Hey, well, good morning. It’s good to be with you.

We’ve got several folks out sick. Ms. Patty is struggling with a really bad lung infection right now, so she is down and out with that. So I’ll be praying for Ms. Patty with her lungs. And then I know Wesley and Reagan and Lucy, they’re all sick. And he found out this week he’s got some kind of growth on his liver, I believe he said. So he’s worried about that, and he’s got to get that looked at. And so some different things have gone on, some tests that he’s concerned about. So him, and then Dawson broke his arm. So you all know about Dawson breaking his arm. So it’s all right. It’s all right. But it’s good to be with you. We’re going to keep going in Matthew 24 this morning.

Matthew 24.

Verses 1 through 14. Matthew 24, 1 through 14.

It says, Jesus left the temple and was going away when His disciples came to point out to Him the buildings of the temple. But He answered them, You see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. As He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came, came to Him privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name saying, I am the Christ. And they will lead many astray. And you will hear wars, and hear wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed. For this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death. And you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. And then the end will come.

There’s nothing so bad as a lame story. You ever watch a movie. You get into a movie. You get into a book.

And you’re waiting for the climax that never came, the plot that didn’t make sense, the characters that didn’t develop the ending that was just altogether foreseeable and obvious and it’s just a real letdown isn’t it uh you know when you have you know spend ten dollars to go to the movies it was especially a letdown more than that sometimes to go to the movies but still people love a good story an amazing story that captivates that that moves you that that that really uh influences your life to to be something better than it was we love good stories that do that and as we’ve been in matthew’s gospel um up up through these 24 chapters i don’t think anyone can say this has been a lame poor story the beginning was amazing we had the fall of man right and talked about how god said then i’m going to see send the messiah who’s going to come so this great build up for the climax and christ comes the jewish messiah comes and he dies on a cross and he’s buried and he’s raised to new life and he sends his spirit on his disciples and so it’s an amazing it’s an amazing climax it’s an amazing story that we’re a part of but be sure the end is no less exciting the end of the whole story um is is beyond gripping and head spinning and as jesus has been uh going through his ministry we are here at at the beginning of 24 we’re kind of we’re done with jesus’s his ministry that’s over he’s moving into private times with his disciples and he will be crucified in just a few chapters so this is this is the beginning of the end it’s the beginning of the end in jesus’s life but what jesus is talking about to his disciples is the beginning of the end and the concern for us is are we prepared for it? Are we prepared for it? So Jesus had just been in the previous chapters rebutting the Pharisees, rebutting them, going back and forth with them, outdoing them every time. Remember where it says they didn’t even ask questions anymore. They were done even trying to deal with Jesus. And Jesus, he goes away at the end of chapter 23, away from the temple for the last time, and his words are bitter at the end of 23. He says, O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, I would have taken you in as a hen takes in her young, and they just wouldn’t do it. So he laments Jerusalem. He laments their hard-heartedness. But he leaves some hope. He says, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You will say that the next time that you see me, Israel.

But as they go away, his disciples point out to Jesus. I don’t know if it’s small talk or why they do it, but they say to Jesus, Jesus, look how amazing the temple is. This is Herod’s temple he’s building. Isn’t it magnificent? Isn’t it amazing? And Jesus doesn’t say, oh, yes, it’s amazing. Jesus uses it as an opportunity to teach them something. And the temple was amazing at that time in the world. It was a wonder. The historian Josephus remarks, it was covered on all sides. With massive plates of gold, the sun, as soon as it was risen, radiated like flashes of fire that it was hard to even look at the temple. It was so bright. To an approaching stranger from a distance, it was like a snow-clad mountain overlaid with the purest of gold. So it was this massive, beautiful construction that was being built for the Jews in Jerusalem. And they’re proud of it. Because remember, the temple, that’s the center of religious life. It’s where God is. So, wow, look at the temple. But Jesus says, no, Jesus says, that’s really a symbol of what’s lost, fellas. That’s a symbol of what’s soon to pass away. In fact, that’s a symbol of what will soon be destroyed. And it happened. After Jesus was ascended to heaven, he went back to the Father. It was just about 40 years later that Rome, once and for all, raised Jerusalem, sacked Jerusalem and the temple, crushed it, wiped it out to the ground. It was gone. Absolutely wiped out. Josephus says, again, there was nothing left to make those who came by think that anyone had ever even inhabited Jerusalem. That’s how wiped out Jerusalem and the temple were. You have to say, well, why? Why did God, you know, predict this? Why did God will that that would happen? He did it as great judgment upon Israel for her refusal to surrender to Jesus. Israel’s Messiah was finally here. And they said, no, no. But also, and I want us to see this morning, Jesus is talking about what’s going to happen on a much larger scale on the world stage at the end of time. So we’re getting, yes, a smaller picture of what happened in Jerusalem in A.D. 70. But there is kind of behind it. Jesus is speaking to the whole of what’s going to happen when he comes back at the end of time for a second and final time. It’s the beginning of the end. That’s what Jesus is describing. And as we look at this, there’s a temptation, I think, for people when we talk about revelation in the end times to kind of ooh and ah, and it’s interesting and people get like really caught up. And like numbers and signs. And let me tell you, I think that’s a giant waste of time. And I think it’s evil. It’s even an evil impulse sometimes, because what we’re just trying to do is kind of gain, you know, this intellectual theological power and like I can see the times. It’s terribly unhealthy. It’s terribly unhealthy. Here’s why Jesus talks about the end times to help prepare us for them. So if we want to come to Matthew 24 or the book of Daniel or Revelation, and we just kind of want to ooh and ah, and look at like this fanciful story, and it just massages, you know, some muscle of theology or intellect, waste of time. But if you and I want to be prepared for the end, then that’s why we should study this. I think it’s an abortion of Bible study to ooh and ah at the end times. And we don’t want to do that. I want us to know it so we can know God, so we can obey God, okay? Not flex a theological muscle. Be preserved, Charles Brown. Spurgeon says that’s why we study it. So that’s what’s going on here. If then we’re going to be prepared for the beginning of the end, the beginning of the end, the first thing I want us to see is this. Jesus says you need to recognize it will be a world unrested. It’s not the end. How can I know when the end’s coming? Well, here’s what the beginning of the end looks like. You’re going to notice that you live in a world unrested, unrested. Now, the disciples, despite what they think, they did not ask one question. They seem to maybe think that they asked one question. They did not ask one question. They say to Jesus, tell us when will these things be? So when’s the temple going to be knocked down? And when is the end and the sign of your coming? Now, again, for them as Jews, how can you separate the destruction of the temple and the Jewish Messiah not coming? Well, of course, if that temple’s being knocked down, that must mean, Jesus, you’re coming back and you’re doing a brand new thing. And they don’t understand that’s not happening. There’s a church age. There’s a lot of stuff happening in between. So Jesus is really going to answer their question in reverse. He’s going to start with the end. He’s going to talk about the end and then he kind of works backward through to the temple. And here’s what I believe Jesus wants us to see this morning.

Always in the beginning of the end. Anything that we could see that Jesus talks about in this passage has happened in every age of the church since Jesus went back to heaven. And it’s going to happen until he comes back again. So don’t take these words as, well, that’s perhaps for some generation that happens to be, you know, closer to when the end actually comes. No, it’s for you and I this morning. So I want us to take heed. OK, so in an unrested world, the first thing Jesus says is don’t be led astray. OK, or say it more as an active command. Guard yourself. Guard yourself because someone is always seeking to mislead you. Someone is always seeking to mislead you. Jesus says many will come in my name saying I’m the Christ and they will lead many astray. They will lead many astray. He says it’s not a maybe thing. And there have been a great number of satanic inspired people who have in Jesus’s time right after he ascended. All the way up to our modern world. You may not know it. There are a number of people around the globe who claim to be the Messiah. And Jesus says that’s obviously silly. And everyone’s going to say you’re so silly. You’re not Jesus. He said that they will lead people astray. And it’s been true throughout the course of history that many people have been fooled by people who claim to be figures of deity. Why is it so important that Jesus says guard yourself? Because Jesus knows you a lot better than you do. And he knows you know you. And here’s what he knows about you. You are easily misled a lot more than we would like to admit. We are we are picked off a lot a lot easier than we would like to admit. We are convinced of things. And Jesus says this, though, remember, I am the way I am the truth. I am the life. Just Jesus alone. He’s the one in whom we trust. He’s the one for whom we wait. That’s why he says guard yourself. He knows that we must be intent on just him, just the real Jesus. Think about Adam and Eve in the garden. What did they what did they do? Well, they conversed with a lie. They processed the lie. They chewed on the lie. And eventually what happened when they tried to compare truth and a lie instead of just saying, no, just what God said is what we’re doing. Well, they were overcame. They were overcome by they were overwhelmed. They were drawn off. So you see John in his first epistle says this purpose. And for one, he says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. So take the things you hear, take the people that influence you and weigh it against the gospel. And does this look like my Jesus? Does this look like the scriptures I read? Am I keen to keep my eye on Christ? Am I safe from being led down a pathway of destruction? One preacher’s, you know, described it as your gospel sniffer. Sometimes you can’t quite put your finger on something, but what he’s saying, what he’s teaching, no, that doesn’t smell like the gospel at all. I need to stay away from that teaching. And John says this in his in his gospel. And I think it’s very powerful in light of our passage in John chapter one, verse 14. He says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory. Glory. Because of the only son from the father. And this only son is what? Full of grace and truth. You see, only Jesus has truth. So if you are to be led astray by a false Christ, he may, you know, be able again to massage your mind and make you, you know, amazed by his empty philosophies and some kind of spirituality that sounds good. And wow, just the power of personality pulls you in. But guess what? It’s not.

It’s not truth. And Jesus says, what? Only the truth will set you free. Nor can anyone else really bring you grace but Jesus. Friends, if we trust in a savior, we trust in someone other than God’s Christ for all the feelings of security and purpose we may think we have. Only Jesus bled and died. Only Jesus ascended back to the father. Only Jesus can give eternal life. So for all the things you could hear and all the promises that someone can make you. Only Jesus Christ himself is full of grace and truth. So look to wait for just him. A false Christ can only give you false religion. And sometimes that might be an easier religion. Perhaps someone can promise you true religion and it’s full of pleasure and it’s full of prosperity and it’s easy and it’s fun. A lot more fun or easy than you think the true Christian life is. On the flip side, there are Christ who will give you false religion. And it’s a lot harder than what Jesus said. And it’s back breaking. And it will keep you busy following a bunch of rules. But one of the other friends, it’s a false religion because it comes from a false Christ. If Christ is yours, if Christ is ours, if we want the life he promised, if we want to live in his truth, if we want to be saved from death and decay, we must wait on, we must focus on Jesus. If it’s not the Christ, it’s not the Christ.

Colossians 2, Paul says this, verse 8, See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not, what? According to Christ. And he says also in further down in 18, let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism. So don’t let somebody tell you it’s easier than it is. And don’t let someone tell you it needs to be harder than it is. Don’t let someone tell you it needs to be harder than it is. It is the truth and grace in Jesus. Just give me Jesus.

The second thing in a world of unrest, don’t be led astray, but he says secondly to us, don’t fear. He says don’t be alarmed because something will always try to scare you. All the great catastrophes from the time of Jesus all the way up to the modern world, even before Christ, they are plenty, aren’t they? You can think about before Jesus, you can think about Alexander the Great who conquered the whole world, or the Roman Empire that ultimately was in power. In Jesus’ time, go up to the Civil War, go up to World War I, World War II, all the wars since then. We are a people that has constantly been at war. War and war and war and more war. The world is full of a history of war. And why is it that way? It’s because man is enslaved to his own nature and he’s against God and being against God. And he’s against God and being against God. And he’s against God and being against God. Man is against man. He seeks himself. And war is one of the obvious effects of the fall of man, of sin’s effect on the world. We fight one another. We hate one another. We war against one another. You know, you read in the newspaper today of China and North Korea, what are the Russians, this, oh this, and you hear rumors of war and rumors of war. Think what it was like. We live in the 1930s going up to the 40s and rumors of Germany, rumors of this. And you can’t say, this is the end, this is it. Because Jesus said, no, don’t be alarmed, this is just the beginning of the end. It’s not the end. It’s not the end. He says, don’t panic. He says, actually, it must take place. He says, it’s not random. It’s not out of what God saw and intended. It’s not out of his sovereignty. You say, well, why would God let it happen that way? Well, God is in submission to his own wisdom and his own counsel. But here’s what we must believe. If these things must be because Jesus said they must be, it’s according to God’s purposes. And if these things are according to God’s purposes, it’s for God’s glory. So everything good and bad that’s happening, God is working together for his glory. Everything that’s happening, God is working together for his glory. Everything is unfolding. So at the end of all things, we will all say, look what God has done. Look how God has worked through all things for his glory. So if that’s true and you and I should have that kind of peace in the midst of so much conflict and turmoil

worldwide, we should have peace. And Jesus said this very thing in John. He says in 14, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Now, as the world gives, do I give to you? Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. So Jesus is saying to that, friends, and he is our God. We should trust in all things. I can have peace. I can have peace. It’s not the end. It’s the beginning of the end. So I want you to understand this. Everything that could happen, natural disasters, natural disasters, natural disasters and famine. And again, if you study world history, we’ve never been without natural disasters and famine. And Paul talks about in Romans, the creation itself didn’t want to be subjected to it, but creation itself was subjected to decay because of sin. And it longs to be renewed, Paul says. Longs for it. If this is so, friends, what is all that? War, rumors of war, famine, earthquake. Here’s what it is. This is my personal illustration of it. It’s like a spiritual two by four. And God’s constantly whacking us upside the head with it. Like, hey, don’t get comfortable here. You see war. You see how the world’s falling apart. I didn’t design it to be that way forever. Don’t get comfortable here. Don’t live for here. Hey, stay alert. It’s like it’s like a holy aggravation. It’s like, you know, I was telling Dawson this last night. He was saying, why does it just have to hurt so bad? Why does it have to hurt so bad? I said, well, buddy, God designed your body that when something breaks, your nervous system tells your brain something’s wrong and it needs help. And friends, it’s the same thing. Jesus is saying, hey, all this stuff that’s happening, it should be reminding you spiritually, hey, something’s wrong. It needs to be fixed. Something’s wrong and it needs to be fixed. So don’t live for right now. Let everything that’s broken, let it not drive you to despair. Have peace and say, OK, Jesus, you said it’s necessary. And this is the beginning of the end. It’s not the end. So I want to be prepared for when the end comes. I trust you’re coming to fix everything. I trust it.

Jesus says it’s like just the beginning of birth pains. No, you know, I don’t know what that’s like. I know it’s like be a husband and I know what the hand squeeze is like. And the hand squeeze goes from ouch to ouch as the birth pains get worse and worse and worse. It was never true that baby wasn’t coming. It was never true that baby wasn’t coming. It was never true that baby was coming. The baby was always coming. But there came a point when it was really coming, you know, and you just don’t know. So so see what Jesus is saying is you need to be prepared even when you begin just to see the signs of the beginning of the end. What does that mean for us? Then practically it means this, friends. We need to take Paul serious when he says, stay inside the walls of the church. Be taught the word. Know the word. Know the truth. Grow up in love. Together, live for one another’s holiness so that he says in Ephesians, you’re not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. So so the church very much shows a safe place. And I think it’s pride when we say I don’t need the local church. I’m fine because Jesus reminds us how easily we’re picked off, how easily we can be taught something else, how easily is as as Richard and Chris talked about, we can get so apathetic and stop living for everything and stop feeling the bone break. Things are broken. We get comfortable where we are. So we need to abide together. We need to pursue Christ together. And secondly, we’ve talked about this and I think this is a good place for it again. The spiritual discipline of meditation. We’re not talking about some, you know, dude in India on a mountain with his legs crossed and incense burning. The psalmist talks about meditation is just dwelling on who God is. The prophet Isaiah says, this is the person who has perfect peace. Who has perfect peace? The one whose mind has stayed on you. So friends, let your mind be stayed on Christ. Think about what a perfect savior he is, what a perfect king he is and how he will come back and make all things new. And that will be our peace in everything. Don’t get comfortable here. Verse nine with me again in chapter 24. He says, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Craig, Craig Blomberg, he’s a he’s a commentator, theologian I like. And he says this about this passage. I think it’s really important. He says it’s crucial to observe the fulfillment of all these preliminary events prior to A.D. 70. They did happen. There were various messianic pretenders that arose, most notably Thudas in Acts 536, the war of Israel against Rome in 66 to 67. That was preceded by growing hostility incited by zealots. Famine ravaged Judea, as predicted in Acts chapter 11. Earthquakes shook Laodicea and Pompeii. Persecution, dog believers, all their footsteps through Acts. There was internal dissension that tore the church apart at Corinth. There were numerous New Testament epistles were written primarily to warn against false teachers and the perversion of Christianity, most notably in Galatians and Colossians and a couple others. And arguably, the concept of love running cold most aptly characterizes the days of the Neronian persecution of Christians in the mid 60s. And then he goes on to say, and Paul can say in his own way that the known world had heard the gospel in his own time, all that the world was there. He goes on to say, and Paul can say in his own way that the known world had heard the gospel in his own time, all that the world was there. He goes on to say, and Paul can say in his own way that the known world had heard the gospel in his own time, all that the world was there. The period of time prior to Christ’s return will be characterized by growing polarization between good and evil. God’s people will increase in power, witness and impact while the world in persecution and hostility intensifies as global conditions deteriorate. In other words, again, Jesus’ judgment of Israel for her rejection of Christ, as he said that it would, that means that it did happen that way. Jesus’ judgment of Israel for her rejection of Christ, as he said that it would, that means that it did happen that way. Jesus’ judgment of Israel for her rejection of Christ, as he said that it would, that means that it did happen that way. followers among the Jews up until 70 AD, they dealt with all those tumults that we looked at in all those passages. But what it is for us, it’s a smaller picture of what’s going to happen on a much grander scale at the end of time. And this is where Paul talks about the man of lawlessness and Thessalonians coming before the very end comes. So it was bad for them. It has been bad for believers throughout all the age, and it will be really bad in the grandest story at the very end. And so it makes, you know, us ask that question to ourselves. Are we at the end of the beginning of the end? Beginning of the end, in the very end, are we at the end of the beginning of the end before the end times really start? And I want to say to you, I think it’s just a bad question, okay? I do want to say this, though, quickly, you know, if you go back to our sermon last week, I mean, Psalm 12, we saw that America and the world, it’s increasingly hostile to Christianity. That’s very true. Morality is at an all-time low. It’s true in schools, in governments, in just the general feel of society. God is not honored. False teachers are rampant inside the local church today. So can we surmise that, well, gosh, that seems like that we’re getting there? It does. It does. But again, are we supposed to be, you know, fortune tellers? No. We’re supposed to just be, we’re faithful, right? So it’s a bad question to say, are these the end times? Here’s a better question. God, what does it look like for me to be faithful in the times you’ve put me? That’s a better question, because you’re going to be held accountable to God for that. And I think sometimes, you know, we kind of ask that question, how come in some eras of world history, Jesus, God has allowed Christians to suffer really bad, or even in different continents, while we don’t, we’re not suffering as bad here for our faith. Again, I don’t know. These things we kind of have to leave up to the wisdom of God. The better question is, what does it look like for me to be faithful right now? That’s the best question to ask. And if that’s the best question to ask, what’s the answer? And I think the answer is fight for the purity of the church. I think the best answer is love the local church so that it keeps doing what God has called it to do in every age. And that’s shine the light of Christ. That’s preach in unadulterated gospel. That’s be a holy people. That is what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to love one another. We’re supposed to accept whatever suffering God brings. If that’s social persecution, and that looks like Christian doctrine in our time, you know, being suppressed and laws being passed against that. Friends, we must suffer that gladly for Jesus. If it means it looks like it does for Christians in India and China and Nigeria, and you’re literally suffering physical persecution. Again, we have to say, Lord, let me just be faithful in the times you’ve put me. Let me endure. Because what does Jesus say? Who gets saved? It’s the one who endures. We must endure. And I think this passage, along with the times in which we do live, make us ask the question, where do my loyalties really lie? What would a serious hardship of your faith, what kind of allegiance would it reveal inside you really?

A lot of folks in the church today, their wallets, their time, their comfort level, haven’t been affected too bad yet, you know, in American culture. And perhaps in our own time, we’re going to have to discover the loyalty of a lot of people who call themselves Christians. And I do think it should burden us then, in the now, when you hear churches preaching a half-baked gospel, and it’s a half-baked gospel all about what God has done for you and how God wants to burden you. And I think that’s a lot of people who are like, oh, look, Jesus has come to take away your sin. And you’re like, great, I’ll take all this stuff. And they’re not at all talked to about taking up their cross and following Jesus. They’re not talked to about suffering with Paul, the loss of all things to gain Christ. That’s an impotent faith. That’s a partial Christianity, and it will kill. It will not give life. Remember what Jesus said to us back in chapter 10, verse 34. He said this, you can’t get around it. Do not give up. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I’ve come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Jesus says, I’ve come, friends, yes, to give you life, but the devil in the world hates what you’re preaching, and it’s going to cost you everything to fight it. I’ve come to set a man against his father. So follow me, everything. So let’s not forget, yes, we signed up for glory, but we signed up for suffering, because the only pathway to glory is suffering. It’s not oohing and aahing. It’s not, oh, look at the end times. It’s not feeling all the blessings. It’s following in the footsteps of Jesus, because it’s Jesus asking you and I to go somewhere He hasn’t already gone first. No. Jesus has perfectly talked to me about style. suffered worse than we will jesus beaten and crucified jesus betrayed by his own friends jesus having left his father in heaven jesus has suffered perfectly and friends that’s our salvation but if we identify with that savior he says you must follow in my footsteps and you must suffer the loss of yourself suffer the loss of the world if you too will inherit glory as he did

and if we will abide in christ jesus the power of the cross that overcame sin and death and devil that same power at work in christ that’s the same power at work in us so all the hostility of the world and all the hostility of devil it’s not enough to take you out if you would abide in christ i read this recently every day the sun radiates an enormous amount of energy the sun radiates more more energy in one second than people have used since the beginning of time that’s amazing i don’t meet the person that figured that out i don’t know that but that’s amazing and it speaks right into who jesus is in the character of christ is christ anything other than a perfect provider an over-the-top sufficient savior for you in all things do you ever get in the valley do you ever struggle with with with anything in the christian life suffering or sin and jesus says i don’t know if i got the reserves for that one i don’t know if i can see you through this season i don’t know if i’ve got what you need to get through you know the courage you need to say what you need to say and i don’t think i’ve got that that’s never the case jesus is a perfect supplier of all we need for our christian faith friends for all that comes god is not in short supply jesus is coming back soon you the very end live for the very end it’s imminent it’s imminent is it tomorrow is it 50 years from now is it 500 years from now it’s still imminent and your life is short anyway so it’s definitely imminent because one way or the another you’re gonna stand for jesus really soon it’s imminent choose you this day whom you will serve choose you this day

jesus ends right there by saying and this gospel of the gospel of the gospel of the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come so when’s the beginning of the end it’s now when’s the end of the beginning of the end when the gospel is preached when all nations have heard friends let’s quicken and hasten that day as peter says living in godliness preaching the gospel desiring deeply and a world unrested in a world that’s hostile what it needs is the gospel what it needs is the truth of jesus what it needs is to hear about a jesus who came and loved us and died for us and made us new let’s stay faithful and go out and proclaim that gospel everywhere and the scriptures tell us if we stay faithful and we endure to the end we will win the crown of life we will win the crown of life so that’s our calling as the local church is it the beginning of the end absolutely is it the end of the end who knows it’s just now and jesus has to be faithful right now that’s our calling amen let’s pray

father thank you for your word it never fails to teach us it never fails to encourage us it never fails to provide us with what we need to stay on the straight and narrow lord i just pray your words this morning lord they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that and they would do that that our eyes our our eyes our hearts our minds would be lifted our eyes our hearts our minds would be lifted our eyes our hearts our minds would be lifted lord from the temporary lord from the temporary lord from the temporary um from what is soon to fade away um from what is soon to fade away and our eyes our hearts and our minds and our eyes our hearts and our minds and our eyes our hearts and our minds will be fixed on will be fixed on will be fixed on what is to come and we would live all of what is to come and we would live all of our moments now lord for what is to come so we open our hands we open our hearts we open our minds we we give over everything we have and we say lord jesus in the spirit help us endure lord jesus give us give us peace that you promised that you would give us learn your spirit safeguard us from false doctrine lord keep us pure keep us holy in your son we pray and let it be all for your glory we pray that in christ’s name amen