If you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and be turning to Matthew chapter 24. And we do want to welcome everyone who's with us this morning here, those who are tuning in on Sermon Audio and YouTube. You know, we have those things available for those who can't come. But we do meet on Sunday mornings, 10 a.m., 11 o'clock. And then we also meet now on Wednesday night, What we do on Wednesday, we have a little, we have a bit of fellowship, we have a sermon, we have a season of prayer. And now that the time has changed, we'll have a bit of daylight as well. And so that's always a good thing. So if you're in the area and can come and be with us, definitely do that. And so we're thankful. Matthew chapter 24, and we'll begin reading at verse one, and we'll read down to verse 14. Matthew 24 beginning at verse one, 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 them, 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. And as he sat 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? Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, shall deceive many. 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. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. You shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Then shall many be offended, shall betray one another, shall hate one another. Many false prophets shall rise, shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come. This chapter, Matthew 24, has a lot of prophetic information in it. I believe that verses four through 14 refers to primarily the events of this age, the age that we live in, and that will increase during the time of the Great Tribulation period, primarily the first three and a half years. which by the way, I believe that, comparing scripture with scripture, I believe that you and I who are saved, God's people will be raptured out before the tribulation. But there's gonna be a ramp up, a ramping up of events that's gonna happen in this world, a gearing up, so to speak. that we'll see some things. I believe there's some things that we'll see and I believe we're seeing some things in this world. You know, as a kid I used to think that everything would be great and everything would be fine, the rapture would happen and then boom, the one world government and all that sort of thing. But, things don't happen overnight in this world. And we may see some things happen in this world. as alliances happen and as the one world government comes into place and the stage is set, so to speak, for the Antichrist and all of that. Verses 15 through 26, we didn't read it, but that I believe that has to do primarily with the last three and a half years of the tribulation period, and then in verses 27 through 31, the coming of Christ and His glory. But today, what we read, it might be a summary of the entirety of the Christian age, if you want to think of it that way, including the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. And when we look at the world around us, we see some things happening that he said would happen. Many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, shall deceive many. Don't we see that? And in the name of Christianity, people saying, well, I'm inspired, I've gotten a word from God, here I am. Do not we, and this is our text today, ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled. This week I've been thinking a lot, as I'm sure you have, of the things that are going on in Ukraine and Russia. And then last night, You may not have seen it. It was on the news. Apparently some US interest, whether it was a base or whatever, something that we've got stationed in Iraq got hit by missiles. It's believed to have come from Iran. Wars and rumors of wars. In the time of this writing, throughout the Roman Empire, there were wars and conflicts that happened. And all leaning up through history, I love history, as do some of you all. Isn't that what the highlights of history are? Are wars, it seems like. The people that we remember are the generals and the presidents of wars. The battles that are fought, you know, driving across Georgia. The historic sites, what are they? They're forts. Andersonville was right close to the church where Brother Pruitt pastors. But a new era was born immediately following World War I, wasn't it? Wars and conflicts got more complicated. Some of the folks of that time thought that it was the war to end all wars, but it wasn't, was it? The United Nations was formed eventually, supposedly to help end war. It didn't. The United States got tangled up into a war more recently. of on terror. How in the world is that supposed to end? A war with no boundaries, an enemy that has no end. Al Qaeda, ISIS, on and on it goes. And then Russia and Iran now. It's almost as if the Soviet Union, we're back to the way the Soviet Union was. Do you know that at one point, The idea was that no two countries who had McDonald's would ever fight with each other, and yet, here we are. Here we are. Russia has invaded Ukraine, and NATO's on high alert, and, you know, it was, it was, Brother Barry and I were talking before church, you know, it seems like that every Every time NATO delivers anything in Ukraine, it gets announced on the news, almost as if we're taunting Russia. Says, hey, we're delivering these weapons into Ukraine. Hey, we're gonna send these planes into Ukraine. Wars and rumors of wars. The more we taunt, the more we provoke, the more we may come closer into World War III. And so it's on the news constantly, wars and rumors of wars. My kids are young, they don't remember what it was like being in the Cold War when the idea of nuclear weapons being aimed at us all the time was a real threat. And so they were asking, one of them was asking me the other day, what do we do? if we go to war with Russia, or what if a nuclear weapon comes? Well, what's he say here? He said, 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. The doomsdayers on TV, they will tell you that the end of the world is nigh, and it's all gonna come to end because of a nuclear meltdown, but Jesus says that's not how it's going to end. You see, whether they throw nuclear weapons and all that sort of thing, that remains to be seen. And remember, nuclear weapons have gone off on this world before. But God's got the end of the world all planned out, and it's not gonna be done by Russia or the United States. God's gonna destroy it in His time, in His time. Over in the book of Luke chapter 32, Luke chapter 32 and verse nine, Nope, that's not it. There is no Luke 32. Boy, I tell ya. How about we just go on to John chapter 14? Some of these preachers claiming inspiration. I'm up here to prove that I'm not inspired. I make so many mistakes. God keeps me humble one way or another. John chapter 14, verse 27. Look what it says here. And whosoever doth not bear, sorry, I'm all fumbled up here. John chapter 14. Yesterday when I was preaching a fellowship meeting, I had my notes all on my tablet. It works flawlessly most of the time when I'm here. I never had so much trouble as what I did when I was over there. I mean, that thing kept resetting on me, resetting on me, resetting on me. Anyway, I got through it by the grace of God. People were praying for me, I could tell. Brother John said, you better have plan B for tomorrow. I said, I'm printing my sermon tomorrow, don't worry. John chapter 14, verse 27. It says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. God gives us peace as the people of God. We may not understand what's going on, we may not, We may not have all the answers. We may not be able to fix Russia and Ukraine. We may not be able to fix Biden and Harris, though we wish we could. Oh, how we wish we could. I watched some of those speeches that they give and I think, my goodness, Josiah could give a better speech than what's coming from them and be a better leader. Those guys ain't fit to be dog catcher and what are they doing trying to lead the free world? But hey, our God is sovereign and we can have peace in a broken world that we live in. As I was studying about this, somebody posted a quote from C.S. Lewis. I don't quote from C.S. Lewis very often. You know, some of his writings are good, but he's not the best. I mean, there's a lot of better writings that you can read from, but he nailed this one. He nailed this one, and so I'll share it with you. This was from 1948, apparently. and it's relevant. He said, in one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. How are we to live in an atomic age? I am tempted to reply why as you would have lived in the 16th century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night, or indeed as you are already living in an age of cancer, or an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, or an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents, In other words, do not let us, he goes on to say, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, You and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented, and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had indeed one very great advantage over our ancestors, anesthetics. but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty. This is the first point to be made and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. And that's the end quote there. But if you notice something, year after year after year, the news is telling us to be scared, to be worried, to be frightful, to hunker down, to go on and not live our lives to to be scared of this or that. 2020 started off with COVID-19. 2021, same thing. Here we are, 2022. And when Russia and Ukraine started all this up and all this started happening, they started lifting all the kind of mandates and all that. We go from one crisis to another to another. We've got to remember, our life, our birth, our life, our death is in the hand of God. In 2 Timothy chapter one, In 2 Timothy chapter one and verse seven. 2 Timothy chapter one and verse seven. He says, for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. When all this started up with COVID in Mansfield, I had a marker board to my left of the pulpit. And I didn't use it all that much, but I wrote that verse on the board. That was our verse, right? And that's the verse I kind of kept in my head going into that. And as we go into this, with Russia threatening NATO, and it seems like that there's some politicians in Washington that seem to want to go to war. I think they probably have some money invested in some of that, and they're probably gonna get rich off of it, like I think they do all the time, while the rest of us suffer. But whatever happens, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. I'm encouraged by some things. I love that picture, it's floating around Facebook. Showed the guy in Ukraine, tanks all around, what's he doing? He's out riding his bike, you know? His routine. Nobody's going to bother his routine, not even the Russian tanks that are coming into his town. I don't know what his spiritual condition is, but I thought, that's great. That's great. I'm encouraged by guys like Brother Raoul and those fellows from Romania. We support that work. They do mission work correctly. You see, one of the things that's always impressed me by Brother Raoul and Brother Peter and New Guinea and guys like that, they don't camp out in one city and just stay there. If you look at the pattern of the New Testament, missionaries moved around. They were very much mobile in their journeys. They saw a need and they go. Where's brother Rahul at with his buddies? They took collection for the saints in Ukraine. And what did they do? Did they mail it off to Ukraine? No, they went to Ukraine. Somebody says, well, that's dangerous. Absolutely, it's dangerous. But serving the Lord is dangerous. It's been, I guess, from what I understand from Facebook, the season of Lent lately. People talking about what they gave up for Lent. Listen folks, Lent is not Christian. It's not a Christian thing. I'll ask you, and I'll ask the people who celebrate Lent, What have you given up for Christ? That's the question. That's the question. You know, God didn't call us as his people to hunker down in fear when trouble comes, to follow the new cycles and all that. He called us to serve him. to serve Him, regardless of what's going on in the world. Wars and rumors of wars, pestilences, earthquakes, whatever. He didn't say, well, you can pause it if there's trouble happening. No. The book of Isaiah chapter 26. Isaiah chapter 26. verses 3 and 4, Isaiah 26 verses 3 and 4. It says this, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord, forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." Oh, you read about some folks through history and you think, how in the world were they so strong? You know, great hero of the South. Stonewall Jackson. How'd he get that name? Because when the cannons were firing and they were under heavy stuff, they said, there's Jackson standing there like a stone wall. Why was he standing there like a stone wall? Was he blind, deaf, stupid? No. He trusted the Lord in times of battle, the same as what he did in times of peace. How did he do that? His mind was stayed on God. His mind was stayed on God. In and of himself, he was nothing. But he loved the Lord. He served him. He served him. And that's how we ought to be today. There's a balance, right? We want to know what's going on, so we watch the news, but we've also got to make sure we're grounded in the Word. We've got to make sure we're grounded in the Word. In closing, wars and rumors of wars, oh, there are so much going on in the world, but over in the book of Isaiah, again, in chapter 2, Isaiah chapter two. Begin verse one. It says the word that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem came to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established. and the top of the mountains shall be exalted above the hills and all the nation shall flow into it. Many people shall go and say, come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his path for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. and he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." You look through history and you find that this, Isaiah chapter two, has not yet come to pass. But if you look in prophecy, Understand it is coming. There is coming a time of great peace upon this world. Someone says, well, I don't know if I'll live to see it. Let me tell you something. If you're a child of God, whether this event in Isaiah chapter 2 is seven years from now, or a few thousand years from now, you will live to see it. Because as God's people, we will live. There's life beyond this grave. There's life beyond this world. We will see this. God's got this all under control. The lion will lay down with the lamb and all that sort of thing. Praise the Lord. Even the nations. Seems like they like to fight and all that sort of thing. They'll beat their swords into plowshares, their swords into pruning hooks. They won't learn war anymore. There's coming peace. There's coming peace. I look forward to it. But most of all, I look forward to seeing my Lord. And in the meantime, in the meantime, when we live in a time like this, when there's wars and rumors of wars, let us not fear, but let us rejoice in God's sovereign plan. May God add a blessing to his word and let us pray for those who are in that heat of war, even at this very hour. May God bless you.