Participants: Pr. Brian McMahon
Series Code: RSH
Program Code: RSH000017
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00:09 The escalation of global terrorism, crime, immorality
00:12 and natural disasters, seems to indicate our world 00:15 is spiraling towards its ultimate hour with destiny. 00:18 Who, if anyone, will survive Earth's final events? 00:21 Discover what Bible prophecy reveals about the rapture, 00:24 the mark of the beast, and Armageddon. 00:26 Though shrouded in mystery for centuries, 00:28 the book of Revelation can be understood today. 00:32 Peer into the future, and see what wonderful things 00:35 God has planned for His people. 00:38 And now, Pastor Brian McMahon presents the powerful 00:41 Bible seminar "Revelation Speaks Hope". 00:46 Our subject for this evening is entitled: [text on screen] 00:49 People have a lot of questions about that word "Armageddon", 00:52 people wonder "well, who exactly is going to be on the earth" 00:55 "during the battle of Armageddon?" 00:58 Or they'll say "who is going to be fighting this battle?" 01:00 "Is it going to be between the Jews and the Arabs?" 01:03 "Between Russia and the US?" "Is it going to be fought" 01:06 "down at the end of time?" "When exactly is it going" 01:08 "to be fought?" 01:10 People know that the coming of Jesus is a momentous 01:14 event for this world, at least the Christians would know it, 01:17 and to the Christians the coming of Jesus should be the most 01:19 happy, hopeful thing that we could ever think of. 01:23 Turn with me, if you would, to Revelation 14 as we move 01:26 there together tonight, we start in verse 6, 01:29 Revelation 14:6, here the Bible teaches: "And I saw another" 01:35 "angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting" 01:39 "gospel to preach onto them that dwell on the earth," 01:41 "and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people." 01:45 So God's last day message then is to go to all the world 01:50 warning us to make a decision and be prepared for His coming. 01:54 We pick it up in verse 7, it says: "Saying with" 01:57 "a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour" 02:03 "of His judgment is come." In Psalm 119:126 02:08 this is what we read: [text on screen] 02:18 So when God's law is made law is made void by legislation, 02:23 God is going to step in and do His special work in the earth. 02:27 As you go back to Revelation 14:9, 02:31 it tells us here: [text on screen] 02:45 So the punishment that's going to come upon those wicked doers 02:50 is the wrath of God, but what exactly is the wrath of God? 02:54 Let's look at Revelation 15, and it helps explain it to us. 02:58 Revelation 15:1, here it says: [text on screen] 03:13 So what we're seeing is that in the 7 last plagues 03:17 we find God's wrath. We wonder, as this wrath 03:21 is poured out, where are God's people going to be? 03:24 Are they going to be on the earth during that time 03:27 or are they going to be, as some would teach, as many 03:29 would teach raptured off of this earth in some kind of great 03:32 invisible secret rapture. Turn to Revelation 16, 03:37 and we're going to cover something very very quickly 03:39 and then come back and study the chapter in a more detailed way. 03:43 In Revelation 16:1 it says: "And I heard a great voice" 03:47 "out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways" 03:50 "and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." 03:53 Now, in verse 2 the first angel goes out and pours out 03:56 the first vial. Then in verse 3 the 2nd 03:59 angel pours out the 2nd plague; in verse 4 04:01 the 3rd angel pours out the 3rd plague; 04:03 in verse 8 the 4th angel pours out the 4th plague; 04:07 and in verse 10 the 5th angel and the 5th plague are described 04:11 and then in verse 12 the 6th plague is poured out. 04:14 So that is a lot of tribulation, there is no one that won't 04:17 admit that by the time the plagues are poured out 04:19 the tribulation period has come to this earth. 04:22 But after 6 plagues are poured out notice what it says 04:25 in verse 15, it says: [text on screen] 04:35 So Jesus says after 6 plagues are poured out 04:38 "behold, I am coming as a thief." 04:40 Now here's my question to us all: what sense you it make 04:43 for Jesus to say after 6 plagues "Behold, I am coming" 04:47 "as a thief" if He had already come as a thief before 04:50 all the plagues were poured out? It just wouldn't make 04:53 any sense, and yet that's what most people teach. 04:55 They're teaching today in these various churches that Jesus 04:58 is going to come as a thief and steal His church away, 05:00 and then the tribulation's going to be poured out. 05:03 Here we find in the midst of tribulation Jesus is still 05:06 encouraging His church, He's saying "hang on," 05:09 "keep the faith, I'm almost there, it won't be" 05:11 "much longer, hold on to your garments." 05:14 What do the garments represent? Well, the garments represent 05:17 the imputed and imparted righteousness of Jesus 05:20 and so, we can see that it's a spiritual issue here, 05:22 that we're to hold on to our relationship with the Lord, 05:25 even in the midst of very trying times. 05:28 Now, I want you to turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians 10. 05:32 This issue of whether the church is going to be on the earth 05:35 during this time is a very hotly debated issue, 05:38 but really, the fact that we are going to be here 05:41 is the way that God has presented the issue all through 05:43 the Bible, even going all the way back to the times of Noah. 05:47 God could have raptured Noah off of the earth 05:50 when it was the time of the flood, but no, He allowed 05:52 His servant to be placed in an ark of safety, 05:55 and then God was with His servant as he rode out 05:58 the trials of the flood waters. So Noah was there in the midst 06:01 of tribulation and yet, he was preserved by the hand 06:04 of God. We find that in the time 06:08 of the 3 Hebrew worthies in Daniel's day, Daniel was allowed 06:13 to go into the lion's den. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us 06:16 he was raptured away from that time of tribulation, 06:19 God allowed His servant to go into the lion's den to show 06:22 his faithfulness to God, right? And of course, the 3 Hebrew 06:25 worthies themselves, they could have been raptured away 06:28 when Nebuchadnezzar ordered that furnace to be heated up, 06:30 but no, God allowed His servants to go into the tribulation 06:34 once again; and as they were in the tribulation God 06:37 delivered them. The Bible tells us that when 06:40 they came out of that oven, or out of that furnace as it says, 06:43 it says that that furnace was heated 7 times hotter 06:46 than it normally was, if that could be possible, 06:48 and yet, as they came out it says "not a hair of their head" 06:52 "was singed, and neither was there even the smell of smoke" 06:56 "upon their clothes." Can God deliver totally? 06:59 [Audience] Yes. You see, that is showing us 07:01 the incredible power of God to deliver people from tribulation. 07:05 We do not have to fear if God is on our side. 07:08 This next text we're going to look at in 1 Corinthians 10 07:11 really sets the foundation for everything else that we're 07:13 going to study tonight. It says: [text on screen] 07:18 "for ensamples" - that's the King James way of saying 07:21 "examples", [continues reading] 07:24 "admonition" - that's kind of a big word, what does that mean? 07:27 That means our learning, or our instruction, it says: 07:30 [continues reading] 07:34 So what happened to ancient Israel was an example 07:38 of what will happen to us. You see, these plagues that 07:41 we're talking about tonight are called in Scripture 07:43 the seven last plagues, were there any plagues before 07:47 these plagues then? Yes. 07:49 Where were the other plagues talked about in the Bible? 07:52 Back in ancient Egypt, and how many plagues were there there? 07:54 10, 10 plagues in ancient Egypt, but 7 last plagues here. 07:59 You see, back in the days of ancient Egypt, the first 3 08:02 of the 10 were poured out over all the land, but after the 3rd 08:06 plague God drew a line and He said: "No more will these" 08:09 "plagues fall upon the land of Goshen where My people are," 08:12 He says "they will only fall upon the land where" 08:14 "the Egyptians dwell, the wicked Egyptians." 08:17 So this is an assurance to you and to me tonight 08:20 who study Scripture and want to be ready, that when God pours 08:23 out the 7 last plagues they won't be poured out 08:26 indiscriminately upon all the land, but rather, they will be 08:30 poured out only upon the wicked, God will hold His hand 08:33 over the righteous. 08:35 In the last days church and state are again going 08:38 to unite just as they did over there in Egypt's time. 08:40 And at the end it's going to look dismal for a while, 08:43 it's going to look like there's no way out, but God's people 08:46 have faith, and that's a mighty weapon, amen? 08:50 [Audience] Amen. We're going to see it 08:52 again tonight, and as they exercise that faith, 08:55 God is going to pour out the 7 last plagues upon the wicked. 08:58 Again, God's people are going to be delivered, and again, 09:02 they're going to go on towards the promised land. 09:05 The very miracle that brings down the destruction upon 09:08 the wicked and salvation for God's people. 09:11 Let's go back to Revelation 16 and let's see how these plagues 09:14 are poured out, because there is lessons in each one 09:17 of these plagues. It says: [text on screen] 09:37 So here is this sore that is poured out, a terrible thing, 09:41 a physical punishment comes upon those that tried to enforce 09:45 the mark of the beast, or the image of the beast. 09:47 Why would God give them this physical punishment? 09:50 Well, hold your place here, and you can keep a mark 09:53 in Revelation 16, we're going to be here all night, 09:56 but we are going to go to some other places as well, 09:59 but go with me just 3 chapters back to Revelation 13 10:02 and in Revelation 13:15 it tells us this: [text on screen] 10:15 So think about it with me, those that tried to enforce the mark 10:19 of the beast, of the image of the beast, they said: 10:21 "unless you take this mark we will physically harm you", 10:25 so what is the lesson in the first plague? 10:28 The lesson in the first plague is this dear friends: 10:31 if you want physical security, put your trust in God, not man. 10:39 We need to make a full and total surrender to Jesus, 10:42 and Revelation 16 is the chapter of the plagues 10:45 that helps us to come to commitment. 10:48 Revelation 16:3, it says: [text on screen] 10:57 Can you imagine if something even remotely like this 11:00 took place? If God looked at the oceans 11:03 and seas of this world and turned them into blood, 11:06 and not just turned them into blood, but turned them into 11:09 what the Bible calls the "blood of a dead man", 11:11 a coagulated mess. You see, the seas, 11:14 or the oceans are the great avenues of commerce, it's where 11:18 the grain shipments move, and the oil shipments move, 11:21 and just an enormous amount of other economic cargo 11:24 moved by the avenues of the sea. If the sea became as the blood 11:28 of a dead man and impassible, the economy of the world 11:31 would collapse over night. In fact, that's what 11:34 Revelation 18 tells us, it tells us that there's going 11:37 to be a great economic collapse, and the merchants of the earth 11:40 are going to wail because of it. What about God's people, 11:43 what's going to happen to them? 11:46 Let's take a look, go to Isaiah 33. 11:48 We can have hope in God, dear friends, what a confidence. 11:51 Do you know that weak character will always side 11:55 with the multitude in a crisis. Let me say that again: 11:59 weak character will always side with the multitude in a crisis 12:03 because there'll be those people that will take the mark 12:06 and they will take the image of the beast, and why will those 12:08 people take the image of the beast? 12:09 Because they are going to say "We have to take it," 12:12 "we have to take our risk, Lord, we may not agree" 12:15 "with what's going on, but we've got a house payment," 12:18 "we've got a car payment, we've got other kinds of bills." 12:21 "We have got to be able to buy and sell", and in the time 12:23 of the crisis because their faith is so weak, 12:26 they will take the mark. 12:28 They're going to say "Lord, we're going to bail out" 12:31 "right now because we're going to go with the multitude." 12:34 What is God going to do with His people? 12:37 Isaiah 33:14, it says here: "The sinners in Zion" 12:40 "are afraid" - you see, in the end the sinners will be afraid. 12:44 [text on screen] 12:51 It's a way of saying "who is going to survive the great" 12:54 "crisis to come?" Verse 15 is the answer: 12:57 [text on screen] 13:26 Is that a beautiful promise? Here is real security. 13:30 God is says our bread and our waters are going to be sure. 13:34 God has shown that He can provide for His people. 13:36 In the time of the ancient Israelites wondering around 13:39 in the wilderness, did God rain manna from heaven 13:42 for 40 years? You bet. 13:44 When Elijah, His servant, went out into the wilderness, 13:47 did God send food in the beaks of birds to bring to him? 13:50 Yes He did, didn't He? You see, God can provide 13:53 in marvelous ways. There's a beautiful promise 13:56 that I've been longing to share with you, but I've waited 13:59 until tonight to do it, so let's go to Psalm 91, 14:01 we're going to begin in verse 1, we're not going to read it 14:04 all the way through, although I with we could. 14:07 It's a Psalm that I think was written just for the time 14:10 of tribulation in a special way. It's comfort for us now 14:13 and we can read it now, but it's especially for the great time 14:15 of tribulation that is to come. Psalm 91:1, here it says: 14:19 [text on screen] 14:30 That is the basis for what comes next, it is trusting in God 14:33 and not our self; it's trusting in God and not what man 14:37 will do in the time of tribulation. 14:39 So, because we have trust in God and not man, 14:42 look what it says in verse 5: [text on screen] 15:07 Notice again, the wicked are here and we're there too, 15:10 but we're not affected, [continues to read] 15:27 Let's go back to Revelation 16:4,5. 15:32 It says: [text on screen] 15:47 Why would it be that God would cause blood to flow out 15:50 of the faucets of homes in such a way at this time? 15:54 Well, we keep reading here and it tells us the answer. 15:56 In verse 6 it says: [text on screen] 16:06 God gives them blood to drink because they have tried to take 16:09 the blood of his people; they've tried to kill His people. 16:14 At first they might have just been threatened, 16:17 at first they might have just been boycotted, but eventually 16:20 things will progress to the point where they will even 16:22 try to take the lives of those that want to be faithful to God 16:26 at the end of time. Isn't it amazing 16:29 what religious people can do? In John 16:2 Jesus says: 16:36 "They shall put you out of the synagogues", the modern 16:39 equivalent of that would be "churches", He says: 16:41 [text on screen] 16:49 You can have a lot of religious activity without really knowing 16:53 the one who they profess to serve. 16:56 Here, these people who say they serve God, who say they know 16:59 God, they're willing to put people to death even though 17:02 they're serving God, it's an amazing thing, and yet, 17:05 we see it even today in this world. 17:08 So God satisfies their bloody thirsty desire and says: 17:10 "You try to take the blood of My people, you're going to have" 17:13 "blood to drink." What's the lesson 17:15 of this plague? The Bible tells us 17:17 that in Jesus Christ we live, we move and we have our being. 17:23 In the 3rd plague it's telling us: put your entire life 17:27 into God's hands, give everything, put your entire 17:32 life into God's hands because it's going to come down to this 17:35 dear friends: the powers that be before it's all said and done 17:38 are going to say "if you want physical protection, you better" 17:44 "take the mark; if you want financial protection," 17:47 "you better take the mark of the image of the beast;" 17:49 and finally they're going to say "If you want to live," 17:52 "you better take the mark." If there already is 17:55 within the human mind the tendency to compromise, 17:59 then it's going to come out at that time. 18:03 People are going to say "Well Lord, this is where" 18:07 "I bail out, I may have suffered here, I may have done a little" 18:11 "denial there, but when it comes to my life Lord, I'm not" 18:13 "going to risk that", and they're going to take 18:16 the mark, but God's people, and this is the good news, 18:19 and I pray this is all of us here tonight, 18:22 God's people are going to say "Lord, no matter what" 18:25 "economic hardships are put on me, no matter what social" 18:28 "pressures are put on me, no matter what physical" 18:30 "pressures are put on me, no matter what family or peer" 18:34 "pressure is put on me, I will not sell my soul" 18:38 "like Judas did for 30 pieces of silver." 18:41 "I will not sell out cheap, I am putting my entire life' 18:45 "in Jesus' hands", and then we can say to the authorities 18:48 that be "you may choose to take my life, my physical life," 18:54 "but my eternal life is safely hid in Jesus, and you can never" 18:59 "take that away." Once we have that kind 19:01 of faith, then we're ready. Let's go to Jeremiah 12, 19:08 it says: [text on screen] 19:21 So the prophet is saying if you're racing against 19:24 the footmen and you're getting tired, what are you going 19:27 to do when you start racing against horses? 19:29 And then Jeremiah says: "If you're living in a time" 19:32 "of peace and it's difficult for you to take a stand" 19:35 "for God, what are you going to do when the crisis breaks?" 19:38 If you had a little child, 5 years old, that wanted 19:42 to get strong, would you throw him a 100 pound barbell 19:44 and say "here, curl this"? No. If you really wanted 19:48 to exercise his muscles you might give him just a very 19:51 small weight and say "Well, you work your muscles" 19:54 "with this, and then when you get a little bigger, a little" 19:56 "stronger, I'll give you a little more, and when you" 19:59 "get bigger I'll give you a little more." 20:02 You start out small and you work up to it. 20:05 If you knew that you were going to be in the Olympics 20:08 and in the Olympics you were going to have to lift 20:11 a 500 pound barbell above your head because that was what 20:14 the competition had and you are going to want to exceed that, 20:16 when would you start practicing? The day before? 20:19 The week before? Well, if you knew that test 20:22 was coming, you would start a long time before 20:24 because you knew that you would have to exercise your muscles. 20:28 Well guess what, God wants us to exercise spiritual muscles 20:32 because if we don't ever have an opportunity to exercise 20:35 our spiritual muscles, we're going to be very 20:36 weak Christians. I'm going to ask you a question: 20:39 have any of you here experienced some difficulty as a result 20:43 of coming to this seminar? I mean, you've started to come 20:46 to the seminar and all of a sudden people that didn't 20:49 even show an interest in you before, all of a sudden 20:52 they're showing all this interest in you and saying 20:55 "Oh, are you sure you want to go?" 20:57 Or "that might not be the right thing", 21:00 "Oh, I'm really concerned about you because of what you're" 21:03 "learning there", and "you're wanting to change" 21:06 "you life, why are you changing your life?" 21:08 "Don't go back!" And all of these things 21:11 are all of a sudden being said. Are you experiencing 21:14 some trials maybe at home, maybe on the job, maybe economically 21:17 because you're wanting to pay tithe, or something like that? 21:20 Friends, don't despair. God allows trials to come 21:23 into our life to put us through the laboratory of Christian 21:26 experience, to exercise our spiritual muscles so we can be 21:28 strong Christians, what do you say? 21:31 So we can be prepared for things to come. 21:34 You see, Jesus said "blessed are you when men" 21:37 "shall persecute you, revile you, say all manner of evil" 21:39 "against you falsely for My name's sake," 21:42 "rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward" 21:45 "in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets" 21:48 "who were before you." Friends, I wish every time 21:50 somebody persecuted me I could rejoice and be exceeding glad, 21:53 I'm not quite there yet, but I sure want to be 21:56 by God's grace. By God's grace I want to 21:59 see it as a blessing, I want to see it as God's way of helping 22:01 me to be able to exercise spiritual muscles and get to be 22:04 a stronger Christian. I did go through a lot 22:07 of things when I became a Christians, a lot of things, 22:10 I'm going to share them with you next Sabbath morning, 22:13 but I will tell you now that I'm thankful that I went 22:15 through them; I will tell you now that I'm a lot stronger 22:18 Christian than I used to be because of it. 22:21 So don't despair when you have trials come into your life, 22:24 especially when you want to follow God, because Jesus 22:26 is your friend, and if Jesus is your friend, you have 22:29 something very very precious. We're going to go to 22:32 Revelation 16, we're going to look at the next plague. 22:36 Yes, God is teaching us to build the muscles of faith. 22:39 He wants a group of people who are going to be loyal 22:42 no matter what is going around, even plagues falling. 22:45 God has promised that our bread and water is going to be sure 22:48 during that time. So we've got the first plague: 22:51 sores; the second plague: the salt water turning to blood; 22:54 the third plague: the fresh water turning to blood; 22:57 and now the 4th plague starting in verses 7,8. 22:59 It says: [text on screen] 23:25 What significance would this plague have right here? 23:28 Notice, back in the time of ancient Egypt, when God sent 23:32 the 10 plagues upon ancient Egypt, God plagued them 23:36 with many of the exact same things that they 23:39 worshipped falsely. They worshipped insects, 23:43 and God plagued them with insects, they worshipped 23:45 the Nile, and God turned the Nile to blood so it stank, 23:48 they worshipped the cattle, He put a plague upon 23:51 the cattle. Now, I don't know if they 23:53 worshipped everything that they were plagued with, 23:56 but they certainly worshipped a lot, then God sent them 23:59 some extra things. They worshipped the sun, 24:01 and God plagued them with that. 24:04 Now we come back to the sun here. 24:07 Do you know that the sun has always played a prominent 24:09 part in false worship, from the time of ancient Babylon 24:12 all the way down through the stream of time? 24:15 I've shown you that last night during our slide presentation. 24:18 Egypt worshipped the sun, they called the sun god Ra, 24:21 Babylon called Bel-Marduk, Romans had a form 24:23 of sun worship. Sun worship has always 24:26 played a part, and sun worship came into the Christian church 24:29 in the early Dark Ages under the disguise of honoring 24:33 the resurrection day of Jesus. So, because the Pagans 24:37 were already doing it, part of the ways of evangelizing back 24:40 then was to accept the Pagan rites into the church 24:44 as a way of allowing the Pagans to do what they were already 24:47 doing, only doing it in the name of Christ, so sun worship 24:50 was brought right into the church in honoring 24:52 the first day of the week. But God has always 24:55 had a way to counter that, and that is to keep the Sabbath 24:58 holy, by keeping the 7th day Sabbath, it was a way of always 25:01 remembering that God is the one that made the sun, 25:04 and we're not to worship the creation, but the Creator. 25:07 Yet, God sends a message in the last days, and in sending 25:09 a message in the last days, He is going to waken 25:12 people's understanding to the fact that we're to give glory 25:15 to God and not to man. Yet, many people will not 25:19 listen to that message, they insist on holding on to 25:22 their traditions, they insist on holding on to the things 25:25 as they used to be, because that's what they're comfortable 25:28 with, that's what the popular way is, that's what they 25:31 want to do. Finally, when all the information has been given 25:35 and God has done everything He can to help people 25:38 to give glory to God, if people still hang to the day of the sun 25:44 He will say "if it's the sun you want, it's the sun you" 25:47 "shall have", and He turns up the heat in the 4th plague. 25:51 People will realize how awful a thing it is to worship 25:57 the creation rather than the Creator. 25:59 It's not so much that God arbitrarily puts plagues 26:03 down upon the earth, but people are reaping the consequences 26:06 of their action, that's a Biblical principle, 26:09 the Bible teaches "whatsoever you sow, that shall you" 26:11 "also reap." They're just reaping 26:14 the consequences of their actions. But God's people 26:17 will have allowed God to fully write His law in their hearts. 26:21 We studied last night in Hebrews 10:16, 26:24 the new covenant experience is that God will write His laws 26:28 in to our hearts and in our minds. 26:31 So God's people said: "Lord, write all Your commandments" 26:34 "there, not just 8, not just 9, but all 10," 26:38 "including Your holy Sabbath." Let's go back to 26:41 Revelation 16:10. It's no coincidence that these 26:48 2 sides are brought out, those that worship the Creator, 26:51 and those that are worshipping the beast, because this is 26:53 an issue over worship that's been with us for hundreds, 26:56 yea, even thousands of years, now it's just coming 26:59 to a climax in this chapter on the plagues. 27:02 Revelation 16:10,11. It says: [text on screen] 27:22 Here we find that darkness is poured on the very seat, 27:27 or the kingdom of the beast power. 27:30 Up to this time, why would God put a plague right here? 27:34 Especially here? Because up to this time 27:37 men and women have been deceived into wondering after 27:41 the beast power, as we read in Revelation 13:3. 27:44 So many have followed the traditions of the beast power 27:47 rather than the commandments of God. 27:50 So the beast power for centuries and centuries has been 27:53 spreading spiritual darkness over all of the earth. 27:58 Finally in the end, God is going to put a great literal 28:02 darkness on that kingdom. Friends, you don't want to be 28:05 there during that time. That's going to be such 28:08 an incredible darkness that it says it's going to be a darkness 28:11 that can be felt it's going to be such a powerful darkness. 28:14 It's really a darkness that shows that people have been 28:17 looking in the wrong direction. God wants us to follow 28:22 the light: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light" 28:27 "unto my path." So rather than following 28:30 the light of God's word, they've been looking to traditions 28:33 of men. 28:35 Jesus said "walk while you have the light, lest that light" 28:38 "turn to darkness." 28:40 When God's light is with us, we should follow it. 28:43 When God's light is with us it's a dangerous thing to say 28:45 "No Lord, I don't want that, I'm going to follow" 28:48 "what I want to do." Do you know that there is 28:51 a tremendous famine that's going to be coming upon this world? 28:54 In some ways it's already here, but it's going to get 28:57 even worse, I'm going to show it to you. 28:59 Go it Amos 8. To go to Amos you can go 29:02 to Daniel, and it goes Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. 29:05 Amos 8. 29:08 Those that have been following the beast power, even though 29:11 God has sent a clear message warning them to turn 29:14 from this, finally the Lord will say "If it's darkness" 29:17 "you want, it's darkness you shall have." 29:20 The literal darkness represents the spiritual darkness 29:23 that is there. Amos 8. 29:27 Do you realize that what the Bible is teaching us here 29:29 in plague Nr.4 and plague Nr.5 is that all religious security 29:33 is in Jesus Christ? Amos 8:11,12. 29:37 It says: [text on screen] 29:58 This is going to happen in the future, but when I said 30:01 it's happening in some ways now, it's a famine of indifference. 30:04 People have multitudes of Bibles available, and yet, 30:07 they don't read it. 30:09 But in the end, they will search for it, but it'll be too late. 30:12 When this verse takes place, 2 classes of individuals 30:16 have developed, and fully developed. 30:19 What are those 2 classes of individuals? 30:22 Let me review them for you: there'll be the class that fully 30:24 accepted the word of God, and there'll be the class 30:27 that accepted the word of man over the word of God. 30:30 Those that accepted the word of God will accept 30:33 the true commandments of God, and those that fully accepted 30:36 the traditions, or word, of man will accept the substitutes 30:39 that man gives. Those that accepted 30:41 the commandments of God will accept the true Bible Sabbath 30:44 as a sign of a covenant relationship with the Lord. 30:47 Those that accepted the traditions of man 30:50 will accept the counterfeit Sabbath and receive 30:52 the mark of the beast, or the image to the beast. 30:55 Remember that these 2 days, Sabbath versus Sunday, 31:00 are not really the issue at all, it's not a 24 period of time 31:05 versus a 24 hour period of time, it's what stands 31:09 behind those 2 days that is the issue. 31:11 The issue is: who are we going to worship? 31:14 Are we going to worship the Creator? 31:16 Or are we going to worship what man has to say? 31:20 And really, who's behind man? It's the Devil himself, 31:23 who wants worship for himself. At this time probation 31:25 is closed, people are searching for truth, they had 31:28 the opportunity, they could have followed the light, 31:32 but they turned from that. Do you realize that there was 31:34 a time many many years ago when Noah was building 31:37 that ark, and preaching was going on on this earth, 31:42 and as Noah was building that ark, finally at some point 31:44 in time a door was put in that ark, and as the door was put in 31:48 I'm sure a ramp was put up to that door, and Noah said 31:53 "Time is up, the animals have gone in, all the food" 31:56 "provisions have gone in, is anyone else going to go in?" 32:01 Well, Noah's wife went in, his 3 sons and their wives 32:05 went in, and then Noah said "I'm going in, is there" 32:09 "anyone else that will go in?" and no one else did. 32:12 So those 8 people went in and the door of the ark was shut 32:16 by the hand of God, and those that were in were in, 32:19 and those that were out were out, and God drew 32:21 a line for that world. Probation closed. 32:28 Did the floodwaters come that very day that the door 32:31 of the ark shut? No. 32:33 You're Bible students, I can tell. 32:36 No, the flood waters actually came 7 days later. 32:40 All the time that Noah and his family were in that ark, 32:44 the sun was shining for those 7 days. 32:47 Can you imagine the test that they went through. 32:50 I'm sure there were man people on the outside 32:52 of that ark yelling and screaming to them, 32:55 pounding on the sides saying "Noah! Noah!", 32:58 mocking him and ridiculing him in every kind of derisive way. 33:01 Yet, they sat there in that ark for those 7 days 33:03 because they knew that God was going to bring those waters, 33:06 and God did, on the 7th day. 33:09 Now, in the end of time God again, will close probation 33:11 for this world when all have made their choice 33:14 and no one from the one side is crossing to the other, 33:17 they've made their decisions about who they're going 33:20 to serve. Probation will close, 33:23 that line will be drawn, but the Lord will not come that day. 33:26 Rather, there won't be 7 days, but there'll be 7 last plagues 33:31 that will be gone through, and then Jesus will come 33:33 and deliver His people. Friends listen, 33:36 I want to appeal to you. Because we know that day 33:39 is coming and we know that line is again going to be drawn, 33:42 is there anything worth hanging on to that's going to keep 33:45 us out of that ark of safety? 33:48 Is there any tradition that you're holding into your life 33:50 right now that you know keeps you from a close and abiding 33:54 relationship that's worth hanging on to more than 33:57 the favor of God? 33:59 Friends, if we have something in our life that we know 34:02 is not right, let's give it up tonight. 34:05 Give it up, it's not worth it. Is there anything 34:07 that could possibly be worth hanging on to more than 34:11 the approval of heaven, and knowing His hand is over us? 34:14 I dare say not. 34:16 Let's go back to Revelation 16. God is giving His final call, 34:22 eternity was going to close its door once again, 34:26 and verse 12 and onwards is where we're going to read. 34:29 Revelation 16:12 and onward. It says: [text on screen] 35:10 Have you ever wondered how to make sense out of that passage? 35:13 It's amazing to me, with the book of Revelation so filled 35:16 with symbolic language, that people will take those 4 35:19 verses right there, and they will apply them to the literal 35:23 drying up of the literal River Euphrates. 35:27 There's a book that was published a long time ago, 35:29 Hal Lindsey's "Late Great Planet Earth". 35:32 In that book the author talks about how China is waiting 35:35 with a 200 million man army, and they're going to sweep 35:38 across the nations west, and they're going to come 35:41 upon the land of Israel, but they're waiting for 35:43 for the River Euphrates to dry up. 35:46 He's, of course, trying to comment on this passage, 35:49 and he's saying the Euphrates river is going to dry up, 35:52 and then they're going to move their army, but they can't 35:54 do it until the river dries up. 35:57 Friends, let's think about this: China is a nuclear power. 36:01 Does China need a river to dry up before it can move 36:05 an army? The US can fly their army 36:08 half way around the world in a matter of days, 36:11 I think China could build a bridge if they wanted to. 36:14 [Audience laughs] 36:16 They're certainly building a lot more than that right now 36:19 over there. It doesn't make sense. 36:22 Let's look at it in an understandable and Biblical way. 36:24 One of the great problems people have in understanding 36:27 end time events in Bible prophecy is that there are 36:30 very few people that are really deep students of the word, 36:33 and can take passage like this and take the time 36:36 to work it through. Time doesn't allow me to go 36:38 into all the detail, but listen to this principles here 36:41 and you're going to gain a lot by it. 36:44 Many of the prophecies that were fulfilled in the Old Testament 36:47 on a literal and local basis to Old Testament Israel 36:50 have a double, or dual, application, as we sometimes 36:53 say, and they are fulfilled in the last days to spiritual 36:58 Israel, which is God's church, in a worldwide way, 37:02 in a very dramatic sense. For example, and I'm going 37:05 to run down a number of these for you, in Old Testament 37:08 times ancient Israel was persecuted by literal Babylon. 37:13 Jeremiah 50:33,34, and yet, New Testament Israel, 37:18 or the spiritual Israel, the church, is also 37:20 persecuted by spiritual Babylon, Revelation 17:6. 37:24 Ancient Israel was forced to worship a literal image, 37:26 Daniel 3:13, but spiritual Israel, the church is also 37:30 forced to worship an image, Revelation 13:15. 37:34 Ancient Babylon was called "Babylon the Great", 37:36 Daniel 4:30, and yet, spiritual Babylon is called 37:39 "Babylon the Great", Revelation 17:5. 37:41 Ancient Babylon sat on the many water, that's found in 37:44 Jeremiah 51:13,14, and yet, spiritual Babylon sits 37:48 on the many waters in Revelation 17:1. 37:51 Ancient Israel was rescued by the drying up of the River 37:54 Euphrates, we'll look at that in just a moment, 37:57 that's Isaiah 44:27,28, spiritual Israel is rescued 38:00 by the drying up of the River Euphrates, Revelation 16:12. 38:04 Then we find that ancient Israel was called out of Babylon, 38:13 Jeremiah 51:6-8, and spiritual Israel is called out of Babylon, 38:17 Revelation 18:4. Ancient Israel was rescued 38:22 by one called "the anointed", Isaiah 45:1, 38:26 and the rescuer of spiritual Israel is called "the anointed", 38:29 Daniel 9:24. 38:32 Both the rescuers came from the east, for ancient Israel 38:35 it was Cyrus the Great, he's talked about in Isaiah 41:2,25, 38:37 and for the church it's Jesus coming from the east, 38:40 Matthew 24:27. 38:43 Those are some of what we could go over. 38:46 Even the 144,000 plays into this, in that in the Old 38:48 Testament there were 12 tribes, in the New Testament 38:51 there's 12x12x1000; it's talking about a worldwide church, 38:57 it's not talking about literal Jews, as many think it is. 39:00 So what we're seeing here is that in the last moments of time 39:06 spiritual Israel is again going to be persecuted by 39:11 the evil forces. 39:14 It tells us that the River Euphrates is going to dry up. 39:19 Remember what we learned opening night, 39:22 if you something in Revelation like this, the River Euphrates 39:25 drying up, ask yourself the question: is there anywhere else 39:28 in the Bible where a river was dried up, 39:30 where we can then use that information to see what 39:33 Revelation might be talking about? 39:36 Well, actually there was. When Cyrus the Great 39:39 came with the armies of the Medes and the Persians, 39:41 they came up to the walls of ancient Babylon. 39:44 Now, ancient Babylon was a mighty city, 39:47 it was heavily, heavily reinforced with very tall 39:50 and very thick walls. It says that the walls were so 39:52 thick they could have chariot raves along the tops of them, 39:55 and they had lots and lots of food stored in. 39:58 Some scholars think that they had enough food stored in there 40:01 to outlast a siege for 20 years, and they had the fresh water 40:04 Euphrates running through it, so they had all the fresh water 40:06 they needed, so it looked like they were impregnable, 40:09 in other words, no army could possibly come against it. 40:12 Well, Cyrus the Great came up against those walls 40:15 and he said "We're not going to try to go through it," 40:17 "we're going to be smarter than that", he backed off his army 40:20 out of sight of the walls and he set his engineers to work. 40:23 One historian writes about it and says they actually 40:26 diverted the waters away so the water level dropped. 40:28 God prophesied that the inner gate would be left open. 40:31 You see, Babylon was so sure of itself that in the time 40:34 when the enemies armies were actually surrounding them 40:37 they had a great big party, a drunken party. 40:40 In that night that they were so sure of them self 40:43 that they would never have a problem, rather than having 40:46 a siege that would last years and years and years, 40:50 the river level dropped, the river gate was left open 40:56 and Cyrus the Great marched his army down that lowered 41:00 river bed under the gate, and Babylon fell in 1 night. 41:06 Because of the River Euphrates drying up, so to speak, 41:11 Babylon fell. In the last days we're going 41:14 to see something very similar, only in the symbolic, 41:17 or spiritual sense of it. How does that work? 41:20 In Revelation 16:14 we read this: [text on screen] 41:29 That's the political powers right there. 41:31 So the religious powers go out towards the political powers 41:37 and because of the miracles that are worked, it draws them 41:40 together in this coalition of evil. 41:44 Things are supposed to get better, religious laws 41:48 are passed, laws the conflict with the principles and laws 41:52 of heaven, so persecution starts coming upon those 41:55 that try to serve God, and want to keep His commandments, 41:57 but things don't get better in the earth, 42:00 rather, they get worse and worse and worse, 42:03 and finally look what takes place in Revelation 17. 42:10 When they see that the plagues are falling, and God has not 42:13 been with them, but rather they have been working 42:16 against the hand of God, Revelation 17:16-18 says: 42:20 [text on screen] 42:23 This is talking about the political powers now, 42:26 [text on screen] 42:41 So here you find that the political powers were supporting 42:44 the beast power for a time, they united with the beast 42:48 power for a short period of time, but then when they see 42:51 that they've been deceived, they've been tricked into 42:55 this coalition, and they really weren't on the side 42:57 of God, now they withdraw their support. 43:01 What props up spiritual Babylon? 43:05 What is it that supports false religion? 43:07 It's the masses of people that are deceived by the miracle 43:10 working, they think it's the moving of the Holy Spirit. 43:13 We're seeing some of that even today in some of the false 43:16 revivals that are going on. People are doing all kinds 43:19 of things under what they say is the Holy Spirit. 43:22 Many of those things contradict the Bible, it's not the moving 43:25 of the Spirit, not in all those cases, there is the genuine 43:27 working of the Spirit, but not all the things you see 43:30 going on the TV are the workings of God, so be careful 43:33 what you watch. 43:34 Then it goes on in verse 18 and it says: [text on screen] 43:39 That can be only 1 city talked about there, and that is 43:41 the Vatican that has controlled the kings of the earth 43:44 for centuries. When the masses of the people 43:47 realize for the first time that they have been duped, 43:52 they have been tricked and deceived, they're going 43:54 to withdraw their support and spiritual Babylon is going 43:58 to fall once again, they're going to fall. 44:04 I'm going to tell you something, people are going to be angry 44:07 in that day, people who have gone to their ministers 44:11 to try to ask questions about what is right, and their 44:14 ministers many times... and please, I'm not against 44:16 all ministers, don't think that I am, but friends, 44:19 there are many ministers that are wolves in sheep's clothing, 44:22 there are many ministers that are more interested in their job 44:25 than in what is right. There are many ministers 44:27 that are more interested in keeping other people back 44:30 than surrendering their own hearts and doing what is right, 44:33 and I've seen this over the years that I've preached. 44:36 I've had ministers tell their congregation one thing 44:38 in public and then tell me something else in private 44:41 because they knew they couldn't fool me in the word 44:44 of God. But they said: "I can't preach" 44:47 "that to my congregation, if I do I'll loose my congregation." 44:50 Friends, don't think that a lot of ministers don't know 44:52 the very things that I'm sharing with you tonight. 44:55 Then there are the other kind, there are the sincere, 44:58 Godly ministers, that are yet to see these things, 45:01 and I believe God is going to show them and they are 45:04 going to follow it in the end if they are sincere. 45:06 Friends, before it's all over God is going to have 45:09 His people standing on His side. Many people today complain 45:12 that it's hard to be a Christian. 45:14 You show them the will of God and they say "Oh my, it's tough" 45:17 "and I have to go through this, and I have to got through that," 45:20 "and Jesus said bear the cross, and all these things." 45:23 Friends, let me tell you the difference between the cross 45:25 of Jesus and yoke of Satan. When Satan comes to you 45:28 he says "wear my yoke, because boy, it's a pleasure," 45:31 "it's delight, and I'm going to give you all of these things." 45:34 At first when you take Satan's yoke it seems pretty neat 45:36 because he gives you pleasure, he gives you things you want, 45:39 the carnal mind wants, rather. Jesus says "come unto Me" 45:42 "all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." 45:46 "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am" 45:48 "meek and lowly in heart, for My yoke is easy" 45:51 "and My burden is light." When you take the yoke 45:55 of Satan at first it seems easy, but Satan isn't even good 46:01 to his own. You start walking with the yoke 46:03 of Satan and it gets heavier, and heavier, and heavier, 46:08 and eventually it will crush out your life. 46:11 You take the cross of Jesus upon you, and yes, at first 46:14 it might seem difficult because you have to deny 46:16 the carnal nature, but Jesus says "don't you worry," 46:19 "I will give you power to become a son and daughter" 46:21 "of God, I will give you the power to bear that cross", 46:24 and you start walking with the cross of Jesus 46:26 and it gets lighter and lighter till finally you say 46:29 "Lord, what you're asking I want to do anyway." 46:34 That's the difference between the cross of Jesus and the yoke 46:36 of Satan. Revelation 16:16 says: 46:42 [text on screen] 46:49 What does this word "Armageddon" mean? 46:52 Many people who look at this word "Armageddon" 46:54 and they say "Oh, I know what that means, that has to do" 46:57 "with a battle over oil fields in the Middle East." 47:00 They've been reading too many novels if they think that. 47:02 No, it's not a battle over oil fields in the Middle East, 47:05 what does a battle over oil fields in the Middle East 47:08 have to do with your salvation and mine? 47:11 Nothing. God's last day events 47:13 in the book of Revelation, they do not center around oil fields, 47:16 God isn't about the geography, God is concerned about 47:20 people being saved into His kingdom. 47:23 What we see here is that the battle of Armageddon 47:28 has to do with the forces of evil mobilizing against 47:32 the forces of good. It has to do with God's army 47:35 battling with Satan's army, with the followers of both sides 47:38 being involved, that means you and I are going 47:41 to be involved in this battle right here. 47:43 When it comes to this particular verse, it's a little bit 47:47 of a strange verse because it harkens us back 47:50 to the Hebrew tongue. Here's where we get into more 47:53 of the subject tonight. The verse calls us back 47:56 to a Hebrew word for "Armageddon", Hebrew 47:58 is the word for the Old Testament. 48:01 To understand the battle of Armageddon, realize 48:04 that no place now, nor ever has been called "Armageddon". 48:07 Some people think that it comes from 2 Hebrew words, 48:10 [text on screen] 48:12 Some believe that the latter part, "mageddon", 48:16 comes from the word "mageddo". There was a city of Mageddo 48:21 and a Plain of Mageddo, and a Valley of Mageddo, 48:23 but there was no Mount of Mageddo. 48:26 Let's not put that one up yet Cheryl, I'm not there quite yet. 48:30 Let's go back to where we were, there we go. 48:33 The first part "har" means "mountain" or "hill", 48:36 so for it to be the Mount of Mageddo, there seems 48:39 to be something lacking there because there was no 48:43 Mount of Mageddo in the Old Testament. 48:45 Some think that could be, because from the Plain 48:48 of Mageddo there is a mountain off in the distance, 48:51 that's Mount Carmel, so maybe that's the mountain that's 48:54 being talked about, because on that mountain there was 48:57 a tremendous showdown between true and false worship, 49:00 and in the end the showdown is going to be between 49:03 true and false worship, so there could be a plausible connection, 49:06 but there does seem to be a little bit lacking. 49:08 We know that the battle isn't going to be about the literal 49:11 Plain of Mageddo because I've actually been over there 49:14 on the literal Plain of Mageddo, and it's very small 49:17 compared to the armies of this world. 49:19 A lot of people think the armies of this world are going to meet 49:22 in that plain and battle it out. Well, you couldn't even put 49:25 the army of the US in that plain, it's not that big, 49:28 let alone all the other armies of the world. 49:30 So yes, there's a possible connection between Mount Carmel 49:33 where there was a showdown between true and false worship, 49:36 but there might be another explanation, I want to show that 49:39 also to you tonight. Another possible explanation 49:42 to this word "Armageddon" would be that the latter part 49:44 of the word taken from the Hebrew over into the Greek 49:47 would mean "Har Mo'ed", that means "congregation", 49:50 or "assembly". Keep in mind that when you 49:52 take words from one language over into another, 49:55 sometimes letters are added and dropped, so that could 49:58 be the very case here for those who have studied out 50:01 that last word "mo'ed", or that last part "mageddon" 50:03 as the "g" is added to bring it into the Greek language. 50:06 But if it came from these 2 Hebrew words, 50:11 "har" and "mo'ed", the Bible says "in the Hebrew tongue". 50:15 There is only 1 place in the Old Testament where 50:18 those 2 words "Har Mo'ed" are used, and that is 50:21 in Isaiah 14:13. In Isaiah 14:13 Satan made 50:27 a tremendous boast. He said: [text on screen] 50:39 That term, "mount of the congregation" is the term 50:42 "har mo'ed". 50:45 Satan had a desire to reign over God's people, 50:49 he wanted to put himself in God's place, that is only 50:52 the privilege of God, and Satan has always had that desire. 50:56 Down at the end of time Satan still has that desire. 50:59 He wants to put himself upon the mount of the congregation. 51:05 This brings us back to the end of time; in the end of time 51:08 this is the battle to end all battles, there's the forces 51:12 of evil, there's the forces of good, which is really 51:14 the forces of Satan versus the forces of God. 51:17 No other possibility is, that is a showdown 51:19 over worship, that's why we're all going to be involved in it. 51:23 The Bible tells us that this battle goes out to the kings 51:27 of the world, the kings of all the earth, 51:30 so we know it's a worldwide battle. 51:32 Revelation's focus is on the focus in heaven, 51:35 we've covered that already. Many people are trying 51:38 today that it's all about the temple, it's going to be 51:41 the 3rd temple that's going to be built in the Middle East. 51:43 Revelation doesn't focus on a rebuilt temple in 51:46 the Middle East, it focuses on a temple in heaven. 51:49 So again, we know it's a spiritual temple. 51:52 We see that the affects of Armageddon stretch far 51:55 beyond the Middle East. The primary system identified 51:57 and destroyed is spiritual Babylon, not literal Babylon, 52:00 so we realize it's going to be a spiritual battle, 52:03 and we also realize that in Revelation 16 it is the robes 52:06 of righteousness that are at stake, Jesus said: 52:09 "Keep your robe, don't let anyone take your garments away." 52:13 So it's a spiritual battle. When we see this battle 52:17 taking place, can you just imagine it for just a moment 52:20 with me dear friends? All the forces of evil 52:22 mobilizing at the end of time, just like Pharaoh mobilized 52:25 his army with the chariots, and the swords, and what other 52:29 weapons they had, and they raced against Israel, 52:32 and here's Israel with the shepherd, Moses, 52:35 as their leader, they don't have weapons of war, 52:39 they don't have chariots, they don't have anything to battle 52:42 back with, except 1 thing: they had their relationship 52:46 with the Creator, God. 52:48 So it is in the end of time. Satan will come with all 52:51 his forces of evil, they've got the tanks, they've got the guns, 52:53 they've got all these other kinds of great weapons 52:56 of man, but God's people don't need any of those things, 52:59 they only need 1 weapon, and that 1 weapon is their spiritual 53:02 relationship with their Creator, which God will certainly honor. 53:07 But God has weaponry, don't you think? 53:09 Look what it says in the book of Job 38:22. 53:15 The Lord says to Job: [text on screen] 53:29 So God says "Job, have you not seen all the hail I have here?" 53:32 He says: "Job, I've got the hail and I'm reserving it", 53:34 that means He's holding it back, "until the time of trouble." 53:37 Friends, this is the time of trouble right here. 53:40 Now let's see how God releases it. 53:43 Go back to Revelation 16 and we're going to read it out 53:46 to the end. 53:48 Keeping in mind, in essence, Armageddon, tremendous contest 53:51 between Christ and Satan and the followers of both sides 53:54 being involved, and now God is going to pour out 53:57 the heavenly artillery. Revelation 16:17, 54:01 it says: [text on screen] 54:08 Pause there with me for a moment. 54:11 At the creation God said "it is finished", and at the cross 54:14 Jesus said "it is finished", and here at the end God says 54:17 "it is done", which means "My people have suffered enough." 54:21 "Everything that needs to be demonstrated is demonstrated," 54:24 "no more is necessary, I am going to come again", 54:27 and the 7th plague starts to fall. 54:30 Let's keep reading: "And the 7th angel poured out" 54:33 "his vial, into the air and there came a great voice" 54:36 "out of the temple from heaven from the throne, saying," 54:39 "It is done." [text on screen] 54:53 So you can see the calamities that are going on. 54:56 [continues to read] 54:58 Keep in mind, this is spiritual Babylon, not literal Babylon. 55:02 It says: [text on screen] 55:09 You can see what's going on here, can't you? 55:11 It says: [text on screen] 55:15 So all nature is turned out, there's chaos in 55:18 the natural world, and it says: [text on screen] 55:28 I'll get back to that in just a moment, [continues to read] 55:35 When it says that hail came down from heaven the weight 55:38 of a talent, we're talking about 70 pound hail. 55:43 I've seen what little tiny sized hail can do, 55:45 it can damage cars, just little tiny hail; can you imagine 55:49 70 pound hail coming down, that's some kind of artillery 55:52 from heaven. It's going to flatten everything. 55:56 When God sends this artillery, we're in the very last moments 56:01 of time. Jesus is about to come, 56:05 and what do the righteous do at this time? 56:07 They don't have to worry, God's hand is over them. 56:10 A thousand can fall at one side, ten thousand on the other hand, 56:12 but it won't come near God's people. 56:15 They look up with open arms as it says in Isaiah 25:9, 56:18 they say: "Lo, this is our God, and we have waited for Him," 56:21 "lo, this is the Lord and we have waited for Him," 56:23 "and He will save us." Friends, you don't have 56:26 to worry, God is going to be with you during this time. 56:31 It is my prayer for you tonight that you will experience 56:34 that peace as you put your total trust in Him. 56:37 I'd like to have prayer with you as we close tonight 56:39 that we can all put out trust in Jesus in even a deeper way 56:43 after going through this night's subject. 56:46 Father in heaven, once again we can see that the mark 56:49 of the beast is coming, the image to the beast, 56:51 the time of trouble, all of these things are foretold 56:54 in Scripture, but we don't have to worry, for we have 56:57 a great God, and a great savior on our side 57:01 If God be for us, who can be against us? 57:04 So Lord, what we really ask tonight is for a greater faith, 57:07 and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word 57:10 of God, so help us to be students of Your word, 57:13 and help us to be living out which we learned, 57:15 putting into practical application the things 57:18 that we know are right. Help us to be building 57:21 the muscles of faith, even now, in the little things, 57:23 for Jesus said "he that is faithful in little will be" 57:26 "faithful also in much." Knowing this, we don't have 57:29 to worry about that time, for we know that You will give us 57:32 the courage that is necessary if we are faithful to Thee now. 57:36 So bless each one of us now and we thank You for this time 57:39 we could spend together in Your word. 57:41 Bring us back together again soon, we pray in Jesus' 57:44 wonderful name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17