Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace, February 20, 2026

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Living Waters of Grace, February 20, 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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  How could a loving God allow such a horrible situation to
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  occur there? God's judgement, and I'm not
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  saying Haiti is God's judgement it but it says in the last days
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  there will be birth pangs and a frequency of cataclysmic events
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  occurring on the face of the earth to cause men and women and
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  children to begin to look up and to wonder about is there a God?
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  And then, if there is a God, am I ready to meet Him?
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  A common question among many people is how could a loving God
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  allow terrible things to happen? Some believe bad things are
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  God's judgement, natural consequences, or even evidence
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  that God doesn't exist. Ultimately, we can make all
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  manner of assumptions and speculations, but we must
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  realize that God's ways are higher than our ways and His
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  thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
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  In today's message, Pastor Clark attempts to convey what
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  Revelation might be telling us about events in the final days.
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  Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation chapter one with
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  today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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  In verse 15, it talks about his, his voice being the sound of
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  many waters. I love to sit by the ocean when
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  there's no one there and no distractions.
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  And I love this to close my eyes and just hear the waves
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  crashing. This continual, there's no
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  silence. It's just continual noise.
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  And every wave seems to have a different sound effect in my
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  ear. Every wave that flows in is not
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  exactly the same as the wave that came before it.
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  And it's just a continuation of this, an outpouring of the, the
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  sound and crashing of, of the surf upon the sand.
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  And God's sound, his voice is like the sound of everlasting
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  waters. If you ever been to Niagara
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  Falls and you stood at the base of the falls, you're in the Maid
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  of the mist. You just hear the, the crushing
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  sound of the water this relentlessly coming down off the
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  the cliffs there into the into the pond or lake of stream
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  there. It's just continue.
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  It's a sound of his absolute power and authority.
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  I think of a, a storm at night, a thunderstorm or a lightning
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  storm or a hailstorm. And, and this the, the sound of
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  the Thunder is so crushing. And at times it, it shakes you,
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  it, it, it makes you fearful. The fact that God is so
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  magnificent and so powerful that he could wipe any of us out in a
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  second. And it, it's just overwhelming.
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  And then you think of the the sound of earthquakes or
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  tornadoes or hurricanes or typhoons, the tremendous power
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  that God has in the midst of this universe, it would cause
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  you to to fall on your face and be broken, as we will see John
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  here in a few moments, falling on his face.
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  But no one can stop these sounds but God.
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  No one can stop the fury of the Thunder and the lightning and
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  the hurricane and the earthquakes.
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  But God, he has control over this whole universe.
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  Nothing occurs outside of His will and His plan.
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  Someone mentioned recently about the crisis in Haiti.
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  How could a loving God allow such a horrible situation to
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  occur there? God's judgement and I'm not
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  saying Haiti is God's judgement it but it says in the last days
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  there will be birth pangs and a frequency of cataclysmic events
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  occurring on the face of the earth to cause men and women and
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  children to begin to look up and to wonder about is there a God?
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  And if there is a God, am I ready to meet him?
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  Am I ready to stand before him? This sound of the voice in
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  heaven speaks with power and authority, and it says in verse
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  16 that out of his mouth when a sharp 2 edged sword.
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  We read in Hebrews that the word of God is sharper than any 2
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  edged sword, piercing, dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
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  is a very discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
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  heart. It's just so wonderful when you
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  sit down, you're reading through the Bible this year and and as
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  you read it, it's purifying you. It's it's convicting you.
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  You, you see your own life and the life of Abraham and Isaac
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  and Jacob and Sarah and Hagar and all these people and and the
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  scriptures. You, you say, boy, that person
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  reminds me of me a little bit, you know, and it shows you God's
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  action and intervention in their lives and his mercy and his
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  grace and his forgiveness. And you're, you're encouraged,
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  you know, the fact that God is such a compassionate, loving,
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  merciful God in spite of the foolishness of the human race,
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  in spite of the foolishness of the human heart.
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  And this sword that's coming out of his mouth speaks with
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  authority. It's the living word of God.
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  Ephesians tells us that it's the sword of the Spirit, which is
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  the word of God. He gives us a description also
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  of the of the seven stars in verse 16, and these seven stars
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  are descriptive of perhaps he refers to the name Angel.
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  Angel means messenger. We prayed this morning before we
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  came up here that God's angels would protect this place,
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  surround it from the attacks of the evil. 1 And God has sent
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  forth his army of angels in the midst of these days that we
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  live. I love what it tells us in
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  Hebrews, the beginning of Hebrews, about the angelic
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  creatures, aren't they ministering spirits, sent forth
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  to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation?
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  You have a guardian Angel. Do you know that?
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  Do you believe that? Well, the Scriptures declare
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  that you do. And that poor Angel, what
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  they've had to put up with, right with all of us.
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  I'm sure my Angel would love to trade places with one of you
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  guys. He's been with me for 58 years
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  now. But even the angelic beings,
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  whenever the word of God is proclaimed and preached, they
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  like to hang around in the atmosphere because they never
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  get tired of listening in and hearing the mystery that's
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  revealed through the church, the gospel of God's salvation.
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  The angels could also in some commentaries refer to the
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  pastors of the churches because we're messengers, we're
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  responsible to declare to the community, the body, the the
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  message of the, the word of God. And verse 16, it refers to his
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  countenance. It says his countenance was like
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  the sun shining in its strength, the sun SUN.
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  When you look up in certain times of the day, you wouldn't
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  dare gaze into the brightness of the sun because you'd burn your
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  retina. But in certain times a day you
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  can sunset, you can look at it, look at the beauty, and it isn't
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  as bright. But the countenance of Christ is
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  like the fullness of the brightness of the sun at its
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  greatest point, at its fullest of strength.
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  That was experienced by Peter, James and John whenever they
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  were at the base of the Mount of Transfiguration.
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  When Christ appeared in his glorified state and the
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  brightness of His glory was exceedingly manifest, and Peter
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  and James and John, it was so bright they had to fall on their
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  face. And this is the way our Savior
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  is now. He's transfigured, He's changed,
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  and John is actually able to experience this again.
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  He's before them. His face shines like the sun.
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  His clothes become white as the light.
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  The ancient teachers of the Word described as light as uncreated
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  light. You know when God said let there
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  be light and he created the moon by night and the sun by day and
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  the stars by night. The light that is manifest in
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  the Holy Trinity is always existing, it's self existent.
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  It never had a start and never had a beginning.
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  And that's why the Word tells us that God is light and in Him is
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  no darkness or shadow of turning.
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  Psalm 8411 says, for the Lord God is a sun, SUN and a shield,
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  a purifier and a protector. So it's a wonderful thing to
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  know that God's brightness, the exceeding image of his glory and
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  His perfection as it reveals to us our sin, convicts us that we
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  can repent and be purified and be made as gold, pure gold.
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  But he's also the protector that he knows how much we can deal
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  with in any given moment. If he turned all the light on on
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  me in one nanosecond, I would be completely pulverized and non
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  existent. But God understands what we're
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  able to deal with. And so he comes in the midst of
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  his glory to John with a heart that is full and also heavy and
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  broken because of the state of his church in the days that this
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  was being written. And his heart is still heavy
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  today for the state of the church today.
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  Christ, we see in this revelation here is no longer the
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  quiet Carpenter, is he? He's no longer the obscure and
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  lowly servant. He's now risen, glorified, and
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  manifest in His full authority to prepare to judge the nations
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  first. Peter 417 says for the time has
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  come for judgment to begin at the House of God.
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  This is what's occurring here. Jesus is revealing to John the
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  revelation of Himself in the midst of His church in the last
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  days. Peter says for the time has come
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  for judgment to begin at the House of God.
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  It has to begin here, guys, with you and me, doesn't it?
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  Our judgments, our concerns about those without Christ are
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  important to pray for God to save our families, our
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  neighbors, our loved ones. But we must come clean before
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  the Lord ourselves, not be living double ways, not be
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  living one way in church and another way outside of church.
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  We must realize that God has to deal with our hearts, the House
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  of God. If it begins with us first, what
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  will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
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  Peter questions verse 17 and 18. John begins to respond to this
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  vision, this unveiling, this revelation of Jesus Christ.
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  What was his posture like? It says.
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  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.
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  A lot of people, they have a very lackadaisical, superficial
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  understanding of what it's going to be like to enter into the
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  Kingdom of God. Some people think they're going
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  to be going in high 5, high 5 and the Lord say, Cole, hey,
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  we're here. It's not going to be like that.
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  Every one of us will be on our face before God praying that
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  we'll hear his voice say, well done, good and faithful servant,
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  enter into the joy of the Lord, not depart from you cursed.
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  I never knew you. That's why the Bible tells us,
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  work out your salvation today with fear and trembling.
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  Today is a day of salvation, not tomorrow.
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  If you hear his voice today, don't harden your hearts as
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  those who harden their hearts in the wilderness.
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  So he falls at the Lord's feet as a dead man.
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  This is the one who put his head on the breast of Jesus.
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  His relationship with Christ now is different in some sense
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  because he's fully aware of his exaltation and his glory, his
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  magnificence and power. He falls at the Lord's feet.
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  Have you ever been at the time in your own life where you're in
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  prayer and you're at His feet and you're aware of His Holiness
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  and his greatness and his purity and your own sinfulness?
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  I think we need to be in those kind of places more and more in
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  these days that we're living, that we would be real with God
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  as Isaiah was Isaiah a prophet, a great man of God, Whenever he
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  had the revelation of the throne of God, he said, woe is me, woe
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  is me. I'm a man of unclean lips, a
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  declaration of repentance, and I dwell in the midst of an unclean
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  people. That's all our declaration,
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  isn't it? Woe is me.
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  We are all people of unclean lips and we dwell in the midst
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  of unclean people. Who knows what occurred in the
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  lives of the people in this church this week and the secret
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  places where only God could see? What type of sin might we have
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  carried into this place that I trust was laid at the feet of
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  Jesus at the Lord's Supper? Christ wants His church to be
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  purified. He wants it to be whole and the
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  holy be holy. He said Be holy, for I am holy.
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  Be perfect as your heavenly Father who's in heaven is
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  perfect. And that's not in our own
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  strength. This is an impartation of God's
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  gift to you and me, His grace that as we yield to Christ,
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  Christ will fulfill his will in our lives and he'll conform us
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  to the image of his Son. That's what he promises every
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  one of us, right? That he will transform us and
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  make us into his likeness. So John is laying at his feet as
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  a dead man. Daniel chapter 10, verse 8.
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  He says I saw this great vision. Whenever Daniel saw this vision,
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  this is what he said about himself.
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  He said no strength remained in me, for my vigor was turned to
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  frailty in me. I retain no strength.
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  His face was to the ground and he heard this voice, and the
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  voice told him to stand upright. And when Daniel stood upright,
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  it says he stood trembling. We need that same experience
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  that John has had in our own life.
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  We need that experience that Daniel had, Isaiah had, Peter
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  had whenever he recognized when Jesus spoke to him after the
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  miracle. And Peter's words were, Lord,
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  get away from me. I am a sinful man.
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  And these are the servants of God, understanding what they are
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  apart from the grace of God. And this is the wanderer of
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  God's grace where he says to him after he's on his face, he
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  didn't say, you dirtbag, you need to stay down there because
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  you're scum and you're no good and you're, you're totally
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  depraved. How dare you think you even have
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  a right to be in my presence? He isn't that way, is he?
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  He reaches down and he puts his hands on his servant and he
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  says, do not be afraid. Even though all of us will be on
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  our faces before the throne of God, those who truly are His, He
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  will touch and say, do not be afraid.
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  His grace is so manifests His mercy that His right hand is
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  upon us. So this is the way things are.
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  He says now I am the 1st and the last.
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  I am he who lives and was dead, the declaration of the
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  resurrection. Christ died for our sins.
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  The Gnostics and the false teachers back then and even of
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  the day say he really didn't die.
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  He was just sort of unconscious. Here's a declaration of Christ
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  himself, He who lives and was dead.
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  And behold, I'm alive forevermore.
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  Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and
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  death, of hell and death. He tells him to begin to write.
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  You know, I read this and as I study this and prepare to teach
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  it, I realize my own life, how I need to pray to see Him this
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  way, that my heart would be full of awe when I'm in His presence
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  when we were worshipping today. I don't know about you guys, but
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  sometimes I just get a intense sense of His presence that I
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  feel like my knees are going to buckle.
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  This not an emotion, it's a sense of the reality of who He
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  is. And who am I to come up here and
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  stand before you and talk about this holy God?
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  It strikes terror in my heart, but I know his hand is on my
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  shoulder saying, do not be afraid.
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  And he's saying that to each of you as you come and understand
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  his greatness and His Holiness, and you know your own sin, your
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  weakness, And he touches each of you today and says, do not be
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  afraid. Where do we need to be?
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  Someone told me Psalm 51 is a good Psalm to pray every day.
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  David's lament. He said, my sin is ever before
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  me and against you only have I sinned and done this evil in
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  your sight. The places of humility is where
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  God wants all of us to be. This is what he also says.
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  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a
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  contrite heart. These, O God, you will not
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  despise. That's where God wants us to be,
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  guys. It's to be real.
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  As we come in here as brothers and sisters, God gives us his
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  joy, his peace, his presence. But we all need to be contrite,
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  right? And this admitting what we are
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  not trying to be some way that we're not, or trying to impress
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  some and they think we're something we're not.
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  God knows all of us, even on our best day, we're the worst in
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  light of who he is, right? There's not one of us in here.
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  They're better than the other or worse than the other.
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  We're all in the same boat, right?
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  To be able to know what we are and to see our hearts in light
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  of God's word. Repent, repent, repent.
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  I remember that old song by the birds.
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  Turn, turn, turn. That's what repentance is.
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  I'm going this way and I come to the realization of my mind.
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  I'm living the wrong way, going the wrong way, and I need to
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  turn and go in the direction of the will of God.
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  That's repent, repent, repent. The modern understanding of
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  repentance is the actions or process of repenting for
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  misdeeds or moral shortcomings. Yeah, I did this.
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  I shouldn't have done it. That was wrong.
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  But, you know, hey, we're all human.
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  You know, it's, you know, I'm not perfect.
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  You know, we make excuses. And that's the modern concept of
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  repentance. The modern concept of repentance
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  is I'm driving down the road and I get a speeding ticket.
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  I know I'm wrong. I paid a fine, but instead of
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  going by the speed limit, I go out and buy a speed detector.
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  I really wasn't repenting. All I'm hoping is that next time
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  I'm speeding I won't get caught. That's the modern understanding
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  repentance. In the Greek understanding, it
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  means a change of mind which results in a change of actions
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  and awareness of our utter insufficiency to be holy in and
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  of ourselves. I need a Savior, a sin bearer,
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  want to lift my guilt and to transform me, to see my thoughts
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  and actions change, and to receive God's mercy and
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  forgiveness. I'm walking this way.
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  The Spirit is convicting me before I know Christ and all of
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  a sudden I realize that no matter what I do, what kind of
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  promises I make, what kind of self help book I read or what I
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  try to do, I'm not going to be able to change my wicked ways.
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  The self help gurus say we'll read this book and this will
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  help you understand why you are the way you are.
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  And it always points back to your parents.
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  It's their fault. So the kids have these arguments
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  with their adult parents. I am the way I am because of
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  you, how you raised me. A lot of guilt to throw in your
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  parents. You know, our parents would then
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  say, well, it was my parents who did it.
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  And then we go all the way back to the garden.
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  And sure, there is some reality that Adam and Eve were the the
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  ones that began this insanity. But if it was you or me, we
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  would have done the same thing there.
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  But the point is, is that instead of looking and trying to
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  cast blame to someone who is, I think, responsible for my own
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  sin, I need to say I'm a Sinner and I need help, I need a
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  Savior, I need Jesus. I need his mercy to forgive me
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  and to change me from what I am and who I am, and to give me a
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  spirit so that I can become a new creation in Christ, so I can
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  become a new person, the child of God instead of the child of
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  the devil. That's what repentance is.
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  Repentance starts and it's very important because the whole Book
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  of Revelation is a message of repentance.
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  He tells the book the the church in Ephesus repent and go do your
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  first works. Someone visited the church one
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  time. They said, I don't like your
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  church. Why?
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  Because you guys have too much emphasis on repentance and
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  humility. Well, that's all there is.
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  That's the church. That's the message of Christ to
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  repent. David says in Psalm 51 three,
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  and this is a picture of the beginning of the act of
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  repentance. It confessed to God.
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  He says I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is
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  always before me against you. You only have I sinned and done
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  this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak
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  and blame this when you judge. If I don't realize that what God
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  is speaking to me about is honest and true and just then
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  I'm living in delusion. The first step of repentance is
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  acknowledge the sin and understand what I've done, that
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  I'm guilty. The second step in repentance is
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  then to begin to cease the sin against God and resolved by his
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  grace, as Jesus said to the woman, go and sin no more.
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  Jesus doesn't forgive this and say go ahead and go, go, go sin
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  again. We'll we'll talk 5 minutes
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  later, an hour later or two weeks ago, we'll, we'll go
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  through this process again. This Yeah, you're forgiven.
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  OK, go and have a nice day. And you know, a million times
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  during the day, asking forgiveness for the same thing,
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  That's not repenting repentance. It's turning from our sin and
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  resolving to sin no more. Our resolve means to not repeat
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  the offense. That's why Paul tells us in
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  Ephesians and Colossians we're to put off the old man, which is
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  corrupt according to deceitful lust, and put on the new man,
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  which is after God created in righteousness and true holiness.
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  Take the old coat off, burn it, and put the new coat the cloak
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  of His righteousness. And then, as God is merciful
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  working in my heart, I want to make amends for the things I've
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  done wrong in my life. Thanks for being with us today
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  here on Living Waters of Grace. We're in the Book of Revelation,
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  and we find it fascinating how influential and involved the
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  angels are in this book. They bring about whatever it is
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  that God has instructed them to do, but it's through their
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  actions that much of the judgments come on the earth.
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  The angels are in submission to God as their authority, but He
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  utilizes them in unique ways throughout this book.
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  Like angels have a specific purpose from God, you have a
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  unique purpose and plan too. God wants to use you in your
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  life as a testimony to others and to bring others who are
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  currently lost into the fold of God.
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  God would love more than anything for all who are willing
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  to come to Him for salvation, but He wants it to be their
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  choice, not a forced situation. This is the way God works, not
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  forcing himself on anyone, but giving each person free will.
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  If you're interested in learning about this choice that's free
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  and that it's a gift, go to calvarychapelonline.com and
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  click on the About Us tab and then find the link for what we
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  believe. We'd love to be a help and a
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  resource for you as you walk through what it means to be a
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  follower of Jesus. If you find the contact tab on
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  our website, you can get in touch with us or submit a prayer
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  request. We'd love to hear from you.
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  That's all for today's edition in Revelation, but there's much
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  more that Pastor Clark plans to share with us from this
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  culminating book of the Bible. Stay tuned for that and make
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  sure to mention this radio program to others.
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  Invite them to tune in to Grace FM 91.7 FM and they can stream
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  worldwide at Grace Radio dot FM. This has been living waters of
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  Grace.