Sermon
Living Waters of Grace for April 29, 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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And verse 3 And then the second Angel poured out his bowl on the
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sea and it became blood as of a dead man.
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And every living creature in the sea died.
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Now we read about this in Revelation chapter 8.
Revelation 8 chapter mention
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There was a partial destruction of the waters.
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They were partially destroyed and the sense of becoming
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contaminated with blood. But now we see the complete
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contamination. Everything in the waters, every
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living creature in the sea, it says in verse three, died.
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Water is essential to all life on Earth. 2/3 of the Earth's
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surface is covered with water. The human body is made-up of
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half to 3/4 water. Without food, a human body can
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survive for up to three months, but without food, that number is
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drastically reduced to three to seven days.
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In Pastor Clark's teaching today, he warned you of a time
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when God will judge the earth by turning the sea into the
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likeness of blood. But today you can be sure that
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if you turn to God, He will show you mercy.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation Chapter 16 with
Revelation 16 chapter mention
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today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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Revelation chapter 16. We're going to go through the
Revelation 16 chapter mention
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1st 11 verses this morning, so let's read the first verse here.
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Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven
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angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the
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earth. Last week we studied about this
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great voice out of the temple that we're in the time now where
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there is no more opportunity for intercession.
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There is no time to ask God to hold back his judgment.
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As we pray right now, as brothers and sisters, we pray
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for our families and our loved ones and the people we care
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about that there would still be time for them to come to, to
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know the Lord and be saved. But there will come a time when
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God's temp temple will be closed in the sense that there will be
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no more opportunity to ask Him to wait.
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His time has come to pour out His judgment and disgrace.
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A great voice of God comes out of the temple and he's speaking
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very clearly now to the angels, the seven angels.
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This is the third woe that we read about in Revelation 11/14,
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that the wrath of God is about to be poured out upon the earth
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right at the end of the tribulation period.
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This wrath will be poured out to punish sin because God's
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righteous judgment is now about to come into focus, and also the
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opportunity still for chastisement upon people on the
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earth that they still might think about repenting.
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But we'll find out as we go through this particular text
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today that regardless of what happens, men still refuse to
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repent of their deeds. And as we study these different
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bowls of judgment, it reminds us of what happened in the nation
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of Israel and the book of Exodus, when God plagued Egypt
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with the boils and the water that turned to blood, and the
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extreme darkness that occurred on the face of the earth for
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three days. And Exodus Chapter 7, nine and
Exodus 7 chapter mention
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10, verse 2, we see that, we see the first Angel, He goes forth,
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it goes out and pours out his bowl upon the earth.
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And a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the
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mark of the beast and on those who worship the image.
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The people prior to this horrible event coming out
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thought they had it made for a while.
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They were looking at all the people that were on the earth
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that were recognizing that all the things that they heard about
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prior to their lost their loved ones who had already gone to the
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Kingdom of heaven. There are the people who are
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still in the face of the earth at this time of the tribulation
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were warned by people like us that when the Antichrist comes
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on the scene, if you're still on the earth and you haven't
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received Christ, you still have an opportunity.
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But whatever you do, do not take the mark of the beast.
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Because if you take the mark of the Antichrist, you sold your
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soul to the devil. There is no opportunity for
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repentance. You've been deceived and your
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judgment is sealed. But the people at that time that
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didn't know or could care less about what we're talking about
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today, I thought they had it made.
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Economy is going well. There's peace on the earth.
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Everything is flowing in a prosperous way.
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Anybody that didn't accept the mark of the beast at that time
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would be considered a fool because life is so good.
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The Antichrist promises peace on earth and wonders and and
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there's going to be a season of peace on the earth during that
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time. So the people that receive the
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market of beasts are going to think that they got it made, and
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the people that haven't are the fools.
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But the real fools now will be seen as those who did receive
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the mark of the beast. Because not only do they have
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this mark on their bodies that give them the opportunity to buy
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and do commerce, but they're going to receive a horrendous
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mark, a sore from the throne of God that's going to be very
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painful and very hideous. And every time they look at
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themselves in the mirror, they'll no longer recognize the
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solace that they had temporarily from the mark of the beast.
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They will only see this horrendous sore that will point
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them out as those who are followers of the Antichrist in
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verse 3. And then the second Angel poured
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out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man,
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and every living creature in the sea died.
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Now we read about this in Revelation chapter 8.
Revelation 8 chapter mention
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There was a partial destruction of the waters.
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They were partially destroyed and the sense of becoming
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contaminated with blood. But now we see the complete
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contamination everything in the waters, every living creature in
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the sea it says in verse three died.
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I love the ocean. I don't know about you, but at
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this makes your heart sick to look and think about the
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vastness of God's beautiful creation.
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That one day, that beautiful sea that we enjoy riding the waves
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in and surfing and all that kind of fun stuff, playing in the
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water with our kids will one day be destroyed.
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And no one will even consider walking in it, let alone getting
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any salt water in their mouth anymore.
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Because now they will have to experience the horror of all the
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waters being destroyed. And you think about this
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horrible event where every creature dies.
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Our water system, our water supplies will be completely
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contaminated. It will be very clear that the
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earth will not be able to continue as it is without this
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wonder of drinking water. And verse 4 it says, And the
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third Angel poured out his bowl in the rivers springs of water,
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and they became blood again. We read about this partially
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occurring in Revelation 8. Now the waters are completely
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contaminated and the time will be short for Christ's return as
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the earth cannot survive very long with this kind of chaos.
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And verse 5 it says And I heard the Angel of the waters saying,
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You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who
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is to be, because you have judged these things, for they
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have shed the blood of the Saints and prophets, and you
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have given them blood to drink, for it is their just due.
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So now after all this time, the horror of all these people on
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the face of the earth that hated people who were Saints, who were
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Christians, forced them to die martyr's death, laughed and
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ridiculed over the blood that was shed by the horrible people
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on the face of the earth that persecuted the Christians.
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Now God's righteous judgment is coming and it's pure and it's
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appropriate. And we see the horror of this
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situation because not only is this blood everywhere, it says
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he's given them blood to drink for it as their just do.
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The ones that scoffed and ridiculed the blood of the
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martyrs will now have to drink the blood of the waters of
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death. And God is faithful and he's
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righteous, and his judgment is surely to come one day, even
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though the world innocently thinks every day that life will
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go on the way it always does, but one day it will be too late.
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And as we study this book, one of the things I'm concerned
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about, Everybody's interested in end time prophecies, and it's
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thrilling and it's fascinating. But if it doesn't have any
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impact on changing my life as I teach it and yours as you listen
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to it, what's the point? If I'm not concerned about my
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own life in repenting? If I'm not concerned about lost
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people needing to hear the gospel?
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You know, it's like what the Scriptures say, ever learning
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and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, what's
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the point? The Bible tells us knowledge
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puffs up, but love that edifies. And I know some people who are
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marvelous students of prophecy, but they don't live as
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Christians. I can't understand the
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connection. You would think if you were in
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the prophecy and understood the gravity of what's going to come
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out in the world, that it would cause you to have some burdens
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and some concerns for anybody that doesn't know Jesus Christ.
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I pray that's what occurs as we study this book.
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I want it to be practical. And that's not something that
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feeds our minds, our intellect, intellects.
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Verse 8 it says then the 4th Angel poured out his bowl on the
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sun and power was given him to scorch men with fire.
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And men were scorched with great heat.
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And they blasphemy the name of God who has power over these
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plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.
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Have you ever been in the sun where you got in a real bad
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sunburn? It's not pleasant, is it?
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You put that solar cane on and rub that Noxzema on to try to
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get rid of rid of the heat. I mean, there's nothing worse
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than getting a bad sunburn. I remember as a kid, you know,
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as before we knew about skin cancer and that kind of stuff.
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And my mom abused my brother and I should send us out in the sun
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without suntan lotion, you know, And at night we would be we
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would be our backs would be almost beat red and I forget
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what she rubbed on us. She rubbed some kind of stuff
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on. And you'll be OK.
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I didn't mean she abused us. She didn't know any better, you
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know, but you know, we'd be laying in bed at at night and
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our backs would all night. You couldn't sleep.
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Remember that when you were kids, It hurts so bad everywhere
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you turn. You couldn't get comfortable.
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You know, you tried to sleep on your stomach and you were red.
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Sleep on your back, you're red. And but at this time, this kind
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of sun condition will be like unlike any other sunburn that
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anybody could ever experience. Some people in our congregation
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have gone through the process of chemotherapy.
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And that is bad enough in a sense of how it burns the skin.
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This kind of heat that's going to come off the sun will be
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cataclysmic. It'll it'll burn the very flesh
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off of people's bodies and they'll have to flee from it.
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They'll hide somewhere to get out of the get out of the rays
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of the sun. The sun's usually a blessing to
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man. And now the sun has become a
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curse. And what's shocking here, as it
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says these people, they blasphemy God because of this,
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instead of saying God, we, we sense your anger.
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We know we're sinful. We know we need to turn away
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from our sin and our pride. They, they curse God, they shake
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their fist at him and, and, and just say horrible things about
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the Creator. And because of their pains and
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their sores, it says they did not repent of their deeds.
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It shows you the hardness of man's heart.
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Back in Exodus when God was dealing with Moses and Moses was
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dealing with the afflictions on the nation of Egypt through the
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various plagues. The purpose of those plagues
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were intended by God to 'cause that nation to realize the evil
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that they had done towards God's chosen people, the nation of
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Israel. And every time Pharaoh sort of
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got it a little bit and started reconsidering his, his evilness
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and his hatred and his vindictiveness and, and
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deceptions toward God's chosen people, as soon as he began to
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start to turn a little bit, he turned right back again to being
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the hard hearted evil man and leader he was.
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And even in the midst of this going on in the Book of
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Revelation, it says they, they refused to repent.
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It says they did not repent of their deeds.
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They refused to give him glory. So it shows you the hardness of
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men's hearts. We all have hearts that at times
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can be hard, even as Christians. It, it's, it, it's never ceases.
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It never ceases to amaze me as a pastor, knowing my own heart and
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knowing the hearts of those I, I serve, that at times we can be
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very, very difficult in regard to being pliable in the hands of
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God. The Lord in the midst of his
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love is bringing judgment. Of course, He has to destroy the
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world one day. It's obvious because men won't
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repent, repent. Their deeds are evil.
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They refuse to repent. But God's heart throughout the
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beginning of time, in the midst of adversity and trial and
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tribulation, is to turn the people's hearts toward him.
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That we would cry out for mercy and say, Lord, forgive me.
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And God is a merciful God because if He hears us cry out
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for mercy and forgiveness, He will never once turn his back
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away. His mercy endures forever, the
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Bible says. But there's something in the
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heart of man that the pride is so thick and so strong that we
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will refuse to acknowledge our wrongdoings and our sin and not
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repent. And so God begins to pour these
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plagues out of darkness. It reminds us of what happened
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in Exodus chapter 1021 and 22. The darkness was so thick.
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It says that God extended that through the hands of Moses so
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that the darkness would be felt. Sometimes you've been in a
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situation where you've just felt darkness.
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Maybe you felt the darkness of the evil 1, the oppression, the
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attacks of the evil 1. I have.
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It is so thick, it is so dark. It is so real.
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You almost feel you can touch it.
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Or maybe you've been out in the woods some night and the stars
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are overcast. You can't see the the moon and
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and you're trying to find your way in a path and it is so dark
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that you know you better not go anywhere.
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You'll really get lost. So you just stay in the place
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that you are. It was such a thick darkness in
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Exodus. It lasted for three days and it
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says it was so dark that the people had not the ability to
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see one another, neither anyone rose from the place that they
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were in. It also says that they nod their
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tongues in verse 10 because of the pain of the sores and the
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heat from the sun. And it reminds us of what it
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says in Matthew 2530. And he casts the unprofitable
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servant into outer darkness. And there shall be weeping and
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gnashing of teeth. This is a preview of hell.
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Hell is a literal place. It is a place designed by God
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for the devil and his angels. God never intended that man, his
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creation, would have to be in hell.
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But because of our own hardness, the own wickedness of our own
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hearts, and our refusal to repent and submit to God, we
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we'll have to enter into that place if we don't have Christ as
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not any our Savior, but our Lord.
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And so he says in verse 11 that they did not repent of their
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deed. I'd like to read something to
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you. This is something that's just
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been on my conscience the last couple weeks.
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It's from a devotional I've been looking at, and it says, my
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brethren deem it all joy Whenever you fall into diverse
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temptations or trials, knowing that the testing of your faith
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works out patience. God has a purpose for trials and
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adversity. It's to cause us to be humbled
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and to be broken and to repent and to turn toward him.
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With these words from his general epistle, James, a
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brother of the Lord, reminds us that the various afflictions we
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encounter in our daily lives can be of great benefit.
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And we know, as Paul reminds us, that those who love God, all
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things work together for good in Romans 828.
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Now listen to this and see if this applies to you.
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I know it does to me. The demands of today's secular,
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humanistic, ego worshipping society, where personal comfort
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and pleasure reign supreme, have often caused many, if not most
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of us to take our focus off of striving to live the Gospel of
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Christ. Does that affect any of you
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guys? However, unlike Peter, who,
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having taken his eyes off of his Lord and having begun to sink
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into the sea, immediately cried out to Jesus to save him, we
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seem to be either unaware of or indifferent to the fact that we
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are focusing upon and sinking within the toward sea of this
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temporal life. And thus we become bait for the
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many demonic passions lurking therein, seeking to devour our
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souls. This is why God and His
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limitless love for us will permit us to experience various
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tribulations so that we will wake up and cry out to him for
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help, so that we can again fix the eyes of our souls upon Him.
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I believe we have to wake up in these days.
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The church is dead everywhere, the Church of Jesus Christ in
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these last days. The Bible says there's a great
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falling away. Men will be lovers of themselves
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rather than lovers of God. And we're living in those days
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and we're fighting against those days, all of us, for our
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families, for our marriages, for our children.
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And as I said earlier when we prepared for the Supper, the
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apostle John who wrote the Book of Revelation also says that if
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we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
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is not in us. So we're studying about all
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these poor people in the Book of Revelation today.
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Sometimes we read all these poor people.
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They refuse to repent of their sin.
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They won't acknowledge the Creator.
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They blast him to the Creator. And many times I look and I look
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at the image of the Church of Jesus Christ today and I say, do
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we look any different than those who will have to face that
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eternity of hell? Are we the kind of people that
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are refusing to repent of our sins?
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Are we walking around in self righteousness saying I have no
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sin, I'm judging other people's sins, but I'm not judging my own
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sins. It says if we hate, say that we
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have not sinned, we make him a liar and His word is not in US.
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The purpose, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit, God, the Holy
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Spirit, is to convict you and me of sin.
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He does that perfectly well. He makes it very clear to my
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conscience and yours whenever we're behaving in an
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inappropriate way, when we're thinking things we shouldn't,
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when we're doing things we know we shouldn't.
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He makes it very clear about where we're at in our lives in
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regard to sin. First, Peter chapter 4 says for
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the time has come for judgment to begin.
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Where? At the House of God.
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Now we're studying about the judgment and revelation, right?
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Well, revelation hasn't fulfilled yet in the sense of
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the prophetical vision of John in the days ahead.
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It's going to come to pass, but I have to live right now.
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And so I'm thinking about judgment and revelation, but I
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first of all have to realize that judgment has to 1st begin
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with me and with this House of God.
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And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those
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who do not obey the gospel of God?
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And that's what we read about in Revelation.
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What will be the end of those in that book who will not obey the
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gospel of God? It says there will be 9 of
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teeth. Now if the righteous 1 is
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scarcely saved, where will the ungodly in the Sinner appear?
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Peter asked that question. James tells us that we're to
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draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
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That's repentance. Repentance is turning away from
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walking away from God in my own path of destruction and selfish
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and foolishness and delusion and turning to the Lord, drawing
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near to him. And if I turn from my sin and
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repent and draw near to God, God doesn't run the other way.
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I'm the one that's running the other way in my rebellious sin,
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right? I'm the one that's running away
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from God. And I've been there and you've
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been there. And we got loved ones that are
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running from God. But whenever we come to our
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senses like the prodigal and we turn and we know we want to go
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to the House of the Father, we turn towards God and he runs
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toward us. He comes to us and embraces US.
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Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
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And as we're drawing near to God, the responsibility that we
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have, James says we're to cleanse our hands.
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He says cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart.
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You double minded. The double minded person is
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going this way and going this way and going this way and going
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this way and going this way and going this way and we don't know
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which way we're going. We get nowhere.
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God's calling us. We know our conscience is
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affected, but the sin in us, we love that sometimes more.
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And we're going this way and, and, and we're we're like
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spiritual schizophrenics where we have no rest, we have no
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peace because we have this constant tension of holiness in
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our own desire for what we think we want and what's best for us.
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James also tells us that we're confess our trespasses, our sins
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to one another, to pray for one another, that you may be healed.
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The sin causes spiritual sickness.
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It causes death. You know, sometimes we know what
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it's like to be obviously physically I'll.
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We get flu shots to protect ourselves from the flu.
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We get different inoculations. We take vitamins to protect
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ourselves from disease and illness.
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We try to eat properly so we have the proper nutrition so
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that we stay healthy. Not realizing, though, that
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that's all in vain if we're living a life of habitual sin.
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Because no matter how many inoculations you get and how
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many vaccinations you get, how many flu shots you get, how many
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vitamins you get intake, and how well you try to eat, eat and
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work out, the wages of sin is death.
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You're going to die. You can't stop that.
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You can't prevent it. You can't help yourself and you
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can't help anybody else from the process of physical death.
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The wages of sin is death. And so he calls the church, he
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calls Christians together and James that we get together and
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we pray for one another and confess our sins to one another
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that we might get the help that we need.
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There's nothing more tragic than a church that listens to a
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message and goes home and there's no confession, there's
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no repentance, there's no praying for one another.
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It's, it's, it's not even a church.
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It's an institution, it's a business.
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It's just, I don't know what you would call it.
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It's, it's nothing. It's dead.
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And if we go out without repentance, if we go out without
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confession, if we go out without praying for one another, we are
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walking out sick and we are walking out dead, James says.
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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.