bring you greetings from Johnstown Baptist Church. And I want to say a special thank you to Brother John Pruitt. I don't teach him to leave that answering machine on and not answer it. We are thankful to be here. My wife, Patty, said to make sure that I say hello to all of you and let her know that she loves you and she wishes she could be here. She almost cried when I opened up the door. Well, she's just not feeling well enough to be here. For some reason, she kind of loves you all. It's hard to understand, isn't it? No, it's not. But I do remember to pray for her. She said if she's feeling a little bit better, she's going to try to make the morning session tomorrow. So I pray with the best of the Lord's will that can happen. Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. I just want to read verse 3 to start with. 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? I want to preach tonight on the subject, the sign of the times. And as we follow the events that are taking place in this world around us today, we should realize as a child of God that the times are pointing us towards the return of our Savior. There is an appointed time for our Lord to return to this earth, and we may not know the hour or the day, yet we are instructed and we should not be caught unaware by that time. We should be knowledgeable about the world events that will take place before the return of Christ for his people. Certain events are promised and we as God's people are to be prepared and watching. Luke chapter 21 says to us in verse 34, Luke 21 verse 34, and take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, so that day come upon you unawares. Take heed to yourselves. Do not become so consumed with the things of this world that we forget to be watching for the return of our Savior. God's people are not to be caught so up with the world that we are distracted and don't know what time it is. Don't you love when children realize that there is a thing called time? Haven't you been driven crazy by young children? What time is it? What time is it? What time is it? Are we there yet? Yeah, it goes along with that line. But yet we should be anxiously looking forward and waiting for that time and we should have a good general idea that the time is near. In other words, we should have an idea of what time it is. The disciples asked our Lord for a sign. People often seek after a sign, some miraculous event that tells them what's going to happen. God has given us his word, and we must look to what God's word says. in God's Word we'll find all the signs that we need. Now here, and I'm not even going to begin to touch the subject, but here is some of what God's Word says concerning events that we can expect, concerning events that we can watch for, events that are leading up to the return of our Savior. Here are some signs, if you want to put it in that vernacular. Now in Matthew 24, we began with verse 3, and I understand that part of this passage is speaking about tribulation time and other times as well, but I do believe we also see some warning signs that predate the tribulation period. some things that we can look for, some things that are actually going to take place. Verse 5 of Matthew 24 says, For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. I believe this shows a rise of false religions, a rise of false saviors, deceivers on every hand. How many times have we heard even recently, many are claiming to be Christ even now. The fellow out of Puerto Rico claims that he's Jesus and you can follow him. And there are many others that hold themselves up as the religious authority that you should listen to. You can name a religion in this day and age for just about anything. And I'm not going to stand here and try to name all of these far-flung, far-out ideas that men have for religion tonight. But there are homosexual churches. There are lesbian churches, so-called. There are churches for women only. There are children's churches. There are rock and roll churches. There are drive-in churches. They advertise, you don't even have to get out of your pajamas, just drive in, sit there, have a church service, and drive home. There are churches, so-called, that will teach people whatever the people want. And it's all in the name of religion. All in the name of God. Or if you don't want to call him God, you could call him Buddha, or Allah, or any other name. You search a higher power. Any other name that you choose to use. The Dalai Lama. Now, 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1 through 3, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Do you hear that? And doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience sheared with a hot iron. forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." These religions, these religious leaders, the people themselves, they want signs, they want miracles, and they are given miracles and signs. Many are mistaking emotionalism and signs for authority from Almighty God. These so-called miracles and signs must be according to God's Word or they come from a different source than our Lord. We need to remember that. As a matter of fact, if you look over in the book of Revelation, in the 13th chapter, verse 13. 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 beasts, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image of the beasts which had the wound by sword and did live. And he had power to give life into the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. These miraculous events, so-called, that we see taking place today in the so-called churches and religions of this world are setting the stage for what we've just read about here in Revelation 13. They are given power and we must understand that we must view this power in the light of Scripture. We must view the rise of religion, false religion, false prophets, false Christ as a sign of the time that our Lord's return is near. More importantly, don't be misled or deceived. Back in Matthew chapter 24, in verse 6, we see another warning, another sign. And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. We live in a time of conflict. I don't think we could think otherwise. I was driving the other day and I was listening to national public radio and there was a program on there how that in the last 50 years, there had been 133 civil wars. 133 civil wars across the globe. That does not count conflicts like Korea, or Vietnam, or the Persian Gulf, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Bosnia, or any other number of armed conflicts that you could name. This is just civil wars, internal wars between two parts of a nation that actually broke out into warfare. Wars, wars, and more wars. Men are truly fierce. Are they not? They're truly fierce. Men are surely truce breakers. They're truce breakers. I found it interesting how those 133 civil wars, most of them were settled, I think it was 70% if I remember correctly, were settled by one side eliminating the other side. The other 25 or 30% were settled by peace treaties, and out of that, those 25 or 30% re-erupted into war again. Someone broke the truce. Truce breakers. Isn't that what 2 Timothy says to us? In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 1, This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from such eternal way. That word perilous here, last days, perilous times, That word perilous means violent, savage, dangerous. As I was studying, I found it interesting that that word translated perilous is used in Matthew chapter 8. Turn over there with me. Matthew chapter 8 and in verse 28. says, and when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergeses or Gadarenes there met him two possessed with devils coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce so that no man might pass by that way. That word exceeding fierce is the same word that was translated perilous times in reference to demon possession or demon influence, demon control. The fierceness of men that we see described may be due to demonic influence or even demonic possession. I believe we see that. That also coincides with the restraining power of the Holy Spirit being withdrawn. These signs are an indication of even more violence and even more destruction. The aggressive, uncaring violence of nation against nation of wars and rumors of wars are given to us as a sign. Sign of the time. Our Lord's return is near. Matthew 24 again. Verse 7. Poor nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places." Brother Green and I were talking before the service, and I told him, he asked me about the message, and I said, well, I thought that I would stand here for about five or ten minutes and just read headlines to you. from the newspapers and from the various news magazines, and I decided not to do that, but you go through and read. Read. Famines, pestilences, earthquakes, headline after headline after headline concerning new diseases. new viruses, new plagues that are on the brink of breaking out into pandemic proportions. We're going to see a time, I believe, of worldwide plagues. Medical science cannot keep up with all the new strains of viruses. We have flesh-eating bacteria, antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And we find the rise of old diseases that we once thought had been taken care of. TB is on the rise. Malaria, smallpox. These are killers. They're starting to rear their ugly head again. These things are telling us that what Jesus has said is coming to pass. That's what it is. The number of earthquakes is definitely on the increase. Like a woman in labor. It's been my privilege to be with my wife. She brought three young lives into this world. I want to tell you something, those labor pains start small, but they grow more frequently, more intense, more strong. This old earth is feeling the contractions even tonight as we speak and as we meet here. They're growing stronger and they're growing stronger. The shaking and the trembling of the earth is a sure sign that the time of our Lord's is close. Hunger. Hunger is well known in parts of the world. North Korea lost over three million people due to starvation. Three million people due to starvation in the last few years. Millions have died in Africa due to starvation. Asia has lost millions. Not enough food. United States has been insulated from this kind of hunger. Now, I know there's people that are hungry in this country, but not on the wide scale that we see in other nations and other lands. Yet, I believe we're beginning to see warnings as well. Crop failures due to drought, crop failures due to flood, crop failures due to freezing and frost, We see subtle shifts in our weather patterns. And I'm not standing up here pretending to be Al Gore tonight. I don't believe I'd want to be Al Gore tonight. But I do believe that we can study history. And I do believe as you study history, you'll find whole populations of people were moved or disappeared simply due to a change in the growing seasons. They have. There's been whole civilizations of people that they can't account for other than they begin to study. It looked like there were periods of drought that changed their growing season and suddenly their comfortable civilization is gone. What makes us think that we're immune? What makes us think that we're immune? God can send judgment, people. And I am afraid for our country. When I study and read the news, and Patty thinks I'm crazy because I like to hear the news every evening. I usually, I get a news week to kind of keep up on national events. I want to know what's going on. She said, why? Well, part of the reason why is I want to know what's going on out there in the world. And you see these things, and I can't help but think that God can withdraw his protective hand from us, and I believe we are seeing the beginning of the signs that very thing is beginning to happen. I believe that. Famine is a sign of the times that our Lord returns. One more, I think my time's getting close. But in Matthew chapter 24 again, look at verse 37 and 38. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. As the days of Noah. We find that in the days of Noah, There was no true regard for God. There wasn't. They lived their lives eating and drinking and marrying. You look over at Luke 17, it says marrying wives, multiple wives. Bought, sold, busy with everything. Genesis 6, 5 says that all that was on their mind was evil, continual. Day in, day out, their hearts, their minds, and bodies were thanking and doing evil continuously. Has there ever been a time, not just here in our nation, but across the world, where all the people seem to care about, let's have a good time, let's indulge ourselves, let's enjoy everything that we can think of, let's experiment and try, let's just paint it with all the color we can paint it with. Drugs, alcohol, pornography. surrounds us. Your radio, your TV, everything that you care to look at, the clothes. It breaks my heart when I see some of the clothes our young children are wearing. It does. What they read, what they see, What they experience is anti-God, anti-Scripture, anti-Christ. These signs all point to the return of Christ. All these signs are telling us soon. Soon. Brother Gene Kiger preached the message at Johnstown last year. Today, right now, he said, concerning the return of Christ. I don't know about you, but wouldn't it be a great thing if suddenly we're sitting here in the middle of this conference and we hear the triumph and the sound of God and we're going! Well, the signs are all pointing to that very thing, people. Today. Soon. We shouldn't be discouraged. We shouldn't be. I know these things are depressing. As I studied this and thought about it and think about it, it could be depressing if that's what we focused in. But what we have to remember is this is pointing us, Jesus is coming. It's in complete fulfillment of what He said would happen. So don't be discouraged. Jesus Christ is coming. We may yet see a time of persecution before the Lord comes. I think the stage is being set even in our society today. If you think I'm lying, you go out and start publicly proclaiming that homosexuality is a perversion and a sin in the eyes of God and those that practice it need to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Try that. Try and stand and proclaim that abortion is murder and you need to stop killing the unborn You proclaim that and find out. There's actual laws in some places that speak against hate speech. Now, the Word of God is a book that is full of love, but it's also a book of truth. And we need to understand that there is a right and there is a wrong. And if we start declaring what God says is right, I believe the day will come and we will face persecution. But even in that, Don't be saddened. Don't be discouraged. Our Lord gave us these signs that we may know and be expected of Him. Our redemption draweth nigh. That's what the signs are saying.