Read the passage and respond to these questions:
            1.  What was the burning question the disciples had for Jesus?
            2.  Sifting through Jesus’ response, what was the essential answer to the question?
“The End Is Near.” On a warm and beautiful day in Union Square this idea seemed as crazy as the man wearing the sandwich-board looked. But what if God had spoken to this guy and forgotten to tell me? Or more likely, what if God tried to tell me but I wasn’t listening? After all, we are just a few days past the hundred-year anniversary of when the end almost came to the City by the Bay. EARTHQUAKE! Whenever they happen we are gripped by the thought, ‘Is this the big one?’ Is this the end of the Bay Area as we know it? What about wars and rumors of wars? Is the war in Iraq, the unrest in the Middle East, and the rise of Islam, a sign of the end? Is Armageddon around the corner? After all, even the temple of God will fall, not one stone left a top another. All these things must happen, yet the end is still to come. But when? Jesus tells us, when the gospel of the kingdom has been preached in the whole world. What does this mean?
Like the disciples, we often wonder and worry about the end of the world. But for Jesus the end of this world is not as important as the beginning of the new world of His Kingdom. The events we see as signs of the end of the world are seen by Jesus as signs of the beginning birth pains of the new creation in His kingdom. Jesus has come to create a new world. The end of this world comes in the beginning of the new creation. The good news, that Jesus the King has come to save the world and make all things new again, carries in it the seed of new life in the kingdom. This life-giving seed is scattered wherever the good news is proclaimed gives birth to the new creation in Jesus Christ. When we hear this good news about Jesus and believe it, when we follow Him and receive His Spirit into our hearts, we become part of the new creation. The End is near! But nearer to all of us is the new creation of the kingdom that is ours in Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Pray today for all of us to live fully in the new creation of Jesus Christ.