Revelation Chapter 13 - The Two Monsters

So, anybody uh have comic books back in

the like 80s, 90s? Just me? Okay, cool.

Thanks. I feel feel very alone up here.

Um I loved comic books and uh I still

have a lot of my childhood comic books.

I got them out the other day to look

through them to make sure there wasn't

like a really valuable one in there that

I could, you know, sell and get some

money to help my son with his college

tuition. And as I was looking through, I

was kind of bummed out because I'd pull

them out and I' on the back there was

like a square cut out of the back of

every comic book. And I'm like, why in

the world did did I or someone cut

squares out of the back of the comic

book? And then I remembered uh they used

to have those little advertisements in

the back where if you sent like 10 of

these vouchers plus $4.95 shipping and

handling, you could get all kinds of

cool stuff. And I remember specifically

that I really wanted sea monkeys. Uh

because the advertising said that you

would get these little critters and they

would like hula hoop and play basketball

and they had big smiles on their faces.

And um so I saved up and I sent my 495

plus uh my 10 vouchers in and I got the

sea monkeys and poured the little packet

in the the water and I was so excited to

watch these things grow and I was like

I'm going to name them all and they'll

be my pets and it's going to be amazing.

It was the most boring thing I've ever

seen someone sprinkled sand in water.

That's they never did anything. I don't

even know if they were alive. It was

just this bait and switch. It was maybe

it's why I got a marketing degree

because I learned early on the power of

advertising, you know. So, um, but that

that happens in life. Sometimes, uh,

sometimes things seem to be amazing, but

in reality, they're actually not. So,

kind of keep that in mind today as we

work through Revelation 13. So, God has

allowed us to look through a few doors.

And these doors are visions into the

present and also into the future. And

so, the first door we looked at, uh, we

opened this door and we saw heaven. We

saw the throne room of God and we saw

all creation, all attention, all

affection focused on King Jesus. Then we

looked through the next door and we saw

this scroll with seven seals and these

representing the seven enemies of the

church. And we saw how Jesus came and

and broke the scrolls empowering his

church to stand against its enemies and

not just to stand but to be able to sing

and worship. And then we looked at door

number three. And behind that door, we

saw the the future reality for everyone

that rejects the name of Jesus and his

free gift of salvation. We saw the

judgment of God. And it was horrific.

But even in that, we saw the grace of

God on full display as he kept the the

offer of salvation on the table for all

of the people that were going through

the judgment. Then we looked behind door

number four, and it was a scary door

because it revealed the beast, the red

dragon. And we found out though that our

our greatest enemy is a desperate and

defeated foe. It's why he's fighting so

hard. And we saw that that this beast

tried to overthrow God in heaven and he

failed. And then he tried to throw he

tried to eat baby Jesus. He tried to

devour baby Jesus and and he failed

again. And then we see that if we are

Christians that he will try to oppress

us and hurt us. But if we're Christians,

we'll be able to see him fail once

again. And that's kind of where we left

off last week. In Revelation 12:1 17, it

Revelation 12:1

says, "So the dragon was furious with

the woman, and he went off to wage war

against the rest of her offspring, those

who keep the commands of God and hold

firmly to the testimony about Jesus." So

now in Revelation 13, we're introduced

to these two monsters that come to help

out the red dragon. Now remember,

Revelation uses [snorts] imagery, very

vivid imagery that supersedes our

intellect and hits us in the emotions.

So it's trying to draw our attention to

something that is very important and

very powerful. And in order to do that,

they they use things like dragons and

and monsters to kind of captivate our

imagination. But as we read about these

two monsters, I want you to understand

these are two very real people that will

be in our future. And and what they do

is with the dragon, they mimic the

triune God. And so you got the red

dragon who represents God, and you you

got this sea monster who represents the

sun, and you have this earth monster who

acts like the Holy Spirit. They're kind

of a a knockoff trinity. They're a teu

trinity, if you will. And and that's

what we're going to be introduced to

today. So let's start reading in verse

one of chapter 13.

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

So now we got the the sea monster, we'll

call it. It had 10 horns and seven

heads. On its horns were 10 crowns, and

on its heads were blasphemous names. The

beast I saw was like a leopard. Its feet

were like a bear's, and its mouth was

like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the

beast his power, his throne, and great

authority. One of its heads appeared to

be fatally wounded, but its fatal wound

was healed. The whole earth was amazed

and followed the beast. They worshiped

the dragon because he gave authority to

the beast. And they worshiped the beast

saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is

able to wage war against it?" The beast

was given a mouth to utter boasts and

blasphemies. It was allowed to exercise

authority for 42 months, so three and a

half years. It began to speak

blasphemies against God, to blaspheme

the name and his dwelling, those who

dwell in heaven. And it was permitted to

wage war against the saints to conquer

them. It was also given authority over

every tribe, people, language, and

nation. All those who live on earth and

will worship it. Everyone whose name was

not written from the foundation of the

world in the book of the lamb was

slaughtered. If anyone has ears, let him

listen. If anyone is to be taken

captive, into captivity he goes. If

anyone is to be killed with a sword,

with a sword he will be killed. This

calls for endurance and faithfulness

from the saints. So remember, everything

in Revelation is found elsewhere in the

Bible. That's why you can understand

Revelation. All you got to do is

understand the Bible and you can

understand Revelation. So these monsters

that we're introduced to, uh, they first

appear in Daniel chapter 7. And in

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 7, uh, Daniel prophesied

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

about the rise of four monsters, four

beasts, and that represented the nations

that would come to rule over the world.

So first was Babylon, then you had

Persia, me and eventually Greece. So

this sea monster in Revelation that has

a lot of the same characteristics and

features as were mentioned in Daniel's

prophecy must represent the kingdoms of

the world who have not submitted

themselves to the will of God. These are

the nations in the world that have

rejected the name of Jesus Christ. And

it's always been a part of the world. In

Moses' time, you had a monster named

Egypt. In Daniel's time, you had a

monster named Babylon. In the Apostle

John's time, you had a monster that was

named Rome. So, so keep in mind, these

monsters have always been among us. So,

nations have and they will continue to

choose to follow monsters. And when they

do, Satan is more than willing to give

them everything they need, all the power

that they need to uh persecute the

followers of Christ. Nations who don't

worship God just like individuals are

going to face the temptation to become a

lowercase G God themselves. Nations are

either going to be influenced just like

us. They're either going to be

influenced by the Holy Spirit or a

demonic spirit. So the question is why

would anyone follow this sea monster?

Why would anyone allow this this sea

monster, this person to run a nation?

Well, the answer to that is because

Satan is crafty. And this particular

monster is going to come in the image of

Jesus. He's going to mimic Jesus. Look

at verse three. One of its heads

appeared to be fatally wounded. But its

fatal wound was healed, and the whole

earth was amazed and followed the beast.

Sound familiar? Jesus was fatally

wounded, right? But the difference is

Jesus actually died and came back to

life. See, this is a knockoff Trinity.

This is a a knockoff Jesus because this

beast, this monster, it it was fatally

wounded, but it did not die. But people

were so amazed because they thought

there was an actual resurrection.

This monster is not only with us all the

time, but it's hard to kill. These

monsters gain influence and and power.

They're persuasive. They're able to get

people to follow them even into war. If

you want to know how hard these monsters

are to kill, just ask the brave men and

women that fight against these monsters

in other nations. Now, you think it's

it's dead and it just rises up again

throughout all of human history. There's

a there's a battle, there's a war, and

the good guys win, and you think it's

okay. But then, just like a 1980s horror

movie monster, like it comes back from

the dead. It just keeps repeating itself

over and over and over again. So what is

the point of this whole exercise? Why

would the the monster exist and why

would they point to uh the red dragon?

Well, we see that in verse four. They

worshiped the dragon because he gave

authority to the beast. Friends, the

endgame for the monster is not just

political power. It's worship. The

political power is given to the sea

monster so the sea monster can point the

the people to the dragon to Satan to

Lucifer so that their worship will go

toward him. The the same pride that

Lucifer had in heaven now directs every

day of his activities. Satan's desire is

to pull people away from Jesus and he

does this very subtly. So, so I bought a

pair of uh Jordans off this guy at a

yard sale and they looked very legit to

me. The stitching, everything looked

great. I've owned a few pair myself, so

I kind of know what I'm looking for and

I I felt like these were real shoes. So,

I bought them off of him so I could sell

them on eBay. So, I did. I sold them on

eBay. I sent them off. They went to the

authenticator and the authenticator sent

it back to me and said, "These things

are fake." And I'm like, "There's no way

they're fake." I I was holding they felt

right. Everything looked right on the

shoe. But then I got online and I I saw

a a website that's dedicated to teaching

you how to tell counterfeit Jordans. And

the only way to do it is two ways. One

is you have to smell it. I don't know

what a real Jordan smells like. Uh they

could not communicate that smell over

the internet. So I didn't do that one.

However, they did say if you pull the

insole out, you'll see a big difference

between an actual Jordan and a knockoff.

And so I did. I pulled the insole out

and it looked like there's little

packing peanuts in the bottom of the the

shoe. It was definitely not a Nike

quality insole in that shoe. And I

immediately realized that this thing was

was inauthentic, but to the untrained

eye, they would just buy the shoe off

the street like I did and think it was

legit. And that's how Satan works.

That's exactly how Satan works. He He's

not going to publicly flaunt his evil

desires. He's not going to poke you in

the head with his pointy red tail, okay?

He's the most beautiful angel that ever

existed. He's not the the pictures that

we see drawn in the cartoons. He's not

going to make his evil desires known. He

is going to lie to you and his lies are

going to seem like the truth. So, I

would encourage you, church, to have a

thing called spiritual cynicism. It's

actually not a bad word to to be a cynic

when it comes to who you allow to teach

you about the Bible, who you allow to

influence your spiritual life. Because

there are things out there that may seem

true, but they are being used by the

monsters to convince you to worship

someone who's an inauthentic version of

Jesus. So these dragons, the dragon

doesn't just bring up a monster to

influence nations. He actually brings up

another monster that will influence

religion. This is the earth monster. We

meet him in verse 11.

Then I saw another beast coming out of

the earth. that had two horns like a

lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It

exercises all authority of the first

beast on its behalf and compels the

earth and those who live on it to

worship the first beast, the one who was

fatally wounded and healed. It also

performs great signs causing fire to

come down from heaven to earth in front

of people. It deceives those who live on

the earth because of the signs that is

permitted to perform in the presence of

the beast. Telling those who live on the

earth to make an image of the beast who

was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

It was permitted to give breath to the

image of the beast so that the image of

the beast could both speak and cause

whoever would not worship the image of

the beast to be killed. And it makes

everyone small and great, rich and poor,

free and slave to receive a mark on its

right hand or on its forehead, so that

no one can buy or sell unless he has the

mark, the beast's name, or the number of

its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the

one who has understanding calculate the

number of the beast because it is the

number of a person. Its number is 666.

So the purpose of the earth monster is

to get people to submit to the political

power of the sea monster whose purpose

is to draw worship and attention to the

red dragon. So this earth monster is on

a mission to get people to form an

allegiance with the nations that have

rejected God and worship Satan. He

performs signs and wonders under the

authority of the sea monster. So that's

how he gets everybody's attention. He's

permitted to perform these signs and

wonders. He's permitted to perform

miracles and so that people will be able

to to see his authority and then be

pointed toward ultimately worship of

Satan. The earth monster is allowed to

kill people, those who refuse to take

the mark of the beast. The earth monster

is allowed to make it near impossible to

do business in a world economy unless

people take the mark of the beast. Now,

later on in Revelation, we're going to

learn that this earth monster is

actually a false prophet. This is

somebody that identifies themselves

within the the church. And while this

sea monster focuses on manipulating the

nations, this earth monster is focused

on manipulating religion. The false

prophet is going to lead people to put

their their hope in these man-made

institutions like governments or

religions. Anything that doesn't worship

Jesus, the earth monster is going to

point people in that direction. And this

beast is at his best when he takes

families away from Jesus, from the

church, when he convinces them that

there's some other organization that is

more important than the family of God.

So, how do we battle the beast? Well,

number one, we battle the beast with

truth. And we learned that in Revelation

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. We fight against a beast by

knowing the truth. By centering our

worship on Jesus. It's why door number

one showed you the reality of what is

going on right now in the heavenly

realms where all creation and all things

are worshiping at the foot of Jesus. He

is King Jesus. He reigns and he rules

over this earth. The Holy Spirit wants

to draw your attention to looking at the

real things so you'll be able to spot

the counterfeit. I was reading about FBI

agents and how they are trained and

especially those that are trained in

noticing counterfeit currency. And

instead of teaching them all the

different ways that currency could be

counterfeit, they simply teach them what

a real bill looks like. So they're so

familiar with what an actual bill looks

like that they can spot a counterfeit

from a mile away. And so Jesus is

teaching us as his disciples to be able

to spot the false prophets. It's why we

come to church and we worship and we

learn the word of God so that when that

counterfeit gospel is presented to you,

you will know exactly how to fight it

because you know what the real King

Jesus looks like and that counterfeit's

going to stand out to you. We also got

to battle the beasts with wisdom. Tells

us right there in verse 18, this calls

for wisdom. And then it talks about the

mark of the beast. So, let's get to the

the big topic on everybody's mind. What

is this mark of the beast? Is it

something they're going to put into me

with a vaccine? Is it a microchip? Is it

something that's going to be installed

in babies at at birth? Is it uh is it

your phone? Could it be your phone even?

So, there's all these questions out.

What is the the mark of the beast? Why

would you say I don't think it's going

to be that obvious? Because everything

in the Bible that that Satan does is

such a subtle con. It's a slight

twisting of the truth. So So if somebody

came to you and was like, "Dude, you

can't buy groceries unless you stamp the

mark of the beast on your forehead."

You'll be like, "No way, bro. I studied

Revelation chapter 13. My preacher did a

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

great job of teaching through Revel. I

know exactly what's going on here and

I'm not taking the mark of the beast.

I'll grow tomatoes in my backyard before

I allow you to stamp my head with that

thing. Right? That's just not typically

how Satan works. He He's a lot more

subtle than that. He is the red dragon.

He is the father of lies.

So 666 is not a code that needs to be

deciphered, Larry. It is not a code that

needs to be broken. Sorry, you probably

got two notebooks full of ideas on what

this is. I know you do. Now, truth be

told, I almost didn't preach this

because I've been avoiding these two

numbers for the last couple months. Um,

but there's just no way around it. So,

I'm going to encourage you. If you're

under the age of 18, will you please

will you please refrain from doing what

I know you want to do when I say these

words? Okay, we'll see how good you

listen.

Six is less than.

>> Go ahead. I know you want to do it.

>> All right. You know what? I'm out of

here. I just I told you not to do it.

You did. I'm just kidding. Get your kids

under control. [laughter]

It's fine. I'm not mad at you. It's

fine. Six. Seven. Get out of your

system. All right. Six is less than

seven. All right. Seven is the number of

completeness in the Bible. Okay. It's a

number that's used by the Holy Spirit

over and over again throughout the

scripture to teach us when something is

complete. Six is used as a number of

incompleteness in the Bible. And then

you have the number three which is like

a secondary way of saying that something

is complete. So Matt Chandler says this

Mark 666 represents something that is

completely incomplete.

It's what the apostles teaching us. that

is completely imp incomplete. These

three sixes means that this monster is

actually a high-end counterfeit. It's

just one away from being 777. It's just

one away from being complete. So, it

looks the part, but it's not quite

there. It's this counterfeit. It's fake.

It's a a parody of Jesus. It seems

legit, but it's not. it it's not legit

because this is not something that King

Jesus who actually rules over the

cosmos. This is not something that he

would do. So the the mark of the beast

is actually called out by the apostle

Paul here as a counterfeit sheima.

Remember everything in this this part of

the Bible is in another part of the

Bible. So if we go all the way back to

Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse4 we are

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

introduced to what would be known as the

the sheima. It says, "Listen, is excuse

me, listen Israel, the Lord our God, the

Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with

all of your heart, with all of your

soul, and with all of your strength."

These words that I'm giving you today

are to be in your heart. Repeat them to

your children. Talk about them when you

sit in your house and when you walk

along the road, when you lie down and

when you get up. Now bind them as a sign

on your hand and let them be a symbol on

your forehead. Sound familiar? Bind them

as a sign on your head hand and a symbol

on your forehead and then write them on

the doorposts of your house and on your

city gates. So worship happens through

your your head, your thoughts, your your

hands, your actions, and the doorposts

of your home, your family, the way that

you lead your family. See, this the

sheima represents commitment to the real

God and the outworking of that

commitment. The mark of the beast

represents commitment to an incomplete

version of God and the outworking of

that commitment to that incomplete

version. Here's the scary part, friends.

that this isn't something that happens

in the future.

This is not something that that other

people are going to have to deal with in

the future. The mark of the beast has

been around since the beginning of time.

This is not some future branding that is

going to get stamped onto your forehead.

It's something that people have already

accepted when they choose to think and

act and lead their families toward some

type of an idol instead of God.

There have been versions of the

Antichrist throughout all of human

history. So this mark has already been

accepted by people, even well-meaning

people that choose not to submit their

mind to God's law or their actions to

God's will or their families to God's

church. So be careful thinking about the

mark of the beast as some future event

when in reality it's right here among us

as well. You got to battle the beast

with wisdom. You got to be wise enough

to understand that this is incomplete,

that you should not accept this, that

you should focus on the sheima, loving

God with all of your heart and your soul

and your strength. Loving God through

the way that you think, through the way

that you act, and through the way that

you lead your families. We also have to

battle the beast with lastly, endurance.

Verse 10 of chapter 13, if anyone is to

be taken captive, into captivity he

goes. If anyone is to be killed with a

sword, with a sword he will be killed.

This calls for endurance and

faithfulness from the saints. This is a

reference back to what Jesus said to

Peter in the garden when he said, "He

who lives by the sword dies by the

sword." And what he means is you're not

going to be able to fight this beast

with a weapon of war. You're not going

to be able to bust out the sword and go

slay the the beast. This war will be won

through faithful endurance. Faithful

endurance. So, what is faithful

endurance? I got three things for you.

Number one, faithful endurance is the

pursuit of holiness.

Holiness means we hate sin. And I know

you immediately when I say that, you

immediately think about other people.

You're like, "Got it. Hate the sin. Love

the sinner. Cool." No, we're not talking

about other people. We're not talking

about other We're talking about

ourselves. We're talking about you.

We're talking about our own personal

sin. We need to hate our own personal

sin and love doing what's right. So

don't just be an expert in what other

people fail to do. We got a lot of

people running around that are experts

in all the ways that everybody else has

sinned and all the ways that everybody

else has failed. And they don't take two

seconds to look in the mirror and see

their own temptation, their own

struggle, their own sin, and deal with

that first. What's Jesus say? Get the

plank out of your own eye before you

pick a speck out of someone else's. Th

This starts with us. This is personal

holiness. This is integrity. Look, it's

hard to fight an enemy when the enemy

has blackmail on you.

When the enemy's got a list of all the

ways that you have sinned against God

and failed to repent of that sin, it

makes it very difficult for you to step

out and do the things that God wants you

to do. So, you got to fight the sin.

Don't don't justify the sin. Don't play

the comparison game where you're like,

"My neighbor down the street, that guy's

terrible. I'm better than him, so

therefore I am holy." That's not how it

works. God says, "Defeat your sin." And

the way you do that is you drag it out

of the darkness and you put it in the

cleansing light of Jesus Christ.

Victory is achieved when you confess

your sin and receive forgiveness and

restoration.

So, let's focus on personal holiness.

There might be something in your life

right now, a temptation, a struggle that

no one else in the world knows exists.

You may have a habitual sin that you

have hidden away and it's just you.

You're the only person that knows about

it. Well, I want you to understand, God

knows about it. And guess who else knows

about it? Your enemy knows about it. And

your enemy wants you to live in guilt

and shame. Your enemy wants you to feel

less than. Your enemy does not want you

to feel forgiven. And so what we have to

do is drag that sin out into the light.

And you don't have to talk to me about

it. You don't have to talk to your

friends about it. You just got to talk

to God about it and allow him to forgive

you and help you overcome that

temptation because he promises with

every temptation there is a way of

escape. So, we're talking about personal

holiness. Number two, we're talking

about uh supporting other warriors,

other Christians.

Stop complaining about your brothers and

sisters in Christ who are trying to lead

people to Jesus.

Yeah, didn't get any mans off that one,

did I?

Fine. But I will tell you this, too many

battles are [snorts] lost because of

friendly fire.

Just talk to your friends that go to

church. Too many battles are lost

because of friendly fire. So, let's stop

shooting ourselves

and start supporting the other warriors.

Lastly, avoid distractions. Distractions

are the enemy of consistency. You You

can get really good at living out your

faith. You really can. The Bible also

warns us about practicing sinning

because you can get really good at that,

too. But on the other side of that, you

can get really good at living out your

your faith. It just takes consistency.

It's like a diet where you avoid too

much sugar and fatty foods and you

exercise regularly. If you'll just do

that for a period of time, then you'll

be able to overcome that thing that is

holding you back. But I understand as

the great hymn says, prone to wonder,

Lord, I I feel it. Prone to leave the

one I love. the the counterfeit trinity

is really good at what they do

because it's all they care about. They

have literally no other interests other

than destroying the lives of the people

that Jesus died on the cross to save.

It's all they do and they've become very

very good at it. So the only way that we

as a church can combat these things is

number one, personal holiness. Number

two, ministry support. And number three,

a laser focus. And it's got to be woven

into the fabric of your lives. And when

you do that, then you become bulletproof

to the enemy. You are able to faithfully

endure as the Bible says. There was one

other thing I ordered off the back of

those comic books. It was just as

disappointing as the sea monkeys. Any

guesses? Maybe some of you have fallen

for this trick, too. Nailed it. X-ray

specs.

Now, I wanted to be 007. That was my

dad's favorite movie series. We watched

him all the time. I thought James Bond

was literally the coolest person ever.

The suits, the cars, the guns, the

gadgets. I was like, I want to do that

with my life. And so, I figured step one

of being a great secret agent would be

able to see through walls. So, I sent in

and I ordered the X-ray specs and I got

them back, put them on my eyes, and

immediately

saw nothing but blurry images in front

of me. Complete and total ripoff. And

that's what the enemy wants to do to

you. He wants to con you into believing

something that is not true so that he

can distort your vision just enough

that you'll leave

the faith, that you'll leave Jesus, that

you'll think you're a part of his

church, and you'll think that you're

doing the right thing, but in fact,

you've fallen for the lies of the enemy.

And the only way to see through this

deception is not a fake pair of X-ray

specs, but actually looking at the real

Jesus. Because when you come to church

and you worship Jesus and you learn his

word, you're getting a clearer picture

of who he actually is. You're building a

relationship with your Lord and Savior.

You're building a relationship with King

Jesus. And all the enemy can do is offer

you a bunch of sixes.

He is completely incomplete. And the

more you know about Jesus, the easier

it'll be for you to spot the fakes.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for the opportunity

to teach your word today. I pray that it

went to the the hearts and minds of

those that needed to hear it the most.

Lord, I thank you that we're able to

have this this sneak peek, this

look into the current reality and the

the end of our story because it just

gives us so much hope and confidence in

knowing that even though we face a an

enemy that is is scary, a dragon and

monsters and nations and false prophets

and all these people that are deceiving

us with their acts and their signs and

their wonders and with threats and Lord,

I I know that could be scary. So, it's

just so great to be able to look past

all of that and see the fact that in the

middle of all that chaos, you are still

still seated on your throne. That you

have broken the seals of everything that

harms your church. Lord, it's so

confidence inspiring to know that

nothing can happen to me except what is

first filtered through your hand. and

you have promised to not let anything

into my life that is beyond my ability

to handle it with your strength. So

Lord, thank you for that truth. But we

also want to thank you for the reality

check that we received today where we

know that we do have an enemy that wants

to deceive and devour [music] that same

enemy that that failed in his mission to

stop baby Jesus was is now turned his

attention to this world and he's

feasting on the the lost loved ones that

are around us. And so Lord, while we may

be as Christians, we may be safe and

sound on this side of of of the family,

Lord, we are adopted into the kingdom of

God and everything's good with us, but

there are a lot of people out there

today that are trying to navigate this

incredibly scary world,

having no knowledge of who the real

Jesus actually is.

So Lord, I pray as your ambassadors, as

your witnesses, [music] as the ones that

you called to go and make disciples of

all nations, Lord, I pray that we as a

church would take that call very

seriously. That we would see the the

judgment that lies before that these

people will have to face. That we would

be able to to see the enemy that they

are trying to battle on their own,

that's trying to deceive them every

single day to take away their hearts

from Jesus.

Lord, I pray that that would act as

motivation for us to not miss any

[music] opportunity that you give us to

share the gospel and invite people to

church. So Lord, help us, encourage us

as Christians today to do more than just

show up on a Sunday and be filled with

your [music] spirit and learn about you

and worship you, but Lord, help us to

take what we've learned out to the

actual battlefields around us in this

community where souls are literally on

the line. Lord, we know that you've only

called us to be obedient, not

successful. Success lies with you. All

you need us to do is step out in faith,

to share, as the Bible says. How are

they going to know if no one tells them?

So Lord, help us to keep the gospel in

the tip of our tongues [music] this week

and moving forward. It's in Jesus name I

pray. Amen.