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This program is made possible by the giving of the God called Partners of Renner Ministries. Get ready for a teaching that feeds your spirit and your mind, where the word is the anchor in uncertain times. And doctrine doesn't bend to culture. We keep it simple, but dive deep, revealing a truth that strengthens us, a love that emboldens, and a mission that touches the world. Let's join Rick Renner. Welcome to today's program. My name is Rick Renner and I've just been standing here waiting for the clock to strike so we can get started on my series, which is called How Close Are we to the End? People are really talking right now about end time events and people are asking, when is the Rapture going to happen? How close really are we to the end of the age? And the whole series, it's 10 parts. It's called How Close are We to the End? And it has a wonderful study guide. Everything in the series is in the study guide because I believe that when you see the material, why you see it or hear it, it really causes the material to get down deep inside you. And I'm so excited about my wonderful book called Signs. You'll see just before Jesus comes. This book helped me and I know this book is going to help you know right where we are prophetically in time and right now. As our gift to you, we want to give you the End Times timeline, which is a special chart that we have made just for you that shows about all the past prophecies already fulfilled, those that are being fulfilled right now, those that are yet to be fulfilled. And it's our gift to you. All you have to do is go online or give us a call. If you call us, we'll send you a hard copy. Or you can go online and just download yours right now. But we made this for you because we want you to be able to see right with your eyes in front of you about all the past and present and future prophecies and where we are on that timeline. And please, when you reach out to us, would you please let us know how to pray for you? I'm appealing to you about that because we really want to pray for you. We believe part of our calling is to put our faith together with you for whatever it is that you are facing. My friends, we believe Jesus has a miracle with your name on it that is waiting for you. So you can call the number on the screen or send us an email, and when we hear from you, we are going to really be prayed for. But hey, I want you to reach for your Bible. We always use the Bible in this program. And hey, we're believing for a revival of the Bible in the body of Christ. But today we're going to return to Matthew 24:3 and we're going to see the next signs that Jesus gave that were coming close to the end of the age. And when you come to this verse, Jesus is seated on the Mount of Olives with his disciples. No one else is there, it's just Jesus and the 12. And privately they begin to ask him questions. And as I've told you in previous programs, that's what happens when you get along with Jesus. You can ask him things you cannot ask in front of others. And Jesus will talk to you personally, like he will not talk to you front of others. And now they're privately with Jesus asking questions. And Jesus answers their question and then tells them many more things. So let's look at it. Matthew 24. 3 says, and as he sat on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell us, when shall these things be? And they were talking at the very end of the age. And things have been eschatological nature. And what exactly will be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? The Greek actually says the end of the age. That's very important in today's teaching. The world is never going to end, but this age is going to end. The age we're living in right now is the last days. Some people call it the Age of Grace, other people refer it to it as the Church age, but technically in the Bible it's called the Last days. And it began with on the day of Pentecost, about 9 o' clock in the morning. We know that because the Bible tells us that when God's spirit is poured out, that would trigger the last days. And Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost at 9 o' clock in the morning and said, this is that. This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And that triggered the period called the last days. And we've been living in that time frame for about 2,000 years. And now we're living at the very last of that time frame. We're living in the very last of the last days. We're privileged to live in that little slither of time. And that means we're going to see things previous generations never saw. But let's continue. Jesus said, they said, what will be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And we saw in the previous Program that in verse 4, Jesus gave them the very first sign, the wake up call, that we've come to the very end of the age. And that is worldwide deception. Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. Let's very quickly review two words. Let's begin with the words take heed. Take heed. That's what the King James version says in Greek. It is a form of the word blepo, if you want to write that down. In English, it would be spelled like this, but the word blepo means look, listen, pay attention. It was almost as though he was telling them, okay, you want to know what is the sign I'm going to give you? Number one, the sign that you've come to the end of the age. Hold your head high, throw your shoulders back. I want you to really sit up straight and listen to me. Take heed that no man, Jesus said, deceive you. And Jesus gives worldwide deception as the number one sign that we've come to the end of the age. And as we saw in yesterday's episode, this word deceive is from a form of the Greek word planau. Planau. If you want to write that down in English, it's spelled like this. It describes a worldwide wandering, a worldwide wandering. And particularly it describes a moral wandering, moral wandering. And here Jesus was prophesied that at the very end of the age, society is going to get off track. Society morally is going to wander. It's going to wander, wander, wander, far from the solid path that it once walked upon. And of course, we're living in a day when the world seems to have gone woke and ay yai yai. People have wandered so far off track until now, they don't even know what gender they were born with. My friends, when you don't even know what gender you are, you are really confused. Who would have imagined that we would experience that in our lifetime? But Jesus said, when you've come to the very, very end of the age, listen, pay attention. He's trying to jar them and jar us. To really hear what he's saying, the world at large is going to morally wander far, far off track. And as I told you yesterday, this word plenel was also used in an agricultural sense to describe an animal that got so far off track it could never find its way back home. It was so lost, it couldn't find the track to get back to where it used to be. And this word here implies society is going to get so far off track that it will not be able to come home again. And we saw yesterday, this is a requirement for the world to be primed, prepared and modified to eventually receive the Antichrist. Please, if you didn't see yesterday's episode, go back to the archives and look at it. It is really important. But sign number one, the first sign Jesus gave was worldwide deception. But now we're going to look at sign 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. And here they are. Jesus said these signs, wars, rumors of wars, commotions, nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. These signs will be indicative that you've come to the very end of the age. So let's look at what Jesus said. And we're going to begin in Matthew 24:6, when Jesus said, you shall hear of wars. Well, at that particular moment, the Roman world was covered with wars and all kinds of conflicts. But Jesus here was speaking futuristically. He said, you shall. He's talking about the end of the age. They were asking, Lord, how will we know when it is the wrap up of the age? And Jesus said, at that moment you shall hear of wars. The word here is the Greek word akuo. The word here. Now this is really important. The Greek word akouel. This word akua means to hear with the ear. Notice Jesus does not say you will see wars. He says you will hear of wars. And of course we're living in a day. If you have access to the news you hear and hear and hear and hear about news. And this word akua, by the way, if you want to write it in English, it's spelled like this. It's also where we get the word for acoustics. Acoustics. Jesus said you will hear with the ear because of the availability of news and information you're going to really be hearing. It's the non stop hearing of wars. And the word wars is the Greek word polemos. Polemos. And this is really important. If you're going to write that down in English, it's spelled like this. And I want to read to you from my notes this word wars. And by the way, in Greek it is plural, which means it's going to be war on top of war on top of war. But the Greek word describes armed conflicts, plural, which would include battles, fights, skirmishes and large scale conflicts. All of that is included in this word palemos. But then the verse goes on and verse six also says you will hear rumors, rumors of wars. And the word rumors. Let's look at it. I want you to see these words. The word rumors, that's the King James Word is the Greek word ako, akoa. And this word would be spelled like this in English, describes the ear. The ear. A better translation would be you will have the sound of polemos, plural, all kinds of skirmishes, conflict, armed uprisings, all of these things, regional, worldwide, all kinds of political and militaristic events in your ears. It's going to be in your ears. So now Jesus says, you're going to hear about it. And here we find, not that we're going to actually see it and witness it with our own eyes, but we're going to hear about it because of the news and rumors. The Greek word echoa, the sound of war and conflict. At the very end of the age, it will be so abundant that we will feel like our ears are ringing with the sound of war. And then in verse 26, Jesus says, See that you be not troubled. And the word troubled is very important. That's the King James translation, the word troubled. But it is actually the Greek word therao. If you want to write it down, it would be spelled like this. And this word therao means the following. It describes an inward fright that causes one to be filled with worry, anxiety and fear. What is your response to all the armed conflicts and all these wars, large, small, that are happening all over the world at one time? You hear about a missile here and a missile there. This word therao also depicts worry and inward anxiety resulting from outward events that keep occurring repeatedly. But Jesus says, just because these things are happening, it's not the end yet. That's what it says in verse 26. And the word end is the Greek word telos. The Greek word end is the Greek word telos. If you want to write that down in English, it's spelled like this. It describes the conclusion. Now remember, the disciples had asked the question, how will we know that we've come close to the wrap up of the age? And Jesus says, you're going to see all of these things. These things are going to come to pass and must come to pass. But that is not indicative that you've come all the way to the closure or to the consummation of the age. Yet now, in Luke 21:9, where Jesus is giving his same discourse about the end of the age, he adds another word. Jesus says, but when you shall hear of wars and commotions. Commotions. I'm not going to go to the board, but I want to give you the meaning of this word commotions. In the Greek text, it depicts instability, situations that are out of control, upheaval, anarchy, turbulent, Upheavals of a societal, political or militaristic nature. Well, let me ask you, have we seen anarchy in our day? Do we see upheaval in society around the world? Jesus said there'll be a lot of it. And the Greek is plural as you come closer to the end of the age. But then Jesus added in Luke 21:9 Be not terrified. Let's look at that word terrified. Very important, the word terrified. It is a Greek word to. In English it would be spelled like this. Listen to what it means. This is really amazing. It describes an inward fluttering. An inward fluttering panic. It describes terror or it means to be terrorized. Terrorized. It is a fright that results from something that startles or alarms and it pictures. Are you ready? Terrorism. Terrorism. Well, we are living in the day of terrorism. In fact, I want to read to you from pages 53 to 54 in my book Signs yous'll see just before Jesus comes. Listen to this. It's difficult to keep an accurate count of how many revolutions have occurred in recent years. There seems to be an unleashing of demonic forces into the earth with a fury that refuses to be pacified. If there's ever been a time when it felt like all restraints have been thrown off, it's now. To one observing the news, it appears as if the lid has been taken off of Pandora's box. And and we seem to be coexisting in a warring terroristic environment that is unprecedented in scope. News medias around the world regularly report incidents of terrorist activities. Reports from international intelligence agencies state that terrorism is escalating in an increasing number of nations. The Middle east as well as much of Europe and America lie marred in the global path of these bullets attacks. Middle Easterners, Europeans, Asians, Americans, Africans and Australians, people from nearly every part of the planet have all felt the murderous effects of war and terrorism. The rise in this type of terrorist activity, commotions is what Jesus called it. That strike alarms in people's heart is unprecedented in our lifetime. But long ago, when Jesus told his disciples about signs they would see to indicate the conclusion of the age, he exactly described the warring and terroristic activities that had become so commonplace in recent times. Now listen to this. Few anticipated what has transpired on the planet in such a relatively short period. The possibility of random terror attacks has come so close to every everyday life that in many places, schools, grocery stores, malls, theaters, sports stadiums and even churches, people are required to enter through metal detectors to ensure their well being against someone with an attempt to kill. When Jesus described Key signs that would be evidence of the very end of the age. He prophesied these kinds of wars. Rumors of wars and commotions would be another key to gauge where we are in time and to show the age is drawing to a close. That is amazing. That's pages 53 to 54 in my book Signs. You'll see just before Jesus comes. But wait, we've got a couple more things to see today. Let's go on to Luke 21:9. Jesus says when these things happen, the end is not by and by. And the word end is exactly. Again, the Greek word telos. It means even though these things are happening, it doesn't mean you've come to the conclusion of the age. Not quite yet. But then when we go to Matthew 24:7, Jesus adds, Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. The word nation, very important. The word nation is the Greek word ethnos. Ethnos. In English, you would spell it like this. It means ethnic. Ethnic groups. Ethnicity, different ethnic groups. This could be religious. This could be skin color. This could be nationality. And now we find ethnic groups around the world at the very end of the age. It's like they're going to be seething. And Jesus says they're going to rise against each other. The word against. Oh, this is really important. The word against is the Greek word epi, if you want it in English, it's like this. Let me go ahead and give you the word kingdom, because we're going to come right to that. The word kingdom is the Greek word basileia. If you want to write it down in English, it would be spelled like this. Listen to what all of these words mean. The word ethnos, the word ethnos depicts nations or ethnic groups. It includes various nations, races, colors, or religious groups. And the word EPI that I showed you, translated against, means upon. It describes superiority. It pictures a crushing or a subjugating force. It is a force that crushes or smashes, or it pictures a decimating force. And now we find ethnic groups against ethnic groups, each one of them trying to take the superiority over the other. And not just superiority, to have a subjugating effect. A force that crushes or even decimates incivility on a scale like no one has ever seen. And it's going to happen worldwide in ethnic groups. And this, Jesus says kingdom against kingdom. And the word kingdom, this Greek word basileia, listen to what it means. The word kingdom describes a kingdom or a sphere of influence. It could describe a political realm or an ideology. It is Ideology against ideology. It is one political realm against another, one political party against another. And the word EPI is used again, which means they're not just going to try to have the upper hand over the other. But this word EPI paints the picture of superiority, a crushing or subjugating force, a force that crushes or smashes it is a decimating force. And now we find these various groups, nations, ethnic groups, political parties, ideologies, they're going to try to crush each other to get the superiority over the other. Jesus said, when you've come to the very end of the age, this is what you're going to witness. It's what you're going to witness. And notice that Jesus uses the word here over and over and over. The word, hear, the word, rumors, you're going to see these things. It's going to be buzzing in your ears. And of course this describes the advent of the news and the Internet. And through the news and through the Internet now we can hear it all. But these were signs Jesus gave to the disciples and to us that we've come very close to the end of the age. I'll be back in just a moment and I'm going to pray for. Somebody has asked the question, what kind of qualities should leaders in the church have? Well, that is a very important question and I can't answer all of that in one minute. But in Mark 10:44, Jesus said, if you're going to be great, then you must be the servant of all. And Jesus himself was the example. He said that he did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And when you're called into a leadership position, that is a position God has given you to serve the people of God. And there is no greater honor than to serve the people who sit around the table in the house of God. And we need to do it with excellence. We need to do it with humility. And we need to understand that it truly privilege to serve the people in the house of God. Having humility and a willingness to be a servant, that is a very important priority for any leader in the church.