Participants: Pr. Jac Colon
Series Code: RN
Program Code: RN000001
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01:04 Oh! Lord God, we thank you. We thankyou for spreading your hand
01:12 out across this community and, and bringing us altogether here 01:17 to this place tonight, where we can open the scripture, where we 01:23 can listen to your word where we can here your voice speaking to 01:27 our soul. Lord let the truth be clear the night, we ask in Jesus 01:33 name. Amen. As long as I live, I'll always remember the sinking 01:53 feeling in the pit of my stomach. I got up one morning, 02:00 flipped on the TV set quickly just to make sure Armageddon 02:05 hadn't begun yet. Just in time to see a big commercial 02:14 airliner flying right in to the other half of the twin towers, 02:20 I saw the plane hit, I saw the big ball of fire you've seen it 02:28 over and over again, but the one thing I remember the most, 02:36 were three tiny little dots going from the top of my 02:46 television screen down to the bottom and the awful 02:51 realization when I discovered those three little dots were 02:58 people who jumped from the top of a 100 story building. You 03:08 know the question that it brought into my mind, what was 03:17 so bad about where they were to make them think that they would 03:24 be better off jumping from a 100 story building. What was 03:33 so bad? And, the answer to that question is they had no hope, 03:45 think about it because even today may be planes aren't 03:54 crashing into buildings. Yet, but many people are living 04:00 their lives may be even some of you here this evening without 04:05 any hope of anything better. Sickness, disease, heart ache, 04:16 financial problems, tanks rolling and rumbling in the 04:20 desert, missiles and planes and bombs, fear grips the hearts of 04:27 almost every living person on this planet. And, some of you 04:32 here this evening are living without hope. What does the 04:39 future hold? Is there something better for us? Is there 04:46 something to look forward to? Is there something better than 04:50 planes crashing into building and anthrax and chemical warfare 04:56 is there something better? Is there hope for us today? The 05:02 Book of Revelation tells us that there is hope. There is 05:07 hope for something better. In Revelation chapter 22, the last 05:12 book of the Bible. The last chapter of the last book Jesus 05:15 said with calm assurance with all of the certainty that 05:19 anyone could ever imagine. Jesus said in Verse 7, Verse 20 05:23 chapter 22, behold I am coming soon. I'm coming soon, hold on 05:33 never give up, hold fast, it may get difficult, you may be 05:38 tested, you may have trials and troubles, but hold faith I'm 05:42 coming soon. Jesus said it "Yes I'm coming soon", Amen come 05:48 Lord Jesus, we've hope for something better and that is 05:51 that Jesus is going to come. And, millions and millions of 05:57 people are being aroused to an increasing awareness that the 06:01 time is coming, the time is near when Jesus is going to come 06:05 Some of the most popular books ever written left behind the 06:09 popular series, 10 volumes in this book have brought many 06:12 people to the awareness that Jesus is coming soon. How many 06:16 of you've seen the movie or read the book left behind. Let 06:19 me see your hands. They're popular millions and millions 06:22 of copies. People are beginning to realize things 06:25 can't go on much longer. The end is near. The end is coming 06:29 soon. And, I'm aware. Bible says in the midst of this 06:34 revival, in the midst of this awakening of the reality of the 06:38 return of Jesus I'm aware that they are scoffers. Peter said 06:43 in the end, scoffers will come scoffing and they'll say, where 06:47 is this coming that you've been talking about. It's been 2000 06:50 years and the Christians have said that Jesus is coming soon 06:53 Where is this coming? We haven't seen him yet? I'm aware 06:57 I'm also aware that we've done much, we've done much to cause 07:03 them, to question into doubt into these skeptics. I don't 07:07 know, if you seen any of these I my wife found this in the. And 07:12 I, I know what you're thinking that I go around reading the 07:14 Sun and the Enquirer, but she doesn't read it either, but my 07:18 wife found these and she just couldn't resist because she 07:21 knows that it goes right along with what we're talking about. 07:23 This was back in April of 2002 Bible omens 1, Armageddon has 07:29 begun already back in April, a year ago. Armageddon has begun 07:34 in fact, that goes on to predict that the Antichrist 07:38 will soon arise either out of the Ariel Sharon or Yasser 07:42 Arafat, we're not sure of which one, but there it is, it has 07:45 already begun. And, then in August just a few months later 07:51 Armageddon is here started again This time, he is saying that 07:55 the Antichrist and the false prophet are Saddam Hussein and 08:01 Osama-Bin-Laden. Now, is it Arafat, is it Sharon, is it 08:08 Bin-Laden, is it Saddam Hussein who is it. I'm glad, I don't 08:13 have to rely on Enquirers and the Suns, and the newspapers to 08:18 interpret the prophecies, but there is just one more that I 08:21 had to show you and this one was back in June 1999. And, it 08:27 says the world will end in the year 2000, warns Bibles 08:34 scholars. While surely, if the Bible scholar say, it is ought 08:38 to be right shouldn't it. The world will end. Oh! In the 08:42 year 2000, so what do these Bible scholars have to say 08:46 Reverend Roger , chairman of the 08:48 Anglican Institute of Bible Interpretation says careful 08:52 reading of the Book of Revelation makes it clear that 08:54 dooms day will occur at the end of the second millennium of the 08:58 year 2000. Father Vincent Donatello Catholic priest and 09:04 former head of the Biblical research for the Vatican 09:07 Library in Rome, the Book of Revelation indicates that a 09:09 comet would be the principle cause of the earth's 09:11 destruction in the year 2000. How did you miss it so badly? 09:16 And, then there is Professor Brian Kensley, Professor Joan 09:20 Merchant and there is Dr. Hamid Syed, Islamic minister has 09:24 Rabbi Herschel Rosenblum, 10 top clergymen tell you why the 09:28 world must end by the year 2000 12 top clergymen, but here is 09:33 my favorite one. His name is professor Hong Tran Nhung, 09:39 Buddhist monk and special envoy of the Dalai Lama in Hanoi, 09:44 Vietnam. The world will end in the year 2000 he said, but when 09:50 asked the question. What should we do to prepare for the 09:54 end of the world, listen to what the Buddhist monk says, 09:58 you're gonna like this. He said accept Jesus Christ as 10:04 your savior. Even, if Jesus was not really God, there is no 10:09 harm in hedging your bets, don't you like that. Well, we 10:15 know, that is God, amen. We're not hedging any bets. We don't 10:19 have to hedge our bets. We can know that Jesus is coming, not 10:23 in the year 2000, but Jesus is coming. We can be sure of that 10:28 Someone said how do you know, if they are wrong so badly, 12 10:33 top scholars then and how can we be sure that Jesus is gonna 10:37 come, good question. They made a mistake, they made two 10:41 serious mistakes. And, I'm gonna show you those mistakes 10:44 night after night of revelation now you understand the more and 10:48 more, but the first mistake that they made was Jesus said 10:51 no man knows, no man knows don't try to pick the time. 10:55 Don't try to set a date. If anyone tells you, someone tells 10:58 you that Jesus is coming at a certain time. No man knows, 11:03 run away he's a false prophet, but the bigger mistake and this 11:09 is the one that most people never get the bigger mistake is 11:14 that they ignore the principals for interpreting the Book of 11:19 Revelation that are found right in the book itself. And, so 11:25 that's what we're gonna do. And I'm going to share with you 11:27 three keys. Three keys for understanding the Book of 11:31 Revelation. And, the first one is found in a very first words 11:34 in Revelation chapter one verse one, the first few words it 11:38 begins with the words the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 11:43 That means that the Book of Revelation is not about the 11:50 beast, folks. The beast is not the hero of Revelation Jesus 11:55 is. The Book of Revelation begins with the words of 11:58 revelation of Jesus Christ. So, all of the prophecies in 12:02 this book must focus on and center in Jesus Christ and 12:07 anyone who interprets revelation apart from Jesus 12:10 Christ is a false prophet that's the first principle. 12:14 The second one and most people don't know this. So, I'm gonna 12:19 tell you a secret. The Book of Revelation quotes the Old 12:25 Testament over 600 times. Now, the Old Testament was written 12:36 as the part of the Bible that was written before the time of 12:39 Christ. The Old Testament is quoted in the Book of 12:44 Revelation over 600 times. What does that mean, it's simple 12:49 It's means that, if you ever gonna understand the Book of 12:52 Revelation, you better know something about the Old 12:53 Testament. And, so we're not gonna go with just a half a 12:57 Bible tonight. We're gonna go with the full Bible of 12:59 Revelation now. And, then that brings us to the third point. 13:03 And, that is that we do not believe in private 13:10 interpretation of the scripture and I hope that you don't either 13:13 You can privately interpret the scripture to me in almost 13:20 anything you wanna make it me. And, that's why there are so 13:23 many different books on the Book of Revelation. Every time 13:27 I read a new book about Revelation is something 13:29 different and contradictory to all the other books that I have 13:31 just read because it's a private interpretation. So, 13:36 what we want to do is make sure that when we interpret the 13:40 symbols of revelation that we're getting the 13:44 interpretation that God intended for us to get, isn't 13:48 that what you want. Well, then how do you do it? It's simple 13:51 let the Bible interpret itself You don't need to depend on me, 13:57 you don't need to depend on any man. Let's let the Bible 14:00 interpret itself, but how do you do that. Simple, compare 14:05 scripture with scripture, find other places in the Bible that 14:11 talk about the same thing and line them up and you'll 14:14 discover that they all point in the same direction and that is 14:18 to Jesus Christ. So, we are going to apply those three 14:21 principles and let's gets started right now Revelation 14:24 chapter 16. In Revelation of 16th chapter, look at it with 14:28 me quickly. Chapter 16, Verse 17, the seventh angel poured 14:34 out his bowl in the air and out of the temple came a loud voice 14:37 saying, it is done and they were flashes of lightning, 14:41 rumbling, feels of thunder and a severe earthquake. No 14:43 earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on 14:46 the earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city was 14:50 split into three parts and the nations collapsed. Now, what 14:54 city is he talking about and he tells us right in the next 14:58 verse God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup 15:03 filled with the wine of the fury of this wrath. Now, why 15:08 did God remember Babylon? What did Babylon do that was so 15:14 terrible that God poured out the cup of his wrath upon her 15:18 and destroyed her. You'll never find the answer in the 15:22 New Testament. It's found in the Old Testament. You see 15:27 that's why we've to know, this is one of the places that 15:30 quotes the Old Testament, over 600, here's one of them right 15:34 here. What happened? What did Babylon do that was so bad that 15:38 God remembered her at the very end of the age and Babylon is 15:42 destroyed, Daniel chapter one, turn with me to the prophecy of 15:47 Daniel the first chapter and what you need to understand is 15:51 that Daniel and Revelation go together like a hand in a glove 15:55 You can't understand Revelation without Daniel and you can't 15:59 understand Daniel without Revelation. So, turn with me 16:02 to Daniel chapter one, verse 1 In the third year of the rain 16:07 of Jehoiakim, the King of Judah Judah was God's land, it was 16:15 God's people that's where Jerusalem was. Nebuchadnezzar, 16:19 the king of Babylon came into Jerusalem and he seized it and 16:25 the lord delivered Jehoiakim, the king of Judah into his 16:28 hands along with some of the articles from the temple of God 16:32 and these he carried off to the temple of his God in Babylon 16:36 and put them in the treasure house of his God. Now, 16:39 picture what's happening Nebuchadnezzar, the king of 16:44 Babylon sent his armies into Jerusalem, they captured the 16:46 city, they captured the people, but even more than this, they 16:50 went into the temple. The holy temple that was the place that 16:55 was dedicated only to the worship of the lord God, the 16:59 almighty God, the creator of the Heavens and the Earth, they 17:02 went into the temple and they took some holy cups that was 17:05 set aside only to worship God and they brought them back to 17:09 the Babylonian temple and used them to worship Babylonian Gods 17:14 that's why he was upset with Babylon. They did two things, 17:17 they trampled on the things that he said were holy and they 17:21 took his people. It tore away at the heart of God. Among 17:30 those taken captive was the Prophet Daniel and his three 17:37 friends Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. Now, we've to go 17:43 back into time to get the full impact of what's happening. 17:48 Jerusalem was the capital for God's people. The Lord God 17:57 almighty, the creator of the Heavens and the Earth and these 18:00 were his people. Now, they lived in a time when 18:06 superstition had it, that when one country overthrows another 18:13 country that proved that their God was greater than your God. 18:18 So, here where God, the Lord God Almighty's people marching on 18:25 the desert sands to Babylon, captive to Babylon and that 18:30 meant that everyone around them was thinking and saying and 18:34 mumbling and believing and wondering, where is God. Have 18:44 you ever wondered, where is God? In 1991, we did a 18:56 revelation now in the Soviet Union, former Soviet Union now 19:01 and I'll always remember a lady came to me and said you know, 19:03 the German armies came through here and they took my boy, 16- 19:11 year-old boy and they drafted him into the army and they made 19:16 him serve in the German army and I've never seen him and I 19:19 pray for him everyday that he would come back home, where is 19:22 your God? Have you ever wondered where is God? Revelation now in 19:30 Cuba, a lady said we've been praying for 40 years that God 19:35 would deliver us from the prosecution of this mad dictator 19:38 where is God? Have you ever wondered where is God? A baby 19:45 dies before he takes his first breath, where is God? Cancer 19:52 strikes, where is God? The pay check shrinks, the deaths 20:00 increase, where is God? In almost no time the twinkle in a 20:05 bride's eyes turns to tears of divorce, where is God? Have you 20:10 ever wondered, where are you God? They are marching away to 20:18 Babylon wondering where is God Daniel and his three friends 20:27 Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego were selected by the king to 20:34 enter into a special training program. And, in that training 20:39 program they were to eat daily the Bible says, off the king's 20:46 table then after three years of training and study, they would 20:53 be serving in the king's court, but that was a problem for 20:57 Daniel because when he sat down with his three friends to eat 21:02 at that first meal, they found that there were things on the 21:06 table to eat and drink that God have forbidden them to take 21:12 part in. Now, tell me what would you do, if you were a 21:18 guest in the king's palace or if you were a guest in the 21:23 White House and you sit to the table and there is something 21:29 before you that God said not to take. What would you do? Would 21:35 you take it? Would you be polite or would you be faithful 21:39 to God. Bible says, Daniel asks for permission, he asked 21:45 the chief guard, he said look, we can't eat this, God has 21:49 forbidden us to eat this, give us something else to eat and 21:51 the king said no way, if you don't eat that food, he will 21:54 see you, you look of it, the God said the king will see you 21:56 looking all weak and shriveled up, you've my head, eat it. Now 22:02 what would you do? I love his words that says Daniel purposed 22:07 in his heart to be faithful to God and so he said look put us 22:12 to the test, just 10 days let us have nothing, but vegetables 22:15 to eat and water to drink for 10 days and then test us and 22:18 see if we're not stronger and healthier than the others. He 22:20 put them to the test, 10 days later the king found them more 22:24 nourished and stronger than all of the other man. You know 22:27 what that means, that's means that God's way is always the 22:34 best way. Amen, God's way is the best way. You will always 22:38 be better off. You will always come out ahead, if you do 22:42 things the way God says instead of the way the world says no 22:44 matter what you read in the newspaper, no matter what you 22:47 see on television, no matter what the commercials say, God's 22:51 way, God's way is the best way So at the end of the three year 22:57 training period the time came for their final exam and four 23:05 young men were brought into the presence of the king and he 23:07 tested them, asked them questions. And, he found in 23:11 verse 20 that they were 10 times wiser than all of the 23:16 magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom, 10 times wiser. 23:19 It's an amazing thing about God he has this knack, God has this 23:32 ability to take situations that seem hopeless, to take 23:40 situations that seem as though We're defeated and turn them 23:46 into victory. God has ways, so never give up, hold fast and 23:53 that's what he did for Daniel. He turned defeat into victory 23:57 and he gave him a high position in the kingdom. And, then in 24:01 Daniel the second chapter we find some of the wisdom that 24:05 would be well for the leaders of this world to understand 24:07 today. So, look with me now in Daniel chapter two, in the 24:13 second year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His 24:18 mind was troubled and he couldn't sleep. In this 24:20 chapter in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, we're going to discover 24:26 God's road map to help us navigate though the massive web 24:32 of confusion that we see around 24:34 us today. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and woke up in the 24:40 morning knowing there was something special about this 24:42 dream, but he didn't understand it, so we called all of his 24:45 magicians and enchanters and his wise men. He said tell me 24:48 the dream and give me the interpretation and they said in 24:51 verse 4, O king, live forever, tell your servants the dream 24:55 and we can then interpret it for you. Now, Nebuchadnezzar 25:02 was no dummy. He said just a minute, if I tell you what my 25:08 dream was then you can make up any interpretation and I won't 25:13 know if it's right or not. No, he said, you tell me the dream 25:17 and then I'll know the interpretation is true. The 25:22 wise men, magicians, enchanters said Oh! King, there is not a 25:28 man on earth who can do what you have asked, tell us the 25:31 dream. The king became angry and said you tell me the dream 25:34 or I'll have you chopped up in a bunch of pieces. How would 25:37 you like to live in a time and place like that? Actually, he 25:47 wasn't asking them to do anything that they haven't been 25:49 boasting all along what they could do. He was just putting 25:53 them to the test. And, so finally an issue to be created 25:57 that all be put to death and Daniel got word. And, Daniel 26:01 made an appointment to go and see the king. Now, he didn't 26:06 know what the dream was, but he knew God. Daniel had faith and 26:11 trust in God. So, he went home that night with his three 26:15 friends and you know what they did. The Bible tells us that 26:18 they prayed. They had a prayer meeting. I believe that prayer 26:21 meeting probably lasted all night, but Daniel after praying 26:25 appeared before the king and first of all let me just share 26:28 with you little bit of his prayer because I really like 26:31 this, and you're gonna like it too. He said praised be the 26:33 name of God forever and ever. Wisdom and power is his, 26:38 wisdom and power are his that means that God knows everything 26:47 And, God can do anything. Wisdom and power are his, he 26:57 changes times and seasons. He sets up kings and he deposes 27:02 them. He gives wisdom to the wise, knowledge to the 27:06 discerning, and he reveals deep and hidden things, praise be to 27:11 God. Wisdom is his, power is his, he sets up kings, when he 27:16 is finished, he knocks them down again. God is in control 27:20 God knows everything. God can do anything, you can trust God 27:27 And, he doesn't ask you to accept it blindly because I 27:31 believe in this prophecy. We see ample prove for anyone, who 27:37 really wants to know the answer to the question, is there a 27:41 God? Is he there and does he really speak to us through the 27:46 Bible. Some of you may be wondering, pastor you're 27:49 preaching from the Bible, but how do we know that the Bible 27:52 is true. I'm gonna prove that for you right now with his dream 27:57 The metallic man, who predicts the future. Watch this? Daniel 28:02 appears before the king and the king asked Daniel in verse 26. 28:07 Are you able to tell me what I dreamed and interpreted? And, 28:11 Daniel said, the magicians couldn't, the wise men couldn't 28:16 but there is a God of heaven who reveals mysteries. He has 28:19 shown the king Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the days to 28:23 come. And, so now we see a dream through that God uses to 28:28 predict the future and it applies to us today watch verse 28:35 31, You look Oh! King and there before you stood a large statue 28:41 dazzling statue, enormous in appearance, awesome. The head 28:46 of the statue was made of pure gold, look at it, see it, 28:50 standing there on the plain of Dura, a large tall statue, it's 28:54 head was made of pure gold, it's breast and arms of silver 28:58 his belly and thighs of bronze, his legs were iron, it's feet 29:03 were clay and iron and then as he was looking at the image. 29:08 As he was looking at it, a stone came and smashed the 29:12 image and the feet and the toes of clay and iron. The iron, 29:16 the bronze, the silver, the gold were broke into pieces at 29:19 the same time. They became like chaff on the threshing 29:23 floor in the summer. The winds swept them away without leaving 29:26 a trace, but the rock that struck the statue became a huge 29:29 mountain and it filled the whole earth. Nebuchadnezzar 29:35 was trembling, that's it. The king said, that's exactly what 29:41 I saw, that was the dream. Now tell me what it means. Can you 29:47 see it, can you see that big metallic man with a shining 29:50 golden head. The breast and arms of silver shining in the 29:54 sun. The body of bronze, the legs of iron, and the feet and 29:57 toes of iron and clay, and then a stone comes and smashes the 30:01 image to pieces. What does it mean. Give me the 30:05 interpretation Daniel. And Daniel begins to interpret the 30:11 dream for him and you can read it, in verse 36 this was the 30:17 dream and now we'll interpret it to the king. You Oh! King, 30:21 you are the king of all kings, you Nebuchadnezzar, you are 30:29 head of gold. Wow! Nebuchadnezzar like that 30:34 interpretation of the dream. He was a head of God in that 30:38 dazzling image, the head of gold represented the king as 30:42 always represented his own empire, the Babylonian Empire, 30:45 that ruled over God's people from the year 605 BC. You're 30:49 the head of gold. Oh! He like that interpretation. Oh, but 30:54 he didn't like what comes next because he said next after you 30:59 another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. And then a 31:03 third kingdom, one of bronze will rule over the whole earth 31:06 and finally there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron 31:10 for iron breaks and smashes things and then as iron breaks 31:13 them all to pieces. Verse 41, just as you saw the feet and 31:16 the toes. Partly of bake clay and partly iron, so to be a 31:19 divided kingdom, what does it mean. Babylon was the first 31:23 kingdom in the Nebuchadnezzar's vision, but he said after 31:26 Babylon comes another one not quite as strong, but it over 31:30 throws your Babylonian kingdom and in the year 538 the 31:34 Medo-Persian Empire came roaring across Babylon 31:37 capturing the city and Babylon and Medo-Persian now ruled over 31:41 God's people just the way the vision, just the way the dreams 31:44 said it would happened and then by the year 331 the body of 31:48 bronze, the legs and thighs of bronze. By the year 331, the 31:54 Greek, Alexander the Great came marching through the empire, 31:57 crushing and destroying the Medo-Persians and now the third 32:02 world empire was Greece. God, 100s of years in advance said 32:08 there would be Babylon and then Medo-Persia, and then they 32:12 would be Greece and the fourth one, the legs of iron. Greece 32:17 was weakened. Greece was divided and the division cave 32:22 the way for as what every school child knows the fourth 32:25 kingdom is the Iron Monarchy of Rome. 100s of years in advance 32:31 God said there would be Babylon Medo-Persia, Greece, and then 32:36 Rome and history unfolded exactly the way God said it 32:41 would take place. Then is Roman Empire, something 32:48 different happens here. Verse 41 says just as you saw the 32:52 feet and toes of partly clay and partly iron, this would be 32:55 a divided kingdom and yet it will have some of strength of 32:59 iron in it. And Rome was in fact divided again. History 33:05 tells us, the massive barbarian invasion sweeping across the 33:09 Roman Empire dividing the Roman Empire into the 10 toes of the 33:14 image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream the 10 barbarian tribes were 33:18 established, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Heruli, the 33:22 Alemanni, the Anglo-Saxons, the Suevi, the Visigoths, the 33:25 Franks they were all settled in dividing the Roman empire into 33:30 three of those were uprooted and destroyed. We'll look at 33:33 that one on another night, but seven remained to become the 33:35 modern nations of Europe today So you see we're flowing 33:40 through time in history. The Bible is telling us 100s of 33:44 years in advance there would be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, 33:47 Rome and then Rome would divided by the massive 33:50 barbarian invasions by the year 476 AD it was done just the way 33:55 God said it would take place. But he isn't finished yet, it 34:01 gets even more and more exciting because verse 44 says 34:05 in the time of those kings, the 10 toes in the time of the 34:10 divided empire, hey we're living in that time now. In 34:15 the time of those kings, the God of heaven would set up a 34:18 kingdom that will never be destroyed nor will it be left 34:21 to another people and getting a little bit of ahead of myself 34:25 because the most important part of this prophecy, the most 34:31 important part tells us that those 10 toes in the image of 34:37 Nebuchadnezzar's dream would be a divided kingdom partly iron 34:41 and partly clay, and so the people would be a mixture and 34:47 they will not remain united no more than iron can mix with clay 34:51 You know, I do like the way the old King James says it, they 34:55 will not cleave one onto another Up until this time, the Bible 35:02 says that one nation would rule practically the entire 35:06 civilized world especially over God's people, but now the 35:11 prophecy is changing there was Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece 35:15 and Rome. Rome fell and when Rome fell, God said never again 35:19 they will not cleave one unto another. They will not merge 35:23 together again. Men have tried over and over again, time and 35:28 again men have tried to weld those 10 toes together, time 35:32 and again men have tried to build a united, a united 35:35 unified Europe and time and again men have failed. In fact 35:44 going back in the history Charlemagne, Louis the 14th 35:46 with all of their might and power they tried to build the 35:49 United Europe, but they failed and then there was Charles the 35:52 5th of Spain. What a mighty warrior, Charles the 5th rode 35:56 on the battlefield till he was 70 years old, he had nine 35:59 horses killed from underneath him while he was riding. What 36:02 a mighty warrior Charles the 5th was and his goal was to 36:04 bring all of Europe together again to form one United Empire 36:08 and it looked as though he would but then at the very end of his 36:10 rain revolutions broke out all over his kingdom and Charles 36:13 the 5th gave his son, Charles the 5th gave his son Phillip 36:18 the 2nd, central Spain and all the rest of Europe he gave to 36:21 his brother Ferdinand retired in a lonely castle, where he 36:24 died beating himself to death in the depth of despair and 36:28 depression. Because Charles the 5th couldn't see God 36:32 standing with both feet planted on the continent of Europe 36:36 saying they shall not cleave one unto another and no man can 36:43 change what God says. Then there was Napoleon, they called 36:51 him the little giant, little because he was only 5 feet 2 36:54 inches tall, giant because he was a military genius and his 36:57 armies began to sweep across Europe. It appeared as though 37:00 nothing would be able to stop Napoleon, his artillery until 37:04 he got to Waterloo, where his artillery became water logged, 37:08 then he met his fate, he met his doom there at the hands of 37:11 Lord Wellington. But I want to tell you something, I don't 37:18 really believe it was Lord Wellington who defeated Napoleon 37:22 Team of researchers did some study at the University of 37:28 Chicago and they developed some computer software, that would 37:31 analyze and take apart all of the different strategies, 37:36 military strategies, and wars and they put all the 37:40 information they could about Napoleon, Wellington, Blucher 37:43 Grouchy, the number of men they had who supplies the bullets, 37:47 the canon balls, everything they had, they put into this 37:50 computer. And finally click the mouse and the answer came, 37:56 Napoleon cannot lose. No, it wasn't Lord Wellington who 38:08 defeated Napoleon, it was the Lord God who said they shall 38:13 not cleave one unto another and no man can ever change what God 38:17 has written. Kaiser Wilhelm boasted, I'll build my railroad 38:24 all the way from Berlin to Baghdad and he believed that he 38:29 was destined by God to build a Unified Europe. He even called 38:35 his men sons of destiny because he believed with all of his 38:40 heart that God had given him the victory, but Kaiser Wilhelm 38:44 was defeated in the first battle of the Marne. You see, 38:50 he was sincere, but he was wrong It's possible folks to be 39:01 sincere and wrong, never forget that. Just because someone is 39:08 sincere, it doesn't mean they are right, you can be sincere 39:12 and wrong, we need to be sure what sincere and right, amen. 39:16 And then Adolf Hitler, the Austrian paper-hanger, who 39:28 appeared out of nowhere repudiated the Versailles 39:30 Treaty begin to build a mechanized army and air force 39:34 that began to pulverize the surrounding nations of Germany 39:36 He had Norway, Denmark, Holland Czechoslovakia, Austria in his 39:40 power then he took Poland and launched his mighty Blitzkrieg 39:43 and took the Scandinavian countries Belgium and France 39:47 and while Hitler was in France He visited Napoleons tomb and 39:54 he stood there at the tomb, scuffing Napoleon. He said 40:02 Napoleon, you fool, I will succeed where you have failed. 40:08 It seemed as though he would, it seemed as though nothing was 40:16 going to stop the mighty Hitler He had almost all of Europe 40:21 under his control. There was one tiny island left, it was 40:28 England and I really believe that if Hitler would have taken 40:35 England I'd be standing and he is speaking to you in German 40:39 tonight instead of English. Why do I think that because the 40:45 Germans were on the verge of developing an atomic bomb and 40:50 Dr. Werner Von Braun who later became the America became the 40:53 father of the American space program was a German scientist, 40:57 who was developing a rocket that had the capability of 41:00 delivering that atomic bomb. Our intelligence discovered 41:06 this research facility and we were able to launch our bombers 41:10 from England to bomb that place You see, we didn't have the 41:15 long range capabilities that we have today. I flew the B-52s 41:20 in Vietnam war and I have a 105 combat missions in Vietnam and 41:23 in the B-52 we could fly around the globe over and over again 41:27 because the airplanes would just take off and bring us gas 41:30 and we can refuel up in the air and just keep flying until the 41:33 wings fall off the plane, but they couldn't do that. World 41:39 War II, we needed to launch our bombers from England and if 41:46 England would have fallen we wouldn't have been able to 41:50 launch those bombers, we wouldn't have been able to 41:52 strike that research facility and put an end to their 41:56 development of nuclear weapons and I'm convinced instead of 41:59 seeing the bombs dropping on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it 42:02 would have been Washington DC and New York. You know, 42:06 interesting thing one night when I telling this experience, 42:09 a man came up to me afterwards and he said, he said Jack, you 42:15 might be interested to know that I flew that mission that 42:18 bombed that research facility. But again it looked as though 42:26 England was going to fall and then Hitler did something that 42:32 surprised all of his leading generals because everything he 42:34 ever wrote in his book. When he said in Mein Kampf, I'll 42:37 build a kingdom that will last forever, it will last for 1000 42:40 years he boasted and then he goes on to say that you must 42:43 never fight a war on two fronts Suddenly when it seemed as 42:47 though he had everything within his grasp, he split his army 42:50 and fought his war on two fronts and his army began to 42:53 march some in Europe and rest towards Moscow, marching all 42:56 the way through the winter time and the cold part of the winter 43:00 in Russia all the away to Moscow slaughtering Russians 43:04 all along the way. Until they got to the outskirts of the city 43:10 I was there; you can see a big monument that Russians are good 43:16 at building big monuments. So, big concrete tank trap and on 43:23 it is a sign that says, here is where we stopped the mighty 43:27 German army, but it wasn't Russia, it was the Lord God, 43:35 who send the coldest winter that they'd ever seen. The men 43:40 were dying, froze to death, the guns were freezing, Hitler's 43:44 artillery and trucks were stalled in their place. 43:47 Because he didn't see God standing with one foot on 43:51 Europe and one foot in Germany saying they shall not cleave 43:56 one unto another. No man can change God's word. Hitler knew 44:04 he knew about the Bible. Hitler defied God. Hitler 44:07 wrote he said to my people we do not need anything from God, 44:13 we do not ask for anything from him except that he leave us 44:16 alone, we want to fight our own war with our own guns without 44:19 God. We want to gain our own victory without the help of God 44:23 signed Adolf Hitler. He knew the truth, he knew the prophecy 44:27 the nurse, one of his nurses told in her diary that one day 44:31 he was sick lying in bed and he was reading his Bible. He had 44:35 it opened to the Daniel, the second chapter and when he got 44:38 to the words "they shall not cleave one unto another" he 44:41 jumped out of the Bible like a madman, out of the bed like a 44:44 madman, threw his Bible across the wall ranting and raving I 44:48 will, I will, I will he said. But he didn't see God saying, 44:54 you won't. They will not cleave one unto another. No 45:01 man can change what God has written in his word and I'm 45:05 going to tell you tonight sooner or later you're going to 45:08 hear it. Somebody, somewhere, somehow was going to tell you 45:12 the Bible that changed, God's word stands firm, can never 45:19 change. They'll never cleave one unto another. Modern 45:23 attempts, NATO tried and failed United Nations is going to fail 45:27 Somebody said, well they're already almost done today that 45:31 proves that the Bible is wrong, no it doesn't it proves they 45:34 we're almost done, it proves that Jesus is about to come, he 45:37 is not gonna let it happen because he said they shall not 45:41 cleave one unto another. I remember in 1957, sitting in my 45:49 old high school room and that loud speaker begins to crackle 45:52 when I hear the announcement. Russia has launched the 45:55 satellite and they called it Sputnik and it was circling 45:58 around the globe and everybody got scared. You remember that 46:03 Well some of you might remember that. We all got scared, and 46:05 down in Louisiana we saw building bomb shelters because 46:09 we thought that Russia was Going to bomb us and everyone 46:11 was wondered is Russia going to rule the world. You know, I'll 46:15 always remember, the first time I was assigned to B-52 crew and 46:20 strategic air command, we had to pull alert, we slept in a 46:23 little building out on the end of the runway next to the 46:25 airplanes fully loaded with nuclear weapons ready to go to 46:27 the war at a moment's notice. And the first day, I went in to 46:32 do my target study, opened the charts and there was my target, 46:36 Moscow, I couldn't believe it, Moscow, of we went to war I'd 46:42 have to go to Moscow. In 1991, my wife and I and our two small 46:51 boys stepped off of the big airflow airliner at the Moscow 46:57 International Airport. I didn't have bombs in my bomb bay 47:02 I had the word of God in my briefcase, because God's word 47:07 can never fail. That vision isn't over yet, there is still 47:13 a little bit more left in Daniel the second chapter look 47:16 at it with me in Daniel chapter 2, verse 44 in the time of 47:20 those kings that's now the divided kingdom that's now the 47:26 God of Heaven would set up a kingdom that will never be 47:28 destroyed and it will not be left to another people. It 47:31 will crush those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but in 47:34 itself it will endure forever this is the meaning of the 47:36 vision, this is the meaning of the rock cut out of the mountain 47:39 but not by human hands or the rock that broke the iron, the 47:41 bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold that broke them to 47:45 pieces. The Great God has shown the king what will take 47:49 place in the future, the dream is true, the interpretation is 47:53 trustworthy, who is the rock, who is the stone, there is only 47:58 one the Bible tells us and that's Jesus. The living stone 48:03 you understand what this means, it means that the rock, the 48:06 stone is going to come, there was Babylon, there was 48:11 Medo-Persia, there was Greece and there was Rome just the way 48:14 the Bible said it was going to happen and then Rome was 48:17 divided into the 10 toes, it happened just the way God said 48:20 it would and then God said no more they will not cleave one 48:24 unto another over 1600 years have passed and they are still 48:27 not cleaving one unto another, everyday that goes by proves 48:31 that the word of God is true just as surely as there was 48:34 Babylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome just as surely as 48:38 divided into the 10 toes, just as surely as those 10 nations 48:41 will not cleave one unto another just as surely as all of this 48:44 has happened Jesus is going to come, no room to doubt, no room 48:51 to question, the interpretation is sure, the interpretation is 48:54 true, Jesus is going to come. Let me show you John saw it, he 48:58 wrote about it in the book of revelation, in revelation 49:01 chapter 21 verse 1, I saw a new heaven and a new earth where 49:05 the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. I saw 49:09 the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of 49:12 heaven from God and I heard a loud voice from the throne 49:15 saying now the dwelling of God is with man and he will live 49:18 with them and he will be with them and they will be his 49:21 people what is he going to do in that city with his people, 49:23 what is he going to do with them First thing in verse 4, he is 49:28 going to wipe away every tear from their eyes, are there 49:30 tears in your eyes tonight, is there pain in your heart tonight 49:36 Jesus is going to wipe away every tear. I always remember 49:41 the times when our boys were little, they're grown now, but 49:44 they were little they'd fall down and scrape their knee and 49:46 they'd come with the big tears and would wipe them away and 49:48 saying that one day Jesus is going to come to wipe away 49:53 every tear. You want to live in a city like that and there 49:59 will be no more death, no more mourning, no more sorrow, have 50:07 you lost a loved one, mother, father, grandma, grandpa, son, 50:12 daughter, husband, wife, you want to be united together with 50:18 them again, is there something for you in that city no more 50:22 death, no more pain, no more suffering, no more cancer, no 50:30 more heart attacks, no more eye glasses, no more hearing aids, 50:36 no more crutches, no more wheelchairs, no more hospitals, 50:38 no more doctors. Oh! They'll be there, but they'll do 50:41 something else. You want to live in a city like that. I'm 50:49 making everything new, write these words down, they are 50:54 trustworthy and true. You can believe it, you can trust God. 51:00 There will be a new world order God's world order and that 51:05 isn't at all in that city. Verse 18 says the wall was made 51:09 of jasper and the city of pure gold thus pure as glass, 51:13 foundations of the city were decorated with every kind of 51:17 precious stone at the gate of each, at each of the 12 gates 51:22 was a single pearl and the street made of transparent gold 51:29 pure gold transparent like glass Every previous stone would be 51:34 there, you want to live there, no more bill collectors to 51:40 worry about, you get a little behind in your bills, dig up a 51:43 chunk of the street and you can pay them off forever and that 51:48 isn't all. The Bible says the angel showed me the river, the 51:50 water of life as clear as crystal flowing from the throne 51:53 of God and from the lamb, clear as crystal. The salmon don't 51:57 have to worry about how far upstream to go in that city 51:59 because there is no pollution in the water there. You can 52:02 drink the water anywhere, down the mill of the great street of 52:05 the city and on each side of the river stood the tree of 52:07 life bearing 12 crops of fruit, no homelessness, no hunger in 52:13 God's city, everything that you need is there 12 crops of fruit 52:17 I don't know what they are. The Bible doesn't say, but I 52:20 believe they got to be Fuji apples and Rainier cherries, 52:22 amen. 12 different kinds of fruit every month, no hunger, 52:29 no starvation, do you wanna live in place like that. The 52:35 dream is true, the interpretation is sure. God 52:40 remembered Babylon the great because Babylon was crushing 52:45 his people, Babylon defying God, but Jesus is going to come. He 52:52 is going to put an end to it all. In the meantime, we suffer. 52:55 Only answer that question for you coming up on another night, 52:59 why do bad things happen to good people. We are gonna 53:02 take a look in God's word. In the meantime we die, in the 53:06 meantime cancer strikes, in the meantime babies die, in the 53:10 meantime families are torn apart, in the meantime we go, we 53:13 declare bankruptcy, but Jesus says hang on. There's 53:18 hope, I am coming soon. In 1966 I just finished my flight 53:29 school training, I was assigned to strategic air command at 53:36 Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and we are going to 53:38 be going across the point of flying Vietnam. One of the 53:42 things they made sure, we knew how to do was survive if we 53:44 ever had to eject in the jungle. And so I went to the jungle 53:49 survival school in Spokan, Washington. One of the things 53:55 they did was they put us in a little cell about 4 feet cubed 54:00 and we were in that cell, I don't know how long they kept 54:03 us in there probably two or three days, but they we were in 54:05 this little cell. The only time they would let us out was 54:09 for interrogation time. They brought us into the 54:14 interrogating room. We had memorized the dummy mission and 54:17 they were going to interrogate us and try to get us to talk. 54:19 These were professional interrogators. They knew how 54:22 to turn things around so much that we begin to wonder what 54:26 happened to you I thought it was just a game is it for real. 54:29 But before we even went into the interrogation room they put 54:35 us in the box. The box was a small box about as wide as my 54:42 shoulders, the hinge for the door was on the bottom and it 54:47 opened from the top to the bottom and I had to duck walk 54:49 up the bottom the door like a little ramp into that box and I 54:54 couldn't fit all the way in, but they lifted up the door and 54:57 forced me into the box and locked it shut. I've no idea 55:03 how long I was in there, could it be in a few seconds, could 55:07 be in a minute, could be in many many minutes I just don't know, 55:10 but I know one thing the longer I was in that box the smaller 55:16 it felt, the tighter it got, the hotter it got, and I just 55:22 wanted to get out of the box and the only thing that enabled 55:31 me to hang on was that I knew sooner or later somebody was 55:39 going to open the box and let me out, and life is like that 55:45 box isn't it, closes in on us and sometimes we feel like we 55:53 can't take it anymore and we just want to get out, hold on, 56:01 never give up, Jesus is coming Pray with me. O Lord, it's 56:16 been fun to dig into scripture, to look at the way that you 56:22 have lead and controlled the events in the past and it only 56:26 convinces us that the last part of that vision is going to 56:30 happen. And one day soon, Jesus is going to come. The 56:36 only question that remains is will we be ready for him and so 56:41 tonight while every head is bowed and every eye is closed, 56:44 the pray of your heart is Lord, I want to be ready, I want to 56:48 be ready to meet Jesus when he comes, why don't you just raise 56:50 your hands with me, do you want take your place in that city if 56:54 you do just raise your hand with me, just raise your hand, 56:56 every hand ought to be up tonight. Lord, we want to be 56:59 ready, we want to be ready when Jesus comes, we want to take 57:02 our place in that city that you have reserved for us and we 57:07 thank you and we praise you in Jesus name, who makes it all 57:10 possible. Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17