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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: What if the uncertainty that you're trying to avoid is

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Speaker 2: actually the place where your faith is meant to grow.

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Speaker 2: We want clarity, we want timelines, we want control. But

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Speaker 2: in Mark chapter thirteen, we see that Jesus invites us

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Speaker 2: to something very different. Instead of clarity, he gives us

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Speaker 2: a message, and that message is to wake up and

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Speaker 2: to be on watch, because faith isn't built in certainty,

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Speaker 2: It's built in trust. Hey, everyone, welcome back to How

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Speaker 2: to Say the Bible. I'm so glad that we get

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Speaker 2: to spend this time together. As we walk through the

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Speaker 2: Book of Mark, the pressure is amping up, the action

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Speaker 2: is amping up as we approach Jesus's death and resurrection

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Speaker 2: here at the end of the Gospel, and we're going

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Speaker 2: to get into a pretty serious teaching that has been

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Speaker 2: interpreted lots of different ways. We're going to do the

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Speaker 2: best we can to kind of give a little bit

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Speaker 2: scratch the surface, let's say, of what we can find

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Speaker 2: here in Mark chapter thirteen. But before we get into it,

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Speaker 2: I think this is a really, really good time to

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Speaker 2: remind you that the way that we are reading the

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Speaker 2: Bible together, the way that we discover and study together

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Speaker 2: here on this podcast as well as through my book

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Speaker 2: Help My Bible Is Alive. Is all predicated on using

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Speaker 2: a study Bible. So it's great to use devotionals, it's

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Speaker 2: great to use Bible studies. Obviously, I believe in devotionals

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Speaker 2: and Bible studies because I write them. But my real

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Speaker 2: desire is that you would also really know how to

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Speaker 2: walk through the Bible yourself and be able to just

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Speaker 2: sit down with your Bible, with the passage. You would

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Speaker 2: ask those four questions of scripture that we talk about here,

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Speaker 2: what does it say, what's the backstory, what does it mean?

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Speaker 1: What does it mean for me?

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Speaker 2: And so that each and every day you can be

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Speaker 2: growing in your relationship with God through his word. God's

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Speaker 2: word is one of the primary things He's given us

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Speaker 2: to hear his voice. A lot of times you might

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Speaker 2: be like, oh, man, I just wish I could hear

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Speaker 2: God's voice.

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Speaker 1: Like if God would just tell me what he.

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Speaker 2: Wants me to do with this relationship or with this job,

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Speaker 2: or with this hardship, I would do it. And what

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Speaker 2: I would say to you, kindly, is God has given

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Speaker 2: us his voice, and his voice is in his word.

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Speaker 2: Now I know that it takes work to get from

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Speaker 2: his word over to your life. But being in God's

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Speaker 2: Word is like a steady healthy diet. When you are

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Speaker 2: in a place where you are eating well and you

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Speaker 2: are choosing a steady healthy diet, You're going to see

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Speaker 2: gains over time.

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Speaker 1: You're going to.

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Speaker 2: Maybe notice I'm not getting as sick, or I don't

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Speaker 2: get as stressed, or I feel stronger in my body,

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Speaker 2: I'm getting better sleep. It's like there's a connection, but

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Speaker 2: the connection there's some space between the connection. And just

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Speaker 2: like we sometimes don't remember what healthy meal we had

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Speaker 2: last Wednesday, you might not remember what healthy passage you

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Speaker 2: read last Wednesday. But it doesn't mean that it's not

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Speaker 2: doing a work in your heart. It doesn't mean that

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Speaker 2: something's not happening in your soul. And so a healthy

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Speaker 2: diet of God's Word allows the spirit to bring those

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Speaker 2: passages into your mind when you need them. And you

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Speaker 2: may find yourself in a difficult moment where you are doubting,

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Speaker 2: or you're having a hard time trusting, or you want

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Speaker 2: God's direction, and like a passage will come into your mind,

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Speaker 2: or a story will come into your mind, or a

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Speaker 2: verse will come into your mind, and it's because of

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Speaker 2: your healthy steady diet of spiritual nourishment that you're able

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Speaker 2: to hear God's voice through his word. So when we

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Speaker 2: do this work and we're just like, hey, we're just

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Speaker 2: going to keep on journeying through these passages. I don't

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Speaker 2: know exactly how God's going to use it in your life,

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Speaker 2: but I know that he will because it says in

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Speaker 2: his scripture that God's word never returns void. Like whatever

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Speaker 2: God sends out in his word, it will always bear fruit.

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Speaker 2: And so we never are wasting time when we're in

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Speaker 2: God's word. Even if we get just one thing out

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Speaker 2: of today's very very dense chapter, if we get one

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Speaker 2: thing out of it, we have not wasted any time

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Speaker 2: in God's Word. There are many many layers to mark

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Speaker 2: chapter thirteen, but as we go through kind of our

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Speaker 2: brief overview, there's something in it for us. And that's

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Speaker 2: how we begin, day by day, hour by hour, moment

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Speaker 2: by moment to be shaped by God's word. This is

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Speaker 2: how we begin to be more confident that we know

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Speaker 2: God's voice, that we understand what He's asking from us

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Speaker 2: and for us in our lives, and we're able to

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Speaker 2: apply then that scripture.

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Speaker 1: To our lives. So we're going to be in Mark

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Speaker 1: chapter thirteen.

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Speaker 2: The reason I'm talking about a study Bible and I

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Speaker 2: wanted to point that out today, is because when we

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Speaker 2: get into particularly a chapter like this, we're going to

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Speaker 2: have Jesus giving a very long teaching about the destruction

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Speaker 2: of the temple and then kind of a we see

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Speaker 2: it sort of turn to a prophetic word about the

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Speaker 2: end times. There's going to be a lot there that

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Speaker 2: we want to understand, and a study Bible will provide

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Speaker 2: you study notes underneath the passage. If you're here with

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Speaker 2: me on YouTube, I'm going to show you what this

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Speaker 2: looks like. And it looks especially crazy right here because

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Speaker 2: this read letters up here.

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Speaker 1: This is the actual Bible.

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Speaker 2: This is the passage of Jesus speaking this entire section.

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Speaker 2: Here is the notes from commentators writing about these verses above.

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Speaker 2: This is an extreme version. It's not usually quite like that.

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Speaker 2: It's usually about half and half. But here you see

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Speaker 2: we have a group of scholars. As I've talked to

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Speaker 2: you guys before, a study Bible has usually thirty to

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Speaker 2: forty thousand study notes in it, and the study notes

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Speaker 2: are not one scholar's thoughts. They are a group, a

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Speaker 2: consortium of scholars who spend their entire lives understanding Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic,

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Speaker 2: early first century Judaism, like ancient history. That's their jam,

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Speaker 2: and they're coming together and saying, okay, is what are

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Speaker 2: the notes that we would have about this passage? And

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Speaker 2: so you have this wealth of knowledge with which to

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Speaker 2: begin to interpret the Bible that is available and accessible

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Speaker 2: to you in your study Bible. In general, when I

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Speaker 2: teach you here on this podcast, I don't go to

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Speaker 2: any other commentaries. I use commentaries when I teach, when

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Speaker 2: I write books, when I preach, but in general, for

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Speaker 2: our purposes, I really want to just be in the

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Speaker 2: study Bible with you because I want you, guys to

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Speaker 2: see how accessible it is, how rich it is, how

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Speaker 2: much you can learn with nothing more than an investment

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Speaker 2: you know of, like thirty dollars in one book. This

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Speaker 2: is kind of my at home Bible. This might not

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Speaker 2: be the thing that you carry with you to church

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Speaker 2: or whatever, but you've got so much here that you

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Speaker 2: can look at. So, to be honest with you, I'm

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Speaker 2: intimidated by this chapter. And so before I got to

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Speaker 2: here and we were talking, I was like, what do

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Speaker 2: I like to do when I'm like, whoa, there's a

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Speaker 2: lot going on here, and I'm not exactly sure how

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Speaker 2: to interpret it. I mean, there's definitely some very helpful

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Speaker 2: things right away, but there's a lot that I don't understand.

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Speaker 2: And whenever I feel that way about a chapter, I

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Speaker 2: will go to the beginning of the chapter and I

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Speaker 2: will read the chapter overview that I find in the notes.

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Speaker 2: It says chapter thirteen brings to a conclusion the section

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Speaker 2: begun at chapter eleven, So we can look back and

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Speaker 2: be like, okay.

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Speaker 1: Where were we then?

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Speaker 2: Israel's failure to produce fruit, remember the fig tree, and

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Speaker 2: its leader's hostility towards God's anointed, the Messiah, would result

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Speaker 2: in judgment and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Okay,

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Speaker 2: So then before I read any further, I'm like, Okay,

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Speaker 2: I've got in my mind what's happening here. And so

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Speaker 2: then if you start to read the chapter, if you've

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Speaker 2: gone into it, you see that Jesus begins to talk

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Speaker 2: about this watch watch out, be awake, be alert, be

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Speaker 2: on guard, and he starts to speak about the destruction

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Speaker 2: of Jerusalem. Now this would have been wild to the

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Speaker 2: disciples because to see this temple. It's said that even

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Speaker 2: one stone from the Temple of Jerusalem would have been

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Speaker 2: six hundred tons. So now and if you've ever traveled

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Speaker 2: to the ancient world, if you've ever had an opportunity

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Speaker 2: to ruins, obviously we're here in America where we're you know,

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Speaker 2: at least the colonial part of America has been settled

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Speaker 2: for not very long, so we're not used to like

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Speaker 2: this concept that there's like cities underground where they can

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Speaker 2: excavate and see, you know, places where Jesus himself could

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Speaker 2: have walked. So this temple was extraordinary. It was white stone,

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Speaker 2: it was a gold roof. It just it was spoken

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Speaker 2: about in first century about like it was like a

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Speaker 2: blinding snowstorm to see this temple. And so when Jesus says,

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Speaker 2: not one of these stones will remain on this temple.

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Speaker 1: The disciples were like what.

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Speaker 2: And the whole thing is really symbolic of a world order,

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Speaker 2: like this concept that we can have permanence and certainty

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Speaker 2: in the world and that this thing will never change.

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Speaker 2: And Jesus begins to say very specifically how exactly this

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Speaker 2: thing is going to change, that the temple will be destroyed,

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Speaker 2: and he talks about the Temple, and this was very

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Speaker 2: common in apocalyptic literature to begin to about symbolic imagery.

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Speaker 2: But there's more than symbolic going on, because the destruction

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Speaker 2: of the temple really does happen. So Jesus kind of

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Speaker 2: in two parts talks very specifically about the destruction of

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Speaker 2: the temple, and then there's this turn where it seems

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Speaker 2: that he's speaking about his return, like when he returns

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Speaker 2: to Earth as well. Now, again, this passage and this

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Speaker 2: chapter has been very differently interpreted by different camps, different

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Speaker 2: schools of thought, and it's been really used as a

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Speaker 2: way to talk about very specific end times apocalyptic what

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Speaker 2: is it going to be?

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Speaker 3: Like?

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Speaker 2: How do we know in the Messiah's coming back? What's

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Speaker 2: all that about? Very left behind era? If you know

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Speaker 2: what I'm talking about, If you don't know what I'm

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Speaker 2: talking about, just move forward, don't worry about it.

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Speaker 1: But if you know what I'm.

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Speaker 2: Talking about, it's very left behind right here to talk about.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's why it's super important to make

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Speaker 2: sure that before we dive into any specific detail, we

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Speaker 2: make sure we know what Jesus himself intended us to

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Speaker 2: take from this passage. So I'm going to take us

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Speaker 2: to the end of the chapter comes. That's the best

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Speaker 2: thing you can do is be like, Okay, what happens

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Speaker 2: at the beginning, what happens at the end, And at

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Speaker 2: the beginning, I read to you that steady note that

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Speaker 2: gives us that overview of Hey, what is Jesus doing here?

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Speaker 2: This is the end of a long component of the

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Speaker 2: Book of Mark that's really talking about Israel's lack of

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Speaker 2: fruitfulness and the Jewish leader's refusal to see Jesus for

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Speaker 2: who he actually was. Okay, so that's what's happening. But

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Speaker 2: then this is what Jesus says himself at the very

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Speaker 2: end of the passage. I'm in verse thirty four. If

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Speaker 2: you want to turn with me Matthew thirteen, verse thirty four.

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Speaker 2: It says the coming of the Son of Man can

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Speaker 2: be illustrated by the story of a man going on

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Speaker 2: a long trip. When he left home, he gave each

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Speaker 2: of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do,

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Speaker 2: and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.

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Speaker 2: You two must keep watch, for you don't know when

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Speaker 2: the master of the household will return in the evening,

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Speaker 2: at midnight before dawn or at daybreak. Don't let him

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Speaker 2: find you sleeping when here without warning. I say to

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Speaker 2: you what I say to everyone, watch for him. Okay, So,

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Speaker 2: before we were to interpret, or dare I say, over

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Speaker 2: interpret the passage that we're in, we want to know

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Speaker 2: how does Jesus land the plane. And the way Jesus

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Speaker 2: lands the plane is with a story, and he tells

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Speaker 2: a story about people who are given responsibility instructions to

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Speaker 2: keep watch while their master is gone, and Jesus says,

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Speaker 2: very specifically, none of them know when the master is

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Speaker 2: coming back, and that the actual takeaway in this passage

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Speaker 2: is not certainty about exactly what's going to happen. It's

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Speaker 2: not full clarity about what end times mean, what all

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Speaker 2: these things are going to mean.

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Speaker 1: It's this.

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Speaker 2: It's the passage where Jesus says, what I'm asking for

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Speaker 2: you to do is be attentive. What I need you

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Speaker 2: to do is keep watch. What I need you to

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Speaker 2: do is keep doing the instructions that I gave you

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Speaker 2: to do. And so we should see that as an

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Speaker 2: admonishment in some ways that if we are overly focused

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Speaker 2: on reading the signs of when Jesus is coming back

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Speaker 2: and we miss the fact that he's left us with

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Speaker 2: instructions about what we're supposed to be doing every day,

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Speaker 2: then we will have missed the point. And what happens

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Speaker 2: here in this passage, a little bit of a backstory

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Speaker 2: of what actually happened with the temple, is that Jesus

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Speaker 2: was preparing his disciples for a coming crisis, and it

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Speaker 2: was coming soon, and so when they're amazed that he

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Speaker 2: would say that the temple would be destroyed, it was like,

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Speaker 2: how could we ever imagine a world without this temple

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Speaker 2: in recent history. I think the best way that I

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Speaker 2: could think of to describe how caught off guard they

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Speaker 2: would have been would be the American experience of two

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Speaker 2: thousand and one of September eleventh. You know, if you

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Speaker 2: were walking through the streets of New York City in

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Speaker 2: July of two thousand and one and someone said to you,

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Speaker 2: those towers are going to fall down in three months,

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Speaker 2: you would be like, are you crazy? Not, like, look

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Speaker 2: at those towers, They're not falling, you know, that would

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Speaker 2: have been the feeling that would have been.

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Speaker 1: The perspective was like.

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Speaker 2: This is certain, this is this is the world order,

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Speaker 2: this is the way it works. All of America and

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Speaker 2: the world was shocked to find out that America was

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Speaker 2: not immune from tragedy, evil and war, and like we

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Speaker 2: maybe thought that we were.

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Speaker 1: And destruction.

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Speaker 2: And so at the time when the disciples are hearing this,

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Speaker 2: Jesus is really saying, Hey, this thing's actually going to

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Speaker 2: happen in your lifetime, and in your lifetime you were

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Speaker 2: going to experience persecution that you had no idea was coming.

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Speaker 1: You have no idea what it's really going to be like.

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Speaker 2: And so he's preparing them for this coming crisis, not

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Speaker 2: just the temple itself, but this idea of their religious identity,

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Speaker 2: their stability, that this destruction is going to dismantle their

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Speaker 2: current worldview. And Jesus says that the crisis is going

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Speaker 2: to require that you remain grounded in me. He goes

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Speaker 2: as far as to say specifically to them, I really

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Speaker 2: love this part where he says to his disciples, Hey,

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Speaker 2: the good News is going to be preached to all nations.

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Speaker 2: This is in verse eleven. But when you are arrested

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Speaker 2: and stand trial. He doesn't say if when you're arrested,

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Speaker 2: which will happen to every single one of his disciples,

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Speaker 2: when you are arrested in the time, in the moment

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Speaker 2: that they're listening to him talk, he says, don't worry

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Speaker 2: about in advance about what to say, just say what

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Speaker 2: God tells you at the time, for it is not

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Speaker 2: you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit and

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Speaker 2: the intense persecution that comes to the followers of Jesus,

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Speaker 2: which would have been called the way at the time,

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Speaker 2: the intense persecution that comes to them. It is a

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Speaker 2: miracle in it of itself that you and I are

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Speaker 2: sitting here talking about the Bible right now. Jesus was

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Speaker 2: like this small time in a small town, had a

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Speaker 2: three year ministry, did signs and wonders, didn't lead a

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Speaker 2: revolt in every way that we would understand in the

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Speaker 2: world order.

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Speaker 1: He lost, like he was crucified.

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Speaker 2: But because of the eyewitnesses of his followers, These same

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Speaker 2: people who are so astounded that it would be possible

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Speaker 2: that the temple would be destroyed, These same people for

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Speaker 2: whom Jesus is saying, You're going to be persecuted to

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Speaker 2: your death for me, But when you stand trial, don't worry.

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Speaker 1: God will tell you what to say.

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Speaker 2: All of these people this comes true for them, and

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Speaker 2: instead of focusing on how deeply persecuted they were. Let's

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Speaker 2: focus on what must have happened in their lives that

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Speaker 2: none of them would fall away.

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Speaker 1: Why in the.

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Speaker 2: World would this backwoods revolutionary be a person that we

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Speaker 2: are still talking about today if not for the eyewitnesses

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Speaker 2: of his actual resurrection. If you remove yourself from the

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Speaker 2: trappings of Easter and Christian culture and everything that you

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Speaker 2: may be learned about Jesus growing up in your church,

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Speaker 2: and you just think for a second about what this

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Speaker 2: revolution was, it is remarkable. It is astounding. It is

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Speaker 2: like nothing we've ever seen, the fact that Jesus is

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Speaker 2: still a polarizing figure in twenty twenty six, when he

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Speaker 2: spent three years in public ministry and then was crucified

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Speaker 2: when he led a band of disciples whom he told

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Speaker 2: to not have an uprising, and he talked about this

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Speaker 2: revolutionary kingdom of God that would not be as the

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Speaker 2: earth lives, and he said that leadership would not be

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Speaker 2: about being first, but about being last, and that real

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Speaker 2: love would look like loving the marginalized and the poor,

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Speaker 2: and the oppressed and people who are not like you.

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Speaker 2: When he said and did all of those things, I mean,

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Speaker 2: how is he not just a flash in the pan

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Speaker 2: But the reality is when he begins to prophesy to

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Speaker 2: them about what is going to happen, about this destruction

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Speaker 2: that is coming when the Roman government completely dismantles the

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Speaker 2: temple system in AD seventy, which did happen, and he

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Speaker 2: tells his disciples, You're going to have to be persecuted

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Speaker 2: because of me. And yet that exact persecution is what

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Speaker 2: spreads the good news of Jesus to all nations. That's

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Speaker 2: why you and I, wherever you are in the world,

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Speaker 2: as you're listening or watching this video, you and I

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Speaker 2: are able to worship Jesus because of what happened in

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Speaker 2: this time of real destruction. And not only does Jesus

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Speaker 2: instructions for his disciples, but he has instructions for us,

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Speaker 2: his followers today. And what he says very clearly is

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Speaker 2: you will not know the time or the hour when

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Speaker 2: I'm coming back.

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Speaker 1: I Am coming back. Number one.

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Speaker 2: Number two, you will not know the time or the hour.

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Speaker 2: Number three, here's a bunch of apocalyptic prophetic literature that

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Speaker 2: isn't giving you certainty about how this is going to

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Speaker 2: go down. But number four, I'm going to leave you

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Speaker 2: with the story. And the story is very easy to interpret.

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Speaker 2: It's the story he gives us, and he says, Hey,

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Speaker 2: you are the ones who are keeping watch. You are

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Speaker 2: the ones with whom I have left instructions. And when

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Speaker 2: we spend time in God's word every day, when we say, God,

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Speaker 2: show me how you want me to live today for

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Speaker 2: your good and for your glory, give me my instructions

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Speaker 2: so that I might be found attentive, that I might

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Speaker 2: be found keeping watch.

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Speaker 1: Lord, I'm looking and I'm not going to miss it.

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Speaker 2: That's the other thing Jesus says. He's like, nobody's going

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Speaker 2: to miss it. There's going to be a bunch of

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Speaker 2: false messiahs. There's going to be a bunch of people

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Speaker 2: who tell you that this is the way, walk in it,

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Speaker 2: this is what's going to happen. But I'm telling you,

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Speaker 2: when I come back, you're not going to miss it.

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Speaker 2: You're going to know that I'm back. And until that time,

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to give you certainty about everything that's

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Speaker 2: going to go down. But I am going to tell

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Speaker 2: you that I've left you instructions and your job is

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Speaker 2: to keep watch. Your job is to be attentive. So

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Speaker 2: what does this mean for us? What does this mean

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Speaker 2: for us today. I think that if I was going

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Speaker 2: to offer you what it means for you today, I

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Speaker 2: would ask you, where is God asking you to keep watch?

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Speaker 2: What is keeping watch look like in your life? Where

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Speaker 2: is a place that you are seeing God move? Where

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Speaker 2: is a place that your heart is moved because of

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Speaker 2: an injustice in your community, or a problem in your community,

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Speaker 2: or a relationship that's fractured. Where is God asking you

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Speaker 2: to keep watch? And what would it look like for you?

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Speaker 2: Maybe to read his instructions again? Maybe go to somewhere

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Speaker 2: if you want to go to Romans thirteen and read

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Speaker 2: about what love looks like in your everyday life, and

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Speaker 2: actually ask God to really make you clear about the

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Speaker 2: instructions he has for you, so that He will find

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Speaker 2: you attentive when He most certainly returns.

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Speaker 1: All right, everyone, that's it for day. I'll talk to

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Speaker 1: you next week.

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