Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace - Feb 16, 2026

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Living Waters of Grace - Feb 16, 2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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As we look at this book, Revelation, it is completely
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different pretty much than any other book in the Scriptures.
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A matter of fact, there was a lot of controversy in the early
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church as to whether it should be part of the Canon.
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Now, the apostles, obviously they're the forerunners of the
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church, and what they were given is what we have today in our
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Scriptures. But there was a lot of confusion
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back then because of the inability to even begin to
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comprehend in the slightest way what this book was saying it
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that. I love spring cleaning.
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It provides opportunities for reorganization, for getting rid
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of excess clutter that I've held on to.
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And occasionally I'll rediscover some lost thing that I'd
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forgotten about. But sometimes I'll come across
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something that I'm not quite sure what to do with.
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The church at one point felt similarly about the Book of
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Revelation. Unsure if they should even keep
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it in the Bible today, Pastor Clark helps to unpack some of
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the true intent and purpose of this amazing book.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation chapter one with
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today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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You just can't arbitrarily take what's in this book and try to
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make everything literal, because not everything is revealed yet.
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We're still waiting for some of these things to develop in the
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future. And there's an old term in
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seminaries in Bible college called hermeneutics.
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And hermeneutics is a study of how to interpret Scripture.
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And it says, when the plain sense of Scripture makes common
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sense, seek no other sense. But take every word at its
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literal meaning. Unless studied in the light of
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related passages, something else is indicated wise.
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And so when we look at this, we're going to look at it in
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regard to the related passages. But as we think about some of
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the things that John was going to be writing about, a lot of
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these symbols that he's speaking about really relate to personal
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and national entities at that time that they were living and
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what would eventually develop in the future.
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Many of these leaders are portrayed as animals.
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We see the symbolism of the Lamb and it refers to our Savior,
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Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of
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the earth. The dragon is referred, Satan
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himself and the beast, the demonic spirits and the mutant
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locusts, all these things that we'll read in time.
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He also discusses cities and they're depicted as harlots and
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a bride. And we look at Babylon and Sodom
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and Egypt and Jerusalem and in the context of those kind of
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things also at that time, as he looks at the symbols that he's
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been given, they represent political upheaval that will
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eventually occur and also terms of cosmic disruptions.
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We read in Matthew about the sun and moon, and also in Revelation
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being darkened, the stars falling, every island, the
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mountain disappeering. Also, the number 7 is used
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throughout this book and #7 refers to completeness and
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perfection in the Scriptures and throughout the Scripture,
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Deuteronomy, Psalms and Proverbs.
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This numbers used many, many times.
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In the Book of Revelation. This number is used to refer to
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the seven churches, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the
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seven bowls, the seven thunders, and the seven beatitudes.
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There are beatitudes in the Book of Revelation and the first one
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we read the day about. Those who read this book are
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blessed, those who hear the words of the prophecy are
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blessed, and those who keep those things which are written
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in it. But the time is near.
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That's the first beatitude of the seven in the Book of
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Revelation. There's also fractions and
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numbers given like 1/3 multiples of 12, like the 24 elders before
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the throne and 144,000 witnesses during the time of the
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tribulation, the thousand year reign. 10 days, one hour, a
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little while he uses all these times.
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As we look at this book, Revelation, it is completely
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different pretty much than any other book in the Scriptures.
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Matter of fact, there was a lot of controversy in the early
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church as to whether it should be part of the Canon.
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Now, the apostles, obviously they're the forerunners of the
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church, and what they were given is what we have today in our
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Scriptures. But there was a lot of confusion
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back then because of the inability to even begin to
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comprehend in the slightest way what this book was saying at
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that time. But it is truly inspired by God
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as a prophecy. It identifies very clearly to us
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the name of its true author. It actually predicts the future,
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and it's an epistle in the apocalyptic mode that predicts
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events of the future under the inspiration of God, the Holy
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Spirit. Now, the reign of this emperor,
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the mission, he was a very, very terrible, mean ruler.
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He wanted to persecute the whole region, and Nero just had the
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ability to affect Rome at the time.
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But as the church grew, this man who was in charge, the emperor
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at the time, had the ability to deal with the whole area and try
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to destroy everybody that lived at that time.
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We study in history that Nicodemus was one of those who
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were martyred during this time of this reign of this evil
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emperor. Also Timothy.
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Timothy was out in the streets speaking against the ungodly
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role this leader and the things that were happening and the
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people came upon him and clubbed him and physically beat him in a
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couple days after his beating he he died.
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It's taught that John the Apostle was boiled in oil before
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he was sent an eggs out to this Isle of Patmos.
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And so he, as he said in verse 9, I'm your brother and
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companion in the Tribulation. He was experiencing the horror.
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And so as we look at these churches, they were all at
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different levels in their spiritual foundation as to how
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they were following Jesus Christ.
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As we study the book, you'll see there's a lot of allusion to
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other parts of the Bible, but there's not one quote from
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another book clearly defined in the Book of Revelation.
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There's imagery from hundreds of Old Testament passages, though
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it gives a symbol of 2 olive trees referring to the two
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witnesses in Chapter 11. It echoes Zechariah 43, 11
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through 14, referring to Zerubbabel and Joshua.
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There's hundreds of allusions to familiar images in the Old
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Testament from the book of Isaiah alone. 79 times alluded
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references Daniel 53 times Ezekiel 48 Psalms 43 times
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Exodus 27 times Jeremiah 22 Zechariah 15, Amos 9, Joel 8.
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The Old Testament was the foundation of what the apostles
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taught from. They didn't have everything like
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you and I have now, so everything they drew upon was
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the Old Testament scriptures. It also gives us the insights of
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the matrix that are set up in the book.
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Like for example it gives the illustration of the Babylonian
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exile and Exodus and also comparing it to the life of
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Jesus. We see an evil power in the book
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of Exodus persecuting God's people, Pharaoh in Egypt, but we
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see an evil power persecuting God's people in the Book of
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Revelation, the Antichrist. We see plagues of darkness and
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hail and locusts and boils and frogs and water and turn into
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blood in the book of Exodus. We also see this revealed in the
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Book of Revelation. It talks about being delivered
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by the blood of the lamb in the Old Testament.
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In the book of Exodus when the blood was put on the doorpost
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and the Angel of God spoke to the children of Israel, saying
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when God sees the blood, he will pass over that house that the
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blood is applied to and they will not lose the life of the
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first born. But we also see in Revelation
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and that we are delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ talks
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about the dragon, referring to the dragon in the Angel, the
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demonic forces of the devil in the Book of Revelation.
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Also in Ezekiel 29, three talks about the crossing of the Red
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Sea where they sang the song of Moses and they're redeemed will
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sing in the Book of Revelation the song of Moses and the Lamb.
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In Revelation 15, it also discusses the Tabernacle and all
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its furnishings in the book of Hebrews, it discusses that the
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earthly Tabernacle is a model of the heavenly counterpart.
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A matter of fact, when you want to learn about worship, and I
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think we all have a lot more to learn about worship.
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Even though we worship the Lord here in spirit and truth and we
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lift our hearts up to God. We're only we got a glimpse, a
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minor glimpse of what it's going to be like to worship in the
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Kingdom of heaven. But if you really want to see
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pure, divine, holy God centered in God ordained worship, you
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read the worship in the Book of Revelation.
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John describes the atmosphere, golden lampstands that are
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present in chapter 1 verse 12. Hidden man associated with the
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Ark of the Covenant in chapter 2 verse 17, the altar of incense
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chapter 8 verse 3 through 5, the Holy of Holies in Chapter 11
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verse one and 15 verse 8, and the Ark of the Covenant in
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Chapter 11 verse 19. We think about the birth of
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Christ and the death and the burial and the resurrection and
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his victory over Satan. A reference frequently in this
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book because it's all about Christ.
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His birth and ascension is depicted in chapter 12, verse 5.
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What's fascinating is when they talk about the two witnesses
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that will be on the earth during the time of the Tribulation,
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proclaiming the Kingdom of God and the coming of Christ.
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They mirror Christ's earthly ministry almost identically.
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Their ministry lasted 3 1/2 years.
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Christ's earthly ministry after the baptism was 3 1/2 years.
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Revelation 11/3 speaks of these two witnesses.
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We believe they are Elijah and Enoch.
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Some people believe Elijah and Moses, but Elijah and Enoch,
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those two were the ones that never tasted physical death.
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They were slain where Christ died, in Jerusalem, in the
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streets there in Revelation 11/8.
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After three days they resurrect from the dead in the sin in
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Chapter 11 verse 11 through 12. So a literal return of Christ at
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the end of the age is what we're looking at here and what we're
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preparing for as we study this, all four approaches and when we
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think about their views and how they look at things, in essence
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anticipate this except for the full preterist view.
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Now, one of the controversies in this book is the millennial
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Kingdom. People usually don't argue about
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what 666 means or who these two witnesses are with timing of the
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rapture. That's usually not the issue
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that divides the body of Christ. It's always surrounding this
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issue of a millennial Kingdom. Is it a figurative Kingdom?
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Is it a symbolic Kingdom? Or is it a literal 1000
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millennial reign? We believe it is a literal 1000
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millennial Kingdom. But even in the 2nd century, as
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I said earlier when they were debating some of these things
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and these centuries were closest to the days of the apostles,
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what's the meaning of this thousand year reign?
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Revelation 20 is probably the most debated and argued chapter
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in the Bible and this chapter mentions 1000 year reign of the
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Saints with Christ. Now there's 3 views of the
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Millennium. The first view is
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premillennialism. That's what we are.
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We are a premillennial pre Trib Bible believing church.
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We believe in a literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth
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after his second coming. We believe that Christ will come
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to take his church one of this earth prior to the days of the
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wrath of God being poured out upon the earth.
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So we are pre Trib. We believe we will not be in
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this tribulation that will eventually come upon the earth
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and there's verses to support that.
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Like God has not appointed his bride to wrath.
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We'll get into that stuff from Thessalonians down the road, but
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the millennial Kingdom will be a time of international peace and
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justice. Christ will roll with an iron
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hand. The greatest ruler of all time
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will come and establish his reign on the earth at the end of
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that 1000 year period. There will be one last battle
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when Satan is released before the final judgment is poured
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out. Now there's 2 views of this pre
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millennial situation. You have the historic pre
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millennial view and the dispensational pre millennial
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view. We study the church fathers and
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it goes way back in time where the majority of the church
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fathers, those who were second to the apostles and some of them
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were ordained by the apostles. They believed in a historic pre
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millennial view. The dispensational pre
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millennial view view is an interesting perspective.
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And some of these things have become more alive actually in
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the 18th century, but they sort of brought together a lot of
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things that weren't really clear in earlier years.
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And I believe that as time goes on, as we have more Bible tools
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to study the scriptures, as we have more voices down through
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the history of time, a lot of the homework has been done for
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us already, which is a blessing. You get good commentaries and
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you get good scholars and you lay the stuff out and you you're
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able to then look at this whole thing and a very objective
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manner. Dispensational premillennial
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view. It differs from historic
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premillennial view and that it has an emphasis on the
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continuing centrality of the nation of Israel in God's end
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time plan and anticipates a rapture of Christians to heaven
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before the beginning of the tribulation.
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We would be in that camp. We believe that Israel is very,
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very important to the final combination of God's plan on the
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earth. People who would not have a
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historical pre mill view, people who would be all millennial
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would look at the church today as being the fulfillment of
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Israel and that the church in the New Testament is the
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revelation of what God had always intended because Israel
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had rejected Christ. But we know and Revelation 910
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and 11, Paul says, has God finished with Israel?
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No, he still has a plan for them.
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And we know that whenever Christ comes, it says every eye will
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see him. Well, how is that possible?
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Now we have satellites and we have GPSI mean everything is
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happening on the earth can be seen simultaneously by the whole
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world. And the Bible says that they
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will look up and see him whom they appears.
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And many people will we get saved and be born again at the
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second coming of Christ, referring to the many of those,
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the Jewish descent that will come and believe in him.
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So we believe these things. And as we go through the
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Scripture, I want to sort of give you the view that we have,
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but at the same time help you to understand why people have some
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other views so that you might have some friends.
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When you talk about these things, you're not ignorant.
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You understand why people have some various views and maybe
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make you a little stronger in regard to your own personal
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convictions about these things. Now the post millennial view,
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this is considered eschatology of hope and what they view is
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that Christ comes after the thousand year period.
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That's when his second coming occurs.
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The Kingdom is established by evangelism on earth.
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So in other words, all of us have such a great influence,
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impact on the world that the world begins to become Christian
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and not Pagan. Most people will become
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Christians prior to the thousand year reign of peace, before
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Christ returns and His second coming.
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And so they see the disasters of the past and also the things
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that are written in Revelation. They're more preterists in their
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view that all those things happened already.
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Well, I don't know about you guys, but I've been living on
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the face of the earth for 58 years.
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I don't see things getting better.
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I wish they would, but they're getting worse.
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And the Bible declares throughout the Scriptures that
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the things are going to get worse.
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That doesn't keep us from sharing our faith, bringing hope
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to people and seeing people's lives change because of the
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Gospel, right? We just don't give up and say
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there's nothing we can do. Things are going no, we have to
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have faith and believe because it could be another year, could
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be 1000 years before these things come to pass.
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But I sense that they're much closer than they've ever been
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before. Then this all millennial view,
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and this is a view of your Catholics and your Orthodox,
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your Anglican, some Presbyterians, some Lutheran's.
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This view is that the thousand year reign is symbolic, it's
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just a long period of time from Christ's initial coming to His
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second coming. They believe that the binding of
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Satan happened spiritually at the cross at the reign of the
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Saints is in the present age, and the loosing of Satan is a
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final period of deception coming on the world at the end of the
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age. They believe the second coming
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is what relates to revelation when it says fire from heaven
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that devours the wicked is the second coming.
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This is a view of Augustine and many of the reformers, but the
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early church fathers. And I've studied a lot of this
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stuff because I'm curious about it and why do people have the
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views that they have? And you go back and you'll find
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that many of those early church fathers were premillennial.
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They believed in a literal 1000 year reign and as we study this
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book, you'll, I believe, come to some of those same conclusions.
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What influenced the amillennial view were the Greek and Roman
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influences. They call it the Alexandrian
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philosophy at the time. And so that's why a lot of
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people began to receive or accept the amillennial view.
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I hope some of that help. But let's look at chapter 1
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again and verse 1, the introduction of 1st 8 verses.
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We're just going to look at a few of the verses this morning.
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9 through 20 talks about the vision of the risen, glorified
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Christ, the Lord of the church. Verse 1, the revelation of Jesus
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Christ which God gave Him to show His servants things which
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must shortly take place. God's intention all the time for
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His people is to be alert and aware of what is on the horizon.
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He does not leave us ignorant. The reason people are ignorant
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today is that they don't study the scriptures.
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They don't listen to the scriptures.
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That's why people have so many wild and crazy ideas.
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But God's intention through the apostle John, given this
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revelation by the angels of God and by Christ himself, was that
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we might understand the things that will occur at the end of
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time. Now he says that these things
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will shortly take place. You might say, well, he wrote
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this over 2000 years ago. It doesn't seem like it's too
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short, you know, seems like it's a long time.
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Well, Peter tells us, especially in regard to the end of time,
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that one day with the Lord is like 1000 years and 1000 years
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is only one day. So we got 2000 years that have
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passed. And God's time, what we call
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Kairos, is 2 days. Earth time is chronological
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chronos, God's time is Kairos. And as a result, there has been
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little time that has gone by. From the perspective of the one
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that sits on the throne. The time is at hand and it's
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imminent. The Cairo's focus of God's
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timing is the expectation that Christ can return at any moment.
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And that's how the apostles live, and that's how we're to
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live. Jesus himself said, look up.
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Even when he was on earth, he said, your redemption draws
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nigh. And so John bears record of
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these things. He saw and he heard, and Jesus
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revealed these things to him. John saw it and he recorded
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these things without air, that Christ would be revealed for our
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benefit. And so he sent and signified by
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his Angel to his servant John, who bore witness or bear record
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to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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All the things he saw blessed. Is he who reads and those who
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hear the words of this prophecy. I've talked to some people and
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they say, oh, I don't like Revelation.
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I'm confused or I think it's boring.
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How can anybody think this is boring?
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This is like the most exciting book they could read on the face
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of the earth. But people don't like reading it
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because it causes anxiety for some folks, which it should if
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you aren't a follower of Jesus Christ.
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But it's a blessing for us today.
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Even just the fact that if I did nothing else today, guys, and I
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just read this book to you and you listen to it and we live
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these things out. The blessings are promised by
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God. We're blessed whenever we read
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the whole Bible. But there's a specific blessing
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in regards to reading this book and to do this thing that it
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says. Now in the early church, they
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didn't have the Bible like this. So when the church gathered and
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they didn't gather in buildings, they gathered in homes, the
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teacher would read what was in the letters wasn't a bound book
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like this. It was pages.
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And the people didn't have this to look at.
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We're so blessed. You guys can pull out of the Pew
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or your own Bibles today and follow along.
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But back then, the people listened to the person who was
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reading it. One person would read this
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epistle while the others listened.
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And there was again, I said, promise blessings.
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So as we study this book in the days ahead, the most exciting
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thing for each of us. And I get discouraged sometimes
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when I see the things that are going on in the world and the
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government and the heartache and the horror and tribulation and
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the insanity of the economic system.
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Everything seems very unstable to me in these days, very
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uncertain. But one thing I do know for sure
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is that God's on the throne and that nothing is out of control
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because He's sovereign. Everything is coming along
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according to His plan. And the final triumph of God
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over sin and of Satan and the final safety of the believer in
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the Kingdom one day is 100% assured by the things that are
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taught in this particular book. As we study this book, we focus
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on one all the allegories assembles, the fascinating
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events, the judgments, all the focus on futuristic events.
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All well and good exciting, but this is what we focus on.
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The him who loved us, Jesus, the one who washed us from our sins
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in his own blood. That's the most important thing
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and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father,
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to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, all men.
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So today I look at you as students of God's Word, but I
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must also see you as kings and priests here today, as you would
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see me that way. We have been given a royal
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privilege to be called not only the sons and daughters of God,
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but to be called priests and kings.
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I don't have a big empire. You don't either.
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But He has the empire that extends throughout all the
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universe, and He's chosen you to be a priest and a king within
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His Kingdom. So as we look at what's going on
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today and the struggles and the difficulties, the best is yet to
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come, isn't it? For those of us who know Christ
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and are called according to His purposes.
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So I encourage you to read ahead.
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We're going to go slow through this book.
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We'll be working through this first chapter in the weeks to
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come. May the Lord open your heart.
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May He excite you about what He has planned to teach you through
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this, and may He cause the Person of Jesus Christ to become
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more real. I'm more alive to you than He's
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ever been before. That's my hope, my prayer for
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all of us. Thanks for being with us today
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here on Living Waters of Grace. We are in the Book of
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Revelation, and we find it fascinating how influential and
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involved the angels are in this book.
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They bring about whatever it is that God has instructed them to
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do, but it's through their actions that much of the
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judgements come on the earth. The angels are in submission to
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God as their authority, but He utilizes them in unique ways
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throughout this book. Like angels have a specific
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purpose from God, you have a unique purpose and plan to.
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God wants to use you in your life as a testimony to others
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and to bring others who are currently lost into the fold of
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God. God would love more than
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anything for all who are willing to come to Him for salvation.
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He wants it to be their choice, not a forced situation.
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This is the way God works, not forcing himself on anyone, but
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giving each person free will. If you're interested in learning
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about this choice that's free and that it's a gift, go to
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calvarychapelonline.com and click on the About Us tab and
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then find the link for what we believe.
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We'd love to be a help and a resource for you as you walk
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through what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
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If you find the contact tab on our website, you can get in
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touch with us or submit a prayer request.
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We'd love to hear from you. That's all for today's edition
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and Revelation, but there's much more that Pastor Clark plans to
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share with us from this culminating book of the Bible.
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Stay tuned for that and make sure to mention this radio
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program to others. Invite them to tune in to Grace
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FM 91.7 FM and they can stream worldwide at Grace Radio dot FM.
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This has been living Waters of Grace.