MidTree Church
The sermon audio of MidTree Church in Harris County, Ga. BEHOLD // BELIEVE // BECOME
MidTree Church
Standing Strong in a Chaotic World | Pastor Will Hawk | February 23rd, 2025
This episode explores Jesus's teachings from Luke 21 about the end times, focusing on the need for believers to hold onto hope and maintain an active faith. We discuss how individual posture influences our response to a chaotic world, and emphasize the church’s role in bringing fearlessness to those in need.
• Reflection on inner posture and its impact on faith
• Contextual background of Jesus's last teachings
• The importance of anticipating Jesus’s return
• Faithful ways to respond to end-time anxieties
• The call to a fearless church amid global distress
• Seven key realities about the end times
• Encouragement towards personal engagement and community
• Watchfulness and preparation for Jesus's return
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
All right guys. Jonica and Paisley are going to read the text we will be looking at this morning in Luke 21.
Speaker 2:Good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to Luke 21, 25 through 33, which is on page 881 in your pew Bibles, and follow along as I read god's word and there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with. Thank you, dear.
Speaker 3:And he told them a parable Look at the fig tree and all the trees as soon as they come out in leaf. You see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Thank you guys. So much. Paisley, that was a perfect tone in reading. I'll be honest with you, I was telling the prayer team this morning when we got together to pray over the service. I said, guys, we always want to have two things every service we want to have gravity and we want to have gladness. We want to have seriousness and we want to have two things every service we want to have gravity and we want to have gladness. We want to have seriousness and we want to have celebration all brought together. But this is a unique Sunday because the celebration is quite high and the seriousness is quite deep.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you picked up on it, but what Paisley is reading about is the end of the world, and so what we're about to transition from is new members in the family, exciting things, service happening at the church, growth and life. And then we're going to transition to Luke and we're going to talk about the end of the world. Sound fun, sound good, All right, as we dive in. What I want you sort of reconciling with in your own mind and I think this will help you as we look at the text is this If your inner being had a posture, what would it be If your inner self, the part of you that nobody can see, your soul, your inner thoughts, if it had a posture, what would it be? Would it be a puddle on the floor right now? Would it be walking around with chest out, like walking into a restaurant, trying to see all the people you know so you don't miss anybody? Is it somewhere in between? Are you burdened and laden? Do you feel beat up, like you've taken a number of punches, but it's Sunday morning so you're supposed to smile and sort of mask it up? What is your inner posture today as you come in Reason? I ask this is because we are going to talk about Jesus's words on what we should expect at the end of the age. But Jesus's words are not just informative. It's incredible how pastoral they are. And what I believe the word of God is gonna desire to do in each of you today is say wherever your posture is, how can I bring you not I, but the word of God and the spirit of God bring you more into alignment with the posture of how Christ would be navigating your current circumstances, and would he give you the ability to navigate it that way as well? So start thinking. Have maybe a word in your mind or a picture in your mind. What does the posture of your inner self look like? You guys are gonna notice this as you head out on the sign today, but I did wanna remind everybody.
Speaker 1:We've got a members meeting tonight up at the church. You do not have to be a member to attend, but we certainly would like for every family to send at least somebody. It'll be tonight at 5 30, and we do have one sort of heavy issue that we need to deal with, and so just know that it would be a gift if you guys could try to make that a priority. Even if you just need to send one individual, if you need to have child care, we'll have something going for the older kids on one side and a nursery on the other. If you registered on the Carrie, what do we call the app? Thank you, as long as y'all know, as long as y'all know they know I'm going to be there, all right, good stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, let's jump into the gospel of Luke. As we are turning here, one of the first things that I want you to notice is this there will be, and then, when these things begin, one of the first things that I want you to realize, if you've come to church once in the past month, we have been dealing with theologically heavy realities. These have not been lighter Sundays, these have not been hurrah high five Sundays. This has been Jesus talking about some of the deepest, most consequential realities in life. And if you haven't noticed that, I want you to notice that, because what you're reading today, what you've already had read to you, are some of Jesus's last words to a world that is still listening to him. I don't know what day of the week it was when Jesus taught this. We know that he has at least a couple days more by something we see in this text, but what it means is somewhere in the vicinity of three or four days before Jesus said and there will be, people were welcoming him by taking off their coats and laying them down in the street that he would walk through them like a king on a red carpet, waving palm branches and saying Hosanna, hosanna. And he's teaching. And he's teaching heavy stuff, big stuff, deep stuff, consequential stuff, because he only has about seven steps, seven days, a handful of days, until those very same people who are showing up to hear this lesson are going to cover their ears and begin screaming at the top of their lungs crucify him, crucify him, crucify him.
Speaker 1:What we look at today lives in between these two realities, and the disciples don't see it coming. Peter has no idea. There is one person on the planet that sees what was and what is and is standing between the gap, and that is Jesus himself. And so one of the lessons not even that you will read in the word, but just read in the reality is that Jesus is going to use his last moments to a world that is still listening to make sure that, for all time and forevermore, they know what is coming, they know that their souls are eternal, that you are not a body with a soul, you're a soul that happens to have a body, that every one of God's creatures, created in his own image, is eternal in nature, and what happens when we breathe our last or beat our last is of great consequence. So Jesus is preaching and teaching, and preaching and teaching, because in a few days, when he dies on the cross, a few days later, when he's resurrected, the majority of his teaching will be to his disciples. It'll be to the ones who build the church that built the church that built the church that built this church. So this is Jesus's lesson to a world that is still listening, and here is what we will see. It is a very good thing to know the one who knows what is coming next.
Speaker 1:Out of curiosity, how many of you guys went to public school or private school Just by hands, public or private? Okay, I know I'm covering a lot of ground here. I'm leaving out homeschoolers. We homeschool. We have never given a pop quiz in our lives To my knowledge. I don't know that my wife has ever said Tuesday, guess what kid, pop quiz time. Some of you may be on top of that.
Speaker 1:I distinctly remember walking into Miss Matthew's class in elementary school and her saying surprise spelling test. And you just felt the class like. I remember Mr Touchberry's civics class. We would walk in, take out a piece of paper on the left-hand side, numbers one through five, put your name in the top right corner. Does anybody relate? Like do you feel your stomach turn when I say those words? It is good to know the one who knows what's coming. College professors are able to get away with this because we don't tend to communicate with other classmates who come at different times. But if you were in high school you had a very different experience if you were a first period, mr Touchberry student, than a sixth period, mr Touchberry student.
Speaker 1:The first perioders heard number one to five on the left-hand column, put your name in the top corner and sweat began. If I make a 70 on this, I could lose this. I might not be playing in a sport in a week. I have got to get this right. Well, what happens? They leave class and they tell everybody Well, the second period class has a little bit of a heads up. They've only got the amount of time that it takes to change classes, but they'll take it and they're going to grab their book and they're going to say what is essential, what must I know? Hey, what were the questions? And they're like I don't know if he's gonna use the same ones, but it had an awful lot to do with citizenship and the Bill of Rights. And you're like okay, come on, go, go, go, go go. Third period a little more relaxed Word has spread. If you're on the other side of lunch, you're chilling. I mean, you're not enjoying lunch as much as you would but you're flipping you when I point out to you that Jesus is saying there will be.
Speaker 1:And then, when these things begin, this is a kindness of Christ in a number of ways. It is kindness number one because you get to know the one who knows everything. Doesn't that change your demeanor of the future? When you know the one who knows everything and he's willing to tell you what's coming, shouldn't that reduce your anxiety? Shouldn't you have your faith increase, especially when it's a guy who's always right? And I think that would be enough of an encouragement today. But I would add to it how great is it when the person who knows what's coming really, really loves you and cares about you. It's not just a classmate passing you in the hall doing their civic duty that they hope you will pay forward to them. This is a person who loves you and wants you to pass the test in flying colors. He loves you and does not want you walking around with anxiety. This is not just about knowing the one who knows, but also realizing that he loves you enough to tell you what's coming, and this is one of the main unique realities of Christians living in an unbelieving world. It's amazing, helpful and faith-building that Jesus tells us about the future, but the fact that he's gonna tell you what to think, how to feel, how to posture yourself, and he shows us this in his very first words.
Speaker 1:There will be signs. You'll see it in the sun, the moon, the stars and on the earth, the stress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the seas and the waves. I don't want to spend too much time here. I just want you to realize the reality that we're looking at. When you read this, some of us are imagining so. Is the sun going to go dark? Is this an eclipse? Is it one of those weird blood moon type things? I just want you to realize.
Speaker 1:Right now, people are looking at an asteroid that's headed towards earth, that's like 12 kilometers or whatever long, and they're like well, what is that going to look like? At the same time, we are looking at wars on numerous fronts in our world. At the same time, we literally have people talking about the seas roaring and the waves moving and water levels rising, as they look at climate change. Everything Jesus talked about 2000 years ago is something we literally talk about in the news. If you read it for 15 minutes, people fainting with fear, with foreboding of what is coming on. The world For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. But then again, jesus being informative, they will see this is going to be a big word for us today the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Speaker 1:Now, when these things begin to take place, straighten up, raise your head, consider your posture, christian. If you're not a Christian, consider your posture toward this cross. What is it that I am navigating life with? Because Christ is calling me to straighten up, to raise my head and to look for a redemption that is drawing near People who have no hope. Look at asteroids and rising water levels and wars, and it makes all the sense in the world for them to fear. But what a scared world needs is a fearless church. What the world? All of the cars that are going to drive by, all of the people that you know that are outside of Christ. What they most need from you is fearlessness. They need you to be able to look at a broken world and say I have a reason not to be broken up myself. I at a broken world and say I have a reason not to be broken up myself. I have a reason to have confidence, I have a reason to have faith. And Jesus packages this in his final words and he gives it to us in gift fashion. I think so many times we think about what we as a church need to be for.
Speaker 1:When a visitor comes, we want to be warm. We'd like to have coffee. A donut would be great. Wouldn't it be awesome if somebody gave them a hand, five and a handshake when they entered in and got to know their name? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. We can only do so much in 90 minutes. The difference in the 90 minutes here and the seven days out there is the way you posture yourself like this. We ought to be doing significantly more ministry outside of here. This should be home base, this should be pep talk. This should be reminder of great truths, getting right with the Lord, being encouraged.
Speaker 1:And then we go and we show a world that has reason to be fearful. We have reason not to fear and the good news is there are a couple of ways that most of us deal with thinking through the end of the world, but Jesus has an answer for both. I'm not gonna get you to answer out loud, but most people fall into one of two categories. When we think about the future, when we think about the end of the world. We go one of two ways. We either get anxious what's that gonna look like? How's it gonna play out? What is persecution going to be like? Am I gonna be around? Are my kids gonna be around? Or we go apathetic. Guys, it's been 2000 years. What are the odds it happens in your lifetime? It's been such a long time. Eat, drink and be merry, say lovey. Let's just try to enjoy our lives, jesus a bit, love our neighbors a bit. God's going to figure that whole thing out and I think both of those I'll say I know both of those biblically are an error. There is this other way, this third way that is the cure to both. Christians should not be fearful about the future or their future.
Speaker 1:One of the things that becomes very obvious if you look at the entirety of this text and I may have to zoom in to show you some of this is how much of Jesus is spending his time speaking directly to you. So much of Jesus's teaching is others-oriented Love your enemy, treat your neighbor as yourself, consider others better than yourself. But when he is talking about this, I just kind of want you to take note at this. Raise your heads. Your redemption is near, as soon as things come out in leaf. You are going to see this for yourself. When you see these things, you will know I'm going to say this to you Watch yourselves. Keep a look at your heart. Don't let it come on you suddenly like a trap. I want you to be able to have strength. So much of this text is saying, hey, what's your posture, how is your heart? This is Jesus on the Sunday, giving you a lot of freedom to focus on yourself. Most Sundays, I'm trying to get you not to this Sunday. I would encourage you to focus on yourself and how these realities hit you.
Speaker 1:There are going to be three things for us to watch for. If you're a note taker, this is the stuff that I would consider writing down. You're going to see this come up again, but the very first thing that we are told to watch for is to simply watch for Jesus. Now, there are two ways that we can do this. We can watch for Jesus in the returning sense.
Speaker 1:The Bible tells us he will come through the clouds in a way that is unmissable and unmistakable, and we need to be watching for that. We need to be thinking, and unmistakable, and we need to be watching for that. We need to be thinking. If it is today, are there conversations that need to be had? Is there reconciliation that I need to make? Are there kindnesses I need to show? Is there generosity I need to do? Forgiveness I need to levy to someone else? We also need to be watching. It may not be that Jesus is coming toward me, but I am going toward him. If my days truly are numbered and every one of them written, before one of them came to be, am I watching for Jesus at 4 pm on a Tuesday? And this is what we see in the text, verse 27, they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Speaker 1:Now, when these things begin to take place, straighten up Christians, raise your heads. Your redemption is drawing near. There could be a sense in which you look at this and, depending on what your posture is, you may have trouble relating to this. I don't think it's going to be for many of us. I think for most of us, and I don't need you to show hands and I don't need you to share examples. I think most of us. If we're honest, our posture is rarely this Amen. Jesus is good, he's good, right, like I know all of the bad stuff that's going on in my life, but my head is up, I'm a few degrees high, I'm watching, I'm waiting, I'm encouraged, I'm enthusiastic.
Speaker 1:Most of us navigate this world getting gut punched on a regular basis. Most of us navigate this world being worn out. It could be worn out by our own sin, worn out by the sins of others, worn out by the busyness of life, worn out by our expectations of ourselves, worn out by other people's expectations of us, worn out by simple failures that are tucked into the system of a broken world. And to this Jesus says hey, christians, remember, straighten up, lift your head, because what is prone to happen to all of us is to have a great quiet time, sing, worship in the car, put in earbuds and walk outside, come to church and be filled up and then start walking. And one thing hits us and we begin hunching. Then another, then a difficulty, then a sickness, then a problem at work, then a problem in life, and next thing we know, thinking about another person is the last thing in our mind. Loving the people around us is gone, and not even that. Just looking very great illustration, by the way on the bicycle, just looking for the goodness of God to point to around us. And so what does Jesus say? Straighten up, raise your head.
Speaker 1:One of the reasons Christians should always be looking up is because our redemption is always close. Listen, our redemption as Christians us being made right with God, brokenness being made right is always close. And the moment I say that, most of you in this room should be thinking seriously always close, because I've had this problem in my marriage for 30 years. So when you say it's always close, will, can I just invite you into a little bit of reality. Do you realize? I've had pain in my body for 15 years. What do you mean? Redemption is always close. I have never had a good relationship with my mom. I have never had a good relationship with my in-laws. What do you mean? Redemption is always close.
Speaker 1:There are three ways the Bible explains to us that redemption is always close. Number one it is close because every one of our trials is short in nature, every one of them. And whatever trial you were saying, will, it is not short. It's been year after year, season after season. The second reality of redemption comes in If that trial persists, it is short in compare. Well, in comparison to what.
Speaker 1:This is the way the Bible looks at difficulty in the life of a Christian on earth. It sees it as this light momentary, affliction. I wonder how many of us would look at the most difficult parts of our life the loss of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, the loss of a job, a cancer diagnosis and we would say, light momentary. I have walked with many of you through incredibly dark valleys. I've watched others in your small groups, other pastors, walk through you in incredibly small valleys and this to me feels hard to say. Lord, how can we look at these broken realities and call them light? They're not light, they're heavy. They're impossibly heavy. They're more than I could carry for a day, much less the rest of my days. How can you call it momentary when it hasn't been days or weeks or months, but years, because it's doing something, it is preparing for us eternal weight beyond all compare. If you are a Christian, there will be a day when all of those not light feeling, not momentary realities are going to be something you look at over your left shoulder 10,000 years later in glory in heaven and you can barely even remember it. So many of the things that identify our entire lives are going to be dust on the mantle of God's glory when we spend 40,000 years in his perfection and our own because of Christ's perfection. And when we get there, we will finally get to the place where even the loss of a child, where even the loss of the greatest, most consequential thing, the deepest walkings of anxiety and depression, we will look back over our shoulder and we will say Jesus, you are right, light, momentary, and it prepared me for this, for a world I can now appreciate, with no loss, with no brokenness, something that truly is beyond all comparison. Why are we called to watch for Jesus? Because your expectations affect your holiness. Let me give you a great example from this. I've been really heavy for a minute, so let me come up for just a breath. Do you realize that when Jesus was saying these things, the disciples, his disciples, the guys you hear all the stories about, probably thought he literally oh sorry about that guy. All right, probably thought he was talking specifically about them.
Speaker 1:In the next 10 to 12 years, a few years after Jesus ascends to heaven and the Holy Spirit comes, there's a new leader in Rome. Does anybody want to guess what his name is? It's also, I think. Go for it? Nope, not Aurelius. It's a pizza place in Home Alone. Yeah, nero, little Nero's pizza, yeah, I don't know if there's anything tucked into that, but I remember it. So Nero comes in three to five years later persecuting the churches. About 30 more years pass by. He's still in charge. The great fire spreads through Rome, creating incredible disaster. Do you know who he blames for that? The Christians. And then do you know what he does? Persecutes them, feeds them to lions, uses them as fun little play things in a bloodthirsty society, lights their bodies as torches in the streets.
Speaker 1:Can I just tell you those disciples were clinging to Jesus's words in those moments. Were they right? Did Jesus return in their lifetime? This isn't a hard question, is it no? So what is happening here? Here's what's happening when Jesus says I want you watching and waiting. It's not for this reason. Oh my gosh, this was something that happened in middle school and high school ministry all the time.
Speaker 1:If we were hanging out with teenagers long enough, this question would come up Is Jesus going to return in my lifetime? And then we all had our answer yes or no. And why? How many of you guys have engaged in a conversation like that? Right? Like all Christians at some point engage with this. Here's what I want you to realize. It's the wrong question. It's okay to ask it. There's nothing wrong with asking it. The issue is this the goal is not to guess right. The goal is not to say, nope, he's coming back in my lifetime and I'm getting it right. The goal is not to guess right. The goal is to realize that, in light of not knowing, asking the question should help you live right.
Speaker 1:What happens when Christians think that Jesus is going to come back in the next three to five years? As they're looking at Nero, I'll tell you what they're doing. They're sharing their faith with anybody who will listen. When they feel like their life may be extinguished in a matter of moments, I'll tell you what they're doing. They're forgiving their brothers. They're forgiving their sisters. They're making the most of every moment.
Speaker 1:Your expectations affect your holiness and if, when you look at this, you're like, well, I'm not anxious, like God's good, he's gonna come in his time. When you move more to the apathetic, can I just encourage you? You might call that faithful. You might say God is sovereign, his providence is good. Why would I even have a concern toward that? Because Jesus tells you to. It is not better for you to not be fearful and not be thoughtful.
Speaker 1:There is this other third way. It's a completely different mindset when we get to the place where we are saying, whether Christ returns in my life or not, I have been instructed by him to watch and to wait and to live as though this day could be my last. You wanna know how to win in sin? That's how you win in sin. You wanna know how to fix broken stuff? That's how you fix broken stuff. You wanna know how to make your life matter and not wonder why am I the same Christian I was 10 years ago? This is how you do it.
Speaker 1:The second thing that we are told to watch is this world. Keep an eye on the world around you, and Jesus gives us this beautiful illustration of a fig tree, and he told them a parable. Look at the fig tree. Really, you can look at all the trees as soon as they come out in leaf. You see for yourself and you know that summer is already near. Take a look at the sage for just a moment. I want you to look at the kindness of Jesus. You see for yourself and you know so. Also, when you see these things. You know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. What is Jesus saying when he says hey guys, you know how this works.
Speaker 1:They were in an agrarian culture. We're not, not a whole lot of us. Some of us have gardens, some of us have chickens running around in the backyard or something like that. We don't know the world like they knew the world. Most of us aren't sleeping in the dirt. We think it's cute when we buy a bag of it. So it's just a little bit different. All right, but these people would have known, they would have felt things more closely no air conditioning, opening windows, smelling the coming of the seasons and the coming of the rains.
Speaker 1:The closest I get to it is when I'm leaving my neighborhood in the spring and I watch the trees that have no leaf begin to get the faintest little bits of red on the tips. You all know what I'm talking about. It's just the buds, and I get excited because I love every single season, and the fact that God has even given us them, I think, is just the coolest thing. I think they're perfectly timed, but nonetheless I look at these little red tips on the edges of the tree and I know that's about to turn green. And then it's going to, and then it's gonna fruit. It's done it my whole life, every year.
Speaker 1:What Jesus is saying here is this when you see obvious things happen, respond appropriately. When I'm telling you what is going to come, don't be surprised by it. I'm giving you the map, I'm giving you the playbook. This isn't trigonometry or algebra, this is basic arithmetic. When you see things getting worse, you ought not to worry, but to watch, to wait and to anticipate, and I wonder how differently our lives would look if we just put that in our spiritual tool backs. Hey, life's looking really grim right now. Okay, jesus, I'm watching, I'm waiting. This is a season I'm not particularly liking. Jesus, but you've told me, light and momentary is preparing me for something. Do you see how differently you will navigate this world when you are convinced that Jesus knows and that Jesus is good and kind to those who come to him? These aren't just rules. They're relatable, and there are a number of things that people are going to disagree on about the end times, but there are some things that I think you should just know.
Speaker 1:My son turned 16 recently, so he's driving. He's driving with a GPS and a phone and stuff. When I started driving, what I realized very quickly was that I knew the city I lived in, but I knew it in little hotspots. I knew the area around Hardaway High School. I knew the area around Beaver Run, I knew the area around Northern Little League, but if I went to take Karen Ann on a date and I drove south, I had no clue where I was going. Do y'all know what I'm talking about? Where you had these little mind maps, but they don't always connect. Here's what I wanna do. I'm gonna do this in about five minutes, super fast. I wanna show you seven things that you can know are going to be a part of the end time, and I'm not gonna connect every dot, but I want each one of those maps to maybe grow. By the way, if you have been a Christian for a long time, I tried to not just do basic stuff, so some low hanging fruit, but also these are realities you may have to get on a ladder to pick off. I'm gonna move quick. What Larry talked about is real, if you have questions about any of this, we can talk at the end of the service.
Speaker 1:But these are seven scripture-based realities of God's unfolding plan and I think these every good Bible reading Christian would agree with, even though people may disagree on some. Number one the gospel will be preached to all nations before Jesus comes and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole nations. Then the end will come. The gospel will be preached to all nations. By the way, I meant to say this there's no way you're gonna get all this written down. If you wanna challenge accepted, go for it. I will also leave it up if you wanna take a picture of it, but I'm realizing I would rather you just sit back and let this hit. If this is a list you wanna have, I'll give it to you at the end or put it up.
Speaker 1:Number two as God's plan unfolds toward the end of time, you will see increasing trials, persecution and apostasy. That means people stepping away from the faith. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, put you to death. You will be hated by all nations for my sake and then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. Number three the rise of false teachers and false messiahs. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but, having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions this is already happening today and will turn away from listening to the truth.
Speaker 1:The time is coming when number four there will be an increase of lawlessness and rebellion against God. Let no one deceive you in any way. That day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. If you have a mentality that everything's gonna get cleaned up and then Jesus is gonna come back, you need to do something with this verse. It is likely gonna continue to get worse and worse and worse, with pockets of blessing in between, until Christ returns.
Speaker 1:Number five there will be natural and cosmic disturbances. This is our verse today. There will be signs in the sun and the moon, the earth nations will be at war, the sea will roar and the waves will pound, and this will cause people to faint with fear at what is coming on the world. Number six you will see the salvation and restoration of Israel. I told you these are things nobody disagrees with. That's the reason I have Israel put in quotes. A lot of people disagree on how is God's redemption plan gonna work for his Jewish people? I'm just going to point to one verse in Romans 11, and if you want to talk more about it, it's kind of a coffee or a lunch type deal.
Speaker 1:Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this. Mystery, brothers, a partial hardening partial, that means not forever has come upon Israel, god's people. Until that means not forever, the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. By the way, we literally just saw that happen this morning. People are joining churches, leaning forward, becoming believers and in this way, all Israel.
Speaker 1:The question is, what does God's word mean by that Will be saved. And then finally, this one most people know the return of Christ in power and glory. Behold, he is coming with the clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. That's unbelievable, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen, light, momentary affliction as all nations totter and writhe because there are so many people who have not responded to the gospel. Even so, amen.
Speaker 1:Now, when we look at these things I'm not going to do a deep analysis on all of them, but there are only a couple that you could even put in the absolutely fully done category, and yet most of them look like they could happen any minute. The first one, all nations being preached to. We have never been closer in a time when, in a digital age, we were literally praying for gospel translations this morning. Number seven, the return of Christ, could be.
Speaker 1:Before I finish this next point, the question is does this begin to expand your mind for what is going to come? Now let me tell you what most of us are gonna wanna do. Most of us are gonna wanna say, okay, well, if this, and then we're gonna add that, and then we're gonna say 20 years. Okay, most of us want this. Please hear me on this. If Jesus wanted you to know more, he'd give you more.
Speaker 1:This is what Christ has given us, and when he gives us this, he looks at this and he says this is enough. It's enough for you to have faith. It's enough for you to walk forward. It's enough for you to trust the one who knows all things, because this is the crux of the matter Heaven and earth, everything you know will pass away, except for one thing. The one thing that isn't going anywhere is this, and it isn't the paper that this is made on. It isn't the ink that made it. It is the one who spoke these words and then claimed them as truth for all time, the one who said I'm gonna make the ink out of this blood that will never perish. My word will go for all time and forever more.
Speaker 1:And then we are told to watch ourselves. This is why I asked you what is your posture this morning, as we get ready to respond in worship, as we get ready to pray, as we get ready to discuss these things and hopefully go into a world with great expectation? What is it that God wants you looking at yourself for? Watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life. I don't think this is primarily talking about alcohol. I think here's what's happening.
Speaker 1:Jesus is saying I know that you're gonna get beat up. I know that you're going to hunch over. Stand up, lift your heads, watch yourselves. Your hearts are going to want to be weighed down. In their day and age, they didn't have Netflix. In their day and age they couldn't doom scroll, but they had alcohol and they tried to find some way to move out of anxiety, a way to just sort of get through the brokenness. And Jesus says no, no, no, no, no. Watch yourselves, don't let your hearts be weighed down, otherwise that day will come upon you suddenly like a trap, and that would be a pity.
Speaker 1:I've been foretelling this for thousands of years. What fool is told there's a trap there? There's a trap there for 2,000 years. What fool is told there's a trap there, there's a trap there, for 2,000 years, and then steps in it Christians. Now he is about to definitely talk to us. It will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Speaker 1:But you stay awake at all times. Pray that you may have strength to escape all these things. What things? All of the things that want to cause you to go towards anxiety or cause you to go towards apathy. All of the things that cause you, to you, to go towards anxiety or cause you to go towards apathy. All of the things that cause you to say this world is just too much, it's overwhelming. It'd be easier for me to pull out my phone or watch a television show than get on my knees and read or pray. It would be easier for me to just get in a conversation about little nothings than get in a conversation about great somethings, no Escape the desire to escape. These things are going to take place and you will stand before the Son of man.
Speaker 1:I just I want you to realize we watch differently. When I walked downstairs last night, this is what I saw. That's my fireplace, with hot, burning embers open. Going into our living room with a fabric couch sitting right in front of it. You want to know what that means. One of my kids helped with the fire. That's what that meant. Okay, you're welcome. Dad Almost burned the whole place down. Yeah, not the help I'm looking for.
Speaker 1:There are a couple of different ways that we watch. I guarantee you, whichever one of my kids did this was watching the fire until they got distracted. I had Hunter and Tucker on Thursday yell from the kitchen in the church hey, what's going on in the kitchen sink? I'll tell you what's going on in the kitchen sink. The honey got really cold last Sunday and it froze. So I started filling up the sink with hot water to throw the honey in, because I like to put it in my coffee. And here's what Will told himself. I'm just going to float around the kitchen, I'll listen for the water so that I know. And I promise you it would have overflowed all over the floor and y'all would have had a very different experience this morning when you walked in and I would have humbly been presenting my resignation and the elders would have joyfully been receiving it.
Speaker 1:There are different ways for us to watch and wait. I know if something's important, I've got to say hey, siri, set a five-minute timer to be done with this sermon and off the stage so that we can worship. I know that in my world, I have to set reminders for myself, and that is what this scripture is saying Set reminders. It doesn't matter what it looks like or how, but figure out a way. Why? Because Jesus is giving his final words. And here he is every day his last couple teaching in the temple at night, going out and lodging on the mountain, and early in the morning all the people come to hear him teach again. And so what do we do? We watch for Jesus, we watch this world, we watch ourselves, and Jesus points to we watch for Jesus some more the fact that he kept teaching those who were going to cover their ears and yell crucify him.
Speaker 1:I told you that there was a better way For those of you who are anxious. You need not be. You need not be, because everything will pass away except the word of God. For those of you who are apathetic, please do not be. That isn't faithful.
Speaker 1:We are called to be anticipatory. We are called to look forward and lean forward that, yes, heaven and earth is gonna pass away, and that might make you nervous, but can't I anticipate that the one who knows all things and cares me is gonna do good things? And I may be prone to be apathetic, man, life's hard enough as it is. Do I really have to put this much effort into my walk with Christ? Well, don't you realize that God's word is never going to pass away? You have this sure foundation, so lean forward. Is Jesus going to return in your lifetime? I do not know, but I do know this you living like it will cause you to live a life that is like his, and that is ultimately the goal. The end of the world is not bad news for believers. It is the beginning of something better. But a scared world does need a fearless church. Will we be one? If you have any fears that you need to navigate, we would love to help you navigate them as we get ready to worship together. Sorry that one was on me.