The Second Coming: Insights from Matthew 24

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

about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Man, I like that

Roland too. That's Connor O'Brien's voice. Yes. And by the way,

we put names to our sound guy and a video guy. That's right.

They put names to the desire puts everything together. And now Connor, such

nice job. It's such a friendly voice. Yes, you're listening to the

Bible guys. Yes. And by the way, if you attend our church,

which is Heritage Church, then he's the guy on stage with a guitar

who often does voiceovers for our videos. That's right. He's very good.

Hey, so today we're gonna first of all, welcome everybody who we are

the Bible Guys. My name is Chris, and then my companion is Jeff.

Faithful companion, Your faithful companion. That's so funny. No, isn't

that, Robin. Isn't that how they and his faithful companion? Robin?

Oh No, no, No, it's faith lone ranger and his faithful companion.

Yeah, that's right, that's true. Yeah, No, it's it's

the dynamic duo. I think is the coin phrase for that. That's right.

Yeah, so for his young Ward. Isn't that how they the Batman

they'd call him, they'd call Robin Batman's young Ward. Really, it was

like his adopted son, right kind of thing. Was his name? What

is his name, Grace Ward? Well, I don't I don't know what

his name is, but Ward meaning he was he was, he was under,

he was under. I don't know Robin's real name. I think he's

under his care something, Dick Grayson. This is riveting stuff. I'll just

take you all right. So hey, we're gonna move on to a segment

that Desiree put together, Okay, called how well do you know them?

Let's see how well Jefferly knows you? Chris ask him three off the wall

questions and see if her questions off the wall. But all right, here

we go. Ready, here's the first one. So I just thought of

this, like literally a minute before we started. How many cities have I

lived in? Total? But I'm gonna get but I'm gonna give you a

hint. Yeah, you already know this answer, whether you've ever thought about

it or not. So there's nothing okay, there's nothing secret. Nope,

Okay, go to name them Youngstown. Youngstown where I grew up, Springfield,

Springfield, Missouri. I went to college there, Atlanta, just outside

of Atlanta. I'll give you that one because it's Stockbridge. But it's okay,

you never know that. Uh a different town here in Michigan. Nope,

you moved straight to Troy. Yep. Even though you worked in a

little church in here in Michigan, didn't you work in another church? No,

kids, moved straight to Kensy's Okay, So Troy, that's Troy,

and that's it. That's four. That's it. Four. Well I thought

you worked in another church. So you've only worked in two churches your whole

life. Uh? No, three churches? Three churches. No. Well,

actually in Stockbridge and when I was Atlanta, i worked in two churches,

lived in the same house. And then here I was, I'd in

the same house as two churches. Yeah, okay, I've literally done the

same thing. Wow, that's cool. That crazy. Yeah, But the

good news is I've only had two houses as like like as a married person,

I've been married thirty two years. So your basement's packed Full's what you're

saying. I don't even have a basement. I don't have a base.

I don't have a base. That's the first question. Okay, here's the

second one, which, by the way, I was off the wall.

I loath the fact that I don't have a basement. Number two, you

should ask me that do I have a basement? I should have Okay,

what is my favorite genre of music? Uh? I have so many statements

to make on that your favorite genre? H Well, I think Taylor Swift

is your favorite singer, so it's got to be some kind of a pop

I didn't say she was my favorite. I just said I liked her.

I just I liked her. Yeah, so I would say I want to

say show tunes. That's what I wanted to say. Yes, pop,

wow, you're going for the swifty Yeah, either yeah popp or country pop.

It's country the country it's country. Yeah yeah. I lived in Atlanta

for ten years and they grew on me. Yeah yeah. Yeah. So

that's it. And then here's the last question. Okay, what is the

number You don't have to name the actual countries, ok but what is the

number of the as many international missions trips that I've taken in total international missions

trips that you've taken? Yeah, these are either like visions trips as leadership

or service trips. I would think it's twenty seven really close twenty four oh

wow yeah yeah. So the breakdown is Cuba, Haiti, Kenya, and

Costa Rica. I went all of them four times. Wow, and then

once each I went to India, Brazil, South Sudan, South Africa,

Tanzania, Egypt, Israel, and the Dominican Republic. Wow. Wow,

that's it. That's great. Well, we're getting ready to go back to

Dominican Republic. We are, yeah, yeah, just in a couple of

weeks. Yeah, okay, there would be a good one. There you

go. Awesome, Then that'll be twenty five. Yes, just round it

off. Just make sure you asked me that question again next time. There

it is. Hey, So if you care about me at all, all

the amazing things, it's just we're plumbing the depths. You know, more

about the person of the mystery. That is Chris Starba. That's it.

The music, it's very fulfilling. I can imagine it would be for you.

So today we are in Mathew really chapter twenty four. I'm just moving

on just so today we're going to be in Matthew chapter twenty four. Yep,

and do you remember those of who've been listening over the last week or

so. We started off and we're reading about all these comments that Jesus makes

about his return and being watchful, right, and so it winds up being

three very long passages in Matthew chapter twenty four, Mark chapter thirteen, and

Luke chapter twenty one. So what we decided to do is go halfway on

each of those three passages, and now we're coming back and we're picking back

up in Matthew twenty four, and we'll get the second half today of that

one, and then we'll go to Luke second half of that one, and

then yeah, or Mark and then Luke. So technically, just to say

it another way, that means will have done six podcasts on three chapters,

three chapters which are the same parallel story one one big topic, one big

topic. That's right, yeah, yeah, So it's just so many verses.

This one chapter has fifty one verses in it. In Matthew chapter twenty

four, zins Yeah, So we're not gonna read all fifty one because we've

already read twenty five of them. But you pick up right there Matthew chapter

twenty four, Verse twenty six says. So if someone tells you, look,

the Messiah is out in the desert, don't bother to go and look,

or look he's hiding here. Don't believe it. For as the lightning

flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when

the Sun of Man comes. Just as the gathering of vulture shows there's a

carcass nearby. So these signs indicate that the end is near. Immediately after

the anguish of those days, the sun will be dark and the moon will

give no light. The stars will fall from the sky, and the powers

in the heavens will be shaken. And then at last, the sign that

the Sun of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will

be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see

the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,

and he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet.

They will gather his chosen ones from all over the world, from the

farthest ends of the Earth and heaven. Now learn a lesson from the fig

tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know

that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these

things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door.

I tell you the truth, This generation will not pass from the scene

until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my

words will never disappear. However, no one knows the day or hour when

these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Sun himself.

Only the Father knows. When the Sun of Man returns, It'll be

like it was in Noah's day. In those days after the flood, or

before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up

until the time Noah entered his boat. People didn't realize what was going to

happen until the flood came and swept them all away. And that is the

way it'll be when the Sun of Man comes. Two men will be working

together in the field, and one will be taken the other left. Two

women will be grinding flour at the mill. One will be taken the other

left. So you too must keep watch, for you don't know what day

your Lord is coming. Understand this, if a homeowner knew exactly when a

burglar was coming, he'll keep watch and not permit his house to be broken

into. You also must be ready all the time, for the son of

man will come when least expected. A faithful, sensible servant is one to

whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding

them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good

job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth. The

master will put that servant in charge of the all he owns. But what

if the servant is evil and thinks my master won't be back for a while,

and he begins beating the other servants and partying and getting drunk. The

Master will turn unannounced and unexpected, and he'll cut the servant to pieces and

assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place, there will be

weeping and gnashing of teeth. So Jesus saying, hey, he's coming back

at any minute, he is. And that last word picture is a heck

of a word picture. Yeah, absolutely hotly Christmas. Yeah, yeah,

so there's a lot in there. Yeah, Well I read Jesus is coming

back. At any minute. You don't know when. And that's why I

live by the motto heat dessert first. Jesus is coming back at any minute,

and so I say that all the time. He desert first, and

people who've gone out to eat with me, you know that it's true.

A lot of times I'll eat dessert first because the last thing I want to

do is if Jesus comes back. I'm sitting there with a mouth full of

broccoli and I knew dessert was coming. We're like, are you serious,

right, so eat dessert first. Jesus come back at any minute. Let's

be ready. That's really funny. Yeah. So when he says this generation,

I tell you the truth, this generation, Oh, we're gonna get

ready to it that thanks, Chris. Oh well yeah, yeah, no,

no, no, no, it's just it's the hardest thing. I

whole page. I'm just making fun of the fact you chose the hardest thing

to talk about. There's an asterisk there. Yeah, let's do it.

Yeah, and and and the asterisk. I was just going to point out

that the Life Application Study Bible has a note that says it translates into this

age or this nation. Right, So so sometimes I think What happens is

when we when we take a word translated into English and we take it so

literally without doing the work of the original Greek, we can say, oh,

that must mean you know, the people listening to it in the in

the first century, by the time their generation would die off. Yeah,

I wouldn't think that that would be the hardest thing on here. No,

no, it's just that's the most complex thing in this everything else you can

read pretty much surface and that, right, So that I was just making

fun that that's the first thing we went to. You know, we limpd

into it with the dessert comment. You're trying to redeem the conversation here.

No, no, no, I hear. Well. You know we've always

we've said this in the past. You know, last time we talked about,

uh, the book Revelation has been good goodness, gracious what months and

months and months ago right on this podcast. So I sort of told a

story about you know, those billboards where I've driven by and and and people

have actually in the past, I've seen it where it was pretty popular,

where there was a group of people who rented out which is quite expensive,

spaces on billboards and saying here's our prediction this is when the second come is

coming is gone, and they would predict a date right, and then and

then I remember, you know, the date would come and go, and

then I remember what's absolutely I mean, I want to say hilarious, but

but like it's kind of sad too. Somebody else rented the billboard and wrote,

well that was awkward right after that, and it was so it was

so like funny, but at the same time, it's like it's like it

sort of like makes us all look bad. Right, the Christians of the

of the world that are interpreted as sometimes fanatics. Well, the way that

you know that nobody knows is because even Jesus doesn't, right. He literally

says in verse thirty six, he says, not even the angels in heaven

or the Son himself, right, only the Father knows. And then he

said, actually, he will come when you when it's least expected. Yeah,

So it's not going to be the date on the billboard, right,

which means which means when somebody says I think he's going to come here,

in my mind, I go, okay, that probably means that date is

not when he's going to come. Yeah, right, because I take Jesus

pretty literal, right, and when he says it's going to come when it's

least expected, I would guess that everybody who studies and predicts. Hey,

I get a sort of a sad story, but I think it's worth telling.

Tell it. Everybody loves sad stories. Well, my friend just passed

away. And he was at one time extremely good friend of mine when I

lived in Atlanta. We just talked about me living in Stockbridge, Georgia.

When I lived there, I was a pastor of high school students, and

one of my best friends in the world was this guy named Chris and and

he was like a helper in my in my youth group, you know.

Anyway, super great friend. And then we lost touch for years and years

after I moved to Michigan. Well, then we got reconnected and he was

this huge The only way I can describe it, I guess, is like

a huge revelation type person. Right, Whereas like every conversation, yeah,

yeah, every conversation, we couldn't get off the phone or get off text

without talking about the second coming, Okay, and so anyway, and then

what happens is this is the sad part. This is extremely sad like,

is what he says, Hey, Chris, I've developed a disease. And

he's pretty much drank himself to death. Okay, so what is that grossest

deliver? Yeah, that's exactly right. And so he's like, he's like,

but because I'm not going to stop drinking beer. And I was like,

why, I just love it too much. And I was like,

but the doctor said that if you stopped, there's a chance perhaps that you

would add years and years to your life. And here's what he said.

He said, doesn't matter because I already know I'm not going to live very

long anyway, none of us are, because Jesus is coming back. And

he also said, and I've got a bunch of money. He's like,

and I really don't care about saving it because I don't care about passing it

on because Jesus is coming back. This man was so absolutely convinced, which

is not a bad thing, sure to convince that Jesus coming back, right,

But he was cashing all his chips, putting it in this basket because

he decided to not take care of himself and not plan financially for the future.

And so then eventually his wife texted me and said Hayes, why don't

you know, you know, Chris passed away. I was so sad and

that conversation still rings in my ears. And so when I read a passage

like this, how could you not think about your friend? Oh? Right,

right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, So he had it right in

that we should be living our life like Jesus is going to come back at

any minute. Yes, but Jesus intent of letting us know he's coming back

at any minute is not that we would drink more beer and blow all our

money, right, that's that's not that. I'm not trying to make fun.

What I'm saying trying right, So his start preparing, stop stop witnessing

stuff right right. Instead, he's telling us because he said it's coming,

and it's coming you you won't even know. It's like a thief in the

night, you know. He's he talks about that. He talks about the

boss that comes home early. And I used to work for it at the

time. One of the richest men in Michigan back right before Bondy and I

got married, worked on as a state and it's about five hundred acres.

Told me he lived there, was it? What place did he visited?

Well? So yeah, he lived there part time, so he's probably there

half the year. He lived on that estate and great, big, giant,

huge home and we had probably a ten acre formal gardens and it was

just it was magnificent, right, So we did all the work on that.

So we had like three or four college guys that were just working,

you know, summer workers. But he had several year round a adult employees,

some people that managed the ranch. He owned a big cattle ranch next

door, some that just managed his property there. And my boss was one

of those guys. He made good money, had a company pickup truck,

and he was that big cowboy kind of guy. He just live in that

cool life. The home he lived in was on that estate, all that

stuff. Just living around this. He had access to the pool. Whenever

the big dog wasn't in town, he just free reign of the whole complex.

But he was a total jerk and he never did anything unless the boss,

the owner was in the area. And so it had come up.

I didn't throw him under the bus, but one of the other employees had

mentioned to the owner, Hey, you know, if you're not around,

he doesn't do anything. He just he goes into town. He just spends

money, he sleeps. And so one day the owner came into town unexpected

and rolled in, Hey where's Bill? And we were like, well,

he's I hear right now. And the owner got upset, said you tell

me where's that. I know you guys are covering for him, and so

we said well. And Bill had an entire little apartment up in the hayloff

in one of the barns that he had built himself just to be able to

take naps. And he was in there watching TV, not working, and

the boss fired him on the spot. He lost the best job he ever

had in his life. Wow, because the rich man showed up and said,

hey, you're being unfaithful. So he's squandering he's spent so much money.

It's a big investigation about all the waste. So when I read that,

that's what I think about, is there's going to be a day when

Jesus shows up or when the King shows up and so, hey, what

have you been doing for me? Have you been getting your work done?

Have you been doing what I told you to do? So he doesn't tell

us all these things so that we like, you know, talking about your

friends, so that we drink more and spend more, and just blow off

all the important things of life. Right Instead, what he's trying to do

is he's trying to focus our mission. Hey, there's work to be done.

Yeah. The opposite is probably you need you to stay focused and be

ready because there's lots of people who don't yet know that I'm coming back.

There's so many people who don't know that they're about ready to stand in judgment.

You need to go tell them all. And then you just have to

be working like it's tomorrow. Work like it's tomorrow. Work with that kind

of urgency to bring lost people to faith in Christ, to lay up treasures

in heaven. As Jesus said, to make a difference with your life.

You have to work like it like I'm coming back tomorrow. Because when I

do show up, I'm gonna he says, he's gonna, then he's gonna

hold us accountable. There'll be judgment. In verse number twenty nine, when

it says immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be dark

and the moon will give no light, the stars are far from the sky,

and the powers of heaven will be shaken, he's actually quoting there Isaiah

thirteen to ten, and then it says thirty four thirty four to four,

and then it says see Joel, chapter two, verse number ten. So

so you know, here are these You know, Jesus is now connecting the

Old Testament right with what you know is going to happen with himself. And

by the way, I love the imagery of saying the Son of Man coming

on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory because you know, think

about this, Jesus is about to surrender his life, right, He's about

to give his life to you know, to be handed over. Those guys

who are listening don't necessarily know that it's going to be literal and it's going

to come any second, right, right, But you know they're about to

see Jesus be overpowered supposedly, right. But Jesus isn't you know, he

let them overpower him. He says, you know, I'm nobody's taking my

life from me. He's about to say, I give it willingly, right.

But you know, think about the imagery that they're that they're going to

see, you know, just the picturing the final days of Jesus, and

so this imagery of him talking about him coming back one day is just glorious

in this moment. Oh yeah, that's really cool. That reminds me of

the lyrics to that old Southern gospel song when Jesus steps out on the clouds.

Yeah, we hear that song. Huh oh no, it's a great

song. Say it for us. I'm not going to sing it. Come

on, Joe, I'm not going to sing it. So I can,

but I'm not going to. So there is a phrase the very first sentence

that we read here, verse twenty six. So if someone tells you,

look, the Messiah's out in the desert, don't bother to go and look.

On a semi regular basis, a couple times a year, somebody will

give me their book that they've written about when Jesus is coming back really right.

Oh yeah, it happens to me either a handwritten I've had multiple handwritten

books, where so this is the manuscript that they wrote and it's about they're

pretty sure they have a good idea of when Jesus is coming back. And

then I would say probably once every year every other year, I get somebody

who gives me a book that they actually had printed right where they're really really

confident that they know when Jesus is going to return, and Jesus says,

here, someone tells you, look, the Missia's out. Don't even bother

and go look, right, So, hey, would you read this?

And I'm like, probably not right? Right? Right? So if you

want to give me a book about when Jesus is going to return, because

you're pretty sure you know it. He wrote that book, don't give it

to me. Give it to Chris. He'll read it. But I will

be happy to take it and pass it on to my other friends like Chris,

you know who. But I'm joking on that. I've read many many

times people would write a thing and then I'd come back and go, hey,

have you thought of this? Have you thought of that? Right?

And we just can't know. I just literally today, before I came into

the studio, I had a meeting with a person who this is what they

wanted to talk about, specifically, trying to figure out my theology, the

way I view Jesus coming back and all those things, the importance of it,

and it's a big deal we should take Jesus took a long time to

talk about this, Oh godess, And he continues on right, he keeps

going with this topic. Yeah, before he left, one of the really

big things he wanted his disciples to know is it's all going to come to

an end, right, and I want you to know what's going to be

like. And he didn't tell you to scare you. He told you so

that you'd be ready. And that's really the intent behind all of this.

And just be ready and we'll keep talking about this. This same topic goes

on for the next couple of days. Yep. Okay, well that's a

good place to end. It's about our time, so we will see you,

hopefully tomorrow on the bubble. Guys,