”How I KNOW Jesus is Coming Soon” Pastor Jamey Houghton, January 10, 2026

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

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church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

We uh are starting a new sermon series

this uh this Sabbath that's going to be

going on for about a month, maybe over a

month. And we're going to be looking at

the different things that we see in

scripture that point us to the soon

coming of Jesus. How do we know that

Jesus is coming soon? We're going to

take a look at the Bible. We're going to

look at between now and when Jesus

comes, what can we expect? How do we

know that Jesus is coming soon? This is

a topic that has been preached most of

our lifetime. We've heard about the soon

coming of Jesus probably since we heard

about Jesus when we were young. How do

we know that Jesus is coming soon? What

does soon look like? And uh we're going

to be studying that in depth over the

next next couple of weeks. And uh next

Sabbath, Pastor Steve Wahlberg from

White Horse Media is going to be

preaching here. And he'll also, as

Pastor Tony said, he'll have a seminar

on Sunday morning. next Sunday morning.

That will be that will be great as well.

And he's going to be covering a very

interesting topic next Sabbath, both

first and second services.

>> Why are we studying the second coming of

Jesus?

I think he's coming soon.

>> And I think it's valuable for us to keep

that in the forefront of our minds.

Statistics show that between 50 and 60

active state conflicts and wars happen

each year in recent history.

Between 50 and 60. We don't see a whole

lot of that. We see some of it. But all

around the world, people are fighting.

Even even in what we would say are

mostly peaceful places. A place I used

to call home Thailand. Some of the most

peaceful people I've ever seen and ever

known. They were in in skirmishes with

Cambodia last year. And I've I've been

to Cambodia as well. Wonderful people.

and they're they're squabbbling,

fighting, trading fire over their

borders. Lots of this stuff is happening

between 50 and 60

each year in recent history.

Since 2020,

there have been an estimated 60,000

organized protests, marches, and similar

events in the United States.

Estimated 60,000 in the last five to six

years.

The protests are over a wide variety of

different topics. Black Lives Matter,

pro Palestine, pro- Ukraine, no Kings,

anti-D Doge, and Elon Musk, anti-Trump,

reproductive rights, pro-life,

pro-choice, pro police, anti- police,

pro-immigration, anti-immigration,

racial justice, fair wages, healthc care

access, gun control, climate change,

voting rights, government

accountability, anti-war, government

corruption. Take your pick.

conflicts in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine,

Russia,

Venezuela.

Have I gotten your blood pressure up

this morning yet?

Often times when we hear about these

things

gets us upset,

becomes what we think about throughout

most of the day.

If your fear and concern over these

things overshadows your anticipation of

the second coming of Jesus, maybe you're

looking at it too much. And I want to

challenge you this coming year and this

week even to spend more time reading

about Jesus than climate change or

Donald Trump or Tim Waltz.

John 14:1-3. When we're tempted to have

John 14:1–3

our blood pressure rise because of the

things going around us, the words of

scripture echo in my mind. Let not your

hearts be troubled.

Believe in God. Believe also in me. In

my father's house are many rooms. If it

were not so, I would have told you that

I go to prepare a place for you. And if

I go to prepare a place for you, I will

come again and take you to myself that

where I am, you may be also. I love the

beginning of that part. Let not your

heart be troubled.

It's easy to be overwhelmed with the

crazy stuff that's going on in this

world, with the people trying to get

your attention, trying to get your

support on things.

It is easy to let your heart be

troubled.

But Jesus says, "Let not your heart be

troubled because he's got bigger plans

to take care of all of this stuff."

And he gives us a warning in the Bible,

heads up in the Bible, as what to

expect. And in Matthew 24:33, he says,

Matthew 24:33

"When you see all these things, know

that it is near, even at the door."

Have you ever gone to visit somebody in

their home and you walk up to their

front door? What's the next thing you're

going to do? You're going to walk

through that front door when they open

it, aren't you? That's the next logical

step when you are even at the door is

you're going to go through that door and

into their home. And Jesus says, 'When

you see these things, when you see the

things that I've let you know about in

scripture,

know that I'm almost ready to come.

In Christ Object Lessons, page 133, it

says, "As we near the close of this

world's history, the prophecies relating

to the last days especially demand our

study." In testimonies volume 5, page

7:16, it says, "Let the watchmen now

lift up their voices and give the

message which is present truth for this

time. Let us show the people where we

are in prophetic history. I think it's

valuable to do that from time to time to

remind us where we are this morning and

where we're going soon because it's easy

to be overwhelmed with everything that's

going on all around us and to keep our

eyes low on things of this earth instead

of up in heaven on things that are going

on there.

In Acts of the Apostles page 582 and 583

the author says this. He referring to

John was permitted to see the throne of

God and looking beyond the conflicts of

earth to behold the white robbe throng

of the redeemed. He heard the music of

the heavenly angels and the triumphant

songs of those who had overcome by the

blood of the lamb and the word of their

testimony. In the beginning of that

quote, it says that he was looking

beyond the conflicts of this earth.

I think there's value in us focusing on

heaven as opposed to the things going on

in this earth, the conflicts in this

earth. Enoch was also focused on heaven.

In testimonies for the church chapter 2,

it says, "Enoch's case is before us. He

lived in a corrupt age where moral

pollution was teeming all around him.

Yet he trained his mind to devotion,

to love purity. His conversation was

upon heavenly things.

He educated his mind to run in this

channel and he bore the impress of the

divine.

Enoch's mind was not on the corruption

around him. His mind was on heaven. His

conversations were about heaven so much

that at some point God was like, "Look,

your heart's already here. You might as

well just come on up."

That's how our minds should be, focused

on heavenly things. Because when you do

that, you won't be worried so much about

the stuff all around you. Just like

Enoch,

I pay attention to what's going on in

the world and in the news only so I can

compare it to the scriptures.

If there was no such thing as Bible

prophecy, the last place you would find

me is reading a news article

>> or watching a news channel. It's too

much.

It's way too much.

The only value is looking at the world

to see what's going on and comparing it

to what God said to look out for.

Because God gave us a heads up in the

Bible as to what we can be looking out

for and seeing that is going on in the

world around us that will tell us that

Jesus is coming soon.

It's hard not to be overwhelmed. We all

know that by watching the news.

But don't only watch the news. Don't

forget to read about the prophecies in

the Bible. That's the important part.

As I do watch what's going on around us

in the world, I sense feel it in my

bones that Jesus is coming soon.

>> Amen.

>> Today we're going to look at why I think

the Bible teaches that Jesus is just

right around the corner and about ready

to come. Turn with me in your Bibles to

Daniel chapter 7. Daniel the 7th

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

chapter. If you haven't hung out and

read uh in Daniel too much lately or

Revelation,

these are two of my favorite books to

read.

The Bible prophecy that we see here, the

prophetic word that God shared with

Daniel and John is fascinating

and totally applicable to us today.

Daniel chapter 7 it says in the first

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

year of Belshazzer king of Babylon

Daniel had a dream and visions of his

head while in his bed. Then he wrote

down the dream telling the main facts.

I've read this many many times but as I

was rereading it this morning early I

read that part. It said it said he wrote

down the dream telling the main facts.

What other facts are we missing here?

This is like the basics like the outline

of what happened. Daniel would have seen

a whole lot more of this, but this is

these are the main facts that he wrote

down, which which I'm kind of curious

what else he saw in these things. This

is this is the most important stuff. But

these are the main facts.

Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my

vision by night, and behold, the four

winds of heaven were stirring up the

great sea, and four great beasts came up

from the sea, each different from the

other. The first was like a lion, had

eagle's wings. I watched till its wings

were plucked off." This is a violent

dream, isn't it?

till the wings were plucked off, and it

was lifted up from the earth, and made

to stand on two feet like a man, and had

a man's heart given to it. And suddenly

another beast, a second, like a bear,

was raised up on one side, and had three

ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And

they said thus to it arise, devour much

flesh. After this, I looked, and there

was another beast, like a leopard, which

had on its back four wings of a bird,

and the beast also had four heads, and

dominion was given to it. After this, I

saw in the night visions, and behold, a

fourth beast, dreadful and terrible,

exceedingly strong. It had huge iron

teeth. It was devouring, breaking into

pieces, and trampling the residue with

its feet. It was different from all the

other beasts that were before it. And it

had 10 horns. How many horns did it

have?

>> 10.

>> 10 horns. I was considering the horns.

And then there was another horn, a

little one, coming up among them, before

whom three of the first horns were

plucked out by the roots.

And there in this horn were eyes like

the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking

pompous words. All right, this is a

pretty heavy vision, isn't it? Right off

the bat, it's easy to look at this and

be like, "Wow, there's a whole lot of

weird stuff happening in here." Um,

maybe let's just move on to something

easier. But who gave this vision?

God gave this vision to Daniel, didn't

he? Why did God give this vision to

Daniel?

so he could know what God had in store.

Now, why did God preserve this vision in

the scriptures here for us today in

2026?

So that we could also know the message

that God has for us in the time just

before he comes. These visions, if we

look over in Daniel chapter 8, we know

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

what time these visions are for. Uh when

Gabriel is talking about the next vision

that happens two years later in Daniel

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 um God says Gabriel make this

man understand the vision. So he came

near to where I stood and when he came I

was afraid and fell on my face. But he

said understand son of man that the

vision refers to the time of the end.

These visions were specifically for the

time of the end. So we know a little bit

about what these what the purpose of

these visions is for and it's for us to

be prepared for the time of the end.

It has always blown my mind that God

knows what happens before it happens

precisely down to the minute details

that has always blown my mind when I

read through Bible prophecy. And it's

encouraging to look at the prophecies

that God has given in the past that have

already been fulfilled down to the tea

to look at it. That's encouraging to me

because that validates that prophecy is

legit and God knows what he's doing.

>> And if we can trust and see that those

actually were fulfilled, we can trust

that the ones that haven't been

fulfilled will be fulfilled.

>> That's the beauty of looking at Bible

prophecy closely. Daniel

says in verse 15, he says, "I, Daniel,

was grieved in my spirit within my body,

and the visions of my head troubled me.

I came near to one of those who stood by

and asked him the truth about all this.

There must have been an angel close by

and he comes up

and he wants to know the truth about all

of this.

Friends, that has to be our goal when we

open up God's word as well. That has to

be our goal when we're listening to

different people talk about the Bible.

We've got to know the truth of what's in

here. There's a lot of different ideas

about what truth is.

And when we search for truth, let's pray

for the Holy Spirit, the one who guides

us in truth to guide our minds and point

us to truth. I want to be a truth seeker

just like Daniel was a truth seeker. He

wants to know the truth. He asked the

angel, "I need to know the truth about

this. What does this mean?" Fortunate

for us, we get to see Daniel's vision

interpreted by the angel right here in

this book.

says, "He told me and made known to me

the interpretation of these things.

Those great beasts which are four are

four kings." Okay, this makes it easy,

right? We don't have to worry about it.

I've had people tell me, "Boy, we're in

the end days. We're going to have to

look out for those beasts in Daniel."

They thought they were real beasts.

That's not what the Bible says. If you

read just a little farther, it tells you

what they are. These simply are kings or

kingdoms. God is giving us a history

lesson in the future as to what to

expect here.

These kings will rise out of the earth,

but the saints of the most high will

receive the kingdom and possess the

kingdom forever, ever and ever. Then I

wish to know the truth about the fourth

beast. Now, we can let's pause here for

a minute because Daniel kind of goes on

and expands on itself as we go through

the book of Daniel. In the beginning of

Daniel chapter 2, we see this big giant

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

statue. Remember the statue, head of

gold, etc., etc. And you come down to

the legs of iron which represented Rome.

And then the feet were a mixture of iron

mixed with clay. It was still iron, but

it was in a different shape.

This gets expanded on. We get more

details the more we read through the

book of Daniel.

And the the 10 horns that come out of

out of the breakup of the Roman Empire

that come up next represent the 10

breakups, the 10 different kingdoms that

come out of Rome. This is historical.

You can look at this and you can see how

this how this played out exactly as God

said it would in the Bible. Then we come

up to um in in verse 8 it says, "I was

considering the horns and there was

another horn, a little one coming up

among them and down it says it had the

eyes of a man and the mouth speaking

pompous words." Pompous. That's not a

word we use very often anymore, is it?

Pompus. What does pompus mean? Arrogant

words. Braggadocious. That's another

word we don't use very often, but

bragging. something where we're we're

puffing oursel up. Pompus is what the

Bible says in regards to this small

horn.

Now, we see a little bit more about this

small horn over in uh verse 20. It says,

"In the 10 horns that were on its head,

the other horn which came up before it,

three fell, namely that horn which had

eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous

words, whose appearance was greater than

his fellows." Verse 21. I was watching

and the same time the same horn was

making war against the saints and

prevailing against them until the

ancient of days came and the judgment

was made in favor of the saints of the

most high and time came for the saints

to possess the kingdom. Okay, we have

another clue as to this little horn. It

says it would persecute the saints.

This is a huge clue. We know that this

little horn comes from the break up of

the Roman Empire. So we know

geographically where it comes from. The

little horn power doesn't come from

China. It doesn't come from Southeast

Asia somewhere. It doesn't come from

India or Argentina or somewhere else. We

know that the little horn power, this

power that God is talking to Daniel

about, comes up from Europe and that

it's different than all of the other

ones.

We get a little bit farther on says it

will be different from the other ones.

Specifically, it says that in verse 24,

he will subdue three kings. It shall

speak pompous words against the most

high and shall persecute the saints of

the most high. It shall intend to change

times and law. Did you know the changing

of the law is is is already there? There

are two sets of ten commandments out

there. Did you know that there are the

set the ten commandments that you see in

this Bible? This I think is a new this

is a new King James Bible. If you have

an NIV or a King James or whatever else,

you'll have the same ten commandments I

have in this Bible. If you have a doway

version of the Bible, your ten

commandments will look different than

this one.

Some are taken, some are added, some are

split.

Have people tried to change God's law?

Absolutely.

Intend to change times. What part of the

law involves time?

The Sabbath. And it says here that

someone will intend to change those

times, but it's not actually changed by

the power of God or by with the blessing

of God. So they will intend to change

these things. Again, you can look up and

see where this is. I don't have time to

to jump too deep into that in this

sermon.

So this little horn, it's important to

look and to see what this is for the

time prophecy that we're looking at

today. Who is this little horn?

the little horn. If you look at the

geography, you look at the clues as to

what it is, without a doubt,

the little horn has to be the

institution of the papacy.

It's the only one that really fits. And

I want to make it super clear that it's

the papacy, not the people who are part

of the religion that follows the papacy.

There's a big difference between the

institution and the people.

>> Big difference.

Well, you might say, "Well, Jamie, is

this a one-off thing?" No, this is this

is actually a very common interpretation

of this little horn power. If you look

at Martin Luther,

the leader of the Lutheran church, he

believed this. John Calvin John Knox of

the Presbyterian Church, both came to

the same conclusion and taught this.

Adam Clark of the Methodist Church, same

thing. Roger Williams of the Baptist

Church, all of them without exception

came to this same conclusion. Sir Isaac

Newton stated the same conclusion in his

book, Observations Upon the Prophecies

of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St.

John. England's King James I who

sponsored the King James Bible also

identify the papacy as this little horn

power.

Interestingly enough, these very same

churches today seem to be extending

themsel back towards the papacy with

their arms open wide

despite their founders realizing who the

little horn in Daniel was.

Again, we have to look at this through

Daniel's lens and Gabriel telling Daniel

that these visions are for the time of

the end. Now, here's how I I am certain

that we are in the time of the end

today. If we continue on in verse 25, it

talks about the little horn speaking

pompous words against the most high,

persecuting the saints of the most high,

shall intend to change times and law,

and the saints shall be given into his

hand for a time, times, and half a time.

Okay, we don't usually use those phrases

for for measuring minutes and hours

anymore or years, a time, time, and half

a time. What does that mean? In other

versions of the Bible, you will see

where it says for a year, years, and

half a year. We see elsewhere in the

Bible, specifically with King

Nebuchadnezzar when he was um remember

when in earlier in Daniel, he was uh he

was acting as an ox for seven years.

Remember that? That's a wild story. It

says that he was he was like that for

seven times or seven years. So when we

look at this we can understand it that

it's a year two years and a half a year.

So that's three and a half years. The

Assyrian, the Egyptian and the Hebrew

cultures all kept a 360 day calendar

different than our 360day calendar

today.

So when we look at times, times and half

a time, we see this consistent this

consistency on this timing from the

Bible from both Daniel and Revelation

where it equals 42 months. Same thing as

1260 days, same thing as this time,

times, and half a time. The exact same

description of time we see in Daniel and

in Revelation, which to me is so neat in

the consistency that God is sharing at

different time periods in the world with

Daniel and with John.

in different eras, but the message is

the same.

And so we can see here in Daniel that

there will be a a period of time

1,260 days. And in the Bible, that's a

prophetic a day is a prophetic year. So

for 1,260

years, we should see some place where

the saints are given into the hand of

this little horn power. There there

should be a point where people are

experiencing

being

oppressed

religiously by this little horn power or

the papacy. Do we see this? History

tells us absolutely we do. Just like

Daniel sees here this little horn power

rises to complete power in 538 AD.

Now, we should be able to look at this

and say, "Okay, if Daniel's prophecies,

if God knows what he's talking about

here, which I believe he does,

if that's the truth, we should see a

period of papal dominance for 1,260

years, starting in 538.

If you fast forward, you come to the

year 1798."

Now, that's getting pretty close to

where we are today, isn't it? It's easy

to look back at the old Bible times and

be like, "Well, Old Testament, you know,

Egyptian, that was a long time ago. Even

even the time of Christ 2,000 years ago,

that just seems like a separate a

separate reality, doesn't it?" But now

we're looking at a time period here that

gets awfully close to where we're

sitting at today in 2026.

1798 is not that long ago.

What happened in 1798 that affected this

little horn power?

General Berier, the French general, went

down and arrested the then pope, brought

him back to France where he died in

prison, thus ending for that section,

which we see in the in Revelation as a

deadly wound to this beast, which is the

same as this little horn power.

And the papacy ends for the time being

in 1798,

which is exactly what we see here. It

says

this little horn

would persecute the saints of the most

high

for 42 months, 1260 days, or this time,

time, and half a time. Did that happen?

We know this time as the dark ages.

And if you've ever heard of terms like

the Inquisition

during this time period, you know that

that absolutely happened

to followers of Jesus.

And it happened at the hands of the

papacy. Some of the most I've been to

I've been to Inquisition museums before

and kind of wish I'd never gone. They're

horrific. If you read about the history

of the Inquisition, it will turn your

stomach what was been what has been done

in the name of God.

Horrific, horrific history. The death of

many people, the death of many martyrs.

About a year and a half ago, I was in

the Waldensian valleys in northern Italy

and studying the history of these Bible

believing people in this time period.

And the things that happened to them at

the hands of the church of Rome

for their faith were absolutely

heartbreaking. Families, full families

thrown off of cliffs for defying the

church.

I was in I was in caves up in the

mountains, deep deep caves where they

would go and hide from the armies down

in Rome

where they were then burned and smoked

out and killed.

Very sobering to be in those exact caves

knowing what happened to people so many

years ago for their faith.

I've been in the catacombs

just outside in the hill country outside

of Rome, Italy.

And I've been reminded of what Ellen

White says in the great controversy

about she specifically mentions those

catacombs just outside of Rome and says

that there will be martyrs who died for

their faith that will come up out of

those catacombs at the resurrection of

Jesus when Jesus calls them back to

heaven to life. It's incredible to be

down there and to think about that about

the people who were buried there.

for their faith.

Now we come to

the Gospels. Turn with me over to

Matthew chapter 24. We see this end date

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

for the for the power of this little

horn and this tribulation, this this uh

persecution of the saints. And Jesus

picks up right after this as he's

talking about the end times, the times

right before he comes. Now, he picks up

right at this word tribulation,

at the end of this tribulation, which we

see prophetically and historically as

1798, right around there, 17. And we see

this shift, by the way, at this point.

We see this shift between Bible prophecy

focus on Europe with the break up of the

10 the 10 uh tribes, the 10 um the break

up of the Roman Empire into those 10

kingdoms. We see a shift from Europe

over into the Americas in Bible

prophecy.

And so Jesus picks up right from here.

talks about the tribulation in those

days and it talks about it ending for

Europe that ended in 1798.

Over here in the in the growing Americas

that would have been 1776 when we

declared our independence and became a

free nation where there was no more of

that happening here.

And Jesus says in verse 29 of Matthew

chap 24, immediately after the

tribulation in those days, Jesus knew

about the prophecies in the book of

Daniel, the stuff that we just studied.

At some point, Jesus had access to a

scroll as probably a young boy

and was reading through those same

things. And Jesus knew this prophecy.

And Jesus says now later on in his

ministry he says immediately after the

tribulation in those days

the sun will be darkened the moon will

not give its light and the stars will

fall from heaven. The powers of heaven

shall be shaken. So here we have a clue

from Jesus himself.

He says after the tribulation

which ended in 1798

you're going to see some clues in the

heavens. Over here in the states that

would have ended in 1776. So somewhere

in that area after the tribulation has

happened, we should see some some signs

in the heavens.

Now, do we see those signs?

We should see those signs because Jesus

knows what he's talking about.

And this is exciting because this time

piece is getting closer and closer to

where we're sitting today.

May 19, 1780. Right on time. If you look

up the dark day in Noah Webbers in his

dictionary, it says, "So-Called the dark

day on account of a remarkable darkness

on that day, extending over all of New

England. Birds sang their evening songs

disappeared and became silent. Fowls

went to roost. Cattle sought the

barnyard and candles were lit in the

houses. That true cause of this

remarkable phenomenon is not known

unless you read your Bibles.

Then you will know this because this is

exactly what Jesus predicted and it came

right on time. The sun will be darkened

and the moon will not give its light. It

will be completely dark at the wrong

time of the day. Dr. Samuel Tenny was a

physician and patriot surgeon in the

revolutionary war and an eyewitness of

this day. This is what he said. The

darkness of the following evening was

probably as gross as has ever been

observed since the Almighty gave birth

to light. And darkness could not have

been more complete. A sheet of white

paper held within a few inches of the

eyes was equally invisible as the

blackest velvet. Timothy Dwight,

president of Yale University from 1795

to 1817 said, "The 19th of May, 1780 was

a remarkable dark day. The legislature

of Connecticut was then in session at

Hartford. A very general opinion

prevailed that the day of judgment was

at hand.

Just on time, like it says in Matthew

24, immediately after the tribulation of

those days, the sun will be darkened,

the moon will not give its light, and

then what happens next? The stars will

fall from heaven. So, the next thing we

should be able to look at and see should

be a significant event where there are

stars falling from heaven. How many of

you ever seen a shooting star before?

It's pretty exciting, isn't it? You

stare up at the sky for a long time

waiting, and then, oh, oh, there it is.

And then it's gone. Wouldn't it be cool

if they lasted a little bit longer? It's

there and it's gone. And then by the

time you say there it is, everybody

turns and they're gone. Then they don't

believe you that it was really there. I

was coming home on McDonald Road a

couple nights ago, last week I think,

and there was a a meteor that that went

across the sky, a big bright one, and it

broke up into a bunch of different

pieces. It was amazing. Really, really

cool. I used when I was a kid, I used to

we used to go camping out in the desert

in East San Diego County and I would

sleep outside on a on on a a cod or on

picnic bench or whatever I could to

sleep outside. It was beautiful and I

would sit there and count shooting stars

until I fell asleep counting.

So many stars and it's so neat to see

one that that falls.

Jesus said that this there would be an

event that the stars would fall from

heaven and it should come next

after the moon and the sun go dark where

there's no light. Did this happen?

53 years later on November 13, 1833, we

see probably the the biggest recorded

event of of stars falling in history. We

see it here. New York Journal of

Commerce on November 14, 1833 said, "No

philosopher or scholar has told or

recorded an event, I suppose, like that

of yesterday morning. A prophet 1800

years ago foretold it exactly if we will

be to the trouble of understanding stars

falling to meaning falling stars."

Frederick Douglas, you might have read

his books and his uh some of his his

works. He said this, "I went to St.

Michael's to live in March of 1833.

I know the year because it was the year

of the strange phenomena when the

heavens seemed about to part with their

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 at the 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,

>> Frederick Douglas had been reading

Matthew chapter 24 as well.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

>> Many eyewitnesses accounts of this.

Fletcher G. Watson, leading expert on

meteors at the Harvard Observatory, said

a magnificent display of shooting stars

startled the inhabitants of the Americas

on November 12, 1833.

Beginning before midnight, the meteors

increased in frequency until it dawned.

They were as thick as snowflakes.

What an incredible description. Thick as

snowflakes. Have you ever been in a in a

blizzard and seen snowflakes just

falling down like that? That's what he

said it was like. That many stars

falling at the same time. Peter McKenzie

Milman, a Canadian astrophysicist, says

the number of meteors per hour was about

60,000. He estimated that over a billion

stars appeared over the US and Canada

alone.

I get excited when I see one shooting

star.

If you stayed up that night,

you would see hundreds of millions,

maybe even a billion shooting stars.

Professor Olmstead of Yale said, "The

flashes of light, though less intense

than lightning, were so bright as to

awaken people from their beds."

Jesus prediction

came right on time.

>> Just as he said it was when he said it

would happen,

it happened. 1833 is not that long ago,

friends.

And if you read down just a little

farther down into verse 33, Jesus says,

"When you see these things, know that it

is near, even at the doors."

Friends,

this is how I know Jesus is coming soon.

He gave us all the clues we need to

know. And this is just a small portion

of Bible prophecy that we looked at

today. He gave us all the clues to know

when he's coming and when it's going to

be soon. And I believe as we see through

these things, through these fulfilled

Bible prophecies, that Jesus is indeed

coming soon. And that does my heart so

good.

There's a there's a show that I like to

watch

on YouTube and it's a um it's a tra it

started off as a travel show. Um, it's a

young couple from Nashville called Cara

and Nate. Anybody watch Cara and Nate on

YouTube? Any any travel people like

that? It's a great it's a great channel.

And um, they they've traveled all over

the world. I don't know how they keep up

their pace cuz they're moving constantly

around the world. But Nate, the husband,

has started to do in the last couple of

years started to do like ultramarathons

and really hard hard races. and he just

recently did one that had my attention

because I've heard of this race and it

was in a place that I love, Moab, Utah.

I've been to Moab, Utah in Eastern Utah

many, many times. It's one of my

favorite places in the world. It's where

Arches National Park and and Canyon

Lands National Park are just a really

fun place. Beautiful. Um, not only

off-roading and rock crawling and

things, but whitewater rafting. It's

really an amazing place. So, when I

found out that he was doing this, it's

called the Moab 240, and it's a 240 mile

foot race, and you have, I think, 117

hours to finish it.

Only about 50% of people finish it.

And so, Nate was going to do this. You

can see kind of the route there. And on

the right hand side of the screen, you

can see the Lasal Mountains there, which

get up, I think, to around 12 13,000 ft

maybe. And he goes up into the foothills

of there. So, there's there's elevation

change. it's freezing cold and it just

so happened that there was a lot of um a

lot of rain that happened which messed

up the whole trail and so he had uh

situations where he was having to cross

stream. So now his feet are wet and if

uh if you've ever run in wet shoes you

know that blisters happen pretty quick

then um in the first couple of miles but

uh this is a 240 mile race

and they filmed the whole thing. He has

a camera. Some of his family goes

through and films it and they film him

at checkpoints. He he would pull over

and you know there were there were sleep

areas and he would jog over to his van

and he would sleep for like an hour and

a half and then get up and just keep

running. I think over four or so days

that he did this four or five days he

slept for like 6 and 1/2 hours or

something crazy like that. Um just going

non-stop. I mean his body pushed to the

absolute limit. And as he's going

through there's there's highs and lows.

There's points where he's feeling great.

He gets refreshed. They have aid

stations. So he's getting, you know, his

blisters taken care of by some medical

people. He's getting taped up and

getting some some food and and fluids

and then he's off. So there's there's

points where he's like a got to an aid

station. He can sit down. Points when he

can get to his van and his wife is

waiting there and and he can crash and

and sleep for an hour and a half, get up

and just keep on going throughout the

whole race. It's fascinating to watch

because he's got these throughout the

journey these highs and lows, the good

times and the rough times. very very

tough race. There are points there where

he's just exhausted

where he's he's had, you know, three

hours of sleep in the last two and a

half days and he's got to get up and run

keep on running another 30 miles before

the next aid station even

where he's just exhausted,

hurting,

desperate for sleep. his body is pushed

to the max. And then as as he gets close

to the end,

he knows he's only a couple miles away.

And as he realizes that he's about to

make it, you can see the excitement

build. He starts talking about finishing

the race.

He's anticipating finishing the race. He

knows who's waiting for him. His

family's waiting for him there. And in

anticipation, he's going to see his

family's nieces and and whatnot.

and he knows the end is close.

His pace picks up just a little bit. His

attitude changes a little bit. The pain

that he's experiencing goes away just a

little bit as he's getting close to the

finish line.

And as he jogs forward, he's his family

uh greets him there and he gets to the

finish line right there. You can see his

hands raised after 240 miles.

He comes to the end of the race.

It's been a tough race.

A lot of challenges in the race.

A lot of good in the race. Beautiful

views. He had family running with him

throughout the race.

It's a good race, but a tough race.

Hard times in that race.

Friends, every single one of us have

been running a race throughout our

lives.

And we're getting close to the end of

our race.

There's someone waiting for us at the

end of our race, too. Our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ.

There are signs that we're getting close

to the end of our race as well. That

we're almost there.

And the closer that we get,

the more excitement we get at this race

being over. There's been tough times in

our race. In our own races, we've had

good times in our race, inspiring times,

fun times, good times. We've had rough

times in our race as well. We've had

times in our race that challenged us,

pushed us to the limit in our walk.

And yet God was with us through our race

and helped us make it through those

tough times, those challenges in our

race.

There's a Bible verse

2 Timothy

2 Timothy 4:7

4:7 and 8. It says, "I have fought the

good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith. Finally, there is

laid up for me a crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous judge,

will give to me on that day. And not to

me only, but to all those who have loved

his appearing.

That's I think the goal for every

Christian in our own race, to finish

this race well,

keep the faith,

and make it to that finish line where

Jesus is waiting to take us home.

This world's been a journey. This life

has been a journey. There's been a lot

that's been in our lives.

A lot of things in our stories, each one

of us.

A lot of victories,

a lot of challenges, tough challenges.

But thank God that he's been with us

every step of the way of that race to

help us make it through all those

different things and make it to the

finish line of that race.

He's given us

so many different clues in scripture and

Bible prophecy for us to know that his

coming is soon.

>> The finish line

is close, friends.

>> Like the song says, "This world is not

my home. I'm just passing through.

And it's not just a hope that Jesus is

coming soon.

I know Jesus is coming soon.

And it's up to us

to keep the faith,

to finish our race strong,

to stay close to Jesus and tell as many

people about Jesus as we can in the time

between now and when Jesus comes back.

I want to invite our worship team to

come up and and lead us in our closing

song, How Great Thou Art. I'm as I look

through Bible prophecy, I can't help but

just be incredibly at awe of how great

our God is

to over time share these snippets of the

future with the prophets and preserve

them for us so that we could have hope

and knowledge knowing that he's coming

for us soon. And for that, we can be

encouraged today knowing that Jesus has

big plans for you soon to take you home.

He says, "I go to prepare a place for

you. You already have an address in

heaven.

He's waiting for you.

Let's stand together and sing our

closing song. How great thou art.

Oh Lord my God,

when I in awesome wonder

consider all the worlds I hands have

made.

I see the stars.

I hear the rolling thunder.

Thy power throughout

the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul,

my Savior God to thee,

how great thou art,

how great thou are.

and sings my soul,

my Savior God to thee,

how great thou art,

how great

are

through the woods

and for its I wonder

and hear the birds

sweetly in the trees.

And I look down

from lofty mountain

and hear the

feel the gentle breeze

and sings my soul

my savior God to thee.

How great thou art.

How great thou art

and sings my soul

my savior God to thee.

How great thou art.

And when I think

that God is son not sparing

sent him to die,

I scarce can take it.

And on the cross,

my burden that he bear,

he bled and died

to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul,

my savior God to thee.

How great thou are.

How great thou art.

And sings my soul,

my savior God to thee.

How great.

When Christ shall come

with shout of acclamation

and take me home.

What joy shall fill my heart.

And I shall bow

in humble adoration

and their proclaim.

My God, how great thou art.

and sings my soul,

my Savior God to thee,

how great thou are,

how great thou are.

and sings my song,

my Savior God to thee.

How great thou art.

How great

thou art.

Father in heaven, Lord, thank you so

much for preserving these prophecies in

scripture for us to be blessed by and

encouraged by today.

Thank you for the the faithfulness of

your prophets of old who wrote these

things down.

And Lord, we're grateful for these these

hints and clues that show us that there

is no doubt we can know that you are

coming soon. Lord, help us in our lives

to remain committed to you and to commit

also to sharing the hope that we have

with other people. We're so glad, God,

that today we're one Sabbath closer to

being with you in heaven. keep us

faithful until you come to take us home

is our prayer today. In Jesus name I

pray. Amen.

>> Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th 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 Day Adventist Church.