The Return of Jesus
Tribe
2024-07-28

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

So this is the last week of a series of conversations that we've been in that we're calling hanging your hat on god's truth. And if you are brand new with us today, you get to jump in on the last week of conversation. And if what you hear today arouses your curiosity or wets your appetite, you can always go back and listen to previous messages and probably wherever you would think to look for them, you'll find them. There's also another way that you can stay connected with us and that is in that connect card that's in your seat there. If you would take a moment, fill that out.

If you're passing through, you can just say that you're passing through. We'd love to have a record of your visit. There's also room on the back for prayer requests. We really take these seriously and as a staff team, we consider it an honor that you would confide in us with whatever is going on in your heart and in your life and we take them seriously. We pray over them at staff meeting on Mondays and we lift those up to the lord and so you can fill out that connect card.

You can drop it in the back of the room in a little box right by the swinging saloon doors. When's the last time you heard that in church? Last Sunday. If you call tribe home, I make the jokes up here. There's also, on that connect card, you can leave your contact information if you would like to stay connected with what's going on and know what the vibe of tribe is.

And we usually send out a text blast once a week or so. So, that's a way that you can stay connected with us and we've been in a series of conversations called hanging your hat on god's truth and what we've been saying about this idea is that if you have a hat, a hat would for this is the picture that I saw in my mind's eye. A hat represents the sum total of all of your beliefs about any one thing. Whatever whether it's controversial or normal, like, let's for example, I'll I'll give a safe one. Gravity.

Right? What do you what do you believe? What do you know? What are your experiences? What have you studied?

What do you what have you learned about gravity? Right? Gravity is great when you're skiing. Gravity is not so great when you're climbing. Right?

So your sum total of what you believe about any one topic would be like a hat. And this coat rack here with all of these different hooks represents where does that particular belief fit into the greater context of a total world view? Are you with me so far? Okay. By the nodding of several of your heads, I can see that that you're with me.

Today, as we continue on with the conversation, I use that word intentionally. I really do want this to be a conversation. I see a lot of faces that are new, and whether you live here or you're just passing through, If you're at tribe, like we always say, we think of ourselves like Olive Garden. You know that restaurant Olive Garden? If you're here, you're

Family.

Family. And so as family, we engage in dialogue and conversation. And so I want to hear from you. Perhaps the church that you've come from, you're used to just the sage on the stage and having this be a monologue, but I really would like this to be a dialogue between me and you. I'd love to hear your questions, comments, and connections that you're making with the the verses and the content that we're going through.

And so if you have a question, comment, or connection, if you just raise your hand, we have a mic in the room. Ella is running around with the mic today and if you raise your hand, the mic will come to you. You can ask your question. Well, whatever it is, we can have a a dialogue together. The reason why we have the mic is so that all of our families that are watching the livestream, they get to stay more engaged and get to hear your voice, and they feel a part of the family here.

So that's what we're what we're doing with the conversation format for how we roll here at Tribe. This hat rack would represent where that belief fits in your total world view. And we've spent a number of weeks talking about this idea of the principle of the biggest hook. And all of you instinctively understand what the principle of the biggest hook means when it comes to just something like a jacket or your beanie or a hat or something like that. Alright.

Let's say that that you you walk inside of a room or a building. It's cold outside. You take your jacket off, your beanie off, and you're looking for a place to to to hang your jacket and your bean. Do you look for and do you hang your jacket on some little spindly little nub that might not even be able to oh, man. That is one of my pet peeves.

Is a coat rack that, like, doesn't actually hold your jacket? Anybody else feel that way with me? How about a piece of gear that doesn't have a tag in order for you to hang your jacket? Okay. We all instinctively go for the biggest hook to hang our hat or our jacket.

In a similar way, the principle of the biggest hook is whoever has the most compelling narrative is the most likely to get your belief. Now let me check-in with you, and maybe if you've been with us at Tribe for a few weeks, of course, you're qualified to answer this. But if you're brand new and feeling really brave and you're like, oh, I'd like to take a crack at trying to say back to you, Brian, what I think I understand you to be saying. I'd love to hear from you to put in your own words what we just said and is up here on the screen. So who would like to take a crack at resaying what I just said?

You're gonna let him off the hook? The awkward pauses phase me not.

Okay. How about

the loudest voice is the most convincing?

That's a great way of resaying what I what I just said. It doesn't even have to be the majority. Just the loudest.

Yeah. The loudest you pay attention to the most because it seems the the most intense. If there's a bonfire or a little lighter, you're gonna pay attention to the you know, try to put the bonfire out first.

Interesting. Yep. It draws your attention. Like it. I

wasn't even planning on speaking, but I'd also say maybe what you want to believe. I I know there's a lot of things that I would like to believe that aren't necessarily true. They look appealing because, oh, like, that makes sense or that makes me feel good inside, but it might be a tough red pill to swallow.

Oh. And I know that you don't believe this, but, like, like, I I mean, mean, I know what what the Bible says about sleeping with my boyfriend or girl girlfriend, but, I mean, we're just so in love and what's the big deal and everybody else is doing it. And then I'm just gonna sneak my hat over here because it's what I want. Is that an example of hanging your hat on God's truth? Come on, class.

Everybody say, no.

I think of, like, the people that you surround yourself with and, like, their opinions. Oftentimes, they'll share them with you. And a lot of times, you're like, oh, like, if you don't stand firm in one thing, your opinion could easily sway

in that direction.

That that's a great example. I haven't really I haven't oh, yeah. The zone, really. So so the idea of I've never really thought about that. I don't have a hook to hang that belief because I just haven't thought about that.

And this is gonna be something that we're gonna talk about today, a a hook that perhaps not many of us have thought about, but you just listen to somebody. Maybe they you have given them permission to speak into your life because they're a friend or maybe some sort of trusted voice, and you're like, I I I guess. And so the only narrative is the most compelling narrative. And that really just makes you uneducated. Love you.

What else?

I was gonna touch on that point you just made. Sometimes there's only one hook in the room, and that's the only narrative you have because you don't know where the other hooks are.

Who was the really smart old guy that wore like a toga? Ella, Up here. Don't do it. Chris b Bacon. Oh, nice.

Was the, like, the old philosopher guy that wore the toga that said it's the mark of an educated mind to consider it without holding on to it or I just messed up. Anyways, yeah, Leah, just just start throwing out Greek philosophers. Somebody can Joyce. The wise sage Obi Wan Kenobi once said, and there's a visitor in the room that's like, Star Wars joke? Yes.

These are my people. Welcome.

Going along with what Jay said about what sits with us, but I was thinking about what we see and experience and then what we hear the most often. So what we consume.

Perhaps maybe not the the loudest and most boisterous, but the one that is repeated over and over and over and over.

Just like learning a language, what you're repetitively exposed to. Yeah. Practice and choose.

Right. And how about the, many times, the dichotomy, the the conflict that exists simultaneously in our brains that somehow we have one belief that tries to straddle two hooks. You go to Sunday school every Sunday and you read the story of creation and you're like, yep. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

In the beginning, god created and then you sit in school all day long and you go through science class and you hear about from goo to the zoo to you and you're like, uh-huh. Yep. And and these two truths that are in contradiction, you're just trying to like stretch your hat between both of them and it just gets repeated over and the narrative of macroevolution gets repeated over and over and over. Given enough what two factors? Time and chance.

Given enough time and chance. And you just get that repeated over and over and over, and you're like, well, guess it's true. And if evolution is true, then there really is no point or value to your life. You are only a a neat machine operated by your genetic drive to reproduce, and that's it. And when you die, there's nothing beyond that and nothing else.

Super encouraging and cheerful to have that worldview, all the way to the back. Nice.

I think about, that concept of I mean, going off of that even further, like, association bias. Like, you're not gonna see a lot of Ford f '1 fifties around town until you start looking to buy a Ford f one fifty, and then suddenly they're everywhere. And you're like, why are they are they just they're always there. But now you're starting to because you're setting your mind on that thing, you're starting to see it more. And so you may not even see the good hooks that you're supposed to put your stuff on because you're setting your mind on things of the earth.

Colossians three verse two said, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. And so, what are you setting your mind on? What are you inputting? What are you consuming? Because that's going to dictate what you're seeing.

And with every head bowed and every eye closed, the worship team will come up. Very well said, Conor. That's that's that's the Holy Spirit is on that. I'm just gonna soak in it a little more. That's good.

Where did I tell you to turn to as we got started? Matthew chapter 24 and we're going to wrap up this series of conversations that we've been in talking about hanging your hat on god's truth and we touched on this a moment ago but I want to for some of you, this will be a reinforcement for others. This will this will be an introduction and perhaps you have not even thought of or considered this particular hook on which to hang your hat before. And so for those of you who are noobs, I'm really excited because this is one of our, in the last couple of years, macro overarching themes that tribe has been coming back and around and around to and and camping out with. And in fact, one of the songs that we corporately sang together this morning, find me ready.

That song is an original song that came out of the hearts of tribe as we were being introduced to this idea and being walked through the this super important foundational more than a concept or a belief, but future unfolding reality of the return of Jesus. And so, that's what we're calling the title of this morning's conversation as we wrap up this series. So, if you're taking notes, you can write down hanging your hat on god's truth week four, the return of Jesus. So, we're going to listen to Jesus's own words. Not Peter's, not Paul's, not Brian's, as if I could even be mentioned in the same sentence.

Come on, dude. But Jesus's words about the Escaton or the end of all things. How is this all going to unfold? And so one of the things that we like to do here at Tribe is we read the word not simultaneously as like in a liturgy, but we like to take turns reading, and so Ella has the mic, and we're going to read verses one all the way through 43. Matthew chapter 24 verses one all the way through 43.

So, whoever would like to kick us off can start reading and just so that I don't have to stop you mid sentence, don't read it as if you're like reading through the phone book, okay? That's no fun for me. And god's word deserves better than that. You don't have to like switch voices and characters. That's not what I'm saying but like.

But if you want to. I don't know. Maybe if you want to. The sound effects. But but, like, like, read give it the annunciation that the text deserves.

Right? Give it your best shot. So whoever wants to start reading, read a few verses, pass it on. One through 43. Here we go.

As Jesus was leaving the temple grounds, his disciples pointed out to him the various temple buildings. But he responded, do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another. Later, Jesus sat on the Mountain Of Olive on the Mount Of Olives.

His disciples came to him privately and said, tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world? Jesus told them, don't let anyone mislead you for many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah. They will deceive many and you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don't panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow but the end won't follow immediately.

Nation will go to war against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains with more to come.

Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers, And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

And the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world. So that all the nations will hear it. And then the end will come.

Quick pause. There was a family that was a part of our tribe fam for a number of years, and then they moved to Pennsylvania. And maybe they're watching the livestream this morning. Good morning, Cam and April. And as as we were beginning to slowly walk through these passages.

At first, April told us that she's like, this caused a lot of anxiety in my heart and in my mind. I lost sleep. You read about these things that are calamities and dangers and and loss. And and she says, I I stayed away from the book of Revelation. I stayed away from Daniel nine, ten, 11.

I stayed away from Jeremiah 31. I stayed away from these passages in in the gospel because they just brought up anxiety within me, uneasiness. I had more questions at the end than I had at the beginning, and so I just stayed away. But we we pressed on. We pressed in.

We asked hard questions. We were like the the Bible talks about these Bereans that just dug into the scriptures. We we read commentaries. We listened to podcasts. People a lot smarter than than me.

We we began to develop a a theology of the return of Jesus that was biblically sound. And as we walk through this, April noticed within her heart, anxiety fade and dissipate, clarity emerge, and then confidence, joy, and expectation, and eagerness filling her heart with the return of the lover of her soul. And so if you are this morning where April was, hang in there. Hang in there. Imagine if these events and if you're not even sure of what these events are, imagine if these events were to actually play out, but we have no warning.

We didn't have god tell us about this. We didn't have Jesus warn us about this and and say these things to provide encouragement for us. Imagine as Christians, we're just bopping along, and then all of a sudden, bam. Bowls and trumpets and scrolls and the pale rider. It will it would be we'd lose our mind.

Jesus shares these things with us to give us an understanding so that we can have confidence and hope and even excitement. And so in the same way in the same way that a good parent prepares their child for what they are about to go through and experience, god, as a good father, prepares his kids for what is coming around the bend. So as we read these verses, allow anxiety to just melt off and have it be replaced with the confidence of leaning into and trusting Jesus and his goodness. Let's keep going.

Okay. Verse 15. The day is coming when you will see that what Daniel the prophet spoke about, the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the holy place. Then, those in Judea must flee to the hills. A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack.

A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. How terrible it will be for the pregnant women and for the nursing mothers in those days. And pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again.

In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones.

Then if anyone tells you, look, here's the Messiah or there he is, don't believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones. See, I have warned you about this ahead of time. So if someone tells you, look, the Messiah is out in the desert. Don't bother to go out and look or look, he's hiding here.

Don't believe it. For as the lightning flashes in the East and shines in the West, so it will be when the son of man comes. Just as a gathering of vultures shows that there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near. Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Quick pause. The stars will fall from the sky. He will not share the stage and the spotlight with anyone or anything. The brilliance and the brightness and the majesty and the glory of the return of Jesus will even outshine the stars in the heaven. Is it a literal stars falling?

I don't know. We'll find out. But either way, the message is so clearly conveyed. The fairest among 10,000. The the the lily of the valley, the rose of Sharon, the bright and shining one, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the one whose name is faithful and true when he returns.

Even the stars in all of their brilliance will be like, go ahead. This is all you. Yeah, we do. Yes, keep reading.

Are we on 30?

Yeah. Where are we?

Okay. And then at last, the sign that the son of man is coming will appear in the heavens and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth, and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And this is saying, oh, wait, she's not here. Mhmm. And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world, from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.

Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know summer is near. In the same way when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near right at the door. I tell you the truth. This generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place.

Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the son himself, only the father knows. When the son of man returns, it'll be like it was in Noah's day. In these days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn't realize what was gonna happen until the flood came and swept them all away.

This is the way it will be when the son of man comes. Two men will be working together in the field. One will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill. One will be taken, the other left.

So you too must keep watch, for you don't know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this, if a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar, I'm hungry, When a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time for the Son of Man will come when least expected.

So,

as a as a there's a lot of ground that we covered in those passages. Perhaps, this is familiar to you. Perhaps, you feel comfortable taking a stroll through this text. Perhaps you feel comfortable taking a stroll through this text, and you feel like you have a grasp and an understanding of what's going on. Great.

Maybe this feels a bit like like standing on the edge of Mirkwood Forest. And you're like like, oh, I don't know. Like, I don't necessarily wanna, like walk down that path because there's just a lot of unknown things. I want to invite you and encourage you to trust Jesus to expertly, beautifully, gently guide you through these passages. They are important.

Why are they so important? I've never heard my church preach about this stuff before. Trust me, they gonna if they haven't started already. But as you take the time and make the commitment to just explore and consider these passages and as you invite the master, the holy spirit to help you understand this, your your familiarity, your comfortability, your understanding will grow, And then in the days as we see more and more of these things unfolding around the world and on planet Earth, you will be the one with confidence. You will be the one with optimism and hope and joy and a sound mind, and you will have a firm hook on which to hang the beliefs about the return of Jesus and in turn others around you will be flocking to you like, help me make sense as the world is falling apart around me.

So here's what I wanted what I wanna do with all of the passes passages, the all of those verses that we just read. I want to share with you a the the macro framework for what Jesus is talking about. If you look at the beginning of chapter 24, his disciples ask like, how is this all going to play out? They ask three different distinct questions. Jesus answers them but we can summarize those the the the answers that Jesus gives with three big broad phases of what the world will walk through leading up to the return of Jesus.

And so what I thought we would do just briefly to give you kind of a view from maybe not 5,000 feet but like 2,000 feet. We're gonna look at three different phases of events that the world will go through that these are the words of Jesus himself. He gives us a basic road map of unfolding events in three phases. So, the first that we see would be called what Jesus says as birth pains. Birth pains.

Look in verse eight. But all of this is only the first of birth pains. And if we were to say birth pains, like, if, like, think sometimes my mind thinks like an outline. Mean, my mind is not organized like an outline. My mind is like on Star Wars and things but but if we were to think like an outline, what would be if you look at the text surrounding and leading up to verse eight, what would you see that Jesus says are some events that will unfold that he then categorizes in verse eight as birth pains.

What do you see in the text leading up to verse eight? What would be, you can just say it. What would be one thing that you see? Wars, rumors of wars, birth pains. What else does Jesus say?

Others claiming to be the messiah. Now here's what your brain automatically thinks of. Your brain automatically thinks of a weird guy with a white sheet behind him making YouTube videos in his double wide trailer. That's, I mean, that's where my brain goes. But what about a philosophy that claims to be the answer?

Oh, here's what's wrong with you. And and through Dianetics, as authored by El Ron Hubbard, we can get your brain all sorted out, and and there you go. You'll be saved. You need to expand your understanding of this idea and concept of messiah to mean more than just a religious fanatic making YouTube videos. Do you know how many philosophies, concepts, worldviews are are offering to be your messiah?

How about this town alone? So many, it draws so many young people. Like, if you just get to this ski town, you can ski, you can climb, all of that trouble that you had back in wherever you came from. It all melts away as the snow stacks up, and you rip powder line after powder line, and Instagram just sells it so hard. Like, this is the life, and it's gonna be your savior.

Hang your hat on that, and you just turn into a burned out ski bum. A Peter Pan chasing a never ending dream. What else do you see in the text as a lead up of what Jesus would describe as birth pains? What else? Famines.

Massive, much larger than a regional scale famines, lack. It can mean food, but what about a spiritual famine that plagues so many parts of the world? All you gotta do is look at the opening ceremony in the

Olympics. That's another message. What

else? There's there's one other thing that Jesus describes Earthquakes. Earthquakes. So Jesus says, these are birth pains. As you see an increasing trend in these things, you can know that we are in birth pains.

And if you have given birth, if you know anything about where babies come from, Birth pains always precede the arrival of a brand new bundle of joy. Now what you might be thinking is, are we are we in birth pains? I would for sure say with great confidence, at least we are in Braxton Hicks contractions. And if you don't know what Braxton Hicks contractions are, those are practice contractions to get the mom ready for like, oh boy, it's been nine months. Dad has been like trying to put it off for nine months.

Dad, you're not gonna be ready at all. When your wife gets pregnant and you have that news crash upon the shores of your life, we're gonna have a baby. Nine months, you have to get ready and you're not ready. But here's something that's really cool, dads. God's like, I will give you a grace to be a father the moment you hold that baby in your arms.

It's just imparted to you. Moms, it's a little different. It's this it's this connecting and merging of of two hearts. Dad, it doesn't really happen until he holds her. And then he's like, oh, my heart.

Mom, it's been growing and developing. And one of the things that god ways that he has built into the knitting together of hearts between mother and child and to prepare a mom emotionally and physically for the arrival of this bundle of joy is through Braxton Hicks contractions. And the baby is not, like, ready to arrive on planet Earth, but the baby is getting mom ready. Like, and have not the events that have unfolded around the world within the last three or four years shaken us and and put a thought in all of our minds. Something is happening.

Those are Braxton Hicks contractions.

Could I just put it in reverse for, like, 50 yards? I just you you breeze past earthquakes, and you just said shaking. So does earthquakes only mean looking at the data of when the earth shakes or could that be an event that shakes the foundations of people's understanding of the world? The

answer, yes. We have to be careful about how we grab a hold of the truth in god's word and and we must hold intention the words of the text that we read because one ditch is only physical. It's not until we see a statistical increase of the seismographer that we can then know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the return of Jesus is near. Push your glasses up. But there's also an equally dangerous ditch that only spiritualizes and philosophizes about these things.

And so I'm really glad that you brought that up because if we're going to live in these days with wisdom, understanding, and sobriety, we grab a halt of both of those ideas around even that specific word, earthquakes, and we hold them in tension. Are you with me? I'm so glad you brought that up. So the first phase, preparing the world for the return of Jesus to rule and reign on planet Earth with his global leadership headquarters in the city of Jerusalem will be birth pains. After birth pains, we see the next phase of the eschaton that unfolds with the beginning of tribulation.

We see Jesus say that in verse nine. Then you will be arrested and there's that word persecuted. And when you look at that word in the Greek, it means the lipsis.

No.

Sorry if I mispronounced that one. And when you look at the death included in that definition of persecution is the word tribulation. Where does the word tribulation comes from? Where does that word come from? So for many of you in our tribe fam who know have been on this journey with us, there's an ancient farming implement that's used even in some places today around arid places where grain is harvested and processed in the way that it had been done for thousands of years.

So the seed is planted. The grain grows up. It is harvested with a sickle, and then all of the the grain and the stock and all of that is taken to a place called the threshing floor, where it's spread out and then it's allowed to dry. And then the farmer will come along with his with his donkey sometimes by hand, with a donkey, or with a horse, and he will hook up a a big flat sled. Think about, like, a a big giant door that's drug behind a horse or a donkey round and around and around on the threshing floor.

And on the underside of the door, the side that is connected that that is connected to the ground, right, the ground side down, there are embedded within that farming implement stones that rake over the wheat, and it helps to break it up, and it helps to separate the wheat from the chaff. And then the farmer takes a winnowing fork or like a pitchfork and on a windy day after the wheat has been threshed, he goes up and he just goes around the pile and he throws up the whole thing. And the kernel of wheat, which is heavier, drops straight back down to the ground, and the chaff is blown away with the wind. The farming implement that is used to separate the wheat from the chaff, both a part of the same stock is called the tribulum. Now, some of you got it but that was a really good place for all of you to say, A trebulum is a farming implement like a threshing sled that grinds and separates and breaks apart with with some violence.

The farmer doesn't say, wheat, would you separate from the chaff? The farmer doesn't pick up a stock and go or pluck it out and gently sit down. There's some there's some there's some some work. There's some uncomfortableness. There's some pain that happens as the threshing sled goes over the wheat, and there's some sifting and separating of the chaff from the wheat.

But that farming implement called the tribulum is where we get the word tribulation from. So now let's look at that word tribulation and what attributes, what corresponding world events or things are unfolding on planet Earth associated with tribulation. What do you see? Tribulation is in verse nine and we see some things that are unfolding between verse nine and verse 12. What do you see?

And you can just shout it out. Arrested, persecuted, killed, and we all said, yay. Now, is he talking about who when he says you will be? Who's he talking to? Followers of him because that's what it says.

We as Christians read this and think that it is just directed to us Christians. Oh, you did it did not hold on to that. You hold on to that. That's.

What did he say? I'm not gonna say it yet. Jonathan went No.

I didn't.

You

can't preach ahead of my sermon on a group tribe thread. Stop that. All of you. All of you. Yeah.

Yeah. That is what some of you do to me. Talk. This is what I get for having this be a conversation. I love it.

It's what a family does. Right? So so we tend to read this and think arrogantly, ignorantly, that it this is just for us Christians. It does say followers of Jesus, but you can be a Palestinian Christian. You can be a Filipino Christian.

This is not just for us here in America. You gots to open your mind a little to think that this is just for American Christians is myopic because we will also simultaneously see unprecedented, unmitigated evil poured out on the nation and the people of Israel. But I'm jumping ahead. Okay. Arrested, persecuted, and killed.

Okay. What else do you see? You can just say it. Hated where? Everywhere.

You will be hated all over the world. So what does that tell you about Christians and the gospel? It is not the popular hook, but it's going to tell you, how can Christians be hated in places that they haven't been yet? The gospel in the midst of birth pains and in the midst of tribulation, we will see an explosion of the good news of the gospel of who Jesus is, what he came to do, to ransom, and to save those who were lost will explode around the world. We will not be hiding under rocks and in caves and in bunkers with our gold and green beans and guns.

The gospel will be advancing. Praise god. We will lay down our lives, and it will be an honor for us to be hated, persecuted, arrested, and killed. Don't raise your hand, but who's with me for that? That's arrested, persecuted, killed, hated all over the world.

But then also, what else has simultaneously happened? False prophets. So we will see an increase of false prophets. And so here's what that tells me, that the artificial and the fake loves to infiltrate the authentic and the genuine. It always has.

And here's what a lot of what happens unfortunately, is there can be take the Toronto revival, the Pensacola revival. Those are two revivals, moves of the Holy Spirit on his body, the bride of Christ that have happened regionally in in the days and time of like television and and new news articles. We can read about revi revivals in the Bible. We can read about revivals in history, but the these are two examples of modern revivals that play out for the world to see. You can go and watch YouTube videos of this, And there's a lot of amazing, incredible things, genuine, authentic, and real, wonderful, amazing things that happen in the body of Christ during these revivals.

But what mostly you see is little sound bites and little small clips taken of, like, weird and un Jesus stuff that happens, and those get amplified and blown out of proportion. And so I would suggest you, when I see the increase of false prophets, I I see this as also an explosion of real, genuine, authentic, prophetic ministry that's happening in and among the body of Christ.

Brian, having having lived through, at least one of these events, and watched it develop, the other thing that happened seems to happen is that something that begins as authentic gets infiltrated by the fakers and distorted in a way that is definitely not scriptural in the process. So don't just a warning. Even though it looks legit on the front end, don't assume it will stay that way when it explodes.

Why cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit is so vitally important. Jesus says, I'm going away but it's better that I go away for if I leave, I will send him the counselor, the advocate, and he will guide you into what? All truth. So, we weigh and we test and we consider so that we can eat the meat and spread out the bones. Alright, arrested, persecuted, killed, hated all over the world.

An increase of false prophets that says that will arise and deceive many. What else do we see happening here? Many followers of Jesus will turn away. I mean, didn't we already see that with COVID? A third of the church around North America took the COVID off ramp and statistically have not returned to church since COVID.

Where did they go? What are they doing now? They haven't been back. The Bible says that sin will run rampant. The Bible says that the love of many will grow cold, but then to to balance that, there's something really interesting that Jesus says, but he says, he makes a but statement.

Somebody finish that out. Look in the text. I want us all with our eyes and nose in the text but he gives a but. What's the but? Oh.

So, he tells us that's not the butt that I was looking at but it's the butt that Amanda saw And that's a good butt to look at. Stop, Brian.

The

one who endures to the end will be saved. Jesus gives us a message not of escapism but that of endurance and perseverance. Hang in there. You got this. The Bible says in Revelation chapter three verse 10 that that the righteous ones, the saints will be protected from days of great anguish.

Not pulled out and and alleviated from, but in the same way that a good shell jacket keeps you dry in the midst of a thunderstorm protected and kept dry in the midst of the torrential downpour. Those Jesus himself says, those who endure to the end. Not the end just before the beginning of all of these events. These events are unfolding. He says, but those who endure and persevere to the end will be saved.

Last thing, great tribulation. Well, I don't see great tribulation. Look at it carefully at verse 21. There will be greater anguish that word is the same word that's used in verse nine and it also means tribulation. Birth pains, Jesus says it.

Tribulation, Jesus says it. And then he talks about a final climactic crescendo of season. That he describes as great tribulation. How long will this last if you look in Daniel nine, ten, 11? You see that according to the picture that Daniel saw, this season of tribulation lasts seven years.

Birth pains, I mean, a great argument could be made that we've been in birth pains for a a long time, perhaps greater than our generation, perhaps. But once tribulation begins, and it's kind of like the the Renaissance period or the classical period. There was no date on the calendar. Like, you flip the page, January 1. Oh, I guess we're now in the renaissance period.

There's this blending and and and blurring, right? The emergence of a season. We will see an emergence of the season of tribulation but we can know according to Daniel and Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine and in a lot of other places in the Bible that this season of tribulation lasts for about seven years. Midway through that season, season kicked off by the abomination that causes desolation and Jesus says it as if we should have a frame of reference for it. Well, Daniel talks about it.

And Paul talks about it in first and second Thessalonians that there will be an abomination that causes desolation and that it occurs midway through the tribulation and we can know then that we're in the home stretch, the final super intense three and a half years. Great tribulation. What is that marked by? What does Jesus say? I kind of already said it.

The sacrilegious object that causes desecration will be set up in the temple. Is there a temple right now in Jerusalem? Oh, not yet. There's a very strong case to be made from the Bible that a third temple will have to be built. The moment you see an excavator on the Temple Mount, There will be unprecedented calamity and persecution.

And then and then it's as if all of the characters and this the the the set on the stage, the orchestra down in the pit, quiets down. The lights that were on stage dim. The set is cleared. All of the actors fade away and are removed, and there's a blank stage with the lights out, and the audience

hushed. Something's about to happen.

The stars fade away. A hush falls over planet Earth. And then Jesus says, then the sign of the coming of the son of man will appear. The disciples ask, what is the sign of the coming of the son of man? And then Jesus, it's in the grammar.

You have to read it a couple of times. It's right there. The sign of the son, the coming of the son of man is the coming of the son of man. What is the definitive sign of his return? It Jesus himself says, it's my return riding on the clouds.

The captain, the commander of heaven's armies with a myriad of angels arriving on planet Earth. And we, who have invited Jesus into our heart, made him the leader of our lives, our this particular phase of our assignment, if we are alive on planet Earth when this happens, will change in a moment, and we will be given a new assignment requiring new and different hardware. What do I mean by that statement? We will, in that moment, receive our glorified bodies. And when that happened, what's the first thing we do with that glorified body?

Straight up to see him and meet him in the air where airplanes live as he comes on the clouds. How many of you ever, like, go down a a rabbit hole of watching the surprise soldier coming home videos? Right? Mhmm. And the the son or the daughter see him, tears like, pew and shoot out of their eyes, and they sprint into the arms of their husband or or mom or father, you know, whatever it is.

Right? Throwing their arms around him. That's how I picture the return, how I'm gonna be at the return of Jesus. Calling.

Yeah, just one quick comment and question, I guess. One thing, one scripture, verse 34, I guess it's has caused me some disbelief in the past. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place. Could you just touch on that briefly?

Great. So here's the keyword to to you can draw a box around that word. The the keyword is this. Joy, what part of speech is the word this? Pronoun?

This.

Part the participle.

A demonstrative pronoun. Everybody touch your glasses. So the the the keyword and and this is what Jonathan was telegraphing earlier and has probably already texted all of you guys.

The

keyword is this. He says, I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until you see all of these things come to pass. So, here's what Jesus is saying. He's not saying this generation, the generation that he's speaking to, although it could be the generation that he's speaking to. How do we know the generation of which Jesus is speaking to?

He says, when you begin to see all of these things, you can know that you are the generation in which all of these things will unfold. I tell you the truth. This generation did all of those things unfold during the generation of the disciples? No, because Jesus did not come back. The rapture of the church did not happen.

A lot of people like to look at seventy AD with the sacking of Rome, the burning of the temple. And a couple of boxes were checked, but that is historically to prepare us. It's a foreshadowing of the reality to unfold. And so, you cannot say that those things that Jesus was speaking about were fulfilled in seventy AD because where does that leave us? In no man's land according to the text.

And so when Jesus says, when you see these things, I tell you the truth, this generation, here's what he's saying. He's saying two very important things. He's saying that number one, the generation that sees these things, that's the generation that he's speaking to. Number two, we can get an idea of how long it's gonna take for all of these things to unfold. This was one of the things that that that's in my notes.

We tend to think and we hang our hat on this idea that that the events leading up to the return of Jesus is gonna like like all of this is gonna take hundreds and hundreds of years to unfold and it's gonna be unfolded on such a macro scale like like like a geologic scale that we're not even really gonna be able to, like, see and pinpoint and and notice these things. And therefore, it gives us permission to dismiss them. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes.

Yeah.

I just I got some kind of words during worship when, Lisa was singing about, make me ready, and I think she sang something about being shaken. And these verses came to my mind, Matthew 25 of this year, the Lord woke me up about, the 10 virgins, about your lamp oil being ready. And the Lord told me, and I'm walking pretty close to him, but the trials of life and the lies of the enemy started to drown out his truth. And, he told me, you're not ready. Your lamp oil is not full.

And I began to have a healthy fear of the Lord and began to say, Lord, what what is numbing me? What is getting in the way of me being ready for your coming? And, so that that came to my mind this morning, that I just feel like he wants and well, then he took me to Hebrews 12, 27 where it says, he is shaking the earth and the heavens so that only what will remain, the unshakable will remain. But what struck me is the next verse 28 says, since we're receiving our rights to an unshakable kingdom. And I just felt like he said to me that there's some people here that that don't know what their gift is in the body of Christ.

And part of when he was calling me back to getting my lamp oil full, I'm a watchman on the wall and he said, you're you're asleep, you've slumbered, and you're not awake, you're not alert. And so I think he wants to awaken some people today in their gifts because that motivates you. You start to see where the enemy's numbing you and putting you back to sleep. And so waking he wants to awaken you to your first love to the to be ready for the bridegroom. And so I just, feel like he wants to during this worship song maybe show people, who he's called them to be and what their gift is in the body of Christ.

So now you take that no. Hold the mic. Hold the mic. You take that and as a watch So, you you pray that and speak that over the people. Okay?

Absolutely. God,

I thank you for every son and daughter you have in this room. And, Lord, I just feel like the trials of life and the lies of the enemy have it pervaded some of them and put them to sleep, made them weary, made them looking to the things of this earth. And, and so Lord I just pray right now that you would shake their spirit and stir up the gifts within them, the gifts that you put in them from the Holy Spirit and you would awaken them Lord. You would breathe life into them today and you would show them that, as you prayed, my kingdom come, my will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, each vessel in this room brings the kingdom of God to this earth, to their family, to their friends, to their workplace.

And so Lord that they would realize they carry the spirit of God with them. And so you would shake everything that has dimmed their light and kept them from shining for you. And so Lord you would just show them this is the vessel I am and so no longer will I be silent, no longer will I quit walking in this. You would awaken them today Lord. You would fill their lamp oil with your holy spirit today as Lyssa plays this song, Lord.

Would you just filterate their holy spirit being of how you've made them to be and who you've made them to be for your kingdom. Thank you, Jesus.

We awaken it in Jesus name. Wake, wake, wake. Now, you don't have to look at me. Just peek at me. Peek at me.

Because one of the tactics and classical historical lies of the enemy is to take God's word and put a little twist on it to throw you off track. Maybe you've thought this, maybe you've even heard it preached from the pulpit, and they quote that verse verse 36, no man knows the day or hour. So I'm not so you shouldn't concern yourself with the return of Jesus. It's a surprise. We don't know when it's going to happen.

And then the enemy would pervert scripture. And if your pastor has preached this before, I'm not saying that your pastor's a bad guy. But the enemy would love to lull us into complacency with this verse right here by saying, don't worry your pretty little head about it. No man knows the day or hour of his return. So, don't concern yourself with it.

That's not what Jesus says. Listen to me with your eyeballs and look at the text. He says, learn a lesson from the fig tree And then I invite you to do a word count between verses thirty two and forty three. How many times does Jesus say no? K N O W.

You need to know. And what about the person that doesn't know? Hint, he says it over six different times. You better know. We don't know the day or the hour.

Anybody who gives you a calendar date, But we are commanded to know the season of his return. Because when he returns, I'm gonna close with just land the plane with this. Revelation chapter 22 verse seventeen and twenty. The spirit and the bride say, come. He who is a faithful witness to all of these things says, yes, I am coming soon.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. A spirit God's Holy Spirit and the bride of Christ which is us, the church, will be brought into unity, begging for, longing for, eagerly desiring for, the lover of our soul, the bridegroom to return to planet Earth and sweep us off of our feet after all that we that you have already been through in your life. All that we will go through. To see his return.

Will literally jump out of our skin. He couldn't love you anymore than he already does. We sang this this morning. He couldn't love you anymore than he already does. And his love is so great that not even the forces of hell could prevent him from coming back for you.

His treasure and his bridegroom. Reminds me of a old third day song. Let me just read a couple of these lyrics. Remember third day? I've heard it said that a man would climb a mountain just to be with the one he loves.

How many times has he broken that promise? It's never been done. I've never climbed the highest mountain but I've walked the Hill Of Calvary. Just to be with you, I would do anything. There's no price I would not pay just to be with you.

I give anything. I would give my life away. I've heard it said that a man would swim the ocean just to be with the one he loves. How many times has he broken that promise? It can never be done.

I've never swam the deepest ocean but I walked upon the raging sea just to be with you. I do anything. There's no price that I would not pay. Just to be with you, I'd give anything. I'd give my life away and you know the song that goes on.

Jesus, speak to our hearts speak to our hearts in these last few moments of service before we turn the page and worship you in one other way this morning. Speak to our hearts about your soon coming imminent return. Jesus, we love you. Lord Jesus. We're just put it in there.

Thank you so much for not leaving us in the dark. Thank you so much for not leaving us clueless where we can be frightened, but thank you for giving us peace and confidence and joy and clarity through your word. I command a blessing over each and every person in our tribe fam here today. Give us a great week. We pray these things.

In Jesus name, the strong son of god and everybody said, amen. I love you so very much. Have a great week and remember, you got this.

Yeah. Think you're