Mark 13:1-33 || The Book of Mark || Pastor Joel Holm

For those of you who don't know me, my name

is Joel and every once in a while I come

by hair. I sit on the board of directors of

Patriot Church, and I'm always so privileged and take really

seriously the responsibility of opening up the Word to you,

and especially tonight because as we're continuing our study through Mark,

it lands us in Mark thirteen, where Jesus talks about

the end times and he teaches on the end Times.

Now I know how some of you are responding to that,

because you're going, wow, really, I mean, I've got miracles

that I need, I need a job tomorrow. Some of

you here and you've got despair or you've got broken relationships,

and you're going the last thing I want or need

is a teaching about something I am so removed from.

But that's why Jesus gave the teaching, because he doesn't

want us so removed from. Because I've noticed with a

lot of people, there are a few of you and

you're really into. When somebody's really into the end Times,

I mean they're really to it. They are sold out,

they're at seminars, they're reading books, and good for them,

But for most of us, it just seems like a blur.

It seems like so removed and so hard to understand,

and pictures and ideas that we just you know, I'll

stay in Philippians. Don't take me to revelation. That's where

I can live. Can you believe that? Tonight? As we

look at Jesus's teaching on the End Times, one of

the reasons why he gave it was he wants to

plant in you a truth for today that will transform

you tonight that she'll wake up with tomorrow morning, ready

to have it as a tool, as a resource that

will carry you forward. It's not just about a knowledge

of a distant future. It's about a revelation and a

truth for you today that can give you the faith

and the hope and the courage that you need as

you navigate this life. So I'm going to start us

out by praying, and I'm going to ask that you

will pray Jesus deposit something in me through a teaching

I normally don't read or really understand very well that

will actually help me tomorrow morning when I wake up. Lord,

we are grateful. We are so grateful, Lord God, that

you know what we need and that you didn't leave

us alone to figure stuff out. But you taught us.

And as we open up your word now, Lord Spirit

of God, would you teach us with clarity and with simplicity.

May we grab a hold of something deep in our

heart and our mind and our soul that literally will

change how we live out with you tomorrow our day.

I thank you for each person here. I thank you

for their life. You know their needs, you know their questions,

Lord God, May tonight be part of your answer to them.

We pray this in the name of Christ. Amen. Amen.

All right, solved your Bibles to Mark chapter thirteen, and

we're going to study this passage now. Before we get

into it thoroughly, there are two truths that you've really

got to get a hold of that are the most important.

There are two truths that kind of lay the foundation

for this entire study of Mark thirteen. The first one

comes in chapter thirteen, verse thirty two. Here's what Jesus said,

But about that day or hour, no one knows, not

even angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

So here's the first truth. Nobody really knows. The specificicity

of November twenty six, twenty twenty seven. Nobody really knows this.

The question we have to ask is why keep it

a secret. Why wouldn't you just tell people, I mean,

at to very least scare them into salvation. There is

a reason why God, in his infinite wisdom, keeps this

a secret, because he knows in our humanity. If we

were to know five years from now, twenty years from now,

I thing upon the date was, it would affect how

we would live out our faith. If it's far enough

down the road. We're all a bit of procrastinators, aren't we.

If it's really close immediate, we wouldn't take our eyes

off of Jesus. Some of us wouldn't be present now,

we'd just be thinking about that date. So God and

as if it was, and says, I'm not gonna tell you.

I want you to live by faith, but I'm not

gonna live you leave you blind either. I'm gonna give

you some ideas. So the first truth is no one knows.

Here's the second truth. It's in verse twenty six of

Mark thirteen. At that time, people will see the Son

of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory,

and he will send his angels and gather his elect

from the four winds from the ends of the earth

to the ends of the heaven. Here's the second truth.

It will happen. Nobody knows, but it will happen. We

may not know when, we may not all agree on how.

But you can take it to the bank. He says,

this will happen. This truth that the Lord is returning,

that there is another world, a new Heaven, and a

new Earth. And this is central to our Christianity. This

is eternity. This is where we want to go. Have

you ever felt like you just don't fit in here,

like you don't belong on this earth, Like you always

feel like you're a little out of place. Do you

know why you feel like you don't fit in here?

Because you don't fit in here as a christ follower,

as a new believer, as a born again believer. You

were made for another kingdom. You were made for another world.

And the two truths that Jesus lays down as kind

of a foundation, which are most important to get a

hold of, is we're not quite sure when it's gonna be,

but we know it is going to be, and that's

where we ultimately want to land. That's where we want

to get to the Bible describes the early church as

every day they eagerly awaited the return of the Savior.

I want to start a practice where I wake up

in the morning my first prayer to Jesus is today,

Lord today. How would it affect how I work, how

I relate to people, how I handle my time? If

I said today, Lord today, That's where I want to go.

So we're going to look at three questions that Mark

thirteen jesus teaching answers Why he taught it? What will happen?

And how do we prepare ourselves for that? Why he

taught it? What will happen? How do we prepare ourselves

for that? So first, why did he teach this? Look

at the first six verses of Mark chapter thirteen. As

Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said

to him, look, Teacher, what massive stones, what magnificent buildings.

He says, Wow, look at this temple. Lord, isn't it amazing?

Verse two, do you see all these great buildings? Replied Jesus.

Not one stone here will be left on another. Everyone

will be thrown down. As Jesus sitting on the Mount

of Olives opposite the temple, Peter James and John and

Andrew asked him privately, tell us when will these things

happen and what will be a sign that they're about

to be fulfilled? And Jesus said to them, watch out

that no one deceives you. Many will come in my

name claiming I am Him and will deceive many. Jesus,

I'm gonna teach you about this to protect you from

being deceived. And the possibility of deception is there. It

will happen, it is currently happening. Or if you're not

aware of what's going on, you can be distracted. You

can be deceived in many different ways. You can find

yourself as a Christian having the wrong focus, where you

begin to look everywhere else just to Jesus, and you're

looking at what's happening in the political realm or an

election year. You look at what's happening in the world,

you look at what happening in your life, and you

get your eyes off a sense of eternity, and you

get so consumed with the world today, and all of

a sudden, now you are open for deception that will

shift you away from the focus Jesus wants you to have.

He says, don't be deceived you could be lulled to

sleep where you limit your faith and your identity as

a Christian to this world? Do you eagerly await? Does

that sense of eternity really drive you today and your

values and your time and your money. Jesus, listen, disciples,

I don't want you to be unprepared. You'll be saved.

What are you active so that you are ready for

this and you are participating in the events that are

going to take place in a way that brings redemption

to people in your neighborhood and in your country and

brings the glory to God. You go, oh, I came

to a Wednesday night's service. Jesus said, you got to

know this stuff because it will protect you. Don't avoid it,

don't misunderstand it, be aware of it. That's why he

teaches it. So I go, Okay, Lord, you said, we'll

listen to it. And he answers these two questions, what

will happen? And how do I prepare myself? So I'm

gonna read you a fairly long set of verses because

it's important. As we read these verses, look for the

traits of kind of what does this look like? What

are we gonna be looking for and see how he

describes it, not so much in detail, but overall. Starting

in verse seven, when you hear of wars and rumors

of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen,

but the end is still to come. Nation will rise

against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes.

Oh you know that, don't you well. There will be

earthquakes in various places and famines. These are the beginning

of birth pains. This is the first metaphor he uses.

He uses two one is birth pains, so he says,

just like a woman, a mom who's gonna give birth.

This is a metaphor to understand and be able to

be aware. This is the beginning of birth pains. Verse nine.

You must be on your guard. You will be handed

over to local councils and flogged in the synagogues on

account of me. You will stand before governors and kings's

witnesses to them, and the gospel must first be preached

to all the nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought

to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say.

Just say whatever is given to you at the time,

for it is not you speaking, But the Holy Spirit,

something divine is going to be taking place in this process,

where the presence of the Holy Spirit being able to

work through you in ways you may not have experienced before,

filling your mouth with the words that God wants you

to speak. Verse twelve. Brother will betray brother to death.

Family conflict, community conflict, and as father or father his child,

children will rebel against their parents and have them put

to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, But

the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

When you see the abomination that causes desolation standing where

it does not belong. This is a funky phrase. It

comes from a prophecy in Daniel, where it happened before

Jesus said this. It even happened after Jesus said this,

where opposing nations desecrated the temple of God the presence

of God by putting like pigs on the altar and stuff.

So Jesus is referring to that. He goes, you know what,

the House of God, it's gonna look in some places

like it's been devastated. There are some pictures you're gonna

hear about about the House of God where there's just

been an abomination, and it may confuse you, but don't

let it. It may overwhelm you, but don't let it.

Let the reader understand. Then, let those who are in

judeea flee to the mountains verse fifteen. Let no one

on the housetop go down or enter the house to

take anything out. Let no one in the field go

back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be

in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers. Pray

this will not take place in winter, because those will

be days of distress, unequaled from the beginning when God

created the world until now, and never to be equaled again.

Verse twenty. If the Lord had not cut short those days,

no one would survive. But for the sake of the

elect whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At

that time. If anyone says to you, look here is

the Messiah, or look there he is, do not believe it,

for false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform

signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

So be on your guard. I have told you everything

ahead of time, But in those days following that distress.

The sun will be dark and the moon will not

give its light. The stars will fall from the sky,

and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time,

people will see the Sun of Man coming in clouds

with great power and glory, and he will send his

angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from

the ends of the earth to the ends of the heaven.

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. There is

the second metaphor. Look at the fig tree and understand.

As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves

come out, you know that the summer is near. Even so,

when you see these things happening, you know that it

is near, right at the door. True, I tell you

this generation will not pass away, certainly until all these

things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but

my words will never pass away. But about the day

and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in

heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard,

be alert. You do not know when that time will come,

what will happen. Now we're not gonna unpack every little

detail of this, but I want to use those two

metaphors that Jesus uses birth and then a fig tree.

My youngest daughter just gave birth two weeks ago, so

I've kind of walked through the whole thing. Yeah, it

was really cool. She lives in Oregon. We were up there.

God was really good through it. But I was watching

and walking through her nine months of pregnancy, and she

was and her husband was so looking forward with great expectation.

And Jesus, you know all this stuff about the end times,

it's like birth. It's scary on one hand, but you

are looking forward with great expectation to this great life.

And if you look at all these characteristics, there are

some common traits through them. One thing we discover it's

going to get worse before it gets better. Now, I

have never been a pregnant mother, so I can only

give this second hand, But most pregnant mothers I have

met understand that when you are giving birth, it's going

to get worse before it gets better. And he says listen.

When he describes this, he does not say, listen, everything's

gonna get really much better. Society is gonna improve, there's

gonna be all these blessings. The world's gonna come together

in unity and harmony. We're gonna be ecologically sound. And

I say that to say society who doesn't know Christ

is working hard to make us all better. Everybody agrees

the world is broken. Everybody disagrees on how to fix it,

and everybody has this idea we can fix it, and

Jesus is saying, you can't fix it. You cannot fix

this thing. So there's going to be this sense of

it's going to get worse. Now. When you're a believer,

you know that doesn't affect me. That doesn't shake my faith,

that doesn't shake my firm foundation. If anything, I'm in

a place, in a blessed life where I will help others.

As we see this take place, and if you look

at these traits, it says every aspect of existence is

affected by it. Nature is affected by it. The New

Testament says, the earth cries out because it longs for

this salvation. Even the earth, the created earth, knows we're

not functioning the way God designed us to function. Society

is affected by it. There is disunity in families and

in communities and in nations that's there spiritually, it is

affected by it. There is this anti Christ's spirit that

is against and there's defamation that takes place. Every aspect

is affected by it. Nothing goes untouched with what transpires

in the descriptions of Jesus, and he tells us this

because he wants us to be aware. Do not think

you can live in an isolated cocoon and not be

affected by this. Don't be afraid of it, don't avoid it,

but be aware of it. Like birth pains that are there,

because you know on the other side of this is

new life. Be aware of that process because there's a

new Heaven and a new Earth that is coming. And

as hard as giving baby birth, maybe you know there's

something great that's coming. There is a gloriousness that coming.

When we're standing there singing that worship song about how

great is the Lord, I'm imagining around the throne of God,

every tongue, every tribe, every nation, No more tears, no

more sorrow, nothing I'm going. That's my position when I

look at this, I can navigate this and my role

through it, he says, be aware of this. There is

work to be done. When there are birth pains, you

do not just sit back. My daughter had to get

to work, My son in law had to get to

work next to her, and Jesus uses his metaphor to say,

you are part of giving birth to something that no

eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard of,

and you are gonna be a part of that. Are

you prepared? The Gospel's got to preached everywhere, and there's

this fulfillment that comes place, and you and I we

are invited to be a part of it. We are

not called to run off and hide somewhere. We are

not called to stick our head in the sand and

say I just don't want to think about it. We

are not called to live lives of just today. But

we are invited to be a part of God's process

of bringing life permanently to this earth. This is the

doorstep to life. Now, I'll tell you something. A lot

all these characteristics, they've already happened. They happen in the

time of Christ. They have happened for two thousand years.

He doesn't actually much speak of anything that has really

yet to happen. I've had the privilege of traveling all

of this world, and I have traveled and worked with

pastors and churches in countries that they have faced death

because of their faith. We live in a country where

we are well protected, and we have some freedoms that

are there for us. But you go to some other

countries and they have faced this, they understand this. And

yet here's the amazing part. When I'm there, when I'm

in you know, Afghanistan, when I'm in China, when I'm

in even Iraq, when I'm in places where the church

is so persecuted, you cannot even begin to imagine it.

When I talk to Christians who have lost everything, their

social security, their health, benefits, their job, everything because they

refuse to reject Jesus. And this is happening today and

I sit down with them, I have never met people

with greater faith and greater joy and greater strength. And

I'm thinking, wow, maybe as we look at this, our

reaction shouldn't be this is horrible. How do we avoid it?

But through this, God is gonna purify us, and He's

gonna make us stronger, and we're gonna grow, and we're

gonna have the faith that our brothers and sisters have.

In a way, he says, this is what birth pains

is about. But then he talks there's a fig tree,

and he uses the fig tree to say, you may

not know the days, but you can know the season,

and you got to know the season and what the

season is so you can be aware of that. And

he says, pay attention to the spiritual seasons. What season

gets your attention? The fig tree metaphor says, there's this

identity that we carry. When he says this generation will

not pass, he's not specifically just talking about those people

in that time, because you're going, well, they all died,

that was two thousand years ago. He's talking about the

identity of a generation that says we are here for

an eternity, the identity of a generation that will not

fade away, but will have an identity and a voice

to the world where we go, we don't belong here,

you know, the church is like a homeless person because

this is not our home. And there's a season that

comes up where you go, we're getting closer and close

to home, and there's an awareness of that, and these

signs that become visible if you're watching for them, but

you don't consumed with the signs. It just draws you

closer and closer to Jesus and you go, Joel, what

do I do with this information? I mean, what do

I do with this I understand some of these characteristics,

and they've been around, and I understand how I feel

about that. Why would Jesus teach us? What do I do?

And Jesus in this passage gives us really clear coaching.

Here's what I want you to do with this information.

Here's how I want you to be prepared with this information.

And he gives four very specific directives to us that

enable us to stand in a place of faith. First

thing he says is, do not worry. You're going well,

I don't know, flogged, I'm gonna would be a little worried.

Do not worry. And he's precise, do not worry beforehand.

Do not wait for the moment when you face a

certain level of persecution in your workplace because of your faith.

Prepare yourself beforehand so you will not worry about you

got to start now saying I will not worry about

some of the things that may be coming down the

pipeline right now. I will not do that. I will

not rely on knowing about it. I'm gonna rely on

building faith. If there was ever a season where the

Christian Church should stand up and say, now is it

time for us to build our faith? So we will

not worry because it seems like there's other powers than

mine that are controlling this planet. So I've got to

have this fress. I'm not gonna have stress. I'm not

gonna have fear because otherwise I will avoid it. I've

got to make sure I don't have the wrong focus.

I'm not gonna worry. I have friends who are Republicans,

and some of them, if their candidate loses the election, man,

they're gonna ramp up the heat on the end times.

And I have friends who are Democrats, and some of them,

if their candidate loses the election, they're gonna ramp up

the heat on the end times. And Jesus says, no,

this is not how you approach this. This is not

how you approach this. You do not worry. You have

a position of faith that is there. And when you

have that position of faith, then you can be aware.

You don't have to close your eyes and be ignorant.

You can see some of these characterists that you go.

You know what, God's in control. I'm trusting him. He's

in control of my life and he's in control of

my eternal destiny. Jesus says this, Do not worry, do

not allow fear to dictate how you see what is

transpiring in the cosmic reality, because it will remove you

from the invitation of Jesus saying, I want you to

join me in bringing new life to this planet. Secondly,

he says this, do not be alarmed, don't be surprised,

don't be shocked. He says, these things must happen. He says,

do not be alarmed by any of this. Don't let

it shock you, do not let it blindside you. Do

not live so much in the present that your Christianity

and faith is defined by an easy, convenient life. God

is a god of blessing. God knows your needs, God

knows your issues, and God wants to meet your needs.

There's no doubt about that. But as a Christian, Jesus said, clearly,

you're gonna have hard times. That difficulty is going to

be there. And if you define your faith simply by

the ability of ease and convenience, then you're gonna be

alarmed because sometimes things may happen. And he says, listen,

don't be alarmed at all these things they have to happen.

There's this great promise, ses you know what He's gonna

come and he's gonna rescue us for that. But as

you're beginning to see some of the stuff, it should

not alarm you. He says. This third thing, be on

your guard. He literally gives this directive. You must. It's

a warning to the disciples. And the warning is this,

if you're not on your guard, don't think it won't

affect you. He literally said, at the beginning, people are

gonna be deceived. So he says, be seriously on your guard.

Do not let the enemy fool you into ignorance. Now,

if you're like me, I'm not an End Times expert.

I'm not an End Times theologian. I am aware of it.

I've studied the scriptures in it, but I don't divest

myself into being that kind of an expert. But at

the same time, I'm not gonna be so removed from

it then I'm gonna go. You know what, I'll just

live over here. We are living in a season where

God is actively moving towards where we've always wanted to

go and we've always wanted to be. And Jesus says, listen,

don't worry, don't be alarmed, but you've got to guard yourself. Now,

what is it that you need to guard your heart

and your mind. You have got to God guard your heart.

I sometimes am surprised, and you know, you know me

well enough, and you know my heart. I am surprised

that Christians are getting so angry at this world. The

world doesn't know Christ. They're in darkness. Why we should

have an expectation that the world should live as Christians,

and when they don't, we get angry. We got to

guard our heart that we realize the Gospel has got

to be preached to everybody. And we are here on

the invitation of Jesus to bring his grace, his love,

his truth, his compassion to people and to invite them

into this. And if you don't guard your heart, and

you see the temperature rising on discrimination, you see the

temperature rising on difficulty, You see these temperatures rising. If

your heart's not guarded, you will get bitter and angry,

and then you remove yourself and all of a sudden

you're nobody. He goes, Listen, guard your heart, but guard

your mind as well. Think biblically about these things. Think

christianly about these things, and do not let others distract you.

Because there's in a flurry of chaos. There's always deception,

and he says, listen, you gotta really know this stuff.

Guard your heart and mind. Don't waste your energy on

anything that is outside that center circle of who Jesus

is and your life. In following him, I was pulling

into a driveway of Starbucks, and the car in front

of me was one he could pull in, but there

was another route and another car was gonna pull in,

and they're kind of jockeying for position, and one guy

kind of pulls in and the other guy gets mad

and he honks on his horn and he kind of

puts in his nose of his car. So the other

guy came, this is just a driveway to get a coffee.

And then one guy rolls his window down and flips

the guy off, and then the guy flips the guy off.

Then none of the horns, and they're doing this for

like ten minutes. I just wanted a coffee, and I'm

looking at these people and I'm going, what wasted energy?

They've just wasted so much energy over something as trivial

as who gets in the Starbucks land First, where are

you wasting your Christian energy? Where are you wasting it

over stuff? That is so trivial, and you go, wait

a minute, I am not gonna allow gossip to waste

my energy anymore. I am not gonna allow what's happening

in some other churches that doesn't look very good, to

waste my energy anymore. My energy is going to be

applied to being a part of what Jesus is doing

and bringing a new heaven and a new Earth to

this place. And he gives a fourth command. He says,

stand firm, don't worry, don't be alarmed, be on your guard.

It's like a birth, it's a season. And here's what

this season looks like. And we see those traits, but

stand firm because some of you may face some persecution.

And as the church in America, wow, we need to

take a position of humility, gang because we look at

this and go nah. Every month, I think the number

now is about five hundred six hundred Christians die are

killed because of their faith. Churches are burned. Right now.

There are thousands and thousands of Christians who are in prisons.

What Jesus taught in our Rancho Cucamonga, we may not

see it, but the Body of Christ is seeing it

every day. I pray for one of the nations that

has a persecuted church in it. And it has been

such a good habit for me to recognize the season

that we are in and to realize that when I

stand firm, I may not be the guy going to jail,

but I surely can pray for the guy who's being

put into jail. I can pray for that pastor, I

can pray for that Christian. Here's our application. I want

to be a part of what God is doing. I

may not fully understand it, and legitimately some of it

may freak me out a little bit, but I don't

want to miss how God's going to work through this.

I don't want to be isolated from it. I don't

want to be fearful of it. Jesus, here's what disciples,

you got to know. It's birth pains, new life is coming.

It's a fig tree. There is a season. Be aware

of it. Read the signs, but don't worry, don't be alarmed.

Be on your guarden. Stand firm. So tomorrow morning, when

you wake up, you go Lord today, and you eagerly

await the return of your savor. You say, Holy Spirit,

help me today. On Thursday, September twelfth, to live out

a teaching from Mark thirteen. I know how to live

out Philippians four, but help me to live out a

teaching from Mark thirteen. He gives this teaching to his

followers because he says, you were not made for this world.

The good news is there is another world that is coming.

That's where we're going, That's where we want to go.

Here's the journey to get there. Be ready for it,

and know that through what looks like some difficult times,

there will be amazing, glorious times. And wouldn't it be

amazing to be a christ follower who wakes up and

the circumstances of your world they don't shake you anymore.

You may lose your job, it doesn't shake you anymore.

You may be discriminated against, it doesn't upset you in

that way anymore. To be able to know your identity

as a Christian and not high from other people, to

be able to stand and God, this is who I am.

I am a Christian. And that takes place when your

identity is rooted in eternity, not just in the present.

And Jesus gives this teaching in Mark thirteen to say,

root your identity there, and you root your identity there.

You're gonna be just fine today, and you're gonna be

just fine tomorrow. Would you buy your heads with me? Please?

As a Christian, many of you have got to ask

the Holy Spirit, Lord, what's my takeaway from this? What

are you speaking to me about? But in an auditorioment

like this, there are some of you who may not

know where you stand with God. And the Bible is

really clear something that we need to talk very honestly

about just for a minute, and that is at that

point in human history, when this world war in comes

to that climax, there will be what the Bible says

is that day of judgment. God will justifiably, perfectly and

in a holy way judge, and God, in his love,

knowing that that is coming, made away so that when

he looks at you, he won't see you. He'll see Jesus.

When the Son of God came to earth and died

and resurrected, what he did was make a way so

that the Father, when he looks at you, would see Jesus,

and he would know that the price and the penalty

of the judgment that you rightfully deserve has been paid.

And that is a free gift of His grace. And tonight,

if you are here and as you listen to my words,

you feel that tugging in your heart that is not me,

that is the spirit of God saying, this is a

moment for you to give your life to Jesus. It's

the great exchanged. He died for you so you could

have life. But you give him your life, and he

gives you his life. And at that day of judgment,

which will be when God looks at you, he'll see

Jesus and you will enter into an eternity with Him,

with every head bowed and with every eye closed. Just

in this one moment, I would consider it a privilege

if you would let me pray for you. You'd say, Joel,

right now, I don't know where I would stand at

that moment of judgment. But with this one prayer, if

you believe in your heart, if you confess with your mouth,

then you will be saved. With this one prayer, you

know for sure at that moment, at that time, God

will see Jesus when he looks at you, you're forgiven,

You're cleansed, you are born again, and you are free

from the wrath of God. All I'm gonna ask you

to do is one thing, just so I can make

a contact with you before I lead us in prayer.

Would you just lift your hand, you say, Joel, would

you pray for me? I want to give my life

to Christ. Thank you. Just lift your hand all over.

Thank you. When it comes to the judgment, I want

to be free of that. You are not lifting your

hand to me. You are lifting your hand to the Lord,

and you're saying, Jesus, I receive you as my Lord,

as my savior. I receive you, and I give you

my life, and I receive your life. And you know,

whether it's ten years from now or one month from now,

or whatever it is, at that day of judgment, you

are free. Christians. We look forward to that future because

we know we have the grace of God. Church altogether.

Would you repeat this prayer after me, and let's join

with those who lifted their hands. Can we all together

just repeat this prayer to me, Dear Lord, I love you,

Thank you for loving me. First confess that I am

a sinner, that I have walked away from you, But

today I come back to you. I receive you as

my Lord and Savior. I give you my life and

I receive your life. Thank you Jesus for saving me.

Holy Spirit, fill me, teach me as I follow you. Jesus,

I love you, and I look forward to an eternity

with you. I pray this in the name of Christ. Lord.

I thank you for each person who raised their hand,

I pray you would protect them, but you would shield them.

I pray immediately they would be surrounded by Christian brothers

and sisters who would walk with them. And as a church, Lord,

we thank you from Mark thirteen. We thank you Jesus

that you had the wisdom and the foresight to teach

us about the end times. May we be Christians who

wake up every morning eagerly awaiting the return of our Lord.

Instill in us a faith and a hope and a

conviction that these are just birth pains for a new

life that is coming. I pray, Holy Spirit, you would

deposit in each person here that truth that takeaway tomorrow morning,

as we live out our routine of our days, we

would realize how significant Mark thirteen is for our faith today. Lord,

continue to grow Patriochurch into this place, Lord God, this

lighthouse of your gospel and your grace and your compassion.

We praise you and we love you. We pray this

in Christ's name. Amen and amen. God bless you all

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