 We're going to look at Matthew 24 today. We're going to look at verses 6 through 14. Matthew 24 verses 6 through 14 as we continue the Mount of Olivet discussion that Jesus is having a teaching that He is giving related to the signs of the times. And so let's begin reading here in Matthew chapter 24 at verse 6. I'll read to verse 14 and we'll get into our study. Matthew chapter 24 verses 6 through 14 signs of the times part 2. Jesus said you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. For all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come. So let's develop this. Let's give an introduction and a context. Jesus has been asked a question by his disciples and the question related to the last days. In verse 3 they had said what is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Now this came because he had told them that the temple and the area would be left desolate. So in their mind such a thing was unimaginable. You see some of the stones on the retaining walls weighed over 100 tons. The temple itself was a beautiful structure. It was awe inspiring to these very simple men. You need to remember that these men were, 10 of them were from the north. And actually 11 of them were from the north. And so it was very rural there. Only one of them was from the south and that would have been Judas. The others were from the north, the Galilee area. And it's very agriculture. And though there was much going on up there, there's nothing in comparison to what took place in the city of Jerusalem. And so for them to see the temple left them in awe and wonder. And so when Jesus says not a stone will be left upon another, that won't be thrown down. In their mind that is simply unimaginable. And such a pronouncement would have produced a shock in them. And so it would have begun to provoke them to think and then it would provoke a question. When will the temple precincts be destroyed? What's going to prepare people for this? What will be occurring? That will provide the clues that this is about to happen. So that's what they're saying when they say what will be the sign of your coming. You see, they thought that he would immediately be establishing his kingdom. And so they're wondering what are these signs you're referring to and of the end of the age? When will you usher in your kingdom? When will you usher in your rule is what they're saying? When will you bring your full manifestation of messianic rule power and glory? Because again, they believe that this is supposed to happen very quickly. Their understanding of the last days, which is the word is used eschatology, their eschatology or their understanding of the last days was that these things would happen very quickly. We know that in Luke 19 verse 11, it simply says people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. So they were wondering when are these things going to take place? So with that, Jesus makes it clear that these events that will occur are still many of them in the distant future. And he began to share with them concerning his second coming. This is what would be called a prophetic sermon. And it reveals to them things that they may be alive for some of the beginning of these things, but they will not be alive for all of them. So he outlines the first things that are going to be seen. And as I've been with you, remember with me that Jesus began to speak of a variety of things. He spoke of deception. We're going to be seen in just a moment. He speaks of international war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes. These he refers to notice verse eight as the beginning of sorrows. The word sorrow there is a word that is used in the original language to speak of birth pangs. And so he's saying these are things that are yet in the future. You see, birth pangs do not occur at conception and birth pangs don't occur in the early stages of pregnancy. They occur just before a baby is born and they increase in frequency and intensity as every mama in this room remembers. I remember when Marie was giving birth to our firstborn. I've shared this with you before, but every time I think of birth pangs, I can't help but think of this. She went through many hours of labor over 30 plus hours of labor. And I prayed and I said, thank you, God, that I was not born a woman. And I, and as she was going through these, these, this time of birth pangs, they had the fetal monitor on. They had all of this, you know, monitoring her contractions, the duration and intensity. And I remember being in the room next to her as she was going through that and watching these as the birth pangs were progressing and getting more intense. And, and I had gone to one of those birth preparation classes. I believe it was called Lamas at that time. Lamas class. And he spent $25 to me has a lot of money way back then that was to be wasted because I went when Marie started going through her birth pangs, you know, and, and I had been taught the he, he, ha, ha, who, who and whatever, but breathing and, and, and I still remember that she was laying on her side and she had back pain and, and I'm watching the fetal monitor and all of that. And, and I could see the intensity and she's beginning to go through birth pangs. And, and I pulled my chair up closer to her and I put my face about six inches from hers and I said, okay baby, it's time to he, he, and she gritted her teeth, this angel of God and gritted him at me and said, shut up, sit back, you be quiet. Man, I'm thinking $25 for, I get this for free at home. But she was, she was going through birth pangs. And so Jesus says this is the beginning of sorrows. This is the beginning of birth pangs. Again, a birth pang occurs just before the baby is born. They increase in frequency and in intensity. Now, this is a picture of the distant future because many of the things that we're going to see here in Matthew 24 actually occur over time. I mentioned to you in verse five, for example, that he spoke concerning deception. So deception occurs through many coming claiming that they are Christ. And so that has to happen over time. In verse 13, that verse speaks of believers who endure to the end. Verse 14 reveals that the gospel will go worldwide. It was yet to go out at all. And then verse 15 speaks of a abomination of desolation that will be in the temple. When you look at verses 29 and 30, those verses speak of signs in the heavens and speaks of darkness and stars falling. It also contains his coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And then when you look at verses 32 through 34, he gave a parable of the budding of the fig tree. And in verse 34, he said, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. And he speaks concerning a generation. He said, the generation that will be alive and see these things will be a generation that is alive during his return. And the events that will occur are going to actually be consummated at that point. So these events he's speaking about will be increasing worldwide. They will build to extreme catastrophic events. And you see that, especially in Revelation, because in the book of Revelation from chapters six through 16, you see judgments increasing. And they increase from one to another to a third. You see the judgment of the seals and the trumpets as well as the bowl judgments. And so Jesus is speaking concerning the birth pangs. Now remember last time we're together in verses four and five, Jesus began with the first indicator concerning his return. And he spoke of deception and the flourishing of false messiahs as well as false messages. Now this flourishing of false messages began very early in the history of the church. As a matter of fact, read your Bibles and you're going to see that many letters were written when the church was first born. Many letters were written that spoke concerning deception and instructions concerning what you believe and how to combat the deception. So when you read the book of Romans, you'll see that Paul refers to this. You see him speaking very clearly in 2 Corinthians as well as Galatians and Colossians. You see him speaking concerning this in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and the book of Titus. You see it written in 2 Peter chapter, well 2 Peter, the whole book. You see it in 1 John as well as in Jude and the book of Revelation. They all speak concerning this deception because deception began early and deception has continued throughout the entire history of the church. And it escalates. Paul, when he was writing concerning it in 2 Timothy 3 verse 13, said it like this. He said, evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. So it's an escalation. It began early but continues throughout the history of the church. So this deception, these false prophets and false messiahs is what is preparing the world for Antichrist and the false prophet who will be accepted. You see what happens is the moral and spiritual influence of the church will be gone when the rapture occurs. And at that time people will be more open and spiritually deluded and they will accept the Antichrist. So Jesus is speaking concerning signs of the times. He spoke concerning deception. He continues in verse 6 and gives us more. He says in verse 6, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. This is the second sign that we see wars and rumors of wars. When he says you will hear, the word here is in a Greek tense that means continually. You will continually hear of wars and rumors of wars. There will be wars and constant talk of wars among the nations of the world. That is obviously something that we in these latter days are seeing on a frequent basis. We see it every day. If you watch the news you'll hear about Iran or you hear about North Korea or you hear about Russia. You hear about wars and rumors of wars every day. You see ISIS and the atrocities that are perpetrated by those savages and you see this over and over again today. And so Jesus said this is going to be taking place. There's going to be wars. There will be constant talk of wars among the nations of the world. There won't be something that is geographically limited to certain places, but it's going to be worldwide. Billy Graham once said out of 5,000 years of history, there has been 4,000 years of war. In the first half of the 20th century, over 60 million people died in two world wars. I was reading that today mankind has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world 17 times over. According to the nuclear threat initiative, more than two dozen nations have nuclear power, but only nine possess actual nuclear weapons. These nations include Russia, the United States, China, India, Israel, France, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. There are estimates of more than 15,000 nuclear weapons around the world. The United States and Russia possess 93% of them with nearly 2,000 nuclear weapons at the ready for immediate launch against one another. We have nations that have aggressive designs, such as North Korea and Iran, and these nations with aggressive designs continue to increase. Today many military dictators are ruling, and it's been said some of them would bomb Israel if they were given a chance. And so we're living in these days. It's increased to that point, even as we're speaking right now. And Jesus said it again in verse 6, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. But how am I supposed to respond to when I continually hear of wars and rumors of war? He says, see that you are not troubled. See that you're not troubled. When all of this is coming to its consummation, many will be in terror. In Luke 21-26 it says, men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And so Jesus is preparing us for this. You see, there will be believers alive on planet earth when these things occur, especially as they are worked out in the last days of the tribulation and all. But there will be believers on planet earth when these things occur. But Jesus gave a word to strengthen and encourage us. Jesus was making it sure that and he's telling us, see that you're not troubled. All these things must come to pass. The end is not yet. I was at my parents' home. I was 24 years old. There was a knock on the door. There were people at the door representing the Jehovah's Witnesses. And they wanted to share with me concerning the signs of the times and all. This was back in 1974 or 73 right in that area. And they were sharing and building on how fear I should be afraid, how I need to be ready. And you know, all of that in the fear after fear. And they were pouring, they were trying to pour fear into me. And as they were speaking, I said, now wait a minute. I said, you're telling me that the Lord's kingdom is coming in this and that according to your theology. And they said, yes. I said, but you want me to be afraid. And they said, yeah, I said, but Jesus said this. And I quoted Luke 21 28. When these things begin to happen, look up, lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. I said, Jesus wasn't telling me to be afraid. He was telling me to be ready, to be ready. So the church isn't supposed to be afraid when you see these things. These are things to prepare you. And so he's telling us this is going to take place. And he says, see that you're not troubled. All these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. He goes on in verse seven. He says, nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places. So he speaks of famines. Alluming worldwide famine threatens more than 20 million people in four of the planet's poorest countries. The United Nations has warned. It says mankind is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945 and is issuing a plea for help to avoid a catastrophe. The Sunday People reports. UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said that millions of people face the threat of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria. UNICEF has already warned 1.4 million children could starve to death this year. Jesus said famines. He spoke of pestilence. The word pestilence is also translated plagues. Malaria is the second largest killer disease after tuberculosis. Half a billion people suffer periodic attacks of malaria and the disease kills an estimated 2 million people each year. More than 40 percent of the world's population lives in high risk areas. 90 percent of the malaria cases reported are in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is more prevalent in remote rural areas without clean drinking water or adequate health facilities. Tuberculosis claims 3 million people a year. Approximately one-third of the world's population is infected. 10 million new active cases are reported each year. On average, one person dies from tuberculosis every 15 seconds. An added danger is the apparent alliance between TB pestilence and HIV. HIV renders a TB carrier 30 times more likely to develop active TB. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, nearly 1 billion people will be newly infected with tuberculosis. There are 30 million cases of measles a year and nearly 1 million children die of measles per year. You have AIDS. 42 million people are infected with HIV. Sub-Saharan Africa has an estimated 29.4 million people carrying the virus. The HIV pandemic also affects Eastern Europe and Asia. India has nearly 4 million people living with HIV and 1.2 million AIDS orphans. On average, the time between infection by the HIV virus and the development of AIDS is 10 years. AIDS is characterized by the failure of the immune system, making those affected more likely to develop infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and cancers. These infections are the cause of death for 90% of those who contract AIDS. First cases appeared in 1981. In that year, a total of 189 cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control from 15 states and the District of Columbia. 76% of those reported were from New York and California. 97% were men. 79% being homosexual or bisexual. There were no cases among children. But sadly, the World Health Organization reports for women aged 15 through 44 years, HIV-AIDS, is the leading cause of death worldwide, with unsafe sex being the main risk factor in developing countries. Pestilences. Fifth, he speaks of earthquakes. There will be an increase in seismic upheavals. We have recently experienced a period that has had one of the highest rates of great earthquakes ever recorded, said lead study author Tom Parsons, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California. The average rate of big earthquakes, those larger than magnitude 7, has been 10 per year since 1979, the study reports. That rate rose to 12.5 per year, starting in 1992, and then jumped to 16.7 per year, starting in 2010. A 65% increase compared to the rate since 1979. This increase accelerated in the first three months of 2014 to more than double the average since 1979, the researchers went on to report. Seismic activity increasing is something that scientists are warning about. Scientists warn that up to four quakes over 8.0 are possible under current conditions. Scientists at Tokyo University estimate that there is a 98% chance that in the next 30 years, Japan will be hit by an earthquake equivalent to what they call the Great Kanto of 1923, which measured 8.9 and killed an estimated 142,800 people. So as we've seen, Jesus said in verse 8, these are the beginning. They escalate over time. When he moves into verse 9 continuing, he says, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. Many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. So they're going to deliver you up to tribulation. Again, he's given a prophetic description of the condition prior to his second coming. Persecution against Christians will continue. Persecution against Christians began very early in the age of the church. Read the book of Acts. We've been studying through Acts, and you'll see that persecution erupted very early in the history of the Christian church, but it will intensify over time. An author by the name of Paul Johnson wrote several volumes called The History of Christianity, and he wrote, in the second half of the second century, Christians were systematically persecuted. Many Christians were tortured in the stocks or in cells. Christians who were Roman citizens were beheaded. Others were forced through a gauntlet of whips into the amphitheater and then given to the beasts. Severed heads and limbs of Christians were displayed. They were guarded for six days and then burned, the ashes being thrown into the ron. One lady, Blondina, was the worst treated of all, he writes, tortured from dawn until evening till her tortures were exhausted and marveled that the breath was still in her body. She was then scourged, roasted in a frying pan, finally put in a basket to be tossed to death by wild bulls. Persecution. A few years ago now, several years really, I had the opportunity to go to China, and I went with a team to deliver Bibles, because the church in China was not allowed to have Bibles unless you were part of the state church. And so if you're part of the state church, they would monitor all of your behavior at all and your teachings. And so there is the underground church. And so we went with suitcases and all to deliver Bibles for the underground church. And while we were there, one of the men who put together that particular ministry opportunity arranged for me to go to a park in the city of Beijing in the evening, later in the evening. And he said, you will meet with somebody there. And he told me where this person would be seated. He led me and I came walking in and there was someone sitting in the darkness under a street lamp in this park in Beijing. And he said, that's him, go and speak to him. But don't look at him because you're being monitored. And so I went walking over and I sat down next to this guy and, you know, to give the appearance that I was just sitting on a bench. And he begins to speak, but he never looks at me. And he starts to tell me his story. He was a pastor. He said, and when Mao began the great purge, they took all of the books and literature and writings of those were not Chinese and not something that the red Chinese could use for their propaganda. And they burned them all. And they took those who had been influenced by what they called the Western ways. And that included pastors and they imprisoned them. And this man had been placed in prison. He said, when I went into prison at that time, you were still having more than one child, he said, I had eight children. He said, one was newly born and the others were a bit older. And he's speaking to me in the darkness and you can't imagine what it feels like to be in a country and to come out of a country where we have the freedom to speak about Christ openly, where we have radio programs and TV programs and printed material and and and CDs and all the rest. You can't imagine what it's like to sit down next to somebody who was placed in prison because he was a Christian. And he says, all of my children. He said, didn't have a father for 20 some years that he was in prison. He said, and seven of them, because of God's mercy and my wife's efforts are followers of Jesus to this day. He says, but please pray for my youngest because he was influenced by the propaganda machine of the Chinese. We were in Kurdistan not that long ago. Had an opportunity to go in to speak to a particular pastor who shared with us how that he was building a church building for his congregation in Kurdistan. And he was told by neighbors. Stop building that building because his his neighbors are very, very devoted Muslims and stop building that building. We don't want that building here, but he continued building it. And then so what they did is those who were in opposed or in opposition to it, they came and they blew his building up, blew the building up. And then he was sharing with me about one of the members of his church used to drive a taxi. And he said that he would share Christ with the passengers. And the word got out that this man was evangelizing in the name of Christ. And he was approached and warned and they told him, you stop talking in the name of Jesus. And he refused to stop. So they, they murdered him. This this goes on daily. This goes on often. You will read in the newspaper or watch the news of people who are marched to a beach and then someone beheads them for their faith in Christ. Or you hear of the little children who are put in cages and roasted alive for their faith in Christ. So what Jesus spoke about would be taking place then is something that escalates over time. It increases over the centuries until the time before his return. So he's giving to us these general conditions that lead to and then make up the tribulation and more than ever before, believers will undergo persecution. Now before his return, and it's not mentioned here. So I'll simply say it quickly before his return. There's an event that will occur called the rapture. The church will be removed. When the rapture happens, tribulation begins to occur. The tribulation is God's final judgment on a Christ rejecting world. It is relatively brief. It lasts seven years, but it will be a time of unrestrained evil. It occurs between the rapture of the church and the second coming of Jesus. And the tribulation will begin at the signing of a covenant between the antichrist when he comes to the fore and the nation of Israel. You see at first antichrist will be a political leader and he will have an ambition to rule the world. And for his first three and a half years he will keep a low profile as he gathers his strength. When you read your Bible you discover that initially antichrist will be an ally, an ally to Israel, but ultimately will be trade their confidence. In Daniel 9 verse 27, Daniel prophesied, speaking of the antichrist, that he will confirm a covenant with many for one seven or for seven years. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. So what he's going to do is he's going to sign a covenant and it may very well be that the covenant he signs with Israel will be a covenant that may include the rebuilding of the temple. We've been to Israel many times, around 25 times. When we go to Israel we go to the temple mount. When you go to the temple mount and it's got more and more security now over the years, when you go to the temple mount and you go in you have to leave your Bible and various things. You can't bring them in because the temple mount is a place there in Jerusalem that is basically controlled by Muslims and so they don't want you to show any affection. So a man walking with his wife cannot hold hands. You're not supposed to be laughing or anything like that. You have to be aware of your surroundings and all and they don't want you to open your Bible and to read from it up there in this particular area and they're very restrictive and sometimes the people there can be very aggressive. When we were there on one occasion not that long ago, Marie and I in our tour group was being given some information by our tour guide when one of the women who was teaching the small children who were probably five or six years of age led these children, this Muslim woman led these children past us while we were standing there receiving information about the temple mount and all and as they walk past us the children were yelling at us and they were yelling out something about Allah and they can be very aggressive. They don't really like Christians and they don't want Jews up in that area and so as you're standing there you'll see the dome of the rock which is the second most holy site in Islam and on the lip of the dome there there's this a verse from the Quran that says God has no son. God has not begotten neither has he begotten a son which is a direct blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ. So I have never been in that particular site. I just won't go in. Why would I go in? I've never been in it. But when you look past the dome of the rock and you go around it you go to an area that is called the dome of the spirit or the dome of the tablets and you're not supposed to bring a bible in but I'll have scripture that is already written for me and then I have people stand around me to form a barrier because you're being watched and I'll read the scripture to them because the question is being asked how can Jesus' word speak concerning the temple and the temple is destroyed so this helps us to understand this is yet future but how can you have a rebuilt temple on the same site that the dome of the rock is because if you try to tear down the dome of the rock then all of the Muslims in the world will descend at one time on the nation of Israel and how are you going to be able to have a simultaneous temple and dome of the rock and so while we're there we read out of the book of Revelation 11 verses one and two I was given a read like a measuring rod and was told go and measure the temple of God and the altar count the worshipers there but exclude the outer court do not measure it because it's been given to the Gentiles they will trample on the holy city for 42 months three and a half years and so as we're standing at the dome of the spirit you can look and you can see the site though it's buried now the site of where the eastern gate is the eastern gate is where people would be coming in to go into the temple and it's lined up the dome of the spirit is lined up with the eastern gate so that has led people archaeologists like Asher Kaufman and pastors like Chuck Smith to state that there will be a rebuilt temple because the temple will be built on the site of the dome of the spirits which would allow them to give the outer court to the Muslims so that they can continue to have their services over there or their prayer and all that and the temple could be reconstructed and it appears that that's what's taken place and will take place in those last days but after this covenant is has been signed then the tribulation the great tribulation we will see that occur we won't we'll be gone bless the lord because of the rapture but during the rapture after we've gone people will continue to be converted to faith in Christ and and God will continue to have people who go out and preach so again notice how it says in verse nine they will deliver you up to tribulation kill you you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake many will be offended will be treat betray one another and will hate one another and so God will be using witnesses the two witnesses you see in the book of revelation chapter 11 verse 3 during the first three and a half years and there will be people who are converted they will be delivered to affliction they will be killed they will be hated so again these verses will give to us verses nine following an overview of tribulation and the general conditions so when he says in verse nine they will deliver you up to tribulation the word deliver means they will give you over the word deliver speaks of being arrested and placed in custody so after being arrested and placed in custody extreme suffering will occur it will be worldwide and it will be against believers and hatred of God will be directed at Christians Jesus said that we would have persecution for righteousness sake and we need to remember that the response of the world is not always positive to the gospel of Jesus Christ but people will hold fast to what God has taught true Christians will endure the pain but a Christian in name only would never do so and that is what results in the second general condition verse 10 when it says many will be offended will betray one another and will hate one another you see by persecution false Christians will be exposed and openly will reject Jesus these these false Christians will not be satisfied simply walking away from from a profess faith but they're going to join in persecuting the genuine believers they're going to become informers in mark 1312 Jesus said brother will betray brother to death and a father his child children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death he says in verse 11 many false prophets will rise and deceive many these false prophets are going to be part of a false religious system it's called in Revelation 17 mystery Babylon and it's going to be headed by the false prophet it'll be headed by the antichrist the antichrist will deceive the antichrist will deceive through a message of false salvation as well as false signs I was speaking to some pastors just this last week and as we're sharing they were saying you know there are many people who are our signs and wonders oriented and in some places there are things that are happening that are very supernatural and many are becoming aware that there is a god and that the god sent his son Jesus through dreams and various signs and we were discussing that there's an openness right now in a way that that I've seen very few times in my lifetime to to various things and the sad thing is is that a lot of times the people are open to things that aren't just not scripturally sound and so you'll have reports and all you need to do is open your news feed there and Facebook or whatever your information that you receive whatever way it's dispensed to you and you'll see that sometimes there are churches that claim that amazing things are happening like gold dust that is filtering from the sky during worship and things of that nature if I went to that church I'd take a bucket with me you know but gold dust and this and that and people are believing some of the most outlandish things and the reason they believe those things is they're not in the word of god and they're not testing the spirit to see whether it's of god at all and they're not listening to the message what they're liking is the messenger they're liking the personality and they're liking the power and we're seeing that even now it's taking place and there have been movements in my in the time of my walk with the Lord where I have seen people who have gotten caught up with stuff that is just not scriptural and when it's presented when I when I've pointed it out then you get believers who defend the heresy you get believers who who who argue with me and will say well you you're a heretic yourself you're unloving one of the words that that is used to describe people like me is you're a hater and and and that there's truth to that I am I am a hater I hate sin and I hate people being deceived and I hate the work that the enemy is doing to deceive people so yeah I'm a hater I do I hate those things absolutely why because I love the truth and I love Jesus Christ and and people don't seem to understand it especially in the church today we're hyper sensitive to anything that is perceived as criticism without being aware of the fact that if someone is lying to you they're going to undermine the work of God in your life and it's called we're called we are called pastors are called by God to preach the truth whether or not people receive it we're called by God to teach it that's what we do and and we're aware of that and and all and the bible makes it very clear in 2nd Thessalonians 2 9 and 10 the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles signs and wonders and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing and he goes on to say they perish because they refused listen they refused to love the truth and so be saved there are people who admire the truth there are certain people who think that it's wonderful to have such a thing as truth but listen the believer loves the truth because it's the truth that sets you free and what happens when you get caught up with that well these false prophets are preaching it says in verse 12 because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold the love of many will grow cold lawlessness abounds and the one who at one time professed to have a relationship with Christ because lawlessness because because a lack of fear of God and a lack of a desire for a walk that is worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ because because people will say that you ought to do this and be more gracious about that the church is influenced by evil and begins to practice it i never thought that i would live to see the day i really didn't that i would live to see the day when evil is paraded the way it is evil will be completely in the open no longer will it be hidden it will be openly practiced a few years ago now i was invited by one of our state representatives to a meeting in this area of pastors and it was a discussion that this assembly woman wanted to have with pastors concerning and this was her meeting i didn't come up with the topic it was hers concerning legislation that related to homosexual marriage so i along with some other pastors in the area were were invited to be part of a dialogue with our assembly woman and while i was there it was a two-hour meeting and at the end of the meeting just before it ended i hadn't said anything i was just seated there listening to all of these religious people giving their ideas related to that subject and and i said that my sister practiced lesbianism for 24 years and that god had saved her through the transforming power of the gospel of jesus christ and that god's word declares to us that this particular sin is a sin i am not saying it is the only sin because there are plenty of sins but it is regarded and declared to be a sin but it is also something that god forgives and god has the power to transform and i shared that my sister in 1998 after living as a lesbian for 24 years had given her heart to christ and it was kind of quiet in the room when i said that i said and that's why i believe that homosexuality along with other sins is a sin and god can forgive you and that's why we pastors are to preach the gospel and some quote-unquote pastor who is seated behind me says listen he goes he says homosexuality is only mentioned a few times in scripture it's not that big a deal and i turned to him who is right who's right behind me and i said to him how many times does god have to tell you something until you listen if god says at one time that's all it takes for me if he said it once that's enough and so he didn't like it but it's the truth if god says it once that's enough god transforms people's lives and by the way not this tuesday but next tuesday i will be performing the wedding for my sister who came out of lesbianism who is getting married next week god changes lives god changes lives she's getting married and i'll be performing that that's what the word of god does isn't it but because lawlessness increases and because people no longer embrace the truth they don't love it they're willing to take anything that's presented to them in philippians 3 18 and 19 as i have often told you before and now say again even with tears many live as enemies of the cross of christ their destiny is destruction their god is their stomach their glory is in their shame their mind is on earthly things when did we ever think we would have parades that would glory in shame but we have it today don't we parades of shame that's what takes place and he he said it but he who endures to the end verse 13 shall be saved now he's not saved because he works to endure he endures because he is saved perseverance reveals the reality of your faith that that that is why believers are called overcomers in revelation 2 verse 10 it says do not be afraid of what you're about to suffer i tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you you will suffer persecution for 10 days be faithful even to the point of death i will give you the crown of life and this gospel verse 14 will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come in spite of all the persecution the gospel continues to go out jesus said in matthew 16 verse 18 the gates of hades will not overcome the gates of hades will not overcome the preaching of the gospel look up your redemption draws nigh jesus is with us there's no reason for us to be afraid this is a season of great opportunity to share the love and grace of god to a world that is going to hell in a hand basket and instead of us yielding to the tide of public opinion we need to flow in the spirit of god any dead fish can float with the stream but it takes a living one to go against it and the lord has given to us his word and god has given to us his power and god has said i will be with you even to the end of the age he said the gates of hell will not prevail against my church so i will hold his hand as we go forth in this battle and i will see him as the victor and i will rejoice along with all of you because god is faithful and he has his way in our lives and this nation needs jesus christ you need to understand that may we go forth with the word of god and bring the truth of salvation as we live it and as we give it to those who are lost i do believe and i'll close with this i do believe that some people are saying oh you need to change the message it's so offensive no we do not change the message to reach a culture the culture is changed when the message reaches it and we need to understand that you don't change the message you just give it