Jesus' SITREP on the Last Days Part 2 - Mark: The Messy Gospel

Well, turning your Bibles to Mark chapter 13, as you already know, if you were here with us not last week, because last week, man, last week was crazy, wasn't it?

Mark 13 · chapter mention

We had we had the uh the um what did we have?

I mean, we had so many things.

Um we had the Seder, and that was packed out in the lobby, and then we had Good Friday, which was an awesome service, and then we had Easter on Saturday night, and then we had the Easter on the Prairie sunrise service, which was a great crowd for that too.

So it was just a great, great weekend.

So anyway, the weekend before, when we were marching through Mark, we were in Mark 13, and I called it sit rep, Jesus sit rep on the last days.

And sit rep is a military term for situational report or a commander's situational report, where Jesus is basically giving us a heads up.

We might call it a briefing about here's the signs that you will know of the last days of the coming of the Lord.

And that was part one because it was so much information.

Let me encourage you to go to the website and download or listen to that message because there's no way I can cover that again to bring us up to date.

I'm gonna go through the main points, but I talk about everything from what's happening with the seed manufacturers in our country all the way up to the word as it relates to uh nations rising up against nations and the uh and the etymology of those words and why what we're seeing in the Middle East right now is um is really interesting.

Uh let me just start the rubric.

This this is the overarching rubric, is that Jesus says, Don't be troubled.

Don't be troubled.

And here's the way I think of it.

We've had we've had a lot of kids, okay?

So we've seen a lot of pregnancies come.

And so when when Liz is having Braxton Hicks with a pregnancy, we don't do we don't do anything about it.

I mean, the first time you're, you know, you're calling the doctor.

I mean, I feel sorry for like, you know, all the doctors who do babies and stuff, especially with their first one, because you ladies know, I mean, you just you're just on pins and needles all the time, and they're just Braxton Hicks.

They don't mean anything.

They're just kind of it's the preparation of your body because it's gonna really change.

And the hormones are are starting to change your body and everything.

Well, there's it's almost in the same way.

Jesus can calls it birth pangs, and it's like when we see wars and rumors of wars, we see earthquakes on the increase, we see famines, things like that.

Those are just um Braxton Hicks.

Don't be troubled, be excited, because the baby's coming.

There's gonna, there's a new heaven and a new earth.

It's coming.

And so what he does say, though, is here's why I'm telling you this.

He's saying, look, you guys, here's how you're gonna know when I'm coming back, and here's what I want you to do.

I want you to be ready.

I want you to be ready.

I want you to have the hospital ready.

I want you to have the doctor ready.

The baby's going to be born.

Christ is coming back, and he says, and he keeps saying this, watch and pray.

So watch and pray.

So that's the attitude I want us to always have at the road when we talk about subjects like this is watch and pray.

And know that we don't have to be, we don't have to be ignorant about not only the coming of the Lord, but also the strategy of the enemy.

You guys understand the enemy's got a strategy and he doesn't know.

He doesn't know when the Lord's coming.

He doesn't know.

And Jesus is going to mention even in our passage, he doesn't know.

Not that he knows now, but at the point where he was fully human while on the earth, he did not know.

He had limited knowledge.

But I believe now that he's seated at the right hand of the Father, he knows.

But he didn't know then.

The only one who knows is Hal Lindsay.

So it's interesting that the last days, the the issue of the last days is really important to Jesus because actually, when you look at how many passages in the New Testament talk about the coming of the Lord in the last days, it's one out of ten.

So 10% of the New Testament actually covers this.

So this is important that we understand this.

Let me give you three things.

I shared this last week, I'll repeat it again, why our generation is the most unique in history.

And I'm not, I mean, I know I'm ethnocentric because I'm an American and I'm from Georgia, so I know I'm ethnocentric, but but I'm not ethnocentric on this.

This is just a fact.

Okay, this is just, we're the most unique generation ever in the history of the world.

Here's why.

Number one, Israel's now a nation.

Whatever you believe about Israel and the Palestinian state and where they should be two separate governments or two separate states is is is superfluous to the fact that Israel, for the first time in thousands of years, is a nation.

And that does play a part in the last days prophecies of Romans 11, Book of Revelation, Book of Daniel, and also in Mark 13, and we'll see why.

Number two, nuclear proliferation.

Number two, nuclear proliferation.

I mean, during the Civil War, we were not going to destroy the whole earth with musket fire.

Um, in World War II, we were not going to destroy the whole earth.

We were the only guys who had the bomb, okay?

So for the first time in history, we have the ability to have a nuclear, a thermonuclear device.

Do you realize that the nuclear warheads we have on any one nuclear sub is 500 times more powerful than all the weaponry of World War II?

So we can literally destroy the earth.

No other generation has ever had that ability.

And then thirdly, the Middle East is a confusing cauldron like never before.

Do you guys realize that in Yemen, we are opposing Iran?

I mean, we're fighting against Iran alongside our ally, Saudi Arabia.

But as we sign potentially a nuclear treaty with Iran, we're opposing our ally, Saudi Arabia.

Then in Iraq, we are fighting alongside Iran against ISIS.

Now that's the most interesting thing I've ever seen.

It would be like, okay, we're working with Hitler against this country, but we don't like Hitler in this other country, and then we're signing a treaty with Hitler.

Can anybody help me with this?

I mean, this is unbelievable, unbelievable.

So here's the Jesus set rep, seven signs of the coming of the Lord.

Mark 13.

And I'm just going to go real quickly through what we talked about two weeks ago.

Then as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here.

And Jesus answered and said to him, Do you see these great buildings?

Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.

Verse 3.

Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when will we see these things be?

And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?

Verse 5.

And Jesus, answering them, began to say, Take heed that no one deceives you.

So you're going to hear this word about deception all through Mark 13, because folks, you can be deceived.

If Jesus is saying, Don't be deceived, then there must be a deceiver.

For many will come in my name, saying, I am he and will deceive many.

So the first sign I talked about was religious deception.

You can count on it.

There's going to be religious deception.

We are going to see alliances between denominations.

We're going to see alliances between religions that have never happened before.

There's going to be, there's going to be confusion about the Messiah.

There's going to be confusion about Christ.

Verse 6.

But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled.

I like that.

That comforts me.

Do not be troubled.

You almost have to laugh at some of it.

I mean, you really do.

You have to go, what?

We're doing what?

I'm not going to be troubled.

Let's watch him pray.

So do not be troubled, he says.

For such things must happen.

In other words, God's still in control.

God's still on the throne.

God's not up there wringing his hands, going, oh no, I didn't anticipate that.

I mean, God is still in control.

Don't be troubled, for such things must happen.

So he's already saying it's going to happen, but the end is not yet.

So don't start talking about the end.

It's only the beginning.

For nation, ethno, where we get, where we get ethnic, ethno, will rise up against ethno.

And remember, I talked about a couple weeks ago.

That doesn't mean political nations by boundaries or countries.

It could mean ethnicity.

And then I explained kind of all the how convoluted it is in the Middle East, even just within Islam, the different ethnicities that are within that.

And kingdom against kingdom.

So the second sign is there's going to be wars and rumors.

There's going to be wars and rumors.

There'll be earthquakes in various places.

And there'll be famines and troubles.

But these are just the beginnings of sorrows.

Third sign, natural disasters.

And again, I downloaded all that before.

So all kinds of natural diseases.

I would encourage you to read Revelation chapter 6.

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 6 talks about the seven seals being opened in the tribulation period, seven trumpets, and the seven bowls of wrath, the 70th week of Daniel.

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

What we're going to do, just so you guys know, kind of the teaching schedule, is that when we finish Mark in the next few weeks, we're going to take the summer, a lot of the summer, and we're in the title of the series is going to be called War.

And we're going to do it all on spiritual warfare through June and July, and maybe even into August, dealing with the satanic, the demonic deliverance and the power of God as it relates to the last days.

But then in the fall, we're going to start the book of Revelation.

So we'll go into more detail on a lot of this stuff.

Verse 9, but watch out for yourselves.

That's important.

Watch out for yourselves.

For they will deliver you up to counsels, and you'll be beaten in the synagogues.

You'll be brought before rulers and kings for my sake for testimony to them.

So the fourth sign is hatred and persecution.

Hatred and persecution.

Listen, you guys, get ready.

Get ready.

You're in your profession, in your schools, in your jobs, you will be persecuted if you stand for your faith.

I mean, I would rather, I mean, I always looked at this in sports.

I always looked at sports as like it's going to be super hard.

When we did two of days in football, I always knew it's going to be super hard.

Where I come from, there's sand spurs in the grass, there's humidity in the air, and it's blazing heart, and always the coaches are mean.

Okay?

And so, and so to think of it as hard and then it's not as hard as you thought is way better than to think it's gonna be easy and then you get surprised because it's hard.

The Christian life is a battle.

That's what we'll talk about all summer.

It is a battle.

I was on the phone with one of my sons, you know, and you guys know he he plays baseball at Nebraska, and um just he you know, he pulled his hamstrings.

There's been one thing after another.

And uh and he's he's saying, why?

And I said, I can sum it up in one word, son.

He's like, Dad, tell me, I said, war.

It's a war, it's a battle.

And if you look at the Christian life as a battle, it changes the whole dynamic of how you look you live your life.

It's like, oh, I can't believe that happened.

Wake up and smell the coffee.

I mean, it's if you think this is the yellow brick road, then man, you need to go into something else.

Because it's it's war, man.

It's tough.

You're gonna get injured, you're gonna get knocked silly, you're gonna go through, I don't care how godly you are.

You know, man, I'm tithing every day and I lost my job.

So?

What do you I mean you think you think the I mean the Lord's protection and his love is over you and the joy of the Lord is with you, but that might be why you lost your job.

Because you're actually becoming an enemy to Satan.

Do you realize you guys that the more we follow the Lord, the the the bigger the target is on our back by the enemy?

You know, well then why why am I doing this?

Why am I doing this?

You're doing it because it's the only thing that really deeply satisfies in your heart.

And you just look around, and this church, and I'm in this church right now, and a lot of you have tried a lot of stuff.

I mean, there's we've got a lot of stuff that's been tried in this place.

And I can tell you the guys who you know who who've been into prostitution and those that have been into drugs, um, they're evil taskmasters.

The bottle is an evil taskmaster.

Dope is an evil taskmaster.

Selling your body is an evil taskmaster.

I'll take Jesus as my taskmaster any day over that.

Well, let's start at verse 10.

And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand or premeditate what you will speak.

But whatever is beforehand given you in that hour, or premeditate what you will speak.

But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that.

For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

That's really important in this passage.

If the Holy Spirit's going to speak through you, now brother will betray brother to death.

And a father, his own child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

And you'll be hated by all for my name's sake.

But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

So the fifth sign is the gospel being preached to all the nations.

But look at the context.

The context is power encounter, power encounter.

In other words, there's going to be within families, even within families, conflict because of the Lord.

You're going to have sons and daughters that hate you because of your faith.

You are going to have aunts.

I mean, you already know Uncle Bob.

Everybody's got an Uncle Bob in their family.

Don't talk about politics or religion.

And I always want to say, like, what else is there to talk about?

Oh, Georgia football.

That's right.

And that's okay.

I mean, I can't, I say, I don't know about you guys, but man, I get it, it drives me crazy to be around um parts of my family that all they can talk about is the weather.

I'm serious.

Like, I remember one time we were at a reunion.

I hadn't seen him in 10 years.

I've been in Japan.

The whole time I've been in Japan for all these years.

I come back.

Not one person, not one person asked me about Japan.

All they talked about was the weather.

And I'm like, that's why I went to Japan.

Get away from this.

I mean, this mundane, surfacey life.

But there's gonna be, there's going to be within families deep conflict over spiritual things.

But the gospel's going to be preached.

And it's going to be through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's going to be the book of Acts all over again.

Folks, do you guys realize what's happening in places like Tanzania, like we prayed about today?

And what's happening in Korea, and what's happening in the in the clandestine cells, churches in China, and what's happening in India?

I mean, it's just unbelievable.

The miracles.

It's like a revival unprecedented in world history.

Now, it's not happening in America.

Because, you know, if you don't have a really good song and dance routine and you can spin plates and juggle, you know, people don't come.

But the reality is in these countries, they they come for the power and they stay for the presence.

They come for the power and they stay for the presence.

And they're getting healed, they're getting set free.

I mean, these are folks that are coming out of witch doctors, they're kind of all kinds of evil.

And the reality is, is that you are not going to convert some of these folks unless you come with power.

They know power.

I remember when we were down in Okinawa, we were down in those islands in the South China Sea, and we're dealing with the Utah, and the Utah is a priestess, and these priestesses ruled these villages and they heal people.

They regularly heal people.

And if you didn't come with the power of the gospel to heal and to set people free, that's like, well, I vote for Utah.

I mean, Utah takes my headaches away.

What do you guys do?

And so there is going to be an increasing exponential work of the enemy, and there's going to be an increasing exponential work of God.

It's exciting.

And so Jesus said to his disciples before leaving the earth, he said, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you should be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, remotest parts of the earth.

So that word power in Greek is dunamis.

It's the root for dynamite.

We've been given dynamite power.

The dynamite of the Holy Spirit.

In John chapter 14, Jesus says, Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these, because I go to the Father.

John 14 · chapter mention

So we we've been given this authority and power, church, in amazing ways.

Now, what why do we not see more happen?

It's an issue of faith.

It's an issue of trusting God.

And and as we learn to grow in that, as we start having, you know, PB and J, peanut butter and jelly with Jesus.

PBJ, prayer, Bible, and journal, prayer Bible and journal, prayer Bible and journal, prayer Bible and journal, as we start spending time in God's word daily using our PB and J bookmark, you're gonna grow in power.

You will.

You will.

When us guys, when we're in here and we're hearing Victor speak on May the 2nd, and we're in here for a couple hours, you, I hope you women will go, wow, I see a difference in my in my husband.

Because you're gonna come back with greater faith as a result of that time.

Verse 14.

This is where it gets kind of weird.

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, let the reader understand.

I like that parenthetically, let the reader understand.

That means understand this, don't miss this.

I guess he must think that we're gonna miss this.

Don't read, let the reader understand.

So Mark wants us to get this that there's this abomination of desolation.

Then those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Now it's interesting.

This is a sixth sign.

Sixth sign is the rise of the abomination of desolation.

The rise of the abomination of desolation, another word would be the rise of the Antichrist.

Now, the abomination of desolation is mentioned three times in the book of Daniel.

Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 11, and Daniel chapter 12.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention Daniel 11 · chapter mention Daniel 12 · chapter mention

I explained this a couple weeks ago.

Let me say it again.

Prophecy is kind of like a high-powered telescope.

In that, you know, like the other night we were driving in and you could see Venus over the front range really shining out, and even charity noticed it, and there's Venus.

And so we might take a high-powered, not the kind of not a low power, but a high-powered telescope, and we would direct it on Venus, and as we begin to dial it in, we start to see other stars.

We start to see other planets.

And that's that's what that's what the that's what the prophetic is like in the New Testament, in that we're we're we're zeroing in, and then we see more as we focus.

And so there's more to it than just this.

So, what is Jesus doing by bringing up the abomination of desolation in reference to the end times?

Because here's what he's doing he's referring to one event.

One event that occurred in 168 BC.

So he's talking about an event that occurred 168 years before all his these four guys.

And then as they began to tell the story, Mark would later write it down.

When they hear abomination of desolation, they're thinking of the Maccabees.

They're thinking of 168 BC.

And this is the four, so what Jesus is doing is he's actually taking them back 168 years to forecast something that's going to happen in the future.

And this is the man Antiochus IV.

Antiochus IV, or Antiochus Epiphanes, Greek king of the Seleucid Empire, 168 B.C., a Greek who entered the temple to attempt to eradicate the entire Jewish religion and wanted to set up the Greek pantheon in the temple.

All Jewish laws in 168 BC were forbidden.

Circumcision was punishable by death, and they pillaged Jerusalem.

On the 25th day of Kizlov, on his birthday, he brought a swine into the Holy of Holies in the temple.

Now to just put that in perspective, only the high priest in Yom Kippur once a year can go from the holy place into the Holy of Holies.

And Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV, went into the Holy of Holies with a swine, and he slaughtered it as a sacrifice to Zeus.

Abomination of desolation.

To consolidate his empire and strengthen his hold over the region, Antiochus decided to side with the Hellenized Jews.

That's the Greek, the Greek-born, Greek culture, enculturated Jews, by outlawing Jewish religious rites and traditions kept by observant Jews and by ordering the worship of Zeus as the supreme God.

This was anathema to the Jews, and when they refused, Antiochus sent an army to enforce the law.

Because of the resistance, the whole city was destroyed and many were slaughtered.

In 2 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, which is not in the Bible, but is a secondary source of information historically to Jews, here we read what happened.

Let me quote this.

Not long after this king, and he's speaking of Antiochus IV, sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and to live no longer by the laws of God, also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to the Olympian Zeus.

And that on Mount Gerizim, remember now you may not know Mount Gerizim is the place where the Samaritans believed was the key area of worship.

To Zeus, the hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested.

They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden, so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the law.

A man could not keep the Sabbath or celebrate their traditional feast, nor even admit that he was a Jew.

At the suggestion of the citizens of Telemus, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews, obliged them to partake of the sacrifices and to put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks.

It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended.

Thus two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breast and then thrown down from the top of the city wall.

Others who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the Sabbath in secret were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death.

Well, what happened was a gang of rebels took off from the city and headed to the hills, and they were called the Maccabees, the Hammer.

And they put together a guerrilla army in the hills and in three years retook Jerusalem, and that's where we get Hanukkah.

So, you know, a lot of people think, ah, Hanukkah, you know, light the little candles and all that.

Well, Hanukkah is the 25th day of Kislov, and it's to remember they came back and they retook the temple.

Well, some reason, some reason, Jesus is saying that that's a picture in the past of something that God's going to do in the future.

And so some of us believe, and I happen to be one of them, that we're going to see a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.

That there is going to be something happening.

And we we know that one of the pastors here at uh CHC recently was in Israel and they were doing some filming because there's some excavations a lot of people don't know about, even I don't know all the details of it, of stuff that's happening underneath the Temple Mount right now, or under the Mosque of Amar and the Dome of the Rock right there.

And so, you know, my brother emailed me two weeks ago, said, Hey man, let's go do another trip to Israel.

Um, if we do, we're gonna be hunting around, man.

We're gonna be down underneath the dome of the rock and get in all kinds of trouble.

So um, well, Romans 11 says, very interesting, Romans 11 says that there's going to be a revival in Israel.

There's going to be a work of the Spirit of God, and Israel is going to be saved.

And I believe this is during this time.

So I believe this abomination of desolation will be a world leader, a um an antichrist that'll be raised up and he will desecrate the temple.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is very interesting.

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

You can turn there if you're interested.

I'll read it to you.

Very interesting passage that parallels Mark 13 and Matthew 24.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ has already come.

Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first.

And listen, this is what it says.

And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Very interesting.

So here in Thessalonians, Paul is saying there's going to be a man, a leader, which he calls a man of perdition, that will exalt himself as God in the latter days, and he mentions a temple of God.

So something's gonna happen, something's going to be rebuilt.

And uh and when we see that, we go, all right, it's coming.

I mean, CNN's gonna be there, Fox News is gonna be there, MSNBC is gonna be there, we're gonna be there, everybody in the world's gonna see this.

I mean, how can you say when you see the abomination of desolation in the holy place?

I mean, you what are you?

Are we all gonna be standing around the temple?

No, I mean, there's gonna be newscasts, they're gonna satellite this thing.

Everybody's gonna see it, and he's gonna desecrate the temple.

Revelation chapter 13, again, we'll cover that in the fall, but in Revelation chapter 13, it talks about this beast of the Antichrist.

Revelation 13 · chapter mention Revelation 13 · chapter mention

It talks about another beast who's a false prophet, and I would call it what I like to call it the satanic trinity.

There's gonna be the satanic trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet together in the temple area, especially during the time, latter part of the tribulation.

And then that leads into the seventh sign, the seventh sign in our passage, worldwide tribulation.

Seventh sign, we will see worldwide tribulation.

Look at verse 15.

Let him who is on the housetop not go down into his house, nor enter to take anything out of his house.

Let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babes in those latter days.

Pray that your flight may not be in winter.

Pretty interesting.

I don't know if he's forecasting something about the time of year.

For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.

Interesting.

I mean, that already tells us it wasn't that it wasn't that time period uh with the uh with the desecration of the temple uh 37 years later under Titus, which we talked about a couple weeks ago.

That that was a that was another type of something to come.

We've seen tribulation way greater than that, even though a million Jews were killed during that time, even under the Hitler, under Hitler's regime, seven million, six to seven million Jews were slaughtered during that time.

So he's talking about something that's gonna be way worse than any of that kind of stuff.

And unless the Lord has shortened those days, no flesh would be saved.

But for the leck's sake, whom he chose, he's going to shorten the days.

Well, thank God.

So he's going to, he there's gonna be a there, there's gonna be kind of this restraining that's going to come.

And another passage called Jacob's trouble.

This is the days of Jacob's trouble.

Again, let me go back to 2 Thessalonians.

I keep paralleling these two.

2 Thessalonians verse 6, we read.

And now you know what is restraining.

Important, you guys, that he may be revealed in his own time.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Anybody know that?

There's a mystery of lawlessness in America right now.

I mean, it's happening with our young people.

It's a mystery of lawlessness.

Only he who now restrains, it's important, he who restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

Then the lawless one will be revealed, that's the Antichrist, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Verse 9.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.

So here's the deal, gang.

There's a restraining right now on the earth.

The Holy Spirit is restraining evil.

The Holy Spirit is restraining Satan's power.

And the best example in scripture that I know of is Job.

You see, God gave Satan, in Job chapter 1, God gave Satan power to attack Job, but then he put a boundary, he put a hedge around Job.

Job 1 · chapter mention

He could not take Job's life.

And so there's a restraining on Satan and on demonic.

And what's going to happen is we get closer to those days, that restraining is going to be lifted, okay?

And we're going to see an onslaught of demonic power upon the earth as that restraining is lifted.

Verse 24.

But in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

And then he will send his angels and gather together as elect from the four winds, from the furtherest parts of earth, from the furtherest parts of heaven, so heaven and earth.

So those that are still on the earth, he's gonna gather them, man.

You're gonna be in the harvest if we're here.

Those that are in heaven, he's gonna gather them from the four sides of the four um um pinnacles of heaven, as it were, and we're gonna come together in this new heaven and this new earth, and the Lord's coming, he's gonna be a white horse.

There's there's evidently animals in heaven, but we know that at least there's white horses.

So your dog and your cat might be coming.

I mean, you know, Jesus comes, he's got a sword coming out of his mouth, and he comes, and here comes, you know, Phido and uh princess, your kitten, and I think they they really did go to heaven.

And they've probably a little heavenly place up there and everything for them.

So don't ask me that question.

I don't want any emails about dogs and cats in heaven.

Yeah, I think they are.

Um some of the dogs that I've encountered are definitely not in heaven.

Um, some I've owned are not in heaven, I can promise you that.

They're in doggy hell, you know.

So I'm oxymoron, how it keeps doggy hell.

Man's best friend.

No, man's worst enemy sometimes.

Don't train your dogs, they're your worst enemy.

Let me just tell you.

They poop all over the house and throw up grass and stuff like that.

Verse 28.

Now learn this parable from the fig tree.

When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

There's something to be seen about this fig tree thing.

So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near.

It is at the door.

Assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.

Almost always, not not always, but almost always in Scripture, the fig tree is symbolic of Israel.

And so I'm a believer that this fig tree, this coming forth, when you see the branches becoming tender on the fig tree, is a cryptic prophetic word for Israel becoming a nation, and this generation will not pass away.

And so we're in that generation where the nation of Israel, starting in 1948, became a nation.

And so the end of the British mandate for Palestine was set for midnight on May the 14th, 1948.

And as you many of you know know, if you know your history, on that day, the um the Arab nations all from every angle attacked Israel.

Um and uh we were there.

We were there on May 14th, 2008.

And I'll tell you, it's one of the coolest things.

A bunch of us all, we got out and left the hotel in Tiberias up at the Sea of Galilee, and we went and we sat with um probably two or three thousand Jews.

And what they did, I was like, what are they gonna do on their anniversary?

And there's the there's the Israeli flag, and what they did is they memorialized everyone in the Tiberias area who had died in war.

Very interesting.

Can you imagine?

We can't even do that here.

I mean, nobody come except ex-military.

I mean, we're so far removed from the history of our nation.

They're not.

They're not.

And so on their 50th anniversary, they all came together, and then there was actually the relatives of those who had been killed.

So the first war in 1948, and they went through all the wars, and they had their pictures up there, and it was just a really cool ceremony uh being with them on their 50th anniversary.

Verse 32.

But of that day and hour, no one knows.

Not even Tim LaHay knows.

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins do not know.

I hate, I'm sorry.

Everybody's gonna be depressed now.

Why did I read those books?

And make them so rich.

Not even the angels in heaven, nor the sun.

So I believe when Jesus said this, he didn't know.

I believe he knows now, but he didn't know at the time of this sitting on the Mount of Olives.

But only the Father knows.

Take heed, watch, and pray.

For you do not know when the time is.

So idle speculation, you guys, is ridiculous.

You know, anybody who's making predictions or trying to get you all fired up about the coming of the Lord in the sense of like a prediction of some sort, be careful with that.

It's like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to each his work and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.

Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming.

In the evening?

Midnight, the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning.

Lest coming suddenly, he finds you sleeping.

What I say to you, I say to all, watch.

So he's saying, you don't know, but you know he is coming.

So watch him pray.

Live your life, church, like Christ is coming back anytime.

I mean, we don't know.

Evidently, it's gonna kind of catch some of us off guard.

I actually think that the master of this house is Satan.

That's a different twist.

That's what I think.

I think Satan doesn't know.

I think Satan's gonna get caught off guard.

So Satan's gonna be going along, and he is going to be right raising up these massive nations, these massive coalitions of nations, and these leaders are gonna get raised up, and he's gonna take over.

He's gonna basically take over the earth, and then Christ is gonna come back.

And he's like, oh no! And then he's just gonna get thrown into the lake of fire, and he's gonna be doomed, and we're gonna be rejoicing, and and the new heaven and the new earth is gonna have incredible trout streams.

And uh, and there's gonna be seven by seven elk everywhere.

You know, oh, I got another one, and I'm I'm gonna have mounts all over my mansion today.

So he's gonna come like a thief.

So so he's saying he is gonna be like a thief in the night.

So catch that.

Jesus is like a thief in the night.

So if you're not saved tonight, if you're not sure that you have a relationship with Christ by which you're going to heaven, you should really try to think hard about doing that.

Because there are there's stuff coming and there's demonic powers that are on the rise, and you're gonna get taken out.

You're gonna lose your marriage.

You are going to lose your life.

I mean, there there's there's evil on the move.

And I want to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

How about you?

And I want to know him, I want to worship him, I want to love him, I want to I want to get as close as I can to Jesus every day so that I can keep getting divine intelligence from him.

I want a sit rep every morning in God's word.

Isn't that cool?

You can wake up in the morning, you can open God's word, and you get a situation report from him.

This is what's going on.

I mean, Liz had Liz from time to time, I mean, Liz is so dangerous.

My wife is so dangerous.

I mean, she'll say, Steve, I don't, I don't, she says, everyone, I don't know what's going on, but I just have this sense about da-da-da, and she's almost always right.

And I listen to her and I'm like, man, I just want to like have a decent meal today, you know.

And she's like, oh, she's like zeroing in, you know.

Um, but this is your sit rep.

I mean, God speaks to us right from his word every day, and that's good news because it's getting more complicated out there.

So why don't you stand with me and we'll have the worship team come up?

So who's your master?

You got a master, Bob Dylan years ago, wrote a song, you gotta serve somebody.

You're gonna have to serve somebody.

And you're either serving the enemy or you're serving Jesus.

And I just say, come to Jesus and give your heart to him tonight.

And as we worship, think about it.

Don't make a don't make a decision if it's not the Lord, but after we worship, I'm gonna come back up and I want to give you the chance to receive Christ.

A couple weeks ago, when we were in the first part of Mark 13, young man came up, said, right up here, he said, I want to get saved.

And I said, Okay, let's do it.

And he gave his heart to Christ.

Another person right here said, I'm saved, but man, I need to get spirit-filled.

Would you pray for me to get filled with the Holy Spirit?

Absolutely.

It was really fun.

Because these are people that are serious about being a disciple of Christ.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we settle our hearts now.

And God, for some in this room, you're speaking in their hearts, and it's time to get right with you.

And it's it's time to get their spiritual life lined up with the kingdom of God.

So, Father, be speaking to their hearts, even as we worship.

God, for some of us, we've become lethargic, we've become kind of just comfortable.

And you're speaking to our hearts to be warriors, worshipers and warriors, and live wholeheartedly for you.

So, God, as we line up with you, as we line up in worship right now, God speak, guide, touch our hearts.

We love you, Jesus.