Announcer:
Revelation. The time of the end.
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Mysterious signs.
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Strange happenings.
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Confusing numbers.
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Are we facing a new world
order and the mark of the beast?
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Are we living on a
planet in upheaval?
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Are we on the
verge of Armageddon?
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Revelation, what do all the
signs in this mysterious book
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mean? Discover real answers.
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Revelation Speaks
Peace, with Shawn Boonstra.
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+
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Good evening, everybody. It is
time for our questions. "What is
a miracle in our days at
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church?" Well, that's a good
question. People often say,
"Where are the miracles?" Well,
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one of the observations that I
would make is that you know,
when you read the Bible, you see
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miracle after miracle after
miracle after miracle, but what
you have to remember is that
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they take place over 1500 years,
1500 years. Now, do miracles
take place? Sure, they do. Now,
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I can't bring you with me to
where I was. There's never a
video camera when it happens.
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I've seen people miraculously
healed, instantaneously. I have
seen it with my eyes. I have
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seen the electricity come on in
a building that was disconnected
from the grid when they needed
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it desperately in an emergency
situation. They prayed and boom,
there was electricity. It
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doesn't make sense. There is no.
I've seen them. But I have a
couple of cautions. First of
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all, as we just saw in the other
question, don't place all the
emphasis on the miraculous all
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the time, because you almost
encourage people to base
everything on whether or not a
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miracle takes place. And for
some people, they come to Jesus
and they have an experience with
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God that's very miraculous and
dramatic. But for other people,
it happens gradually over time,
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and it's not quite so dramatic.
And sometimes, when we
overemphasize the miraculous all
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the time, the people who didn't
have something dramatic happen,
wonder, "What about me?" That
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happened to me as a kid. I heard
all these people saying, "I saw
an angel," and I never saw an
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angel, and I thought, "Well,
what's wrong with me?" Right?
It's important that we don't do
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it. Now, do miracles take place?
Yes, they do. But let me point
this out. This room is
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full of them, because the
greatest miracle in the universe
is a heart changed by Jesus
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Christ. There's a miracle
standing on this stage right
now. If you would have met me 26
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years ago, you would have said,
"There is not a chance that boy
will be in heaven. There is not
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a chance he'd be a preacher."
Some of my relatives never knew
I became a preacher. We lost
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them before that. I can't wait
for heaven and say, "Guess what,
Granddad? I became a preacher."
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He'd probably fall over. Our
topic tonight, the four horsemen
of the apocalypse. We're going
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to look at Revelation chapter 6,
and we're going to move very
quickly. We're going to go
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through the whole chapter. And
that means we're going to have
to move fast, because I want you
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to see the whole prophecy,
because in Revelation chapter 6,
we kind of see the way that
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prophecy is structured. A lot of
the key prophecies in Revelation
are structured like this, and in
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the book of Daniel. Now,
Revelation chapter 6 is a
chapter that not many people
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study anymore in its entirety.
Some people take pieces out of
it, but not many people read it
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in its entirety. A generation
ago, or several generations ago,
it was the topic of hot
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discussion; everybody was into
it. But tonight, I want to show
you the whole chapter, because
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it's very, very important for
understanding the rest of the
book of Revelation. I really do
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want you to see it. But I know,
because we're going to move
quickly, as we go through each
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section of that chapter, we'll
only have time to touch on the
highlights, and I will leave as
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many questions unanswered as I
answered. I don't have much
choice in it. So I'm going to
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ask you tonight to be patient
with me, because in time, the
rest of it will all flesh out as
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we look at all of the other
prophecies. So would you do
that? Will you be patient with
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me tonight? No? Well, okay,
we're going to do it anyway. I
mean, it wouldn't matter - let's
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pray. Father in heaven, again, I
consider it such a thrill to
open the Bible. Here is the
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Voice of our Almighty God and
Creator. And we have an audience
with You. And I know how
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radically this Book changed my
life, because it shows Jesus.
And I'm asking again tonight
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that it would change my life
again, that I would become more
like Jesus because of the time
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we spent here. Lord, may we all
hear Your Voice tonight. Forgive
my sin; make me fit to speak.
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And we covenant with You that
when You do speak to our hearts,
we will follow, for we pray it
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in Jesus' name, amen. Tonight,
I'm going to take you back to
the very beginning of the book
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of Revelation and review
something we began to look at
last night, because it is very
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important: Revelation 1 verse 1.
It says: "The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave
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unto Him, to show His servants
things which must [when?]
shortly come to pass." Now, this
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is very important. God is
showing John things that are
going to happen in the future,
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but when do they begin
happening? God says they'll
begin happening shortly, which
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tells me, the prophecies found
in the book of Revelation were
already beginning their
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fulfilment back in John's day.
So while the book of Revelation
is about the future, it's not
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just about our future. Sometimes
we get very self-absorbed and we
say, "Oh, this is all about the
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last generation and it's all
about us." It is about the
future, but it was also about
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John's future, which means that
some of what's in Revelation has
already been fulfilled. The
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fulfilment begins in John's day,
and that's actually part of the
way that the prophecies of the
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book of Revelation are
structured. Some of it has
already happened. And one place
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that you can see that in detail
is in the prophecy of the seven
churches in Revelation chapters
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2 and 3. Now, I'm about to do
something that will frustrate
the daylights out of you: I'm
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going to cover Revelation
chapters 2 and 3 in three
minutes. Here we go. It's not
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really our topic tonight, but in
the beginning of Revelation,
there are seven letters to seven
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churches. They were real places
in Asia Minor. They're addressed
to real people in real churches
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that existed in the first
century, and they deal with
issues in those first-century
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churches. But, students of Bible
prophecy over the centuries have
noticed something very
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remarkable about those seven
letters. Those seven letters,
while they addressed real things
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in the first century, also
happened to describe the history
of the Christian church through
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the centuries absolutely
perfectly. So the letter to
Ephesus - it's the desirable
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church - mirrors what actually
happened in the early apostolic
church in its purity. The letter
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to Smyrna - the word "myrrh" is
in there, the fragrance that you
get by crushing the plant. The
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word "crushed" is in there. It
mirrors what happens as
Christians are persecuted by the
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early pagan Roman empire. You've
got the letter to Pergamos,
which mirrors a church that
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begins to fragment. As we move
down through history, it begins
to fragment and become weaker
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because people begin to
compromise on the truths of the
Bible. You've got Thyatira, a
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time when we slip into the Dark
Ages, and Christians - we know
this - really started to
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misbehave and do some things
that we should not be too proud
of. You've got Sardis, which
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seems to mirror what happens, as
the church now moves into the
1500s and the 1600s, and people
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begin to proclaim truths from
the Word of God again. And then
you've got the church of
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Philadelphia, the church of
brotherly love, which mirrors
what happens when we move into
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the 1700s and the 1800s, when
you have the first and second
great awakenings, and there's a
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revival in Bible societies, and
a revival in missionary
societies, and the preaching of
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the gospel, and the preaching of
the second coming. And then
you've got Laodicea, the seventh
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church, that the Bible describes
as a last-day lukewarm
Christianity, which Paul says,
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professes godliness, but not the
power thereof. Now, I just
covered Revelation chapter 2 and
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3 irresponsibly. We covered it
in, like, three minutes. But
what's interesting, there is
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universal agreement on this.
This one, you can go and look
at, and we may have a chance to
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look at it again. What we have
in Christianity is almost
universal agreement that these
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letters describe the first
century, but they also describe
the whole sweep of Christian
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history. Seven churches - the
number of completion - showing
the whole span of Christian
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history, and it does it somehow
in advance. The descriptions fit
perfectly. And that shows us how
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the book of Revelation is
actually structured. The
prophecies begin fulfilment
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shortly, John is told. All the
way back in John's day, and then
they move down through the
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history of the world. It's like
the statue in Daniel 2. It
begins in Daniel's day in
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Babylon, and then it goes,
Persia, Greece, Rome, divided
Roman empire, second coming of
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Christ. The general pattern you
find in prophecy - and you're
going to see this happen many,
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many times as we study together
- the prophecy usually begins in
the day of the prophet, in his
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moment, and then carries you all
the way down to the end of time.
Now, one thing that we looked at
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last night is the number seven.
Seven was the number of
completion, of perfection. So
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there were seven churches.
Tonight, we're going to see
seven seals. There are seven
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trumpets, there are seven
thunders, there are seven
plagues. It's one of God's
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numbers. It's the number of
completion and perfection. And
that's a principle that we
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already learned last night. So
let me give you a new one for
tonight. We kind of already
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mentioned it. Bible prophecy
often repeats the same story
from a different perspective.
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You're going to see that this
coming weekend. We're going to
get into Daniel chapter 8, and
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what you're going to discover is
that Daniel 8 goes over much of
the same ground as Daniel 2, but
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it adds new and interesting
details, and it expands on the
subject, because God is a Master
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Teacher, and like any good
teacher, He always repeats the
subject material several times,
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adds more detail, and looks at
it from another angle. And
tonight, you're going to find
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out, that's actually how
Revelation chapter 6 works. This
is going to come as a surprise
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to many in our generation, but
what I'm about to show you is
what Christians understood for
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1800 years. It repeats what we
just looked at so quickly in
Revelation 2 and 3, and it shows
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us world history from another
perspective. So now it's time to
look at it. Are you ready to
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look at Revelation chapter 6,
yes or no? Only three people.
I'm done. Are you ready to look
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at Revelation chapter, yes or
no? Wow, now I have to do it.
What does the number seven
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represent? Completion,
perfection, it's God's number.
Four horsemen of the apocalypse.
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Last night, we looked at
Revelation chapter 5 very
quickly, and we followed John
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into the throne room of God in
vision. It's an incredible
scene, if you remember. There's
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God on the throne with a scroll
in His hand, sealed with seven
seals. And the angels cry out,
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"Who is worthy to open the
scroll?" and they can't find
anybody until the slain Lamb of
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God appears, Jesus Christ. And
He takes that scroll. And
tonight, in Revelation chapter
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6, the Lamb of God takes the
scroll and He begins to open the
seals one by one. And as Jesus
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opens those seals, He reveals
what is actually now possible
for His people because He gave
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His life at the cross of
Calvary. And as Jesus opens
those seals, I have to warn you
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in advance, that He's about to
show us a very honest picture of
the future, including a very
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honest picture of Christians,
including our best moments and
some of our not-so-good moments.
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You know, it's one of the things
that I love about God: the Bible
is not a piece of propaganda. I
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hear critics say, "Ooh,
religious propaganda." It's not
very good propaganda if that's
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what it is because God tells the
unvarnished truth about His
people. Noah got drunk. Moses
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murdered somebody. David
committed adultery. It's not
very good propaganda if it's
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propaganda. God tells the truth
about His people. In the Old
Testament, it's the story of
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Israel, and He tells the good
parts when Israel is on track,
and he tells the truth about
00:14:06.71\00:14:11.48
when Israel is not on track. God
tells us the truth. And now
tonight, God's going to tell us
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the truth about His New
Testament people. He's going to
show both sides of the story.
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He's going to show us when we're
behaving really well, and He's
going to show us when we're not.
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Would you like to look at that?
You're sure about that, now? No?
Buckle your seatbelts; let's get
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started. Revelation 6 and verse
1: "Now I saw when the Lamb
opened one of the seals, and I
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heard one of the four living
creatures saying with a voice
like thunder, 'Come and see.'"
00:14:42.38\00:14:47.18
Do you see it? It's not a big
mystery. God loves to show us
things; that's why it's called
00:14:47.28\00:14:51.29
Revelation. "Come on, have a
look. I've got something that I
want to show you." Verse 2: "And
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I looked, and behold, a white
horse. He Who sat on it had a
bow, and a crown was given to
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Him, and He went out, conquering
and to conquer." It's a guy on a
white horse. What in the world
00:15:02.73\00:15:09.04
is He conquering and why is the
horse white? Now, if you look
through the book of Revelation,
00:15:09.14\00:15:12.91
you'll find that colour white is
repeated again and again and
again and again and again. In
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Revelation 1, Jesus has white
hair. In Revelation 2, the
faithful are promised a white
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stone. In Revelation 3, the
faithful have white clothing,
white garments. In Revelation 4,
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the elders in heaven are dressed
in white. In Revelation 6, the
martyrs are given white robes to
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wear. In Revelation 7, the great
multitude that John sees that
nobody can number - dressed in
00:15:34.13\00:15:39.77
white. Revelation 14, Jesus
comes back on a white cloud. In
Revelation 19, Jesus rides a
00:15:39.87\00:15:48.08
white horse. Revelation chapter
20, God is seated on a white
throne. White is all through the
00:15:48.18\00:15:55.22
book. What does it mean? Well,
remember now, John borrows
two-thirds of the language in
00:15:55.32\00:16:00.52
Revelation from the rest of the
Bible. So how is that symbol,
the colour white, used in the
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rest of the Bible? One of the
most prevalent places you find
it is in Isaiah chapter 1 and
00:16:07.56\00:16:13.20
verse 18. "'Come now,'" it says,
"'let us reason together,' says
the Lord. 'Though your sins are
00:16:13.30\00:16:19.44
like scarlet, they shall be
white as snow; though they are
red like crimson, they shall be
00:16:19.54\00:16:29.12
as wool.'" The opposite of
white, in the Bible, is red.
Scarlet is the colour of blood.
00:16:29.22\00:16:36.56
It's the colour of warfare. It's
the colour of fire. It's the
colour of death. And most
00:16:36.66\00:16:41.73
importantly, it is the colour of
sin and impurity. But when sin
and impurity are done away with,
00:16:41.83\00:16:47.34
white becomes the colour of
forgiveness and purity. This is
why, to this day, it's a
00:16:47.44\00:16:54.64
cultural hangover. It's come
down through the generations. To
this day, a lady going to her
00:16:54.74\00:16:59.35
wedding will still put on a
white dress to symbolize purity,
although in the twenty-first
00:16:59.45\00:17:06.59
century, probably more of us
should put on beige at our
weddings. I mean, it's just -
00:17:06.69\00:17:10.53
times have changed. But purity
is white. That's why we still go
through that motion. In
00:17:10.63\00:17:17.03
Revelation chapter 12, you find
this woman dressed in white. And
she's a symbol of God's
00:17:17.13\00:17:23.77
perfect forgiven church. Well,
how do I know a woman represents
a church? It's really quite
00:17:23.87\00:17:28.48
simple. In Ephesians chapter 5,
Paul compares the relationship
of Christ and His church to a
00:17:28.58\00:17:35.15
husband and a wife. The church
is called the bride of Christ.
In Ezekiel 16, God calls Israel
00:17:35.25\00:17:41.66
His bride. In Jeremiah chapter
6, God says, "I have compared
the daughter of Zion to a lovely
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and delicate woman." That's His
love for us. We're His wife. And
in Revelation 12 - we'll look at
00:17:48.46\00:17:55.90
this in a coming night - there's
a pure woman dressed in white.
It's God's pure people. This is
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why the horse is white. It's a
picture of the first-century
apostolic church. The fire of
00:18:01.61\00:18:07.45
the gospel message is still
alive in the early believers'
hearts. These are people, some
00:18:07.55\00:18:11.95
of them had actually talked to
Jesus, or they had talked to the
disciples. They knew the gospel
00:18:12.05\00:18:18.26
message first-hand. They knew
their mission; they knew their
purpose; they knew their
00:18:18.36\00:18:23.13
calling. And they were so
passionate about Jesus, that
they went out to conquer the
00:18:23.23\00:18:29.07
world with the gospel message.
Jesus said to them, "I want you
to go from this place and go to
00:18:29.17\00:18:34.74
the outermost parts of the
earth," and they took it
seriously. They went out on
00:18:34.84\00:18:40.35
foot. And they did it without
email; they did it without
Facebook; they did it without -
00:18:40.45\00:18:46.12
they didn't even have a fax
machine. They went on foot. And
they were so successful in a
00:18:46.22\00:18:52.89
single generation, that Paul was
able to talk about a gospel
which had been preached to every
00:18:52.99\00:18:58.27
creature under heaven already in
his day. Wow, they conquered the
world. How do you think the
00:18:58.37\00:19:06.41
devil felt about that? He fails
to conquer Jesus at the cross.
He fails there. Jesus rises from
00:19:06.51\00:19:14.22
the dead, He goes back up into
heaven, and now the devil -
we're going to see this when we
00:19:14.32\00:19:19.39
get to Revelation 12, it
describes it - he turns his
wrath against the Christian
00:19:19.49\00:19:23.53
church. He says, "I've got to
stop them from spreading the
truth." So he creates trouble
00:19:23.63\00:19:30.03
for the Christians. And now
another horse rides onto the
scene, verse 3: "When he opened
00:19:30.13\00:19:36.04
the second seal, I heard the
second living creature say,
'Come and see.' Another horse,
00:19:36.14\00:19:42.51
fiery red, went out, and it was
granted to the one who sat on it
to take peace from the earth,
00:19:42.61\00:19:49.35
and that people should kill one
another; and there was given to
him a great sword." White, the
00:19:49.45\00:19:55.12
colour of purity. Still is to
this day. Red, the colour of
impurity and sin, but also the
00:19:55.22\00:20:00.53
colour of bloodshed, warfare,
death. The Bible says that peace
would be taken from the earth,
00:20:00.63\00:20:07.57
and that is historically exactly
what happened. Suddenly, the
wrath of the pagan Roman empire
00:20:07.67\00:20:13.68
falls on the Christian church.
The Romans grew to hate the
Christians. Now, in the very
00:20:13.78\00:20:19.88
beginning, they didn't pay any
mind to the Christians because,
for the most part, Romans
00:20:19.98\00:20:24.45
practiced religious liberty. You
could believe whatever you
wanted. They left you alone. But
00:20:24.55\00:20:30.16
eventually, for some reason, the
Romans suddenly turned against
the Christians. And you probably
00:20:30.26\00:20:35.80
remember this from high school,
if you weren't sleeping in
history class in high school.
00:20:35.90\00:20:41.44
Nero burned the city down one
day, or he had one of his
associates burn the city of Rome
00:20:41.54\00:20:46.21
down. He lights a fire because
he needs to make way for some of
his building projects. But he
00:20:46.31\00:20:52.68
can't admit that he lit it, and
so they blame the Christians. So
they start rounding up the
00:20:52.78\00:20:57.92
Christians and they throw them
into the arena. This is where
the stories of throwing
00:20:58.02\00:21:01.66
Christians to the lions come. A
Roman by the name of Tacitus, he
recorded, they rounded up the
00:21:01.76\00:21:07.60
Christians. They actually sewed
them in animal skins, threw them
in the arena, and turned packs
00:21:07.66\00:21:13.00
of wild dogs loose on them to
rip them limb from limb. Nero
lit the circus on one occasion
00:21:13.10\00:21:19.81
by dipping Christians in tar,
crucifying them, and then
lighting them on fire to light
00:21:19.91\00:21:25.05
the games at night. It was an
awful time to be alive. Peter,
crucified upside-down. John,
00:21:25.15\00:21:31.25
boiled in oil by demission. This
is an awful time to be a
believer. The Roman empire
00:21:31.35\00:21:37.59
suddenly hates Christian
believers, and it's from this
period of history that we have
00:21:37.69\00:21:42.03
some of the most remarkable
stories of Christian faith. I
think of a guy by the name of
00:21:42.13\00:21:48.20
Polycarp. Polycarp was a
disciple of John, who wrote the
book of Revelation. So two
00:21:48.30\00:21:54.14
steps removed from Jesus
Himself. He's actually the
bishop of Ephesus after John.
00:21:54.24\00:22:00.05
And at one point, they go and
round him up because the Roman
empire is getting rid of
00:22:00.15\00:22:03.82
Christians. And they take him to
the stake to be burned alive.
And there's a Roman official who
00:22:03.92\00:22:11.59
can't make sense of this. He
says to Polycarp, "Look, this
doesn't make sense. You are
00:22:11.69\00:22:15.13
already old. Why don't you just
renounce Christ and you can
live? Just go through the
00:22:15.23\00:22:20.94
motions. Just say you renounce
Him. You can go back to your
business as usual tomorrow."
00:22:21.04\00:22:24.71
"Just renounce Him. What's the
point of dying like this?"
History tells us he stood up
00:22:24.81\00:22:30.91
tall. "Eighty-six years," he
said, "I have served Him. He's
done me no wrong; how can I
00:22:31.01\00:22:37.75
blaspheme my King Who saved me?"
Once you know Jesus, you're not
really afraid of much. Why?
00:22:37.85\00:22:49.10
Because we have the sure word of
prophecy. We know the future.
It's already written. I
00:22:49.20\00:22:54.14
understand that God's going to
take care of it all. Even if I
have to die, it's going to be
00:22:54.24\00:22:59.64
okay. I'm going to be in the
kingdom of Christ. Let me ask
you tonight, if it came down to
00:22:59.74\00:23:04.65
that, would you be okay? They
lit the fires. He stood tall in
the flames. It's the period of
00:23:04.75\00:23:12.09
the red horse. Peace is taken
from the earth. The bloodshed is
absolutely unbelievable. And
00:23:12.19\00:23:16.99
these people were willing to die
so that you and I would have a
copy of the scriptures that we
00:23:17.09\00:23:21.53
can freely read tonight. If they
weren't willing to make those
kinds of sacrifices, we
00:23:21.63\00:23:25.87
wouldn't be having this seminar.
At the council of Nicea, after
the persecution is finished in
00:23:25.97\00:23:32.21
325 A.D., history tells us that
every single delegate, every
single Christian delegate who
00:23:32.31\00:23:38.05
showed up at that council, was
maimed somehow. Eye missing,
limb missing, burn marks on
00:23:38.15\00:23:44.25
their body. One of the bloodiest
periods of history. But I'm
telling you that persecution
00:23:44.35\00:23:49.26
failed to conquer Christianity,
because the love of God will
always outweigh the force of the
00:23:49.36\00:23:55.03
devil. Love always beats force.
It's one of the key differences
between the kingdom of God and
00:23:55.13\00:24:00.07
the kingdom of darkness. One is
based on love and loyalty and a
relationship; the other one is
00:24:00.17\00:24:07.68
built on deception and
manipulation and force. They
tried to wipe them out, but they
00:24:07.78\00:24:15.78
could not extinguish the light
of the gospel. A church father
by the name of Tertullian made
00:24:15.88\00:24:20.46
the observation, "The harder
they try to wipe us out, the
faster the gospel grows." He
00:24:20.56\00:24:25.89
said, "The blood of martyrs is
the seed of the church." He said
it's like mowing the lawn: every
00:24:25.99\00:24:30.87
time you cut it, it comes back
thicker and stronger. Tertullian
said, "Every time they kill a
00:24:30.97\00:24:35.37
Christian, there are twenty new
ones to take his place."
Couldn't extinguish it. Now, the
00:24:35.47\00:24:41.74
big question, why did they hate
us? They accepted, the Romans
accepted every religion under
00:24:41.84\00:24:46.21
the face of the sun - all of
them. Everything else was fine,
except for Christianity.
00:24:46.31\00:24:51.42
Starting to sound familiar
again. Why the attack on
Christians? It's because
00:24:51.52\00:24:56.79
Christians, especially as we get
into the 300s, would not
acknowledge the Caesar as a god.
00:24:56.89\00:25:04.73
Every other religion just rolled
Caesar into their list of gods.
"Okay, we can do that." But
00:25:04.83\00:25:10.21
Christians only have one God.
Nobody really believed the
Caesar was a god. Nobody really
00:25:10.31\00:25:16.11
did, especially those who went
to school with him as a kid,
right? Like, "He's not a god."
00:25:16.21\00:25:20.62
But symbolically, he represented
the unity and the safety of an
empire. If you have a massive
00:25:20.72\00:25:26.32
empire full of conquered people,
you have to have something that
holds it together. And so they
00:25:26.42\00:25:30.06
said the Caesar was the
embodiment of Roma, the goddess
of Rome. So you could believe
00:25:30.16\00:25:35.36
whatever you wanted to believe.
You could do whatever you wanted
to do, but the Romans didn't
00:25:35.46\00:25:38.73
want anything that would
threaten that unity. So all you
had to do was show up once a
00:25:38.83\00:25:42.30
year, offer a pinch of incense
to the emperor. That's it.
That's it. And under one
00:25:42.40\00:25:48.68
emperor, they even issued a
certificate to prove that you'd
done it. Here's your
00:25:48.78\00:25:52.25
certificate. Only one group was
exempt: it was the Jews, because
they were considered a state
00:25:52.35\00:25:59.12
religion and they had helped
Julius Caesar once upon a time,
and he's given them all sorts of
00:25:59.22\00:26:02.99
legal protections. All they had
to do was offer to pray for the
emperor. And in the beginning,
00:26:03.09\00:26:07.60
they figured Christians were
just another Jewish sect. But as
it became obvious that there was
00:26:07.66\00:26:12.60
a rift forming between them and
it was different, the Christians
didn't have a state religion,
00:26:12.70\00:26:16.50
and they didn't fall under the
protection, so they had no
exemption to offering incense to
00:26:16.60\00:26:21.31
the emperor. None at all. And it
was worse than that. They're
considered a problem because
00:26:21.41\00:26:26.08
they just don't fit into the
culture, right? They didn't want
to go to the hospital half the
00:26:26.18\00:26:30.95
time, the Christians, because if
the hospital was dedicated to
Aesculapius, Asclepius,
00:26:31.05\00:26:36.06
depending on how you spell and
pronounce it - he was the snake
god. He was the one in charge of
00:26:36.16\00:26:42.10
health and recovery. It's
actually the reason we still
have a symbol on medical
00:26:42.20\00:26:46.10
buildings that's sort of a stick
with a snake twined around it.
Some people say, "Isn't that
00:26:46.20\00:26:50.81
from Moses?" No, no, it's from
the Romans. Now, perfectly safe
to go to your doctor. He's not
00:26:50.91\00:26:55.34
going to do what happened in the
Roman hospital. I don't want you
to get too uptight. But back in
00:26:55.44\00:27:00.32
those days, the priest of
Asclepius, the serpent god,
would actually come into your
00:27:00.42\00:27:04.79
room and involve you in a
religious rite. And Christians
didn't feel comfortable with
00:27:04.89\00:27:09.12
that. They weren't comfortable
in the Roman schools because the
Roman schools taught every god
00:27:09.22\00:27:14.36
but the true One, and they
actually taught alternate
theories of where the human race
00:27:14.46\00:27:19.17
comes from. Christians weren't
comfortable with the
entertainment of the day in the
00:27:19.27\00:27:23.84
Roman empire. Why? Because it
was immoral and it was violent
and they didn't want to
00:27:23.94\00:27:28.08
participate. When the Romans put
on a play and it called for a
death scene, they went down to
00:27:28.18\00:27:32.85
the jail and got a condemned
criminal, and they actually
slayed the criminal on the stage
00:27:32.95\00:27:37.95
so the art would be very
realistic. We roll our eyes,
"Oh, that is so barbaric. They
00:27:38.05\00:27:44.06
only did it that way because
they didn't have our computer
graphics." We do it too. The
00:27:44.16\00:27:50.00
Christians stuck out like a sore
thumb. Rumours started to
spread. "You know they're
00:27:50.10\00:27:55.40
cannibals. They eat flesh and
drink blood. We heard they eat
the body and drink the blood."
00:27:55.50\00:27:59.91
Took the communion service, blew
it out of proportion. "They're
incestuous. They call each other
00:28:00.08\00:28:05.65
'brother' and 'sister' but they
have agape love feasts. They
meet in secret. What really goes
00:28:05.75\00:28:11.49
on there?" Well, they had to
meet in secret; they were being
persecuted. Eventually everybody
00:28:11.59\00:28:14.89
hates the Christians. It's the
period of the red horse. It
comes to a peak in 303 A.D. when
00:28:15.06\00:28:20.46
Diocletian, the emperor, is
goaded on by his junior emperor
Galerius to ban Christianity in
00:28:20.56\00:28:27.64
the empire. They're all of a
sudden dismissed from their jobs
in the civil service and in the
00:28:27.74\00:28:31.41
army everywhere and they're
persecuted. It's the red horse.
But it doesn't last forever.
00:28:31.51\00:28:36.31
Revelation 6 verse 5: "When He
opened the third seal, I heard
the third living creature say,
00:28:36.41\00:28:41.45
'Come and see.' So I looked, and
behold, a black horse; and he
who sat on it had a pair of
00:28:41.55\00:28:47.22
scales in his hand." The guy on
this horse has scales. He's
measuring something out. What is
00:28:47.32\00:28:52.73
it? Well, this is one of the
passages in the Bible that makes
me squirm as a Christian because
00:28:52.83\00:28:57.33
it tells the truth about our
history. Here it comes. Verse 6:
"And I heard a voice in the
00:28:57.43\00:29:03.10
midst of the four living
creatures saying, 'A quart of
wheat for a denarius [that's a
00:29:03.20\00:29:07.34
day's wages]. Three quarts of
barley for a denarius. Do not
harm the oil and the wine.'"
00:29:07.44\00:29:14.15
This moves us into the next
period of history, and this is a
remarkable story. Something
00:29:14.25\00:29:19.59
takes place just outside the
city of Rome. Diocletian, the
persecutor, he retires in 305
00:29:19.69\00:29:25.56
A.D., but he leaves behind a
system with four emperors: two
senior ones, east and west, and
00:29:25.66\00:29:30.40
junior ones, east and west. And
he retires. He goes - he's one
of the first to ever go into
00:29:30.50\00:29:36.37
retirement. And the four
emperors start to fight. They
fight it out. And suddenly,
00:29:36.47\00:29:41.31
there's a fifth emperor, because
a guy who felt displaced - his
name was Maxentius - his dad had
00:29:41.41\00:29:46.35
been an emperor, but he got
overlooked, so he went to Rome
and he talked the senate into
00:29:46.45\00:29:50.32
making him an emperor. And the
senate was thrilled because they
hadn't declared an emperor in
00:29:50.42\00:29:54.79
generations. The army always did
it. "Yeah, we'll help." So now
he's the fifth emperor.
00:29:54.89\00:29:59.69
Constantine is one of the
genuine ones. He's living up in
northern Europe - Britain, Gaul,
00:29:59.79\00:30:06.20
modern-day France - and he finds
out about Maxentius. He has to
deal with it, so he comes riding
00:30:06.30\00:30:10.97
into town, and he's going to
take Maxentius out of Rome. And
everybody in Rome is nervous.
00:30:11.07\00:30:16.08
"Constantine's a great warrior.
We don't really know how good
Maxentius is. And Constantine's
00:30:16.18\00:30:21.92
coming," and everybody's getting
nervous. And Maxentius tries to
call everybody down. So, like
00:30:22.02\00:30:27.69
Belshazzar, he throws a party.
He does. He has games. "Let's
have chariot races," and so
00:30:27.79\00:30:33.43
there's a chariot race. Now,
Maxentius was hiding inside the
city. He didn't want to go out
00:30:33.53\00:30:38.30
in the field and fight. He knew
if he hid inside, the city was
nice and strong. Constantine
00:30:38.40\00:30:42.64
sent people into the games. They
were sitting in the audience.
And after one race was done,
00:30:42.74\00:30:47.21
somebody yells out, "Hey,
Maxentius, you're a big old
chicken, aren't you?" That's my
00:30:47.31\00:30:50.81
modern translation of what they
actually said. "You're a coward.
You won't go out and fight him."
00:30:50.91\00:30:57.09
Another one says, "Yeah, that's
true. You're a coward." It goes
viral all over the stadium. Now
00:30:57.19\00:31:00.99
he's gotta go out and fight. So
he goes to the soothsayers,
says, "Are there anything in the
00:31:01.09\00:31:06.19
old Roman books about this?" And
they look and they say, "Ooh, we
have a prophecy. The enemy of
00:31:06.29\00:31:11.20
Rome is going to die tomorrow."
"Oh good, Constantine's going to
die tomorrow." Boosts
00:31:11.30\00:31:15.74
everybody's spirits. Somebody
runs outside the city to
Constantine. "Hey, they got a
00:31:15.84\00:31:19.77
prophecy, says that they're
going to win." And Constantine's
soldiers are down in the mouth
00:31:19.87\00:31:24.41
now. "Oh, ah, and here we are,
attacking the eternal city.
Rome, it's like attacking your
00:31:24.51\00:31:30.92
mom, and they've got a prophecy.
We're going to lose."
Constantine says, "I've gotta
00:31:31.02\00:31:34.32
come up with a sign too. We need
something." So he gives them a
sign. He gives them the Chi-Rho.
00:31:34.42\00:31:40.03
It's the letter X, C. It's like
our C-H in - letter R. It looks
like a P, but it's like the
00:31:40.13\00:31:46.84
letter R. The first two letters
in the Latin word for victory,
"chrestus," but it's also the
00:31:46.94\00:31:50.67
first two letters in the name of
Jesus, "christus." Constantine's
mom was a Christian. Constantine
00:31:50.77\00:31:59.25
was not. They go to war the next
day, October 28. Constantine
00:31:59.35\00:32:04.49
wins. Fascinating story - but we
don't have all night - about how
it happens. He credits the
00:32:04.59\00:32:08.96
Christian God for the victory.
He says, "Look at that. I had
all the soldiers paint that sign
00:32:09.06\00:32:12.16
on their shields, and we won.
The Christian God must be real."
Actually, about a decade later,
00:32:12.26\00:32:18.10
he embellishes the story. He's
at a party celebrating his
reign, and he says, "Actually,
00:32:18.20\00:32:22.07
what actually happened, I saw
that sign superimposed on the
sun, and I heard a voice saying,
00:32:22.17\00:32:26.98
'Go conquer in the sign of the
cross.'" "God told me to take
Rome in the name of the cross."
00:32:27.08\00:32:32.35
And he - nominally, he converts
to Christianity. Nominally,
because he refuses to get
00:32:32.45\00:32:36.82
baptized until he's on his
deathbed. He won't do it, and he
still murders some of the
00:32:36.92\00:32:40.89
members of his family. But
nominally, he converts. And he
gives the Lateran Palace to the
00:32:40.99\00:32:45.53
bishop of Rome. "Here's a gift
for you." He'd been living in a
shack on the other side of the
00:32:45.63\00:32:49.40
Tiber River right up to that
point. He builds a basilica to
Saint Peter on the Vatican
00:32:49.50\00:32:53.90
Mountain. The first Saint
Peter's Basilica. The pillars of
that are still down in the
00:32:54.00\00:32:58.61
basement of the modern Saint
Peter's, which was built in the
1500s. From this point on,
00:32:58.71\00:33:04.85
Constantine tries to make the
entire empire Christian, or he
pushes it that way. He meets
00:33:04.95\00:33:09.58
with Diocletian, who comes back
out of retirement, and in 313
A.D., they issue the edict of
00:33:09.68\00:33:15.06
Milan, and the persecution
stops. They give all the lands
and buildings back to the
00:33:15.16\00:33:20.20
Christians. Now Christianity is
popular. And for the first time,
00:33:20.30\00:33:25.83
people are seeking positions in
the Christian church, not
because they love Jesus, but
00:33:25.93\00:33:29.87
because of the prestige it gives
them in the city of Rome and
across the Roman empire. There's
00:33:29.97\00:33:34.31
even - there is even one story -
we're not sure if it's entirely
true - where Constantine takes
00:33:34.41\00:33:39.38
some of his soldiers - it does
illustrate the spirit of the
time - he marches his soldiers
00:33:39.48\00:33:43.72
through the Tiber River, and
they come out the other side
dripping wet, and he says,
00:33:43.82\00:33:47.49
"There, now you're all baptized
Christians." You know what you
get if you march a hundred
00:33:47.59\00:33:52.46
pagans through a river, right?
You get wet pagans, that's what
you get, because you can't
00:33:52.56\00:33:57.60
choose Jesus for somebody else.
You know what happens in the
church? People are joining
00:33:57.70\00:34:03.17
because there are benefits,
social benefits. You can climb
the social ladder faster if you
00:34:03.27\00:34:07.88
join the church. So some people
are starting to join it, but
they don't really mean it. But
00:34:07.98\00:34:12.05
you also have people that mean
it. They love Jesus. They want
to live a Biblical Christianity.
00:34:12.15\00:34:15.95
And you get this uncomfortable
mix in the church. Some are
sincere, others are not. A
00:34:16.05\00:34:21.96
blend. And what happens is, that
some of the passion that
happened in the early church to
00:34:22.06\00:34:26.26
make it go and conquer the
world, begins to disappear
because now for the very first
00:34:26.36\00:34:32.43
time, Christians are
comfortable. And a comfortable
Christianity is never really a
00:34:32.53\00:34:35.00
good thing. Something begins to
happen as the years go by. The
church begins to fight inside of
00:34:35.10\00:34:41.81
itself. People who are part of
the new, comfortable
Christianity actually start to
00:34:41.91\00:34:46.72
resent people who try to live by
the dictates of the Bible alone.
And the people who want to
00:34:46.82\00:34:51.35
follow the Bible are pushed to
the margins of Christianity. And
in Constantine's world,
00:34:51.45\00:34:56.59
eventually, if you differed with
the official version that he
came up with - you refused to
00:34:56.69\00:35:00.86
participate in compromise - it
led to big problems. And we face
a period of history where the
00:35:00.96\00:35:05.50
church stops changing the world,
and now the world starts
changing the church. And the
00:35:05.60\00:35:10.87
worst part, we actually started
killing each other as Christians
over differences of opinion. We
00:35:10.97\00:35:15.68
actually started persecuting
each other. And where in the
world did we learn to persecute
00:35:15.78\00:35:20.35
each other? From Jesus? Jesus
ever run a torture chamber for
people who disagreed? We didn't
00:35:20.45\00:35:28.56
learn it from the scriptures; we
learned it from the Romans. We
actually brought Roman-style
00:35:28.66\00:35:34.00
politics right into our faith.
And God warned us in more than
one prophecy that it was going
00:35:34.10\00:35:39.47
to happen. You'll see more of
them as we move along. And then
as years went by, we did
00:35:39.57\00:35:44.17
something absolutely despicable,
and it's still going on today.
Still happening. I'm ashamed to
00:35:44.27\00:35:49.68
say, there's a lot of it right
here in America. We started
selling the gospel. The Bible
00:35:49.78\00:35:56.38
said this rider would have
something for sale. What is it?
It's food. It's food. And what
00:35:56.48\00:36:01.32
is food? Jesus said, "I am the
bread of life. I am the living
water. I have food to eat of
00:36:01.42\00:36:06.09
which you do not know." We began
to sell religion. But the
gospel, I am telling you
00:36:06.19\00:36:10.97
tonight, is free. Jesus paid for
your salvation. You don't have
to buy it; He paid for it for
00:36:11.07\00:36:16.74
you. But what we have done as
Christians is we started selling
salvation, and it is still going
00:36:16.84\00:36:21.78
on today, and I've got to say, I
am ashamed of the way some of my
fellow ministers behave on TV,
00:36:21.88\00:36:27.85
selling the gospel. Jesus is not
for sale. And I get it: you
gotta pay the bills. I
00:36:27.95\00:36:34.59
understand that you can't just
give everything away for free
all the - I understand all that.
00:36:34.69\00:36:38.43
But nobody has any business ever
getting rich on the gospel of
Jesus Christ. You don't have any
00:36:38.53\00:36:45.50
business doing that. As we
headed into the Dark Ages, we
actually cut off access to the
00:36:45.60\00:36:53.44
Word of God. This amount, a
measure of wheat, it's barely
enough to stay alive. You could
00:36:53.54\00:36:58.18
not feed a family on it. And
that was what was for sale for a
day's wages. It's not the last
00:36:58.28\00:37:05.52
horse. "When He opened the
fourth seal, I heard the voice
of the fourth living creature
00:37:05.62\00:37:09.62
saying, 'Come and see.' So I
looked, and behold, a pale
horse. And the name of him who
00:37:09.72\00:37:15.53
sat on it was death, and Hades
followed with him. And power was
given to them over a fourth of
00:37:15.63\00:37:21.27
the earth to kill with the
sword, with hunger, with death,
and by the beasts of the field."
00:37:21.37\00:37:26.01
Black horse was bad news. Pale
horse is worse news. I remember
my brother once hit his thumb
00:37:26.11\00:37:34.82
with a hammer. Bam. I laughed,
he didn't. And he came inside.
My mom was an ER nurse. She
00:37:34.92\00:37:47.40
said, "I can fix that for you."
"What are you going to do, Mom?"
"You'll see." She began to heat
00:37:47.50\00:37:53.47
up a paper clip on the stove,
'cause there was a lot of blood
behind that thumbnail. And she
00:37:53.57\00:37:59.91
put my brother's thumb on the
counter, and she told the
biggest lie in medical history:
00:38:00.08\00:38:06.08
"This won't hurt a bit." Psshh,
she pushed that through. He
kicked the cupboard and said
00:38:06.18\00:38:13.72
something that wasn't Christian.
Then it turned black. And it was
okay eventually. Black's okay.
00:38:13.82\00:38:23.30
If it goes pale, you got a
problem. It's dead. After a lot
of compromise, we slip into the
00:38:23.40\00:38:33.11
depths of the Dark Ages as
Christians. Let's just own our
history. We may as well admit
00:38:33.21\00:38:37.51
it; atheists make fun of us
because of it. Let's own it. In
the Dark Ages, classical
00:38:37.61\00:38:43.02
learning mostly gone, but more
importantly, the gospel is
mostly gone. People stop reading
00:38:43.12\00:38:47.46
the Bible. Missions come to a
grinding halt, and we replace
missions with war. We build the
00:38:47.56\00:38:53.23
church by conquering each other.
Sharing Jesus stops. It's a
horrible time. There's
00:38:53.33\00:38:58.23
widespread ignorance of the Word
of God. We don't know our
message anymore, we don't know
00:38:58.33\00:39:02.24
our mission, and we don't have
our passion. There were always
faithful Christians, like a
00:39:02.34\00:39:07.21
group up in northern Italy, the
Waldensians. They still exist
today. I stay in their guest
00:39:07.31\00:39:11.65
house whenever I'm in Italy.
They spent the Dark Ages copying
the scriptures by hand and
00:39:11.75\00:39:16.69
sewing them into their clothes
and going out on foot and
secretly handing them out all
00:39:16.79\00:39:21.26
over Europe. But when the rest
of us found out about them, we
started to kill them off. We
00:39:21.36\00:39:28.23
herded them into a cave and lit
it on fire. We drove them off a
cliff at Tori Palice [ph]. It
00:39:28.33\00:39:37.14
was a dark time. Much of
Christianity was still dead. And
Bible prophecy is honest about
00:39:37.24\00:39:43.61
what we would do. God showed it
in advance. We persecuted each
other. You know, so often, we
00:39:43.71\00:39:50.29
want to take the Bible and
measure other people with it.
"Ooh, look, you don't live up to
00:39:50.39\00:39:54.52
this." The truth in Bible
prophecy is, God holds the Bible
up to us in advance and says,
00:39:54.62\00:39:59.83
"Are you going to live up to
this?" We need to look at
ourselves. Fourth horse. Doesn't
00:39:59.93\00:40:05.47
last forever, though. Revelation
6 verse 9, now there's a fifth
seal. And here's where
00:40:05.57\00:40:11.17
Christians are remiss sometimes.
They read about the four
horsemen and they stop, but the
00:40:11.27\00:40:14.71
four horsemen are four seals of
seven. It's not the whole story.
We're done with the horses now,
00:40:14.81\00:40:21.12
but there's a fifth seal that
shows us how desperate the
situation actually becomes.
00:40:21.22\00:40:26.09
"When He opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar the souls
of those who had been slain for
00:40:26.19\00:40:30.36
the Word of God and for the
testimony which they held. And
they cried with a loud voice,
00:40:30.46\00:40:34.40
saying, ' How long, O Lord, holy
and true, until You judge and
avenge our blood on those who
00:40:34.50\00:40:39.47
dwell on the earth?'" God sees
the situation; He hears the
cries of His people. You ever
00:40:39.57\00:40:47.31
wondered, "Does God hear my
pain?" Yes, He does. I know He
does. Psalm 56: "You number my
00:40:47.41\00:40:53.88
wanderings; put my tears into
Your bottle; are they not in
Your book?" Not one tear you've
00:40:53.98\00:40:59.95
shed, He hasn't seen, not one
sleepless night. And God has a
promise: His kingdom is coming
00:41:00.12\00:41:05.29
and He's going to make it right.
And under the fifth seal, He
starts making it right. People
00:41:05.39\00:41:09.33
start standing up for the truth.
Suddenly, towards the end of the
1400s, the printing press is
00:41:09.43\00:41:13.74
invented, and the first thing
that rolls off the printing
press is the Bible. It is the
00:41:13.84\00:41:18.01
Word of God. And brave people
begin to recapture the spirit of
the early church. And you've got
00:41:18.11\00:41:22.98
the Wycliffes and the Tyndales
standing up with the gospel
again. And that moves us down
00:41:23.08\00:41:29.45
through the 1500s and the 1600s
and it takes us to the sixth
seal. And I want you to follow
00:41:29.55\00:41:36.62
me very, very carefully, because
now in history, we've come down
to roughly the seventeen
00:41:36.73\00:41:42.00
hundreds. "I looked when He
opened the sixth seal, and
behold, there was a great
00:41:42.10\00:41:48.44
earthquake; and the sun became
black as sackcloth of hair, and
the moon became like blood. And
00:41:48.54\00:41:55.61
the stars of heaven fell to the
earth, as a fig tree drops its
late figs when it is shaken by a
00:41:55.71\00:42:01.68
mighty wind."
00:42:01.78\00:42:03.75
It mentions a bunch of stuff. An
earthquake. Sun goes dark, moon
turns red, and the stars fall.
00:42:04.35\00:42:13.09
Those are very important. Our
generation keeps looking for
that. "Ooh, that's going to
00:42:13.19\00:42:17.23
happen at some point." Former
generations knew exactly what
this meant. Those events are
00:42:17.33\00:42:25.21
given in a very specific order:
a great earthquake, the sun goes
dark, the moon turns red, and
00:42:25.31\00:42:30.65
the stars fell from heaven. That
order is exactly how you find it
every time they're mentioned.
00:42:30.75\00:42:36.42
Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21.
It's always in that order. Those
are parallel chapters. Back in
00:42:36.52\00:42:43.83
Joel chapter 2, mentioned in the
same order. And why are they
always mentioned in the same
00:42:43.93\00:42:48.63
order? Because that is exactly
what happened. Now, I want to
show you some history that your
00:42:48.73\00:42:55.64
great, great, great grandparents
absolutely knew. Go back and
read what they wrote. Go back
00:42:55.74\00:43:02.38
and read it. For some reason, in
the last few generations, we
have stopped talking about what
00:43:02.48\00:43:06.95
we're about to see. It's just
gone off the radar, and that
should raise some flags in our
00:43:07.05\00:43:11.95
mind. That ought to ring an
alarm bell. 1755, right on
schedule, we come out of that
00:43:12.05\00:43:17.29
period of reformation. 1755,
suddenly, there is an earthquake
in the city of Lisbon - one of
00:43:17.39\00:43:24.03
the greatest earthquakes in
history to that point.
Certainly, one of the most
00:43:24.13\00:43:27.20
devastating. And it is an event
that absolutely gets the whole
world's attention. It levels the
00:43:27.30\00:43:32.87
city of Lisbon, but it also
levels cities over in North
Africa. It was felt in
00:43:32.97\00:43:37.38
Strasbourg, 1100 miles away. It
disturbed the rivers and lakes
in Scandinavia and caused tidal
00:43:37.48\00:43:42.85
waves across the ocean in the
Caribbean. It was huge. It shook
the city to the core. It wiped
00:43:42.95\00:43:50.93
Lisbon out. I've been there.
They still, two hundred and
fifty years later, have not
00:43:51.03\00:43:54.56
finished repairing all the
damage. There is still damage
you can see to this day. And
00:43:54.63\00:43:59.57
this is an earthquake that
people talked about all over the
world. And when you go back and
00:43:59.67\00:44:05.01
read what they wrote about it,
they said, "Ooh, this is right
on schedule. This is what we've
00:44:05.11\00:44:10.01
been waiting for in Revelation
chapter 6." A sign from God.
Churches in Lisbon still don't
00:44:10.11\00:44:17.29
have roofs back on them, to this
day. This one, they turned into
a garden. There's another one
00:44:17.39\00:44:22.22
down the road they still worship
in, but there are still cracks
in the wall and they still
00:44:22.32\00:44:25.76
haven't finished repairing it. A
friend of mine, just before he
died, went to a library up in
00:44:25.86\00:44:31.37
Canada - in Canada - in
Newfoundland - and he found this
record of this event, in Canada.
00:44:31.47\00:44:38.01
Gosling Memorial Library. "I've
been informed by several
respectable individuals that at
00:44:38.11\00:44:43.28
the time of the great earthquake
in Lisbon, in 1755, the effects
were felt at Bonavista. The sea
00:44:43.38\00:44:49.15
retired and left the bed of the
harbour dry for the space of ten
minutes." In Canada, the harbour
00:44:49.25\00:44:54.09
empties. Water's gone. This was
huge. The world noticed it. Go
back, please, and see what the
00:44:54.19\00:45:02.46
preachers of the day said. They
all knew it was coming, and they
all saw it as a sign. They all
00:45:02.56\00:45:07.84
knew it fit Revelation chapter
6, but for some reason, we don't
talk about it anymore. Now, you
00:45:07.94\00:45:14.54
remember what comes next after
the earthquake? Sun goes black.
Has it happened? Yeah,
00:45:14.64\00:45:19.81
absolutely. May 1780, in the
middle of the day, suddenly, the
sun goes out. Goes out. The sun
00:45:19.91\00:45:25.52
turns dark. We have no idea to
this day what actually caused
it. In the middle of the day,
00:45:25.62\00:45:30.09
the animals come home, suddenly.
Middle of the afternoon. They
say it was so dark that you
00:45:30.19\00:45:34.23
could not see a sheet of paper
held out at arm's length. In
Connecticut, go and read the
00:45:34.36\00:45:39.70
legislative record. The state
assembly stopped their business,
grew afraid, and people stood up
00:45:39.80\00:45:45.11
and started screaming, "This is
it! It's the end of the world."
It was a huge event, the dark
00:45:45.21\00:45:50.41
day of 1780. Got people's
attention. The poet John
Greenleaf Whittier, was so moved
00:45:50.51\00:45:56.82
by it, he wrote: "The low hung
sky was black with ominous
clouds." "Birds ceased to sing
00:45:56.92\00:46:04.76
and all the barnyard fowls
roosted. The cattle at the
pasture bars lowed and looked
00:46:04.86\00:46:10.53
homeward; bats on leathern wings
flitted abroad. The sounds of
labour died. Men prayed and
00:46:10.63\00:46:16.10
women wept. All ears grew sharp
to hear the doom-blast of the
trumpet shatter the black sky.
00:46:16.20\00:46:23.81
Meanwhile in the old State
House, dim as ghosts sat the
lawgivers of Connecticut,
00:46:23.91\00:46:27.88
trembling beneath their
legislative robes." "'It is the
Lord's Great Day! Let us
00:46:27.98\00:46:33.15
adjourn,' someone said. Then, as
if with one accord, all eyes
were turned to Abraham
00:46:33.25\00:46:38.03
Davenport. He rose, slowly
cleaving with his steady voice
the intolerable hush. 'This well
00:46:38.13\00:46:46.17
may be the day of judgement
which the world awaits. Be it so
or not, I only know my present
00:46:46.27\00:46:51.64
duty, and my Lord's command to
occupy 'til He comes.'" "'So at
the post where He has set me in
00:46:51.74\00:46:57.05
His providence, I choose, for
one, to meet Him face to face,
no faithless servant frightened
00:46:57.15\00:47:01.95
from my task, but ready when the
Lord of harvest calls. And
therefore, with all reverence, I
00:47:02.05\00:47:07.02
would say, "Let God do His work,
we will see to ours." Bring in
the candles.'" This was huge.
00:47:07.12\00:47:16.87
Our forefathers in the faith
knew about it. To this day, we
don't really know what caused
00:47:16.97\00:47:23.91
it. Some people say, "Ooh, it
must've been a big fire in
Algonquin Park up in Ontario."
00:47:24.01\00:47:28.54
We don't really know. What
really matters is that it
happened. Sir William Herschel,
00:47:28.64\00:47:35.48
the astronomer, described it.
"The Dark Day in North America
is one of those wonderful
00:47:35.58\00:47:40.02
phenomena which will always be
read of with interest, but which
philosophy is at a loss to
00:47:40.12\00:47:43.86
explain." That might be true.
The philosophers can't explain
it, but the Bible explained it
00:47:43.96\00:47:49.63
before it happened. First sign
happens in the old world; next
signs happens in the new world.
00:47:49.73\00:47:57.44
Had such an impact, people
panicked. They thought it was
the second coming. Ah, the sky
00:47:57.54\00:48:04.31
went dark. What's supposed to go
along with that? Moon turns to
blood. New York State newspaper
00:48:04.41\00:48:11.42
reported on it. "We have seen
the Dark Day, and although I
didn't see it [the reporter
00:48:11.52\00:48:15.19
didn't see it], I was informed
that the moon looked like blood
the following night." They all
00:48:15.29\00:48:19.63
said that. Moon was blood the
next night. But then listen to
what he says next. It
00:48:19.73\00:48:26.84
demonstrates that our ancestors
knew this stuff. He says, "It
seems to me the next sign should
00:48:26.94\00:48:32.84
be the falling of the stars."
How could he say that? It's
because they all knew this
00:48:32.94\00:48:38.55
stuff. They all used to read it.
They knew Revelation chapter 6.
Our grandparents and
00:48:38.65\00:48:42.22
great-great-great-great
grandparents, they used to study
this passage, and they knew
00:48:42.32\00:48:46.05
exactly what to expect. Did the
stars start falling? Yeah, they
did. November 13, 1833, Leonid
00:48:46.15\00:48:55.60
meteor shower. "Oh, meteor
shower? The Leonids come every
year." I know, because every
00:48:55.70\00:49:00.27
year, I go outside and watch
them. They're pretty impressive.
They come every November. I go
00:49:00.37\00:49:04.44
outside and watch them. Up in
Canada, you have to lay in the
frost and watch them, and
00:49:04.54\00:49:08.51
they're pretty impressive. I've
seen as many as two or three
every minute. Pretty impressive.
00:49:08.61\00:49:14.25
November 18, 1833, there were
4,166 every minute. There were
250,000, on average, every hour.
00:49:14.35\00:49:24.33
It go so bright, that at 2:00 in
the morning, people started
waking up because they thought
00:49:24.43\00:49:28.33
it was daylight. That's how many
- they described it like a
snowstorm. Samuel Rogers was
00:49:28.43\00:49:33.44
there. "Some one, on looking out
of the window, observed that it
was almost broad daylight. 'That
00:49:33.54\00:49:37.81
can not be,' another answered,
'for it is scarcely three
o'clock.' 'I can't help what the
00:49:37.91\00:49:42.54
clock says,' replied the first
speaker. 'My eyes can not
deceive me; it is almost broad
00:49:42.64\00:49:47.08
daylight - look for yourselves.'
I heard one of the children cry
out, in a voice expressive of
00:49:47.18\00:49:52.02
alarm, 'Come to the door,
Father. The world is surely
coming to an end.'" "Another
00:49:52.12\00:49:57.03
exclaimed: 'See! The whole
heavens are on fire! All the
stars are falling!' These cries
00:49:57.13\00:50:01.46
brought us all into the open
yard to gaze upon the grandest
and most beautiful scene my eyes
00:50:01.56\00:50:05.57
have ever beheld. It did appear
as if every star had left its
moorings, and was drifting
00:50:05.67\00:50:10.04
rapidly in a westerly direction,
leaving behind a track of light
which remained visible for
00:50:10.14\00:50:14.51
several seconds." You know who
else saw this? Abraham Lincoln
saw it. It was in Sky and
00:50:14.61\00:50:22.22
Telescope magazine, November
1999. He was staying, as a young
man, at the Presbyterian
00:50:22.32\00:50:27.56
deacon's house, and he reported,
"One night, I was roused from my
sleep by a rap at the door, and
00:50:27.66\00:50:32.63
I heard the deacon's voice
excaliming, 'Arise, Abraham, the
day of judgement has come.' I
00:50:32.73\00:50:40.27
sprang from my bed, rushed to
the window, saw the stars
falling in great showers!" The
00:50:40.37\00:50:46.04
impact was incredible. People
began repenting of their sins
publicly. Go back, read the
00:50:46.14\00:50:52.41
papers of the day. They took out
ads in the paper. "Please come
to my store, get your money
00:50:52.51\00:50:56.89
back. I've been cheating
everybody." They knew it. These
events happened on a massive
00:50:56.99\00:51:08.40
scale. People talked about them
all over the world. They
happened in exactly the places
00:51:08.50\00:51:12.17
where the second and first Great
Awakenings were taking place,
and people were now studying the
00:51:12.27\00:51:16.37
prophecies, and they would see
it. Most importantly, they
happened right on schedule,
00:51:16.47\00:51:21.61
exactly in the timeline where
they were supposed to happen.
Everybody knew what it was. And
00:51:21.71\00:51:31.25
you know what that means? The
first six seals are already
done. Seal number seven. "Then
00:51:31.35\00:51:43.43
the sky receded as a scroll when
it is rolled up, and every
mountain and island was moved
00:51:43.53\00:51:47.27
out of its place. And the kings
of the earth, the great men, the
rich men, the commanders, the
00:51:47.37\00:51:52.81
mighty men, every slave and
every free man, hid themselves
in the caves and in the rocks of
00:51:52.91\00:51:57.95
the mountains and said to the
mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us
and hide us from the face of Him
00:51:58.05\00:52:03.55
Who sits on the throne and from
the wrath of the Lamb! For the
great day of His wrath has come;
00:52:03.65\00:52:09.42
who is able to stand?'" Imagine
being afraid of a lamb. It
doesn't say they're afraid of
00:52:09.52\00:52:20.24
the lion. What's interesting is
they recognize him. They know.
They waited. They know Who it
00:52:20.34\00:52:27.74
is. Now they're afraid of a
lamb. Nobody's afraid of a lamb.
God is underlining how senseless
00:52:27.84\00:52:34.02
it is to be lost. Some people
never make up their minds, and
now He comes. They know Who He
00:52:34.12\00:52:41.56
is, but they don't know Him as a
friend. The seventh seal is
opened. The Lamb opens it.
00:52:41.66\00:52:50.03
Revelation 8 verse 1: "When He
had opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven
00:52:50.13\00:52:56.64
about the space of half an
hour." Why would there be
silence in heaven? It's because
00:52:56.74\00:53:05.31
nobody's there. How do I know?
Jesus said, "When the Son of Man
shall come in His glory, and all
00:53:05.41\00:53:14.96
the holy angels with Him, then
shall He sit upon the throne of
His glory." Heaven falls silent,
00:53:15.06\00:53:24.53
probably for the first time
since the crucifixion of Christ.
And the reason it's silent is
00:53:24.63\00:53:29.34
because all of heaven is
interested in you coming home.
And they all say, "We're going
00:53:29.44\00:53:34.31
with you, Jesus," and all the
angels come here to get us. It's
really going to come. We are
00:53:34.41\00:53:44.59
really this close. Do you know
why God gives us prophecy? I
used to live way up north on the
00:53:44.69\00:53:55.33
Alaska highway. It's why your
Minneapolis winter doesn't
frighten me much. And I remember
00:53:55.43\00:54:03.41
there were times I would have to
drive between cities. And up
there, I lived in a district I
00:54:03.51\00:54:08.11
had to service - it took fifteen
hours to drive across it. It's
huge country. And sometimes, in
00:54:08.21\00:54:14.38
the middle of the night, there'd
be a snowstorm so bad, that I
couldn't see the road in front
00:54:14.48\00:54:18.45
of me. Worse than that, I
couldn't see where the road
ended and the forest and the
00:54:18.55\00:54:22.76
fields began. I couldn't see
anything. And so I would crawl
along, white-knuckled, sweat on
00:54:22.86\00:54:29.26
my forehead. "Oh, please, God,
don't let me go off the road."
Maybe that describes your life.
00:54:29.36\00:54:39.34
White-knuckled. Hanging on,
hoping you make it. I would
drive, it would go on forever,
00:54:39.44\00:54:50.29
and suddenly, I would see it: a
radio tower with a red beacon on
top. Boop. I could see it, red
00:54:50.39\00:54:57.66
light. Doop. I'd think, "That's
it, I'm two-thirds of the way. I
am two-thirds of the way home.
00:54:57.76\00:55:03.13
And I know the next thing I'm
going to see, just around the
next corner, I'm going to see
00:55:03.23\00:55:07.24
the glow of my town on the
horizon." And I'd go around the
corner, and there it was. And I
00:55:07.34\00:55:15.78
would be home any minute. So
here we are in this life,
hanging on with white knuckles,
00:55:15.88\00:55:22.15
"Please, God, how much further?"
"How much further?" So God turns
on all kinds of lights. First
00:55:22.25\00:55:39.70
seal. Second seal. So you know
when we're almost home. Let me
ask you, everything indicates
00:55:39.80\00:56:01.49
we're running out of time. We're
right on the edge of eternity.
Are you ready for Jesus to come?
00:56:01.59\00:56:09.76
There's a heartbeat until Jesus
comes. We're that close. When
the Lamb comes, is He your
00:56:09.86\00:56:20.48
friend? If it's your
determination to have Jesus as a
friend, I'd invite you to stand
00:56:20.58\00:56:27.65
as we close in prayer. Oh,
Father in heaven, we can see
tonight that You have not left
00:56:27.75\00:56:40.43
this earth unattended for even a
moment. And here we are, in the
last hours, and we see Jesus and
00:56:40.53\00:56:52.91
we love Him, because He first
loved us. We can't wait to see
the eastern sky light up. We
00:56:53.01\00:57:03.49
cannot wait to see You face to
face, as You come with every
angel. Lord, we're standing to
00:57:03.59\00:57:13.13
say, our hearts belong to You.
We accept the gift of Christ. We
believe that You forgive our
00:57:13.23\00:57:22.87
sins, and we are ready to go
home. And we thank You for Your
love, in the name of Jesus,
00:57:22.97\00:57:29.98
amen.
00:57:30.08\00:57:32.71
>>Announcer: Today you have
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00:57:34.88\00:57:38.09
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00:57:38.19\00:57:44.23
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00:57:44.33\00:57:55.04
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00:58:18.66\00:58:23.23
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00:58:23.33\00:58:30.14
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00:58:43.79\00:58:50.66
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