Jesus is Coming Back

Amen. Well, let's spend some time together today. Man, okay. My name is Paul Seiber. I have the joy of serving here as the lead pastor. I love my job. I love this church. And I love what I get to do, which is talk about my favorite person in the universe. That is the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what I plan to do today. I am pumped up after that worship. Some of you are like, tone it down, buddy. All right, but I am excited. We are going to tone it down by talking one thing we do every year, which is our emergency preparedness. So this is our annual emergency preparedness announcement. Some of you actually got more pumped up by this. So we do this every year. We strongly value safety at this church, especially for the kids' church. And so we go through this every year. We get a few images to explain what we're going through. And I'm just going to read basically from a doc and unpack a couple of things. But in case, we'll just go through. In case of an individual medical emergency, so if there's an emergency, emergency response team member or HOPE staff member will call 911. Myself or Monty, if he's up, will address the congregation. Big thing, remain calm. We'll look for, is there a medical professional in the church to be able to help with the situation, and we'll pray. In case there is a fire or bomb threat, I will again address, say there's an emergency. Again, we're going to remain calm. We'll evacuate the building and go to the baseball diamond over here on the southwest side of the school, kind of by the parking lot over there. So the way to evacuate the building, there's two main ways. Go in the main entrance, you came in, or go out the back patio right back here by the bathrooms. Those are the two ways. And then you can go to the baseball diamond. If you're a parent in here and your kids are in kids' church at the time, do not go get them. The teachers will get them out and take them to the baseball diamond. Don't go get them. It will make things more confusing. The teachers are in command and in control. They will take them to the baseball diamond. You can meet them there. Don't get personal items if they're somewhere. you can't get them. In case of severe weather, we will meet and go. We're going to remain calm again. We're so good at being calm. We're going to go to the Kids Church pod where they meet over back here. The hallways there are very protected, and we can gather in there, and I'm sure Monty will lead us in some song. So we'll leave the auditorium, go back to the Kids Church pod. The kids will stay there. They're already safe there. A heavy one, challenging reality in modern times in the case of an armed intruder. What we generally want to do is see something, say something. If you communicate, if you notice any unusual or unsafe situations to a HOPE staff member or volunteer as soon as possible. Our welcome team always has name tags every week. We have dedicated security. So if you see something, say something to myself or one of those leaders that you see around. If there is an armed intruder, we tend to put forward three main responses. The first one is alert. Alert others to the threat. Shouting, texting, etc. Call 911 if possible. Second thing is run. Evacuate. Leave all personal belongings behind. Try to prevent others from entering the area. Third is hide. Hide horizontally. Lock any doors. Blockade any entrances. Turn off lights. Silence electronic devices. Lead others to hide behind or between furniture. Building features and then remain quietly in place until given an all clear by identical law enforcement oh the last thing is fight if you are willing and able to fight we would do that you can throw objects try to overpower the shooter utilize other forms of aggression. As feasible to disrupt or incapacitate the shooter big thing we recommend in this commit to your actions so, that is in case of individual medical emergency bomb threat severe weather or armed intruder want to be prepared There's obviously difficult or heavy realities to consider when we're looking at emergency preparedness. But preparation is important, and yet we put our trust in God. And so with all this in front of us, I'm doing this every year, we want to just pause and just pray. So please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we just acknowledge there are difficult realities that can happen when a group is gathered. Whether they're medical or otherwise, we just pray for your hand of kindness, that you would, in your grace, keep us safe, keep the children of this church safe, watch over us, and protect us by your grace. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we are prepared. I get back into, I don't know why I just turned my mic off. I was like, we'll laugh about that later. We are back into the gospel of Mark. We're back in this thing until Christmas. And then it's Christmas. Come on. We're going to finish this before Christmas. If you don't have a Bible, we've got Bibles. They're free. They're on the tables in the back. Take one, keep it forever. Treasure it. We'd love for you to do that. I am going to put the words on the screen as we go through Mark. Every week we read the passage, we unpack it. But first, we've got to get caught up. Where have we been in Mark? And I wanted to go through the hits, so I pulled up the jukebox. We're going to go through the first 12 chapters of Mark and play the hits. I don't know if jukeboxes still exist, but if they did. So right away in the beginning, Mark chapter 1, Jesus comes to proclaim the gospel. He says, the first thing he says, repent and believe the gospel. The kingdom of God is at hand. And so he comes to preach the gospel. That's his main mission. In that mission then, he does a number of things. One of the things he does is he calms a storm. And when he calms that storm, the disciples who are with him respond, who is this that even the wind and the water obey him? He's showing his authority over creation, over nature. And they're asking, who is this? Who could do this? Another big hit that he has is he feeds 4,000 people. And in that, he shows in one sense that he is like the God of the Old Testament. He's able to provide like God in the Old Testament provided manna to the people to feed and sustain them. He is able to feed and sustain his people. Again, he's giving a hint at who he is. Then later, he teaches his disciples actually to follow him. Doesn't look like this big power and ruling. It looks like taking up your cross and following him. It looks like it's going to be difficult and challenging. And finally, he says he's come as a ransom for many. Now, it's interesting about the Gospel of Mark is he's showing his absolute power and authority over things like creation. He's healing people. He's doing all these amazing miracles. He's showing who he is. And with that he could demand or even force people to follow him but he doesn't do that. He shows us who he is and he shows us something unexpected how is he going to wield his power and authority how what kind of king is he going to be and that's that last one here again mark 10 45 he says to his disciples, for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. This sums up his mission and uniqueness as a Savior. He hasn't come to domineer and rule in power. He's come to go low, to win souls through his own suffering. So in the first half of Mark, the kind of the main section we've gone through to this point, what he's trying to show them is, do you see me as Messiah? Do you see me as King? And now in the second part of Mark, what he's going to try to show them is, do you see what it means for me to be a suffering King? Do you see what it means for me to suffer and see everything that that entails? So that's where we are when we get into Mark chapter 13. But before we jump into that, I just want to ask, what kind of preparer are you? So when I was growing up, this was always on like football locker room signs and stuff. Preparation prevents poor performance. See, I shouldn't practice that. But what kind of preparer are you? Are you like meticulous type A? I'm doing lists. I've got it all figured out. Are you type B? Just go with the flow. I don't even know if I brought my wallet. Okay, well, the check's on its way. I'm getting a little nervous, right? Are you type A, type B? I like to switch it up. So typically, I'm very prepared. Like if I'm doing something with a group or I'm planning like a trip or fishing or something, I've got lists. I'm making sure I'm packing everything. I'm very type A, very much a preparer, except for if I'm traveling with my wife. If I'm traveling with my wife, then I'm like, I think I'm going to make sure I have deodorant, underwear, and phone charger, and then I'm just going to trust everything's going to work out. I go with the flow when I'm traveling with Ace. But what kind of preparer are you? Do you expect everything to work out okay, or are you very meticulous and want to really control the preparation? Today we're going to see Jesus start to prepare his disciples, for what is to come. He's going to get them ready to face what is to come. So we are going to be in Mark chapter 13. We're covering the whole chapter. If you're brand new to the Bible, or if this is your first day going to a church, it's a tough day. Because this is not only a full chapter, but it's like one of the most like, what is he talking about? Chapters. But here at Hope North Lakes, one of our values is clarity. We want to be clear. We want the gospel, the Bible, to make sense. So we're going to do our best. We're going to leverage the help of some commentaries to try to make sense of Mark chapter 13, this big passage. It is called the Olivet Discourse. Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives and he's teaching his disciples how they can be ready for what is to come. So we'll start here in Mark chapter 13 verses 1 and 2. And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, look teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. They walk out of the temple. This disciple turns around. He's like, this is a pretty great building. And Jesus is like, whoa, let me put a pause button on that for you. No, Jesus uses this to launch into a prophetic message. Now, what does it mean to deliver a prophetic message? It means what he's about to say is a prediction of events to happen in the future. And they have to come true in order for him to be validated as a prophet. So he's going to launch into this prophetic message. There's prophets all throughout the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. They're saying, here's what's to come. Here's what's to come. Here's what's to come. And Jesus here is doing the same thing. He's going to instruct them with this prophetic message. He's going to prepare and preserve them by what he does here. He destruction of the temple. He says, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. What is he talking about with this temple and these big stones? So one of the commentaries that I found looks a lot to this historian of the day, Josephus, which is like a perfect name for historian. Nice job. But Josephus tells us that this is from R.C. Sproul, that some of the stones that made up the temple were 60 feet long, 11 feet high and 8 feet deep with each stone weighing more than a million pounds. Other historians, it feels kind of like a kid's number, but all right. Other historians of antiquity said Herod's temple looked like a mountain of marble decorated with gold. The temple complex was architecturally stunning and must have looked strong enough to stand for a thousand years or more. So this is the second temple that's been in Israel and Jerusalem. This is one that King Herod has built. It is a marvel. He's known for his massive building achievements. This would have been unable to ignore. Looked like a mountain of marble decorated with gold. But more than that, more than that, this temple, beyond being this bastion of human achievement for Herod and what he was able to accomplish over the years that it was built, more than that, this was central to Jewish religious life and identity. It was critical to them. Central to Jewish life and identity. It had the sense of where God met with them. It gave them a sense of religious security. All throughout Mark, Jesus has spent key moments in the temple. He's had a lot of interactions, some positive, some challenging with the religious leaders in the temple. And now he tells his disciples, this temple, this remarkable human achievement, this center of Jewish religious life is going to be thrown down. Not one stone will be left that isn't overturned. So naturally, they have questions. They go to him on the Mount of Olives. Here it says, as he sat in verse 3, On the Mount of Olives, opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew, these two groups of brothers, asked him privately, Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, I am he. And they will lead many astray. What are they asking him? They're essentially asking him, are we in the end times, Jesus? And the first thing he says is, don't be deceived, but pay attention. He continues in verse 7, And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. So again, he says these deceptive false saviors are going to come. So are wars and natural disasters and calamities and this ends up happening in that time, and as terrible as it may be jesus says this is actually just the start this is just the beginning of what's terrible, here from the africa bible commentary to kanba araimo says this he starts by describing the beginning signs which fall into three categories imposters or deceivers purporting to represent Jesus, calamities of human origins such as wars and rumors of wars, and natural calamities such as earthquakes and famines. Jesus told the disciples not to be alarmed by these events for they are just the beginning of birth pains. It's compelling that he says when you see all this, the terrible stuff happening, do not be alarmed. He says watch the signs, do not be alarmed, but be prepared to respond. He continues, but be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit. So now he's giving them some implicit instructions. He's giving clear instructions. He's preparing the disciples for suffering that is going to happen to them. And he's telling them, if you look at verse 11, he's telling them, don't be anxious about it. Don't even worry about it. The Holy Spirit is going to provide for you, equip you, give you the words to say. But he tells them, you're going to be witnesses to me, but you're going to be beaten. You're going to be delivered over. You're going to face trials. And all of this happens in the book of Acts. The book of Acts records the early church coming on the scene. It records life after the Gospels. And this all happens in the book of Acts. I just picked out some examples. In Acts chapter 4, they heal a man and then they have to go before the Sanhedrin to defend the Gospel. So they pray for boldness and then they stand and say, the religious leaders say, you've got to stop proclaiming the name of Jesus. And they say, we're not going to do that. Come what may. They go from being afraid to declaring in boldness. In Acts 5, they're beaten by the council and actually they leave rejoicing. So again, they face councils. They've been beaten. They go on trial. In Acts 6, Stephen is martyred. Through Acts 7, he declares the gospel. He's clearly full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has provided him the words to say, and yet he goes and is a martyr and killed for the gospel. Later in the book of Acts, the apostle Paul is on trial, and he turns his trial into a sermon. God has put him before rulers and equipped him with words from the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel to those rulers. And later he's in Rome. And he says, Rome is reached and I am preaching the gospel from jail. And actually in the book of Acts, it does say that the gospel is preached to all nations. We've got to examine that here from R.C. Sproul. He says, one such sign, he said, was that the gospel would be preached to all the nations, all the ethnic. This happened in the first century. He continues, certainly the gospel was not preached every corner of the globe in the first century. The gospel did not go to Southern Africa, East Asia, or Australia, or the Americas. how then could Paul write that the gospel had gone to the whole world? He was speaking about the Mediterranean world, the known world at that time. And the gospel was preached across that world in the first century. If you have a study Bible, you can look and see Paul's missionary journeys and see how the map envelops that whole part of the world and how churches are established, all over that part of the world. In Colossians 1, he actually says the gospel is bearing fruit in the whole world. The gospel must be preached to all nations. But now we've got to function with this on two different time horizons. There's this one, which is for these disciples and goes through the book of Acts, but then there's the one we're still in. We call it, the theologians that are really smart call it the already not yet. Jesus has already ascended. He's ruling in heaven and he has not yet come back. You guys got that one? Already not yet? It's pretty dense, but we got it. So this work though then on that second time horizon of preaching the gospel must continue the gospel must go forth at this time to all nations today for example that's why you start new churches, listen to how paul describes the urgency of this he's he's talking about prayer in the new testament here but listen to what he says in first timothy 2, he says prayer is good This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior who, verse 4, desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself, here's that word again, as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Paul says, pray for all people, take the gospel to all people. Why? Well, what is the heart of God? Many people will go around saying they know the heart of God. What is the heart of God? We don't need to look any further than 1 Timothy here in verse 4. What is God's heart? He desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. This is why he sent Jesus. It's why he sends us. He desires all people to be saved by coming to know the truth that Jesus was given over as a ransom to pay their debt for their sin, to pay our debt for our sin. He is the mediator who reconciles sinners, defiled sinners, to a holy God. The center of God's heart and God's plan is that all people would be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. So the gospel must go forward to all nations, even today. Now, he's going to continue to prepare them, and it's going to get even more difficult. He says, And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. Any study of the first century shows that much betrayal took place in the early Christian church. Many people who were traitors to the faith turned others over, turned others in for persecution and worse. Much betrayal took place. There were many traitors. But look what he says, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. That is going to get even more confusing. But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be. Let the reader understand. I don't understand. What is an abomination? The what of what? When you see that, let the reader understand. He says, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, not enter his house to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. Now, what is this abomination of desolation? Commentators were in agreement that it definitely happened. There was various causes. They said essentially what it was, or what was the main point of it, was there was moments of sacrilege in the temple. Ken Hughes, in his commentary, says it was an abomination. Something happened in the temple. Some sacrilege happened in the temple that was so detestable, that it causes the temple to be abandoned by the people of God and provokes desolation. Whatever it is, I think we'll get more clarity on it later, but whatever it was, Jesus says it will be obvious. And when it happens, when you see it, flee from Judea. Run to the hills. Get out of Dodge. He continues and says how hard that excursion is going to be. And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. He uses this loaded and dramatic prophetic language to describe the difficult excursion in this flight, in this fleeing away from Jerusalem and away from the temple to the hills What a tribulation. And then it goes further. He says, and then if anyone says to you, look, here's the Christ, or look, there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even if possible, the elect. But be on guard. I have told you all things beforehand. So he said all these things. I've told you all these things beforehand. There's going to be deceivers. There's going to be trials. There's going to be wars, rumors of wars there's going to be something that is so sacrilegious in the temple that you want to abandon it and you'll need to you'll need to flee to the hills when it happens, i've told you all these things beforehand be on guard. He says, pay attention to what I've said. Use the information to be prepared and respond accordingly. When you see this happen, get out of Dodge. Jesus was, here we go to Africa Bible commentary again, to Canva Adeyemo says, Jesus was hinting that more of the prophecy would soon be fulfilled. This did in fact take place when, as Josephus reports, some Jewish zealots desecrated the temple. This was followed by the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple by the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70. Josephus reports that the temple the disciples had been admiring was flattened. The measure of a prophet. The only real measure of a prophet is did what they say about the future come true? Here, barely 40 years later 40 years after Jesus said Now every stone will be, overturned The general Titus and the Roman army Overturns the temple The building is flattened, Everything Jesus predicted Everything he predicted ends up happening, The temple is thrown down And his people were prepared Again, Josephus records them leaving the city as swimmers, deserting a sinking ship, an image that accords very well with Jesus' command, to leave everything behind. The horror that Jesus predicted for Jerusalem and the powerful prophetic language of verses 17 to 20 came with the fall of the temple and is a matter of historical fact. So now, moving forward in Mark, Jesus is going to get us more prepared. He's going to pivot somewhat to his second coming. He's going to tell them and us now to prepare for his return. Listen to what it says saying in verse 24. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. And the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven, he uses this powerful old testament prophetic language sun darkened moon no light stars falling, all of this prophetic language to say what I'm coming back for my people, I'm going to come gather my people, if his first coming is marked by gentleness and sacrifice and servitude, his second coming is going to be marked by glory and power as he rescues his people. He continues, 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 these things taking place, 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. How we know we saw that the fall of the temple happens in 70 AD. That generation did not pass away before the fall of Jerusalem. Then in verse 31 Jesus essentially is saying if those words of those promises come true how much more can you trust my promise to come back, he says my words will not pass away my promises will not pass away you can trust my promise to come back but on the timing of that he is less clear, here from James Edwards he says Jesus saw in the fig a suitable metaphor of the nearness of the end. Just as summer comes each year without human effort, so God fulfills his kingdom in his own time. The fig tree signals the nearness of summer, but not its immediacy. That is, that summer is coming, if not exactly when. When he uses this fig tree analogy, he's saying, I'm going to come back, but you're not going to know exactly when. Just know, what does it say right here? God is going to fulfill his kingdom in his own time. Jesus actually goes further on that. He says in verse 32, But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. Now God the Father and his authority has kept that day to himself. He says, Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. He's going to use this word, stay awake, a lot. Those actually are the preacher's favorite words. But he's going to say, stay awake. No, but this is not literal. He's saying, stay faithful as you wait for God to fulfill his kingdom. It's like being the doorkeeper commanded to stay awake. He says in verse 35, Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. Or in other words, unfaithful. And what I say to you, say to all, stay awake. And that concludes his longest teaching in Mark, Mark 13, stay awake. And when you come to a passage like this, with so many different phrases that are tough to understand, it might cause us, it's got all this end timesy stuff, it might cause us anxiety. Read a passage like this, I'm defining anxiety for the sake of the sermon. There's a lot of definitions. As distressing unease over anticipated misfortune mixed with doubt about whether you can handle it. There's a lot to potentially be anxious about when we read a passage like this that's so dense and possibly confusing. We might be anxious to ask, am I prepared? Am I watchful enough? What tribulation will I face? Maybe we just generally feel the anxiety of confusion I don't know I feel like I should know what this means more and I don't. We feel that anxiety when we come to especially end times passages and difficult passages. We can be helped by asking, what does Jesus want us to take away from all this? There's one thing that can be particularly helpful when we read the Bible and we're interpreting it, and that is to understand whether something is descriptive or prescriptive. Is it describing events or is it prescribing ways I should live? A classic example is Acts chapter 2. People love to point to that and say, if we could just get back to the early church. There's a lot of good things happening in Acts chapter 2. They're breaking bread. More people are being added to their number. And so sometimes people will say, we've just got to get back to the early church. They treat that passage as prescriptive. Now here's the challenge. Gentiles aren't in the church yet. Nobody else in the nations has been saved. So if we say, we just got to get back to the early church, We're actually cutting off a bulk of the church. It's actually only Jewish people that then would be saved. So it can't be descriptive. Sorry, it can't be prescriptive. It's descriptive. What is descriptive? Descriptive are time-locked events, words directed to the original audience. For example, in our passage, it is descriptive when he says, when you see this thing happen in the temple, flee from Judea to the mountains. Get out of Judea and flee. If we read that passage and fled, it wouldn't make any sense. It's descriptive of their experience. It's time-locked to them. But there's a lot in our passage that is prescriptive. Prescriptive things are timeless instructions to us today. Okay. An example might be Genesis in the early part of the Bible, where it says, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, we're not commanded to do the same thing, but we are commanded to worship God above all other things. That'd be prescriptive. It's a timeless instruction that applies to us today. Now, contrasting the two, is it for them? Is it time-locked? Or is it for us? Is it time-less? Is it something we should take away and apply? Helps us make sense of Mark 13. And ideally, it will remove some of the confusion and potential for anxiety. So let's see the prescriptive imperatives or commands or things that apply to us from Mark chapter 13. Starting here, it says, Do not be deceived by any imposter Jesus's. Be alert, keep watch, stay awake. Read the signs, remember Jesus is coming back. Stand firm to the end. Preach the gospel to all nations boil these if we boil these down to three takeaways we've got hold fast to jesus wait well, and keep the main thing the main thing in other words share and spread the gospel so let's first look at holding fast, life in a fallen world is a lot like we feel a lot like rocky, we face all these sufferings and trials it's like a 12-round boxing match, We can't predict or control the punches. The only thing we know is they're going to come. The one thing we can do is stay in the ring. Go back to our corner. Go to Jesus. He's in the ring with us. We can find new refuge in Him. Let Him treat our wounds, patch up our soul, heal us. We've got to stay in the ring. We've got to hold fast to Jesus. That much we know. Second thing we can do is wait well. Because what Jesus says comes true. And he said that he's coming back for us. We can wait well. When I was younger, this is actually 13 years ago, this is what my dog Sage looked like. I adopted her from Safe Hands Rescue in St. Paul. I went to like an open house at a warehouse where all these dogs were, and I went to see her. And so I'm standing in this warehouse, and she's standing, and there's a yipper dog, if you know what those are. I didn't mean it to be offensive, but come on. But there's a little dog, a beloved little dog. It's nipping at her neck, just bugging her. And she's not reacting at all. Here's a dog that is up for rescue. And if she doesn't get adopted, is in danger. She's got a little dog nipping at her neck. And her disposition is calm, non-anxious. And when I saw her react to that dog like that, I said, that's my dog. It was like she was standing there and in her disposition saying, I don't even care how it looks. I know I'm getting rescued. I know someone is coming to rescue me. We can have a non-anxious disposition because we know someone is coming Jesus is coming to rescue us. We don't know when, and that could make us obsessive, so we've got to keep the main thing, the main thing. Here from David Garland, he says, When is Jesus coming back? Anything is possible. The ambiguity is deliberate, and Jesus does not intend for us to try to unravel it. Otherwise, he would have given more definite clues. He expects his disciples to be ready for anything, anytime. Busying oneself with calculations about dates is thus a fruitless exercise that can only distract from the mission that God has called the church to, to preach the gospel. Share and spread the gospel. Keep the main thing the main thing. Don't worry about what he's going to do and when he's going to do it. Keep the main thing the main thing. So what is that gospel? When Jesus is in the temple and he's confronting the money changers. He says, and he confronts them. They say to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And John goes further and says he was talking about his body. What's he saying? He's saying the physical temple will be torn down. But he's also saying, I will also be torn down on the cross. But I'm going to walk out of the grave to build a new temple. Not a physical one, but a spiritual one. A temple for all people who believe the gospel. Ephesians 2 says it this way. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. This temple is built by Jesus for anyone and everyone who will come to him for salvation. Now, here's the deal about salvation. Look what it says, verse 17. And he came and preached peace. He came and preached the gospel, but he didn't just preach peace with God. He made peace with God for us by the blood of his cross. Jesus endured the ultimate tribulation for you. He got in the ring and took the ultimate punches of sin and death for you. The nails that held him fast to the cross show us that we can trust him to hold us fast even now. And we've got to understand this then. Because then when it comes to the weightiest matters of the world or our own personal lives, we don't need to have unease about an anticipated misfortune. We can have hope. We can anticipate glory and restoration, we don't need to doubt if we can handle it, the fact is we can't, we couldn't, we didn't, and we don't have to, Jesus handled it all Jesus paid it all and he's coming back to renew it all. So we can hold fast to Jesus no matter the punches. We can wait well for our rescuer. We can share good news far and near. And we can rest knowing we're not saved by how well we wait. We're not saved by how prepared we are. We're saved by Jesus, our Savior, the one who gave his life to ransom us and make us his forever. So as we close, For you, if you're in here and you have yet to start that relationship with Jesus, He is coming back. Will you belong to Him when He returns? You can start that relationship today by putting your trust in Him. For those of us who have trusted Him, when we come to difficult things like this or difficult things in life, we can hold fast to Jesus, wait for Him well, and tell other people about Him. I'm going to pray and then we'll move to a time of communion and worship. Heavenly father we come before you and thank you that from all time, you were prepared with a plan to rescue sinners that your heart is actually that anyone and everyone would come to know you through jesus the one who is a ransom for many, so god i pray now for anyone in this room who has yet to trust in your son that right now you would work by your spirit and pull them into your kingdom, that he would become irresistible to them and that he would become theirs and they would become his. I pray for those of us who are his. Would you help us to just hold fast to you? Would you help us to stay in the ring, trusting that you have taken the ultimate punches and you are always in our corner carrying us and you will come back for us. Give us the grace to remember that we pray in your name. Amen.

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