November 20, 2024 • 27 mins
There are many times we focus on the wrong things in life. Our various troubles, our finances, or the ongoings of the world. The temples we have built crumble around us. However, Pastor Tim brings us the words of Jesus, letting us know that the only temple that matters, was rebuilt long ago, and still stands strong!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's taken forty years to build this temple and we're
still not done with it.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Who are you?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Do you think that you could rebuild this temple? On
three days they were focusing on their wrong temple.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Good morning and welcome to peace. To you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. Whether we are Christian or not,
we all struggle with difficulties and troubles in this life.
Whether it's persecution or atrocities caused by others, or its
natural disaster, injury or illness. We all face problems that
(00:48):
threaten us. Where do we go for help? Where do
we go for refuge? Jesus reminds us not to focus
on the things of this world, but in him the dead.
He's in control of everything, even our ultimate enemy death.
So when we face those difficulties in life, even death,
(01:09):
we have refuge and a savior. His name is Jesus.
Let's listen in as Pastor Tim Lindaman shares the peace.
Only Jesus brings in the message today. Now here's Pastor Tim.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And he came out of the temple.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
One of his disciples said to him, look, teacher, what
wonderful store stones and what wonderful buildings. This is the
beginning of a conversation that Jesus had with his disciples
after they came out of the temple. And we go
back a couple of chapters a chapter, so we see
that Jesus went into the temple. When he got there,
(01:52):
he saw the money changers there and they were cheating people.
So he overturned their tables. He drove them out. He
sat down, and then he taught with the people. And
as he was coming out of the temple, one of
the disciples was looking at the magnificence of the temple
and saying, check it out, Jesus, isn't that wonderful. Now
(02:14):
there's a reason why, because the temple was massive. The
temple was absolutely beautiful. It was made with great stones.
Talking about big. Some of the stones that built made
up the temple and the temple mound were measuring thirty
seven feet long, eighteen feet deep, twelve feet high, and
(02:36):
weighed over eighty tons, and some.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Of those were up about one hundred feet.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Can you imagine how do they get an eighty ton
stone ten stories up in the air. By the day's standards,
it would take about five modern day cranes in order
to pick up one of those stones and put it
into place, and they did that without modern technology. I
wonder this disciple was like, WHOA, check it out right,
(03:05):
and then talk about beauty. This version of the temple
wasn't made out of cedar like the one previous.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It was made out of marble, beautiful marble.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And then to add to the beauty, they would inscribe
it and decorate it and cover it with gold many
of the stones.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
It was absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It was impressive and it was meant to be that
way because it was built by a guy by the
name of Herod.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
He was a quasi king. He wasn't really the king
of the Jews.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
He was a king that was set in place by
the Roman government as kind of a puppet king, and
he wanted to impress the Romans, and he wanted to
impress the people the Jews, and so they he built
this magnificent temple. Historians tell us that it's probably one
(04:00):
of the greatest man made structures in the world of
that time.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So no wonder this.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Disciple is pretty and overwhelmed in awe of this beautiful temple.
You and I kind of like the bigger and the best.
We like the beautiful, right. We love it when the
home team comes coming out of the tunnel amid the
smoke and the fireworks, flexing their muscles and making them
(04:27):
look powerful and intimidating the other team. We like that
military flyover, the Air Force game. Pastor Guy went to
Air Force game yesterday. I guess it's the organized state game, right,
and the flyover. We like the military and the firepower
of the mightiest nation on the earth. We like those
(04:50):
presidential candidates that give us some power and some confidence.
We are entrawled with the mansions and the yachts of
the rich and fa We like the cities with the
tallest buildings.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We liked that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And we as Christians, we're odd by the same stuff.
We're not exempt from that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
We love to have.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
A building filled with Christians worshiping together. We love the
pipe organ with all those pipes, the beautiful music, the
praise team. We love the biggest vacation Bible school and
the biggest youth group, the biggest Sunday school. We like
the preacher that's up there with eloquent and good with
the words. Right, and then Jesus said to them. Do
(05:39):
you see these buildings, There will not be left one
stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Talk about a buzzkill. Huh.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
What Jesus was talking about was you look at this
temple and its magnificence, and it's beauty.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
But I tell you, before this generation has left this earth,
this temple's not gonna be standing any longer.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
There's not gonna be one stone standing upon another stone.
And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Seventy a d.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
The Romans came in and destroyed the temple, killed people,
drove the mountainto the countryside, took over, and.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Then he goes on and it doesn't get much better.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And Jesus looks not just at the temple, but he says, no,
take a look around you at all the things that
are going on.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Those two will be thrown down one day. He was
talking about Judgment day.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
That sun that gets rises in the east and sun
sets in the west day after day, that sun that
you're used to, it's gonna go dark. The moon isn't
gonna be litten up anymore. And you're not gonna be
able to see the stars because they're gonna be falling
from the sky.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
They'll all be thrown down.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And what happens between now and that judgment day that's
coming one day? Oh, wars and rumors of wars, and
there's going to be famine and earthquakes and pestilence. We're
familiar with all that stuff, aren't we. We know about
wars and rumors of wars. We've got wars in the Ukraine,
(07:27):
in the Middle East, conflict in Haiti, name it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
There's wars, right.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Many of us have grown up experiencing some of the wars,
Vietnam War, Korean conflict, World War two. And when it
comes to natural disasters, we just got over a couple
of hurricanes on the East Coast and the South coast.
We have earthquakes in California, we have tornadoes in the Midwest.
(08:03):
We're used to all of that. And Jesus said to them,
do you see all these great buildings. There will not
be one left, one stone left upon another that will
not be thrown down.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
In the midst of all this grandeur.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Might Jesus is saying to us, as he said to
them back there that day, you're focusing.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
On the wrong temple. You're focusing on the wrong temple
and the wrong king.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
If you put your trust in all of that show
of power and might and beauty of this world, you're
putting your trust and you're focusing on the wrong temple.
This week, I ran across a picture that I'd like
to share with you. I found it on a church website.
(09:01):
This particular church happens to be about one hundred and
thirty years old. It was in existence back in nineteen
oh six in San Francisco when there was a great
earthquake there.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Maybe this is a picture of their sanctuary back in
nineteen oh six after the earthquake, or maybe they just
found this art this photo somewhere on the internet, and
maybe it's from a church that was bombed out and
World War Two. I don't know where it came from,
but once I saw it, I couldn't take my eyes
(09:35):
off of it because you look at the top up there,
and you see the hole in the roof and all
the debris that came falling down as the roof caved in.
You see the wood and the bricks, the masonry and
the stone. If you look at the walls on the side,
you see the chains ripped out of their moorings, and
(09:58):
some of them are just hanging broke, and the ones
that once held the lights for the building. And as
I watched and looked at that picture, I kept wondering,
I wonder what those people felt like when they walked
into their church, the church that they went to week
(10:20):
after week to find some peace and solace in the
midst of all the destruction and stuff that they had
to deal with during the course of the week. I
wonder if they wondered where God was and why he
allowed something like this to happen. And then I began wondering,
(10:40):
I wonder what those disciples felt like when Jesus told him, yeah,
check it out. We got massive stones, beautifully decorated, a
gorgeous temple, but it's not going to stand. I wonder
what they felt like forty years later when all of
that was destroyed. I wonder about you and me when
(11:05):
our life is in shambles, how we feel, and what
I wonder if you wonder sometimes if God really loves you,
if he really cares, or if he even exists. I wonder, well,
you're placing your hope in what I place my hope in.
(11:25):
And then I looked at the statue that's left standing,
the cross still standing, and I wondered what the disciples
felt like, just a couple of days after this conversation
that they were having with Jesus when they saw his
lifeless body taken down off of that cross. Wonder what
(11:52):
they felt like when their savior, this man that they
had come to know us, their savior and their Lord,
and their teacher and their magi rabbi, their God, as
his body was taken down off the cross and laid
into a tomb.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I wonder what they were feeling like.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
This story took place Holy Week, at the end of
Christ's ministry here on this earth. There was another time
at the beginning of Jesus' ministry recorded in John chapter two,
when Jesus went into the temple and he cleared the
temple once again of the money changers. And it was
(12:41):
there that some people came up to him that were
skeptical and wondering, who are you that you think you
could come into our temple and drive away these money changers.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Who gives you the authority to do that?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Show us a sign, and you know what, Jesus's signed,
tear this temple down, and in three days, I will
raise it up again.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
It's taken forty years to build this temple and we're
still not done with it.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Who are you? Do you think that you could rebuild
this temple in three days? But they were focusing on
the wrong temple.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Jesus wasn't talking about the temple made with stone and
gold and all the.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Riches of this world.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
He wasn't talking about the earthly kind of temple. He
was talking about himself. He was talking about his death
and his resurrection. Tear this temple down.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Jesus said, and in three days, I will raise it up. Folks,
when you.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And I go through difficult times in life, it's important
for us to understand that the things of this world
will never save us, but what saves us Arisen Christ.
When you and I are betrayed by friends, or our
relationship starts to unravel, or our marriage is starting to
(14:20):
fall apart, we can remember that Jesus lives.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
When we're going.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Through a difficult time with our health and our body
starts to fail us and medical science can't help us.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
We can remember that Jesus lives when we go through.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
A difficult time of life, when people are ridiculing or
laughing at us, or trying to silence us for our
faith and trying to make us feel bad or be silent,
we can remember that Jesus lives. When we find our
bank account not lasting as long as we had hoped,
(15:01):
we can remember that Jesus lives. That's the message of
Mark chapter thirteen. That's the message of John chapter two.
And I don't know if you notice the one that
was read to us by Kent a little bit ago
from Revelation, that's the same message there. When there's so
(15:24):
much of our world that is thrown down, we can
be assured that we have a God who lives. And
because he lives. At the end, when there's this cosmic
battle between Michael and the Angels of God and Satan
and his fallen angels, when it's all said and done,
(15:47):
that serpent, that dragon is thrown down, That devil, the deceiver,
the father of lies, who calls into question whether God
exists or even cares, is thrown down.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
His angels and his minions, his demons are thrown down.
And Satan, the accuser that's asked, did God really say that,
is thrown down. Folks, you and I know that truth.
We know that temple Jesus.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We know that he is our risen Lord, and in
the midst of the trials and the difficulties in life,
we can boldly confess the very same words that Saint
Paul confessed at the tail.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
End of Romans chapter eight, when he said.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I am sure, I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
angels nor rulers, the things present are the things to come.
Nor powers, nor the highest of heights or the lowest
(16:58):
of lows can separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ, Jesus our Lord, and folks, that's
the good news. We know that none of that can
defeat us. Why because Jesus lives. And that's why we
say it so often. What is our battle cry as believers?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
He has risen.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Allelujah, Amen, Good morning, pastor tim good morning.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
When Jesus talks about the buildings, and he said, see
these buildings here, you know not one stone will be
standing on the other. Okay, all of them are going
to go down, and the sun is going to darken
and the moon is going to darken. What is he
talking about there?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well, I think he's talking about two things. First of all,
the disciple that brought Jesus' attention to the the temple
and the buildings around was focusing on the physical temple
that was there, and it was a beautiful temple. It
had taken him some forty years to build this temple
to be where it was at that point, and they.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Still weren't done with it.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
They were still decorating and putting the finishing touches on it.
And you know, it was a man made wonder. It
was beautiful and it was huge, majestic, and because of that,
the disciple was impressed with it. But Jesus was telling them,
is don't focus on this temple, focus on a temple
(18:37):
that will last. And then he would went to foretell
what was going to happen some forty years later, around
seventy a d. When the Roman Empire came in and
just devastated decimated his Jerusalem and sent the people out
into the wilderness and into captivity and into hiding. And
(19:01):
so he was talking about that, and he's saying, in
this generation, before this generation has left this earth, this
is going to happen. And then he goes on and
starts describing what's going to happen at the end of time.
And then he says, you know, don't just look at
the temple. Now, look at this world, the things of
this creation. This is going to go away too. Don't
(19:24):
focus on the things of this earth. Focus on the
things of heaven, things of my kingdom. And so he's
going from, don't focus on this temple, focus on the
real temple.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And so many times we do that. We focus on
the temporary, the temporary things of this world, of this life.
It's temporary, and He's forever. And that's I get it.
You know that that's who he wants us to focus on.
And and like you said in the sermon, you know,
when your life or your quote unquote temple falls apart,
(20:03):
where do you turn? And I loved your example about
how did they feel when they took Jesus off the cross.
He was everything, he was the Messiah. He was with
them for so long, and his teachings were unbelievable, and
now in their eyes he's dead.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Right, And once again they were focusing on an earthly kingdom.
They were expecting Jesus to establish Israel as a world
power again, to bring in an usher in a golden
era of some sort, and so they were trying to
make Jesus something that was earthly, and Jesus said, no,
(20:41):
my kingdom is bigger. It's not of this world. And
so he knew he had to die. He knew that
his body, his physical temple, was going to be destroyed
too for a short time.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And then he of.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Course defeated death by rising from the dead and ushering
in an eternal kingdom.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
And so we.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Once again hear Jesus saying, don't focus on the temporary,
focus on what's eternal.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Right, And you know, I can imagine how they felt
when he said, see this big, beautiful temple, it took
forty years to build. Everything else it'll be a story.
Not one stone will be standing upon another. But I'll
what took you forty years to build, I'll rebuild this
in three days. Well, they're focusing on the earthly temple
and that, and they weren't really connecting with three days. Hmmm.
(21:38):
What he's saying is that it's him right.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
When the disciples were coming out of the temple, and
one pointed out the beauty and the majesty of the
temple that was happening during Holy Week right before Jesus died,
when Jesus said, you know, tear down this temple and
three days I will rebuild it. That happened at the
beginning of John. It was recorded in the beginning of John,
(22:03):
and John was talking about Jesus as being that temple,
and of course that's what Jesus was saying. You can
kill me, that'll be your sign.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But in three.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Days I'll raise it up again. You can kill me,
but in three days I will rise from the dead.
That is your sign that I have the authority, that
I am king, that I am the one that you
need to focus on.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
And how important that is for us to know that
because he rose from the dead, we will too that
this is just this is just a temporary thing. And
as believers in Christ, we know that, yeah, we're all
going to die because of sin in the world. We're
all going to die, no doubt about that. But we
(22:54):
get to live again, just like just like he did.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Right And you know, Pull brings this out in Romans
eight where he says, I don't compare the sufferings of
this world worthy compared to compare with the glory that
will be ours when the adoption of sons is revealed.
In other words, and you know that's Tim's translation there,
(23:20):
but basically he was saying, you know, what we face
here on this earth is not worth comparing to the
glory that will be ours in the end. In other words,
because I rose, Jesus rose from the dead, and because
of that, that victory that he won for us, we
(23:41):
can face the trials of this world because we have
a savior. And what's the worst thing that could happen
to us but to die. And when we die, we
know that through Jesus, we too will rise from the
dead because he rose from the dead. And that's why
we can say that as all set. Neither life nor death,
(24:05):
neither angels or rulers, okay, so good or bad angels
you know, Satan himself, and neither things present or things
to come. You know, the stuff I'm going through now
are the possible things that might happen in the future.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Nor powers nor.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Height, you know, the highest highs that I have or
the lowest lows that come my way, can separate us
from the love of God, which is ours in Christ, Jesus.
None of that has power over us. Because Jesus is
the temple, he is the king that we should focus upon.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
The good news of Jesus exactly, and you know, all
glory to him and that he's I know, I think praise,
I say praises all the time. Thank you for introducing
me to Jesus at such a young age.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Praise be to God.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Oh yes, well, Pastor Tim, I always enjoy our time together.
And you know, and we're going to be going to
a new format. It's a podcast. We're going to be
talking about it here in the next few weeks, but
starting January first, we're going to be able to be seen,
which I don't know if people want to see this
face or not, but we're going to be seen on
a podcast. Then we'll be able to continue these discussions.
(25:24):
So Pastor Tim blessings on your week and look forward
to telling you folks more about this podcast that's coming
out next year.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Thank you for joining us. For peace to you from
peacet Church in our bat To, Colorado. If you have
no church home, we would be delighted for you to
join us on any Sunday. Our addrests is five to
six seven five Field Street in our Battle, Colorado. Our
services are eight and ten thirty AM Bible classes for
(25:54):
all ages, all at nine to fifteen am. You can
easily access our sermons online at www dot p s
Lucrit dot m or at Pisarbada at YouTube dot com.
Peace to you in part is a listener supported broadcast.
If you would like to sponsor a broadcast in the future,
(26:15):
call us at three O three four two four four
four five four. If you would like a copy of
today's broadcast and no charge to you, contact us at
the same number three oh three four two four four
four five four. You can access our sermons at any
time by going to our YouTube channel, Peaceharbada YouTube dot com.
(26:39):
Now from the entire broadcast team at p Sluthem Church
and Arvada, I am moving all of that and may
the peace of our Lord you with you today and
always m
It's taken forty years to build this temple and we're
still not done with it.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Who are you?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Do you think that you could rebuild this temple? On
three days they were focusing on their wrong temple.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Good morning and welcome to peace. To you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. Whether we are Christian or not,
we all struggle with difficulties and troubles in this life.
Whether it's persecution or atrocities caused by others, or its
natural disaster, injury or illness. We all face problems that
(00:48):
threaten us. Where do we go for help? Where do
we go for refuge? Jesus reminds us not to focus
on the things of this world, but in him the dead.
He's in control of everything, even our ultimate enemy death.
So when we face those difficulties in life, even death,
(01:09):
we have refuge and a savior. His name is Jesus.
Let's listen in as Pastor Tim Lindaman shares the peace.
Only Jesus brings in the message today. Now here's Pastor Tim.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And he came out of the temple.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
One of his disciples said to him, look, teacher, what
wonderful store stones and what wonderful buildings. This is the
beginning of a conversation that Jesus had with his disciples
after they came out of the temple. And we go
back a couple of chapters a chapter, so we see
that Jesus went into the temple. When he got there,
(01:52):
he saw the money changers there and they were cheating people.
So he overturned their tables. He drove them out. He
sat down, and then he taught with the people. And
as he was coming out of the temple, one of
the disciples was looking at the magnificence of the temple
and saying, check it out, Jesus, isn't that wonderful. Now
(02:14):
there's a reason why, because the temple was massive. The
temple was absolutely beautiful. It was made with great stones.
Talking about big. Some of the stones that built made
up the temple and the temple mound were measuring thirty
seven feet long, eighteen feet deep, twelve feet high, and
(02:36):
weighed over eighty tons, and some.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Of those were up about one hundred feet.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Can you imagine how do they get an eighty ton
stone ten stories up in the air. By the day's standards,
it would take about five modern day cranes in order
to pick up one of those stones and put it
into place, and they did that without modern technology. I
wonder this disciple was like, WHOA, check it out right,
(03:05):
and then talk about beauty. This version of the temple
wasn't made out of cedar like the one previous.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It was made out of marble, beautiful marble.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And then to add to the beauty, they would inscribe
it and decorate it and cover it with gold many
of the stones.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
It was absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It was impressive and it was meant to be that
way because it was built by a guy by the
name of Herod.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
He was a quasi king. He wasn't really the king
of the Jews.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
He was a king that was set in place by
the Roman government as kind of a puppet king, and
he wanted to impress the Romans, and he wanted to
impress the people the Jews, and so they he built
this magnificent temple. Historians tell us that it's probably one
(04:00):
of the greatest man made structures in the world of
that time.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So no wonder this.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Disciple is pretty and overwhelmed in awe of this beautiful temple.
You and I kind of like the bigger and the best.
We like the beautiful, right. We love it when the
home team comes coming out of the tunnel amid the
smoke and the fireworks, flexing their muscles and making them
(04:27):
look powerful and intimidating the other team. We like that
military flyover, the Air Force game. Pastor Guy went to
Air Force game yesterday. I guess it's the organized state game, right,
and the flyover. We like the military and the firepower
of the mightiest nation on the earth. We like those
(04:50):
presidential candidates that give us some power and some confidence.
We are entrawled with the mansions and the yachts of
the rich and fa We like the cities with the
tallest buildings.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We liked that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And we as Christians, we're odd by the same stuff.
We're not exempt from that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
We love to have.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
A building filled with Christians worshiping together. We love the
pipe organ with all those pipes, the beautiful music, the
praise team. We love the biggest vacation Bible school and
the biggest youth group, the biggest Sunday school. We like
the preacher that's up there with eloquent and good with
the words. Right, and then Jesus said to them. Do
(05:39):
you see these buildings, There will not be left one
stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Talk about a buzzkill. Huh.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
What Jesus was talking about was you look at this
temple and its magnificence, and it's beauty.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
But I tell you, before this generation has left this earth,
this temple's not gonna be standing any longer.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
There's not gonna be one stone standing upon another stone.
And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Seventy a d.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
The Romans came in and destroyed the temple, killed people,
drove the mountainto the countryside, took over, and.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Then he goes on and it doesn't get much better.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And Jesus looks not just at the temple, but he says, no,
take a look around you at all the things that
are going on.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Those two will be thrown down one day. He was
talking about Judgment day.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
That sun that gets rises in the east and sun
sets in the west day after day, that sun that
you're used to, it's gonna go dark. The moon isn't
gonna be litten up anymore. And you're not gonna be
able to see the stars because they're gonna be falling
from the sky.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
They'll all be thrown down.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And what happens between now and that judgment day that's
coming one day? Oh, wars and rumors of wars, and
there's going to be famine and earthquakes and pestilence. We're
familiar with all that stuff, aren't we. We know about
wars and rumors of wars. We've got wars in the Ukraine,
(07:27):
in the Middle East, conflict in Haiti, name it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
There's wars, right.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Many of us have grown up experiencing some of the wars,
Vietnam War, Korean conflict, World War two. And when it
comes to natural disasters, we just got over a couple
of hurricanes on the East Coast and the South coast.
We have earthquakes in California, we have tornadoes in the Midwest.
(08:03):
We're used to all of that. And Jesus said to them,
do you see all these great buildings. There will not
be one left, one stone left upon another that will
not be thrown down.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
In the midst of all this grandeur.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Might Jesus is saying to us, as he said to
them back there that day, you're focusing.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
On the wrong temple. You're focusing on the wrong temple
and the wrong king.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
If you put your trust in all of that show
of power and might and beauty of this world, you're
putting your trust and you're focusing on the wrong temple.
This week, I ran across a picture that I'd like
to share with you. I found it on a church website.
(09:01):
This particular church happens to be about one hundred and
thirty years old. It was in existence back in nineteen
oh six in San Francisco when there was a great
earthquake there.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Maybe this is a picture of their sanctuary back in
nineteen oh six after the earthquake, or maybe they just
found this art this photo somewhere on the internet, and
maybe it's from a church that was bombed out and
World War Two. I don't know where it came from,
but once I saw it, I couldn't take my eyes
(09:35):
off of it because you look at the top up there,
and you see the hole in the roof and all
the debris that came falling down as the roof caved in.
You see the wood and the bricks, the masonry and
the stone. If you look at the walls on the side,
you see the chains ripped out of their moorings, and
(09:58):
some of them are just hanging broke, and the ones
that once held the lights for the building. And as
I watched and looked at that picture, I kept wondering,
I wonder what those people felt like when they walked
into their church, the church that they went to week
(10:20):
after week to find some peace and solace in the
midst of all the destruction and stuff that they had
to deal with during the course of the week. I
wonder if they wondered where God was and why he
allowed something like this to happen. And then I began wondering,
(10:40):
I wonder what those disciples felt like when Jesus told him, yeah,
check it out. We got massive stones, beautifully decorated, a
gorgeous temple, but it's not going to stand. I wonder
what they felt like forty years later when all of
that was destroyed. I wonder about you and me when
(11:05):
our life is in shambles, how we feel, and what
I wonder if you wonder sometimes if God really loves you,
if he really cares, or if he even exists. I wonder, well,
you're placing your hope in what I place my hope in.
(11:25):
And then I looked at the statue that's left standing,
the cross still standing, and I wondered what the disciples
felt like, just a couple of days after this conversation
that they were having with Jesus when they saw his
lifeless body taken down off of that cross. Wonder what
(11:52):
they felt like when their savior, this man that they
had come to know us, their savior and their Lord,
and their teacher and their magi rabbi, their God, as
his body was taken down off the cross and laid
into a tomb.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I wonder what they were feeling like.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
This story took place Holy Week, at the end of
Christ's ministry here on this earth. There was another time
at the beginning of Jesus' ministry recorded in John chapter two,
when Jesus went into the temple and he cleared the
temple once again of the money changers. And it was
(12:41):
there that some people came up to him that were
skeptical and wondering, who are you that you think you
could come into our temple and drive away these money changers.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Who gives you the authority to do that?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Show us a sign, and you know what, Jesus's signed,
tear this temple down, and in three days, I will
raise it up again.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
It's taken forty years to build this temple and we're
still not done with it.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Who are you? Do you think that you could rebuild
this temple in three days? But they were focusing on
the wrong temple.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Jesus wasn't talking about the temple made with stone and
gold and all the.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Riches of this world.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
He wasn't talking about the earthly kind of temple. He
was talking about himself. He was talking about his death
and his resurrection. Tear this temple down.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Jesus said, and in three days, I will raise it up. Folks,
when you.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And I go through difficult times in life, it's important
for us to understand that the things of this world
will never save us, but what saves us Arisen Christ.
When you and I are betrayed by friends, or our
relationship starts to unravel, or our marriage is starting to
(14:20):
fall apart, we can remember that Jesus lives.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
When we're going.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Through a difficult time with our health and our body
starts to fail us and medical science can't help us.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
We can remember that Jesus lives when we go through.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
A difficult time of life, when people are ridiculing or
laughing at us, or trying to silence us for our
faith and trying to make us feel bad or be silent,
we can remember that Jesus lives. When we find our
bank account not lasting as long as we had hoped,
(15:01):
we can remember that Jesus lives. That's the message of
Mark chapter thirteen. That's the message of John chapter two.
And I don't know if you notice the one that
was read to us by Kent a little bit ago
from Revelation, that's the same message there. When there's so
(15:24):
much of our world that is thrown down, we can
be assured that we have a God who lives. And
because he lives. At the end, when there's this cosmic
battle between Michael and the Angels of God and Satan
and his fallen angels, when it's all said and done,
(15:47):
that serpent, that dragon is thrown down, That devil, the deceiver,
the father of lies, who calls into question whether God
exists or even cares, is thrown down.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
His angels and his minions, his demons are thrown down.
And Satan, the accuser that's asked, did God really say that,
is thrown down. Folks, you and I know that truth.
We know that temple Jesus.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We know that he is our risen Lord, and in
the midst of the trials and the difficulties in life,
we can boldly confess the very same words that Saint
Paul confessed at the tail.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
End of Romans chapter eight, when he said.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I am sure, I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
angels nor rulers, the things present are the things to come.
Nor powers, nor the highest of heights or the lowest
(16:58):
of lows can separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ, Jesus our Lord, and folks, that's
the good news. We know that none of that can
defeat us. Why because Jesus lives. And that's why we
say it so often. What is our battle cry as believers?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
He has risen.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Allelujah, Amen, Good morning, pastor tim good morning.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
When Jesus talks about the buildings, and he said, see
these buildings here, you know not one stone will be
standing on the other. Okay, all of them are going
to go down, and the sun is going to darken
and the moon is going to darken. What is he
talking about there?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well, I think he's talking about two things. First of all,
the disciple that brought Jesus' attention to the the temple
and the buildings around was focusing on the physical temple
that was there, and it was a beautiful temple. It
had taken him some forty years to build this temple
to be where it was at that point, and they.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Still weren't done with it.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
They were still decorating and putting the finishing touches on it.
And you know, it was a man made wonder. It
was beautiful and it was huge, majestic, and because of that,
the disciple was impressed with it. But Jesus was telling them,
is don't focus on this temple, focus on a temple
(18:37):
that will last. And then he would went to foretell
what was going to happen some forty years later, around
seventy a d. When the Roman Empire came in and
just devastated decimated his Jerusalem and sent the people out
into the wilderness and into captivity and into hiding. And
(19:01):
so he was talking about that, and he's saying, in
this generation, before this generation has left this earth, this
is going to happen. And then he goes on and
starts describing what's going to happen at the end of time.
And then he says, you know, don't just look at
the temple. Now, look at this world, the things of
this creation. This is going to go away too. Don't
(19:24):
focus on the things of this earth. Focus on the
things of heaven, things of my kingdom. And so he's
going from, don't focus on this temple, focus on the
real temple.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And so many times we do that. We focus on
the temporary, the temporary things of this world, of this life.
It's temporary, and He's forever. And that's I get it.
You know that that's who he wants us to focus on.
And and like you said in the sermon, you know,
when your life or your quote unquote temple falls apart,
(20:03):
where do you turn? And I loved your example about
how did they feel when they took Jesus off the cross.
He was everything, he was the Messiah. He was with
them for so long, and his teachings were unbelievable, and
now in their eyes he's dead.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Right, And once again they were focusing on an earthly kingdom.
They were expecting Jesus to establish Israel as a world
power again, to bring in an usher in a golden
era of some sort, and so they were trying to
make Jesus something that was earthly, and Jesus said, no,
(20:41):
my kingdom is bigger. It's not of this world. And
so he knew he had to die. He knew that
his body, his physical temple, was going to be destroyed
too for a short time.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And then he of.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Course defeated death by rising from the dead and ushering
in an eternal kingdom.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
And so we.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Once again hear Jesus saying, don't focus on the temporary,
focus on what's eternal.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Right, And you know, I can imagine how they felt
when he said, see this big, beautiful temple, it took
forty years to build. Everything else it'll be a story.
Not one stone will be standing upon another. But I'll
what took you forty years to build, I'll rebuild this
in three days. Well, they're focusing on the earthly temple
and that, and they weren't really connecting with three days. Hmmm.
(21:38):
What he's saying is that it's him right.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
When the disciples were coming out of the temple, and
one pointed out the beauty and the majesty of the
temple that was happening during Holy Week right before Jesus died,
when Jesus said, you know, tear down this temple and
three days I will rebuild it. That happened at the
beginning of John. It was recorded in the beginning of John,
(22:03):
and John was talking about Jesus as being that temple,
and of course that's what Jesus was saying. You can
kill me, that'll be your sign.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But in three.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Days I'll raise it up again. You can kill me,
but in three days I will rise from the dead.
That is your sign that I have the authority, that
I am king, that I am the one that you
need to focus on.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
And how important that is for us to know that
because he rose from the dead, we will too that
this is just this is just a temporary thing. And
as believers in Christ, we know that, yeah, we're all
going to die because of sin in the world. We're
all going to die, no doubt about that. But we
(22:54):
get to live again, just like just like he did.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Right And you know, Pull brings this out in Romans
eight where he says, I don't compare the sufferings of
this world worthy compared to compare with the glory that
will be ours when the adoption of sons is revealed.
In other words, and you know that's Tim's translation there,
(23:20):
but basically he was saying, you know, what we face
here on this earth is not worth comparing to the
glory that will be ours in the end. In other words,
because I rose, Jesus rose from the dead, and because
of that, that victory that he won for us, we
(23:41):
can face the trials of this world because we have
a savior. And what's the worst thing that could happen
to us but to die. And when we die, we
know that through Jesus, we too will rise from the
dead because he rose from the dead. And that's why
we can say that as all set. Neither life nor death,
(24:05):
neither angels or rulers, okay, so good or bad angels
you know, Satan himself, and neither things present or things
to come. You know, the stuff I'm going through now
are the possible things that might happen in the future.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Nor powers nor.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Height, you know, the highest highs that I have or
the lowest lows that come my way, can separate us
from the love of God, which is ours in Christ, Jesus.
None of that has power over us. Because Jesus is
the temple, he is the king that we should focus upon.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
The good news of Jesus exactly, and you know, all
glory to him and that he's I know, I think praise,
I say praises all the time. Thank you for introducing
me to Jesus at such a young age.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Praise be to God.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Oh yes, well, Pastor Tim, I always enjoy our time together.
And you know, and we're going to be going to
a new format. It's a podcast. We're going to be
talking about it here in the next few weeks, but
starting January first, we're going to be able to be seen,
which I don't know if people want to see this
face or not, but we're going to be seen on
a podcast. Then we'll be able to continue these discussions.
(25:24):
So Pastor Tim blessings on your week and look forward
to telling you folks more about this podcast that's coming
out next year.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Thank you for joining us. For peace to you from
peacet Church in our bat To, Colorado. If you have
no church home, we would be delighted for you to
join us on any Sunday. Our addrests is five to
six seven five Field Street in our Battle, Colorado. Our
services are eight and ten thirty AM Bible classes for
(25:54):
all ages, all at nine to fifteen am. You can
easily access our sermons online at www dot p s
Lucrit dot m or at Pisarbada at YouTube dot com.
Peace to you in part is a listener supported broadcast.
If you would like to sponsor a broadcast in the future,
(26:15):
call us at three O three four two four four
four five four. If you would like a copy of
today's broadcast and no charge to you, contact us at
the same number three oh three four two four four
four five four. You can access our sermons at any
time by going to our YouTube channel, Peaceharbada YouTube dot com.
(26:39):
Now from the entire broadcast team at p Sluthem Church
and Arvada, I am moving all of that and may
the peace of our Lord you with you today and
always m
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