NOTES: 1] Note the connection between attitudes revealed in vv.1-4 & what follows. 2] Jesus prophesies, as do all true Prophets, by reading 'the signs of the times' through God's eyes. The religious,social, & political attitudes of the Jewish leaders would inevitably bring destruction on the nation. Their rejection of him, & God's Rule that he brings will be disastrous.

WARMING UP: Would the destruction of any one single building signify / exemplify the destruction of your nation?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened since last week's group?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

5 - 11     How do we strike a balance acceptable in God's eyes between what our 'temple' looks like, & what's meant to happen in it? Do we have that acceptable balance, or is it too weighted one way or the other? If too weighted, how has that come about, & what do we need to do about it? Would it make any real difference in our community if our 'temples' were destroyed one way or another? How do we tell that God's time is near'? Or shouldn't we be on about that kind of thing? Is there any time when that time isn't near? What marks God's time as different from 'ordinary' time?
            What do 'wars & rumours of wars' have to do with the Temple, or our 'temples'? How do we respond to those who think that wars & rumours of war usually start in one 'temple' or another? What about our response to Christians who seem  more interested in looking for, pointing out disasters as 'signs from heaven', etc.? Are they active on our patch? Is God active on our patch? What tells us that's so, or not so?

12-19    How connected to, or remote from, Christians who're actively persecuted today do we feel? How are we expressing our connection or disconnection? If we had to 'testify' before antagonists, would we go for it, or try to run a mile? Testify to what? To use Jesus' words, 'Do we have a defence'? Defence of what? Aren't we often on the defensive anyway? Do we actually have any opponents these days, or haven't we got around to identifying them?
             Have we ever had occasion to trust God to give us 'words & wisdom'? Have we become so used to banking on our own that God doesn't get a look-in? Might that be why we don't seem to get much of a look-in either? Is it time to ask our- selves (& God!) whether what Jesus says here hasn't come true all over again, even if in a different way?
              Do we ever feel 'betrayed' by relatives, friends, or anyone else, including fellow church members? Has that got much to do with what Jesus says here, or is it simply the result of our own manoeuvrings? If we don't ever feel betrayed in any sense, would it be too terrible to ask whether we're not worth betraying these days? How does it feel to be hated - really hated? What if we're doing the hating? Do we feel as secure as Jesus says we will be? If so, why are we scared of terrorism, a sign of our  times? Do we need to improve our powers of endurance? Or, let God improve them? Are we in fact living more by Jesus' "Do unto others as you would have them do to you", or more as if he said, "Do one to others before they do one to you"?