And welcome everyone. I'm Jenny Wiley with Heritage Preservation.  Kristen Lace, our Vice President of Collection Care Programs at Heritage Preservation, will also join us today. Let me go ahead and start by giving a quick introduction to the community and these webinars, and we'll move on to our next topic. Heritage Preservation is moderating the Connecting to Collections online community in cooperation with the American Association for State and Local History and with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The site is designed and produced by Learning Time. The goal of the online community is to help smaller museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies quickly locate reliable preservation resources and network with our colleagues. In developing the community, we have drawn on many resources that were developed for the C2C initiative, including the bookshelf and the Raising the Bar workshops and webinars. Links to these resources are filed under the topics menu on the site. We will also file a recording of today's webinar there. About twice a month, the online community features are a helpful preservation resource and hosts a webinar related to it. The resources we posted for today's webinars can be accessed by clicking this photo on our web page at www.connectingtocollections.org. Today, I am pleased to welcome back Rachel Perkins-Erinstein, a conservator in private practice. Rachel was kind enough to speak earlier this year on a C2C webinar about choosing a data logger. Today she'll take us one step further as we explore wireless data logging options. Rachel, could you tell us a little bit about yourself please? Thank you, Jenny. I am an objects conservator by training, but starting in my sort of former institutionalized experience and currently now in my private practice as a partner at AMR Conservation, I particularly enjoy preventive care projects, especially ones like environmental monitoring that involves fun technology and some cool gadgets. In addition to my private practice work, I also chair the Integrated Pest Management Working Group, which sponsors the Museum Pest Net website. And I'm the E-Editor for the American Institute for Conservation. And one of the organizing members of AICU's new collection Care Network, which provides support for cultural heritage professionals who are working in all areas of preventive care. And I hope that all of you on the call will start hearing more about the CCN and its projects through various venues soon. Thank you so much, Rachel. I'm going to go ahead and move over your PowerPoint. During the presentation, please feel free to type in any questions. And if we can't get to it right away, we will do our best to get to it towards the end of the presentation. Rachel, I'll go ahead and pass things over to you. OK. Well, it wasn't a surprise to me when Jenny's predecessor Elsa and I examined the reviews of the last webinar in data loggers. The big request was for a follow-up program on wireless systems. We all walk around now with our cell phones, and we seem to be able to beam all sorts of information to ourselves and to each other. So why wouldn't we want to do that with our environmental data? The technology exists, and there are products out there that are being used and marketed to the museum community. But we really need to examine carefully whether wireless systems work for us, or in this case, work for you, or whether your environmental monitoring needs are better served by a standalone data logger. Just because the technology's out there and because it's actually sort of cool may not be the best reason to go wireless. So the overarching message for today's webinar is really going to be some hard thinking about whether this is the right route. So I just want to get a few basics out of the way. For those of you who are on the last webinar with me on data loggers for museum monitoring, the focus is specifically on what I call standalone data loggers. And those are battery-powered devices that have a sensor to monitor conditions and a microprocessor that stores the information. And let's see. Tany, remind me, do you advance the talk please? I can do that, but you can also do it. There should be arrows in the lower left-hand corner. There it is. OK. There you go. OK. So thank you. So the standalone data loggers and wireless systems all have a number of things in common. These are battery-powered devices that have sensors to monitor the conditions and a microprocessor that stores the information. For a standalone data logger, each one works independently, and you have to download the data to view the results. But for today's program, we're discussing something slightly different. It's actually a sort of a misnomer to use the term wireless logger. Some of these systems, some of these units do log and store the information. But more appropriate would be to talk about wireless monitoring systems, because for the most part, these wireless sensors aren't really logging and storing the information, or at least for not very long. They're relaying it back to a collection point, whether that's the nearest Ethernet connection or a PC back in your office or lab. So let's take a moment just to find out what the audience is currently using. Denny, do you want to ask the first poll question? Sure. And maybe even the second one. Go ahead and pull these over. So which of the following equipment are you using to monitor? And then we also want to know, oh, I lost it. I also have to admit that when I saw the site for the posting on the Connecting to Collections online community, I sort of chuckled at the picture, because of course, what is being shown there is a nice picture of a Hobo U14 from onset, which is, in fact, a standalone data logger and not a wireless logger. So for any of you who've been looking at the website, don't confuse that with a product that we will be talking about today. Well, it looks like a lot of the answers are standalone data loggers, 70%. And then one or five spaces being monitored. I'll go ahead and pull these off. OK. So that's interesting and sort of more or less what I expected, given what we know generally about the Connecting to Collections online community. I've been asked also by the National Park Service to do another conservogram on wireless systems. They've been asking for a while, and I've been mulling over how to structure it, because it isn't as straightforward as examining and evaluating the standalone loggers. However, some of the parameters for any logging or monitoring system is still important. So I want to quickly run through those. I know that everyone wants to get to the products, but the products keep changing, and they'll continue to change frequently. So I think this information is really important in being able to evaluate any system from one that's out now to the next hot thing that will come out in a year from now. So some of the hardware specifications that you'll want to look into no matter what logger or wireless monitoring system you're using are going to include these parameters here. Operating range is pretty straightforward. This is the range of temperature and relative humidity over which the logger will work. So generally, most of the sensors, and certainly the ones that I'm going to talk about today, function over a temperature range beyond what we expect to see in our collection environments. So temperature is generally not an issue, but you do sometimes have to pay close attention to the RH range. Some of them will monitor from 0 to 100% RH in a non-condensing environment. But for instance, the T&D log EZ, which I'll talk about later, has an RH operating range of 15% to 90%. So if you're monitoring a case with archaeological metals and silica gel that you're trying to keep as dry as possible, or if you're in the Southwest where your conditions are extremely dry, you need to make sure that that parameter is going to be sufficient for you. Another thing that you want to just take a look at is accuracy. We all want to know that our data is accurate and some of these products are calibrated more carefully than others. Generally, everything we'll be talking about today is more than sufficient for our purposes. But remember, just like with any monitoring equipment, if you aren't checking the accuracy and the calibration every year or a couple of years, you can't have faith in the accuracy of your data. And so I believe in the resources that is on the website for this webinar, there's a sheet that was also given out at the previous webinar that my colleague Samantha Alderson and I wrote up on how you can check the accuracy of your loggers, a little system that you can set up with relatively easy-to-find materials. That will also be coming out probably later this year as a conservogram. So power source and battery life, this is something that I'll go over when we get to the product specific information. But some of these units are solely battery operated and others need to be plugged into a power source. So pay close attention to battery life to make sure that you're going to get enough power for your project and for however long. The ability to use a wireless system to relieve you of the need to download your data may not be as good a trade-off if you still have to replace batteries every six months. Sampling rate is how often the logger will take the data, the temperature and RH data or anything else that you're monitoring. In for wireless systems, you often have a sampling rate and then a transmission rate. If you're monitoring for general trends, you can be collecting data every 20 to 30 minutes. But if you're monitoring, let's say, the efficacy of your HVAC system, you may need more frequent reading. And so you need to just pay attention to whether you can set the sampling rate and if not, whether you'll be getting enough or too much data for your project. And the products we'll be talking about today run the gamut on that. Some of these systems have alerts and alarms on a LCD display like the standalone data loggers. And some of them also have the ability to email or text message you to send it to your phone. This is a great feature, but if you're not already or soon to be a convert to the smartphone, may not be a feature that you really need. Displays some of the, just like with the standalone loggers, some of the wireless loggers also have an LCD. But if the logger isn't in a place where you'll be able to view the readout, the display may not be a desirable feature for you because it certainly comes at the expense of battery life. Size, appearance, and construction is something just to take a look at. It's sometimes hard to tell this on the website. I tried to, for the units that I've played with and I had images of, I include a penny so you can get a sense of the scale. On the website, it's sometimes hard to know are they fist-sized, are they smaller, are they larger.  But generally, wireless units are a bit bigger than the standalone loggers. They tend to be anywhere, sometimes up to sort of like walkie-talkie size. So just something to keep in mind. One thing that's a different feature on the wireless sensors than on standalone loggers is buffering capacity. And this sort of I alluded to a little bit earlier. So wireless monitors don't always log, but it is a good and desirable feature if the sensor has the ability to store some data. And that's important in case your transmission is interrupted. Then the data isn't lost. It can be held by the sensor and sort of spent when the system is back online later. And so the number of sample points is something that you might want to pay attention to. And certainly cost is a big thing. That's something that very often I find most institutions that I work with, they often start off with a budget. Even before, they've really determined the project needs. They sort of know that they have a few thousand dollars to spend. And then it becomes a question of how do you want to spread that around? Do you need more sampling points or do you need more features? Standalone data loggers range from $70 to $700, depending on the features. And there are a few other ancillary costs. For wireless systems, you're going to pay more per sensor or data point. And there are some other costs to factor in. So determining your budget is going to help you clarify what else you might need to sacrifice for this capability. So those are some of the things that are sort of mostly the same. Let's take a look at some of the reasons why it can be great. The first is if you have lots of data. The wireless systems don't need cable or flash drive or a portable download device. They communicate without all those extras. So if you're using a wireless system, you can eliminate the time spent going around your institution and physically downloading the data. This can be hugely beneficial if you're in an institution that needs to monitor a lot of data points. And by a lot, I mean generally more than 20. And so for the most part, from the poll, I think that was most of you were well under that. We asked Jenny, that was the poll question on how many spaces or sensors you're currently monitoring. Our big space is 1 to 5 for the most answers and then quickly followed by 20 or more. So we do have sort of a split there. So if you're at 20 or more, the actual work of managing your data and getting around to collect those can become cumbersome. And so that's when looking at a wireless system that starts to maybe make some sense. The second is whether you need real-time data. It is sort of cool, and it's also super convenient to sit at your desk and click into your monitoring system to see what's going on. However, the main advantage to having real-time data is the ability to quickly learn and respond to problematic conditions in your collection environment. So if you're in an institution without climate control, you don't actually have the ability to make corrections. And therefore, real-time knowledge, while nifty, doesn't necessarily advance your collection care. So I'm going to emphasize this again. If you don't have an HVAC system, you probably need to have another compelling reason why you would want a wireless system. So let's ask the next poll question. Do you have the ability to control the environment in your space? OK, well, it's moving around a little bit, but it seems like the overwhelming majority of our attendees do have at least some ability. So that's good. OK, I'm seeing Michael from Atlanta saying some, but not all faces. And that's pretty standard as well. You might have it in sort of a new addition or in some of your special exhibition spaces, but not in all of your storage or all of your gallery. So it's just something to think about the cost of having that real-time data if you can't actually respond. One of the first places where I installed a system that had real-time data, we had a facility manager who was on his, had a beeper and responded to things 24-7. So for him, getting those messages in the middle of the night, he was going to be up and on that. If that's not something you can do, then all of that groovy technology is not being maximized. But one of the other compelling reasons to use a wireless system, especially if we're talking about an institution that may only have climate control in certain spaces, would be whether you have enclosed spaces that you need to monitor. So for instance, when I was at the American Museum of Natural History, one of the cases I had to monitor was that of what was called copper man. He was a mineralized mummy of an ancient Chilean minor. And the case was very tightly sealed. It was buffered with silica gel to keep the RH down as low as possible. And a single wireless monitor would have been great to know when I needed to open that case and recondition the gel. On a slightly larger scale, you could have a special exhibit based where the lender requests specific conditions and requires the case to be sealed after the courier leaves and something like a wireless transmission system. The case would allow you to monitor the microclimate without having to go in. So those would be some justification for looking at a wireless system. The next question, though, is whether you're really ready for wireless. So the questions that you need to ask are, do you have the budget? Again, the wireless systems are going to be more expensive than the standalone data loggers. Just like with the standalone data loggers, there's also a lot of wireless systems out there. And so in choosing the products that I wanted to talk about today, I tried to keep in mind that the connecting to collections community is geared towards smaller institutions. And so while there's a lot of products out there for advanced users, or components to make cool custom systems, that isn't what I thought was going to be most useful for this audience. So, Jenny, let's take a look at poll question number six. What is the most important criteria in choosing an environmental online rank system? I think that one is going to be something that maybe we'll take a look at at the end. So go ahead and feel free to type your answer. And this is actually one of our door prize questions. So we'll choose somebody at random, and you'll win a free gift. That should be to provide some incentive. OK, so we're seeing some interesting things here. Cost is coming up as a big issue. Ease of use, that makes me feel good about the kinds of things that we're going to discuss in a little bit. Data analysis. Data analysis, this is really interesting. Catherine from Atlanta. For data analysis, I have to say that this is not a strong suit right now for the wireless system. So Gretchen, who's in Pittsburgh, has a number of buildings over different spaces. And so that's certainly something if you have off-site where wireless is going to be a huge help so that if you don't physically have the ability to get to that space all the time. So just to, there's still more stuff coming in, but that's sort of the same kind of thing. So that's good. So in addition to having a clear idea of your budget and how much you're going to be able to get for a wireless versus a standalone system, you need to know whether you have the capabilities. So for some of the systems we're going to look at today, not all of them, but several of them require that you have a network within your institution.  And if not, the wireless systems may not be right for you unless you're willing to delve in and really work your way through the instruction manual. So I'll give you an example. This is a Newport ITHX system. This is being used by a number of different institutions. They tend to be larger institutions. And if this sort of looks like a little scary to you with the wires and the probes and things sort of sticking out, if you aren't good with Excel, if you don't know what TCPIP packet, Ethernet LAN, or an SD flash card, means then this isn't the system for you. It's great. It's good to know that there's a lot other stuff out there beyond what I'm going to talk about today. But what I really am going to focus on for the most part are systems that are either plug and play, meaning that you can reasonably order them from the vendor or distributor, open the box, read the instructions, and get yourself set up. But I will talk about a couple of systems that are a little bit more advanced. And those do require a knowledgeable IP person in your institution. You need to be able to either get through a firewall. You need to be able to set up a static IP address. And within that parameter, there aren't actually that many good choices. There's a lot of stuff sort of out there. It's in the pipeline. But it isn't quite as polished as I think our profession has come to expect. So let's just quickly look at how many people sort of fall into this sort of second category. So Jenny, let's ask the next one to have an IT department or at least one staff member with experience in wireless or networking technology. OK. Well, so far it's looking good for those capabilities. People are still answering. OK. Well, that's good news for most of you. So before we sort of jump into the actual products, I just want to say that wireless doesn't necessarily mean that all the systems upload data to the cloud. Some of these systems are going to work off your internal network. And while the transmission is wireless, it's transmitting back to a sole point. And then in some cases, you can choose to make it web accessible. This is sort of important when you consider who needs to see your data. And ideally, there are a number of people in your institution who should be seeing your data. So that's another poll question that Jenny can ask you. Who else are you sharing your data with? Ideally, you should be sharing it with your facility administrator. And who else is it, whether it's your administration or your curator. If you love the capabilities of the old IPI PEM data site or the new eClimate notebook that they've rolled everything into, you may be better off collecting your data manually and sharing it in the cloud. So for instance, I just set up an institutional client in Massachusetts with some new monitoring equipment. And they only had the need and budget for five monitoring points. And they had very limited technological capabilities. So for them, in fact, a product like the PEM2 was more manageable. And I can log in and see the data from New York. And I can discuss it with their house manager and the chairman of the board, who's in a third location. So this is just one of these things to keep in mind whether you want to be sharing your data and do you want people to be able to see raw data, graphing, do you need to be manipulating those graphs, do you need to be comparing that. Those are some of the features that aren't so easily done on the wireless software products that we have to date. So OK, let's get to the meat of it now. And we're going to start with one of the products that's been out there for a while. This is the Onset Hobo ZWD to nodes. And this is really the first plug and play system that I came across. I think our field is broadly familiar with Onset. A lot of us are using other Onset Hobo products. And Onset has become popular with our profession because they have reasonable products at reasonable prices. And I think this is generally an example of that. The data nodes, you have one here with the internal sensors and one here sort of in the middle with the long cord, which has an external sensor. They take the readings and they transmit the data wirelessly to a receiver connected to your PC. So they log and wirelessly transmit real-time data. And each sensor will sort of transmit back to each other. And the sensors can act either as just sensors or as sort of sensor repeaters or routers, as they're called. So you develop what's called like a mesh network where the data can sort of go from one to another to get back to your central collecting point. They say that they have, when you read the wireless specs, they tend to talk about their transmission range. But it's important to note that for most of these systems, they're talking about a line of sight, like an unobstructed distance.  Some of the things that are nice features about the Hobo series is that they have, you can get alarm conditions via notifications, I think. And here, this is an image from one of their spreadsheets of what the alarms alerts beam to your iPhone look like. And here, you also have two views of the Hobo Nodes Manager, which is a module in the HoboWare Pro software. So on the left, you have sort of your floor plan view. And what you see there with all those lines going back and forth is how this sort of idea of the mesh network, how the nodes can transmit from one to another back to this collection point at the top of the screen. The image on the lower right shows you your Node Manager software. And then when you want to further analyze the software, you'd actually sort of open it up into the HoboWare Pro. So if you're using other Hobo products and you're happy and familiar with the HoboWare software, that's an advantage. You can get up to 100 nodes on a system, but really, you need a router for every 10 nodes. So that's something to pay attention to, because it's going to affect the cost of your system for every number of sensors. You need a router. So the system requirements, and I should tell you all now that I have a handout that lists all of the things that I'm going through now. These selected features, system requirements, potential limitations, and the general cost per sensor for each of these. So don't feel frantic if I'm going through this quickly. Denny is going to load this up along with the PowerPoint, so you'll be able to download that and have it for reference. So the system requirements for the Hobo node is that you need at least one data node, the data receiver, and the software is included. But depending on your deployment, you may need more of these routers. And so the sensors run about $250. The receiver is about $200. And the router is about $160. So depending on how far you can send your signal, that's going to determine the cost of your system. The difficulty is that you need to play around. And in my personal experience, that 100 meters line of sight drops down immediately in any kind of environment. I set the system up in my home. And I live in a typical timber frame construction. And I had trouble getting from my home office upstairs, sort of downstairs. So the thing that you know, it's really important for a system like this to understand that your budget may not go as far as you like if you need to be sending your signal across distances. The other thing that we should talk about are some of the things that will interfere with wireless communications. So the big issue is that your building fabric and construction will affect your wireless transmission. So some of the things that you need to think about are the actual positioning. But just knowing your overall construction may also help determine whether something like this is really in a practical way going to work for you. A lot of the vendors recommend that you don't place the units near metal building elements, which would be corrugated walls, floors, metal floors, and staircases. Buildings with concrete construction are going to be a problem. If you've got a lot of other wireless communications going on, if you're building management system, if you've got security systems that are working with wireless cordless phones, other wireless networks, that will interfere with the transmission of these devices.  So all of these things are going to quickly sort of eat into whatever the manufacturer transmission rate is. And that's not just for the onset system. That's pretty much for all of them. So one of the things that becomes important if you're evaluating this is to sort of almost have to jump in, but expect that you may be forced to add on or be a little bit flexible with your budget in order to get the signal everywhere you need it to be. The one other thing to pay attention to with the onset hobo is that these must be plugged into a power source. They have a battery, but the battery is really a backup. And so it will last long enough, like for instance, to get you through an accidental power outage like we've seen with the heat in the storm. But this is, again, where you need to pay attention to that buffering sample rate. So for instance, the hobo nodes have a 4,000 sample memory. But if you are logging temperature and relative humidity, you already have to cut that number in half. So your 4,000 samples actually become 2,000 temperature and RH points. So if you're then monitoring, let's say every 15 minutes, that's going to give you 96 samples throughout the day. So you'll have plenty of memory to get you back on for a power outage, but it's not going to work as a battery powered unit. So that's just something to keep in mind when you evaluate. If you want to place these, do you have access to an electrical outlet or can you hardwire them already to a power source? OK. So the next product is something that is really brand new. And so the timing of this webinar was good, because if we had had it last month, I wouldn't have been able to talk about this. And in fact, I have to say that I have not actually played with this. The other ones, I have some personal experience. And so I'm waiting to get my demo unit, but I spoke extensively with people at MicroDac, which is one of my favorite distributors. And they're really excited about this product.  And if you watch that, it's easy to see why MicroDac feels like this is going to be a really good product, especially for the kinds of users that we have in the audience today. This is also a plug and play system. The logger itself, which is this top right, it's a sort of a fist size unit. And it will log up to 500,000 readings. Again, you're going to cut that in half for your temperature on RH. And it wirelessly transmits the data back to your PC computer. It has this Groovy LCD, so you can see your battery status and alarm status in your current readings. It has things like the user selectable sampling rate. And the other thing that I really liked about it is that the sensors have a range detection built into the LCD.  And in a sense, you get the same sort of looking at what you would see on your cell phone, where it actually gives you on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being full transmission and 1 being core. So it's very easy to figure out, as you go to place them, are you within range. The other screenshots that you're seeing here is basically you must have for this unit to work a functional Wi-Fi network within your institution. And so once you set this up, and essentially here on the left screenshot, you'd be picking which Wi-Fi system you're going to connect onto. And then you'd go to your next screen where you can set up things like your temperature and relative humidity alarm. And then once your systems are up and in place, you can look at them. You can sort of get your real-time data on a screen that looks like this. So you can see what's going on. You can check your signal strength, battery life, and alarm status, and all of that from your desktop. So again, the system requirements for this are really minimal. You need a PC computer. You need a functional Wi-Fi network. And you need to know your wireless key. And if you have that, then this also is a really easy system for almost anyone to get set up. So the limitations for this is that you may need a dedicated router if your security system, if you're working in a museum that has a security system that interferes with the logger communication. So if you've got a firewall and set up, and you're finding that you can't connect on, you could put up another router and get this set up fairly easily. Realistically, you can probably get up to 30 units on this kind of system. And beyond that, technically, you should be able to get more. But apparently, from what I've heard, once you go beyond 30, you start affecting the bandwidth. So the functional capacity of the system is a little bit smaller than what's actually in their product literature. As of right now, the system does not have email or text alerts. But that is apparently in the works. And they hope to have that added later in the year. So the cost for one of these sensors is $185. This is very cheap and is going to make this a really, I think, strong player in this market. So if any of you start looking at the system, I'll be eager to hear what your experience is. See what we have coming up next. Oh, sorry. So one more screenshot. This is the EasyLog Wi-Fi software. So what we have up in the top screen capture here is their nice visual way of choosing what portion of the data you want to be looking at on your time scale. And you'll see the graph looks pretty similar to what a lot of us are used to looking at. So it's a pretty nice piece of software at a very reasonable price. The next two products that I'm going to talk about are from a company called T&D. The T&D has been marketing heavily in the museum field recently. And their products have generated a lot of interest. I reviewed a couple of their products for the standalone data logger. And those are the ones that I was getting the most questions on because they are relatively new. And they do have some features that are sort of different. So first I want to discuss the LogEasy, which is also a plug and play system. And let me pull up the specs for that one. So you have sort of a graphical representation here of how it works. This is sort of the smallest of the sensors.  And it's white and sort of unapproves of what you're seeing in the image with the logger is there's this sort of clear plastic piece that is a little flexible stand that you can plunk it in and will hold it with easy positioning. The thing that looks like a little flash drive is called a wireless dongle. And that needs to be inserted into your PC or laptop into the USB port. And it remains there. And so basically, your loggers are going to be transmitting back to that wireless dongle. They have a 50 meter line of sight transmission range. So the line of sight here is even less than what is on the system like the hobo nodes. And so again, for practical purposes, this is going to work best in small spaces or open spaces. And if you have even a setup like what they're showing you here in this diagram, you may need more because each of these, again, on this idea of this mesh network will communicate to each other. And so it becomes both a sensor and like a transmitter. So passing the data back to where it says office PC to that collection point. This is really meant to be a small system. You can support up to 16 of these log easy units and each access a repeater. They have a fixed 10 minute sampling interval. And again, this is one where there's limitation on the humidity measurements. They have a pretty limited buffering memory. And so a system like this, I think, would work really well in a special exhibition space. And you could even do it that you would walk through with your laptop on the dangle every other day and collect your data if you didn't want to be transmitting it all the way back. The starter kit, which includes the wireless dongle, a lager, and the stand, battery, user manual, software, and all of that is $159. And the additional sensors are $99. So this is a very reasonable price, but it's also a system that has some severe limitations. If you're in an institution where you have more technological capability aside, this is a glimpse of the log easy software that is logging from my children's bathroom, even as we speak. And it's very easy to download, see the graph in real time, which is the little box on the lower right, and then you download it into the graph. The graphing software doesn't allow you to do anything more complicated than really look at it and collect basic statistics. So if you really want to get into data analysis or something like this, you need to be moderately familiar with how to use Excel. So the next unit, the next system from TND is the RTR 500 wireless system. And this system has a lot of capabilities, but you need to have someone who's competent with networking solutions in your institution. Then there's a lot of different pieces on the screen, because there's a lot of different ways you can use the system. And that's one of its strengths. In the bottom right image, you have these four units here. The one in the top left is a handheld collector. The right are which ones are those? Those are the base station, one of which can work if you have a SIM card and a cell network. It will transmit over the cell phone service. And the other one is just a regular wireless base station. And then down below is a wireless ethernet base station. You can get that either in a wired or a wireless unit. The two other images that you're seeing here are what the various sensors look like. And the temperature in RH is this one here, which has the long probe. And the one that's in the middle, the sort of longer rectangular one with the orange window, that's one that has caused a lot of interest, because it also, that unit will be, the probes are not attached in this image, but that unit will allow you to also do UV and light logging. So one of the real drawbacks, these can function as standalone loggers. They can transmit optically or wirelessly. The big problem I had with them when I reviewed them for the standalone conserver grant was that the software was really difficult to work with. And on this screen, the bottom right is their old version of the software, which was the RTR multi-scale graph. And it doesn't look so bad here on the screen, but my colleague and I found it really difficult to manipulate the data to get a good graph out of it. They now have a new version of the software, which is in data mode. This is what you're seeing on the upper left. I have some issues with the pink, yellow, and gray, but that's actually easily changeable. And so their new software, I feel, goes a long way to addressing some of the concerns that I previously had about the system. But this is a bigger system. It's a lot more flexible. And if you have the technological capability to configure and launch the system, it can do a lot. However, it also comes at a substantially higher price, as opposed to looking at $1 to $200 for your sensors. Here, your sensors are anywhere from $340 to $500, depending on which unit you're looking at, just for the temperature in RH, or if you're also adding in the light loggers. And one of the base units funds anywhere from $400 to around $600. So your startup costs will be a little bit higher, but you can do more with this system. The last system that I want to discuss a little bit briefly is the handwall system. Handwall has really a lock on the whole wireless market for a really long time with their radio telemetry system. And what they have now, basically their products still work with radio telemetry. But instead of having to beam it all back to a central collection point, which often required that you spend a lot of extra money on repeaters, now you can beam it back to this sort of big box you see in the second image from the left, which is their smart reader too. So this will collect. You can put more than one of these in your building. And they will collect all the wireless radio transmitted data, and then that communicates over your LAN. It can be set up to just download on a scheduled basis or on request. And then you, as the user, would log in to your own server and see the real time or historical data there. The images that you're seeing, the sort of three on the right are some of the other kinds of add-ons that you can put onto the system. On the top left, you have your standard temperature and RH. And on the right, you've got one of the outdoor sensors. You've got the climate box, which also does CO2 if you're monitoring air quality. They have this new product called the Dustbug. So the handwell system, to start off with your FCC license, your software, and everything is going to start at $3,000. So this isn't a system for anyone who's really budget conscious, but if you're in a really large institution or you have some special need projects, this still is, although a high-end product one that people are using and some are happy with. So again, the handout is going to have this pricing information and the features and system requirements for you, as well as the list of vendors. So this just shows you have your different monitoring points. It's beaming back to your smart reader. And then you can access that from your PC. And you can have several smart readers all feeding to your server if you have multiple sites or locations. So just to quickly go back and review, we all know that environmental monitoring is now part of proper collections care. But it's not like once you get your monitor up, you get to just check off the box. You have to keep in mind what is the question you're trying to answer? Does wireless monitoring help you answer your questions? Are you spending more time analyzing your data if you get the wireless capability and knowing that even if you are moving into wireless, that you still need to take a close look at the product specs to match your product and capabilities of the product. It really does no good to go on the registrar's committee AAM list and say, what wireless product are you using? And do you like it? Because if you've chosen your product to match your project, you should be happy. And the trouble comes in when people aren't doing their due diligence. That said, don't forget that all of the products that I've mentioned here come from companies that provide very good customer support. Make sure that you've got your own in-house capabilities on board with what you want to do. And your own time and sanity should count for something and you can't get any systems set up. So I think I squeezed it in just under the hour. Were there any questions that are coming up that we need to answer, Jenny? We have a few on board, but before we get to questions, let me just go ahead and post our survey. It's very short. Please take the time to fill it out. We read everyone's responses, and it's so helpful. And so now, if you guys have questions, we'll just go over a little bit. We had a question a while ago about limited cell phone reception within the building and how that might affect a wireless system. Well, so for instance, if you have limited cell phone reception in your building, that could mean two things. One, it could mean that you would not want something like the RTR 500 data collector that works with the GCN that works off the cell phone system. But what it probably means is that you're in a building that has a lot of concrete or stone construction. So for instance, one thing that I know, if you go to the Met, they're very happy that you can't get cell phone services in the building. They feel like they don't want people talking on their cell phones that impacts the visitor experience. But the flip side is that you would know that that says something about your ability to transmit a wireless signal within your building. So that's going to mean that your system is going to become more expensive for the need to relay your signal more frequently. Or it means that you need to look at a system that allows you to quickly get back to the nearest ethernet port so that you're not trying to transmit it all the way back to a central collection point. Interesting, we also have Anne from New York who has a couple questions. One, about what happens when the laptop is closed or you're out of the office. So that's exactly, again, where this buffering memory comes in. For some of these products, the manufacturers will tell you your computer should always be on. Or if it's off, that's where you need to make sure that that buffering memory is going to be able to hold enough sampling points for how often you're sampling that it can store it in the memory. And then when you come in on Monday and power your computer back up, all of that will sort of flow down at that point. But if it doesn't have enough memory, essentially, you start losing that data. And that sort of deceives the purpose. And then also from Anne, wondering about the best recommendation for a unit in monsoon humidity, something of a topic. And that's a hard one. I guess, I'd have to think about that. And Anne, I'm happy to correspond with you after the webinar. Most of these sensors will work in these environments, just like any, whether it's a standalone or a wireless, the accuracy of your system is going to need to be checked more frequently in an extreme environment. I think the big question there is also, do you lose power on a regular basis? And if that's the case, is losing data a risk that you are willing to take versus having the real-time data? So let's talk about that more maybe on the C2C online website. So one other question about Anne Well, does that send alerts and alarm? Yes, it can be. If you're using that smart reader, too, it can be set up to do that. And then one more from Emma. We have the best unit or system for enclosed cases with no power source. So that's for something like the EL Wi-Fi system, this brand-new system I have really high hopes for. The LOG-EZ would be appropriate for that. But again, with the LOG-EZ, you're really only going to get a six-month life expectancy out of that single AA battery. You could also use the RTR500 system in a closed case, and you have a substantially longer battery life on that. But again, you need to be in an institution that has the capability to get that one set up. But that one, you could make the probe in, also make it really nice and small. But those would be your three options there. Do we have any more questions from the audience? And of course, any questions that we haven't gotten to or that you think of later, we can continue on the discussion board. OK. Well, thank you so much, Rachel. Thank you to our audience for participating. Again, please take the time to fill out this survey. We've listed up at the top left corner. We read all your comments. So thank you so much, and have a great afternoon. Thank you very much, Denny, Kristen, and Susan.


Today we're in 2 Timothy chapter 3. We're going to be looking at the subject of the coming apostasy. Signs of the times are actually, as Paul will speak in chapter 3 here in verse 1, he'll be speaking of the last days and the conditions that relate to that, that time that is referred to as the last day. So let's begin reading together here in 2 Timothy chapter 3. I'll let you know in advance, by the way, that I started using this thing, an iPad, because I get confused with iPod for some reason I do. But this, I started using it. It's actually, I've only used it Wednesday night and I've been using paper notes, notice I brought them in case. Paper notes, since I began teaching, I began teaching in 1973. So that's almost 45 years of teaching using printed notes. And so for me it's kind of a new thing. So I may stumble, well it's a real new thing, I may stumble a bit as I learn how to do this. Just let you know in advance that I am in the 21st century, 18 years late, but I'm here. So anyway, beginning at chapter 3 verse 1, reading to verse 9. But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving. So far it sounds like my family, slanderers without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Janus and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith.  So let's develop an introduction, it'll be somewhat prolonged, to lay the foundation and then we'll move into what Paul refers to as the last days and the conditions, perilous times. Now Paul is beginning to outline the conditions of the world in the last days. He's already been exhorting this young man by the name of Timothy who passes the church in Ephesus. He's already been exhorting Timothy not to allow the present conditions that he was finding himself in to distract him. And so he is already in chapter two begun to outline his attitude, what his attitude ought to be in the conditions that he finds himself serving the Lord in. And we already saw that when we're in chapter two, how that he had spoken concerning a variety of things, and he had spoken concerning Timothy's attitude and what he should be like. He made it clear, for example, that Timothy was to be willing to endure hardship as a good soldier. He also pointed out that he was to be disciplined. He would be disciplined like an athlete who was engaged in a contest, who intended to win. And he went on to say he's to patiently work and to wait in faith for the crops to produce like a farmer does, because a farmer goes out and sows seed and waits for the early and latter rain and knows that it requires patience for the seed that he has planted to take root and to produce a crop. And so these are things that Paul was saying, using metaphors that Timothy would understand to help him to see that ministry is tough. It's a tough way of life. And it requires certain things that a minister needs to possess in order to see himself successful in all that he's doing for the Lord. And he was making it clear that every servant of the Lord will encounter obstacles, and especially the obstacle of impatience. Because sometimes a minister will sow seed and expect that seed to produce fruit that is identifiable very quickly. And so it takes some patience and the part of somebody who is ministering, it takes some patience for them to step out of the way sometimes in order that the spirit may produce the fruit that is intended by God to be produced. There's a good example of this in the life of a great evangelist that the United States had at one time, a man we all know as D. L. Moody. D. L. Moody was an American evangelist. He lived in 1837 to 1899. And his ministry of crusade evangelism lasted some 40 years. And in the 40 years that he preached back at that period, he saw something like a million people come to faith in Jesus Christ through his preaching. He was a great man. He founded three Christian schools. He launched a great Christian publishing business. He established a world renowned Christian conference center. And he inspired literally thousands of preachers to win souls and conduct revivals. When you look at the life of D. L. Moody, his father died when he was four years old. And that left his mother to raise him and his eight brothers and sisters. She was actually pregnant with twins when his father died. He had the equivalent of a fifth grade education. And people say that if you'd have known D. L. Moody when he was growing up, he was anything but a model child. At the age of 17, he moved to Boston. He worked in his uncle's shoe store. One of the requirements for him to work at the store was for him to attend church. And it was in that store that his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball visited him, and his Sunday school teacher led D. L. Moody to faith in Christ. Later on, Kimball was speaking concerning Moody, and this is what he said. Kimball said, I can truly say and insane it. I magnify the infinite grace of God as bestowed upon him that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday school class. And I think that the committee of the Mount Vernon Church seldom met an applicant for membership more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere of public usefulness. Sometimes you will sow seeds and not know what the results will be. And Paul is making it very clear that you don't always see immediate results. So Timothy, in order for you to see God move, you need to endure hardship. You need to be faithful. You need to be patient. And you need to trust God to produce the results. In Matthew chapter 4, 26 through 28, Jesus said, here is another illustration of what the kingdom of God is like. A farmer planted seeds in a field and then he went on with his other activities. As the days went by, the seeds sprouted and grew without the farmer's help because the earth produces crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed and finally the grain ripens. So you need to be faithful. You need to be patient. And you need to trust that God will produce results. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 7 said, so then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. So Timothy, serving the Lord Jesus Christ can be difficult. It requires purpose and patience. It's hard. And often the results are not seen immediately. So you need to endure hard times in ministry. The work is difficult, but the servant of the Lord is not to lose heart. Instead of losing heart and becoming discouraged, he's to remain faithful. When Paul was writing in chapter 2, verse 15, he had said, be diligent to present yourself approved to God. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Be diligent, present yourself to God. Now that's to provide a contrast between Timothy who is a genuine pastor there at the church of Ephesus and people who are actually infiltrating that church congregation who are bringing bad doctrine. Remember with me, I've said this several times as we have studied 1st and 2nd Timothy that Paul had warned the elders of Ephesus that there would be people who would, one, infiltrate. He said, they'll come in from amongst you and they're going to be bringing heresy. But he also said, and men will rise up from amongst you. So not only will you have people who are coming in, bringing in their own ideas, their own theology, their own beliefs concerning God, beliefs that are wrong, beliefs that are heretical, beliefs that are not scriptural. And yes, they will come into the church and yes, they will bring these doctrines in. He says, but men will arise from amongst you will do the same. So your leadership is going to also be tainted by this. It was a prophetic word, a word to speak to Timothy and the elders in order that they would remain alert to this. And as we've gone through 1st and 2nd Timothy, Paul has actually mentioned some of these men by name, Hymenaeus Alexander and others. By name, he said, these are people who are leaders who have walked away and are bringing in bad doctrine. They're infiltrating. They've said the resurrection is over and they're overthrowing the faith of some. He said, watch out for these. And so we've seen that as we've gone through 1st and 2nd Timothy, that this is taking place. And so he's saying, you have no reason to be discouraged, but I need to outline the dangers that the church will face in the future. So he's speaking here in chapter three of the last days, and he says that perilous times will come. Now, in his first letter, Paul had written something similar. He had said in 1st Timothy 4, 1 and 2, the Spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron. He said they're going to be bringing in doctrines that are inspired by Satan himself, and they're going to be infiltrating the church, and they're going to be undermining the faith of some of the members. And so he's speaking once again in this passage of last days conditions. Now, to continue to lay the foundation so that we can move into the chapter, we need to remember that on one hand, when Jesus spoke of the church, he spoke of its endurance. He made it clear that the church would continue, and that we, the church would be victorious. He had said in Matthew 16, verse 18, I will build my church, and the gates of Haiti shall not overpower it. And yet, though we will be victorious, he also warned the church of an invasion of false prophets. Satan would empower false prophets, and he would empower false teachers to undermine the effectiveness of the church. And many of them would be almost indistinguishable from true prophets. Remember in Matthew 7, 15, how he had said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. When he said, they come to you in sheep's clothing, I mentioned to you when we were studying through Matthew that the prophets would wear sheep's clothing. Their clothing was made out of the wool, and that was the clothing of a prophet during that time. And so he's saying they're going to come in looking like the real deal. But in fact, the ravenous wolves are destructive. And he had said, great numbers of people will be deceived by them, and great numbers will receive their messages. And that will, by the way, include professing Christians. There are a lot of people today, and I say this as someone who loves the church and loves the people of the church, but there are many people today who have what is referred to now as a casual faith. It's a casual faith. It's been said that there are many professing Christians who profess to be Christians, but are practical atheists. They profess to be Christians with their mouth, but their life practically lived is as if there is no God. And that is absolutely true. There are many who say, yes, I love the Lord, but don't do the things that he says. They have no inclination to it. They never read the Bible. Reading the Bible is something somebody else does for them. They never do it themselves. They have a lot of excuses as to why they don't, but they never do. So they don't have a personal time in the Word. They're not being instructed by the Spirit on their own. They're not spending time in God's Word at all. And thus, somebody will knock on the door or speak to them at work or approach them outside when they're doing something and speak to them and present to them something false. And though something within them will rise up and say, I don't think this is true, they're not equipped to be able to answer that simply because they don't take the time to be equipped. They are casual Christians. And the church is filled with casual Christians. The church at large, not only in the United States, but throughout the world is filled with great numbers of people who have a casual faith.   Look in chapter 4 for a moment, getting ahead of myself. And look at verse 3 and 4, 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. The term sound doctrine, as we'll see when we go through this, simply means healthy teaching. They don't endure. They don't put up with healthy teaching. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. They will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. He's saying, listen, in the last days what's going to happen is people will no longer want to hear teaching. They don't want to know what is healthy and what's going to make them healthy. What they want is something that tickles them, something that they appreciate. And so they're going to turn their ears from the truth and they'll be turned aside to fables. And that's exactly what's happened in our day. This reminds me of ancient Israel, how that in the book of Isaiah, God is speaking to the people and in Isaiah 30 verses 9 and 10, he says, this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord, who say to the seers, do not see to the prophets. Do not prophesy to us right things. Speak to us smooth things, prophesy to see. When Jeremiah was speaking to the children of Israel, the prophets prophesy falsely, he said in Jeremiah 531, and the priests rule by their own power. And my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? You see, when we studied Matthew, we saw that the primary sign of the last days is deception. Remember how that Jesus's men asked him, what is the sign of your return in the end of the age? And when they asked that question, he made it clear that it would be spiritual deception in Matthew 24, 4 and 5. He said, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and they will deceive many. And what I pointed out to you as we looked at that is how he put the personal responsibility on the ones who were hearing. He said, take heed that no one deceives you. That's my responsibility. I have to have discernment. I have to know the word. I have to be aware of the days that I'm living in, because there will be many coming in in his name and they will be saying things and he said they will deceive many. The apostle Peter wrote prophetically of the last days. He said the same thing in 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1. He said there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, bring on themselves with destruction.  That's what happens because their teachings appeal to carnal appetites. And because they're carnal, they can be appealing. And what they'll do is they corrupt grace. And when they corrupt grace, they turn it into permission to sin. And you can sin without any concern or conviction. So people listen. 2 Peter 2 19 says they promise them liberty. But they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by whom a person is overcome by him also, he is brought into bondage. So their teachings promise freedom, but in fact only enhance your captive lifestyle. In Galatians 513, Paul said, For you brethren have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Because when you're actually following the Lord, you no longer are going to be self centered. You're going to be other centered. So by love, he says, serve one another. My wife and I were speaking the other day about how the Lord Jesus Christ had taught us that it's more blessed to give than to receive. And we were just speaking. I was just sharing with her and talking to her about this just this weekend. When the Lord says in his word in the book of Genesis, it is not good that man should be alone. It's interesting that he had created the animals and all. Adam had the job, the responsibility, if you will, of naming them. And he gave them opportunity to see that there was nothing like him. And then the Lord made and in that time, the Lord had said, it isn't good that man should be alone. And I'm going to make a helper for him, comparable. Somebody who, in other words, is going to take the half man and make him into the whole person. And Maria and I were talking about that because there are things in her life that have completed me and things in my life that have challenged her. I mean, completed her. And we were just speaking about that. We were just talking about that amongst ourselves. And I said, it's interesting to me how that the Spirit of the Lord inspired us through his word to understand how I, as a husband, need my wife to complete me. Because if I'd married anybody different than Marie, a different woman than Marie, I'd be an entirely different man today after all these years. I'd be different because she and I have had to learn how to adjust to each other's differences. And we finally have found those gears that can mesh and make us one. And it takes a while to do that. It's not instantaneous. It's not overnight. We were together this weekend. And I was in purgatory. We went shopping. And as we went shopping together, actually she wanted to buy me a sweatshirt. But as we were going together, we went into this place, Godiva chocolates. It's in the Brea Mall. Some of you have said, get thee behind me, Satan, many times going past it. Marie's part. And I think I have points there, too. She likes Godiva chocolates. And we were walking by. And as we walked by, I turned to her and I said, would you like to get something? I think you might have points to get a sample because I'll give you a free sample. And that's the best date you can go on, place where they give you free samples. And so that's why we go to Costco all the time. So that's her date. I'll give her a flower and bang. We went on a date. But anyway, so we went into Godiva. And as we're in Godiva chocolate, I'm not noticing Marie's talking because I'm kind of looking at something else. But Marie's talking to the young lady. She's probably about 22 years old who's behind the counter and a young man who's given us samples of this chocolate drink that was very good. But anyway, as we're kind of there, you know, Marie's talking. And then, then I talk and Marie had said, I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said, because the music was kind of loud and she couldn't hear. And then the woman starts speaking to me and she says, and I said, I'm sorry. I really, what were you saying? I didn't really hear you. And so we did that for about 10 minutes and finally got the free chocolate. And but the young lady looks at us and she goes, may I ask you a question? And I said, sure, of course, she goes, how long have you been married? And I said, oh, why? She says, well, you guys answer each other's questions. She said, I can see she's telling us this. She says, I can see that you're connected. This is a young woman we've never, I can see you're connected. I can see you know each other. Because I wasn't noticing what was being said. And then I, and that's exactly what we do. And I've said this before, it's true, anybody who's been married for a while, newlyweds won't learn this, not the first week, month or year. You will learn this in 10, 15 or 20 years. But those who've been married for a while will know this. And that is you have a dance that you do. You just don't know it, but you're constantly in a dance move. How do I know that? If you have, it's the morning, you're getting ready and you husband and you're with your wife, right? She has to get ready at the same time for some reason you are right. And what happens?  Do you say, what are you doing? Why are you reaching in front of me? No, you just take a step back. She reaches, then you reach. And after a while, 10, 15 minutes, you've been dancing for 15 minutes. You just don't realize it. And you're still conversing. You're still, it's your dance. And you learn that when you first get married, you don't even know you're going to learn to dance. You don't. But you know, you will learn. You begin to do these things. It's so natural. You begin to know each other so well from so many years of conversing that you know each other's concluding statements to many of the things that are being said. And that's the way it is. So this young woman looks at me and she says to me, may I ask you, how long have you been married? I said, why? She says, because you guys finish each other's statements, I can see that you've been together for a long time. And that's the truth, and I told Maria as we were walking out, I said, you know, the two shall become one flesh, one flesh we learn. So we've learned, one of the things, I'm getting ahead of myself, but this is important. We have learned something Jesus said. He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And one of the things you learn in relationship, in marriage, in church, is that concept, that it is a better thing, it's more Christ-like, it's more God-like when you learn to give of yourself. Because in the giving of yourself, and my wife in the giving of herself to me, we have become that one flesh, which has made me a better man.  Because anybody who wants to grow in the things of the Lord is looking for somebody who will help them to be better than they are, not less, but more. And I was, again, Maria and I were talking, and I said, you know, when we first connected, when Maria walked into that first Bible study that she ever came to, that I was teaching here in Ontario. When she walked into that first Bible study, she knows this, I'm not saying anything that would embarrass her, it's just truth. We were just talking about it this week and I said, I was not attracted to Maria as a woman, I was not attracted by outer beauty. At that time in my early 20s, my idea of beauty was a blonde with blue eyes. That's what I liked, blondies, surf chicks. And here comes this little brownie, so I'm not even looking at her. You know, I'm not, I'm not. She walked in and she sat down, didn't. But I spoke to her afterwards and like deep, calling unto deep, I climbed into my Volkswagen, because I was a hippie. And I was driving with my sister, and I still remember turning to my sister Madeline saying, I just met the girl I'm going to marry, because there was something about her that was beyond the physical. There was something about her that drew me as a man and said, inside said, this woman, this woman is the one God has for me. And the result of that has been I've become a better man because of that better woman. The two shall become one flesh. This isn't a teaching on marriage, but it's an application to the reality that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Because the mark of the last days as Paul is about to share is self love, self centeredness. A lot of times when we think of last days teachings, we want to know about wars in Syria and Iraq and Iran and and how is Russia may God going to work with, you know, Jordan and Egypt and what does the scripture say? I realize that and we do teachings like that when we when the subject demands. Yet today, we're looking at the church itself and what's going to happen in the church in last days, because you need to notice something with me. When it says in verse one and second Timothy three, know this that in the last days, perilous times will come. I want you to notice verse five when he says having a form of godliness, but denying its power. The church is going to be influenced and it's going to be infiltrated with unbelief, selfishness and things that are ungodly, which is going to diminish its power and witness in the world the coming apostasy. The time when the church has been infiltrated by evil. When Jesus was speaking in Matthew chapter 13, he gave a series of parables. Again, those who were with me in Matthew, you know that we went through the series of parables found there, but I'd remind you that in Matthew 13 he gave parables that spoke of this when he said, for example, the parable of the wheat and the tares. And as we looked at the parable that Jesus gave concerning the wheat and the tares and all, that he says that somebody had had the farmer had sowed seeds, but an enemy came in, he said, while men slept and sowed tares amongst the wheat. And as we looked at that, I was pointing out that the church is asleep in the last days, not diligent, not vigilant, not awake and is allowing error to creep in and accepting it as if it's from God. Jesus said that's what's going to happen and the tares are going to grow up right next to the wheat. Jesus continued as he was giving this kind of insight into prophetic events just before his return, and he said, it's going to be like the parable of the mustard seed. Mustard seed being the smallest seed in Israel planted yet becomes a tree, and he says, and the birds of the air nest in its branches. While he had already said in the parable of the sow and the seed that the enemy comes and is given the figure metaphor of a bird and snatches the seed, so as he continues using parables, parabolic consistency, as he does that, the bird is an image he had used earlier representing evil. And the point he was making is there's an inordinate growth because mustard seeds don't grow into trees, they're into large plants, but this talks about branches and bird's nest. And in Jesus, once again, is pointing to the fact that in the last days there'll be great numbers of people, but the church will be filled with evil, and then he goes on to speak concerning leaven, which a woman put into the dough, and leaven in Scripture is a picture of sin. And so as we were looking at that together and when we went through Matthew 13 and the parables, those are the things that we were taken from Scripture and recognizing that were pictures of the church in the last days, you have the visible church, which is just everybody showing up in the same place, and you have the invisible church, which is the genuine believer. And so you will always have those who are not saved, who are there amongst those who are. That's how it works. And in the latter times, the church is going to be influenced and infiltrated through the bad doctrine that began so early in its history. And in the latter days, it'll be unholy. And so, by love, we're supposed to be serving one another. See, when people are enslaved by error, when they get convicted, they very often become argumentative, they become upset. But in reality, the one sharing the truth ought to be loved and thanked because they're caring for them. That wasn't always true in the case of Paul. When writing a word of correction to the Galatians, their response wasn't positive. The Galatians didn't respond positively at all. In Galatians 4 verse 16, Paul had to say, have I therefore become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. We need to remember it's God's desire for us to know the truth. Why? Because it's the truth that frees us. In 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 4, that verse reminds us that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And so with this in mind, Paul is writing concerning conditions during the last days. Notice what he says in verse 1. Know this that in the last days, perilous times will come. And he says, know this, that means keep this in mind. I'm about to give a very important bit of information. And this information that I'm giving to you is this. In the last days, perilous times will come. Of this you can be a hundred percent sure. Now this passage is best understood as speaking of conditions before the return of Christ. Obviously, the conditions spoken of have existed throughout the history of the church, but they will be more intense and extensive as the end approaches. So the question is, what will the conditions be just prior to the return of Jesus Christ? Paul says, again in verse 1, in the last days, perilous times will come. Know this. Of this you can be certain. Of this you must be aware. Wickedness will be normalized and genuine Christians will become targets. Is that occurring today? Absolutely. Absolutely. Wickedness is normalized. Christians are targets. You said, oh no, I don't think so. See, that's a problem with you, you Christians, you pastors. You're always preaching the negative. Okay, go to a gay pride parade where Jesus loves you t-shirt and see how many people walk up and say, thank you. I needed to know that. We don't live in a time like that. We actually live in hazardous days. And it can be hazardous for you to share what you believe. A former member of this church, they hadn't been with us for a while, but a former member of this church last year has been several months. It's recent. Last year was in a supermarket and in front of him were two lesbian women and he got in a conversation with them and he shared with them that God could set them free from lesbianism. They didn't like that. So apparently, they made a phone call because when he left the store, a van pulled up, dragged him into the van and they beat him to death. Don't tell me perilous times are not with us.  And so Paul stated this. He said, know this, know this in the last days. Dangerous times will come. Dangerous times will set in. When he says perilous, the word perilous means literally hard to bear, dangerous. He's saying they will set in. They will be upon us. They're going to be days that are hard to endure. He said the days will be a time of danger, persecution, even painful trials. The last days will be difficult days to live in and it won't be just because there's a lack of jobs and it won't be because of cost of living or the wars that we find ourselves in. They'll be perilous because the evil will be increasing and normalized. It is not perilous because of the worldly and ungodly people that that's what's interesting. It is perilous because of the people who profess to believe in God. Again, he said it in verse five, having a form of godliness, denying its power. It's professing religious believers that are about to be described by Paul, not just the world. And this is the external fruit of clinging to false teachings that have taken a foothold. As we go through this, and I'll do this briefly, and you say, thank you, Jesus, I'll do this briefly, Paul is going to list 19 characteristics that distinguish the last days. Obviously, we can't spend that much time looking at each and each one individually. I'll develop them, but I'll just touch on many of them. But he lists 19 characteristics that distinguish the last days. Verse two, he says, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. He begins with selfishness. Men will be lovers of themselves. Self love will be dominant. Men will be lovers of themselves. Men will make their own interests more important than the interests of any other. Selfishness is the chief sin and upon this sin all the rest of the sins he mentions are built. It begins with self love, with self centeredness, selfishness. There was a little boy and his younger sister, they were riding a bicycle together. And the little girl said, if one of us would just get off, there would be more room for me. So there's selfishness is bound up in our hearts. It is a self interested kind of attitude that we have and the sin of selfishness, of self love is the great destroyer because it destroys everything it touches. Families are destroyed because of self love very often because I want you to love me more and you're not loving me enough and you're not giving me enough and families can be destroyed through divorce because in order for a family to make it, faithfulness and sacrifice are necessary but with self love they're not valued. Friendships can be ruined through self centered need for attention. The need to dominate is the self love. You're in a group of people, you're having coffee, you're enjoying yourself with them and one person dominates, talks over and over and talks over you. After a while you don't want to be around them anymore and then they think nobody loves me why because they've been so interested in hearing their own voice they couldn't hear yours. Relationships and society is filled with a plague of selfishness, of pushiness. It's easy to see there's a growing lack in our society of civility and courtesy. Society is built on the foundation of caring about others it keeps us together but very often we just don't believe that selfishness is in opposition to the way of the Lord. There are many well-known teachers today who have emphasized putting yourself first. The idea that it is more blessed to give than to receive is lost on them. They teach that the reason you give is to receive and that's rooted in selfishness and in the last days even churches will be infected with takers. God's people are supposed to be self-sacrificing. God's people are of all people to be aware that God is gracious to us. You see God has shown us his love and he's revealed his love by his giving.  God said this is how I demonstrate love while you're still a sinner Christ died for you and so we need to understand that God's love is revealed through giving. In John 15 verses 12 and 13 Jesus said my command is this love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that he laid down his life for his friends but in the last days Jesus said as well as Paul Paul in this passage said there would be selfish interest. Paul is saying self-love will be rampant. A second thing people will be lovers of money. Greedy materialism will dominate and in fact even the church many will pursue more money and in doing so abandon their marriage and their family for materialism. In Proverbs 23, 4 and 5 do not wear yourself out to get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches and they're gone for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. So instead of yielding to greed, God's people seek the things that last and they're aware that we are just passing through. We are pilgrims and we are sojourners. In 1st Timothy Paul had said it in chapter 6 verses 6 through 9. Godliness with contentment he says is great gain. We brought nothing into this world certain that we can carry nothing out. Having food and clothing with these we shall be content but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. A third thing he speaks of is boasters. A boaster is somebody who brags about their accomplishment. They brag about what they have what they are and frankly that sin is very unattractive but it's especially so in the life of a believer. It's taking for yourself honors that you haven't earned and that you don't deserve. In the military we call it stealing honor and that's what's going to be very very rampant not just in the world but even in the church people bragging about how much they have and who they are. You see at the heart of boasting is a rejection of humility it's what has been called a deceived self-confidence. In Jeremiah 9 23 and 24 Jeremiah said this is what the Lord says let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches but let him who boasts boast about this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord who exercises kindness justice and righteousness on earth for in these I delight declares the Lord. Paul said it like this in Galatians 6 verse 14 may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. A fourth thing he speaks of is pride or being proud. The word speaks of showing yourself to be above others. It speaks of showing contempt for others it's treating them as if they're inferior and that destroys the unity of the church. You see true Bible teaching produces people who seek to be humble who resist arrogant pride. In Romans 12 verse 3 Paul said I say through the grace given to me to everyone who's among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God is dealt to each one a measure of faith. He said in Romans 12 16 live in harmony with one another don't be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position don't be conceited. Fifth he said blasphemers a blasphemer uses what is called scornful language they're insulting they insult God and they insult men when in reference to God they're insolent they're disrespectful you know to be honest with you it's the flippant kind of like that big guy upstairs it's a kind of a it's an improper way to speak of the Lord and they don't reverence him there's no sense of the fear of God in them when they're speaking to people they they injure them they don't exercise their speech with love they don't have consideration and and that will ruin marriages and destroy kids in Proverbs 12 18 reckless words pierce like a sword but the tongue of the wise brings healing Christians are to be otherwise according to Ephesians 4 29 Paul said do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen a sixth thing disobedient to parents they are rebellious and they don't want to hear anything mom or dad has to say today speaking in the last days in these days that we live there are through so many reasons many children alone in home all day and the only thing that is babysitting them sometimes is going to be the games that they play online or some disinterested caretaker and so what happens is the children grow up with a disobedience with a sense of resentment they feel like they many times they feel like they've been neglected and they don't listen and sometimes I've seen it where a parent will say don't do that and then turn around and continue talking to somebody and not even notice that the kid went immediately back to what they were just told not to do that happens all the time and they develop a way to get around it I've had kids tell me yeah my mom got mad and she took things from me but tomorrow I'll get it back because mama gives it back and the children have learned how to take advantage of what the parents very often are wanting to show grace in I can remember one of my kids who uh when they were young younger less than five six years old had done something that was wrong and I approached them and I said you know what you did really is spanking you really ought to get a spanking now I was doing studies on grace and love and all and I'm thinking I want to learn what that means and so I said you know I really ought to spank you but what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you grace and so I didn't spank them well a little while later not the same day they did something and I said you really deserve a a spanking and they started yelling grace grace daddy grace and I said no it's time for a law wow you know so you know after it's it's difficult I guess I'm trying to say it's difficult to to raise them right it's difficult isn't it but if we neglect them they learn to be rebellious they learn to be disobedient to parents they learn to rebel against parental authority and doing so are also rebelling against God given authority and these are those who are uh in rebellion against authority and in in contrast according to Ephesians six one and two Paul said children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise seven thing unthankful they're not appreciative of the acts of kindness they never get enough when raised in an ungodly home they become expecting to be entitled to everything they can be unthankful they they don't show appreciation for kindness is given and the gifts that are given they don't understand that you have to teach children to be thankful don't you you have to again Marie and I were in the mall and as we were walking she turns to me as we went by shoes for children there were kids shoes as we were walking by she says you know I have a grandson his name is David baby Dave we call him baby David and she said you know baby David outgrew his shoes I said really she goes yeah he outgrew his shoes she says I saw he has some shoes and and it has a zipper she says that you zip up she says and the zipper was down so I asked his daddy my son David those those shoes and you know they don't they fit them anymore and little David my son said no no no no we're gonna have to get him some shoes and so as we're standing there I'm looking at these shoes and I said well we ought to buy him some shoes we had to buy him some shoes so Marie goes yeah that'd be a good idea so we get some shoes and then we think well we've got my Bella his older sister she's gonna need some shoes so we ended up buying shoes you got we got shoes outside for you if you know we put your sizes out there so we ended up we ended up getting Belle Bella some shoes and little David some shoes baby David right so that was on Friday on Saturday I get a phone call and it's my Bella Papa I just want to tell you thank you so much for those shoes I said do you like your shoes mama oh I love those shoes thank you so much I said you're welcome then baby David gets on the little one he's three and he's saying you know Papa thank you so much you know I appreciate any and he didn't say I appreciate I like them I see you like your shoes daddy oh I like my shoes Papa thank you you know where that came from it is the natural it came from the parents where the dad and the mama say you give a call to your grandmother and your grandfather and you tell them thank you see thankfulness is something that you're trained to express and when you don't train people to say thank you I appreciate send the card saying I'm glad you came we we loved having you when you don't train them to do that they grew up expecting that everything should be handed to you and even in the church I have to tell you that can be found you have to train them to be thankful Colossians 315 says let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called in one body be thankful an eighth thing unholy they're raised without God they don't respect the sacredness of religion the things that are holy they don't value or understand devotion they don't know reasons for worship they don't understand the need for fellowship they end up living lives that are impure well that's in the church but in contrast Christians are to reverence the Lord and live holy lives in verse 3 he speaks about being unloving that speaks of without natural affection there's a callousness towards everybody it's this attitude I'm more important than you and who cares about you so ultimately they don't care for parents they don't care about siblings they grow up not even to care for their own children again Christians are to love one another a tenth thing they're unforgiving their bitterness is never satisfied it's never left behind they continually blame everybody else for their lack of joy or personal problems they refuse to forgive and they've refused to move on I was reading in Facebook yesterday somebody posted something about the question some of you perhaps read the question you may be on getting the same that I get on Facebook and and there was a question can somebody who committed adultery change and then there are people and there were a lot I didn't read all of them but a lot of responses and the overwhelming amount was responses that said no they can't once a cheater always a cheater and I saw over a lot of posts no no once they do it they're going to do it again there are a lot of people who believe that it was posted so many of them arguing that no once you're a cheater you're always a cheater that's the way it's going to be forever so I posted and I said listen I've been preaching for 48 years the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that God forgives sinners and I know that God transforms lives and I know that you could have been a cheater but God can make you faithful because God is able to do that when you repent that's the heart of the gospel your lives will change now if you're a person who believes no once a cheater always a cheater let me share with you one the word of God says if you repent God forgives you but if you repent you bring therefore you bring fruits of repentance the life is going to demonstrate that you really have repented and you can go forward in the things of the Lord I have friends I will not name but I have friends right now that I'm thinking of who committed adultery prior to getting saved prior to getting saved they were womanizers and prior to getting saved they committed adultery more than once when God grabbed whole of their hearts they were transformed and some of my friends are pastoring some of the finest churches in the world today because God forgives sinners he transforms you he transforms you God does forgive but when we say he won't we have taken the place of God and we've gotten I'm telling you the church is filled if I were to take a private you know poll where you didn't have to give your name but you gave your opinion and if I asked you can God forgive cheaters a lot of you to this day would say nope they never change once a sinner always a sinner that's not true God changes people's lives when they really do repent the issue is did they repent has nothing to do with can they yes they can because you were a liar you don't have to lie you were a thief you don't have to steal you were lazy you don't have to be lazy anymore your whole life can be changed you did drugs you don't have to do drugs you were an alcoholic you don't have to why because when the sun sets you free you are free indeed the power of the Holy Spirit it's a denial of that they have the appearance of godliness but deny the power thereof we need to understand it that is the sign of the last days they refuse to forgive they refuse to move on Ephesians 4 32 says be kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake forgave you there's slanderers a slanderer is a false accuser people who are very comfortable making false statements about other people proverbs chapter 6 verses 16 through 19 says these six things does the lord hate yes seven are an abomination to him a proud look a lying tongue hands that shed innocent blood a heart that devises wicked imaginations feet that are swift in running to mischief a false witness who speaks lies and he who sows discord among brethren god hates gossip he hates slander there have been so many people there have been over the years so many things that have been said about me i won't go into them of course that were such terrible lies and the sad thing is is people believe him but gossas i hate one who sows discord among brethren christians refuse to gossip and they do not bear false witness against the neighbor a 12 thing without self control they give in to any desire or lust that they have they're uninhibited they don't control their own drives their own impulses because they see no reason to but in contrast a genuine christian has what is called self control and you see that in galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23 a 13th thing is they're brutal they're fierce they're they're savage in their heart they're they're mean spirited in every way but in contrast a christian is kind and gentle towards others a 14th is their despisers of the good they mock those who love christ even in the church there are people go to church who mock you if you want to live sold out for christ even in the church this is what paul is speaking about they mock those who love christ and truth but as a result we who love him by trying to do those things that he says we endure rejection in verse 4 he he speaks of traitors these are those who are out to get all they can for themselves and in times of persecution these false ones will turn in christians and then 16th they're headstrong they're reckless that means that they're impulsive they do things that are risky sometimes they'll even speak things that are mean to you 17th they're haughty that means they're blinded by conceit they're extremely self important so he's returned to his initial concept they're self-centered and they care less of others then he says an 18th thing they're lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god here's the thing i'll say this quickly but they don't see the value of moderation they want instantaneous gratification these are people who see pleasure is more important than anything else so they'll stay in line for two or three days to get tickets to watch a movie or go to a concert you've seen it i've said maybe you've done it will you get a a tent for days in line right why because i gotta see you know the whatever you know see the movie it's just like that's a great movie it'll change my life forever you know but these are the people who would never think of even being on time for church if they come lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god it's there it's right in front of us we see it in the newspaper all the time people who live for themselves and then in verse five having a form of godliness 19th a form they outwardly appear to love the lord they claim to be spiritual but they don't have the spirit they only have an appearance what is timothy to do verse five from such people he said turn away don't fellowship with these hypocrites though they influence you to go in the wrong direction timothy they are the ones that are making the last days so perilous in roman 16 17 paul said i bc'd your brother and mark those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine that you've learned avoid them but here we are in a time when people are actually learning the habits and behaviors of those who are lukewarm and then he goes on to say for this sort verse six are those who creep into households and make captives of the gullible women loaded down with sins led away by various lusts always learning never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now as janis and jambres resisted moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith but they will progress no further further folly will be manifest to all as theirs also was they worm their way into homes and gain control he's saying over weak willed undeserving women laden with sins their their consciences he's saying are in need of cleansing because they're loaded down with sin but they take advantage of these women who need cleansing from sin they worm their way in then they lead them astray and he goes on in verses eight and nine to identify the two sorcerers who opposed moses in egypt janis and jambres and these two sorcerers had performed counter miracles in in a contest against moses he said they were exposed for what they are and so will these in the last days they failed and these false teachers will also because god's truth will always prevail what are the signs of the last days pertaining to what's going on within the walls of a church these things we will be found these sins and so as we've gone through these let me close by saying this i go through scripture and what i do is i say god help me help me not be self-centered god help me not to be a lover of money god help me not to be a boaster god help me not to be proud may i not be insolent in the way i speak of you or others may i not be a man who doesn't respect my own parents may i be thankful may i have a pure life because you read the word of god not for other people but you read the word of god so that god can form you into the image of christ look at your own heart and ask yourself does any of this apply to you and if you're a believer in christ then you say god forgive me thank you for the strength that you've given to me i can be different and i will be by your grace because i want to be genuine i want to be the real deal i want to live for jesus christ