Beginning verse one, and we'll read verses one, two, and three here. To kind of start off, it says, and Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. Jesus said unto him, see ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. As he said upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? I'm gonna preach for a few moments here this morning on the subject of signs of the times, signs of the times. Over the past couple of years I've traveled quite a bit on the road. And you know as well as I do, when you travel down the road, there are signs. There's signs that tell you what speed to go, there's signs that tell you what road you're on, there's signs that tell you when to stop, yield, and so on and so forth. As you drive, you have to pay attention to those signs. If you don't pay attention to those signs, at best, you may get lost. At worst, you may get a traffic ticket or you may end up in a car wreck. So it's a great idea to pay attention to the signs that are on the road. Whenever I'm going out on a trip, it's a good idea to pay attention to the signs. I guess it's been a little while now, but right after I moved down here, I was leaving from North Carolina and I was talking And like I often do when I'm in the car and not paying attention, I headed north on 52. I've made the trip so many times before. The problem is that north is the way to go to Ohio, not to get to Georgia. And I drove about 45 minutes before I realized I've gone the wrong way. I don't go to Ohio anymore when I'm going home. I need to go south. So it's a good idea to pay attention to signs. It's a very good idea. Spiritually, you and I are on a road somewhere. We're on a journey, spiritually. Many of us have traveled many miles. Question is, where are you going? Where are you headed in life? Where is your final destination? Those of us who are saved, we know where we're going. We know that our final destination is heaven. We know that one of these days we'll die and we'll be with the Lord. How is it with you? The thing that we don't know sometimes is what about the in-between? What about what's going to happen between that time and when we die? In our text, the disciples had some questions, didn't they? They had these questions. When they went out and they saw the buildings of the temple, Jesus said, you see all this? Oh, I can imagine it was great. It was beautiful. He said, there shall not be here left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And the disciples came to him privately there and said, tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? I believe there's signs. signs they wanted to know, they asked. It's biblical over in the book of Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21 and verse 34. And take heed to yourselves less than any time Luke 21 and verse 34, take heed of yourself lest in any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that the day come on you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. There's some people that just ain't paying attention. just like I wasn't paying attention when I went north instead of south. It's kind of like this. If I were to go and I wanted to go up north on 95 and I turned the wrong way and I'm not paying attention, I see a sign that says Jacksonville. Right away, I know that I've gone the wrong direction because of the sign. Signs tell you something. Signs tell you something. Now spiritually, we have some warnings. And before I get in too far into this message, I wanna just point this out. Over in the book of Mark, Mark chapter eight, verses 11, 12, and 13, look what it says here. And the Pharisees came forth and began to question him saying, question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and saith, why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, there shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them and entering into the ship again departed to the other side. Again in 1 Corinthians chapter one, Begin verse 22. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 22, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, under the Jews a stumbling block, and under the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, The weakness of God is stronger than men. Don't be so much looking for signs that you miss the Lord. You see, there's some folks that are so much into signs that they forget about what their focus should be on. Think about it this way, if you're driving down the road and all you're looking at is signs, guess what's gonna happen? You're gonna drift off the road. You're gonna wreck your car because all you're looking at are the signs. Winston-Salem is probably one of the most interesting towns I've been in because the traffic is so bad and there's billboards everywhere. Everybody's got billboards up. And they're so distracting. Because you've got to be paying attention to the traffic, to the road, and as you drive, you've got to make sure you're paying attention to the road. But those signs, those billboards catch your eye. And if the traffic's real bad, even just taking your eye off the road just a little bit, you can wreck. And there's some people who are after signs so much that they miss the point of what we should be doing. There's some folks who missed the point. They're looking for signs. They're trying to read into things too much. You'll never find a date for the Lord's return, no matter how much you think you can interpret the signs. You'll never figure that out. But yet we find that there are people out there who are digging in, they're looking at signs, they're saying, oh, well, look, this happened, and this is going on in Israel, and this has happened in the United States, and this and this, and so the Lord must be coming back this year. Maybe He is. But you don't know. Don't write a book about it. There's a lot of books been written. So many reasons why the Lord's coming back 1988. So many reasons why the Lord's coming back Y2K. And on and on we go. They missed the point. But understand, beloved, that these signs are here so that we can understand some things. I can't say I've got everything in prophecy figured out, but I do believe I do believe that whenever you look at a passage like Matthew chapter 24, I do believe that verses 4 through 14 refer primarily to the events that are going on in this age, which are going to increase and become more prominent on into the first three and a half years of the tribulation. And keep in mind, God's people who are alive now will be raptured out before the tribulation starts. But the stage is being set, and I believe we can begin to see that even in the world that we live in. Look, folks, the world is gearing up towards a one-world government. It's gearing up towards Antichrist. We can see that. as we begin to study what's happening and look at what's going on in the world. I believe we can be excited about the Lord coming back. And then in verses 15 through 26, I believe that covers the last three and a half years of the tribulation period here. What do we see going on in our world today? Well, when we look at these things, the signs that we can consider and look at, in Matthew 24, verse five, he says, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. Verse four, Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. There is, in our world, a rise of false religion. You say, wait a minute, preacher, no, that's not true, because religion's being thrown out. This is the age of the anti-religion, but here's the thing. Religion isn't being thrown out. What's happening is Christianity's being thrown out. What we've got going on is the vacuum is being filled in this country. Where it used to be, just about everybody you talked to in the streets and in the world and your neighbors, just about everybody went to church, could tell you at least the basis of the Bible. They knew something about Adam and Eve, something about Noah's Ark, something about David and Goliath, something about Jesus Christ dying on the cross Something about John 3.16, right? But now all that's been replaced with postmodernism and humanism, skepticism, which is a religion. even in the public school systems, they don't have a problem with religion. The problem that they've got is with Christianity. The problem that they have is with the Bible, the truth of God's word. Over in 2 Timothy chapter four, 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having inching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. We live in an age where people would rather hear a fable than to hear the truth of God's word. That the idea that this world and all the complexities of it came by chance, processes through billions, billions of years. This phone that I'm using to record is not near as complex as the universe, not by far. But can you imagine if someone were to ask me where it came from, if I said, well, I don't know. It must have evolved. It must have came here through billions of years. After all, I never saw the maker of it. I never saw when it came to be. So it must have happened over billions of years. I would be laughed at and mocked, ridiculed. But yet, whenever people study this universe, which is so much more complex, that's what they believe. God made it. They say, well, how do you know that? You weren't there. No, I wasn't. Neither were you, but I'll tell you who was. God, and I have his eyewitness account right here. You see. No rather believe a fable than to believe the truth. All this will lead to the false religion of the Antichrist over in Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13. Begin verse 11, it says, And I beheld another beast coming up from out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon, and he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast. whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by sword and did live. And he had and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed, and he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads, that no man may buy or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here's wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 600, three score and six." Are we not seeing indicators of this world and how that a man can deceive the world into taking a mark, into believing things just because he said so? I don't believe that we'll be here for all of this. And I don't believe that the vaccine mandates or mask mandates are the mark of the beast. But I do believe that all these things kind of lead up and we begin to see how these things could be. I mean, think about it. Nobody will be able to buy or sell. except for those who have this mark. There's some places where you can't buy or sell unless you have a vaccine. Show your papers, do what you have to do. It's a religion. Well, We see these signs. You know, it used to be people would say, well, how in the world would they convince the whole world to take these marks and do these things? Yet we see it. We see it happening, how these might could take place. In Mark chapter 24, verse 6, it says, and you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Oh, there's, wars and rumors of wars going on in our world. We've seen wars that have lasted for a long, long time. And even now, we see buildup of military going on at our borders and things going on in different countries of this world. I believe it was Sudan recently that fell and the military The military took the Prime Minister or President or whatever and arrested him and shut down the Congress. I mean, different things like that going on in our world. Not only just wars, but rumors of wars, riots in the streets, invasion at the southern border. My, my. Verse seven, he says, for nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. Famines. We used to think about famines as being something that happened in third world countries, but listen, folks, the United States of America is not exempt to such a disaster. We've seen some shortages that are happening in grocery stores and supply chain breaking down. This isn't just something I'm making up. Go to the store and look at the empty shelves. It's only going to get worse, I'm afraid, before it gets better. A person would do well, not to panic, but certainly to be prepared. I mean, you can go back just a few generations. Our grandparents were much better prepared for this than what we are. For decades, what have we done? If we're hungry, we go to the store. If we're thirsty, we go grab something at the McDonald's or Starbucks or whatever. We've been spoiled. But what did our grandparents do? They canned. They had a cupboard or pantry or cellar. They kept stuff up for a rainy day for trouble. So they went through the Great Depression. They knew what things were in this country, even. There may come a day when you may say, hey, what's for dinner? And there may not be an option to run down to McDonald's or over to Walmart to go and find it. I pray it doesn't get bad like that. But just in case, it might be a good idea to have some stuff put up. Because there are famines that are coming. And let me tell you, what we're experiencing here, it's a lot worse than other countries. The governments have shut down the economies and the people, telling them they can't leave. And so they, I mean, they can't even get out to go to the grocery store. They can't. And so what they've got is what they've got. Pestilences. That's a word that we don't use very much, but what is a pestilence? A fatal epidemic disease. That's what a pestilence is. COVID-19 anyone? Thankfully, and I praise God for this, COVID-19 was not as deadly in this country as what it could have been. It was real bad in some other countries, apparently. But COVID-19 was not the first and it certainly won't be the last to go through here. Interesting enough, I had COVID-19 in 2020, but y'all remember in 2009, the H1N1 swine flu. There was a lot of scare about that. Now the media didn't take off with it as much, but people were still scared of it. And I caught that one too. I don't know why I catch those things, but I guess that's just me. But I remember I caught it and all my family was afraid. They went somewhere else and quarantined me and all that. The doctor gave me all kinds of medicine. I was sick. I was sick. Some of y'all had those things too. Some of us have seen people die from them. It's rough stuff. It is. These things aren't by chance or accident. Signs of the times, I believe. I believe. And earthquakes. Earthquakes. According to the U.S. Geological Society website, since about 1900, the year 1900, we expect about 16 major earthquakes in any given year. That includes 15 earthquakes in magnitude 7 range and one earthquake magnitude 8 or greater. In the past 40 to 50 years, our records show we have exceeded the long-term average number of major earthquakes about a dozen times. The year with the largest total was 2010, with 23 major earthquakes greater than or equal to magnitude seven. In other years, the total was well below the annual long-term average of 16 major earthquakes. Now here's the thing, folks. You watch all of this, wars, pestilence, earthquakes, what's the world say? Global warming, climate change. What's the Bible say? Signs of the times. God's in control of this. This is not accident, chance, fate, bad luck, or climate change. What this is is this is God working according to his plan and purpose. There's no coincidence to the timing, the place of earthquakes, or other patterns of anything. even down to the bug that got me sick in 2020 and got me sick in 2009. I believe God's in charge of every bit of it. Every bit of it. If for no other reason as a reminder of what's going on in this world and a reminder of who God is, Matthew 24, verse 10, look at this. He says, and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. Have you ever seen a time when this world is so divided and offended over every little thing in the world? People are offended, and particularly the things of God. I mean, they're pulling down statues, they're trying to remove the true history of this country, they're trying to get rid of churches, trying to, I mean, discredit and destroy everything because it's offensive, quote unquote. When for the last two or three hundred years, it's not been a problem, but now all of a sudden it is. Why should we be surprised? Why should we be surprised? And they'll keep trying to divide us. And if we're not careful, we'll get in on it too. Even as God's people, remember he said right there, take heed that no man deceive you. I believe that we have to be careful on this deception through and through, not only on religion, but also on everything else, including this. Don't get caught up in the divisions about race and masks and vaccines and class status and all that. Look, folks, I'll tell you where I'm at on these things. I believe there's one race. the human race. I believe that if you work hard and earn what you've got, that's fine. Just don't rob other people of it. And that's whether you're richer than me or poorer than me. Work for what you've got. And as far as masks and vaccines go, what you do with those things is your business. What I don't agree with is when the government comes in and tries to tell me or you what to do with it. That's where I'm at with those things, in a nutshell. And I believe that on the base level of it, the people in this country can disagree on some of the finer points. If we can get above the noise that's being thrown out there and agree to liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, the things that the founders envisioned for this country. but they're trying to tear this country apart because there's a bigger agenda out there. In fact, if we skip on down a little bit, look what he says there in Matthew 24, verses 37 through 41 as we... Look what he says. He says, The days of Noah were so also was coming of the son of man being. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the son of man be. I believe it's going to be this way even on into the tribulation period. There's going to be some people that will be so clueless about what's going on. They're just going to be eating, drinking, giving in marriage. What they're going to be doing is just continuing in life as if nothing in the world to worry about. I mean, think about this for a minute. So we got all this going on right now, and people ain't paying attention to what this means spiritually. Signs of the times, judgment of God is falling upon this country. God's not happy with the way things are going here. You get a man, what is he, an admiral? stand up behind a podium and say that he's happy to be the first woman admiral or whatever, that's disgusting. That's not progress. That's disgusting and an abomination before Almighty God. And we got people that are just going through this country like nothing's happening. Eating, drinking, giving in marriage. And I believe that they'll keep on doing that even on into the tribulation period to a certain extent. People disappear at the rapture, where'd they go? Oh, they'll have some explanation about it. They'll probably say that we're taken by aliens or that we're in hiding or that climate change got us, I don't know. Living life without any spiritual concern. Isn't that the way it is with this generation? Even there in Matthew 24 in verse 12, he says, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Talking about a real love for the truth, love for the Lord, love for His word. You get that right and you'll have a proper love for your brethren. for your wife, your husband, the church, your country, right? Over in 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter three, Verse one says, this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. What's that word perilous mean? It means dangerous. What are the last days? Well I believe the last days are the days that we live in. The last days before the Lord returns. Now the last days are pretty wide. I believe they started when the Lord left this earth. when he went back up to heaven. So we've been living, we've been in the last days for maybe about 2,000 years in this earth, in this world. Perhaps we're at the last of the last days. We've gone through tough times before in the history of the Lord's churches. I've actually, the last couple of years, I've kind of made it a habit to go back and read some of the old writings of men that lived during times of the Black Plague and the pestilences and troubles, persecutions that have happened, just as a reminder. Some people get depressed reading those sort of things, but I'm reminded what those guys did. You see, they didn't know They didn't know exactly when the Lord would be coming back, just like we don't know. All they could do was read the signs, try to understand them. By reading the signs, they understood that they were living in the last days. And you and I, we read the signs and we see the same thing. So what do we do? What do we do, do we pull off the side of the road, wait for the Lord? Some folks believe that. Some folks have no vision beyond the here and now because they believe that Jesus is coming back here and now. Maybe he is, but we don't know. I thank the Lord that those guys that lived in the 1500s, 1600s, dark days that they were, and I'm talking about they were living through some pretty perilous times too. They had a vision beyond where they were. They wrote books. They established churches. They kept on. And isn't that what we should be doing? In fact, 2 Timothy chapter three, when we read it, and we won't go through it today, but you sit down and read it at home, you go through it and you read it, it's like reading the newspaper. It's like, wow, God, this is like what's going on in my country in the last days. What's he say to do? Well, Verse 13, he says, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. That doesn't give me much hope. But what's he say there in verse 14? But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child Thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering in doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, shall be turned into fables." He says, you've got to keep on keeping on, keep going. Yeah, it's the last days. Yeah, you've got all these things going on, but keep on keeping on. Stick to the Word. Stay with the stuff. Keep going. Keep going. Have a vision beyond here and now. Understand that the Lord may come back any time. In fact, They're at the last, they're in Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24, verses 42, 43, and 44. He says, watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good men of the house had known in what Watch, the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be also ready, for in such an hour as ye think, not the Son of Man cometh." You remember the days before GPS? You'd be driving down the interstate, and you'd have a set of directions, and it would say, you got to drive You gotta drive this far until you get about here and your exit will be off on the right. And you weren't quite sure where, you'd have to be watching. And you'd go off whenever you see the exit. Maybe a poor illustration, but an illustration nonetheless. The Lord is coming. We don't know what, hour or what time that we will exit, but we do know that it's going to be soon. You know, when we're getting close to the exit, we tell the kids, wake up, wake up. We're almost home. We're almost to our destination. Wake up. I believe that's where we're at. Wake up. We're almost there. We're almost there. The signs indicate. that these are the last days, that the Lord could return at any moment. It is fearful when you look at just the signs themselves, but understanding them in the light of God's word, how exciting it is to know that these are signs which indicate that Jesus is coming soon. And for the child of God, that's exciting, that's exciting. These things point to a soon return of him, our Lord. Are you ready? Are you ready to meet the Lord? Oh, how we must be ready for Jesus. He is coming and how we long for him. Let's stand to pray and then be dismissed.