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Outloud Bible Podcast - Matthew 24: Comfort when the future is uncertain and scary · Word Radio

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, this is Mike and the Outloud Bible Podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: We've been going through the book of Matthew, and uh I think I forgot to mention, but I wanted to mention before we go any further here that uh I do have an echo Bible study available on our website, outloudbible.com, for the teachings of Jesus in the book of Matthew.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's about three major sections of Jesus' teachings in the book of Matthew, and this Bible study guide will go through uh the highlights of all of them and help us just to find our next best step coming from what Jesus says.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because if he says something, we got to do it, right?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so um sometimes it's it's a step out of our comfort zone.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so this Bible study is really great.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to go through it by yourself, I think I mean that's a valuable use of time.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you can find someone to go through it together, I think that's that's more than twice as good.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it's available on outloudbible.com in our resources page.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's free.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh I think it's a good accompaniment to what we've been reading here in the book of Matthew.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna keep reading today in Matthew chapter 24.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I've I mentioned the past couple episodes, Jesus is really focused on end times lately.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the end of his life, where he's gonna uh die and well, fortunately, be resurrected.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but but really kind of mark the end of his earthly bodily ministry.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And he's also talking about the end times where heaven and earth and time as we know it will be destroyed and be made new, and the things that lead up to those events.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And he mentions it, of course, his people then, and frankly, now we are like, wait, what do you like?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's kind of confusing, kind of difficult to understand, and we don't fully understand it because we don't have his perspective, but he's doing what he can, frankly, to share what he knows and and what we can expect with us.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we're just gonna read Matthew 24 today, and uh and and in this we're gonna see a lot of Jesus' explanations and pictures and illustrations and teachings around the end times.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna read this and walk away with, ah, yes, I understand it fully?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, probably not.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you do, great, can you you know send me a message and teach me?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but here's the other thing is we are also not supposed to fear.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is not supposed to be a oh no, I'm afraid of this takeaway.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, this should bring us comfort.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Not comfort necessarily because we understand, but comfort because we know that he's in control.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's a big difference.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel more comfortable about a situation the more you understand it?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so the more you research, the more you look things up, the more you learn about something, the safer you feel.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what's going to bring us comfort when it comes to end times.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: What brings us comfort in the end times is knowing that Jesus is in control.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if he is our Lord and our Savior and we're following him, we can trust that we can follow him even through the unknowns, and that he is good, and that he is just and he's fair.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's the comfort that we can receive here.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you experience that today.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Let's read Matthew chapter 24 in the New English Translation.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciples came to show him the temple buildings, and he said to them, Oh, do you see all these things?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another, all will be torn down.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, Tell us when will these things happen?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered them, Watch out that no one misleads you, for many will come in my name, saying, Ah, I am the Christ, and they'll mislead many.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: You'll hear of wars and rumors of wars.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure that you're not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: All these things are the beginning of birth pains.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then they'll hand you over to be persecuted, and will kill you, and you'll be hated by all the nations because of my name.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Then many will be led into sin, and they'll betray one another and hate one another, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many, and because lawlessness will increase so much the love of many will grow cold.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the person who endures to the end will be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken about by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: The one on the roof must not come down to take anything out of his house, and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath, for then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then if anyone says to you, look, here's the Christ, or there he is, do not believe him.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, I've told you ahead of time.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: So then if someone says to you, Look, he's in the wilderness, don't go out, or look he's in the inner rooms, don't believe him.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: For just like lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: They'll see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Learn this parable from the fig tree.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: But as for that day and hour, no one knows it, not even the angels in heaven, except the Father alone.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be the same as the coming of the Son of Man.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: There will be two men in the field, one will be taken, and one left.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: There will be two women grinding grain with a mill, one will be taken, and one left.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: But understand this.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert, and would not have let his house be broken into.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if that evil slave should say to himself, Oh my master's staying away a long time, and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and to eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour when he does not foresee, and he will cut him in two and assign him a place with the hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so that's all for today.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Remember at the beginning of this conversation, I said comfort can come when we hear Jesus talking about the end times and the way things are so unknowable for us.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: We can't try to find comfort in knowing.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing information is not going to be a possible way for us to feel comfortable about a situation.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: The comfort comes in knowing that He does know that God the Father sees all things, he's planned it all out, and he's bringing about exactly what needs to happen when it needs to happen.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Furthermore, what do we do in the meantime?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is asking, hey, who is the faithful and wise slave?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of a hypothetical question.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Who's the slave that God has put in charge of the household?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Who's responsible to help take care of the other slaves at the right time?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Who who the master finds at work when he does come back?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Who is that slave?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a hypothetical question, hopefully the answer being you?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Me?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Are you the willing and faithful and wise slave?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Staying busy, doing the work of the master until he comes back?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's our responsibility.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: That slave has just as many unknowns as we have.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know when he's coming back.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: But how does the slave stay faithful and wise in the meantime?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Trusting that the master is good and right and he'll come back when the time is right, and the work he's given him in the meantime is good.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So he stays busy, stays faithful.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: He keeps his eyes on his tasks and his eyes at the sky, kind of keeping an ear to the ground.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Even as Jesus said, like you can know the signs of the times.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know by the way a fig tree grows, what season is next.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you look around based on what I've told you and realize that the season for the coming of the Son of Man is next?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: It should not be a fearful thing.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It should also not mean put down your tools and just look up to heaven, wait for him to come back.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: It should drive us all the more to do the work that God's given us to do as we look around and say, oh boy, the time is coming.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about wars and rumors of wars.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about false prophets, betrayals.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's looking end timey out there.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so let's get to work.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: We have more work to do.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus shows up, we won't be surprised.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we look forward to that day.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Please come, Lord Jesus.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for joining me as we've read Matthew chapter 24 today.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time on the Out Loud Bible Podcast.