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Living Waters of Grace March 11, 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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There's a high calling for the believer, isn't there?
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There's a high calling for the Church of Jesus Christ.
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And we need to do the things that the Bible declares to us to
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do. We can't just say, well, that's
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like radical Christianity or that's fanatical Christianity.
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I can just sort of do my thing and go my own way and do what I
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feel like doing. And it's no problem because God
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loves me. And I prayed a prayer, and I
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know I'm saved. And you know what Jesus says, If
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you love me, you'll keep my word.
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In an obstacle course, there are several challenges that you're
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expected to push yourself through to make it to the end.
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American Ninja Warrior is a great example.
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These challenging obstacles are meant to push you to your limit
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and for you to prove you can conquer the challenge through
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strength, grit, and determination.
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Now think of your Christian walk.
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There are many challenges and obstacles to overcome.
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Pastor Clark teaches on how God gives you his Word, His Spirit,
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and the mental determination to overcome.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in John chapter 15 with today's edition
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of Living Waters of Grace. God has a special feeling for
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his elect or his bride today. If you're a Christian here and
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you believe in Jesus Christ and you've been born of the Spirit,
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be grateful because it isn't anything you did, is it?
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Jesus says you have not chosen me.
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What's he say? But I have chosen you and have
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ordained you that you should go forth and bear much fruit.
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And so we have this situation here that God is speaking to
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this church in Philadelphia about these problematic people
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here who are causing them all this problem.
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One more thing, I want you to look at Galatians chapter 3.
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It's important to have this stuff down in the sense of your
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own understanding of how God sees Israel, how he works with
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Israel today, how he still desires to have the nation come
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to recognize that Jesus is a Messiah.
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But I'll tell you, all those Jews over there that are still
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without Christ, they're all bound for hell if they don't
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come to Christ, right? There's no special dispensation
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just because they've been born in Jerusalem and they're part of
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the nation of Israel. They have to come through the
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same bloodline that you and I have come through as Gentiles
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through the blood of Jesus Christ.
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That's the only way someone can become born into the family of
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God. It says in Galatians chapter 3
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verse 5. Therefore he who supplies a
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spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the
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works of the law or by the hearing of faith?
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Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for
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righteousness. Therefore know that only those
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who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
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And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
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Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel to Abraham beforehand,
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saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed.
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So then, so then those who are of faith are blessed with
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believing Abraham. Some people ask questions, well,
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what happened about the people in the Old Testament?
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How did they get saved? They got saved the same way you
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and I got saved by faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the
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Messiah. It was to come.
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The promise was there way back in the Garden of Eden, wasn't
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it? When God said to Adam and Eve
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that there will be a seed that will come that will bruise the
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heal of Satan. And that seed is Jesus Christ
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himself, the the victor, the overcomer, the one who will come
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and save his people from their sins.
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So when you look at the judgment seat of Christ or the great
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White Throne judgment, let's think about that.
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That's the judgment of those who are either in Christ or out of
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Christ. The the book will be open, the
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book of life. Whosoever's name is not found
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written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be cast into the lake
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of fire. How does your name get written
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in that book? Being a good person, taking
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little ladies across the street, not stealing too much, not
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lusting too much, not hating too much, being better than
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everybody else makes you qualified and acceptable to
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enter into God's perfect Kingdom.
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No, for all of sin and fallen sure of the glory of God,
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there's none righteous. No, not 1.
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So it's a judgment. Some people say, well, who's
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going to be there? The Catholics will say if you're
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really a strong Catholic and you believe in the things before
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Vatican 2, you're going to say anybody that isn't Catholic is
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what anathema. The church is the institution of
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salvation. If you're not in the Catholic
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Church, you're doom, right? Some Baptist Church will say,
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well, if you're not a Baptist and you're not baptized, you're
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not going to get to heaven. The Presbyterians forget it.
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The Lutherans are Methodists are not going to make it.
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You got to be a Baptist, a Bible thumping, believe in Baptist.
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No long hair, no blue jeans, no rock music.
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You got to be a Baptist. I was a Baptist for Ross.
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I know what that's all about. Some Orthodox will say, well, if
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you're not part of the true one Holy Catholic Apostolic Church,
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you're not going to enter into the Kingdom of heaven because
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there's salvation only through the Orthodox Church.
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Well, show me where that is in the Scriptures.
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Now, if you make up a tradition that's independent of the
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Scriptures or on par with the Scripture, you can basically say
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whatever you want, right? And the people figure, well, I
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guess you're the expert, you're the trained seminarian, you're
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the doctor of theology or the priest or the Pope or the
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pastor. You guess you know what's going
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on. I guess we just got to believe
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what you say. I have a dear Orthodox friend,
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82 years old. I love hanging out with him
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because he doesn't see any of it that way.
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He says Clark, at the judgment, there's only going to be
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believers and unbelievers. There's not going to be Jews
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there, or Gentiles or Orthodox or Catholic, is there?
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There's going to be sheep and goat believers or unbelievers.
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God's not going to look down and say, well, you're a Baptist.
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I got a special room for you up here.
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You come up here, you Presbyterians are way back
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there, you Methodist. This didn't make it.
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Sorry, not going to be that way. If your name is written in the
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Lamb's Book of Life, you're going to be there and it'll be
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wonderful because you will have people who were Catholic there.
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You will have people who are Orthodox there.
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You will have people, believe it or not, that Raven Calvary
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Chapel people be there. And you will have the Baptist
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there too, because it's so wonderful.
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I love what it says in the Scriptures.
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There's neither Jew nor Gentile bond.
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They're free, male or female, but we've all been made together
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to drink of that same spiritual drink, which is Christ and Him
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alone. So the Jews at this particular
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time were the principal persecutors of Christians, and
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they came from the synagogue's. They were the Sanhedrins, and
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the Sanhedrins were those who supported the Court of the House
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of Israel. They were the experts in the law
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and the spiritual dealings of the church.
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This was the same group that conspired against Christ to have
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Him crucified. They paid off Judas.
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They also ordered the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr in the
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New Testament, the book of the Acts.
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It's, it's amazing how when you study history, if you guys have
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studied it, it's appalling to see what Rome did to the Eastern
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Church. The martyrdom.
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If you're not Catholic, we're going to kill you.
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And even in the sense of the Reformation, what unfortunately
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John Calvin did to those who didn't believe in infant
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baptism, this has nothing to do with Christianity, does it?
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Jesus says by this sheep, people will know you're my disciples by
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the love you have for one another.
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And in verse 9, the justice of God, he's reminding this Church
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of the persecution, the trials, everything they're going
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through. Don't worry, one day these
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people who are your persecutors will worship before your feet.
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They're not going to worship you, but they're going to be
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humbled to realize that you will be sitting with Christ on His
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throne and seen as overcomers. That we'll get into that later
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on in verse 21. I love what it says in
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Philippians 210. It says that the name of Jesus,
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every knee shall bow of those in heaven and those on earth and of
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those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
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Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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All the enemies of God, all the people who have persecuted
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believers, all those who have worked against the Kingdom of
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God, the atheists, the agnostics, the role of Islam.
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Who would think that we are heretics because we believe in a
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triune God? One God manifests in three
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persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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Jesus said in John 1723 That the world may know that you have
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sent me and have loved them. That's referring to us as you've
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loved me. One day we will have our reward.
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The Bride of Christ will no longer be stepped upon and spit
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upon. There'll be no more martyrdom,
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There'll be no more abuse. There'll be no more persecution.
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There'll be no more imprisonments for the Bride of
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Christ. But there'll be worship.
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And all those at that time who were our enemies will have to
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bow down. And at that time it'll be too
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late, and they'll confess with their mouth on their knees that
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Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father and the
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tragedy. Then the book is open.
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Whosoever's name is not found, written into the Lamb's book of
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life is cast into the lake of fire.
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Depart from me. You cursed.
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I never knew you. And so Jesus tells them though
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he's going to keep them from the hour of trial.
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In verse 10, First Thessalonians 59 says, for God did not appoint
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us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus
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Christ. We see this as we interpret this
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and there's some other opinions on this, but I'll tell you what
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we feel about this or what we believe.
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We believe in a pre tribulation rapture.
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We believe that Christ will not bring judgment upon his bride.
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There's no reason why he would do that.
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See the judgment and revelation that's poured out.
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The bowls of wrath are to be poured out upon the ungodly, not
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upon the godly, not upon the remnant or the elect of the
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Bride of Christ. And so we believe that Christ
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will come and take us out of this world prior to the wrath of
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God coming out upon the earth. Now, some people wonder, well,
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when will that be? You know, like if I was living
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in China right now or Afghanistan or Sudan, I would
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think I'm in the tribulation right now.
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Why am I still here? Why am I being persecuted?
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Why? I can't guarantee you and the
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scriptures don't guarantee you that you won't have some trials
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in this life. Things could get worse in this
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country and we're all standing around like, when's he coming?
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I thought I'd be out of here before this happened.
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If I'm in a jail cell someday, I'm going to be thinking that
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that I misinterpret the Scripture.
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But Christ, only the Father, he says, knows the time of his
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coming. But the fact is that Jesus
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promises them that he will keep them from the hour of trial.
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And this is the global crisis. This is a little problem here in
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Philadelphia at the time. This is a worldwide future
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tribulation that will come about come upon the whole earth and he
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promises to keep us. I believe and we believe as a
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fellowship of churches. The bride will be removed from
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the earth prior to this severe trial.
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And so he encourages them in verse 11 to hold fast what you
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have that no one may take your crown.
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He talks about he who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the
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temple of my God. The importance of overcoming you
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know the the big problem in modern day Christianity.
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There is no concept of denying self or sacrifice, is there?
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Laying down your life for the sake of others.
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There's no concept Because of the easy believism and the false
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gospel that's being proclaimed in so many churches.
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You don't hear the idea of working out your salvation with
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fear and trembling. If any man will follow me, let
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him deny himself. Take up his cross daily and
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follow me. If you want to find your life,
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you have to lose it. For my sake.
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Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from
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iniquity. I beseech you, brethren, by the
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mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
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holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
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service. And be not conformed to this
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world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you
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may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
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God. There's a high calling for the
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believer, isn't there? There's a high calling for the
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Church of Jesus Christ, and we need to do the things that the
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Bible declares to us to do. We can't just say, well, that's
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like radical Christianity, that's fanatical Christianity.
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I can just sort of do my thing and go my own way and do what I
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feel like doing and it's no problem because God loves me.
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And I prayed a prayer and I know I'm saved.
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And you know what Jesus says if you love me, you'll keep my
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word. There's nothing ever written in
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the Bible where Jesus says if you love me, you'll do what you
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want to do. If you love me this.
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No, don't be serious about this. I understand you, you, you sort
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of want to do your own thing. Lots of times it's OK with me.
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Have a nice life. He says if you love me, keep my
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command. And so the importance of
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overcoming. We believe that a true Christian
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is an overcomer, someone who doesn't want to sin, someone who
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doesn't want to disobey God, someone who wants to follow him
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and to learn to love him with all their heart, with all their
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soul, with all their mind and all their strength.
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A true Christian is someone who hates what God hates and loves
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what God loves, right? A true Christian is someone that
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doesn't want to have anything to do with the world system, the
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ungodly world system. Guys, I don't know how many of
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you here are involved with the world, but if you're involved
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with the world and you say you're a Christian, get out of
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it now before it's too late. Repent while you have a chance
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because there's going to be people to judgment.
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It's going to say, I believe that and Jesus is going to say,
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depart from you, curse that I never knew you.
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And and this is the preachers. They're like, why cast out
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demons? Your name?
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I preach this, I did this, I did that, right?
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It's shocking. And he says, depart from you,
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curse that I never knew you. That's why it says judgment has
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to begin first with us, with the House of God.
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And there's been too much watered down Christianity being
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taught by men in the pulpit. And men in the pulpit are going
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to be judged more severely, the Bible says, than anyone else
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because they're leading the people astray.
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So he encourages them in verse 11, hold fast through the trials
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and the persecutions. Verse 12, be an overcomer.
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And you know, Jesus is really interested in the fact that we
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stand. Be like my kids.
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I don't know about you guys, but there was times I was really
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embarrassed about their behavior and there was times I was very,
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very proud about their behavior. Not in a product.
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My I got great kids. No, when I saw them doing what
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God wanted them to do, when I saw them doing what God didn't
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want them to do, it was embarrassing and heartbreaking
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and difficult and trying. But when I saw them endeavor to
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please God and do what he wants them to do, it was exciting.
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One of the most exciting times was when my daughter was wayward
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and, and she was really out there in the world and, and God
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broke her and broke her and broke her and finally, you know,
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she just yielded and she and she was willing to go do ADTS at a
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youth with a mission base. And I remember flying out with
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her and she's smoking a couple packs of cigarettes a day prior
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to getting there. And she knew that no smoking in
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the boot camp in the base. So she got the patch.
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We went to the supermarket and got the patch, you know, and
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walking around and everybody knew what the patch was.
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You know, she had a short sleeve shirt.
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A pastor's daughter and pastor sometimes have the worst kids
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for whatever reason they do. It's just like the devil says,
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man, that's like really make these kids messed up so that the
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pastors will quit or whatever. But God worked in her heart and
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whenever she began to learn to walk with the Lord and obey him
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and, and to this day, she's this way now she wants his will.
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She wants to honor him. I'm so excited to introduce my
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daughter as a child of God, someone who loves the Lord and
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wants to follow him and wants to train her children up in her
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husband and the way the Lord right.
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The Bible says no greater joy than I have right than to see my
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children walk in the truth. There's Krish, daughter and
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perspective son-in-law. Both strong Christians love the
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Lord and want to serve the Lord with all their heart.
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No greater joy, right? I know you guys, Ron's son Josh,
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he has a heart that want to be a pastor someday.
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No greater joy guys, huh? And to see your children walking
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the truth and that's the way it is with the Lord when we stand
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someday before him. You know, he wants to brag on
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us. He wants to point out, as all
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the masses are there, this is my son Clark.
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This is what he once was, but this is what I made him into.
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This is my daughter Julie. This is what she once was.
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This is what I've made her into. It says that in the ages that
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come, he might show His glory revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
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It says, for we are his workmanship, right, created in
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Christ Jesus. And it says He's conforming us
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to the image of His Son, all of us, making us a little bit more
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like Jesus Christ every day. It's not how you start guys that
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matters. It's how you finish.
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Are you going to remain firm to the end?
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It says in the last days there will be a great falling away.
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I'm seeing it already happened. I'm seeing people that I know
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and I love that once we're radically in love with God and
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on fire that no longer follow Him anymore.
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It's happening as we speak. We are in the last days, but we
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must remain firm to the end. The admonition in Revelation and
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Hebrews to the believer is that you hold fast and at the end he
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says there's going to be 3 inscriptions or rewards that are
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going to be placed on us. The first one he says he's going
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to write the name of God on us. I will write on him the name of
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my God. I love how Dave Venucci prays if
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you ever heard him pray. My God, my God, my Father God,
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my God. He is our God, isn't he?
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My God is going to write his name on me.
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Your God is going to write his name on you, and then he's going
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to write this city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes
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down out of heaven from my God again.
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The new Jerusalem, the city of God, we'll get into that later
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as we go through this book and then he says my new name and 73
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we'll get to that later too. The late later.
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The Angel is expressing concern that the judgments not begin
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while we have sealed the servants until we have sealed
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the servants of God on their foreheads.
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It's a beautiful picture that the angels focused on all these
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things being done and accomplished and that the true
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bride, the believer, is sealed with the name of God and then
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we're protected and taken out from this horrendous judgment is
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going to come on the earth. The unbeliever will be signing
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up standing in line to get the mark of the beast on their
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forehead to be able to buy and sell and to do commerce.
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I don't know if it's going to be some kind of chip or some kind
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of identification mark. They can scan people now with
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implants. It's real easy.
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You know, you go through the, the, the, the check out and the,
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you'll, you'll just put your, your, and they'll automatically
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debit it out of your account and, and then you'll move on.
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But if you put your wrist there and, and there's no number there
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that will identify that you're part of this Antichrist
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movement, the alarms will go off and you'll be arrested and and
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put in prison. You know, it's not too long
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before these things are going to come come to pass.
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The technology is already there and it says it in 14 one, that
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the Father's name will be written on our foreheads and
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will be seen everywhere by everyone as God's possession.
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The seal, the mark of his ownership.
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And the New Jerusalem is a seal of the heavenly citizenship that
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you and I, we belong to a Kingdom that's not of this
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world, who's builder and maker is God.
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Now, some people believe that the Church of Philadelphia and
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all these churches represent certain churches in time and
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history. And we, we break these things
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out in a more contemporary way too, that this church is seen by
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many as a church at the time of the Great Awakening started
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around 1793. The prophetical aspect or the
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futuristic approach of what this church represents in our day and
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age. And that's in the days of Wesley
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and Whitfield's preaching at Edward and Moody in the 18th and
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19th century, the beginning of an evangelistic explosion around
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the earth, right, Because because of Rome held the church
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in captive, right. For a long time, people didn't
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have Bibles. They couldn't read their Bibles.
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There wasn't the opportunity to go out and do anything because
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if you did you, you would be looked upon as a heretic.
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You would be many times martyred.
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Martin Luther got tired of the rules and he started being
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challenged. He said, you know, no matter how
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much I try, I still see my wickedness in me.
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I'm a religious person, but I'm dead.
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I'm depraved. I have sinned.
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I have bad thoughts. You know, this doesn't make
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sense to me, that I'm supposed to be a child of God, and yet I
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feel like a child of the devil. He was a tormented man, and so
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he started reading the book of Romans.
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And as he read the book of Romans, he had an epiphany when
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he came upon that verse that the just shall live by faith.
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Justification is by faith alone, by grace alone and Christ alone.
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And no magisterium, no church, no tradition of man can bring
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salvation. It's a gift of God.
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We are digging into the Book of Revelation here on Living Waters
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of Grace. Pastor Clark is tackling this
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challenging book as we try to discern the messages that are
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within its pages. There's so much imagery, and at
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times you're not always sure what's literal and what's
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metaphorical. At one point, there's a
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reference to an adulterous woman riding on a beast.
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And as someone else mentioned, at one point it almost sounds
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like a rodeo from hell. And in actuality it kind of is.
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You learn about the downfall and demise of a sinful and
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rebellious world, falling down in worship to someone who is the
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anti hero, the enemy, Satan working his insidious ways into
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the minds of fallen people. It's sad and it's heartbreaking,
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but it's a classic story of good versus evil.
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Thankfully, we know how this story ends.
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Jesus wins, Jesus reigns, and evil is conquered once and for
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all. We pray and trust you've
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received Jesus as your Savior. But if you haven't, don't wait
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until the events and revelation become what's happening on the
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streets. None of us wants you to be there
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at that time. Instead, we'd love for you to be
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with us in heaven as we celebrate the marriage supper
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with Jesus as his bridegroom. To get a better understanding of
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where we are in the Book of Revelation, to listen to any
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messages before or after this one, you can find them at our
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website, calvarychapelonline.com.
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That's it for today's edition, but we hope you'll want to hear
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Pastor Clark teach more from the Book of Revelation.
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It can be exciting to think about the future for believers,
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but it can feel a bit harrowing for those who don't believe.
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Come here more next time on Living Waters of Grace.