In The Last Days

Good morning to each one. Blessings to each one. May the grace and peace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ be with each one here this morning.

Let's bow for a word of prayer. And for those who can, let's rise. Maybe it would be good for us to stretch a little bit.

Our Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning. And Lord, we want to thank you for gathering us together here as your people. Lord, we are hungry, we are thirsty for your word.

And we pray that you would open your word to us this morning. Lord, with a still, small voice, I pray that you would speak to each one. And Lord, help us truly to be encouraged, to endeavor in our faith in you, to live for you, to honor you with our lives, and to bring you much glory.

Lord, as I bring a few crumbs and a few fish to the table here this morning, I pray that you would multiply it to my brothers and sisters in Christ and your dear children. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated. Thank you, Brother Myron, for the opening message, the admonishment to endeavor, to walk faithfully. I was encouraged.

And thank you, Joshua, for sharing a little bit to the children about the voice of God. And I hope that the Lord speaks to us in that still, small voice this morning, maybe not as a thunder, but as a still, small voice to each one of us in our hearts. The scripture I want to read out of today, the passage, the main passage, is out of Matthew 24, verses 1 to 14.

And if you have your Bibles, I would ask that you would follow along with me. And this is right after Matthew 23, where Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, saying, How long? He says there, O Jerusalem, that thou killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often have I gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and ye would not.

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So this is right after that, to give a bit of context, he speaks about the sign of his second coming and the end of the world.

And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And 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 the end of the world? And 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. 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. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places.

All these things are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you to be afflicted, and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my sake.

And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

But he that endures to 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.

So, yeah, as I was preparing this week, I battled what to share. And just thinking about what's happening in the world today, it led me to want to study a little bit what Jesus said about wars and rumors of wars and the end times. And if we look into the world today, we see a lot of wars and rumors of war.

And I'm confident that the world as we know it is coming to an end. And even entropy shows that eventually the world will come to an end, but I believe that it's coming soon. And as the world comes to an end, that might sound scary, but for the Christians, this is a good thing.

And hopefully it can encourage us as God's children that when the world comes to an end, that's actually a good thing for the kingdom of God. So Jesus said, don't be troubled. I believe that there are hard times coming.

We were warned, we are warned that there are hard times coming, but there's hard times coming for the world, but there's also hard times coming for God's people. But the end of this world will mark the end of Satan's reign. And so that's a good thing.

And it will mark the beginning of the eternal reign of Christ. Maybe that's not exactly in context. What I mean is the eternal reign of Christ is already happening.

God's church is already growing, and it's already being built. But at the end of this world will be the end of Satan's reign, and Christ's kingdom will forever prosper without the curse of sin, without the restriction of evil. And so in a sense we can look forward to the end of the world, provided we remain faithful and true to him.

Looking at the world today, Satan is furious. He knows his time is short, and he is walking around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And yet in the midst of this, Christ is building his everlasting kingdom.

As the world is in chaos and wars are rampant, it seems to be doing a work in God's people, and it seems to be bringing in new Christians who never would have thought to be Christians to begin with. So there is a Christ's kingdom building effect in all of this. But if we look in the world today, what do we see? Do we see peace? We don't see peace.

S.M. Lockridge, I don't know if you've ever heard of him, he's a mighty preacher who's not around anymore, but he says that the world tries to bully their way into power and bomb their way into world peace. Somehow the world tries to create world peace by bombing their way into world peace, and we see that happening today. Last week there were close to 10,000 bombs dropped in the world, which is a lot of bombs, and all in the name of bringing peace into the world.

Mostly those bombs were dropped by U.S., Iran, and Israel, but globally it's the most that has been dropped since World War II. And globally, currently, there's more wars in the world than there has been since World War II. So we truly live in a time where there are wars and rumors of wars, and Jesus is telling us, don't be troubled, but be ready, hard times are coming.

We see exactly what Jesus said we would see, wars and rumors of war. And as I thought about this, I thought about the song that the Pilgrim Choir so beautifully sung last Saturday. Come down, Lord.

That really hit me. That really spoke to me. Come down, thy son is ill.

Come down, my soul is ill. Come down, the world is ill, racked in bloodshed the live long day. And that hits close to home for me, and I'm sure to all of us.

And that song was so beautifully sung by the Pilgrim Choir, it just rang true to me. Saturday morning we were roofing at Dave and Crystal's, and Dave mentioned something about U.S. declaring war on Iran and Israel joining in. And it gave us a lot to think about while we were roofing.

And then that evening we go to a beautiful choir of God's people, and that song, it just hits. In the morning we hear of a massive war. In the evening we hear God's people crying out, come down, Lord, the world is ill.

And I believe the Lord will come down, and He will hear that cry. And it's just a matter of time. My heart was saying, Amen.

And I know that there's God's people all over the world making that cry. And God is hearing. This has been, wars in the world has been the story since the beginning.

Since the beginning of, at least for sure we know of modern history, there has always been war. There has never not been war in modern world history. And they say 8% of world history has been free from major wars, but it has never been completely free from war altogether.

And that's this world that we live in. There's nothing we can do about it except cry out to God and ask Him to come down and take over and reign. And Jesus says to us today, in the midst of all this war and rumors of war, be not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

And then He warns us that hard times are coming. He says Christians will be hated. I know Myron mentioned Christians are somewhat appreciated because it's a time when they're walking in golden slippers.

But I believe it is those that have adopted the doctrine of bailing. Those ones are loved. And those ones are walking around in golden slippers.

But if a Christian should rise up today and stand for what is true according to Jesus' teachings on the Sermon on the Mount, he would be hated by many. And so Jesus said Christians will be hated. Christians will be persecuted.

Iniquity shall abound. The love of many will wax cold. Deception will be rampant.

This is what we can expect coming in the future, even though we are experiencing a time of peace now. But Jesus said that it wouldn't necessarily be the case. And then He encouraged us, though, endure until the end and you shall be saved.

And then He also said the Gospel must be preached to every tribe, every tongue, and every nation first, which lines up with the end of Jude. And then will come the end of this world. And then the Lord will come down and make all things right and bring peace.

So for the wicked, they can expect when the Lord returns, the judgment and God's wrath to be executed. And they can expect that at the end of their life here in this world, there will be an eternal lake of fire for their home. But for the righteous, when Christ returns, He will bring peace.

He will bring healing. He will bring acceptance from our Father in Heaven to us. Come into my kingdom.

And He will bring an inheritance, an eternal inheritance for all of His children that Christ has prepared for us. Matthew 25, 34 says, Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Christ is preparing a kingdom that when this world comes to an end and the saints meet God in Heaven, we will be able to inherit that. And that's what Christ encouraged us. When we consider wars and rumors of wars in the end of this world, He encourages us with that.

And so what a beautiful thing it is to be part of the church of God, to be part of a kingdom that will outlast all other kingdoms. They're fighting right now. They're bullying their way into power.

They're bombing their way to world peace. And yet their kingdoms will fall, every one of them. They will fall.

Christ said they would fall. The Bible said they would fall. And God's kingdom will stand.

The Bible says that they will stand. And Jesus said that they will stand. Because the peace of God will rule and reign forever.

That same peace of God that rules and reigns in our hearts today will become more and more powerful and will rule and reign eternally, even though the world is currently at unrest. I want to talk a little bit about the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms as spoken about by Daniel. Daniel in chapter 2 had been able to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's terrifying vision.

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. And in his dream he saw a massive statue. And that statue had a golden head.

It had arms and chest of silver. It had a bronze thigh and belly. It had iron legs.

And it had feet that were mixed with iron and clay. And Nebuchadnezzar in his dream seen that massive statue. And when he had seen that, he seen another thing.

He seen a rock carved out of a mountain come and smash the idol to pieces. It smashed it at its feet. And the statue came crumbling.

Nebuchadnezzar knew that this was not just a normal dream. He knew that this meant something. And it bothered him.

He was the most powerful person in the world at that time. And he was troubled at this dream. So it must have been something real that he felt.

And he encouraged all the wise men to tell him what that dream meant. And they couldn't. And when he was about to destroy them, Daniel comes along and says, I will pray to God and God will show me and then I will interpret it for you.

And so he did. And God interpreted this dream for Daniel. We can read it out of Daniel chapter 2. We're not going to, but if you read Daniel chapter 2, you'll see it there.

And he said that there would be, that the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, was that golden head. He was the richest, most powerful leader and nation that has ever been and will ever be, earthly kingdom. But there will come an inferior kingdom.

There will come three kingdoms after. An inferior kingdom. And that was represented as the arms of silver and the chest of silver.

And it will come and take away Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. And then what happened in world history is that Cyrus the Great did exactly that. Cyrus the Great was a Persian king and he came and took away the kingdom from Nebuchadnezzar.

And then the third kingdom, which was the Grecian kingdom, or sorry, the second kingdom after Babylon, was the Grecian kingdom where Alexander the Great did the same thing. And Daniel foresaw all of this. Alexander the Great took over Persia and it became the Grecian kingdom.

And then the third kingdom after was the Roman Empire. And Roman Empire dominated the Grecian Empire. And then came the church.

The next empire, that stone that came out of a mountain and smashed it to pieces, was, Daniel said, was going to be the kingdom of God and it would be an everlasting kingdom. And it would grow over the whole world. So if we look at Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar reigned from, or sorry, Babylon was the world's superpower for 87 years, from 626 to 539 BC.

Persia was the world's superpower from 539 to 332 BC, so 207 years. Greece was the world's superpower from 332 to 63 BC, so that's 269 years. Rome, which represented the legs of iron, was from 27 BC to 235 AD, so that's 262 years united.

So Rome was that leg of iron. The symbolism was that leg of iron and they were united for 269 years. But Rome continued divided.

And just studying a little bit on the history of this, Emperor Decletion in the year 284 divided the Roman Empire. And so the east and the west. And so the east, or sorry, the west fell in 476 AD, the Roman Empire fell, the Western Roman Empire, and in 1453, the Eastern Roman Empire fell, which opened the way for the Reformation period.

Now, if we look at Roman rule, it is a little bit today like feet that are made of iron and clay mixed together. There is still some power there. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the largest real estate owners in the world today.

They own 177 million acres of real estate and their net worth is estimated from half a trillion to one trillion dollars. So they still have power, but it seems to fit the imagery of feet with iron and clay mixed together. And that's where we're at today.

And yet, we also know that God's kingdom is growing today. Right? It's growing. And God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

So Daniel's prophecy has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled. And as nations around us rise and fall, and they use bloodshed to do it, we can be at peace knowing that the kingdom of God is growing every single day. And every time a soul gets saved, and every time a soul dies here in this world, it's added to an eternal kingdom.

And so, what an amazing thing that God's kingdom, death has no victory over. Every other kingdom, when they die, it's over for them. When they fall, that's it.

But God's kingdom keeps growing. It's a nation over whom death has no power. And although we experience the hardships of life and the hardships of the sinful nature, and there's still this battle between flesh and spirit, but it's only for a season.

And I don't think it's for a long season. And especially if you consider that somebody who lives strong will live to the age of 80, and if he lives a Christian life, 80 years compared to eternity is not a very long time to endure the hardships of this world and suffer for Christ if need be. Jesus Christ, looking at that last picture, that rock that was hewn out of the mountain, was Jesus Christ.

Matthew 16, 6 says, And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, the rock of faith in Christ, the rock of Jesus Christ, not as some people misunderstand it, the Catholic Church says it's the rock of Peter, no, the rock of Jesus Christ, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And if we look at that scripture, we can see that the church is on the offense. They're not on the defense. And the gates of hell will not be able to stand against the church.

They will not be able to resist it. The kingdom of God will grow, the kingdom of God will take over, and the kingdom of God will crush all other earthly kingdoms. And Daniel says that in, I think it's Daniel chapter 12.

No, sorry, that was Daniel chapter two. As I'm reading about world history and studying different events that happen in world history, I came across the Spartan group. There was a group, it's the most famous battle that has ever been fought in world history.

There was a group of 300 Spartans that fought against Persia. They eventually lost. But they say that, some say that 300 Spartans defeated a million Persians.

Other groups that claim to be a little more realistic, they say that it was several hundred thousands. But here were these Spartan warriors, and they were valiant. And the day before the Persian Empire came against them, I don't think they knew they would slay a million of them, the 300, but they knew they were gonna die.

And forget the king's name, Leonidas, Leonidas, something like that, he said to his group the morning before their last battle, he said to his group, eat well, eat hearty, for tonight we dine in hell. They were gonna have their last breakfast. And he says to his group, his valiant warriors, eat hearty for tonight we dine in hell.

So he knew they were gonna die. But here's a group of valiant warriors, and they fought, and it was the most famous fight in world history, but for what? To dine in hell tomorrow? What are they fighting for? They have a legacy. The world today knows that the Spartans were mighty, valiant warriors.

But for what? What did they fight for? Something earthly, and it's gone. 300 strong young men, I wonder if they couldn't have used their gifts for something else that would have had more value. So there's Spartans in this world today, they're fighting for their country, they're fighting for this world, but for what in the end? For the Christians, we fight for the kingdom of God.

We fight for true peace. We fight, and we serve God, and we serve for the progression and for the prosperity of an eternal kingdom. There's far more value there.

I think about men who have served the Lord, who have preached to millions, and thousands got saved. Maybe the equivalent of those Spartans who fought for their country. How about those mighty men of God, or women of God, who have fought for the kingdom of God, for an eternal value.

It's a far higher calling. And so Christians, when we die, we don't need to fear death. And God says, beautiful in the eyes of the Lord are the death of His saints.

So what should we then expect for the future? We already read a little bit what Jesus said. Not easy times ahead. Not golden slippers, necessarily.

But a few things that I want to mention here. Two things. One thing that we can expect is a great deception.

Jesus said in Mark 13 20, and except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. And then if a man shall say unto you, lo, Christ is here, or lo, He is there, believe him not, for false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed, behold, I have foretold you all these things.

There will be a great deception, but I believe the true born-again, spirit-filled believers will be spared that deception. I had to chew on this for a while, and I thought about, well, why does it warn of a great deception if the saints will be spared deception to begin with? And I still come to the conclusion that the true church will not be deceived. God's people who are faithfully loving and serving Him will not be deceived.

It will not be. It says there, if it were possible to deceive even the very elect. Inclining, that gives me the inclination that it won't be possible to deceive the very elect.

Satan will try to deceive, but it won't be. And perhaps because they won't be deceived and will stand for truth, is why there will be persecution, and there will be many that are hated for Christ's sake. It will not be possible for Satan to deceive those who are truly in the faith, because they have the Holy Spirit within.

They have the spirit of truth in their hearts, in their minds, and they live by the truth, and they love the truth. And because of this, they will not be deceived. John 15, 26 says, But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God.

He that knoweth God hears us. He that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

So those who are born of God, born again, they will hear God. My sheep hear my voice, and they won't hear the world. Those who are of the world, they won't hear God, and they will believe the world.

They will hear the voice of the devil. Those who are born again, children of God, will hear from God in times of great deception. So I take comfort in that, and yet I don't take that lightly that we now just throw in the towel and say, oh, we won't be deceived anyways.

I think that already is a mark that maybe you will be. But that we truly, as was already encouraged, that we truly strive to live for God, and that we are with God, and we hear His voice. The Christians will not believe the lies of the devil, but they will hear the truth spoken in a still small voice by the Holy Spirit.

And they will hear the truth spoken out of the word of God, and they will be led by it. To give an example, I just had to think about six years ago, COVID times. A small revelation of what really happens to the church in times of hardship, in times of, what I would say, deception.

We know that deception was rampant, but God's people could see right through it. Is that true? You've seen those who truly loved God, they actually got stronger. They actually started binding together, and they actually grew in conviction and in love for God.

And those who were half-hearted and were maybe dead in the first place, they seemed to have departed. So in that sense, there was a great deception. But the true church of God was only strengthened by it, even though they went through difficult times.

And as this world draws to a close, people will grow increasingly wicked, and deception will increase along with evil. I thought about how, if we just again look back six years ago, those who were deceived the most were the ungodliest. Those who were scared of death and hated God, they feared the most, and they were deceived the most.

And those who had genuine faith in God, they had peace. If anything, they would try to support and bless each other, and they came together, and there was a growing in them, and that was a blessing. In that sense, I was encouraged, just seeing how that all worked out.

And I was very thankful for the body of believers that we were part of, that just stuck together. And since then, it has seen prosperity, and that's a blessing. God's church grew, it seems like, since then.

So the world will grow increasingly wicked is the next point I want to make, what we can expect for the future. That the world will grow increasingly wicked. The early church taught this.

Justin Martyr and some of the other early church fathers taught that as a thousand years to us is only a day to the Lord, so the world will go on for six days, six thousand years, and grow continually evil, and the seventh day, a seventh day of rest, will be the seventh thousand year, will be the thousand year millennial reign. That's how they understood that. So the world will grow increasingly evil for six thousand years, and then the seventh thousand years will be like a time of rest.

And I thought that was interesting, and we maybe haven't thought of that before. The church mainstream Christianity especially doesn't think about it like that. But these were, let's remember, many of them were disciples of the Apostles, and I just, I believe they had some wisdom that we could glean from.

They were disciples of the Apostles. Now, where are we at today then on the calendar? On the Gregorian calendar, we are right around the six thousand year mark, since the time of creation. And then I wonder, well, okay, that time has passed, because I think we're already past.

And I'm not here to set a date, hope everybody understands that, but to try to be realistic about some things. If you look at the Jewish calendar, which is a very accurate calendar, more so I would say than the Gregorian calendar, which we use, the year is 5786. So, anywhere from, that leaves 214 years, according to that idea, that a thousand years is a day, and six days of creation and seventh day of rest, that leaves 214 years.

Can the world go on for 214 years still? Will it happen sometime between now and 250 years? I believe so. I believe that that timeline makes sense, if we look at the world today. Jesus says that the love of many will wax cold, because iniquity shall abound.

Jesus says it will be like in the days of Noah. And in the days of Noah, it was extremely wicked. There was only one family that was righteous.

And so, we're not there today. The world is still not as it was in the days of Noah. I believe it was far more wicked back then.

But if the days will increase toward evil, then it will eventually be like that. And so, I think we can expect to see the world become more and more evil, as a whole. I hope that the Kingdom of God in our area and in our circles will grow, and there will be a level of peace and unitedness and a blessing, and I trust that it will.

But the world, as a whole, will grow more evil and it will hate the Christians more and more. I was thinking about the technological revolution that we're living in today and how that will help to increase the speed of evil. And I don't want to blame technology, though.

Technology is just a tool. But technology, like today, like AI, in the hands of evil humans, will drastically increase the speed of iniquity abounding. Currently, AI is a tool.

It's a very powerful tool. It knows practically everything. It knows a lot about everything.

Businesses are using it to automate. Businesses are using it to become more efficient, to design. Doctors are using it for medical advice.

It knows more about most medical things than doctors do. It listens to us. It monitors our behaviours.

It learns our patterns. And if it wasn't for sinful human nature, then I guess we wouldn't, first of all, need AI, because I think Adam and Eve were far smarter than AI. But let's just imagine if the human population overall was God-fearing and had good intentions and loved God, then I think AI could be used for good.

And I think Christians even today can use it for good. But when you put a powerful tool into the hands of wicked people, it will increase their wicked agendas. It will increase the speed in which they will fulfill their wicked agendas.

And so I'm not blaming a tool for humanity's problems. I'm blaming sinful human behaviour. I'm blaming sin.

Humanity overall is evil, and they hate God, and they are hungry for power, and they're greedy, and AI in the hands of these world leaders that are like this will only increase the speed of which evil prospers. I want to read a few things about some current AI leaders, some that are very influential in the AI world. One of them is Sam Altman.

Altman has referred to the potential of AGI as a magical intelligence in the sky. He has described the future of AGI as bringing about an intelligence age that could solve immense problems like climate change and disease while also acknowledging that it could be a threat to humanity. So one of the top leaders in AI acknowledges that it could be a threat to humanity, and probably he also acknowledges that it's because of evil people.

There's another one, another comment written here by Anthony Lewandowski. He was a former Google engineer, and it says this, Anthony Lewandowski believes that a super-intelligent AI will eventually become a godhead, a billion times smarter than humans, making it worthy of worship. He founded a church called The Way of the Future, WOTF, to promote this belief, arguing that worshiping this technological godhead is necessary to ensure its benevolence and to avoid its wrath.

So they're treating this like a godhead. What they're saying is that it's going to be all-knowing, it's going to be omnipresent, it's going to have some of these features that what we would say God has, what God is. And this is the first, I don't know why you would say church, the first church set up, I would say cult, that promotes this.

But it's not a new idea. We're going to read something or talk about something, it's not a new idea, it's actually an old idea. And so what I'm getting at is that the people behind AI that are pushing it are not very God-fearing, and therefore it will bring about humanity's destruction quick.

Again, Ray Kurzweil was a Google engineer. He predicted that by 2045 humans will merge with AI. He has agreed that AI acts as his religion and when asked if God exists, Kurzweil famously replied, not yet.

This reflects his belief that humanity is in the process of creating a higher intelligence and we are on a trajectory to becoming God-like ourselves. So again, he says not yet. Okay, they want to build God.

Peter Thiel was a founder of PayPal. Thiel has been described as a proponent of transhumanism and singularity with views focused on using technology to conquer death. He is associated with the desire to use advanced technology to become immortal, which critics sometimes describe as a tech-driven attempt to assume divine eternal life.

So there's just a few. There's, I'm sure, more. They're not all with this mindset.

I think it would be good if Christian scientists would get more involved and maybe give it a basis of truth to work off of, to create something that has more of a basis of truth but unfortunately it seems like there's many people who are driving this thing, are ungodly and they are trying to build God. There was a magazine by Isaac Asimov that was written in 1956, so 70 years ago. And the magazine was called The Last Question.

The Last Question. It's a fiction magazine and he was a futurist and an atheist. And he wrote, one of the most famous of his stories, he wrote a lot of magazines, was he envisioned a computer that would have the answer to all of life's problems.

And as this computer had the answer to many of life's problems, from time to time he would ask this computer, how can you reverse entropy? And the computer would reply, insufficient data for a meaningful answer. But most of life's questions were answered. Humans were living to millions of years old, humans were living to billions of years old and from time to time, millions of years after millions of years, they would ask this computer, how do you reverse entropy? And it would always say, insufficient data for a meaningful answer.

Trillions of years go by and entropy is taking its course. What is entropy? Entropy is the second law of thermodynamics that proves that all things are coming to an end. All things tend towards destruction.

Everything is burning out. Stars are burning out, the sun is burning out, planets are burning out, everything is decaying. Everything will go down.

That's a law that proves evolution wrong, but that's what entropy is. I should have explained that first. Some of you know that.

And so trillions of years go by and this computer exists in waves and so it's not matter. And humanity, entropy has taken its course even though a billion year old humans lived. This is all fiction, right? I'm telling you a story of this magazine.

But eventually they died. Entropy takes its course. All things come to destruction.

And finally when the last star burns out and everything is darkness and this computer has collected all the data throughout all the history and has calculated all the problems, it finally came up with an answer, how to reverse entropy. And this is what it said. Let there be light.

And that was the end of the story. That gives us a very clear picture that people are trying to build God. That was 70 years ago.

People were imagining a system where they could build God. And I believe that is an abomination to God. And yet today what Isaac Asimov imagined people are actively trying to create.

They know about God but they don't worship him as God and they will be without excuse when they get to see God on Judgment Day. It's hard to imagine that kind of in your face attitude. It's hard to even share about that.

But somewhere they knew about God but else they wouldn't have known let there be light. To imagine this story. It's hard to imagine how people can be so in your face to God.

But entropy will take its course and this will come to an end. And the only person who will reverse entropy is Jesus Christ. And the way he's going to reverse it is by taking away the curse of sin.

And as long as that's there all things will come towards destruction. Because we are under the curse of sin. And Jesus is the only one who can remove that.

And there's no AI system that will ever be able to come up with enough data to do that. But God will. And God has that information and God has that desire to take away our sin and to give us eternal life.

So in closing I want to share a few more things here about Daniel's prophecy. Daniel's prophecy right toward the end. Daniel chapter 12.

It's the last chapter. And it's the close of his prophecy. And I want to read that here.

Daniel chapter 12 verse 1. And at that time shall Michael and at that time is the end of the world shall Michael stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never been since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered everyone that shall be found written in the book.

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteous as the stars forever and ever. But thou O Daniel shut up the words and seal the book even till the end of day.

Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. And these verses towards the end really stood out to me. And I wonder what Daniel was thinking when the last words that he heard from God or yeah from God at least in spirit is that many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.

Did he imagine today's world? I don't know. He was a very wise man, Daniel. But I don't know if he could have put the pieces together like today we can.

People are running to and fro. We can fly anywhere, go across the world in a matter of several hours. We can fly across the ocean.

People are going to and fro. They're endeavoring to occupy Mars. They've landed on the moon.

And furthermore, knowledge has tremendously increased. And why was that some sort of a significant thing to say at the end of the prophecy? Knowledge shall be increased. And it seems like we are living in the last days because we see some of these things come to pass.

And this was at the end of his prophecy. One more thing we can expect from the future is what Brother Myron encouraged us to do through the book of Jude is that the gospel message must be preached everywhere first. And Jesus said, 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 is the last thing. Everyone gets a chance to hear the gospel. That seems like a righteous God we serve, doesn't it? Everyone gets a chance.

Nobody will be left without excuse. Everyone gets a chance. God said to Daniel, They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

That we would be those kind of Spartans. That we would endeavor to fight in the kingdom of God to turn many to righteousness. Studying and thinking on these things over the last week has really had a sobering effect on me.

And I hope that it does for you too. And I hope it encourages all of us to live out our faith with boldness, without shame, and being willing to share with others when we feel like we should. Being willing to testify what the Lord Jesus has done in our life.

Being willing to share the salvation plan that God has offered through His Son, Jesus Christ. We have Easter coming around. There will be plenty of opportunities, I'm sure, talking about the resurrection, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Just an encouragement for all of us, brothers and sisters, and all those that would receive it, to boldly proclaim it. Live it out. Don't be ashamed of it.

And contend for the faith. Once, the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. God was long-suffering.

He waited. He waited. Noah preached 100 years.

And today, God is still long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So as we consider these things, brothers and sisters, God bless you all richly, and let the peace and calmness rule in our hearts. Yeah, the world is coming to an end, but let us be at peace.

Let us be calm. Continue to live for the Lord. Continue to serve Him.

And through that, let's be a light to our neighbors, and a blessing to each other, and honor God that way. Thank you, and God bless you.