Admonition Podcast

Good evening.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to the book of Mark.

We're going to be closing out our study of the Book of Mark this evening.

I am open to suggestions on what we might study next on our Wednesday in our Wednesday
night Bible class.

and uh if you have thoughts or suggestions, I don't promise to do what you suggest, but I
do I am open to suggestions.

And we we'll take a look at that uh by way of consideration.

Um but uh I'm kind of feeling like uh so we we were in Timothy, then we did Mark, uh
feeling like it might be a good opportunity to jump back to the Old Testament and grab an

old testament book for a little while.

But anyway, I'll leave that to your to your thoughts and and perusals uh this weekend.

And if you do want to send me a text or uh have send me a suggestion be

Happy to to receive that.

Let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our class.

Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for this day, for its
blessings, for all that you do for us on a daily basis.

We're grateful for the Richardsons being able to be with us and the safety in their
travel, and we pray for safety for all those who are traveling to the area for

foundations.

Pray that the week the week of camp will go well, and that uh many will be taught and
edified and encouraged during that week and be

More prepared to serve in your kingdom as they grow up and as they move away from home.

Lord, we pray that you be with us as we go through uh this period of study.

May the things that we say and do be in accordance with your will and right in your sight.

Lord, we pray for our nation and we pray for the nations throughout the world.

May they make choices and may they pre im implement policies that are beneficial for peace

And for the furtherance of your kingdom.

Lord, may we always have a boldness to speak the truth and never be afraid, no matter what
a government may say, about teaching the truth and preaching the gospel in sincerity and

in its simplicity.

Lord, we pray for those who are seeking the truth and pray that they might find that for
which they're seeking.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

As we close out the book of Mark, uh we are in Mark chapter 16, and verse 14 says, Later
he appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table, and he rebuked their unbelief and

hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

The apostles

Have much of the same difficulties that sometimes you and I have.

And that is that as Christians, there's a difference between knowing intellectually,
knowing the truth, and operating our lives based upon it.

They knew everything that Jesus had taught.

Now I understand that at this point in time, at this moment in time, they did they were
not receiving the miraculous reminder through the work of the Holy Spirit concerning the

things that Jesus taught, but they were present.

They lived the things that Jesus taught.

They had been part of those discussions.

They had been hearing for months now that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem and was going to
be betrayed and was going to die at the hands of their enemies.

And yet.

In spite of everything that they knew, in spite of everything that he had said, in spite
of everything that they had been told, they're operating in their life as if they don't

know any of those things.

That they're they're not implementing the truth of the belief that they had.

And it's not just that they lacked knowledge or they lacked understanding it because Jesus
does not fault them for their lack of knowledge.

He faults them for their failure to believe.

They knew intellectually the truth.

They were not operating in their lives upon.

The truth that they knew.

And that's a challenge to each and every one of us.

Because we we have this book.

We have the knowledge right in front of us.

Now, first, we are accountable to study the book.

Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.

But there's two aspects to that statement that Paul makes study, that is, give diligence.

But there's also the workman part of the message.

You're supposed to add knowledge to your understanding of the Word of God so that you can
do something with it.

Uh

Eric knows this about me.

I have a tendency to buy tools.

We've done a number of projects through years, and if there's a tool that we need, just
buy it.

Let's go.

You know, there are a lot of tools that may sit for a couple of years.

Haven't touched the tool.

There's a difference between owning a tool and being a workman.

There's a difference between having the ability and actually doing it.

Here are the disciples, and they know.

Everything they've been taught, they've lived through it, but in the circumstances they
found themselves in, they're no longer operating on their faith.

They're no longer living out in their daily lives the trust that they should have had in
God.

If you had asked them a week before.

Will Jesus reign in his kingdom?

Their answer would have probably been the exact same thing that Peter's was in Matthew
chapter 16.

That you are the Son of God.

And Jesus said that he came in order to establish his kingdom, and he was going to give
them the keys of the kingdom, and the gates of Hades would not prevail against it.

And yet are they operating at this moment in time a base?

about sorry, uh upon that exact same understanding?

A week ago if you had asked me they said, Jesus is gonna rain.

A week later, Jesus is dead.

It is not when things are going well, and as we expect, and as we had planned, that we are
challenged to make our actions be equal with our understanding and our faith.

It is when nothing is going well, and nothing is going as we expected, and nothing is
going as planned.

That we are now challenged to operate based not upon what we see, but what we know to be
true.

Turn to Hebrews chapter eleven.

Hebrews chapter eleven.

The Hebrew writer begins with, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.

In other words, it is the the substance th there the the Greek idea is it is the
substrate, it is it is the support system.

if you were to think about those ancient buildings in Roman times and the Colosseums where
they had those.

Massive stone pillars that held up the the ceiling and the roof.

Without those stone pillars, what would happen to the to the ceiling and the roof?

They'd come crashing down.

So in the the picture here is faith is the support that holds up that which we hope for,
but that we have not yet seen.

Now he then goes through a list when he begins down here in verse four by faith Abel
offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness

that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still
speaks.

The Hebrew writer says, First example, look at Abel.

We don't know much about Abel.

What do we know about Abel?

We know Cain killed him.

What did he do for a living?

He's a keeper of sheep.

Okay.

We know that he offered his sheep as a sacrifice to God.

Those are basically the three things we know about Abel.

Other than he's the son of Adam and Eve.

So we don't know much.

But the Hebrew writer draws in on this.

We know that he offered an acceptable.

Sacrifice to God.

Because he offered it in accordance with God's commandment out of faith.

By faith.

And by the way, you say, well, wait a minute.

I I don't I don't read in in the Old Testament, I don't read where God told them what to
offer.

Well, if you were to go through the book of Hebrews, you will find out that you cannot do
something by faith unless there has first been an instruction or a statement by God.

The Hebrew writer does not mean by faith as in I hope or I believe.

No, he means by the instruction of God, someone obeyed.

That's what faith is understood to be in the book of Hebrews.

So

In order for Abel to have offered his sacrifice by faith, there had to have been a
command.

There had to have been an instruction by God.

Go down the rest of the list and you will find that over and over and over and over again.

So Abel, by faith, offers a sacrifice, trusting that when he does what God says, God will
do what he said.

Enoch.

By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God
had taken him.

For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God.

Can you be pleasing to God if you don't know anything about how God expects you to act or
live?

oh So was there instruction, was there was there communication from the Lord in order for
Enoch to be pleasing to God?

Yes.

By faith.

Noah, verse 7, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear,
prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world, and

became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Here Noah is presented as an example, being warned by God of a coming destruction of the
world.

Now, where in Noah's

History in the 500 years that he had been alive till that point, did Noah have experience
with worldwide destruction?

Nowhere.

There's no indication that Noah had even witnessed it rain before.

And yet God says, This is what I'm going to do and this is how I'm going to do it.

And because of the testimony and the instruction of God, together with Noah's trust that
God would do what he said, Noah operated his life.

You find Abraham.

Verse 8, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would
receive as an inheritance, and went out, and here the Hebrew writer even draws it out, not

knowing where he was going.

It is not when everything is going as planned, as expected, as we desire for it to do,
that our faith is going to be challenged to operate.

It is when it is not.

Now that is combined with an understanding of we need to be watchful when everything is
going right.

Because as we talked about, I believe it was Sunday or recently at least in Deuteronomy
chapter 6, Moses doesn't warn the people that in the hardship, in the hard times, they

need to remember the Lord.

He warns the people in the good times when you're fat and when you've eaten and you're
full.

Now you need to remember the Lord.

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord.

Okay?

So we need to be careful, we need to be watchful that our faith is being lived out when
things are hard and when things are easy.

But then he says, verse 15 of Mark chapter 16 Go into all the world.

And preach the gospel to every creature.

What is the gospel?

What does the word mean in the Greek?

Good news.

Jesus says to them, Go preach the good news.

So Paul in First Corinthians will tell those Corinthians, when I was present with you.

I determined not to know anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

He says, I wasn't going to preach to you the wisdom of men.

I wasn't going to preach to you the wisdom of the Jews.

I wasn't going to preach to you the wisdom of the eloquent individuals.

I preached a stumbling block to the Jews.

I preached foolishness to the Gentiles because I preached a risen Savior.

One who had died, one who had been crucified, and yet had done that for your salvation.

When Jesus sends forth Peter, he tells him to preach the gospel.

When Jesus sends forth Paul, he tells him to preach the gospel.

Did they preach the same gospel?

Yes they did.

They preached the same gospel.

They preached the same method whereby someone accepts and obeys the gospel.

Yet there are many today who will argue that the gospel of Peter is different than the
gospel of Paul.

That the gospel of Peter was one of keeping works and the gospel of Paul is one of grace
and faith.

Nonsense.

All you have to do is go through the book of Acts and look at what Paul commands people to
do, and go to the same book of Acts and look at what Peter commands people to do, and

guess what?

It is the exact same thing.

They preached not Paul's gospel, not Peter's gospel, but Christ's gospel.

Who is to be a recipient of the gospel?

Everyone.

Doesn't matter what historical background they come from, what country they come from,
what nationality they come from, what uh religious background they do or do not have, what

their current belief system is, whether or not they're currently living in sin or in
iniquity, because if they haven't been obedient to the gospel, they are.

Jesus commands the apostles to go and preach the gospel to every creature.

Now, are the apostles going to understand the full extent and depth of that command the
moment it's given?

How do we know?

All right.

Number one is they still think Jesus is here to provide an earthly kingdom.

Number two, who do they take the gospel to for the first eight chapters of the book of
Acts?

The Jews.

And it is not until Acts chapter 10 where the Holy Spirit will communicate and tell Peter,
go to this man's house.

And he goes to the house of Cornelius, and there, through the uh through the work of the
Holy Spirit, the house of Cornelius begins speaking in tongues to identify that they as

well should receive the gospel.

That's not Aaron's interpretation, by the way.

That's what Peter says.

Having witnessed them speaking in tongues, he says, Can anyone deny them the gospel?

And so he preaches to them the gospel and they are immersed in water that same hour.

So as you look at it, he's going to give a command.

They're going to understand the command as they framed it to begin with.

But God is going to keep pushing the boundary of their understanding.

God is going to slowly but surely get the apostles to where they needed to be.

Now, is that because they were ignoring?

God's commands, or was that God's plan?

It was his plan.

Go over to Acts chapter one.

Acts chapter one, verse four, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them
not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit, which he

said, You have heard from me.

For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not
many days from now.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel?

And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times nor the seasons which the Father
has put in his own authority.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be
witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

God had a plan for how the church was going to grow.

God had a plan for how the gospel was going to proceed.

God will

cause them to enact the plan.

How is God going to move them out of Jerusalem?

Persecution.

The the Book of Acts is one of those scenarios where we pause for a minute and go, you
know what?

Sometimes when things aren't going well for us, that oughta be an a time of examination.

What am I not doing?

What what not everything that is bad is a lesson to be learned.

But there are times in which we should be taking the bad things that it we experience in
life and going, This is a good opportunity for me to be doing some self examination.

Because they didn't cause the persecution, did they?

Did the church cause the persecution?

That did they riot against the government?

Cause the government to start cracking down on them?

No.

As a matter of fact, they were feeding the widows, they were caring for those who were
being neglected, so much so that there were priests whose responsibility were the widows

in the Jewish society who were being converted because of what the Christians were doing
with the widows.

They were going about doing good, and their popularity among the people was growing and
growing and growing.

And it was because of the good that they did that they suffered.

But er there was still an opportunity for them to grow further in obedience to God's
commandments.

And so as they begin to be persecuted, they go everywhere preaching the word.

It wasn't a lack of faith, it was a lack of understanding.

It was a simple desire to be together, to not be separated from all the other Christians,
but rather to be together with all the other Christians.

You know, one of hardships that you find among missionaries is they've already accepted,
but they don't get to stay in the same place.

For many missionaries, they go from one location to another, to another, to another.

Now, there are some missionaries that are in the same city in the same location for for
years, and that's that's fine.

But many who are missionaries, they're going from one place to the next place to the next
place to the next place.

continuing to do their work and they know part of the uh if we can use the modern
vernacular part of the gig is they're gonna find a loving congregation that they want to

spend the rest of their days with and they're not going to get to.

They're going to be there for a period of time and then they're gonna get up and they're
gonna leave again.

And that's a challenge.

That's what the church of Jerusalem didn't want to do.

They were just right there, one city.

We're not going anywhere.

God said, Y'all got to get out of here.

So the apostles remain, but Christians start going back home.

They start going everywhere preaching the word.

But then after the gospel goes to the Gentiles, you still see a bit of a stagnation,
right?

The gospel's

Been allowed to go to the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit has authorized it.

He's demonstrated that this is that which is in accordance with his will, but you don't
see this flood of missionaries going out to the Gentiles until Jesus prompts Saul of

Tarsus to go.

So Holy Spirit will call forth Barnabas and Saul and send them out from Antioch.

And they will go to the Gentile cities preaching the gospel.

Yeah, go ahead.

Well the the uh the apostles and elders, it seems as though the apostles were on board,
but not not all the congreg not all the elders and not all the apostles were were fully

understanding the situation.

Um That's right.

Yeah.

So Acts chapter fifteen draws out uh both what Peter says, what James, the half brother of
Jesus, says, and what Paul sa says there at that gathering where they're pointing out,

listen.

We don't get a say in this.

The Holy Spirit's already decided.

Um, so verse fifteen, he says, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved.

There is a promise there.

There is a statement of fact there that he who believes and is baptized will be saved.

It is important to realize.

that when God makes a promise, he will keep it.

That does not mean that there's not a requirement on the promise.

When God told Israel, if you will go into the land and if you will do what I command you,
then I will give you all of these things.

Was his promise factual?

Was it guaranteed?

Hundred percent.

They could operate.

Out of faith and trust, knowing that God was going to do exactly what he had promised.

But did God also say what would happen if they stopped doing what he said?

absolutely.

He said, if you stop doing what I tell you to do, if you stop keeping my commandment, if
you stop keeping my covenant and my statutes and my testimonies,

Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to run you out of the land.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved.

True statement.

Can a person who is saved lose their salvation by failing to keep the covenant agreement
they've made with God?

Absolutely.

You say, Aaron, uh wh where do you read that?

Well, let's let's jump right over to the writings of Peter.

Peter will point out

In Second Peter chapter two.

Verse 18, he says, For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure
through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from

those who live in error.

Who are the people who have escaped those who live in error?

Christians.

He says, Here are these false teachers, and they speak these great swelling words of
emptiness.

You ever watch a little kid use one of those wands and the soapy stuff and blow a bubble?

How big can some of those bubbles get?

Pretty big size.

What do they got inside them?

Not much anything.

That's these false teachers.

They look impressive.

Inside, nothing.

He says, but you have allured, you have enticed, you have seduced those who have escaped
the living in error of the world.

To now operate upon the lust of the flesh, to operate through lewdness.

He says, While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption.

For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome.

The latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

Peter makes it clear.

Not only can you go from being lost to being saved, but you can go from being lost to
being saved back to being lost.

And that the end of that is worse than if you'd never heard the gospel.

And yet there are those who will argue that once you're saved, you're always saved.

That there's no possibility of ever being lost once you're saved.

Therefore, they would argue, and I've even heard some within uh the body of Christ argue:
well, we should understand that uh he who believes and is baptized should be saved.

The King James translates it.

That's not the statement.

That's not what the Greek holds.

This is an assurance.

As much so as the book of Hebrews assures that if we will do what God said in accordance
with how he said, and we will operate upon faith and obedience, God will deliver his

promises.

But God's promises are conditional.

They are conditional upon faithful continuance.

And they always have been.

Were Adam and Eve's promises based upon faithful continuance?

Yes, they were.

Uh let's let's let's find out since that's you know that's Genesis, that's the beginning
of the of the Bible.

Let's find out if the end of the Bible holds up to that same ideal.

Turn to Revelation chapter 22.

Verse twelve And behold I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every one
according to his work.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the uh and the end, the first and the
last.

Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter through the gates into the city.

Who does the book of Revelation tell us will have a right to the spiritual blessings
afforded by God?

The faithful who do His commandments.

Many in the religious world will argue that the Church of Christ preaches a works based
salvation.

There are two senses of the term works in the New Testament.

One of them is works of merit.

Whereby when a person works, they earn something.

The only works of merit involved in salvation are found in Romans chapter six, verse
twenty-three.

For the wages of sin is what?

Death.

When it comes to works of merit, what we deserve.

is judgment from God.

And there is never a point, the scripture is very clear of this, there is never a point in
which you can obtain and do sufficient works of merit to which God owes you salvation.

He owes you judgment.

He owes you punishment.

But there's another use of the term works, and it's the one used prevalently throughout
James and Romans.

And it is the works of obedience.

It is not the work of merit.

It is the work a person does because God told him to do it.

And in Acts sorry, uh in in Genesis, God tells Adam and Eve, Tend the garden and keep it.

Did Adam and Eve deserve the garden?

No, the garden was there before they were.

They were placed into the garden.

They didn't earn it.

But they were given conditions that they had to follow in order to keep access to it.

So works of merit versus works of obedience.

The operation of our faith.

James says faith without what?

Works is dead.

Now, Revelation says blessed are those who do his commandments.

It might remind us that Jesus said the one who hears these sayings of mine and does not do
them.

What does he liken that person to?

Person who builds his house upon the sand.

A person who judgment is coming for, because he hears and has no works that accord to
obedience.

What's the contrast there?

The contrast is to the person who hears these sayings of mine and does them.

He obeys out of faith.

Now, in Revelation he says, But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and
murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you of those things that are written in the uh
those things in the churches.

I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and the morning star, and the spirit
and the bride say come, and let him who hears say come, and let him who thirst come,

whoever desires let him take of the water of life freely.

An invitation offered right here at the end of the book of Revelation.

From the church, from the Spirit, saying, Salvation is available to you.

All the blessings of this book are available to you.

All of the good things that God promises are available to you.

So when he talks about those who are outside, being dogs, sorcerers, sexually immoral,
murderers, and idolaters, those are just all people who've never been obedient to the

gospel, right?

The answer is no.

Rather, it is those who have never been obedient to the gospel and those who once were
obedient and have turned back.

Pay attention in the book of Revelation as we've been studying through it about all of the
people and even whole congregations that Jesus confronts and says, If you don't repent,

I'm going to make war with you.

And you will have no part to the tree of life.

You will have no part in the book of life.

But then he says, This, verse 18, for I testify to everyone who hears the words of the
prophecy of this book.

If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this
book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take.

What's that word?

Away.

God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.

Genesis makes it very clear.

If you do not continue obeying God, judgment awaits.

And the scripture is clear from Genesis all the way to the end of the book of Revelation,
where John will write not to the non-Christians about adding to or taking away from the

Scripture.

They have no part in the book of life.

They have no part in the holy city.

They have no part in the things that are written in this book.

He's not warning the non-Christians, he's warning the Christians.

He says, you add to this book, you take away from the things written in this book, and I
will take your name out of the book of life.

Can you lose your salvation yes, you can.

Now, does that mean that we operate every single day being, oh, one moment I'm doing
what's right, I'm saved.

One moment, oh, I did something that was wrong, I'm lost.

Going straight to hell now.

Is that what the New Testament teaches by way of salvation?

No.

What's one passage somebody can think of that maybe explains what the New Testament
teaches about the confidence of the saved?

All right.

First John chapter one.

Kinda had a feeling one of the preachers in the room was gonna come up with it.

First John chapter 1, verse 5, this is the message which we have heard from him and
declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth.

John says if you claim to know God and be in fellowship with God, and you walk in,
continue in, operate in on a continual basis, darkness.

He says, You're a liar.

But then he says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie
and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

He says, For the person walking in the light, if you have deceived and deluded yourself
into thinking that you are sinlessly perfect.

You are wrong.

He says, Rather, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Bible does not teach, nor does Christians teach.

That a person who is a member of the body of Christ is in one moment, out one moment, in
one moment, out one moment.

You better hope that you die when you're in.

Otherwise, you're going to miss heaven.

That is not what the New Testament teaches.

The New Testament teaches that we are to live by faith.

Walking in the light, that our direction of life is to be in accordance with the word of
God, and that as we operate in that way, we will sin, we will fall short, we will make

mistakes, some of them knowingly, some of them unknowingly, and God will forgive us of
those things.

But if you turn around and go the other direction, if you say, I know what the Bible says,
but I'm going to do it my way.

If you operate in rebellion against God, notice what else John said.

As he closed out chapter one of first John, first John chapter one verse ten, if we say
that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

If we look at what the text of Scripture says and he says, I know that's what it says, but
I'm telling you something different.

John says, Word of God's not in you.

Now, Jesus will say to them in verse 16, He who believes and is baptized will be saved,
but he who does not believe will be condemned.

And these signs will follow those who believe.

In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up
serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.

They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

So true or false.

We should be looking for the signs that Jesus said would accompany those who preach the
gospel, and we should be looking for people to perform miracles and be able to be saved

from deadly serpents' bites.

And that that's how we can uh know that they're speaking the truth now, right?

No.

Why not?

All right.

Because the things that are described here are assurances that God was doing what he said
he was doing.

And they were there to confirm the word.

If we could use an Old Testament analogy, when Moses was on the mount and God spoke to him
through the burning bush and said, You go to Pharaoh, did Moses ask for confirmation that

he was supposed to do that?

He did.

And what did God do with Moses there on the mountain?

He put his hand into his cloak and it came out and it had changed.

Put it back, came out, it was back to the way it was.

See, God offered signs to Moses to confirm the word.

Did God continue to offer those signs to every generation of Israel all the way through
their history?

Or rather did He give them a written word to follow?

He gave them a written word to follow throughout their history.

And he gave it through Moses, who had received the signs.

Same thing happens in the church.

God performs those signs through the apostles and prophets of the first century church,
and then he delivers through the work of the Holy Spirit written revelation whereby the

church could continue to operate without the need of the miraculous signs.

Absolutely.

So he says, these are gonna be the signs to guarantee that the message you're preaching
originates with God.

And by the way, every single one of those signs you see you see historically uh referenced
somewhere in the book of Acts or in the early church.

Every single one of them.

They occur at some point where God fulfills what he said was coming.

But then we read verse 19 and 20.

So then after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat down at
the right hand of God.

Mark references the uh the prophecy of Daniel in Daniel chapter seven.

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the
word through the accompanying signs.

Amen.

So Mark concludes.

His record of the life of Christ by introducing what the church did.

He said, He told them to go, they went.

He told them to go everywhere.

That's where they went.

He told them signs would accompany it.

That's what happened.

And now you know how it all started.

Okay?

Thank you for your attention.