Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20231112 - Israel Hamas War and The Church - Psalm 121:4

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#20231112 - Israel Hamas War and The Church - Psalm 121:4 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

0:04
Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Take your Bibles, open them to Psalm 121, Psalm 121, and
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Genesis Chapter 3. And also if you want to put a
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finger in it, you can go to Ezekiel 38.
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We'll be in different verses today looking at a Bible study
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that I've entitled Israel, Hamas War and the Church.
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Israel, Hamas, War and the Church.
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So often we speak of praying for the peace of Jerusalem, even as
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we read in the scriptures, as we read a Psalm together, we talk
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about praying for the peace of Jerusalem.
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And so many times I I talk to you about Jerusalem being the
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epicenter of human history, to keep your eyes on the Middle
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East, but especially Israel and especially Jerusalem and what's
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happening in the Middle East. It's the epicenter of the
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unfolding prophetic fulfillments that God has previously
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promised. I also share with you all the
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time and if you've been here for a long time, you know of which I
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speak. I talk about taking tours to
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Israel every year that taking people on a bus to go to Israel
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as you can see with your own eyes.
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And the Bible comes alive and it becomes multi color and multi
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sensory. Where you're on the Sea of
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Galilee, where you're walking the streets of Jerusalem, where
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there are stones there that Jesus would have walked on.
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Where where we are taking you up to Masada and you see the
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history of the nation, both ancient and modern.
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And we'll go as often as we can as long as it's safe.
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And I mean, these are things, these are themes that we're
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always talking about from time to time, like they're just been
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with us for 24 years. And recent events have given you
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a concrete reason why why I share these things with you.
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They're not just repetitive for a pastor to just talk about or
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hobby horses. It's the reality of life as a
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born again believer in Jesus Christ.
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These things are true if it if, if you don't have to wait for
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the New Jerusalem. It is a great investment in your
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life to go to Israel and to take a tour.
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And if your kids are old enough to say for them too, so that
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they understand that this book is rooted in reality.
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That you can stand there and you can be in the water.
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And if you want to be brave, you can try to walk on the Sea of
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Galilee if you'd like. It's not going to work.
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I'll walk out and get you when you fall.
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You guys didn't get that. I'll walk out and get you when
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you fall. You still don't get it.
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Are you with me? Should I leave again?
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Bring back Bob. Bring back Bob.
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It's important that you understand that Jerusalem is the
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epicenter. That it's an important city on
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the planet. It's unlike any other city, any
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other city. When Jesus Christ returns to
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rule and reign for 1000 years and for all of eternity, he will
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return to the Mount of Olives and he will rule from Jerusalem.
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I mean, it's an important city. I've taught you these things.
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Praying for the peace of Jerusalem as you even read, as
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you even read in the Scriptures, the wave of anti-Semitism has
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risen its ugly head again. Even Saturday morning I woke up.
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I waited to send my final notes to my assistant Tonya for her
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final formatting for me because I wanted to make sure I got the
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latest information Saturday morning.
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So as I'm going through and I'm reading various news sources, I
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came across an article. An article with the headline
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300,000 people gather in London. To protest and call for the
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elimination of Israel. It's not just merely A protest
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against a war, which I can understand that perspective.
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It is a protest that involved the eliminate.
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They want to see Israel 500,000 in London.
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Want to see the elimination of Israel from the planet earth.
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This is anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a fancy word
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that speaks of racism against the Jewish people.
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Now racism is evil. At its core.
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It is one of the most divisive tools the enemy is used to get.
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Man against man, women against women, the colour of your skin
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or where you were born or what language you speak or what
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you're like. All the different ways that we
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experience you experience racism.
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It's evil. Anti-Semitism is not merely
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racism. It is also demonic at its core.
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In that article, when I woke up, it was 300,000.
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By the time service started the number, the article, the
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headline changed and the article changed.
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It was no longer 300,000. But by the end of the day
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500,000 people showed up. That's just one protest.
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Let me read to you the article first hand account and I quote
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The tone adopted at the rally was rife with venom.
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Directed at the world's only Jewish state, which means that
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they are directing it toward the Jewish people.
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Jewish people, including shows of support for Hamas, the
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anti-Semitic terrorist group whose incursion in their Israel
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on October 7th saw the worst anti-Semitic atrocity since the
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Holocaust. Racism is evil.
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Anti-Semitic racism is demonic. And I'll show you why.
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I tell you, turn over to Genesis chapter 3, and I'm saying this
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statement from a biblical perspective, not a political
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step perspective. And you need to understand that
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some of the things I'm sharing with you today, you might hear
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them in the vein of a political statement.
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And this is not that type of gathering.
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We're a church. We study the Bible.
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This is the Bible's perspective. And notice with me the roots of
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anti-Semitism. It comes from the devil himself.
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It says here in Genesis chapter three pick up with me in verse
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14 it says So the Lord God said to the serpent.
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This is after the fall and this is the curse of sin.
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God said to the serpent. Because you have done this, you
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are cursed more than all the cattle and more than every beast
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of the field on your belly. You shall go.
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And you shall eat dust all the days of your life, and I will
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put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed.
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And if you have a new King James, you'll notice the
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translator's translated seed. Putting a capital S, that's an
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important you need to observe that it's a capital S between
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your seed devil and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and
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you shall bruise his heel. There's this intimate enmity
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between. The devil and the woman, the
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woman being Israel. You see from context.
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And by the way, in Genesis, we've studied this on, You know,
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I always encourage you get as much of the Bible in you as you
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can get here on midweek Bible study because it's very
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important. I know sometimes timer
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constraints and for some very good reasons, time constraints
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can't have you here. But we've already studied this
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in depth. I've already given this to the
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church. Those that show up on our
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midweek Bible study on a Wednesday night, we've already
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gone through this. This is why you need to know the
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Bible, because immediately when you see something, you can
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attach it to a truth that God has already said.
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This is not surprising. God has already predicted that
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there would be enmity between the devil.
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The devil would inspire people to come against the Jew.
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But not only that, there is a specific target, and that is the
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seed capital S the seed capital S Messiah, the Savior.
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As you read through the Bible, you see this happening.
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First of all, you see Cain killing Abel with the hopes of
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eliminating the Jewish people. Because if here's the thinking,
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if the devil can wipe out the Jewish people, then he can wipe
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out Messiah. That's what he's thinking.
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So Cain kills Abel Unsuccessful. Pharaoh wants all the male
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children of Israel killed. Unsuccessful.
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Haman launches a failed attempt to kill the Jews.
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Unsuccessful. Herod wanted all the babies in
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Jerusalem killed. Unsuccessful people, wanted to
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throw Jesus off a Cliff. Unsuccessful, the storm on
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Galilee that almost shipwrecked the boat where Jesus was
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sleeping. Unsuccessful.
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And then the devil thought he got it.
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Jesus Christ crucified. Buried, unsuccessful, Jesus is
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alive. He rose again from the dead.
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Unsuccessful. So the devil continues.
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He continues to wipe out our desire to wipe out those who the
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Bible refers to as the apple of God's eye, the Jew.
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God speaks of the Jew and he says, I didn't choose you
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because you're best or better or anything.
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I chose you because I love you. It's true in a new covenant as
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well, right? That's how God would look at
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you. He said I didn't choose you
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because you had anything to offer.
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I chose you because I love you. I want to be in relationship
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with you. anti-Semitism at its core is evil or demonic.
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As we look at the world today, especially as our eyes are
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turned toward Israel and the war against Hamas, remember this
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again. Things that we hear continually,
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but you may not, because you hear it so much, it may be
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diminished in your eyes. And I want, I want those things
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that are diminished in your eyes to be brought back.
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And we are. This, this is what I have to
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share. We are living in the middle of
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Bible prophecy right now. We are living in the middle of
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Bible prophecy. These are the days that have
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predict, been predicted in the Bible for thousands of years.
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And if you don't have your eyes open church in the last three
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years, if you don't see the days in which you live, if you don't
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acknowledge what is happening in the world.
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I mean, what did you learn during the pandemic?
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You learn that enemies, countries that are enemies, will
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come together in an instant to take advantage of their
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population. You learn how easy it would be
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to restrict food supply. You learn how easy it would be
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to restrict the money supply. You learn how this fear and and
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all of the things that were stirred up to a through a real
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situation can be used to draw people's attention, to call for
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a helper. Remember that one guy?
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He even called. We need one leader to do this.
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We need one world leader came out of the leader's mouth.
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I think that it was the guy from Turkey that said that, like you,
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if you don't see the reality of how governments can be
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oppressive and take advantage of your life and and all of these
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things have been predicted in the Bible.
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This is the thing. This is the thing.
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The the reality is, is that there is a semblance where we're
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we, we believe the Bible and we understand it.
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But I think what's happening and what God wants us to understand,
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I think what's happening is we're just our generation.
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We want the Lord to return. We see the end times upon it.
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We see the Antichrist prepared. We see what's happening.
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We just didn't think it would happen in our generation.
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And now we have to process that because it's happening in your
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generation. You have to understand these are
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not sensational statements. That's the the way that the
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enemy loves, the way the world likes to talk to the church.
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Oh, you're just exaggerating. You're just pounding the pulpit.
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These are all sensational. Don't read the newspaper and the
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Bible at the same time. You know who You know?
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The people that say that. The people that don't read the
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Bible because if they read the Bible, they would see it
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predated the newspaper. And surely not every single
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thing goes together. And I, I I don't have every
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single answer to every single situation.
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I'm not saying that at all. The big question of the day
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today is, is this the beginning of World War Three?
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And the answer is I don't know. And you don't know either.
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If it is, the Church is God is calling the Church.
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If it isn't, it sure is a picture of what it might look
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like. And that's the reality that our
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eyes are on the Lord. Not only are we living in the
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middle of Bible prophecy, but secondly, I want to remind you
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of, and again, something that's just so common you may have
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diminished it, and I don't want you to diminish these things.
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Here's the second thing. We at this church, in this
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little fellowship of ours, we are women and men of one book.
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That's it. We are men and women of one
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book. We don't look to the college
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campuses for truth. We don't look to philosophy,
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philosophers, past or present. We aren't leaning on the news
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outlets or social media or history books or political
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pundits or what Grandma said. We look to the Bible to see
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everything in the world and interpret it in a way that will
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honour God. There's a word for that.
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Maybe you're familiar with the phrase, but I might introduce it
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to you for the first time today. This is what's referred to as a
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biblical world view. That's what they're trying to
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describe when they use that. We don't have a humanistic world
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view where we interpret everything in the world from a
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human perspective, where the human beings are the first part.
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They're the beginning, the middle and the end.
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We also don't view. The world through a secular, A
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secular worldview. You may have heard that where a
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secular worldview is kind of humanistic but also draws in
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spiritual things and false religions where they see
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everything. Oh you know, it's kind of man
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kind of this false religion. And on on we see the world and
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we need to train ourselves to see the world through the lens
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of the Bible. The best way I can think of of
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illustrating this to you is with my glasses.
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Without my glasses. I've taken my glasses off.
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For those of you that might be listening, I've taken my glasses
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off and I cannot see a face in this room.
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Not one of you. I know you're here, and I know
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you're wonderfully beautiful and handsome, but I can't see you
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because with these old eyes that are only getting older, you're
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fuzzy. You're confusing.
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I kind of know you hear, though it's it's apparent that the room
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is filled with people. But I can't see you.
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But when I put my glasses on. Oh, you really are beautiful and
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handsome. You're the most beautiful and
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handsome people on the planet Earth.
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You are the bride of Christ, arrayed and waiting for the
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return of Jesus. And I can see you.
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I can see you up front. And I can see you all the way in
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the corner. I can see every face here, all
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those of you that are here. And as I look at anything
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through these glasses, it's all clear.
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I can drive with these glasses on.
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I can read a book with these glasses.
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I can see you and interact with you.
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When I put my glasses on, this is what I see through to
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interpret everything around me. And I want you to think of the
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Bible as spiritual glasses. And I'm not recommending a
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pastor's teacher, a pastor's teaching, as your glasses.
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No way. I'm not recommending that you
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use some church or denominations view on things as your way to
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interpret. No, you need to be men and women
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of the book. You need to read it, understand
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it, study it, memorize it. And you don't.
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We're in these days. Here we are.
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And you still got pastors like me begging you just to read your
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Bible or some of you just got to buy one.
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I mean, we're giving Bibles away and you won't take one.
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It's not healthy for you. It's not helpful because you
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don't understand the world without understanding the Bible.
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For some of you, you need to get saved.
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You need to stop messing around. You just need to confess your
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sins and be a new man or a new woman in Christ.
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You need to be born again, because even if you got a Bible,
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the only thing every page is going to say is come to me, come
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to me, come to me. Because you're like, I don't
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understand this. And there's a reason only those
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that have a relationship with God can understand the Bible.
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Otherwise, it's going to be a book pointing you to God,
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pointing you to God, pointing you to God because he loves you.
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We're men and women of the book, our authority in viewing the
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world as the Bible, Period. The book The Bible is the final
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word on any matter globally, and it's important that you know it
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and that you believe it and it will affect your life on October
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7th, 2023, on a Saturday morning a Sabbath.
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Where the whole city is, the whole country is shut down, very
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strategically chosen, by the way, one day after the 50 year
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anniversary of the Yom Kippur War of 1973, which was also a
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surprise attack to eliminate Israel from the face of the
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planet, on October 7th Israel was violently attacked by
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Palestinian terrorists known as Hamas.
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It was the worst massacre of the Jewish population since the
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Holocaust. Hamas sought to kill as many
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civilians as they could. Men, women, children, babies,
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grandmas, grandpas, slaughtered, burned, shot, beheaded, and even
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a survivor of the Holocaust was murdered.
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In this invasion, 1400 Israeli lives suddenly ended.
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By terror, it was like with a ISIS methodology.
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If you remember when ISIS was capturing all the headlines,
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going door to door to destroy families, which they did, taking
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239 hostages with them to the underground tunnels throughout
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Gaza, this was the biggest murder of Jews.
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To give you some historical perspective, this is the biggest
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murder of Jews since the Holocaust.
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You know the different world views that exist today.
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There is a whole group of people that deny that the Holocaust
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ever existed. They need to come to Israel with
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us and visit the Holocaust Museum.
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Experience it for your own, see it with your own eyes.
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The world now, those of us alive, have seen the reality of
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terrorist organizations like Hamas.
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Like Hezbollah. Like the PLO in the past and on
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and on the list goes front and center, and it required a
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response. Israel declared war on Hamas,
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and as I speak, they're in Gaza with the sole intent of
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eradicating Hamas in a variety of different ways.
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And it's unfortunate and hurtful.
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War is atrocious. Nobody wants war.
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It's horrific. And our time today, in the
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remaining moments, will not to be to Plumb the depths of
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various topics, like the origin of the Palestinians, where they
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come from, or the various wars that Israel's fought over the
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years, or the debates of who the land belongs to or not.
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Others have done a much better job and and have already done
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that. If my friend Skip Heitzik did an
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amazing job right when it happened, if I was here, I would
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have. But Pastor Skip jumped in, did a
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lot of great interviews. I did some wonderful Bible
19:47
studies. Pastor Skip Heitzik is the
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pastor at Calvary Church in Albuquerque.
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His website iscalvarynm.org. He did some great in depth
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studies on this, did some great interviews.
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My friend Joel Rosenberg as well, who was here not too many
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years ago, sharing with us. He's done great things as well.
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I'm not going to go into depth. It's already out there.
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But for our sake of our time today, it's important that we
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grasp what God is asking from us.
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And I've talked through the Bible.
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I've talked through all of the New Testament and more than half
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of the Old Testament. And because we're a church that
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goes through the Bible and the Bible is filled with a quarter
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1/4 of the Bible is prophecy, then I've taught you prophecy is
20:30
this shirt in this church. You can go to the website, go to
20:32
directly to Daniel and to Revelation if you want to get a
20:36
primer on these things we've done, I've done those books
20:38
repetitive times to catch up with what's going on in the
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world. It's happening so quickly.
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You can also e-mail me directly. I have links ready for you if
20:46
prophecy and information on prophecy is important to you and
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you want to catch up. I have these links already pre
20:52
prepared so it's not any extra work for me other than to return
20:55
an e-mail. So you can e-mail me at
20:57
ed@edtaylor.org. Don't send it to edtaylor.com.
21:03
He's a professional Santa Claus and that's not me.
21:06
So don't do that. And he won't sell my name to me.
21:09
We've already tried. It has to be.org.
21:12
Edit Ed taylor.org. Or you can go through our
21:14
website and e-mail me there. That comes to me as well.
21:17
Calvary Co dot church. So I have a lot of information
21:19
for you that will help you if this is where you want to study
21:22
and understand the Bible in perspective of these days.
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I want to help you. I'm committed to helping you.
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It's my life. You need to know the Bible.
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And so I'm not going to go in depth here, but I do have a few
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things to share. First of all, there's
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understanding you need to know is that the land of Israel that
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is currently possessed by Israelis, by Jews, is not a land
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occupied by Israel. You'll hear that phrase like
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they don't belong there, like it's not theirs.
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It is a land that belongs to them.
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God gave them the land. You need to be really clear.
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Let's look at it this way. If we step back and just see,
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does the whole earth belong to God?
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Yes or no? He says as much.
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So because the earth belongs to God, he can give any part of it
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to anyone he wants to. And if you want to study it,
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Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 13, Genesis chapter 15,
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God gives that stretch of land. Actually, it is much larger that
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God gave them. They're only occupying a very
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small portion of it right now. And even using that word,
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occupy, it's not in the political sense.
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They live there. They own it.
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They're building fans, they're having families, building
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houses. It's not a political statement,
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although when you hear it in the media, it is a political
22:40
statement. They live there because it
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belongs to them. God gave that land to Abraham
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through his son, say church Isaac, not Ishmael.
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Bible couldn't be clear. The Lamb belongs to Israel.
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God has established it, not his, not Ishmael.
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Although God did give a promise to the descendants of Ishmael
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that they would be blessed and multiply.
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And they have, and they enjoy a lot of land surrounding that
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little strip of land known as Israel.
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Not only the the nation of Israel, but the land itself
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belongs to Israel, whether they're in it or not.
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And they're in it now because God has brought them back to
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prepare for the end times, because that's what he promised.
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These are all intertwined as you study through the Bible.
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Others have gone into depth of this.
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I'm not going to do that. Now let me share something else
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you need to know. We as a church, we support
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Israel. I understand that.
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We support Israel. We always have and we always
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will. And I say that from a political
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a biblical perspective, not political.
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Of course we would never agree with every political decision a
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government makes. Much of Israel today is secular,
24:01
so we wouldn't agree with things that they make that are anti
24:03
scripture any. Of course we wouldn't.
24:05
So don't interpret it that way. We I am saying it from a
24:08
biblical perspective. We want to be on God's side when
24:11
it comes to matters that are happening geopolitically.
24:15
And I say that we support Israel and we do.
24:17
We are already sending support to our tour guide shraga.
24:22
You can pray for shraga. He is not saved yet and every
24:26
year we we love him, we take care of him, we communicate with
24:30
them and we beg God to save him. But one of the things that hurts
24:35
Shraga deeply is the way the Jews have been treated over the
24:38
years. Another thing that's helped to
24:41
harden Shraga heart was his how he gets treated by different
24:45
Christian groups, but that's a different the witness of
24:47
Christians over the years. That's a different Bible study
24:50
altogether, our witness. But we're already sending
24:53
resources through Shraga to buy and purchase bulletproof vests
24:57
for a lot of the reservists that don't have them.
24:59
And this is something he wanted to do, he started.
25:03
And when he reached out, we're like, you bet we're going to,
25:05
we're going to help you and support you shraga.
25:07
And listen, you got to understand this, we're going to
25:09
help you and support you shraga in Jesus name.
25:13
And that's important, and we will.
25:16
We're also connecting and sending resources.
25:18
And what I mean by resources is money to the Joshua Fund.
25:21
Joel Rosenberg, he already has an established presence there.
25:24
He's living there now. They're doing amazing things,
25:27
connecting with Messianic congregations, but also
25:30
ministering to the hurting, to the suffering, to the
25:33
Palestinians that are suffering because of war.
25:35
To the Jew like this is the gospel covers all people.
25:40
Do you understand that? Don't ever forget that when you
25:44
take the side of God, you have no other side.
25:47
You have no other side. He will guide and lead and
25:50
direct you. So already.
25:51
And we're looking for more opportunities, perhaps even God
25:54
opening a door to take a team out there and serve and you go
25:57
into a difficult situation. Yeah, that we did that with
25:59
Ukraine and perhaps God would have opened the door for us to
26:02
do that with Israel, I don't know.
26:05
You need to know. We support Israel based on a
26:08
biblical perspective. Genesis chapter 12, verse 3.
26:12
Jesus God says, I will bless those who bless you, and I will
26:15
curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the
26:18
earth shall be blessed. I want to be on the side of
26:20
blessing according to the Scripture.
26:22
I want to teach you to do the same.
26:24
Zechariah chapter 2, verse 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, He
26:29
sent me after glory for the nations to plunder you.
26:32
For he who touches you, Israel touches the apple of his eye.
26:38
That's a very special place in the heart of God.
26:41
Psalm 122 we read today in verse six.
26:43
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper.
26:47
Who love you? Well, I love Israel.
26:50
I want to enjoy prospering honoring again.
26:55
Do we agree with every single dissent?
26:57
Of course not. God is not asking us to do that.
27:01
He's asking us to be obedient. The terroristic attack on the
27:06
innocent Israelis on October 7th was evil.
27:08
It was evil inspired by the devil himself, demonic to its
27:13
core, which leads to all kinds of emotions and feelings and
27:17
everyone in this room. Terror just stirs up so much.
27:22
Fears, anxieties, even terror. Sleepless nights.
27:26
Some of you haven't been able to sleep.
27:29
Loss of concentration. It reminded me when I learned
27:33
about it, I thinking about it and praying about it.
27:35
And it reminded me of a couple of other events.
27:37
It reminded me of 9/11. I know it's a many years behind
27:42
us, but 9/11 terror visit our own land.
27:47
Thousands died in the terroristic attack that
27:49
happened. I I remember like it was
27:51
yesterday because we were there right after the attack, just
27:55
days after because we went to serve.
27:58
I remember the smells. I remember the heat.
28:01
I remember the 20 hour days, walking the streets in New York,
28:05
ministering to people, serving people, giving food and water,
28:08
praying with people, crying with people.
28:10
I remember it like it was yesterday walk, seeing people
28:14
walk around the city of New York like zombies, not knowing what
28:16
to do. But then it reminded me as I was
28:19
praying about, well, you remember July 20th, 2012 if I
28:25
say it that way. Many of you don't don't remember
28:27
that date, but many of you do. On July 20th in 2012, terror
28:32
visit our own city, just 6 1/2 miles from here, just up the
28:36
street at the Century theaters at the mall.
28:41
Many had gathered together and filled 2 theaters, filled many
28:45
theaters actually for that midnight showing of the new
28:47
Batman movie and he burst in with his guns after midnight. 12
28:53
people were killed, 70 others were injured.
28:57
So many others traumatized and hurt forever.
29:02
I know the city just wanted to move on and get over it.
29:05
But churches don't do that. We stick around.
29:08
We don't get over stuff. You don't get over stuff like
29:10
that. You learn how to live with it.
29:13
You might be new to the church or it might be way a reminder.
29:15
I didn't look up the number, but I think the number was close to
29:18
50 people, 50 people from our church.
29:22
We're in one of two of those theaters and fortunately and
29:26
gratefully, they all came out alive.
29:28
But they came out hurt. They came out with post
29:33
traumatic stress that gets triggered by this.
29:35
Some of you have post traumatic stress that gets triggered by
29:38
this kind of stuff. It's real.
29:41
Even as you see what's happening prophetically, you know what's
29:44
happening in Israel is a prophetic proportion.
29:46
It's also your life and what you're feeling is normal.
29:52
You're not abnormal. You haven't lost your mind.
29:55
You're thinking, well, something's happened thousands
29:57
of miles. And why am I feeling it now?
30:00
Because you're a human being and it's normal for you to respond.
30:04
It's a normal response for a normal person experiencing an
30:07
abnormal difficulty. Tragedies such as these just
30:13
have a way of hurting and gripping people and and it's
30:19
hard. And the Lord is with you.
30:22
You need to look to the Lord. He's your help.
30:25
He's your comfort. You know in Second Corinthians
30:27
chapter one, it says that God is the God of all comfort.
30:30
You know that word comfort is used like 10 times in that
30:33
little section there. And it's actually translated
30:36
from a Greek word, Paraclesus, which you Bible students bite me
30:40
reminded, will take you back to Jesus teaching about he's
30:44
leaving but he's going to send another helper.
30:46
The Holy Spirit, the word. There is Paracaleo, someone to
30:51
come alongside of you, to comfort and to help.
30:55
And the comfort of God is always with you.
30:57
And sometimes it's accessed just moment by moment.
31:01
Other times God is just able to heal you and you can take the
31:03
next step, but you got to look to the Lord in times like these.
31:07
If your worldview, the glasses that you wear, is the word of
31:10
God and what he says, then the word of God tells you in times
31:14
of trouble to look to the Lord times of trouble.
31:20
I was talking to a sister last night.
31:21
She was talking about a big trouble and very she was very
31:24
overwhelmed. She was telling me about all the
31:26
letters she was writing to various situations and trying to
31:29
take care of things. And I just felt like the Lord
31:31
impressed upon me to tell her, you know, you've been writing a
31:34
lot and it's been coming out. You don't need to read, write
31:36
letters to other people. You need to start writing
31:38
letters to yourself. You need to start writing
31:42
letters of how faithful God is, how much you've gone through and
31:45
how far you've come, well, what God's doing in your life, what
31:49
new thing you learn. And you just say, dear, so and
31:52
so today was a good day because God was with you.
31:55
Just start writing to yourself. And then I had that piece of
31:57
advice, but it was actually inspired by a scripture that
32:00
came later. So by the time I'm given that
32:02
direction, the Lord put a scripture in my mind.
32:04
David learned in a very deep, difficult time in his life how
32:08
to encourage himself in the Lord.
32:13
And there are those times where we encourage ourselves in the
32:17
Lord, because you can turn to the left and you can turn to the
32:20
right, and you can watch news, and you can be on social media
32:23
and it'll just freak you out. And you don't need to be freaked
32:26
out. You need to be settled, abiding
32:29
in Christ. In times like these, Israel
32:33
indeed is the epicenter of human history.
32:36
As we keep our eyes on Israel, even with this tragic war, the
32:39
world is focused there. Church, we're in the end times.
32:43
You're seeing things today that you've never seen before in all
32:45
of human history. And I have truly expended myself
32:52
countless time hours of prayer and study so that I could teach
32:56
you the Bible and and and and and how and be used of God by
33:00
the Holy Spirit to convince you of the days in which we live.
33:03
And if you don't currently see the days in which we live, then
33:06
my hands are clean before you church.
33:08
I don't know what else to tell you.
33:10
I don't know what else to show you.
33:12
I can't go into your house and turn off the news.
33:15
I can't unsubscribe to all your social media.
33:17
There are things in my life and serving you and loving you and
33:20
caring for you that I can't do for you.
33:23
You have to do them. You have to get serious about
33:25
God. You got to put the bottle down.
33:27
You need to stop partying. You need to not worry about what
33:30
people think about you. You need to turn your attention
33:33
back to your wife, back to your kids.
33:35
You need to stop thinking about divorce.
33:37
You need to stop thinking about quitting.
33:38
These are days of action for the Holy Spirit to grab your heart.
33:42
I can't do it for you. I want to.
33:46
I feel much better standing before God if I could do it for
33:48
you, because I've lived that life.
33:50
I know what it's like to have a life lost.
33:53
I know what it's like to have a life filled with opinion and
33:55
caught up in the world and be a drunk all the time and an abuser
33:59
and my mouth being so foul. I know, but I'm not that man
34:03
because of what God has done in my life.
34:06
And he can do it for you too. But here we are.
34:07
We're born again. We're just kind of going through
34:09
the motions and it's it's good that you're clapping, and I'm
34:13
always good with that. But geez, much more of clapping.
34:17
If if I just saw the food in your life, that would just give
34:19
me a good night's sleep. I'm not opposed to it.
34:23
But man, these are the days, church.
34:26
These are the days. And I know you have your own
34:29
layers of difficulty. I know you have your own
34:31
consequences. I know.
34:32
So do I. I got my own hurts and pains.
34:37
My son's birthday's coming up next week.
34:40
We're already thinking about it, already nervous about it.
34:43
All the years we lost with him and our grandson, it's horrible.
34:48
We all have stuff. It's it's just man, the world.
34:53
It's that makes you long for the Lord, doesn't it?
34:56
But it's no excuse the pains and problems of our lives.
35:00
It's no excuse to check out on God.
35:03
He's our. All in all, he should be praised
35:05
in the hard times as much as in the good times.
35:08
He's worthy of our worship. He's worthy of our commitment.
35:12
He's worthy of our obedience. He's worthy of our love.
35:15
He's worthy of our service. Jesus Christ is worthy.
35:21
He's worthy. I want to give you a couple more
35:25
things before we leave and encourage you in the Lord.
35:29
It's interesting. As I was studying up, I mean,
35:31
this was already on my mind, but I was listening to different
35:33
things catching up because I've been gone and I haven't.
35:36
I haven't been studying. I especially didn't expect this
35:38
to happen. So I've been studying things.
35:40
And on one of the interviews I listened to with Joel Rosenberg,
35:43
he suggested something that kind of added to what I was already
35:46
thinking in Ezekiel 38. So would you turn over to
35:48
Ezekiel 38? I want to give you some
35:50
perspective. We covered this when Russia
35:54
invaded Ukraine. And I don't want you to treat
35:56
these things differently. The Ukrainian people are under
35:59
the oppression of Russia because what Russia wants to do is
36:02
destabilize the world because you know who Russia's greatest
36:06
allies are right now? China and Iran.
36:12
And actually, it's not just Iran.
36:14
It's the Islamic Republic of Iran.
36:17
Do you know who's back in Hezbollah and Hamas right now?
36:20
Iran. The money flowing to Iran,
36:22
Where's it coming from? China and Russia.
36:28
And I just read another article, lest we forget that Russia
36:31
attacked Kiev again after 52 days of peace, another war.
36:37
And wars are horrific. We don't want them.
36:38
We want them to end. But this is a biblical
36:42
proportion, church, not isolated skirmishes.
36:45
This is a biblical proportion what's happening in the world
36:48
today. Joe Rosenberg suggested that if
36:52
Israel wins and completely destroys Hamas, suddenly Gaza
36:57
would be peaceful and this would add to Israel being more at
37:00
peace with all of her Arab Muslim neighbours.
37:04
This could lead, he suggests that the Palestinians choose
37:08
willingly to live at peace with Israel, setting up the very
37:11
conditions of Ezekiel 38. And by the way, when I when the
37:18
invasion of Ukraine took place for Russia, I wrote an article
37:22
and put it up on my website at taylor.org.
37:24
I'm actually going to be sending a link out today, this afternoon
37:28
on our app. So if you don't have our app and
37:30
notifications turned on, you won't get this.
37:32
So get the app, turn on notifications.
37:35
I'll send out a link to this article so you can grasp what's
37:38
happening with Russia and Ukraine.
37:39
Don't forget them. And then also see Ezekiel 38 in
37:43
light of what's happening in Israel today as the large world
37:47
is shrinking smaller and smaller and the Bible predicts it, this
37:51
isn't anything new. Ezekiel 38 pick up.
37:54
Did you get there yet? Well, I didn't.
37:56
Let me get there. I'm talking too much.
37:58
Ezekiel 38. Pick up in verse one and let's
38:01
get some clarity on this situation.
38:04
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, set your
38:07
face against Gog and May in the land of Magog the Prince of Rosh
38:12
and Meshach and Tubal and prophecy against them.
38:16
And say Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I'm against you, O Gog,
38:20
the Prince of Rosh, Meshach and Tubal.
38:23
I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead
38:26
you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all
38:32
splendidly clothed, all splendidly clothed, the Great
38:37
company with bucklers and Shields, all of them handling
38:41
swords. Persia, Ethiopia and Libya are
38:45
with them with shield and helmet.
38:48
Gomer and all its troops in the House of Tagamah from the far
38:52
north, and all its troops. Many people are with you.
38:55
Verse 7. Prepare yourself and be ready.
38:58
You and all your companies that are gathered about you, and be a
39:01
guard for them. After many days you will be
39:03
visited. In the latter years you will
39:05
come into the land of those who brought back from the sword and
39:09
gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel which had
39:12
long been desolate. They were brought out of the
39:15
nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
39:20
You remember our prior presidents here in the US was
39:23
able to negotiate an agreement known as the Abraham Accords,
39:27
where Israel was beginning to be at peace with very influential
39:32
Arab neighbors. And now with things going on,
39:36
some seen, some not seen. You have a coalition already
39:39
with Russia, Iran, many Arab nations, anti Israel, Arab
39:45
nations, of course, terroristic organizations.
39:47
You see China, their names are coming up.
39:50
And I know the news is just saying one thing, but this is
39:53
all in the Bible. All in the Bible.
39:56
In Ezekiel 38. Here, here.
39:57
We just read through it. And some of you are going like,
39:59
that doesn't help me at all. Pastor Gog Magog Misha, what in
40:03
the world is this? Well, I'm glad that you asked.
40:06
That's why I'm here. These names have modern day
40:10
equivalents. These are areas that existed in
40:13
Ezekiel times that still exist today.
40:15
They just have different names. So I want to help you understand
40:18
who these people are that will come down from the north to
40:22
attack and attempt to eliminate Israel.
40:25
That's the war. It's commonly known as the War
40:28
of Gog and Magog. Here in Ezekiel 38, the Prophet
40:32
speaks of a coalition of nations gathered together with Russia to
40:36
invade Israel in the last days. The nations mentioned here are
40:40
stunning. Rash is Russia Magog.
40:45
The land probably refers to the Southern Soviet republics, the
40:49
former Soviet republics like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
40:53
Ubekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and every other Stan
40:57
that's there. Even areas of Afghanistan might
41:00
be involved. Meshach and Tubal are references
41:04
to Turkey, Persia we already learned.
41:06
Persia is the Islamic Republic of Iran, who's very involved,
41:11
has called, as Hamas has in their charter.
41:13
And Iran has publicly called for the elimination of every Jewish
41:19
people on the planet. You can't close your eyes to
41:23
that. If you do, you'll err greatly.
41:28
The nation referred to as put here is Libya.
41:30
It's mentioned Gomer or parts of Turkey.
41:32
Other regions, including Egypt, Jordan, It's going to be an
41:37
interesting coalition. As Russia descends from the
41:39
north down into Israel, the destructions of the armies of
41:42
Israel in this last day's war will be so great that it will
41:46
take over seven months to bury all of the dead and gather all
41:49
the weapons to burn them. Peace and prosperity in Israel.
41:54
When Russia and Iran and other countries come down to the
41:57
north, you see it. This could be not saying it is,
42:02
but it could be a step toward greater peace in the region.
42:07
When Russia invaded Ukraine, I wrote the article as I mentioned
42:12
And listen, with the war, this war, any war, God is going to
42:15
get them through it, you know in Psalm 121 verse four, I asked
42:18
you way back to open to it. It just says, behold, he who
42:22
keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
42:28
And the Bible is filled with prophecy.
42:30
We teach it all the time. 1/4 of the Bible is prophecy.
42:33
So you're going to hear it a lot.
42:36
God wants you to know the future so that you'll be prepared,
42:39
you'll be a worshipper, that his word will be established.
42:43
He brings things to pass, so you know that he keeps his promises,
42:47
He keeps his word. God is a promise keeper, but
42:49
he's a giver, but he's also a promise keeper.
42:53
I know these are challenging times and I know these are
42:56
confusing times these last days. It's not hyped up prophecy talk.
43:00
I'm not trying to win a following or get likes on my
43:02
website. I'm not that.
43:03
That's I never. That's never my intention ever.
43:06
In a million. I'm not hyping things up.
43:07
I'm not exaggerating. I'm begging with you, open your
43:11
eyes. I think it's some of the
43:12
skirmishes in the church. I think it's some of the
43:14
difficulties. I think of some of the things
43:16
with unforgiveness. Or I don't like that guy and I'm
43:18
like, man, rise above it. The world needs you.
43:21
The world needs you. Church.
43:24
It's ready to yield yourself in obedience to the Holy Spirit.
43:28
He doesn't need us divided. He needs us united.
43:31
These are times that wake the church up.
43:34
Jesus said it would be. If you want to read it for
43:35
yourself. Matthew chapter 24.
43:37
Jesus said these things would happen.
43:39
Look for them. They're no surprise.
43:41
Wars, rumors of wars, pestilences.
43:43
Jesus said 2000 years ago. Look for these things.
43:45
Your redemption draws near. Look up.
43:48
We got to get our eyes on the Lord.
43:51
Let me share another one. You can jot it down in Second
43:53
Peter chapter 3. In verse 10, it says the day of
43:57
the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens
43:59
will pass away with a great noise.
44:02
The elements will melt with fervent heat.
44:04
Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned
44:06
up. And Peter's basically saying the
44:08
same thing. There's coming a day when it's
44:10
all going to end coming of Messiah.
44:12
Jesus is coming back. And then he says this.
44:14
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what
44:18
manner of persons ought you to be?
44:20
And I'm asking you that question.
44:23
What manner of persons are you supposed to be in times like
44:25
these? It can't be the status quo.
44:28
Unless your status quo is like super high level dedication to
44:32
the Lord man. It can't be.
44:33
And even there, God's going to take you from glory to glory and
44:35
strength to strength. These are not days for a
44:38
compromise. These are not days to be messing
44:40
around. These are not days to be wasting
44:43
life. It's days to be investing our
44:46
lives, investing our resources, investing, investing our lives,
44:51
our money, our time, our talents into that which will last for
44:55
eternity, he says what manner of persons you ought to be in all
44:59
holy conduct and godliness. You got to clean your house up.
45:05
You got to clean your house up. That was a Bible study not too
45:07
long ago. You got to check in.
45:09
Judgement begins in the House of the Lord, in our own house.
45:12
But let me give you a few things.
45:16
What manner of persons ought we to be?
45:17
Let me give you a couple you can pray about this week.
45:19
Number one, we need to be people of prayer and faithfulness.
45:24
What manner of all persons ought we to be prayerful and faithful?
45:29
Again, why? Why would we think we'd learn
45:31
anything if we're not praying and talking to God?
45:34
He has direction for your life. He has wisdom.
45:36
Even you read this last week. If you read the Proverbs every
45:38
day, Chapter 8 talks all about the wisdom of God.
45:42
You need God's wisdom in times like these.
45:44
It's not just a Bible study. It's not going to answer every
45:46
question in your life, but it is going to point you to the one
45:48
who will answer every question in your life.
45:51
We need to be prayerful God. What do you have for me?
45:53
What do you want from me? What?
45:54
What is it that's happening? God help me, comfort me,
45:56
strengthen me, give me wisdom. But you also need to be faithful
45:59
and this speaks of obedience. Stay true to the Lord in times
46:03
like these. Stay true to the Lord in times
46:06
of difficulty, like your life. Don't.
46:07
These are not times to turn to the bottle.
46:09
These are not times to pull out and start smoking pot again or
46:11
or just give up and run away. These are times to press into
46:16
the Lord. Faithfulness, that's what.
46:18
And God, The good thing about faithfulness is the faithfulness
46:21
God requires is the faithfulness He gives us.
46:24
Just respond to him. Secondly, not only prayerful and
46:28
faithful, but I also think the Church today needs to be
46:30
dependent and helpful. Difficult times or opportunities
46:35
to step into lives. So you're dependent upon the
46:38
Lord for direction. You can't do everything.
46:39
I mean, you think of the protest 500,000 people in London.
46:43
You know, I can't do anything about that.
46:44
Yeah, if you were to show up in London at that protest, you're
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not gonna be able to influence all 500,000, but there's gonna
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be somebody in front of you. Just like when you go to work,
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just like when you are, you're ministering and serving your
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neighbor and helping your neighbor.
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Just just like when you have that family member that has a
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question and you won't be trying to give them an answer that you
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learn from them. But just like that, God's not
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asking you to affect billions. The population of the world now
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is 8 billion. God will take care of the
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billions. You take care of the one and
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he'll help you. Prayerful, helpful, dependent,
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faithful, A little scared and fearful, I know, but I've
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learned this and I've learned it from someone.
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But I made it my own, and I share it with you from time to
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time. In times like these, both micro
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in our own homes and families and macro in the world.
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Times of uncertainty, confusion, I learned this.
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It's always a good thing to trust an unknown future to a
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well known God. I don't know what the future
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holds. You know, some I talk to
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families time to time. I don't want to bring a child.
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You know, they're deciding on whether to bring a child.
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And I don't want to bring a child into this world.
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No, you bring a child. It's OK.
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You do it or you have kids already, or grandkids.
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I don't know what my kids are going to get and what they're
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going to have growing up. Don't worry.
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God's going to take care of your kids.
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God's going to take care of your grandkids.
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You can trust him. You're going to hold fast to
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him. But you know, parents, it's time
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for deeper discipleship in those kids.
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You got to prepare them in a way you never prepared them before.
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Grandparents, this opportunity for you to pour into your kid
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your grandkids, like you never did before.
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It's a different world. It's a different world today
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than it was 10/20/30 years ago. And so we've got to rise to the
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occasion, to the opportunities before us.
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And you don't got to prepare. You don't worry about you like
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I'm so inadequate. That's perfect.
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That's a perfect beginning because inadequacy will cause
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you to say, but Lord help me, I don't know what to do with these
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kids. I changed my voice on purpose.
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I don't know what to do. Well, God knows what to do.
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God knows. You got to be serious about your
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walk with the Lord. Whatever the future holds, we
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can be confident in the one who holds the future.
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Amen. Amen.
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So, Lord, we thank you for the word today, and it's hard to
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hear and to experience. But it's just life, Lord.
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It is life that we're living. And so I pray you would help us,
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guide us, strengthen us. We pray for the peace in
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Jerusalem. According to your word, we love
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Jerusalem. According to your word we are
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for them. According to your word and we
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take your side. God, we pray for the war to end.
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We pray for lives to be spared. We pray for the hostages to come
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home. We pray for the families to be
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comforted that have lost loved ones.
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We pray for terror to end and be less And we pray for peace in
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our world. But we realize that we're living
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in the last days and it's going to be very cataclysmic.
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So give us help, Lord, to love our kids.
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And I love my kids, Lord, and to love our grandkids.
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And so much love that comes from my heart.
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It's my own grandkid. And I pray God that we would
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love each other. I pray God that we would love
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our enemies so hard. We need agape for that.
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We can't do it any other way. And may your church be filled
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with your agape love. We pray for peace in Ukraine.
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We pray against the antagonism in Sudan and Darfur, and we
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could go on and on. Just like you said, Jesus, wars
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and rumors of wars. It's happening all over and it's
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overwhelming until we remember it's just the person in front of
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us. We want to be faithful, so help
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us as we leave here today in Jesus name.
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Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
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Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
51:04
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
51:09
or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.