Luke chapter 21 is where we begin today, but before we begin, I want to ask the question,
how many of you today saw the brand new parking lot of Southern Hills? How many of you saw it out
there? Amen? Pretty exciting, right? Anybody park in the new parking lot? The one without stripes?
How many of you parked in that? Raise your hand. How many of you parked in there? Okay, all right,
very good. It's kind of exciting. It's happening. Like we've been waiting for this to take place,
and one of the first pieces is already put in place. Obviously, they have more to do with the
parking lot, as you know, but that is kicking off the building project, our brand new auditorium.
I want you to imagine with me, the brand new auditorium is finished. We're nine months from now,
and we're walking into that new auditorium, and we start, we have an opportunity of inviting one
of your friends. This is one of the things I'm excited for most whenever we actually open up the
facility, being able to go in and tour people around before grand opening. Like a special behind
the scenes pass, you know what I mean? So imagine with me, I mean, how many of you know Leon and
Sandy Stevens in our church? We know Leon and Sandy, if you know them, give them a round of
applause. We know them, and Leon is one of the ministers here, and they've served in our church
for many years. He actually serves as a care shepherd in praise for the needs of the flock.
Imagine with me, the building opens, and before it's officially opened, I say,
Leon and Sandy, I want to take you through and give you a private tour of the, and we do.
Yeah, there we go. And they say, okay, come with me, and I take them by the hand, we open up,
and we see the beautiful new foyer, and the shiny concrete, the beautiful walls, the freshly painted,
it has that new church smell, you know what I mean? You're like, no, I don't know what you mean by that.
And then we walk into the brand new auditorium, 1300 seat auditorium, we see the beautiful new
chairs, their theater style seating, and we only sit down and they beautifully design dark,
and gray, and black, and beautiful design pattern. We walk up to the platform, we look out
on the congregation or where they'll sit. We walk behind the stage and see all the view,
and I'm pointing out this element, and that element, this idea, and that idea, and as I do,
Leon looks at me and says, it's great, but Josh, Pastor, you got to know something,
it's all going to be destroyed. And he says that to me, and I'm going to lose my mind on Leon Stevens.
Sandy's going to be like, stop, what are you saying? And Leon's going to look like, no,
it's going to all be destroyed. Not one piece of timber will be left upon another, not one stone,
it's all going to be destroyed during the apocalypse. How would you respond to that? Well,
that's exactly the scenario that we're looking at in Luke chapter 21. You see, Jesus was getting a
tour of the giant temple. He had just ended a discussion with all of the religious leaders.
We just went through that sermon series over the last four Sundays. And now as Jesus was walking
through the temple, they spent some time at the treasury, and now Jesus' disciples started walking
him around the temple. Hey, look how beautiful the temple is over here. And did you see this
aspect of the temple and that aspect of the temple, and how beautiful it is, the white marble,
and it shines in the sunlight, and the eastern side of the temple was actually draped in gold.
It was gold-plated sheets of metal that were placed on the front, so as the sun rose in the
east, it glimmed and shined out into the valley. And so as they're walking around with Jesus and
saying, how beautiful is this temple? Jesus looks at them and says, it's all going to be destroyed.
In a few years, there's not one stone that will be left upon another. And that's where we pick up
the text in Luke chapter 21 in verse number five. Then as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned
and beautified with stones and donations, Jesus said, these things which you see, the days will come
in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. So they asked Jesus
saying, teacher, but when will these things be? And what will be the sign when these things are
about to take place? And so Jesus pauses and he leads his disciples out of the temple down the
Kidron Valley across a small brook of water and up another mountain side, a hillside, called the
Mount of Olives. Most likely they went into the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would often go
and pray and teach his disciples privately. And there sitting on that mountain side of the Mount
of Olives, Jesus looked across with his disciples at the giant temple mount and he gave one of his
most terrifying sermons he gave in all of his ministry. It's found right here. And over these
next two weeks, we're going to study that terrifying sermon, a sermon about the end of the world.
Now you say, well, I'm not sure that I'm into knowing about the end of the world and all of
these things. I'm not sure. Here's what I'll say. There's one thought that you need to keep in mind
while we go through today's sermon and next sermon. It's the proposition statement for the
entire series. And the one thought you must keep in mind throughout this entire sermon series,
these two weeks, is this. It might feel like the end of the world, but God's got a plan.
It might feel like the end of the world, but God's got a plan. How many of you believe in God,
if you're believing God today, would you say amen? I hope so. You're a church people. You're
a church. You might be here, you're like, I'm not a church person, but I'm here. But you've got to
believe in God while you're here. Okay, that's the rule. Amen? All right. And if there is a God,
the God of the Bible is that God, the question is, does he know what he's doing? I don't know about
you, but I often, though I say I believe in God, and though I often say I know he knows what he's
doing, I often question whether or not he has a plan. And the thought that you must think through
for yourself and through this sermon series is this. It may feel like it's the end of the world,
but God's got a plan. Here's the question that we wrestle with. The question that we're looking at
today is, what can we learn from Jesus' end of the world sermon? He gives a lot of sermons in the
Bible. This is the end of the world sermon that he gives. What can we learn from it? And I believe
we can learn a lot. And the way the structure of this sermon is going to go is this way. I'm going
to walk you through half of the sermon. I'm going to teach you what it says. And then at the end of
that, after I'm done teaching, it'll be about halfway through the sermon, then what I'm going to do
is I'm going to give you two thoughts to think about. It's a very simple sermon. How to view
and what to do. So I'm going to walk through the passage and teach it. Then we're going to talk about
how to view Jesus' sermon on the Mount of Olives and what to do with it. If you're ready to study
this very fascinating passage, give me an amen. All right. Now, okay, I got to warn you. I got to
warn you. It's not only terrifying, it's also rich and deep. So you need to be thinking through
what I have to say. There's not a person in this room who cannot grasp the truths of this passage,
but you've got to follow along because it gets deep here. If you're ready, give me an amen. Look
at what it says in verse number eight. And Jesus said, take heed, picture them. They're sitting on
the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane looking over the Temple Mount. And Jesus says,
let me tell you, beware, take heed that you be not deceived. For many will come in my name saying,
I am He and the time is drawing near. Their question was, when will we know about the end of
everything? And Jesus says, here's how you know, be careful, because in that time, there will be a
lot of people who say they are me or from me, but they are not me and they are not from me.
There will also be a lot of people who say the time is near, the time is near, the end of the
world, any moment, by the way, that happens all of the time. And if you're here at today's sermon
series and you're thinking, I'm going to be one of those guys, look at the moon and the blood and
look at all the things and the signs and it's going to happen tomorrow, you're at the wrong church.
There's a lot, Jesus said, a lot of people are going to say they're from me, they're not from me,
a lot of people are going to say the time is now, it's not now. Therefore, do not give, go after
them. Verse nine. But when you hear, here's when you know it's the end of the world.
When you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified. For these things must come to pass
first, but the end will not come immediately. Then he said to them, nation will rise against nation
and kingdom will fight against kingdom. He's talking about wars and world wars and there will be
great earthquakes in various places and famines and pestilences. He's talking about plagues,
he's talking about viruses, he's talking about worldwide calamity. This is what it's going to
look like and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. People will look up into
the sky and they're going to see things that are absolutely astounding and difficult to understand.
But before all of those things happen, they, the enemy, specifically the Romans, they will lay their
hands on you and persecute you and deliver you up to the synagogues and the prisons. Now, let me stop
in the middle of Jesus' sermon and ask this question. To whom is Jesus talking right now in
this sermon? Who is his audience? If you know it, say it out. Who is he talking to? His disciples.
His disciples, the twelve disciples, the men and women that have been following Jesus, all of these
people are following Jesus and listening to Jesus. I'm going to say who is he talking to? You say
his disciples. Who is he talking to? What did the disciples sign up for? Have you ever been
disillusioned with God? Now you say, I'm not me pastor because I'm in church and I love everything
God's ever done. Have you ever been disappointed in Jesus' plan? I'll be blunt. I have many times,
actually. The disciples of Jesus followed Jesus because there was a guy up in Galilee who said,
behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And all of them were like, cool,
you're the Messiah? Yes, I'm the Messiah. And then Jesus began to say, the kingdom of God is at hand.
And so they're like, the kingdom's here? Yes, the kingdom is here. And then they followed Jesus
believing the kingdom was going to be established. Multiple times they come to Jesus and say, hey,
hey, I know the kingdom's about to be here. Where do I sit? Like, where's my throne? This is going to
be great. I'm so excited. The kingdom of God is here. And now, two days before they kill Jesus,
Jesus pulls them aside and says, let me tell you what's going to happen. The Romans are going to
destroy Jerusalem. You're going to be persecuted, thrown into prison, and some of you are going to die.
So thank you for following me.
If you have ever been disillusioned and disappointed with God's plan for your life,
you're probably a disciple of Jesus. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you
and persecute you and deliver you up to the synagogues and the prisons. You will be brought
before kings and rulers for my namesake. But it will turn out as an occasion for testimony. Now,
that's interesting. Jesus says a lot of you disciples are going to be brought to prison,
and you're going to be thrown in prison, and you're going to be taken before religious elites
and government officials, and you're going to be in trouble and persecuted. But, oh, but,
but there's a good thing that's going to happen. Yes, it's good because you get to tell more people
about me. What is the part where I get the gold mansion? Look, it goes on. You will be brought
before kings and rulers for my namesake, but it will turn out for the occasion for testimony.
Therefore settle it in your hearts, not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer for in that very
moment, I will give in your mouth the wisdom that your adversaries need to hear and will not be able
to contradict or resist what you have to say. You will be betrayed by your parents. Some of you,
your brothers and your relatives and your friends will turn you into the authorities, and then some
of you will even be put to death. Become a follower of Jesus, be put to death. That should be the
banner for our new church sign. But that's what he's saying. Not only that, you'll be hated
by all for my namesake. Anybody here, anybody, anybody, anybody here that's like Josh, anybody
here, I'm a people pleaser. I like to people please the people. I like to think that all people are
in love with me, and if I know you are, I know you love me. That's what I tell them. And if you
don't love me, I delete you from my mind. This is really hard for people pleasers to be a follower
of Jesus, because Jesus says, if you want to follow me, guess what? I love you, but most people are
going to hate you for being a follower of me. They will hate you for following Jesus.
And then he says in verse 19, this is so odd, but don't worry, not a hair of your head will be lost.
What? Can you answer a question to me? Here's a good riddle. How do you, how is it possible to lose
your head but not your hair? Jesus said, some of you are going to be persecuted, you're going to die,
you're going to go into prison, they're going to kill you, but don't worry, your hair will be fine.
Some of you are like me, you're like, okay, as long as my hair is good, then that's,
what, how is that possible? Some of you know the Bible, some of you know exactly how it's possible,
because even though you may give up your life for Christ, God has a life for you that he's always
intended. It's the eternal kingdom of God, where everything that you've always been intended to be
will come to pass. You won't lose a hair of your head, though you go through the persecution,
that's what he's saying to his disciples. But your patience, uh-oh, uh-oh, verse 19, big point,
later in the sermon, but your patience possesses your souls. What? By your patience you will win
your own soul. Huh, what's that mean? Verse 20. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
then you know its desolation is near. Now this is so weird, because Jesus is talking about 35
years later, when the Romans will literally surround Jerusalem. But later on, he's going to be talking
about how the sun, moons, and stars, and the stars are going to fall from heaven, and there's going
to be signs and wonders in the sky. And you're like, okay, so is he talking about Rome, or is he talking
about like the tribulation period and the end times? Like, like, which is he talking about?
Hmm, very weird. Verse 21. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those be in the country enter her.
For in Jerusalem, these are the days of vengeance, that all things which were written may be fulfilled,
but woe to those who are pregnant in those days, who are nursing babies in those days,
for there will be great distress in the land, and wrath upon all of this people.
And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and they will be let away captive into all other nations,
and Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is finished.
There will be strange signs in the sky, in the sun, in the moon, and the stars,
and here on earth, the nations will be in turmoil, there will be perplexed. All the nations of the
world will be perplexed. It's like a, like, world war in turmoil, perplexed in the roaring of 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. And then, when it's all done,
when it's all done, everyone will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory.
So when all these things begin to happen, when you see all of these things begin to happen,
stand and look up for your salvation, it's near. That is, honestly, the weirdest sermon that Jesus
gives, in my opinion. It's strange, it's odd, it's scary, it's terrifying, it's fascinating, it's
interesting, and I have two things for you to think about. Number one, how to view, number two,
what to do. The first part, how to view. How do I view this sermon, pastor? How am I supposed to
look at this sermon? And the best way to understand how to really view this sermon is to understand
that this is a prophetic sermon. I'm going to say what kind of sermon, you say prophetic sermon.
What kind of sermon? Three of you. Okay, very good. What kind of sermon is this? Okay, prophetic means
Jesus is telling the future. He's being a prophet here. Jesus is a prophet, priest, and king. And
in this role, he is speaking as a prophet, he's telling the future. And he's telling the future
the same way all the Old Testaments told the future. But you have to understand how to interpret
prophetic literature to really understand how this sermon is different from other Jesus sermons.
Say, well, how did prophets view the future? Very good question. They viewed the future like this,
mountains. Say, what do you mean, mountains? How many of you are like me? You grew up out west,
where mountain ranges are normal. How many of you grew up, I grew up in Vegas. How many
you grew up, and this is normal. Do you raise your hand? How many of you? All right, very good.
How many of you grew up out east, where you did not see mountains, you saw trees everywhere? How
many of you saw trees? Raise your hand? Very good. So I grew up here when I went to Florida for college,
trees everywhere. Like I got off the plane, and you could only see like 50 feet away forever,
always. It was always in my mind. It was odd to me. I felt claustrophobic, because you can't see
miles away. I grew up where you could go outside, and you could always see for miles. There you
could only see for yards, and it drove me nuts. But growing up in Nevada, I know this about mountain
ranges, that if I were going to go here, and start walking toward those mountains, I know,
because I've grown up here, I know if I start walking toward that mountain range, it's not one
mountain range. There's actually multiple mountain ranges, hills and valleys, hills and valleys.
As I got closer, the very first ones we would see is that little rock, and then beyond that,
we would go up mountains, and then down mountains, and then up mountains, and then down mountains.
It's not one mountain range. It is multiple mountain ranges, but from my perspective,
it looks like all one mountain range. Do you know how prophets work? Prophets work exactly the same
way. They're given a message by God, but from their perspective, it all looks like one future event,
not many future events. If you've ever wanted to see how Pastor Josh draws a picture, this is my
artist work right here. This is, this is, it's really pathetic. No, I stole this off the internet,
but it's true. All right, let's look at it. See, what do you mean Pastor Josh? This is how a prophet
sees. To understand prophetic literature in the Bible, you need to understand how a prophet sees
his message from God. There is the prophet's situation that he finds himself in. There is the
first coming of Jesus Christ, and there is the second coming of Jesus Christ. But from where
the prophet sits, all he can see is one message. If you've ever studied the book of Isaiah, for
example, or Ezekiel, or Jeremiah, for that matter, oftentimes the prophet will be speaking, and as
you read his prophecy, you're like, I think he's talking about the Babylonians coming in. He is.
But he's also talking about Jesus coming as a baby. And then he's also talking about Jesus
coming on a big white horse and killing everybody. And as you read his message, you're like,
wait a second, which part of Jesus' message, and the answer is from the prophet's point of view,
it's all the same. His situation, Jesus is coming, and eventually he's going to take care of everything.
Isaiah exactly the same way. Ezekiel exactly the same way. All of the prophets, their current
situation, Jesus is coming again, coming once, and then Jesus is going to come again. But there are
big valleys between these. Does this make sense to you? Yes or no? Four of you, I'm glad I made
progress today. Very good. All right. Jesus is doing exactly the same thing. He's playing the
same thing. He's playing the role of a prophet. So as he preaches this prophetic message, people ask
this question. So is this talking about Rome taking over Jerusalem in 35 years? Or is this talking about
the end of the world during the tribulation period? Or is this talking about the situation that I'm
in right now? And the answer to that question, what do you think the answer to that question is?
Yes. As you read through this sermon and study it further, there are aspects you're like, oh,
that's clearly what happens when Rome comes in and takes over Israel. That's why there are many
people who view this passage only as historic events. And there are other people who see this
reflected in the book of Revelation. There are multiple things that take place in this story
that have not yet taken place during the time of Rome, like the sun, moon, and stars, and the entirety
of the nations, and the earthquakes happening all over. They're like, that's clearly the future.
And so a futurist will only see the tribulation period here, and they won't see Rome. The
historist will only see Rome, and they won't see the future. And in reality, there are three ways
to view this passage. All of them correct. Number one, the historic. The historic reality that
Jesus is walking through is that 30 years after the death of Jesus Christ, the Romans would come in
and utterly destroy everything that Israel had built. The temple that Jesus was talking about
specifically, it was a beautiful temple. Did you know it took them over 54 years to build the temple?
How many of you are thankful our church building is not taking 54 years to complete?
Some of us are like, man, this is taking forever. The temple took 54 years, and at great cost.
Herod the Great was the guy in charge. He was a very, very important man during that time,
and it not only took 50 years for it to be completed, the way they built it was just astounding.
In fact, here's a photograph of a model that you can see in Jerusalem. And if you come to Jerusalem
with us, we've got a meeting tonight at four o'clock for those who are coming, I think it's
four o'clock, is that right? Four o'clock for those who are coming to the Israel trip in March.
If you're interested, come to the meeting at four o'clock today. We're going to see this model
there. But you can see with the model itself, this is the way the temple looked during the time
of Jesus Christ. Now, as you'll see, we call it the temple mount. Why? Because it was built
on a mountain. Do you know what they did? Do you know what Herod and his construction workers did?
They literally chopped the top of the mountain off of the mountain. 2000 years ago, they did this
without any giant bulldozers. And then they quarried out giant stone rocks from a quarry
far away away. They brought those stones in. Those stones are not the size of a person. They're the
size of rail cars. Literally, a current stone would be about from where I am to where the piano is,
and about from here to here. That's how big those stones are that are building at the bottom base
of what you see here. They're all massive. You can see them to this day. When you stand at the
western wall in Jerusalem and you put little prayers inside of the cracks, those are the giant
stones that Herod had in place, and his stamp and signature are still on some of those stones.
Amazing. It was a beautiful temple. Like I said before, it was covered in marble. So you had the
stone, and then you had white gleaming marble. Go to the next picture. It kind of shows the way it
would have looked on the front of the temple itself that faced the eastern side. It was covered in
plates of gold so that when the sun rose in the east over the mountain ranges, it would reflect
off of the front of the temple and would shine brightly so that miles and miles and miles people
could see where they could come and find God. The disciples were in the temple talking with Jesus
about this, and they said, hey, when is all this going to happen? So now Jesus is talking to His
disciples, and He's like, well, before the end of the world, all of you are going to be persecuted
and you're going to die. And historically, that's exactly what happened. Historically, when you look
at the story of the twelve disciples, of course, Judas betrayed Jesus and then hanged himself,
but the rest of the disciples, they were speared to death, crucified upside down. They were stoned
to death. They were beheaded. They were boiled in oil. Every single one ends up following exactly
what Jesus says in this passage. Historically, that's exactly what happened. Jesus' message
is historically accurate. The Romans did surround Jerusalem. When the Romans surrounded Jerusalem,
they utterly destroyed Jerusalem. They killed every single person they possibly could get their hands
on, and then they pillaged the entire city and plundered the entire temple. When they burnt the
temple itself, as they burned, all that gold began to seep into the stones. So the soldiers, as they
did, they would go in and they would tear the stones apart to get the gold, bring back to their
families, which soldiers would do. Now, one stone was left upon another. Don't trust my history of
it. Trust the secular historian Josephus, who said this about the raiding of the temple. Now,
as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because they remained none to be objects
of their fury, the reason they could kill no more is because there were no more to kill.
Jesus is literally looking over a valley of people saying, you don't understand,
in 35 years, the Romans kill everybody. Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire
city and the temple. The wall surrounding Jerusalem, it was so thoroughly laid waste
that even to the ground that those who dug it up to the foundation that there was not left
nothing to make those that came thither believe that Jerusalem had ever even been inhabited.
The point is, historians looked at Jerusalem after the Romans were done and they said to themselves,
did anybody ever live here?
And then for the next 1900 years, the Jewish people disbanded.
The dysphoria of the Jews, the disbanding of the people all over the world.
This happened before, yes, during the exile of the Babylonian days
and the Assyrian captivity. This happened during the Hellenistic reign of the Greeks
when Alexander the Great came through and now during the Romans, they all head up into the
peninsula of the Italian peninsula down into North Africa and then eventually they begin
to migrate all throughout Eastern Europe. And for the next 1900 years, the history of what Jesus
said would take place did take place until 1948. And in 1948, Israel was reestablished as a nation
under the United Nations and the Jewish people began to come back to their homeland and rebuild.
And for the last 70 years now, the people of Israel are in the land of Israel.
That's why people like you and I can go and visit to this day. So when you view the sermon of Jesus,
you have to view it in three ways. Number one, historic, but number two, prophetic.
The prophetic view is that Jesus is not just talking about history in Romans. He's talking
about the end of the world. Notice in the sermon, Jesus talks about wars and world wars,
where the nations of the world are overwhelmed by what is happening. Well, that didn't happen back
in the early days in 70 AD. But since then, we've seen wars, world wars, where all the nations of
the world have gathered together, caused problems. We've seen signs and wonders even recently with
World War I and World War II, the development of weapons of mass destruction that we've been made
aware of even recently through the movie theater. The idea of utter destruction and utter global
devastation has been made even more clear to us. And whenever you look at Jesus' sermon, it's very
obvious that he is not just talking about what is happening with Rome. He's pointing to a future
event, another mountain range beyond that, where there will be boils and rivers of blood and the
heat and excessive darkness. Until finally at the end, Jesus says of himself, it is at the very end
when people will say, look up, because Jesus is coming again. And so as you view this sermon,
to view it, you must see it as historic, prophetic. Jesus is coming again, but I also want you to see
immediate. Say what do you mean the immediate? While the historic and the prophetic perspectives
are certainly fascinating, for some of you, your world is falling apart right now.
Some of you are sitting back and you're like, historically, that's fascinating. I love Rome
and Empire. I like think about the Roman Empire. I like Rome. For some of you, you like prophecy.
Tell us more about the tribulation and the mark of the beast. Some of you love to think about the
past. Some of you love to think about the future, but here's the reality. Some of you, your lives
right now are falling apart. And so I wanted to see how to view number two. Anybody remember what
the second part is? What to do? What do I do with this sermon, pastor? What do I do? In this sermon,
you're going to find it fascinating. There are three phrases by Jesus that are perfectly applicable
to anyone in this room who feels like their world is coming to an end. The overarching principle
that I gave at the beginning is utterly important at this moment. It may feel like it's the end of
the world, but God has a plan. And what you must do, this is what you must do. Say, pastor, what do
I do? I want you to say to me, what do I do? Say, what do I do? Here's what you do. Number one, you must
do not be terrified. I don't know what you're facing. The disciples were facing persecution,
Roman empire, and death. And Jesus says, do not be terrified. During the tribulation period, people
are going to experience all sorts of natural disasters. Jesus says, don't be terrified. And
Jesus says to you in the midst of your tribulation, don't be terrified. Look at what he says in verse
nine, and when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified. Do you scare easily?
I would love to tell you I do not scare easily, but I have somebody in my home
who thinks it's very funny to hide behind doors. Does anybody in your home is an evil person,
like the person in my home? Anybody live with an evil person who loves to jump out and get you?
And then you're like, yeah. Who is the evil one? How many of you are the evil one? Raise your
hand, confess it, you're in church. Tell God it's you. How many of you are the evil one? I know
there's more of you. Yeah, I know. I see you. How many of you live with an evil one? How many of
you have somebody like that? Yeah, all right, we know. It's shocking, it's disturbing, it's
terrifying in the moment. I was with my family driving. We like to do every summer, we'll do
a week or two of a car trip. What's it called? Road trip. I talk for a living.
We're doing a road trip up in Northwest US and I'd never been up there and so we're just going
from town to town. We're in Idaho. We were visiting the National Museum of, can anybody guess,
potatoes. It's real, it's there. My three teenagers loved it.
And we got this little Airbnb like in the middle of this tiny town, all farm community and as I
pulled in that night, I was like, man, it's going to be nice. I'm going to wake up and go jogging.
Like I've always thought that would be great to go jogging like in farming community like this is
awesome. And the reason I think that is because I'm from the city and I have this idealistic idea
of like running through farms. I don't know. So I'm like, I'm going to get up and go jogging. So
I wake up early in the morning, put my hat on. I got my teenage, my Nike's all laced up. I'm like,
let's go jogging in the farms, baby. And I did. I went out there. I headed down the little main
street or went out into the community and I'm jogging and I've got my earbuds in and I'm just
ear pods in and I'm just running down the road and having a great time and I'm seeing it and I'm
kind of dancing like a city freak, I guess. I don't know. And all of a sudden from behind,
a giant like like like truck, like, you know, like a man would drive,
pulls up behind me and honks and I swear to you, I lost it. I was so, I fell on the ground and rolled
into the, into the gutter. But I looked up and there was a man, clearly a man, like a farm man,
you know, doing farm man stuff. And he rolled down the window and he said, he said, go back to
California hippie. I'm like, that's it. I wish that was that was the greatest moment of my life.
That was, that was so good. I want to be like Las Vegas, but thank you very much. I don't like
California either, actually. We have that in common. So why was I terrified? Because there was a
sudden shift and a change from what I was expecting to happen.
All of a sudden I was thrown a curveball I was not going to, I was not seeing.
Do you know why it is we get terrified? The disciples thought they were following Jesus
to a throne and they were following Jesus to a crown, a crown of thorns, death.
And Jesus says, do not be terrified. This is part of the plan.
Do you know why it is that some of you are genuinely terrified right now? It's because you've
been thrown a curveball because somebody came behind you and it's God and he honked and you
were not expecting it. You're like, what is happening right now? And the answer is, it's all part of
the plan. Do not be terrified. Listen, either we believe that God knows what he's doing or we don't.
Do not be terrified. Number two, what else does Jesus say to them and us? Number two,
patiently stand firm. Patiently stand firm. Do not be afraid and stand up and wait upon God.
He says it specifically in verse 19, but your patience possesses your souls. It's such an
awkward phrasing, isn't it? So I looked it up in all the versions and you know which version
says it best? They're all equally awkwardly worded. All of them, it's weird. What does it mean?
So I hate when pastors do this, but I'm going to do what I hate pastors doing, okay? I'm going to
reference the original language that the Bible was written in, Greek. The word patience needs to be
understood, what he's meant, meaning by that. Upomane is the word. It means to hold up under the
pressure. Our word patience. I think of patients that I'm like at a microwave and I'm like, when's
my burrito done? What they mean by it is this, you need to hold up under the pressure and in doing
so, it'll save your life. Jesus is not saying to the disciples, don't worry, it's not going to be
filled with pressure. He's saying there will be so much pressure pulled up under that pressure.
He's saying to the tribulation saints, it's not going to be that big of a deal, just hide out for
a couple years. No, he's saying, here's going to be a lot of pressure. Hold up under that pressure
and it'll save your life. And he's saying to you, in your end of the world scenario, hold up.
He's, here's the point. The pressure is there and he knows it and he's not letting up. You need to
hold up. Church Hill was really concerned about how he was going to explain to Londoners that
they're getting bombed every night by Hitler. Every night the bombers would come in and they would
release their payloads over the city where children were sleeping. And so we sat down with a bunch of
advertisers and marketers like, what are we going to do to tell them? And they created a plan where
they had posters put all over the city. Do you remember what those posters said? Anybody know
what those posters said? Anybody know? Keep calm and carry on. Keep calm and carry on. Same message
that Jesus is giving you in the midst of your tribulation. Keep calm, carry on. Why? Because
the raiding of Hitler would eventually end. The tribulation period is only seven years long.
Rome will only sack Jerusalem for a certain amount of time and your situation, it will end. Hold up!
Stay strong under that pressure. God knows it's there. You'll get through it. The last thing
that you can learn from this story from Jesus. Do not be terrified. Patiently stand firm lastly.
Look for your salvation. At the very end of the first part of his sermon he says,
so when all of these things begin to happen, stand and look up for your salvation. It's close,
it's near. Jesus is going to bring salvation. He said, well, can he bring it now?
Do you ever feel like God is late?
I cannot tell you how many times I thought, God, what is, like, are you even aware? Let's go!
Here's what I've learned about God. He's always on time.
The solution is coming. Bear up!
Anybody here ever travel with children on airplanes?
Why do you laugh?
How many of you have ever traveled with children on airplanes? Like, it's your child, right? You're
not the one hating, you're the one being hated. How many of you have had a child on the, raise
your hand, how many of you, oh my, you're too tired to raise your hand, right? It's like, it's
exhausting. You ever travel with a six-year-old? If you ever go to an airport with a six-year-old,
they're watching everything, they're looking at everything. I remember traveling on an airplane
with my six-year-olds, and there's always six, probably in your seven as well, they watch everything,
and I'll never forget, you take up the kids and you put your credit card in the machine and it
spits out your ticket. Ticket number one, ticket number two, and they're watching. Is that my ticket?
You're like, that's your ticket? Can I have it?
And the correct answer to that question is no. And then they're gonna answer back. What are
they gonna answer back? Why? See, you know you've been there. Do you know why they ask why? Because
they're six, and they don't know what you know. And the answer is if you give them that ticket,
they're not getting on the plane, because it's gonna be gone, right? So when do you give them the
ticket? So for us, we would go in, we'd grab a drink, you know, a Starbucks, and then get in line,
and sit there, wait for everything, you know, wait for the last flight attendant to show up, and then
then everybody lines up, and then you go in. We're always Southwest, so we're like C28 and 29 and 30,
you know? And then as we finally get up there with our plane tickets, I'll take the ticket,
and I give it to the six-year-old, and then the six-year-old will have the lady scan it.
I give my child exactly what the child needs exactly when the child needs it, not a minute before.
If I'm a good dad, what makes you think the Heavenly Father is a worse father than me?
Your solution and your answer is coming, but it's coming exactly when you need it.
I know you feel like the world is falling apart, and honestly, it might be,
but even if it is, do not be terrified. Patiently stand firm, and look for your salvation.