Signs of the End: Knowledge Shall Increase

Fourth Sunday in the Series

You know, we've been talking for this is the fourth Sunday about the fact that we're seeing signs, signs that the Lord is coming back. Come Jesus, come. He is coming back. And we see the signs all around us. We need to be watchful. We need to be awake, alert because he is coming back.

Previous Sundays Recap

You know, we've had three Sundays in this series. Signs everywhere are signs. One Sunday we spoke about how the table is being set for peace. You know, I shared how when I heard so much talk about peace on the news and about the board of peace being formed, which peace is, I mean, all of us want to see peace, I think. But it took me to the Bible Daniel 9:27 where it talks about the fact that the Antichrist he'll make a covenant with many for one week for 7 years. And we know that when the Antichrist makes this covenant, this promise of peace, it's a false peace. It's not a true peace. And he'll break it. It tells us in verse 27 of Daniel 9, he'll break it halfway through. And that will usher in the great tribulation, the most awful time to live on this earth ever. But even through all that awful time, Jesus is coming back. He's going to come back.

But we talked about how when we think about peace, although it's a great thing, it's a reminder that one day the Antichrist, the little horn that Daniel talks about, is going to rise up. He's going to rise to power and he's going to promise peace. So when we hear all this talk about peace, at least for me, it reminds me that that day is coming where many world leaders probably are getting together and the antichrist is promising the world peace, but he's going to break it.

Matthew 24 and 25

You know, a couple of Sundays ago, we went to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24 and Matthew chapter 25 we often call the discourse. And there it's where the Lord is talking to the disciples. It's a long message that he's speaking to the disciples while sitting on the Mount of Olives. The place that he by the way his feet when he comes back his feet are going to touch the Mount of Olives. The Bible tells us he's coming back to that same spot that he talked to the disciples about when they asked that question. What will be the signs of the end of the age and of your coming? What will be the signs? That's what we've been talking about.

And he gave general signs in Matthew 24:4-8 about signs that the church age us as believers should look for. And we've seen all those signs. It talks about how there'll be wars and rumors of wars there. Matthew 24. It talks about how there'll be pestilences and famines. It talks about how there'll be earthquakes. All those signs, those general signs that the Lord talked about, we've seen them.

And then later in Matthew 24, it says, "You don't know the hour your Lord is coming." None of us know the hour, but we know, like Scott said, we don't know if he's coming while we're alive or not. But I will say this, we need to be ready knowing he could come back today, cuz he can. He could. There's a reason in Matthew 24, we're told to stay awake. There's a reason we're told to be alert, be ready. He says just like a thief in the night comes had the person of the home and I'm paraphrasing knew that the thief was coming he would have stayed awake right well saying the Lord is coming back at a moment we don't know so we need to stay awake we need to stay ready.

Last Sunday: 2 Timothy 3

Last Sunday so two Sundays ago we went to Matthew 24 last Sunday we went to second Timothy 3 and 2 Timothy 3 Paul under the inspiration of God he's talking to Timothy he's challenging Timothy who He's trained up in the ministry. And he's telling them about the last days. And we reminded we are in the last days. Yeah. We are in the last days right now. We're living in them. We don't know how long they'll last, but we're in the last days.

And in 2 Timothy 3, the Bible in those just couple few verses, there's 19 words that are shared that are all about how ungodly this world will get in the last days. That's the passage we were at last Sunday where there's all these words just describing the ungodliness that will take place in the last days. And although revival could happen, God can do anything. And praise God, here at our church, we've seen people getting saved. I'm praising God for it. But in the Bible, what it speaks about will happen in the grand trajectory of the time of the last days is the world will get more and more and more ungodly in the general trajectory and more and more of the world will turn from God. And as we look around, that's another sign. That's another sign we're seeing. I mean, I think we all agree probably that in our lifetimes, have you seen the world get more ungodly? Have you seen the world turn more from God? That's another sign.

Today's Sign: Daniel 12

Today, we're going to be speaking about another sign that reminds us Jesus is coming back. Come, Jesus, come. He is going to come. He is going to come. It's not a question. It's 100% He is coming back. Yeah, 100%. No question. And we see another sign that just hopefully all this talking about this wakes us up a little bit. Talking about the signs that we're seeing. I hope it shakes me and shakes you to live more for Jesus.

We're talking about another sign today. And I love how when you talk to a brother in Christ, you can sharpen each other and you can feed the word of God to one another. Amen. Or a sister in Christ. You know how you can do that? I mean, just before Sunday school, brother Danny and I were talking about the word of God, and it's always a blessing to hear Danny letting the word of God come out of him, you know, but a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to Jack. Jack and his wife Verlin have been coming here for a little bit recently, and Jack studied prophecy a lot of years. And as he was talking, when he gets talking about the word of God, it's coming out of him, right, Jack? It's coming out of him because he's passionate. And out of that 30 minutes or whatever we were talking, he spoke about this passage that we're going to today and I started looking at Daniel 12 today and digging into it for today and that's where we're going today. But it's cool how God can use a brother or a sister and take you to the word of God. And by the way, I'll tell you when you're talking to other people and you're talking about the word of God and just remember there's a reason you're being fed with that. And that might be an opportunity for you to say, you know what, I want to dig into that more.

But we're going to that passage today, Daniel 12. We're going to read the first four verses. We are honing in on verse four. But I want to take a minute and read from there. Daniel 12. It's a prophecy about the end of time. I invite anybody that's able and would like to join with me, stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of God.

Reading Daniel 12:1-4

Daniel chapter 12, beginning in verse one, the word of God says, "At that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered. Everyone who is found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."

Prayer

God, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you that you leave us your word and you even care to leave us your word that speaks to us about the end of time. And God, today as we continue to worship you, Jesus. Lord, I need your help. And I just pray Holy Spirit move as the word is preached and as we dig in your word. And I pray that as we speak to the word, as we study the word, as the word of God is preached, I pray it would just penetrate deep inside of our hearts. I pray God that if there's for any of us as believers, it would penetrate our hearts to be for you to work in us the way that you see fit for your purposes and to cause us to be more dedicated to you and more and more people living for you, Jesus. And I do pray God if there's somebody here today that needs salvation that has never given their life trust in you Jesus as Lord and Savior. I pray today would be the day that they call on you. God we love you. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Explaining the Passage

You know this passage we read it. It's a prophecy about the end of time. God gave Daniel this prophecy and in those opening verses you see that Daniel is hearing about the end of time. There's a lot packed into those first three verses. A lot you could have a lot of different sermons on these four verses. Many sermons.

But one thing we see that it opens up talking about there is about a time of trouble will come on this earth referring to the great tribulation where there will be this trouble such as never has been before. And we also get good news for the believer. It says and at that time that time of trouble your people shall be delivered. Everyone who is found written in the book. Written in the book. What does that talk about? Well, many of y'all have heard about the Lamb's book of life. If you go to Revelation, you'll read John talking about the lamb's book of life. Those that are written in the Lamb's book of life will have eternal life in heaven with the Lord. Is your name written in that book? Have you made the decision to trust fully in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? If you haven't, that doesn't mean you still can't. You can today.

But verses 2 and three, it says, "And many of those who sleep in the dust, who have died, who sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake." And it's a really joyous, but also an unjoyous an awful thing for others. It's a joyous thing. It says, "Some will awake to everlasting life." Man, those that have trusted in Jesus, there's going to come a time at the end where they wake up and they're in heaven with the Lord. But then it says, "Some to shame and to everlasting contempt."

You know, I tell you when I read that and I think about the reality of heaven, but also the reality of hell. There's going to come a judgment day. And I mean recently I heard someone say, "Well, pastor, not someone that goes here. If it was, that'd be okay. We'd talk about it." But someone say, "Wait, are you saying that someone," and they gave the description of Mother Teresa, if they didn't believe in Jesus with all the good she did, she wouldn't go to heaven? I said, "Well, what the Bible tells us is there's only one way to heaven." There are a lot of people that truly believe they'll get to heaven by what they do. It's a thing that a lot of people believe. And I don't mean that as any kind of insult on anybody, but it's dangerous. It's dangerous teaching.

Because you won't get to heaven by being good. And it makes sense because I think we all know we're not that good. It makes sense that I, Joshua Riley, cannot be holy enough in my own right to get to heaven before a holy God. I'm not that good. Right? You're not that good. There's only one way to heaven. It's by what God did by sending his son Jesus Christ down to this earth and Jesus coming with the purpose of dying for us being the one and only sinless perfect sacrifice hanging on that cross and taking our sin on him and dying for us and rising on the third day. That's only one way to heaven.

We're reminded there around verse three that there is going to come a day at the end when there's judgment and when there's a resurrection of believers and there's a resurrection of the dead where some are going to wake up and they're going to be in heaven. Some are going to wake up and they're going to be in hell. And I hope I mean honestly if it frightens somebody here today that they could wake up in hell. I mean I don't think that's bad if it's going to cause you to give your life to Jesus. Heaven and hell are real. They're real and they're forever. And once you're in hell there's a gulf. There's no way out. Just ask the rich man. The rich man of Lazarus I'm talking about.

Honing In on Verse 4

But so we see that. But today where I want to hone in on is I want to hone in on verse four. It says and understand remember what this passage is talking about is the end of time. It says in verse four, many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.

You know, as we're going to talk more about the knowledge part, but let me first just by saying running frantic and increasing in knowledge. That's what we're seeing today. And that is another sign of the end. It says in the end times there in verse four, there will be many running frantic and there will be an increase of knowledge. Stop.

At first the first sign that I thought about I thought about yeah knowledge is definitely increasing. But you know what else is increasing? People running both. Do you know what I mean? Like when I think about many will be running to and fro. I think about how this world has gotten busier and busier and busier. Do you know what I mean? Have you noticed that in your own life? And I think a lot of it ties hand in hand with knowledge increasing.

Okay. Again, we're honing in on knowledge increasing today as a sign, but they're really both signs. And I believe a lot of the reason that this world has gotten busier and busier and busier is because knowledge is increasing. A big reason knowledge is increasing is technology. A big reason knowledge is increasing is communication.

Maybe some of y'all grew up a long time back. Do you remember how nice it was? You felt like the world was slower before cell phones and you know what I mean? Before all these instant messages before like we're getting contacted by people all the time and it's like if you don't get right back, you feel like you're not getting right back to him in time and you never have time to slow down.

So when I think about knowledge increasing as a sign of the end I believe a big reason that we're getting so much more running to and fro is because of the technology that has been a big reason knowledge is increasing.

You know and one thing I do think about this in this day and age where it says there will be many running to and fro in knowledge increasing is we've got to guard our time with the Lord. You got to guard your time with the Lord. Because I don't know if I'm the only one that feels this way, but I have seen in my own life how my pace has gotten too fast a lot of times. And a lot of times a big reason it is is because we're always on our phones or we're always reading some watching some video. We've got to guard our time.

Knowledge Increasing Dramatically

But I want to talk about this sign about how knowledge will be increasing. We are living in a day and age where knowledge is dramatically increasing. Do you all agree with that? And that's a sign of the end. Knowledge shall increase. It's a sign of the end. And look at our world. Has knowledge not increased dramatically?

You don't have to raise your hand if you don't want, but I don't think there's any shame in being well-aged. Was anybody alive during Hurricane Hazel? Okay. Quite a few. Hurricane Hazel. Quite a few were alive during Hurricane Hazel. That was, I believe, in 1954.

Okay. Back in 1954 when a hurricane was coming, people didn't have the same knowledge that they've got today. There can be some good things. Like when we know a hurricane's coming, we've got enough knowledge from communication and technology. We might not have enough sense to get out of dodge, but we got enough knowledge to if we know it's coming. But Hurricane Hazel was a devastating hurricane. But a lot of the reason it was even more devastating in addition to its strength was that not many people knew. Is that what y'all would agree if you're around? Or if you had family that was around, a lot of people didn't have TVs back then. Some could have, but a lot of people might have had a radio. There just wasn't the same knowledge that this hurricane was coming and it led to a lot and a lot of death.

So much has changed with knowledge increasing since then. I mean, so much. For one, when a hurricane comes, most of us know it's coming before it ever comes. And we end up stocking up and buying all the toilet paper and all the food, and we don't even need it half the time. We start worrying. Oh gosh, the end of the world. I got to get everything. We got to also be on guard against that. Like, and I've been there. I'm going to stock up on everything, man. I got this whole place. I got a bunker down here. There is a side to trusting in God we got to remember.

But this idea of knowledge increasing, we've seen it. I did a simple search on Google and an AI summary comes up. Okay. And I tell you, with AI, with technology, boy, is knowledge ever increasing. I did a simple Google search that said something like, "How much has knowledge increased over time?" I was just curious what it'd say. And in a split second, all those databases that talk about it, it all sums it up for you. Y'all know what I mean? When you're googling something and an AI summary comes up or you're asking Siri and an AI summary comes up.

Well, all of a sudden it said human knowledge has increased exponentially over time with the doubling rate accelerating dramatically roughly every hundred years before 1900. So before 1900 the doubling rate of human knowledge only it took about a hundred years for it to double before 1900 is what AI says. To now about every 13 months today knowledge is doubling. It's saying about every 13 months and honestly I can see where that's true. And then it says and some estimates suggest a future doubling rate as fast as every 12 hours. Now, I have no idea if that's true. And honestly, the Lord could come back before that ever happens, but it says, "This growth is driven by advancements like the internet and connected devices."

The Bible says, "Knowledge shall increase." And boy, are we ever seeing knowledge increasing. It's another sign of the Lord's return. It's another sign that the end is coming. And it keeps growing more and more rapidly.

If you call out, who calls out to Siri? You know, you call out to Siri. Come on. Who calls out to Siri? Get those hands up. You call out to Siri or you Google or you whatever. And like that, you get information. You know, back in the day, if you wanted information on medical advice, you only had to go to the doctor. You could ask Siri medical advice and pretty much get what you'll hear at the doctor. You know what I mean? And it's a lot of times not right at the doctor. So, you're probably doing about just as good.

But you can ask about, "Man, how do I fix this on my car?" And you'll get a YouTube video, right? You can ask about all kinds of things. You could be in school, I'm not saying to do this, and you say, "Write this 10-page paper on this topic." And it'll spit out a 10-page paper for you. Gosh.

There's all And I remember one time someone that's not a believer said, "Well, you know, Josh, you could just say, 'Write a sermon on this.' And AI would write it." And I said, "I'm not going to ever do that. I'm relying on the Holy Spirit. Right? AI cannot replace the Holy Spirit."

But I tell you what, the day and age we live in, you can ask just about it. You can ask questions about religion. You can ask questions about a complex math problem and it spit it out. Knowledge is increasing dramatically. But we shouldn't be surprised because it's just like what God's word said would happen.

Hey, I was starting to work on the sermon Thursday morning. Usually on Thursdays I go out to Blaen County and I go to a few companies as a chaplain, but I was surprise surprise a port city job early in the morning and I was getting a refill on my coffee and I'd been working on my sermon about how knowledge shall increase and I walked up to get probably my third cup of coffee after I'd already had two at home before I went there. And anyway, I walked up there and I wonder why I'm thirsty and need water. But I walked up there and the barista, she's kind of seen me in there some recently and she knows that Crystal and I have Greenley and Isabella, two daughters and Gabriel, but she knows we have two daughters that are around her age and she was just saying, "Well, make sure you tell your daughter Greenley that there's a website cuz Greenley's starting to take more classes. There's a red website called Rate My Professor."

So when you sign up for classes at UNCW, make sure you look on that website, Greenley, is what she said, and it can tell you if you want to take that professor or not. I thought to myself, this is exactly what we're talking about, knowledge increase. You haven't even met a professor and you can just go to this website and you can pretty much know if there's good ratings or bad ratings on that professor. Another example of knowledge increasing.

But the scripture says, "Knowledge shall increase." And boy, are we ever seeing it.

Dangers of Knowledge

Something that was on my heart though when I think about this is we must be on guard against the dangers of knowledge. I mean there's a lot of benefits to getting lot knowledge but there's a lot of dangers. Do you know what I mean? And we're living in an information age where there's going to be a lot of knowledge that we're getting in our heads and in our minds. We got to be on guard.

One thing we got to be on guard about is to guard our time because when knowledge increases the busyness of our life can also easily increase. When we're getting more and more communication, we got to guard time with the Lord.

But also, don't be so full of knowledge that you think you don't need God. You know, when I think about knowledge increasing, that kind of is a way that the enemy, I think, gets a lot of people to be prideful and think that they got so much knowledge they don't even need God. Y'all know what I mean?

Think about the Tower of Babel. Y'all remember that passage in the Bible in Genesis where the people, they were smart and they could do just about anything and they said, "We're going to build a tower to the heavens." And just the idea of building a tower to the heavens to me, it kind of screams out that they're wanting to be like God, but they were so prideful. They're like, "We can do this all on our own, and we're going to make a name for ourselves." They wanted to make a name for themselves.

And you know, when I think about that, we know what God did. God humbled them real quick by confusing their language and reminded them, even though you think you don't need God, boy, do you need God. I don't care how smart you are or I am or somebody is, we all need God. Amen.

But have you ever seen it where somebody's got such a good mind. They're brilliant. I've told people that I run into that are brilliant, but I was like, "You got a great mind, but man, don't let that get in the way of thinking you don't need God." Because sometimes we can get so caught in knowledge that we think we've got it all figured out and think we don't need God. But every single one of us desperately need God.

Another thing in this information age about knowledge increasing, don't be so full of knowledge that you don't have faith in God. Have you ever kind of met somebody that's brilliant, but they just don't have faith in God? It says in Proverbs, a fool says there is no God.

You know, there's a lot of times somebody with a great mind that's got great intellect, but they'll say they don't believe in God. Or they might say, "Prove to me that there's God." Sometimes someone can get caught in this trap that they got to prove everything. But it's about faith.

We've got John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to whoever believes in him." It doesn't say figure it all out and prove that God's real. That's right. It says believe. Yeah. And Romans 10, I think it's verses 9 and 10, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Knowledge can get in the way of faith if we're not careful. Sometimes someone that's very smart, way smarter than me, knowledge will get in the way to where they want to prove that God's real. And I'm not trying to knock somebody and debating is good, but we got to be careful about that because sometimes a person will say, "Well, prove to me this is real." And even if they got the answer on that this is real, you know what's going to happen? Then they're going to say, "Well, prove to me this is real. Prove to me this is real. Prove to me this is real."

The other thing is this. If you don't believe in God and you want proof and you want others to tell you, "Prove to me God is real." What about what do you believe? If you don't believe in God can you prove that is real? You know, if you don't believe in God, how do you believe all this earth got here? Do you believe in the big bang? Well, prove to me the big bang is real. Because nobody was here when the heavens and the earth, no human beings were here when the heavens and earth got created.

I'll tell you this. If you really are honest with yourself and you don't believe in God and you try to prove the big bang is real, it's going to take a lot it's going to be a lot harder and impossible to prove the big bang is real than it makes more logical sense that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. How can you have molecules jam-packed together and all together who made those molecules if God ain't real? God's got to be real to get it started.

But we got to be careful that we don't get so full of knowledge that we don't have faith in God. Faith is believing without seeing. Y'all remember what Thomas said? He didn't believe the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead. And he said, "Unless I see him and touch him, I won't believe." The next Sunday, he saw Jesus, the risen Jesus, and he said, "Oh, you know, my Lord, my Savior." And Jesus said, "Blessed are those who believe without seeing." So that means those of us that have made the decision to trust in Jesus without seeing. God says you are blessed. Blessed are those who believe without seeing. It's about faith. It's not about knowledge.

And by the way, we're not going to know everything on this side. There's a lot that I don't know. And I accept that. God gives us his word things that he wants us to know, but we're not going to know every mystery on this side.

Challenges from Increasing Knowledge

I tell you just a few challenges when I think about the fact that we're in a day and age where knowledge is increasing. Remember where true knowledge comes from. Y'all know what the main theme of the book of Proverbs is, which is known to be a wisdom book, a book on wisdom. It comes in verse seven of chapter 1. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge or depending on the version the beginning of wisdom. That's the central verse in the book of Proverbs which is a wisdom book. It's God's word basically tells us knowledge, wisdom, it begins with the Lord. That's where true knowledge comes from is from the Lord.

So, in this day and age where knowledge is all over the place, be careful that you're not listening to the wrong voices, true knowledge begins with trusting in the Lord and as a believer living in the fear of the Lord.

I love what it says in verse three of the passage we read. It says, "Those who are wise shall shine." And it goes on to say, "Like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness lead people to Christ, lead people to salvation, because righteousness only comes through salvation." Those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

I read those verses in Daniel 12:3. And I'm reminded when Jesus does come back and when we enter into heaven as believers, we're going to shine. We're going to shine. For one, we'll be in the presence of God. And also, you know what? We're going to get a new body. And a lot of times you could, you know, what I picture that to be is similar. You know, Jesus had a resurrected body. We're going to get a new body that's a heavenly body. And it's going to be we're going to shine. But notice what it says. Those who are wise shall shine. Wise by trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

You know, and another challenge I would say when I think about the fact that we live in a day and age where knowledge is increasing and it's a sign of the end, another thing that I think we need to kind of take away is we ought to want to grow in the knowledge of the Lord, not grow in the knowledge of the world. There's a lot of things that I think they're great to know about and obviously we're going to learn about some things in this world that can be helpful, but don't get so caught up in learning things of this world that you don't grow in the most important knowledge, knowledge of the Lord.

And there's all kinds of ways and the Bible says grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We've got that Bible verse on the wall in the kids area. I was in there with Crystal this morning just praying, God, send us more kids. Fill that children's area up. But, you know, kids aren't the only ones that need to keep growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We all need to keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We need to have our time with the Lord. We need to be fed daily with the word of God. We need to be in prayer daily. And as a church family, we need to help one another grow. You know, we gather for church and that's one way we can worship and grow. We also have Sunday school at 10:00 a.m. Hey, if you're not in a Sunday school, that's time to get in the word of God and have Bible study. Ask yourself, is there a way I can start plugging into a Bible study class at 10:00 a.m. We've got Bible study classes for kids, for youth, for adults. We got Wednesday night Bible study. Those are all ways that we can keep growing in our knowledge of the Lord.

You know, knowledge of the world can be helpful at times. It can be harmful, too. But there's nothing more valuable to grow in than knowing the Lord and in growing in the truth of the word of God.

And another challenge when we think about the day and age we live in with knowledge increasing and the fact that people can get the wrong information. You can Google and you can get bad advice, right? When you go into the word of God, you're not going to get bad advice. When you go into the truth of the word, it's going to be good knowledge.

But the importance of as we're growing in the knowledge of the Lord rather than more of the world that we're sharing with others knowledge from the truth of the word. You know the world we live in there's all kinds of voices. There's all kinds of things people are getting fed in their mind from TV from phones from Google from Siri. There's all kinds of knowledge coming into people, but it's not all the truth. Some of it is bad advice.

And as believers, one thing we're to do is that we grow in the knowledge of the Lord so that we recognize when something's false teaching or when we recognize something isn't in line with the word of God and then we share it with the world around us. You know, God has people in your life that you, some are people you love and care about. Some are strangers, but every one of us interact with people every day. And that we would be a people that as we're growing in the knowledge of the Lord and of the word, we'd be a people that share. This world needs Jesus. This world desperately needs Jesus. Faith comes through hearing, hearing through the word of God.

First, that we share by being witnesses for Jesus. And also when we just are talking to people about life things that we would be trained up in the word so we could take people to the truth of the word of God when people are struggling with this thing going on in their life or this issue going on in the world that we would be a people that are ambassadors for Christ and we would be growing in the knowledge of the Lord and of the word so we can speak the truth of the word to the world around us.

Wrapping Up

You know, just to wrap up today when I think about this idea of this sign another sign that knowledge shall increase. I hope for one that it shakes us all to remember we are seeing the signs. We are seeing this world increase in knowledge at dramatic rates. I mean, since we've been alive, it is exponentially increasing, a whole another level.

And I hope it wakes us up to say we don't know how much longer we've got left. And that we encourage one another to do all we can to live for the Lord the days that God's got us here. And to be bold witnesses and to be more concerned, less concerned about what knowledge of the world says for things that we face day-to-day and more concerned with what does the knowledge of the truth of the word of God say and that we would spread the truth of the word of God and of the gospel with this world.

Closing Prayer

God, I love you and we love you. And I just pray that as we've dug into your word today where we read about running to and fro in the end of times, how more people will run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. That God that as we're reading this that for one we would slow down and not get so busy running that we neglect our time with you and two God that we would be concerned more about the knowledge of the Lord and growing in the Lord than about any knowledge that this world gives us. And God, as we do that, we'd be faithful, faithful servants for you, more and more equipped to live for you and more dedicated to live for you.

God, we love you. And I just pray that you today use this time of worship and use this time of being in the word of God to speak the hearts of your people. We pray it all in Jesus name. God's people said, "Amen."