Sermon
"The Future - Do You fear it?" | Daniel Chapter 8 | Pastor Keith
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Daniel Chapter 8 The title of this morning's message is The
Daniel 8 chapter mention
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Future. Do you fear it?
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I remember when Helen and I were newly married and those we knew
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of the same age would then ask, well, are you planning on having
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children? And the motive behind the
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question was that many couples we knew said that they would not
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have children, nor could they raise children.
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In such a difficult world that has only a bleak future coming
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next year in March. That's 50 years ago.
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The same question is still being asked today.
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How could you have children, raise children in this world?
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I can see the fear in reality for those who are non believers
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to ask that and believe that. But for those of us who have
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Christ as our Lord and Saviour there's no such fear or concern.
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Nor should there be, for we know, we know God has our future
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in his hands and he says we are safe in Him.
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I remember the first song as a child of the Lord that I
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remember was in the world. In his hands he's got the whole
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world. In his hands he's got the whole
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wide world. In his itty bitty hands, he's
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got the whole world. John chapter 10 tells us where
John 10 chapter mention
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that song came from. I recommend John 10 for you to
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know. John 10.
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It's one of the greatest securing and fear driving away
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chapters in the Bible. John 10 verse 27.
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My sheep hear my voice, Jesus said.
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And I know them. They follow me, and I give them
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eternal life. They will not die.
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They shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of
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my hand. Jesus says My Father who has
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given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to
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snatch them out of my Father's hand.
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The Bible is the only book that reveals our future, the future
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of the world. Isaiah chapter 46 verse 10 in
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the new Living Translation says God says only I can tell you the
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future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to
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pass. Now we're in chapter 8 of
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Daniel. Before the fall of Babylon.
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Daniel is given a vision by God that Babylon, indeed this mighty
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empire under Nebuchadnezzar, would fall.
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It's the year 551, chapter 8 BC. It's 12 years before the events
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of chapter 5, Belshazzar's feast, when the Medes and the
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Persians came in, entered through the gates where the
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river Euphrates came into the city of Babylon, the last night
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of living for Belshazzar when the writing was on the wall.
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It's 12 years before that. And at the time of this vision
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and Daniel 8, Babylon itself is in its zenith of power.
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It's dominating the world. And yet here Daniel is told by
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God, this empire, what you see, it's not going to last.
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It has an end day in God's plan. As I drive to church every
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Sunday and I see people walking their dog, cups of coffee,
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they're at the Dome and people going about their business,
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going to all the gyms, etcetera. You know, all this is going to
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this is going to end. This ain't going to be like it
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is much longer. Verse 1 Daniel eight in the
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third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, A vision appeared to
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me, to me, Daniel, after the one that appeared to me the first
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time I saw in the vision. And it so happened while I was
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looking that I was in Shushan, the citadel which is in the
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province of Elam, and I saw in the vision that I was by the
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river. You lie there.
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Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and they're standing beside
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the river was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns
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were high, but one horn was higher than the other, and the
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higher one came up last. And I saw the ram pushing
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westward, northward, southward, so that no animal could
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withstand him, nor was there any that could deliver from his
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hand. But he did according to his will
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and became great. Daniel in this vision is
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transported to the river of Ulah.
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It's modern day Iran. 362 kilometres to the east of
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Babylon was the city of Suzanne or Sousa.
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Suzanne was the home base of Nehemiah where Pastor Israel was
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teaching Sunday nights and from where he carried out his role in
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this location as cup bearer to the king Axexis.
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It is also the city where a young Jewish girl by the name of
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Hadassah. That's a great name, isn't it?
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Hadassah. She rose up to become Queen
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Esther, wife of the great king Ahasiris.
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Daniel sees a ram. We know what a ram looks like
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being Australians, and it's the Medo Persian Empire.
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The two horns are the two leaders of the Medes and the
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Persians, Cyrus and Darius. One horn was larger than the
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other. That's Cyrus.
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He became greater in power than Darius.
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Now the headdress, it's interesting if you go onto any
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history site you see the headdress that the Persian
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Empire's wore in those days was fashioned in the image of Iran.
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Now for more than 200 years the Medes and the Persians ruled in
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great power over the nations and they conquered the Babylonians
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who ruled roughly around 7090 years.
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Only verse 5, as I was considering, suddenly a male
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goat comes from the West across the surface of the whole earth
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without touching the ground. That means travelling fast.
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The goat had one notable horn between his eyes.
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He came to the ram that had two horns, which I'd seen standing
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beside the river ran at him with furious power, colliding with
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him. I saw him confronting the ram.
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He was moved with Rage Against him, attacked the ram and broke
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his two horns. There was no power now in the
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ram to withstand him, but he cast him to the ground and
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trampled him, and there was no one that could deliver the ram
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from the goats hand. Therefore the male goat grew
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very great. When he became strong, the large
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horn was broken, and in place four small horns came up toward
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the four winds of heaven, N, SE and West.
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So from the West comes this goat at flank speed and attacks the
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ram, breaking its two horns. This is the rise of the Grecian
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Empire. Now this is all yet future.
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Daniel is living in Babylon. Babylon is still ruling and
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reigning. So this is all yet to happen.
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The Greeks, their armies were known, renowned for their
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military genius, their swiftness in battle, conquering the
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Persians, the turning point of the Grecian and the Medo.
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Persian battle plan occurred in 480 BC.
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It was a naval battle. The Greek commander to Mastocles
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lured the Persian fleet with their great ships into the
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narrow waters of the straights, Straits of Salami, where the
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mass Persian ships couldn't manoeuvre, it was too shallow.
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And the Greek trimarines came out and attacked the Medes and
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the Persians, ramming and sinking many of their vessels,
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and the king sleeking back home. And so the mean Persian Empire
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would fall to the Grecians. But there's a notable horn,
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remember in this one goat that was Alexander the Great in June
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323 BC. However, Alexander died at the
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age of 32 following a two week febrile illness at which he said
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they said, well, what are we going to do about the Kingdom?
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He said to the strongest. And the Grecian Empire was
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divided between the four powerful generals at that time.
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Verse 9 And out of one of them came a little home, which grew
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exceedingly great toward the South, toward the east, toward
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the glorious land. And it grew up to the host of
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heaven, and it cast down some of the hosts.
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Now this is not talking about Alexander and some of the stars
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to the ground and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high
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as the Prince of the host. This is someone claiming to be
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God. Alexander didn't do that.
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And by him, notice the daily sacrifices in Israel were taken
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away, stopped. The place of his sanctuary was
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cast down, the Temple because of transgressions.
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An army was given over to the Horn to oppose the daily
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sacrifices. So power was given to this evil
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new ruler, and he cast truth down to the ground.
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Notice the wording. He did all this and prospered.
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What happens is out of the dividing of the Grecian Empire
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came the Seleucans, a 175 BC. Out of the solutions came a
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dynasty. In Syria arose a wicked man, a
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most wicked man, a type, a shadow of the coming Antichrist,
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yet to appear, an enemy of God, an Israel.
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His name, Antiochus Epiphanes, the 4th Philipeter, was his full
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title. This man, Antiochus, was pure
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evil. He believed himself to be God.
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He even christened himself Epiphanies, meaning God
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manifest. He was called Epimenes, however,
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by the end by those who were against him, which means Mad
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Men, he sent out a decree. Now this is happening back after
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the breakup of the Grecian Empire before the Roman Empire,
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and Antiochus sent out a decree throughout all the empire as his
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ruling, demanding that every citizen in the empire worship
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him as God. Does that sound familiar?
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Everyone in the empire followed. I bowed down.
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They worshipped Antiochus, called him God, deity, but for
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one group of people who refused the Jews.
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When Antiochus found out about the Jews and their resistance of
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worshipping him as God, he went ballistic with rage.
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He sent an army to Jerusalem and there he sorted over 100,000
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Jews. His army stormed Jerusalem, and
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as Daniel prophesied in the verses we've just read, he
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ceased all morning and evening sacrifices.
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He stopped all Jewish worship in the Temple.
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He shut it all down. He forbid them having a Sabbath
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or any feast. Instead, he built idols and
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shrines throughout the holy City.
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But worse was to come, for in 167 BC he had a sow that is a
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pig sacrificed in the holy of Holies and then spread its blood
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throughout the whole temple. He banned circumcision, outlawed
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it. Finally, anyone who didn't bow
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down to him and worship him as God was killed, executed.
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That's back. This is a type and a shadow of
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what's to come. You'll see this verse 13.
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Then I heard this is Daniel, a holy one speaking, and another
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holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, how long
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is this going to occur? How long will the vision be
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concerning the whole thing of the daily sacrifices and the
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transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and
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the host to be trampled under foot?
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And he said to me, 2300 days and then the sanctuary shall be
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cleansed. Daniel heard the holy ones,
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angels we believe talking together.
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And he said he wondered, how long is this Antiochus going to
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do this blasphemous thing in the temple when all sacrifices, all
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worship is suspended and the sanctuary desecrated?
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This prophecy was written in 350 years before the time of
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Antiochus Epiphanes, amazing for 2300 days, as the Bible said in
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this prophecy, from 171 BC to 165 BC, Antiochus, this evil
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rule committed great abomination against God and against the
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people of Israel. But then in December, 165 BC,
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culminating in that date, there arose of priests by the name of
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Judas Maccabees, and he drove out, raised up an army, drove
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out the Syrian Army. He cleansed the temple,
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rededicated it, got the priest to rededicate it after its
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pollution, and this cleansing was thereafter celebrated and
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called the Feast of Lights. It's also known as Hanukkah.
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There was just enough oil, because to light the menorah in
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the temple, you had to have a special oil.
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The Vegas tells us they had to grind up a special oil ground
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out and made with this, and only the priest could do that.
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There was enough oil to put in the menorah for one day and they
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put it in, lit the menorah, but it went for eight days.
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It was a miracle. And so the festival is
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celebrated today. The cleansing of the temple, the
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lighting of the menorah. It's often, it's also called the
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menorah. It's also called Hanukkah.
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It was a nine branched lamp and it's celebrated December 2025
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each year. Now this prophecy, however you
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go, So what? What's that?
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What's all that stuff in the past got to do with me today,
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2025, stay with me. This prophecy that Daniel gave
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had a dual prophecy. Yes, Antiochus Epiphanes, but in
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the days yet ahead for you and I in Matthew chapter 24 verse 15,
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Jesus is on the Mount of Olives and he gives what's called the
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Olivet discourse when they said Jesus tell us, tell us what's
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going to be the end of the age. And then you go through Matthew
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24. He deals with the tribulation
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and all the events that are going to occur with Israel.
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Hear Jesus words. Matthew 24 verse 15.
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Therefore Jesus said when you see the abomination of
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desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
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So who refers back to Daniel's words standing in the holy
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place? It happened in Antiochus before
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Jesus. Now Jesus says this is going to
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happen in the future. Whoever reads, let him
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understand. Then let those who are in Judea,
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it's Jewish, flee to the mountains.
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Let him who was on the housetop not go down to take anything out
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of his house. Let him who was in the field not
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go back to get his clothes. Run for your life, but woe to
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those who are pregnant, to those who are nursing babies in those
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days. Pray that your flight may not be
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in winter or on the Sabbath, for then there will be great
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tribulation, such as not been since the beginning of the world
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until this time, nor ever shall be.
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So Jesus takes us into the seven year tribulation period in this
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passage. And unless those days were
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shortened, no flesh, no one would be saved.
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But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
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And so for you and I, what happened with Antiochus and the
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temple back at the time in Daniel's vision, it happened
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with Antiochus. But now we look forward to
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events that have not yet happened because there's a
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coming world leader, the Antichrist.
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The Bible calls him the Lawless 1, and he's soon to appear on
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our political ward. It's very interesting that many,
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many people now, many people who aren't Bible scholars, aren't
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believers, are saying certain people have this, this, this
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thing, this, you know, they call him the Antichrist because many
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people are going, well, you know, is Trump, is it him?
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Is it, Is it Putin? Is it GG Ping?
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Just who is this This powers? We see the powers in our world
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just seemingly going about their everyday affairs now, aren't
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they? We've got the pressure now on
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Ukraine. Give up the land, reduce your
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army. That's a pretty good deal, isn't
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it, Putin? Remember, he invaded.
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Who is the Antichrist? Well, becoming Antichrist, what
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he will do is he too, Jesus says, will cease all temple
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worship. You go, well, that doesn't make
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sense. Why doesn't that make sense?
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Because you and I, when we go to Israel, we have to get
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permission to go up on the Temple Mount.
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And ladies, you remember, you went up.
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You had to put on dresses over the clothing that you're wearing
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to cover up. You weren't allowed.
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Hal and I were holding hands, which we walked past.
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No, no, I'm not allowed to hold hands on the Temple Mount by the
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Muslims who are in charge of the Temple Mount at the moment.
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So for temple worship to be started, you need something, a
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temple, for it to be halted, it needs means, it needs to be
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underway. It has to be instituted in the
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1st place. And so it requires in Israel.
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And as you and I look at Israel now with the war in Gaza, a new
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template to be built in Israel. And there's only one place you
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can build the temple. You can't build it down just
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over here or over here or over here.
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There's only one place. The place where Abraham offered
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up Isaac. There's only one place with the
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Temple of God can be built. That's on the Temple Mount.
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The question is you and I ask, with the current world, rising
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anti Semitism, hatred against Israel, the conflict in Gaza,
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they're still fighting, how on earth is this going to be
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possible? How will the Muslims allow the
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Jews to rebuild a temple when they've been?
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The Muslims have been saved for years.
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There's never been a temple there in any place any time,
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even though it's built on the foundations of the temple.
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Well, the New World leader will bring all this to pass.
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And the Mount Lawley synagogue we visited, David Solomon was
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the rabbi. And I said to him, David, how
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the Messiah hasn't come. He says, no, he isn't.
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How will you recognise the Messiah?
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Oh, it's easy. The Messiah will be the man who
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will allow us to rebuild the temple, be the man who will
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enable us to rebuild the temple. Verse 15 We'll come back.
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Then it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was
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seeking the meaning, that suddenly they stood before me,
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one having the appearance of a man, and I heard a man's voice
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between the banks of the EULA, which call who called and said,
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Gabriel, make this man, that's Daniel understand the vision.
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So Gabriel the Angel. So he came near where I stood.
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Daniel said, When he came I was afraid, and I fell on my face.
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But Gabriel said to me, Understand, Son of Man, that the
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vision refers to the time of the end.
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Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my
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face to the ground, but he touched me and stood me upright.
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And he said, Look, I'm making known to you what shall happen.
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Notice in the latter time of the indignation, for at the
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appointed time the end shall be the ram which you saw.
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He goes back dual purpose to the prophecy, having two horns.
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They're the kings of Media and Persia.
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The male goat is the Kingdom of Greece.
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The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king and
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the broken horn, and the four that stood up in its place. 4
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kingdoms. The four generals shall arise
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out of that nation, but not with its power.
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Verse 23. And in the latter times notice
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of the Kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their
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fullness, a king shall rise. This is Antiochus, initially
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having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.
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His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.
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Antiochus, but also Jewel. Speaking of the Antichrist,
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notice that his power shall be mighty, but not by his own
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power. Antiochus was a type of the
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Antichrist, absolutely the coming world leader.
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The coming Antichrist will be superhuman in intelligence and
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cunning. How in Revelation chapter 13
Revelation 13 chapter mention
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John writes this one. Then I saw a beast rising out of
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the sea. It had 7 heads and 10 horns with
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10 crowns on its horn and written on each head were names
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that blasphemed God. This beast looked like a
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leopard. It had the feet of a bear and
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the mouth of a lion. And the dragon, that's the
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dragon is Satan gave the beast his own power and throne and
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great authority. You remember what Satan promised
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to Jesus on the 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness if he
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would just bow down to him. I'll give you the world.
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Well, Satan is going to take over the world and he's going to
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do it through the embodiment of the coming world leader.
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He will personally possess the Antichrist.
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Is that was that going to happen really Well back in John chapter
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13 verse 27, you remember a fellow called Judas when Jesus
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said Judas, I know it's you go and do what you got to do and
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says in John, John Judas went out into the night and it said
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verse 21 Satan entered him. So the Antichrist will be
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empowered by Satan himself and he shall prosper and thrive.
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He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people.
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He was 25 of Daniel. Through his cunning, he shall
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cause deceit to prosper under his rule.
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That's a good politician, isn't it?
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And he shall exalt himself in his heart.
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What did Satan do? What did Lucifer do?
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I will exalt myself. I will be like the Most High
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God. He will exalt himself in his
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heart. He shall destroy many in their
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prosperity. He shall even rise against the
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Prince of Princess. He'll come against Jesus Christ
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himself. But there's a semi colon there.
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Notice what happens. But he shall be broken.
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That is the Antichrist. How?
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Without human means. In other words, no army's going
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to defeat him. No man's going to defeat him.
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God's going to take him out. This coming New World leader
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called the Antichrist, the Lawless 1, the Bible tells us,
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will rise in the power of Satan himself.
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He will promise false security. This is where he'll dupe the
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world. Because you and I, aren't you
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tired of the way the world is? Can't someone just settle
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things, bring things to ease? I mean, everyone's getting
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robbed. I'm in Melbourne now.
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People are just leaving Melbourne in droves because
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they're sick and tired of being burgled over and over and over.
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People are scared to go out into the streets.
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This is in our cities. But the Antichrist, he will
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bring false security because the first horseman of the
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apocalypse, What horse does he come riding in on?
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White one. Here comes the good guy, and
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he'll bring a seeming peace to our land, but in particular to
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the Middle East. He will be intelligent and
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persuasive, so persuasive that three nations, Daniel tells us,
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will actually give over their sovereignty to this man.
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We want to have a parliament. You rule us, and the other 10
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will follow. He will gain, and here's the
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here's the here's the the key. But he will gain the trust of
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Israel, who will accept him as Messiah.
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Now, right at this moment, Israel trusts nobody.
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Can you blame him? They like Trump, but somehow
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rather this man will rise up and he will do a deal that Israel
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will go. You know what?
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Yes, because he will say, I'll arrange for peace to come and
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you can rebuild the temple and you can begin what you haven't
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been able to do since AD 7. And the nation of Israel will
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accept him as Messiah, and they will sign an agreement of a
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seven year period covenant. But this man will be controlled
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by Satan. He will be, in the end, Israel's
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greatest adversary, because halfway through that agreement,
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as Jesus said in Matthew 24, he will March into the Holy of
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Holies. He will set up an image of
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himself in there, and he will say, I am God.
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Stop everything else, and you will now worship me.
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You'll receive my mark, and if you don't, you'll die.
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Flee, literally, Jesus says. Run for your lives.
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He will raise himself up in opposition to Jesus Christ
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Himself, the Prince of Princess, but his rule will be terminated
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by divine judgement. But he will rule after breaking
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that agreement, after going into the Holy Hole of Holies for 3
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1/2 more years, he will rule the world and great tribulation will
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be upon this planet and anyone who becomes a Christian during
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that time and many millions of people will come to Christ.
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But each one will die for their faith.
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You will die. You'll become a Christian.
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Yes you can, but you will die for your faith.
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Are you troubled when you read this for your future?
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Well, man, that's a great I'm going to read that to the kids
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tonight as they go to bed. Are you concerned for the future
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of your children? Daniel was was 26.
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The vision of the evenings and the mornings which was told is
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true. Therefore seal up the vision for
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refers to many days in the future.
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And I Daniel fainted is all sick for days sick.
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When I heard about this, understood it, after what I rose
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and went about the King's business, I was astonished by
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the vision, but no one understood it.
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Or maybe this morning you're wondering.
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Hang on a minute. Stop, stop, Keith.
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Why did and why does Israel have to?
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Why did they have to go through all this?
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Why are they yet still to go through so much more?
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There's more for them in the future.
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They're going to be duped. Remember, Jesus said this would
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happen. He says, oh, you net you, you
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rejected me, but there will come another and him you'll accept.
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Why does this role go through all this?
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You've got to ask that question. Well, the Bible tells us book of
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Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a young kid between
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the age of 14 to 17. God calls him.
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He says, I knew you before you were born.
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I've got a mission for you. He says I'm just a kid.
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I kill you. No, you're not a kid.
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I'll tell you what to say. See, you can't go.
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It's my age and I'm like, no, no, no.
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God says, I'll tell you what to do.
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I'll enable you. So God told Jeremiah, the
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prophet in Chapter 7 to tell the people of Israel the exact
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things they needed to do to repent of this is prior to their
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the Babylonians invading Israel. In Chapter 7, verse 3, God says
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he told Jeremiah, I want you to go to the temple.
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Can you imagine? You're standing out in front of
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the church. You go to the temple.
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I want you to stand there. He's just a teenager, but we
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still got pimples and everything else.
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Stand there. Then I want you to say these
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words to everyone, every Jew that's coming to worship me.
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Wow, what a task. Amen your ways.
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You Amen your ways. Amen.
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Your ways, in other words, repent of your sins, turn your
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lies back to me, turn your lies back to God.
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Can you imagine saying that in front of a church?
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People are coming. In verse 4 of Chapter 7 and
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verse 8, Jeremiah was told to say stop trusting in lying words
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that cannot profit because the false prophets of those days
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were saying, hey, everything's going to be good, everything's
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going to be good. Everything comes between our
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right. Jeremiah 7, verse 4, do not
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trust in these lying words saying the temple of the Lord.
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Well, we got the temple and nothing's going to happen to us.
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The temple of God is here, the temple of the Lord, the temple
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of the Lord. Oh well, I go to church, I've
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been going to church, I go to church.
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Nothing will happen to Australia.
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We think of our nation, we're a Christian nation.
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We're far from it, aren't we? Oh, we're a Christian nation.
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Nothing terrible could happen to us as a as a people, as a
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nation. In verse 9, Jeremiah said to
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those coming in, stop worshipping other gods.
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He says, will you steal, murder, commit adultery?
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Now we think of this and we go, wow, remember Jesus on the
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Sermon on the Mount said we can do all these things in here.
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In here people don't steal, people don't murder, people
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don't do other thing because they don't want to get caught
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and they don't want to go to gaol, but they wish they could
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stop swearing falsely. You burn incense the ball, walk
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after other gods whom you do not know.
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It's funny how people will worship every other God but
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Jesus Christ. They don't know anything about
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the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses.
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If you read any of their histories, you read their
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background. I mean, you got to be kidding.
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Mormons believe someone's on the moon, that every man and woman
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eventually have their own planet, start their own.
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They'll be the new Adam and Eve. That's what Mormon doctrine
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says. You know, that black people
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couldn't be in a Mormon church had to change that.
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Now they allow black people in because they first of all
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initially killed anyone that had colour.
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Verse 10, Jeremiah 7. But we're still he says, you,
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you come to, you come to temple, you come to my house and you say
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you will be delivered by me from all your abominations.
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But you keep serving them. You come and you keep living
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exactly the same way. You don't change.
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And then you come here and stand before me in my temple and
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chant, we're safe. Oh, I believe in God.
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I need to go right back. You walk out Sunday, place the
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Bible down and you go back and you live exactly like every
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other Tom, Dick and Harry. These words are for us.
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And God says through Jeremiah, but God says, hey, hey, finally
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verse 19. He doesn't leave it there.
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He said don't provoke me to anger.
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God says I don't want to do this by continuing to ignore all that
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I said don't just keep coming to temple, coming to church and
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just ignoring what what I'm I'm telling you Jeremiah 719.
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Do they provoke me to Angus says the Lord.
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Do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces?
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In verse 23, God says obey my voice and I will be your God.
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We heard Nat, Pastor Nat talking about grace.
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Do you know about grace? Obey my voice and I will be your
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God and you shall be my people. Walk in my ways and it may be
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well with you. You know what?
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That's for you and I today. I fear for so many people today
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who treat God as a casual, part time religious thing that they
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fit in when they can. I can't.
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Can you imagine a marriage where the husband and the wife is
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treated casually and just? It's fitted in when you you
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might, when you have a little bit of time.
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Instead of giving him the best, you give him the the leftovers.
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The coming new world leader, the Antichrist, will be a ruler of
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fierce countenance, understanding dark sentences.
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And to the future political world, it will seem as if the
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Antichrist with his relentless power and ungodliness, it will
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seem to the world that he's defeated God, that he's crushed
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Israel. In today's world, as Jeremiah
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said to the children of Judah coming to temple, if you live
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arrogantly against God, if you live indifferently to him, if
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you are too walking the path like those that Jeremiah was
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warning, if any of those words bring the conviction of the Holy
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Spirit into your life, don't this morning turn your back on
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God. I feel like a watchman today
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because I'm desperate for our nation.
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We had a gay parade in Perth last night.
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People are lost. As people are lost, they need
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Christ. You know you can be living in
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that lifestyle and you can come out of it.
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Christ can save you. The blood of Jesus Christ washes
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away every sin. Everything.
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You can be living in an adulterous situation this
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morning. Maybe you're here and you're
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sleeping with someone and you're not married today, right?
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Today, without Christ, you stand condemned before God and you
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will not go to heaven. Should you die, you will go to
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hell. But God gives you the
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opportunity to repent and you can receive forgiveness right
-
now and the blood of Jesus Christ will wash away all of
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your sins. But you see, today we kind of
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treated indifferent. Well, are we getting away?
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It's not real. I'll just wait and I'll, I'll be
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on my deathbed and I'll just say, God forgive me.
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You don't know when your deathbed is going to be.
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You don't know if you're going to be alert.
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You don't know what's going to happen to you.
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And I want to warn you today, today we're living in the last
-
days. God is giving you time now to
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repent. If you think you can get away
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with things and that God is not noticing, that he's not stopping
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you, that he's turning a blind eye to you, and that as you look
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at the world, you say, well, Satan's winning.
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You know, evil is just going on. You're very, very wrong and
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you're living in great spiritual danger.
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The people and nation of Israel, you know what, sadly, they did.
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They didn't listen to Jeremiah, they didn't listen to God's
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word. They continued living foolishly.
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And I see Australians, we're living foolishly.
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We're the richest nation in the world.
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We have everything before us. We have the greatest beaches,
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the greatest lifestyle, whether and we have turned our back upon
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God. And I tell you, I fear for our
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nation. We go to Daniel Chapter 9 next
Daniel 9 chapter mention
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week and you know what that that Chapter 9 is?
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It's Daniel's prayer for his people, which you and I as a
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church, we're going to be called into that because I think the
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hand of God is about to fall upon the nation of Israel, of
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Australia. Sorry.
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You see, the people of Judah did not heed Jeremiah's words, and
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they continued living foolishly. You know what happened.
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God opened the door and the Babylonians came and judgement
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fell. The temple was destroyed.
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Millions of lives were lost. Those remaining like Daniel,
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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken captive.
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They were made to March for four to five months, all the way to
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be slaves in Babylon. There thou were emasculated and
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became servants of King Nebuchadnezzar, simply because
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they refuse to heed God's Word. The Bible tells us in Galatians
-
chapter 6, verse 7, Do not be deceived.
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God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he
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will also reap. What you're sowing in your life
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today, you'll reap. He goes on to say, he who sows
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to his flesh you mean that means you live without God.
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You'll reap corruption. He who sows to the Spirit, that
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means you live for God. Will of the Spirit reap.
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Is this everlasting life There is coming to this world?
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A world leader like Antiochus, but so much more.
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Worse Bible prophecy, this vision from Daniel.
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Why has God given it to us today?
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To read and to know. Ask yourself that question.
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Why would we need to know this now?
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Here's the reason. Because God is not willing that
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any should perish to have us all ready for Christ's return.
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There is nothing biblically in prophecy that needs to occur for
-
the rapture of the church. Nothing.
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It is imminent. It's it's, it's ready to happen.
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It's just when God says now and the speed of it will be at the
-
twinkling of an eye, faster than twinkling of an eye.
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As the worship team comes forward, I want you to listen to
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these last words. We have been given this
-
prophecy. Why?
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Because God is deeply concerned about how we are living in these
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last days. He doesn't want you to be here
-
when the world leader hits the stage.
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Who's the Antichrist? I don't know, I don't care, and
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I won't find out because the church will be raptured before
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He comes to power. But once the church is gone and
-
you're left behind, he will rule your life.
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You'll have Satan living in a man ruling the world.
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Jesus warned us of this. This vision should help us to be
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passionate about knowing Christ, serving Him as this new world
-
leader who I believe is alive today and preparing to make His
-
presence soon. The world is ready.
-
The political stage is absolutely ready for someone to
-
fix the Middle East problem. How amazing.
-
Will it be a turn around for the Jews to sign a peace agreement
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and the Muslims to allow a temple to be built?
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This guy is sharp and he will pull off the greatest deal.
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But then that's just the first horse, the white one.
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But then the other three follow and you wish you'd never been
-
here. Let's pray.
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Father, I pray for our hearts to be repentant here today.
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I pray for any who are uncertain of their future, uncertain as to
-
whether the rapture will involve them or not.
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I pray for any who have never received Christ that today
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they'll not walk out these doors without having their salvation
-
cure and their life everlasting.