Our Daily Bread as prescribed from Our Rock Church Pastor- Rom 16:19-20, Acts 17:6 & Matthew 24

Romans 16:19-20 19 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Acts 17:6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
Do we really realize the impact of obedience on the earth? Disobedience turned the world we live in and participate in, upside down from being rightside up. What can and will change and reverse that curse and in so reversing automatically crush satan under foot?
Obedience. So why do we so readily disobey and so hesitantly obey? Because it is a strong and powerful force. We’ve thought it to only be an action, but it is a weapon, a tool, a force. When I see things like this, there is a certain righteous almost anger that rises in me to purposely obey God, so that satan will manifestly be crushed under our feet here on earth as a demonstration of joining forces with God who has taken His Son Jesus and through obedience, has done the work of victory, for us. We don’t have to work it out, we just need to join obedient forces who are for us.
Matthew 24:1-51
Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple
Destruction of the Temple Foretold
R98 1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age
R99 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" 4And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all F130 these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, F131 and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. The Great TribulationR100 15 "Therefore when you see the "abomination of desolation,' F132 spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), 16"then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. 23"Then if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Christ!' or "There!' do not believe it. 24For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25See, I have told you beforehand. 26"Therefore if they say to you, "Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or "Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. 27For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
The Coming of the Son of Man
R101 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The Parable of the Fig Tree
R102 32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33So you also, when you see all these things, know that it F133 is near--at the doors! 34Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
No One Knows the Day or Hour
R103 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, F134 but My Father only. 37But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour F135 your Lord is coming. 43But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant
R104 45 "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48But if that evil servant says in his heart, "My master is delaying his coming,' F136 49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes
F130: 24:6 NU-Text omits all.
F131: 24:7 NU-Text omits pestilences.
F132: 24:15 Daniel 11:31; 12:11
F133: 24:33 Or He
F134: 24:36 NU-Text adds nor the Son.
F135: 24:42 NU-Text reads day.
F136: 24:48 NU-Text omits his coming.
Show cross-references
R98: Mark 13:1, 2; Luke 21:5, 6
R99: Mark 13:3-13; Luke 21:17-19
R100: Mark 13:14-23; Luke 17:23, 24, 37; 21:20-24
R101: Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28
R102: Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33
R103: Mark 13:32-37; Luke 17:26, 27, 34, 35; 21:34-36
R104: Luke 12:41-48
Lena’s Journalin’
Why would Jesus say that the temple would be thrown down? Because it was a natural and literal temple made with hands, and earthly dwelling place. When all is said and done it will disappear and not stand. Ever seen ruins of cities and buildings past? How natural disasters or time have taken their toll on naturally erected facilities? Jesus saw eternity and how men put years and years and years of work and effort, time, money, into one earthly building and then concentrate their worship to it, on it, at it, and in the light of eternal life it is nothing at all. He was trying to give them a clue of where their work, efforts, etc should be concentrated. Scripture tells us over and over again, that God’s desire is to dwell in Temples made without human hands (that’s people by the way) and so our efforts should be as concentrated on people, and our worship steered to God, and in "working on" and "investing our lives in" people, we will be worshipping God. Can you imagine how these Jesus was speaking to may have felt when he said this? I bet they were angry at Him for revealing it to them. I know how I felt the days when I realized that so much of what I’d done thus far was so naturally concentrated. It was a great revelation to me and brought a bit of despair, but it also brought me into focus, and steered my life completely around facing eternal mindedness. I deal with that natural minded tendency everyday in our world, but I know how to steer my mind back to Him and His will and work.
He who endures to the end will be saved. That does not mean you live to tell about it, it means you don’t lose your faith over it! You won’t give it up for an easier road or pleasures you’ve missed out on. This is the contrast of religious Christianity, which satan accepts, by the way. Religious Christianity says, I can say the "sinner’s prayer", believing on Jesus and what he did, I can accept what he did as true, but live my life as I was living, for my self and my own family, for our own goals and desires, not being required to change at all, just adapt that belief into who I already am and what I already do. THAT is a lie! And that is NOT salvation. Our faith is given us to live out forever, forever beginning the day we’re born again. We change kingdoms and kings. We’re no longer our king, satan is no longer our king (that means ruler, the one we follow the rules of) Jesus is our king. We serve the order of His kingdom. When one is Born again, they become a citizen of God’s kingdom, even while still here on earth. EVERYTHING changes, nothing even resembles who or what we were or were involved in. THAT truth is part of the pain and suffering of changing citizenship. The other king wants our citizenship, but we’ve now committed it to God. There’s a strong pull to "win" us back. BUT we’re NOT going back, we’re staying in His Lordship forever! ALL of the context here is giving us a well informed projection into our eternal future and the reasons why we’d want to rescue others from the eternal doom or bring them into the eternal joy that will be in the end. Don’t ever allow yourself to put things off, especially the call of God to come to Him. It is SO critical! So crucial. You do not know when your end will be, ever. You can’t put salvation off. You are messing with God and with satan when you do. Life is but a vapor and you do not know when it will end for you. You are a fool to think you can defy time and God. WAKE UP (1 Cor 6:2). Arise and join the reapers of His harvest, or you may have nothing to preserve your days. It is a very serious time. Purpose preserves life….unless God has given you a person who prays for you often or who sticks with you until you receive Him or you yourself are serving Him, you are in enemy territory and there is NO guarantee of the length of your life. Thank God for praying grandmothers, mothers, fathers friends etc. They’ve seen an eternal purpose for you and won’t let go till you see it too.