1) "And we know Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, he fulfilled some 300 prophecies concerning the Messiah. Someone has done studies about that and said that to fulfill even 48 of the 300 plus prophecies would be something like one in 10 to the 157th power. In other words, it's scientifically impossible for one man to fulfill all of those prophecies. Yet, with God, all things are possible. And it just goes to show us that no one could set themselves up as Messiah and try to fulfill all of those prophecies on their own." [04:34] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2) "This night on the Mount of Olives reminds us of this important truth. Jesus is committed to us. Amen. I want us to consider briefly Luke 22, verses 39 to 47. If you have that copy of your copy of God's Word, turn there in your Bible. Luke chapter 22, verses 39 and following. The last supper has occurred, and with Jesus' object lesson, just as we... ...experienced fresh on their minds, his declaration that all of them would turn their backs on him in the hours that followed. The disciples now join Jesus on the Mount of Olives. And Luke mentions the normalcy of this event in verse 39. He says, Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives and his disciples followed him." [12:29] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3) "If there was any other way for Jesus to redeem mankind, he would have taken it, but he knew there was no other way. And so while he prayed, Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, he then said, yet not my will, but yours be done. You see, Jesus was committed to us. He went to the cross for your sins, for my sins, for the sins of the world. He wanted us to be set free from the sin that so easily entangles us, and instead to be invigorated by his Holy Spirit that sanctifies us and empowers us for each day of our lives." [15:10] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4) "So with what sin are you struggling? Well, confess it to Jesus, and he'll take it to the throne. What burden are you carrying? Give it to Jesus, and he'll take it to the throne. What's stealing your joy? Give that to Jesus, and he'll take it to the throne. You see, if you have a mountain that you can't climb, if you have an answer you can't find, take it to Jesus. If your situation seems hopeless, your sin unforgivable, your prayer unanswerable, just take it to Jesus, and he'll take it to the Father." [24:37] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5) "In our politically charged world in which we live with an election coming up, there's a lot of fear. And it's been interesting to notice that both political parties are saying the same thing. Those guys are evil and will destroy America, but we've got the answer. We're the savior. Doesn't matter if they're Democrats or Republicans, male, female, what ethnicity, they say the same thing. Those people are evil, we've got the answer. Let me tell you this, the savior of the world, the savior of America is not a donkey or an elephant, it's a lamb. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world and he is coming back. That gives us hope." [31:52] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




6) "So as we go through times that are challenging, I encourage you, ascend the Mount of Olives from time to time. Because it's a place of hope. Look over Jerusalem. Remember the mountain ranges that brought the people of God to that place. And the mountain ranges the people of God have been in through all different times. And remember that Jesus is committed to us. Jesus is interceding for us. And Jesus is coming back for us." [36:17] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

I want to begin by asking a couple of questions. How can we make it today? How can we have hope for tomorrow? How can we have certainty for eternity?

Well, I'd like to submit to you that it is by going to the mountain with God, as we have for the last several weeks as we've been journeying through this series to the mountain with God. But I think especially we need to go to the mountain which we will ascend today.

This final mountain for our series is the setting for several events in the Bible, but especially it figures into the final days of Jesus' time on earth. It also figures prominently into His second coming. And so this morning we ascend the Mount of Olives, and I've changed the title of today's message from what is printed in the bulletin to this: The Mount of Olives.

The Mount of Olives, a place of hope. The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem is actually a single peak in a two-mile-long ridge that borders eastern Jerusalem. It forms a barrier between the city of Jerusalem and the Judean wilderness to the east. Sometimes when people say the Mount of Olives, they refer to this entire ridge, but most often when we hear about the Mount of Olives, we're referring to the uttermost, highest center peak, which is directly across the mountain.

The mountain gets its name because of the olive groves which grow, but especially once grew on that mountain in ancient times. And from the summit, you get the iconic view of Jerusalem that everyone takes a picture of when they get to go to that city.

And perhaps it's this vantage point of the city why the Mount of Olives became known as a place of worship, a place of meeting with God. The summit of Mount Olives may actually have been a place where high places were built back in pagan days and pagan gods were worshipped before Israel settled the region. But even in the time of King David, when Jerusalem was the capital city of Israel, but before Solomon built the temple, the Mount of Olives may have been a place where Israelites worshipped God in spirit and in truth.

Near the end of David's life, we find our first direct reference to the Mount of Olives in 2 Samuel chapter 15. At that point in David's kingdom, David's son Absalom has rebelled against him. And so many people are joining him, and so many people are joining him, and so many people are joining him, and so many with Absalom that David is realizing that his power is being stripped away.

And so he and those close to him flee the city of Jerusalem, cross the Kidron Valley, and go up into the Mount of Olives. 2 Samuel 15 verse 30 tells us that David ascended the mountain barefoot with his head covered and weeping as he went.

Later on, though David's son Solomon built the magnificent temple for God in Jerusalem, he would actually go up and build the magnificent temple for God in Jerusalem. He would be turned away from God because of his many wives and concubines. In fact, he would be instrumental in building high places to detestable gods of the Moabites and the Ammonites, quote, on a hill east of Jerusalem, 1 Kings 11 verse 7 tells us. And it makes sense that this was the Mount of Olives.

So you have these two mountain ranges separated by the Kidron Valley. One includes Mount Zion, the place of protection, and Mount Moriah behind it, the place of realizing the cost of following God, the Kidron Valley, and then you have the Mount of Olives, a place of worship, but a place that becomes a place of hope.

Soon came the time of the prophets. As the nation of Israel split in two over the next few centuries, the kingdom of Israel to the north would fall to the Assyrians. Then ultimately the kingdom of the south, Judah, would fall to the Babylonians. And then the nation would go into exile.

And so we say we have the united monarchy of David and Solomon, then we have the divided kingdom with Israel in the north and Judah to the south, and then we have the time of the exile. During this time of the divided monarchy, especially on through the exile and in the days right after the exile, the prophets were at work.

Some prophets spoke to Israel, some spoke to Judah, some spoke to both, some spoke before the exile, some spoke during the exile, some spoke after the exile. About 400 years after David and Solomon, during the exile, the prophet Ezekiel, in one of his prophetic visions, saw the glory of the Lord depart from the temple, go across the Kidron Valley, and settle on, quote, the mountain east of the city. And so many think this was likely the Mount of Olives.

Now if you fast forward another four or five hundred years from the closing days of the prophets to the time of Jesus, we're reminded that throughout the age of the prophets, many times and in many places throughout there, many of those men prophesied a coming Messiah. And we know Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, he fulfilled some 300 prophecies concerning the Messiah.

Someone has done studies about that and said that to fulfill even 48 of the 300 plus prophecies would be something like one in 10 to the 157th power. In other words, it's scientifically impossible for one man to fulfill all of those prophecies. Yet, with God, all things are possible. And it just goes to show us that no one could set themselves up as Messiah and try to fulfill all of those prophecies on their own.

The Mount of Olives features prominently in the final days of Jesus' ministry on earth. In fact, Luke 21 verse 37 tells us that each day that he was in Jerusalem, Jesus was teaching in the temple, and then in the evening, he went out to spend the night on the Mount of Olives.

And though Jesus was going back and forth between the Mount of Olives and the city of Jerusalem on a daily basis, the gospel writers emphasize three times in that final week when Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

The first time was when Jesus came down from the Mount of Olives and entered Jerusalem on a donkey in what we call the triumphal entry. We celebrate that on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. And the Gospel of Matthew points out that this, Jesus riding on a donkey, was a fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah in chapter 9 verse 9.

The second instance that the Gospels emphasize is when Jesus explained to his disciples what was to come. That instruction is called the Olivet Discourse because it took place on the Mount of Olives. And there, Jesus talks about what is to come in the last days.

The final time that Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives was during his last week, on the night of his betrayal and his arrest. And it's there that we pick up the story, and really, we back up just a bit as we celebrate the Last Supper.

Earlier that night, Jesus gathered with his disciples in an upper room in the city, and as our deacons come forward now to celebrate the Lord's table, I want you to imagine the disciples coming through the city of Jerusalem. Maybe they were coming down the Mount of Olives and coming out of their campsite there, and they were coming into the city.

They went to this place that had been prepared for them to celebrate the Last Supper together. They were coming to celebrate the Passover, something they had done with their families their whole lives. But they came that night to celebrate the Passover with Jesus, and Jesus gave it new meaning.

He took that Passover meal, and he helped them to understand all that was to come. You know, these guys could not fathom what it would mean for Jesus to be crucified, for him to be buried, for three days for him to be raised from the dead. They had no concept of what that meant.

But Jesus gave this memorial picture in the Last Supper so that they could start to understand things. And I want to use Mark's gospel today as our guide. In Mark chapter 14, Jesus, after talking about who would betray him, we read in Mark chapter 14, verse 22, while they were eating, Jesus took bread, he gave thanks, and he broke it.

And he gave it to his disciples saying, "Take it. This is my body." Then he took the cup and he gave thanks and he offered it to them and they all drank from it. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. As you receive the elements in just a moment, you're going to receive them together. The bread will be in a cup on the bottom. The juice will be on top. I want you to just take a moment and to think about what Jesus did for us.

That bread symbolizes his body that would be broken and bruised for us. Jesus, the juice symbolizes his blood that would be shed for us. So as the elements are passed to everyone in the congregation, just reflect upon that.

Here in our church, you're welcome to participate in the Lord's Supper even if you're not a member. As long as you are a born-again baptized believer and you profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're welcome to join us in celebrating the Lord's table today.

And so as we prepare to receive the elements, let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning.

Lord Jesus, it's hard to imagine the blessing it is that we have through salvation in you. Lord, we thank you that you gave your life for us. Lord, thank you for this memorial meal that reminds us of that.

And for those of us who are believers, we take this moment to thank you for those who pointed us to you. Maybe it was our parents or grandparents or another family member. Might have been a Sunday school teacher or a minister or many people in our church family that helped us know the Lord Jesus Christ.

And because of their faithful witness, we're able to celebrate our salvation today. And so Lord, thank you for those faithful folks. And we pray that we would be faithful as well. Speak to our hearts during this time, and for those who don't yet know you, may they see in us our love for you, and may they want it for themselves.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus said, "This is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." After the supper, Jesus took the cup. As he looked in it, he remembered his blood that would be shed, and he said, "This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me."

The Scripture tells us, yes, that after they finished the meal, Mark 14, 26 says, they sang a hymn, and they went out to the Mount of Olives. And there they would spend the remainder of most of that night.

Every gospel writer talks about that night and what happened there in one way or another. Some give more details than others. But the basic events include Jesus' intense time of praying, and then, his arrest.

This night on the Mount of Olives reminds us of this important truth: Jesus is committed to us. Amen.

I want us to consider briefly Luke 22, verses 39 to 47. If you have your copy of God's Word, turn there in your Bible. Luke chapter 22, verses 39 and following. The Last Supper has occurred, and with Jesus' object lesson, just as we experienced fresh on their minds, his declaration that all of them would turn their backs on him in the hours that followed.

The disciples now join Jesus on the Mount of Olives. And Luke mentions the normalcy of this event in verse 39. He says, "Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him."

But it's what follows that we need to notice. Verse 40, "On reaching the place, he said to them, 'Pray that you will not fall into temptation.' He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done.' An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

And when he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 'Why are you sleeping?' he asked. 'Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.'"

Jesus's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives demonstrates his commitment to us. That word Gethsemane means oil press or even olive press. To make olive oil in ancient times, olives were put into a stone basin where then a large amount of oil was poured into it. And then they would lower heavy stones on top of that pulp.

And the pressure of those stones over time would push the oil out of that pulp, which would drain into a basin and then would be put into jars. Well, as Jesus prayed that night, the weight of his atoning sacrifice for our sins that was about to come pressed in upon him.

The weight of the sin of the entire world was pressing in upon him. The anguish he knew he would experience when he was separated from God the Father for the first time in eternity was pressing in upon him. And his sweat became like drops of blood, like that oil dripping under the weight of the large crushing stone slabs.

If there was any other way for Jesus to redeem mankind, he would have taken it, but he knew there was no other way. And so while he prayed, "Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me," he then said, "Yet not my will, but yours be done."

You see, Jesus was committed to us. He went to the cross for your sins, for my sins, for the sins of the world. He wanted us to be set free from the sin that so easily entangles us, and instead to be invigorated by his Holy Spirit that sanctifies us and empowers us for each day of our lives.

And because Jesus was committed to us, and because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, he still is committed to us. You see, he still wants nothing more than you and me and all of us to be free from our sins. He wants us to have everlasting life.

Now, we call it being saved, and that's because Jesus picks us up out of the pit of despair, picks us up out of our own pit where we are under the crushing weight of our own sin, and he sets our feet on the rock of his truth.

And so instead of our life being crushed by the weight of our sin, Jesus says, "I went through that for you." Instead of being crushed by your sin, receive new life in me and stand on the rock of my truth, the rock that is me.

We can now stand on this truth of Jesus as our Savior and Lord. And so I want to ask you, have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? Because you see, you need him. If you haven't, what's holding you back? What's preventing you from getting out from under that slab of crushing sin and standing on the rock of God's truth?

Don't allow yourself to be crushed, because Jesus is committed to you. He's committed to us.

Now, no sooner had Jesus finished his prayer of anguish than the events really started unpacking. He was arrested by a mob. He was pushed through a mock trial, and then he was sentenced to death on the cross. And as the prophet Isaiah said he would be, in Isaiah 53 verse 5, Jesus was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

But Jesus' time on the Mount of Olives was not over. In fact, after he was raised from the dead, Jesus spent 40 days appearing to people, especially his disciples. But then came Jesus' final day on earth. And for that, he went again to the Mount of Olives.

And we turn to Acts chapter 1. The book of Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel. It tells us what happened after Jesus. What did the disciples and the apostles do? That's why it's called the Acts of the Apostles, the actions of the apostles. This is what they did after Jesus left them.

And it tells us about how the church began to spread all over the world and that what began as about a group of 120 people there at the beginning of Acts, then suddenly by the end of Acts is spread to tens of thousands of believers all around the Mediterranean Sea and into the world, rapidly expanding into other places.

We get the story of all of that in Acts, but before any of that can happen, Jesus has to leave. And so we get that story right here in Acts chapter 1. The disciples are still a little confused about what the kingdom of God is going to look like. They're still a little confused about what the kingdom of God would look like, still anticipating more of an earthly kingdom than a heavenly one, and still kind of not understanding what's going on.

In verse 6, they ask Jesus this question, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" And then Jesus replies, "It's not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."

Verse 8 is Luke's statement of the Great Commission, and it becomes the outline for the rest of the book as the disciples first preach in Jerusalem and in the province of Judea, then they spread to Samaria, and then ultimately to the other parts of their known world.

But then we have Jesus's departure and it's just three verses even as important as it is. Verse 9, "After Jesus said this he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight." They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going and when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who's been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

So Jesus ascends. He leaves the apostles, his followers behind. So if Jesus has ascended to heaven, the question is what's he doing now? I mean we know he went to heaven so he could dispatch his Holy Spirit which he gave and the Holy Spirit would be with him.

He would be with him. He would be with him. He would be with him. The Holy Spirit filled those early apostles and disciples and they began preaching the good news. We know that every follower of Christ receives the Holy Spirit and he convicts us of sin. He helps us understand God's Word. He comforts us. He does a whole lot of things.

But what is Jesus doing? Well, Jesus is interceding for us and that's the second truth that our ascent to the Mount of Olives shows us. The word intercession means standing in the gap for another. The word means a go-between. And so an intercessor is a person who takes the prayer need of this person and takes it to God. They stand in the gap for those that they need to pray for.

Well, Jesus is now standing in the gap for us. He is now interceding for us and we cannot have a better intercessor than him. The New Testament says several times, we cannot have a better intercessor than him. There are several times that Jesus is doing this. Romans 8:34 says Jesus is at the right hand of God, they're interceding for us. 1 John 2:1 says Jesus is our advocate with the Father, almost like our defense attorney with the Lord.

Hebrews 7:25, Jesus always lives to intercede for us. And so as we think about Jesus's intercession, we think, well, what is he doing? Well, we get kind of a picture of what he might be doing from the book of Hebrews, because what Jesus is doing now is very much like what the high priest did way back then.

Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 through 16, encourages us in this way. It says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

The high priest of Israel was the only priest who was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was the most sacred part of the temple. And in that place was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. That's where they felt God was.

And so, only the high priest could go into that chamber of the tabernacle and later the temple. But he didn't just go in whenever he wanted. He only went in one day a year on the Day of Atonement. And he only went in then, after elaborate preparations. That was the only time when the earthly high priest had a direct audience with God.

But now, we have a great high priest who's gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who now sits at the right hand of the Father in majesty. And he's not limited in his audience with God the Father. He is unlimited in his audience with the Father. He always lives to have intercession for us.

And so all day, every day, Jesus is interceding for us. So with what sin are you struggling? Well, confess it to Jesus, and he'll take it to the throne. What burden are you carrying? Give it to Jesus, and he'll take it to the throne. What's stealing your joy? Give that to Jesus, and he'll take it to the throne.

You see, if you have a mountain that you can't climb, if you have an answer you can't find, take it to Jesus. If your situation seems hopeless, your sin unforgivable, your prayer unanswerable, just take it to Jesus, and he'll take it to the Father.

For those of you who know that hope, aren't you glad for that hope? Isn't it reassuring to know that every day, Jesus is interceding for you? And if you don't have that hope, because you don't have a relationship with the Lord, don't you want that hope? Don't you want that advocate with the Father? Don't you want that one who's talking to him every day?

He's committed to you. He's committed to us. He's interceding for you. He's interceding for us. But even though Jesus is committed to us, and even though he's interceding for us, there's still more. In fact, what's to come may actually be the greatest thing about which we are reminded on the Mount of Olives, and that is Jesus is returning for us.

We've got to go back in time to the prophets, so rewind the calendar hundreds of years. And a few decades after Ezekiel came the prophet Zechariah. And Zechariah's ministry took place after the exile. Remember, we said we had the United Kingdom, the divided kingdom, and then the time of the exile.

Well, Zechariah's ministering at the end of the exile. And by the time Zechariah ministered, the people who had been in exile had been allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. And they had started to rebuild the temple, but they'd gotten busy with other stuff, as people are prone to do, and they never had finished rebuilding the temple.

And so Zechariah and his prophetic counterpart Haggai encouraged the people to finish the temple, and so they end up doing that. But that's not all that Zechariah did. Because a part of Zechariah's ministry was looking ahead.

You see, prophets were primarily forth-tellers, meaning they spoke forth the Word of God. So, thus saith the Lord, and this is what he says for you people who need to listen to it. But another part of their ministry, yet not as big as the forth-telling part, was the fore-telling part, where they could look through time and through the guidance of the Lord, they would see things that were to come.

And so though Zechariah lived for a long time, he didn't live for a long time. He lived for a long time. He lived for a long time. And so, when he lived for a long time, he lived for a long time. And so, when he lived for a long time, in a day when Jerusalem was being rebuilt, he saw a day when Jerusalem would be devastated.

And so, as he saw that though, and as bad as it would be, he saw that in that day, the Lord would return. And so, I want you to go to Zechariah chapter 14. He's easy to find. Go to the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, and go back through the Italian prophet Malachi to Zechariah.

I'm glad y'all caught that. Just threw that in to wake y'all up a little bit. I know you get into all this history stuff and you might get lost. He's not Italian and it's not Malachi, so don't say that. It's not Job either. It's not Revelations either. It's a singular revelation.

Zechariah chapter 14, here's what he saw. He says, "The day of the Lord is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it. The city will be captured. The houses ransacked. The women raped. Half the city will go in exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle. And on that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north, half moving south.

And you'll flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Ezel. You see, notice that the Lord would not descend on Mount Zion, where Jerusalem is. He can't, because that's occupied by enemy forces. Instead, he descends on the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, much like David escaped to the Mount of Olives.

Now, when this will occur, it was unclear to Zechariah. The vision of the prophets as they looked into the future time was kind of like when you're standing back from a mountain range. You could see the different peaks, but you don't know how far the distance is between the peaks.

And so they could say, this is going to happen, this is going to happen, this is going to happen, but they didn't know how long it would be. And so, Zechariah didn't know when that would happen. And the devastating things that he's described have happened in one way or another several times in Israel's history.

In fact, Jerusalem has been conquered or recaptured more than 40 times in its history. It's been besieged 23 times. It's been attacked 52 times, completely destroyed twice. The first time was in 587 BC by the Babylonians before the days of Zechariah, and then in AD 70 by the Romans many years after the prophet Zechariah.

And of course, in our day, Jerusalem's surrounded by enemies once again. So, Zechariah didn't know when this would happen or which of these times of unrest he was looking at. He just did see something was coming. There was going to be significant.

And what was going to be especially significant was that the Lord was going to show up, and he was going to show out. The Lord would descend from heaven. He'd fight against the nations. He'd fight against the nations. He'd fight against the nations. He'd fight against the nations. He'd split the Mount of Olives in half, opening up a valley which would be a way of escape for his people.

And we could spend weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks going through all of what Zechariah talks about in those times, but that's not our focus for today. Our focus for today is this. I want you to know that we believe this reference is looking to the second coming of Christ. We don't know when it is, but he's coming.

The first time Jesus came, he came in humility. And he was crowned with thorns as he was crucified. But the next time he comes, he's coming in victory, and he'll be crowned with praise as he wins.

As we go through life, there are two future hopes that prompt us to keep on going. The first is the hope of heaven. If you're a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ, you know that you are saved. You have Jesus Christ living in your heart. You know that when you die, you're going to heaven one day, and so that can give you hope.

I've been with many folks who were at the point of death, and they had that hope. There is an absolute difference between a believer facing death and a lost person facing death, and that helps us. Whereas this fallen world is full of hardship and trials and stresses, heaven is perfect and pure and free from all that stuff.

So we can say, as David did at the end of Psalm 23, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, but then I'm going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Or we could say, as the Apostle Paul does in Philippians 1:21, I think in a similar kind of way, "For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain."

We have the hope of heaven. Now, I don't know that any of us are making a reservation for heaven today. We'd like to live a little more, experience some things in life, but if we're a believer in Christ, we know where we're going one day. That's the first hope we have that helps us keep going.

The second hope is this: the second coming of Jesus Christ. You see, we don't know when that will be. We've been living in the last days since Jesus ascended to heaven, and the end times are coming sooner rather than later. Probably will Jesus come back in our lifetime? I don't know. You don't know, and nobody knows.

Jesus said it's not for you to know the day or the hour, but we should live every day as if it could happen that day. You see, that's how the disciples lived. We need to live every day as if Jesus could come back that day, and that is what gives us hope.

Because no matter how bad or good things get in the world, the fact remains that Jesus is coming back. In that day, every enemy will be defeated, and every good thing on earth will pale in comparison to what he brings us.

In our politically charged world in which we live, with an election coming up, there's a lot of fear. And it's been interesting to notice that both political parties are saying the same thing. Those guys are evil and will destroy America, but we've got the answer. We're the savior.

Doesn't matter if they're Democrats or Republicans, male, female, what ethnicity, they say the same thing. Those people are evil, we've got the answer. Let me tell you this: the savior of the world, the savior of America is not a donkey or an elephant, it's a lamb.

Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, and he is coming back. That gives us hope.

On Friday, I conducted the funeral service for Miss Betty Perry, a longtime member of our LeCount campus. And Miss Betty used to be at church every Sunday. Ever since we have had LeCount as a second campus, she's been a member of our LeCount campus.

And she's been a member. Miss Betty's been wheelchair-bound, but she'd get dropped off every Sunday morning. She'd come back, she'd sit at the very last row in her wheelchair. She'd usually get there 30 or 45 minutes before the service, and down there, that's when the musicians are rehearsing.

And so she would every Sunday sing through the songs. It didn't matter if they were old songs, new songs, upbeat songs, slow songs, she'd be there just to sing. Well, a few months ago, Miss Betty finally became homebound and then bed-bound, and she stopped coming to church.

And I knew Miss Betty loved the Lord. I knew she studied God's Word daily, read her Bible. She'd often comment about things she'd read when we'd visit before the service. But there's something I didn't know about her. One of our guys said that when he would go to her house and see her, not only would she be reading her Bible, but she'd tell him, she'd say, "My house faces east. And so I'm going to be able to see Jesus coming back."

You see, Matthew 24:27 says Jesus will return like lightning coming out of the east. And so she's looking for Jesus to come. Well, Miss Betty beat us to heaven. She beat Jesus to heaven instead of back.

And so she's experiencing today something far more spectacular than what we'll experience when Jesus returns. But the fact is, she lived every day that Jesus could come back that very day. And that gave her hope. And that should give us hope.

So as we go through times that are challenging, I encourage you, ascend the Mount of Olives from time to time. Because it's a place of hope. Look over Jerusalem. Remember the mountain ranges that brought the people of God to that place.

And the mountain ranges the people of God have been in through all different times. And remember that Jesus is committed to us. Jesus is interceding for us. And Jesus is coming back for us.