[0:00] Last week, Tobin introduced us to Luke 17, 20 to 37. I was up here reading that scripture as well. This week, he continues with a deeper dive into this passage.
[0:12] In preparation, we again look to the Word of God as an anchor for this teaching. And this week, we're going to read a slightly different translation. So it might have a different effect. Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, the kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar, nor when someone says, look here, or there it is.
[0:38] And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you. He went on to say to his disciples, the days are coming when you are going to be desperately homesick for just a glimpse of one of those days of the Son of Man, and you won't see a thing.
[0:56] And they'll say to you, look over there, or look here. Don't fall for any of that nonsense. The arrival of the Son of Man is not something you go out to see.
[1:08] He simply comes. You know how the whole sky lights up from a single flash of lightning? That's how it will be on the day of the Son of Man.
[1:19] But first, it's necessary that he suffer many things and be turned down by many people of that day. The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah.
[1:31] Everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time, right up to the day, Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away.
[1:42] It was the same in the time of Lot, the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual, until right up to the day that Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burnt everything to a crisp.
[1:59] That's how it will be. Sudden. Total. When the Son of Man is revealed. And when the day arrives and you're out working in the yard, don't run into the house to get anything.
[2:14] And if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat. Remember what happened to Lot's wife. If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you will lose it.
[2:25] But if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms. On that day, two men will be in the same boat fishing. One taken and the other one left.
[2:37] Two women will be working in the same kitchen. One taken and the other left. Trying to take all this in, the disciples said, Master, where?
[2:51] He told them, Watch for the circling of the vultures. They'll spot the corpse first. The action will begin around my dead body.
[3:02] This is the reading of God's word. How you guys doing? Oh, that's terrible. How you guys doing?
[3:14] Okay, good, good, good. Great, that's good. That's the first time I've ever heard of great. That's great. That's great. Okay, well, we are on a journey as a church. And so, talking about a topic, they probably would tell you never to preach at a church because it will make people uncomfortable and scare people away.
[3:38] But we want to talk about what God has in store for us and all this stuff. See if I can do these things. This week, Christina and I went on a hike.
[3:49] We usually go on a date night once a week. And this time we did it on Monday. And we were walking down in Central. And the weird thing about up here teaching all the time is you're going to know all my quirks and idiosyncrasies.
[4:03] And if you don't know by now, I love Diet Coke. And I love chocolate. And I love bookstores. And I just can't turn down a bookstore.
[4:14] Usually when I go into it, I have to stop and see it and look at it. And so, Christina and I were on a little walk. And we ran into a bookstore. And I ran into this bookstore. And it was amazing. I'm not going to tell you which one because I don't want to do an advertisement.
[4:28] But I found these two books right here. One was How to Survive Anything. And this other one was Worst Case Scenarios, the book of survival questions and skills.
[4:39] And I thought these were fascinating. As I read them, and I have different levels of reading. Some of them were just fun. This was kind of my fun reading level. And so I started reading them.
[4:50] And this book just has stuff like, you know, what do you do when you're in your car and your brakes go out? And what do you do if your car is going into the water and you're trapped inside the car?
[5:02] Or what do you do? How do you get out? What do you do if you're skydiving and your parachute fails to open up? That's an important one, right? Everybody wants to know that one just in case.
[5:14] You know, one that I knew and I used before is what do you do when you're scuba diving and you're underwater and your tank runs out? What do you do?
[5:24] And then I found this one, which I thought was really interesting. It's basically for people on trips to Australia. I'm not teasing, okay?
[5:36] What do you do if you're surrounded by a mob of kangaroos? So it says, during a train trip from Australia's southern desert, you've experienced wonderful scenery and long vistas.
[5:47] At a short layover, the conductor suggests that passengers can get out and take pictures as they choose. You get out of the train and you wander into the sandy soil only to come face to face with a mob of seven to eight angry kangaroos.
[6:02] As you slowly approach for a close-up photo, so it must be a Texan. They have no sense, and so they just kind of walk into the danger. One kangaroo begins thumping his large feet at you.
[6:14] Do you, A, continue approaching without showing fear? B, move away quickly so that you are more than 10 feet from the closest kangaroo? C, back away slowly.
[6:27] D, stand up straight, tall, and open your coat wide to make yourself seem larger. E, open a can of Foster's beer and leave it on the cruise and back away slowly.
[6:38] What do you think the answer is? Come on. You guys, you're going to be in trouble when you're on that boat and you're out there and something happens in that thing.
[6:50] So the answer is C, back away slowly. Kangaroos are herbivores. They rarely attack any animal, including humans. However, some male kangaroos may be over seven feet tall and weigh hundreds of pounds and may charge if cornered or threatened. Thumping indicates that a kangaroo is alerting group members to danger.
[7:03] If a kangaroo attacks, there's no truly safe distance. It's large kangaroos can jump 20 feet or more and travel as fast as 40 miles an hour. If you notice thumping, move back slowly and seek shelter.
[7:16] That's good to know. It's important, right? You never know when you're doing it. I found this other one here, which I thought is, I don't know if this is true, but I've been told that it's true. It's from the Peace Corps manual. It's from the Peace Corps manual and it's for people going to South America.
[7:30] And the scenario is, what do you do if you're attacked by an anaconda? I'm not making this up. Do not run.
[7:42] The snake is faster than you are. Two, lie flat on the ground. Three, put your arms at your sides and your legs tight against one another.
[7:59] Four, the snake will come and begin to nudge and climb over your body. Now, I don't know about you, but like at that time, I'm like, I'm going to risk the running, right? 40-foot anaconda nudging my body.
[8:11] I don't know. Number five, don't panic. Number six, after the snake has examined you thoroughly, it will begin to swallow you from the feet first.
[8:24] Always the feet in first. Number seven, the snake will suck your legs into its body, so you must lie perfectly still. This will take a long time.
[8:38] I am not teasing. This is the manual, okay? Number eight, when the snake has reached your knees slowly and with the littlest movement as possible, reach down and take your knife and gently slide it into the side of the snake's mouth between the edge of its mouth and your leg, and then suddenly, with all the energy you can muster, rip upward, severing the snake's head.
[9:03] Number nine, be sure your knife is sharp. Number ten, be sure you have a knife.
[9:16] So that was important to know. Those are important facts, right? We should file those things, and it's good that some people document those things for the rest of us so that we know what's going on.
[9:28] But you know, as I read this book, I continued to read, and it was interesting because it went from funny to serious. And as you read, it got to points of, what do you do if you're caught out in the open and bombs are going off around you?
[9:48] Another scenario talks about, what do you do if you're in the open and all of a sudden, people start shooting at you? And as I read this book, I realized this book isn't so funny because I thought about all the people who've lost their lives these last several weeks because of shooting and bombing.
[10:09] And I mean, it's all funny and ha-ha when we're reading it, but when it becomes real life and death situations, it doesn't become so funny.
[10:22] And I read this, and I think, you know, I would give anything to know the right thing to do in that situation. I would do anything to know what to do right.
[10:33] And so what I want to do today, very briefly, is I want to talk to you about what I think is probably the most best worst, best worst case scenario that you're ever going to face.
[10:45] And it's the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's probably the question I get asked the most as a pastor, that besides, should I date him or her?
[10:56] The next question I get asked often was, when is Jesus going to come again? When is he going to come? I'm wondering. I hear about this, and even people who aren't churchgoers or Christ followers ask this question of me quite a bit.
[11:09] And so I want to continue and talk about the passage that we began in last week, Luke 17. And I want to talk about this scenario. What do you do best case, worst case scenario if you're caught in the scenario where Christ is coming back a second time?
[11:26] What are we to do? And this passage, I think, is full of information and full of ideas. We studied a little bit of it last week. We said in verses 20 through 21 that Christ is confronted by the Pharisees.
[11:38] The Pharisees are asking him a question because he talks about the kingdom of God all the time, and they want to know when is this kingdom going to come? When is it going to happen? Because we've told that you're going to be bringing it. And the Pharisees realized as they looked around them in the world that things weren't good, that things weren't as they should be.
[11:54] As the people of God, they realized that they didn't have the place they should be in, that they weren't in the place of prominence, the Romans were controlling them. And so the Pharisees and the Jewish people were looking for a king.
[12:06] They're looking for a warrior king. They were looking for someone to come and to break the yoke and to bring freedom and to kill the enemy, to set up his kingdom and to make all things new and make all things right and to give them a place of prominence and position of power.
[12:24] The Pharisees were looking for the second coming of Christ, kind of like we are in this shadow line time that we live in and in the darkness and in the unknown and in the hurt and in the pain.
[12:37] And Jesus says in verse 21 something very unusual. He says, the kingdom is already here. It's amongst you. And what he's saying there is that kingdom of God came.
[12:52] But they had these expectations and these thoughts that this is how God should work. This is what it should do. This is what it works like. This is what I need. And they didn't realize and they had missed that Jesus came and that the kingdom came through Christ and it came through gentleness and meekness and serving and compassion and caring.
[13:09] All of these things they didn't want. They wanted power. They wanted strength. And Jesus brought them grace and mercy and forgiveness of enemies.
[13:25] Especially those enemies who slapped you on one side of the cheek. And they didn't like to hear that. Jesus said that in this kingdom right now where you and I are that my spirit is here and it's working and it's changing and it's slowly changing people's hearts.
[13:40] It's like this grain of seed that gets planted and sometimes we don't see it. We keep coming back to it. We have this seed in our house. It's amazing. Christina went on a vacation. She came back and she brought this redwood seed in our house.
[13:51] Now what I'm going to do with a redwood tree I have no idea in Hong Kong because it grows to be 300 feet tall. But what I've seen about this redwood is that the first four weeks nothing happened. It was just this clump of wood.
[14:03] And then all of a sudden it started sprouting and there's like 20 sprouts on this clump of wood and they're growing like one inch every two days. Now I'm trying to figure out do I sneak down into our little wood area right outside of our apartment and plant it and just wondering what people are going to think one day when this 300 foot redwood comes up in the middle of Hong Kong and falls on the apartment complex one day in the middle of a hurricane or something like that.
[14:27] I don't know what we're going to do with it but Jesus said that's what the kingdom is going to be like and God's spirit is going to come and it's going to change hearts and it's going to set people free because whether you know it or not you and I are in slavery and we're in bondage.
[14:45] And he says my spirit's going to come and free those things and make all those things new and right. Sure there's going to be a day when power's going to come. Sure there's going to be a day when lightning's going to strike. Sure there's going to be a day when I'm going to come back with an army but right now it's going to be totally different and I'm going to work through the church and I'm going to work through my people and then we have a pause.
[15:10] Verse 22 Jesus continues his talk his lessons and it's important to remember that it's chapter 17 and chapter 19 he's going to be in Jerusalem so it's only about two weeks away.
[15:22] He's going to go to Jerusalem he's going to be crucified so right now in these two weeks he wants to teach his disciples he wants to teach us he wants to teach us everything we need to know so that when he goes that we know everything and he wants us to be aware of what's going to happen and he's going to talk in chapter 22 verses 22 to 37 about the second coming when he comes the second time when it's in power and strength and out of control and lightning and he's going to share three things he's going to share three warnings three things that he wants us as a church to know about three things I want to share with you and talk about very briefly because right now if you're like me you're wondering if it's ever going to happen and God when are you going to do this I mean for 2,000 years we've been talking about this for 2,000 years we've been celebrating for 2,000 years we've been praying for 2,000 years things are still difficult and people are hurting and there's brokenness and oppression and sickness and pain and people are crying out and they get discouraged if you're like me you get discouraged
[16:34] I was reading some articles it's amazing what you can find on the internet about the end times and the difficulty I read this article from a U.S. newspaper actually it was a magazine it's from Harper's Magazine this is how they describe our time right now they said it's a gloomy moment in the history of our country I'm sorry it's America I didn't have Australian magazine or any other but this is American and he says it's a gloomy moment in the history of our country not in the lifetime of most men and women has there been so much grave and deep uncertainty never has the future seemed so unknown as at this time the economy is in shambles the situation is in total chaos the dollar is weak throughout the world prices are high higher than they could ever be the middle class cannot survive the political situation is full of chaos selfishness and uncertainty again our enemies are begging at the doors and there's like this dark cloud that's looming over the horizon about to strike at any time it's a solemn moment no one no one can see the end of our troubles
[17:44] I thought wow what a powerful description of today's time in age and then I read it and it said Harper's Magazine October 10th 1847 and I realized that times really haven't changed that much no matter how we hope that they will that we're still having problems that we still have problems we still have struggles we still have struggles with our family and with our kids and with our bosses and with our jobs and with our culture and with our government and with our finances and with our dating and with our relationships and we're just wondering God when are you going to come back and when are you going to make all these things new when are you going to fix these things it's been 2,000 years and the first thing that Jesus tells us in verse 22 is that the coming of the second kingdom is patient
[18:48] I wanted to say slow because that's how I feel sometimes but the Bible says that God's coming his second time is is is patient the passage says that he doesn't want anybody to perish that judgment is not his first option but he wants all people to come to know him and so the second coming is slow it's patient the passage tells us that for 120 years Noah was building an ark in a desert can you imagine what that would have been like I'm not talking just like about a boat I'm talking about you look outside and you see one of these container ships he was building a container ship for 120 years the passage says that as God looked out on creation everybody was corrupt everybody was selfish everybody was broken there was no one who desired God and then we read in this passage in Genesis 6 that God came to Noah and Noah found favor in God's eyes what it means in Hebrew is he found grace but Noah was just as corrupt as everybody else and God came to him with his grace and he changed him and Noah fell in love with God and God gave him a message and the message was judgment judgment judgment and God didn't just give him a message he gave him something to do to save the people from the judgment he built a boat he built this massive ark
[20:35] I mean it was like 955 car you know railroad cars big it was huge and so for 120 years he's teaching them God is upset there's judgment coming let's build this ark this is the vehicle for which you're going to be rescued this is where you're going to be saved can you imagine that the Bible says that as he did that people just mocked him they laughed at him what are you doing Noah well I'm building a boat what's a boat I mean you've never seen a boat they're in the desert what was this containment to the soul really why are you building that well it's because it's going to rain what's rain because up until that moment we're told that it never rained on the earth they said well it's this wet stuff that comes out of the sky it's going to rain so much it's going to fill the earth and because God is angry and because we've sinned and we've turned away from him he's going to destroy everything but this is our chance we can repent we can come back to him it's grace it's mercy we can be a part of building this ark you want to do that and for 120 years they laughed at him until
[21:54] God in Genesis 7 verse 16 it's one of these verses I memorized as a little kid and I wasn't in a church family but there was something about this passage that stuck to me because we had one bible picture book in our house and it was a picture of the flood and it was a picture of these waters rushing in and people like this and they're trying to knock on the door and in Genesis 7 verse 16 it says God up until that day that Noah and his family walked in the ark and then God he closed the door and his judgment was set and everyone was destroyed so the first thing that Jesus wants to tell us is that his judgment is coming the second kingdom is coming but it's patient because he wants everyone to know he doesn't want anybody to perish the next thing we see in this passage which I think is incredible he says and he brings this warning he says that when the second coming comes in verses 23 and 24 he says they will say to you look here look there do not go away do not run away from them they're going to tell you here it is and here's the Messiah and he's going to say no no before I came this morning I did a
[23:14] Google search and I'm sure I did not do it properly but I typed in websites that deal with end time prophecy and I got 1,950,000,000 hits and then I said well I must have done that wrong and so I went on I'm sure I did are there 1,950,000,000 websites or locations and so I typed in books books that deal with end time prophecy how many are there within that time I got 1,650,000,000 hits and there's a lot of people talking about the end times and when is it going to happen when is going when I was a young Christian I was in a high school with a guy Katie we went to the same high school but I'm a little older than she is and when I was in high school there was an upper freshman his name was Joe Little and so Joe tried to persuade us underclassmen that Jesus was going to come back that year also and so we didn't need to do homework because what good is homework if
[24:18] Jesus comes back right it's going to be for nothing well I wasn't as wise as he was so I did my homework but at the end of the year Joe didn't do any homework and Jesus didn't come back and you know what happened Joe Little Page was in my class next year because he failed and then in the university in 1988 I was in university just graduating and a guy a NASA scientist came out with a book and he said 88 reasons why Jesus is going to come back in 1988 and I bought those books and we bought those books and we handed them to our friends and it is all scholarly and scientific and historical and all these things and this is what's going to happen this is how I know next year there was 89 reasons why Jesus is going to come back in 89 and the last one was because he didn't come back in 88 and the passage says to
[25:21] Jesus he says don't worry about it Jesus said don't worry about it when I come you're going to know it when I come everybody is going to know it there is going to be lightning night and day in different parts of the world everyone is going to know when God comes again what Jesus says to his disciples and he says to us more importantly what are you going to be doing when that happens what are you going to be doing when the Son of man comes again in power what are you going to be doing and finally Jesus shares something which every time I read this passage I pray here and Jesus gives us this huge warning at the end of this passage in 26 to 33 and he says in this end times not only is it going to come patiently not only is it you're not going to know when it's going to come it's going to come so just make sure you're doing the right thing but he says in the end times you and I we're going to be tempted to be consumed with other things around us we're going to be tempted with things of the world we're going to be tempted with our work we're going to be tempted with our family we're going to be tempted with doing the things of life and if we do these things we're going to miss
[26:36] God's coming that many of us are going to be so tempted to focus on these things and building our kingdom and building our world that we're going to miss his world and so Jesus wants to warn us he wants to warn his disciples one last time verse 21 he says they were eating and they were drinking in the days of Noah and they were marrying and they were giving a marriage until the day of Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all and it's very interesting here because they had a lot of problems I mean they were really wicked bad people but Jesus doesn't talk about their wickedness and their badness what does he say there he says well they were eating and they were drinking and they were marrying and they were being given married and the idea behind it is they were so consumed in the things of today they forgot eternal realities they were so consumed in doing things of life they were so consumed in being busy and living life that they just forgot
[27:54] God's message they forgot God's kingdom coming again it wasn't that they were evil wicked people we know that's true but that's not the reason they were destroyed the reason they were destroyed is they are so consumed in living life today in the busyness that they that problem I do sometimes I get so busy in a cycle of life I mean it's exam week it's reading week I don't have things to do I gotta focus just on my test I gotta focus right on my exams I don't have time to go to church I don't have time to read my Bible I don't have time to meet with people I just gotta do these things going on I gotta get all these things going I gotta get going I'm busy things are happening and
[28:54] Jesus says that sometimes we become so focused so wrapped up in the things of this world and in the busyness of life that we misplace reality and we forget that there's a spiritual reality which supersedes all realities and that spiritual reality is that one day God is going to come again so we're told in this passage in Noah that the people they basically just stopped listening to the crazy man the crazy man for 120 years starts speaking of God speaking of God speaking of God and they just got so numb they got so tired they don't want to hear of God anymore and he's building this ark for their rescue and he basically says in this passage they listened to him and then they mocked him they made fun of his message the Hebrew in the Greek basically says they were just indifferent they were just living life they were living their world they were doing their business thing they were doing all the things they were supposed to do until that day that God closes that door and then all of them are destroyed
[30:01] Peter and 1 Peter says it this way to us he says as in the days of Noah so in yours watermark because people will mock you at your message people will mock you at your lifestyle people will mock you at your priorities you will be surrounded by mockers but Peter says be faithful stay the course walk with God know that Jesus is coming again and just as Jesus and God took care of Noah he's going to take care of you be faithful verse 28 and 29 says the same thing he says it's the same in Lot's day Lot's was the same thing he says in that day they were eating they were drinking they were buying they were selling they were planting they were building they were doing all these things they're not bad things but it says they focused on these things so much that they were indifferent to spiritual things they were indifferent to the things of God they were preoccupied with building their own kingdom and they were not building
[31:15] God's kingdom the third shortest verse in all the Bible remember Lot's wife and it's this message that Lot was part of the escape she escaped again God gave grace he gave a message he brought the message to the man Lot he brought a messenger he brought a way to escape from the disaster and Lot spent the night sharing with all his son-in-laws and everybody around him this is what's going to happen and you know what the Bible says they mocked him they laughed at him this is an amazing city we have everything we need here how could that happen oh come on I think you've been drinking a little too much Lot in that day Jesus sends these angels and they have to physically pull Lot out of the city because he's still trying to talk to people and he's uncertain of what's going to happen to the people he loves and they run to the hills and we're told remember
[32:17] Lot's wife because in that passage she escaped at the beginning but that she turned back and as she turned back to look at her world that was all about her kingdom we're told that she was covered in burning pitch and asphalt and she was destroyed the Hebrew says that her heart was captured by something else and I read this passage and I wonder about us today guys if we're honest in the dark places of our world and in our lives we were talking with a friend at coffee today what would we share that our hearts are captured by is it the coming of God is it God's greatness is it God's goodness or is it our kingdom and the things that we're clinging to and finally Jesus shares at the very end verses 34-37 he says this he says
[33:19] Tobin the same is going to be true in your day people are going to be eating they're going to be drinking they're going to be sleeping they're going to be planning they're going to be building they're going to rebuilding they're building more houses they're marrying they're going to be all and all these things are great but also there's going to be this massive trumpet sound and some people are going to be taken and some people are going to be left guyay to it's interesting, I think this passage is amazing because at the end, Jesus gives us how to survive.
[33:59] On the way to church today, I have the privilege of, you know, I always talk to my kids, and so we're driving, and so I just thought, well, I'll ask Kip something. And so we're driving down here, I said, Kip, which is always a risk when you ask a 10-year-old boy something, right?
[34:12] Especially spiritual. Because sometimes they tend to be kind of sarcastic. I said, Kip, if you knew that Jesus was going to come back this week, what would you do? And he looked at me, and he goes, I would go to Jerusalem.
[34:29] I was like, wow. Good Sunday school teachers here. I said, why would you do that? He goes, that's when Jesus is going to come back first. I want to be there.
[34:42] I said, whoa. I said, would there be anything else you would do? He goes, well, of course I wouldn't go to school. That's like a no-brainer, right? You're stupid if you think I'm going to go to school.
[34:53] But let me, you know, this just came to me as I'm thinking about this. This passage does not say that everybody in J.P. Morgan, when God comes again, gets judged and gets burned.
[35:07] And then everybody else who's in church praying, they get saved. Sorry about that, Howard. But it doesn't say that, right? It doesn't say everybody doing spiritual things is saved and everybody doing normal things is destroyed.
[35:19] It doesn't say that. It says there will be some people in J.P. Morgan, some, who know that the purpose of their life is to build God's kingdom.
[35:33] And when that end time comes, they'll be saved. And there'll be some people at Hong Kong U who live their life with the express purpose of building their kingdom.
[35:49] And the passage says that they'll enter into judgment and be lost. So he doesn't say it's more spiritual to be praying than working.
[36:02] I think, you know, sometimes I ask older people, I say, what would you do if Jesus, excuse me, if you knew Jesus was going to come back next week? And they usually say, well, I'm going to quit my job. I got other things to do. And what I want to share to you is your job is your thing to do.
[36:19] God has you working next to people because they have to hear the message. And yeah, they might mock you. But that's okay because God is in control and God is good and God is the one who changes hearts, not you.
[36:39] Two people were working and one was taken and one was left. Two people were in a field and one was taken and one was left. Two people were at the pool talking and hanging out and one was taken and one was left. Why were they taken?
[36:54] Because they had been living life for so long they forgot. They became dull to spiritual reality. They forgot that Christ was going to come back again. They thought that all this, they forgot that all this was God's kingdom. And in their forgetfulness they started living for their own kingdom.
[37:07] They started building their own kingdom. That's why they're taken. Because they forgot the reality of Jesus coming again. Jesus gives the answer.
[37:22] The billion dollar answer to the survival question. He tells them this in verse 33. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it. Whoever seeks to build his own kingdom will lose it.
[37:35] But whoever understands eternal realities and loses his life for my sake who starts to build my kingdom he'll save it.
[37:47] That's the million dollar survival question. That's the eternal survival question. How do we survive Christ's second coming? It's by losing our lives. Understanding eternal realities.
[38:01] And living for God's kingdom. I want to end with a couple questions I've been asking myself this week. What does it look like for you today to be found ready for God's coming kingdom?
[38:19] As you go to work tomorrow and hopefully you're serving the Lord and his kingdom. What does it look like for you to be ready for God's coming kingdom?
[38:31] The passage says it might not look like anything different than the people right beside you. Except for in your heart you know there's this eternal reality. There's this eternal thing happening that's going to come and it's going to separate everybody.
[38:46] That might be the only difference. It might not be seen outwardly. Inwardly you know in your heart and you're serving and you're speaking and you're talking to people about the judgment and you're being mocked by you living differently and people are asking you well why do you go to church?
[38:56] How come you waste so much time? Why don't you work longer? Why don't you keep your money instead of tithing? Because everybody knows that's financially irresponsible. Why don't you just hang out with people who can help you get a hit up in life?
[39:06] These people don't have anything to offer you. They're too different than you. They're too diverse. Why don't you do these things? Why don't you do those things? And we're told that as we live in God's kingdom that we're going to be mocked.
[39:20] So what does it mean for us to be ready for God's kingdom? For some of us it might mean reading our Bible. For some of us it might mean praying more. For some of us it might mean getting in a community group. For some of us it might be repenting.
[39:30] For some of us it might mean buying one less house and putting that money towards God's kingdom being built someplace else or collecting one less watch or book or car or whatever you collect.
[39:41] We all collect things. I collect Diet Coke cans and books and children. I have four hopefully right now. We're not getting any more, right? Okay.
[39:52] The second question I want to ask is what will you be found doing when the lightning flashes? What will you be found doing when the lightning flashes?
[40:06] Will you be eating and drinking and sleeping and building and collecting and fixing and getting married and being married? will your focus be on Jesus and his coming kingdom?
[40:21] Will your focus be on building his kingdom and realizing that it's the eternal thing it's the only thing it's the only reason why we're here? Or will your focus be on building your own kingdom for something that will last about one second after you die?
[40:37] What will you be found doing when the lightning flashes? How will we look different as we live in such a way to those around us?
[40:50] Maybe a good question to ask ourselves is have we been mocked lately? Has anybody in our world mocked us for our words and our lifestyle and our values and our ethics and our character?
[41:09] how we use our money how we use our time have we been mocked for those things lately? Jesus says be careful because you will be but it's okay because he's in control and so the question is what would our life look different than those around us?
[41:29] The last question is just this when we read this passage we forget and we lose God's kingdom when we forget the idea and the importance that God has given us something so much greater than Noah and Lot Noah and Lot came with a message they struggled they served and they were mocked for building a vehicle for which people could escape God's judgment but God gave us his son Jesus who came who lived amongst us who suffered and did everything that we do and experienced everything that we'll ever experience so he knows everything you're going through he knows every deep insult he didn't sin but he knows all those struggles that you're facing and he brought that message a message of grace and peace and hope and second chances Jesus and they didn't mock him when he was building an ark but they mocked him when he was giving his life on a cross for you for you it's the best worst case survival scenario of all time
[42:48] Jesus coming a second time and the most important question is what are you going to be doing when that happens and how are you going to be found let's pray Father we just wow all by grace Father I realize that some of us in here are mockers we're non-Christ followers and we're mocking you we're mocking the people around us we were all at that point one time Father I pray for those of us who are mockers as non-Christ followers that you would open our eyes to your son Jesus help us to see his mercy help us to see his grace help us to see the message help us to realize that we can build any kingdom we want but ultimately it is going to fall and it's going to fail because your kingdom is the only thing that will last and survive
[43:57] Lord some of us in here are mockers as Christ followers we might not mock you with our words but we mock you with our life we use the resources you gave us to build our own kingdoms we collect things we are selfish we don't understand grace and mercy and how you give us all these things to be used in your kingdom I'm speaking totally to myself Tobin this is what you need to hear Father I pray for those of us who are mockers in our words and our actions as your followers and your children and I just beg for forgiveness what I just repent of my selfishness repent of my self-sufficiency repent of all those things that you've already freed me from in bondage and I just walk back into them and I allow them to shackle me again where we come before you and we just realize that it's all by grace and you've come to set prisoners in attics free
[45:04] Lord some of us are building our own kingdoms and I pray that you would show us that really quickly and show us why that's not a good thing you might even show it to us by making our kingdoms crumble and pointing us to yours which is eternal but Lord if that's what it takes I pray that we would be a church full of crumbled kingdoms so that we don't have one in focus which is yours Lord I realize that some of us in here have never been mocked in fact if you're like me you spend a lot of your life looking competent dressing competent and doing things in such a way that no one will ever mock you Lord I pray and beg for your forgiveness Lord I repent the arrogance in our hearts I pray for all my brothers and sisters in this church your church we need you so desperately especially as we think about these end times and the people we work around and realize that it's not just enough for us to be taken but we're leaving people we love behind
[46:11] Lord I pray this week that you would teach us a little differently what it means to be mocked help us to be different than the people in Noah's day and Lot's day we come and we repent and we surrender and we ask you to change us we ask you to make us your people I pray for us in here that you would show each one of us what that next step is that you're not expecting us to be perfect and be like we will be when we see you face to face but you're just asking us to trust you to trust your kingdom and to take the next step so I pray for each one of us in here that you would show us what that next step is that you'd help us to be obedient to that help us to show us what it means to build your kingdom and to walk step by step in your direction Lord I thank you most of all for your son who came and he was mocked supremely by us and by those around him and he gave the message of grace the message which he died for the message in him dying which became the power that we live by now in this first coming time would help us to cling to that truth and to realize that you're there and you're working and you're good no matter what darkness comes into our world we have the king of all things and we walk in his kingdom so Lord we come before you as a church and as individuals and as families and as dads and as wives and as kids and as friends we pray Lord that you would use us in a world that is busy going about things its own way and forgetting that there's a kingdom and that kingdom is coming and there's only one king may we be found worshiping him when that day happens
[48:11] Lord we love you we pray these things in your son Jesus name amen