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Living Waters of Grace for March 31, 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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Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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Come across someone I'm working with, a neighbor, a relative, a
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friend, a hairdresser, a gas station, wherever we go, every
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day that we're so busy, we run in and we run out and maybe we
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say a quick prayer, maybe we give them a word of testimony,
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but life is crazy. But if we can just slow down for
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a couple minutes and think about the people that are still stuck
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in these patterns, and that's the majority of human race,
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think about what it might do if they believe in what's going to
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happen in their lives to be protected from this kind of
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thing that we studied about in Revelation today.
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Many of us don't think that way. We think mostly of ourselves and
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how our day is going to go. Pastor Clark's challenge a
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moment ago is a good one for us. As you go about your day today,
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begin to ask God for an opportunity to share the love of
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Jesus with the people you encounter.
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This is the heart of God and so you can be assured that he will
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answer that prayer. He will provide opportunities
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for you to share his love with the people you bump into in your
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day-to-day life. Now here's Pastor Clark in the
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Book of Revelation Chapter 9 with today's edition of Living
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Waters of Grace. When we skip into Revelation
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now, we start reading about what's happening in Chapter 9.
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Sometimes you might be here or you might be in a church, and
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you're saying, man, this God sounds so terrible and so angry
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and so impatient, so unloving. Why would anybody want to know
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him? Let's catch up in time.
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This is around the corner, I believe, but there's been 2000
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years of God's patience before these things begin to be poured
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out in the human race. That's a God of incredible love
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and patience. We wouldn't have that kind of
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patience with people. Soon as someone cuts us off in
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traffic, we're shaking at them, you know, and shaking our fists
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and using sign language sometimes that we shouldn't be
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using. And you know, and we're, we're
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unmerciful. We're not patient, we're not
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gracious, right? Someone does something to us to,
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to embetter us right away. We cop an attitude and have a
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wall up and don't want to have anything to do with certain
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people the rest of our life because of some miniscule thing
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they've done to us. And here we are like these
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people in Romans, all the things that Paul declared that the
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human heart was like, I know exists in me and exists in you
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because we're human beings. And so now we we catch up with
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these judgments in Revelation Chapter 9, and I'm just going to
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read this chapter and then we'll catch up in 13 where we left off
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last week. First one, then the 5th Angel
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sounded. And this is the trumpet
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judgments coming now. The seven seal judgments have
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already transpired. We're into the trumpet judgments
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now. The next judgments will be the
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bowls of wrath. The judgments are getting
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increasingly more intense and more violent in the sense of
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trying to get the human race to still repent.
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There's still time even in the midst of the tribulation, the
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people who are left here on earth during the tribulation,
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God is still working these things out in order for them to
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finally look up and say, I give up.
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I know I need you, Lord. And he says, I saw a star fall
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from heaven, and the earth to him was given the key to the
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bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit
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and smoke rose out of the pit like the smoke of a great
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furnace. So in the core of the earth,
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somewhere all the demons that fell, all the angels that fell
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from the throne and the Kingdom prior to creation are in a
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holding pattern. They're locked up until this day
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of judgment. They can't wait to get out and
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and raise literal hell in the face of the earth havoc.
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And so this person who is given the key to open this pit and
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keep in mind that God has the whole universe under control.
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It isn't that the devil's winning today and God might win
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tomorrow. And there's this tension back
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and forth. God is sovereign.
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He's already accomplished his purpose.
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When Christ said it is finished, it is finished.
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The Bible says in Colossians that the power of Satan was
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deactivated in the sense of what Christ did at the cross, but the
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enemy still has capabilities. That's why it tells us in
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Ephesians we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but
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against principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness,
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the angelic demonic beings who aren't in the abyss, who are out
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flying around trying to create havoc in the world.
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The demonic activity that is going on, principalities and
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powers, the rulers of darkness and that dimension that we can't
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see, but it's real. But then he's going to let these
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other ones out of this pit. Some people wonder what, who is
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this? A fallen Angel is a Satan
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certainly isn't the emissary of the the most high God.
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God, you know, allows the evil ones to do their work.
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He doesn't sanction it, but he allows it.
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He doesn't create it. He doesn't start it.
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But you know, the mystery of life is that we have a free
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will. Some people say, well, why
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didn't God just create us perfect?
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Well, in a way he did before the fall.
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He created this immortal with a a nature that was pure and we
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were creating the likeness and image of God.
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But God didn't create robots. He wanted to create people who
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would truly love him and want to follow him for who he is.
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That's the mystery. And so Adam and Eve decide to
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make the wrong choice. And because of that, the whole
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human race has fallen into the condition that it is today.
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And yet God in his mercy had planned even before the earth
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was created, knowing that we were going to do that, that he
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would send Jesus to die for us, to restore us back to the place
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that we were before the fall. And you might say, well, why did
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he create Satan? Or why is there a choice?
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I don't know about you, but I'm glad that God has given me a
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will and a choice because every day I make decisions.
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I'm glad that I chose Cindy Alexander 39 years ago to be my
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wife. I'm glad that I had a free will
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to find the woman that God had for me in this life and special
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no one other, no other woman but her for me and me for her.
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Choosing where I want to live, where I want to worship,
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choosing what I want to do with my resources, choosing what type
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of work I want to have, a choosing how I want to spend my
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days with my kids and my grandkids.
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I mean, when you think about the think if you had none of that
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and every day you just got up and you heard this voice, you're
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going to do this whether you like it or not.
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I mean, what kind of life would that be?
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That would be a bondage. That would be a horrible
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existence. But to have the freedom that God
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has given us to choose. And yet in this situation here,
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these demons are going to come out and it's going to be so
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horrendous. If you remember in the Old
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Testament, the judgments during the time of Moses delivering the
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children of Israel out of bondage to Pharaoh, the locusts
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were so numerous that people couldn't actually see where they
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were going and they completely ate all the vegetation.
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And this situation is going to be different to them as given
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the power as a scorpions of the earth have power.
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They were commanded not to harm the grass or the earth or any
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green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have
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the seal of God on their foreheads.
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Now we studied several weeks ago about the 144,000, the special
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chosen people of God during that tribulation, born again Jews who
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are on fire for the Lord, like 144,000 Billy Grahams going all
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over the earth to witness and to tell people you still can
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repent, God's mercy is still available, you can still be
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forgiven of your sin and God will be gracious to you.
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And that's their job. Well, they're not going to be
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touched by these scorpion like locust creatures.
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They were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them
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for five months. So anyone who doesn't have this
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seal on their forehead is fair game to these demonic beings.
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So that means all the unbelievers on the face of the
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earth at this time. And this isn't God doing this to
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the people. This is Satan and his demonic
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crew going out to create torment and havoc on the face of the
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earth to all those who don't know Christ.
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Some people say whenever I die, I'm going to be down in hell
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with my buddies and and Satan and everybody.
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We're just going to have a good time and party forever.
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It's not going to be that way. Satan hates our guts, the Bible
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says. He's come to rob, to steal, to
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kill and to destroy. It says their torment was like
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the torment of a scorpion. And when it strikes a man and
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those days, men will seek death and will not find it.
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They will desire to die and death will flee from them.
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It sounds like in this case, it's even going to be impossible
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to take your life. It's going to be so horrible at
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this time when you're on the earth, if you're an unbeliever,
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you can't get away from these scorpions.
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You can you think, well, I'm going to stay inside all day and
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and I'll wait this out for the five months they won't get me.
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Somehow they're going to be able to get in the windows, under the
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under the doorway, whatever. So no matter where you are,
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you're going to get stung and tortured by these things, just
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not once. You get stung once, and that's
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OK. It's going to be a continual
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horrible torment to drive you to your knees.
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But the enemy wants to destroy you, but he can't.
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And you can't even find death at this time.
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It says the shape of the locust was like horses prepared for
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battle. On their heads were crowned
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something like gold. And their faces were like the
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faces of men. They had hair like women's hair,
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and their teeth were like a lion's teeth.
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And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the
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sound of their wings was like the sound of Chariots, with many
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horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions,
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and there were stings in their tails.
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Their power was to hurt men. Five months.
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And they had his king over them. The Angel of the bottomless pit,
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whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek his name is
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Apollyon. That name means the Destroyer,
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literally the destroyer, the New Testament Greek word Apollyon,
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is the one who is destroying. And again, that ties with what
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Jesus said about the devil. He comes to steal and to kill
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and to rob and to destroy. And I'll tell you, he's trying
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to destroy our lives every day. He's trying to destroy the
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Church of Jesus Christ. And I'm so thankful it's not my
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job or your job to build the Church of Christ.
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Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of hell.
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Hades will not prevail against it.
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In verse 12, one woe is past. So you we think that's bad.
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This situation with these scorpion like creatures in the
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description, John says the apostle that they are like this.
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In other words, he's seeing something that he's never seen
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before in his life. He's trying to use descriptive
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words to give us some kind of insight what these creatures are
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like because again, it's like nothing he's ever seen before.
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Some people believe that these will be fallen demonic beings
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that are inhabiting whether it's an animal like creature or a
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human creature. Some people, commentators
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describe it as as perhaps men in certain types of suits with gas
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masks and the the stinging aspect of this scorpion like
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creature is really a chemical warfare, you know, that's coming
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upon people. I mean, none of us are going to
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know these things until they occur.
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But these are descriptive terms that will one day come to pass.
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And so John's saying this one was past.
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Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.
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This is where we'll pick up where we left off the last time
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we were in this book. Then the six angels sounded and
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I heard a voice from the four horns of the Golden All which is
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before the throne of God, this altar and a wonderful picture
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again of the throne room of heaven.
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The 6th Angel sounds and I hear a voice from the four horns of
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the golden golden altar, which is before God, saying to the 6th
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Angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who are
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bound at the great river Euphrates.
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So this altar is the altar of incense.
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It stands before the throne of God.
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And the incense, as I mentioned about a month ago, is the
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representation of the prayers of the Saints.
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Incense will be prevalent in the Kingdom of heaven.
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The early church use incense all the time.
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Someone asked me why we don't use incense.
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I don't know. I don't know who said not use it
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or who said, you know, some people use it, think it's magic,
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and you know, other people use it as a understanding that
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represents the prayers of the Saints.
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But it really does. In God's Kingdom and in his
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worship setting within the throne of God, there's incense.
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And every time the incense is sensed before the throne of God,
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it represents the prayers of the Saints being lifted up to the
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throne of God. Matt Redmond had a neat song.
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Let the prayers of the Saints be like sweet smelling incense to
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your heart. Remember that song, beautiful
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song. And so it represents that to
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God. But the four horns represent the
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the place where the blood was applied on the Day of Atonement
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for the sake of the the nation of Israel.
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And so a very clear picture again of the things that are
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lost in our time that will be again prevalent in the in the
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Kingdom when we get there. And so he's telling this Angel
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to release these angels to release what is bound at the
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great river Euphrates. So the four angels and 15 who
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have been prepared for the hour and day and month, and these are
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evil angels by the way, and year were released to kill 1/3 of
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mankind. Now the number of the army, the
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horseman, was 200 million. I heard the number of them, and
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thus I saw the horses in the vision, those who sat on them in
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breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur
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yellow. And the heads of the horses were
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like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke
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and brimstone. By these 3 plagues, 1/3 of
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mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone
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which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their
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mouth and in their tails. For their tails are like
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serpents having heads and with them that do harm.
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So we we see the intensity of of this battle and what's going to
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come upon the face of the earth. 1/3 I I can't imagine that some
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commentators, they, they look at China and the east and the river
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Euphrates throughout biblical history was always recognized as
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a central place of, of God's wrath and also of, of, of
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miraculous occurrences. And Israel, you know, the, the
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borders of the Holy Land, Euphrates flows near and you
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have the original Babylonian Empire that was very significant
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with the the river Euphrates. And we see in Revelation 1612
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that this river will actually be dried up.
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Why is it going to be dried up? The capacity to actually travel
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by tank or by some kind of vehicle, horses or whatever, the
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potential of 200 million. And there's no other nation that
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could have the size of an army except that nation in the east
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wiping out 1/3 of the human race.
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The armies from Russia, Iran, China, India, if they were
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marching to the Holy Land today, they can hardly avoid getting
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there without crossing this river.
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It's very, very significant. And so God's sovereign hand in
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this situation of judgment, allowing this to occur for a
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reason, is that many would end up coming to Him.
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And you know, the Lord is all knowing.
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He's omniscient. No one gets out of here without
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a chance. No one can stand in the
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judgement and say, well, I'm in hell because no one ever told
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me, or I'm in hell because you weren't fair or didn't send a
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missionary to me. It says in Romans, as I read,
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that every human being knows by conscience that there is a
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creator. And it's in that human being's
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heart that God will give them the capacity to either turn and
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believe or not to believe. That's the goodness of God.
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And Paul said that hasn't the whole earth heard even in his
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own day. He said truly, the gospel has
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gone out and to the ends of the earth.
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And so the third that is wiped out weren't part of what we
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would see the Bible describing elect or those that God knows
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before we're born whether we're going to come to him.
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There's no mistakes. There's no confusion with God.
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And when we stand before him, he's not going to look and say,
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how in the world did you get here?
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You weren't in the plan. I mean, we're all in his heart,
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but he knows who's going to choose Him and who isn't going
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to choose him. That's God's hand and His plan
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and His wisdom. But it's interesting when we
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look in this Book of Revelation where it gives us math formula
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in verse 16, the number of the army, the horseman was 200
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million. Some of your Bibles might say
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200,000 * 1000 and that's 200 million.
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A human army perhaps with weapons and gas masks.
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My son-in-law has served in Iraq and say caught civil forces,
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special forces and they had all kind of access to the most high
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tech weaponry, so sophisticated what it can do.
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And so you get those kind of things in the hands of the wrong
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people. And the devastation that can
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occur on the face of the earth is, is unbelievable.
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We know right now that some of these rogue nations have access
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to a chemical warfare and an atomic bombs.
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It'll be very easy to to pull this kind of event off.
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But we think about this situation and I don't know about
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you, we study this stuff and it's just another Bible study on
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a Sunday. I hope not.
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I hope whenever you hear this stuff and read this it, it
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compels your heart to start to be broken over people that don't
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know Christ yet. People need the Lord, everybody
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needs Christ and if they don't have him, what's going to happen
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to them and could God perhaps use your life or mine to point
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them in the direction of Jesus Christ As we conclude verse 20,
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it says the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues
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and this is this astounds me. They still didn't repent of the
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work of their hands. They still didn't say there's a
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real God and I'm in trouble and I need to deal with him.
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A narcotics officer living a double life using drugs or
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busting people and then using drugs.
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He's at a house, he's talking to some people, asking some
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questions, doing his job, just want to get done, go home,
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forget about it. He's guilty all the time because
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how he was living his life. He's getting ready to leave and
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there's a drug dealer coming up and he knows what's going on.
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The people he's talking to are getting nervous.
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A drug dealer comes up, he senses the vibes there and he
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starts walking away like nothings happening.
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Well, this guy, in spite of his double life, he knew his job is
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to deal with this drug dealer. So he went down to the car to
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confront the guy. The officer had his heavy
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sweatshirt on with his badge under his sweatshirt and his
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gun, and he didn't have a chance to get to the gun as quick as
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the drug dealer. The drug dealer pulled out his
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gun, held it right up to his face, pulled the trigger, click.
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Nothing went. Nothing happened.
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Nothing went off. He jumped in the car, took off
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and they found the car later. $13,000 in cash, ton of drugs
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and the gun. Took the gun back to the crime
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lab to test it. They held the gun up and shot
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and six bullets went off. Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang.
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He knew that God had spared his life.
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He had grown up as a in a Christian home but always blew
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the truth off. Didn't want to hear it.
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At that point he knew God spared his life and that he needed to
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turn his life over to Christ. He didn't understand, but he
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knew he had to come clean. So he went.
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He told his wife what had been happening in his life and then
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he went to the Sheriff's Office and told them what happened.
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Turned his badge in and went to Teen Challenge and got dried
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out. And since 2004 he has been been
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clean and his heart now is broken.
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Just not for people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol,
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but respectable sinners, people like us.
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Maybe you've never used drugs, Maybe you don't abuse alcohol.
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But you have other issues, don't you?
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And I have them. We have unresolved anger, we
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have bitterness, we have unforgiveness, we have lust, we
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have greed. We have all kind of stuff.
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It's the heart. The human heart's a cesspool,
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right? And if you don't believe that,
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just ask. God, search me.
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O God, know your heart. Try me and know my thoughts and
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see if there be any wicked way in me.
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I guarantee you, pray that prayer.
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There's never going to be a time that the Lord doesn't show you
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some new things to let go of and repent of.
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I mean, that's my daily life. But as we think about these
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things, it isn't just a study on a Sunday, but it's like, what
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can I do this week? What kind of divine appointment,
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Lord, do you have for me to come across someone I'm working with,
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a neighbor, a relative, a friend, a hairdresser, gas
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station, wherever we go, every day that we're so busy, we run
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in and we run out and maybe we say a quick prayer, maybe we
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give them a word of testimony. But life is crazy.
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But if we can just slow down for a couple minutes and think about
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the people that are still stuck in these patterns, and that's
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the majority of human race. Think about what it might do if
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they believe in what's going to happen in their lives to be
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protected from this kind of thing that we've studied about
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in Revelation today. Ezekiel 1823, a beautiful verse,
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the Lord speaking through Ezekiel the prophet.
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Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, says
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the Lord of God, and not that he should turn from his ways and
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live. That's God's heart.
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Do I have any pleasure at all as I look at this 9th chapter?
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God would say at all that the wicked should die.
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God loves God is a God of love. He has no hatred in his heart,
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says the Lord God. And not that he should turn from
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his ways and live. And that's what we need guys in
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the, in the city, in this community, in this county, and
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every place that we go, every place that we live, people need
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the Lord. And you just don't know what the
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Lord's going to do when you sow seed.
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And the, and the problem with us, we don't realize it's not
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our job to save people. We can't save anybody, but we
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sure can throw seed around. You know, God can control
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everything. Can he control the
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circumstances? So our, our heart as a church,
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you know, is about outreach and, and how do we get this message
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into the hearts and lives of people who are on their way to a
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crisis eternity, Don't waste time.
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Let Jesus have your life, don't be apathetic, don't be sleeping
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at the wheel. As Paul said, awake your
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righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of
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God and he says I speak this to your shame and may we not be
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ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Amen.
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This has been Living Waters of Grace with Pastor Clark.
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We're going through the challenging and also intriguing
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Book of Revelation. Whether you're a fan of reading
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ahead in books of fiction, there's such a benefit to
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reading ahead in the Bible to read about how it all ends.
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But in an interesting turn of events, the Book of Revelation
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is not really the end, but rather the beginning.
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It's the end of life as we know it here on earth, but there's so
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much to look forward to. But what comes after all?
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The judgement of the earth and those who reject God.
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There's a lot to work through, and it can be heartbreaking to
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read through the intense judgements and wrath that will
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come on those who hate God with all their might.
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The thing is, God has given chance upon chance to these
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people. They don't want it.
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So the outcome is that there are judgements and consequences for
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those who've rejected the good news and the gift of salvation
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that's offered through Jesus's death and resurrection.
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Are you one who has heard about these things but doesn't really
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want it because you want to live life on your terms?
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Trust me, living for Jesus is so much better.
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That doesn't mean it will be easy, but as you listen and read
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through Revelation with us, you'll come to a stark
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realization that you don't want to be on earth when the
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apocalypse happens. So check out Calvary Chapel
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online.com to learn how to come to a saving grace through faith
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that will allow you to be with Jesus for eternity.
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We'd also love to meet you in person at Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland. Come join us at 400 E Pittsburgh
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St. Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601.
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This has been living waters of grace.