 Okay, we were talking about the six signs of the second coming and the first four is mentioned in Matthew 24 14 If we can have someone read out Matthew 24 14 Okay, so the very first important sign of the second coming is that every people group Throughout the world will get to hear the gospel. So the gospel will go to every people group However, remotely it may be located So somebody at least one missionary would go out to and reach out to every people group that is available You know on this earth. So after that the end will come So that's one very clear indication and almost all people groups have been covered And yeah, they say that some people groups have not heard the gospel at all So that too, you know would be covered and then we can be very sure that the end will come The second is regarding the Jewish people If someone could read out Romans 11 25 to 26 Romans 11 25 to 26 Romans 11 25 25 to 26 I I I I I I I I I I I I I Come in and so all Israel will be saved as it is written that deliverer Deliverer will come out of giant and he will turn away and godliness from Jacob It talks about how a time will come It says that in your verse 25 Until the full number of the Gentiles has come in and in this way all Israel Will be saved so it's talking about how the goddess allowed the Jewish people to harden their hearts for a little while So that the entire focus can be upon the gentile nations getting saved But once that is done, you know, it'll once again be Israel's turn and god would work in them among them in a special way So that many of them will be will become open to the gospel which is being preached many of them will be reached So, uh, we are more familiar with the Matthew 24 14 verse, you know, which talks about how the gospel will be preached to all the people groups But the other aspect is that even the Jewish people will be reached, you know in a large number in the end times So, uh, when both of these things are achieved, then we can be very very sure that the end will come Just moving on quickly to the other signs, you know of the of the second coming Matthew 13 7 to 8 if someone could read out Matthew 13 7 to 8 13 Matthew 13 7 to 8. Yes, and some fell among thorns And the thorns Marks 13 7 to 8 and when you hear of Wars and row rumors of wars do not be troubled for such things must happen Happen, but the end is not it For nations Will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be Earth quacks in various places And there will be Feminine feminis and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows But yeah, so over here, you know in the niv it says these are the beginning of the birth pains So like when a person is you know, when a woman is giving birth to a child the very first Indication that the child is coming are the birth pains And so in the same way when the end time is almost coming going to be given birth to Uh, the first thing the first indication will be the birth pains And over here, these are the kind of birth pains which the world will begin to experience Indicating that in the very near future the end times will be given birth to so what are the indications Nation will rise against nation kingdom against kingdom Earth quakes in various places Famines this is something that we are literally seeing with our eyes on the you know news every day So these are things which are already happening Which means the birth pains have started The end time is going to be given birth to very very soon So this should be a time when we should be even more excited and saying All this that we are getting ready for all that we are spiritually preparing ourselves for This rule and reign that we are going to have with the lord jesus. It's all coming It's all becoming nearer and nearer. This should make us more excited about preparing ourselves And also it should make us, you know enthusiastic about sharing the gospel Because we it's a it's a lord's desire that everyone should you know be joined into the fold Into his sheep fold. So we are the ones who should go out and bring people into the sheep fold of christ um Maybe we can also look at the next sign which is mark 13 22 mark 13 22 mark 13 22 for Well, it's christ and felt profits will rise and so science and wonders To deceive if possible even the elite So this will be a time when you would have a lot of people doing a lot of miraculous things They will be teaching certain philosophies They will be coming up with new kinds of teachings and they back up what they are doing by doing many many miraculous things And because they are doing the supernatural things people will believe them and assume that what they are saying is truthful and correct But actually what are they they are false prophets. They are false teachers So and we see a lot of that happening We see people gaining a greater interest today, you know in our current day in supernatural activities They don't call it witchcraft But that's basically what it is They are able to perform science and wonders and by performing those science and wonders They are trying to show that whatever it is that they are saying is actually valid It's actually truthful. That's that's you know, that's that's the way they are portraying themselves to the world And it says over here even the elect Can get deceived if they are not careful So it is so important for us to you know, stay alert in these end times and to warn our brothers and sisters and make sure that they also stay safe in the faith So it's not just enough to know that false teachers are going to be coming in the end times. What are we doing about it? Are we proclaiming the truth and counteracting what the false prophets are saying? Are we taking a stand and protecting our brothers and sisters so that they are not led away? You know, so it's important to understand that even as all these signs are being released We do have a role to play while these signs are getting released To look at another one mark 13 24 and 25 is someone who'd read out mark 13 24 and 25 24 and What in those days after that? Tribulation The sun will be darkened And the moon will not give its light The stars of heaven will fall and the powers in heaven will be shaken Yeah, it says over here. Uh, now these are things which have not yet happened So up to now whatever we were looking at for all terrestrial phenomena things which are happening on the earth But then in the very very last times you will even have things happening in the in the up in the sky where you would have Stars behaving differently where you would have the sun being darkened. So, um, you would have other things happening even in the Skies, so this this will be in the very last times right now Of course, we seem to be only in the birth pain space. All right, so but in the very end times even the Stars in the sky and the planets also will be affected Now the last sign that would be second Thessalonians 2 7 to 9 second Thessalonians 2 7 to 9 second Thessalonians 2 7 to 9 for the mystery Of lawlessness is already at work only he who now restraints will do so Until he is taken out of the day out of the way And then the lawless one will be revealed Whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of satan with all power science and laying wonders and with all unrighteous Shepsons among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth and they might So we see over here that when the lawless one is revealed Then you really that is when you are literally in the end times Uh, the so who is the lawless one over here? It's referring to the antichrist and it says very clearly that right now uh The appearance of the lawlessness or lawless one is being held back We see that in verse 7 where it says for the one who now holds it back Will continue to do so Till he is taken out of the way So right now the Holy Spirit is not allowing things to go into that final stage Where all these people will rise up who are clearly You know, um representing satan So right now they are being held back by the Holy Spirit because the time is not yet for them to you know, show themselves fully and uh operate in authority But a time will come when the Holy Spirit will step aside and allow that last stage of rebellion to come in And that is basically when even the antichrist will reveal himself and it talks about how he will reveal himself It says in verse 9 he will use all sorts of displays of power Through science and wonders that serve the lie So people will believe his lie people will believe that uh, the true god Is not someone to be loved not someone to be admired and respected So in fact if you see in revelation there are passages where it Where it talks about how the people, you know, uh, they will be trying for the for the for the mountains to hide them But at the same time they'll be cursing god because now they have bought into the light that You know in those days, it's very difficult to say god doesn't exist because gods God's presence will be so real they can literally see judgment coming down from heaven upon earth So god's presence is very real So in those days people will not say god does not exist They will say yes god exists, but they will be cursing god Why because the antichrist would have turned them against god to such an extent that they choose to believe the lie Rather than the truth. So there are terrible times coming and the church Which is being told about these things has a role to play at least maybe through prayer Even if you know if you cannot do anything about future events at least what we can do today is Pray that in that day The believers will be able to take a stand and remain strong Even though all of that evil is being, you know unleashed So we have a role to play in all of this Revelation was not just written for our entertainment Revelation was written so that we the church will see that this is what is coming next and do whatever we can from our side To prepare our people for it and also, uh, you know to prepare ourselves To you know by sharing the gospel and by bringing more people into the kingdom So there's an active role that we are supposed to play even as we are, you know, learning about all of these events Um, just to look at some more scriptures regarding the second coming We are aware that you know, nobody knows exactly when it will happen Acts 1 7 talks about that it says it is not for you to know the times or dates The father has set by his own authority So It is not for us to know that we have not been given the authority to know about that and Jesus says in matthew 24 36 that not even the sun knows about when it will happen So even jesus was living here on the earth as a human and he had chosen not to be All knowing so he restricted himself to his human side and he did not know all of the future events So he says at this point of time even the son of god does not know when the when exactly the last hour will be And we have of course first the celonians 5 Verse 2 someone could read out first the celonians 5 verse 2 first the celonians 5 verse 2 For you yourselves Know perfectly that the day of the lord so comes as a thief in the night Yeah, so when the thief is coming to your house, he does not ring up first and inform you that he will be coming The thief comes Unexpectedly when you are not expecting him to come and so the lord in the same way will come like a thief He will it will not be an uh a pre-announced arrival So that is why all these people who go on trying to give you know Prophecies and predictions of exactly when it will happen. They all have improved falls up to now because When god comes none of them will be able to predict Nobody will be able to prophesy because he will literally be like a thief in the night He's not going to announce it to one group of christians, you know that he's going to come on such and such a day So rather than wasting that time giving prophecies about when the end time will happen Maybe they should grow in god and you know use their prophetic gifting to build up the body of christ Rather than wasting that time on for predictions about when the second coming will happen Yes, so here. It's very very clearly told that nobody will actually know because it will he will come like a thief in the night And another nice thing about the second coming is that it's a very personal thing for believers This is what jesus says in john 14 three John 14 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 We think about the second coming as all these spectacular things that are happening in the heavens on the earth and the display of power And the angels coming with their trumpets and all of that But actually if you see it's just basically, you know your elder brother coming to take you back home So that you can all be under the father's roof together It's such a personal thing You know god doesn't just you know send us angels and say you know go pick up my people and come Yes, it is true. It talks about how the angels will gather the elect from the forward winds. Yes Wow, I know that that's in the very end when battle is going to happen But over here jesus is talking about the personal side of it where he says I'm going over there now to prepare a place for you and when I come back I'll take you with me over there So it's a very personal thing that we are looking forward to Where he is going to come and personally receive us and take us back to be under the father's roof And so we have all these teachings about how there are going to be big mansions over there And how each person is going to have a mansion with a name Written on it Doesn't really talk about that the word that is used over there. You know, it's just talking about You know Mainly about rooms, you know, I think we had talked about this once earlier They are, you know, in in the biblical times they had this joint family setups So when one of the sons gets married, they would build an extra room so that, you know, he would have his own separate place for his family So they would keep adding on extra rooms to the House which is already there so it's Probably jesus was using that kind of an imagery because everyone would want to be under the father's roof No one wants to go and live separately and not be under the father's roof So maybe he meant in that sense when he said, you know, I'll go and build up those extra rooms for you So you guys also can be part of my father's house and we'll all be together as one family So I don't think people would really be interested in the size of their mansion up there in heaven They would be more interested in being close to the father literally in his presence What does it matter whether you have a mansion with your name written on it or not? What matters is that you're under literally under the father's roof in his home In his presence part of his family, that would be the beauty of what we have, you know, we're looking forward to But of course, we also know that it will be a glorious thing that will happen Matthew 25 verse 31 Matthew 25 verse 31 Matthew 25 verse 31 uh When the son of man Comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory Yeah, so this elder brother who is coming to receive us. It's not just some elder brother This is the king of glory. He will come with his angels and he will sit on his glorious throne And we are going to be family members of somebody like that So this is that is the that is the sheer beauty of what we have been given We are just humans and we are not even perfect human beings I know but God louses that much that he has raised up our status to that level And so today, you know, we may not already be with him in glory But we are seated with him in the heavenly realm. So god looks upon us In a very, you know, we with great pride. He doesn't look down upon us So how are we behaving in our everyday lives? Are we living in a way that Uh, you know Shows our appreciation for what has been given to us Are we living in a way that honors the position that has been given to us because we are people who are seated In the heavenly realm. So are we conducting ourselves like people who belong in that realm? Or are we behaving like as if we belong to the kingdom of darkness? No, which would be like a real insult so that we should not be doing that We should honor god for the position that he has given us so We've had a kind of a chaotic first half Hopefully our rhino the second half of our session will be very very peaceful So we actually were supposed to have finished the rapture by now, but then Yeah, we'll just have to wait till after the break So when we come back from the break, then we will talk about the rapture and the rest of it So, um, because we are kind of dismissing a little Early can we also get back a little early? Maybe at Three minutes to ten. Okay. So everyone can log back in Three minutes to ten