♪♪♪ Adam Bender: Hi, everyone. Welcome to ITown TV. My name is Adam, and I'm one
of the pastors at ITown Church. On today's episode of
ITown TV, our pastor, Dave Sumrall, will be
addressing the question, are we living in the end times? It's a complex question that
we'll attempt to break down into simple concepts through
an engaging short film. I believe that this film will
bring clarity and encouragement, but also a sense of urgency
and purpose to your life. So check it out. ♪♪♪ female: The novel coronavirus
in the United States topped 6 million on Sunday. [static hissing] male: And start
making them feel the pain. They're not going
to open anything up, and they're not
worried about anybody else. male: Another example of
teachers forcing administrators into remote learning as
districts struggle with the pandemic nobody planned for. female: Lighters and
fires to bundles of newspapers, they threw them into the ground
floor of a residential building. In the act, they torched
minority-owned business. Dave Sumrall:
In so many ways, it does feel like the
world has just gone mad. And as Christians, we have to
constantly wrestle with this question of, are we
living in the end times? I think every
generation has wondered that. In fact, in Matthew chapter 24,
the disciples came to Jesus and they wanted to know, too,
"When are you going to return, and what will be the
signs at the end of the age?" Well, Jesus said, "Look,
you're never going to know the answer to when." There's a lot of people that
waste a lot of time trying to figure out when Christ
return, when the world will end, and Jesus said he
doesn't even know. So there's no way that we'll
know if Jesus didn't know, but Jesus said there are
several things that you'll see, there are several signs
that you'll see in the world; and several of them are
fascinating because we see them all happening in our generation. In fact, he said there'll
be many false prophets. They'll come and say,
"I am the messiah." That word messiah just
simply means anointed. There'll be a lot of
preachers and teachers that say, "I'm anointed," and
they'll lead people astray. And then, of course, it says
that there'll be wars and rumors of wars. We know that's
happening all over the world. But then it says nation
will rise against nation. That's fascinating because that
word nation is literally the Greek word ethnos,
or ethnicity. So what it's saying is that
there'll be racial tension in the world. Obviously, we see that
even in our own country. And then he says kingdom
will rise against kingdom. Well, that's our
modern day governments; that there will be wars,
there'll be countries against other countries, and we can see
that all across the worldwide landscape today. And then he says that
there'll be famines, that there'll be
people without food, and that there'll be pestilence,
which literally is plagues, that there'll be diseases that
hit the human population and wipe out people. And then he said that
there will be earthquakes, and of course we see that
happening in the world as well. And he said when you start
to see all of these things, that it's the
beginning of the birth pains. In other words, when all
those events are taking place, it'll be a sign that you're
at the beginning of the end, which I would say that we're
definitely at least at the beginning of the end
times in Scripture. The thing that breaks
my heart is verse 12. It says that there'll be
an increase in wickedness, and because of this increase
of wickedness the love of most will grow cold. So what he's saying is that
there'll be a lot of believers that actually fall
away from their faith. We see that happening
even during the coronavirus. And then we see this
movement in the body of Christ, of people embracing
wickedness and saying that God's okay with it. And so there'll be
this great falling away. And again, we see all of
those things coming to pass. But then the encouraging thing
is that he says the gospel will be preached to every ethnicity,
to every single different people group and every language. And then he said
when that happens, the end will come. And so that's one of the reasons
why we direct our missions giving to the 10/40 Window. That's--that window,
latitude and longitude, of the earth where we have
unreached people groups, and we're so thankful for
technology that makes it so much easier to take the message of
the gospel to people who have never heard before. And so as a church, we're even a
part of speeding the return of Christ to make sure that every
single people group and every single language hears. So then what's fascinating about
Matthew chapter 24 is Jesus concludes this thought by
validating our study of the book of Daniel; because Daniel
is both a historical book and a prophetic book, which means
the first six chapters that we've been studying over the
last several weeks have lots of stories that are about
history that we can glean from and learn lessons from. But then the last six
chapters, chapters 7 through 12, are all prophetic, which means
that Daniel had visions about what would happen in the
future, things that had not yet been fulfilled. And Jesus validates Daniel
as a prophet by saying it was prophesied through Daniel, and
then he talks about that phrase that we'll look at in the book
of Daniel called the abomination that causes desolation. Today, we're going to talk about
what Jesus was referencing and what Daniel was talking about,
the parts of prophecy that are still yet unfulfilled, and
we're going to conclude today by talking about some practical
things that we can do as end-time believers. ♪♪♪ Dave: What's so interesting
about that passage where Jesus validates Daniel as a prophet
is the very last sentence. He said, "Let the
reader understand." I think that's important
for us because in modern day Christianity most of us
don't study prophecy all that frequently. And those of us who do,
it's pretty confusing. It's hard for us to understand. And so we end up living our
lives as though this will go on forever, as though prophecy
will never be fulfilled or maybe Jesus will never return. And so I think it's important
for us to understand what the Lord said to us
through the prophet Daniel, how it plays into
our daily lives. Now, from chapter 7
through chapter 12, we have all of these visions
that Daniel saw of the end times, but there's this place in
Daniel chapter 9 that so much of it is summarized. It says in verse 24, "Seventy
sevens are decreed for your people and for your holy
city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin,
to atone for wickedness, to bring
everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy." So he says there's
70 periods of seven, and we know that that represents
7 years or 490 years of prophecy for everything that the
Bible prophesies to actually come to pass. It goes on to say, "Know
and understand this: from the issuing of the decree to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the ruler
comes, there will be 7 sevens and 62 sevens. It will be rebuilt with
streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After 62 sevens, the anointed
one will be cut off and will have nothing, and then the
people of the ruler who will come will destroy the
city and the sanctuary." So let's pause there for a
moment because Daniel is seeing into the future things that
haven't even happened yet. He was probably
confused himself, but now we know these things
have actually been fulfilled. So the first thing he says is
that there'll be a period of 7 sevens, which
represents 49 years. And he says there'll be a decree
given to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple, and
from the time of that decree until the time that it's
finished will be 49 years. So now we know that it actually
took from the time that they were told to rebuild the
city until Nehemiah actually completed it was 49 years. All of this historically would
land in Ezra and Nehemiah in our Bibles. Fascinating. We know that Nehemiah rebuilt
the walls in just 52 days, but it took many, many years
for them to rebuild the rubble, to clear all the places
that have been destroyed, and to get the temple rebuilt. And so this prophecy
actually was fulfilled 49 years. And then there's
a second period, a period of 62 sevens,
which represents 434 years. And so fascinatingly enough,
from the time that the walls were finished until the time
that Jesus actually died on the cross for our
sins was 434 years. Daniel saw it all. And then he goes on to say
at the end that there will be another ruler who comes and
destroy the temple again. And in AD 70, another
ruler came to power, came to Jerusalem, and
again destroyed the temple. And to this day,
it lays in ruins. He goes on to say, "The
end will come like a flood, war will continue until
the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm--" This is speaking
of the Antichrist. "He will confirm a covenant
with many for one seven. In the middle of that seven,
he will put an end to the sacrifice and offering." We'll get to what
that means in a minute. "In a wing of the temple, he
will set up an abomination that causes desolation." That's that phrase that
Jesus actually quoted in Matthew chapter 24 that we
talked about a moment ago. And then it says, "Until the end
that is decreed is poured out on him," speaking about the
end of the Antichrist. Now, that's a lot of numbers. So let's just take a minute
to review all that we've talked about. Daniel saw 70 sevens. That represents 490
years of prophecy. So 483 of the
490, as we've seen, have already been fulfilled. It took 49 years from the time
the decree was given until the time that the temple and
the city of Jerusalem were completed. And so that's that
first set of seven sevens. And then 434 years
later or 62 sevens later, Jesus gave his life on a cross. So that brings us up to the 483
years that have been fulfilled. So as we study this, it's
fascinating that there's 7 years of prophecy that
hasn't yet been fulfilled, and we know it's going to come
to pass 'cause Daniel nailed the first 483 years. And so we believe this
missing seven is what we call the Tribulation. Really most of the book
of Revelation talks about the Tribulation. But if we flip over
to Daniel chapter 12, it addresses it as well and
gives us even more clues to look for. It says, "At that time, Michael,
the great prince who protects your people, will arise." Now, Michael is an archangel,
one of the three that are mentioned in Scripture, and
his job is actually to do war against the enemy, do
war against the devil. And it says, "There's a time
of great distress as has not happened from the
beginning of nations until then. At that time, your people,
everyone whose name is found written in the book,
will be delivered." This is another passage that
really in our opinion validates this concept of the church being
taken away or caught up or what we call the Rapture because
it says that God's people will be delivered. Now, there are some people who
would argue that Michael comes to protect us and that we
live through the Tribulation, but that God protects us. Either way, the Bible is clear
that we're going to be fine. I personally believe that
there is going to be a rapture, and by the time all this happens
that we'll be delivered or taken to heaven. It says, "Multitudes who
sleep in the dust of the earth will awake." In other words, people who
have already died and decayed, become dust, they'll rise
back to life and they'll stand judgment, some to everlasting
life and others to shame and everlasting contempt. And then it begins to
address us who are still alive. "Those who are wise will
shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who
lead many to righteousness like the stars
forever and ever." So it's basically saying,
those of us who are alive, if we're living wise
lives in these in times, are focused on shining the good
news of the gospel to others. That's why I'm so proud of
our church because we live as end-time Christians; knowing
that the most important thing is not this life,
it's not this world, it's the world to come, and
we're obsessed with reaching God's lost kids. In fact, we often say
anything short of sin to win God's lost kids. That's our mission because the
Bible tells us that if we're wise, then we're going to shine
and we're going to lead many people to righteousness. But he says, "But you, Daniel,
close up and seal the words of the scroll until
the time of the end." And then he gives
us another clue. He says, "Many will go here and
there to increase knowledge." So it speaks about a time when
travel would be convenient and people would travel the world. You know, it's so crazy to think
about history 'cause in the 1800s it took 4 to 6 months
just to travel the Oregon Trail. In today's world, we can
go to the moon in 36 hours. You can get on a plane
and travel to anywhere. And the Bible says in that
environment knowledge would increase. What's fascinating is scientists
say that knowledge in the world didn't double until
about 200 years ago, and then it doubled
again 50 years later, and then it doubled
again 30 years later. But now the way we're
collaborating through the internet, they say
that knowledge is doubling every 12 months. And so obviously this
prophecy is coming to pass. It goes on to say in
Daniel chapter 12 and verse 8, "I heard what he said,
but I didn't understand what he meant." And I know all of us
kind of feel that way when we read prophecy. I'm reading these words, but I'm
not really sure how it plays a role in my daily life. I'm not really sure
what all this means. And so Daniel just
simply ask the question, "How will all this end, my Lord? Can you tell me?" And he said, "Go now, Daniel,
for what I've said is kept secret, sealed until
the time of the end. Many will be purified and
cleansed and refined by these trials." Meaning that as we
live through these times, there's going to be a
purification for those who follow God, and we're certainly
seeing that in the world today. It says, "But the wicked will
continue in their wickedness and none of them will understand." We can't expect the world to
completely understand the signs of the times and the things
that we're living through, especially biblical prophecy. And it says, "Only those who are
wise will know what it means." So we want to be
people of wisdom. We want to know why this
prophecy is here and how it plays out in our daily lives. So it says, now
speaking of the Tribulation, another clue, "from the time the
daily sacrifices stopped and the sacrilegious object that causes
desecration is set up to be worshiped, there
will be 1,290 days." Pause for just a minute 'cause
basically this is talking about the Tribulation. So at the
beginning of the 7 years, there's this peace treaty
that begins to take place. The Antichrist will
create peace in Jerusalem, the temple will be rebuilt, and
sacrifices to God--Old Testament sacrifices will be reinstituted. And if we see that happening, we
know the Rapture didn't come and that we are stuck here through
the Tribulation because the Bible says that it's
going to take place. That peace treaty is
what triggers all of this, and then 1,290 days in
something's going to change. Well, I'll do the math for you. 1,290 days is
exactly 3 1/2 years. So halfway through
the Tribulation, things are seeming
great, there's peace, the Antichrist is like this
rock star that's brought the one world government, the whole
world seems to be getting along and everybody has
the mark of the beast, and then all of a
sudden something shifts. At 1,290 days, the sacrifices
in the temple are stopped, the statue is built that Jesus
prophesies the abomination that causes desolation, and the
Antichrist begins to force the world to worship him. And then he says to
Daniel, "As for you, go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the
end of the days you will rise and receive the
inheritance set aside for you." And I think that's so prophetic
for us to hear because for so many of us, even as believers,
there's a lot of anxiety and tension that comes with the idea
that things could be wrapping up or that we could be one
of the final generations. And God says, "No, no, no. Don't get full of anxiety, rest. You're going to be protected. In fact, you're going to
flourish and you're going to prosper in these
very difficult times." And so we will rise. Whether it's in this life
or in the life to come, the Bible says you
and I will rise. And then there is an inheritance
that God has set for us; that there's
something beautiful, a blessing that will come if we
just live the lives that God has called us to live. But that's what we
have to wrestle with. Where's the tension living this
life and yet being prepared for the life to come? What does it look like
to be wise Christians in these final days? ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Dave: So the big question
that we have to answer as we study prophecy and as we
conclude this series on Daniel is, what do we do
with all of this? How does any of this have any
impact on our everyday lives? Well, all throughout
the New Testament, Jesus talked about it,
Paul talked about it, and then we see
Peter talking about it. In 2 Peter chapter 3,
verse 10, he says, "The day of the Lord
will come like a thief." In other words, there's no way
that we'll be able to expect exactly when he's going to come. Because if we knew
when a thief would come, we'd be prepared. So it says, "The heavens
will disappear with a roar, the elements will be
destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything
in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be
destroyed in this way," here's the question to ask, "what
kind of people ought you to be?" And that's a great
place to end this series. What should we do with all of
this information as godly people living in a godless
culture, maybe one of the final generations to
live in the earth? He says, "You ought to live
holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of
God and speed its coming." There are three things
I want you to jot down, three very specific
things he tells us to do. Number one, we
have to be different. We have to be different. We talked about this
several weeks ago. If we're going to
make a difference, we have to
actually be different. And the Bible says here that
we ought to live holy and godly lives. That word holy doesn't
mean perfection or perfect, it just means set apart. It means that you
don't look like the world. You don't talk like the world. You don't act like the world. We don't have the same
moral compass as the world. We don't spend our
weekends the same as the world. Why? Because we're living
with this view of eternity. We realize that we're
living in the end times. 1 Thessalonians, another
prophetic passage from Paul, chapter 5, verse 23 says,
"May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." So he's saying, "When
Christ's return is near, make sure that every area of
your life is as sanctified as it could be." Now look, I know
none of us are perfect, but we have to make sure that
as we've studied throughout this entire series, this culture
continues to grow in a direction that's increasingly
wicked and godless; that we don't allow
them to change us, that we're the ones
that change the world, that we stand strong,
that we hold the standard. This book is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. Its principles are not outdated. It's important for us
to base every decision, all of our
morality on this book. What does it say
about our lives? Does God have the
right to be God? And if so, it cause
us to be set apart, to be different. We want to make a
difference; let's be different. The second thing that
we see here is that we have to be ready. We have to be ready. It says, "Not only should
you live holy and godly lives, but you should look
forward to the day of God." We should look forward to
the fact that he's returning. You and I ought to be ready. I think honestly it
probably changed the way we live daily life. I mentioned a moment
ago about weekends. What are we prioritizing? We've wrestled with the concept
in this series about the fact that all of us with our lives
we're all worshiping something because we were
created to worship. So are you ready? If the Lord came,
especially on a Sunday morning, would you be proud of
where he found you? Would we be proud of the way
that we're living our lives? Are we living as
though we are ready? The Bible says in Matthew 24, we
referenced that passage earlier, Jesus, verse 42, "Therefore,
keep watch because you do not know on what day
the Lord will come." Nobody knows when. We talked about that. Even Jesus doesn't know when. And so because we don't know,
we have to always live with the anticipation and the preparation
that his return is close. So we have to be different,
we have to be ready. But number three, the
most important thing, is that we should be effective. Remember, Daniel said we
need to shine like stars. If you look back at that
passage in 2 Peter chapter 3, it says we should
speed its coming. I don't know if
you realize this, but you and I, we actually play
a role in how quickly Christ will return. Remember, the gospel has to be
preached to the four corners of the earth and then
the end will come. So that means that how
we're living our lives actually impacts not only eternity,
but also this life and how long it lasts. If we'll preach the gospel,
if we'll leverage what God has given us to make a
difference, we can aid in the return of Christ. We can prepare the bride. There's never been a better time
to get out of our bubble and make a difference
in a hurting world. And I'm telling you, someone
else's eternity is waiting on the other side of
your obedience. So let's seize the moment. What if we are one of the
last generations to ever live on planet earth? What a significant
time to be alive, and God chose us. Not Abraham, not David,
not Moses or Noah; he chose us. We're the ones that are here in
this moment to win a generation, to be a light to
the world around us. This is a significant
time in human history, and it's why
prophecy is important. Because we have to understand
that it is impacting our daily lives because we shouldn't
be living for this life, but living for the life to come. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Adam: It's important to
know that no matter what happens we're not living
for this life, but for our next
life in eternity. The Bible says that our life
on Earth is merely a breath, just a vapor. Here and then gone. And so while we may not
know when the end will be, we should live every day
like it could be our last. Not out of fear, but out
of urgency and confidence, knowing that our
home is in heaven. But maybe you're watching
today and you don't have that confidence, maybe you don't
know where you'll go in the end. The Bible says that God sent his
only son Jesus to this earth to die on a cross to pay the price
for our mistakes so that we can have our balance
set back to zero, so that we can have a
relationship with him and live with him forever in eternity. When we give our lives to him,
not only can we put our hope in heaven knowing that
our eternity is secure, but God gives us his
Holy Spirit to help us face each and every day. All you have to do is
ask him into your life, to give up control to him. If you've never done that, I
want to give you an opportunity to do that right now. We're going to
pray a simple prayer, and you can simply
repeat after me. Just say, "Dear Jesus,
I give you my life. Come and make me new. I turn from my old ways
and I turn to you today in Jesus's name." And, God, I pray that you
would be with each and every one of us today. Help us to put our hope in
heaven rather than this world. Give us a sense of purpose and
urgency and help us to share your love with others. God, we love you so much. It's in Jesus's name we pray. Amen. Well, if you just made that
decision to give your life to Jesus, we are so proud of you,
and it's honestly the best thing that you can do with your life. You know, our church is built to
support people just like you on this journey of faith, and we'd
love to come alongside you and support you on that journey. The easiest way we can help is
if you just grab your cell phone and text the word
"Hope" to the number 63566. We'll send you a link to a quick
video from Pastor Dave with some next steps you can
take to help you grow in your relationship with God. I'd also love for you to join us
live in person or online for a Sunday service soon. You can find more details,
including times and locations, at itownchurch.com. You know, we hope
to see you soon, but until then we love you
and we're praying for you. God bless. ♪♪♪ Brittany: So I grew up in
church and I thought I had a great relationship with God. I had been out of the church
for probably about three years. I was really upset with God. I felt like he had abandoned me. I felt like he had thrown me
too much I couldn't handle. I just kept saying, "God, why
does this keep happening to me? Like, why am I
struggling so much in school? Why--like, why is
college so expensive? Why is this not
coming easy for me?" And then I just like--I
just stopped going to church. I stopped talking to him. I felt very alone. I just--I blamed him a lot. I just felt like he just
kept throwing stuff at me and I couldn't handle it. I could feel God just
like telling me like, "Hey," like, "I missed you. You've stopped talking to me. You stopped listening to me." And my husband kept telling
me to go--try ITown with him. We went there and we left,
and I looked at him and I said, "This is our home." I knew immediately. I was just in tears. I was so happy. Because when I got here,
I wasn't trying to check the box anymore. I was just trying
to feel at home. I was trying to feel God's
presence and his love over me, and I did. I mean, it was so incredible. And ITown has truly changed my
life not just in the aspect of, like, the community
that we have here, but also my
relationship with him. ITown preaches all the time
that like don't do life alone, and it is so true. They want you here. They know every--they
remind you that you're not the only broken person here. Even if you do feel
alone, you're not. Having those friends
that you meet here, it changes everything. ...
