”End Time Signs in the Skies” Pastor Jamey Houghton July 25, 2026

Hello and welcome to the McDonald Road

7th Adventist Church. We are so honored

that you are able to join us this

morning to worship our God on Sabbath

morning. We have people joining us from

all over the nation uh from out in

California, down in Texas, North and

South Dakota, and here on the East Coast

as well. And and it's a joint effort of

all of us to worship our God together.

So, I just want to extend a warm welcome

to each one of you. Thank you so much

for joining us here at McDonald Road. As

we begin our worship hour, I hope that

you are blessed in your time worshiping

with us together on this Sabbath

morning. Welcome to church

>> buddy.

>> It's good to be here worshiping with you

today.

I want to uh

have you go back in your memory and for

some of you it might not be too far if

you're still in school.

Remember when you had to run the mile in

PE? Some of you that are still in

school, hopefully you're still running

the mile. Hopefully your PE teachers are

still making you do that because if we

had to suffer, you should still have to

suffer.

But I can remember having to run the

mile and uh at the school I went to

Escanido Adventist Academy in San Diego,

there was uh a track that went around

the football field and five laps around

the field was a mile.

And uh I can remember people saying

telling me, you know, Jamie, if you run

long enough, you experience a runner's

high.

And I've learned over the years that

those people were lying to me.

That doesn't exist. Some of you runners

are like, "Yeah, it is." No, it doesn't.

I've tried it. Runner's high. But we

ran. We had no choice. We had to run the

mile. And as you start off, that's how

we started every PE class. You run the

mile. And as you start off, you're

feeling pretty good. You've got plenty

of energy. You haven't run any anywhere

so far. And so, you start off the first

lap. And the first lap is not too bad,

right? You've still got plenty of energy

on that first lap. You're kind of

looking around at who's who's in front

of you and who's behind you and kind of

got a target on the people who are in

front of you. You want to catch up to

them. And so starting around, you come

around lap number two, you still have

quite a bit of energy, a little less

than lap number one, but you're still

feeling pretty fresh.

Lap number three comes along, you're

starting to feel it a little bit, aren't

you? You can start a little bit out of

breath, but you still, okay, I'm still

I've still got some some gas in the

tank. Lap three is pretty good. App

four, you're like, "All right, how many

more do I have? Am I almost there?

Where's the finish line? I've got one

more to go." Okay, you're starting to

feel it in your lungs a little bit. Your

legs are giving out just a little bit.

You're getting tired on lap number four.

Then you you finish lap number four and

you're coming into lap number five. How

do you feel at lap number five when

you're running the mile? Pretty tired,

don't you? Your legs, your lungs are on

fire. It feels like someone just lit a

fire in your chest. Your lungs are

trying to keep up. And but there's

people in front of you that you're

trying to beat. You don't want your

buddy sitting next to you in class in

the next period to be ripping on you cuz

he beat you. So you're trying and

pushing it. Your lungs are on fire. Your

legs are tired. That last one. And you

see you see the finish line up ahead.

You're like, "Okay." And and all the PE

teachers, I don't know about if yours

did or not, but they're like, "All

right, if you can that last like hundred

yards, try and sprint." Any other PE

teachers tell you that? That last little

bit really just give it everything

you've got. That's hard to do, isn't it?

because you get don't have much left to

give in there. But every once in a

while, I try that that last that last

100 yards, you just give everything

you've got and you're just you're

suffering and it hurts. No matter how

fast you were when you ran the mile, I

guarantee that you're not as fast as

Scottish middle distance runner Josh

Kerr

because very recently on July 18, just a

couple of days ago, he broke the world

record for the onem run. And the news

said he shattered the old record. As I

was reading this, I thought, wow,

shattered. That's a big, you know, big

term. Shattered the old record. must

have been like by a lot. He beat the old

record that had been there for 27 years

by a half a second.

But listen to how fast this guy ran the

mile.

3 minutes

and 42.66

seconds for the mile run. Just out of

curiosity, can anybody or in your whole

lifetime did anybody run a sub

fiveminute mile here?

Oh,

sub six minute. There's got to be some

runners in here, huh? Okay. Okay. I see

some. Yeah. Impressive.

3 minutes and 42 seconds for the mile.

Now, as you're running,

as you get close to the end of the run,

there are some changes that happen to

you physically as you're coming near to

the end of a race or the end of a run.

Your heart rate goes up to about 70 to

90% of its maximum capacity to rush

oxygen out. Your lungs are working

overtime to pull in extra air and clear

out carbon dioxide. There's all kinds of

things going on with lactic acid. Your

muscles are starting to get tired.

Adrenaline spikes from your your brain

and kicks in some cortisol to sharpen

your focus for the finish line. Blood

goes to different extremities away from

your stomach. Even as you're running,

lots of things start changing as you get

down to the end of a race physically.

And it's the same way we see in

scripture when we're coming down to the

end of our story, the end of what Paul

even says is our race. Things start to

change. There's lots of things that

become different as time starts to run

out here on this planet as we see the

prophecies of Jesus. And Paul says in 2

2 Timothy 4:7

Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good

fight. I have finished the race. I have

kept the faith. As we finish our race,

our time here on earth, we can expect

for there to be changes in the way

things are going on in the time just

before Jesus comes. Things will shift.

Things will become just a little bit

different.

The first time in the Bible we see the

need for a promise for a change comes in

Genesis 3:15, just after the first sin.

Genesis 3:15

And Jesus is talking to Lucifer and he

says, "I will put enmity between you and

the woman, between your seed and her

seed, and he shall bruise your head and

you shall bruise his heel." Right here

we see the first messianic prophecy that

involves

a revealing of the battle between good

and evil that is to come. But also we

see in this

the prophetic answer to which side is

going to come out successful, good or

evil. And that is the seed of the woman

here. There will be a Messiah that comes

and handles the sin problem. Now,

throughout scripture, we see lots of

different promises about the second

coming of Jesus, about the solution to

sin, a time where there's no more sin.

And I've often paused and just thought

about what heaven is going to be like

someday.

You ever imagined that? Just tried to

picture what it's going to be like. Have

you ever thought about what won't be in

heaven?

What will not be in heaven?

There won't be any shots in heaven.

You ever thought about that? No more

band-aids. No more shots. Uh, by show of

hands, how many of you have to watch the

needle go in when you get a shot?

How many of you look away and can't

watch the needle go in? Oh, look at you.

Most of you are the look away kind.

Interesting. Anybody ever passed out

when they got a shot?

I hear laughter. Nobody's raising their

hand, though.

Most shots are terrible. However, I will

say that there was one shot that was the

best shot I've ever had in my whole

life. And that was when I had a kidney

stone and I went to see my doctor cuz I

was uh in a lot of pain. And that shot

might have been my favorite thing that's

ever happened to me in a doctor's

office. Which also reminds me that there

won't be any kidney stones in heaven

either. Praise the Lord for that. If

you've had a kidney stone, that might be

some of the best news. No more kidney

stones. Have you ever thought about this

stuff? No more burning your hand on a

stove.

No more stubbing your toe. Little things

that bother us throughout our days.

Isn't it amazing how much pain a stubbed

toe can bring to your life?

No more of that. No more earachches or

toothaches in heaven. One of the best

things I think about heaven is that

there's no more goodbyes.

Saying goodbye is a tough thing. Every

single one of us have had to say goodbye

to somebody that we love and have been

separated by death.

No more funerals in heaven.

That I'm really looking forward to.

One of the toughest things I've ever had

to do

was uh say goodbye to my grandfather.

He lived up in Greenville, Tennessee,

and I was pastoring out in California

and he was on hospice care. My

grandfather and I were very, very close.

And uh we knew he didn't have too much

time left. And so I flew from California

to Nashville. My grandfather loved cars.

Loved cars. And so I rented the coolest

car I could find at the rental place, a

brand new sedan. And I knew he would

like it. And he'd been in the hospital.

And so when I got to Greenville, I

picked him up in the hospital and I made

sure I drove him home. It was his last

car ride. and and uh he was excited to

see all the bells and whistles in this

car. It was it was a cool moment and uh

took him home on Friday. I think

Saturday night, um, I had to say goodbye

to my grandfather because I had to catch

a flight out early Sunday morning. And I

knew that was going to be the last time

I saw my grandfather alive here.

And

saying goodbye and and and it's, you

know, when when you acknowledge that

death is coming, that's a hard

conversation to have.

But when you're saying goodbye and you

know that's the last time, man, that's a

that's a tough conversation to have,

isn't it?

I can't wait till there's a time when we

never have to say goodbye again to

anybody.

But also tucked into these promises

about the second coming are wonderful,

wonderful reunions

with the people that we miss.

>> Boy, am I glad for those promises, too.

Not only do we look at what's not there,

but it's nice to dream about what we

will experience when Jesus comes. And

those reunions with people that we've

missed for so long are going to be the

most beautiful moments I think we've

ever had.

Throughout the scriptures, God shared

with the prophets what to look for in

the times just before he comes. He did

this to give us hope and assurance

that for sure he's coming back, but also

it's a reminder to us that we're not

forgotten down here.

God has not for one moment forgotten

about all of us and the situations that

we're in and what we're going through.

He's promises he's preparing a home for

you and I. That means you've got a home

in heaven already. You've got an address

in heaven because Jesus is planning on

you being there.

And you're at the forefront of his mind.

You being there. And these Bible

promises, these prophecies that point us

down to this time, that show up through

our recent history are a reminder that

we are not forgotten here.

that God has his eye on us and has this

rescue plan for us in full motion. Last

week we looked at a specific prophecy.

This is a four-part Bible prophecy

series we're looking at. This is week

number two. Last week we looked at

Daniel chapter 7 and Revelation 13. Two

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

of these tied together. The first in

Daniel chapter 2 is the statue. Daniel

Daniel 2 · chapter mention Daniel 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7, we start seeing these these

different beasts which the Bible says

represent kingdoms. we see that

correlation with Revelation chapter 13

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

and this beast that that we uh that we

read about there. And if you haven't if

you didn't get to uh be here last week

and study that with us, go online this

afternoon and you can watch that sermon

and review and catch up on this on this

series. But through that, we looked at

the time period that God shared with

Daniel and then again shared later with

John the Revelator. this specific time

period where we call it today the dark

ages where there was a time of

persecution of people that were faithful

to the scriptures. You can read about

these these uh I think their heroes

these martyrs that died for their faith.

People like John Hus, William Tinddale.

You can see about the this their stories

and what they contributed to God's work

and how they paid for it with their

lives. Even sometimes William Tinddale,

he was so hated that dying wasn't even

good enough that the the powers at the

time dug him up 40 years after he had

died, ground up his remains and burned

them and threw him in the river. That's

how much they didn't like what he did.

A wild time, lots of persecution of

people who were faithful to God's word.

This dark ages period we read about in

the Bible. And if you look at what God

shared with Daniel, we see it as a

1,260-year

period that went from 538 to 1798.

And interesting that we see prophecies

that come up very recently in our

history.

Now, Jesus directly references this

specific prophecy that we looked at last

week here in Matthew chapter 24. Turn

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

with me in your Bibles to Matthew chap

24.

Jesus spends an almost an entire chapter

here with his disciples talking about

what to expect in the time just before

Jesus comes before he comes back the

second time. Matthew chapter 24 and

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

verse3 and he starts this the the

section starts off it and says now as he

sat on the mount of olives where is

Jesus sitting the mount of olives the

disciples came to him in private saying

tell us when will these things be and

what will be the sign of your coming and

the end of the age they wanted to know

what to expect and here we can glean a

little bit from Jesus on what to expect

as he shares this with the disciples now

he's on the mount of olives which is

interesting And we've we've studied

recently some Bible prophecy that looks

at modern Christian teachings that

misinterpret some of these things that

Jesus is talking about here. The first

thing that Jesus says when they ask him

what the signs of his coming would be,

the first thing that he says is take

heed that no one deceives you. Our radar

should be up in the last days for false

teachings. teachings that might even

sound good but go contrary to God's

word. So, we should all be students of

God's word so we know and can tell what

the stuff is that's false. Right? That

only makes sense. Jesus says, "Be

careful what you believe." Now, he's

saying this from the Mount of Olives,

which is interesting because there's a

modern teaching dealing with the Mount

of Olives that I believe is a false

teaching that is widely accepted in the

Christian world today. We talked about

this a couple of months ago in reference

to Zechariah 14:4.

Zechariah 14:4

And it says, "On this day, his feet will

stand on the Mount of Olives east of

Jerusalem." Many people today, many

Christians today teach that when Jesus

comes the second time, he's going to

come and set foot on the modern Mount of

Olives today. when he comes where Mount

of Olives is right now which is the

reason why so many people today are so

fixated on the country of Israel because

they believe Jesus has to come there and

set foot on the Mount of Olives.

However, if you compare scriptures and

look at what Jesus is talking about, you

will see, for instance, over in 1

Thessalonians chapter 4:17, Paul clears

this up and he says, "Then together with

them, we who are still alive and remain

on the earth," talking about the second

coming, "will be caught up in the clouds

to meet the Lord where?

>> In the air." We're not meeting the Lord

at the Mount of Olives, are we? Paul

says we're going to meet the Lord in the

air. So what is it talking about in

Zechariah where it says that he will set

his foot down on the Mount of Olives and

it has to mean after the thousand years

after the millennium because we know

Paul says that he will not set foot down

and we're going to meet him in the air.

So you can look at these different

teachings and say all right let's

compare it with what everything else

says and then you can find the truth.

Isn't it fascinating though that Jesus

from the Mount of Olives says be careful

about false teachings

even about the place where he's

standing. Let's continue on.

Jesus says, "You will hear of wars and

rumors of wars. See that you are not

troubled, for all these things must come

to pass, but the end is not yet. For

nation will rise against nation and

kingdom against kingdom. There will be

famines and pestilences and earthquakes

in various places. All these are the

beginnings of birth panges." Interesting

that Jesus uses this phrase because

anybody who's familiar with birth panges

knows that contractions mean something's

coming.

When a woman is about to give birth,

there are contractions that tell you

that it's getting closer to the time to

have that baby.

I can remember with the birth of our

first child,

Cali, we were I didn't know anything

about any of this stuff. We went to a

class and they were telling us, "All

right, here's what you do." And they I

remember them looking at me and they're

like, "Dad, if your wife has has the

baby on the way to the hospital, that's

this is what you do." And I was like,

Lord, please, please don't let that

happen to me. Please let us make it to

the hospital. I don't think I can do

this and deliver a baby on the side of

the road. I know people have had to do

that. Just please, not me, Lord.

But those contractions were 10 minutes

apart and I was like, "Time to go." I

called I called the doctor's office and

I was like, "10 minutes? We're coming."

They're like, "Don't come."

Our our our doctor said, "Why don't you

take your wife to the mall and walk her

around?" I was like, "We're having

contractions here." She's like, "Go for

a walk at the mall." This is truly what

she said. So Aaron and I went for a walk

at the mall and we're trying to pretend

like we're window shopping every time

there's a contraction. It was the most

awkward thing but doctor's orders,

right? So you have to do it. Finally, at

about the contractions were 2 to 3

minutes apart, I called. I was like,

"We're on our way and we're coming no

matter what." And off we went. But you

could tell the contractions as they got

as they got quicker and and closer

together, you knew the baby was coming,

right? And that's what Jesus is saying

here. He's like, "As the contractions

happen with a mother, as they start to

happen more frequently, you know the

baby's coming."

In the same way, he says, "As you see

these things happening in the world and

around you, you can know that as they

start to happen more and more closely,

you can know that the coming is coming

even sooner."

That's why he uses that birthpang part.

Let's continue. Verse 9. It says, "Then

they will deliver you up for tribulation

and kill you. You'll be hated by all

nations for not my name's sake." Let's

pause here for just a minute. Jesus is

giving us a heads up that being a

faithful follower of him will not be

easy,

but it will still be the right thing to

do.

>> He says, "And many of you will be

offended." He just throws this in there

in the middle of all this serious stuff.

He's like, "And by the way, everybody's

going to be offended in this time of the

world." I've always chuckled when I read

this because we live in a time where

everybody's offended by something. Maybe

God is giving you and I a heads up to

just not take everything so seriously.

Don't get offended quite as easily. But

when you see it all around you, you can

see that Jesus mentioned that was going

to be one of the signs that he was

coming soon. Everybody's offended by

everything. He just throws that in

there. He says, "It will betray one

another and will hate one another. Then

many false prophets will rise up and

deceive many. And because lawlessness

will abound, the love of many will grow

cold. But he who endures to the end

shall be saved. and the gospel of the

kingdom will be preached in all the

world as a witness to all the nations

and then the end will come. You know,

sometimes it's easy for us to just focus

on all the crazy horrible stuff that's

going on in our world and we forget that

God is doing amazing things around the

world and changing people's hearts and

lives as well. The gospel is going all

around the world and Jesus is changing

people's hearts.

There's a lot of good that's going on in

our world as well and we have a the

privilege of being able to be a part of

that and sharing the gospel around the

world.

Now Jesus directs our attention to the

book of Daniel here in verse 15.

Therefore, when you see the abomination

of desolation spoken of by Daniel the

prophet standing in the holy place, let

those who are in Judea flee to the

mountains. Okay, so he talks about

directly the book of Daniel here. Have

you ever pictured in your mind Jesus

sitting down with a scroll of Daniel and

just going through and reading it and

memorizing it and studying it? Jesus

knew the book of Daniel well.

If he took the time to study it, it's

probably a good thing for us to study as

well and to learn about these

prophecies. Jesus directly points us to

the book of Daniel. Now, as Jesus

continues here, he brings up a very

relevant point for us today that we

can't miss. And it's in verse 20.

As Jesus is giving us instructions for

uh for how to live and what to be aware

of,

he says this, "And pray that your flight

may not be in the winter or on the what?

>> The Sabbath day."

Isn't it fascinating that Jesus

before his resurrection

insinuated

that there would still be people keeping

the seventh day Sabbath all the way down

at the end of time.

It was still relevant.

And Jesus made it a point to say, "By

the way, at the end times,

keep the Sabbath just like you always

have." Just like it was a sign for us

between us of our relationship together,

it will still be that sign. We see in

Revelation, it says, "Here's the

patience of the saints. Here are those

that keep the what?"

>> commandments of God. Here we see Jesus

reiterating the importance of the

Sabbath even after the resurrection when

many people say it was changed. And yet

the word of God reminds us that the

seventh day Sabbath will still be

important in the time just before he

comes in the end times.

Verse 23, it says, "Then if anyone says

to you, look, here is Christ or there

don't believe him. For false Christ and

false prophets will arise and show great

signs and wonders to deceive, if

possible, even the elect." Therefore, if

they say to you, "Look, he's in the

desert, don't go out. Look, he's in the

inner rooms, don't believe it. For as

the lightning comes from the east and

flashes to the west, so will be the

coming of the son of man. This this

Jesus Jesus drops this in here too

because I think he knew it would be

relevant for us today because one of the

most popular teachings about the second

coming of Jesus is that you might miss

it that it might be secret and all of a

sudden one of your friends might just

disappear and you might get left behind.

And yet Jesus reminds us here that there

is no way you're going to miss the

second coming. He says, "As lightning

flashes from the east to the west, so

also will the coming of the son of man

be." Also later on, it says, "Every eye

will see him." We have so many awesome

clues in the scriptures as to exactly

what will happen and what won't happen.

This book is so relevant today. Many

people today say there's a lot of

outdated stuff in this Bible. It's

either all inspired or it's none

inspired.

And here we see

Jesus

sharing truth with us as to what to look

for. There's no way we're going to miss

the second coming of Jesus. But now

here's here's an interesting part. Jesus

continues, and this is where we tie in

with Daniel and why he points us back to

the book of Daniel,

verse 29.

Jesus continues and says immediately

after the tribulation of those days.

Okay, pause here for just a second. What

is Jesus talking about? The tribulation

of those days. He's just been talking

about Daniel. Remember he pointed us

back here to Daniel. Last week we looked

at this period of tribulation 1,260

years. So that finished as we looked and

this this is not a 7th day Adventist

only conclusion. You can look at

theologians for the last several hundred

years that have been uh studying the

scriptures, Anglican, Methodist,

whatever you like, and they a lot of

them have come to the same conclusion as

well that that period of dark ages ended

in 1798.

So Jesus is telling us right here, hey,

heads up, there's going to be a few

signs just after that prophecy is

fulfilled. And here's what Jesus says.

Timewise, we know when it should arrive,

right? Sometime around 1798.

And Jesus says after the tribulation of

those days, the sun will be darkened and

the moon will not give its light, the

stars will fall from heaven. We should

be able to see something significant in

the skies relating to these three things

on time because Jesus gives us the

timetable. Right?

If you go on your phones, you can search

for the dark day

and you will find that across the board,

historians and people recognize that

this happened. We see a shift in focus

from Bible prophecy from Europe over to

the Americas over here because we see in

Revelation that there is a shift to a a

place where there is more religious

freedom.

You're sitting on the ground where that

is described today in the United States

of America where we have freedom that

most people don't have. And that freedom

came around this time that we're seeing

this prophecy fulfilled. In fact, in the

United States, it was just a little bit

earlier, 1776.

Over in Europe, just a little bit later,

as things moved over there. But we see a

shift in focus from Europe in Bible

prophecy over to this side of the pond.

So Jesus gives us a time period and he

gives us the events. Did those things

actually happen? We've studied this not

too long ago here in in a Bible prophecy

series, but since it's connected to what

we looked at yesterday, we it's so cool

to look at. We can't bypass it. It's

it's so neat and it gives me so much

hope and courage in the future because

it's a promise of Jesus that has come to

fruition and we can see it. If you look

in your phones, you can look up the dark

day.

And on May 19, 1780,

right about on time

at 10:00 a.m. in New England, we see it

was bright like this in the morning,

10:00 in the morning, and it started to

get dark when it was supposed to be

light.

Many eyewitnesses wrote about this dark

day

and witnessed this and told what it was

like. There was one gentleman, Dr.

Samuel Tenny, he said he held he could

hold a sheet of white paper in front of

his face right here and he couldn't even

see it. It was so dark.

American Mercury magazine wrote about

this. Timothy Dwight, the president of

Yale University at the time wrote about

this occasion.

Many people were a little bit nervous

because they had read about this stuff

in the Bible and they were living it

right then and noticed that this was

something that the Bible talked about

and it had come right on time.

Now the second part was it says the

stars will fall from heaven. So we

should expect that there should be a

massive meteor shower of some sort that

would get everybody's attention sometime

in the future in the couple years just

after this dark day. I I love camping.

As a kid, I camped out in the desert.

We'd look up at the stars. I'd sleep

outside. And I remember counting

shooting stars before I'd fall asleep to

see how many I could count. If I was

lucky, I could spot three or four of

them, maybe before I fell asleep. And

it's so cool. Sometimes you'll see just

a little blip of one where you just see

a little bit and then sometimes you see

the one that goes all the way across the

sky. That's a treat, isn't it? See that

big one?

Well, for this what Jesus has to be

talking about is something bigger than

that where it gets the attention of a

lot of people to fulfill this. And this

again is a sign that Jesus put in the

skies that we would know that he's

coming soon. He's having this

conversation with his disciples. If we

look back at history, this is why

history is so cool because history and

prophecy are intertwined so much.

53 years after the dark day, November

13, 1833,

we see the stars falling in a most

unusual way. In fact, the New York

Journal of Commerce the next day,

November 14, 1833, writes about this.

Frederick Douglas, you might have read

some of his

literary content. He says, "I went to

St. Michael's to live in March 1833. I

know the year because it was the year

that that strange phenomenon when the

heavens seemed about to part with the

starry train. I witnessed this gorgeous

spectacle and was aruck. The air seemed

filled with bright descending messengers

from the sky. I was not without the

suggestion that at that moment that it

might be the harbinger of the coming of

the son of man. I had read that the

stars shall fall from heaven and they

were falling now. Fletcher G. Watson,

a leading expert in meteors from Harvard

University,

said that he saw this, witnessed it. He

says what he saw, the stars looked thick

as snowflakes coming down outside. Some

people said that it was so bright

outside because there were so many

shooting stars that it woke people up

from their sleep. An astrophysicist says

that as he described it, he guessed that

there was probably about 60,000

meteors per hour going all night long.

60,000 per hour.

One person said the flashes of light,

although less intense than lightning,

were still very bright. That was the

description of the stars. Not quite as

bright as lightning when it flashed.

Some as thick as snowflakes,

right on time,

just as Jesus said. Why did Jesus say

this? Why were these things happening

there? so that you and I could see these

in the fulfillment and have courage

knowing that Jesus is coming soon.

This is a message from Jesus to you,

an encouragement that he hasn't

forgotten about you,

that he's coming to take you home soon,

and that he loves you very much.

Otherwise, he wouldn't go to all this.

He finishes Jesus finishes this section

and just after he talks about the sun,

moon and stars, he says they will see

the son of man coming in the clouds of

heaven with power and great glory. He

will send his angels with a sound of a

trumpet and they will gather together

his elect from the four winds from one

end of heaven to the other.

It is so neat to see Bible prophecy

fulfilled just as Jesus said it would

happen. Amen.

>> And it gives me courage

seeing those fulfillments because it

reminds me that I can trust what Jesus

says in the Bible. If this stuff

happened just on time, just like he said

it was going to happen, I can know

beyond a shadow of a doubt that when

Jesus says he's coming to take me home

and he's coming to take you home, he's

coming to take you home.

>> There's not a shadow of a doubt.

He promised. And when Jesus promises, it

comes true.

In this prophecy, Jesus has us looking

up.

Looking up to the heavens. There's a

value in looking up. Many years ago,

when I was a student at Southern, I

enjoyed skydiving. I had gotten into it

with my brother back in California, and

we had tried to sneak a skydive trip,

the two of us, past our parents while

they were gone on a trip. I was 19 and

he was like 22, 23 and and he had made

the reservation for the skydive thing

and and he had had the call back

confirmation number be our family

business that my mom checked the

messages on sometimes.

And so they were going to be out of town

and just going to be me and my brother

hanging out. And so we thought we were

going to pull off a sly one and go

skydiving without our parents knowing.

Well, they called and said, "Hey, we're

just confirming the skydiving

appointment for Danny and Jamie Hton."

And my mom's like, "What?"

And so, uh, they had a nice talk with us

and we said, "Well, we still want to

go." And she's like, "Okay, just call me

when you're done." And so, we I started

skydiving. Really, that was a tandem,

but I got to where I could skydive solo,

which was even more fun, just by

yourself. And, uh, as they teach you

body mechanics of skydiving, they teach

you what to do and what not to do. And

it's it's very important because it can

you can get in a lot of trouble if you

do the wrong thing. As you skydive,

there's a lot of wind resistance. And so

you've probably seen videos, maybe some

of you have gone skydiving where your

arms are out like this and your legs are

in a V like that and you're kind of in

the skydive position. If you're going to

pull your chute, which is right down

here, you can't just leave your arm like

this because now the wind resistance is

here and it'll throw you into a spin. So

you have to counter raise your arm up

here as you come down and then bring

them back up together. And that keeps

you stable. Right when you're about to

jump out of the airplane, which is a

pretty exciting time because you're

looking down in some places 14,000 feet

and you're in the back of that plane

getting ready to go out, they will

always tell you, "Keep your chin up.

Don't look down as you're about to fall

over. Keep your chin up and look this

way. Look up and then fall out. And then

while you're falling at 120 m an hour,

don't be looking down like this at the

ground. Keep your chin up. Be looking up

and keep your eye on the horizon. Keep

your chin up. keep on looking up.

Because if you start looking down,

if you drop your chin and your head

points down, it can tip your upper body

down and throw off your airflow

position, making it harder to stay

stable while you're falling.

You become unstable, which is a little

bit dangerous. Keeping your chin up and

looking up keeps things stable.

Friends, in today's world, it can be

very tempting to look around you and

look look at all the crazy things going

on around our world. And it can be

tempting to be a little bit discouraged

about those things. And you can kind of

feel overwhelmed. Oh, this is going on.

This is going on. I can't I can't

believe this is happening. This is going

everything. If you look around you down

here, you're going to be discouraged by

all the stuff that goes on. But if you

keep your chin up and you're looking up,

if you keep your eyes on Jesus, you're

going to be stable and steady in your

walk with him.

Don't get discouraged looking around at

how crazy this world is.

It' be easy to do that, too, if you're

just looking around for all the terrible

stuff that goes on in this world. Easy

to get discouraged. If you're looking up

and you keep your eyes on Jesus,

your courage will stay strong, your hope

will stay strong, and your faith will

stay strong as well. In this prophecy,

Jesus has us looking up. Looking up to

the heavens, friends, in our world

today,

I want to challenge you to keep on

looking up. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

>> Don't look at the world falling apart

around you.

Look at his word and all the promises

that he's given to you, the asurances

that he's given to you, the love that he

has for you. That'll lift you up, but

you can only get there if you're looking

to Jesus. If you're spending time in his

word, we have a lot to look forward to

in being citizens of heaven. I don't

know when Jesus is coming. I know that

today we're one day closer. And I know

that by looking at these prophecies, we

have to be getting quite close. And for

that I am grateful and looking forward

to when Jesus comes. May we all in our

hearts continue to grow closer to him

and keep on looking up. I invite our

worship team to come up and lead us in

our closing song.

It's all hail the power of Jesus name.

And at verse two it says, "Hail him who

saves you by his grace and crown him

Lord of all." Let's stand together as we

sing our closing song. All hail the

power of Jesus name. Be sure and join us

next Sabbath as we continue our sermon

series on Bible prophecy looking at the

soon coming of Jesus. Let's bow our

heads. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you

so much for all the different spots in

scripture where you've left evidence and

prophetic predictions that point us to

your soon second coming. Help us, Lord,

to have our eyes focused on you in these

last days before you come to take us

home. And Lord, we're looking forward to

being citizens of heaven with. We're

looking forward to those reunions with

the people that we've missed so much,

God. We're looking forward to being with

you in heaven as well. Thank you for

loving us, God, and for promising to

take us home to be with you in heaven.

Keep us faithful until that day. And

we're so glad that today we're one

Sabbath closer to being with you in

heaven. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for worship. Each month we reach

between 25 and 30,000 people with gospel

content online. We're looking to expand

our audiovisisual department this year

and looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you to

partner with us on this and consider

making a donation to our audiovisisual

department as we look at expansion and

reaching more people with the gospel

across the internet this next year. You

can go to mrcsda.org

to make a donation directly to our

audiovisisual department. Thank you so

much for considering making this

donation and the privilege is ours to

partner with you in making this a bigger

and more effective ministry here at the

McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church. God

bless each one of you and thanks again

for joining us here at the McDonald Road

7th Adventist Church.