Sermon
Living Waters of Grace for April 24th, 2026
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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The good news is, is that when you think about the heartache
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and the despair and the deception in the world today,
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you can get hopeless. You can become overwhelmed and
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discouraged and say, what in the world can I do?
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Well, you and I can't do anything, but Christ can do a
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lot through you and me. Simple people.
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Just take that gospel and give it to people.
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When God gives you an opportunity, pray for your kids,
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pray for your loved ones. Don't give up, don't get
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discouraged. Your prayers carry more weight
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than anything you can imagine. Boy, I'll tell you, when you
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look around at the world, there's a lot of wickedness that
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goes on. It seems like people's hearts
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are hardened and evil prevails. Shootings, bombing, senseless
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murders, all kinds of flagrant sexuality just thrown in our
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faces daily. In today's message, Pastor Clark
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encourages you to not lose heart.
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God is still on the throne and the gospel is still the power of
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God unto salvation for all who believe.
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Keep sharing Jesus with people. Keep praying for your loved ones
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who are lost now. Here's Pastor Clark in
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Revelation chapter 14 with today's edition of Living Waters
Revelation 14 chapter mention
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of Grace. Now the Bible describes us as
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fornication in verse 8. This idea of fornication, we all
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know what it means literally in in in the fallen state of our
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our humanity. Unfortunately, some of us were
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involved in those things at what the one time.
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But the good news is I love what Paul says, but such for some of
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you. But you were washed, you're
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sanctified, you're justified. I mean, the blood cleanses us
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from all of our sin. And so we don't carry the guilt.
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Nonetheless, we don't point the fingers at others who are stuck
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in those sins thinking we're better.
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We show forth the love of Christ and tell them about a savior.
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But the apostles referring to a spiritual fornication.
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And it's the idea of worshipping false gods, people who are
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worshipping Buddha and Allah, Muhammad, Krishna, all these
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false ideologies today that are out there that people are
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wrapped up in. It's having a spiritual
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connection with something that is not real and is not true.
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And so the judgement upon these people at this time for
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worshipping these things, the third Angel warns of this coming
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judgement in verse 9 through 11. And it says that they will be
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tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the
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holy angels in the presence of the Lamb.
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It says in verse 11, the smoke of their torment ascends forever
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and ever and they have no rest day and night.
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Who worship the beast in his image and whoever receives the
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mark of his name. I'll tell you guys, I, I don't
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like thinking about this stuff, the horror of hell for people
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that we walk by every day that we know that maybe we haven't
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had the courage yet to tell them about what Jesus has done for
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us. We haven't given him Full
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disclosure about, hey, you know, I'm not telling you this because
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I'm perfect and I'm better than you, but I'm telling you this
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because Christ died for me and saved me and has forgiven me of
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my sins that you need a savior too.
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And if you don't have a savior, the consequences that are going
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to fall upon you in your life one day are going to be without
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end torment forever and ever and ever.
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I'll tell you, I don't think our hearts, as Rick prayed this
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morning are are broken enough. And and I don't mean we're
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walking around in South class and ash type attitudes, but it's
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just like we have this vulnerability and this love in
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our hearts that we want everybody to get saved.
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That's really what we should be like, right?
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We should have this great desire to this love on people and see
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them come to know the Lord that has revealed himself to us.
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But the judgement upon these people are are it's without end.
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And as the result of their deception, it's going to be,
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it's going to be a lot of pressure on the earth at this
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time because we have to do commerce.
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People still have to buy and sell.
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People still have to make decisions financially.
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And it's going to come a type of government that's going to make
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it very, very difficult, impossible really for us who are
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believers. Of course, I don't believe we'll
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be here. We'll be raptured out prior to a
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lot of this stuff coming into full bloom.
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But nonetheless, those who are left behind that come to know
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Christ at this time will have to make a decision to refuse to
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accept the mark of the beast. And as a result, they're going
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to be martyred. They're going to be put in
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internment camps, concentration camps, much like the Jews had to
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go through during the Holocaust. And they won't be able to live
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in this world anymore because the Antichrist will have full
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control. It was almost like what happened
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in the early days of the church where the people were commanded
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by Caesar to take a pinch of incense and throw it at the idol
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of the person of Caesar, pledging allegiance to him.
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And those who pledge allegiance to the Antichrist, as it says in
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verse 10, are forced to drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
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the cup of wrath. Those under judgment will be
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forced to drink this. This is expressed many times in
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in the Scriptures Psalm 75, eight it says, for in the hand
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of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red.
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It is fully mixed and he pours it out.
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Surely it's dregs show all the wicked of the earth drain and
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drink down Jeremiah 2515. For thus says the Lord God of
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Israel to me, take the wine cup of fury from my hand, and cause
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all the nations to whom I send you to drink it again.
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The fulfillment of these very things that were written
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thousands of years before by the psalmist and the prophet
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Jeremiah talking about things and I'm sure at times they
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couldn't really grasp and put their minds fully around.
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And now the apostle John is clearly defining to us what will
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come to pass. And then Jesus himself in
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Matthew 2639, he says, if it is possible, let this cup pass by
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me. He had to drink that cup of
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God's wrath for you and me. He had to take upon himself the
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anger and the wrath of his Father for the sins of you and
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me. And Jesus willingly took the cup
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of God's wrath that you and I deserve.
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In verse 10 here we see the enemies of Jesus.
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They, they have a choice, but basically they have no choice
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because they're going to be forced to drink this cup.
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It's going to be forced upon them, this cup of indignation.
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And this anger comes from a God who's settled.
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You know, sometimes they think of God, what's his, what's his
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temperament like? Is he really happy one day and
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joyful and blissful and loving and another day he's like really
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mad and angry, you know, is he erratic in his personality like
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we are so often does he does his temperament move with the tides
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of seasons or the opinions of people Know this comes from a
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settled disposition of this God's character.
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And I couldn't even begin to explain to you the magnificence
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of God's character, the perfection of God's character.
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But there's a couple Greek words that help us to understand this
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indignation of this anger that comes from this holy God.
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The first word is orge, and it's the common word that is used for
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anger in the New Testament, used many, many times.
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But this particular word here in this rendering in the in the
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Book of Revelation comes from the word thymos.
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It means it's a passionate anger and it's used only 11 times and
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10 times it's used in the Book of Revelation.
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So the the anger of God is just, I wouldn't say it's seething or
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it's in the background. It's just present because he's
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holy and without holiness. There can not be a separation
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between vindication and justice, right?
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And anger. But it comes from a calm throne
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of God as he is completely in control, as we sang about.
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And the clear teachings here is sometimes you run into people,
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especially in these last days. Well, I really don't think
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there's a hell. You know, a lot of churches,
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unfortunately, are moving away from the message of hell.
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Hell isn't a good thing to talk about, they say in churches on
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Sunday because it offends people.
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Who makes them uncomfortable? I mean, it's crazy.
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You know, it's just like, what are we supposed to do?
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Like RIP out pages of the Bible and say, well, this is
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acceptable because this will make people happy, but this
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won't. And, you know, now, if you're
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saved, you don't have anything to worry about.
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You're not going there. But if you're unsaved today and
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you're lost, you would have some concern.
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I would hope today that you don't want to end up in this
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place where there's this eternal punishment and destiny waiting.
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Those who love sin and hate God, they're tormented with fire and
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brimstone. The scriptures declare here,
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tormenting them forever and ever.
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The word brimstone is actually in the the Bible.
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They talk about these people long ago who were out in the
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street corners. They would call them fanatics
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because they were telling people about fire and brimstone.
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What's real? It's true, and it awaits those
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who don't have a Savior in the presence of His holy angels.
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This is all being seen in the presence of the Lamb, and God
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will not be absent from hell. Some people describe hell.
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Yes, the fire. What's the fire?
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Well, the fire may be the holiness of God.
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That this burns everything away that isn't righteous.
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And the only way we'll be able to stand in the midst of God's
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holiness is because of the righteousness of Christ.
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He's our protection. He's our shield.
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But if you're without a savior, that, that brightness and that,
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that fire of God's holiness will burn your soul forever and ever
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and ever. You, you can't hide from it.
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You can't cover your eyes, you know, because the brightness is
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all exceeding and it just goes through the, the entire being of
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the, of the human heart. And, and there's no place to
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run, no place to hide in this life.
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Now it says men love darkness rather than light because their
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deeds are evil right now. They think they can get away
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from the light, but one day they won't be able to flee from the
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light. And it says the smoke of their
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torment will send forever and ever and ever eternal hell.
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And so why do we preach the gospel?
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Why is it so important to preach the gospel?
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Second, Peter 29 says the Lord is not slack concerning his
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promise, as some count slackness.
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We're slackers, aren't we? We all are.
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We don't want to be slackers, but we are slackers.
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But you know, we say God work on my heart so I'm less a slacker
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and that I actually am interested in telling some
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people about what you've revealed to me.
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That's like how you get away from being a slacker.
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You begin to do what he would do if he was walking here today
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still, but this is the Lord. He's long-suffering toward us
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means he's so patient and so loving.
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He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
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to repentance. He doesn't want anybody to have
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to suffer this torment. He loves the whole world.
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That's why he gave his only begotten Son.
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He doesn't want anybody to have to experience this horror.
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John chapter 317, the gospel John says for God did not send
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his Son into the world to condemn the world, right, but
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that the world through him might be saved.
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What a God, a God of love who doesn't condemn us, but there
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will be that day when it's too late.
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And that's why we preach the gospel.
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And it says in verse 12 and 13 regarding those who stood for
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the Lord and suffered martyrdom and suffering because they
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wouldn't receive the mark of the beast.
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It says, he hears a voice from heaven saying to me, blessed are
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the dead who die in the Lord from now on, yes.
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The Spirit says that they may rest from their laborers and
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their works follow them. These people endured patiently
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and faithfully. They stood the test regardless
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of the consequences and what encouragement that should be for
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all of us. I don't believe we're going to
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maybe sense this kind of martyrdom.
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At least I pray we don't. Our kids, our grandkids, our
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great grandkids. I just pray the Lord comes back
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soon. I really do.
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That's the only answer. But when you're standing in your
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life to be faithful, when people persecute you, when they
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ridicule you, when they laugh at you, when situations don't work
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out the way you were praying and they say, where's your God?
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Or you're in a situation where someone, you know, maybe he's
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listening for a while and, and, and all of a sudden you know
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you're offended because of how they responded to you or how
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they rejected you. The Lord encourages us in First
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Corinthians 1558 for you and me as well.
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Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in your work for the
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Lord. Don't give up, don't get weary
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and well doing, always abounding in your work for the Lord, for
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as much as you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
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That's my life verse, my favorite verse, as a matter what
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I see in my life, in my ministry, or what happens or
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what doesn't happen happen, and none of that stuff's important.
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All I want to do is just keep being faithful to what I believe
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God called me to do. I want you guys to be faithful
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to what God's called you to do. Don't worry about the results.
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Don't worry about the success. Don't worry about what you see
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being answered or the prayers that you want to be answered
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that you never see answered. Just keep your nose focused, as
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Paul said, toward Christ, keeping your eyes on him.
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Be steadfast and movable, always abounding in your work for the
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Lord. I love this last part.
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For as much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the
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Lord, If you have a spouse who's struggling, don't get
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discouraged. Just keep praying.
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Pray for their soul. Pray for your kids.
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Pray for your neighbors and your loved ones, your wayward family
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members. Don't give up.
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Just keep praying and keep praying and always abounding,
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being steadfast and movable. Your work, your labor is not in
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vain in the Lord. Regardless of what happens, God
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will credit these things to your account in the coming Kingdom.
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14 through 16. It talks about the reaping and I
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read the verses from Matthew regarding the the tares and the
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wheat. And this is a time when Jesus
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will bring in the harvest. It refers to him in verse 14.
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He's the one that sits on the cloud, one like the Son of Man,
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having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp
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sickle. He's going to come out and begin
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to reap for it says a harvest of the earth and 15 is ripe and
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he's ready to come and deal with the lies and the false
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professions and those who claim to be something they're not
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because he, he knows everything we can't see that He knows he'll
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come and he'll reap and he's coming not in this rush.
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He's waited how many years now that the world has been in
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existence over 6000, right? That's what some people claim.
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I'm not a a scientist, so I, I, I don't understand all the
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carbon data readings and all that, but I know that this earth
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is not super old and yet God says a day with him is like 1000
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years and 1000 years is like a day.
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So regardless of how old the earth is, if you want to call it
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the 20,000 years, that's 20 days.
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That's not a long time from God's perspective.
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But he comes patiently not rushing into judgement and he's
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harvesting the evil. He's gathering and binding and
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burning up the tares as he promised he would do prior to
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the return of his son on the earth, this reign and roll.
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He talks about the winepress in 17 through 20, and the Angel
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comes out and it's interesting. These angels are coming out of a
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temple and in heaven there will be this temple.
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It gives very descriptive. We'll get into that in the in
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the latter chapters, what it's going to look like, but there'll
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be this place of worship, God's holy temple, and this is where
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God does his bidding and he sends out his ambassadors to
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finish and complete the job prior to his millennial Kingdom.
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This one Angel comes out who had power over fire.
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He crows with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle,
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saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters
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of the vines of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.
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And the Angel thrusts the sickle into the earth and gathers the
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vine of the earth and throws it into the great wine press for
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the wrath of God. The carnage of judgment, and the
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last day beneath the omnipotent hand and power of God will be
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like no other war or conflict that the world has ever known.
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The battle of Armageddon, prior to the return of Jesus Christ,
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his second coming, will be referred to as World War Three.
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And the blood will be so spread around that it'll be splattered
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up upon the horse's bridal. It says in verse 20, it's quite
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graphic. The blood came of the winepress
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up to the horse's bridles for 1600 furlongs.
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We see this area within the city of Jerusalem, approximately 200
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mile radius, the valley of Megiddo, where this final
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conflict will take place. It's going to be a gathering
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time together of this final battle prior to Christ's second
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coming and chapter 14 clearly depicts for us today the Lord
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God is a triumphant 1 all powerful and he's in control.
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God, the Messiah, God watching out for his elect, his bride,
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his church continually throughout the ages.
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So as we look at these horrendous things that are going
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to come upon the earth. What do you what do you think
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about when you when you hear these things?
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I mean, it's just like not another study and another
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Sunday. I I believe every time we go
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through the scriptures and, and when God has us here personally,
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there's this accountability that all of us have because we hear
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things that we're responsible for, right?
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All of us. The Bible declares that to him
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is given much light. Much is required.
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And the benefit of going through the Scriptures like this is that
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none of us are in the darkness. We're all in the light today,
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and that's a good thing. And so there is someone in your
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life, someone somewhere that God wants to use to bring them to a
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saving knowledge of his, of his Son, Jesus Christ.
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And then those who are in backslidden conditions, and I've
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been there. We've all been there at times
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when we haven't been as zealous for God for some reason, we get
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out of the Word, we stop praying, we get too busy with
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other things, right? And all of a sudden we find that
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we're not really connecting with the Lord, right?
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Have you ever prayed in a time of need and you feel like God's
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1,000,000 miles away and you're like, Lord, I just want to hang
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out with you and what you do. I haven't heard from you for
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like 3 years, you know? You know, all of a sudden you
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want to like have this close relationship again.
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Yeah, Lord, I really do. And God is so good.
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I mean, to us, he doesn't make us jump through a million hoops.
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If he truly sees our repentant heart, He runs at us like the
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prodigal, right? Because we all are prodigals.
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But the good news is, is that when you think about the
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heartache and the despair and the deception in the world
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today, you can get hopeless. You can become overwhelmed and
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discouraged and say, what in the world can I do?
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Well, you and I can't do anything but Christ.
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Can do a lot through you and me. Simple people.
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Just take that gospel and give it to people when God gives you
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an opportunity. Pray for your kids, pray for
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your loved ones. Don't give up, don't get
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discouraged. Your prayers carry more weight
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than anything you can imagine. If you could see what was
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happening in the throne room of God when your prayers are being
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sent up to him as a sweet smelling savor, an aroma to his
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nostrils, he immediately listens and responds and takes it in and
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he's active. He's active even before we begin
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to pray because he knows what's upon our hearts, whether it's
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situations of family and marriage and kids and and health
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issues or every area God is involved in.
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And one of the things he spoke to me about in closing when
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Cindy and I were away in this retreat last week.
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Sometimes I think, boy, it's great.
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Get away, brain drain, not think anything.
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God doesn't let that happen with me.
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He says, Clark, we got some business to do here.
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I said what? I want to show you some things
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in your heart. Oh, God, you're kidding me.
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I don't. I don't know.
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Well, you're going to see it, Clark.
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OK, Lord. And Cindy and I just had a time
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of praying and and being open before the Lord and with each
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other. And he was showing me things on
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my heart. He was showing me how easy it is
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to be discontent. The horrible sin of
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discontentment is a horrible thing.
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Paul said to be content in whatever state you find yourself
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in. And you know, when you're
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discontent, you're aggravated. You're disappointed because
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things aren't working out the way you'd like them to work out,
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right? And so you're despondent and
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you're despairing and you're unbelieving and you're hopeless
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and you're faithless. And the devil loves to fish in
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that water. He did.
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Hey, man, that's such a right where I want that guy.
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I'm going to really take him down the drain here.
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We got to just right away say, Lord, it's wrong.
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I'm to be rejoicing in the Lord in all things, give thanks in
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all things, Amen, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
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concerning you. Paul said godliness with
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contentment is great gain. And so, you know, he said to me,
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Clark, start making a list of things that you can know for
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sure that I have done that you can be thankful for.
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Focus on my mercies that are new day by day.
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And he's given me more mercies than I deserve.
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I don't deserve one mercy. I don't know about you, but he's
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given me a boatload of mercies and I need to focus on the
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goodness of the Lord, Amen, and the land of the living.
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So that was one thing he really clarified to me.
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And he also told me that whenever I'm discontent, that's
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what breeds fear and anxiety. What if this happens?
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What if that happened? What do I do about this?
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What? I.
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And your whole mind is like, totally messed up, right?
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Anybody ever been there? Yeah.
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Maybe some of you are here today.
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I don't know. But you know, we just come and
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say, Lord, I I see this clearly as you are showing it to me.
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And you don't want me to walk around like this.
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Sorry. I repent about.
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I give it to you. I lay it at your feet and I want
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to rejoice in the Lord. I want to rejoice in the Lord
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forevermore. I'd like to tell you that that's
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a done deal for me and no more problems.
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It's not that way. This is something you said
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you'll be working on till the day you meet me in the Kingdom.
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But I'll remind you when it's surfacing again, when you're not
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content, when you're living in anxiety and fear and
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hopelessness and desperation. I'm going to remind you to come
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back to me and trust in the Lord with all your heart, right?
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Not leaning into your own understanding and all your ways
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acknowledge Him. He's not a liar, is he?
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And all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct our
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path. In the Book of Revelation,
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Pastor Clark is taking us through all kinds of events and
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happenings that are predicted for the future.
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But for those who believe and follow Jesus, there's much to
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look forward to in heaven with Jesus.
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However, for those who are here on earth during the Tribulation,
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there's all kinds of chaos that will unfold.
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The Bible talks about an Antichrist, a false prophet, and
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of course, that evil enemy, Satan.
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Do you see how there are such clever attempts for the enemy to
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disguise himself as God and even the Trinity?
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The true Savior of the world is God and how he comes to rescue
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through his triune nature God the Father, Jesus the Son, and
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God the Holy Spirit. Just like Satan tried to take
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over for God in heaven and was cast out, Satan will try to
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convince people on earth that he is the Triune God to be
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worshipped instead of the legitimate God in heaven.
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It's an attempt, and although he will capture plenty in his
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schemes, he will not win. The true God wins, and
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Revelation unpacks how that will all happen in detail.
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Be encouraged because there's a way out for all of this madness
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that will ensue on this earth. But you don't want to wait
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indefinitely to make that decision about Jesus.
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We don't know when the church will be raptured, and you want
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to be ready to be with Jesus. To learn more about this, head
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over to calvarychapelonline.com. We're so glad you've been with
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us today. And if you'd like to connect
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further with this ministry, find us on Facebook or YouTube.
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You can also download our mobile app at calvarychapelonline.com.
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Be sure to join us for weekly services at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601. This has been living waters of
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grace.