Sermon
Living Waters of Grace, March 19th, 2026
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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And so as you and I look ahead to the future eternal Kingdom
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and the Lord Jesus reigning at the time of the Millennium,
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realize all this stuff is going on.
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And in between the Rapture and the Millennium, all the people
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you love and you care about, we need the power of the Holy
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Spirit to cause us to be intense, lovingly intense, not
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obnoxious, but lovingly concerned.
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So they, at least they understand it.
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All right. Once they understand it, you,
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you said your piece, you. That's it.
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Let the Holy Spirit then deal with it and work in their lives.
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How much time do you have left on earth?
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If you're listening and you're 20 years old, you might say 60
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plus years or so, and I pray that's true.
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But if you're listening and you're 80 years old, you might
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say 10 to 15 years. And if the averages are true,
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you're probably right. The point is, no one truly
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knows. We must share the gospel with
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our loved ones so that they can experience the joy of eternal
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life with Jesus after they pass from this earth.
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That is our purpose here on earth.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation Chapter 6 with
Revelation 6 chapter mention
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today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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It's important to be an influencing factor in this day
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that you live. I remember one time I was in
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Florida and I was playing golf at Amelia Island.
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It was a company deal and they put us in these foursomes and
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all this kind of stuff, and for some reason we only had a
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threesome. So I drove in the cart myself
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and the other two guys in front and they were just having a good
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old time pounding down the Miller lights and just talking.
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And, you know, one thing led to the next and the discussion
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started to get pretty risque. So my golf cart started getting
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farther and farther behind. There's I didn't want that in my
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head, you know. So I just, you know, backing up
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and all that and doing my thing. And finally I get up at a golf
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course to putt and then one guy says to me, are you religious or
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something? I said, I said no.
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I said I'm a Christian, but I wouldn't consider myself
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religious. And I follow Christ, you know,
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he goes, yeah, he says, and this blew my mind.
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This is how the Holy Spirit works.
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He goes, well, are you a ministry or something?
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I said, yeah, I passed her a small church back in Greensburg.
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Oh, yeah. What's the name of it?
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Calvary Chapel. He goes, I can't believe it.
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Chuck Smith married my wife and I, And then he goes, I know I'm
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not living the way I should be, the Holy Spirit.
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Now, I don't know what happened to him after that, where he
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went, what's going on with his life now.
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If I would have been like, it's OK to have a beer.
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I don't recommend it personally, because if I have a beer, I want
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to have 2345. That's just me, you know?
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So I don't have any anymore. But some people can have a beer
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and it's not a problem right now.
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If I would have had a beer or two, I would have been more
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like, you know, everybody has their own opinions about things.
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They say what they want. I wouldn't have been energized
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even say anything. Matter of fact, I would have
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probably said, boy, who am I to say anything right now?
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I'm not living as a spirit filled Christian.
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I'm more influenced by the alcohol than the Holy Spirit.
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So, you know, I was just so grateful that the Lord, you
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know, kept me from having to be involved with that kind of thing
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at that particular time. But it's important to realize
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that which hinders, and that's you and me, the body of Christ,
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when our influence is out of this world and out of our lives,
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of our families. Like mom and dad, I don't know
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where your kids are with the Lord, your grandpa or your
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extended family member as as much as our kids or our friends
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or our relatives can't stand us talking about Jesus when we're
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gone, no one's going to really tell them about Jesus.
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You know, today we have people that say they're Christians, but
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they're really not following the Lord.
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They they don't. It's a drag to give up an hour
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and a half on a Sunday morning. And so I'm just not going to go
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anywhere. I don't want to hear it or I
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don't want to deal with it. You know, we're like the frog in
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the frying pan. The heat's being turned up.
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We don't realize what we're moving toward.
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And of course, Revelation makes it clear.
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And so we sort of think life's going to be the way it is
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forever and it isn't. There will be a lake of fire
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that everybody that doesn't have Christ will be thrown into and
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they'll be suffering torment forever and ever and ever.
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I don't think we see that clearly.
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I don't think it's something that rivets our attention and it
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just, it sort of just goes over our head lots of times.
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But when this influence, the body of Christ is taken out of
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the way, this man of sin is going to be revealed.
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Now let's see what this Antichrist is going to be like.
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Turn to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2.
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And this gives a really clear description of this guy verse
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one. Now brethren, concerning the
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coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to
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him and that gathering together refers to the rapture that we
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have been taken out to be with Christ.
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It says not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by
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spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, as though the day
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of Christ had come. People back in those days were
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telling them that the Lord had already come back.
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There's people today, they're called preterists.
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They believe that Christ came back in AD 70 and we're actually
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living in the Kingdom age right now.
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If this is a Kingdom age, we're in a, we're in a cult man.
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This is not seriously, this is not the Kingdom age.
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I have no idea how they come up with this stuff.
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This is, let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will
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not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin
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is revealed. That's the Antichrist, the son
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of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is
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called God, or that is worship, so that he sits as God in the
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temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
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That's the abomination of desolation.
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He'll actually do that in the middle of that tribulation when
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he takes over everything says, Do you not remember that when I
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was still with you I told you these things, and now you know
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what is restraining? That he may be revealed in his
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own time. For the mystery of lawlessness
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is already at work. In other words, the spirit of
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Antichrist has been at work since the Garden of Eden.
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Has not God said twisting the word, deceiving, lying?
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It says He who now restrains will do so until he has taken
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out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed,
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whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and
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destroy with the brightness of His coming.
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The coming of the lawless 1 is, according to the working of
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Satan, with all power signs, lying wonders, and with all
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unrighteousness deception among those who perish because they
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did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.
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That's all. The people that didn't listen to
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what we were saying, they're on the earth when this guy comes to
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power and they didn't receive the love of the truth that they
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might be saved. They're going to believe a lie
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it says, and for this reason God will send them a strong delusion
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that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned
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who did not believe the truth but had pleasure and
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unrighteousness. So a lot of people, whenever
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we're raptured and taken out of here, who on the earth, they're
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going to be relieved that we're gone and they're going to be
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breaking into your house and mine and trying to figure out
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how to get your assets and bank accounts.
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There's going to be a lot of prosperity for 3 1/2 years
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because a lot of people are going to be taken out at the
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rapture. And also the situation of the
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evil one in the sense of how he comes to influence people, the
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people who are left that remember what you said and says,
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oh man, my dad was right. Why didn't I believe?
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And, and now I'm in this, this tribulation period.
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And what am I going to do? And I know this guy, this
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Antichrist, I'm not going to follow him.
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I'm not going to take the mark of the beast.
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I'm not going to be under his authority.
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Those people will be martyred. Those people will be in prison
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and destroyed. And we'll talk about the, the
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martyrs in a couple minutes here.
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And so the Holy Spirit in the Church of Jesus Christ, we will
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be lifted up to be with the Lord at the rapture, the body of
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Christ, the influence, the sustaining salt, the
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purification, the the press back influence against ungodliness.
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Now the Holy Spirit is God, He's omnipresent, so he doesn't go up
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there and he's nowhere else. The Holy Spirit is everywhere
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present and fills all things. He's not a little power you put
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in a box and you take him here and there and he's, he's God,
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the Holy Spirit. So he will also still be on the
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earth influencing and convicting people of sin.
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There'll be 144,000 Jewish spirit filled believers on the
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earth at that time. That'll make Billy Graham look
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like he was sleeping at the wheel in regard to his
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evangelism. These are hardcore St. talking
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evangelists that will be out there giving their lives for the
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sake of the gospel along with other witnesses at that time.
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So there will be people who will get saved during that time, but
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they'll have to endure this horrible, horrendous period of
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time. So for 3 1/2 years there'll be
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peace and prosperity. And then this Antichrist will
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begin to, after the 3 1/2 years, begin to change things.
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Let's go back to Revelation now. Revelation chapter 6, verse 3.
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And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living
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creature saying, come and see another horse.
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Fiery red went out, and it was granted to the one who sat on it
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to take peace from the earth, and that the people should kill
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one another. And there was given to him a
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great sword. So we see this second horse
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bringing death, bringing horrendous things upon the
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earth. Fiery color means blood and
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destruction. This, the third horse then will
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begin to release, and we'll just keep reading here.
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When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature
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say, come and see. And I looked and behold a Black
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Horse. And he who sat on it had a pair
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of scales in his hand. And I heard the voice in the
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midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of
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wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius
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and do not harm the oil and the wine.
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So the third horse, after all this death is poured out in the
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earth. There's going to be this famine
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that follows. And some people believe what
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happens in the midst of the fiery red horse is a Holocaust,
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a nuclear Holocaust. And we, and this time that we
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live, we are closer than ever to having another Hiroshima.
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It's in the hands of so many rogue nations now that have the
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power with the atomic bomb. And Iran is, if they're not
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already there, they're real close to to having it and
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they're continually working on it.
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And, and for whatever reason, it doesn't seem like anybody's
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trying to stop them. And so we see the fallout, you
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know, nuclear Holocaust, the fallout upon the face of the
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Earth will destroy food crops. They won't be healthy to eat.
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People won't be able, they'll be, they'll be starving.
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And as bad as we see on TV with the children starving in
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Ethiopia, it'll be across the face of the Earth like in Africa
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as we see those starving. It'll be like that all around
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the world. And it talks about the financial
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system at that time that the common labor.
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Now, you'll still have people who prosper and they'll still be
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able to get the good wine and the good oil, and they'll still
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be like trying to like live the good old life like they always
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did. Eventually that'll end too.
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But the average person that works like most of us, that
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works for a hard day's labor, all will make during that time
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because inflation will be so high that a bag of gold will buy
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a piece of bread basically. And if I go out and work
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basically all I do, I make enough money to feed myself.
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Just a horrible situation that will be upon the face of the
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earth. And verse 7 it says, And when he
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opened the 4th seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living
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creature saying, come and see. And I looked, and behold A pale
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horse, and the name of him who sat on it with death.
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And Hades followed with him. And the power was given them
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over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger,
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with death and by the beasts of the earth.
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And so we see this next horse, the pale horse.
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It's sort of like a greenish color.
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It's symbolic of rotting flesh. This the body decaying and
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corrupting and the plague upon the face of the earth at the
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time 1/4 of the population that wake you guys up.
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I see some, I see some of you guys sleeping and I, I just feel
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like shaking it because this is like big time.
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I mean this is like it this is what it's all about you know,
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and Paul says don't sleep right. He says don't sleep because some
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have not the knowledge of God and I speak this your shame.
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I about broke my hand give a karate shop wouldn't have been
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wild if my hand when I went right through this and the whole
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pulpit with a split, but 1/4 of the population will be wiped
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out. That means 1 billion people, 1
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billion people. I mean, it's, it's staggering.
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The plagues are going to affect the face of the earth. 1/4 of
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the population will be wiped out in verse 9.
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And he opens 1/5 seal. And I saw under the altar the
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souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and
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for the testimony which they held.
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And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord,
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holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those
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who dwell on the earth. How long?
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And then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said
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to them that they should rest a little while longer until both
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the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who
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would be killed as they were, was completed.
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The Bible says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
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of his Saints. One of the best ways to leave
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this life is to be martyred. Not that any of us would want to
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sign up for it, but they're going to be received in a
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special way before the Lord. He gives them that special robe,
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that white robe of righteousness, declaring them as
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incredible people who didn't deny their faith in Christ.
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They stood up against the evil influence and the Antichrist,
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and they were willing to die for what they believe.
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And as we study church history throughout the ages, there have
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been many thousands upon thousands of men and women who
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have given their life for the sake of Christ and who have been
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tortured in horrible ways. If you read Fox's Book of the
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Martyrs, some of that, and it tells you the stories of people
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who died for their faith. And we're afraid sometimes of
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telling someone that we follow Jesus because they might laugh
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at us or think we're weird. I mean, that's pretty, pretty
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weird, isn't it? These people are dying and
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shedding their blood, and they'll be remembered.
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The blood actually is put under the altar as a symbolic picture
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of their sacrifice and what it costs them to follow Christ.
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But there'll be this great revival during this tribulation
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period. As I said, all these Jewish
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believers will go out and spread the gospel, and all the people
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that refuse to take the mark of the beast at that time will be
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be martyred. In verse 12 it says.
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And I looked when he opened the 6th sea, and behold, there was a
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great earthquake. And the sun became black as
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sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
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And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops
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its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.
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And then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and
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every mountain, an island was moved out of its place.
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And the kings of the earth, and the great men, the rich men, the
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commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every freeman,
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hid themselves in a caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
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And said to the mountains and rocks fall on us, and hide us
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from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath
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of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath
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has come, and who is able to stand.
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You know, the Earth is out here in the middle of the universe on
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an axis and spinning and everything is smooth and
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everything is going OK, and we have the seasons and the
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harvests and all the wonderful things that we can experience
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living on this Earth. But if a meteor hits this Earth
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at the right trajectory, it can knock this earth off its axis
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and cause the earth to begin to wobble.
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And as the earth begins to wobble, everything begins to get
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shaken up. The waters and the seas and the,
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and the valleys will begin to just have tremendous pressure
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and begin to push things in directions that they never were
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intended to go. In cataclysmic events, a
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constant unstable movement of the earth.
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As these things shift, the oceans will begin to push and
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the mountains will begin to cave in and be pushed into the areas
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that they never were intended to be in.
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And the weight upon the crust of the earth.
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And I don't, I'm not a geologist.
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I don't know a whole lot about how the earth is formed.
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All I know is that it's a miracle how God did it all.
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But the foundation of the earth, of the plates and the crust,
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some parts of the earth have a thinner layer of crust that's
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supporting it. It will collapse and the water
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will push and the mountain range, as I said, will begin to
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shift. And it talks about this day of
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the Lord who will be able to stand.
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Aren't you glad that it promises us that we are saved from the
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day of wrath? I mean, what a wonderful Savior
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who loves us and died for us and gave up everything for the sake
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of us and for the whole world. You know, He doesn't want
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anybody to go through this, but there will be a time when
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enough's enough and he's given people a chance to repent and
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believe and they still don't want to do it.
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And his judgment is in a way, a kind judgment, but a righteous
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judgment because in the midst of his judgment, he knows that
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they'll still be people that will begin to say, I need a
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Savior, I need the repent of my sin.
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And they'll come to know Jesus Christ during that time.
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Romans 59 says much more than being now justified by his
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blood. We shall be saved from wrath
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through Him. 10th verse says we shall be saved by his life, and
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the great day of his wrath is soon to come upon this earth,
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and we're closer than ever. Do you guys know anybody that's
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going to probably go through that?
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Raise your hands. What are we going to do about
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it? Yeah, stay on them.
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It's our responsibility to pray and to don't give up.
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Don't get tired of witnessing. Don't get tired of sharing the
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faith. You and I can't make anybody get
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saved. It's all the work of God's
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Spirit. But we're the mouthpieces, the
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spokespeople, and we're the ones that proclaim this glorious
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gospel that Christ uses to bring people to himself.
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If you flip over as we begin to conclude in Matthew 24, the
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first section I'm going to read is about the first half of the
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Tribulation. We'll pick it up in verse 4 and
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we'll read the 14. And Jesus said to them, Take
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heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name,
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saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.
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And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
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See that you are not troubled. For all these things must come
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to pass. But the end is not yet.
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For nation will rise against nation, and Kingdom against
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Kingdom. And there will be famines and
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pestilences and earthquakes in various places.
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All these are the beginning of sorrows.
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Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and
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you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
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And then many will be offended. Will we betray one another and
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will hate one another? Then many false prophets will
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rise up and deceive many, and because lawlessness will abound,
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the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end
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shall be saved. And this is the gospel.
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The Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to
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all the nations, and then the end will come, the second-half
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of the tribulation, 15 to 26. Therefore, when you see the
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abomination of desolation, and that's what I was talking about,
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in the middle of that tribulation, when the Antichrist
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goes into the temple and sets himself on the throne and says
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he's God spoke by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy
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place, whoever reads, let him understand.
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Then let those who are in the Judea flee to the mountains.
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Let him who is in the housetop not go down to take anything out
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of his house, and let him who is in the field not go back to get
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his clothes. But woe to those who are
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pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days.
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And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the
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Sabbath. For then there will be great
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tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the
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world. Until this time no, nor ever
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shall be. And unless those days were
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shortened, no flesh would be saved.
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But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.
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Then if anyone says to you, look, here is a Christ or there,
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do not believe it. For false Christs and false
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prophets will rise and show great signs of wonder and
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deceive if possible, even the elect.
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See, I've told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you,
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look, he's in the desert, do not go out, or look, he's in the
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inner rooms, do not believe it. And the 27 to 31 tells us about
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the preparation for the second coming of Christ when he
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returns. For as a lightning comes from
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the east and flashes to the West, so also will be the coming
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of the Son of Man. For whenever the carcasses is
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there, the eagles will be gathered together.
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Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the
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sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
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The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
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will be shaken. Then the Son of the Son of Man
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will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will
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mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
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heaven with power and great glory.
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And he will send His angels with the great sound and a trumpet,
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and they will gather together His elect from all the four
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winds from one end of heaven to the other.
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So we have this exciting time on the horizon and you know, I
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look, I jump from the rapture and you know, not going to be
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here for the tribulation, but our prayers, Thy Kingdom come on
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earth as it is on heaven, in heaven.
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Our ultimate goal is to see Christ come back at the second
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coming because that's when all justice is going to be restored.
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He's going to roll with the iron hand and his righteousness will
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cover the whole earth. And so as you and I look ahead
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to the future eternal Kingdom and the Lord Jesus reigning at
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the time of the Millennium, realize all this stuff that's
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going on in between the rapture and the Millennium, all the
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people you love and you care about, We need the power of the
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Holy Spirit to cause us to be intense, lovingly intense, not
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obnoxious, but lovingly concerned so that at least they
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understand it. All right?
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Once they understand it, you said your peace, you.
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That's it. Let the Holy Spirit then deal
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with it and work in their lives. Second Peter, we're going to
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look at that. That's the last section.
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Second Peter, chapter 3. Beloved, I now write you the
2 Peter 3 chapter mention
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second epistle to stir up your pure.
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Minds by way of. Remembrance that you may be
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mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
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Prophets. And of the commandments.
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Of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first,
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that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to
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their own lusts and saying, where is his?
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Promise of his coming. For since the fathers fell
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asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of
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creation. For this they willfully forget
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that by the word of God, the heavens were of.
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Old and Earth. Standing out of the water, and
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in the water by which the world that then existed perished,
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being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth,
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which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for
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fire. Until the day.
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Of judgment and perdition. Of ungodly men, beloved.
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Do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is is
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a. 1000 years. And 1000 years.
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Is one day the. Lord is not slack concerning His
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promise is some kind slackness, but His long-suffering toward
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us. Not willing that any should.
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Perish. That that all should.
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Come to repentance and none. His has been Living Waters of
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Grace With Pastor Clark, we're going through the challenging
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and also intriguing Book of Revelation.
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Whether you're a fan of reading ahead in books of fiction,
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there's such a benefit to reading ahead in the Bible to
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read about how it all ends. But in an interesting turn of
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events, the Book of Revelation is not really the end, but
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rather the beginning. It's the end of life as we know
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it here on earth, but there's so much to look forward to.
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But what comes after all? The judgement of the earth and
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those who reject God? There's a lot to work through,
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and it can be heartbreaking to read through the intense
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judgements and wrath that will come on those who hate God with
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all their might. The thing is, God has given
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chance upon chance to these people and they don't want it.
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So the outcome is that there are judgments and consequences for
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those who've rejected the good news and the gift of salvation
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that's offered through Jesus's death and resurrection.
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Are you one who has heard about these things but doesn't really
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want it because you want to live life on your terms?
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Trust me, living for Jesus is so much better.
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That doesn't mean it will be easy.
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As you listen and read through Revelation with us, you'll come
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to a stark realization that you don't want to be on earth when
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the apocalypse happens. So check out Calvary Chapel
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online.com to learn how to come to a saving grace through faith
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that will allow you to be with Jesus for eternity.
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We'd also love to meet you in person at Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland. Come join us at 400 E Pittsburgh
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St., Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601.
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This has been living Waters of Grace.