Sermon Tone Analysis

PO - We are part of the body of Christ.

In their desert wonderings, the Hebrew people camped around the Tabernacle in tribes.

And, in our time, we need to “be with our tribe” accomplishing the ministry given.

The only Tabernacle today is the Tolerance Tabernacle and that’s not gonna be us.

Tolerating minimal Christianity, doing little as possible, that what I call being lazy.

The sign of a sold out Christian is not a Bible in hand, but Spirt in the person.

The human spirit fails unless the Holy Spirt fills.

HUM - There is a story of a young preacher conducting his fist baptism.

Nervous he got a little confused and mixed some Scripture about baptism with that on the Lord’s Supper.

As he lowered a child into the water he said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and now drink of it all of you.”

Now, we really don’t want to drown people when we baptize them, but we do need the filling of the Spirit each day.

This is how you know you are saved, that God dwells in you.

That you are filled.

When the Holy Spirit fills, there is want for more — I want more holiness, grace, more of Jesus.

Bring to mind the forgiving, invading, energizing, vitalizing, renewing, enlightening, conviction, and strengthening aspects, and you will come somewhere near the Spirit.

Our mission is to Share the Gospel and to share joy.

We do this because we are a Spirit-filled believer.

Now, with that said, each of us has part in this tribes work and must be involved, pulling our load, doing some work.

For us today, this means gaining a very true understanding of how God is present with people today.

Unlike the tabernacle, God is not in a building.

And that, we must always communicate clearly.

INTRO - In last’s weeks message we discussed the often misunderstood biblical meaning of pride.

We noted the tendency to misapply contemporary meaning to the word as we study how it applies to our lives and the way we live and interact with others.

This week we are turning to the topic of “Tabernacle.”

In the OT, the Tabernacle is identified as the meeting place where God and the Jewish people interacted.

Eventually the meeting place came to be the “House of God” or the temple.

As we will noted today, neither of these meanings are true anymore.

Both the Catholic church and Protestant churches lie to people claiming that the Tabernacle is a box, altar, or building.

It is not.

God is Spirit and Jesus asked the Father to send God’s Spirit to occupy the church.

That’s what the Bible does teach and that is what we will see today.

At the end of this message we will face a series of challenges to change.

God’s Word has power and He says to us “preach my Word.”

Today we expect the preaching of God’s Word to change us as God continues to work in the life of the born-again Christian.

TRANS - Before we look at what the text does say, let’s take a moment to pray and ask God to help us become ready for the changes He is going to make in us today.

God says that His Word does not return void.

Let’s PRAY

What does it say?

What does it mean?

Beautiful Places

Describe Herod’s temple, which seemed to impress Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus probably left the temple through the Golden Gate on the Eastern Wall.

From there, he went across the Kidron Valley toward the Mt. of Olives.

The city and temple were magnificent.

Even the 7 wonders of the world didn’t compare to the temple of God.

The stones that made the temple mount were massive.

In the 20th century researchers discovered one of the western wall stones 42 feet long x 14 feet wide x 11 feet tall.

It is estimated to weight about 600 tons.

Now imagine these large stones, all colored white, the gold trim and gold covered roof that made the Temple look like a snow-capped mountain and was a blinding sight.

Can you see how the onlookers were impressed.

This was thousands of years ago.

ILL - This past Wednesday I caught a ride out of Newark, NY.

The ride took me within viewing distance of NYC.

I had the opportunity to see the Empire State Building and the One World Trade Center.

Oh what an amazing site to see these great buildings along with all the others on the Manhattan skyline.

Great as they were, they didn’t impress near as much as the Temple did to the people of the Temple at a time way before our many great cities.

The temple was truly a place fit for God and I dare not imaging saying anything outside the Church, today, is fit for our God.

What was Jesus predicting when He claimed that the “great buildings” would be “thrown down” in Mark 13:2?

This is Jesus’ first prophecy about the destruction of the temple in Mark.

Reference to the event was alluded to on other occasions prior to this, but this is by far the clearest statement about the destruction.

The language brings to mind such passages as 2 Samuel:

Such OT prophecies referenced the destruction of the Temple in 587BC.

We have prophecies about the destruction forthcoming in the time of Jesus such as in the works of Josephus and in the Pseudepigrapha.

For example, consider the contemporary one from the testament of Levi:

Therefore the temple, which the Lord shall choose, shall be laid waste through your uncleanness, and ye shall be captives throughout all nations

Jesus spoke using familiar prophetic words & iterated a message familiar to the people in their day.

Jesus is saying that regardless of the size of the stones, their assumed permanence, impending disaster was approaching.

Jesus was not saying, repent so disaster will not come

He spoke of a impending coming movement of God.

Jesus spoke of a time to come which the people were unable to escape, change, or put off.

The prophecy of Jesus came to be in AD 71 when Rome burnt and destroyed the temple.

PONT - As crazy as it sounds, people, perhaps well-meaning, say ridicules things like, “Welcome to the House of the Lord” in church and in their prayers.

Now, I’m sure none of us are guilty (pointing to myself) of this practice.

It is hard to change a practice when we’v done it for years.

I don’t know where it started, but clearly here, in this passage, Jesus identified that the last psychical place the Bible mentions, the last psychical location of God’s House on earth was the temple toward which He directed his Word.

Where was the Mount of Olives in relation to the temple?

The setting was to the east of the Temple across the Kidron Valley.

It was from that geographical location that Jesus taught.

It provided an excellent illustrative opportunity for this lesson.

From that location they can view the Temple and its grounds.

POINT - Clearly God is using this to teach that the earthly dwelling is destroyed.

NOTE - Some tend to well on the minor and miss the major points making a big thing from the obscure while overlooking the obvious.

So, when someone says, “What about the big stones that are still there?”

Remember this, Rome sacked Jerusalem and if not for a few large stones it is probable that lots of people would doubt the greatness of the Temple.

More importantly, Jesus is speaking somewhat figuratively.

He is making an important point about the destruction, He is not making a scientific fact that every stone is going to become a pebble.

Jesus is using a hyperbole or an expression to illustrate an idea.

When you and I say:

He’s skinny as a toothpick

Everyone knows that

He’s got tons of money

I’m so hungry I could eat a horse

When we speak that way, we are not making scientifically measurable facts, but illustrating with a hyperbole.

A hyperbole both gets attention and helps people to remember.

Sometime it even make us laugh a little bit.

And unless our brains are the “size of a peanut” or, “were older than the hills,” and “can’t remember anything” (all hyperboles) than this way of speaking should make sense to us.

TRANS - Okay, let’s move forward.

Beautiful People

What happened in AD 71, and how does this event relate to Jesus’ prediction in Mark 13:2?

Interestingly Christians through the ages have attempted to answer questions related to Jesus’ coming again.