September 12, 2025 • 16 mins
What does it really mean to "stay awake" spiritually? Through a relatable story about midnight shopping for a TV, Pastor Brandon illuminates Jesus' urgent command to remain vigilant for his return.
Mark 13 stands as one of the most profound prophetic chapters in Scripture, where Jesus speaks of both the near-future destruction of Jerusalem's Temple and the distant end of the age. With striking accuracy, he foretells events that would come to pass in 70 AD when Roman forces under Titus would devastate Jerusalem—fulfilling his shocking prediction that "not one stone will be left on top of another." Yet these prophecies simultaneously point toward his ultimate return, demonstrating the dual nature of biblical prophecy.
Through warnings about false messiahs, wars, persecution, and cosmic disturbances, Jesus prepares his followers not for panic but for perseverance. He assures them that even in their darkest moments of trial, the Holy Spirit would give them words to speak—a promise that has sustained believers throughout history. The chapter culminates with Jesus emphasizing that while the exact timing of his return remains known only to the Father, disciples must live with constant readiness.
This message speaks powerfully to our modern tendency toward spiritual drowsiness. Just as Pastor Brandon fought to stay alert during his unexpected five-hour wait for that coveted TV, we're called to maintain spiritual vigilance not through date-setting or fear, but through living with joyful expectation—like the excitement of the day before vacation. What would change if you approached today knowing your King might return tomorrow? Join us as we explore how to live wide awake in a spiritually sleeping world.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 13, andtoday's title is Stay Awake,
stay awake.
I'm going to tell you a storytoday where I am going to kind
of just reveal a moment that Iam not proud of but I'm also not
ashamed of at the same time.
(00:21):
Hopefully that will make sensein just a moment.
So make sure you get yourBibles out, get your Bible
journals out, get your popcornout, get your coffee out.
We're going to jump into Mark,chapter 13.
But before we do that, asalways, take just a moment like
share and subscribe to theYouTube channel and the podcast.
Make sure to leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
It really does help.
Make sure you're also going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion
(00:42):
on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job.
The more we dig, the more wefind, and you can find all of
that at our hub atthebiblebreakdowncom.
Well, if you've been with us fora while, we are kind of
rounding third base and kind ofcoming in toward the end of the
Gospel of Mark, and there arefour Gospels in the Bible and
the Gospel of Mark, which was acollection of stories that Mark
(01:07):
wrote down from the preaching ofPeter in Rome.
We're calling it the gospel inmotion because it just starts
right in and it is just goinghard, and in every single
chapter we're covering like fourand five stories, like like
there's not a lot of time here.
I mean, if you, if you've readthrough the Gospels with me and
you have heard about the life ofPeter, you're not surprised.
(01:29):
Peter is always the first oneon the scene.
He's always a man of action.
It makes complete sense thatthis is how the Holy Spirit
would use him.
Today is one of the few chapterswhere he is actually going to
be talking about one major themeand it really ends out with the
end of the chapter.
And it's going to be talkingabout things both happening in
(01:51):
the near future and in the farfuture.
And I want to explain to you,just for a second, a little bit
about prophecy.
I'm going to tell you my story,then we're going to get into it
, and that is prophecy a lot oftimes had double meanings.
In other words, there would bea near future completion, but
then a far future completion aswell.
As a matter of fact, you'regoing to see some of this in
(02:13):
today's chapter because, in oneway, jesus, who is at this point
, is around 30 to 32 AD.
He is talking in the futureabout something that's going to
happen in 70 AD, which theywould have thought was
impossible.
In 70 AD, the temple inJerusalem was destroyed by
General Titus of the RomanEmpire, and they would have
(02:34):
thought that is never going tohappen, but it did.
And he is going to be talkingabout those days that are coming
, and it was just a terrible,terrible time for the Jewish
people.
At the same time, he's talkingabout the end of days which we
actually haven't experienced yet, and so that's where, sometimes
, when we see prophecy, we haveto be careful to go okay, was
this meant for just then, or isit meant for then and later?
(02:58):
And so we're going to talkabout that at the end.
But really, the bottom line isto stay awake.
And the story I want to tell youis I am old enough to remember
when they first started doingmidnight shopping for
Thanksgiving.
They used to have the day afterThanksgiving, you know, when
all the stores would do all thesales to get ready for Christmas
.
Well, they had this thing theystarted doing, which was at
(03:21):
midnight.
These special deals were goingto happen and you can only get
them if you were there, and thelocal Walmart had one that at
midnight.
If you were there and I'm sorry, I don't remember the size of
the TV, but rest assured, it wastwo to three times bigger than
any TV I'd ever owned and it wasalso going to be cheaper than
any TV I owned.
Whatever it was, it was threetimes bigger and half the price.
(03:44):
And it was one of those things.
Because their hope was, I think, is you get in the store, you
buy other things, right?
Well, I didn't care about anyother things, I wanted that TV.
And I got there at midnight andthey weren't ready for us.
It turns out they ended uptelling us well, you have to be
here until 5 am, and then at 5am we actually only have about
(04:09):
seven TVs, so you need to behere to be the front of the line
.
And can I tell you that was thelongest five hours of my life.
Because here's the thing Ifyou're expecting to only have to
be there till midnight and yougot enough, you know gas in the
tank, you know, as far as youknow, energy wise to only have
to be there till midnight andyou got enough, you know, gas in
the tank, you know as far asyou know energy wise to make it
(04:29):
to.
You know 12, 30 and they tellyou got five more hours.
That's a long time.
And when you realize there'sabout a hundred other people
wanting that tv.
So you got to not only stayawake, you got to stay awake and
alert.
Well, when I tell you that Istayed alert, okay, I I started
talking to strangers, I wasmaking jokes, I was doing
everything I could so I couldstay awake and I got my TV, by
(04:53):
the way.
But that is what Jesus istalking about here.
He is saying you need to dowhat you need to do, stay awake,
because you don't want to befound sleeping when all this
happens.
Let's jump into this, let'sread it, and then we're going to
finish it up together.
Verse 1 of chapter 13 says asJesus was leaving the temple
that day, one of his disciplessaid Teacher, look at these
(05:13):
magnificent buildings, look atthese impressive stones in the
walls.
Jesus replied yeah, look atthese great buildings, but they
will be completely demolished.
Not one stone will be left ontop of the other.
Later, jesus sat on the Mountof Olives across the valley from
the temple, and Peter, james,john and Andrew came to him
(05:33):
privately and asked him.
Jesus replied don't let anyonemislead you, for many will come
in my name claiming I am theMessiah, and they will deceive
many.
And you will hear of wars andthreats of wars.
But don't panic.
Yes, these things must takeplace, but the end won't follow
(05:57):
immediately.
Nation will go to war againstnation, kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes inmany parts of the world, as well
as famines.
But this is only the first ofthe birth pains, with more to
come.
With these, things begin tohappen.
Watch out.
You will be handed over to thelocal councils and beaten in the
synagogues.
You will stand trial beforegovernors and kings because you
(06:19):
are my followers, but this willbe the opportunity to tell them
about me, for the good news mustfirst be preached" to all the
nations.
But when you are arrested andstand trial, don't worry in
advance about what to say.
Just say what God tells you atthat time, for it is not you who
will be speaking, but the HolySpirit.
(06:40):
A brother will betray hisbrother to death.
A father will betray his ownchild, and children will rebel
against their parents and causethem to be killed, and everyone
will hate you because you are myfollowers.
But the one who endures to theend will be saved.
The day is coming when you willsee the sacrilegious object that
causes desecration standingwhere it should not be, read or
(07:02):
pay attention.
Then those in Judea must fleeto the hills.
A person out on the deck of aroof must not go down into the
house to pack.
A person out in the field mustnot return even to get a coat.
How terrible it will be forpregnant women and for nursing
mothers in those days.
(07:22):
And pray that your flight willnot be in the winter, for there
will be greater anguish in thosedays than at any time since God
created the world, and it willnever be so great again.
In fact, unless the Lordshortens that time of calamity,
not a single person will survive.
But for the sake of his chosenones, he has shortened those
days.
(07:43):
Then if anyone tells you, look,here is the Messiah or there he
is, don't believe it, for falsemessiahs and false prophets will
rise up and perform signs andwonders as to deceive, if
possible, god's chosen ones.
Watch out.
I have warned you about thesethings ahead of time.
At that time, after the anguishof those days, the sun will be
(08:03):
darkened, the moon will give nolight, the stars will fall from
the sky and the powers in theheavens will be shaken.
Then everyone will see the Sonof man coming on the clouds with
great power and glory, and hewill send out his angels to
gather his chosen ones from allover the world, from the
farthest ends of the earth andheaven.
Now learn a lesson from the figtree.
(08:24):
When its branches bud and itsleaves begin to sprout, you know
that summer is near.
In the same way, when you seeall these things taking place,
you can know that his return isvery near, right at the door.
I tell you the truth thisgeneration will not pass from
the scene before all thesethings take place.
Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never
(08:46):
disappear.
However, no one knows the dayor the hour when these things
will happen, not even the angelsin heaven or the Son himself.
Only the Father knows.
And since you don't know whenthat time will come, be on guard
, stay alert.
The coming of the Son of man canbe illustrated by the story of
a man going on a long trip.
(09:06):
When he left home, he gave eachof his slaves instructions
about the work they were to doand he told the gatekeepers to
watch for his return.
You too must keep watch, foryou don't know when the master
of the household will return inthe evening, midnight, before
dawn or daybreak.
Don't let him find you sleepingwhen he arrives without warning
(09:26):
.
I say to you what I say toeveryone Watch for him.
Wow, so much, so, so very much.
To break down in this, the twothings I want to talk about,
three things I want to talkabout is number one is just to
clear up a couple ofmisconceptions and then to talk
about what it means in the 21stcentury, to stay awake.
(09:50):
Means, in the 21st century, tostay awake.
First of all, notice how he istalking about these things, and
some of these things sound likethey've already happened,
because if you ever studied 70AD and the destruction of the
temple, like literally it'seerie how close a lot of this
was.
I mean it's crazy.
But then also some of itobviously hasn't happened yet.
And at the same time, jesussays this generation will not
(10:11):
pass before you see these things.
And so, once again, what he issaying is is that the generation
alive right then would not passbefore they saw the destruction
of the temple.
And if you understand just howfar fetched that was for their,
for their mind because in theirmind the entire Jewish nation
would rise up and die beforethey would allow that to happen
(10:31):
then that would have been justalmost unfathomable right.
And so first of all, he's nottalking about that.
That generation wouldn't passuntil, like literally, the
second coming of Christ hadhappened and all that he's
talking about destruction of thetemple.
But then also there is themisconception where he says that
no one knows the day or thehour of these things will happen
, not the angels, nor the Sonhimself.
(10:52):
Only the Father knows.
This actually gave rise, acouple of hundred years after
Jesus left, to saying that theFather is greater than the Son
and the Son is a lesser beingthan the Father.
That is not what he's saying atall.
What he is saying is that allthe Father, son, spirit all have
different functions andoperations in the plan of
(11:13):
redemption.
And so what he's saying is thatmy Father's role is to know the
timing.
The Son's role is redemption.
So it is not in any way givinggreater authority, as though the
Son is of lesser deity.
It is to say that their rolesare different, same in essence,
different in person, andtherefore the father had the
(11:36):
timing, the son had otheraspects.
We just want to make sure,understand the difference.
And so then, finally, how do we, in the 21st century, be on
guard and stay alert?
Let's just get really, reallyhonest for a moment here.
When I was a kid, I heard oldpeople say, at any time Jesus
(11:58):
could return, so let's stayready, let's stay ready, we
don't know, we don't know.
And I remember one sweet lady Idon't remember her name, but I
can see her face right now.
She would say I just feel likeI'm not going to die before
Jesus returns.
And I remember, as a kid, beinga jerk and being like, well, he
better hurry up then, becauseyou're old, you know what I mean
(12:19):
.
You know we've all got growingto do.
And I remember thinking thatand she passed away before the
Lord came back the Lord didn'tpromise her that, she was just
saying that's what I think, andif we're not careful, we can get
weary.
You know, like my story of themsaying okay, it's going to be
longer than you thought beforethe TV is ready.
So you better stay ready, youbetter stay awake, you better
(12:48):
stay in line.
You know there were people whodidn't make it.
They were like, oh my goodness,it is four o'clock, I am too
tired, I don't care how goodthis TV is, I'm out.
And so not everybody got a TVthat day, it was those who
waited in line and you had towait.
And here's the thing that peoplehave tried to make dates for
things.
Can I tell you, since Jesusreturned, we've been in the last
days.
The last days have been 2,000years worth.
If anyone tries to tell youthat the last days didn't start
until 1948 and all that,whatever, you really got to have
(13:10):
a lot of Bible for that, andthey don't.
So I'm sorry, I'm not trying tobe too straightforward, but
it's never a problem to ask forreceipts.
You know what I mean.
You're going to have to provethat to me.
So anyone says that that isvery subjective.
We have definitely been in thelast days, at least since the
beginning of the church in Acts,chapter 2, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
So we know that.
(13:31):
And so in every generationthere is the possibility that
the timing of God will be thathe could return, and I don't
know if you think this issacrilegious or not, but it may
or may not be this generation.
We don't know if you think thisis sacrilegious or not, but it
may or may not be thisgeneration, we don't know.
But you know what we aresupposed to do.
We are supposed to stay alertbecause you might I don't know
it's important to stay alert andbe about the Father's business,
(13:53):
which is making disciples ofall nations, and then to teach
our children the same, so thatthey live with a sense of
expectation, with a sense of thenight before Christmas.
Tomorrow might be the day.
Tomorrow might be the day.
He said he would and he promisedhe did everything else.
He said.
He promised he's not going tohave a batting average of just
missing one, none of it.
If he's got 99% right, I justtrust him for that last percent.
(14:14):
And he never said that it wasgoing to be next Tuesday at 4 pm
.
He didn't say that.
And also, do you notice how hesays if anyone tries to give you
a date, they're a false prophet.
Don't listen.
So, for anybody you may belistening to on the YouTubes or
wherever else, if they say thisis the date, this is the season,
this is whatever, stoplistening, because Jesus
literally said they were goingto do that and they were false
prophets.
(14:34):
You know what his lesson?
Ready and be excited becausethe King is coming.
Now can I tell you, my favoriteday of vacation, to be honest
with you, is slowly becoming theday before vacation.
Now, that is not because it isnot stressful, you know.
(14:55):
I told my wife that one timeand she, like.
She was like that's only,that's only fun for you, because
you're not the one getting thelast minute stuff together and
point taken Right.
But the reason why I like it isthe expectation involved.
It's a mountain of stuff.
All that stuff is theexpectation that I enjoy,
because so many times theexpectation is what is the most
fun and that's the way we shouldbe living every single day,
realizing that any day our kingis going to keep his promise and
(15:21):
he's going to return.
The only thing that's differentis the payoff will be so much
better than what we can imagine.
And so what if today, the restof the day, you lived with a
sense of excitement that one daythe king is going to return and
he returns, he brings hisreward with him?
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much fortoday.
(15:41):
Thank you for your word and foryour promises.
Your word promises that you arefaithful and you'll be with us.
That's why I'm thankful for you.
I'm thankful for the promisethat you are coming again.
I hold to that and I say thankyou, god, for loving us the way
that you do.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
(16:02):
And then what God's word saysin Mark 8, chapter 34, if anyone
would come after me, let himdeny himself, take up his cross
and follow me.
I hope you are seeing that wehave got a God worth following.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
For Mark, chapter 14.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 13, andtoday's title is Stay Awake,
stay awake.
I'm going to tell you a storytoday where I am going to kind
of just reveal a moment that Iam not proud of but I'm also not
ashamed of at the same time.
(00:21):
Hopefully that will make sensein just a moment.
So make sure you get yourBibles out, get your Bible
journals out, get your popcornout, get your coffee out.
We're going to jump into Mark,chapter 13.
But before we do that, asalways, take just a moment like
share and subscribe to theYouTube channel and the podcast.
Make sure to leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
It really does help.
Make sure you're also going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion
(00:42):
on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job.
The more we dig, the more wefind, and you can find all of
that at our hub atthebiblebreakdowncom.
Well, if you've been with us fora while, we are kind of
rounding third base and kind ofcoming in toward the end of the
Gospel of Mark, and there arefour Gospels in the Bible and
the Gospel of Mark, which was acollection of stories that Mark
(01:07):
wrote down from the preaching ofPeter in Rome.
We're calling it the gospel inmotion because it just starts
right in and it is just goinghard, and in every single
chapter we're covering like fourand five stories, like like
there's not a lot of time here.
I mean, if you, if you've readthrough the Gospels with me and
you have heard about the life ofPeter, you're not surprised.
(01:29):
Peter is always the first oneon the scene.
He's always a man of action.
It makes complete sense thatthis is how the Holy Spirit
would use him.
Today is one of the few chapterswhere he is actually going to
be talking about one major themeand it really ends out with the
end of the chapter.
And it's going to be talkingabout things both happening in
(01:51):
the near future and in the farfuture.
And I want to explain to you,just for a second, a little bit
about prophecy.
I'm going to tell you my story,then we're going to get into it
, and that is prophecy a lot oftimes had double meanings.
In other words, there would bea near future completion, but
then a far future completion aswell.
As a matter of fact, you'regoing to see some of this in
(02:13):
today's chapter because, in oneway, jesus, who is at this point
, is around 30 to 32 AD.
He is talking in the futureabout something that's going to
happen in 70 AD, which theywould have thought was
impossible.
In 70 AD, the temple inJerusalem was destroyed by
General Titus of the RomanEmpire, and they would have
(02:34):
thought that is never going tohappen, but it did.
And he is going to be talkingabout those days that are coming
, and it was just a terrible,terrible time for the Jewish
people.
At the same time, he's talkingabout the end of days which we
actually haven't experienced yet, and so that's where, sometimes
, when we see prophecy, we haveto be careful to go okay, was
this meant for just then, or isit meant for then and later?
(02:58):
And so we're going to talkabout that at the end.
But really, the bottom line isto stay awake.
And the story I want to tell youis I am old enough to remember
when they first started doingmidnight shopping for
Thanksgiving.
They used to have the day afterThanksgiving, you know, when
all the stores would do all thesales to get ready for Christmas
.
Well, they had this thing theystarted doing, which was at
(03:21):
midnight.
These special deals were goingto happen and you can only get
them if you were there, and thelocal Walmart had one that at
midnight.
If you were there and I'm sorry, I don't remember the size of
the TV, but rest assured, it wastwo to three times bigger than
any TV I'd ever owned and it wasalso going to be cheaper than
any TV I owned.
Whatever it was, it was threetimes bigger and half the price.
(03:44):
And it was one of those things.
Because their hope was, I think, is you get in the store, you
buy other things, right?
Well, I didn't care about anyother things, I wanted that TV.
And I got there at midnight andthey weren't ready for us.
It turns out they ended uptelling us well, you have to be
here until 5 am, and then at 5am we actually only have about
(04:09):
seven TVs, so you need to behere to be the front of the line
.
And can I tell you that was thelongest five hours of my life.
Because here's the thing Ifyou're expecting to only have to
be there till midnight and yougot enough, you know gas in the
tank, you know, as far as youknow, energy wise to only have
to be there till midnight andyou got enough, you know, gas in
the tank, you know as far asyou know energy wise to make it
(04:29):
to.
You know 12, 30 and they tellyou got five more hours.
That's a long time.
And when you realize there'sabout a hundred other people
wanting that tv.
So you got to not only stayawake, you got to stay awake and
alert.
Well, when I tell you that Istayed alert, okay, I I started
talking to strangers, I wasmaking jokes, I was doing
everything I could so I couldstay awake and I got my TV, by
(04:53):
the way.
But that is what Jesus istalking about here.
He is saying you need to dowhat you need to do, stay awake,
because you don't want to befound sleeping when all this
happens.
Let's jump into this, let'sread it, and then we're going to
finish it up together.
Verse 1 of chapter 13 says asJesus was leaving the temple
that day, one of his disciplessaid Teacher, look at these
(05:13):
magnificent buildings, look atthese impressive stones in the
walls.
Jesus replied yeah, look atthese great buildings, but they
will be completely demolished.
Not one stone will be left ontop of the other.
Later, jesus sat on the Mountof Olives across the valley from
the temple, and Peter, james,john and Andrew came to him
(05:33):
privately and asked him.
Jesus replied don't let anyonemislead you, for many will come
in my name claiming I am theMessiah, and they will deceive
many.
And you will hear of wars andthreats of wars.
But don't panic.
Yes, these things must takeplace, but the end won't follow
(05:57):
immediately.
Nation will go to war againstnation, kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes inmany parts of the world, as well
as famines.
But this is only the first ofthe birth pains, with more to
come.
With these, things begin tohappen.
Watch out.
You will be handed over to thelocal councils and beaten in the
synagogues.
You will stand trial beforegovernors and kings because you
(06:19):
are my followers, but this willbe the opportunity to tell them
about me, for the good news mustfirst be preached" to all the
nations.
But when you are arrested andstand trial, don't worry in
advance about what to say.
Just say what God tells you atthat time, for it is not you who
will be speaking, but the HolySpirit.
(06:40):
A brother will betray hisbrother to death.
A father will betray his ownchild, and children will rebel
against their parents and causethem to be killed, and everyone
will hate you because you are myfollowers.
But the one who endures to theend will be saved.
The day is coming when you willsee the sacrilegious object that
causes desecration standingwhere it should not be, read or
(07:02):
pay attention.
Then those in Judea must fleeto the hills.
A person out on the deck of aroof must not go down into the
house to pack.
A person out in the field mustnot return even to get a coat.
How terrible it will be forpregnant women and for nursing
mothers in those days.
(07:22):
And pray that your flight willnot be in the winter, for there
will be greater anguish in thosedays than at any time since God
created the world, and it willnever be so great again.
In fact, unless the Lordshortens that time of calamity,
not a single person will survive.
But for the sake of his chosenones, he has shortened those
days.
(07:43):
Then if anyone tells you, look,here is the Messiah or there he
is, don't believe it, for falsemessiahs and false prophets will
rise up and perform signs andwonders as to deceive, if
possible, god's chosen ones.
Watch out.
I have warned you about thesethings ahead of time.
At that time, after the anguishof those days, the sun will be
(08:03):
darkened, the moon will give nolight, the stars will fall from
the sky and the powers in theheavens will be shaken.
Then everyone will see the Sonof man coming on the clouds with
great power and glory, and hewill send out his angels to
gather his chosen ones from allover the world, from the
farthest ends of the earth andheaven.
Now learn a lesson from the figtree.
(08:24):
When its branches bud and itsleaves begin to sprout, you know
that summer is near.
In the same way, when you seeall these things taking place,
you can know that his return isvery near, right at the door.
I tell you the truth thisgeneration will not pass from
the scene before all thesethings take place.
Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never
(08:46):
disappear.
However, no one knows the dayor the hour when these things
will happen, not even the angelsin heaven or the Son himself.
Only the Father knows.
And since you don't know whenthat time will come, be on guard
, stay alert.
The coming of the Son of man canbe illustrated by the story of
a man going on a long trip.
(09:06):
When he left home, he gave eachof his slaves instructions
about the work they were to doand he told the gatekeepers to
watch for his return.
You too must keep watch, foryou don't know when the master
of the household will return inthe evening, midnight, before
dawn or daybreak.
Don't let him find you sleepingwhen he arrives without warning
(09:26):
.
I say to you what I say toeveryone Watch for him.
Wow, so much, so, so very much.
To break down in this, the twothings I want to talk about,
three things I want to talkabout is number one is just to
clear up a couple ofmisconceptions and then to talk
about what it means in the 21stcentury, to stay awake.
(09:50):
Means, in the 21st century, tostay awake.
First of all, notice how he istalking about these things, and
some of these things sound likethey've already happened,
because if you ever studied 70AD and the destruction of the
temple, like literally it'seerie how close a lot of this
was.
I mean it's crazy.
But then also some of itobviously hasn't happened yet.
And at the same time, jesussays this generation will not
(10:11):
pass before you see these things.
And so, once again, what he issaying is is that the generation
alive right then would not passbefore they saw the destruction
of the temple.
And if you understand just howfar fetched that was for their,
for their mind because in theirmind the entire Jewish nation
would rise up and die beforethey would allow that to happen
(10:31):
then that would have been justalmost unfathomable right.
And so first of all, he's nottalking about that.
That generation wouldn't passuntil, like literally, the
second coming of Christ hadhappened and all that he's
talking about destruction of thetemple.
But then also there is themisconception where he says that
no one knows the day or thehour of these things will happen
, not the angels, nor the Sonhimself.
(10:52):
Only the Father knows.
This actually gave rise, acouple of hundred years after
Jesus left, to saying that theFather is greater than the Son
and the Son is a lesser beingthan the Father.
That is not what he's saying atall.
What he is saying is that allthe Father, son, spirit all have
different functions andoperations in the plan of
(11:13):
redemption.
And so what he's saying is thatmy Father's role is to know the
timing.
The Son's role is redemption.
So it is not in any way givinggreater authority, as though the
Son is of lesser deity.
It is to say that their rolesare different, same in essence,
different in person, andtherefore the father had the
(11:36):
timing, the son had otheraspects.
We just want to make sure,understand the difference.
And so then, finally, how do we, in the 21st century, be on
guard and stay alert?
Let's just get really, reallyhonest for a moment here.
When I was a kid, I heard oldpeople say, at any time Jesus
(11:58):
could return, so let's stayready, let's stay ready, we
don't know, we don't know.
And I remember one sweet lady Idon't remember her name, but I
can see her face right now.
She would say I just feel likeI'm not going to die before
Jesus returns.
And I remember, as a kid, beinga jerk and being like, well, he
better hurry up then, becauseyou're old, you know what I mean
(12:19):
.
You know we've all got growingto do.
And I remember thinking thatand she passed away before the
Lord came back the Lord didn'tpromise her that, she was just
saying that's what I think, andif we're not careful, we can get
weary.
You know, like my story of themsaying okay, it's going to be
longer than you thought beforethe TV is ready.
So you better stay ready, youbetter stay awake, you better
(12:48):
stay in line.
You know there were people whodidn't make it.
They were like, oh my goodness,it is four o'clock, I am too
tired, I don't care how goodthis TV is, I'm out.
And so not everybody got a TVthat day, it was those who
waited in line and you had towait.
And here's the thing that peoplehave tried to make dates for
things.
Can I tell you, since Jesusreturned, we've been in the last
days.
The last days have been 2,000years worth.
If anyone tries to tell youthat the last days didn't start
until 1948 and all that,whatever, you really got to have
(13:10):
a lot of Bible for that, andthey don't.
So I'm sorry, I'm not trying tobe too straightforward, but
it's never a problem to ask forreceipts.
You know what I mean.
You're going to have to provethat to me.
So anyone says that that isvery subjective.
We have definitely been in thelast days, at least since the
beginning of the church in Acts,chapter 2, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
So we know that.
(13:31):
And so in every generationthere is the possibility that
the timing of God will be thathe could return, and I don't
know if you think this issacrilegious or not, but it may
or may not be this generation.
We don't know if you think thisis sacrilegious or not, but it
may or may not be thisgeneration, we don't know.
But you know what we aresupposed to do.
We are supposed to stay alertbecause you might I don't know
it's important to stay alert andbe about the Father's business,
(13:53):
which is making disciples ofall nations, and then to teach
our children the same, so thatthey live with a sense of
expectation, with a sense of thenight before Christmas.
Tomorrow might be the day.
Tomorrow might be the day.
He said he would and he promisedhe did everything else.
He said.
He promised he's not going tohave a batting average of just
missing one, none of it.
If he's got 99% right, I justtrust him for that last percent.
(14:14):
And he never said that it wasgoing to be next Tuesday at 4 pm
.
He didn't say that.
And also, do you notice how hesays if anyone tries to give you
a date, they're a false prophet.
Don't listen.
So, for anybody you may belistening to on the YouTubes or
wherever else, if they say thisis the date, this is the season,
this is whatever, stoplistening, because Jesus
literally said they were goingto do that and they were false
prophets.
(14:34):
You know what his lesson?
Ready and be excited becausethe King is coming.
Now can I tell you, my favoriteday of vacation, to be honest
with you, is slowly becoming theday before vacation.
Now, that is not because it isnot stressful, you know.
(14:55):
I told my wife that one timeand she, like.
She was like that's only,that's only fun for you, because
you're not the one getting thelast minute stuff together and
point taken Right.
But the reason why I like it isthe expectation involved.
It's a mountain of stuff.
All that stuff is theexpectation that I enjoy,
because so many times theexpectation is what is the most
fun and that's the way we shouldbe living every single day,
realizing that any day our kingis going to keep his promise and
(15:21):
he's going to return.
The only thing that's differentis the payoff will be so much
better than what we can imagine.
And so what if today, the restof the day, you lived with a
sense of excitement that one daythe king is going to return and
he returns, he brings hisreward with him?
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much fortoday.
(15:41):
Thank you for your word and foryour promises.
Your word promises that you arefaithful and you'll be with us.
That's why I'm thankful for you.
I'm thankful for the promisethat you are coming again.
I hold to that and I say thankyou, god, for loving us the way
that you do.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
(16:02):
And then what God's word saysin Mark 8, chapter 34, if anyone
would come after me, let himdeny himself, take up his cross
and follow me.
I hope you are seeing that wehave got a God worth following.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
For Mark, chapter 14.
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