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Living Waters of Grace March 12, 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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God has not appointed us to wrath.
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Does that make you feel good? I don't like to get in trouble
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for something I don't think I deserve.
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I'm a Sinner just like you are, and the world is centered.
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The difference between US and them is that we've received a
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Savior, right? Christ has taken our guilt in
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our judgement upon himself. That's the good news of the
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gospel. You think?
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Why wouldn't everybody in the world believe and realize they
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need a savior and want Christ to save them?
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It's like getting a detention in school.
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You had a penalty coming your way, but then you were given a
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free pass to get out of detention.
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This is how it is with Jesus paying the penalty for your sin.
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Today, Pastor Clark touches on the fact that when you make that
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conscious choice to follow after Jesus, the events and judgments
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talked about in Revelation are not meant for you.
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They're meant for a world that has rejected Jesus as Savior and
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has chosen to go another way. So if you haven't yet, get that
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free pass out of detention now. Here's Pastor Clark in
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Revelation Chapter 4 with today's edition of Living Waters
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of Grace. Revelation Chapter 4 After these
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things I looked, and behold a door standing open in heaven.
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And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet
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speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you
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things which must take place. After this, immediately I was in
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the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven and one sat on the
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throne and he who sat there was like a Jasper and a Sardis stone
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in appearance. And there was a rainbow around
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the throne and appearance like an emerald.
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Around the throne were 24 Thrones and on the Thrones I saw
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24 elders sitting clothed in white robes and they had crowns
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of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeds
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lightnings, thunderings and voices. 7 lamps of fire were
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burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
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We just covered the seven churches about 3 weeks ago.
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Then the last days, the churches that are symbolic of what the
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church will be like in the last days and also what the church
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was like back in the days shortly after Christ had
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resurrected from the dead. And so now we're going to begin
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to make a transition after these things that we've just studied
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in the last few weeks. We're going to begin to now be
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prepared for what is it going to be like on the earth prior to
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the return of the Lord. Now the apostle John is being
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taken up into heaven. The word caught up is what we
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get that word from Latin, which means reptazo, and it's the
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catching away. We use the word rapture, but if
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you take the original Greek meaning of that word, it means
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to be caught up or caught away. And it's important to realize
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that in these last days, there's going to be a lot of cataclysmic
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events that are going to be on the horizon.
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All the loss of life. It seems every day there's some
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kind of cataclysmic event that is occurring around the world.
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The frequency of these things will grow in increasing
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dimension as we move closer to the return of the Lord.
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So as we see these things occurring, Jesus said, look up
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your redemption draws nigh, meaning that the return of
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Christ is clearer and nearer than we've ever imagined before.
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But some things to consider. And there's different positions
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on this, how this is all going to to play out in the end.
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These are futuristic events. We have some capability of
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looking into the future regarding prophecy, prophecy
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that's been fulfilled and also prophecy that is yet to be
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fulfilled. The way we gather the
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information and make some degree of determination on what
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possibly might transpire is based upon historical fact
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throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament.
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But one of the things that Calvary Chapel ascribes to, and
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we're not alone, some of the leading Bible noble teachers on
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the radio that you might respect the day like John MacArthur,
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Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel or David Jeremiah, Charles Stanley,
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Chuck Swindoll, these men are all pre Trib, pre millennial men
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of God. We believe that Christ will come
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and take the church out before the great tribulation.
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We don't believe we're going to be here to have to endure that.
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And I'm going to give you some proof texts this morning, some
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verses that might help you come to that same conclusion and not
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be confused, I trust. But Romans chapter 5.
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I, I was thinking about that earlier this morning as I was
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finishing up this minute message.
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And it says that God commendeth his love toward us, and that
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while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us much more
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than in verse 9 of chapter 5 of Romans.
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Then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from
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wrath through him. God has not appointed his bride,
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his kids, to wrath. God doesn't marry us in the
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sense of bringing us into the Kingdom and calling us his bride
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to abuse us. There's no knowledge of that in
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the Scriptures anywhere. God loves us.
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The wrath of God is going to be poured out upon a rebellious,
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unbelieving, ungodly world that we're still living in, right?
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We're frustrated at times because of why things go the way
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they they go. The horror on the face of the
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earth, the unfairness, the unjustice.
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Sometimes those who represent us in government frustrate us and
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we wonder why people can make the decisions on behalf of us
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that they make. And it's difficult at times to
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accept it, isn't it? But one day God's justice will
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be vindicated and one day his wrath will be poured out upon
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the whole earth. I think of David when he prayed
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he said Lord, why to the wicked rage and imagine vain thing.
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Why do people seem to get away with what they get away with?
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But one day God will definitely deal with those on the face of
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the earth that have shaken their fists at him, who have cursed
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him, who have forsaken him, who have hated him and have ignored
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them him throughout their life. First Thessalonians chapter 5
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verse 9 says For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to
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obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Again a great proof tech text. God has not appointed us to
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wrath. Does that make you feel good?
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I don't like to get in trouble for something I don't think I
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deserve. I'm a Sinner just like you are
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and the world is centered. The difference between US and
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them is that we've received a Savior right?
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Christ has taken our guilt in our judgment upon himself.
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That's the good news of the gospel.
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You think? Why wouldn't everybody in the
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world believe and realize they need a Savior and want Christ to
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save them? What is it in our hearts that
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causes us to push the love of God away?
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What's our pride and our sin? Jesus says men love darkness
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rather than light because their deeds are evil.
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There was a time in my life that I like doing evil things.
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I enjoyed it and I knew that there was a God.
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I was a fully aware there was a God, but I thought he doesn't
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see or he doesn't pay attention or it's no big deal.
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But the wages of sin is death. The more my life became consumed
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with sinful pattern and sinful activity, the emptier I became
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in my heart, The more mixed up I was, the more anxious I was, the
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more lost I became. And I one day with this, go out
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and look at the stars at night and say, there's got to be more
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to this life than what I'm living.
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There's got to be something behind us that would make sense
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because the way life appeared to me before I knew Christ, it
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didn't make sense. I mean, even your best friends
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that you had, they'd stab you in the back.
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I mean, at this everything seemed to be upside down, right?
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I couldn't find any example of love or real love until Christ
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came into my life. And so God has not appointed his
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bride to wrath his church. The pre tribulation rapture is
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that the church will be caught up before the seven-year
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tribulation and the entire seven-year tribulation period is
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a time of pouring out of God's wrath.
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It's God's time where he says enough's enough, right?
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And he basically allows the whole universe to explode in the
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sense of his indignation against sin and against man's rebellion.
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You know, God didn't create us to be this way.
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We made that decision ourselves in the garden when we said we
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want to go our own way and God let us go our own way.
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He's a loving, merciful God. You want to do your own thing,
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make your own choices, fine, go ahead.
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But there's consequences to do that.
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In Revelation chapter 617, it says the great day of His wrath
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is come and who shall be able to stand?
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We'll get to that in a few weeks.
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Chapter 6. But this day of wrath is going
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to be so tough guys, that the human beings that are on the
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earth at that time are going to be turned upside down.
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They're not going to know which way to turn.
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Every day there's some new horrendous thing that's
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occurring and they're going to fear for their lives.
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And this is the issue of what's going on at this time.
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Rebellious man desires to live without God.
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Has anybody ever in here desired at one time in your life to live
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without God? Raise your hand.
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Most of us. We didn't need His love, We
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didn't need His mercy. But yet in His great love, as He
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looks down upon us today, all of us here, His intention for us is
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to pull us out of this world. Before this event occurs, He
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will withdraw us, being His restraint upon sin right now on
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the face of the earth. Guys, whether we realize it or
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not, as weak as our testimony is at times, as Christians, God
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uses us because the Holy Spirit lives in US.
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Every time you're around someone that doesn't know Christ, they
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know there's something different about your life.
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They can't put their finger on it, but they know you're wired
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differently and you're called Jesus said in the Gospel, salt
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and light. When the salt and light, that's
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us. We're taken out of this world at
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the rapture. That's why so much evil is going
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to come down upon the earth because there's going to be no
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balance anymore. There's going to be no
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constraining force right now in the midst of our society, as bad
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as things are and as ungodly as the human race is, we still have
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influence, don't we? There's people that are becoming
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Christians every day because of people like us and others that
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love the Lord and follow him. But the constraint will be drawn
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out whenever the rapture happens.
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It doesn't mean the Holy Spirit still won't be present, working
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on the face of the earth to bring people to himself, but the
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influence of the church will be gone.
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And then what will happen is this wrath of God will be poured
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out upon the heads of all those people that have been worn
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throughout their lives, that one day this would come upon the
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face of the earth, the tribulation period, seven years
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of lies and wars and famine and death.
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I don't want any of my loved ones to be there to you.
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I don't want anybody I know to be there.
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But I can't make people believe any more than you can.
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All I can do is give them my testimony.
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Then tell them, this is what Christ has done for me and this
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is what He would like to do for you too, if you would ask Him to
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be your Savior and to come into your life, turn from your sin.
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Now, a picture of this illustration actually happened
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back in Genesis chapter 19. And this was a time whenever God
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was warning Lot and His family to get out of Sodom.
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Sodom was a picture of this ungodly world that we live in
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today. And God's telling Lot and His
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family that you got to get out of this town because I'm going
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to destroy it. He's warning them ahead of time,
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just like the Scriptures today are warning you if you're here
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today without Christ, to come to Christ so that you're not left
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here during this time of wrath. And the Lord literally had to
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drag them out by the power of the angels to get them out of
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that town. And this is a picture of God
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sparing His elect from wrath as God looks down upon the face of
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the earth. There's a large group of people
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that live here right now that are his kids, and he's focused
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on his kids every day, just like I'm focused on my kids or my
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grandkids every day. I don't want anything to hurt
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them. I don't want anything to come
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into their life to influence them that would destroy their
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lives. And I'll do everything I can as
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a follower of Jesus Christ to persuade those I love the most
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to be prepared and to be living for Jesus Christ in these last
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days, to see people spared from this eventual wrath.
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Now, Hebrews tells us that there's a group of people and
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we, we are that people, that we're not of them who draw back.
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Lot's wife, even though she was delivered from Sodom, that she
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was warned not to look back and longing for that old wicked part
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of life, Sodom, all the experiences she had there, she
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was warned not to look back, as was Lot.
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And she unfortunately looked back and she became a pillar of
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salt and she was gone. God's judgement upon her.
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The cataclysmic events on Sodom and Gomorrah were like one of
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the worst nuclear Holocaust that mankind could ever experience.
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And it was all done not by a bomb made by man, but by the
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great power of our God. God is awesome, His power and
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His power is designed to show forth His glory and His love.
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His power was not initiated, intended for a destruction upon
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the human race. But we have made our own
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decisions and we have said we will roll in reign independent
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of the God of creation, right? The majority of the people in
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the face of the earth don't believe in God anymore.
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They don't want to have anything to do with him.
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They want to be their own final authority.
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They want to make up their own mind, their own decision every
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day, do their own thing and as a result suffer the consequences.
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Now as we go back to chapter 4 and verse one, this is the
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spirit speaking to John. It says come up here and I will
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show you things which must take place after this.
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There's a voice of a trumpet that's occurring here.
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It says he hears this voice that is like a trumpet speaking,
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saying come up here, I will show you things which must take place
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after this. Now to me, I mean, I've studied
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this. I'm excited about it.
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You guys might think, well, who cares?
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This is nice. One time's a sermon over today.
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You know, I'm going to go watch the masters later, whatever.
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But I'll tell you when you, when you study this stuff, this rocks
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your world. It does.
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And I trust it'll rock your world a little bit.
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The day this hearing about some of this stuff because it's, it's
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just fascinating. So he's, he's giving John the
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privilege to be able to look into the future and see what
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it's going to be like when these things come to pass.
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We're recipients of this opportunity today.
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Just sitting here hearing this and getting a heads up from what
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God had shown the apostle John. Daniel Chapter 9 in the Old
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Testament, verse 27 talks about this issue of the evil 1
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confirming a covenant with many. And this will be over in the
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Mideast between Israel and their enemies for one week, symbolic
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of seven days, which means a tribulation period of seven
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days. There'll be a false peace like
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right now, President Obama, President Bush, President
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Clinton, President Carter, as far as you can go back.
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Remember growing up watching the news, there was always this
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excitement about a potential Treaty of peace.
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There'd be no more fighting in Israel and everybody be all
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excited. And it would last for maybe a
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day or a week or a couple months.
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And then all of a sudden, the war would start again.
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The tension, the fighting, there's no real peace that will
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be in Jerusalem, in Israel, in this world until the Prince of
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Peace comes back. Jesus Christ.
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That's the only time they'll be peace.
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But man and his energy and his desire to try to be known as a
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maybe the next Nobel Prize recipient, I'll be the guy that
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got the peace established there. Well, this Antichrist will be
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the one midway through this great tribulation that will
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reveal himself in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
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He has the arrogance and the audacity because he's a very
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charismatic individual. He can persuade people.
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There's World Peace developing in the 1st 3 1/2 years,
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prosperity. Everything's getting better.
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Everybody's like, wow, we finally have someone in this
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world that's getting things straightened out.
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The stock market's going up, values of houses are going up.
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Everybody has money and everything's great.
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And so people are deceived. The Bible says those days will
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be so deceptive that even the elect could be deceived if it
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were possible. And So what will happen is
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people be be persuaded to follow this world leader, this
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Antichrist. He could be alive now.
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He could be getting ready to be raised up into leadership.
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There's a lot of thoughts on people like who this person
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might be. But nonetheless, through this
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midway period, this guy will really show his true colors and
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he will actually set himself up in the rebuilt, rebuilt temple.
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It's called the abomination of desolation.
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And he will sit on the throne and claim to be God and call
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himself God. If you go to a Second
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Thessalonians, just for a minute, let's flip over to the
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left in your Bible, Second Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse
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5, he says, do you not remember that when I was still with you,
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I told these things to you? This is Paul writing, and now
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you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his
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own time, referring to the Antichrist.
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For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.
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Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of
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the way. Now this spirit of lawlessness,
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any anybody that rejects Jesus Christ, it's against his Kingdom
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and against his authority, is of the spirit of Antichrist.
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We learned that in first and second John when we went through
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it. But there will literally be one
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who will truly be raised up one day, who will be the real
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Antichrist that's being spoken about in the Book of Revelation.
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But it's talking about this mystery that is already working
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in the world, only he capital H, referring to God himself who now
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restrains, will do so until He's taken out of the way.
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What's restraining all this stuff from occurring right now
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to a great degree is still the church in this world.
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And when the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will
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consume with the breadth of his mouth and destroy with the
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brightnesses of his coming. Even though this Antichrist will
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be raised up one day and he'll rule and reign for a period of
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time on earth, Christ will come back at the second coming in and
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deal with Him in a very, very, very dramatic way.
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The coming of the lawless 1 is, according to the working of
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Satan, with all power signs and lying wonders and with all
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unrighteousness deception among those who perish because they
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did not receive the love of the truth.
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That's what's heartbreaking, all the people in the face of the
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earth being deceived to believe and to follow this world ruler
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because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they
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might be saved. I pray today if you're here, you
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would receive the love of the truth.
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That you can be saved. And for this reason God will
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send them a strong delusion. God will send them strong
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delusion, and they should believe a lie, that they all may
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be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
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unrighteousness. Now, when John is speaking here
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in chapter 4 and writing down the things that the Lord has
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given him to reveal to the body of Christ, he's seeing all this
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stuff and living color way ahead of the time it's supposed to
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happen. When this book was written, it
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was written a long time ago, thousands of years ago, and it
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is so contemporary and current with the times that we are
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currently living in now. And so he's seeing all that's
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going to take place as a prelude to the tribulation, which will
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actually start in chapter 6, verse one.
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We'll get to that in the weeks ahead.
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That's when Jesus, a lamb, will open up the first seal.
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And the first seal is a picture of this Antichrist on the face
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of the earth. He's going to pose as a savior
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of the world. And in verse 1 of chapter 4, he
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says again, the future is insight.
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He says, I will show you the things which must must take
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place after this. He says he was caught up.
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He was told to come up here and God would show him what was
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going to be revealed. And I'd like you to look at
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First Thessalonians chapter 4. This is really an important
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section of Scripture for us here today who believe that the Lord
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will come before this great tribulation.
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It says in First Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13, Paul, his
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passion for the church. He doesn't want people to be in
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ignorance. He wants us to know what's going
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to happen, what's going on. I love what he says here, but I
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do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who
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have fallen sleep, meaning those who have passed on and who have
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died, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
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For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so God
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will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.
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Now when someone dies, a Christian dies and their bodies
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in, you know, the casket that isn't that person anymore.
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Their body is a shell. They're out of that body.
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The the Bible says to be absent in the body is to be present
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with the Lord. So as soon as you die, if you're
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a Christian, soon as I die, I'm not going into some ground and
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the worms are going to get me and you aren't either.
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We're going to be taken out by God's power and taken up to be
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with Jesus is the apostle Paul says to be absent.
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The body is present with the Lord, but the physical body will
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still be in the grave. I did a funeral this week and I
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reminded the people that this dear woman who died at 92, that
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love Jesus wasn't at the gravesite going into the ground.
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She was already with the Lord, but her physical body, her old
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body was going into the ground. And it says for this we say to
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you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain
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until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those
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who are asleep. For the Lord himself will
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descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
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Archangel, and with the trump of God.
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It's interesting that that trumpet shows up every time
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we're talking about this truth of the rapture being caught away
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and it says and the dead in Christ will rise first, meaning
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the physical bodies of all those Christians and believers in the
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Old Testament, New Testament that died, that their bodies are
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in the grave. When Christ comes back, those
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bodies are going to be resurrected where the Bible says
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this mortality will put on immortality, this corruptible.
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The old dead body will put on incorruption, and we'll be
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receiving these resurrected bodies, those who are dead in
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Christ at this time. Keeping in mind that we're
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referring to the body there's. In the Book of Revelation,
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Pastor Clark is taking us through all kinds of events and
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happenings that are predicted for the future.
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But for those who believe and follow Jesus, there's much to
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look forward to in heaven with Jesus.
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However, for those who are here on earth during the Tribulation,
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there's all kinds of chaos that will unfold.
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The Bible talks about an Antichrist, false prophet, and
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of course that evil enemy Satan. Do you see how there are such
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clever attempts for the enemy to disguise himself as God and even
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the Trinity? The true Savior of the world is
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God and how he comes to rescue through his triune nature, God
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the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
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Just like Satan tried to take over for God in heaven and was
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cast out, Satan will try to convince people on earth that he
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is the triune God to be worshipped instead of the
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legitimate God in heaven. It's an attempt, and although he
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will capture plenty in his schemes, he will not win.
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The true God wins, and Revelation unpacks how that will
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all happen in detail. Be encouraged because there's a
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way out for all of this madness that will ensue on this earth.
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But you don't want to wait indefinitely to make that
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decision about Jesus. We don't know when the church
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will be raptured, and you want to be ready to be with Jesus.
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To learn more about this, head over to calvarychapelonline.com.
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We're so glad you've been with us today.
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And if you'd like to connect further with this ministry, find
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us on Facebook or YouTube. You can also download our mobile
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app at calvarychapelonline.com. Be sure to join us for weekly
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services at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601.
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This has been living waters of grace.