Wars and Rumours of Wars

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24. I announced I'm starting a new series. I hate to leave evangelism because of its importance, and I've got so much more to say, but I believe this is of the will of God and the timing of God.

I want to begin a new series here this morning, just for a few weeks, a few Sundays. I'm calling it Wars and Rumors of Wars. That's the title of this first message, but also of this series.

In this series, I'm going to look at Iran, going to look at Iraq. I'm going to look at Bible prophecy. I want you to know from Scripture what is happening in our world right now, what our response ought to be.

What is the place of the church in such a secular hour when our entire world seems on fire? What does the Word of God say to do? What should the church look like? How does it speak about these things? How does it respond in the midst of these things? Does the Bible speak about our day, or are we just trying to force the Bible into the regular situations of life? Is it just things are always happening and we just keep trying to apply the Bible? Or does the Bible specifically, uniquely talk about this hour as an unusual time, a rare time, and a phenomenal time? And so my first message, Wars and Rumors of Wars, reading from Matthew 4 and verse 1. This is a Scripture I've preached on many different times, and some of these things I'll have said before, and some of the things I won't have. But I want your ears because of what we're going to cover next week and the weeks to come. It is the context of this in-world events, and although some of these things you've heard them, I want it to be clear.

I want you to understand them because your heart is what I'm after, not information about prophecy, not merely to talk about political events or military events. That isn't my desire. My desire is, what should your heart be like in the light of all of these things? Read in Matthew 24, verse 1. 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 of 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. I'm going to stop there. It says much more, but I'm going to stop there.

Let's pray together. Father, we realize that we are at one of the critical ages, hours, points in time of world history. We realize as we look across the nations at Russia, at China, at Ukraine, at America, at the European Union, at the United Nations, at NATO, at all of the amalgamations of nations like Iran, at the Middle East, at Turkey, at Syria.

Nor, God, as we look at the continents of our world, as we look at the chaos over every issue, over issues of sexuality, over issues of color and of ethnicity, nor, God, over issues of political stance, both conservative and liberal, nor, God, we are watching a world on fire. We watch a world mountain up with pride, with arrogance, with anger, with bitterness, with jealousy. Father, we pray right in the storm, nor, God, that we would find the eye of the storm, that place of safety, that place of peace, that place of focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, walking with you in fellowship, with communion.

Nor, God, we ask for a move of the Holy Spirit, that this church is going to know the timing of God and the will of God and the purpose of God and the works of God, that we might do your will always. And, Father, I pray right now that you move on every single soul, Lord God, to restore, to revive, to fill with your Holy Spirit, that the calling of God will become so clear, that the will of God will become so clear, nor, God, thank you for using us, but, oh, God, we can't live on yesterday's bread. We can't live in the past, oh, God, nor, God, if you don't want us to be on Mount Carmel calling down fire, nor, God, then we are satisfied and happy to be sitting by a secluded well in silence like Elijah of old, nor, God, sitting by the stream in the plan of God and the will of God, awaiting, oh, God, that you're, and, Father, we pray for all those that join us online, our brothers and sisters that faithfully listen and pray and stand in this hour, nor, God, will you encourage them in Jesus' mighty name, in Jesus' name.

Amen. I've got many ailments, a cold, a cough, my throat, my eyes, I lost my vision earlier, had to go back to bed, I couldn't see anything, but you know what? I've got a message for you right here this morning in the will of God. I believe the Lord wants us to embark on this and have a clarity that will affect our hearts spiritually, that as we look at Iran, America, Russia, China, the nations of the world, and what the Bible says specifically about them as nations, events that will happen and wars that will happen, you'll see it's not casual, it's very distinct, very detailed, what the Bible says about these things, and we want to hear what Jesus actually teaches.

See, the Bible is like no other religious book. It is filled with prophecies. That makes it either true or false.

This is one of the most unique books in the world. It is the bestseller every year. What was the bestseller of 2025? The Bible.

What was the best seller of 24? The Bible. Worldwide over any book by far. Guess what the bestseller, let me prophesy or predict, what's going to be the bestseller of 26? The Bible.

Why not when it comes to Christmas, say to one of your family members, I've just bought you the latest bestseller hot off the press, the Bible. You know, more than that, it speaks right in today's events in the most astonishing way. This Bible is so saturated with prophecy, accurate predictions, not fake, not Nostradamus.

He was not a real prophet, I want to tell you. I'm talking about real prophecy, thousands, hundreds of detailed prophecies that actually prove the Bible true or false. No other religious book in our world is like this book.

This is the only one. And you can actually test the Bible, test the word of God in a unique way. My message, wars and rumors of wars.

I've preached it in this often, but I'm pulling out one sentence and prediction of Jesus. Matthew 24, verse 6, Jesus says, as the sign and you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Then listen to what he says, see that you be not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

It says in verse 3, and as he, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, which overlooks the little city of Jerusalem, the disciples came onto him privately saying, four of them came onto him, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These four disciples came onto him privately and they asked three specific things. One of the things is connected together.

All three of them are connected together, but they asked these questions and Jesus is going to answer them. Read with me what it says. This is what they ask.

Tell us when shall these things be? And when shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? Let me, as I open up, just look at these three statements briefly. First they say, tell us when shall these things be? What things? What are they asking about? They're asking Jesus when. They want an answer.

They want a timing. He has just said something in this chapter of what is going to happen. He's made a prophecy, a prediction.

It's either right or wrong. And they say, when is it going to happen? We want more information. What did he say? Well, it's in verse one.

And Jesus went out and departed from the temple. Notice where they are. He with the disciples has just been in the temple in Jerusalem.

At a high time, you could have a million people in there swarm in the temple and swarm in Jerusalem. It is a busy place of worship. People are everywhere.

And so they departed from the temple in verse one. And his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. They are now sitting on the Mount of Olives out beyond Jerusalem, over it, looking down upon it.

And his disciples come on to him there. And they begin to show him. This is how the conversation begins.

They begin to show him all the beautiful buildings. Do you realize the buildings of Jerusalem, of the temple? The temple was supposedly the greatest, most beautiful building of the first century anywhere in the ancient world. You could see it at a distance gleaming.

It was astounding. And here's Christ's own disciples, men like Peter, men like James and John, the sons of thunder. You'd think they wouldn't be interested in architecture, or beautiful buildings, or the turning of an archway.

But here they are, they're standing in awe, the closest disciples of Jesus Christ. And they begin to show him the buildings. Look, master, look at the temple.

Look how beautiful it is, this place of religious worship. Do you realize this is the cutting edge building in our world? I've seen some amazing church buildings in our world. I've seen the old grand ones, and I've seen the new contemporary ones.

If you look with the physical eye, they're astounding in their size and their grandeur. But look here, you've got four fishermen, remember, in the same fishing business. Here's fishermen from Galilee who are interested in temples and the beauty of Jerusalem.

And they begin pointing out to Jesus, you know what I can tell you, Jesus isn't a bit interested in buildings here. Although they're in awe of them, and they're his disciples, he is utterly disinterested in buildings, architecture, style, denominations, or organizations. He has no interest.

He cares about hearts. He cares about men. He cares about people.

Look what it says in verse 2, 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. What a statement that Jesus does there praising, pointing out the greatest building, the greatest place of worship. Jesus says, it means nothing to me.

And he makes a prophecy, says mark my words, not one single stone of this temple will remain upon another. Jesus gave many warnings to the inhabitants of Jerusalem within his lifetime. He said, I would have gathered you as a mother hen, but you would not.

He said, woe unto you mothers that are going to have children and give soot to them with your paps. He says, woe unto you, because judgment is going to come to this city. I wanted to save you.

I wanted to heal you. I wanted to bring you to repentance, to forgive your sins. But do you know what you didn't? You were happy in religion, tradition, custom, morality.

You didn't want me. You didn't want salvation. You didn't take these things seriously.

And yet he's warning of judgment coming to this little city, the center of the world, Jerusalem. You know what? He makes a clear prediction. That's why the disciples ask these questions.

Tell us when shall these things be? When is it going to happen, master? Do you realize there's a prediction here, a prophecy? Not the later verses, but at the beginning, Jesus makes a prophecy that the temple in Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. Do you know when this happened? A.D. 70, less than 40 years later, the Roman army surrounded the little city of Jerusalem. They killed about a million people, carried off a hundred thousand into captivity.

They burned down the buildings. They destroyed the temple. In fact, it says that when fire began to rage through the city of Jerusalem, that they literally began to break into the stones because there was gold in the temple on the stones, every single stone to get the gold.

There's actually accurate historical records of all this happening. The entire besiegement, not only of Jerusalem, but of the temple, the destruction and annihilation of this beautiful temple, less than 40 years after Jesus Christ. But do you know what? The church didn't get caught in it.

You know why? Because they had this prophecy and this warning. Over in Luke, it addresses this again, and it gives exact information in the gospel of Luke. When you see these things, flee the city.

And even here in Matthew 24, it says, when you see these things, when you see armies come up, flee the city. Do you know what Christians done two years before this? They fled the city. It was a in-law or a cousin of this band of believers who actually had a prophecy from the Lord who said, now is the time.

He fled with the Christians across the Jordan Valley just before Rome came and besieged the city of Jerusalem. We're actually told in the history books, now it was AD 70, this happened. The year 69 AD, and the history books is called the year of the four emperors.

In 68, Nero died. And this led to three great generals fighting for the position of control of the entire empire. Many nations were caught up in this.

There was a civil war within the empire between many nations and four great leaders became emperor of Rome. Do you realize in one year, there was four different emperors, one after the other, all in one year over the Roman empire, over the military. First, you had Nero, then Galba, followed by Otho, followed by Vitalius, all within one year.

One after the other, and they died violent deaths. There was revolution, civil war. There was disputes, bloodshed, brother against brother, city against city.

It was a terrible time of unparalleled suffering, violence, and death within the Roman empire. And this touched the little city of Jerusalem. You know what? Jesus not only talks about salvation or forgiveness of sins, or prayer, or walking in holiness.

He also talks about wars. He gives prophecies about wars that actually happen. He speaks about the destruction of cities.

He talks about nations. He talks about riots and revolutions. And so when you come to this, you begin to see and understand that this is an important place.

Why am I talking about Bible prophecy and wars and rumors of wars this morning? Because Jesus said, I don't only preach you must be born again, or you must walk holy. I don't only teach the epistles of Paul, but we teach Bible prophecy. This is actually a very important part of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so the city was destroyed in the year AD 70. We know in the following decade, in the year 130, Hadrian and the Roman empire changed the name of Jerusalem to Syria, Palestine. If you want to know where the name Palestine comes from, it comes from the Romans.

It isn't a modern name. You won't find a modern culture going back 100 years called Palestine with flag, with coins, with culture. You won't find it.

You find that with Israel. The name Palestine was created by the Roman army in the year 130 to degrade Israel. That's the first use of the name.

That's where the name was created. Because having scattered the Jews from their city and from their nation that they had been in for thousands of years. Do you know what the Romans want to finish it off? They were tired of Jewish rebellions, fighting, uprisings and rebellion.

And so this was to utterly put down and degrade the Jew. Since that's the first question that was asked of Jesus, tell us when shall these things be? The destruction of the temple. But there's another two questions here.

And remember, I'm going to go on to this in the weeks to come as well. But I want you to understand some of these things. And we're going to come back to them because it is important in this hour.

There's another two questions that they asked Jesus. And what should be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age? See, this is distinct from the other one and yet it's connected to it. Jerusalem's destruction is connected to what is the sign of thy coming, of Jesus coming again.

See, Jesus is going to be crucified. He's going to go to the father. He's going to ascend up into heaven to the right hand of the father.

But he's coming again. It's the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so these disciples who are close to Jesus, this is near the end of his ministry, near the end of his life.

He's gone to Jerusalem saying, I'm going to Jerusalem. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to die.

Remember what they said? We'll go with you. Let us go and die with him. What pessimists.

Here they are joining them. And you know what they ask? What should be the sign of thy coming? You're saying you're going to suffer. You're going to die.

But what is going to be the sign of your return again? Jesus deals with it in this chapter in a very, very thorough way. And of the end of the world. Do you see that these two things are connected? The sign of thy coming, singular sign, the significant one sign of thy coming and the end of the world.

The word end of the world doesn't mean annihilation. Doesn't mean everyone's going to stop. The word world means age, the end of the age.

It's talking about coming to a time period. That's the final judgment. When the Messiah, Jesus Christ sets up his physical, visible kingdom on the earth.

It's called the day of the Lord, a day of wrath, a day of darkness, a day of judgment. When God comes physically, visibly, righteously to judge the nations. That's called the end.

It is a very significant period talked all through the Old Testament. And there are hundreds of details given about this. I mean accurate details.

And so this word end, it's used four times here. It's used in verse 3. It's used in verse 6. It's used in verse 13. And it's used again in verse 14.

It's talking about the end of man's day. The end of man's hour. The end of the nations doing what they want to do.

The end of wars. The end of famine. There's going to come, every answer is going to be answered.

All opposition is going to be put down. All the nations are going to come under the rule of Jesus. This is one of the most important things prophesied in the Bible.

Can I ask you, are you ready for that? Are you ready for the coming of Jesus? Have you lost sight and vision? Are you only caught up in this church and your battles and the tations and the wearing down? Have you lost your earnest expectation of the coming of the Lord? You know what it's called? It's called the church's hope. Our earnest hope. It's a glorious hope.

Jesus is going to come again. Saints, this isn't all it's about. This is your hour of fighting trials, walking through the fire, of being tempted of the evil one, of having your flesh rise up against you.

Doesn't the Bible speak about when you're born again a child of God? There is a terrible warfare in your own bosom, of your own flesh. Go ask a sinner. I've asked sinners many times to go, I don't believe your Bible.

I don't believe the commandments. I don't believe I need to live like you tell me. So I take it down a little bit and said, could you answer me a question? I said, just think of what you think in your mind, your heart, what is right and wrong.

And they said, no, I don't want to talk about what you're, I said, no, no, I'm talking about what you think, your morals, your conscience, your thoughts. Do you live up to your own conscience of what you think is right and wrong? I've yet to see a sinner say yes. I've had them all say, oh, I'm good.

But when I say, do you actually do the things that in your own heart you would like to be in your own self? All of them have said, no, I don't live up to my standards of just loving people. You don't live up to that. You see, it's a very real thing that man is fallen.

We are coming to a final hour. Jesus is coming again. And the church needs to be gripped by this in a very real way.

And so the apostles, they ask, what should be the sign of thy coming? You ought to be very interested in this. See, the more you see go on in the world, an earnest desire ought to arise and of the end of the world. See, when Jesus comes, that is the end of the world.

His coming, parousia, his revealing, his demonstration, his descending, his appearance in the clouds of heaven. He is literally, physically going to appear. And the Bible says every eye is going to see him.

The kings of the world are going to cry for mountains to fall on them. They're going to be horrified. They're going to be terrified.

The great men, the rich men, the merchants, the kings, the leaders, the politicians, the military men. Do you realize the Bible says they tremble even the devil on that day? It says he trembles in the presence of God. Even the demons now, they cry, don't send us to the pit.

Send us into the pigs. Send us into him or into her. Don't send us to the pit.

They're horrified. They cry out, why are you coming to torment us before our time? That ought to wake you up. Even demons know the reality of this.

They don't want to go there. Don't send us to the pit. And yet we have sinners could care less.

I'll go to hell with all my friends. Even the demons in hell who know they will go there eternally. They're not there yet.

The demons aren't there. They roam the earth. They possess individuals.

They influence governments. It's a real spiritual warfare that we are actually in. This word end is the Greek word centelia.

It means to completely and entirely finish. It's the consummation of everything. It's everything being brought to a beautiful finale.

It is a mark time. It is a radical change in time. Everything in our world is going to change at the end.

Things will not continue. But listen what Jesus in these verses, we are commanded not only to look for Jesus coming, but for the signs that indicate his coming. In other words, he gives the exact prophecies, details about things that are going to happen that you can see the indicators on the marks of a change in our world to say, it's very, very close.

We know that Jesus said in Matthew 24, 36, but of that day, what day? The end, the coming of Jesus. But of that day and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven, but my father only.

Here's Jesus saying only the father knows that day. You don't know that day. You don't know that day.

No man can know that day. I don't know that day. No one in America knows that day.

No one on YouTube knows that day. You need to hear this again. No one on WhatsApp knows it.

No one on Facebook knows it. What's all the other things. Now this is moving beyond me.

I always stayed in the cutting edge of things. Now I go, man, this is going. I said to Rory, you have to teach me about AI.

Also Jonathan from Germany, man, he's going to come speak to me about this. He sent me an email. I didn't even know how to respond to the email.

It's so technical, but I need to talk to that guy. He says, if you knew what this AI can do in this hour. So I've just lost track of all this.

It is exploding enormously amazingly. But do you know what Jesus said? No man knows the day or hour. Nobody does, but we can know the season.

Jesus taught them. You ought to know the season, not the hour, not the day. Nobody does, but you ought to know the season.

We're commanded to know the season. We're taught to know the season. And in fact, we're given indicators.

When you come to Matthew 24, verse four to 14, listen, deals with general signs, 10 in number. Jesus gives 10 general signs, and I've taught these in details a few times. He gives these 10 signs that are going to come together very fast.

They've always been there throughout church history for 2000 years, but suddenly something's going to change. Something radical is going to change with these 10 to make them not just a general time, but now a time that's getting close. But 15 verses 15 to 26 are considered specific signs.

And in those specific signs, Jesus gives the one sign to mark the coming of Jesus is right at the door and it's going to happen. The church has always talked about the coming of the Lord, but these signs have never been in place. Never.

The specific signs have never once in thousands of years been in place. And Jesus gives accurate information, how you can tell when this is going to happen, but that's right at the end. That's just prior to the end.

But Jesus gives something else in Matthew 24 verses four to 14. He gives us another name. Look at it in verse eight.

All these are the beginning of sorrows. All these are the beginning of sorrows. He gives 10 and I'm going to deal with just one of them here, wars and rumors of wars.

So there's always been wars 6,000 years, 5,000 years. So always been wars for the church, 2,000 years right across the nations. What makes this different right now? And what's going to make a difference in the days to come? It's this statement, beginning of sorrows.

Jesus gives 10 distinct signs, global signs, not just in Israel. He constantly talks about the nations. The nations will persecute you.

He's not just talking about Israel or Jerusalem. He gives a global perspective, but Jerusalem is at the heart of it or the center of it. It is God's time piece.

You can tell what hour it is when you look at Jerusalem, but look at this statement of verse eight. Naomi's going to be very interesting. Hannah's going to be very interested this morning.

Says all these are the beginning of sorrows. This word sorrows in the Greek, listen to what it means. It's a Greek word that's used here.

Jesus uses a Greek word that was common and specific in the hour. This word sorrows is the Greek word for a woman's birth pangs when she's just about to give birth. Naomi is due to give birth in one week's time, sitting here in the front row.

If her husband panics and they both rush out, you know something is going on. You see, I don't see her in birth pangs at the minute. Do you see that? Look, all of you is look at Naomi for a second.

Her husband is in panic and sweating. He's not sitting with a bag. And yet it's one week away.

That's as close as you get. We probably won't see you next Sunday. I hope not.

You hope not. You see, she's been pregnant nine months. For a long time, I've been saying, and people say, you should never, ever say this to a woman.

I'm saying, you're big. She's telling me on Friday night, I feel big. I'm just tired.

I'm at the end of this. I want this over with. She says, isn't God thankful? Very educational for me to preach.

She's telling me, isn't it amazing how God just makes it like this that you go, I'm ready to bring forth this child. I just want this child out. I've just got to a point.

And then he was encouraging her, sharing all these things. I knew mommies understand. Oh, it's great having that baby feeling.

But one of these days you're going to say, get this child out of me. It's too big. It's too much.

I can't handle much more of this. Since she has been nine months in pregnancy, we all know she's going to give birth. She knows she's given birth.

The doctor knows she's given birth. Every man and dog on the street knows she's not kicking in yet. But do you know what's going to happen over there? Hopefully the next week, birth pangs, this Greek word for sorrows, is suddenly going to kick in.

Don't start before the end of this meeting. You have the preacher worried. I'm so thankful we've got a nurse now who can always be in hand on these occasions.

I was always worried, won't he just die, fall off your seat. Now we've got someone I wouldn't need to worry. I'll stand here and pray.

She'll do all the practical work. I'm so glad for that. I don't want to be delivering any baby in the back of this church.

But do you know what? Birth pangs has not begun. You know these 10 signs have always been there, always been there. But birth pangs, these signs have always been there.

But that isn't birth pangs. Birth pangs are going to hit her. How do you know? It's that panging to say this is the time.

And you know what? They become intense. They kick in, the pain of it, the movement of it. You're going, something suddenly kicks in that you go, this isn't going to wait a month.

This isn't going to wait another nine months. This is it. Nine months have gone by, but I'm waiting on the birth pangs.

Birth pangs are very short, very abrupt, very intense. How do you know it's birth pangs? Because it starts hitting closer together. They start timing.

Get your watch out. You can time. I don't, I'm ignorant of these things.

I need to watch a video on it. But you start 10 minutes between those birth pangs, five minutes. You better get me in that car.

Get that bag. We're moving. I need to get to that hospital.

You know why? Because something has now kicked in. It's not going to delay weeks. It's not going to delay a month.

You won't see LCC next week. This is it. The birth pangs actually begin before the birth, before the finality, before the end.

And so Jesus is talking about the end. He said these 10 signs, you know what? They've always been in church history, always in all the nations. But there's something about the very same signs, the rapidity of them coming.

Once these things begin, there will be no turning back. This is it. They start mild, but become increasing with frequency and intensity until the final end.

In other words, they'll never go back. They won't decrease anymore. Some women have false birth pangs.

Sometimes they go, oh, is this it? Because they haven't been through birth before. They don't know what it's like. So they go, oh, this is it.

We've got a lot of those in the church. Things happen in the world. Oh, Jesus is coming tonight.

This year, I know. I know it's going to be a tabernacle this year. Jesus is going to come.

I've heard it 20 years. So there's a lot of these mothers that don't know what they're saying. They think they understand this.

But you know what? Birth pangs really kicking. You aren't going anywhere. You can't get pulled back from this.

You're going to deliver this baby very, very quickly. It's the time and in between, the intensity. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and 1. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as trevail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. This is going to be yet saints of God. Let me come into this, my message here.

Say, you're only getting going your message. Yes, I'm only getting going my message. Sit tight.

We're going to cover this in the weeks to come. I want to give you one of these signs that Jesus gave in verse 6. One of the 10, one of the birth pangs. It's always been there.

What is it in verse 6? And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Jesus doesn't give vague prophecies. He gives accurate prophecies.

Notice what the birth pang here. It's going to break upon us suddenly. It's always been there.

The pregnancies always been there. The sign has always been there. But it's suddenly going to break violently and intensely upon us.

And there's two things and there's details given. There's two things here, actual wars and rumors of wars. Rumors of wars are things that never come to pass.

They're not actual wars. It's people saying, we're going to have a war. Never happens.

Never happens. How many times does that happen? People says, we're going to have a war here. It hasn't happened.

It happens a lot in the past five years. So there's two things here. Jesus said, this is going to become intense, overwhelming, unbearable.

You can't avoid it anymore. It's going to rapid fire. This intensity of rumors of war, this war is going to happen.

And there'll be all the evidence of it. There'll be the fear of it. There'll be the concern and the movement, but it'll never happen.

There's going to be lots of rumors of wars, but also actual wars. These two things are going to break in on our world at a certain point and be one of 10 things. Notice how Jesus always qualifies.

He goes, I'm not prophesying vaguely. I'm giving accurate, detailed prophecies. There have been more wars in the past 100 years than the previous 5,000 years.

That's fact. That's an academic statement. 5,000 years.

When have most happened? The past 100 years. And they've been increasing in intensity and frequency and size and danger over the past 130 years. Have you seen where technology has gone? It is now exploding.

If we have a world war at this point, we're in serious trouble. Serious trouble. Like no previous war.

When we look at the 20th century for a moment, in the first world war, about 20 million people died and it was horrific. It was devastating to the nations of Europe. In the second world war, 60 million people died.

Then at the end of the second world war, the U.S. dropped just two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing at least 129,000 people. It was devastating. To think of a bomb and we're finishing cities and wiping out the city.

That was only by 1945. Don't tell me things aren't changing. Jesus said this was going to intensify at a rate you can't even imagine.

It'll become so intense, so frequent, so overwhelming, you can't ignore it. And it's only one of nine things. But it's not the end yet.

It's not the end. It's just the beginning of sorrows. The beginning.

Not the end of sorrows. The beginning. There's a short window of time of history that Jesus says is marked by the beginning and the end.

And it's a very short period. And he gives you prophecies. He literally pours out numerous prophecies about this so you can know what's happening.

So you'll be able to identify it very clear. Since the Second World War, about 250 major wars have occurred, with the death toll of over 50 million people. Just think of the wars in Korea, Vietnam, the various Arab wars against Israel, when all the surrounding Israels attacked Israel when it didn't even have a standing army to annihilate it back in 1948, and yet Israel won.

Many, many lives died. I was part of the first Gulf War in 1991. Saddam Hussein in Iraq had an army of one million soldiers.

The Allied forces gathered another force of one million soldiers. 100,000 people died. In a 10-day war.

Sorry, a 10-hour war. It was horrific. I was actually there.

Sorry, let me say that again. 100-hour war. I was actually there amid 35 nations from the Middle East fighting the fifth greatest army in the entire world.

A million on one side, a million on another. We actually drove through burning tanks and minefields across the Saudi border into Iraq. I'm in my tank with NBC gear on.

I remember sitting in my tank as the first Scud missile went over our head from Saddam, aimed at Israel. The American government were begging Israel, please don't get in this, or all the other Arab nations are going to stand against us. We're united here with 35 nations against Saddam.

Don't break that. I drove through there. I saw people die, 17-year-olds getting carried off their vehicle.

I was the one there within the borders of Iraq, and we got the last order, go towards Baghdad. That's your next place. We got in our vehicle, began driving.

We were the last battle group, all in a condition to actually go into that city. Instead, we veered and went into the small nation of Kuwait. War isn't nice.

If you hear any preacher glorifying war, praising war, we are not such a people. It's different to say who's right and who's wrong, and the politics of something, but shit. Our kingdom is not of this world.

If it was, what did Jesus say? My disciples would pay your taxes to the Romans. No, they're invading our country. Pay your tax.

Did the Caesar watch Caesar's? He wasn't saying Caesar was okay. Caesar wasn't okay. Neither was he a pacifist and told the Roman centurion to get out of the Roman army.

It's an invading army, but he says he's got greater faith than anyone in all of Israel. Hold on. He's part of that army invading us.

See, a lot of people think they know the Bible. They don't know the Bible. You've got to understand what the Bible says.

People go to extremes. Actually, there's scripture that will deal with both of you on extremes. Let's stay with the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so these wars, since our world is on fire right at this very moment, look at our world, look at Russia and Ukraine and how many have died. They don't even tell us the truth. You can easily take sides on your computer screen, sitting in your living room, around tea after service and talk all about Kuwait and Russia.

People have died. People have died. Children have died on both sides.

Many have gone to hell. Where's your broken heart? Where's your burden? Do you realize Ukraine's changed as a nation? Again, and they're wanting to pull all the surrounding nations in. Now Germany, for the first time, at the end of the Second World War, it's not allowed to have a standing army.

Oh, things have changed. They've been doing things that Russia says, you're acting in a warlike nature towards us. All these nations getting armed, preparing.

Last week, bombing Iran, Israel in the midst of all of its wars. We're going to look at these wars because Jesus gives it as a sign. This is becoming very intense.

Look at China, look at Russia, look at America, look at Iran, look at Turkey. Look at all of this coming together that are preparing. The Geneva Academy gives a list of contemporary wars.

They say in the Middle East and North Africa, there are 45 distinct contemporary wars within those regions. Most of them you've forgotten about. In Africa, there's 35 distinct wars.

In Asia, there's 21. In Europe, there's seven going on. And in Latin America, there are six.

They detail all these on their website, going through the details of these nations at war with one another. Look what Jesus says about this. Notice this carefully.

He says, and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. 2020, March. Do you remember that far back? COVID had just broken out.

My wife had just been diagnosed with stage four cancer. And I'm watching YouTube and on the news comes on a British general. The whole nation's closed down.

Britain, Ireland, the world's closed down. Everyone's talking about this COVID. They don't know what to expect.

And this British general comes on the BBC in his uniform. And he announces, he says, the third world war is about to happen. And it's going to be against Russia.

I went, am I hearing things? First of all, I was in the British army. No general is allowed to come on television and say anything like that. Second of all, what's he talking about? There's no talk about war with Russia.

Third of all, the entire world's closed down. No army can go anywhere. I say, and alas, I mean, I've got about 480 open windows in my phone.

I do try to close them, but see bits like that. I go, I'm not closing that because that's not normal. That's strange.

There's something strange going on there. Why do you have that happening at such a time? That's an organized thing. That's an orchestrated thing.

Jesus said, you will hear of wars. Listen to the Greek meaning for the word here. Here means to hear with your ears.

The Greek word in the first century means hearing, to be constantly hearing, to be an audience of hearing wars and rumors of wars. It means to constantly, daily, persistently receive reports. You're not in the war.

It doesn't say being in the war. You're not there. You're an audience of this constantly.

This is the beginning of sorrows. Do you know what Jesus is telling the church? The church is going to find that they're sitting as a mass audience. They're not in war.

They're not soldiers, but they're a constant daily audience of hearing wars and rumors of wars. It gets intense like this. It becomes unavoidable.

This becomes the main thing. You're constantly with your ears hearing war after war after war. Can you tell me of a generation from the 90s that instantly, constantly hears about wars? Just name me one generation that could hear worldwide every report.

The Gulf War that I was in was the first one so televised on television. It was the first time I'd ever seen GPS. It wasn't in civil society.

I'd never even heard about it. Here's suddenly they want to put a GPS in your tank. I fitted it to my tank and to my squadron.

We put it in there and you could listen. You actually could drive blind without lights on for 23 and a half hours out of 24 without lights through the Iraqi desert. In 93, we're going, wow, no one in society talks about this or knows about this.

You know what Jesus is saying? I'm telling you something that's going to become so dominant before I come back. The beginning of sorrows that's going to lead to the end when Jesus appears in all of his glory and puts everything right. You know what's going to happen? You, the church, are suddenly going to be turned into an audience.

Don't be scared. He said this is a sign. You need to begin to understand.

It's horrific. It says in verse 7, for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against nation against kingdom. Notice he's given a full description of what's going to happen here.

Nation shall rise against nation. The word nation is ethnos. It's the Greek word meaning ethnic, tribe, culture, people group with the same DNA.

They're associated together, joined together by birth, by culture or maybe by religion or a common identity and language. That is a nation. You're forged together with DNA, with similarity.

You're bound together. What does Jesus say? Nation against nation. Jesus says not only are you going to become a spectator of worldwide wars constantly, you're literally going to be sitting like an audience where constantly all you're hearing is wars and rumors of wars.

He says no, it's going to go further. It's going to be nation against nation. In other words, people are going to be in this hour.

An intensity of ethnic dispute is going to explode through the roof. Notice what else he says. And kingdom against kingdom.

So the Greek word for nation is used here. It's a DNA. It's being birthed.

So if you're a Jew, that's an ethnic group. That is a nation. It's an ethnos.

A kingdom he mentions are political realms. We are told that the ethnic groups and political systems will be against each other. This is different than wars.

It's different than that. These against between nations and kingdoms is different than the wars. It looks different than the wars.

How is it different? This is internal systems. Listen to what the word means. It means uprisings, revolutions, commotions, instability, disorder, and confusion within countries.

Conflicts within states now make up 95 percent of all conflicts worldwide. I'm not talking about wars now. I'm talking about something else.

I'm talking about ethnic disputes in our world. You know what Jesus says just before I come back? This is going to go through the roof. It's going to become so rapid fire.

Color, ethnos, language. There's going to be an explosion and an intensity of this that you actually can't ignore. It was in the 1990s that it was proclaimed by the political world and all the academic facilities across the western world that we had now, in the middle of the 90s for the first time, reached the clash of nations.

The clash of nations had returned again to our world. For over a hundred years, and several hundred years in fact, it had been the clash of empires. We had the falling of entire empires, the end of the Cold War, the falling of communist Russia.

Entire empires, the British empire that ruled from sea to sea, one quarter of the world, was suddenly fallen apart. So they predicted the cultural differences will be the main problem of the 2000s. I read their books back then.

See, they said from 2000, the real problem is no longer going to be empires or Soviet Russia. It's going to be cultural differences within nations, within an internal nation. There's going to be a clash of politics and a clash of ethnos within individual nations.

Not one nation fighting another nation. You're going to have people within nations fighting each other, split down the middle, and they predicted right and accurately. They're increasing in number and frequency right now.

Just think of examples of ethnic wars and conflicts that have been happening in our world. Most of them you don't know about, either happened before your birth or whatever. In Tibet from 1949 to 79, 1.6 million died.

In Uganda from 69 to 79, over half a million died. From 75 to 79 in Cambodia, 2 million died. From 83 to 85 in Ethiopia, 1 million died.

From 80 to 88 in Afghanistan, 800,000 died. In North Korea from 94 to 98, 2 million died internally. In Sudan, 2 million died between 83 and 2005.

In Bosnia, 200,000 died between 92 and 95. Do you see how as we come up into the 90s? Rwanda, 800,000. Have you forgotten all this? This is exploding, and it's becoming more intense.

It's not less right now in our world. This is becoming more. You know what? Our world population is exploding at an unparalleled rate beyond imagination.

Now we've reached 8 billion. The world has never been so big. You know what? Never has the dangers of war been so big.

Never has the controversy been so big. From 2010, 1 million died in Nigeria, internal disputes over religion and tribes. Don't think it's just black against white.

It's not. It's black against black, tribe against tribe. Go to South Africa.

Go to Nigeria. A black skin won't protect you from a black man. You're a different tribe.

You're a different religion. Our world is saturated. And look at Syria.

Don't forget Syria. It's still going on since 2011. They say 600,000 have died in that.

It's all internal. They're not even wars against an enemy. These are internal revolutions.

These are disputes. This is this roar. Oh yeah, they've always happened.

The 30 years war in Europe from 1618 to 48, they say between 5 to 8 million died in Europe. It was devastating. But nothing's been this intense.

This intensity is going through the roof. And it's not just one place, not just one continent. This is spreading.

The word that Jesus used here, remember, it's the loving master. Your enemies love those that despitefully use you. He's talking about war here as a sign that he's coming soon.

Know what I believe he's saying? I'm going to put an end to this. The UN won't. The New World Order won't.

Mr. Trump won't. He thinks he will. I tremble when I see the absolute assurance.

He says, I'm going to bring peace. I tremble. I tremble at Netanyahu with the boldness.

He's been too successful. I worry because men can't handle victory. It's a very dangerous thing.

And so, we have Jesus using this word against. The Greek word against, nation, kingdoms, against is the word awakenings, uprisings, revolutions. Over in Luke, he used the word commotions.

It means instability, disorder, or confusion. And so, we've got this worldwide conflict going on. Look at the minute the LBGT just marched in Hungary because it is one of the best countries in Europe.

Their prime minister, I love and respect highly. They don't want to abort their babies. They don't want immorality to sweep the schools.

They don't accept LBGT operating on the babies of young kids and teenagers and put medical drugs in them that mess up their system that so many of those regret now who have had operations. Our world's gone crazy, but the leaders of the EU are trying to punish Hungary saying, you've got to give LGBT freedom. Their prime minister says, no way.

Look now in America with this new politician rising in New York, a Muslim, an absolute socialist, communist, radical, smooth, eloquent, powerful. Now the Democrats are jumping on his bandwagon. Can you imagine if he gets in on the days ahead? A Muslim in one of the most Jewish cities in the world outside of Jerusalem.

Can you believe this? What about Ireland? We're in a race problem here. Do you realize in the past two years, rapes have gone through the roof? It was happening in Germany 20, 30, 40 years ago. It was all the Turks come in and rapes exploded.

The police were banned 40 years ago in Germany from mentioning it. They weren't allowed to. Almost all the crime.

You know Germans, new cars are coming in the middle of the city and they're all standing there. There's new cars, red light. They'll stand there and they'll walk away.

They won't walk, not like the Irish. Irish just stream over. Germans don't.

A German policeman, he says, the definition of a German is a policeman and every individual fighting to get out. Every citizen. Imagine an entire nation and it's a little mini expert policeman.

So don't do that. You can't do that. What are you doing? It's Germany.

And then you've got this change in culture. They say Germany's lost it. We've met some Germans recently that don't believe in having children.

So there's too many children in the world. Not German children. And you know what? Germany has lost its country.

It'll never, ever recover it. Britain is in a crisis over immigration. I'm not against immigration.

My wife is getting her visa to come into this country. I hope they don't stop her. She was originally from Panama, Central America, living in America and now moved to Ireland.

I believe in immigration. I'm glad for yous that have moved. But I'm against breaking the law and destroying a nation.

We've got already in our city a bunch of young guys who've never worked a day in their life. They're all on government benefits. They don't work.

They're on drugs. They cause none but problems. I know that the prisons are filled with it.

Get some sense government. Bring back the reality again. We need something to happen in our world because we're having an explosion here in Ireland right now.

5 million people in 2022. That was the population. 5 million 2022.

In 2002 it was 4 million. We're having a one-fifth increase in our entire population like that since 2000. But it's radically changed in the past two years now for the first time the Irish woke up in the past two years.

They've destroyed the nation. You've got marches on this street with people covered in Irish flags and they stopped opposite the Palestinians just the other week. And now they're saying we're Irish.

You've lost it. You've lost Britain. I could say an awful lot on this.

I'm not against. Do you know I grew up with my birthday parties most of them were Jamaican. I've got all my pictures with my Jamaican girlfriends and friends.

I understand Jamaican accents. Strong Jamaican accents. My class at school in England was multicultural.

You'd be shocked if you've seen it. Not two faces the same. Every culture.

But there wasn't problems. Something's changed. You've got strong people.

Why is it mostly young male men coming into societies in Britain and in Ireland? Why is all this changing? Why aren't they doing things legally? Why is drugs thriving? We're in a problem. Listen to what Jesus said as we close. And you shall hear wars and rumors of wars.

Listen to his command. See that you be not troubled. For all these things must come to pass.

Listen to what he's saying. Be not troubled. Don't be frightened.

Don't be troubled. Or over in Luke 21.9 he says be not terrified. It means a deep sense of fear or trauma or to be scared or to flee or to run.

Don't do it. Don't move out into the countryside into your nice little protected site. We're here to preach the gospel.

We've got an answer. I've got an answer for the ethnic problem and the national political problem and the wars. His name is Jesus Christ.

He's coming back again since we've got an answer. And you know what Jesus says? Be not troubled. You the church must not be troubled.

Don't get caught up all in politics. This is our hour. We're right at the end of the age.

It's the beginning of the end. Since we're there. Don't tell me this is business as normal.

You're not dropping bombs on Iran and it's business as normal. Our world is really on the edge of the third world war. So much is preparing.

All the nations are arming up for the first time in my lifetime. Listen to me. It's the first time I'm taking the threat of the third world war serious in my entire lifetime.

And I've watched this carefully. And I've never said this in my life before. But I want to tell you these threats are dangerous and real.

And these weapons exceed anything in imagination. You haven't seen anything yet. Are you born again? Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you know where your faith is? Because this is your, oh no, we want an LGBT freedom world.

You're not going to get it. They are going to bomb and destroy this world. There's going to be a flood of diseases and famines the like of which you can't even imagine.

No, the UN is going to fix it all. No, it's not. The UN will fix the wealth problem and health problem and we'll live forever and we'll connect to AI.

You'll put a chip in your brain. Oh, that's interesting. The Bible predicts that.

And it says a political religious system will come. You'll get a mark on the right hand. Notice how particular scripture is.

It doesn't say left. It says that right hand, you're going to have a mark in your hand and in your forehead and you'll only be able to buy and sell with that and worship will be a part of this. And you'll be connected to an image of the antichrist, the beast that's going to sit in Jerusalem.

And that image sitting in Jerusalem will have the power to put anyone to death who doesn't take that mark and kneel to the system. Welcome to your new brave world. Sinner, atheist, religionist, moralist.

I think I'll choose Christ. I want to be born again because I know what's coming. We're going to look at some of these things because Jesus' prophecies are very accurate.

But he says, be not terrified. And he says in verse 44, therefore be ye ready. For in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.

To be ready means adjusted, prepared, ready at hand. Are you ready? Because you've got the biggest wars in world history mounting to take place. And you're going to have the biggest death toll in all world history.

And it's going to be internal between colors, nations, political systems, and between great nations. The worst bombs, the most destructive, and we're sitting on the edge of this. And more people will either go to hell or heaven in the next 40 years than in all of world history.

Are you ready? Are you forgiven? Welcome with Jesus. You stand with me just as we close. Jesus, Father, our world is on fire.

And yet you say, do not fear. Lord God, you care about this world. You died for this world.

You've called us to pray for this world, to love this world in an unlovely world where people are destroying each other. We're called to reach out with the love of Christ, with the power of the gospel, to see men and women saved. And Father, we're asking for a great revival.

Lord God, to equal us. You've been faithful in past centuries. Not before the civil war in America, you poured out your Holy Spirit in various wars in Europe before they came and great bloodshed came.

You sent spiritual revivals. You raised up preachers on a very large scale to touch a young generation. Lord God, in recent days, we're hearing again in Britain and in America, but especially England and Britain, how a whole young generation is turning back who were raised atheists and skeptics.

Lord God, we're raised with no thought of God or the Bible. And yet they're going, finding, buying Bibles and asking the questions about eternal life and God, the creator of heaven. Lord God, I believe that you're preparing to move again.

And Father, as a church, we want to be a soul winning church, O God. We want to be ready. We want to have our lamps trimmed and burning.

We want our oil to be filled up to the rim. My God, I'm asking of you, send us another gracious revival. Lord God, we want to be prepared.

We want to be looking for the coming of Jesus. It's not life is normal or business is normal, but Jesus Christ is coming. The signs are being put in place.

And like Naomi, Lord God, these burldovars with an intensity that no man, nor God this morning, help us to discern every news item in the light of Jesus' words. Lord God, help us. Do not fear, for all of these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

As we live in this world that's filled with turmoil and bloodshed and horrific acts, my God, break us. Give us a broken heart, a burdened heart, a missionary heart, a desire to evangelize on lovely. Lord God, we pray send people to Gaza.

Lord God, send people to Israel to evangelize. Send people into the Muslim world, into Iran, O God. Send a revival.

Pour out your Holy Spirit again around this world. In India, O God. In China, O God.

Father, move by your divine spirit. And O God, we ask for Ireland. Do not forget this nation, nor God, that for the first time in our entire lifetime, we are seeing racism.

We are seeing, Lord God, within our own borders, nation against nation. Nor God, we've never seen this until right now. And we're asking of you, Father, move and raise up your church in Ireland one more time.

We're asking that you birth in every community, nor God, in every group in this nation. All those who are streaming in, give us these immigrants, O God. Those that come here for their own reason.

We're asking for their souls. We're asking that we might evangelize them with the power of your gospel in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.