Alright, we're going to be in 1st Timothy tonight, chapter 2. 1st Timothy in chapter 2 and if you want to Read tonight, just get in line as we always do each Wednesday night. All right, looks like there's three, four, four, okay. All righty, so there's 15 verses in four of y'all. Let's do what, like three, right? Three, six, nine, 12, 13, 14, 15. Well, three do four, one do three. Got it? So however you want to do it. If you do four, then somebody's going to have to do three, right? All right. First Timothy chapter two. I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Thank you. Three. For there is one God and one meditator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. O therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. And like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Thank you, Brian. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to assert authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Thank you. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved and childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Amen. Thank you. If you have your Bibles here tonight, turn to Matthew chapter 24. So as we're turning to Matthew chapter 24, I do want to say this Sunday that we're having church and then lunch and then church again. That will conclude our day here at Glory Baptist Church and then we will be going to Brother Gary's church that evening at 6 o'clock and be preaching there. Anybody like to come, you're sure welcome to do so. And so I invite you to do that. This Friday, we'll be here as well. We're cutting the grass and if the building is not finished, we're going to try to finish that up as well. And so if you'd like to be a help there, you can show up on Friday and do that as well with us. And so And then of course Wednesday we will meet at Brother Gary's church for service and enjoy that time with his church as well. All right, Matthew chapter 24. We have preached on this last Wednesday or began to preach on the message of the end. And we want to continue on it here tonight. So we're going to begin reading in verse 3. And we'll read a few verses here tonight and then we will bring what God has given to us. Verse 3. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and 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 nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and 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, shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many of you be offended. They shall betray one another and you shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. Because iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold. He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. Father, we come to you in Jesus' name here this evening, thanking you, Father, for the songs that we sung and for the reading of your word here this evening. Thank you for all those you've gathered tonight in this place called the house of God. I pray, Lord, that you'd take your word and through your spirit tonight, Lord, that you'd move within our hearts and move in our lives. Open our eyes, open our hearts. God, may our minds be willing to listen. God, may our hearts be willing to receive. Father, do something real special with us here tonight, dear God, concerning the end, the end of the world. Father, I pray, Father, that you'd give us help in preaching, anoint us, fill us with your spirit. God, guard our lips and our mind. Help us physically, spiritually. God, help us mentally, emotionally like tonight, dear God. I pray for every here, God, everyone that's here tonight, ready to hear from God, ready to be obedient to the Lord, ready to serve you. I pray, God, that you'd use them, empower them, edify them, encourage them tonight. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. So the question is, is there really an end of the world? Well, according to Jesus, the answer is yes. We see the confirmation of that, of the end of the world, in verse 3, because they ask the question. And the question was, is tell us, When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? So there was some questioning, there was some asking, and they're asking the question is when is there going to be the end? That word end of the world means when is there going to be the entire completion? When is there going to be a consumption of this world? When is it going to finish? When is it going to be the end? Well, there's many today who don't believe in the end of the world. There's a multitude of people today that don't have no idea that the end of the world is even coming. They don't even have a clue that this, what we have, will not always last. It will not always be, but according to Jesus, it will end. He addresses it in verse 6. He says, but the end is not yet, telling us it's coming, but it's not here yet. It's soon, but not yet. It's sure to be, but it's just not here yet. So the end is addressed. But then the end also, he's aware of, and for he said in verse 13, he said, but he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved. And so we find that the end is a length of time. The end is an area of space or a known place. And so He says to them, if you're going to endure under the end during the tribulation period, then you might be saved. You shall be saved, telling us that there is an end. There is a time and a point. There's a definite point. There's a point aimed at as a limit. There is a result of finality or finishing is the very definition of the word end and then we found Also the acknowledgement of the end he says in verse 14 He says and then shall the end come and so according to Jesus that the end of the world is true and the end of the world is coming and the end of the world will come and I hope and pray that you're not here during that period of the end of the world because if you are, You'll find that you've faced a tribulation period. You'll face one of the awful times of all life, the great tribulation period. And so we pray that you are saved and that you'll be raptured prior to the tribulation period. You won't see the end, but I pray that here today that you just know that there is an end of the world. But then he, not only does he confirm it, but I notice that he clarifies it. He begins to give us some details. He says there in verse 8, He says, Now that word sorrows there is important to us. That word means to beginning of increase. The beginning of intensity. It's a beginning of indication. And what he's saying is that this time of sorrows is a time where you start, but it'll grow. The word sorrows is childbearing or childbirth. That's what it means. And you know that childbirth, there's pains, and with childbirth, the pains come stronger and stronger, and then they get harder and harder, and then they get faster and faster. Right? I've never had a baby, but I know somebody who had two, and I know others who had babies, and we know that each time it seems to be the whole thing of having a baby is the same for every woman. Amen? And so you have those pains that are fast, those pains that are sharp, those pains that are strong, those pains that are hard, and next thing you know, here comes forth a baby. Well, Jesus is using that same terminology. He's saying that when you see things are getting faster, things are getting harder, Things are getting stronger. Things are intensifying. Things that are getting to the place where it's increasing just know there's about to be the end of the world. And so we find, as Jesus tells us this and tells him that, we notice that the things that he makes clarification of, the things that we'll be getting increased of or beginning to be intensifying in is, number one, deception. We found last Wednesday that the deception of this time will be the greater than ever. And we notice in verse 4 he talks about, take heed that no man deceive you. Verse 5 he says, and shall deceive many. And then we find in verse 11 the Bible says, and shall deceive many. We know that within this context of the scripture that Jesus is telling us that during the time of the last time, the days before the end of the world, that you'll find deception that will increase. And deception will intensify like never before. And so if there's going to be deception, it's because we're in the days of knowledge. Amen? In the days of knowledge. That's where the deception's going to be all about. It's all about Daniel chapter 12 and verse 4 says this, But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end, the same time that they were speaking of in Matthew that Jesus is dealing with. Same time, there's only one end, and that's the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. And so what Daniel is saying is this, is at the end of time that knowledge will be increased. And this knowledge that he's talking about will be a knowledge of deception. We find in Amos chapter 8, turn there with me. Amos chapter 8, of course, is in the Old Testament. Amos chapter 8, and as we look in Amos chapter 8, we find that the reason for deception concerning this knowledge is in verse 11. The Bible says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a hearing of the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro. There's that same phrase that was used in Daniel. He says, he goes on to say, to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. So the reason of deception, the deception of the days of knowledge, the knowledge that will increase, there's two types of knowledge. The knowledge of the Lord Jesus, or the knowledge of the Word of God, which is necessary for you and I that are saved and born again. And then there's the knowledge of man or the knowledge of the world. We find that there's coming a day and a day of deception where there's going to be a time that God said is going to send forth a famine for it's going to be harder to find the truth of God's Word. It's harder. You can't go to every church and find the truth of God's Word. You can't go to those who are called Christian and find the truth of God's Word. It seems like people writing books, seem like people on the TV, people on the radio. It just seems like truth is getting harder to find. Amen? We find that there's a famine of hearing the Word of God. that there are folks out there that are trying to find truth. They want truth, but they can't find it. We find that in the days in which we live. Number two, we find it's harder to not only find truth of God's Word today, but it's harder to find the preaching of God's Word today. We find tonight, as we have talked about before, there's hundreds and thousands and ten thousands of churches all over our land, all over our world today. But you can say, don't be naive either, to think that they're preaching the Word of God, preaching the truth of God's Word. That's not so today. There's many churches today that are out there speaking. They don't even call it preaching anymore. They call it teaching. They call it lesson. They call it study. They don't even care about calling anything that they do preaching. They call it everything else but preaching. And you know what? They got that right because they ain't preached a lick. I mean, they couldn't preach yourself out of a wet paper bag, amen? They ain't got enough power to blow the fuzz off of a peach. And Fred, now you just find those guys, and they're about right on that. There ain't no preaching in them. There ain't no preaching about them. There's no preaching from them. And nobody else is hearing preaching either. We're gonna be in the days, the days of the end is when it increases and it finds an intensity where you're gonna try to find places, try to find people, try to find preaching, try to find truth, Not only is it harder to find preaching and harder to find truth, but it's harder to find, in the days of these days, he's talking about living for God, living God's Word. It's hard to find any Christian today living God's Word, living like Christians ought to live. Living like God would want you to live. Living as you've been told to live and been called to live. Many Christians today are sipping on the beer and smoking on the cigarettes and looking at the pornography and into gambling and into fornicating and living with each other. and adultery and homosexuality. And we find today people that are bitter, people that are angry, people that are jealous, people that are envious, people that are unforgiving. They call themselves Christians, amen? And they live in that state. They live in those characteristics. And friend, we find today no better day than a day of deception because there's no knowledge, it seems, of God's Word anymore. It's hard to find. That's the reason of deception. Because when God's knowledge is removed from the pulpits, it's removed from the home, it's removed from the colleges, it's removed from the institutions of learning, it's removed from our politics, it's removed from our sports, it's removed from our lives, the only thing that matters is the knowledge that man has. Knowledge increases. And we found an increase of knowledge, and we found that in several ways. We talked about that here. I will get that just shortly. There is a rise of deception, and the way of knowledge is increasing. We talked about number one, about social media. Talk about social media, there's the greatest deception ever given. People can lie, people can tell lies, people can send lies, people can laugh at lies, people can laugh at deception. All that social media and all social media, friend, it's wicked on that. It's unbelievable today in what we allow ourselves to look to, allow our children to look at, allow our are people that we care for and love to be upon that social media. And that social media is full of deception, lies, and it doesn't tell the truth. It gives all kinds of assumptions. It gives all kinds of thoughts that are not real. And I ought to say to you, in the way of social media, what the rise of deception is because of that knowledge. Number two, TV. TV is full of deception. You watch all those movies and they're not real. We loved John Wayne for many years and he was just fake. He was never what he was, Clint Eastwood. Never what he was. Rambo. All that stuff we watch on TV and we look, we cry, we laugh, we get into it. Those soap operas, man, we can't get away from them. I mean, we gotta watch as our day, as our life turns or something like that. We've gotta make sure that we're up there on all of the things that are going on in the reality shows. And I tell you, friend, all of that's fake. Nothing's real. They're all dolled up. All the guys are all hooked up. Everything seems to be the wisest and the smartest and the prettiest and the most handsome and the richest and all things just seem to be not real life. And it brings ourselves into the places and we think that we got to be like so-and-so. You watch a love scene on TV. and you're married and you go home or you get home or you think you get home, you start putting on what they put on. You start saying what they said. And the other partner don't respond like they responded. Gotta go back and watch it again. He might have missed something. You probably didn't say it right. Something didn't work right because if it worked on TV, sure enough it'll work at home. I mean, listen, friend. All I'm saying is this TV is full of deception. This social media is full of deception. The internet, you see and you hear lies and deception through the internet. You don't know it's true. You don't know it's for real. You hit Google and say, well, who is God? It'll tell you who is God. You go around telling them who God is. Internet, man, gives you a vast amount of information. You would go to Google, go to Internet, and put in a question, and they'd ask a question. You don't know the answer. Amen? If you knew the answer, you wouldn't go to Google. So you go to Mr. Google. And in Mr. Google, you say, Google, what about this? What about that? And Mr. Google tells you what it is, and you go back, tell your children what it is. How do you know that's true? I'm telling you, friend, we allowed ourselves to have knowledge of Google. We tell our children, Google it. Hey, at work all the time, somebody asks something, they say, well, go on Google. Google seems to be our life. It seems to be what helps us through life. It's Google. And we find tonight that Google, deception. We talked about schools. And schools are teaching lies. And schools are teaching our children at their very smallest about things that they ought not be talking about. They're teaching them all through college how to be a communist and how to be a socialist and how to hate what's right and do what's wrong and it's okay. I mean, all the way up to the highest education to the lowest education, our kids are getting full of lies and deception. Schools are full of that. Heights. of deception we find in our businesses. Be woke. D.I. Following all this other nonsense that the social people are talking about that you have to be. You can't say this. If it's a her, if it's a him, who identifies as a her, you got to say her. If you don't say her, you get fired. I'll tell you right now, I'm not going to cooperate with that stuff. I ain't incorporating any of it. Amen? I mean, you might want to if you can, but that's a lie. It's teaching. A boy who says there's a girl, and now they can go into the girl's restroom, go into the girl's dressing room. Now they can go up there and put a helmet on and put boxing gloves on and go out there, a man, and hit a woman, hit her so hard she ain't never been hit that hard in the Olympics, and she comes crying off 45 seconds, and people going, yeah, that's good. That's deception. Amen? I know, you know, this is not a very happy message. We find in our homes deception. Tell our children we're going to take them somewhere we don't. Tell our children we're going to buy them something we don't. We tell our children they're going to get a whipping when they get home and they don't. We tell our children they're going to get in trouble next time they do that and they don't. We tell our children that we love them, but we don't discipline them, because you don't love them. We tell our spouse that we care and we love, yet we neglect and deny. We tell our spouse that you can trust me, you can trust what I say, and then you lie and tell them untruths. I'm just saying deception in homes. Deception in churches. Preachers are telling you stories that are not true. Sunday school teachers and other members of churches are living lives and they say that's Christian and really that's not Christian. I often say and do say even today that these people who say they're saved and they say they know the Jesus that I know then I must be lost. I've never been saved if that's what saved is. church's deception. Last we talked about, I'm not going to stay much on this, is AI. AI full of deception. Do you know AI was invented to deceive? The AI was made, created for a purpose to lie. That's what it was made for. It's not made to tell the truth. It's made to give an answer. Regardless if it's true or not, it doesn't matter. AI, artificial intelligence. AGI, artificial general intelligence. I'm not going to go through all that. Neuralink is attached to AI. Neuralink is one, no, I preached this last week, there was only one person who got a chip in their brain, connect, the computers connected to the brain, now there's 11. since last week. So, they got 11 people that have a computer or have a chip within their brain that's connected to a computer. So, all they have to do is think and then whatever they think, it moves. And so, we find that this AI is in human brains now. Worldly knowledge is increasing. We find today that you can find anything anywhere. You can have knowledge right at your fingertips. Every single one of us has a phone. Every single one of us can get on Internet, Google. Every single one of us today can see what's going on in Israel tonight. We can see what's going on in anywhere in the world. Is that true? Friend, there is not one thing of knowledge that we can't get in touch of and have tonight. I believe Jesus is correct when he said that there's going to be deception. And when that deception increases and intensifies, the end of the world is near. Number two, we stopped there last week. Number two, I want you to notice in verses six and verse seven, not only is the deception of this time is greater, but he said when the distress of this time is greater, The distress. Is there any other greater time in our lifetime where it's more stressful? Where it's distress today? I mean, it says in verse 6, it says, you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. He says in verse 7, for nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. I would say to you, friend, that there is probably not a time, 62 years old, And I can't remember when the day I was born, but I can remember maybe several years after I was born, I guess. I don't know how long that was. But I don't remember ever growing up. I don't ever remember being in elementary. I don't ever remember being in junior high, going into high school. I don't ever remember becoming an adult, becoming a parent, getting into the workforce. I don't ever remember such a distressful time as it is today. There is talk of war. Everyone's talking war. We're talking war now about Israel. We're talking war about Ukraine. We're talking war about China and Taiwan. We're talking war in the United States of America. We're talking war in Mexico. We're talking war, friend. It just seems like there's war talk everywhere you go. Well, that brings distress. It brings distress mentally strained. When you're always talking about war, it's always a mental strain. War in your marriage, war in your parenting, war in your work, war at church, war at home, war, war, war. When you're always war, talking about war, rumors of wars, it's going to be a mental strain upon you. And that's what's taking place in the world today. Mentally strained because of talk of war. Not only mentally, but it's emotionally strained. People, Fran, are wondering, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do with what's taking place in our world? What's taking place in our America? What's taking place in our own lives? War's everywhere. Talk of war. Physical strain, spiritual strain, emotional strain. But I know there's a talk of war, but I know there's the truth of war. In verse 7 it says, For nations shall rise against nation. When nations go in to other nations and fight, there's killing. Is that true? There's killing, there's raping. We're not talking about this anymore. We're talking about the truth of war. The truth of war, when there's war, there's rape, there's not only raping, there's destroying, there's separating homes, separating family members, separating from life and the death, separating of your cabinet, separating of your country. separating of you, your daily life and your walk, how you used to walk, how you did walk. We find world against world. We find human against human. We find family against family. We find person against person. There's wars between nations. There's wars between kingdoms. There's wars between parties, Democratic Party, Republican Party. There's wars between each other, each other in that what you believe, what you think, what your opinion is, there's a war There's a war in every area, a war in every sect. You can't say nothing unless somebody wants to fight with you. There is nations against nations, kingdom against kingdom. That just don't mean, friend, Russia attacks Ukraine. That talks about the drug war that we're in tonight, the human trafficking war we're in tonight. The war of the colleges and the war of the schools, taking up your children's brain, their intellectual, taking them down a dark road, a road of no return. We're talking about wars in marriages and wars in homes and parenting tonight, wars in churches, wars amongst people. We're in a day where there's a war everywhere in all places. Is that true? Battle. Fight. Don't you get tired of that? Don't you get tired of it? It seems like every single day you're fighting for life. You're fighting for your wife. You're fighting for your children. You're fighting for your church. You're fighting for your God. You fight, you fight, you fight. It's wars. It's truth of wars. It's rumors of wars. It's wars. He said, when you see that increase, we find in our colleges, between liberals and between those that are teaching communism and socialism. War. In our society, between moral and immoral. You can't believe what the Bible teaches anymore because if you are, then you are immoral. Good is wrong and wrong is good. War in our churches, truth and error. War in our hearts, sinfulness or holiness. Wars. According to Geneva Academy, right now, this day, there's 110 conflicts going on in the world. Do you know that? 110 wars that are going on. In North Africa, there's 45 wars. In Africa, there's 35 wars. In Asia, there's 21 wars. In Europe, there's 7 wars. Latin America, there's 6 wars. There's the trend of war. There are 700 or more protests going on right now in the world. Rushing the streets, rushing the capitals, burning down cars, turning over cars, breaking in, getting whatever they want. They're just maniacs, burning flags, saying what they're saying, doing what they're saying. It's chaos. 700 today, more than ever. We find 147 countries are in war. We have things in America like BLM, Antifa, Hamas. We find religious, racial, political, social. Can you feel the tension? Can you feel the pressure? Can you feel the anticipation? Jesus said, man, when it starts to increase and it starts to intensify, I want you to know something. The end of the world. The end of the world. Now, as he talks about a distress, but I want to show you thirdly, verse 7, he said, disasters of this time is greater. Now, I know there's always been wars. I know there's always been deception. I know there's always been disasters. But there are greater now. the intensifying, the increase of them. And disasters, we find there in verse 7, it says, there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. Do you know that these have tripled in 30 years? 30 years ago, the account of earthquakes and famines and the account of pestilences in diverse places were 30% less. So in 30 years, it's done tripled. It's more frequently, it's more powerfully, and it is more destructively. From the year 2000 to the year 2019, there were 7,348 of these disasters, killing 1.23 million people. The cost was 2.97 trillion. Years ago, from 1980 to 1999, there was only 4,218 disasters. This time went up about half, just in a 10-year period. The killing was less and the cost was less. Just by you look at the stats, or you look at the record, or you look at the facts, you could see tonight that these things of disasters are growing faster and becoming more frequent and becoming more disastrous. 35% of Americans believe that natural disasters are stronger and occurring more frequently. 2014, 49% believed, but today only 35% believe. 67% disagree that we're not in this disaster zone. Where is God? He's in charge. We find discrimination of this time is greater. Look at verse 9. Then they shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Discrimination. You say, well, is it bad? Well, you tell me. There's 360 million Christians today experiencing persecution. Tell me. There's not 360 million Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists. 360 million Christians are facing persecution. Today, there's 50 countries that are persecuting Christians. It was 20 for a long time. Now it's 50. One out of seven Christians globally is going to face persecution. Either their church burning down or them going to jail or they finding themselves in a place of hardship. Today, 5,898 Christians are killed. It's 23.8% up. 5,110 churches are closed. 13.8% up. 6,175 Christians are arrested. 44.3% up. 3,829 kidnapped or taken. 123.9% up. I would say discrimination of this time is greater. Jesus said, They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." Now, that's happened ever since he was here, but he said, remember, when it increased and intensified, then you know that the days of the end are here. The division of this time is greater. Look at verse 10. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. The visions of this time is greater. You know what division means? It means two visions. Two visions. Whenever you are in a place, are you in a relationship, are you in a partnership, and you got two visions, guess what you are? You're divided. That's division. Division is two visions. So we find in a place where we live today, there's two visions. There's the Christian vision and the unchristian vision. Am I right? There's no more today than I can remember. You might can remember if you could, if you would. I don't know. But there's no more greater today division in America. I don't know what's going on in other countries but I know what's going on here as far as what I know. There's no more greater division on morals. There's two visions of morals. Am I right? Two visions. You gotta pick one or the other. A morality of the life in which we live. The morals is to live according to the word of God, according to the Christian faith, according to the principles that God has laid out before us, that's called Christian morals. But then we got morals that are unchristian, which is of the world, or what they might call their morality. And we find that we cannot be more divided in America today in our moral state than we can. For example, for example, we believe that a baby within a womb of a mother has the right to live. They believe that that baby don't have the right to live, that that mother has a choice of her own body. Two visions. We say that a marriage is between a one white male or one female. They say a marriage can be between a female and a female and a male and a male. Two visions. We say that when you come off of out of another country into America that you got to come legally. They say you can come from another country into America illegally and not be called illegal. I can go on and on tonight. But there is no greater division morally, as it says in the scripture, Jesus said, when it intensifies and increases, then you may know. Not only are we divided morally, but we know in the country and the place we live, hey, we're even divided morally in our own families. This ain't a worldwide thing, this is a family thing. We're divided on genders. We say there's a male gender and a female gender. They say there's a cisgender and a transgender and all kinds of other genders. We're in way off visions. Two different visions. We're divided on policies. We're divided on purpose. We're divided on life. Can't go into all the details tonight, but would you agree with me tonight that there's division? And our country is divided right down the middle. And Fred, when you find somebody like Kamala Harris and now her running mate, and then you got Trump and his running mate, you can't get no more different than those two men and two women. We're living in a society of division. You say, well, is it like that all over the world? Well, as I look at all over the world, there's division everywhere. Not just here. Do we find the departing of this time is greater? Look at verse 12. Because of iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Jesus said, just get ready. The end of the world is when there's a departing that is greater. A departing in what? Well, a departing from righteousness. When we find and look where people are departing from righteousness. Hey, I was looking today for some things and I was looking on the internet and I was looking for things like why is America in decline? Why is America decreasing in attendance? And man, I found so many things. There's 21 reasons why. There's 19 reasons why. There's 31 reasons why. And it goes on to tell you why there's the decline of Christianity. And boy, it's just a constant decline. And it is. And it is. For the first time, there's 50% of Americans that don't go to church anymore. 47% that do. We find that 53% don't. That's a change. That's unbelievable. It's not the way it ought to be. It's not the way it should be. But we find the departing from righteousness. Departing from living the right life, living the right way, doing the right thing, is being what God would call the righteousness. Departing from holiness. Departing from godliness. We find a great departing going on in our world, in our lives, in our churches, in our places where we work, in the homes in which we live. It doesn't all make much sense today except the end of the world is coming. And we see it in the way of departure. There was a time when Christianity and the church was separated from the world. I mean, there used to be, I don't know if it's out of the way anymore, but there used to be Christian music. And then there was worldly music. And boy, those two are completely different. I mean, when you listen to Christian music and you listen to worldly music, you'll say, man, them two there, they just can't go together. There's no way that they can match. And today, the Christian music is the party. There used to be Christian clothing, Christian way of living, way of wearing. Right? There was a worldly dress and there was a godly dress. What happened? What happened to the departing of coming out of the godly dress, moving into the worldly dress? There used to be, a friend, a Christian walk. And it was different than an unbeliever's walk. I mean, it was totally opposite. There was no comparison. There was no at all where you could say, well, there's some likeness or there's some similarity. No, there was none. There was the Christian walk. There was the unbelievers walk, Fred. And they were, they deposed themselves in every aspect. There was churches. that live for God, and preachers that preach for the Lord Jesus Christ, and people that live under the Lord, and today we find departure. Today it's mixed. Today we're kind of tolerating. There used to be stands. There used to be convictions. You ever heard those before? There used to be standards. There used to be lines that were drawn There was a time of perimeters that was made. I won't cross that line. I won't go that perimeter. This is the way it's going to be in my home. I'm going to leave this home this way. I will not be tolerant of that. It's sinful. I will not accept that. It's wicked. I will not embrace that. It's ungodly. What happened? It's intensified. Because see, when you and your family make stands and take stands, people ain't going to like you. So we're more interested in being likable than being what Christ would have us to be. We're too interested in being the friends of our children and being the pals of our spouses and bringing the good old guy at work. Instead of being one who would stand on principles and live by convictions and live on standards and say that I will live for God and I will not cross over. We find a great departing going on. According to Jesus, when that intensifies, 64% of Americans in 2020, they believed in God. 90% of Christians in 1970 believed in God. 47% of Americans attend church. First time ever. Atheism is on the rise. Gnostics are by the multitudes. They say here's 20 reasons why religion has passed its time. I'm going to read them to you, then we close. The reason why that people are coming out of the church and departing away from the Lord and getting out of the house of God, the first reason is because of science and rationality. The second reason, because of hypocrisy in the church. The third reason is because of moral contradictions. They say one thing and they live another. Those in the church says, don't have time for that. Increased focused on individualism. Number four, the rise of secularism. The shift of social values. Religious Intolerance. Historical criticism, personal trauma, lack of revelance, intellectual discontent, diversity belief systems, political entanglement, declined church attendance, general shift, focus on wealth, rise of mental health awareness, personal autonomy, spiritual but not religious. The reasons why churches in America are being sold out. I don't understand all that. I just read it to you because that's what they said. I don't understand about not coming to church. I don't understand it. I don't get it. I'll never get it. I'll never get it. I will understand about being separated from this world. I don't understand it. I don't get it. I don't have a clue. I don't understand that if you're Christian, be Christian. If you're Christian and don't want to be Christian, then don't say you're Christian. If you say you're Christian and you want to live like an un-Christian, and then don't tell everyone that you are a Christian. There is something to be saved. And being saved tonight has been minimized. It has been shallow. It doesn't mean nothing no more. You know what being saved means now? You prayed a prayer. You joined a church. You've been baptized. Being saved today just means that you believe. You believe the Bible. You believe in God. You believe in Jesus. You're saved. We have lost in our society the very mindset and thought about who we are and why we are. Jesus said in the days of the end, you'll see this happening. And I see it with all my eyes. I pray that you see it as well. And I pray that tonight that we'll not join it, but we'll come against it. And that we will stand and we'll live for Jesus and live for Jesus until the rapture. will not be taken up, taken over, or taken in. We are moving forward and progressing on. Amen. In the name of Jesus, that's what we're going to do. I'd like tonight for all of our children to come to the altar. We're going to pray for them tonight. I know school started this week, right? Is that true? Yeah. Tomorrow? All right. So if we can have all our, I know we don't have all of them here tonight, but whatever children we have and the mom and daddy, would you just gather around them? I want to pray for them tonight before we pray. I want to pray for them. All right? Y'all come, yeah. All the children that are going to school or in school, y'all come. Mom and Daddy, y'all. Y'all come too. Church, y'all come. Let's gather around these kids. Y'all just bow at the altar there, okay? Anywhere. Anywhere you want to. Just bow down. Now, I want you to gather around these kids tonight, would you? Put your hands on them. Put your hands on the parents. Touch somebody. I want these kids to know that they have a church. that loves them. Y'all come, y'all come, let's get around them. Let's let them know we're here. It's gotta be a dangerous day in which we live today. It's gotta be dangerous. It's gotta be dangerous today. So as we're surrounded around our children, and I say our children because of Glory Baptist Church tonight, I know they're your children. But I want to say I, I love your children. I love the souls of these children. Tonight I want to pray, and I'm going to pray earnestly and I'm going to pray sincerely that God would help, help these children. That not only they help them, but these children will know they have a church. And I'm asking you church tonight, would you commit to these children? that you'd pray for them. Just don't pray for yours. Pray for ours. And that they would know every day they go to school that there's a group of people that love them and are going to pray for them. Father, I come to you in Jesus' name. Lord, we just want to pray solely for these children. I pray tonight, dear God, that you let them know that there is a people here at Glory Baptist Church tonight, Lord, that's going to pray. God, this prayer that we're going to pray for them, dear God, may be an umbrella. God, that may keep, dear God, the predators. May keep those tonight, dear God, who want to hurt them in their mind, in their heart. God, that might want to take, God, their virtue from them. We pray, God, that you keep, dear God, the hands of this world off of them, Lord. I pray you bind the devil, dear God, tonight, Lord, from their hearts and from their minds and from their lives. I pray, Father, that they be taught, dear God, the subjects of school, science and math and history, biology, things today, dear God, that they might use as they become adults. I pray, Father, for every wicked philosophy, for every ungodly ideology, Father, for every devilish religion. Father, any word, dear God, that's untrue, God, keep it from their ears. Keep it from their hearts and their mind, and God, keep them pure. God, dear God, keep them tonight, dear God, in a place of safety. God, they'll be able to trust tonight, dear God. Their parents, they'll be able to trust, dear God, their pastor and the church. God, I pray, Father, that you'd give them teachers, Father, that love God, that love the Lord Jesus. I pray that you give them teachers, dear God, that are more concerned about Christ than they are about children. God, that Jesus would be the preeminent of their hearts and God, that they would bring that down to the level where they are, God, and show that love and compassion that only God's people can. I pray, Father, as the parents can't be in the school and we can't be in the school either to protect them, God, that you might give somebody, someone tonight, dear God, that's Christian, that's a lover of God that would protect our children. God, that may watch over them. God may have an eye upon them. God that may able to give them some counsel or God give them some word. God that may help them through that troubling time or that temptation. God that those individuals who are ungodly and wicked even in school, dear God, who want to take advantage of our children. I pray Father that you'd stop it even now. God, any ploy, God, any scheme, God of the evil one, tonight, God, I pray, Lord, that you would put an end to it. Thank you again, Lord, that we can have the power of prayer. God, that we can believe tonight, your God, that you would shelter ours, protect ours, have your hand upon ours. God, that you'd give grace and give mercy to our children. God, we know they're not perfect. We know tonight, dear God, that they are just like us. But God, we pray that you bring forgiveness to them. God, bring a wholesomeness about them. God, help them to stay, dear God, so innocent. God, help them, dear God, to be able to go to school without fear. God, without concern. And God, I pray tonight, God, that you love us, love them. God, as we tonight, your God, will send them off. And as they go, God, may they go in your protection and upon your hand. We love you tonight, Lord. Thank you for the hope we have in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen. All right. I guess we'll open up here now for anyone who wants to pray. Don't go too far. You'll probably be right back.