Collierville First Baptist Church

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we're in a series entitled Perfect Ending.

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Perfect Ending. We're going verse by verse through Matthew chapter 24 and 25.

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And to go right along with this, on Wednesday nights in the fellowship hall from 6.30 to 7.30, I'm teaching verse by verse through the book of Daniel.

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And these two sections of scripture go together.

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And I would encourage you if you can, come on Wednesday night and be a part of that wonderful study in Daniel. This morning, I want to speak to you on this subject.

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Are there signs of the Lord's return?

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Are there signs that alert us to the fact that the coming of Jesus may be very near?

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I believe there are.

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Now, obviously nobody can predict the exact date when the Lord Jesus is coming.

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Now, there have been different guys who've tried to do that,

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but they failed miserably and they had egg all over their face.

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And it wasn't scrambled egg. It was eggs over easy. It was just running down everywhere because they just missed it. They missed it because the Bible says no one knows when Jesus is coming.

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So it just means that we must get ready and stay ready for His return all the time. But especially in light of the nearness of His return. I share with you last week, we're 2000 years closer to His return than when He ascended to heaven.

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I don't know about you, but that sounds like a lot closer, doesn't it?

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A few years ago, Matt Roper wrote an article entitled "Apocalypse Now,

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10 of the Greatest Threats That Could Wipe Out All Life on Earth."

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And his list included this.

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Global warming. You might know that would be on there.

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Gamma-ray burst. Pandemic.

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Robot ascension.

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Black hole. Global war.

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Magnetic reversal.

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Supervolcano. Alien invasion. Asteroid impact. So he said there are 10 things that it's possible could destroy the entire world. Could bring about the end of the world. Listen, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the world will not end because of any of these catastrophes. You know why I can tell you that? Because my source is irrefutable. My source is irreproachable. My source is irrevocable. My source is irresistible. My source is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

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So open your Bible to Matthew 24. Now the context is important.

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We talked about that last week, but just let me do a little catch up here.

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Jesus and His disciples were in Jerusalem.

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It was Wednesday, and our Lord would be crucified on Friday. He's within hours of going to the cross, bearing the sin of the world and offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice that could save our souls.

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As Jesus and His disciples were leaving the temple, the Lord engaged His men in a conversation.

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I want you to pay close attention to the questions that His disciples asked Him.

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In Matthew 24, verses 1 to 3, Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.

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And He said to them, "Do you see all these things?

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Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." By the way, I've been to Israel three times, and there's an excavated street at street level where it was in the first century.

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And there are huge stones just littering that street, and they're there because it proves that what the Bible says that the Romans did in A.D. 70 actually happened.

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They burnt the temple. They took it apart stone by stone. The gold in the temple was melted, and these huge array of large stones litter this street going back to the first century.

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"Truly, truly, I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down."

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Can you imagine how that impacted His disciples?

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They revered the temple.

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Verse 3, "And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying," listen to what they said,

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"Tell us when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

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What Jesus did not say, "The world's going to end by alien invasion."

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"The world is going to end by gamma ray. The world is going to end by global warming." He didn't say that.

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What He said in chapter 24 and 25 is truth without mixture of error.

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Now, the disciples thought that Jesus was about to assume power and initiate His eternal kingdom, and they wanted a sign.

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To say they were stunned by this prophecy would be understating what was going on in their minds and hearts.

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Now, every time Jesus spoke about the future, He connected it to the present.

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You look in the Bible, there are those who say, "Well, we shouldn't study prophecy. It's not relevant."

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It's not relevant to what I'm going through now, but I'm telling you, every time He spoke about the future, He spoke about the present.

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For instance, John 14, 1-3, notice what He says. He's about to be crucified. He said this a little while later, about the next day or next night, He said this, "Do not let your heart be troubled.

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Believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, there you may be also." Do you see how He connected prophetic truth to the present? He said, "Let not your heart be troubled.

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Believe in God, believe also in Me." And then He gave the prophecy.

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We did that all through the New Testament. His message to His disheartened disciples was simply this, don't get discouraged. Don't get discouraged. Believe in God, believe also in Me.

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Jesus wanted them to know that He had a flawless plan for the future.

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In fact, they could expect a perfect ending to all of creation, to the world.

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And that perfect ending would usher in a new heaven and a new earth, complete with no sin, no sorrow, no sickness, no death, no pain, no crying.

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Don't you look forward to that new world that the Lord is going to provide for those who have believed in Him.

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I love what David Jeremiah wrote. He said, "If the return of Jesus Christ to this earth is not relevant,

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then God the Holy Spirit would not have woven it through the eternal scriptures.

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If He had not wanted us to ponder and consider these issues, He would not have underlined and highlighted them again and again."

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In Matthew chapter 24 verses four to 14, Jesus laid out for these men and for us a series of signs that would serve as an alert to the nearness of His coming and to the end of the age.

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Today we'll cover the first three of those. Next week we'll look at the next three.

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Here's the truth that I want you to get in your heart today.

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Because nobody knows when Jesus is coming.

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I want you to get ready and stay ready for the Lord's return.

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Get ready and stay ready for the Lord's return. Now, maybe you're here today and you've never repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus.

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I'm telling you, you need to get ready.

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I want you to know that it could happen at any moment.

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Are you ready? Are you ready to meet the resurrected reigning King of kings and Lord of lords? I hope and pray you are. And if you're not, I want to give you an invitation right now at the end of this service.

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I'm going to invite you to repent of your sin and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

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And that'll get you ready. And then for the rest of your life as a believer, you have to stay ready. How do you stay ready? Well, you get in the Word of God. You read the Bible. You pray. You seek to live a holy fulfilling life for His glory. You seek to please Him in everything.

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Now here's the first sign that Jesus laid out. It's spiritual deception.

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In Matthew chapter 24 verses four and five, the Bible says, "And Jesus answered and said to them,

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"See to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in my name, saying, "I am the Christ and will mislead many."

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The Lord wanted His followers to be prepared for His physical absence.

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Now they've been with Him for about three years, three and a half years.

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And it was such a blessing to them. They could ask Him anything.

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He prayed with them. He prayed for them. He instructed them. He discipled them.

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But the root here in verse 24, "See to it that no one misleads you." The root of that word mislead means to cause to stray. To cause to stray.

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And I hear recently I've been made aware of some folks who were strong believers at one time, or I thought they were strong believers, and they've apostasized.

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They don't believe in Jesus anymore. They scoff at the Bible.

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It drives me nuts. It breaks my heart.

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But they've been caused to stray. Somebody got in their head.

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Now this challenge speaks of being led away from the truth by Satan-inspired deceivers.

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There were false Christs before Jesus' time, and there were false Christs during Jesus' time.

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And there have been others at various times since, including many in our own day.

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Jim Jones, Son Young Moon, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, Jose Silva. And this couple right here I want to put up on the screen. His name is A.J. Miller.

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That's A.J. Miller. He's Australian. He's got a neat accent.

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But he is a false Christ. He is claimed to be the incarnated Christ. He's a former Jehovah Witness elder and the current leader of the Australia-based Divine Truth Movement. That woman with him claims to be reincarnated Mary Magdalene.

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Now we laugh at that, and it is laughable.

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But you'll be surprised the number of people who fall for this kind of foolishness.

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Let me tell you, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.

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No man comes to the Father but through me." There's only one God.

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There's only one Savior for the entire human race. And His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Now John wrote this to the body of Christ in 1 John chapter 4 verses 1-6, and it's something that we need to hear and we need to apply to our own lives today. Listen to what he said, 1 John 4, 1-6.

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"Beloved, do not believe every spirit."

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Don't believe A.J. Miller just because he says he's Christ.

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Don't believe this woman just because Suzanne looks because she says she's Mary Magdalene.

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"Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

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By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is from God.

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And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

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And this is the Spirit of the antichrist of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." See there is a coming antichrist that's going to make himself known in this world. He's going to offer peace to Israel.

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And he'll give them peace for three and a half years. And then in the middle of that seven year period at the three and a half year mark, he will turn on Israel and he will persecute them.

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And he will desecrate the rebuilt temple, the third temple.

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But there is the Spirit of antichrist has been around for 2,000 years.

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Verse four, "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world." Aren't you glad of that?

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"They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them." We are from God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. But by this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.

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Jesus was preparing his disciples for his absence and the testing of their faith that would surely come three times in this chapter, three times in chapter 24.

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He mentions not being misled. Look at verse five, chapter 24 verse five.

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"For many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many." Look at verse 11.

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Verse 11, "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many." Look at verse 24.

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"For false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect."

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Jesus warns that at the end of the age, just prior to his return,

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there will be an increasing number of demon-inspired, empowered false Christ and false prophets.

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You say, "How do I protect myself, pastor?

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Believe the truth of God's Word and you'll be protected.

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Reject the truth of God's Word and you'll believe anything anybody says."

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So the first sign that Jesus gives us is spiritual deception.

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Here's the second sign he gave his disciples, global conflict.

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Look at verses six and seven.

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"You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.

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See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place.

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But that is not yet the end."

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Verse seven, "For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom."

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Now notice those first four words, "You will be hearing."

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This refers to constant talk of actual wars and rumors of wars. Listen, you cannot turn on your TV set. You cannot look on your social media. You cannot listen to radio, talk radio without hearing about wars and rumors of wars. It's everywhere all the time.

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Now this will include bloody conflicts and even cold wars of economic and political conflict.

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What are the key indicators?

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Well, I want you to notice this.

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Most conflicts right now, we're in the midst of the most conflicts since World War II.

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There's a rising casualty total of people who have been killed because of these conflicts.

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In 2024, 152,000 people died due to conflict and that's just what we know.

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It's the highest number in decades.

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Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East account for a large share of global deaths.

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More people, listen to this, more people were killed in warfare during the 20th century than in all the previous centuries added together.

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That's an indicator.

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That's a sign that it's increasing.

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And also there are growing humanitarian needs in our world today. An estimated 305 million people will require humanitarian assistance in 2025 due to these escalating wars and rumors of wars.

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And there's an increased exposure to violence. One out of seven people worldwide was exposed to conflict between July of 23 and July of 24.

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The global hot spots on our globe include the Middle East, Ukraine,

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Africa, Myanmar, Kashmir, and some parts of Latin America.

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The whole world seems to be shaking like a child with an extremely high fever.

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Global tension is over the top.

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Consider the protests that are taking place in the major cities of our world.

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London had a huge, huge protest. I believe it was yesterday.

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Paris had a huge protest. They even closed the Eiffel Tower to guest.

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We have protests here in Portland, in Chicago, in New York, in Los Angeles, in different parts of America. Large protests.

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There are protests in Nepal.

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So following the analogy of the birth pain, look at verse eight. Look at verse eight. Let's skip down there just a second.

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But all these things, all these signs we're looking at, are merely the beginning of birth pains.

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They're the beginning of birth pain. Now, what do we know about birth pains?

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Well, there are plenty of women in here that know exactly what birth pains are. I remember when Darlene was having our children, I was in the delivery room, and I'd gone to those Lamaze classes. I was an expert, and I was to coach her up.

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And I remember she was screaming her head off, and I said, "Now, Darlene, breathe, breathe." She said, "Shut up, Chuck."

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I didn't coach her anymore.

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I just held her hand.

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It was a surreal moment.

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But the thing about birth pains you got to remember is this.

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Birth pains happen at the end of a pregnancy.

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As the birth is about to occur, birth pains start.

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There's a beginning and there's an ending.

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And that's what Jesus is indicating here in verse 8.

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So following the analogy of the birth pains or labor pains, the implication is that the conflicts will increase both in number and intensity as the return of Christ draws near.

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That's what Jesus is laying out for us.

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Until finally, these conflicts will explode into a massive Holocaust of bloodshed and carnage during the tribulation.

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Jesus said, "See that you're not frightened, for those things must take place."

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But that is not the end.

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What we're seeing is not the end, but it's a sign.

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It's a sign that the return of our Lord is drawing near.

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War is simply the way this present world operates.

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Wars and rumors of wars are a continual, everlasting, ever increasing reminder that the end is coming.

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It's coming.

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You say, "Well, pastor, where is the coming of Christ? We've been hearing this for 2,000 years."

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Do you know why he's delaying?

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He's delaying according to Peter's writing because he wants you to be saved.

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He wants to bring more people into his kingdom. It's an act of mercy and grace that our Lord has not burst the eastern sky even as we speak this morning.

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So I challenge you, it's simply this.

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Get ready and stay ready for our Lord's return.

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Now we've examined two of the signs of our Lord's return so far, spiritual deception and global conflict.

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Here's the third one, natural disasters.

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Have you ever in your life seen so many natural disasters that are taking place in the world?

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Matthew 24, verse 7, the last part of that verse, "And in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

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Interestingly, during the global flood in the time of Noah, the earth's topography and atmosphere and climate were greatly altered by God's judgment.

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God created a perfect world where everything was designed to work in harmony.

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It was a perfect world.

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But due to God's judgment, it made the present earth unstable and much less productive. You remember how God told Adam because he sinned against God by disobeying God? Can I tell you, you never, ever get far when you disobey God.

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And God told him, Adam, from this point forward, everything that you get from the earth will come by the sweat of your brow.

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You don't have to work for it.

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Like war, natural disasters can be expected as we approach the time of our Lord's return.

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The scale of the current global hunger and malnutrition crisis is enormous.

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A total of 1.9 million people are in the grips of catastrophic hunger.

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That's not the way God intended it when he created the world.

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That's the result of us living in a fallen world when we chose our way over God's way.

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This global hunger problem has really affected South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali, and other parts of the world.

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The National Earthquake Information Center now locates about 20,000 earthquakes around the globe each year. 20,000.

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55 per day.

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According to NBC News, between 2004 and 2014, a 10-year span, a decade, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0 or more rattles subduction zones around the globe.

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That's an increase of 265% over the average rate of the previous century.

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You think God's trying to tell us something?

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I think the Lord is trying to say to us, "Get ready and stay ready." The Lord's coming. He's coming. Look, I'm 71. I may not see the Lord's return. I may not be raptured up, but I can tell you this. I'm going to be with him through death.

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Because the Bible says to be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord.

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To be honest with you, I would prefer the upper taker over the undertaker.

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But look, I'm not on the planning committee. I'm on the welcoming committee. Amen.

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Matthew 24.8, look at it again. "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs."

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This figure, birth pangs, was commonly used by ancient Jewish writers, especially in regard to the coming of Messiah and the end times.

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Alfred Edersheim, a Jewish scholar wrote this. "Jewish writings speak very frequently of the labor pains of the Messiah's coming."

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Labor pains do not occur at conception or throughout pregnancy, but just before birth. Jesus taught his disciples that there would be an increase in frequency and intensity of these signs as Jesus' approach comes near. Several years ago, a man ran a marathon. He trained hard.

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But there's a part of a marathon, according to expert. I'm not an expert. I don't run marathons.

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But according to some experts that I read, there's a part of a marathon you can't train for.

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They suggest that you train for about 20 miles.

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But the last 6.2 miles, whatever it is, you can't train for that part of it. That means the last 6 miles of a marathon are no man's land.

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You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You may hit a wall. You may have cramps.

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You only know that it's going to be tough. But you also try to believe that if you train hard enough, you'll be ready and will be able to cross that finish line.

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I jotted this down in my nose. When we read a passage like Matthew 24 that we looked at today,

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it's like we're reading about the last 6 miles of a marathon.

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We know it's going to be hard. We know there's nothing we can do now to replicate what it will be like then.

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But Jesus has told us what to look for and how to be prepared.

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We prepare by being wise and discerning, concerning the signs that He has provided for us.

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Listen, Jesus said study the Bible. Study the Word of God. Read the Bible.

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Live holy lives. Practice biblical discernment.

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Stay ready for Jesus' return each and every day.

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We all talked about those who eagerly are waiting for Jesus to come. Are you eagerly waiting for Jesus to come?

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Or does the thought of His coming ever cross your mind?

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Listen, the New Testament says that we as born again believers need to anticipate the last 6 miles of this marathon.

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We need to anticipate and eagerly look forward to His coming.

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The finish line, listen church, the finish line is getting closer and closer and closer.

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I want to finish well, don't you?

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So how do we do it?

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Well, we get ready and we stay ready.

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We stay ready. You know what? Don't you look at something in Matthew chapter 24.

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Look at verse 36. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone."

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Look at verse 42. "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming."

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Look at verse 44. "For this reason you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will." Look at chapter 25 verse 13. "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour." So I'm going to ask you a question. If you're in this room, can you honestly say, "I'm ready. I'm ready."

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Now, if you've not repented of your sin and placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, you're not ready.

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You're not ready.

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There are those within the sound of my voice and you have your name on the church roll, but you're not ready.

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You know why? Because when you made that commitment to Christ, it was a shallow commitment.

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It's made no difference in the way you live.

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It's time to get ready. It's time to quit playing games.

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So I'm going to invite you today to leave your seat in just a moment and the staff will be down here and you come to a staff member and you tell them, "Today I want to receive Jesus as my Savior and Lord, I want to get ready."

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But if you're in this room and you're a believer, your name is written on the Lamb's Book of Life. You're a true believer.

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Are you staying ready? Are you staying ready?

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Are you committed to reading the Bible? Are you committed to praying? Are you committed to coming to church where the Bible says in Hebrew chapter 10 that we meet together as a body of Christ to encourage each other, listen to this, "As the day draws near."

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It's drawing near.

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We need each other.

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I'm going to invite you, if you're a believer, if you don't think you're ready, you come to this altar and you ask the Lord Jesus to do a fresh work in your heart and life.

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Commit yourself to loving Jesus and following Jesus and being ready.

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Maybe you're here and you're not a member of a church and you're looking for a good church to plant your life.

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Just come to a staff member and we'll help you with that decision.

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I'm going to ask our staff to come, our worship team to come.

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And I encourage you today, listen to the Holy Spirit, listen to what he said to your heart today.

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Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus,

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I thank you for everyone in this room and those watching live stream.

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And I pray, Lord, that those who need to get ready today would get ready. And I pray that those who are ready, but they're not staying ready, that they make a commitment to stay ready.

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Lord Jesus, have your way in our heart.

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Let us be ready when you come, Lord.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand and worship and you come as God leads you.

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This