Discover Prophecy

Discover the Prophetic Signs of the Times

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. David Klinedinst

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Series Code: DPR

Program Code: DPR000002A


00:08 As we begin tonight I would invite you to bow your heads with me, for a word of prayer.
00:11 Heavenly Father, as we open Your Word
00:16 once again tonight we ask and pray for light,
00:20 and understanding we pray that as we begin this journey, you would help us
00:23 to see a picture of Jesus and we could have the assurance
00:28 of salvation through Him. This we ask in Jesus' name,
00:32 Amen. It was the end of the sceond shift
00:36 and Tom was ready to go home.
00:40 He had been working hard all day long and so when that bell rang
00:44 at 11 o clock he was out the door and made his way to his car
00:48 and he started driving down the interstate on his way home.
00:52 but since it was so late at night, Tom was having a hard time
00:57 staying awake so he decided to call one of his buddies on the phone
01:01 so he whipped out his cell phone, dialed the number, hooked the ear piece
01:05 to the ear and he started talking to his friend Bob.
01:09 Now they began going over the days events, and what they were planning to do
01:13 for the weekend but at the same time he was talking to Bob
01:17 he also turns up the radio in his car fullblast,
01:21 as it blares through the loud speakers. And in between his
01:25 conversations he even begins to lip sync some of the words
01:29 and move his body back and forth to the beat of the music. So picture
01:33 that. He is driving at night, talking on his cell phone,
01:37 lip syncing the words, and dancing back and forth when
01:41 all of a sudden, boom! He crashes through a
01:45 barrier in the middle of the road, and into a ditch at 60
01:49 miles an hour. The force of the impact knocked him
01:53 out. Minutes later there were flashing lights and
01:57 wailing sirens as police and paramedics arrived on the sceen.
02:01 Now fortunately they were able to rescue Tom from the
02:05 mangled car. He was wounded, bruised, and cut up but
02:09 he was still alive. Now the officer on the scene decided to
02:13 give him a sobriety test because he thought for sure
02:17 Tom must be drunk. You see Tom had been
02:21 driving on a road that was closed and the officer
02:25 wanted to know why. But the officer was rather surprised to discover
02:29 that Tom was quite sober. Not an ounce of liquor
02:33 was found in his blood. So the officer asked him
02:37 Why were you driving on a road that was closed?
02:41 Well Tom was shocked. He looked at the officer and he said
02:45 I didn't know the road was closed!
02:49 The officer could not believe this. He looked back at Tom and said, how could
02:53 you not know? There were signs up for the last 3 miles
02:57 that said the road was closed.
03:01 Well, Tom was flabbergasted. He just looked at the officer and
03:05 said, I never saw the signs.
03:09 And the officer responded, that is because you weren't
03:13 paying, attention.
03:17 See it is a dangerous thing to ignore the signs on the road isn't it.
03:21 Because those signs are there to tell you what is ahead. But in the same
03:25 way God has placed his signs in this world. They are called
03:29 the prophetic signs of the times and the purpose of those
03:33 signs are to tell us when earth's history is winding down
03:37 and to remind us taht we have to take seriously
03:41 our relationship with Jesus Christ. Tonight we are gonna seek to answer
03:45 two simple questions. Number one. What are the prophetic signs
03:49 of the times which the Bible talks about?And number two,
03:53 are these signs being fulfilled today
03:57 Because if they are we do not wanna be like Tom who
04:01 wasn't paying attention. So as we begin our
04:05 journey tonight I wanna invite you to take your Bibles and we are going to turn
04:09 to the book of Revelation chapter 14.
04:13 Now if you are here for the first time, you will find that I usually put the reference
04:17 on the screen for you because I want you to look it up in the Bible for yourself
04:21 50% of the time I will only have the reference
04:25 the other 50% I will probably write the verse out for you
04:29 just for the sake of time. So Revelation chapter
04:33 14 beginning in verse 6. I just wanna spend
04:37 a few moments in this passage as our foundation tonight.
04:41 Because later on in the seminar we are gonna spend a lot more time
04:45 in Revelation chapter 14. Revelation 14 verse
04:49 6. The Bible says, "then I
04:53 saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having
04:57 the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth
05:01 to every nation tribe tongue,
05:05 and people. Saying with a," what kind of voice? A loud voice
05:09 "fear God and give glory to Him for
05:13 the hour of his judgement has come and worship Him
05:17 who made the heavens and the earth and the sea
05:21 and the springs of water." Here in Revelation 14
05:25 we are given the symbolism of three angels who ahve
05:29 a super important message that must go to all the world. Every
05:33 tribe tongue and people. And so one of the messages
05:37 that we wanna look at tonight is this message of the first angel
05:41 it is specifically for those living in the time of the end. And the message
05:45 is to fear God and give Him glory, why.
05:49 What does the rest of it say. For the hour of His judgement is
05:53 come. Now that term hour of judgement that sounds a little bit
05:57 scary but what it is basically referring to is the time
06:01 of the end. God is sending us a wakeup message
06:05 to remind us of what period of earth's history we are living in
06:09 Why does God have to send us a wake up message? Becasue
06:13 God knows that in the last days this world
06:17 is going to be very distracted. We are going to be
06:21 distracted by our jobs, bank accounts,
06:25 TV. He knows that we are gonna be
06:29 paying attention else except our spiritual life
06:33 and our relationship with Jesus. So becasue He loves us
06:37 He sends us this warning message in Revelation
06:41 that we need to be paying attention to the signs that are
06:45 around us and that is exactly what we are gonna do tonight.
06:49 And so as we make our way down this path, I would actually like to
06:53 begin by looking at the words of Jesus in Matthew
06:57 24. Because of all the chapters in the Bible
07:01 Jesus gives us some very specific prophetic signs
07:05 to be looking for and all we are gonna do is see what the Bible says
07:09 and then we are going to judge whether those things are happening
07:13 today. So let us start now with Matthew Chapter 24
07:17 and I wanna begin in verse 3-5
07:21 and these are the words of Jesus
07:25 Matthew 24:3-5
07:29 If you are already there in Matthew 24 let me hear you say a loud amen
07:33 Alright verse 3. The Bible says
07:37 Now as he sat on the mount of Olives the disciples
07:41 came to him privately saying tell us
07:45 when will these things be and what will be the signs
07:49 of your coming in the end of the age
07:53 now notice the specific question the disciples ask they want to know
07:57 what will be the signs of your coming how will we know
08:01 the time is near. Jesus begins to answer them
08:05 in verse 4. He says, Jesus answered and said
08:09 to them, take heed that no one does
08:13 decieves you
08:17 many will say I am the Christ and will deceive just a few people
08:21 is that what it says? see I'm testing you It says well deceive many.
08:25 Now I am gonna stop there for a second so many times when it comes
08:29 to studying the scriptures we go through the passages of the Bible
08:33 much too fast and we miss the lessons there.
08:37 DO you notice that before Jesus begins to descrive
08:41 any specific sign, one of the first things he says
08:45 is he is concerned about people being
08:49 deceived. He is warning us that in the last days it will be
08:53 a very confusing religious world that there is gonna be a lot of
08:57 deception even in the religious realm
09:01 because when you think of it we live in a world were
09:05 there are so many religious voices aren't there?
09:09 In the yearbook of churches I wanna show you a statistic that I found. In the year
09:13 book of churches it says there are about 217
09:17 Christian denominations just in the United States alone
09:21 now I read another statistic that said there is 30,000
09:25 and I don't know which one is true let us just saying somewhere between the two.
09:29 But I want you to think about that. One God
09:33 One Bible One Truth,
09:37 217 different doctrines. Can you understand why
09:41 some people find the religious world to be very
09:45 confusing. So many different groups saying, believe us.
09:49 follow us, join us. In fact you can turn
09:53 the radio on one preacher will say this, and on the next another
09:57 says that. You can go to a church on one end of town they will
10:01 espouse this doctrine, go across the street and they will espouse a totally different
10:05 point of view. We live in an age where people
10:09 will even come to my door trying to tell me
10:13 what to believe. But Jesus warned us. It is going to be
10:17 a confusing place in the religious world
10:21 because there is going to be many different voices.
10:25 Now that may seem a bit discouraging
10:29 but it is also what causes people to ive up and say you know what
10:33 I will never be able to find the truth but you know if you were the Devil
10:37 wouldn't you want to make spiritual things seem so confusing
10:41 wouldn't you wanna make truth seem so difficult
10:45 to find that you frustrate people to the very core
10:49 of their being. Jesus says that is what it will be like
10:53 that is one of the religious signs even in the last
10:57 days. In fact Jesus goes on and He gets more
11:01 specific and he tells us that there will come a time when we may not even
11:05 be able tot rust certain leaders because there will be false christs and
11:09 alse prophets now i do not wanna spend a lot of time on that
11:13 we pretty much know the Bible talks about this kind of deception
11:17 but i just wanna focus on the last hundred years
11:21 think about the many false people that have arisen
11:25 now I just put a few on the screen. How many of you are old enough to remember
11:29 the incident with Jim Jones and the People's Temple could I see your hand
11:33 900 people were lead to their death by
11:37 drinking cyanide poisoning because they believed this man
11:41 was Jesus himself. Some remember the incident in
11:45 Waco, Texas with David Karesh. There was a man
11:49 named Brother Julius who claims to be the only Messiah. There is reverend Moon
11:53 and Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda
11:57 He passed away last year, but he is very popular
12:01 in Puerto Rico. He claimed to be both
12:05 Jesus and the Antichrist at the same time
12:09 Now i am not quite sure i understood that but that is the claim he made on his
12:13 website and even after his death he has an extremely
12:17 large following in Puerto Rico today
12:21 Statistics tell us that there are an estimated
12:25 2500 cults int he US alone.
12:29 Jesus is telling us when it comes to a point
12:33 when we hear that many voices we can know that
12:37 prophecy is being fulfilled. Now that
12:41 may lead us to ask a pretty important question. You might say, well Pastor Dave
12:45 with all these voices how in the world are
12:49 can I know the truth? How can I know what
12:53 voice to follow and what voice to ignore.
12:57 But I got good news for you. God has not left His people alone
13:01 in these last days. He has given us a very
13:05 powerful tool for deciphering between truth and error can you say amen
13:09 that truth is called the
13:13 Bible. You see this Bible is a compilation of
13:17 66 Books, written by 40 different authors over
13:21 a period of 1500 years and when i put all thsoe
13:25 66 books of the Bible together it forms a complete
13:29 system of truth can you say amen that is why Jesus
13:33 said in John 17:17. Sanctify them
13:37 by Your Truth, You Word is truth.
13:41 Notice it does not say my opinion is truth it says
13:45 God's Word is truth
13:49 And see what that tells me is
13:53 Truth is not necessarily what a preacher says
13:57 truth is not necessarily what the laws of a church may dictate.
14:01 And truth is not necessarily traditions that
14:06 have been around forever. One of the best things that we can do
14:09 in the time of the end is to be spending time in the word of God
14:14 every single day because when we have that
14:17 daily devotional life, not only wll be equipped
14:21 to know the difference between truth and error but this book will also
14:26 introduce us to Jesus our Lord and Saviour and
14:29 Redeemer because that scares me the msot
14:33 is sometimes when we go to church we do not bring our Bibles and we
14:37 are much too willing to accept what a preacher or teacehr says
14:41 hook line and sinker either becasue they have sold a lot of books
14:46 or maybe it is the biggest church in town, but you know that is the best
14:50 way to be deceived. Now of course God has His preachers
14:54 and His teachers that is a spiritual gift, amen?
14:58 But God does not want us to simply sit in our church pews or
15:02 sit at home watching a preacher on television and let them do
15:06 our studying for us. He invites us to go to the word of God
15:10 and to let the word of God change us
15:14 so that is one of the signs in the religious when there is a time of confusion
15:18 and deception but Jesus does not stop there.
15:22 In the next few verses he begins to tell us some signs
15:26 to look for in the physical world so since you are already in Matthrwe
15:30 24, let us satrt in verse 6-8
15:34 and Jesus is going to mention 4 very specific
15:38 signs. Matthew 24:8
15:42 the Bible says, and you will
15:46 hear of wars and rumors of wars
15:50 see that you are not troubled because all these things must come to pass
15:54 but the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation
15:58 and kingdom against kingdom and tehre will be
16:02 famines pestilences and earthquakes
16:06 in how many places? diverse or various places all
16:10 these are the beginning of sorrows. We are gnna stop there for a second
16:14 I am gonna give oyu a little quúhere, Without looking back at your bibles,
16:18 can you name the four signs that Jesus just mentioned
16:22 go for it. Wars, famines,
16:26 pestilences, and earthquakes.
16:30 All four. Now those
16:34 4 that you see on the screen I am going to ask you a sceptic
16:38 question that maybe we have not thought about
16:42 have those things been hapening since the beginning of time yes or no.
16:46 They have, so how can we say that they are signs
16:50 of the end when they have been happening all along, what does Jesus mean?
16:54 The clue is in verse 8.
16:58 You see, Jesus is not telling us that these things will be happening for the
17:02 first time at the end of time in verse 8
17:06 it says that these are the beginning of what. Sorrows.
17:10 In the original language you know what that is referring to?
17:14 That is referring to birthing pains
17:18 see what Jesus is telling us that the closer we get to the end
17:22 those signs are gonna happen with a greater
17:26 frequency, and a greater intensity
17:30 it illustrate that, how many of you ladies have been
17:34 through the joy of childbirth can I see your hands.
17:38 How many remember in detail going through child birth
17:42 I am sure you do. So let me ask you. On the day that you gave birth
17:46 to your child was that the first day you ever experienced
17:50 a contraction. Obviously not.
17:54 you began experiencing contractions, now Im not a doctor, but probably somewhere
17:58 in the 3rd trimester. At first they were pretty mild
18:02 and they were far apart, but the closer you get
18:06 to the end of your pregnancy the more
18:10 frequent and the more intense those contractions became didn't they
18:14 in fact I remember when Marquita was giving birth to our oldest
18:18 daughter Melanie and it was actually
18:22 a hard labor. i remember about 4 or 5 o clock in the morning,
18:26 she had gotten up to go to the bathroom and I guess she had seen some blood
18:30 and she said David I think we need to go to the hospital so we hopped in the car
18:34 and we rushed to the hospital we had planned to got o
18:38 and after talking to some of the midwives we had used a midwife at that time
18:42 as well, they told us well she isn't fully dilated so just
18:46 walk around the parking lot for awhile.
18:50 My wife is having a baby we are not gonna walk around the parking lot
18:55 I was a new father and they said you need to do that becauwe that will just help the
19:00 dialation so I believed them and we walked around for a while
19:04 finally they admitted her and i am telling you
19:07 she was in labor for 22 hours
19:12 anybody go longer than that?
19:16 Bless you folks. She had to push for 3 hours
19:20 why? because Melanie for some reason
19:24 in the womb decided that she wanted to put her hand
19:28 on her head and just the little bit of width
19:32 there in the finger made a difference
19:36 the closer you get
19:40 to the end of your pregnancy the greater and more frequent
19:44 those contractions will become. That is what Jesus
19:48 says those signs will be like. So let's take a look at those signs
19:52 let us see if they have happened with greater frequency
19:56 and intensity in the last hundred years. Let us start with wars and rumors of wars
20:00 now I saw a stistic I forget where
20:04 I read it but it told me the 20th century
20:08 was the deadliest century in human history as far as war was concerned.
20:12 A hundred and eighty million deaths
20:16 from war alone. If you think back to
20:20 all the conflicts this world has gone through just in our lifetime let us just
20:24 say the last 100 years. Now obviously I cannot put them all on the screen
20:28 we have been through 2 world wars,
20:32 seen a Rwandan genocide, a korean
20:36 and vietnam war,
20:40 a persian golf war and many numerous conflicts
20:45 that never involved this country. In fact at any given time
20:49 there is war going on in this world and the truth is we have
20:53 had very little peace. Now
20:57 I am gonna put a picture on the screen and as soon as I do I won't even
21:01 have to say a word you are gonna know exactly what it is.
21:05 Because I am gonna see the recognition on your face. Who knows
21:09 what this is. 9/11.
21:13 Ever since 9/11 you realize our world has changed.
21:17 We live in what is now called the age of terrorism.
21:21 Now I realize there was terrorism before that but for the first time
21:25 in history someone could hijack an american plane and use
21:29 it as aweapon to fly into a building aka
21:33 the twin towers. Now when that happened, i remember I was in
21:37 a kid, oh when JFK was
21:41 shot I remember exactly where I was when I heard that news
21:45 now as a kid i thought well that is because your old
21:49 i don't understand. Now that I have experienced 9/11
21:53 I do understand because i can tell you. I know exactly
21:57 where I was and what I was doing when that story hit the airwaves. How many of you
22:01 could say the same. You know where you were? Of course.
22:05 We were in Pennsylvania, and I was pastoring a church. We were outside
22:09 mowing my lawn and when I came inside i got on the
22:13 internet and this banner came on the screen plane
22:17 crashes into twin towers. I thought it was a hoax
22:21 I thought if that happened that would be one very station on TV
22:25 so iturned on the TV and it was on every
22:29 station. Why is that significant?
22:33 Because I believe that marks a momentus moment in
22:37 earth's history our world will never be the way it was
22:41 before 9/11. Security and air
22:45 will never be the same. Travel will never be the same
22:49 and even since that time we have slowly
22:53 begun to lose some of our privacies and even some of our freedome
22:57 that perhaps we do not even recognize.
23:01 But even beyond 9/11 we have seen rebellions
23:05 in the middle east. about 3 years ago Marquita and I
23:09 were invited to go to the country of Hungary and present a
23:13 seminar sow hile we were there we were staying in the
23:17 basement of a church members house. They actually had an apartment on the
23:21 lower level where we could stay in privacy. Now they had a televisons
23:25 there and of course in Hungary every station had
23:29 what language. Hungarian. Now I don't if you have ever been to Hungary
23:33 but if I was in a spanish country I could
23:37 figure out the words. In hungary you might as well forget it.
23:41 they put letters together I do not even know how to pronounce
23:45 the only station that they had in english was CNN
23:49 and I remmebr while we were there I sat transfixed
23:53 as I watched these rebellions in the Middle East happening one by
23:57 one by one do you remember it? The Egyptians.
24:05 ousted their president because they wanted freedom and I followed the libyan rebellion where they got rid of that guy
24:09 and then in suite following them came Yemen rebellion
24:13 and you have this cry for freedom and democracy
24:17 that is still coming from the citizens of the middle east
24:21 today. But farther than that. What
24:25 I want us to focus on is the weapons of warfare
24:29 I want you to think about what has changed in the last 100 years
24:32 We ahve gone from machine guns to
24:36 tanks to missles and bombs to stealth bombers
24:40 to germ warfare and chemical warfare
24:44 and nuclear warfare.
24:48 Do you realize that it is has only been in
24:52 this past generation that man could destroy
24:56 half of all living things on this earth with just the touch
25:00 of a button. That kind of potential for
25:04 mass destruction was never possible until this last
25:08 century the time in which you and I were
25:12 born. I want that to really sink in to our
25:16 hearts and minds because truthfully the only thing
25:20 that has kept this world from destroying itself is the restraining
25:24 power od God upon mankind
25:28 Jesus says when you see these things we can know
25:32 the time is near. But then Jesus goes on
25:36 to say
25:40 famines. This is not a sign that we tend to see
25:44 and take very seriously in America you know why?
25:48 Because none of us have experienced famine. Yes we have
25:52 pockets of poverty in america, and homelessness
25:57 but famine and poverty very
26:01 different things famine is when you have no food and
26:05 there is no potential to grow or get food
26:08 I saw a statistic that just amazed me
26:13 this may not be happeneing in the US but it does not mean it is not happening throughout many
26:17 countries of the world. The United Nations reports
26:21 that one billion people suffer from hunger on this planet.
26:24 Now I want you to comprehend that. right notw the estimate
26:28 how many people live on planet earth do you know? Somewhere around 7 Billion
26:32 that would mean one out of every seen people
26:36 do not get enough to eat.
26:40 I discovered that 70 million people died from
26:44 famine just in the 20th century alone
26:48 Jesus tells us,
26:52 when you see these things happening more and more it is a sign
26:56 that the time is near.
27:00 After famines do you know what Jesus mentions next?
27:04 well I just put it on the screen. Pestilence. Now this is not a word
27:08 we use too often int he 21st century maybe a better word for it is
27:12 disease. Now
27:16 this is a little more difficult for us to comprehend because you and I live in
27:20 america ina developed nation where we are blessed with medical technology
27:24 it has increased our life span
27:28 it has brought many blessing and we can thankful for that
27:32 but the majority of countries in the world do not have medical
27:36 technology. many underdeveloped nations,
27:40 their life span is not necessarily increasing it is decreasing
27:44 see, medical technology can make life longer
27:48 but in some cases does it necessarily make life
27:52 better? Let me put a few examples on the screen here
27:56 right now even in our modern world cancer is
28:00 one of the most prevalent diseases that we have. Now as far as we know
28:04 cancer did not exist 100 years ago, and if it did then we knew it by another name
28:08 but let me ask you a question. They say that one out of every
28:12 3 people will face cancer at some point in their life
28:16 how many of you tonight can say that either you or
28:20 someone you know have had to face an issue with cancer.
28:24 can i see your hands. look at all the hands that are up.
28:28 Now I have to yell you this came home to Marquita.
28:32 and I a few months ago. Back in
28:36 October it was time for Marquita's annual mammagram. And
28:40 at her mammagram her doctors told here they saw some things they did not like they wanted
28:44 to get a second one and so when they went back they said
28:48 there is some lumps of cysts that we aren't sure about and they wanted her to get
28:52 a biopsy done. Now if you have ever had a biopsy
28:56 done, you know that one fo the msot excruciating things
29:00 is having to wait that 2 4or 48
29:04 hours in order to get the results.
29:08 Now we were pretty sure nothing was there we were pretty sure it was just cysts.
29:12 But I gotta be honest with you. In that span of one or two days
29:16 a lot of thigns start going through your mind.
29:20 and it begins to put things in perspective. Now I am thankful to
29:24 say that everything came back negative they were just cysts and she
29:28 is fine can you say amen. But it also gives us an idea
29:32 things can change in an instant. And the
29:36 only thing that really matters is do I have a relationship
29:40 with Jesus Christ who is the center of all
29:44 prophecy. Look at the STDs that
29:48 are in our world today. Even AIDs in on the rise. now
29:52 thankfully it is not on the rise in this country. But do you
29:56 understand that medical scientists are telling us
30:00 that if something si not done soon in the continent of Africa, we are going to
30:04 have a serious problem. 40 million people
30:08 living with HIV in just Sansaharan Africa
30:12 and I have been there. My wife is a nurse, she was teaching some health classes
30:16 and it is true. What they say in the news is not
30:20 an exaggeration. In the last few years we have seen diseases
30:24 that never existed before. Mad Cow disease, bird, swine,
30:28 and i remember reading an article about
30:32 a year ago saying that the diseases
30:36 we have today are becoming resistant to our
30:40 antibiotics. In other words the antibiotics we have today will be
30:44 less effective tomorrow because these diseases are building
30:48 up a resistance. Jesus is telling us
30:52 when you see these things starting to happen we can know
30:56 the time is near and we need to turn our eyes
31:00 towards Jesus. The next sign that he mentions
31:04 is earthquakes. Now this one is a little bit harder to measure
31:08 the last 100 years simply because the seismagraph is
31:12 a fairly recent invention. But if you were to go to the US
31:16 geological survey you would discover that even government
31:20 statistics are telling us that major earthquakes
31:24 over seven on the rictor scale have absolutely increases
31:28 in the last few years. That is not a religious source telling us that
31:32 that is a government source. You know and truth be told
31:36 I don't even think we need statistics for this one because you and I
31:40 know it seems like every few weeks or every moth or two we hear
31:44 about some earthquake in some different part of thsi worlds
31:48 actually just two or three years ago
31:52 remember Haiti? That country was devastated.
31:56 316 Thousand people lost their lives
32:00 in a matter of seconds. 3 million people
32:04 were affected and even though there have been other stories
32:08 that have made into the enws CNN we dont talk about this one very much
32:12 the truth is that country has still not recovered.
32:17 they had 8 billion dollars worth of damages
32:20 just ina short period of time
32:24 remember the Japanese tsunami? That happened from an earthquake
32:28 that occured where. On the ocean floor.
32:32 ANd it caused this tsunami to over
32:37 take the coast of Japan, 25,000 people were
32:40 feared dead. I don't know if you saw any of the clips on youtube of how that
32:45 occurred i could tell you that would be my wife's worst nightmare she
32:49 does not like water and to be able to see that water coming
32:53 in land and carrying everything away would be frightening
32:57 Jesus says when you see those things know
33:01 that the time is near. We could even
33:05 talk about natural disasters. I wanna read a statistic
33:08 that comes from the natural disasters data book from asia
33:12 and what it is, it did a study of natural disasters from 1901,
33:16 to 2000. That is the century almost all of us were born in.
33:20 Notice what they reported. Natural disaster growth
33:25 have been increasing every year due to various factors
33:29 such as urbanization, population growth, destruction of naturla
33:33 environment and climat change
33:37 Even governmental resources are realizing that
33:41 natural disasters are increasing. Now of course theyre
33:45 attributing it to natural factors but that may be partly true
33:49 but we also know it is a fulfilment of Bible prophecy
33:53 now I do wanna say one thing about this
33:57 sometimes when we study the prophetic signs of the times we get the idea
34:01 oh this is all gloom and doom, I don't wanna talk about this
34:05 we get the idea that maybe God is just angry
34:09 and he is trying to stick it to the world
34:13 that is not necessarily a case. Why does God allow these things
34:17 to happen? Because he loves us enough
34:21 to get our attention .I mean let us be honest
34:25 human nature can be pretty stubborn cant it?
34:29 now I am german so I can say this
34:33 I have background by my name Kleindinst. I can be a pretty stubborn person
34:37 Marquita knows it takes a lot to get my attention
34:41 and get something through my skull, but she does it because she loves me
34:45 because God knows that we can get
34:49 so sucked into the things of this world that we
34:53 are so easily distracted, God will allow these things
34:57 to happen because he is trying to get our attention
35:01 not because he hates us
35:05 but because he want sus to be saved and he is trying to turn our eyes
35:09 towards Jesus. The signs are not about God's anger,
35:13 the signs are about pointing us to the cross of calvary
35:17 so that we can be saved, and have peace, and
35:21 have assurance through Jesus. That is what the signs are about
35:25 But you know we can go farther in this
35:29 all these things have increased in recent years
35:33 matthew is not the only book of the Bible that talksa bout the prophetic
35:37 signs did you know that? Let us go to
35:41 2 Timothy 3
35:45 and verses 1-5
35:49 becaus ein here paul begins to describe
35:53 somethings that would be happening in
35:57 society at the time of the end. What i am gonna do
36:01 is instead of just reading that through, I am gonna
36:05 go ahead and put a summary on the screen of what paul desribes.
36:08 and as you read those five verse it is rather
36:12 amazing, you would think that he is reading right out of the newspaper
36:16 today. This is how he describes what the world would be like
36:20 people would be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
36:24 boasters and proud, disobedient to parents, unloving,
36:28 untahnkful, unforgiving,
36:32 no self control,
36:36 despisers of good, lovers of pleasure but not of God
36:40 brutal and violent
36:44 I would like to say that is not true of our world today.
36:48 but we know it is. I would love to be able to say that
36:52 I never struggle with any of those problems myself
36:56 but I know that is not true. I struggle with the human nature
37:00 just like you. That means everyday I need to be sure
37:04 that i am connected in my relationship to Jesus Christ
37:08 See he is the only one who can change our
37:12 hearts Heis the only one who can take those things that
37:16 are in society and make sure that they are not a part of our life
37:21 because when people see us they oughta see something different
37:24 than what they are seeing in the world today. They oughta be able to see
37:29 just a little picture of the character of Jesus in our lives.
37:33 see when you leave here tonight I would be happy if oyu just
37:37 went out with just this one lesson. Prophecy is
37:41 not about memorizing facts and statistics
37:45 prophecy is not being able to come up with some sort of soap opera
37:49 theory that will tickle the ears
37:53 it is all about getting my attention and pointing me to Jesus
37:57 if I study prophecy for any other reason
38:01 then I have missed the point. See
38:05 what kind of scares me is many churches today focus on antichrist
38:09 now again that is in the Bible for a reason, we are gonna study
38:13 that in depth but something we must keep in mind is
38:17 knowing who or what antichrist is is not gonna save me
38:21 that intellectual knowledge is not gonna get me into the kingdom of heaven
38:25 now it might keep me from being deceived but the only one
38:29 who can wash me clean the only one who can put
38:33 a perfect righteousness in my record book is Jesus
38:37 christ who died on calvary's cross cause really when you open
38:41 the Bible if you open the first chapter of revelation, the title of
38:45 that book is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Not the revelation of
38:49 antichrist, it is revelation of Jesus Christ.We are gonna
38:53 be getting into that but in Paul's description of society
38:57 the one that really strikes me is, he says society
39:01 in the end will be brutal and vile
39:05 the truth is we live in a very violent world
39:09 there is virtually no place in society that is safe anymore
39:13 it used to be that there were certain places you knew you would be safe
39:17 like a mall or church but that is not true anymore
39:21 in fact I am gonna put a picture on the screen
39:25 and i wanna see if you recognize what it is.
39:29 Who knows what that is
39:33 i'll give you a minute. it is a school, what school
39:37 Columbine. Do you remember what happened to Columbine
39:41 high school in colorado back in 1999?
39:45 two teenagers dressed in black trench coats
39:49 made their way inside the school and they indiscriminately
39:53 sprayed gunfire throughout the halls and the classrooms killing teacehrs
39:57 and professors and students on the spot
40:01 when that story hit the television sets,
40:05 society was shocked. We were out raged
40:09 we could not believe that something like that would happen
40:13 in our world. That was in 1999.
40:17 DO you know that ever since that moment, that act has been copied
40:21 and repeated numerous times throughout this world
40:25 we have had copy cats who have done the same thing now in many
40:29 different countries in high schools, colleges,
40:33 universiteis, even elementary schools.
40:37 in fact now you read in newspapers it is happening in malls
40:41 it is happening in workplaces and believe it or not
40:45 it is even happening in churches
40:49 I read a story a couple years ago where the guy walked through tthe door
40:53 while a man was preaching and shot him and killed him point blank
40:57 that worries me just a little bit because Im thinking wow
41:01 what if i preach someone that someone doesnt wanna ehar whats gonna happen to me
41:05 but you know we have to put ourselves in God's hands because anytime
41:09 we walk out the door it is only by God's grace and protection that we can
41:13 come home that night can you say amen
41:17 but you see the progression of what has happened in society
41:21 but then when you get to verse 5
41:25 Paul uses this phrase that at first we may not understand on the surface
41:29 he says society will have a form of godliness
41:33 but denying its power.
41:37 What does that mena? What does it mean to have a form of godliness?
41:41 it means that religion will be so
41:45 mething we only wear on the outside
41:49 there'll be no substance to it. We might sit in a pew
41:53 and listen to a sermon once a week if that
41:57 but there is no life changing relationship with Jesus Christ
42:01 you see just because I sit in a pew does not mean
42:05 that I am a christian it is one thing ti
42:09 go to church and listen to something
42:13 to let the preacher study for me and it is quite another thing
42:17 to open the word of God for myself and develop a relationship
42:21 a born again experience with Jesus Christ
42:25 that is true religion you see
42:29 a form of godliness is when I call myself a christian
42:33 but then i live and act like everyone else
42:38 that is form of godliness. It is a form of godliness that is
42:41 only on the outside when I go and I listen and read the teachings
42:46 of Jesus, but then when I leave the church
42:50 and in my home or workplace i do not live those
42:54 principles I do the opposite, it is a form of godliness
42:58 there is no substance to it. See when I let my Bible
43:02 gather dust on the bookshelf, and I never
43:06 spend time in it that is a form of godliness
43:10 that Paul is trying to warn us about
43:14 true religion is knowing Jesus, spending time with
43:18 Him, sharing ym life in prayer,
43:22 and being able to connect with Him in the word
43:26 of God. Because here is the truth
43:30 any relationship you have, in order for it to grow, what must you do
43:34 you gotta spend time together. So if Marquita and I all of a sudden
43:38 stopped spending time together what would happen to that relationship.
43:42 it would eventually deteriorate
43:46 it is no different in the relationship with Jesus.
43:50 You see the devil wants to keep us so busy
43:54 that we runa round like chickens wiht our heads cut off that we do not have time
43:58 for God. He does not have to tempt us to kill someone or rob a bank
44:02 just make us so busy we do not have time for God and the relationship
44:06 deteriorates. That is why God loves us
44:10 enough to let some of these prophetic signs happen
44:14 in order to wake me up and to get
44:18 my attention. Now before we end tonight
44:22 there is one more prophetic portion of scripture that I would like to go to. Now it is in
44:26 the old testament becasue Daniel talks about soem signs
44:30 in the prophetic world rather in the scientific world so iwant you to go
44:34 wto Daniel 12 verse 4
44:38 Daniel 12:4
44:42 Now if you were here last night, we spent the entire time
44:46 in the book of Daniel tonight I just wanna touch on this
44:50 one verse. Daniel 12 and
44:54 in verse 4 the angel that has lead Daniel through
44:58 all these visions in the book says something quite
45:02 significant to Daniel and I want us to pick this up.
45:06 Daneil 12 and verse 4. THe Bible says
45:10 but you Daniel shut
45:14 up the words and seal the book until
45:18 the time of the end then the angel describes
45:22 2 things he says,
45:26 many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase
45:30 now I gotta stop there
45:34 now we could spend a lot of time on that. I wanna focus on this running to and fro
45:38 Now there are two ways that could be interpreted
45:42 some have looked and it and said it is referring to
45:46 spiritual knowledge, in other words men will be running
45:50 to and fro desperately trying to understand the prophecy
45:54 of Daniela nd Revelation and when you thinka bout it
45:58 it has only been in the last 150-200 years
46:02 that Christian churches have really paid attention to the
46:06 books of daniel and revelation if you would live 200
46:10 years ago, you would have found that churches of all denominations
46:14 didn't spend mucht ime in the apocalyptic books
46:18 because it was believed the coming of Jesus was thousands of years
46:22 into the future, but you fast forward into this century
46:26 and all that has changed. Now Christianity
46:30 is very interested in the prophetic books
46:34 and you know who has also jumped in on the band wagon? Hollywood
46:38 how many movies has Hollywood made about the end times
46:42 things like armaggedon and the omega code and so many others
46:46 of course they are not doing because they want to educate us with truth
46:50 for them it is just a moneymaker and quite honestly
46:54 i would not go to hollywood to try to find the truth of Bible prophecy
46:58 we need tog o straight to the word of God
47:02 another way that can be interpreted, this running to and fro
47:06 I want you to think of the area of transportation
47:10 I want you to think what has changed in the area of travel
47:14 just in the last century, think about this we have
47:18 gone from automobiles to airplanes
47:22 to concord jets space shuttles
47:26 and manned space stations
47:30 where my daughter wants to work when she grows up
47:34 we will see how that goes maybe Dad will get to take a trip there
47:38 sometime. But think about that we have gone
47:42 from a place of taking horses and buggies just probably
47:46 a hundred years ago toa point where we can now go
47:50 anywhere on the face of the earth in a matter of
47:54 hours. Man has gone to the moon
47:58 to an international space station all in the last
48:02 100 years.
48:06 That prophecy is being fulfilled
48:10 in our lifetime Daniel goes on
48:14 and after he talks about running to and fro
48:18 what is the next thing the angel says. Knowledge shall increase
48:22 I want you to think of all the technological advances
48:26 in the last 50 years
48:30 now my dad likes technology iw ish
48:34 that he did not but he does, he will buy all the newest gadgets and tehn
48:38 call me and want me to explain how to use them
48:42 now I ask you have you tried to explain to an 84 year old
48:46 man over the phone how to use something that you cannot
48:50 even see. It is very very difficult but you know
48:54 it keeps his mind working so I'm not gonna complain about it
48:58 but statistics tell us we have come
49:02 farther in technical knowledge in the last 70 years
49:06 than int the previous 5000 years
49:10 of earth's history combined.
49:14 WOuld you be willing to say we live in the busiest genereation
49:19 of earth's history. Now I cannot prove that statistic
49:22 but I think it is just common sense. Would you be willing to say
49:27 that this past generation has seen more changes
49:31 than any other generation in history would you be willing to say that
49:35 yeah I think we can all agree on that. Do you realize my iPhone
49:39 can do more than an entire compute 60 years ago
49:42 that would take a whole room
49:46 all these things have happened but the question is
49:50 has the increase in knowledge necessarily made the world
49:54 a better place. In some cases yes
49:59 but truth be told man has tended to use it more
50:02 for evil than he has for good
50:06 so these are the prophetic signs we have studied tonight
50:11 religious confusion, war and rumors of war,
50:15 famine, disease, pestilence, natural disasters,
50:19 earthquakes, violence, moral decay,
50:23 running to and fro, and the increase of knowledge
50:27 I think if we honestly look at our world and say
50:31 Bible Prophecy is being fulfilled
50:35 right in front of our eyes. It is time to get
50:39 close to Jesus. Id like to end by
50:43 telling this story. There was a young boy and his father that
50:47 was fishing in the ocean. After they spent a dew
50:51 hours fishing together the boy looked up into the heavens and
50:55 he saw that the sky was getting dark. Storm clouds were rolling
50:59 in and he began to hear a faint rumble of thunder
51:03 in the distance. It was clear. A storm was coming
51:07 so the little boy got scared and he looked over to his father
51:11 and he said Daddy, a storm is coming I'm scared
51:15 and the fatehr just looked at him and said son you just stay
51:19 close to me and you will be alright and so the
51:23 little boy sat on his father's lap, while the father safely
51:27 rode him through the storm and tot he shore
51:31 you see that son knew when he saw
51:35 the signs that it was time to get close
51:39 to his father. The prophetic signs are telling you and me
51:43 that we need to take seriously our relationship with
51:47 Jesus and to stay close
51:51 to Him, and that he boils it down into one simple
51:55 statement, he says so you also when you see
51:59 these things know that it is very near
52:03 even at the very doors
52:07 My friends Jesus gives you this invitation
52:11 He says, Come to me, all you who are weart and burdened
52:15 and I will give you rest. You will find
52:19 You see the things happening in this world make you fearful an duncertain
52:23 Jesus says come you can lay your burdens on me
52:27 if the things happening in this crazy
52:31 world make you scared Jesus says come
52:35 I will give you peace. If you are struggling with guilt
52:39 and shame becasue of the past,
52:43 or issue in life today, Jesus
52:47 says come I will wash away all thsoe
52:51 sins and I will make you clean because the wonderful thing about
52:55 Jesus is you can always start over
52:59 again. Tonight I wonder if you might pray this prayer
53:03 in the privacy of your heart. Would you say Lord Jesus
53:07 I need to pay attention to my spiritual life
53:11 please come into my heart and
53:15 give me peace.
53:19 Jesus said he will never turn a sincere soul away
53:23 cause he does not desire for anyone to perish
53:27 all he asks is that you come and give it to
53:31 Him.


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Revised 2018-07-02