Watching Wisely

Part 2 of 2 in The God Who Keeps Time. Part 1 is From Daniel to Christ.

Watch the sermon (River Center Church, June 14, 2026).

Of any message I have given, I would argue this is the most important, because it really applies to our time. You could call it the second part of Daniel. Last year I showed you the precision of the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel. It is astonishingly accurate. It predicts, to the day, when Christ would present Himself, six centuries beforehand. So let's start where that left off.

False Christs and false prophets

For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible. Matthew 24:24

The elect means Christians. Us. We have used social media to spread God's word in wonderful ways. That is not the only message spreading. False predictions about the end have been around since the first century, and they have never been more common than right now.

UnrollFalse Predictions and the Hype

Be a Berean

When people see these things, a lot of them get caught up in the moment, in the hype, and forget one of the most important things: their Bible. That is what you should be looking at, not other people. I can get things wrong. Everyone can get things wrong. God gets it right. So look to Him.

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. Acts 17:11

Even in the apostles' time, people heard the message and went to Scripture to check it. It is important that all of us do this.

Why this subject matters

Eschatology, the study of the end times, is bigger than most people think. Most Christians are kind of silent on it, because there is a lot of tension around it. But look at just the Old Testament. Count the prophecies of the first coming, which we concentrate on for very good reason. Then count the prophecies of the second coming. There are more than twice as many. Include the New Testament and it is something like eight to one.

So this is something we should talk about and learn about. Sometimes people get offended if you do not agree with them on it, and the debates are not exactly friendly. We should be friendly, even to people with different views. It is getting less silent and more vocal on social media because it has gotten into politics. Should we support Israel? How much? Even when those debates are not talking about the end times directly, the whole premise often comes from someone's end-times position. We want to make sure we can still talk lovingly about this and learn from everyone.

How we read

Christians agree on what Daniel's sixty-nine weeks did. After that is where the tension starts. Most of it comes down to how literally, or how figuratively, we read prophecy.

UnrollHow Literally? Hermeneutics

UnrollThe Three Major Views

UnrollThe Seventieth Week

Is the stage set?

UnrollEzekiel 38 and the Stage

Watching without setting a date

UnrollWatching Without a Date

Listen to Christ

Without listening to the hype, just listen to Christ. Read and hear His word and His wisdom.

Then Jesus said to all of them, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. Luke 9:23

Yes, we are to watch for signs. Yes, we are supposed to be watchful of the things happening around us. But while we wait for those things, what are we supposed to do? What God sent us here to do: spread His word, His gospel. While we wait, we should be watching, but we should not be caught up in the hype.

I'll leave you with this.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

That is what you need to be doing: watching for them, and preparing.