This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. Today
is Friday, March the 6th. Thank you for your
prayers. My vocals are doing a little bit better
today. We're just going to pray they keep getting
better before the week is up so that I can keep
sharing the content on this episode, on this
podcast, and also to be preaching this weekend.
Looking forward to what God has for us on Sunday.
Today our reading plan goes into Luke 21, which
is what I'll be talking about on Sunday morning
from the pulpit. And I just want to say before
we jump into the reading today. I'm not going
to read every single verse of scripture in the
sermon. That's a lot to cover in Luke 21. Hopefully,
if you've been following along and going through
our reading plan, you've seen us already look
at Luke 21 one time today, this week, and then
you saw us look at Matthew chapter 24, which
is a mirror. It lines up in the same time frame
and same discourse that he is giving, that Jesus
is teaching. Today, I want to tell you, it seems
like a lot of times thing. So I want to free
up and kind of clear up just a couple of thoughts
before we jump into this. This is, if you remember
from our time together on Tuesday, we talked
about this is right after Jesus has exposed the
religious elite and how the establishment is
corrupt and broken. Now, Honestly, we could say
that at any day and age. In our day and age today,
we could talk about how something is exposed
and if it's exposed, it's corrupt and it's broken,
the establishment or whatever it may be. But
he's talking, he just did that with the religious
elite. Then he goes into the temple where they
are giving an offering. And we see, we pick up
in Luke 21 where the widow gives her offering
and Jesus says, look at this, she is really given
something. Then it follows up with, there's a
crowd here because they're here for Passover.
They're here for the Passover. over time. We're
going to see that next week when we jump into
Luke 22. But today... We see Jesus is in the
temple and there's all kinds of people there.
So they're packed in. They start talking about
how beautiful the temple is, how amazing the
structure is. And then we read in Luke 21, he
begins to talk about how the temple will fall.
All this will be destroyed. Now, then he goes
into wars and persecutions and the destruction
of many things and the world chaotic events.
So the question at hand today in our time today
is, is Jesus talking about what they would see
in a few short years, the fall of Jerusalem in
70 AD, and ultimately the final rebellion and
climax of all the fall of the nation back in
130 AD. Is he talking about those events, or
is he talking about end times events? Right.
That's kind of a question on a lot of people's
minds. I've had so many messages this week. Hey,
I'm reading all this and then I'm watching the
news. I think I see a correlation. Yeah, sure.
There's correlations. I think in my personal
opinion, my interpretation, I believe Jesus is
talking about a little bit of both. I think he's
telling them about what's going to come in their
lifetime right then. I think he's also giving
a hint or pieces of information for us for the
end, for the times that we will face now, today,
in our day and age. So with that understood,
I want to read just a couple of verses for you.
We're going to start in verse number 10, and
we're going to go down to about verse 19. I want
to just show you what the Lord's telling me today.
I'm not giving timelines or I'm not giving world
events that are happening and all the things.
I just want to read a little bit of scripture
and show you what the Lord's revealing to me
out of his word. One of the things that I believe
about the word is if what's being taught today
out of the scripture could not be understood
by the original audience it's probably misinterpreted
right because the scripture was written for the
original audience and that would then transcend
time and so that the word is true and it's good
from the time it was spoken to the time we're
reading it now it doesn't mean that it's changed
it doesn't mean that our our application may
have adjusted a little bit but the interpretation
is still the same so i want to read a few verses
out of luke 21 today and share with you some
of my thoughts that i believe the original audience
would have understood, and the audience Jesus
is talking to, as well as us today. Hopefully
it kind of gets us on some solid ground. Here
we go in Luke 21 beginning at verse 10. Then
he said to them, Nation will rise against nation
and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great
earthquakes and in various places famines and
pestilences, and there will be terrors and great
signs from heaven. But before all this, they
will lay their hands on you and persecute you,
delivering you up in the synagogues and the prisons,
and you will be brought before kings and governors
for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity
to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your
minds not to mediate beforehand how to answer.
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which
none of your adversaries will be able to withstand
or contradict. You will be delivered up even
by parents and brothers and relatives and friends,
and some of you they will put to death. You will
be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a
hair on your head will perish. By your endurance
you will gain. your lives. Now, I want to say
right now, as we look at this scripture, as we
think about this scripture, there is a lot to
unpack here that I believe we will overlook and
we'll miss if we don't rest in it for just a
second. I'm not really sure what verse 18 means
about not a hair on your head will perish. I
don't think that one applies to me personally,
but I do think that for those of you listening
maybe on an audio version, I am a bald man. But
as we look at this text today, here's what I
want us to make sure and notice. He talks about
there's going to be national catastrophes that
happen. There's going to be natural catastrophes
that happen, right? The nations are going to
rise again. There's going to be national problems
that will take place. Is he talking about in
70 and 130 AD, or is he talking about 2026? Either
way. It's true, right? I think we don't need
to misinterpret it. I think we need to understand
where he's coming from. There's going to be national
crisis. There's going to be national and natural
catastrophes that are going to take place. But
then he says, I think it's so beautiful, as he
says, yeah, there's going to be problems that
are big, big, big scale, but let's make it personal.
Let's jump into what he means for us. But before
all of this, they're going to take you and they're
going to persecute you. And then they're going
to put you in court. They're going to prosecute
you. Right? This is the way he says that. He
says, you'll be brought before kings and governors
for my name's sake. You're going to be prosecuted.
You're going to be put in jail. You're going
to be put in jail. You're going to be brought
in front of these powers. That's what's going
to happen. And then I love the word that he gives,
but don't worry. You're telling me there's going
to be wars, nations are going to rise up against
nations. You're telling me there's going to be
natural disasters like famine and like pestilence,
like major problems globally or in whatever area.
I mean, you're telling me that's going to be
an issue and then they're going to come and persecute
me and you're telling me not to worry? Okay,
well, how do I prepare? That is the question,
right? How are we going to be ready? for the
day of the Lord. How are we going to be ready
for that day? Now, he goes on in the rest of
the text. I believe, again, we can understand
it as to the audience he was talking to, also
to preparation for us today. But here's what
I love about this text specifically, verse number
15. Verse number 14 and 15, he says, but go ahead
and settle in your minds right now. Don't be
trying to think about what you're going to say.
Because if you start thinking, what am I going
to say? What am I going to say? Then you may
start building a case for yourself. Instead,
he says, I'm going to give you the words. I'm
going to be there in the moment. Do you hear
the amount of dependency we need on the Lord?
We have to depend on him to show up in that moment.
I'm not going to have a speech prepared for when
I, if I were to ever get arrested or get put
in front of a governor or a leader. That could
possibly take my life. I'm going to have a thought,
right? Well, here's why I did the things I did.
Here's how I can spin it to make this happen.
Jesus says, listen, I'm going to give you the
words to say, and don't worry, the words that
I will give you, nobody can even contradict them.
They're going to be so frustrated. I don't know
if you've ever been in a conversation before
where you've allowed the Holy Spirit to work
through you and speak through you. It's amazing.
It's incredible. I've talked to so many people
within our church family and around the world
that said, I've walked into a conversation, didn't
know where all the scripture was coming from.
Where did this come from? Yeah, I hid it in my
heart six years ago. And for some reason, the
proverb pops up right now in my head in this
moment, or the way that God wants to encourage
this person right now is through this word. It's
amazing. It's awesome. Jesus is telling his disciples,
his followers, listen, there's going to be problems.
globally. There's going to be problems, national
problems, nation against nation. There's going
to be problems with the earth is going to be
groaning and there'll be pestilence. There'll
be famine. The earth won't produce what it needs
to produce. There'll be issues with all this.
People are going to persecute you. They're going
to put you in front of, they're going to prosecute
you. And you're going to say, well, what do I
need to do? What's my fight? And Jesus says,
your fight is to depend on me. That's your fight.
Your fight is to trust. I'm going to give you
what you need when you need it. Can I tell you
today, that may be the most encouraging thing
I've ever had. A lot of times I feel like I don't
know enough. I'm not educated enough. I'm not
skilled enough in certain areas. And here's what
God keeps telling me and reminding me. All I
need is for you to depend on me. I'm going to
take care of you. I'm going to give you the words
to say. I'm going to give you the moments in
which to say them. Don't get ahead of me. Don't
walk too far behind me. Let me walk step in step
with you, and let's get this done together. I
also love how the scripture says, by your endurance.
that you will gain your lives. What that means,
there's a lot of places in Scripture we can tie
that to. I know that if you've been a student
of the Word, you know that several places in
the New Testament, we will hear about how our
faith produces endurance, and endurance produces
this hope that we have. And as we finish well,
I believe I was talking with somebody this week,
and I really truly believe that we have a chance
to finish the race well. I believe everybody
does. Maybe you didn't start well. Maybe the
run didn't start too well for you. Maybe this
year didn't start well for you. It doesn't mean
you can't finish well. It doesn't mean you can't
put that faith to action and then finish and
endure whatever comes your way. How can you endure?
Through Jesus. How can you do it? Through depending
on him. Today, there's a lot in Luke 21. Read
it all. Read it again. Let it soak in. But here's
what I will encourage you with today here with
new mercies. The new mercy for me today is he
will give you exactly what you need when you
need it. Just put your dependency on him and
not on yourself.