The Signs Every Believer Should Be Looking For Before Christ Comes

foreign we are living through now we've been foretold in the Bible and if we are bible-believing Saints we should not be surprised by the headlines but the main thing for us is that we should not be fearful but more so filled with faith we need Faith and Hope in Jesus regardless of whether or not there is a war we need to keep our Faith and Hope in Jesus regardless of whether or not the headlines are filled with Doom and Gloom we need faith and Zeal no matter how evil the days are and no matter how many disasters strike the world and I believe that one thing we need to be aware of is what happens inwardly in these last days we should really be careful that our hearts aren't swayed or hardened I believe that in the last days the presence of evil will be so real and so tangible that if we're not careful some of us will fall into a false sense of security thinking we are living for Christ when in fact we are living according to our own self-righteous standard I encourage you to pray for a soft heart a heart that is quick to repent a heart that is quick to run to the Lord and quick to run away from evil the Bible tells us that in the last days because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold Hearts will grow cold as we Edge closer and closer to the end of the age and the return of Christ [Music] so here's my warning to you be careful that your heart is not hardened in our world today not only is there evil at every corner not only is there temptation all around us but this world provides you with so many distractions there are many things vying for our attention on a day-to-day basis and to be honest if we're not careful as men and women of God we can easily and sometimes unknowingly lose our focus on what really matters in life and so I encourage you to take a moment and think about whether or not you are truly living for Jesus Christ or are you content living life and simply putting Jesus Christ alongside everything and everyone else the Bible in Hebrews 3 verse 15 says while it is said today if you hear his voice do not Harden your hearts as in the Rebellion and on this matter of hardening your heart Proverbs 28 verse 14 says happy is the man who is always reverent but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity now what does it mean to have a hardened heart it means spiritual blindness it means insensitivity towards God's Beauty and Glory it means chasing after our own desires instead of the things of God a hardened heart rejects God thankfully in his Mercy God has offered to change our hearts and I want you to know that God can change our hearts Ezekiel 26 36. and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the Heart of Stone from your flesh and give you a heart of Flesh since the beginning of time God has been drawing us toward himself even when we stubbornly ignore him he doesn't walk away he never gives up on us in the Book of Matthew Jesus Compares his second coming to a great wedding feast a joyful celebration of the perfect union between Jesus Christ and his bride the church and so we are invited to the greatest dinner banquet of all time have you responded to that invitation or are you putting it off until the last minute maybe you've become deafened to the sound of him knocking maybe your attention has been captured by other things like work and finances and romantic love those things seem important Until you realize that they are only temporary and when your life is over where Jesus returns they will no longer be of any value [Music] we all think we have more time to get right with God but the truth is that life is short tomorrow is not guaranteed everything we do today matters on an eternal level if Jesus came back today would you be ready would you be able to say that your heart was firmly set on Christ now is the time to place your faith in Jesus and so today if you hear his voice don't Harden your heart instead allow him to come in and change your life forever I recently came across a very powerful and well-written message by Dr Ray Pritchard who serves as president of keep believing Ministries here's what he wrote when we come to the Antichrist there are some things we know and some things we don't know we know there will be an antichrist we don't know his identity we know he rises from the revived Roman Empire we don't know which part he comes from we know he will work closely with the false prophet we don't know the false prophet's identity we know he will apparently die and come back to life we don't know how that will happen no shortage of good candidates we know he will control the world economy we don't know how he obtains that power we know he requires his followers to wear his Mark we don't know the precise nature of the mark we know the number of his name is 666. we don't know exactly what that means the Antichrist is given various titles in scripture he is the little Horn of Daniel 7. the prince who is to come in Daniel 9 the man of lawlessness in 2nd Thessalonians 2 the Antichrist in 1st John 2. beast from the sea in Revelations 13. now what I'd like for you to consider and to be aware of is the fact that the Bible tells us several key things about the Antichrist that line up with world affairs the Bible says in Revelation chapter 13 verse 16 to 17 also he compels all the small and the Great and the rich and the poor and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead signifying allegiance to the Beast and that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark either the name of the Beast or the number of his name now this indicates several things the first is that the Antichrist will be in power of a globally linked economy and where the Antichrist will be a one world dictator that controls the means of Commerce through his Mark he will determine what the currency is for anyone who wishes to buy or sell and if you look at the world today there's talk of cashless society and a digital currency microchip implants are already in development and in some cases they're already in use the stage is set to fulfill Bible prophecy the Beast the Antichrist will have a system in place that will require everyone on Earth to worship Him the Beast system will force people to bow down to it or else they will starve they will be imprisoned or even put to death Revelation 13 verse 7 says and the Beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them and he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and Nation this satanic Unity that will form during this time will mean that any believer who is on this Earth or anyone who becomes a believer of Jesus Christ during this time will have to face great hardship in their day-to-day life and so my dear friends I tell you all of this to tell you that this is no time for casual Christianity you cannot be a comfortable lukewarm fence-sitting Christian in this 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