1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000
We're glad that you guys are here for night one of our Forecasting Hope seminar.

2
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,800
Now, let me just, before we get into this, there's some announcements we're going to

3
00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:19,360
do because this is going to go for four nights in a row this week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,

4
00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,840
and Sunday night at 7 o'clock each evening.

5
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:28,940
And then next week, it'll be the same thing, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

6
00:00:28,940 --> 00:00:33,760
And then the next week, it'll go Thursday, and then it'll stop on Friday.

7
00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,240
So that's just kind of what's upcoming.

8
00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:42,440
And we're going to be looking at lots of the different Bible prophecies.

9
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,600
And we want you to be here, and we hope that maybe you'll bring somebody else.

10
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:53,180
So when you came in tonight, you filled out a little registration card.

11
00:00:53,180 --> 00:00:59,320
So later tonight, we're going to pass out, actually pass that out right now, why don't

12
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,760
you, a response card.

13
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:07,520
You only have to do the first one tonight, the first time you come, just to let us know

14
00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:08,800
who you are.

15
00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:13,680
But each night that you're here, there's going to be a little sheet like this that has some

16
00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,200
questions and it just helps us to understand.

17
00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:21,300
Like one of the things says, the teaching tonight was clear.

18
00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:26,840
That helps me to know, okay, I presented in a positive way and you understood.

19
00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,400
And the second one says, I have some questions.

20
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,360
If you have a question, there's a good chance that somebody else has the same question.

21
00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,320
So write that down on the back if you have a question.

22
00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:42,800
And tomorrow night, for some of the questions that we get, we're going to take a couple

23
00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:44,960
minutes and answer those questions.

24
00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:51,000
So that's a key thing that you can share with us, any questions that you have.

25
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,980
We're going to do something else with this when you turn it in at the end of the night.

26
00:01:54,980 --> 00:01:59,600
Because tomorrow night, we're going to take all the ones that are turned in, we're going

27
00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:04,600
to draw one out, and the one that's drawn out, we're going to have a prize.

28
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:09,800
It may be a book, some nights it may be a gift card or something like that.

29
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,960
So it's going to be different prizes, some sort of book to help you in your Bible study,

30
00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:21,640
a gift card to the ice cream store or to Walmart to help with gas or whatever it is.

31
00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:28,260
So that's something else that you'll get when you fill out one of these cards, some questions

32
00:02:28,260 --> 00:02:30,800
answered and maybe you'll win a prize.

33
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,760
And there's one other thing that we want to challenge you to do.

34
00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:40,280
Because we hope that as you come here night by night that you will be blessed.

35
00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,700
And so here's something that we want you to do.

36
00:02:43,700 --> 00:02:46,260
We want you to continue to come.

37
00:02:46,260 --> 00:02:54,840
So if you come to seven meetings, seven, there's going to be about 13 or so altogether, no,

38
00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:56,280
11 altogether.

39
00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:01,640
If you come to seven of them, there's going to be a really nice book, Understanding Daniel

40
00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:07,080
and Revelation that we'll give you if you come to seven of these meetings.

41
00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,680
One other thing, you are here tonight.

42
00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:11,760
Thank you, thank you for coming.

43
00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:17,760
If you know somebody else that you think would be blessed by coming, then I want you to invite

44
00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:19,720
them and bring them.

45
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,200
Don't just invite them, but say, I'm going to pick you up and you can come sit by me.

46
00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:29,800
And if you bring somebody, then both you and the person that you bring will get another

47
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:35,320
special book, a special gift, because we want you to learn and we want somebody else to

48
00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:36,620
learn as well.

49
00:03:36,620 --> 00:03:40,240
So if you have any questions, write them on the back.

50
00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,560
If you know somebody that might be blessed, bring them with you.

51
00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:48,640
If you come to seven meetings, there'll be a great book that you will get.

52
00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:53,200
So with that in mind, I think it's about time to begin.

53
00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,400
So I'm going to say a prayer.

54
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,600
We're going to spend some time in prayer here and then we're going to dive into our study

55
00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:01,520
of Bible prophecy tonight.

56
00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,600
Let's bow our heads for prayer.

57
00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,000
Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you do for us.

58
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,360
We thank you for bringing us here on this day.

59
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,040
We thank you for some cooler weather.

60
00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:18,080
And Lord, even as we are here in this safe place, we know that there are people in other

61
00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:22,880
states not far from here who are not having a good situation.

62
00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,940
And we want to pray for those who have come through storms, whose homes have been damaged,

63
00:04:27,940 --> 00:04:31,680
and we just want to lift them up and pray for their protection.

64
00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,280
And God bless us as we study your word tonight.

65
00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:36,640
In your name we pray.

66
00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:38,200
Amen.

67
00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,640
So before we dive in, I just want to introduce myself.

68
00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:42,480
My name is Greg Hudson.

69
00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:50,080
I am the pastor of the church here and I'll be presenting our Forecasting Hope series.

70
00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,680
I enjoy studying the Bible.

71
00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,760
Before I was a pastor, I was a nurse.

72
00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,720
And as they say, you know, you get the call or whatever.

73
00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:06,380
And so I changed careers and now I enjoy reading the Bible, studying the Bible, and teaching

74
00:05:06,380 --> 00:05:07,380
the Bible.

75
00:05:07,380 --> 00:05:13,720
So let's dive into our topic tonight, Bible prophecy and the coming new world order.

76
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:19,840
Could there be something coming to our world that is a little bit different than what our

77
00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:21,400
world is shaping now?

78
00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,240
Because the Bible says there is.

79
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:31,360
Now you may or may not realize that it was 85 years ago this last month, September 1,

80
00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,220
that World War I begun.

81
00:05:33,220 --> 00:05:39,400
And World War I begun when Germany invaded Poland.

82
00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:40,400
Thank you.

83
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:41,400
Thank you for hearing that.

84
00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,000
World War II started.

85
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,720
World War II started 85 years ago.

86
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:51,840
In 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

87
00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:57,280
And just a couple days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany and it was

88
00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:01,400
about 10 days later that Canada joined in.

89
00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:06,520
But we know that the United States did not get involved until a little bit later.

90
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:16,240
And we know, we remember that that happened in December 7, 1941 at that horrific event

91
00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:21,200
known as Pearl Harbor in December of 1941.

92
00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:29,920
Now on that morning, two US privates were manning a mobile radar unit.

93
00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,960
Early that Sunday morning on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

94
00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:38,440
And as they were looking at their radar unit, they saw something that shouldn't have been

95
00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:39,440
there.

96
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,840
They saw a detection.

97
00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,240
They saw some blips.

98
00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:50,280
And it turned out that that was the actual Japanese planes that were coming to do damage,

99
00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:58,600
that were coming to drop those bombs on Pearl Harbor that resulted in over 2,000 deaths

100
00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,800
of American personnel.

101
00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:11,880
Over 3,000 planes destroyed and about 18 ships that were sunk including the USS Arizona where

102
00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:18,920
over 1,000 sailors died when that one ship exploded and turned over.

103
00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:24,240
It was a colossal tragedy, but it didn't have to be.

104
00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:30,040
Nothing could have changed because those men when they saw the blips, they called their

105
00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:31,880
superior officers.

106
00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,380
They called and said, something is amiss here.

107
00:07:34,380 --> 00:07:35,860
Something doesn't look right.

108
00:07:35,860 --> 00:07:40,120
But their superior said, don't worry about it.

109
00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:42,960
That's just some other planes that are on maneuvers.

110
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,080
There's a group of B-17s that are supposed to be coming in from the mainland.

111
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:49,540
That's probably what it is.

112
00:07:49,540 --> 00:07:55,680
And about 745 in the morning, those blips had disappeared because those planes had gotten

113
00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,960
so close that they were hidden behind the mountains.

114
00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:07,680
But then at 753, eight minutes later, eight minutes after the men had gone to breakfast,

115
00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,200
suddenly those bombs began to fall.

116
00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:18,000
And that horrific carnage and devastation and destruction and death began to take place.

117
00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:24,960
And one of the greatest tragedies of that is that for almost an hour, there was warnings.

118
00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,800
There was clear message that could be seen that danger was on the way.

119
00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,120
The evidence was there.

120
00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,880
The evidence was seen, but the evidence was rejected.

121
00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:38,340
It was ignored.

122
00:08:38,340 --> 00:08:41,120
They ignored the signs.

123
00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:47,240
And could it be that the Bible gives us signs that something is happening in our world that

124
00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:52,400
Jesus is about to return, but are we heeding the signs?

125
00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:54,720
Are we observing them?

126
00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:56,400
Are we noticing them?

127
00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,400
Are we paying attention?

128
00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:03,400
And so we see that in the Bible, it does talk about signs of the times.

129
00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:10,880
And the purpose of those signs is to let us know what lies ahead, to let us know that

130
00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:12,740
things are going to change.

131
00:09:12,740 --> 00:09:17,440
But the ultimate purpose is to point us to Jesus.

132
00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:22,280
And so that's why we're going to take time to look and see what the Bible says, not just

133
00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:29,360
to learn some cool stories, some cool things that are happening, but ultimately so that

134
00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,520
we can learn more about Jesus.

135
00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,120
I want to look at Matthew chapter 16.

136
00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,720
Now as we go through this, I hope that you will take a Bible.

137
00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:42,600
There's a Bible in front of you in the pew rack if you didn't bring one.

138
00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:46,840
And I hope that you'll look at your Bible, whether it's on your phone or the one that

139
00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:52,600
you have or the one that's in the pew in front of you, because I want you to not just listen

140
00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,960
to something because I say it, because I'm not really that important, but we want to

141
00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,120
read things from the Bible.

142
00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:03,800
Now all of the verses will be on the screen, but you're going to gain more from this if

143
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,800
you take a few minutes and look up the verses for yourself.

144
00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:12,200
Even look it up on your phone or wherever you may look at your Bible.

145
00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:17,600
But we're going to look at Matthew chapter 16 and we're going to see what Jesus has to

146
00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:18,600
say.

147
00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:23,080
And in fact, if you don't have a Bible at home and there's one in front of you, take

148
00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,720
the one in front of you home.

149
00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:30,720
And I think there's some folks looking for, okay, they got one now, so perfect.

150
00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:38,440
Matthew chapter 16 and verse 2, the Bible says, when he answered, Jesus answered and

151
00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:45,520
said to them, when it is evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red.

152
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:51,400
And in the morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening.

153
00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,000
You know, we have a similar saying to that.

154
00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:00,760
If anybody is a fisherman or perhaps you have a boat and you're a sailor and our saying

155
00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:04,880
goes something like red sky in the morning.

156
00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,100
Anybody know how it ends?

157
00:11:07,100 --> 00:11:12,140
Sailor take warning, red sky at night, fisherman's delight.

158
00:11:12,140 --> 00:11:15,080
And so we have a similar saying to that.

159
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:21,860
And Jesus is saying we can look at the sky and we can know a little bit what's going

160
00:11:21,860 --> 00:11:22,920
to happen tomorrow.

161
00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:24,680
But then notice what he goes on and says.

162
00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:32,640
He says hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern

163
00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,320
the signs of the times.

164
00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:39,960
Jesus is calling them hypocrites because even though they can know if it's going to be good

165
00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:47,200
weather or bad weather tomorrow, they had the prophecies of the Old Testament that were

166
00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:53,000
proclaiming the Messiah, that were talking about Jesus, what his ministry was going to

167
00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,160
be like, when he was going to come.

168
00:11:56,160 --> 00:12:00,880
And yet even though Jesus was standing before them, they missed it.

169
00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,120
They did not discern the signs of the times.

170
00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,360
They didn't see what was actually happening.

171
00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:09,800
And so Jesus called them a hypocrite there.

172
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:14,240
And could it be that he's saying the same thing to us because the signs of the times

173
00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:19,600
could be happening around us and perhaps we're not seeing it?

174
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:26,240
Because the folks in Jesus' day, they missed out because they were distracted.

175
00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:27,240
They were distracted.

176
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:34,000
And could it be that sometimes we're distracted as well?

177
00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:41,960
Distracted by trends in society, distracted by Hollywood, distracted by the latest sporting

178
00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:47,800
event, distracted by politics, whatever it might be, we could be missing out on what

179
00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:49,640
is most important.

180
00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,720
And so we're going to look briefly here at Revelation chapter 14.

181
00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:56,680
And this is kind of a key prophecy.

182
00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:01,580
And we will look at this several times over our nights together.

183
00:13:01,580 --> 00:13:10,000
And in Revelation chapter 14, it has three angels, three messengers that are sharing

184
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,520
some different important things in the days before Jesus comes.

185
00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:17,560
And we want to look just at the first angel today.

186
00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:26,800
And the first angel says in Revelation 14, 6, the Bible says, then I saw another angel

187
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:33,280
flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who

188
00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,080
dwell on the earth.

189
00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,160
So there's something that's going to be everlasting.

190
00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:39,160
It's the gospel.

191
00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:40,880
It's the good news.

192
00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:42,960
And it's going to go on forever.

193
00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:45,560
And it's for those that dwell on the earth.

194
00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:54,160
And it goes on and says to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, it's for everybody.

195
00:13:54,160 --> 00:14:00,960
And then it goes on and says, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him

196
00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,360
for the hour of his judgment has come.

197
00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:09,080
Now that sounds a little bit scary when we think about God's judgment.

198
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:14,340
Often that can cause us to worry, to be upset.

199
00:14:14,340 --> 00:14:17,500
And so when is this timing?

200
00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:18,920
What is happening here?

201
00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:24,880
And it goes on and says, and worship him who made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and

202
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,160
the springs of water.

203
00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:31,840
And so we begin to see here that this is looking at something that's going to be happening

204
00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:36,520
at what we refer to as the time of the end.

205
00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:44,400
We see that God sends a warning message, a wake up message, because he loves us so much.

206
00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:51,080
He doesn't want us to be distracted, but he wants us to be paying attention to what is

207
00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,520
coming so that we will be ready when he comes.

208
00:14:54,520 --> 00:15:03,120
In fact, just a page or two over, Revelation chapter 16, Revelation chapter 16 and verse

209
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,040
15.

210
00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:06,040
Notice what it says.

211
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:13,280
The Bible says, behold, this is Jesus talking, I am coming as a thief.

212
00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,480
What is he who does what?

213
00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:24,400
Who watches, who pays attention, who looks at the different prophetic signs that are

214
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:26,160
going on around us.

215
00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:31,680
And so God calls us to watch, he calls us to pay attention.

216
00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:36,920
And so we need to ask ourselves the questions, what are these signs?

217
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,420
What are the signs that Jesus wants us to watch?

218
00:15:40,420 --> 00:15:41,960
And are they happening?

219
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,320
Are they being fulfilled in our world today?

220
00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:52,040
And so to investigate this more, we're going to look at two different streams, you could

221
00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,160
say, of Bible prophecy.

222
00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:58,440
And it's going to seem like maybe they're not connected, but by the time that we get

223
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,240
to the end, you're going to see that they totally go together.

224
00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,680
We're going to start in Matthew chapter 24.

225
00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:13,520
So the first gospel, the first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 24 is a classic

226
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:19,240
chapter that people study, that people look at when they want to look at the signs of

227
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:20,240
the time.

228
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:25,880
So Matthew chapter 24 is where we're going to go right now, starting in verse three,

229
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:30,640
Matthew 24 and verse three.

230
00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:38,040
The Bible says, now as he, as Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to

231
00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:44,920
him privately saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your

232
00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,320
coming and of the end of the age?

233
00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:54,640
And Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no one deceives you for many will

234
00:16:54,640 --> 00:17:01,480
come in my name saying I am the Christ and will deceive many.

235
00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:06,280
So Jesus's disciples came to him and they said, what's happening?

236
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,360
What's going to be the signs before you come again?

237
00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:12,160
What are going to be the signs of your coming?

238
00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:19,320
And notice before Jesus gets into what we generally think of as the signs of the times,

239
00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:26,640
the very first warning he gives is a warning to not be deceived.

240
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:32,640
And so he's saying that there's going to be a confusing time, a deceptive time in the

241
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:37,100
days before he comes again, before he comes again.

242
00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:42,440
And so as we look at the signs in the religious world, we can recognize that there's lots

243
00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:48,600
of different voices telling us lots of different things.

244
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:53,360
And Jesus gives the warning here, don't be deceived.

245
00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:57,520
And so how can we know what voice to listen to?

246
00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:03,180
There's a seminary called Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, a Protestant seminary, and they've

247
00:18:03,180 --> 00:18:12,440
done a study and they've discovered that there's 45,000 different churches, 45,000 different

248
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:13,440
churches.

249
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:15,200
Now that's not church structures.

250
00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:23,640
That's not church buildings, but that's different church organizations that have different doctrines,

251
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:25,360
different theologies.

252
00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:29,960
There's 43,000 different teachings.

253
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:36,880
So how can we know which one of 43,000 to choose?

254
00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,560
It's like walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery store.

255
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,700
How many different kinds of cornflakes are there?

256
00:18:43,700 --> 00:18:45,920
And then you add raisins and have mercy.

257
00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,160
There's so many different flavors.

258
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,760
How can we know which one to listen to?

259
00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:58,180
The good news is that we don't have to check out 43,000 and read all about them as long

260
00:18:58,180 --> 00:19:03,020
as we determine that we're going to stick with God's word.

261
00:19:03,020 --> 00:19:04,020
That's what we want to do.

262
00:19:04,020 --> 00:19:10,760
And that's what our goal for this series is, that we want to go by what the Bible says,

263
00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:18,160
not necessarily what the vast majority says, not necessarily what we see on the news, not

264
00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:23,000
necessarily what Hollywood tells us, but we want to go by what the Bible says.

265
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:31,120
And so if we look at John 17, 17, as it shows on your screen, Jesus says, sanctify them

266
00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:38,700
by your truth, your word, the Bible, your word is truth.

267
00:19:38,700 --> 00:19:43,220
We don't have to look at 43,000 different churches.

268
00:19:43,220 --> 00:19:48,360
We can look at one Bible and that's what we want to say that we're going to live our life

269
00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:49,360
by.

270
00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:52,600
So let's look now at these signs, at what Jesus said.

271
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:59,440
So back in Matthew 24, we're going to be in this chapter for our first little bit here,

272
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:00,820
Matthew 24.

273
00:20:00,820 --> 00:20:05,520
We're going to continue on and we're going to read verses six through eight.

274
00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:11,080
The Bible says, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

275
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:17,960
See that you are not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not

276
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:24,040
yet for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

277
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:31,880
There will be famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and in various places, all these are the beginning

278
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,320
of the sorrows.

279
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:39,760
So let's stop right there for just a minute because Jesus mentioned at least four very

280
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:43,720
specific things that are these signs of the times.

281
00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,720
Did you catch them all?

282
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:47,140
We'll put them up there.

283
00:20:47,140 --> 00:20:55,740
He said there's going to be wars and famines and pestilences and earthquakes.

284
00:20:55,740 --> 00:20:59,240
Do you think we have those in the world today?

285
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,600
I would say that yes, we do.

286
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:09,020
And it's really easy that people could say, wait a second, haven't we always had those

287
00:21:09,020 --> 00:21:13,680
things in our society since Jesus's day?

288
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,640
And I would have to say yes, there has always been those things.

289
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:22,360
In fact, even in Jesus's day, all of these things are mentioned in the Bible itself.

290
00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:24,760
It talks about all four of those things.

291
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:34,200
So how can we say that that's a sign of the end if they've been happening all along?

292
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,720
Did you catch that one phrase?

293
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,440
We'll kind of wait for the train to stop blowing its horn here.

294
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:47,460
Verse six, it says, all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

295
00:21:47,460 --> 00:21:54,920
And then in verse eight, it says, all of these are the beginning of sorrows, the beginning

296
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:56,280
of sorrows.

297
00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:03,560
That phrase there, the beginning of sorrows, is actually talking about birth pains, the

298
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:05,740
beginning of birth pains.

299
00:22:05,740 --> 00:22:09,840
We would use a word maybe like contractions.

300
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:14,660
Now I see many ladies out here.

301
00:22:14,660 --> 00:22:19,560
I don't know all of you, but I know some of you at least out here are mothers who have

302
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:23,320
gone through and experienced childbirth.

303
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:29,640
And most mothers tell me that that's something that is unforgettable, that you will never,

304
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:30,840
ever forget.

305
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:36,880
And whether or not you've experienced that, you probably know enough about how that works

306
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:45,800
that as a woman goes through pregnancy, sometimes the body is preparing to give birth.

307
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:51,080
And so there begins to be pains, begins to be contractions.

308
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:59,480
And the closer and closer one gets to the ninth month, the more intense, the more frequent

309
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:07,960
those birth pains become until you get to that week, that day that baby is to be born.

310
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,120
And now they're getting much more frequent and much more intense.

311
00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:18,600
And if you've gone to any kind of birthing class before, what's the number?

312
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:24,880
If your contractions are this close, when do you need to go to the hospital?

313
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,480
You know, like 10 minutes, you better start considering it.

314
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,920
Five minutes, you better be there.

315
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:36,440
You know, two minutes, you need to be in the hospital or wherever you plan to give birth.

316
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:42,380
And I know people who have thought to themselves, you know, I know that sometimes people go

317
00:23:42,380 --> 00:23:46,400
to the hospital and then they're sent home because it's not quite time.

318
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,820
And oh, they didn't want that to happen because they felt it would be embarrassing.

319
00:23:50,820 --> 00:23:57,200
And so they put it off and put it off and they barely made it because those birth pains

320
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,720
became closer and closer together.

321
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,400
What does that have to do with what we're talking about?

322
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:10,240
Well, these signs, they've been in existence all along.

323
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:17,080
But it seems to be that as we get closer to the time of Jesus' coming, that those signs

324
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:24,680
are going to be more frequent and more intense, just like those contractions, just like those

325
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:26,060
birth pains.

326
00:24:26,060 --> 00:24:31,520
And so as wars and famines and earthquakes, they've been happening all along.

327
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,360
But could it be that they become more frequent and more intense?

328
00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:38,100
Let's look at some of these real quick wars.

329
00:24:38,100 --> 00:24:40,440
Do we have wars in our world?

330
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,200
Yes.

331
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:49,800
Studies show that the good old days of the 20th century, the 1900s, you know, people

332
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:53,000
ever say, oh, you're from the 1900s.

333
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:54,000
Have mercy.

334
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,260
That's what seems like the Wild West.

335
00:24:55,260 --> 00:24:56,480
That's a long time ago.

336
00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:03,480
Well, the 1900s was the bloodiest century of all time.

337
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:12,960
That 180 million people died from war during that 100-year period from, you know, World

338
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:22,620
War I, World War II, Holocaust, genocides, you know, all kinds of different wars took

339
00:25:22,620 --> 00:25:25,440
place across the world.

340
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:26,840
But that was the good old days.

341
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,960
That was the 1900s.

342
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,800
But what about now?

343
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:37,620
In the 21st century, the United Nations have reported, so this isn't some religious organization.

344
00:25:37,620 --> 00:25:39,660
This is the United Nations.

345
00:25:39,660 --> 00:25:46,480
And they've noted that in the last, you know, 10 or 15 years from about 2010, that the number

346
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:54,080
of conflicts or the number of wars have been increasing, and this is the United Nations

347
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:55,080
mentioning this.

348
00:25:55,080 --> 00:26:00,560
And you can think of names that you've seen on the news or online, whether it's terrorism

349
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:07,780
or Afghanistan or Ukraine or the Middle East or Houthis or whatever it is.

350
00:26:07,780 --> 00:26:13,560
And that's politics, but it also goes right in line with Bible prophecy.

351
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,220
And then we could talk about the way wars are fought.

352
00:26:17,220 --> 00:26:23,780
You can go back to, you know, my grandfather's day or World War I or World War II, World

353
00:26:23,780 --> 00:26:29,680
War I especially, you know, you had a rifle that you had a bolt action.

354
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,800
And then they invented the, well, I guess, Civil War, they had the Gatling gun and machine

355
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:40,840
guns and then tanks and then planes dropping bombs and then, you know, bombs that flew

356
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,020
themselves, and now they're smart bombs.

357
00:26:44,020 --> 00:26:49,920
But so often there's dumb leaders that are using those.

358
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:56,620
And a bomb can fly right in somebody's window, and yet it's taking people's life.

359
00:26:56,620 --> 00:27:03,700
And there's intercontinental ballistic missiles that don't just blow up, but they could have,

360
00:27:03,700 --> 00:27:06,080
you know, a nuclear device on the end.

361
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:15,760
And so since, you know, the 1940s, those nuclear weapons have been used and continue to grow,

362
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:23,800
and there's enough capability to destroy not just an enemy, but to destroy the entire world,

363
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:25,120
the entire planet.

364
00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:31,520
Every person could be wiped out in just a few touch of the buttons.

365
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:37,220
Only recently in Earth's history has this capability come out, and this is just a reminder

366
00:27:37,220 --> 00:27:45,560
that the frequency and the intensity of this is growing as we go through our world.

367
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:50,800
So Jesus talked about wars, and he talked about famines.

368
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:57,820
Now a famine is different, it's something that we don't typically think about or experience

369
00:27:57,820 --> 00:28:04,000
here in the United States, but in other parts of the world, many people do.

370
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,920
Now there's poverty that we have in our country.

371
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:14,640
Poverty is where people may not have enough money, but famine is where there's not enough

372
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:20,180
food and there's not even the ability to get the food.

373
00:28:20,180 --> 00:28:25,560
And so many people die from poverty, from famine.

374
00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:33,880
And in fact, in the world, statistics show that 9 million people die of hunger and hunger-related

375
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,840
diseases every single year.

376
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,540
9 million people die every year.

377
00:28:39,540 --> 00:28:41,340
That's just those that die.

378
00:28:41,340 --> 00:28:43,400
There's many more that suffer.

379
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:50,520
820 million people suffer from hunger or malnutrition in the world today.

380
00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:57,280
Think about that, that must break the heart of Jesus to see his people hungering around

381
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:58,280
the world.

382
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:04,820
If there's 8 billion people in the world, that's almost one out of eight people or one

383
00:29:04,820 --> 00:29:11,000
out of seven people go to bed hungry every night.

384
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:19,720
And the sad thing is that there is enough food, the earth produces enough food for everybody

385
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:26,120
to have enough to eat, but it's not always in the places where the people are.

386
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:31,400
And unfortunately, even when people gather things together and ship it to countries that

387
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:37,360
are in need, it still doesn't always get to where it needs to go.

388
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:38,860
Why?

389
00:29:38,860 --> 00:29:43,440
Because of greed, because of power, because of control.

390
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:49,080
People might seize that food because of politics or whatever it is.

391
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:55,160
We see this and we can recognize that this is just another sign that the world is quickly

392
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:56,240
coming to an end.

393
00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:03,760
So Jesus talked about wars and famines, and he also mentioned pestilences or sicknesses

394
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:05,680
or diseases.

395
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,160
Like I said, I used to be a nurse.

396
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,080
Before I was a pastor, I was a nurse.

397
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:15,680
This was back in the 90s, back in the old days.

398
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:17,920
And then I became a pastor.

399
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:22,120
And so for over 25 years, I was not a nurse.

400
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:29,240
But then in 2020, you remember 2020, there was this little thing called a pandemic, and

401
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,120
there was a lot of uncertainty in the world.

402
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:37,920
And I thought to myself, you know what, I've been trained in that area, so maybe I should

403
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:38,920
put that to use.

404
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,140
So I got my nurse's license reinstated.

405
00:30:42,140 --> 00:30:48,200
And so I started working like two days a month, the bare minimum, and I still do that.

406
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:55,680
And it was because of pestilence, because of a disease that was killing many people.

407
00:30:55,680 --> 00:31:03,520
In fact, different types of diseases in one year, infectious diseases kill over 17 million

408
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,400
people a year.

409
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:10,320
And that statistic was before COVID was even around.

410
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:12,960
And COVID has added to that.

411
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:19,680
And it's not just that disease, but how many diseases does our world face?

412
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:29,240
Each year or so, we maybe hear about Ebola coming back, or SARS, or mad cow disease,

413
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:31,760
or avian bird flu.

414
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:38,160
New disease seems to come up all the time, but there's even old diseases that are making

415
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:45,520
comebacks like tuberculosis that had almost seemingly been wiped out, and yet, nope, it's

416
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:48,720
still around, and it seems to be growing.

417
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:55,480
And not only that, many diseases are becoming resistant to antibiotics.

418
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:59,720
So let me just give a little healthcare provider side note here.

419
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:05,720
When the doctor gives you 10 days of antibiotics, take the 10 days of antibiotics, even if you

420
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:07,280
feel better.

421
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:13,760
Because if you only take a little bit, that's why those diseases tend to get resistant to

422
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:15,440
that antibiotic.

423
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,920
And so those antibiotics aren't as effective.

424
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:25,400
And so it's just another sign here that Jesus is coming soon.

425
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:32,040
And as we talk about wars and diseases, that can seem like a very scary thing.

426
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:36,560
But I just want to remind us that our world is wearing out.

427
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:40,200
And these signs are to point us towards Jesus.

428
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,240
And the last thing Jesus mentioned was earthquakes.

429
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:45,200
Do we have earthquakes?

430
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,560
Yes we do.

431
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:49,800
We haven't had a big one in a little while.

432
00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:54,380
We've been a little more distracted with hurricanes in the last couple of weeks.

433
00:32:54,380 --> 00:33:00,360
But actually, 20,000 earthquakes occur every single year, and about 55 occur somewhere

434
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,360
in the world every single day.

435
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:09,440
And even here in North Georgia, every so often, there's a little earthquake of 1.3 or 2.1

436
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:10,680
or something.

437
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,400
And you'll think, did I feel something?

438
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:18,920
And then later that day, maybe you'll see on the news, sure enough, there was something.

439
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,120
Here's a statistics quote.

440
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:29,180
It says, natural disasters have been increasing every year due to various factors, such as

441
00:33:29,180 --> 00:33:35,000
urbanization, population growth, destruction of natural environment.

442
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:41,400
We could talk about wildfires and hurricanes and mudslides and all these different things

443
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:45,640
as more and more people populate the earth.

444
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:52,480
And those places are often the ones that are facing different types of destruction.

445
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,240
So we could attribute it to natural factors.

446
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:59,680
But we also see it's a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

447
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,760
So sometimes people may say, wow, God is angry at the world.

448
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:04,640
He's trying to wipe it out.

449
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,480
He's trying to destroy it.

450
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:08,120
No, that's not.

451
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:14,240
God has told us these things so that when they happen, it can be a wake up call.

452
00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:16,240
It can be a reminder.

453
00:34:16,240 --> 00:34:19,960
Notice the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3.16.

454
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,420
You guys know this one?

455
00:34:21,420 --> 00:34:28,040
It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes

456
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:33,200
in him should not perish but have eternal life.

457
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:34,600
You know what the next verse is?

458
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,320
Anybody remember the next verse?

459
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:44,000
The next verse goes on and says, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn

460
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:50,320
the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

461
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:56,240
Jesus' greatest desire is for the entire world to be saved.

462
00:34:56,240 --> 00:35:01,840
But sometimes we are stubborn and we don't always listen to Jesus and we don't always

463
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:03,680
pay attention to him.

464
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:09,440
And so when we see these signs, it can wake us up just a little bit.

465
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,360
So let's look at some more signs here.

466
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,400
Signs in the social world.

467
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,360
We're going to turn away from Matthew and we're going to look at Paul for a moment.

468
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,940
We're going to turn over to 2 Timothy.

469
00:35:19,940 --> 00:35:23,120
So kind of right in the middle of the New Testament.

470
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,520
Second Timothy.

471
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:27,720
Just a little bit before Hebrews.

472
00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:29,200
And we'll see what Paul has to say.

473
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:33,880
And I'm going to read about five verses in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

474
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:35,880
And I'm going to read through them quickly.

475
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:37,720
And there's going to be a bunch of different things.

476
00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:46,280
And as I'm reading, I want you to just think if you can picture news stories or faces or

477
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:47,280
events.

478
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:48,520
So let's read through this.

479
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,000
2 Timothy 3.

480
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:57,520
The Bible says, but know this, that in the last days perilous times will come for men

481
00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:04,920
will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to

482
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:13,260
parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self-control, brutal, despisers

483
00:36:13,260 --> 00:36:20,360
of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having

484
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:24,800
a form of godliness, but denying its power.

485
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:25,800
Wow.

486
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:26,800
A lot of things.

487
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,700
In fact, 19 different things.

488
00:36:29,700 --> 00:36:31,120
We can put those up there.

489
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:36,800
Did that sound familiar to our society, to our world today?

490
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,280
And you can probably all look at one and say, oh, that's the worst.

491
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,200
I recognize that one.

492
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:51,480
It's almost like Paul was looking at our newspaper, our internet today and noticing what our world

493
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:52,560
is going to be like.

494
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:54,680
These are things that we're experiencing.

495
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:58,400
We could look at all of those, but let's just talk about one.

496
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,520
What about brutal?

497
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,960
Is our world brutal today?

498
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:12,880
The way people talk to each other or don't talk with each other, talk at each other.

499
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:17,880
And if people have a differing opinion about something, have mercy.

500
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,080
We can't have a kind disagreement.

501
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,600
We can't have a kind conversation.

502
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:28,680
If somebody likes a different team than you, we don't want that.

503
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:34,320
If somebody likes a different candidate than you, we want to stop that right away.

504
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:41,160
We can't even have a difference of opinion without wanting the other person to be dead

505
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:49,240
sometimes, to not even want to communicate, to not even want to be around that person.

506
00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:55,920
I'm going to say it's okay to have an opinion about things, but if our opinion causes us

507
00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:02,920
to lose the image of Jesus in our heart and people, when they see us, they don't see a

508
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,760
picture of Jesus, well, we need to be careful.

509
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:14,480
We need to make that a red flag because we could be experiencing that brutality.

510
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,500
Jesus even said, the love of many will grow cold.

511
00:38:18,500 --> 00:38:25,360
What about that last one there, having a form of godliness, but denying its power?

512
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:26,560
What does that mean?

513
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,440
A form of godliness.

514
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:34,960
You drive around this town or many towns, drive between here and Chattanooga, and how

515
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,920
many churches do you pass?

516
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:38,960
There's a lot of churches.

517
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,780
There's a church on every corner.

518
00:38:42,780 --> 00:38:50,420
If everybody was having a form, a true amount of godliness, this world should be the happiest

519
00:38:50,420 --> 00:38:56,000
place ever because there are so many churches, but so many people, we're only going through

520
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,000
the motions.

521
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:00,120
We're not letting Jesus change our heart.

522
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,100
We're not letting the kingdom of God make a difference.

523
00:39:03,100 --> 00:39:08,100
We're having a form of godliness, but denying the power of that.

524
00:39:08,100 --> 00:39:13,380
We do religious things, but we're not letting Jesus change us.

525
00:39:13,380 --> 00:39:18,440
We need to let the righteousness of Christ cover us.

526
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:24,720
As we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that can not just be something that

527
00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:30,560
we talk about, but it can change the way that we live and change the way that we are.

528
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:35,040
We're going to summarize real quick, and then we're going to look at a totally different

529
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:37,880
stream of prophecy here.

530
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:39,800
Here's some things we mentioned.

531
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:47,920
False Christ and false prophets, deception, wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, violence,

532
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,200
economic uncertainty, some of these we didn't even get a chance to talk about, technological

533
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:53,200
advances.

534
00:39:53,200 --> 00:40:02,880
Remember, all of these things are simply to turn our eyes, to point our mind towards Jesus.

535
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:08,780
The signs are neat to see, but they're not going to save us.

536
00:40:08,780 --> 00:40:13,280
They're going to point us to the true center of prophecy, Jesus.

537
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:22,040
In fact, in Matthew 24 verse 33, Jesus says, so you also, when you see all these things,

538
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:27,760
know that it is near, even at the door.

539
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:32,400
When you see these things, know that it's near, even at the door.

540
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:38,360
So according to Jesus, according to the New Testament, we could say, yes, we are living

541
00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:40,720
in the days right before Jesus comes.

542
00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:46,840
But let's see if we can collaborate this and look at another prophecy and see if we can

543
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:50,400
triangulate our position just a little bit.

544
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:55,840
We're going to go to one that we've talked about in a previous seminar in Daniel chapter

545
00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:56,840
two.

546
00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,720
I know some came to our Daniel seminar a few weeks ago, but we're going to briefly look

547
00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:02,760
at Daniel chapter two.

548
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:09,160
So let's just refresh what's happening here in Daniel, the book of Daniel.

549
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:13,980
The book of Daniel is a companion book to the book of Revelation.

550
00:41:13,980 --> 00:41:17,920
Those are the two great books about Bible prophecy.

551
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:23,480
And in Daniel chapter two, King Nebuchadnezzar is the king.

552
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:28,840
He is the king of Babylon, this world empire, this superpower.

553
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,000
He is a great leader, a great general.

554
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:36,840
He has a great empire and he has gone and conquered many lands.

555
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:47,480
And in fact, in the year 605 BC, 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar took his armies to Jerusalem and conquered

556
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,200
God's holy city.

557
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:54,880
And he brought back many of the people from Jerusalem to Babylon.

558
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,840
And one of the people he brought was a young man named Daniel.

559
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:01,040
Now Daniel is a prophet.

560
00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:02,420
The book is written by him.

561
00:42:02,420 --> 00:42:03,420
It's about him.

562
00:42:03,420 --> 00:42:07,260
Jesus, in the New Testament, calls him Daniel the prophet.

563
00:42:07,260 --> 00:42:13,080
And Daniel was one who in Daniel chapter one, he stands up for God.

564
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:18,920
And no matter what test is thrown at him in this pagan land, they're trying to brainwash

565
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:23,120
him, but he's determined that he's going to stand for God.

566
00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:24,920
And God blesses him.

567
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:26,840
And he's given wisdom.

568
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:31,980
And as he's trained in the ways of Babylon, he actually excels.

569
00:42:31,980 --> 00:42:35,480
And he becomes one of the king's advisors.

570
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:39,800
And so that leads us to Daniel chapter two.

571
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,920
Daniel chapter two, we pick up the story in verse one.

572
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:48,680
The Bible says, now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had

573
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:55,280
dreams and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.

574
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,360
That ever happened to you?

575
00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:03,160
You had a dream in the middle of the night, maybe you woke up and, whoa, that was a strange

576
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:04,160
dream.

577
00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:05,160
That was a scary dream.

578
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,960
That was a funny dream, whatever it was.

579
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:10,360
He was troubled by this dream.

580
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:14,720
And it says, then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the

581
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:19,280
sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dream.

582
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:21,000
He forgot what his dream is.

583
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,720
Has that ever happened to you?

584
00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:26,700
At breakfast, you're like, I know I dreamed something.

585
00:43:26,700 --> 00:43:31,200
It was exciting, but I do not remember what it was.

586
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:35,640
And so it says, they came in and stood before the king and the king said to them, I have

587
00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:40,560
had a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.

588
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:41,720
He could not remember it.

589
00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:46,260
He thought that the gods, the god was trying to tell him something.

590
00:43:46,260 --> 00:43:51,200
God was trying to get his attention, but he could not remember this dream.

591
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:55,780
And he called these advisors in, tell me what I dream.

592
00:43:55,780 --> 00:43:57,920
Notice how it goes on here.

593
00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:04,940
In verse four, it says, the Chaldeans spoke to the king, oh, king, live forever.

594
00:44:04,940 --> 00:44:09,600
Call your servant the dream and we will give you the interpretation.

595
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:14,320
If you tell us what you dreamed, we can tell you what it means.

596
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:17,360
You know, if you tell me what you dreamed last night, I could give you some kind of

597
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:18,860
interpretation.

598
00:44:18,860 --> 00:44:22,360
It probably wouldn't be right, but I could make something up.

599
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:26,320
But the king said, no, my decision is firm.

600
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:31,640
If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretations, you've got to tell me

601
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:37,520
what I dreamed and what it means, then you shall be cut to pieces and your house shall

602
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:38,920
be made an ash heap.

603
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:42,200
We're going to kill you and burn your house down.

604
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:45,760
King Nebuchadnezzar was a vicious king here.

605
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:52,400
And it says, for this reason, the king was angry and gave the command to destroy all

606
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,820
the wise men of Babylon.

607
00:44:54,820 --> 00:45:01,400
So the decree went out and they began killing the wise men and sought Daniel and his companions

608
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:03,440
to kill them.

609
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:09,020
So Daniel wasn't in this group initially, but the word went out that Daniel was going

610
00:45:09,020 --> 00:45:10,560
to be killed.

611
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:15,520
And Daniel heard this and he recognized that something needed to be done.

612
00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:20,840
And he sent word back to the king and he said, King, give me time.

613
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:24,640
Give me a little bit of time and I can give you the interpretation.

614
00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:29,600
And believe it or not, the king, even though he was vicious, the king really wanted to

615
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,080
know what he dreamed.

616
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:36,400
And so he gave Daniel a night and Daniel and his friends in the middle of Daniel chapter

617
00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:44,080
two, they prayed to the God of heaven and they said, help us to know this dream.

618
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:46,580
And that's exactly what God did.

619
00:45:46,580 --> 00:45:52,200
God gave them the interpretation and Daniel went in before King Nebuchadnezzar.

620
00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:54,860
We'll pick up the story in verse 31.

621
00:45:54,860 --> 00:45:56,920
We could spend a whole lot more time with this.

622
00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:58,320
Let me assure you.

623
00:45:58,320 --> 00:46:01,840
And Daniel says to the king, he tells him what he dreamed.

624
00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:07,800
You O King, we're watching and behold, a great image looks kind of like this one here on

625
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:16,020
this banner, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you and its form was awesome.

626
00:46:16,020 --> 00:46:23,520
This image's head was a fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of

627
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:29,880
bronze, its legs of iron, its feet, partly of iron and partly of clay.

628
00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:30,880
It's not over.

629
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:37,440
You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet

630
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:41,320
of iron and clay and broke them into pieces.

631
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:42,320
It's still not over.

632
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:48,080
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed together and became

633
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:51,800
like chaff from the summer threshing floors.

634
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:56,280
And the wind carried them away so that no trace was found.

635
00:46:56,280 --> 00:47:03,880
And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the entire earth.

636
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:07,000
You can almost see King Nebuchadnezzar hearing this interpretation.

637
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,320
Yes, Daniel, that's what I dreamed.

638
00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:10,840
I did see the head of gold.

639
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:12,960
I did see the four metals.

640
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,560
I did see the big rock that came in and hit the feet.

641
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,760
Yes, Daniel, that is exactly what I dreamed.

642
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:25,880
And I saw that rock and it grew and it became a mountain and filled the whole earth.

643
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:30,000
Daniel, that is exactly what I dreamed.

644
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,880
What do you think the next question might be?

645
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:36,620
That's what I dreamed.

646
00:47:36,620 --> 00:47:38,200
What does it mean?

647
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:42,240
And we could say, Nebuchadnezzar, what does it mean to you?

648
00:47:42,240 --> 00:47:48,740
But we could also say, God, what does it mean for us in our world today?

649
00:47:48,740 --> 00:47:51,760
Because we're going to take just a couple of minutes and we're going to see that these

650
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:59,480
four metals represent the track of history for 2,500 years.

651
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:04,560
We're going to do it quickly because we're trying to figure out where we are in this

652
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:06,460
timeline of history.

653
00:48:06,460 --> 00:48:11,200
We saw what Jesus said, but what about this timeline of history?

654
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:18,320
Let's see what Daniel gives as an interpretation because he goes on and says, this is the dream

655
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:24,840
and now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.

656
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:27,840
He says, you, oh, king, he's got to butter up the king a little bit.

657
00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:30,240
The king was ready to kill everybody.

658
00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:36,540
You are a king of kings for the God of heaven gave you a kingdom and power and strength

659
00:48:36,540 --> 00:48:42,120
and glory and wherever the children of men dwell or the beasts of the field or the birds

660
00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:47,080
of heaven, he has given them into your hand and has made you a ruler over them.

661
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:54,240
And then he says, you, King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are the head of gold.

662
00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:59,960
We're going to see he's not just talking about the individual, but he's talking about a kingdom.

663
00:48:59,960 --> 00:49:09,680
So Babylon, this great empire ruled from about 605 BC down to 539 BC and it was an incredible

664
00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:11,800
city.

665
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:13,160
There's ruins there now.

666
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:14,440
It's not even there anymore.

667
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:20,840
It's another Bible prophecy, but historians of the day like Herodotus described it as

668
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:26,160
being about 56 miles around, 14 miles to a side.

669
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:32,320
The walls were hundreds of feet high, very, very thick, as wide as this building.

670
00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:35,240
You could race chariots side by side.

671
00:49:35,240 --> 00:49:38,520
So think Bristol Motor Speedway.

672
00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:39,740
It's impregnable.

673
00:49:39,740 --> 00:49:42,000
You could not conquer this city.

674
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:43,800
The walls were too thick.

675
00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:46,580
They had food for 20 years inside.

676
00:49:46,580 --> 00:49:50,860
You could not conquer this city.

677
00:49:50,860 --> 00:49:57,840
But the very next thing that Daniel says, the next part of this tells Nebuchadnezzar

678
00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:05,320
that in fact, this indestructible city would be destroyed.

679
00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:08,160
Notice what the next verse says, verse 39.

680
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:15,560
It says, but after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours.

681
00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:21,240
So after Babylon, there was going to be another kingdom, an inferior kingdom.

682
00:50:21,240 --> 00:50:22,600
That's interesting.

683
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:30,280
Usually inferior doesn't beat the superior, but Babylon's fame and fortune were temporary.

684
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,520
It was going to come to an end.

685
00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:35,840
How could that happen?

686
00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:39,160
What did Babylon come to an end?

687
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:40,160
Yes it did.

688
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:44,880
There was another empire that rose and that was the empire of the Medes and the Persians

689
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:49,880
are a lot of history books just refer to it as the Persian Empire.

690
00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:54,580
And it ruled from about 539 down to 331.

691
00:50:54,580 --> 00:51:00,840
And this was two different people groups that came together and ended up conquering Babylon.

692
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:03,840
Well, how did that happen?

693
00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:07,640
This impregnable city with wide walls.

694
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:11,440
Well through the center of Babylon flowed the Euphrates River.

695
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:16,840
So you couldn't do a siege because they had all the water they needed, all the food they

696
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:17,960
needed.

697
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:23,260
But the Persians came and they put down their swords for just a little bit and they picked

698
00:51:23,260 --> 00:51:31,040
up shovels and history tells us that they began to dig and they began to dig a ditch.

699
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:38,480
There became a canal that became a riverbed and that river Euphrates was diverted.

700
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:46,480
And so where the river flowed under the wall, now an army could march under the wall.

701
00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:52,760
You see they had a gate there but when that army came to surround the city, it was a different

702
00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:53,760
king now.

703
00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:57,640
His name was Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson.

704
00:51:57,640 --> 00:52:02,520
And in Daniel chapter 5 it tells us that he threw a drunken party.

705
00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:03,520
We're safe in here.

706
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:12,040
And he threw a drunken party and everyone was distracted and so the gate was not shut.

707
00:52:12,040 --> 00:52:17,240
The army came under the wall and Babylon was defeated.

708
00:52:17,240 --> 00:52:21,480
And in fact, that was actually a Bible prophecy as well.

709
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:30,000
In Isaiah 45, about 150 years before that event, the prophet Isaiah wrote, Thus says

710
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:36,940
the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before

711
00:52:36,940 --> 00:52:44,040
him and loose the armor of kings to open before him the double doors so that the gates will

712
00:52:44,040 --> 00:52:45,040
not be shut.

713
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:49,620
And the verse just before that, it talks about drying up the river.

714
00:52:49,620 --> 00:52:52,720
It talks about the gates not being shut.

715
00:52:52,720 --> 00:52:56,680
And it says the name of the king was what?

716
00:52:56,680 --> 00:52:57,680
Cyrus.

717
00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:02,240
And guess who the general was who came and diverted the river?

718
00:53:02,240 --> 00:53:03,480
It was Cyrus.

719
00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:09,320
And they dried up the river, the gates were not shut, and Babylon was conquered by the

720
00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:10,840
Medo-Persian army.

721
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:17,340
God had predicted it 150 years before, even the name of the general.

722
00:53:17,340 --> 00:53:21,620
So that's a pretty incredible prophecy that helped to fulfill this.

723
00:53:21,620 --> 00:53:24,960
And that's listed in Daniel chapter five.

724
00:53:24,960 --> 00:53:30,920
Now it goes on in Daniel two, verse 39, and it says, Then another kingdom, a kingdom of

725
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:35,400
bronze shall rule over the earth.

726
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:37,820
Now I know we're doing a little history class here.

727
00:53:37,820 --> 00:53:43,560
You did not come here tonight thinking you were going to be in 10th grade history class.

728
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:48,400
But if you remember that, there was the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Persians, and then there

729
00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:49,680
was another empire.

730
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:50,680
What came next?

731
00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:53,600
Does anybody remember?

732
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:54,600
It was the Greeks.

733
00:53:54,600 --> 00:53:55,600
The Greeks came.

734
00:53:55,600 --> 00:54:01,280
They were the next dominant power from 331 to 168.

735
00:54:01,280 --> 00:54:10,440
The armies of Greece conquered these other nations led by a young general who swept across

736
00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:11,740
the world.

737
00:54:11,740 --> 00:54:13,000
His name was?

738
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:15,480
Anybody remember?

739
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:17,280
Alexander the Great.

740
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:24,040
And history tells us that when the armies of Alexander met the armies of Persia, the

741
00:54:24,040 --> 00:54:28,000
Persians outnumbered them 20 to one.

742
00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:30,640
And yet the Greeks won the battle.

743
00:54:30,640 --> 00:54:38,480
The Greeks won and were able to defeat that empire and become the ruling empire.

744
00:54:38,480 --> 00:54:43,760
But Alexander died at a very young age.

745
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:46,600
He was about 33 when he died.

746
00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:49,720
He had everything he could have asked for.

747
00:54:49,720 --> 00:54:51,560
He had conquered the world.

748
00:54:51,560 --> 00:55:01,280
He had the world at his fingertips and yet history tells us that he died unhappy.

749
00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:09,680
And he died by drinking himself to death because he had to turn back from conquering India.

750
00:55:09,680 --> 00:55:16,760
He had conquered so much and yet he still wanted more and he died at the age of 33.

751
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:22,600
Just as a reminder that the things of this world don't really satisfy us.

752
00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:24,920
There's something else we should be seeking.

753
00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:34,280
We need to be seeking our support, our personality through Jesus, our meaning in life.

754
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:40,760
So when Alexander died his generals began to rule and it wasn't long before another

755
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:42,320
kingdom came along.

756
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:48,800
Daniel 2 verse 40 it goes on and says, the Bible says, the fourth kingdom shall be strong

757
00:55:48,800 --> 00:55:55,520
as iron inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything and like iron that

758
00:55:55,520 --> 00:56:01,240
crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.

759
00:56:01,240 --> 00:56:07,920
So the Greek empire would fall and another would arise, an iron kingdom.

760
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:12,680
Tenth grade history class, what came after the Greeks?

761
00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:14,880
Ruled for a long time.

762
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:23,280
The Roman empire came and in about 168 they conquered the Greeks and became the dominant

763
00:56:23,280 --> 00:56:28,280
force and they ruled all the way down to 476 AD.

764
00:56:28,280 --> 00:56:33,920
It's interesting that Babylon and the Medes and the Persians and the Greeks are all mentioned

765
00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:37,040
by name in the book of Daniel.

766
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:42,880
Rome is not, but Rome was the kingdom that was reigning when Jesus walked on this earth.

767
00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:49,340
So all four of those are mentioned in the Bible and Rome is actually referred to by

768
00:56:49,340 --> 00:56:53,120
many historians as the iron kingdom.

769
00:56:53,120 --> 00:56:58,920
And so it's got that nickname that matches up exactly with this Bible prophecy.

770
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:08,720
There's kind of a summary there of the kingdoms, the metals tracing down earth's history.

771
00:57:08,720 --> 00:57:12,040
So has this happened just like the prophecy said?

772
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:18,120
Yes, but we're trying to figure out if we're living in the last days before Jesus comes.

773
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:20,200
That's what we're trying to look at here.

774
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:25,080
So is there another empire that was going to come?

775
00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:30,560
Well this prophecy changes just a little bit because the pattern you would think empire,

776
00:57:30,560 --> 00:57:34,440
empire, empire, you'd expect another one.

777
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:36,640
But that's not what happens.

778
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:38,920
Look at verse 41.

779
00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:41,640
Verse 41 as we go on.

780
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:50,040
It says, whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron,

781
00:57:50,040 --> 00:57:53,640
the kingdom shall be, what's the word?

782
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:58,240
Divided, the kingdom shall be divided, not conquered.

783
00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:03,280
The kingdom's going to be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it just as

784
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:07,000
you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.

785
00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:09,460
So Rome was not going to be conquered.

786
00:58:09,460 --> 00:58:12,320
It was going to be divided from within.

787
00:58:12,320 --> 00:58:18,360
It was going to break up into different units, into different entities.

788
00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:26,740
And so these feet of iron and clay would represent the kingdoms that would come out of this divided

789
00:58:26,740 --> 00:58:28,200
Roman empire.

790
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:31,600
And that's exactly what happened.

791
00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:39,440
Most historians would say that Rome fell about 476 by different tribes coming in and conquering

792
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:40,440
it.

793
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:47,080
And you can look at a list of some of these tribes and you see some familiar people groups

794
00:58:47,080 --> 00:58:50,280
because these tribes didn't go away.

795
00:58:50,280 --> 00:58:55,160
They became the nations of Europe that we have today.

796
00:58:55,160 --> 00:59:01,520
For instance, the Franks became the French people, the Saxons became the English and

797
00:59:01,520 --> 00:59:02,820
so forth.

798
00:59:02,820 --> 00:59:12,180
And so we see that this division of Rome has continued on down through hundreds of years.

799
00:59:12,180 --> 00:59:19,480
And so this prophecy foretold from Babylon, from Nebuchadnezzar's day, all the way down

800
00:59:19,480 --> 00:59:26,960
to a time of kingdoms that came from Rome that were divided.

801
00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:29,440
Now we're trying to figure out where we are.

802
00:59:29,440 --> 00:59:30,440
We're almost done.

803
00:59:30,440 --> 00:59:31,440
Don't worry.

804
00:59:31,440 --> 00:59:34,120
There are a couple of things we need to look at.

805
00:59:34,120 --> 00:59:41,680
It says as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men.

806
00:59:41,680 --> 00:59:48,740
That means these nations are going to try to unite through marriage, through birth,

807
00:59:48,740 --> 00:59:50,920
the seed of men.

808
00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:56,300
And those nations of Europe, they tried to intermarry and to combine.

809
00:59:56,300 --> 01:00:02,720
But it says they will not adhere, or the King James version says they will not cleave one

810
01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:07,460
to another just as iron does not mix with clay.

811
01:00:07,460 --> 01:00:11,020
So the marriage alliance wouldn't do it.

812
01:00:11,020 --> 01:00:14,660
They would not cleave one to another.

813
01:00:14,660 --> 01:00:21,760
And ever since 476 when Rome was divided, there have been people trying to put it back

814
01:00:21,760 --> 01:00:23,480
together just like Humpty Dumpty.

815
01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:31,560
They've been trying to put this thing back together through marriage or through battle.

816
01:00:31,560 --> 01:00:35,200
In the Middle Ages, it was Charlemagne of France.

817
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:42,260
More recent times, there was Hitler and Stalin of Russia and of Germany.

818
01:00:42,260 --> 01:00:49,300
But the one that came the closest was a couple hundred years ago, another person from France

819
01:00:49,300 --> 01:00:51,980
named Napoleon.

820
01:00:51,980 --> 01:00:57,480
In the French Revolution, Napoleon wanted to envelop all of Europe.

821
01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:02,040
He wanted to unite these kingdoms and make them his own.

822
01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:04,440
And two things brought him down.

823
01:01:04,440 --> 01:01:07,960
One he went and tried to attack Russia in winter.

824
01:01:07,960 --> 01:01:10,100
That didn't work out well for him.

825
01:01:10,100 --> 01:01:15,440
And then on the eve of what became known as the Battle of Waterloo, or the morning of

826
01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:20,560
that battle, he was ready to march his troops across the battlefield.

827
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:23,580
But it had rained the night before.

828
01:01:23,580 --> 01:01:25,580
So it was muddy.

829
01:01:25,580 --> 01:01:29,540
And they weren't able to attack until later in the day.

830
01:01:29,540 --> 01:01:35,720
And that delay allowed the Allies to bring in some more troops.

831
01:01:35,720 --> 01:01:42,380
The Prussians came from a different direction and provided enough troops for protection.

832
01:01:42,380 --> 01:01:50,080
And even today, we have the European Union, but it's different countries working together.

833
01:01:50,080 --> 01:01:54,940
There's a euro, a common currency, but they're still different kingdoms.

834
01:01:54,940 --> 01:01:56,500
They're different governments.

835
01:01:56,500 --> 01:01:57,980
They're different countries.

836
01:01:57,980 --> 01:02:04,440
And the Bible says that these countries will never unite because they shall not cleave

837
01:02:04,440 --> 01:02:05,760
one to another.

838
01:02:05,760 --> 01:02:10,360
And so even people sometimes want that to be united, but the Bible says it's not going

839
01:02:10,360 --> 01:02:11,700
to happen.

840
01:02:11,700 --> 01:02:19,340
And so we've got these different kingdoms that have come and gone and come and gone.

841
01:02:19,340 --> 01:02:24,340
And where are we in this timeline of history?

842
01:02:24,340 --> 01:02:26,940
We're in this feet part, right?

843
01:02:26,940 --> 01:02:29,940
Because those kingdoms of Europe are still divided.

844
01:02:29,940 --> 01:02:33,100
That is the time that we are living in.

845
01:02:33,100 --> 01:02:38,500
Now this is what we've been getting to, the next few verses here, because this is the

846
01:02:38,500 --> 01:02:41,240
time period that we are living in.

847
01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:46,800
So what is the next thing according to this particular prophecy?

848
01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:54,420
This verse 34, it says, you watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck

849
01:02:54,420 --> 01:03:00,440
the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.

850
01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:06,640
And then it goes down in verse 44 and it says, in the days of these kings, in the days of

851
01:03:06,640 --> 01:03:14,420
these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

852
01:03:14,420 --> 01:03:16,320
Where are we living?

853
01:03:16,320 --> 01:03:18,740
We're living in the days of these kings.

854
01:03:18,740 --> 01:03:23,380
And it says, in the days of those kings, God will set up a kingdom which will never be

855
01:03:23,380 --> 01:03:24,380
destroyed.

856
01:03:24,380 --> 01:03:27,180
The kingdom shall not be left to other people.

857
01:03:27,180 --> 01:03:33,620
It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.

858
01:03:33,620 --> 01:03:39,660
That's a picture of the coming kingdom of Jesus, of something that's going to make this

859
01:03:39,660 --> 01:03:42,220
world brand new.

860
01:03:42,220 --> 01:03:45,980
In the days of these kings, God will set up a kingdom.

861
01:03:45,980 --> 01:03:47,940
And notice how this chapter ends.

862
01:03:47,940 --> 01:03:54,580
It says, the dream is certain and the interpretation is sure.

863
01:03:54,580 --> 01:03:58,320
The dream is certain and the interpretation is sure.

864
01:03:58,320 --> 01:04:04,160
This prophecy says that a rock, a stone is going to come out of the heaven.

865
01:04:04,160 --> 01:04:10,100
In the Bible, Jesus is called the cornerstone or the capstone or the rock of ages.

866
01:04:10,100 --> 01:04:16,100
He's going to come and set up a kingdom, a kingdom of peace and a kingdom of hope.

867
01:04:16,100 --> 01:04:19,560
And we get to be with Jesus forever.

868
01:04:19,560 --> 01:04:22,660
And so we've seen the prophecy of Jesus.

869
01:04:22,660 --> 01:04:24,920
We've seen the signs of the times.

870
01:04:24,920 --> 01:04:29,260
We've seen that they are becoming more intense and more frequent.

871
01:04:29,260 --> 01:04:35,600
And we see that in the days of these kings, that Jesus is going to set up a kingdom.

872
01:04:35,600 --> 01:04:40,720
And so we can look at the Old Testament and the New Testament and see two different streams

873
01:04:40,720 --> 01:04:48,100
of prophecy that triangulate, that collaborate, that yes, we are living in the days right

874
01:04:48,100 --> 01:04:50,240
before Jesus comes.

875
01:04:50,240 --> 01:04:53,220
Are we going to heed the warnings?

876
01:04:53,220 --> 01:04:56,140
Are we going to look at the warnings?

877
01:04:56,140 --> 01:05:03,340
It's been over a hundred years, but the greatest ship of its time sailed from Southampton,

878
01:05:03,340 --> 01:05:09,100
England, making its way to New York, the great Titanic.

879
01:05:09,100 --> 01:05:15,780
It was unsinkable, the most elegant, the fastest ship, the best ship of the time.

880
01:05:15,780 --> 01:05:23,820
But now it sits at the bottom of the ocean, 600 kilometers south of Nova Scotia.

881
01:05:23,820 --> 01:05:24,980
Why?

882
01:05:24,980 --> 01:05:27,820
Because the Titanic struck an iceberg.

883
01:05:27,820 --> 01:05:29,300
We know the story.

884
01:05:29,300 --> 01:05:35,140
But what we often forget is that while that Titanic was streaming west towards the United

885
01:05:35,140 --> 01:05:41,540
States, it received nine different warning messages, nine different telegraphs, nine

886
01:05:41,540 --> 01:05:43,420
different radio messages.

887
01:05:43,420 --> 01:05:46,940
And do you know what those messages said?

888
01:05:46,940 --> 01:05:48,780
There's icebergs ahead.

889
01:05:48,780 --> 01:05:49,780
Beware.

890
01:05:49,780 --> 01:05:51,180
Look out.

891
01:05:51,180 --> 01:05:53,460
There's icebergs in your path.

892
01:05:53,460 --> 01:05:56,940
Every one of those messages was received.

893
01:05:56,940 --> 01:06:00,220
Every one of those messages was understood.

894
01:06:00,220 --> 01:06:03,420
And every one of those messages was ignored.

895
01:06:03,420 --> 01:06:10,300
And today in Nova Scotia, there's cemeteries filled with the dead who drowned in the wreck

896
01:06:10,300 --> 01:06:11,940
of the Titanic.

897
01:06:11,940 --> 01:06:14,740
We have warnings from Jesus.

898
01:06:14,740 --> 01:06:17,220
Jesus tells us that he loves us.

899
01:06:17,220 --> 01:06:19,300
He tells us that he's coming soon.

900
01:06:19,300 --> 01:06:24,540
And he gives us an invitation, such as one in Matthew 11, 28.

901
01:06:24,540 --> 01:06:30,980
Jesus says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

902
01:06:30,980 --> 01:06:34,660
Do we want to rest in Jesus tonight?

903
01:06:34,660 --> 01:06:40,460
Do we want to heed the warnings that Jesus shows us and gives us?

904
01:06:40,460 --> 01:06:43,420
I think this could be a prayer that we have.

905
01:06:43,420 --> 01:06:49,260
Lord, I realize these signs are being fulfilled right before my eyes.

906
01:06:49,260 --> 01:06:51,500
I need to draw close to you.

907
01:06:51,500 --> 01:06:53,260
Please come into my life.

908
01:06:53,260 --> 01:06:55,300
Let that be your prayer.

909
01:06:55,300 --> 01:06:57,540
We're going to pass out some cards right now.

910
01:06:57,540 --> 01:07:01,060
Oh, we already did that, didn't we?

911
01:07:01,060 --> 01:07:03,860
So I want you to take out that card.

912
01:07:03,860 --> 01:07:04,860
Sorry.

913
01:07:04,860 --> 01:07:10,820
Take out that card because this is the time I want you to just let us know.

914
01:07:10,820 --> 01:07:12,380
Was this teaching clear?

915
01:07:12,380 --> 01:07:15,060
Do you have any questions?

916
01:07:15,060 --> 01:07:16,560
Just fill that out.

917
01:07:16,560 --> 01:07:22,380
And as you are writing that, as you are filling that out, so just look through this card.

918
01:07:22,380 --> 01:07:28,300
This is a temporary home that we live in and we're waiting for that day when Jesus comes

919
01:07:28,300 --> 01:07:32,300
again and then it won't be temporary anymore.

920
01:07:32,300 --> 01:07:38,420
As you leave tonight, just hand in that response card because tomorrow night we're going to

921
01:07:38,420 --> 01:07:39,940
have a drawing.

922
01:07:39,940 --> 01:07:44,180
So if you want to be able to participate in that, just hand that in.

923
01:07:44,180 --> 01:07:47,140
And as you do, there's going to be a handout for you.

924
01:07:47,140 --> 01:07:51,820
It's got a lot of the verses that we talked about tonight that you can take and read them

925
01:07:51,820 --> 01:07:55,500
again and study them because don't take my word for it.

926
01:07:55,500 --> 01:07:58,140
We want to go by what the Bible says.

927
01:07:58,140 --> 01:08:04,500
We hope that you will come back tomorrow night and tomorrow's topic is Bible prophecies,

928
01:08:04,500 --> 01:08:06,760
apocalyptic battle.

929
01:08:06,760 --> 01:08:13,500
What is the big battle that takes place between good and evil in the book of Revelation?

930
01:08:13,500 --> 01:08:14,660
We're going to examine that.

931
01:08:14,660 --> 01:08:16,660
Let's have a word of prayer tonight.

932
01:08:16,660 --> 01:08:21,740
Dear God, we thank you so much that this is a temporary home.

933
01:08:21,740 --> 01:08:24,540
That you promised that you're coming soon.

934
01:08:24,540 --> 01:08:28,840
And as we've seen tonight from two different sources of prophecy, it seems like you're

935
01:08:28,840 --> 01:08:31,280
coming back really, really soon.

936
01:08:31,280 --> 01:08:36,580
And Lord, may each one of us be ready in our heart and in our life to accept you as our

937
01:08:36,580 --> 01:08:38,100
Lord and Savior.

938
01:08:38,100 --> 01:08:42,560
And I want to pray for each one of these families as they're driving home.

939
01:08:42,560 --> 01:08:47,580
Give them safe passages and bring them back tomorrow that they may be blessed again.

940
01:08:47,580 --> 01:08:49,380
Thank you for all you do for us.

941
01:08:49,380 --> 01:08:50,380
In your name we pray.

942
01:08:50,380 --> 01:08:52,260
Amen.