The Parable of the Fig Tree

Ballard Campus 8-21-11 Pastor Tim Smith
Tags: Grace
Luke 21:29-38
The Parable of the Fig Tree

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Sermon

This is it, Jesus is only a day or two away from his execution
Jesus' words are increasing in urgency and force - A strong challenge to live in light of these strong realities
+To live in light of the return of the King
+What is at the front of my mind day in and day out, what consumes my attention?
++My desire to control my little part of creation.  This is shown in my PP/OP/CC, my mental and physical protocols, my lists, my plans, my sleeplessness, my nails, my meals, my blogs
Jesus has already said that the kingdom is already here and yet still is to come fully in Jesus' second coming
The Father is so kind that he uses even us to expand his Kingdom in our own little spheres
A Tough Verse
Which generation? All of which things will be completed before a generation passes away?
Can my three pound (really it's only like 2.4 pounds, My Cranium is pretty small) brain really get the heavens into it
Possible interpretations
+There will be a future generation that will experience all of Rev's craziness and it all be accomplished in one generation
+The generation of sin, rebellion, and evil against God will not pass away (no utopia is possible) before Thug Jesus returns and ends it
+
Dissipation means that your might miss the coming because you are hungover
Don't let that day come on you
+It will come like a trap catcihing an animal who will certainly die - very strong image

Do I live a life focused on whatever is right in front of me? Is a potential relationship appearing soo much bigger than God's Kingdom? The project of the house? Are the details of my life dwarfing my Kingdom focus?  God Help me. I can't please you by planning and focusing on perfecting my little universe.  You already love me fully in your Grace. Help me glimpse you Kingdom, be caught in the image of it and live this life until the wheels fall off.
The danger is real, if I live for the pleasures of this life I will miss Jesus, I will not live in Joy, I will drown in the anxiety of this world which is passing away.
Don't get lost in the tyranny of life.
Jesus' Last Days
Jesus is razor focused on his mission
So with only a few days to live he goes out camping on the Mount of Olives to be alone with his Father, he didn't let the cares and details and demands of his life instead he focused on the Father's Kingdom and the Father's Will.
Observations from this text
Jesus' Work is all that is needed to live happily in his kingdom. I can't do anything to earn God's favor I already have it
1 - Pray so that my independence is broken down; with God's violence in my soul breaking down my walls my attempts to build my own kingdom are ruined gloriously
+Prayer is a declaration of war on my independence, a declaration of was on self-importance, a declaration of war on my focus on the details of this world, a declaration of war on my anxiety, a declaration of war on the frantic pace of life (which I love), A declaration of war on works based righteousness, a declaration of war on cynicism and unbelief
2 - Worship the giver rather than his gifts - Romans talk of worshiping the good things that become God-things making them bad things
3 - Steward everthing for the Kingdom - My stuff, talents, and time are all God's possesions, these things are not mine
+My identity is not based on my roles of gifts, I am image-bearing disciple maker who was created to worship God not to obsess over all the detail of life - Everything I have been given is to be used to make disciples and bringing glory to him
4 - Anticipate his return with a sense of urgency
+Do I believe the lies yelled at me by this world (Just wait to tell that guy about Jesus,
.....

The Time of the Gentiles

Ballard Campus 8-14-11 Pastor Mark Driscoll
Tags: Prophesy, Escatology, Forknowledge, Soverinty
Luke 21:20-24
The Time of the Gentiles
How to see History - God's perspective on our existence
Forknowledge - Some have confidence and good guesses but God is the only
Prophesy - when God reveals the future
Soverinty - God orchestrating history and prophesy to demonstrate his foreknowledge
Jesus demonstates his Forknowledge for the coming 40 years after his death and resurrection and into out future
The conclusions of the three epochs of history
1 The Temple will be destroyed - Jewish practice will be ending
2 The time of the Gentiles - God doing something new
3 Jesus will return
The temple will be Destroyed
It will be surrounded and everyone should leave it
This was the connecting point between God and man, it was a great wonder of the world, the place where the whole nation found identity, the place of peace
This was the spot where generations and generations had come to worship God, all of your lineage as a Jew would tell stories about  the Temple
Then Jesus says all of this will be destroyed
You can't have love without wrath - God is fully Just, Wrathful, and Vengence
The destruction of the Temple was wrath from God because the nation rejected the Messiah and all the disciples putting 11 of the 12 to death.
This shows that Judgement will be pourred out on all those who reject Jesus and persecute his followers
During 70AD the Roman legions surrounded the city and waited to starve the city to death
Tacitus and Josephius both report that 500k to 1 million jews died in the siege of Jerusalem
+There was cannibalism and nursing mothers starved even as their children starved
A fire was accidentally set which burned some of the temple, then the order was given to totally deconstruct and tear down the entire city
The temple was torn appart stone by stone - It remains that way to this day
Judaism is over
We don't need to rely on a place to be closer to God, you can't be any closer than Jesus
+My faith is in a person not in a place
God chose to force the end of the Sacrificial System and the temple-centric religious system using the Romans to pour out his wrath
Jesus tells them to run away from the city (very counter-intuitive)
+The Jewish people stayed in the City and died
+The Chrstians lived and spread out carrying the good news with them
The Gentiles Will be Saved
Jesus says now the truth about God is going global
Gentiles are made into spiritual descendants of Abraham
Abram was a non-Jew who bleieved the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness and he responded in obedience
+His spiritual descendants are the Christians because they trust in the same God who spoke to Abraham
Ruth, Rahab all became a worshipper of God and became spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith
God's plan was always to serve and redeem all of humanity so he accepted owrshippers who were not Jewish, the plan was to tell the world about Himself using the jews
God forced the issue by scattering the Christians in all dirrections
Translations (2000+ languages) and missionaries are sent everywhere even across the street
I get to be part of a global movement led by the Holy Spirit to bring the knowledge of Jesus to everyone
The only reconciliation that is possible is when people live for the Glory of Jesus
The logical next step is to plant churches where people can be taught and loved and protected from false doctrine
+The Resurgence
+Acts 29 - 400 US churches 500 potential leaders in process
+Campus plants
+Focus is in planting churches in cities because students, tourists, business poeple pass through cities and can take the news of Jesus to the nations - strategic
History Ends Because Jesus will Return
Straighten up and raise up your heads during this time
We must live faithfully and humbly until that day comes
The dead will rise
There will be a final judgment
There will be a heaven and hell
The Kingdom of God will cover all people and will never end
We must live our lives in light of eternity
Everything hinges on whether or not we trust in Jesus
Readying for Jesus Return
1 - Do you really believe that Jesus will return? Faith is believeing that Jesus is honest
2 - Am I overly concerned with the details of Jesus' return?
+Compelling His people to hysteria over the return of Jesus
3 - If Jesus comes today, would I regret anything?
4 - If Jesus comes today, who would I regret not telling about Jesus?
5 - How can I plan for future generations while living ready for judgment day?
+this required living in tension
+movements tend to either shortsightedness or long-term planning but not planning

The Worst Tragedies Can Be the Best Opportunities

West Seattle Campus 8-14-11 Pastor Mark Driscoll
Tags: Prophesy, Escatology
Luke 21:5-19
The Worst Tragedies Can Be the Best Opportunities
Scripture is true but still difficult to understand but it's all true
This is the most debated section of the New Testament
The debate is over which items were soon to occur to the early church and which are still unfulfilled
The worst tragedies are sometimes the best opportunities
+Like the Crucifixion
The Temple will be Destroyed
There will not be left one stone upon another...
+People are like what signs will show this?!
+Jesus is speaking about the core of all of Judiasm being destroyed, he is speaking of their hope and the only connection of God
This statement is scandalous to the ruling powers (Herod, the Roman Gov't, or the priests), when you take away someone's idol they react violently
+The temple was a massive idol
The listeners heard and they believed Him.
+They want to prepare themselves for this cataclyism.
False Teachers Will Arise
Jesus warns that wolves will come to lead people astray
+They will prey on the emotions of people who are afraid
+This is true in the Near day of Jesus and the Far days like today

Farakan, Harold Kamping, the SDA, the Johovah's Witnesses, etc all try to prey on people with fear by making predictions and exploiting they fear
Mars Hill is on the welcoming committee not the planning committee for Jesus' return to the World.
Fruits and Nuts
Arnold Potter 1800s - Claimed to be possessed by Jesus and became Jesus "Potter-Christ"
Bahula (1800s) founder of the behai faith, he claimed to be the uniter of all the major world religions
Sum Yung Moon - Claims to be the 2nd coming of Jesus incarnate
Jim Jones claimed to be the 2nd coming of Buddy, Jesus, and Vlad Lennin
Heaven Gate Cult - Mass suicide for a comet
David Karesh - Said he was the son of God and 70+ people died in Texas
Growing in Grace Cult - Jose Miranda - "I do must greater things than Jesus of Nazareth"

When we get stressed we tend to use something to be a medication - some idiot claiming to be God, or Alcohol, or Food, or money
+Anything we use to deliver use from hard times
+Anything other than Jesus goes away and disappoints and devastates, because all things pass away
Sin Will Continue
Their will be horror on a massive scale - War, weather, genocides, etc.
+This is all because of Sin, God called the whole World good, we made life crooked
Desasters are like dress rehersals for the final end of Sin - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
In 3,400 years of recorded history there have been less than 300 years without war - ????
Jesus' People Will be Persecuted
Covert - no rewards, loss of jobs, loss of promotion, demotion, familial rejection, maginalization from friends, divorce
Overt - Murders and false criminal charges
Make the Most of Every Opportunity
With all the terror coming, what do we do? We get to testify about Jesus
Don't think about when to say, I will speak on your behalf
Jesus is our great message to minister to the people under the horrible circumstances of a world in peril
Jesus Christ makes persecution meaningful and even in the darkness of the days leading up to the end
Jerusalem's Fall
Canabalism, 500k-1mil jews died when the Romans lay siege to the City and eventually tore down the temple in 40AD
Even this horrible event was used by god to force the Christians out into the World to spread the good news