

immediately

after the

tribulation of

those days,

the sun will

be darkened

and the moon

will not give

its light

and the stars

will fall from

heaven and the

powers of the

heavens will be

shaken.

Then will

appear in heaven

the sign of the

Son of Man.

Then all the

tribes of the

earth will

mourn and

they will

see the

Son of Man

coming on the

clouds of

heaven with

power and

great glory.

And he will

send out his

angels with a

loud trumpet

call and they

will gather his

elect from the

four winds from

one end of

heaven to the

other.

This is the

winding up of

the universe.

He's not

riding on a

donkey anymore.

He's coming

victorious.

There's a

banner, there's a

loud trumpet

call.

All authority

is his right

now but it's

contested.

On that day

there's no

contest.

And those

who have placed

their joy and

their hope here

in this world

rejecting Jesus

will mourn.

And there's a

poem that

captures this.

I dream that

the great

judgment morning

had dawned and

the trumpet had

blown.

I dream that

the nations had

gathered to

judgment before

the white throne.

The rich man

was there but

his money had

melted and

vanished away.

A pauper he

stood in the

judgment.

His debts were

too heavy to

pay.

The great man

was there but

his greatness.

When death

came was left

far behind.

The angel

that opened

the records

not a trace

of his

greatness

could find.

But for the

believer that

same moment,

oh that

celebration,

he's sending

his armies of

angels to keep

us safe and

gather us.

one of the

effects of this

passage on me

is just

thankfulness

for my

salvation.

Not that I

chose him but

that he is.

I would have

been mourning

on that day but

now I can lift

my head looking

forward to it.

well the

disciples asked

when will

these things

be and

some

Christians,

some

teachers,

they use

this passage

to do the

exact opposite

of Jesus'

stated purpose.

They point to

all these

events and

they're trying

to stir up

alarm among

believers but

Jesus says,

see that you

are not

alarmed.

for this

must take

place but

the end

is not

yet.

These are

the beginning

of the

birth pains.

But that

not being

alarmed is

balanced by

verse 32

to 35

of the

fig tree

lesson.

All these

things which

doesn't include

Christ's

returns,

all these

signs,

that doesn't

include Christ's

return because

if he's

back,

he's back.

You don't

need a

sign.

All these

things,

we can

know he's

really near.

He's at

the very

gates about

to come

in.

So Jesus

in the

New Testament

is calling

for a

proper balance

here.

Don't be

too quick

to say

the end

is really

close.

If it

distracts you

from God's

agenda,

proclaiming

the gospel,

it can

create a

sense of

panic and

uncertainty.

We're meant

to be

anchored in

his word.

He's told

us ahead

of time.

But

there's

this pulsating

hope.

There's

this,

he could

come back

any moment

in my

lifetime.

there's

this tension

there,

this

balance.

Now,

if you're

feeling like

this will

never happen,

I'm sure

Noah's

contemporaries

were pretty

skeptical too

when it

took a

hundred years

to build

that boat.

it

happened.

I'm

sure

Jeremiah,

when he

said

Babylon is

coming,

they said

the temple,

the temple

God would

never.

He's

coming.

2 Peter 3

9,

So I'll

just finish

with how

then should

we be

living with

this balance?

Some

Christians

pray and

talk as

if

we're

meant to

rise above

all the

pains in

this life.

That's

not the

Christian

way.

We're

meant to

endure

the

distress.

We're

still in

the world.

Nor

should we

fixate on

reading

political

events

and

prophetic

things

people

say.

It is

also

crazy

to place

our hope

here.

Now I'm

convicted by

this

myself.

It's

crazy

to make

the present

big

when it's

not

big.

It's so

uncertain.

It will

pass away.

there are

things not

to do.

I think

this passage

is pushing

us to

make our

priority as

a local

church his

priority,

what he's

doing,

which is

verse 14.

This

gospel of the

kingdom will

be proclaimed

throughout the

whole world.

Knowing he's

ruling now,

knowing he's at

the very gates,

let's get on

board with

his agenda.

seeing his

word take

deeper root in

each other's

lives,

raising and

training and

sending up

more gospel

workers from

this church.

Let's pray

that missionaries

will come from

our own church

to go to

places where

there is not

a church yet.

That's going

to cost us.

That's going

to cost us

financially and

relationally.

All those

things in our

life that we

call non-negotiables

that we need to

actually put aside

for the sake of

this.

It's going to

cost us.

Year 12, so

you guys, if I

can just briefly

talk to you

guys, you're

entering an

uncertain world.

A HSC result is

not a great

foundation.

As much as the

world is telling

you that, his

word is the

foundation.

I know where

you all are, I

should be looking

both ways here,

but his word is

the foundation to

build your life

on.

Living for his

word in his

church and his

mission, that's

a life well

lived.

The present is

small, the

future is big,

the victory is

won.

His word is

unchanging, not

some liturgy, his

word is

unchanging.

Let's smile at

the guards.

these are the

very gates.

Will you pray

with me?

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Father, I pray

that the hope you

have purchased for

us in the blood of

Christ would fill our

imagination much,

much more so

that we will be

faithful to you

and we will show

a hope that is

deeper than what

anyone else in this

world has so that

we can display the

beauty of the good

news of the gospel.

people and I pray

that you would use

us as a church to

get on board with

your agenda.

I pray these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.