Sermon
Living Waters of Grace for April 23rd, 2026
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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We're not to fear anybody or anything in this life but God,
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but why is it so often that we fear our wives, or we fear our
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husbands, or we fear our employer, or we fear the bank
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statement, or we fear the stock market, or we fear brothers and
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sisters in Christ? It's crazy the things that we
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get intimidated by, but the Bible only wants us to be
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fearful of one thing, and it's a holy fear.
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What are you afraid of? If you do a quick Internet
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search, you'll find that there are lists of over 500 types of
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phobias that people experience. Everything from the fear of
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spiders, to the fear of heights, to things like the fear of long
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words or even the fear of being afraid.
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It is message. Today, Pastor Clark wants you to
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know that there's only one fear you should have according to the
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Bible, a holy fear, the fear of God.
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That is to humble yourself before God that you might
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experience his mercy. 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. Then I saw another Angel flying
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in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
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to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue,
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and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory
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to him, for the hour of his judgement has come and worship
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him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.
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And another Angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen.
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Is fallen that great city, because she has made all nations
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drink of the wine, of the wrath of her fornication.
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Then an Angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If
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anyone worships the beast in his image, and receives his mark on
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his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the
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wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into
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the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire
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and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
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presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends
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forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, who
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worship the beast and the image, and whoever receives the mark of
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his name. Here is the patience of the
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Saints. Here are those who keep the
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commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
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Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Right, blessed are
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the dead who die in the Lord from now on.
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Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their laborers,
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and their works follow him. Then.
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Then I looked, and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud
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that one like the Son of Man, having his on his head a golden
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crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
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And another Angel came out of the temple crying, with a loud
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voice to him who sat on the cloud.
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Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to
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reap, for the harvest of the earth is right.
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So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the
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earth, and the earth was reaped. Then another Angel came out of
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the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
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And another Angel came out from the altar who had power over for
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fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp
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sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the
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clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully
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ripe. So the Angel thrust the sickle
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into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it
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into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
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And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came
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out of the winepress up to the horse's bridles for 1600
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furlongs. Sometimes when you look at
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artwork, different types of artwork, abstract art,
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impressionist art, you see different things in the artwork.
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Every one of us, if I had a painting up here today and ask
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you what you saw, you might say, well, I see this or I see that.
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I see this color or this, this sort of design or this image,
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and someone else might have a completely different perspective
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of what they're observing. And that's what it's like
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sometimes when we read into the Book of Revelation.
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All of us here are at different places in our pilgrimage today,
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in our Christian life. And some of us will sit here and
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say, yeah, OK, what, what time is it now?
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And he'll be done maybe in 45 minutes and we can get out of
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here. Some of us will grab something
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today and they'll see it and they'll say, wow, I never
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noticed that before. Some of us might have some
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different perspective about some things, and that's OK because
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Revelation is open to a lot of various interpretations.
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But the the things that the apostle John is conveying to us
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today are from my perspective, quite clear.
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And of course, as a pastor, I study these things, pray about
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these things. I have a, a responsibility to
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have some sense of what I'm talking about here this morning.
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But at the same time, as you listen to these things, I want
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you to have your hearts open to be prepared for what God would
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have for your life in regard to the light of these Scriptures.
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The first verse we look at here, verse 6, very, very interesting.
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This Angel flying in the midst of heaven.
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It has this everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on
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the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue and people.
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The Bible declares that in the last day, when Christ comes and
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establishes His Kingdom, there will be this event called the
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marriage supper of the Lamb in the throne room of heaven.
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What's going to be interesting is that they'll be
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representatives at that banquet of every tongue, tribe, kindred,
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a nation. And sometimes we wonder how in
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the world will that ever come to pass, the day we look at the
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modern missionary movement. Unfortunately, in most churches
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today, missions is the most neglected focus of the local
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church. There's more emphasis on
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buildings and gymnasiums and coffee shops than there is in
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the getting of the gospel out to the ends of the earth.
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It's ironic, I would think that as the Lord looks upon the
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responsibility that we have as a church here and as a church in
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the world today, the body of Christ, that the last mandate he
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gave was to go into all the world and preach the gospel to
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every living creature, teaching them to observe everything I've
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commanded you, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and
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Holy Spirit. He said, lo, I'm with you
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always, even unto the end of the age.
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So that was the last thing that was on his heart and he had the
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expectation that the church would be responsive and obedient
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to what it is he called the church to do.
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Recently we had a new Tribes missionary here.
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He told me after the service, Clark, there's still
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approximately 780 people groups in the world that have still not
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yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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He said that might discourage us at times we might feel like
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we're not getting anything done, but we are making progress.
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But it seems because of the rebellioness of man's heart and
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even Christians that we we have this propensity to dig our heels
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in and just sort of want to do things our way in the church.
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And so the Lord in his wisdom, I find this great comforting.
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Not that it takes us off the hook, but in the last days
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before he comes in his second coming to establish his Kingdom,
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This angelic being will go around.
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Don't ask me how it's going to happen.
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All the details. It's nonetheless here very clear
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that this Angel will be responsible for preaching to
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those who dwell on the earth, every nation, tribe, tongue and
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people, so they'll never be a part in this time of life that
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we can blame God for. Those who have never heard,
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everyone will hear, Everyone will hear the gospel.
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The Bible tells us that even in our conscience, even if you
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lived in a remote island somewhere where you never heard
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of Christianity, your conscience brings conviction because of
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your life. You know there's something
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wrong, you know there's something missing.
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You look up in the sky at night and you see the beautiful moon
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and the stars and you diss in your mind as a native say, how
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did that get there? Who made that?
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What's the story behind that? People begin by the Spirit of
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God, who's everywhere present and fills all things, beginning
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to seek the God of creation. And God is faithful to our
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conscience because our conscience cannot excuse our
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behavior. We know what sin is.
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Even if we've never heard the word sin, we know it's wrong.
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It's written in our heart that it's wrong to murder and to kill
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and to steal and to do all the things if the commandments tell
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us even without us ever hearing them.
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But God is faithful for a conscience that begins to be
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convicted. He gets a missionary there.
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He gets a witness there. And even in some of these Muslim
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countries right now, where these Muslims are in jail cells
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because of crimes and atrocities they've brought against the
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people of freedom there, some of them have cried out wanting to
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know the truth and if God is really real, and it has been
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visions of people experiencing witnesses in the midst of a
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prison cell. God is able to do anything,
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isn't he, to get his word across the people and show them their
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need of a Savior. And so this Angel will preach to
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those who dwell on the earth at this time, preaching the gospel.
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And this is the everlasting gospel.
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It's the same gospel that you've believed, the same gospel that I
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believe. It's the same gospel that was
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preached throughout the Old Testament regarding the coming
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Messiah. It was the same gospel that John
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preached and Jesus preached and Paul preached and we all
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continually preach until Christ comes.
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Akin now that Christ died for our sins according to the
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scriptures, that he was buried, that he rose again the third day
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according to the scriptures, and ascendeth into heaven and
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sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
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And the Bible tells us he shall come again with glory to judge
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the quick and the dead whose Kingdom shall have no end.
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He says in verse seven with a loud voice, this Angel speaking
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out, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his
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judgement has come and worship him who made heaven and earth,
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the sea and the springs of water.
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We're not to fear anybody or anything in this life but God.
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But why is it so often that we fear our wives, or we fear our
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husbands, or we fear our employer, or we fear the bank
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statement, or we fear the stock market, or we fear brothers and
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sisters in Christ? It's crazy the things that we
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get intimidated about, but the Bible only wants us to be
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fearful of one thing, and it's a holy fear.
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It's not an intimidating fear where we put our hand up
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thinking we're going to get smacked by God because God
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doesn't work that way. He loves us.
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He apprehends us by His grace. But nonetheless, we're to fear
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God, realizing that one day His judgement will come and we will
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all give an account of ourselves to God.
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And I want to have a good defense in that day of judgment,
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don't you? I want to be able to stand
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before the throne, not in my righteousness, but in his, his
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blood that was shed for me, having a clear conscience,
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knowing there was nothing left unrepented of in this life.
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And stand and hear Him say well done, good and faithful servant.
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And he speaks to the world, this Angel about this impending
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judgment. And he says give glory to him.
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Now all these people on the face of the earth at that time,
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outside of those 144,000 witnesses and those who will get
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saved during the tribulation, the majority of people will
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still be rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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They're animus, they're secularists, they're humanists,
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they're atheists, they're agnostics and they don't believe
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the truth of God. And what will it take for them
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to believe? Well, God sends a spectacular
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representative here, an Angel, and begins to speak to them
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regarding the creation. The evolutionists will once
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again be challenged of their premise that what they say is
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true is not true. It's a lie.
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And he clearly defines and delineates that God himself, the
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God of heaven, the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and
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the springs of water, you will give an account to one day.
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The hour of his judgement has come, the Angel saying, and it's
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no wonder when we think about all those during the
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tribulation, there'll be many, many people saved during that
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tribulation which will give encouragement to you with you
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have unsaved loved ones. Don't give up hope.
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If the rapture would happen tomorrow, that doesn't mean it's
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too late for them. It says after these things in
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Chapter 7 verse 9, I looked and behold a great multitude which
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no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples and
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tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb
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clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands and
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crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our
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God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
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All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the
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four living creatures, they fell on their faces before the throne
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and worship God, saying Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom,
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Thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever
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and ever. So the good news is there will
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be many people that will get saved and many will believe this
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testimony of this Angel. This Angel also tells the whole
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world the importance of willingly surrendering their
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life to the Lord. And if we don't surrender our
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life to the Lord in this life, we will have the responsibility
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before the holy God to surrender our life in the next World.
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But it'll be too late. This will be what will happen.
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Philippians chapter 2, verse 9 through 11.
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Therefore, God has also highly exalted him, referring to Jesus
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and giving him the name which is above every name, that at the
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name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of
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those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every
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tongue. You may want to underline that
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in your Bible. Every tongue Achminajab, the
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leader of Iran, every tongue, all the world leaders and the
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rulers who scoff at Christianity and call it a futile religion, a
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dead faith, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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And the irony of this to us should be that all these people
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on this earth today are damning themselves because of them
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personal personally rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ in
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this life. And the irony again is one day
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they'll be forced to face the reality that Jesus Christ is
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Lord, right? I think of all the great
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athletes that are lost, all the great people that we idolize,
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unfortunately, because of their athletic ability or, or their
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ability to act on movie screens or whatever, we all have the
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people we we think are really something, you know, And yet
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without Christ, they're nothing. And so all the success and all
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the adulation they've received in this life, they're going to
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have to bow down and all the sudden realize I blew it.
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I live my life for something that was ridiculous and now it's
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too late. And they will see him as he is
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and have to say, Jesus Christ, you are Lord to the glory of God
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the Father. And what a tragedy that'll be.
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And the apostle John says this is the everlasting gospel
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preached to those in the latter part of the tribulation, the
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last call of grace to a world gone mad, to a world that
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refuses to acknowledge Christ's lordship.
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Do you think the world's gone mad yet?
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It's, it's his past madness. It's it's, it's at the point of
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insanity. I mean it, you know, we're sort
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of isolated at times because we're believers and we're in the
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word and we sort of like to hang out with like minded people.
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And so, you know, but we still get exposed to plenty of garbage
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out there. It's just ludicrous.
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What's what's happening in this world today.
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So as a result, you know, people are just doing, doing crazy,
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crazy stuff. And as a result, their lives are
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falling into an eternity with without Christ and without God
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because they refuse to acknowledge the lordship of
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Christ. I love this promise though, that
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it's going out to every tongue, tribe, kindred a nation, because
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this will be a fulfillment of the Great Commission.
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And it says in Matthew 2414 and this gospel, the Kingdom will be
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preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and
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then the end will come. This dovetails perfectly into
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what the apostle John is saying in Revelation 14 here regarding
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the prophecy fulfillment of what occurs in verse 6.
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Jesus himself says this gospel will be preached in all the
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world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will
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come. So in the meantime, the
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responsibility is up to you guys and me.
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As much as we like to see the Angel get it all done and about,
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you know, how long will it take the Angel to do that?
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I don't know. It'll be pretty quick, I'm sure.
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But we're to be faithful because God's given us the
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responsibility and our time to our generation, to our family,
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to our kids, to our neighbors, to the people we work with, the
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people we live with every day. Are you ready for the Lord to
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come? Do you know Jesus Christ as your
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Lord and Savior, your friends in school and college?
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Everybody is in need of a Savior.
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We're all missionaries. You all have a mission field
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where you are every day, and we pray, Lord, that you would use
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us. And verse 8, it talks about
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another Angel, the second Angel, saying Babylon has fallen this
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great city because she has made all nations drink of the wine,
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of the wrath of her fornication. Babylon is depicted in the
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scripture in numerous ways, a literal city, a political
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system, a false religious system.
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In the light of this context here we see this as this, the
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movement of this false religious system that the Antichrist has
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established in the last days, that the consequences of people
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who respond and obey his commands and worship him.
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It says in verse 9, those who worship the beast and receive
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his image, his mark on their forehead or on their hand,
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they're going to have to suffer, offer the terrible consequences
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of following a false savior. Now the Bible describes us as
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fornication and verse 8, this idea of fornication, we all know
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what it means literally and in the fallen state of our
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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 are awash, 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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and nonetheless we don't point the fingers at others who are
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stuck 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.
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Know that maybe we haven't had the courage yet to tell them
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about what Jesus has done for us.
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We haven't given them Full disclosure about, hey, you know,
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I'm not telling you this because I'm perfect and I'm better than
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you, but I'm telling you this because Christ died for me and
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saved me and has forgiven me of my sins.
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That you need a savior too. And if you don't have a savior,
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the consequences that are going to fall upon you in your life
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one day are going to be without end torment forever and ever and
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ever. I'll tell you, I don't think our
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hearts, as Rick prayed this morning are are broken enough.
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And and I don't mean we're walking around in South class
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and ash type attitudes, but it's just like we have this
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vulnerability and this love in our hearts that we want
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everybody to get saved. That's really what we should be
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like, right? We should have this great desire
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to this love on people and see them come to know the Lord that
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has revealed himself to us. But the judgement upon these
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people are are it's without end. And as the result of their
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deception, it's going to be, it's going to be a lot of
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pressure on the earth at this time because we have to do
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commerce, but people still have to buy and sell.
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People still have to make decisions financially.
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And there's going to come a type of government that's going to
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make 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 judgement 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 of
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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 dreg 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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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
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reference 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.
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To listen to any messages before or after this one, you can find
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them at our 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.