Looking Up: Staying Alert for the Son of Man

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Good Morning morning, I

was wondering. He talked the whole night through good morning, good morning to

you. All right, wow, and the percussion and you know which movie

that is from? Now? Singing in the Rain, Yes, you know

that. My son was in the car the other day. We're all traveling

down somewhere downtown for my daughter's birthday, and Tory grabbed the phone and she

said, what song you want to hear? And my son said, out

of the Blue play singing in the rain? Good Morning? And I was

like, what just out of the blue? Yeah, wow, and he

and he and he wanted to listen to you. And then he realized that

most of that song is tap dancing. So we got to the interlude and

he's like, there's more tap dancing in here that I thought, so we

turned it off. O. Hey, Jeff, thanks for being here with

me. I am I'm so glad to be with you today. It's truly

my privilege. Oh thanks, Jeff. I appreciate that. Hardly contained myself.

I hardly sleep last night, and I'm excited, my honor to be

with you, my liege. Okay, today we're doing DESIREE wants us to

read a only the most important news. Yes, because after all, we

believe the news in this country is all reliable. Yes, that's right,

especially the stuff that's on the Internet. Yes, just like the news that's

on the Babylon be Yes. It is very very important news, which,

by the way, is a satire site. Yes, if you don't know,

we love satire. So here you go. Here's the most important news

today from the Religions Action. I love the title couple in prayer over decision

to possibly sit in different pew this Sunday. This is funny. Arlington,

Texas local couple Dan and Emily Wise have begun earnestly praying over the difficult decision

to potential set in a different pew on Sunday morning worship service. After years

of sitting on the left side of the sanctuary, thirteen pews from the back,

the Wise family recently began to feel their hearts being tugged at the right

side of the sanctuary. I felt like, as a couple, we needed

a change in perspective, said Emily. We've loved our pew. Don't get

me wrong, I'd begun to feel a sense of malaise though, and I

began to feel the still small voice pushing me to try sitting in different pew,

fifteen feet further to the right. It was a terrifying thought, but

at the same time very exciting. After weeks of discussion, the wise couple

still had a sense of trepidation about such a drastic change. Began praying for

the Lord's wisdom in the matter. This would be a big move for our

family, and I want to be leading the family well, explained Dan,

that pew has been our home for almost a decade now. Two lunges in

from the aisle, just out of the glare from the stained glass, with

the hymnal exactly on plane with my right hand, it'd be hard to say

goodbye. At publishing time, the White family. At publishing time, Ice

family had deeply regretted trying a new pew after just covering the toddler behind them

was a pew kicker, and the view was terrible over missus Benefield's bufont Oh,

my goodness, gurracious, it's so good. Another fact that there's a

follow up. There's a follow up to the news article. Hey it didn't

work out for him. They had to move back to their original seat.

Oh that's so good. The language is fantastic, right, yeah, it's

still small voice. Well yeah, because because anybody who's actually prayed over something,

yeah, prayed over something big, that those are the words that they

might use, right, Which is so funny. And it's also pretty hilarious

to camp on the fact that people they sit where they sit, don't they?

I do, yes, don't you do the same spot? I have

a tendency to sit in the same spot. But what's really funny is,

you know, so on Sunday mornings, Heritage is the church that we passedor

together, and we have four services identical. Yeah, they're identical, eight

thirty, ten o'clock, eleven thirty, one o'clock, and certain people attend,

you know, the only coming to the thirty or something. And I

will literally say, hey, I didn't see in church today, And I

say, how would you ever know? Yeah, you know we're that I

wasn't in church day with five thousand people or whatever it does. And I

said, because you're in the third service right hand side, fifteen rows back

on the odd that's right, and then oh, my goodness, you're right,

that's exactly where we sit, and you start to know the people around

you, yes, start yep, everything. It's so funny, funny.

It's just it's so cleverly written, and it's clearly somebody who's also had to

struggle with those same same issues. So very funny. So there you go,

only the best news for our listeners. Straight there, we bring you

the cutting edge and you're welcome. That's right, you are so welcome.

All right, Well, today we are sort of wrapping up, aren't we.

Yes? Is that right? Because Matthew twenty five went through thirteen Yep,

it's a different topic, right, so next tomorrow is a different topic,

but today we're wrapping up what's a different illustration about the same topic.

Actually, oh is it okay? But that's okay, but it's a different

passage. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So this was the last half of

Luke twenty one. We read the first twenty four verses a few podcasts ago,

and now this next half is a shorter version of what we read yesterday

in the day before. That's correct, and he deals with some different things

that he didn't mention in the others. So verse twenty five Luke, chapter

twenty one. It says, and there will be strange signs in the sun,

the moon, and the stars. And here on earth the nations will

be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will

be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in

the heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the sun a man coming

on a cloud with power and great glory. So when all these things begin

to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near. Then

he gave them this illustration. Notice the fig tree or any other tree,

when the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near,

the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you

can know that the Kingdom of God is near. I tell you the truth.

This generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken

place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

Watch out, don't let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness and by

the worries of this life. Don't let that day catch you unaware like a

trap, for that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep

alert at all times, and pray that you might be strong enough to escape

these coming oars and stand before the sun of man. Every day Jesus went

to the temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night

on the Mount of Olives. The crowds gathered at the temple early each morning

to hear him. So there you go. There, it is all right.

So there's several things that are different in here, but several things is

the same theme and a lot of the same big ideas. Yeah, well,

I like the again. We talked about warnings yesterday and application, and

this one he seems to say something slightly different. And by the way,

that doesn't mean that that these passages are contradictory, right, It just means

that new information. Right. Luke recorded some things, and Matthew recorded some

things, and Mark recorded some things, and which means he said all of

them right, that's right, and it's and it's a matter of what they

remembered and recorded and what God you know, used in their minds and hearts

to record. If you and me and somebody else were all sitting in the

same meeting and we were all taking notes, right, we would include some

of the same information, but then we might include unique pieces of information that

each of us are remembering or that we recorded. And that's what's happening there.

So what they don't do is give anything contradictory, right, They're just

adding other information that may be marked. And right here the edition, one

of the big editions, would be here on Earth, the nations will be

in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. The roaring season,

strange ties, the rising tides didn't come up in the other the other

books, right, So yeah, and he said in this particular excuse me,

sorry, sorry that I bored you. I was like, really tides

again. But he also said this will uh cause people to be terrified.

Yeah, it's scary, which he did not say earlier, right, and

he called it horrors. Yes, horrors. Yeah, if you know,

be aware so you're not caught up in these horrors. Yeah. Well,

hey, this is what I was going to say earlier. And that is

when I said that I sort of branched off with parallels. But when I

was when I talked about his warnings and applications. Uh, he says something

slightly different here, and he says, don't let your hearts be dulled by

carousing and drunkenness and by the worries of this life. Don't let that day

catch you unaware like a trap. He didn't say that before you. Yeah,

that's really unique. Yeah, And so again it's it's a it sort

of goes along with my story two days ago, doesn't it does? It

really does? Yeah. Yeah, in regard to somebody that's obsessed with Jesus

returning but spending his life in the wrong way, that's right, exactly right,

exactly right, And and uh, don't let don't let it catch you

unaware like a trap. And I think I think that's yeah, that's that's

appropriate that I think God connected that in my in my mind and heart.

Yeah. So there's a couple of things. One, when Jesus tells I've

said every time just about when we read these things, Jesus doesn't tell us

these things to scare us, right, He tells us to let it,

let us know, Hey, he's he is returning, he's in control,

and to be ready. And here he says, look up. You want

to know what you're supposed to do, Just look up. Keep looking for

Jesus. Right when you when you're looking up, when you're paying attention to

Jesus, I view that, or I think of that very similar to when

Peter was walking on the water heading towards Jesus. The Bible said he sees

a storm and the waves around him, and that's when he when he took

his eyes off Jesus is when he sunk, right, And and on this

one it's the same. The world with all these things would be terrifying.

He actually calls them horrors and terror, right, But if we keep looking

up, we keep our eyes on Jesus. Hey, the rest of these

things aren't so horrible for us and not so scary. You remember those old

VHS cartoon things that we used to play in Sunday school family entertainment, So

for those of us listening who knew back in the day, uh, there

was just these cartoons that former Disney's employ Disney employees made and they call it

a family entertainment. Anyway, it was Jesus's ascension. The end of that

video, that particular tape was he went up to the clouds. The music's

going, you know, just in great, great Christian fashion, right,

and then zooms at a little tiny boy who's like eight years old, and

he looks up and he starts crying, and one single tear comes down his

cheek and he goes. He looks up and he goes, come again,

Lord Jesus will always be watching. And that's how it ends. But believe

it or not, I mean, that's that's like, it's right on point.

That's a kid's version of what it's super jezy. Keep looking. It's

very Hollywood, but it is right on point. Yep. But I just

remember it. So I think of this and I think of family entertainment.

So it's really funny. Those were good videos. I wonder if you're on

YouTube. I bet they are. You know what. The thing that he

doesn't do here he doesn't talk about the rich man return. No. I

think that's his watch out. Don't let your hearts be dulled by crowsing and

drunkeness in the world. Yeah, but he doesn't say it's a lot.

He doesn't talk about the rich man. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same

principle. But which, by the way, I wonder if I could slip

this in for fun. I bet you can. I bet you can too.

That's see how fun it is really okay. My father in law when

I was in college, I was dating Liz about the marryer. He had

a business partner who was a multi multi millionaire who owned the building that he

rented. And so this guy, I'll give you his first name because it's

really fun. Okay, his name's Aldo Aldo. Yes, yes, name

was Alda. Where's Aldo? Right there? You go? And he said,

hey, come over and and work at my house. He said,

I want you to come and do some projects at my house. So he

borrowed me, you know, did some side jobs. Little did he know,

I wasn't handy at all, and I screwed everything up. I messed

everything up. I'm not kidding. Like when I painted by stained his barn

and they had to redo it and everything. It was really bad anyway.

So the point is is that I'm this young punk kid and he's like,

okay. He goes, I want to have you stay in this bar.

And it's a two story, huge garage barn and he goes, now,

whatever you do, he goes, don't touch the Lamborghini or the Porsche that's

inside the bar. Oh, And he's like okay. So he leaves and

so I walk in through and I see there's a Lamborghini. I'm like,

oh, this is kind of nice, right, And so what I ended

up doing is is I ended up like opening it. I was like,

I wonder if it's open, and so of course I touched it, right.

I opened it, and the thing opens sideways. You know those doors,

I go straight up gold wing doors. Yeah, so it's like one

hundred degrees in this barn, right, So I get inside. By the

way, I'm covered with grass. I didn't know that till later, Right,

So I get inside the Lamborghini. Right. I closed the door and

then realized that you need a key to unlock the door to get out,

and I'm stuck inside the Lamborghini. Oh no, I was in there for

like almost forty five minutes, right. So I started to roll down the

window, thinking I'm just gonna roll down, but the Lamborghini windows are only

like like twelve inches, right, and then it only rolls down halfway because

it's like because it's like goes fast. So I tried to put my arm

through, and then I tried to reach down and like do the door handle,

but the door is curved and the handles underneath, right, So I'm

reaching all around. I'm going like this, and I barely am able to

hit it with my finger, and I'm talking like I'm really hurting, right,

And every time I would open it, I realized I got it open.

But then it goes up, which means like, as soon as I

go up, my arm oh gets stuck. So I tried. I tried

to go up, and then like I couldn't do it, So I kept

on going, ah, click click like this, And I'm not even kidding

when I say I ended up having to put my feet up and then my

head down, and somehow my other arm reached through. I was able to

open it up. Pry my anyway. I finally get out after like an

hour, and as soon as I did, I realized there's grass everywhere,

my sweats everywhere, and I cleaned it with this rag that had turpentine on

it. Oh oh no. And so now the good news is I don't

think it's I don't think it did anything to the seats. Oh, but

it smelled so bad to where like he had come in like like a week

later and said, hey, did you did you spill something near my Lamborghini.

It kind of had a sent to it, and I was like,

no, huh, I didn't spill anything. That was the end of it.

So there you go. So I snuck that one in. That was

and the illustration was the story. Wait, what's the application? The application

is the rich man man I return at any the entire time, man,

I was the guy cutting up right. I mean I wasn't, like,

you know, doing the things that Jesus said the other guy was doing.

But I certainly was in the Lamborghini. So I have two big things that

jump out for me, and the one that you just mentioned watch out.

Don't let your hearts be dulled by Crowsy. Don't let your hearts be dulled.

Isn't it interesting? It is interesting? Right? So he wants us

to be vibrant, He wants us to be dialed in. He wants our

enthusiasm and our focus and our energy all directed at the fact that he's returning,

and he has a mission for us, right to be sharp and so

here don't be dulled. And the things that dull us are the things that

oftentimes are the most fun or the biggest deal to us. Right, We're

worried about the things of this life, and that can dull us or it's

the other side. It's having fun, the crowsing, the drunkenness, all

those kinds of things. And what happens is the devil doesn't need to get

you ruining your life. He just needs to get you dull. He just

needs to distract you. Right, And there are a lot of great people

who could have a tremendous impact in their life, except they're dulled by either

the worries of paying the bills and keeping life going, or the business or

whatever, or they're being dulled by just the entertainment and the fun things.

And there's nothing wrong with paying bills, there's nothing wrong but taking care of

your life and building your career. There's nothing wrong with enjoying life and all

those kinds of things. But we have to be careful that they don't dull

us, and because we can get distracted. So that was the first one.

Hey, there's a note here in the Life Application Study Bible, in

verse thirty six where it says Jesus said, keep alert at all times,

and pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand

before the sun a man. So this note says this only days after telling

the disciples to pray that they might escape persecution. Jesus himself asked God to

spare him the agonies of the cross, right, and if it was,

if that was God's will, it is abnormal to want to suffer. But

as Jesus's followers, we must be willing to suffer by doing what we can

help build God's kingdom. And by the way, you know what it does

not say. It also does not say that just days after he says,

be alert at all times and pray. Don't you remember that he asked the

disciples are going to pray with them and they fell asleep. Yeah, it

doesn't include that, but that happened too. Yeah, And what does he

do. He comes back and he says, wake up and pray with me,

right, And then he goes back and prays and comes back and says,

why are you sleeping? You know? Are you? Are you so

dulled your senses that you that you're sleeping? And he says, can you

pray with me one hour? Right? Yeah, you're right? Yeah,

And so that's that's an interesting thing that happens. Only days after this and

then the other one. And this has come up in all three passages,

but in verse twenty eight, it says, so, oh, what did

he say? I'm sorry it's not Verse twenty eight. Where's the verse that

says, oh yeah, Verse thirty three. Heaven and Earth will disappear,

but my words will never disappear. We started to talking about this yesterday,

and then we talked about something else instead. But this idea of heaven and

earth, right, So he seems to be driving this the values what's most

important. So I'm coming back. Don't let your senses be dulled, don't

let your effectiveness be dulled. Watch look beyond mission. Right, He's got

all those things. And then every passage that we've read, all three of

these, he says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words

will never pass away. And so the note for Mark chapter thirteen says,

Jesus tells us that even though the earth will pass away, the truth of

his words will never be changed or abolished. God and his word provide the

only stability in our unstable world. How short sighted people are who spend all

their time and energy learning about this temporary world and accumulating its possessions, on

neglecting the Bible and its eternal truths. Isn't that fantastic? So this idea

that the only real stability is God's words because it's the only thing that will

never change. It's the only thing that will never disappear. Everything else,

everything else we spend our time on, will change. God and his word

never change. Well, so, just for a fun trivia fact, there

is one thing, actually several things inside one thing from this earth that is

going to last into heaven. Do you know this well, your soul,

yes, but I'm talking about a physical object. Oh yeah, So like

everything on this earth will disappear phys right, yeah, but there is one

thing that is mentioned that will be in heaven. The Ark of the Covenant,

Yeah, the Beama seat yep. And then inside the Arc of the

Covenant is I think it's three. I'm being vulnerable here because I'm pretty sure

I know the answer to this, but it's three things. Do you remember.

Yeah, it's the tank commandments, well, the yeah, the stones,

the stones that were broken, ye, so the remnants of them,

yep. Aaron's rod there, good job, good job. And bowl of

Mana yes, there it is boom which, by the way, Manna,

which didn't last a single day, is now going to last forever. And

the Ark of the Covenant, and the reason why is the Ark of the

Covenant had what's called the mercy seat, right is there? I think I

said I said the wrong word a minute ago. But the mercy seat,

and that's that represents then the pouring out of the blood of the lamb and

the sacrifice that is sufficient to pay for the sins of the world. And

so yeah, that's that's the idea. So there's that your eternal soul well

is here on earth, but we'll we'll spend eternity uh with God, and

we'll make it past this heaven and this earth, and then of course his

word so God never changes. Yeah, that's what. Did you ever hear

my favorite Jim Gaffigan reference about the gates of Heaven? No Jim Gaffkin,

you know, the comedian. So he's a Christian and he goes, he

goes, gates of Heaven. I've always wondered. He goes, what kind

of neighborhood is heaven? It has to have gates, he goes. He

goes, Yeah, we had to put these gates up because all the kids

are sneaking in and using the pool. He goes, and he goes gates.

He goes, what kind of neighborhood is this and he goes, yeah,

he goes, they were really hard to put up too. He goes,

we had to go all the way down to Hell and find a contractor

and everything. Oh no, I know all of our contractors are like,

hey, wait a minute, but that's that's Jim Gaffkin's joke, not mine.

There you go, there you go. Yep. So, so this

idea of you spending a little bit of time each day just taking in some

of God's words might be the only thing you do to day that will last

forever. Yeah. That and sharing the gospel. Yeah, there you go.

Those two things are the two things that will last forever. And so

here you are, you're drawing closer to Christ. You're you're learning his words,

and uh, these are should strengthen you, they should empower you,

and they should challenge you too. That's that's a great that's a great thought

because every time we read God's word, every time we spend time in it

and work toward it, that means we're investing in the movement of the Kingdom

of God, which means those are the things that will last. Right,

So we live this life just as Paul says, he says, I strain,

I forget what's behind, I strain for what is ahead, and I

press on to win the prize for which God has called me heaven word.

So so what he's saying is he's like, live this life as if you

know that there are rewards in heaven, things that will actually last, and

don't just run the race of the Christian life, but run to win.

That's right, right, which is which is really cool? Yeah, So

keep looking up. That's right there, it is. That's the motto.

There you go of the last six days. Yes, that's right, all

right. So that's it for our time together, and we'll see you hopefully

next time. I'm the bibble guys. H