Be On Guard

[0:00] Well, good morning, everyone. Good to see you. Oh, a Packer shirt right in front. Two of them. Wow. I'm sitting in the right crew right there. I can tell you, no, she's teasing, but wonderful to see. Yeah, we're filling up slow but sure. Some of you probably are looking, who is this guy in the orange up here and what does he do?

[0:18] I'm kind of like those in the bullpen a little bit. I get called out mainly to do prophecy and Mark 13 is all about prophecy. So I'm kind of this prophecy watch guy that does the teachings on that. Not exclusively, but you got asked this time to do so, so I will do so.

[0:37] So FYI, lots of information. I got one teaching I can do with 38 verses, not to say negatively, but it's going to be a lot of information, a lot of feedback. I should click this on just to make sure that I am going forward, I think. Yes. Yes. And are we up on the screen? Yes. So we're going to race around.

[0:59] Now, I'm going to prep this a little bit, keep an eye on the clock, and try to work through this without a lot of side things. But first place, Mark, very good about, kind of like I call, and I'm going to age myself, this Joe Friday kind of syndrome. He does this just the facts. And that's what you're going to get out of Mark, just a lot of facts. Jesus isn't going to go to detail. You want more detail, I'd say go to Matthew 24. You're going to get a lot more detail about the Olivet Discourse and the End Times and things of that.

[1:29] nature. Even Luke has some capable, a little more that maybe Mark doesn't have. That's number one. Number two, Jesus is going to give a horizontal teaching. He's not going vertical with this. He's just going all horizontal. And it's pertaining to the Jews.

[1:48] Unlike John, who gives more of a vertical perspective during the Revelation. He's looking down 10,000 feet or whatever you want to say, down on the earth, seeing things happening, the judgments, how things are going, the beast, all these things he's seeing from a top view.

[2:07] But the apostles are only going to get a horizontal view. They're not going to get a vertical view on this. And if I got a little bit of time left, I pray that I can take you to a prophecy timeline and show a little bit what they were seeing, what they were thinking, even after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.

[2:24] So to kind of bring this to a beginning, and then like I said, and try to close it off here, I'll do a prayer here. And I'm going to, hopefully, I'm going to try to run off my notes only. Normally, I kind of like going through my Bible.

[2:42] But I'm going to try to do my notes only and read it off there. So, dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this time, Lord. I thank you for this opportunity that I have. I know Jack is not here today. But I thank you, dear God, what Jack has done. He has made a path for men like me and others can walk.

[3:01] And again, like I said, and did such a wonderful job in building a foundation here. I mean, Paul talks about it. I get to build off that. And I pray that I'm worthy and honorable as he has been to be able to do this, to have this opportunity to take God's holy words and somehow bring it across and do my best at it because I'm very inadequate.

[3:26] But I thank Jack. I thank his wife, Peg, and his family, the sacrifices that were given for me to stand here and for us to enjoy.

[3:38] So I want to continue that road, hopefully, and continue that legacy that we can continue to be a family here that is built on a foundation, and we know what that foundation is, is Jesus Christ.

[3:50] So, God the Father, we thank you in the name of Jesus for this moment. So the opening of this thing here is, again, it starts out, the signs and the end of the age. As Jesus was leaving the temple, and I'm going to do a verse by kind of one through four kind of group that I should probably say there's going to be seven sections here.

[4:06] So this is 13, one through four. And basically it says, as Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what a mass of stones, what a magnificent building. Do you see all these great buildings?

[4:18] Reply Jesus, not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, opposite of the temple, Peter and James, John and Andrew, key word here, asked him privately, Tell us, when will, excuse me, tell me, when will these things happen?

[4:39] And what will be the sign that they are about to be fulfilled? So there's a couple things going on I can only hit on on this thing, basically. Number one was, here the disciples are saying, Look at this magnificent temple.

[4:51] And I think, was it you, John, or did the other John show the temple or whatever the case may be? It was the other John, yes. And it was wonderful. You know, we just picture there's a temple just sitting there by itself. It has this huge courtyard.

[5:02] It's acres. It's lots of buildings. And they have an outer room. They have a place for the priest to be. They got the temple. It's a wonderful kind of gathering place for the Jews to gather.

[5:13] So here they see this magnificent building. It's kind of like going to the Grand Canyon. And you see all these things. And you're seeing all the rocks and the color and how this thing was formed and mountains and everything else.

[5:26] And you're with your best friend. You say, Isn't this wonderful? And he says, Oh, by the way, this is going to be a rubble of dirt in time. They had to think, What? But I'm kind of in this, one of this magnificent moment.

[5:41] And you're telling me there isn't going to be a stone left on top of each other. So notice again, they talk privately. So in the bay later on, they go out where Mount of Olives, where Jesus will return, where his feet will come back.

[5:54] It's his favorite kind of place to be at. And notice they talk to him privately. And they're kind of saying, Hey. And why are they doing it privately? Why do they just say, Hey, what do you mean by this? Because the talk about destroying the temple could have been considered an insurrection.

[6:12] It would have been looked down upon easily, like I said again. It would have been looked as treason to the Jews. So they were kind of like, Hmm. And they've got to take this a little bit one step further.

[6:24] Prior to that, they were just with Jesus. He's flipping tables. He's throwing stuff around. Now he's talking about the temple's going to be busted down to nothing but rocks and rubble. They had to be like, Ooh, slow down here.

[6:37] You're really jumping here for us. We don't quite grasp all this. So long story short, again, and privately, again, why? Because again, it would be looked upon as treason to them. Again, these stunned disciples knew that mentioning destruction in the temple was a capital offense, leading to death.

[6:54] Jews considered it treason. After that table-flipping moment, the Pharisee responded, What sign can you show us to prove you have the authority to do this? Isn't that not happening today?

[7:08] What sign, what authority does Jesus Christ have to do with today? Again, like I said, here it's back then. It's still happening today. And it goes on a little bit further on that.

[7:21] And Jesus replied, Destroy this temple. And I'll raise it again in three days.

[7:39] He's talking about himself. So we knew in Mark, when he got done doing it, you'd think they would have said, Well, let's think about it. Who is this guy? He's doing a bunch of miracles.

[7:49] No, they thought about, We've got to kill this guy. We've got to figure some way to get rid of him. And he knew it was on their hearts. And he says, You destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it, raise it back up.

[8:05] All of us get to enjoy that moment. And we will all rise, absent of the body, presence of the Lord. We will be in his presence.

[8:16] Like that. Praise God. Continue on. Verse, I should get my little clicker here so I make sure I move forward. These are all new things for me.

[8:28] Normally I'm kind of a guy who just wings it from the top here. Anyway, so verses 5 through 13, so bear with me. Jesus said to him, Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming I am he, and will deceive many.

[8:39] And when you hear the wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen. But the end will still come. Nations will rise against nations. Kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes, various places, and famines.

[8:51] These are the beginning of the birth pains. If anything I know about pregnancy, which I'm not saying I'm an expert, but I've seen six, actually eight births in my lifetime.

[9:06] So I've seen a few of them. There is that time where the pain is there and every woman will nod their head. But when they're getting into that intense moment, that thing goes to a whole new, like I said, level.

[9:20] And I don't know, women have got super, I won't digress, but it's amazing how fast they could be. I'm with my wife and I'm looking and she's going through this pain and it's just discouraging me. And then five minutes later, holding that child like nothing happened.

[9:34] But in that tense moment, I think she would have ripped my throat out. But when that's done and somehow holding that child, everything's forgiven. Boy, if that isn't grace, I don't know what it is.

[9:45] But it's powerful. But again, Jesus says, these are the beginning birth pains. And he goes on, he says, you must be on guard and keep that in mind. Remember the opening sentence here, Jesus said to him, watch out.

[9:57] This thing is chock full of watch outs, be on guards. That's the main theme of this thing, if you get anything from it. Jesus is telling us the church.

[10:08] He's telling us. Now, we've been grafted in. I can't teach on that. But Ephesians 2, 11, just go through that. Read it through, I think, verse 21. It tells about the two has become one. So how it goes for Israel goes for us, the church.

[10:21] Netanyahu has some points when he says, hey, we're taking the blunt first. But trust me, you United States, you're next on the list. I mean, I know a lot of this stuff goes on the radar screen.

[10:32] I mean, I'm not here to give a lot of teaching on this, but a lot more Christians today are being martyred than any other time. So again, he's saying, be on guard. Watch out. Don't be deceived.

[10:42] That's another thing. Keep all three of these gospels open the same way. Let no one deceive you. That is a positioning statement in marketing. If I'm going to give an ad, I want something to come across who I am.

[10:55] And that, Jesus is saying, watch out, because deception is going to be wild. And it goes on. It says, you must be on guard. You'll be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues.

[11:08] On account of me, you'll stand before governors, kings, and witnesses to them. And the gospel must be preached to all nations. And whenever you're arrested and you brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say.

[11:19] Just say whatever is given to you at that time, for it is not your speaking, but the Holy Spirit. I'd love to teach on that, but I can't. But boy, praise God, we receive the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus Christ.

[11:31] How else would I know what is perfect and willing and his most holy will is, unless I have the Holy Spirit? How else can I say John's word? He must become greater. Christ must become greater in my life.

[11:43] And I must become less. You don't need Jim Munson in there. You need Christ. So we learn here. And again, like I said, brother will betray brother to death.

[11:54] And the father is child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Isn't that incredible? We're seeing a little taste of that. And here we go. Everyone will hate you because of me.

[12:06] Key words there. Listen to that. Those Jews don't quite full understand that. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Jesus is telling them, you cry out for me, you'll be saved.

[12:17] So the point kind of get here, some of the main themes we're trying to say is first place in this chapter is, Jesus says some sort of be on guard, be aware, something of that nature. On verse 9, verse 5, 9, 23, 33, 35, 36.

[12:32] Even at the end, he closes it really strong here about being on guard. That is his main theme. Because he knows we're going to fall asleep. And again, like I said, it goes on here a little bit.

[12:44] Again, I ask you, excuse me, I ask you, is there more or less wars and rumors of wars which he talked about? How about nations rising against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms?

[12:55] How about boycotts, sanctions, persecution, cyber piracy, terrorist attacks? And the list all goes on. These are the days of the birthing pains.

[13:08] We are watching it, yes, unfold in real time. If you can stomach watching news, and I'm not trying to say it so negative, for more than five minutes, just watch what's going on.

[13:19] And watch the deception. Watch the agenda, the narrative that's coming underneath there. Again, like I said, we get this dosage, no matter if we want it or not.

[13:30] You open your phones up, I don't care where you go. When I watch TV, and I don't watch a lot of TV, even commercials are always using these little coy statements of using derogatory statements, but you know what they mean by that word, and I won't bring it here in this church.

[13:44] But they're constantly, no matter how much I just come out of God's word, somehow they're pushing that into me. They say, I want you to get a taste of that lie. I want you to have a little taste of our wickedness and immoralness.

[13:58] This is what's telling me the birthing pains, as I said before, when the woman gets close in that birthing canal, it's getting intense. And he's given some shots of this, what this intensity is going to look like.

[14:11] Again, like I said, this is all vying and leading up to the Antichrist, who's going to be someday coming on this stage. And again, but even then, there'll be great unrest.

[14:23] Today, more than ever, more than ever in any other time, people want, and they literally saw some stats on this, but I won't go, one world government, one world leader.

[14:36] Nobody's happy with their leaders. They want a one world leader. They want a one world religion. They want that coexisting thing. We're in this days of this situation.

[14:47] We want one currency, one health care. I don't mean to go politically. What is our government shutting down health care? Can't get in, can't get the agreement, can't somehow work it out.

[15:00] We're there. And it goes on. Again, like I said, and then when you go through verses 9 through 13, again, we get the second warning. Jesus says, be on guard.

[15:12] You're going to be handed over. And again, like I said, it continues on saying that, this is probably the biggest piece. He says that they will hate you because of me.

[15:22] Now, again, there's a lot of stuff on chalk there, but I'm just going to cut to that chase. They're going to hate. The Jews don't grasp that yet. They don't fully see that. A lot of times they've asked Christians and they come over and help them.

[15:34] They ask them, why do they hate us so bad? They don't grasp us. So here I'm going to give a little insight here. Again, first of all, at present, most Jews don't believe in Jesus and many despise his name.

[15:48] But it's because of his name that nation remains and they are in that land. But they don't care for it. I'm doing, I'm generalizing. I'm not saying there isn't Messianic Jews, but in generalizing.

[16:00] And again, they don't fully understand that. Again, we say here that, excuse me, God's holy name is on the Jews. It's on the nation. It was a covenant that was given to Abraham in Genesis 15, where God alone walked through as a burning torch, consummating this agreement.

[16:18] By his namesake, he put Abraham under a deep sleep. Why? Because no man could walk through there without failing. No man could go on that cross without failing.

[16:33] He had to walk it by himself. And praise God he did. Because there's many great ones in Hebrews 11 that call that the hall of faith, with David and Samson even.

[16:44] But even, like I said, Moses, Abraham, all have fallen short of the glory of God. But we had one that didn't. To put this again to a little bit further, I'm going to talk about the name, and I can't go real deep.

[16:58] But I'm going to Daniel 7, Daniel 9, I'm sorry, verse 17, if anybody wants to follow along. But I'm going to jump in there real quick, and I'm going to jump real quick out of there. But 917, here's what it says.

[17:10] Now, our God, hear this prayer and petition. This is David, I mean, excuse me, David, but Daniel crying out, because he realized the 70 years are almost up, and he's asking for repentance for his nation and for his people.

[17:25] Just read Daniel's prayer in chapter 9 sometime. But listen, it says, Now our God, hear the prayer and petition of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolated sanctuary.

[17:36] Now, he's not pointing at himself, isn't it? The desolated sanctuary. Give your ear, O God, and hear and open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name.

[17:49] The Jews are going nowhere unless God says they're leaving. They will stay there. But listen to what else he says. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.

[18:06] O Lord, listen. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hear and act. For your sake, O my God, do not delay because your city and your people bear your name.

[18:22] They got a bullseye on their backside, and they don't understand it, but the name is Jesus, Yeshua, their Messiah. This is why Israel is constantly under being attacked.

[18:33] We know it's not this war going on. It's that war. It's between Satan and God, the authority where John was talking about. This is what it's about.

[18:43] Who's going to run this earth? Who's authority? Jesus said in the Our Father, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[18:56] He's telling us, I am the authority. But Satan's doing a heck of a bang-up job down here. Many are falling under deception. I guarantee you, this is not going to be easy for even us who are believers.

[19:10] Go back again. I'm going to continue here. And he says, I need to flip here, don't I? Yep. Ooh, way to go.

[19:21] Thank you, Martha. Thank you, girl. When you see the abomination that caused desolation, standing where it does not belong, we all know that came from Daniel. Let the reader understand.

[19:31] Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to enter in their house, take anything out. Let no one on the field go back to their cloaks. How dreadful it will be those days for a pregnant woman and a nursing mother.

[19:47] Pray that it will not take place in winter. Listen to all the things he's telling us. Because those days of distress, unequaled, boy, this isn't the key piece.

[19:57] From the beginning, when God created the world until now and never be equaled again. I think sometimes we get this false feeling that the tribulation isn't so bad or the first three and a half years.

[20:10] They're all bad. It's a great amount of distress for mankind, those who are left behind. Not only that, three quarters of the world of eight billion people are better living today die.

[20:24] Die. I don't know how many gets raptured prior that I believe in dispensation. I'll just say it this way, that we are pre-rapped. But long story short, three quarters of eight billion.

[20:38] It's incredible. No wonder he says, unequal and never be equaled again. He'll never see this again. But this is the things we're standing up to. This is the thing we're fighting. So I kind of quickly went to this and I used my own terms.

[20:53] Again, I'm going to age myself a little bit. I'm going to use a Marshall Dillon thing. Basically, Jesus is saying to these Jews, get out of Dodge. Don't go back for your cell phone.

[21:04] Don't go back for your laptop. Don't go back for your credit card, your Visa card, or whatever. Don't go back for even whatever. Your favorite photo. He's saying, get out.

[21:16] And then he tells them, again, you've got to remember, the temple's going to be operating. They already signed a peace agreement. They're under the law now. They're back doing the law. So he throws in there, make sure it's not during the wintertime.

[21:28] Make sure it's not during the Sabbath. He's throwing all these legalist things to them, telling them, you're going to be back under the law. Now then they probably have no big deal, but the law had a law that said, you couldn't walk over three quarters of a mile a day.

[21:41] If you were, you were breaking the law. Well, they're sure they're going to have to go further than three quarters of a mile, because the Antichrist is going to be on top of them. And again, we know what this abomination is.

[21:53] Now I'm going to skip just a little bit my personal view, but I believe it's the Antichrist. I think it's an AI thing. It's going to be something put out one time back. I thought it was going to be something on a screen like this, but I don't think it's going to be.

[22:06] I think it's going to be something very similar to him, that talks like him, does all the things like him. And they're saying, worship him. And this is what I'm getting at. This is the abomination.

[22:17] I know some think back in the latter days or whatever, and epiphanies and things like that, but I disagree a little bit with that. I believe it literally is going to happen. It didn't happen prior.

[22:29] And Jesus is talking about the futuristic of this thing. So basically, again, I'm going to jump back here just a little bit, covering this thing.

[22:41] Remember, the third temple will be in effect, and the law will be fully practiced, meaning no one works on the Sabbath. The weather will play a factor, illness, age, pregnancy. A lot of them won't be able to do it.

[22:54] And again, like I said, it plays into this distressful time that we're seeing. And again, as the days of the Noah, man's heart will be on evil all the time. This is going to be a wicked time. This will be like on steroids, unequal from the beginning of time, killing, immorality, idolatry, witchcraft, will be common practices.

[23:13] It won't be no big deal. I mean, we see it kind of every day, but this will be common. In fact, it will be supported and sometimes celebrated as we found out by others when they're killed.

[23:23] That's what I'm saying. And again, it goes on, it says, last of the abomination that caused the desolation. That's in Daniel 9, 27. But Jesus is talking about the seven-year tribulation.

[23:36] I believe he's talking about a futuristic thing. It's going to happen. So with that and going, we're going to continue to fly through here. I know I'm going fast, but bear with me.

[23:47] We are doing well. Time's kind of hanging in there. I'll just slow the clock. I guess we can move it back an hour, we can move it forward an hour. No, it's just easy. Play with time. Okay, verse 20 through 23.

[24:00] Martha, if you want to put, yes, sir. If the Lord had not cut those days short, and I'm sure, we'll get to that, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

[24:14] At that time, if anyone says to you, look here, the Messiah, or look, there he is, do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders.

[24:24] Think that these people will have power. This will be more of a supernatural time to deceive. Like I said, not to do good. Again, like I said, it's incredible. Signs and wonders.

[24:35] Deceive. If possible, even the elect, he's talking about the one-third of the Jews that are going to make it through. Even those, the 144,000, he could include. So what's he say again?

[24:45] So be on guard. I've told you everything ahead of time. This is so important that we start looking at this more realistically. This is the time, like I said, where there's going to be false prophets and messiahs.

[24:59] We have this today. People predict all the time when the rapture of the church is going to happen and it doesn't happen because we know no one knows the day or the hour. But we have people constantly do it. But I think back then, I can only speculate a little bit, but I believe deception will be to lure people.

[25:17] Some may be to even, like I said, persecute the Jews. They'll be looking for the Messiah. They'll say, come on out here, he's over there. Others, I really believe it's more just to do evil, just to add to the confusion.

[25:29] Satan's just going to continue to make people feel very confused. And what is to believe? Because you've got to remember, during this time, the Antichrist will eventually put out there that if you don't take the mark, you don't buy or sell, and if I catch you, you won't live.

[25:47] That's just the short version, but that's what he's saying. And there's going to be plenty of Gentiles that are not going to take that mark. In fact, I believe more will come during the tribulation, the way it sounds like in Revelation, with people giving up their life to Christ, then it will be the rapture of the church prior.

[26:07] But people will. It's a strong stand of faith. So I'm encouraging, like I said again, to witness to your brothers and sisters that are on the fence post.

[26:17] And somebody might say, well, you know, they'll be here, but they'll remember your words. Witness to everybody, but they will. I know I try every day, try to witness to somebody.

[26:29] One of my prayers every day is God, send me somebody that's looking for you. And a lot like John, a lot of times, I run across someone and I'm thinking, he's not looking for you.

[26:40] And I'm trying to talk myself out of it because this guy doesn't even like the word of God. And I got to tell him who Jesus is. But I continue. And God works on my heart.

[26:50] I feel like Jeremiah, like I'm burning inside. So I'm like, hey, how's it going? How's things going for you? And things of that nature. But that's what we are. That's what we need to be doing because we are in his last days.

[27:03] We have this. This don't fall out. We have the story. We know what's going to happen. We should be celebrating, actually, not the idea that the Jews are going to suffer, but we know what's going to happen.

[27:16] Someday, the utopia is going to be on the earth for a thousand years, it tells us in the book of Revelation. Someday, Jesus is going to return back. A third of the Jews will go through the fire and we are going to live in a time that is just unreal.

[27:31] For a thousand years, he will sit on the throne. It will be okay to pray at a football game. It will be okay. Yeah, isn't that it? It will be okay at graduation to say, I'm going to give glory to God.

[27:43] And no one's going to say, well, we've got to discuss that. It will happen. We won't lock our doors. We won't hear an ambulance. We won't go to a celebration of life.

[27:55] Death will be no more. No more. Where Paul says, oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where is your victory? We will be stomping on those ashes saying, you have no more rule on us for the king has come back.

[28:17] So as we read this from 20 to 23, let's go to next to verse 24, verse 24 through 27. But those days, following that distress, he says, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give light.

[28:30] The stars will not fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time, the people will see, be on guard, the Jews and the world will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory and he'll send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds and from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

[28:54] I'm going to jump just one chance. I'm going to take this anyway. Hopefully I got a few times here. But I'm going to go to Mark 25 just to kind of explain. I believe this is where Jesus is running it to. We all know about it.

[29:05] It's the separating the sheep from the goats. If you go to Matthew 25, verse 31, I believe that's where he's heading us. Similar words. So Matthew 25, 31.

[29:18] It says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, but in those days, like I said, when the Son of Man comes in his glory, all the angels be with him.

[29:31] He will sit on the throne of David. I put that in. He will sit on the throne in the heavenly glory. And all nations will be gathered before him. Those are the survivors. And he'll separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goat.

[29:46] He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. And then the king will say to those to his right, Come, you are blessed by my Father.

[29:57] Take your inheritance. This is not a heavenly thing. This is an earthly thing. He's saying, Come and take your land and inherit it. I'm going to bless you now.

[30:09] And the kingdom prepared before you since the creation of the world. has been given to them. Everything in that thousand years will come out of Israel.

[30:22] And if you don't come, even they're going to still have that temple and they're still going to do burnt offerings and I don't fully all grasp everything. But it says in Zechariah, if you don't come when you're supposed to bring your offering, you'll have the plagues like Egypt have.

[30:36] You'll have famines. You'll have droughts. Your nation won't prosper. And everybody will know why not. It'll all go through Israel this time.

[30:46] Where it was supposed to way back when Jesus was on the streets walking himself. But they denied it. But they won't this time. This is the power we have. But this is the holy word of God.

[30:57] This is the knowledge that God is giving us. This is what we all understand best. The return and gathering the Jews is an angeletical power. He will raise a banner, it says in Isaiah 11, 12, it says, He will raise a banner and gather the exiles of Israel.

[31:14] He will assemble the scattered people of Judea from the four corners of the earth. I'm going to also jump real quick here to Zechariah 13.

[31:26] If people want to follow again, I'm going to just jump and hopefully I think we can hit that once. Zechariah 13, verse 7. It says here, The shepherd struck and the sheep scattered.

[31:39] Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me, declares the Lord Almighty. Strike the shepherd and the sheep and they will scatter. And I will turn my hand against the little ones and the whole land, declares the Lord.

[31:53] And he says, Two-thirds will be struck down and perished. This is during the tribulation. Two-thirds of the Jews will die. Yet one-third will be left in it. They'll be there on earth. This is the ones that got out of Dodge.

[32:05] The one-third will bring in, the one-third will be bring into the fire. Look at Gaza. I will refine them like silver and test them like gold and they will call on my name.

[32:20] Whew! And I will answer them. And I will say, they are my people. And they will say, the Lord is our God.

[32:31] That's what we know is going to happen at the end. They will cry out in Matthew 23, I think in verse 37. They will give a cry. This is what we have to look forward to.

[32:43] If God is faithful to Israel, and we know that about 90-some percent of them are unbelievers in Yeshua, and he's faithful to them because of his namesake, because he walked through that, he will be faithful to us and what we're facing.

[33:02] It should build us all the more. I think Mark Twain even talked about it when he went there. He said there was a land that he said not even weeds want to grow. Have you ever noticed with the Jews, whenever they get dispersed, no one takes over their land because it doesn't grow.

[33:16] It is deserted until they come back. And we know May, in 1948, they came back. What is Israel now? Beautiful. It's a beautiful country.

[33:29] This is what I'm saying. This is God's land. The Jews ain't in it. It dies. They come back. It comes back to life. Sounds like resurrection to me. It sounds like giving your life and being redeemed.

[33:41] But this is what happens. This is the same thing, like I said. It's on his namesake. Let's go to the next verse. We'll continue to keep going forward here. Verse 28 through 31, we're going to go to.

[33:52] Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it's where?

[34:04] Near. Right at the door. I believe Jesus is putting his hand on that door handle and rattling it. Saying, I'm coming.

[34:16] So let's not get caught asleep and let's be on guard. And he goes on and says, truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away. He's not talking about that generation.

[34:27] He means the ones during the tribulation will not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away. Notice this, but my words will never. If you notice, Peter talks about this in the book of Revelation 2.

[34:40] The earth and heaven will someday be torched by fire. It will not exist. And you'll say, well, why is that? And it talks about a new Jerusalem will come down from heaven.

[34:51] The reason it won't is because man's DNA is on earth. That sinful nature is still here even during the millennial. And in heaven, the evil one dirtied that up.

[35:07] And God won't allow either one anymore on this earth. He will torch the earth even though the millennial is a great time and it prospered and it's beautiful. And heaven too. But notice that the new Jerusalem, but his word, this Bible, will still be in effect.

[35:21] It will still be the truth. It will stand on its own merit. So as we close this down here and go down to the next verse, I believe, where we're at. Yep, 32 through 37.

[35:34] I'm just going to make sure. One more thing here. I'm going to might, let me look here. I'm in Zechariah real quick here, so I might look. Zechariah, I'm going to read from this. We've got a few minutes. 12, 3 through 9.

[35:48] And I'm going to jump in the middle there a little bit, but I'm going to go on. It says, I'm going to start. Yes, I'm going to start in verse 4.

[35:58] On that day, I'll strike every horse with panic and rider. And this is about the return of Christ at the Armageddon, declares the Lord. I will keep a watchable eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind the horses of the nations.

[36:10] Then the leaders of Judah will say to their hearts, the people of Jerusalem are strong because the Lord Almighty is their God. On that day, I will make the leaders of Judah like a fire pot in a wood pile, like a flame torch among the sheaves.

[36:22] They will consume the right and the left all surrounding people, but Jerusalem will remain. That is God saying. Not the Jews, not because the Jews are great, not that they're perfect.

[36:36] It is God's reputation that is sitting on Israel. And like I said before, this is not a war here. This is a war here going on between the enemy and Christ.

[36:47] And like I said, the Jews are the spoils. If there's no Jews to cry out, Jesus can't return. As he says, I tell you, you, when you cry out, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, I will return.

[37:04] But if there's no Jews, there's no cry out. If there's no cry out, Satan runs the earth. Now we know it's not going to happen that way. I just read that a third will go through the fire. But he's going to keep viling for this every day.

[37:17] He's going to keep trying to tempt this. So, again, like I said, starting in verse 32 here, a little bit about the lessons of the fig tree.

[37:27] I'll just touch on that in verse 28. Basically, fig tree represents Israel as a nation and God's prophetic time clock. The hour hand went to the minute since May 14, 1948, when Israel returned back to the land.

[37:40] Their past 77 years have been a testing ground for Israel. They live under constant fear, attacks, because of his namesake and the coveting made with Abraham. That tiny nation of Jews doesn't really know it, but they have a giant bullseye on their backside and his name is Jesus.

[37:57] This is where we're getting at. The zeal of the Lord will prevail and my word will not return void, says Isaiah. So the last verses, 32 through 37, says, but the day of the Lord, no one knows the hour.

[38:12] Not even the angels in heaven nor the sun, but only the Father. Be guard. Be on guard and be alert. You know that the time will come like a man going away.

[38:24] He leaves the house. He puts his servant in charge and each with their assigned task, that's us, the church, and tells us that the one at the door is to keep watch. That is us.

[38:35] Therefore, keep watch. Here's the second time. Because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows or at the dawn.

[38:47] If he comes suddenly, which we know it's in a twinkle of an eye, do not let him find you sleeping. It goes on and says, what I say to you, I say to everyone.

[38:58] Now he's including us. Watch. We need to watch the times. We need to see what's going on today. Like I said, this convergence, why is it lawlessness is so prevalent?

[39:14] Because we are hitting those days. This is where he was forewarning the Jews and he's forewarning us. These are where he's getting to that point. The tendering, the testing, the tendering of the Jewish nation continues to this day.

[39:27] anti-Semitism and wars are converging, signs convincing the prophetic clock even closer to the hour. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and forceful people lay hold of it.

[39:45] It's in Matthew 11, 12. We all know this present battle isn't about a horizontal issue such as land, history, or politics. No, those are secondary. The real battle is a vertical one between God and Satan.

[39:57] It's about authority and power and kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and strong men lay hold of it. It's what we should be doing. Don't go back.

[40:10] Don't wean back. But he goes on and says, but we know also that Satan's one that's trying to grab hold of it too and deception robs men's heart of the truth.

[40:21] That's why deception is going to be so prevalent. It's going to be hard to find truth. We are that strong man and as God's watchmen it's our duty to stand watch and guard and speak out when evil advances.

[40:36] So again, like I said, I'm going to leave it sit there. I could go to Ezekiel but I'm going to let that go. We're getting close to about this hour here. I don't know if you can advance one more slide, Martha.

[40:47] So here I have a temporary moment if you can bear with me a little bit on this and I want to see if this thing does, oh it does but kind of not. I wonder if I used mine.

[41:00] Oh, oh at the monitor that does it, huh? Let me see if I can just do it. I'll do it this way. Thank you. So if you look here and I'm going to take you real quick to this because we're eventually going to get to this more often and we're going to be able to understand.

[41:16] It's going to seem rather confusing and a lot of things but basically we start back here. This is the Garden of Eden and the Old Testament and Jesus again three-year ministry. So through the Old Testament up to Jesus three-year ministry.

[41:28] This is where I'm teaching. This is where Jesus is telling the disciple what's going on. Now, I'm going to give you two versions here. One goes like this and one goes like this and continues.

[41:42] So the Jews, the disciples, even after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, they were presuming it was a straight line after his death. They were going to go right into right here.

[41:57] They weren't going to experience this, any of this stuff, let alone what this is going on. They thought they were going to go right over here. As soon as Jesus died, we're going to be persecuted, which they were, the seven-year tribulation in.

[42:09] He's going to return. We're going to set up for the millennial, the new Jerusalem. We're going to eternity. Even Paul didn't fully understand this until more toward his end of his career. But here God does something really different here.

[42:21] After his death, here's where we're at. We are right now in a 2,000 years of his grace. The church is established, the Gentiles, this ain't the right word, grafted in with the Jews, and we are living this time.

[42:36] Now, what ends up happening, I believe, in a predisposition that we get raptured and then this line starts. As soon as they sign that peace treaty, it starts.

[42:48] So you can see the Jews were a little bit confused, especially the apostles, because they believe that Jesus is in their lifetime. If you read close enough their writings, they're thinking he's coming back. They're thinking he's going to return in seven years, we're just going to be persecuted and life's going to go on.

[43:01] But it isn't. Here, lo and behold, we have this 2,000 years of grace where we are now sitting today. We are actually, the only and biggest prophetic thing can happen next, to me, is the imminent rapture of the church.

[43:17] And the reason I just wanted to show that a little bit is because, again, sometimes we read this and we don't fully understand, well, why are the Jews doing this, or why is Paul writing this way, or why is Peter writing this way? And the reason is because they felt it was a direct line.

[43:29] They didn't think there was going to be this moment of a parenthesis of 2,000 years paused. But that's where we're at. But we are coming toward the end of this thing. We can't continue down this path.

[43:41] We can't continue to keep living this way of lifestyles that we're seeing. I mean, I worked for Clarity Claim for a few years. Millions of babies killed every year. Innocent blood.

[43:52] We're at a number that's unreal. That's just children. It's just insane. So all I'm just going to get at is we're going to pray here. Harold, if you're ready, come on up. I'm going to ask God, thank you, Lord.

[44:03] I appreciate the time you've given me, God. I pray that I didn't confuse people. I also pray, God, that you and you alone is what we need to stay focused on. If we don't fully understand everything, that's okay.

[44:16] We don't need to. We just need to know that you are with us and that you continue to guide us through these days. And remain faithful. Don't lose your position with God.

[44:27] I know it's difficult. I know that times are tough. But be grateful and continue to thank God because we know that we are in probably the greatest time ever to witness, to tell people about who Jesus is, and to walk through this faith and look forward for his coming.

[44:45] And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.