A Church Without Walls

Next to the Sermon on the Mount this is Jesus’ longest teaching. We can also find accounts of the “Olivet Discourse,” in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. Jesus predicts that the temple would be dismantled stone by stone! Prophecy is key to our study this morning…prophecy makes up 1/3 of the Bible. There are over 1,000 prophecies in the Bible…and to date a little over 500 have been fulfilled with 100% accuracy. Meaning the remaining 500 will be fulfilled the same way…with 100% accuracy. Out of those prophecies…109 prophecies in the OT speak of the first coming of Jesus to this earth. All 109 of those prophecies have been fulfilled exactly as they were spoken. There are 329 prophecies in the NT that talk about the second coming of Jesus.

As we just finished two chapters in Isaiah where he speaks of obeying God and experiencing God’s blessing. Or to be in rebellion and disobedience to Gods Word and face His judgment. Isaiah spoke of Judah’s sexual sin, their corruption, their idol worship, and them turning from God… And trusting in their wealth, their power and might, and their idols. That is where our nation is…it is in rebellion against the Word of God. Our nation is in sin, it is corrupt from the top to the bottom…it engages in idol worship and all manner of sexual sin. This natation has completely turned its face from God. It was…as if the prophet…was speaking directly to the United States of America. As a nation we are moving at breakneck speed toward an Antichrist and the mark of the beast. And that is both good and bad news…good because it means that the return of Jesus and the Millennial kingdom is at hand… Bad news because it means that those who do not turn to Jesus in these last days…will face the wrath of God.

They were corrupt from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet. The whole head is sick…sick with sin. There is no soundness among them…meaning there are none who are well. Isaiah describes their condition like a festering sore that oozes puss. And as disgusting as that sounds…that is how God sees sin. And they were suffering God’s judgment on their sin…there was almost nothing left. As we will see in chapter eight…eventually they will be taken captive and led away by Assyria. If they had only obeyed God’s word…Moses had given them a choice… Obey God and worship Him alone and experience blessings… Or disobey God and worship idols and be cursed. The choice was theirs…and we see here what choice they made…and their choices were bringing the wrath of God upon them. And this is where disobedience has brought them.

“Finishing Well,” not just at the end of 2023…but at the end of our time here on this earth. We want to know that we have finished our time here on this earth…that we have finished well…for the Lord. So, let’s look at someone in the Bible who knew his time on this earth was short and he looked back over his ministry and life and could say with all confidence: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:6 ESV) Paul could say that he was finishing well…and I want us to be able…at the end of this year…at the end of our time on this earth…to be able to say… I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…and I have “Finished Well for the Lord.”

These last chapters of Judges should come with a warning of caution…for mature audiences only. We are going to deal with some pretty brutal topics in these next couple of chapters. But that is what happens when you have a nation that has completely turned from God… And is doing what is right in their own eyes…in other words…doing what they want to do with no regard for God. If that doesn’t describe the nation, we live in I don’t know what does.

This Christmas season many of you will journey to visit family and friends. This morning we are going to look at the journey that some people in the Bible embarked on…and the reasons they took that journey. For instance…Joseph and Mary were coerced to go to Bethlehem to register for the census. The Magi embarked on a journey to Jerusalem because they were curious to find out if the prophecy was true about a King being born under a star. Jesus embarked on a very different journey…a journey from Galilee to Jerusalem and to the cross…because He was committed to do the will of His Father. There were the two disciples on their way home to Emmaus, confused because the One they believed would redeem Israel had been crucified. And then there is our journey…a journey of circumspection. So, lets join each one on their journeys and discover that it really wasn’t “their” journey that led them to their destination… But each journey was part of Gods plan for them…and for most…it was a life changing journey…

Listen, if you have been paying even the slightest bit of attention to what is going on with the World Economic Forum… You will know that climate change is their top priority. According to them climate change is the next global crisis…it is a manmade crisis…and they will have the solution to it. But before we dig into that…lets look at what they are saying about the climate of the world.

The crowds also believed He was human…that He was John the Baptist, or Elijah, or one of the prophets… But His disciples believed He was the Christ of God. Christ comes from the Greek word Christos…which means "the anointed one," or "the chosen one." The Hebrew word Mashiach…or as we know it…Messiah…means the exact same thing. So, they believed He was God’s Messiah…God’s anointed One…but did they believe He was the Son of God…God in the flesh? Peter recognized His divinity when Jesus had him put his nets out once more and he caught so many fish the boat was about to capsize. And Peter fell on his knees and said: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5) They all began to see Him as divine when Jesus calmed the storm that threatened to sink their boat…and they said: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41 ESV) And finally, Peter would make the pronouncement “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16 ESV) Jesus is the Messiah…the Son of God…God in the flesh…100% man, 100% God… But what would we as believers answer if Jesus asked us, “Who do you say that I am?” Who is Jesus to you?

It would be His last challenge to them to look at the evidence…to see that He was indeed…the Messiah. Jesus could have written them off as unbelievers…but His heart is that none would perish but that all would be saved. And as we look at His interaction with them…especially in verses 41 to 47 we will see that He shows them that He is the Messiah… But even after all the overwhelming evidence…they still refused to see the truth. The greatest danger to what they believed (or didn’t believe) is that they did not believe in a resurrection. That is why they were Sad…you…see!

Knowing full well what awaited Him, knowing that He must endure the cross… before receiving the kingdom. Knowing that He wasn’t going to just celebrate the Passover…but that He was to become the Passover Lamb. Jesus made it clear that He understood what would happen to Him when He went to Jerusalem: From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matthew 16:21 ESV) Jesus went willingly to Jerusalem…because He was committed to do the will of His Father. He went knowing that as soon as they could locate Him…He would be arrested. Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him. (John 11:57 ESV) It is clear that there was a price on Jesus’ head, and He was a wanted man. Despite all that, Jesus came into Jerusalem in the most public way possible…ridding on a donkey…as a king would enter!

We live in a world where it seems like bad news is the only news we are hearing lately. It seems (depending on what news station you listen to) that mankind is hopeless…that climate change is going to destroy our planet. Listen, we know from Scripture that Satan is the god of this world (little “g”) and that he wants to be the big “G” God… As the god of this world, he has made sure that everything man made is designed in some way to draw us away from the One True God…and draw us to…the god of this world. Any hope mankind my think there is in the future…is a false hope. Without Jesus…that is true…the situation is hopeless…the future is hopeless without Jesus…but a believer should never feel hopeless… Because our hope isn’t in this world or a political party, its not in a president, congress, or the senate…it is in Jesus.

So, Micah whose name means “who is like the Lord.” Sets up his own religion…turns out he isn’t like the Lord at all…rather he has made himself lord of his life. So, here we have a mother who pronounces curses and a son who steals from his mother… But without as much as “I’m sorry mom, please forgive me, I have sinned before you and God.” His mother proclaims that he is blessed by the Lord. And to honor the Lord for his thieving ways, let’s take all the silver and dedicate it to the Lord…

Samson has broken all the conditions of the vow so far…except the condition not to cut his hair… He hasn’t broken that one…YET! Getting to this point…didn’t happen overnight…it happed one compromise…after another. He walked on the edge of the line of obedience…and he crossed over that line step by step until it led him closer to destruction. We think we can walk the line of sin…we can stay just on the edge…toying with sin… But you can only walk that line for so long before you trip over it…and fall into sin. Samson toyed with sin…he has walked the line…the line that separates darkness and light… And at this point he has longed crossed over that line…and fallen headfirst into it.

There was peace for 31 years…but once again the people did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and they suffered the consequences. Now they are under the oppression of the Philistines…and will be for some time…as they will become the sworn enemies of Israel. This will be a dark time in the history of Israel…spiritually. Notice the people are enslaved to the Philistines but there is no record of them calling out to God for deliverance… There is no confession or repentance for their sin…and the reason they have cried out to God… Is because they have assimilated into the culture around them. They were becoming used to the idea that they were serving the Philistines… But no matter who was placed over them…they were to serve God no matter what.

We would go to war with the government before we let them take our grandpa or grandma, or sick family member away. But haven’t they already begun that process…covid patients being placed in nursing homes among the most vulnerable while there were hospital ships and field hospitals that sat virtually empty. How many grandmothers and grandfathers were killed in nursing homes. Or those who got sick and because of underlying medical conditions were put in a hospital and not allowed visitors… Many of them were left to die in those hospitals with little being done to save them. How many of our sick family members were killed in hospitals. Eventually the Nazi’s used the gas chambers and ovens to create a more efficient means of killing mass amounts of people… Well, hasn’t the government done the same thing with the jab? And as far as the youngest…hasn’t government controlled and supported abortion…been taking its toll on the very youngest?

Because they worshiped other gods…God chastised them…He sent the Philistines and Ammonites to oppress the people for the next 18 years. We know from the Book of Acts that persecution actually helps to get our focus back on God. And trials have a similar effect on us…they tend to get our focus off what we are doing and get it back on God. It is when we are living comfortable lives with no worries that we get lazy in our relationship with God. Eighteen years of oppression was enough to move Israel to get their focus back on God and cry out to Him.

So, this ruler…and we are not sure what he is a ruler of…perhaps he is the ruler of a local synagogue…comes and kneels before Jesus. And he asks a very important question, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” There are two aspects of this question that we need to dig into. 1. What must I do…indicating that there is something he could do…to inherit eternal life. 2. Good Teacher…implying there are those who are good enough to inherit eternal life… Jesus knows, just by hearing this man’s question…what he believes. And that is still true today…you can ascertain what someone believes…just by the questions they ask. And by his question, we see that he believes there is something he can do…that if he can be good enough…he will have eternal life.

The last time we met for a Convergence of Prophesy study, Mark mentioned that there were Christians who were anxious about the rapture. We know the rapture…to be a source of comfort for us…it is something we long for…it is something we look forward to… It is our blessed hope! But apparently it is not a source of comfort for all…not every Christian is longing for the rapture! Some are fearful…and I would think that a video like the one we showed would not help alive those fears… Their fear (for most) isn’t the rapture itself…but being left behind.

Learn why we celebrate Sukkot as Rabbi Saul Sender teaches us about this feast which i one of God's seven appointed times for all believers.

And if you remember the name Abimelech means; “my father is king.” Now Gideon was asked to be the king of Israel…but he turned it down…but he liked living the lifestyle of a king. His son however…wanted to be king! Notice he want raised up to be a judge…and God did not support him as king…although he is the first king of Israel… But God never recognizes his as king…and if God doesn’t recognize it…than he is king in name only. So, why is he even mentioned in the Book of Judges? Remember that the Old Testament is written for our benefit…there are many lessons to be learned from reading and studying it… And one of those lessons is found here in the rise and fall of Abimelech…and that lesson is that we reap what we sow.

Jesus is telling a parable…and the key to understanding this parable is found right at the beginning… “always pray and not lose heart.” Jesus is teaching us about prayer…about what real prayer is…and what real prayer looks like!

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37 ESV) Jesus gives a very thought-provoking clue as to how we would know when the time of His second coming was at hand. And when you look around at what is going on today…that time is at hand. Jesus said that we would know the time was near when it became like the days of Noah.

Today, as believers are thinking more and more about the return of Jesus for His church… It is a great time to look at the calendar of events called the Feasts of Israel, or (God’s appointed times) to see how they point to Jesus. The first thing we need to look at is the word for feast used in Hebrew…which is moed…and it means “appointed time” or set feast. The word moed is also used to talk about time…as it can mean everlasting, like our “Everlasting Father.” But there is another meaning in the word…and that is the Hebrew word for “witness.” So, all together, the word for feast, moed, means a fixed appointed time which testifies and points to something that is to come. And that is a perfect description of what God gives us in the biblical feasts!

This story is about a legacy…as much as it is about a man…used greatly of God and his downfall. Gideons life story would be a great hero story to tell the lids at bedtime…and still is as long as you stop at verse 23 of chapter 8. Because Gideon, once used mightily of God…is in a downward spiral …and because of his downfall…he is not used by God again.

Why we celebrate Rosh Hashanah