Month: February 2021

Living Off-the-Grid while In-the-World”

Learn several ways to build an unshakeable lifestyle on the Foundation of Jesus Christ in these difficult days!

As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” Mark 13:3-4

(Mark is writing to the Roman Christians)

Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3

(Matthew is originally writing  to the Hebrew/Messianic/Jewish Christians In Judea)

In this Lenten 2021 devotion, in these two-verses from Mark, we can learn several ways to stay plugged into the agenda of God’s Kingdom in the midst of these difficult end-times… by sitting at His feet…swimming against the current of the world…developing godly friendships…asking great questions …and guarding our privacy!  We must stay engaged in this world building with costly grace,  unconditional love, acceptance without approval  and forgiveness and compassion without compromise!

Mark Chapter 13 is the famous private Olivet Discourse given by Jesus while sitting on the Mount of Olives.  Someone coined the phrase, “The Little Apocalypse” to describe this twilight teaching of the Suffering Servant two days befor His crucifixion .  Ray Stedman, an influential  evangelical teacher from my neck of the woods in the San Francisco Bay Area, called it the “Olivet Prophecy: The most detailed prediction in the Bible…There are many predictive passages in both the Old and New Testaments, but none is clearer or more detailed than the message Jesus delivered from the Mount of Olives. This message was given during the turbulent events of the Lord’s last week before the cross” (What on Earth Is Happening? What Jesus Said About the End of the Age. Discovery House Publishers, 2003). 

Likely, Jesus, the Master-teacher, is facing eastward from the western slope of the Mount of Olives while informing and warning the disciples of the ‘things to come…the sign of His coming and the end of the age’. The parallel passages are critical to be familiar with in Matthew 24-25 & Luke 21.. Contextually and historically so much is unfolding around this ‘end-times’ admonishment  to a kingdom lifestyle. 

  • Jesus knew His hour had come to be despised, rejected, crucified and raised again. He knew this was His final visit to Jerusalem to complete His mission given to Him by the Father. Popularity was waning and the tide of persecution was waxing stronger. (Mark 10:32-34)

  • Jesus arrived in Bethany to stay with his close friends, Lazarus (whom He just raised from the dead), Martha and Mary, on the eastern slope or hip of the Mount of Olives 6-days before the Passover and His crucifixion (John 12:1). He would spend the days in Jerusalem teaching  in the temple area. His nights would be spent on the Mount of Olives, presumably at the home of Lazarus, perhaps a night at the home of  Simon the Leper and certainly one night under the light of the moon and the stars in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 10:19; Luke 21:37-38)

  • A few days earlier He was carried on a donkey while the Jewish crowds waved palm branches and  proclaimed, “Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Mark 11:1-10)

  • The religious leaders, the Roman government and Herod Antipas who governed the Galilee province  (Herod the Great’s son, the “fox”, allowed the beheading of John-the-Baptist; and soon to be “friend” of Pontius Pilate) were plotting how to kill Jesus. (Mark 12:12; Luke 13:31; 20:19-20).  Jesus was from Nazareth of the Galilee , this is why Herod Antipas was pulled into the night kangaroo court. Herod was in Jerusalem for Passover. 

  • The satanic  juices of embezzlement, the love of money and  betrayal were flowing in the heart of Judas to force the hand of Jesus with the enraged jealous religious leaders and the bloody Romans.  In fact, the next day AFTER this teaching, Satan enters the heart of Judas Iscariot and he agrees to find a vulnerable private moment when they can arrest Jesus. 

James Tissot, The Exhortation to the Apostles, circa 1886–1894.

From the historical context,  and the  triadic question of Peter, John, James and Andrew,  what can we learn about the nature and challenge of  Apocalyptic-Discipleship (Disciples of Jesus @ the End of the Age) in the “end of the age”? 

  • Find the Vantage Point @ the Feet of Jesus:  AD’s Seek & Find the High Ground at the Feet of Jesus! “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives”.  “Sitting” has two connotations, both of which help understand the significance of this moment. Jesus was “sitting” as a Master-teacher or a prophet in a place of  authority, a throne, a place of rule.  Secondly, ‘sitting’ points toward permanent residence or ‘to dwell’ in a place as a regional productive  citizen. 

    As citizens of heaven and pilgrims on this earth, we must be careful from whom and where we gather our information. 

Where are you getting your intelligence? Knowledge? Who is fact checking you? 

The internet and social media is for the most part a double-edged sword of knowledge. We must spend more and more devotional time in the presence of God at the feet of Jesus with our hearts, mind and bibles open to His truth. We are “seated together with Christ in heavenly places” (Ephesians 1).  Ephesians has a very specific kingdom of God rhythm…SIT, WALK, STAND. We have access to the throne of grace in our troublesome lives and days we live in. 

 

Apocalyptically,  according to the prophet Zechariah, when Jesus, the Son of Man, descends from heaven to defend Jerusalem, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives and cause a great earthquake to split the mountain in two and two rivers will break forth from Jerusalem to water the region (Zechariah 14:1-8).  So whether or not Jesus is “sitting” or “standing”, AT HIS FEET in humble surrender is the safest place to be! The ‘ad-vantage’ is finding the ‘vantage’ point, the perspective needed to gain an accurate view. I have a friend who taught me to pray, “Lord help me to be at the right place at the right time, and not the wrong place at the wrong time. Amen”.  The unshakeable  ‘high ground’ is where Jesus is sitting. The Psalmist says, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.” May we more and more learn to ‘go-off-the-grid’ from the world’s philosophies, entertainment, agenda and priorities…and “abide” or ‘plug-in’ to Jesus as The Way , the Truth and the Life! 

 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. (Jer.9:23-24)

  • Swim Against the Currents of the World: In these difficult days,  if you ‘go with the flow’ you will end up where you don’t want to go!  We must live in the opposite spirit that is being released in this world. We not only need “perspective” but we need to be possessed by the Holy Spirit. To be filled or baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be in direct opposition to the philosophies  of the age, the passions of the flesh and prince of the power of the air. At twilight, Jesus and the disciples were sitting “opposite the temple.”  Jesus was building His church in the now, knowing the physical Temple and the City of Jerusalem was going to be destroyed in about a generation (40 years) of time.  He was the Chief Cornerstone and He was building the foundation of the church with His friends the apostles by using the prophetic Scriptures of the Jews.  This “Little Apocalypse” must be understood by reviewing prophetic literature of Daniel, Zechariah, Isaiah etc. Clearly, Jesus did not put together an army of revolutionaries to overthrow Rome. He did not lead a mob with sticks, molotov cocktails, and stones to bull rush the capital of Jerusalem and lay siege to the Temple.  He came in a spirit of humility to serve and lay down His life as an atonement for the sins of all Jews, Romans and the entire world of humanity.  He was Jewish but His blood was Adamic spilled for all nations, tribes and tongues that sprung forth from Adam and Eve. 

    The ‘stumbling stone’ of Judas Iscariot was “the cross”. The “stumbling stone’ of Peter was “the cross”. The ‘stumbling stone’ of Saul of Tarsus was “the cross”.   A suffering Messiah was the opposite of a military leader who would come in like a Davidic warrior riding an iron chariot drawn by four horses to break the back of the pagan Romans. “Turn your cheek”…”put down your sword”…”go two miles”…”love your enemies”…”pray for those who persecute you”…”forgive them for they not what they do 490 times”……the fact is  these are the words of Conquering King, but of a kingdom not of this world. A kingdom that is ruled by peace, joy and righteousness. A kingdom that delivers men, women and children from the blackness of the kingdom of darkness into a rulership of redemption and light (Col.1:13-14).  

I am not naive, Jesus will come again as a Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will come with a final wrath to consume with a fiery judgement of the ungodly for all the ungodly deeds.  Vengeance exclusively belongs to the Lord God not to us His people.  Listen carefully to Enoch, like Jesus, prophesied to his generation of the judgement to come in Jude,

“Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”

Let me boil this call to AD (Apocalyptic-Discipleship) in the “opposite spirit” to a word picture…As follower’s of Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah, we must refuse to crush people  who are different than us with religious stones, political stones, economic stones, racial stones, but like Jesus the Wise Master-builder, the Stone Mason, we pick up “living stones”, we pick up each other and we learn to dwell together in unity, we learn to work together 

PLEASE WATCH THIS EPIC BEAUTIFUL 3-MINUTE CLIP FROM THE MOVIE, BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON. THIS CLIP REALLY CAPTURES OUR CALL TO THE PURPOSE OF BUILDING THE CHURCH WITH JESUS TOGETHER AS FRIENDS. WE ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY, A GOOD MINISTRY TO FULFILL!

(Francis of Assisi is restoring an old church and his friend Bernardo is wondering if his friend is mentally stable)

CLICK> If You Want Your Dream To Be … [brother sun, sister moon]

  • Disciple/Mentor/Befriend  the Next Generation: Jesus was teaching from His field office. He was entrusting these end-time truths to His friends “Peter, James, John and Andrew.”  AD’s are in a 4×4 fellowship.  Friendship forged in the presence of Jesus will survive the shaking ahead. Like a 4-wheel drive all terrain truck, we need each other to go where Jesus is sending us into the remotest parts of human experience. C.S. Lewis in his book, The Four Loves, reveals an important truth about genuine productive friendship, “Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice.  Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travellers.”

  • Be Specific with Your Questions:  The disciples learned how to ask the right questions over the past few years with Jesus.  AD’s must be “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James, the brother of Jesus) in the last days. A great question can open a treasure-trove of divine treasures of revelation! “When?” and “What?” invited very specific answers. These questions opened the disciples’ understanding to the “seasons” and “the times” of the Lord. Artful questions create an avenue for wisdom and discernment to download to the grid of our heart and mind and behavior. Urgency and proper preparation often follows carefully crafted inquiries. Privately Ask questions of the Lord and then listen carefully in quietness, solitude and trust.

  • Practice Privacy:  The disciples came to Jesus “privately”.  The “secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him and He will make them know His covenant”(Ps.25:14). I will give you the treasures of darkness; And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name (Is.45:3).  Our giving, praying and fasting in the end-times must be exercised  in “secret” before the Father who sees in “secret” in order to secure His reward. The more ‘public’ we make our spiritual disciplines for others to see, we run the risk diminishing our reward from Him.  

Building Up in a Broken Down World

17 April 70 CE, The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850)

As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

Mark 13:1-2 

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

 Ephesians 2:20-22

Fathom this…Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah rejected by the religious and political elite of the day. With His disciples He is weaving through the crowded Temple Court to exit Jerusalem through one of the gates of the Eastern Wall. The apocalyptic truth, Jesus is the chosen Chief Cornerstone, the firm foundation of the ekklesia/the church.  The entire superstructure begins (Cornerstone) and ends (Capstone) with Him with shouts of “grace, grace to it!”  In this moment, He is simultaneously  building up the New Emerging Temple while He is prophesying the Destruction of the Second Temple.  As the Wise Master-builder, for three years, He has been fitting “living stones” (the disciples) together with Himself. The soon to be  apostles are star-struck by the massive stones and ornate buildings…while walking and talking through the streets of Jerusalem,  and climbing the Mount of Olives. Jesus is proactively fitting together and building   the most durable gathering of mankind for all the ages…the Church. Invisibly,  Jesus is building His church in the shadow of a doomed religious edifice, a failing hybrid monster of political, religious, military and economic structures. In forty years, The Jerusalem of His day will be crushed by 80,000 Roman soldiers. However, This Old Jerusalem will eventually be replaced with the New Jerusalem descending  from heaven at the end of the age like a beautifully adorned bride on her wedding day (Rev.21:1-2)!

Flashback to 1969-1970…As a 7- year old, I’m standing on a scaffold 8’ feet off the ground constructed along the westside of a brick house my dad and my brothers, John and Steve, are building.  John is mixing the cement, Steve is wheelbarrowing the cement and shoveling it up on to  the scaffold that me and my dad are on. In his spare time, my dad (an engineer for the Department of Agriculture, Forest Service), a civil engineer, is tediously and accurately laying each brick in place with the use of a trowel and mason’s string line pulled horizontally just above the last row of brick.  I can still feel the Pueblo springtime cold nippy wind blowing around my neck. My big bruder John’s face was ashen from the cement powder swirling around his body as the cement mixer grinded away. I can see my dad with his black frame glasses, his weathered construction hands and a drip of nasal snot hanging on the tip of his nose.  My simple singular job was to hand him an individual brick over and over again.  On that scaffold we did not talk much, I simply watched him carefully and I learned to hand him a brick at the right time and the right place without a single word from him…I  knew him, what he was doing and what my job was. My brother’s and I were sons and slaves! My dad was the Pharaoh and we were building the Great Pyramid of John Langskov brick by brick. In fact, we were racing the union mason’s across the street and we were faster. My dad was a fierce competitor in all spheres of life.

The Langskov House 1969 in Pueblo, Colorado (Left to Right: Steve, Dad, Jeff, Dave (Master-carpenter) and John)

The Great House of the Langskov took 1 year to build….hahahaha.  The Great Pyramid took 20 years to build.  The Great Wall of China stretched out over 200 years.  The Great House of the Langskov,  the Great Pyramid and Chinese Great Wall stand today.  Solomon’s Temple took 7 years to build (completed in (957 BC) but was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. Seventy years later (first wave of POW’s from Judah was around 604-606 B.C.) a group of exiles returned from Babylon and eventually finished the Second Temple (aka Zerubbabel’s Temple) in 516 B.C. after a 16 year delay. The principal leaders for this Restoration Temple were the governor Zerubbabel, Joshua the High Priest and the prophets Haggai and Zecheriah (Ezra 5:2).  All  ministry  in the Church is to be led by Jesus Christ, the King, the High Priest and the Prophet. Jesus, as the King of kings,  has all authority and power to rule; He is our sinless sacrifice, High Priest and Intercessor between us and the Father; He is the infallible Word of God who fully explains the Godhead…Listen to Him!

As Apocalyptic-Disciples we possess true hope that expects things to get worse before they radically are transformed for His highest good. We know “good will triumph over evil.” We prepare our spirit to be ready to do His will and make a difference in simple tasks of love each day. We value people above the things of this world that is passing away.

  • Shake up/down: Political, religious, and economic systems will ultimately fail humanity…they will collapse under the judgement of God.  As needed, Pray you will disentangle yourself from these false gospels and shakeable alliances of peace and prosperity.

  • Shake-off: Let go of any inbred pessimism grounded in the failure of broken systems, fake news, conspiracy theories, shipwrecked  relationships and personal failures. Let His redemption wrap you in a warm garment of  present hope and future release of purpose. Lift up your head for your redemption is drawing near!  

  • Shake-out: Hand someone a brick that will make them stronger and wiser! Find one simple task and do it over and over until you build a wall of salvation around yourself and others! Only speak words that edify in love!

First Impression vs. Divine Impression

The first step of Apocalyptic-Discpleship  is to begin asking Jesus what IMPRESSES HIM. The second step is to become aware what impresses us most and why? 

A model of Herod’s Temple created by Israeli historian and archaeologist Michael Avi-Yonah in 1966. This view would be a probable look from the slope of the Mount of Olives before the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 AD.

41 And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. 43 Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.” 

Mark 12:41-44 (NASB)

“As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 

Mark 13:1 (NIV)

The prime directive of Jesus is to “IMPRESS US WITH HIS IMAGE”…that is to say, “conform us to His image”!  A “First Impression” is what we think about a person when we first encounter them or meet them. This First Impression can be an evaluation based on a brief conversation, a physical glimpse or distant gaze. Anyone who reads the Gospels for the first time would come to a First Impression about Jesus that He is a contemplative, a friend of sinners, a great communicator, compassionate, good, loving, forgiving, intense at times and He does not trust religious leaders.  His First Impression brings us back to Him as Lord and Savior to make an Eternal-Impression on us!

Basically, God in Jesus  has employed all His knowledge and all His power toward one essential mission… ‘pour all the broken pieces of Jeff’s________(add your name) spirit, soul and body  into the perfect mold of Jesus Christ’.  The real kicker is you have to create a hot enough fire to melt down all the broken pieces until Jeff_______(add your name) becomes purified  molten liquid, fluid enough to be transformed from the inside out…unfortunately this refining process is repeated over and over again!  Apocalyptic-Discipleship  is a call to pressure and fire…metamorphosis (Rom.8:29; 2 Cor.3:18)!  

We become what we behold, what we behold, we eventually worship.  

‘Apolcalyptic-Discipleship’ is Jesus calling a small group  of men or women to Himself to share life together with a common mission.   However, AD(Apocalyptic-Discipleship/Disciple) is a two-way street. Jesus calls us to Himself to “observe” and “learn” what is important to Him…giving secretly, cheerfully and giving our all!   The keen penetrating  insight of Jesus into religious life is the perspective we need to cultivate.  Jesus is a people-watcher, a people-person.  The Master already taught you can’t serve God and Mammon (money) because you will despise one or the other. The problem is the “love of money” not money in and  of itself.  Now Jesus was intensely contemplating all the people giving offerings  at the treasury-boxes.  When large gifts were given trumpets would be sounded and all heads would turn to see who exactly just gave a big donation to the Temple Foundation. 

Click Link below for a Short Clip on the Widow’s Mite

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-teaches-about-the-widows-mites?lang=eng

Conversely, the two-way street of following Jesus, involves us calling out to Jesus to get His attention in order to  “look” at what impresses or influences  us.  This crucial second level communication of AD’s is where we learn ‘discernment’ to determine how we best steward our time, talents and treasures. The many good things begin to fade as the most excellent ways of God emerge for us!  Discernment for wise choices  and “discernment of spirits” is a critical apocalyptic discipline and spiritual-gift to be developed for the end of the age because religious deception will be so prevalent. 

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Phil.1:9-11)

A wise man once said to me, “we build churches and then they build us.”  If I understood him correctly, he was saying to me be careful Jeff  to not allow church buildings, budgets, projects, programs capture your attention more than the people they are meant to serve and help.  I confess I like things, I appreciate architecture, I enjoy observing nature at all levels of flora, fauna and geology.  When bored, one of my favorite things to do is watch  predators hunt prey on YouTube.  Currently, I am desperately trying to be more powerful in my love as a son, a father, a friend, a husband and a brother!

Jesus points out people…”this widow”, we tend to point out things “Look at these massive stones and wonderful buildings”.  AD’s are more focused on loving people by using things, as opposed to, loving things and using people. All the “things”…all the stuff in this world is falling apart day by day. Our bodies are becoming tattered tents destined to ashes and dust.  The human race is created in the likeness of God, therefore, human beings are ‘eternal’. As Apocalyptic-Disciples (AD’s) we must bring a quality of being to them born of God’s Spirit. We must seek to observe people and determine exactly what it is that they need from God and then seek to bring that to them in a spirit of servanthood and love.  We must first learn to observe, then to listen, then to speak life-giving words and serve with Holy Spirit strength. 

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,

That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

The Lord God has opened My ear;

And I was not disobedient

Nor did I turn back. (Isa.50:4-5)

The most important ‘temple treasury’ is the one located in your heart…in your spirit. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our body may or may not be ‘impressive’ by the world’s standard, but the Holy Spirit desires  to fill our hearts with the eternal  treasures of heaven, of wisdom, of knowledge, of love, compassion, forgiveness etc. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve us and lay his life down as a ransom for us (Mk.10:45).  

Lenten Reflection:

  • Shake-up/down: Pray your eyes will be opened to what ‘impresses’ Jesus. Talk to Him about what is influencing you and ask for His perspective.

  • Shake-off: What experience or endeavor or accomplishment have you allowed to heavily  influence your behavior or lifestyle  that is temporal in nature?  This may or may not be your endeavor or accomplishment. 

  • Shake-out:  Go and find someone and tell them about how they impressed you with a Christ-like action. Further, ask God to help you “give your all” for Him like the poor widow.

The Sermon on the Mount of Olives & the Call to Apocalyptic-Discipleship

The Mount of Olives Viewed from the Eastern Wall of Jerusalem in the 21st Century. Jesus would have taught about His Second Coming from this mountain two days before He was rejected and crucified in Jerusalem.(Mark 13) 

       “3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3

Today is Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is built on the tradition of imposing ashes on the forehead of the Christian as a sign of repentance and faith in God through Jesus Christ. I remember as a young minister my responsibility was to gather the ‘Palm branches’ our congregation waived on Palm Sunday and place them in a bag for storage. Nearly a year later,  the night before Ash Wednesday, I would burn those branches (if I could find the bag) and prepare the ashes to wipe across the foreheads of our congregation as they took Holy Communion. 

The ashes were symbolic of the confessed sins of omission and commission that we had committed the previous year. Like Peter, our boastings often become the basis of our confession of falling short. Ash Wednesday became the gate of entering into a 40-day season of recentering my life upon the life, ministry and person of Jesus. Lent, in its truest sense, is both commemoration and a  participation in the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil in order to prepare for the public phase of His ministry inaugurated in the Galilee.  Lent ends on Palm Sunday with the beginning of Holy Week.

The Lenten season is never to be a lifeless tradition to replace a lifestyle of repentance and confession. When we confess our sins to God He is faithful to cleanse us and forgive us on any day of the year. The value is found in the “intentionality” of a protracted season of focus on the transformative power of Jesus by His Holy Spirit in us. “Specificity” in our spiritual growth adds focus to His particular work in our heart, mind, will, emotions and body. For example, if we have identified a stronghold of timidity in our soul, we can ‘intentionally’ and ‘specifically’ ask for the help of the Spirit of Jesus to drive this ‘cowardice’ from us to be replaced with bold-love!

I have chosen the Mark 13:1-37 to serve as a Lenten backdrop, spiritual stair-master or template of transformative fellowship with Jesus  for Lent 2021. This Olivet Discourse was given while Jesus sat privately on the western slope Mount of Olives overlooking the ancient city of Jerusalem’s eastern wall. This teaching likely happened at Sunset or in the early evening.

Please read Mark 13 silently, audibly and in various translations over the next several days and weeks. His words are spirit and life to the soul.  You can also read Matthew 24-25 and Luke 21 which are parallel passages which give details Mark does not include and vice versa. Read the events leading up to the Olivet Discourse beginning in Mark 10-16.  You will notice the Sermon on the Mount of Olives is the Last Great Discourse of Jesus other than John 14-17 (which took place likely between during or shortly after the Lord’s Supper and before Gethsamane).  

Therefore, figuratively, over the next 40 days we will climb the Mount of Olives, step by step, stone by stone, verse by verse from the 13th chapter of Mark. There are thirty-seven verses in this chapter that Jesus taught which unfold a kingdom culture and a  lifestyle which we can initiate as citizens of heaven on earth!  The Chief Cornerstone, Jesus, is the firm foundation that provides the immovable and eternal nature of the kingdom of God in a ‘shakeable’ world. The more we internalize this teaching in obedience the more stable and productive we will be for His kingdom in the difficult days unfolding in our world today. 

We must build discernment of the times, be found as faithful servants and stewards when Jesus returns at the end of the age!  This is the simply purpose of the Sermon on the Mount of Olives.

Our goal will be to build on the high ground of the  ‘unshakeable’ kingdom of God.  We will ask the Holy Spirit each day to “ create in us a clean heart”…to “restore the joy of our salvation” and to “renew an upright spirit in us” in the midst of crooked, dark and  crumbling civilization. 

At the end of each biblical devotion, I will suggest one simple prayer-action and ask two questions to facilitate intentional and specific interaction with our Lord Jesus Christ:

1. Shake-down/up: Find a place of solitude each day and pray your life will be marked with the unshakeable characteristics of the  kingdom of God in Jesus Christ revealed in each verse. For example, “the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom.14:17).  Pray you will yield to the Holy Spirit to cultivate and build “joy” into your spirit and responses to life challenges. 

  1. Shake-off: During this season of Lent, what habit(s) can I shed or starve or crucify to redirect my time, my talent and my treasure toward the things of God? For example, ‘shake-off’ the spirit of heaviness and put on the garment of praise!

  1.  Shake-out: (Like a salt-shaker)…Today, help me to speak a word or do a good deed that will strengthen someone to consider Jesus and release  His unshakeable kingdom into their lives?

(TO FOLLOW SWIMMINGMONK BLOGS…PLEASE SCROLL TO THE END OF THE BLOG OR THE SIDE COLUMN. YOU SIMPLY ENTER YOUR EMAIL AND CLICK THE “FOLLOW SWIMMINGMONK” RED BOX! THANK YOU!!)