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Hohenwald SDA Church

Norman McNulty

Signs of the Time

Well, good morning everyone and happy Sabbath.

And it's good to be back here in Hohenwald.

And the message for today is entitled Signs of the Time.

It's a continuation of some thoughts I was sharing the last time that I spoke, and we're gonna go more into what's happening in the world today.

So before we start, I'm gonna offer a word of prayer.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Sabbath day that we can worship you and I just pray that you would speak through me and May the message be clear may it bring hope that it may it may it also bring conviction as well So be with us now.

Amen You know, this is an awesome time to be alive.

And as Seventh-day Adventists, we can't ignore the realities of the things that are happening in the world around us.

What is happening in the world around us fits very clearly with what Scripture has told us would take place before Jesus comes back.

And I'm going to start with a statement, Testimonies Volume 9, page 11, which says, We are living in the time of the end.

The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand.

The days in which we live are solemn and important.

The Spirit of God is gradually, but surely, being withdrawn from the earth.

Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God.

The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war are portentous.

They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.

The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating.

They are strengthening for the last great crisis.

Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.

You know, friends, 1 of these days, and it may be a lot sooner than we realize, things are gonna kick into high gear and the final movements are going to go very quickly.

And it's interesting, even the world around us is starting to pay attention to what is happening.

In the Associated Press, an article was written just a day or 2 ago entitled, A Nutty Run of Nature.

And they quote this meteorology director at the private service weather underground named Jeff Masters who says, "'Nature's gone crazy.

"'Extreme weather like this is going to be occurring simultaneously more often, and he says, because of global warning.

And then it goes through some of the things that have happened, the hurricanes and the earthquakes and the fires, and I'm going to mention these a little bit.

And then they quote a meteorologist from Colorado State University who says, it just feels like it's the apocalyptic in times.

But then he says, but a lot of this stuff is getting attention because of social media.

So because of social media, 1 of the worst flooding disasters ever in the United States with Hurricane Harvey, And then 1 of the strongest hurricanes that has ever borne down on the United States in Hurricane Irma, that this is simply just social media bringing greater awareness to what is happening in the world.

Obviously we understand that there is more to it.

I'm just going to go through a few of the disasters that have hit, and then we're going to go through Scripture and see what Jesus says about these signs that are happening.

Now, when I spoke to you last time, I was all excited about the natural solar eclipse that was going to come.

And for those of us who were able to see it, it was an amazing experience.

And we got to see a reminder of how perfectly ordered God's creation is.

We talked about the signs in the heaven and of the dark day of May 1917-18 and some of the other signs, but now we're going to be talking today about signs in the earth.

And since I spoke here last time, Hurricane Harvey roared ashore just to the southwest of Houston, Texas, but then because of some oddities of weather and different competing weather systems, the system of Harvey hung over the Houston area for a number of days, which is very unusual, and it dumped an estimated 27 trillion gallons of water on Texas and Louisiana.

And it looks to be 1 of the most damaging natural disasters in U.S.

Flooding continues to affect large areas of Houston and other areas of Texas.

Tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes.

Estimates of Harvey's costs vary, with some predicting that the storm will be the most expensive in U.S.

History at over $190 billion surpassing Hurricane Katrina.

And Hurricane Katrina was estimated to have cost around $160 billion.

In addition, there has been what we would call some saber-rattling with North Korea.

The President of the United States made a statement on Tuesday, August 8th, saying North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States.

They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.

He has been very threatening beyond a normal state.

They will be met with fire, fury, and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before." those are strong words coming from the President of the United States.

Just so you have some kind of an idea of the threat that North Korea poses, they potentially have what are called intercontinental ballistic missiles, where they can place nuclear warheads on those missiles.

And despite the fact that North Korea is on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, it would only take 37 minutes for a missile to hit Hawaii, 38 minutes to hit Los Angeles, 39 1⁄2 minutes to hit Chicago, 41 minutes to hit Washington, D.C., and 40 minutes to hit New York City.

That's because they can fire it straight up into the stratosphere and then have it come down at an angle, and at such a rapid speed, there's very little time to prepare if such a missile war to be fired.

Now obviously we're not hoping that things of that nature would happen, that these things would happen, but it reminds us of Jesus saying that there would be wars and rumors of war.

In addition to this, there have been severe fires out west.

There have been unstoppable fires in Montana, California, Oregon, and in other places.

And just before midnight Thursday night, an 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico, which is the strongest in a century in Mexico, and it killed over 60 people.

As I speak right now, Hurricane Irma is straddling the coast of northern Cuba and is about to make a northern turn towards South Florida, and forecasts call for it to come roaring through the Keys and then to the western side of the southern peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane with the potential to keep going and straddling up the western side of the peninsula as a strong hurricane and this is 1 of the worst hurricanes that Florida has ever faced.

The potential of destruction is such that all Adventists should be wide awake now to the time that we are living in.

You know, Jesus had some strong words to say in Matthew chapter 24, and I'm going to start in verses 32 and 33.

Now Jesus says this after He has given all of these signs, and we're going to go back and look at the signs, but Jesus says, Now learn a parable of the fig tree.

When his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh or near.

So likewise ye, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Jesus is saying, look, you know when you look at a tree, when the leaves start to change in our part of the country, when the flowering blossoms come out on the tree, We know that spring has arrived and that summer is near.

Jesus is saying, there are certain signs that I am telling you that you should be able to discern that when you see these things, my coming is near, just like when a tree in the springtime starts to flower, you know that summer is near, so when you see the signs that I have told you, you know that my coming is near." Friends, we are Seventh Day Adventists.

Sometimes we are accused of being alarmists, but I would suggest to you if our message is an alarmist message, then Jesus Himself is an alarmist.

Because Jesus is the 1 who gave these signs.

And they are in Scripture for us to study and for us to understand.

And when we see these things happening, for us to ignore the words of Jesus would be for us to neglect the message that God has given us.

Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.

Now I want to go back to the beginning signs, starting in verse 3.

In the first couple of verses the disciples had been commenting on how amazing the temple was, and then Jesus says, 1 stone will be left upon another.

The disciples then think this must mean the end of the world when Jesus speaks of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

And so they ask Him in verse 3, tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world.

And so Jesus masterfully mixes the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem with the signs of the coming of the end of the world, because they would be so similar.

And so in verse 4 Jesus says, Take heed that no man deceive you, For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.

Verse 6, 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.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.

Now, at Seventh-day Adventists we understand that the beginning of the judgment in heaven began in 1844.

So, when we put on our prophetic lens and we look at what is happening in the world since 1844, we look at the wars and the rumors of wars that have taken place since that time, and certainly World War I and World War II would be major signs of the coming of Jesus.

Those were not just any other war that have ever happened.

They were called world wars for a reason.

There have been other wars since then, such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

We hear the rumors of war potentially with North Korea, and friends, We don't want to see what a nuclear war would look like with North Korea.

That is not something that any of us would hope to see.

But Jesus says, See that you be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

And he talks about nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

Certainly if you step back and look at what Jesus is speaking up from the time of Jerusalem until the end of the world, we think of nations rising and falling in the prophecies of Daniel 2, 7, 8, and 11.

And we see even how in our day the United States has become the greatest superpower and kingdom on this earth.

But again all these are the beginning of sorrows.

After these wars and rumors of wars It talks about famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers' places.

Now, a scripture that I read last month when we went through the signs in the heaven is Luke 21, starting in verse 25, which says, There shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars.

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Signs of the Time

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