 Concerning the end times we have no clearer text than Matthew 24 the book of Daniel is wonderful and filled with revelation about the future the book of revelation is wonderful and filled with wonderful apocalyptic imagery that gives us insight into the future but no text is so clear as Matthew 24 and I'm not saying the others are inferior I'm saying this is what you should base your understanding on is these words Matthew 24 later Jesus sat on the mount of olives his disciples came to him privately and said tell us when will all this happen what sign will signal your return and the end of the world Jesus told them don't let anyone mislead you for many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah they will deceive many and you will hear of wars and threats of wars don't panic yes these things must take place but the end won't follow immediately nation will go to war against nation and kingdom against kingdom there will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world but all this is only the first of the birth pains with more to come then you will be persecuted arrested and killed you will be hated all over the world because you are my followers and many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold but the one who endures to the end will be saved and the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all nations will hear it and then the end will come a few things that Jesus says will indicate the season of the final days the first thing we see here is that many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah now in the original language this term I am the Messiah means anointed one so it's not necessarily that people will come claiming to be Jesus though that will happen and I think sometimes we have a limited view on this because we just take that one angle but it's not just going to be people claiming to be the Savior or claiming to be Jesus this is talking about people who claim to be anointed it's much broader than just the specific claim saying I'm Jesus or I'm the way to salvation this is talking about people who claim to have the anointing but really are wolves and sheep's clothing deceiving God's people many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah and I suspect these are some of the ones mentioned in Matthew chapter 7 who come strutting up to the Lord on that day fully confident that they'll be accepted in and he says depart from me I never knew you I love the way the message translation puts it where Jesus says to these who did wonderful works he says to them get out of here get away from me all you did was use me to make yourselves important and that's what some do they treat the church and the gospel like it's a business opportunity and they peddle the word like it's a product now as I mentioned before there is financial support involved in ministries but the purpose of ministry isn't money some people treat preaching like it's a career not a calling because of that it becomes about them and this is what Jesus is talking about in the last days there's going to be a lot of people who claim I'm anointed I'm anointed I'm anointed anyone with access to live stream equipment can get on garner an audience and claim to be anointed but don't let anyone mislead you and you will hear of wars and threats of wars nation going to war against nation treaties being dissolved national relations becoming tense uncertain sounds like things happening today interestingly Jesus says here in verse 6 yes these things must take place but the end won't follow immediately in other words these aren't the only indicators he goes on nation will go to war against nation kingdom against kingdom then he says there will be famines food shortages people of God there will be food shortages in all parts of the world as we get closer and closer to that final day it's not just going to be a scramble for toilet paper it'll be a scramble for bread for meat I suspect that at this point we'll start to see miracles of food multiplication among the people of God I suspect at this point we're going to see things like man are coming from heaven for God's remnant because the darker it gets out there the brighter it gets in the church you want to see greater miracles well then you want persecution because the scripture says that you're blessed when people insult you for the Lord's name it says actually and then the glorious spirit will rest on you there's something to be said about persecution bringing the glory of God on your life the greater the pressure against the church the greater the power within the church so famines and earthquakes while we were here we just landed I was having dinner last night with Patrick and Steve and Patrick's wife texted him saying there was an earthquake in California a pretty good one say again 4.4 I don't know where that is on the scale but it sounds big to me and people began to talk again about the big one coming you don't have to worry about that here necessarily in Denver but in California they talk of the big one the big one the big one the one that will shake everything up literally I believe there are big ones on the way not just in California in many parts of the world in fact that's what the scripture says and then verse 8 well all this is only the first of birth pains everything I just mentioned the wars the international tension the food shortages the many claiming to be anointed the earthquakes in many parts of the world in verse 8 it says but all this is only the first of the birth pains with more to come verse 9 then you speaking to his followers will be arrested persecuted and killed you will be hated all over the world why because you are my followers and many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other this is probably the most tragic of the things listed verse 10 many will turn from me Jesus says so he's talking about his followers I'm just going to be real with you there are people leaving the faith claiming that they're doing so for intellectual and moral reasons when it only has to do with the fact that they love their sin and then what happens is they turn around and they accuse the church of being hypocrites I am so sick of people criticizing the bride of Christ you hear this all the time and it's become almost culturally acceptable to say in fact it's it's almost been just a given people just accept the fact that the reason people turn away from the church is because there's just a bunch of mean grumpy people who are hypocrites that's not why they turn from the gospel Jesus said they turn because they didn't like the light they preferred their darkness so they rejected the light I'll be honest with you my experience with church people I'd say 99.9% of God's people are wonderful loving peace filled gracious kind forgiving people and I'm tired of people saying otherwise and so this is what happens is people leave the church claiming all hypocrites that's why I left no you left because your foundation wasn't firm you left because you allowed bitterness in your heart you left because you rebelled against God and the scripture says here that in those days will be arrested persecuted and killed will be hated all over the world and many will turn from me that means people will leave the church they will reject Christ having once served him and they will hate each other people will leave the church turn around and hate the church and this is a part of the signs of the final days and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people now this is interesting to me because verse 11 says many false prophets will appear these could be prophets of all kind false prophets in the scripture were considered prophets of Baal prophets of the other nations prophets of false gods this is much different than verses four and five where it talks about those claiming to be anointed coming in the name of Jesus so there's two types of spiritual leaders that Jesus is warning us against in this text the first kind is the ones who come in his name and claim to be anointed of God but are hypocrites and the second kind are false prophets that lead people astray to other belief systems like new ageism all pray to the universe manifest why do you need to pray to the universe when you can pray to the one who created it false prophets no power false religions of the world those are false prophets people who who make claims for other gods and they will deceive many sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold the one who endures to the end will be saved verse 14 and the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all nations will hear it and then the end will come so before the end god will give the world one more opportunity to respond to the gospel you might be in this place tonight listening to what i'm saying perhaps you have yet to receive christ as your savior and you hear of all these things happening and you can't deny that what jesus spoke a couple thousand years ago is perfectly descriptive of the day in which we live a perfect match to describe these times and everything please hear me everything will unravel very very quickly when my aria was born i remember it started very slow when my wife went into labor the birth pains came few and far between with some intensity and the more intense they became the more frequent they became and then before you knew it there was my little aria rose this is how the bible describes the end times birth pains there is going to be an intensification not only of the pain but things like this will be more and more and more frequent and it will come fast matthew 24 27 for as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west so it will be when the son of man comes mark 13 26 says then everyone will see the son of man coming on the clouds with great power and glory so far everything the scripture has predicted everything the bible has said concerning the truth either has yet to be fulfilled or has been fulfilled with 100 accuracy the scripture warned of these days long ago and the scripture also tells us that one of these days coming upon the clouds with great power and glory jesus the christ will return to this earth church it's time we preach it again jesus is coming soon jesus is coming it's it's going to happen that is a reality that we will experience the world we'll see it and he'll come not this time as a gentle lamb he will come back as a conquering lion with the mighty roar it will come quickly and to those of us who've received christ is lord it will be a great day of celebration but to the wicked who've rejected him in their hearts knowing deep inside that they shouldn't that day will come and inspire great fear like standing before a deep abyss or looking in to a dark and deep ocean the sight of the coming of the lord will be so beautiful it will be frightening like lightning flashing across the sky the beauty and terror the coming of the lord thank you for watching encounter tv don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell also help us spread the gospel of jesus christ in the power of the holy spirit make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now