Why Christ's Kingdom is Here Now

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

All right. Again, I appreciate you guys' mercy and bearing with me today with no sleep.

00:06

If you would turn to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16.

00:12

We are in a series, for those of you guys that are visiting today, called the Kingdom of God.

00:18

It's an exposition of the Gospel according to Matthew. We've been in it for some time, and the blessing of it is that we get to learn so much of the entire story of the

00:28

Bible. Really, Matthew fills up the Gospel according to Matthew with so much of the Old Testament.

00:34

So, if you want to get to know the Old Testament revelation and the New Testament revelation,

00:39

Matthew is, I think, the best Gospel to do that with. All the Gospels are amazing, but the

00:44

Gospel according to Matthew is a great way to understand just the entirety of the biblical narrative. So, we're in Matthew chapter 16.

00:51

Context here is Jesus telling the leadership of the day, when they're seeking a sign, that no sign is going to be given to them, and that they're an adulterous and evil generation.

01:06

That's Matthew 16, verse 4. Jesus, of course, again, is discussing the leaven of the

01:14

Pharisees and the Sadducees. He's speaking directly against the false teaching of his day, the covenant breakers of his day.

01:22

And, of course, the famous section where Jesus is asked, or he asks, who do men say that I am?

01:29

And they talk about the common, popular claims of the day. Well, some say you're

01:35

Elijah, others John the Baptist, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. And Jesus, of course, says to his disciples, who do you say that I am?

01:41

And Simon Peter replies, you're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

01:47

Jesus tells him that that revelation is not from him, it's from God himself. And Jesus promises to give them the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

01:57

Whatever on earth they bind shall be bound in heaven, and whatever they loose on earth shall be loosed. And Jesus tells them that, of course, that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church, very much in keeping with what the

02:09

Old Testament said about the kingdom of the Messiah. It would be established, it would never be destroyed, it would increase in peace and God's governance over it.

02:18

Then Jesus begins to tell people that he is going to go to Jerusalem to suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

02:28

Peter, of course, tells Jesus it will never be that way, and Jesus calls him Satan, and Peter has the disease of stick -your -foot -in -your -mouth -itis.

02:38

He does that often in the New Testament. Then Jesus, of course, tells people a gospel. He tells people a call of the gospel that's unfamiliar to many of us today in modern evangelicalism.

02:48

I'm going to read that section here through 16. So we're in Matthew 16, 24. Hear now the words of the living and the true

02:58

God. Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

03:07

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

03:12

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?

03:18

Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his

03:28

Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the

03:38

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. So Matthew 16, powerful section of Scripture.

03:44

It's not just a text sort of hung up in midair, suspended.

03:51

This is a text, Matthew 16, that we are not allowed to simply proof text.

03:56

That is to say, we can't grab this text and just start giving all kinds of unusual interpretations.

04:03

We can't just start pouring into this text preconceived ideas of our own. We can't just take our own tradition or eschatology and begin just laying it over the text and trying to read the text through that grid.

04:16

When we read the Bible, we need to let the Bible be its own interpreter. Amen? The Bible needs to interpret the

04:23

Bible. There was, of course, the catch cries of the Reformation that brought the Christian Church back to the

04:29

New Testament Church, back to the Bible itself. We know some of the pillars of the Reformation. We have sola fide.

04:35

The Bible says that we are saved through faith alone. Sola gratia. We are saved by grace alone.

04:41

And, of course, we are saved through Christ alone. Solus Christus. We are saved all to the glory of God alone.

04:49

Nothing to do with us. It's His work from beginning to end. It's all God in us, opening our eyes, saving us in Jesus.

04:56

God planning to save. God completing our salvation. All to God's glory. Necessary biblical pillars and catch cries.

05:04

There was another one, and it was sola scriptura. And what's that mean? The Scriptures alone are the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

05:11

It wasn't a diss on tradition and creeds. They all believed that. It was saying that from an epistemological standpoint, that is to say this.

05:19

From a standpoint of how do I know what's actually true? The Reformers were saying only the

05:25

Bible. Only the Bible can be your foundation. Only the Bible is the ultimate source.

05:31

It's not your pastor, not your elders, not some creed or council.

05:36

It's not a confession. It's the Word of God that's the very basis. I love what

05:41

I heard this week from Zach when he was out doing evangelism. He talked to somebody, I would really,

05:47

I would say that is the typical modern day evangelical. Sort of a passive nominalism.

05:54

You know, Jesus, yeah, He's Lord. I'm a Christian. I'm saved in Jesus. But I don't believe everything in that book, right?

06:02

Like that book isn't the ultimate source. And so at one point, Zach pushed on him a bit about the

06:07

Bible. Like what authority does it have in your life? And the guy just couldn't quite catch what

06:12

Zach was saying. And so Zach just codified it, nailed it. What does Sola Scriptura mean?

06:18

What is revelational epistemology? What does it mean to have God's revelation? He said, if God says something, does that settle it for you?

06:25

I mean, that's the fundamental question. You can get deep with it too. You can talk about different kinds of epistemology.

06:33

Rationalism, popular epistemology of the day. Empiricism, I need to see it, taste it, touch it, smell it, test it.

06:40

You can have pragmatism, well, it works for me kind of a thing. How do you know? Well, I experienced it.

06:46

It works for me. All these are different ways of knowing something. But the biblical way of knowing anything, saying

06:53

I know that with certainty, is very simple. You can put it in high -level categories. Revelational epistemology, you can talk about all the ways that works and the preconditions of intelligibility.

07:03

But it comes down to a Sunday school, childlike faith. How do you know what's true?

07:09

And the answer is, God said it. It's as simple as that.

07:15

But that wasn't all that we've learned, of course, from the Scriptures or that the Reformers were heralding in terms of getting to the

07:21

Bible to say, I want this to be the standard. I want this to teach me. I want this to be the source of authority and the foundation of how

07:29

I know anything at all. The other thing that was said during the time of the Reformation is not just sola

07:34

Scriptura, but tota Scriptura. And that is to say, all of Scripture.

07:42

Scripture's the foundation, and all of Scripture needs to interpret Scripture. So why do

07:47

I say that? I say that because this is so awesome and glorious and powerful.

07:55

This little section right here can either destroy you in terms of your witness for Christ, because you can impose an eschatological or end times framework on it that makes

08:07

Jesus look like a false prophet because you're saying something to the effect of, well, it didn't really happen.

08:12

Or you can see this in the light of all of Scripture and understand that when Jesus says this here, it's not suspended in midair.

08:20

This is something that's attached. It's anchored to what God said was going to happen in the Old Testament and what

08:26

Jesus keeps repeating even in the Gospel according to Matthew. Of course, we know in Matthew 3,

08:33

John the Baptist, he says as soon as he enters, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

08:39

Now watch. It's tempting, it's tempting to hear all this talk of the kingdom of God and apology of church for all those years and to go, yeah,

08:49

I'm sick of it. I've heard that a lot, and it's kind of beating a dead horse. Well, I'm going to say, if you feel like that, if you feel like you're beating a dead horse talking about the kingdom of God, I want to say to you that you will have a real hard time with the

09:01

Bible, a heck of a time, because the Old Testament revelation of what was so spectacular about what

09:07

God was going to do in the world had to do with the kingdom, the rule of the Messiah. And the main emphasis of Jesus in his ministry and the apostles was that the king had come,

09:17

God had become king. That's it. What do you get when

09:22

God becomes king? Salvation, redemption, all the nations coming to God, justice and righteousness in the world.

09:30

You get all the things about heaven one day, eternal life, but it only takes place because God became king.

09:37

The rule of the Messiah, the kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, the rule of God in the world is the central theme in all of the

09:46

Bible. If you want to talk about resurrection, resurrection only takes place because Christ is king.

09:52

Salvation only takes place in the world because Christ is king. The nations are brought to God because Christ is king.

09:58

Justice is established in the world because Christ is king. It doesn't exist in a vacuum.

10:04

And so when Jesus says here, some of you standing here will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom, you're either going to see that attached to the entire narrative of the

10:14

Bible and then see it and go, oh, my goodness, Jesus is the promised one.

10:20

He's the Messiah. He accomplished all that God said he was going to do. Because you see, this little statement here, some of you standing here will die until you see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

10:34

All of that, all of that, had to do with events that were going to take place within the lifetime of the apostles, the disciples themselves.

10:44

Now, one of the things we have to do to get better at understanding the Bible is we have to understand the

10:49

Bible in its context. We know that. Christians say that all the time. Context, context, context. We can't just proof text, grab a text, and start using that with no context.

11:02

This exists in a time where they anticipated the

11:08

Messiah's coming during their lifetimes. For example, Daniel 9 is a text that's written about 600 years before Christ's ministry.

11:17

And in Daniel 9, we're told about a period of 490 years that are going to take place that would all wrap around Christ, the

11:26

Messiah, his kingdom coming into the world. They knew the time was coming. And that's why it's significant that when the prophets come in in the

11:36

New Testament, they say things like, the time is fulfilled.

11:42

Time's up. It's here. This is the time that God had promised. Daniel 9, the timing of the

11:49

Messiah. The Messiah was going to come. He was going to be cut off. He was going to die a violent death. And then the second

11:54

Jewish temple would be destroyed. That's 600 years before Jesus comes. Messiah's going to come.

12:00

He's going to die a violent death. He's going to make atonement for iniquity. He's going to bring an everlasting righteousness.

12:06

He is going to anoint the most holy. He's going to make an end of sin. All that's going to take place.

12:12

And the second temple's going to be destroyed all within this 490 -year time period prophecy.

12:18

And they knew that. That's why they're looking around. Are you the Messiah? Who's the Messiah? Who's the Messiah? Because this is the time.

12:24

And Jesus is also speaking in the context of what they understood God's rule, the

12:31

Messiah's rule was going to enter the world, Daniel chapter 2, during the time of the fourth kingdom.

12:37

Daniel again prophesies about 600 years before Jesus. They knew that it was four kingdoms and then the

12:43

God of heaven would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed during the time of the fourth kingdom.

12:49

They knew which kingdom they were in. These Jews Jesus is talking to, they knew the time.

12:54

So when Jesus says, you're not all going to die before you see the son of man coming in his kingdom, they knew

13:02

Daniel. That's directly from Daniel 7, 13 -14. Daniel 7, 13 -14.

13:08

Daniel says, he's looking in the night visions and behold, one like the son of man.

13:15

That's the wording Jesus uses. He comes up to the ancient of days, is presented before him, and to him is given kingdom, dominion, glory, all the people's nations, men of every language might serve him.

13:27

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

13:33

That's the context. They knew Babylon, Persian, Greek, Rome.

13:42

And they're going, four, Rome. That's what we're sitting in right now. They knew Daniel chapter 9, 490 years.

13:48

And now they're coming in saying the time's up. The time is fulfilled. Kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's at the end of the fingertips, guys.

13:56

Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, as soon as he comes out of the wilderness temptation, he starts proclaiming the what?

14:02

The good news of the kingdom. It was on their lips. The rule of God in the world for a

14:10

Jew meant what the Old Testament said it meant. That redemption was now gonna come to the nations.

14:17

All the tribes of the world, the families of the earth were gonna return to God in salvation. They knew the king was gonna be installed.

14:24

They knew that the law was gonna go forth from Zion. Isaiah chapter 2. That justice was gonna be established in the world.

14:31

Isaiah chapter 42. That this God, who's coming as a son, is gonna have a kingdom, a government that will increase with peace and justice.

14:43

That God himself was gonna do that. They knew that our sins would be covered and paid for. Isaiah chapter 53.

14:50

He'd be pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement for our well -being fell upon him and by his wounds we are healed.

14:58

They knew that the rule of the Messiah was this full -orbed, holistic, big thing that encompassed all of what we want.

15:07

And now Jesus says to them, some of you aren't gonna die until you see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

15:13

They knew what it meant. They were waiting for it with anticipation. They knew the time had been fulfilled.

15:20

My point is this. We can't, as modern -day Western evangelicals, read our ideas into the text post -text.

15:32

Here's what I'm saying. How many of you guys, when you heard the term kingdom of heaven, you thought literally about heaven one day?

15:45

Kingdom of heaven. You thought, well, when that's used, that's in reference to the kingdom of heaven, like heaven out there one day, right?

15:53

It's out there, this sort of gassy existence with, I know I say it, with babies, with fat babies with harps on clouds, and it's this strange thing we don't really know a lot about.

16:05

When we recognize each other in heaven, we have really unbiblical, unchristian categories we think in when we think about heaven one day.

16:17

We think more today like Gnostics, first and second century heretics, enemies of Christianity.

16:25

We have really a worldview shaped by their worldview today. We think about heaven one day as the good experience.

16:32

We want to get to that place and just really shed this awful, evil place, whereas the

16:37

Bible doesn't hold that view. It said that God created the world. He created it good, and that heaven and earth were together one day, but the fall brought a split, and what

16:48

God is doing in the world, God says, is through Messiah, he's renewing the world, destroying all the works of the devil.

16:56

He is healing and bringing a new creation where the Messiah is going to restore all that was broken.

17:02

We think today that God's going to shed this world. He's going to send it away and destroy it because it's evil, and he's done with it, whereas the

17:09

New Testament says that Christ is going to renew the world. He's the beginning of the new creation, heaven meeting earth again.

17:17

You understand that when the apostles talk about the kingdom of heaven, they're not referring to something out there you go to.

17:24

They're talking about the rule of God here. Now, in this life, in this world,

17:33

I'll give you a sense of the perspective. You know the famous scene. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount what?

17:38

He says, blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness sake, but he says what?

17:44

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the what? The earth. Blessed are the meek, so they shall inherit the earth itself, the earth itself.

17:55

You see, Jesus came proclaiming a kingdom, his rule in the world. He was going to put all of his enemies under his feet.

18:00

He was going to restore all the devil had destroyed, all that sin had loosed in the world. Jesus has come to overturn that to bring salvation and redemption.

18:09

It was very much about God coming into the world to save and to heal the world.

18:16

That starts with sinners reconciled to God, and then as sinners are reconciled to God, the world itself changes.

18:23

They understood with the son of man coming in his kingdom, that meant redemption. It didn't mean very important.

18:30

If you've missed at all what I'm saying, here's what I'm saying. They did not, they did not, they did not, they did not understand this text here as God is coming to let us escape from the world.

18:47

They did not understand the son of man coming in his kingdom as something that meant that God was going to take us out of the world and destroy the world.

18:56

They understood the son of man coming in his kingdom in light of Daniel 7, 13 through 14.

19:01

Read it later. Son of man, ancient of days, and what happens? What happens? Tribes, tongues, languages, dominion, kingdom, serving him.

19:13

Nothing in there about escaping the world. Nothing in there about the world being thrown into the trash heap of history.

19:20

Nothing in there about that. This has to do with the son of man, the Messiah, receiving a kingdom and all the nations coming to God.

19:27

Don't believe me? Don't believe that was the emphasis? How does Matthew end this gospel?

19:32

What's the climactic section of scripture that we all know as Christians?

19:37

We talk about it. It's the basis for worldwide missions. What is the climax of Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew?

19:44

All this talk of kingdom, all this talk about Christ coming, all this talk about the temple being destroyed, all this talk about the gospel of the kingdom,

19:55

Matthew 28, 18 through 20. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

20:03

Go therefore and make disciples of what? All the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the

20:08

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo,

20:14

I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. By the way, a little excursus aside.

20:20

Awesome thing. We just sort of like miss it sometimes. When Jesus says as he's ascending up, as he's going up to the ancient of days, the

20:30

Son of Man is going up, telling us to go get the tribes, tongues, peoples, nations, languages. It says,

20:36

I am with you always. Can't really do that if you're just a man.

20:43

Can't really do that if you're just human. You can only be with us always, even unto the end of the age, if you are

20:52

Yahweh. Don't you love that? The very last verse of Matthew is a testimony to Christ's deity, his divinity, that he's

21:02

God, he's with you always. Only Yahweh is always with us. And that's a testimony to his own divinity.

21:09

So I spoke last week, and the sermon will go up on YouTube if you missed it.

21:14

I can't go over it all again. I just want to just do a point here. I talked at the beginning last week about how eschatology matters.

21:22

It matters a lot. It's gonna change your perspective of the world. It'll change how you work and labor in the world.

21:27

It'll change your hope. It will also impact your ability to read the Bible. If you have a bad eschatology you're reading into the text rather than letting the text speak, it'll also destroy our witness because if we have a bad eschatology we impose upon the text and it ends up making

21:45

Jesus look like a false prophet, the unbelievers grab hold of those false futurist eschatologies, and they use them as a weapon against Christ and his message.

21:55

I gave you the example of Doug Wilson talking to Christopher Hitchens at Westminster Seminary, and Doug utterly taking all of Christopher Hitchens' chestnut argument away by demonstrating that Jesus, in fact, did return in the first century in judgment, not the second coming, not the resurrection, not the final day of judgment, but the judgment on Jerusalem.

22:19

We read Matthew 16, this text, where Jesus warns them to not gain the world and lose their soul.

22:26

What does it profit you if you gain the world and lose your soul? What will you give in return for your soul?

22:32

Four. The four is attached to that. So Jesus says, take up your cross, come die, don't gain the world and lose your soul.

22:40

You need to come and follow me. Come and follow me in my death march. Take up that cross and walk with me on the

22:47

Calvary Road. I want you to come and die and rise again. Four, the

22:52

Son of Man is about to come. The word is mellow, about to come with his angels in the glory of his

23:00

Father, and he will repay each person according to what he has done. He's been talking all throughout this gospel about those

23:08

Jewish covenant breakers who are turning away from him, and they're about to be judged.

23:14

Truly, the word there is Amen. It's settled. It's guaranteed. Amen. Some translations say verily, truly,

23:23

Amen. Verily, I say to you, who is he talking to? The disciples.

23:29

Is he talking to the 21st century Christian church in America? And that's one of the devastating things for us, right?

23:36

We read these texts, and we read ourselves into the text. Now I'm not saying, by the way, no way am

23:42

I saying that the word of God doesn't apply to us, that there aren't principles and promises for us specifically.

23:48

Amen, Amen. Hallelujah. Absolutely. But we can't read ourselves into texts like Matthew 16, where Jesus says,

23:57

I say to you. He's not talking to me. He's talking to first century disciples who knew the time was fulfilled.

24:04

They knew the kingdom was breaking into history. They knew that God was about to judge the covenant breakers as he had promised in Malachi chapter 3, and all the

24:14

Old Testament prophets, Isaiah 65. They knew there was going to be a judgment on the covenant breakers. He says, to you, some standing here who will not taste death until they see the

24:23

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Now, I want to say this. Some people who have tried to apply this as something future to us have tried to say, well, we need to see the kingdom as coming later.

24:36

There are people who believe that Jesus didn't bring the kingdom in the first century. I want to say this, with love and humility, truly, with respect.

24:44

If Jesus didn't bring his kingdom in the first century, then Jesus is not the

24:50

Messiah. Straight up, full stop. If he didn't bring his kingdom in the first century, he is not the

24:56

Messiah. Why? Because the Old Testament tells you when the Messiah's kingdom is coming. It says it had to come at a particular time.

25:03

It had to come with a certain order. It had constituent elements to it. If Jesus didn't bring it, he is not the

25:09

Messiah. There are some people that say that Jesus is going to bring his kingdom later, right? If that's the case, if he's bringing his kingdom later, and it didn't come in the first century, then we have a heck of a time with this text here, because he said some of them aren't going to die until he brings it in full.

25:26

Some people have tried to say, well, what Jesus was referring to there was Matthew 17, right here, next text.

25:32

Matthew 17. It says, after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and his brother and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light, and behold, there appeared to him them

25:48

Moses and Elijah talking with him. People have said, that was what Jesus was referring to, was that six days later, he was going to have the transfiguration where they saw him in his kingdom glory.

26:00

The only problem is, I would say, A, well, yes, they got a glimpse of it, but B, that doesn't fit exegetically.

26:08

Why? Jesus said, some standing here who will not taste death until they see the

26:14

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. This was six days later. None of them died. None of them died.

26:22

So it doesn't fit. He says, some of you standing here will not taste death until you see the

26:27

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And remember, they knew what that meant. Son of Man had a particular Old Testament context.

26:34

I told you last week that we need to think about the context of the New Testament. They promised a soon coming judgment.

26:41

I'll highlight one, in case you weren't here. Matthew chapter 10, it's a doozy.

26:47

From my perspective, it is powerful, because it testifies that Jesus was exactly who he claimed to be, because it happened exactly as he said.

26:57

But if you have a wrong eschatology, you'll have a hard time with Matthew 10. In Matthew 10, Jesus talks to his disciples and he says to them, he says, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the

27:08

Son of Man comes. You will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

27:13

You're not going to finish your evangelistic efforts before I come. What? In judgment.

27:20

Now, that of course did happen within 40 years of Jesus saying that.

27:26

The Romans turned on the Jews. They destroyed the city and the sanctuary, set fire to the city, slaughtered the

27:33

Jews so much so that Josephus says blood was flowing through the streets. And they sent the Jews off into slavery, really around the world.

27:41

Jesus kept his promise. He did come to judge them. The imminent time text in our

27:47

New Testament, there's over 100 texts in our New Testament that are imminent judgments. You know the texts.

27:54

Behold, I'm coming quickly. Things that will soon take place. The judge is standing at the door.

28:00

This generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Some of you standing here will not taste death.

28:06

You will not finish going to the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. God of peace will soon crush

28:12

Satan under your feet. All these texts in our New Testament speak to imminent judgments.

28:19

We need to let the Bible control our interpretation. It's not a matter of literal versus figurative interpretation.

28:27

It's a matter of will we interpret the Bible biblically or will we be creative in how we interpret the

28:35

Bible. Quick thing, people often say I interpret the Bible literally. I say, well so do

28:41

I. When you're supposed to. When you're supposed to. Jesus is not a literal door.

28:46

God is not literally a blast furnace, a consuming fire. He doesn't literally have feathers that he puts you under his wings with.

28:54

There is not literally a whore drinking blood riding a seven -headed ten -horned beast. Thankfully.

29:02

We need to let the Bible control our interpretation of the Bible. Timing text. Daniel chapter 2.

29:08

Four kingdoms, Messiah's kingdom. That's Jesus' day. Isaiah 65. God was going to judge the covenant breakers and give his kingdom to another people.

29:16

Malachi chapter 3. God would send a forerunner, John the Baptist, and then the Lord whom you seek,

29:22

Yahweh, is going to come to his temple. He's going to purify some, salvation, and judge others.

29:29

They knew that was the context. We need to understand biblical language. This is key. Biblical language.

29:35

I told you last week that it's so important for us to let the Bible control how we interpret the

29:42

Bible and understand how the Bible speaks. The Bible uses dramatic prophetic hyperbole throughout.

29:49

It uses cosmic deconstruction language. I told you some examples like we would use today.

29:55

God is going to turn your world upside down. When someone says that to you, do you really think that God's going to flip the earth on its axis?

30:03

He's going to turn it. You know what it means, right? I'll give you another one. The French have a saying.

30:10

If you transliterate it, it's I have a cockroach. I have a cockroach.

30:16

Transliterate it. I have a cockroach. They do not mean they're holding a bug. They're saying I'm having a horrible day.

30:22

The sky is falling on me. They use hyperbole. Another way to say it is he's going to knock your lights out.

30:28

Anybody think that's literally God coming to knock a light off of you? No. God uses cosmic deconstruction language.

30:36

Let's take a look at an example. You want to see it? This is everyone's favorite thing. This is everyone's favorite and this is what makes you money in bookstores.

30:45

Prophecy. Freak people out, right? The blood moon, right? The stars falling from the heavens.

30:52

I want you to see it. Keep one finger or a tab here in Matthew 16. I'm going to show you how this works.

30:58

Go to Matthew 24. Matthew 24.

31:04

Now check this out. Jesus has just denounced the Jewish leadership in his day.

31:11

He's just said to them, woe to you. Woe to you. He's condemned them and what's he say?

31:16

He says at the end of 23, I want you to see it just right above for context.

31:24

He just condemns them in the temple and then it says verse 34 of 23 therefore

31:31

I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town so that on you, on who?

31:41

On them. On those leaders. On the Pharisees, the Sadducees, he just declared woes to and curses to.

31:50

That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barakiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

32:01

Truly I say to you all these things will come upon this generation. Who's he talking to?

32:07

Them. That generation. Those covenant breakers. He said all the blood of the righteous from Abel, the first blood spilled to this last person that you killed, all of that God is going to require of this generation.

32:21

He says in Luke, these are the days of vengeance in order that all that is written may be fulfilled.

32:27

Now as soon as Jesus declares woes, watch. His disciples are tripping.

32:34

They are shocked. Why? Because Jesus now is a priest. He's come in and cleansed the temple.

32:40

He's come in and declared judgments upon the covenant breakers. He's now said that all the blood God is going to require of this generation, it's all coming on you.

32:48

Now this is what gets crazy. Jesus then leaves in a very symbolic action.

32:54

He goes and it says chapter 24 verse 1 Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple but he answered them, you see all these things, do you not?

33:08

Truly I say to you there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. This is important.

33:13

If you put the synoptics together you learn that Jesus when he condemns them, he leaves to the

33:18

Mount of Olives. And this whole conversation takes place on the Mount of Olives.

33:24

Now this is where it gets interesting. In the Old Testament when God was destroying the Jewish temple and he was abandoning it to judge it, it says that the glory of God departed the temple and it rested on the

33:38

Mount of Olives. So Jesus now with the second temple declares woes.

33:44

He departs from the temple. He says you're about to lose your temple and be judged. He goes now to the

33:50

Mount of Olives. Same course that Yahweh took in the Old Testament before he destroyed the temple.

33:56

And they say when Jesus says you're all going to get it this generation, he sat on the

34:01

Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately saying tell us when will these things be?

34:07

What things? Judgment upon that generation. What will be the sign of your coming?

34:14

You're going to judge. What's the sign of your coming? And the end of the age.

34:20

Not the end of the world. Some of your texts might say the word world there.

34:26

But the word world actually isn't in the text in terms of cosmos. Cosmos refers to the physical order and physical world.

34:35

The word here is ion. And it refers to age or world or particular part of history.

34:43

It's the age. They understood. Watch this. Get this. It'll nail it.

34:49

It's the whole thing of it. They understood with the destruction of the Jewish temple and the old covenant order, that was the close of the old covenant age and that meant the inauguration of the new covenant and the kingdom of the

35:00

Messiah. With the old covenant order destroyed, the temple destroyed, the priesthood gone, the animal sacrifice is gone, the city destroyed, that meant that old covenant order, that age was gone and we are now in the age of the new covenant order which was promised.

35:17

Now here's where the word is. Verse 4. Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray.

35:23

For many will come in my name saying I am the Messiah and they will lead many astray and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

35:31

See that you are not alarmed for this must take place but the end is not yet. The end of what? The age.

35:39

For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are but the beginning of birth pains.

35:47

Now I want you to see there in that text, just know we're going to exegete it later when we get to Matthew 24. Just know this, all those things took place in that generation.

35:55

All of them. All of them as described. They'll deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death.

36:03

You'll be hated by all nations for my namesake. That happened to the first century Christians. Then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

36:10

You see that conflict literally in the New Testament itself. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

36:17

You see that in the New Testament and Josephus records that. But the one who endures to the end will be saved and this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.

36:30

The end of what? The end of the age. Some may say, well how's that taking place? Because we haven't gotten the gospel to every place in the world now.

36:38

Well, according to Paul they did. According to Paul they did. Romans chapter 1,

36:44

Colossians chapter 1. When they said world, they thought about the known world. The Roman Empire.

36:49

And Paul says in Romans 1, your faith is being proclaimed throughout the entire world.

36:55

And in Colossians chapter 1, Paul says the gospel has been preached to every creature under heaven.

37:00

That's what Paul says first century. Now here's what I wanted you to see. If you look at the next section here, in terms of how the word of God uses prophetic hyperbole.

37:12

In verse 29, look at it. Matthew 24 29, look at the text. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

37:30

Well, doesn't that mean the end of the world? The end of the universe?

37:35

Stars falling from heaven? First thing I'll say is this, if a single star got closer to us, we're toast.

37:43

Our sun is a star, right? If it just got a little bit closer, it doesn't have to hit the earth, because it can't.

37:50

It would literally dissolve the earth if it got close to us. What is this language?

37:55

I'm going to say this. This was judgment language on Jerusalem. Specifically Jerusalem.

38:02

How do we know that? Well, keep one finger here, and I want you to see what Jesus is actually quoting from.

38:08

One finger in Matthew 24, now move in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 13. Isaiah chapter 13.

38:19

Old Testament prophet, big prophet book, Isaiah chapter 13, and I want you to see what

38:26

Jesus is doing here when he says, the sun will be dark and the moon turn to blood, the stars are going to fall from heaven.

38:34

Know this, if they knew their Bibles, and they did, they knew that Jesus was actually promising to judge them.

38:43

Because God actually used this language in Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 34, and whenever he used this language it refers always to the judgment of a city or a state.

38:55

Here's that being used in Isaiah chapter 13. The oracle concerning Babylon which

39:01

Isaiah the son of Amoz saw, and it says in verse 4, the sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude, the sound of an uproar of kingdoms of nations gathering together.

39:13

The Lord of hosts is mustering, and look here now to verse 10.

39:22

Actually it started in verse 9. Behold the day of the Lord comes cruel, with wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it.

39:31

For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light.

39:37

The sun will be dark as it is rising, and the moon will not shed its light. What was Jesus talking about here?

39:43

Jesus is talking about the destruction of Babylon. Now I have a question. Was Babylon destroyed?

39:50

Yes. Did the universe unravel? No. This is cosmic deconstruction language, prophetic, dramatic prophetic hyperbole.

40:00

Now watch this. Jesus is in Jerusalem. He's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. He says that they're all going to get it.

40:07

And now as he's referring to the temple being destroyed and Jerusalem being destroyed, he quotes Isaiah 13, which

40:13

God had used that language to destroy a pagan nation. He now uses it against Jerusalem.

40:22

So this language, this cosmic language, this cosmic deconstruction language, is being used in the

40:28

Old Testament to destroy a pagan nation, which God did, and now Jesus is using it about Jerusalem.

40:35

This is Jesus coming as a prophet to judge and to condemn. I just wanted to show you that as an example.

40:42

Now, what does all this mean in terms of the whole story? When Jesus says the Son of Man is coming in his kingdom, that meant judgment for the covenant breakers, his rule coming into the world, his salvation.

40:54

We need to see quickly what the New Testament authors thought about the kingdom of the Messiah. So just go quickly with me now to Luke 17.

41:03

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Luke 17. I'm going to try to go through these quickly.

41:10

Matthew, Mark, Luke. 17 and verse 20.

41:18

I'm not going to exhaust this today. I just wanted you to see a couple of verses here. Matthew 17, sorry,

41:24

Luke 17 20. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, see that's what they're asking about because that was the theme of the

41:33

Old Testament. He answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, look, here it is or there.

41:44

For behold, the kingdom of God, the rule of God, is in the midst of you. So how did

41:49

Jesus think about his kingdom? He did not think about it in terms of, like my friend says,

41:55

Doug Wilson, the 82nd airborne dropping out of heaven onto the earth. Jesus wasn't saying the kingdom of God is to be touched like this, or it's over there.

42:05

It's not a city you can walk into. It's not a building you can climb. The rule of God, Jesus says, you're not going to be able to say, oh, that's where it's at on the map.

42:17

It's two blocks east of Phoenix. Right? Or something to that effect.

42:22

Jesus says the rule of God is within you. Is within you. That's how

42:28

Jesus described it. Matthew chapter 12 verse 22, you can read that later. Jesus says this, and watch this.

42:35

Brothers and sisters, this is it. This is the sum of it. This is where we have to rest. This is what

42:40

Jesus says. We have to say, yes, I believe that or I don't. Jesus is condemned by the leaders of his day, and they say to Jesus, you're casting out devils by Satan himself.

42:50

That's what's happening. You guys are bedfellows. You're working with the devil. You're his buddy. And Jesus says, if I cast out devils by the

43:01

Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So here's an if -then.

43:07

If I do A, cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then syllogism,

43:13

B, the kingdom of God, watch, has, has come upon you.

43:19

Here's the question we have to ask as Christians. Did Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God? Yes or no?

43:26

Then the kingdom of God had come upon them. It arrived in history.

43:32

It was there. Another text you can read in terms of the kingdom's arrival is Revelation 1.

43:37

He has made us a kingdom. Priests to God. Colossians chapter 1, verse 13,

43:45

Paul says that God, first century, after the resurrection of Jesus, has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness, and He's brought us into the kingdom of His Son as a present reality.

43:56

That is first century. They understood that the kingdom of God had arrived with Jesus.

44:03

But they also knew something. This is where it gets so fun. Truly. This is one of those things that's just, honestly, theology shaping.

44:14

It changes so much. When, when God showed me this in His word through great teachers and began to correct my thinking in this area, this was one of those profound moments for me.

44:26

It was life altering. It changed my whole perspective. I thought, whoa, I've missed it.

44:31

And it's right there in front of me the entire time. You see, in the New Testament, Jesus says

44:38

His kingdom has arrived, and yet, it's coming. It's arrived, and it's coming. It's here, but there's still stuff that's going to happen.

44:46

You're not all going to die before you see it. It's here, but there's something happening in this space of time that we have to wait for.

44:54

And here's the difficulty. In the first century, that Old Covenant world, what did it, what expressed the

45:01

Old Covenant world? What? Give me something that expressed the Old Covenant order.

45:08

What's that? Temple? What else? Give me some more. Animal sacrifices. What else?

45:15

Priests. What else? Right. The Ark. You've got all the Old Covenant order.

45:21

You can literally go touch this stuff. You can smell it. When you went to Jerusalem, it literally smelled different.

45:29

Their diet was different. Their clothing was different. Their smell was different. Their worship smelled different than pagans.

45:36

The temple was different. The priesthood was different. Everything was different. It expressed the Old Covenant order, but it also expressed a problem.

45:46

Yom Kippur was an annual reminder of sins. Their sins were not covered. The Messiah has not fully come.

45:52

They knew the Messiah's kingdom ultimately hadn't arrived because that Old Covenant order is still hanging around.

46:00

Now Jesus enters, says the kingdom has arrived, and you're not all going to taste death before you see me coming in my kingdom.

46:09

Not all going to die. He says at his trial, when they say, are you the Messiah? Are you the king?

46:15

He says yes, and to the high priest, you, you will see the

46:21

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. You will see it. And of course they got angry over that, and struck

46:28

Jesus. But here's what I want you to see. It is so fascinating. Go to Galatians, and as you get there,

46:37

I want to talk about context. And we're going to end on this today. On this particular theme here.

46:47

Because it really expresses so much of that time period between Christ's death and resurrection and ascension and the destruction of Jerusalem and all the imminent timing text and judgment text that are, he's coming to judge, he's coming to judge, he's at the door.

47:04

You ever seen a, what's it called? I have no ability to think right now.

47:10

What's that called when people are racing and they hand off the baton? It's a relay race.

47:17

Okay. So you know what it's like when people have a relay race where you've got one person, they're running, and they're running with the baton, and they're racing against other people, but they're running with the baton, and as they're getting around the track, their partner isn't standing there like this waiting for them to run by.

47:38

Right? Just sort of hanging out. And then trying to catch up with them and grab it. What happens is, as that relay race is happening, the person with the baton is running as fast as they can, and their partner when they see them coming around, they start running.

47:52

Right? So now you've got two people running together as the baton is being passed, you've got two people running at the same time and passing off to the next one.

48:04

Well there's something that happened in the first century that was very much like that. When we see the kingdom has come, but not yet.

48:11

The new covenant has arrived, but not yet. You see that not yet tension in the

48:17

New Testament. You see it there, and the reason you see it there is because though Jesus came and lived righteously and sinlessly and he died for sinners and he rose from the dead, though that happened, the old covenant order is still hanging around.

48:33

Temple's still there, priests are still doing sacrifices, they're still going on, and then what happens near the end of the first century before the destruction of Jerusalem is you've got all these

48:44

Jews saying to Christian Jews, guys, come back to temple.

48:50

Guys, let go of this Jesus character, come back to temple. Come on guys, come back to the priests, come back to the sacrifices, come back to temple.

48:59

You see that tension in the book of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews warning those early Jews saying don't go back.

49:06

Christ is a better priest, a better prophet, a better king. God, Hebrews 12, is about to shake this stuff.

49:13

He's about to destroy it, the things that can be touched so that that which cannot be seen will remain forever.

49:20

Hang in there, Christian Jews. I know you know Jesus is the

49:25

Messiah, and yet I know you're experiencing persecution from people who say they are Jews and they reject

49:31

Jesus and they're telling you to go back to temple, but you don't want their priesthood. You've got a better priest with Jesus who never dies.

49:38

You've got a sacrifice that is once for all. It can never be repeated. It doesn't need to be repeated.

49:44

And you are part of a city of God, a heavenly city that will last forever.

49:49

And the writer of Hebrews says what? He's about to shake this. It's about to happen. Don't go back.

49:55

So you've got, watch. The Old Covenant is running, and yet the New Covenant is already running too.

50:02

You've got the passing of the batons in the first century. The Old Covenant order and kingdom about to be destroyed made way for the

50:10

New Covenant and the Messiah's kingdom. That's all happening in the first century.

50:15

They understood it was a swirl of things that needed to happen. But I wanted you to see it. Look at Paul talking about it in the first century.

50:23

Galatians 4. Galatians 4.

50:31

He's talking about the law and these people that want to be justified through the law, and Paul's telling him, if you want that,

50:39

Galatians 3, if you want to be justified by the law, okay. You've got to fulfill all of it.

50:45

How are you doing? You're under the curse of the law to fulfill all of it. Jesus became a curse for us.

50:52

He became the curse for us. If you want the law, then now get ready to do the whole thing.

50:57

You're under its curse. But we have Christ who became a curse for us. We are not justified through works of law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

51:05

That's how God has always justified people. But now he's talking about these two covenants.

51:12

In Galatians 4 .21. Go there. Tell me, Paul says.

51:17

Now remember, watch. So important. Context. Think about it. What's happening in this day?

51:23

You've got the temple still standing. Jesus has died. Jesus has risen.

51:29

Jesus has ascended. They are right at the cusp of that old covenant order about to be destroyed.

51:35

Jesus says, this generation will not pass away, and there will not be left one stone standing upon another.

51:42

They're there now. And here's what Paul says. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

51:49

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

51:55

But the son of the slave woman was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

52:02

This is Ishmael and who? Isaac, the son of the promise.

52:08

God says Sarah is going to have a son. That's who the Messiah is coming through. And then they jump the gun and Sarah's like, gotta have a baby.

52:15

So they had the slave woman, Ishmael, and God says, but that's not how I said it was going to happen.

52:21

So you've got the son of a slave woman, the son of a free woman. That's the context. The son of the free woman is born through promise.

52:29

Now, this may be interpreted allegorically. These women are two covenants.

52:37

One is from Mount Sinai, being children for slavery, bearing children for slavery. She is

52:42

Hagar. Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds, watch this, to the present

52:49

Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. You know what that was in the first century?

52:57

Scandalous. He's saying that Jerusalem in his day, with the temple, its priesthood, all of that, those are children of the slave.

53:07

They are in bondage. And now he says, now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.

53:13

She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children, but the Jerusalem above is free.

53:19

Real fast, guys. Where? The Jerusalem where? Remember that.

53:25

The Jerusalem above is free. For it is written, rejoice,

53:31

O barren one who does not bear, break forth and cry aloud, you who are in labor, for the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.

53:40

Now, you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also it is now in his day.

53:56

What does the scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.

54:05

So, brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. Do you get it? Do you get it? What's he saying?

54:11

Everyone today in Jerusalem, in Paul's day, saying, they are sons and daughters of the slave woman.

54:17

They are in bondage. Our mother is above. We are children of the free.

54:23

We are not from this Jerusalem. We are from the heavenly Jerusalem. And he says, just like in Abraham's day, they weren't allowed to inherit together, and they had to cast out the son of the slave woman, so it will be now.

54:39

God is about to cast out those who are in bondage in the present Jerusalem. He is about to cast them out so they don't inherit what we inherit.

54:48

We are the Jerusalem from where? Let me whet your appetite.

54:55

Read the book of Revelation? Don't read it without an understanding of the Old Testament images from which

55:01

John is speaking. Do you ever notice this? In Revelation, there's a story of a harlot, a whore, who's wearing purple and scarlet, the priest's colors.

55:13

She has Babylon written on her forehead. She's drinking the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus.

55:19

What did Jesus tell Jerusalem in his day they were going to do with his people? You're going to persecute them from city to city.

55:26

You're going to flog them in your synagogues. In Revelation 17, you see this woman, a whore,

55:33

God called Israel a whore when she turned away from him in the Old Testament. She's wearing the purple color, the priest's colors,

55:39

Babylon written on her forehead, drinking the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus. She's riding the seven -headed, ten -horned beast, which is universally understood to be

55:47

Rome, and it says that the beast itself is going to turn on her, make her desolate, and burn her with fire.

55:54

And it says about the woman, she is that great city. Every time

55:59

Revelation uses the words, that great city, it refers to Jerusalem. So I would say this, in Revelation, you have the story of two cities, the tale of two cities, the

56:10

Old Jerusalem, the harlot, and the New Jerusalem, the bride of Christ. Now, I want you to see it, though.

56:16

So go to Revelation to see how glorious this is, and how this isn't something that should strike terror into us, but awe and hope.

56:25

In Revelation 21, the harlot is judged in Revelation, the beast turns on Jerusalem and destroys her.

56:34

Now watch what it says in Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

56:43

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

56:52

Brothers and sisters, when Paul in Galatians was referring to our mother, we are from the

56:57

Jerusalem that is where? Where did he say it was? In Revelation, when the harlot is judged, when

57:03

Jerusalem is judged, where does this Jerusalem come from? Out of heaven, from God, and it says what?

57:11

Prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. So you've got the

57:17

Old Jerusalem judged, the New Jerusalem comes down to the heaven from God as a bride.

57:24

Who's called the bride? The church. Are you starting to see it now? The kingdom of God's arrival,

57:32

Christ coming in his kingdom, had everything to do with the new covenant itself, his rule and reign, that was all wrapped up in the destruction of old covenant order, the destruction of Jerusalem, the city of God, now on the earth, and what does it say?

57:46

That God is now with his people, and what comes out of the New Jerusalem according to Revelation?

57:52

What comes out of the New Jerusalem? It says the rivers of life come out of the New Jerusalem, and it says what?

57:59

Come, all who are thirsty. Come, all who are thirsty, and God will give you the water of life.

58:07

The New Jerusalem in Revelation is calling people to come to drink.

58:14

The Old Jerusalem is destroyed. The New Jerusalem is here. God now dwells with us. I know your appetite is wet because you're like, but what about this?

58:20

What about that? That's not what we're here to talk about today. Someday we will, I promise.

58:26

But for now, just know this, that when Jesus says, I'm coming in my kingdom before some of you die, it had everything to do with his rule and reign, his redemptive kingdom, in this world, in this life, the new covenant, all of that order, the old covenant order, gone.

58:47

I think this makes Jesus look glorious. I think it makes this New Testament Revelation powerful and a testimony to the fact that Jesus truly is the promised

58:59

Messiah. He came on time. He came as promised.

59:06

He did what God said he was going to do, and more, he did what he said he was going to do.

59:13

Now, what does that do as an ending? How do we cap this off? I can only say this, if Jesus says something, that settles it.

59:22

If Jesus says something, you had better repent in a hurry. When we talk about the gospel, watch, it is not simply that you get your ticket punched for heaven one day.

59:34

The story is so much more grand than that. It's bigger than that. It means more than that. It is so much better than just heaven one day.

59:42

It is good news of heaven coming to earth. God reconciling people to himself here.

59:49

God bringing glory to himself through increasing the fame of his son, the kingdom of his son, restoring and renewing the world.

59:57

You see, this isn't just about heaven one day. Coming to the Messiah now is about peace with God now.

01:00:04

Reconciliation with God now. Jesus is the king. God became king.

01:00:11

He's king over the world now. He's king over you right now. The question is, have you given him your allegiance?

01:00:19

Have you come to Christ and given him your allegiance? Men and women, children from every tribe, tongue, people, language represented right now in this room.

01:00:29

Look at the colors in this room right now. White, brown, black, all these different colors.

01:00:35

All of this room testifying to the kingdom of God that it has arrived in the world.

01:00:42

Think about it. In this one moment, it testifies that Jesus is in fact the king.

01:00:47

Because what's happening in this room right now is people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation are worshiping the one true and living

01:00:53

God because of Jesus. He rules and reigns in our hearts. Now the kingdom of God is within us.

01:01:00

Now, here's the question. Do you know him? Have you turned to him? Because all of his promises are yea and amen.

01:01:07

They are true. When Jesus says that he's coming one day to judge the world, to bring a final resurrection, it's true.

01:01:15

The question is, will you stand before him knowing him as friend, as savior, as God?

01:01:23

Will you stand before him as someone who's an enemy or a son and a daughter? Here's the question.

01:01:29

Have you turned from sin to believe in Christ? Do you believe in the gospel of the kingdom?

01:01:36

Have you turned to him and come to die and rise again? If not, do so now. Come to Christ and live.

01:01:43

Let's pray. Father, please bless the words that went out today.

01:01:49

Lord, I know it's so much and Lord, I know that I'm tired and having a hard time keeping thoughts together.

01:01:56

I just pray Lord that you would use what went out today that was from your word to challenge us, to bless us, to embolden us, to give us hope.