 With that said no more excuses we'll look at our passage before us mark chapter 13 beginning at verse 1 Then as he went out of the temple One of his disciples said to him teacher See what manner of stones in what buildings are here and Jesus answered and said to him do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple Peter James John and Andrew asked him privately Tell us when will these things be and What will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled and? Jesus answering them began to say take heed that no one deceives you For many will come in my name saying I am he and will deceive many But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars Do not be troubled for such things must happen But the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be earthquakes in various places and There will be famines Troubles these are the beginning of sorrows So what we're doing just to bring you up to speed is we're looking at the last events of The last week of Jesus's earthly ministry Now Jesus has just finished teaching in the temple He had taken his men aside to teach them concerning Faith-filled giving and he did so as he observed a poor widow who is giving her gifts to the Lord So after teaching them they've left the temple They're heading for the Mount of Olives and that's where we pick up our story Because it says in verse 1 as he went out of the temple one of his disciples said to him teachers see what manner of stones and What buildings are here now as he's pointing out the temple we need to know something of the history of Israel We need to know that the temple during that day was a magnificent structure. It was incredibly beautiful It was actually what is called the second temple because the first temple had been built under King Solomon and Solomon's temple had been destroyed in 586 The Babylonians had overthoned Judah. They destroyed the temple So after around 60 years in captivity because they took them captive and all Cyrus Allowed the Jews to return you see that in the Old Testament book of Ezra in chapter 1 So under the rubble they had laid the foundation for a second temple Now during the time of Jesus the second temple had been going through Renovation Herod the great Began to work on its beautification and that work that he had begun had continued for many years as a matter of fact In the Gospel of John in chapter 2 verse 20 Jesus is speaking with with the Jewish leaders and all and he had said Destroyed this temple and in three days. I will raise it up again and in response the Jews said in John 2 20 It has taken 46 years to build this temple and you will raise it up in three days So they speak concerning the longevity of the construction It had been going for some time Even though John adds a footnote to that and says he spoke concerning the temple of his body But that tells us how long they had been working to beautify and restore and renovate this particular beautiful temple And the disciples were overwhelmed with its beauty Luke 21 verse 5 says some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful Stones and with gifts that had been dedicated to God One commentator said it like this. He said Herod's temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world a beautiful building and a marvel of engineering Josephus who was an eyewitness of the temple Reported the exterior of the building lacked nothing that could astound either mind or eye To approaching strangers it appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain For all that was not overlaid with gold was of purest white And so even from a distance they would see gold in the beautiful white Stones and all of that beautiful temple. It was amazing It was an amazing piece of architecture and this this this this piece of architecture had amazed them And that's why you see in verse 1 as he went out of the temple one of his disciples said to him teacher See behold what manner of stones what buildings are here? And so they're amazed at it. It's magnificent You see some of the stones were 40 feet by 12 feet by 12 feet And they weighed over a hundred tons They were quarried as a single piece and transported many miles to the building site to keep the sound of man's labor Out of that area. It was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts the gifts that are spoken of are those donations That were dedicated to the Lord So the rich had given gifts of gold sculptors and gold plaques other treasures and and these valuable gifts were displayed on the Walls or suspended from the roof and the disciples were overwhelmed by its beauty, but Jesus wasn't Notice his response in verse 2 the answer and he said to him Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down Not one stone is going to remain. It's all going to be torn up So what we're looking at today has been called the Olivet discourse and It deals with conditions prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ in the 260 chapters of the New Testament Jesus's return is mentioned around 318 times That means that one verse in every 25 specifically mentions the Lord's return out of the 27 New Testament books only the books of Galatians and second and third John do not mention the second coming Now as Christians the anticipation of being with Jesus is what fuels us It was what is intended to direct our lives this hope provokes us to be open and Unashamed followers of Jesus Christ You see Jesus said that he was going to return for us and those who love him wait for him in John 14 verses 2 and 3 Jesus said in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I Go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also I Will take you to be with myself in my father's house are many mansions When you go to Israel you have opportunities to go into various areas and receive Not only Bible studies, but insights from the guides that are provided for us and in last time We went one of the guides was speaking concerning a few things that I thought were the of repetition here in our Bible study as I introduced this study He had spoken concerning the fact that during the days of Christ and all they they had houses that would be built the Father would build the house the father and the wife They'd have their children and at that time the children were not going to move out necessarily what they would do Is they would build on the father's house an addition and so there were different additions And so if it was a large family there'd be a large Additions a many addition so when Jesus is speaking and he says in my father's house are our many dwelling places in the King James that says in my father's house are many mansions well we in the 20th 21st century What we did with that is we started thinking of mansions the way that you may think of when you watch TV And you see these mansions that that that American the American rich live in and that's not what the word means the word mansion There is not speaking of of these ornate palaces. It's speaking of homes dwelling places So in my father's house are many dwelling places of what Jesus was saying it would mean that the father would build the house Actually the husband built the house they had children he and his wife and then They would build additions to that and that would make a compound a family compound That's something that some of us are familiar with because when I grew up my grandmother and my grandfather my grandfather bought a couple of acres of land off of Pioneer Boulevard in Norwalk by the five freeway and They had a couple acres there my my grandfather built a house He had a house that was about 600 square feet that he built with 13 children Yeah, I think about that for a minute, but anyway About I was tiny a little house and but what they did is they built other homes so we had a couple other homes there that were built for his children and So that's the way at one time even here in California That's the way it was if the father had the house They built the rooms and the family would dwell in the same property Well, it's that way in Israel during the time of Christ and that's what Christ is speaking on Jesus is speaking about the fact that his father has a house But there are many dwelling places which speaks about the community of believers and how that we as believers I'd be looking forward to having that family lot if you will with the father's house and all of us dwelling there alongside one another That's why it's important for us as believers to understand. There's no such thing as a lone ranger Christian That when we were born again, we were brought by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ We are now one by one spirit have been brought into the one body And it doesn't really matter if that that portion of the body is called Calvary Chapel or if it's called the first Baptist church or whatever We're family. We belong together and so Jesus is preparing that place for us now the anticipation of being with him To being there at the father's house with the community of believers enjoying the fellowship of the Lord is what motivates us and and Causes us to be anticipating Being with him the long to be with him because if he's returning then that ought to provoke us a certain way of living So the question is if he's really returning Then are we ready for his return? You see as Christians were to live expecting him to come at any time Our lives obviously are to be different than those who don't believe that he's returning in First John 3 2 and 3 it says it like this John writes Beloved now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be But we know that when he's revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and Everyone who has this hope in him Purifies himself just as he is pure So we are preparing to be with him our lives are to be morally pure as we're awaiting the one to return Who's going to take us to be with him? So if he's returning Then the question of the hour is really a basic. It's simple. How then should we live if we believe that Christ is returning What kind of life are we to be living? When we're to live a life of patient faith expecting to be with Jesus at any time somebody wrote The soon return of Jesus is the great Bible argument for a pure unselfish devoted unworldly and Active life of service to him if he's even at the door if he's returning soon how then should I live? Well, I live in a way that my life is ordered to be prepared for his return in Luke 12 39 and 40 it says it like this understand this if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming He would not have let his house be broken into You also must be ready because the Son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him He's going to come at that moment that you do not expect him Now here in this chapter. I want to lay a foundation before we begin looking at it verse by verse And Jesus is referring to the second coming. He is not specifically Referred to the rapture of the church. We'll look at that probably in our series as we go through these chapters What he's referring to is the second coming One of my commentators said the second coming of Christ is preceded by a number of world-shaking events That must occur before Jesus returns This is in contrast to the rapture of the church Which is always presented as an imminent event something that will happen soon The second coming is the closing of what God is doing with the world in order to prepare it for Jesus's Millennial kingdom the context of chapter 13 is speaking of his second coming and The teaching is in response to a question that he was asked Now the question is We'll see in just a moment beginning at verse 3 as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple Peter James John and Andrew asked him privately tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things Will be fulfilled you see Jesus in verse 2 had said do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down So there Jesus was ministering there. He was in the temple precincts as we saw He has given them a lesson on giving using a widow who gave her gifts to the Lord as an example As they're walking out and they're in the temple precincts His disciples are overwhelmed with the beauty of this amazing temple and they begin to call his attention to it Well, Jesus makes a statement everything's going to be destroyed And as they're looking at this magnificent structure and everything around it They begin to think so they walk out of the gate and they head out across what is called the brook had drawn When you go to Israel, you'll go past that we go past the brook had drawn quite often And you go up into a hill the Mount of Olives which is to the east and so looking back Towards the gate and the temple Jesus is speaking to his disciples And as he's speaking to his disciples, they're responding to what what he had said Because he's talking about its destruction, but in verse 4 they're asking now. This is James, John, Andrew and Peter They're asking tell us now notice when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled When and what? Jesus as he gives his answer gives the longest answer given in the New Testament to any question And to understand the question we need to understand their expectations. I want to develop this so you can get this context During the time of Christ. There was a great deal of interest in prophetic events the Jews were longing for Rome to be destroyed they were longing for a deliverance From Roman oppression and for the return of Messiah and Israel For centuries Israel have been subject to many foreign rulers and you read your Bible the Assyrians the Babylonians the Medo-Persians the Grecians and now Rome had invaded and were dominating so they longed to be free from the yoke of this pagan foreign tyranny They knew scripture well enough to know that God had made promises to Israel that would include deliverance and a deliverer The deliverer was a coming king. He would rule the nation righteously weak. We call him Messiah in Jeremiah 23 5 and 6 says behold the days come says the Lord that I'll raise unto David a righteous branch and a King shall reign and prosper shall execute judgment and justice in the earth in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our Righteousness there are so many other Prophetic scriptures. I just wanted to touch on that one So they knew that promises had been made. There is a future king coming. He will be the Messiah He will rule in righteousness and justice well During the time of Jesus a set of expectations concerning Messiah had developed They believed that before Messiah came there would be a time of terrible tribulation Then a forerunner like Elijah would be sent after this Messiah would appear and establish his kingdom The unbelieving nations would join forces to fight Messiah The nations opposing him would be destroyed for their opposition Then Jerusalem would be restored the Jews scattered throughout the earth Would be gathered regathered to Israel Israel would be the center of the world all nations would be subject to Messiah and When Messiah began to rule the world would enter eternal peace and joy So that was their set of expectations. That was the common teaching Concerning those things during the time of Christ. So that helps us understand the question that was asked by his men they'd been influenced by the teachings and and Because those those teachings at that time had been accepted. They believe that that's what was to take place You see the Old Testament prophets are the coming of Messiah as a single event At this time they were yet to see that there's something that was later to be revealed called the church age That was understood later, but not at that time So to them the events of Jesus's ministry had followed the course that they had expected Israel was under severe tribulation John the Baptist had presented Christ. Certainly. He's now about to establish his kingdom So as the disciples pointed out the beauty of the temple in response Jesus said that not one stone would be left upon another. It shall all be thrown down Now as they hear that we need to understand that those words were actually literally fulfilled in AD under Titus of Rome Josephus once again writes that Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple Except three towers and a part of the Western wall the Western wall by the way continues to this day It's been referred to as the whaling wall and These were spared But all the rest of the wall was laid so completely even with the ground by those who dug it up to the foundation That there was left nothing to make those that came there believe that had ever been inhabited so in AD 70 it was demolished and So when Jesus is saying that it's it's shocking to them because they're looking at the beautiful buildings in the The gold in everything and then they're just in awe of how how beautiful that building is and Jesus says no It's going to be totally demolished. So he said that and that's why in verse 3 Peter James and Peter James John and Andrew asked them that question and they came to him privately to do so They had crossed the Kidron the sitting to the east of the temple and they asked a question That can be divided into at least two parts at least here in mark first notice. They ask when will these things be? Again, they don't see the church age You see the thought that The thought was that Messiah would establish his rule immediately It's interesting even after Jesus had been asked this question later on it's asked again in Acts chapter 1 verses 6 through 8 It says they gathered round him and asked him Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them it is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth You don't understand the times and the seasons. Those are in the father's hands You have a task you're going to receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you You're going to be filled with the presence of God You're going to take a message to the world and a new creation is going to occur called the church after that point There was Israel and there were Gentiles Humanity and scriptures divided into two in the Old Testament There's a there's a nation of Israel and then there are the Gentile nations all the rest of the nations on the face See there are called Gentiles the Goyim the people of the nations in Old Testament, there's Israel God's people and then there are the Gentiles the nations But in the New Testament humanity is divided into three. There's Israel. There's Gentiles There's the church made up of both Jew and Gentile and you see that in the book of Ephesians very clearly They are not aware of the baptism that's about to come Jesus will give them more teaching Concerning that but the power of the Holy Spirit falling upon them. They're not aware of that at that time They're not aware that God is going to take up the two the Jew and Gentile make the new man The one new man who's fashioned after the image of God. They don't know that they don't know that the Gentiles are going to be Brought into the promises that God gave to the nation of Israel. They don't know that yet So what they're thinking is are you about to do this? What's going to happen? We've seen some of the things that we were prepared for we've seen them take place We've been under that tribulation. We've seen John the Baptist and all of that So this must be the time when you're going to take over as Messiah. Is that going to happen now? That's their question When will these things be but also they ask what would be the sign? I want you to notice this I'm going to develop this with you. What will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled? What will be the sign? Notice how Jesus begins to answer them in verse five What does he say take heed that you that no one deceives you for many will come in my name saying I am he and Will deceive many I'm going to spend some time with you looking at this. What is the sign? You're going to notice in a moment as we all know He's going to speak of other things But the question is answered in the singular not the plural. He they didn't say what would be the signs They said what will be the sign? What is the primary sign that you're about to return the second coming? What should we be aware of that indicates to us that everything's wrapping up and What does he say notice what he says in verse five take heed that no one deceives you He says that again in verse 21 through 23 notice If anyone says to you look here is the Christ or Look, he's there. Do not believe it for false Christ and false prophets will rise and show signs and Wonders to deceive if possible even the elect take heed see I have told you all things before hand He repeats this in Matthew. He does it three to four times He repeats this here in Mark. We see it repeated also But what is the sign? spiritual deception take heed Now when he says take heed this is something you have responsibility for that I have responsibility for Christians are to personally take care not to be deceived. I Personally am to know scripture well enough to guard myself against spiritual Deception you see as time progresses attacks on Christian faith will increase and this is something We are to be aware of and this is something that we must guard ourselves against spiritual deception Deception is the method Satan uses to prepare the way for anti Christ There will be a tax and there have been attacks on Biblical inerrancy can I trust the Bible the divine nature of Jesus? Oh, he's a second. He's the first creation of God the resurrection of Jesus. Oh, he wasn't physically resurrected He was only spiritually resurrected and the return from Jesus No, what he's talking about is that he's going to have his presence among people in church I've heard these things over the years after I got saved but there have been attacks on the literal fulfillment and Description of all these things from the beginning from the beginning There was warnings given to the church that there were deceivers who are going to come in and do their best to Bring deception in and undermine the hope of the believer in the New Testament Deception is spoken of repeatedly and is a warning to believers. Let me give you a few examples Paul writes in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 now the Spirit Expressly speaks that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils in 2nd Peter chapter 2 verse 1 the apostle Peter writes there were false prophets also among the people Even as there shall be false teachers among you who secretly shall bring indomitable heresies Even deny the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves with destruction John writes in 1st John 4 1 through 3 dear friends do not believe every spirit But test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world This is how you can recognize the spirit of God every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ is coming the flesh is from God But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God This is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world in the book of Jude verses 3 and 4 beloved although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith That was once for all entrusted to the saints for certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago I have secretly slipped in among you They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord the seeds of deception have been in the church since almost from the beginning Paul is there and my lead us and he's having some final instructions that he's given to the elders of the church of Ephesus And as he's meeting with them for the last time face-to-face because he's moving off into a time That he'll not see them again. He's ultimately gonna die He says take heed He says people are gonna rise up from among you and even from yourself Then we'll rise up and draw disciples after themselves He warned and he warned and he warned what is the number one sign? You see a lot of times when we look at the last days and we'll do this in just a moment As we look at the other things that he speaks about the wars and and the nations rising against one another and the famines plagues and things of that Of course, those are all things that we look at. But what is the sign? They said what is the sign they didn't say what are the signs they said what is the sign the number one thing deception false teachers creeping in Undermining who Jesus Christ is Denying the scriptures denying that he's God in the flesh Denying that he's returning Denying the need for salvation through him and Jesus alone All of that has been going from almost the time the church began to preach the gospel The seeds of deception sown in the time of the apostles are still bearing fruit Now that will be especially true as we've studied through the book of Revelation that will be especially true during the tribulation That's why it's so important for us in our day To read the word of God, I want you to notice this again, please Notice how Jesus in verse 5 puts a personal responsibility on the hearer take heed that no one deceives you That puts that responsibility on me I can't blame my pastor chuck. I can't blame another pastor They may influence me in the wrong direction But the warning is given to me on a personal level you take heed that you are not deceived How can I take heed that i'm not deceived? I need to be in the word of god myself I need to have devotions. I need to read the scripture pray through them That's what I did long before I god gave me the the privilege of pastor in a church I would go and buy books and I would open up the bible and I would read and I'd study for myself I wanted to know what the word says And when god gave me the ability to in the permission to and open a door for me to begin teaching others It became even more important then this month. I celebrate my 49th anniversary of my first bible study that ever gave 49 years And so for 49 years I've been dividing the word for 49 years to see what does it mean? How does this work? How do you apply this? What what should I know take heed that you're not deceived? Spend time in the word spend time praying say god What does this mean? And if you can't discover that you do your best you ask others who may know and you grow that's how it works But that's my responsibility You see he speaks concerning deception We're living in a time of spiritual deception right now but not only that In verse seven he says when you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be troubled for such things must happen But the end is not yet Well again keep it in context He's speaking of the tribulation seven years and there are going to be a lot of wars and battles that are taking place And all of that That's something that we are aware of during that period But he's saying that that's going to increase in frequency and intensity as the end of the age nears I was reading that it is estimated That out of our five thousand or so years of history That there has been four thousand years of war In our last century in the 20th century Over 60 million people died in two world wars 60 million He says in verse eight that nation will rise against nation and that kingdom against kingdom again We can see that this is already proceeding in that direction I was reading this this last week that since the year 2000 There have been no less than 53 wars including The one in ukraine But what is he saying notice verse seven he says do not be troubled Because this is all going to take place. This is setting up the return of christ These are just what he calls birth pangs the time of sorrow It's only the beginning. There's more to come Now as we see in revelation these conflicts lead to the final battle the the battle of armageddon Israel's enemies will attack the nation but jesus returns to establish his kingdom And that jesus defeats his enemies and he casts the antichrist and falls profit into the lake of fire This is all awaiting them. It's still the future, but it's going to be taking place like Just preparation notice in verse eight. He speaks of earthquakes and and famines and troubles Now matthew gives more information in matthew 24 6 and 7 You will hear of wars rumors of wars See that you are not troubled For all these things must come to pass But the end is not yet Nation will rise against nation kingdom against kingdom There will be famines pestilence earthquakes in various places There are people who want to use the current events to frighten you And some people will go to church sometimes and come out really angry and frightened I understand how that can take place when you begin to see all of the things taking place and yet I still remember as a new christian. I wasn't more than three years old in christ yet I believe it was after I got out of the service and I was at home And I was staying at my parents house at that time There was a knock on the door and and uh jojoba's witness came knocked on the door. I opened the door. Hello Hi, how are you? I'm a member of jojoba's witnesses. I said, okay And uh, can I share with you about current events and I said, why not? No, I'm a I'm a brand new christian It's not like I've been teaching a whole lot of bibles yet. I I was still learning But when they were speaking to me, I'll never forget our conversation in that they said to me They started reading about the wars rumors of wars and pestilence is the and all of these things And and and they and they were trying to scare me with it And I said, but wait a minute didn't jesus say when you see all of these things look up for your redemption draws nigh I said, why am I supposed to be afraid of these things? This is just close in our history and i'm going to be with the lord See, we're not supposed to be afraid of the return of christ We're supposed to anticipate the return of christ with joy because he's returning for us and yet We have so many people are so upset these are things that ought to provoke us and awaken us that he's returning soon We ought to be aware of those things. We ought to live as if we expect those things He promised it. He said I go and prepare a place for you if I go and prepare a place for you I'll come again receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also Aren't we living our lives in preparation for that moment to see him face to face? So why should I be afraid? I'm not afraid I will be with my master. I will see him face to face He has prepared a place for me. The family will have a reunion. We're going to have a great time And I look forward to that. That's what christians are supposed to do and said a runner around said, oh, I'm so scared. No No I look forward to it Now he speaks concerning these things the earthquakes and famines and troubles. Why not look at that for a moment? Okay, we will Earthquakes Seismic upheavals again you read revelation. You see what takes place here massive earth earthquake canal Well, the us geological survey estimates Several million earthquakes occur in the world each year Many go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small Magnitudes I have been teaching my church church services not only here but here in particular I have taught here during earthquakes earthquakes are going on I didn't feel it because this platform is actually only three or four inches thick of concrete Underneath it. It's a dirt foundation So it's very solid But I was I still remember I was teaching a bible sat down a sunday morning And an earthquake hit I didn't know an earthquake hit I couldn't feel it But I saw people's eyes getting like real big And I turned and I looked in the screen like that and the screen was moving I thought wow We're having an earthquake. See I'm I'm born and raised in california and I've gone through I go through them all the time It's kind of that's just us, you know people. I don't want to live in california I'm afraid of earthquakes good. Just don't move here. Please just don't move here. That's okay fine But other places have hurricanes and tornadoes and so you kind of get used to what you have right? And so for us we have earthquakes and there are many of them, but There has been nearly a 2000 percent increase of major earthquakes since 1900 So there are more earthquakes coming. Yes the ability to be able to To have instruments that can let you know one has happened. That's all become more sophisticated But earthquakes are increasing and jesus said that the earthquakes will continue and that is taking place and we see that They're going to be famines. He speaks of famines. I was reading this is I found interesting The war in ukraine has delivered a shock to global energy markets Now the planet is facing a deeper crisis A shortage of food a crucial portion of the world's wheat Corn and barley is trapped in russia and ukraine because of the war Well, even a larger portion of the world's fertilizers is stuck in russia and balarus The result is that global food and fertilizer prices are soaring Since the invasion within a month wheat price increased by 21 Barley by 33 percent and some fertilizers by 40 China facing its worst wheat crop in decades after severe flooding Is planning to buy much more the world's dwindling supply And news reports have that i've been reading recently and it's been on the news on tv China is buying up a lot of america's farmland right now We're selling america to people who want to destroy us For money the greed is amazing to me We're selling america to those who are making no bones about wanting to destroy us and and uh That's taking place even as i'm reading this right now Now matthew speaks of pestilence That speaks of plagues When you begin to read concerning worldwide occurrences of of pestilence malaria tuberculosis pneumonia Even measles continue producing deaths Many years ago in the 80s a new disease A new virus was discovered I wonder how many in this room remember what it Originally was referred to i'm speaking of hiv aids And i by the way don't say this with any kind of uh uh meanness in my heart because frankly I have performed feud roles for Those who who died of aids but when aids came out We didn't know how aids was being transmitted some of you may remember that We didn't know how it was being transmitted. There were books that were being written This is in the in the mid 80s there were books being written But much of the material you were getting at that time was confusing There were those who were pointing out and saying you can get aids if you if you kiss There were those who were saying you can get aids if you Sit on a toilet seat There were those who were saying you could get aids if someone coughs on you It was much like the covet thing. There were people who were saying things But not everybody knew exactly what was taking place and and so this is we're talking about in the 80s But I wonder all of us have heard of hiv aids, right? How many of you have heard of grids? I really want to know could you raise your hand grids? Okay, do you know that grids is what hiv aids was at one time called? Did you know that? that grid Gay related immunodeficiency syndrome. That's what it was called grids Why was it called grids? Gay related it's like monkey pox today They don't want to tell you how it's being transmitted. Why because it's politically Incorrect to actually point to the source the way when covet came they didn't want to say it came from china Even though I have two an uncle and an aunt who died from the spanish flu I guess I should be upset because they use the word spanish It makes no sense. It's just the origin. This is where it came from that makes sense to me But what we ended up with is people who didn't want to use the word grids Because it wasn't politically correct. We're talking about 85 84 It's already been implanted in our society not to point out the obvious because you're either races or you're homophobic And but that was just what it was. It's simply saying this is how it's being transmitted This helps us to understand how to bring it under control But because of the lobbying it was changed to acquired Immune or deficiencies deficiency syndrome hiv 8 that's how it came about some of you didn't know but that's how it came about So we didn't know what was going on with that particular plague. We didn't know There was so much information that was convoluted. We didn't know so We don't know how it's being communicated. We don't know much about it at all It was pretty much hidden in many ways at that time I received a phone call A woman in our fellowship. My husband is in the hospital. Can you visit him? Well, of course So we go to the hospital to go and pay a hospital visitation I still remember going to the hospital standing outside in this particular This block of the hospital and i'm standing outside looking through glass And a man who has his he had IVs. He had a mask over his face There was just all kinds of things going on as i'm looking at him and i'm wondering What does he have then I see the nurse in attendance. She was wearing one of those spacesuits that they have and She's caring for him And but I look at the wife and the wife was a nurse and the wife is wearing just regular civilian clothes If he will just dress normally and she's not wearing it But this other person is wearing and you know, it doesn't take long for my mind to finally lock in This guy Doesn't just have a cold Something is wrong here. That's pretty bad. So AIDS AIDS Now I remember standing there looking and I had my assistant with me at the time and i'm looking in this room And here comes the nurse and she walks out and she speaks to me and she says can I help you? I said, yes, I'm his pastor. I'm here to pray for him. She says you're gonna have to gown up and do Not but i'm looking at the wife and she's not gowned up And I said no I said no i'm gonna go in as I am She says you need to gown. I said no i'm going in there as I am. I didn't want to insult the wife and so I turned to my assistant and I said to him We don't know how this disease is being transmitted You need to stay out And i'm gonna go in you stay out and he says no he says i'm gonna go in So I said, okay, then I'll stay out. No One of us got to So we both went in And the man was like I said hooked up and when he saw me He motioned to his wife with his hand I'll always remember this and he asked her for a pad and a pen writing tablet and a pen and he wrote this note And she peeled it off and handed it to me and I'll never forget She wrote it it said I am eternally grateful to you Why because I was there visiting him no Because before he died Because of the ministry of the word of god Because of this fellowship We gave him the gospel He died three days later of AIDS But he went to heaven Because he gave his heart to christ and that's That's one of the reasons why when you hear me sharing with you. That's one of the reasons why I tell you Teaching the word of god is what saves people's souls That's why we teach god's word You could be happy because we had exciting worship You could be happy because I bounce around up here and get you all agitated Which isn't hard to do Or you can be blessed because god's word is resting in your soul Giving you eternal comfort for the day that you meet jesus christ You can say my name is in your book and that comes from the word of god You see so we're living in times that we're familiar with that are only going to escalate The obvious plague that we're dealing with right now is covet As of september 1st there have been 608,366,452 confirmed cases But there have been 6,496,975 reported deaths Pestilences are things that we are as a people familiar with it's only going to rise In the last days in the time just prior to jesus returning now notice again Jesus makes the statement verse 8 and we'll close with this these are the beginnings of sorrows These are the beginnings of birth pangs the word sorrows refers to birth pangs It's starting now birth pangs are what take place obviously every woman who's given birth knows this very well Just before the baby's born These are the things that are in take place just before jesus returns is what he's saying The disasters that we see in our day are previews of things to come The things that we see now are foretaste of the tribulation And these things should be increased in our faith And what we're seeing will give us a deeper certainty of what happens in the end And it serves to encourage us to continue sharing our faith with other people Hebrews 2 verse 3 says it like this how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Which at the first began to be spoken by the lord and was confirmed and to us by those who heard him How shall we escape without god's word? And as god's word is presented and we hold fast to it We are not afraid we look up for our redemption is drawn nigh And we share with people the gospel of jesus christ So that they can have peace and they can have hope and they can have love and they can with anticipation Expect to see jesus christ soon and when we see him We will not regret a single thing that we left behind all will be able to do at that time when we see him Is just to praise him and thank him for all he did for us And that we can be there in this great reunion for in his house are many mentions and our families there to greet us We see jesus christ. What else would be better than that? And so jesus speaks concerning that to us and as we go through this together We'll be seeing more and more as it goes through the 13th chapter of the book of mark and father we ask that you