 Turn with me in your Bibles if you brought them with you today to Matthew 24. This is part three, session three, the last part of our last days boot camp. And I'm calling it last days game changers because today I want to share with you what I believe are the two game changing prophetic signposts of our day that to me indicate more than anything else that you and I are living, not just in the last days generally. We know that the last days began on the day of Pentecost with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church sending us into the nations of the world. But I believe that we are living in the time that Jesus referred to as the end of the age. You'll recall that the disciples came to Jesus and they asked him in Matthew 24, verse three. They said, tell us when will these things be? All of these signs that you've just taught us when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? And what I want you to understand is when Jesus is talking about the end of the age, he's not talking about the end of the world. The world is God's footstool. And ultimately when Jesus returns, he's ushering in his kingdom that is going to be here on the earth, a new heavens, a new earth. This earth is going to be refabricated. It's going to be remade, the heavens, the universe is going to be, it's going to be alleviated of sin and of its impact and it's going to be the way that God always intended it to be. But there's really two ages that the Bible talks about. Oh, let's probably come over here. Should get that, here we go. So we've got what is called this present evil age. And this is the world in which you and I live in. It's an age that is marked by sin and human sinfulness. But the Bible refers to another age called the age to come, which is an age in which the kingdom of God will enter into history. Once again, Jesus will reign and rule, sin, the devil, death will all be eradicated. But you and I live in the time period called the end of this current age where the ages are overlapping that ultimately will be marked by the second coming of Jesus. So this is where we live in. And all of the signs that Jesus talks about happening at the end of the age are happening right here where you and I live. As we begin to see the kingdom of God coming and Jesus the King returning, the closer we get to that, the birth pangs of the two ages colliding are going to intensify. And when Jesus taught about these signs over the last couple of weeks, I've highlighted several of them. He talked about there's going to be natural phenomena. There's going to be spiritual warfare signs and then the earth and in the heavens. And that's both physical and spiritual. Last week we talked about the heart conditions of culture and what's going to happen to human beings as all of these things begin to happen. As there's challenges in nature and as spiritual warfare upticks and persecution emerges. And we begin to feel the pressure of the world that we're living in and all of the changes happening. As we highlighted last week, there's going to be a response. We're either going to become more on fire for Jesus or our heart is going to grow cold. And today what I want to share with you, the final session is what I believe are the two most significant prophetic signs that indicate that you and I are living in the last of the last days or put it this way, the countdown has begun. The countdown to the return of Jesus has begun. You know, if you remember, there was a show on TV years ago called 24. Do you guys remember watching 24 Key for Sutherland? And I love that show. He's like, Chloe, I need that downloaded my PDA right now. It's because something was always about ready to blow up and there was always that clock, you know, the countdown clock and he's trying to do what he's doing. What happens when there's a countdown clock is there is a growing sense of urgency. We know it's not just life as usual. That's what a countdown is supposed to do. If you're watching a football game, there's the last two minutes or in a basketball game, there's a few timeouts that are left and you know it's like time is of the essence. Everything that God communicates in biblical prophecy is put there so that you and I, who live at the end of the age, will be able to look at the scoreboard, see the countdown clock has actually begun when certain things happen and instead of us growing fearful or instead of us remaining indifferent or apathetic, we actually allow urgency to rise up in our hearts. Urgency brings great focus and there are two prophetic signposts that I believe indicate that the countdown has begun that could have never happened in any other time in human history. And these two significant prophetic signposts are number one, the restoration of the nation of Israel and number two, the acceleration of human technology. Now there are others that I think are equally significant but these two stand out to me more than almost any other. The restoration of the nation of Israel and the proliferation or the acceleration of human technology because these two things are immovable necessities for God's end time purposes to be fully revealed and for all of the prophecies, whether they be in the Old Testament, whether they be in Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and all the others or whether we're talking about New Testament prophecies in the book of Revelation and in the Olivet Discourse. These two things had to happen. There has to be an acceleration in technology and there had to be a restoration of the nation of Israel. Let me talk to you about both of these here this morning and I've got probably three hours worth of content that I'm about to give you in 30 minutes. So hold on, it's gonna be a fire hydrant. Take notes, draw notes, record, do whatever you gotta do, go back and watch it several times over. But number one, Israel. Israel I believe is God's prophetic signpost that he has given to us. In the same chapter in Matthew 24 that Jesus lays out for the disciples all of the other prophetic signs. Nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, wars, rumors of wars, signs in the heavens, signs on the earth, persecution, false Christ, false prophets that are causing to lead many astray and persecution. And Luke 21, which is the same sermon where Jesus lists off, he says, even nations in perplexity who are looking at what's happening in the seas and the waves of the oceans and men's heart growing cold for fear because of the things that are taking place on the earth. Listen, these things aren't meant to cause fear, they're meant to stir faith. But in the midst of that whole sermon that Jesus teaches, he then turns his attention in Matthew 24, verse 32 to talk about Israel. And here's what he says. He says, from the fig tree, we learned this lesson. As soon as its branches become tender and put out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things, all of these things that Jesus is talking about, you know that he, the Son of God, is near at the very gates. Truly I say to you that this generation will pass away before all of these things take place or this generation will not pass away. And he says that heaven and earth will pass away but my words shall not pass away. Now here's what we know from rabbinic scholars, Jewish scholars, is that in the Old Testament, the fig tree is an icon or a symbol of the nation of Israel. And for those of you who wanna go and read that, you can look at Hosea chapter nine, verse 10, Jeremiah, chapter eight and chapter 24 and Micah chapter four, all refer and God speaks to Israel as the fig tree. You may even remember that one day Jesus was walking along and he sees a fig tree that's not bearing fruit and he cursed it. That was very prophetically symbolic. It wasn't just a random fruit tree. Fig trees were very common still are to this day in Israel. And everybody in Jesus's day knew just like the state bird of Michigan is the robin and you know every tree has its symbols or every state has its symbols. Israel was always thought of as the fig tree. So when Jesus cursed it, what he was really doing was speaking about judgment that was about to come to Israel because they weren't bearing fruit. They weren't fulfilling God's vocational calling on them and they weren't responding as the Messiah came along. And so Jesus cursed them. And so when Jesus turns the prophetic timetable in Matthew 24 and he begins to say, learn and pay attention to the fig tree. And when it's putting out its leaves, know that all these things that I just told you are about to begin. He's talking about the reemergence or the rebirth of the nation of Israel. Let me read to you another passage. Turn over in your Bibles to Luke 21. In Luke 21, verse 24, Jesus is talking about the judgments or the punishment that is about to happen to national Israel in his day. You see, they rejected the Messiah, they crucified him. And because of that, Jesus said, because you've rejected me, there is gonna come another disciplinary action in which Jerusalem is going to be destroyed and the Jewish people are going to be dispersed among the nations until the end of the age when God picks back up and he fulfills his promises to the Jewish people. God's promises to the nation of Israel are unconditional and eternal. Even though Israel has been unfaithful to God, God has declared over and over and over again that he will unconditionally fulfill his promises to Israel. He's gonna bring them back into the land. He's going to have a descendant of King David who is Jesus, who's gonna reign and rule and Israel will be an exalted nation. So at the end of the first century, one generation after Jesus' death, I'll show you on a timeline here in a moment, Jerusalem actually was destroyed and the Jewish people were taken captive among all the nations. Look at what Jesus said, verse 24. They, talking about the Jewish people who are living in the city of Jerusalem when this happens, said they will fall by the edge of the sword, they will be led captive among all nations and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. So Jesus is saying in his day that a judgment, a correction is coming to you again. You read the Old Testament? Twice God allowed Gentile nations to judge Israel and to take them into captivity. One was a Syria, the other was Babylon. And both time, God was faithful to bring them back into the land. Jesus said it's gonna happen again, except this time it's gonna happen, the city of Jerusalem is gonna be raised, it's just gonna be decimated, temple is gonna be destroyed and they're gonna march all the remaining Jewish survivors into the nations of the world as exiles scattered among the Gentiles and Jerusalem is going to be trampled underfoot by Gentiles. So if you don't know what a Gentile is, a Gentile is any non-Jewish person. So if you've ever done a 23andMe or an ancestry.com, you've probably figured out that most of us in this room are not Jewish. Most of us in this room may actually be Dutch. I don't know, if you're Dutch, raise your hand. Boardage, raise your hand, if you're Dutch. In Western Michigan, I figured out that if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much. I come from the east side of the state and I come from English, Irish, Scotch, Descent, pretty much knew that, come on, everybody. Good, I might, I'm not Australian, I don't know, whatever that was. But when I did my ancestry history, I found out I'm 3% Jewish. It's like I'm part of the tribe, baby. Yeah, and I asked a Jewish friend at that county and he said, no, not really, you're still a Gentile. I'm like, all right. I'm only 3% Alliance fan, so I guess that's valid. But here's what's interesting, is it says that Israel or Jerusalem would be trampled underfoot by Gentiles. That's the Romans and any non-Jewish people until, everybody say until, the time that the Gentiles or the age of the Gentiles is fulfilled. So let me give you two things that are interesting. Number one, here's a picture from the arch of Titus that is in Rome to this day that depicts right here, the Jewish people with the candelabra from the temple marching in to the city of Rome as slaves. This took place in 70 AD, when a man named Titus, who was the general of the Roman legions, the son of the emperor, led the Roman armies to surround Jerusalem, destroy it, destroy the temple. They killed hundreds of thousands of Jewish rebels, and then the ones that remained, they marched them back into Europe, sold them as slaves, some of them were sold along the way. And this is how the Jewish people were dispersed up into Russia, into Eastern Europe, and into Northern Africa and as far east as Persia and sometimes even Afghanistan and India. So exactly what Jesus said would happen, Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jewish survivors were marched away as slaves, and it's recorded in history to this day, it is still recorded there in the city of Rome. Here's a timeline that will help you understand what Jesus is talking about. So Israel's history looks like this. You have the founding of the city of Jerusalem in about the year 1000 BCE. And this is when King David united the kingdoms. He sits enthroned over all of Israel and this is really the beginning of the dynasty. So when did Jesus come along? Jesus comes along in around 30 AD. We know that Jesus was crucified, we know that he rose from the dead and was exalted to the right hand of the Father and sent the Holy Spirit upon the church in around 30 to 33 AD. So Jesus would have given this prophecy right here, the Olivet discourse right there. And then what we know is after this all happened and the church began to emerge in the year 70 AD, the words that Jesus spoke that I just read to you were fulfilled. The Jewish people were removed from their homeland. They ceased to be a nation. They were scattered throughout all the other nations of the world and for the next 2000 years Israel ceased to exist. Now that's not unusual. That has happened to many nations in human history. But what is significant is that for the next 2000 years, the city of Jerusalem remained under Gentile powers. Just like Jesus said, who were the first ones, the Romans? Who were the second ones? The Ottomans, which was the Islamic Caliphate out of Turkey that reigned and ruled pretty much the entirety of about 1400 years until the third power, Gentile power, which is the UK, after they defeated the Ottomans in World War I in 1917, they took control of the land of Israel or Palestinian territory. They took control of it. And the UK then made a declaration called the Belfour Declaration in 1917 that said, we are going to partition the land of Israel and it is no longer going to remain British. We're going to allow it to become a homeland for the Jewish people scattered throughout Europe. It was confirmed by the League of Nations. There was a lot of debate that took place from 1917. But here, I'm gonna remove some of this here so I can give you a couple more dates that are significant. We're gonna start here in 1948. See if I can get my numbers right. 1948, May of 1948, Israel became a nation again. The fig tree begins to put forth its leaves. In 1948, Israel declared themselves to be a nation again. A nation that was, that died for 2000 years. And then 2000 years later, emerged as a nation and was reborn again. Isaiah asked the question, can a nation be born in a day? The answer, yes, when God's in it. And in 1948, Israel became a nation. Why is that significant? There is no other recorded nation that ever existed was destroyed and then was reborn all over again other than the nation of Israel. And the first nation on the face of the earth that recognized Israel as a new nation in 1948 was the United States of America under President Truman. We said, yes, we support you, we back you. And by UN resolution, Israel was born as a nation. However, they did not control all of the land that belonged to them. 1967, Israel controlled parts of the land, but not Jerusalem. And remember Jesus said, Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by Gentiles until. So in 1967, in June, the nations that surround Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and several of the other Muslim nations that surrounded them conspired to destroy Israel and to attack them simultaneously. Israel, outnumber 10 to one, defeated, pushed back, and gained back the territory of Jerusalem and what became known as the Six Day War. And they gained the Golan Heights, the West Bank and all of Jerusalem. And ultimately, they didn't even know it, but they were fulfilling the prophecy of Luke 21, the time of the Gentiles came to an end because Jesus said, you'll know when the time of the Gentiles ends because Jerusalem will be under Jewish control once again. Ladies and gentlemen, we saw in 1967, I was born four years later, but our generation saw Bible prophecy played out right in front of it. Jesus said, when this happens, you will know that the stopwatch or the countdown clock has begun. And that's one of the reasons why we look at Bible prophecy and say, we don't know exactly when Jesus is returning, but here's what we know. There's something very significant about the age that we live in that no other generation could have pointed to and said that's happening today. It's happened in our generation. Now, some would say, well, how long is it gonna take? We don't know, but we know that heaven right now has put us on notice. And we need to pay attention to that. Have you ever asked yourself the question, why is it that Israel is always front and center on the news? This nation that is smaller than the size of the state of New Jersey, and the battle is not even over all the territory of Israel. It's over a 14 acre parcel of land on Temple Mount. Why is that? Why is it that that's the centerpiece? It's because three things have happened on that hill. Number one, it's the place where Abraham offered and was willing to offer Isaac where God gave the promise that he would offer his own son. The second thing that happened is it is the mountain where, or it's the mountain where the temple sat and where Jesus, who is the son of God, entered into the temple and cleansed it and purified it. And the third reason why it's significant, it is that piece of territory where when Jesus returns, he is marching up onto Temple Mount, he is gonna take his throne and he is gonna rule over the nations of the earth for a thousand years. And you don't think the devil hates that? You don't think the devil is doing everything in his power to make sure that that never happens? It's hugely significant. And if you think that that's accidental, that Israel is constantly in the news, Jerusalem is constantly in the news, then think about this. 3,200 years ago, Zechariah prophesied this. He said, behold, I'm about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the people. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves and all nations of the earth will be gathered against it. You wanna know where this thing is going? Ultimately, there is going to be a one-world confederation of nations who are united around their hatred of the Jewish people and want to destroy it at all costs. And you say, well, that could never happen. Why would somebody, in a modern civilization, why would people ever give their approval to something like that? Well, 70 plus years ago, a man raised up in one of the most industrialized modern nations in Western Europe and he convinced millions of people that it was their ultimate destiny to destroy, in gas chambers, six and a half million Jewish people. You don't think one individual could be raised up with such charisma and power with what the Bible describes as false lying signs and wonders and rally the world who are looking for answers around an idea and a hatred of a people and commit themselves to destroying it. If you say it couldn't happen, all I have to do is point you back in history and say that it's happened. It happened under a man named the Pharaoh who wanted to kill all the firstborn Jewish kids. It happened under Haman in Persia who wanted to destroy all the Jewish people. It happened in our day under Hitler and it will happen in the future when a demonically possessed man called the Antichrist emerges on the scene. He solves problems that no one in the world or in geopolitics are able to solve and the world will be in such awe and wonder at this individual that they will yield and they will surrender their allegiance to him, they will worship him. And when he says the problem is the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, they will rally their troops and they will go to war against Jerusalem. But when you read the rest of Zachariah, here's what it says. In that moment, the Lord will appear over Israel and Jerusalem and he will fight for them. He will appear with 10,000s of his saints and he will push back their enemies. The Jewish people will see Jesus as he returns to fight their battles for them and they will say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and all of Israel will be saved in that moment. It's coming to a theater near you. It's coming to a theater near you. It's going to happen. And when we begin to see the things that are happening in Israel, in the Middle East right now, can I just tell you, they are completely lining up with the prophetic timetables. I'm gonna be doing a Facebook live, I think here in a week or so. I'm gonna be taking questions on Bible prophecy and things just because there's just too much to cover in a Sunday morning like this. I'm doing this because I want this to be a Costco sample. How many of you remember those? You walk in and they're just like, hey, try this. They're not doing it because they're nice. They're doing it because they want to hook you. It's like, mm, that little fish stick, I like that. Where are those? Oh, we got them right over here. So here's what I'm doing. Here, just taste a little Bible prophecy and you're just like, whoa, that's really interesting. Where do I go? It's called the Bible. I want you to study the Bible because this is one of 150 chapters in the Bible that deal with Bible prophecy. Things that were written 2000 years ago about the days you and I live in. Okay, I'm gonna give you the next part in very short terms. The second great prophetic signpost. The game-changing prophecy is technology and the great acceleration of technology in our day. There are things that the Bible prophesies about the end of the age that could not have happened without modern technology and its acceleration. And in fact, it isn't even yet completed yet, but the things that are necessary for it to happen are in process and being written about and talked about and people don't even know they're talking about Bible prophecy. So look here with me at Daniel chapter 12, verse four. The book of Daniel, by the way, is the cornerstone of Bible prophecy. Daniel received direct revelation from the Lord about his plans for Israel in Daniel 9, 10, and 11. God lays out way in advance, hundreds of years, 600 years before Jesus. What his redemptive purpose is about restoring them back to the land, the coming of the Messiah, the end of the age, and the Messiah's return and the coming kingdom. But at the end of this revelation, the angel says to Daniel in Daniel 12, verse four, but you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. And then it describes this. It says, many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. In the original language, it says knowledge, technical human knowledge shall accelerate exponentially. So it says, Daniel, everything I just showed you about what I'm gonna do in the earth, what I'm gonna do with my covenant people Israel, what I'm gonna do in the church, the last days outpouring of Holy Spirit, all these things, Daniel, it's not for now, it's for the end. And we got a long time before we get there, so seal it up. But in the end, I'm gonna break the seals. The book of revelation is directly tied to the book of Daniel. It ends with Daniel being told seal the book. In Revelation, it starts with the choirs of heaven saying who's worthy to break the seals? And it says there's only one found worthy, his name is Jesus. And he breaks the seals and everything that's in the scroll begins to play out. But two things that it says what happened. It says many will move to and fro and it says and human knowledge, technical human knowledge shall proliferate or accelerate. Another way to say that is technology is going to expand. So what does it mean when it says many shall run to and fro? Some scholars say that that's talking about global travel. I think that that probably has a certain application but bigger than that, what most scholars agree upon is that no, what it means is the going to and fro is talking about people who are desperately searching for wisdom and answers. They're going everywhere that they can, they're going to and fro. They're just like, I've got to look for, I've got to find solutions, I've got to find answers. And it's spoken of actually going to the scriptures and studying the scriptures with a sense of faith and urgency because they're living in the end of the age. It's like, I've got to study this. I've got to study prophecy because the things that are happening in the earth right now are stirring my heart and my affections for the coming of the Lord. And so it says that that's going to happen. A hunger and a desire to study Bible prophecy is going to be stirred at the end of the age and we're seeing that. But the second part of it is it says, knowledge shall increase. The word knowledge means technical knowledge. Let me give you something maybe you've never heard of. It's called the knowledge doubling curve. The knowledge doubling curve is a technical term that's used by those who specialize in technology and in artificial intelligence of a man named Jeff Dean who's Google's head of artificial intelligence. Here's what he has to say about human knowledge. He says in 1900, human knowledge or everything that human beings know intellectually and have understanding of. In 1900, human knowledge doubled approximately every 100 years. By the end of 1945, the end of World War II, the rate of human knowledge doubling was now every 25 years. It is now in our current day. Remember this is the head of Google's artificial intelligence. In our current day, human knowledge is doubling every 12 months and very soon will double every 12 hours. The acceleration of human technical knowledge. It's technology. Why is that important? Well, when you consider that long ago, this is called a ziggurat. It's the ruins of one that was found very close to what would be where the Tower of Babel was built. This was human technology. See what they would do? It's because there's no mountains out in the desert. What they did was they would build artificial mountains. So this would have had levels like this and on top of it would have been a temple. And the reason why they built artificial mountains is they believed that mountains were the places where the gods dwelt. And if you could access where the gods were, you could get information and insight and secrets from the gods that would then allow you to manipulate. It's where magic came from, all the way back to the Tower of Babel. And so these were sacred places. But in order to build the pyramids, it's interesting, you can find these ziggurats in almost every part of the world, you can find them in Central America, Egypt, you find them in the Middle East, you find them in the Far East. And it's because people scattered all over. In Genesis chapter 11, it talks about human beings right after the fall, as they begin to utilize technology. Genesis 11, verse one through four says, now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the East, they found a plane in the land of Shinar and they settled there and they said to one another, listen to what they said, come and let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly, technology. And they had bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar. And then they said, here's their motive. Come and let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. Now here's what God said in verse number six, behold, they are one people and they all have one language and this is only the beginning of what they will be able to do. And nothing that they propose will be impossible for them. So what did God do? He confused their languages, scattered them all over the face of the earth, separated them, put boundaries between cultures so that they would be divided because ultimately if nothing's impossible for them to be united and human beings are sinful because we've rebelled against God and we've been deceived, then the danger is we will build something which they wanted to build, which doesn't have God and God's purposes. It has a spirituality, think about this, a spirituality that is man-centered and it will be built around our common values and our ability to communicate for our own glory. This was the motive of the Tower of Babel. It was God, we know who you are and we know what you want and we know what your values are, but we've decided we don't wanna do it your way. We like to make determination about what's right and wrong. We don't wanna do your right and wrong. We want spirituality, but we wanna be worshiped, not worshiped you. We wanna live for our own glory, not your glory. We want it to be about our name. So we're gonna gather humanity together and utilize our potential to build our own kingdom, not build yours. So what did God do? God came down and he stopped their plans and dispersed them. Now, here's what I want you to understand. The way that they built the Tower of Babel was human technology. They didn't use stones, they made bricks. It's human knowledge. It has taken 6,000 years for the human race to undo what God did at the Tower of Babel and it took place in our generation. It's the first time in human history where now we can communicate freely and commonly with anybody on the face of the earth without learning the language or going to their culture or traveling across the face of the world. In fact, you have an app on your phone. Everybody take your phones off. If you have a smartphone, take your phone out real quick. Hold it up in the air and wave it like you really do care. Okay. I wanna tell you two things about your smartphone. Number one, there is more computing technology on your oldest smartphone in this room. Five times the computing power than the first computer that put man on the moon. That's on your phone. Second thing I want you to know is there's an app you can download on your phone called Babel. And if you talk into it and you tell it what language you want it to translate it into, it will, it's like, where is the bathroom in French? And then it'll play it in French. And then that person can speak in French and it'll translate back to you in English. We have undone the effects of Babel. Telecommunication and travel has shrunk the world back to one people with one language. And what we're beginning to understand is now we're seeing the effects of one race, the human race that has me at the center of the world because I'm fallen in my simple-ness that wants to build a civilization where we say to God, you don't have a right to tell us what's right and wrong. We will shape our own values. We will live for ourselves and our own pleasures. And let me tell you something. Instead of building a tower of Babel, what we have built is we have built the internet technology. And you say, well, is technology bad? No, technology is not bad. Technology is a tool just like money. Money isn't bad. But whatever you take a neutral tool and you put it in the hands of human beings, it will accelerate whoever that human being is. So if you put money into the hands of a person who wants to take care of the poor, you will solve problems. You take that same money and put it in the hands of a drug dealer, you will create problems. You take the internet and you put it into the hands of the church and you take technology and you put it into the hands of the church and you know what we're gonna do with it? At the end of the age, we are gonna use it to fulfill the Great Commission in our generation. We're gonna reach the remaining 6,900 plus unreached people groups because we now have the technology translate the Bible into their language, communicate, satellite, internet, broadcast and we can preach the gospel. We can print books. We can send missionaries in ways we never could have done it because what's in our heart is about to come out at the end of the age. But put that same technology into the heart of fallen humanity and guess what we're gonna do with it? Fallen humanity is going to not build a tower of Babel but an empire and a culture and a society that the Bible in the book of Revelation, chapter 18 calls Babylon the Great. What starts in the first book of the Bible as a tower is rebuilt and completed as a society and Revelation, chapter 18 that God ultimately has to come and judge it and destroy it. It's all technology. One more thing, this will be really interesting to you. The World Government Summit in Dubai, man named Jurgen Schmidhuber, which I can even pronounce his name. He's talking about artificial intelligence and he says this, he says today we face a number of hugely complex challenges globally from global warming to the refugee crisis. These are all problems that over time will affect everyone on the planet deeply and irreversibly but the real seismic change, one that will influence the way we respond to each of these crises will happen elsewhere. It will happen through artificial intelligence. It is much more than just another industrial revolution. It is something that transcends humanity and life itself. And I could go on and on about where this is going but here's what you need to know. At the end of the age, there are certain things that the Bible prophesies about the ability of people to communicate of the whole world, worshiping the beast, the whole world, seeing the two prophets that are killed in the city of Jerusalem, beholding their body simultaneously. What people commonly refer to as the mark of the beast that you can't buy or sell without receiving it. None of that made sense until today because today, that technology is alive and it is escalating and it is growing. So, I mean, right now, you can either allow that to cause you to become, oh, look at that, fearful, you can remain indifferent or you can let it stir faith on the inside of you. I choose faith. I choose faith because when I see these things, listen, I read the book of Revelation. I talked to so many Christians who said, I don't read that, I can't understand it, it scares me. Do you know the opening chapter of it? It says, blessed is he who reads this? Why is it a blessing to read the book of Revelation? It's like, there's scary stuff, there's asteroids and nuclear bombs and seven headed monsters and Antichrist and Marks of the Beast. Yeah, there's all of that stuff. I guess what? There's all of that stuff in our neighborhoods tonight. It's called Halloween. There's something in the book of Revelation that you won't find out in the world and it's this. The book of Revelation is not the revelation of the Antichrist, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ and at the end of the book, we see our King returning for a people who are ready and the greatest harvest of souls taking place in one generation than all of human history combined. What would it look like if in your lifetime before Jesus returns, we saw one billion people turn their hearts to Jesus? What would happen if the cry of Jesus' name was louder from earth than the choirs of heaven are? What would happen if the name of Jesus is the loudest name proclaimed on the face of the earth? It's not gonna happen because we sit back and we're indifferent, it's gonna happen because our heart stirs that we're living at the end of the age. All of heaven is looking over the banister of heaven. They've played their parts, they've lived their lives, they've run their course and they're looking at us going. Come on, bring it in. It's the two minute warning guys, come on, go. Pray like you've never prayed. Give like you've never given. Read and study like you've never studied. Gather together, be united. Greater is he that's in us than he that is in the world. Stand with me if you would. I went a few minutes late, but I took timeouts in my two minute warning. Guys, what will stir in our hearts? Faith, fear or indifference? My prayer is that it will stir faith. If you're here and you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, you've not surrendered to him, this is the day. Don't wait another moment. You cry out to God, say, God, forgive me. I believe in Jesus, save me, rescue me. If today you know Jesus, then let it stir passion and zeal in your heart. Don't get comfortable in this world. Don't be lulled to sleep by the American dream. Jesus is coming. And if fear has paralyzed you, it's time to realize that grace can undo what fear has always done. It can undo the paralysis of anxiety and stress and fear and faith can mobilize you. You were made to be alive on this planet right now, to serve Jesus, to fulfill his purpose, and to see his return. What if he doesn't come in my lifetime? You know what? I'd rather live like he was and then someday see him because he didn't than be surprised if he does because I thought he was never returning. We gotta live like he's coming. We need to announce Jesus is coming soon. And we need to live like it. Would you bow your heads with me all over the room? And I want our prayer team to make their way to the front and take their place. Lord, today by the power of your Holy Spirit, stir our hearts, God. Stir us to faith. Stir us to prayer. Stir us to steward what you've given to us. Lord, we don't want this to be information that goes into our ear and then we shelve it. Lord, we want this to be game changing. You said that when you begin to see all these things take place, lift up your head, your redemption draws near. Jesus, we know you're coming. May we be ready. May we be purified. May we be consecrated to you. Busy about the Father's business. Lord, I pray that you would release a sobriety in our hearts to know the days in which we live. Before we dismiss, here's what I wanna do. Today, if you need, and you're convicted and you know you need to get right with the Lord, today, don't leave. I'm gonna ask you to take a step, a radical step, and it's this. You are not sure that you are saved and right with God before you leave today to come down to the front to one of our prayer partners and pastors, elders, and just say, I need to get my heart right with God. We wanna pray with you, we can help you do that. You need to tell somebody and you need to receive Christ. Today, if you're here and you say, I'm saved but I'm just going through a battle, I need God to stir faith and power on the inside of me. We wanna pray with you as well. If you need a miracle in your body, in your marriage, your life, your family, we believe in the power of prayer more than anything, we need one another. And Lord Jesus, I pray that as we dismiss today, Holy Spirit, you would fill us with passion for the name of Jesus. Send us out into this world as bright lights that shine with joy, peace, and hope. And use us to announce your soon return, Jesus. We pray in your name, amen and amen. Come forward if you'd like prayer this morning. Otherwise, God bless you, have a great afternoon.