Sermon
Living Waters of Grace for May 5th, 2026
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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We either by faith repent and turn from our sins to Christ.
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We pay for our sins on the cross and be forgiven and enjoy Him in
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heaven forever, or we just stay in our unbelief and we follow
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Satan, preparing to follow the Antichrist and worship Him.
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And we perish in our sin, and we're tormented for all
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eternity. All eternity.
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You just don't die and that's it.
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Last time I checked, the statistics of those who will die
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are still 100%. So what does that mean?
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Death. Do we simply cease to exist?
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Do we all go into an afterlife of bliss?
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Do we get a second chance at life in this world in another
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form? Well, Pastor Clark makes it very
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clear in today's message that when you die, you will either
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spend eternity in heaven or hell.
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The choice is yours. The way to spend eternity with
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God in heaven only comes through personal faith and trust in
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Jesus Christ. Now here's Pastor Clark in the
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Book of First John, Chapter 5 with today's edition of Living
1 John 5 chapter mention
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Waters of Grace. It's through the power of God's
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Spirit. And if God's Spirit lives in us,
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He's the one that enables us to live the Christian life.
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Amen. It's God's Spirit, and that's
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good news because you can't fake it.
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And if you've been faking it, get the pressure off yourself
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and just finally say, God, I can't do this.
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I need you to be my savior. I need your Holy Spirit to live
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in me to enable me to keep these commandments that I continually
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have a tendency to break. For this in verse three of first
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John 5 is a love of God that we keep His commandments and His
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commandments are not burdensome. They're what enables us to
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overcome sin. They live in victory as
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Christians. They have an overcoming life.
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It's the work of God's Spirit in us.
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So you look at the commandments of God.
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There might have been a time that you looked at in this way.
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I know I did, man. There's 10 commandments.
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That's just part of it, you know, and, and I, I break them
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all, you know, and I, what am I going to do?
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These are impossible. Did you ever look at those
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things and be honest with yourself and say these are
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impossible to follow? Even on your best day, you're
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not going to get 10 out of 10. You're going to break some of
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them. Even you and me as Christians,
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we break them. We break his commandments every
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day. If we don't have him above every
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other God, we're committing idolatry.
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And how often do we allow the things of this world to get in
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the way of our relationship with God and we've become idolaters.
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We have to be serious and say, Lord, work on my heart by the
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power of your spirit that I will not sin against you.
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You're worried if I hid in my heart that I will not sin
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against you. And it's awesome when the Holy
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Spirit works in our lives because we find ourselves like
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sort of floating in the sense of that we're overcoming things
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that in the past we never were able to overcome before.
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And you might have a life besetting sin.
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I know Christians that still struggle with life besetting
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sins. The book of Hebrews say, says we
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all have them a sin that so easily besets us.
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But that doesn't mean just because it's a weakness that God
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isn't able to cause us to overcome that sin if we follow
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Him and obey his word. And so we ask for his mercy and
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his help. And God is the one who's able,
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as it says in Jude, to keep us from falling and present us
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faultless before his glory with exceeding joy.
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It tells us in verse 15 of Revelation 16 that Jesus is
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going to come as a thief. A sudden surprising event.
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It's unexpected. It's an unannounced appearance.
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Many years ago when Cindy and I were first married, we didn't
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have two cents to rub together, but we had paychecks and Spencer
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gifts that that week. And so we were so tired and we
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worked so hard. We were in this like motel room
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in the winter. They run out and you know,
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you're right on the beach. And and so we, we loved it and
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we that's all we had. We, they had, it was furnished
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and all we have is like a couple duffel bags with some clothes in
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and we had money that week to actually buy some groceries, you
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know, so we go to bed and we're tired.
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Had one of those Polaroid instant cameras.
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Remember those old cameras? You take the picture, you put
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the film in and then you peel it back and then and the picture
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comes alive. And you know, it was like, wow,
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this is, I think it was one of the first things we got after we
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got married. But, but anyway, we're asleep
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and we're tired And for some reason that night, I, I, I don't
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remember putting the chain on the door.
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It was weird. I just turned the lock on the
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door. So we're sound asleep all of the
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sudden in the room, I felt God woke me up, the Holy Spirit woke
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me up and I felt this darkness in the room and, and I and I
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opened my eyes and I sat up and I saw this guy Crouch down the
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bottom of my bed. It freaked me out.
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I mean, just having someone in your room that you weren't
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expecting to be there, an unannounced guest and someone
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who's visiting, you know, and you weren't inviting them.
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And our hearts are pounding and all I know is that I started
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getting up. I yelled something.
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I just started getting up. Guy could have had a knife and
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killed me and raped my wife or whatever, and it could have been
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horrible. But by the grace of God, that
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guy took off and I went outside to see where which way he went
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and he was completely gone. And I'll tell you, that night
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was so difficult to go back to sleep because every time we fell
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back to sleep, we'd wake up, we'd be stirred thinking he's
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here again, he's here again, he's in the room, he's here.
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And that's sort of how we have to think about the presence of
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God. He's here, He's here again, He's
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in this room, He's with us, He's watching us, He sees us.
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We have time, guys, to deal with our hearts.
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We have time to have our lives change.
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We have time to forsake sin. He's going to come as a thief in
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the night. Sudden, surprising, unexpected.
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And so this is endorsement by God's word that you would keep
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your heart clean, that you would keep your garments clean through
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holiness and repentance. You would be living for God and
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not living for sin. And when he comes back, we
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wouldn't be ashamed at what he might find us living for, right?
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That he would come back and we could smile and say, man, I'm
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glad you came today because the day's a good day with you, Lord,
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I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.
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I'm in the place that I'm supposed to be.
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I'm I had a good devotional day and I had a, a day of maybe I
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shared my faith or I honored my boss or I love my wife or I love
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my kids the way the Bible teaches me, or I'm, I'm seeking
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the things which are above and not the things which are below.
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And, and, and how awesome will it be when the Lord comes for us
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in the rapture and for those he comes forth the second coming
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that have gotten saved in that tribulation period, that he, he
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finds us doing the things that he told us to do versus finding
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us doing things that we shouldn't be doing.
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I mean, if we're saved by God's grace, we're still going to be
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saved. But I want to be ready, don't
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you, that He, the Master, finds me doing as a Scripture, say
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what he told me to do. And so just as the first coming
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of Christ involved many phases over a 33 year period of
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Christ's life, from the Annunciation to the Ascension of
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Christ, the second coming of Christ encompasses phases that
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take place before, during, and beyond the seven-year
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tribulation. We covered phase one several
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times in the Book of Revelation and Thessalonians where Christ
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comes from the church at the rapture.
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First Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 13 and 18.
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You can review that and look at that again later.
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Phase two of this movement of God in these last days was when
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when Christ comes to judge the rebellious nations remaining on
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the earth during the Tribulation.
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And he does that through the seal judgment, through the
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trumpet judgments and the and the bold plagues from Revelation
Revelation 6 chapter mention
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chapter 6 through Revelation chapter 18.
Revelation 18 chapter mention
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Phase 3 is when Christ comes to destroy the Antichrist and his
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massive armies at Armageddon. And we'll get into that
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Revelation chapter 1911 in phase 4.
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The final phase is when Christ comes and establishes on earth
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the prophesized millennial Kingdom of God.
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And we read about in Matthew 25 and Daniel chapter 2.
Daniel 2 chapter mention
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So we see in verse 15 for all of those who are awaiting this
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event, whether those of us right now who are waiting for the
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rapture of the church or those who are living in the time of
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the tribulation to become Christians that will go through
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this battle of Armageddon at the end of the tribulation.
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Verse 16 through 18. And they gathered them together
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to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
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And the 7th Angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud
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voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it
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is done. And here we have described
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what's spoken about in the book of Joel chapter 3.
Joel 3 chapter mention
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The armies of the antichrists are ascending down to Armageddon
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and in the valley plain of Jordan and that this huge piece
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of real estate approximately 10 by 40 miles from northwest to
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southeast, the gateway to Jerusalem.
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This is where this battle will occur.
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And we know from Revelation chapter 14, verse 19, it talks
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about the great winepress of the wrath of God.
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This is where this is going to happen.
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This would be the most cataclysmic battle in human
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history on the face of the earth 17 to 21.
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It speaks now about the 7th Angel pouring out this final
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bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple of
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Heaven from the throne room saying it is done.
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So this is the last major horrendous judgement that's
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coming out from the the throne of God prior to this great
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battle of Armageddon. He says it is done just like
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Jesus said it is finished when he's on the cross.
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No more wrath of God to be poured out on those who come to
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Christ. The wrath of God is only to be
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poured out on those who reject Jesus Christ.
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And we see here the 7th bowl is concluding with these
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cataclysmic events here. It speaks about this in verse
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18. Noises and thunderings and
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lightnings and great earthquakes.
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Such a mighty and great earthquake has had not occurred
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since men were on the face of the earth.
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Now the great city was divided into 3 parts, and the cities of
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the nation fell, and great Babylon was remembered before
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God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His
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wrath. Again speaking about this this
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judgement of God's wine press. Every island fled away, and the
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mountains were not found, and great hail from heaven fell upon
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men. Each hailstone about the weight
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of a talent, approximately 90 lbs.
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Men blasphemy God because of the plague of the hail, since the
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plague was exceeding great. And so we see this gigantic
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hail, worldwide earthquakes, destruction of the Antichrist,
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his reign and his role. These lightnings and thunders
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that are spoken about in verse 18 remind us of what we read
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about in Exodus chapter 19 as Moses began to come down off the
Exodus 19 chapter mention
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mountain and it says the people trembled because of the sound of
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their Thunder and the brightness of the lightning.
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People were aware this was not a normal weather pattern.
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This was the holiness of God shaking the foundations of the
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earth. And this great earthquakes.
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All these great scientists in the face of the earth, they're
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bright, they're brilliant, they study, they know certain things.
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Unfortunately, many of them aren't understanding the signs
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of the times of the seasons. They don't believe that the
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Bible is real and they don't believe that Jesus Christ is
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God. And, and they got a lot of a lot
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of problems, but nonetheless, this is one thing that many of
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them agree on. There's this geologic fault line
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and it's amazing how far this thing extends.
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It extends through Palestine, Jordan Valley, down into Africa
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and through the California coast.
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I pity people who are moving to California.
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I'm glad for people who are moving away from California.
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I'm just kid Randy's here going to California.
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Gary and Cather are moving from California.
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You need to talk to us brother about the prophecies that are
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coming up. But Calvary Chapel is all
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through Southern California and we'll be we'll be take we'll be
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taken out before these things are occurring.
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Praise God. But the move of God that will
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give way of what sinners have believed supported them all the
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all the people on their face of the earth right now.
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They they ignore God for the most part.
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They walk around the world like it's their own.
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They don't understand or acknowledge a creator.
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They could care less even if there was 1.
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They're not going to pay attention to them or listen to
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them. And they're standing on this
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ground saying this is stable. This I got control.
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I have, I have energy, I have wealth, I have materialism, I
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have great gain. I'm the master of my domain.
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I'm the king of my household and nothing's going to change that.
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I'm in charge when this earthquake begins to occur, the
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massive earthquake like the world has never known.
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And I haven't ever been through an earthquake.
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But people that have been, they tell you it's like a horror,
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that you don't want to go through it.
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It's extremely frightening. Your whole world begins to fall
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out from under you, literally. Those who ignore this at this
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time will be the ones that will realize that they laughed at us
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because we have a crutch. They call our faith in Jesus
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Christ. You guys need it because you're
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weak. You need a crutch.
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They're going to wish they could find a crutch during that time
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of the earthquake because there'll be nothing that will be
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able to hold them up but the mercy of God.
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And it seems that the majority of people will Still, as we read
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last week at the end of verse 11, they did not repent of their
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deeds. So this great city's divided, it
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says into three parts, Babylon. Some people think Babylon's an
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ancient Rome, the revived Roman Empire.
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Some people think it's Baghdad. You know, it doesn't really
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matter where it is or what it is.
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It is a literal place and it'll be revealed in the in the last
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days. But it it it's also symbolic of
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the corrupt world system led by the Antichrist.
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And this earthquake is going to split this city in three parts.
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And we'll get into that in more detail next week in chapter 17
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and 18. In verse 20, it talks about
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these islands and mountains that are affected by this earthquake.
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Some people think that this will occur when Jesus comes back and
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lands literally on earth and his feet touch the Mount of Olives
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and this the holiness of God touching this wicked world.
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That's when everything will begin to just break apart and
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his Messiah's triumphant millennial reign.
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It will eventually be set up as we read in Psalm chapter 2, the
Psalms 2 chapter mention
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weight of this stone, these hailstones coming out of heaven
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that says uses this word talent, which is parallel to the weight
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measure 95 lbs. So you can imagine something 95
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lbs coming down out of the heavens.
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The damage and the death it'll cause will be incalculable.
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I, I don't want to be there and I won't be there.
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And I pray if you're here today and you're still on the fence
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about your need of a Savior and salvation, you don't stick
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around for this. I really believe that these
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things are sooner than later just because of what's going on
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in the world. I mean, there's never, you know,
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people talk about the stars being lined up when when Christ
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comes back, it seems like everything is just falling into
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place and the prophecies. It says in the last days people
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will be lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God.
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It's apparent everywhere. People will go to churches to
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have their ears tickled. You know, they want to have
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things that will tell them how the wonderful they are, make
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them feel good and know what they would perceive as
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negativity or, and no down or a message.
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You know, just make, tell me how great I am and, and make me feel
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good and comfortable in my sin and what I want to do.
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And then don't bother me. Don't don't say anything that
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would cause me to be convicted or something.
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But God, God, you know, he's so patient and so merciful.
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It's a wonder he hasn't done this already to everybody.
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But in his mercy he has a body, a bride, a group of people, the
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elect that he loves and he cherishes.
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And and he's come to this world that has not received him and
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rejected him. And he came to his own and his
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own received him not. And yet he comes with love to
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save the world from their sin. And very few people and the
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populace from the beginning of time to the end of time come to
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him. It's, it's a mystery.
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And so these people, when all this is happening, Can you
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imagine this weight of these hailstones coming down?
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There's no place to go, no place to run, no place to hide.
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And they're still cursing God, They're blaspheming him.
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And as these results, these, these prophecies and these
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events about this Antichrist coming to pass, it's if you
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think about the the rocks coming down upon the earth, think about
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the Rocky Mountains. Some of you guys are on a
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hunting trip recently out that way.
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And they're huge. I mean, if you fly from here
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over to the West Coast, it just seems like forever you're flying
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over the Rockies. I mean, it's, it's a fascinating
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part of God's creation to see the Rocky Mountains completely
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decimated and flattened during this time.
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You see Mount Everest, as big as it is, completely flattened by
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the anger and the wrath of God, The buildings in the world, the
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the largest building, completely crumbling like they're toys.
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And as I was studying this, I couldn't help to think about the
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World Trade Tower. We all saw that on TV.
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It was almost like something out of a sci-fi movie, wasn't it?
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And they were just planes with some, you know, gasoline that
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exploded in their bombs, whatever.
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And look what it did. It's nothing compared to the
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hand of God. When you looked at those towers
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and the flames, people were saying, yeah, I wonder how to
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put that fire on, you know, eventually to go out or
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whatever. I mean, I, in my wildest dreams
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didn't believe. I literally see those things
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crumble. Did you?
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I was in shock when I saw that. My mouth was wide open.
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You didn't know how to describe what you were seeing.
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It just crumbled, like it didn't exists, like it had no support
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and it went completely to the ground.
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Both those towers. I think about all these church
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buildings in the world and so many of them now are apostate.
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So many of them don't preach the gospel anymore.
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The great churches that were built in Europe during the time
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of the Reformation are now empty.
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Very few people go to the churches.
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The real estate, though, the churches from all around the
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world right now is approximately $120 billion, are tied up in
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buildings and real estate for churches.
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It's all going to be wiped out. So there's one of two choices
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for us in the midst of all this. There's only two choices.
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We either by faith repent and turn from our sins to Christ who
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paid for our sins on the cross. And be forgiven and enjoy him in
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heaven forever. Or we just stay in our unbelief.
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And we follow Satan, preparing to follow the Antichrist and
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worship him. And we perish in our sin and
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we're tormented for all eternity, all eternity.
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You just don't die and that's it.
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And go to sleep in a grave and there's nothing else.
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You live forever. You'll leave this body and the
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Christian gets a new body one day and they'll live in heaven
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forever and joy and bliss and beauty and perfection with the
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Father, Son and Holy Spirit and all those who have gone before
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us who love the Lord and are his.
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And it's going to be amazing. So amazing that the Bible says I
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have not seen nor ear heard nor entered into the heart of man.
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The things that God has prepared for those who love Him.
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On your bad, on your worst day, guys and gals, when you're
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really struggling and you think life is just a drag and you're
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upset at everything and you're discouraged and nothing's going
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right, and you wonder sometimes where the Lord is in the midst
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of what you're going through. Be encouraged.
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This is nothing. The best is yet to come.
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I hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of
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man the things that God hath prepared for those who love Him.
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And so today I love him, and I know many of you love him.
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So that's an exciting thing to anticipate, isn't it?
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The things that He's prepared for us.
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We can't even begin to imagine how great it is, but it's
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waiting for us. And then if you're here today
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and you don't have the Lord in your life and you're following
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sin and you're living in sin and you're dying in your own sin,
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what you have to look forward to is nothing but torment and all
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eternity forever. It says with a worm dieth not
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where the fire isn't quenched, where the fires of hell burn and
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torment you and they don't burn you up.
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You're just the heat is so intense.
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Some people say it's the heat of God's holiness.
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It's continually in your face throughout all eternity.
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And you know you made the wrong decision and you have to face
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the brightness of that light and the glory of His Majesty.
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And it's just galling you. It's, it's infuriating you.
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And there's nothing you can do to change it or get away from
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it. All you know your whole life is
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that you hate God and you'll live with that hatred throughout
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all eternity, being miserable and tormented and tortured.
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And you'll be by yourself. You won't be with your friends
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and your buddies like some people say, Oh, hell would be
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great. I'll be down there with my
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drinking buddies. No, Hell is a separate place for
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every individual that's there. They have no communication with
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any other living creature except their own torment inside,
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forever and ever and ever. So I would think that it would
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make sense, but it isn't common sense.
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It brings us to Christ. It's the work of God's Spirit
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that brings us to Christ. Jesus says that no man can come
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to me except the Father draw him.
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But I believe in any time the gospel goes out and when it's
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preached that the Holy Spirit is convicting people and drawing
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them to himself, he's speaking in the quietness of your heart,
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saying today is a day of salvation.
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You know, the day you need a Savior.
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You don't want to face this stuff.
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This stuff's real. It's true.
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It's going to happen just like Christ's first coming, his
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birth, his life, his crucifixion, his resurrection,
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his ascension occurred. His second coming is going to
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occur. And if you wait, it could be too
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late. So I just as Paul said, I
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beseech you, I exhort you, today is the day of salvation.
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We are digging into the Book of Revelation here on Living Waters
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of Grace. Pastor Clark is tackling this
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challenging book as we try to discern the messages that are
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within its pages. There's so much imagery and at
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times you're not always sure what's literal and what's
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metaphorical. At one point there's a reference
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to an adulterous woman riding on a beast.
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And as someone else mentioned, at one point it almost sounds
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like a rodeo from hell. And in actuality it kind of is.
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You learn about the downfall and demise of a sinful and
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rebellious world, falling down in worship to someone who is the
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anti hero, the enemy, Satan working his insidious ways into
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the minds of fallen people. It's sad and it's heartbreaking,
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but it's a classic story of good versus evil.
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Thankfully, we know how this story ends.
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Jesus wins, Jesus reigns, and evil is conquered once and for
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all. We pray and trust you've
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received Jesus as your Savior. But if you haven't, don't wait
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until the events in Revelation become what's happening on the
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streets. None of us wants you to be there
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at that time. Instead, we'd love for you to be
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with us in heaven as we celebrate the marriage supper
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with Jesus as his bridegroom. To get a better understanding of
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where we are in the Book of Revelation, to listen to any
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messages before or after this one, you can find them at our
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website, calvarychapelonline.com.
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That's it for today's edition, but we hope you'll want to hear
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Pastor Clark teach more from the Book of Revelation.
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It can be exciting to think about the future for believers,
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but it can feel a bit harrowing for those who don't believe.
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Come hear more next time on Living Waters of Grace.