Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace, April 8th, 2026

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Living Waters of Grace, April 8th, 2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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John says in the 2nd chapter of first John first one he says
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however, if any man sin, which we all still do, we have an
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advocate with the Father, our attorney, our defense attorney
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is Jesus Christ the righteous 1 and he declares you and me
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justified and innocent before the throne of God and the
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devil's thrown all those railing accusations and lies.
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Jesus is there is our advocate against the accuser of the
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brethren. If you've been accused of a
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horrible crime, you need a lawyer, an advocate.
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You need someone to help you deal with the accusation.
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Without an advocate, you'll be at the mercy of the court and
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subject to the power of the prosecutor.
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As we just heard from Pastor Clark, Jesus is our advocate.
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His death and resurrection are the payment for our sins.
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Without that atonement, you are without hope.
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You'll learn today just how much of A blessing this advocacy that
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Jesus provides truly is now. Here's Pastor Clark in
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Revelation chapter 12 with today's edition of Living Waters
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of Grace. The cross is a place of the
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enemy actually having all his powers spoiled.
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It says in our Colossians that Christ spoiled and disconnected,
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so to speak, the satanic dominion of the enemy on the
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hearts and souls of human beings.
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Because once Christ rose again from the dead, he said it's
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finished. He conquered all these
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influences, and so it isn't the same now.
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And you need to remember that. I think sometimes people get
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very paranoid about the devil. Some churches have more focus on
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the devil than they do the Lord. They're always talking about
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rebuking the devil or casting the demons out or doing this and
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that. And Paul never said that.
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He said, what do we do? Look unto Jesus, the author and
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finisher of our faith, right? For the joy that was set down
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before him. Despise the cross, yet endured
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the shame. You know we're more than
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conquerors right in Christ Jesus so we don't have to worry about
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the evil 1 The Bible says resist the devil and he will what flee
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from you. I don't have to do battle with
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him. It's it's interesting that the
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Archangel Michael and and Jude verse nine said whenever a lot
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of things were going on, they were disputing about the
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whereabouts of Moses body and all the false teachings that
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Jude talks about. He said he would not bring a
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railing accusation against the devil right himself.
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And he's in charge of the angelic host in the sense of
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under the authority of Jesus Christ, Michael the Archangel,
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he said, the Lord rebuke you. And I, I'm very fearful when I
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hear people standing out there and shaking their hand at the
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devil and thinking that they somehow have the influence to in
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their own power, in their own name and by their own faith,
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make the devil run. And the devil, you know, he'll
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laugh, he'll say, like you said in the book of the Acts, you
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know Peter, I know, Paul, I know.
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But who are you? You don't want to mess with that
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stuff, right? You want to pray and resist the
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devil. And the Bible's clear that
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that's our responsibility and the evil one will flee from us.
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So we see in verse 5 that this male child who was to rule all
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nations, as I said earlier, is the one who will rule with a rod
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of iron during the millennial Kingdom.
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And this is interesting. And her child was caught up to
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to God and his throne. So again, the parenthetical time
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period of of the future and at the same time the past when
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Christ ascended and the book of the Acts is sit at the right
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hand of the father where he ever lives to make intercession for
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us before the throne of God night and day.
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In verse 6 it talks about the the woman fleeing into the
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wilderness. You know in Matthew chapter 25.
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It gives the warning when this time comes to pass, it says, you
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know, don't be with child. I trust your journey won't be in
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the winter because this will be the worst time that any kind of
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event has ever occurred against the nation of Israel to destroy
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them. And so we see this group spoken
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about in verse 6 is the remnant of Israel.
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These are the ones that are elect by God's grace that don't
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even know at this particular point in time.
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Many of them that they'll be part of the body of the bride of
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Christ. They don't understand the
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concept yet. They still don't know who
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Messiah is. Many of these people, but God's
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going to spare many people and also those who come to Christ
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during that time and and Gentiles as well.
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And so God will protect this, this remnant of people, and he
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has a place that's prepared for them.
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I like this word prepared. She has a place prepared by God.
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Jesus says in my Father's house are many mansions.
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If it were not so, I would have told you.
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And that I told you, I go to prepare a place for you, that
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where I am, you may be also. So every one of us have a place
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in heaven prepared by the Lord awaiting for us.
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And that should give you tremendous comfort.
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You might not have the mansion you were hoping you'd get in
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this earth, but in my Father's house are many mansions.
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And the Bible says I have not seen nor ear heard, nor entered
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into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those
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who love Him. I mean, it's going to blow our
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minds when we see what God has prepared for us, but we see that
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He's also preparing a place for His remnant of those He's set
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aside. And even though they're being
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persecuted by the Antichrist during this time, you know,
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during the Holocaust, 6 out of 10 Jews were were martyred.
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The Scriptures define this period of time of a great loss
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of life. And it's pretty much going to be
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one out of three that survived this terrible time of
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tribulation. But God will spare approximately
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1/3 of this race that will not take the mark of the beast.
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They will run and flee from the hand of the Antichrist and God
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will protect them for 1260 days. That's basically 30 day months
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which equate from the Jewish perspective of looking at times
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in the ancient days of 3 1/2 years, which is the last part of
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the tribulation. And we see in verse 5 that
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Christ has ascended. And as I said, though, the
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parenthetical section here between 5:00 and 6:00 six is yet
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to occur events. So we see we right now we're in
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between two of these events. Christ is ascended.
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We're waiting for his return. He hasn't come back yet.
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And so we're in this age, what we call the church age, the
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period of time where God is bringing new believers into his
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Kingdom since the crucifixion and the descending of the Holy
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Spirit in the book of the Acts, which is the beginning of the
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church age up until the time of the rapture of the church.
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And that is the conclusion of the Church age and and the
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beginning of the seven-year tribulation.
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Of course as I said before, a different people have different
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views on end time summer pre Trib.
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The church is taken out before the Trib.
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Some are mid Trib in the middle, some are post Trib.
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Some are all millennial believing that the next major
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event is the second coming of Christ and no literal rapture.
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I'm not concerned about too many of these things personally.
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I know that Christ said he's coming back and that's good
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enough for me. You know how all the details
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work out. I'm not up here trying to give
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you any kind of mathematical formulas.
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You know, times and seasons. Jesus says only the Father
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knows. But there's enough insight in
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the Scriptures if we do, I believe, interpret things in
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light of, you know, good hermeneutics.
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Hermeneutics is a word that when the plain Scriptures make common
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sense, don't seek any other sense but take every word.
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It's normal literal meaning unless studied in the light of
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related passages. It indicates something
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otherwise. And the danger of jumping around
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the Bible like some people do. There you'll go, a little couple
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of verses here and then I'll go over there.
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And they never teach things in context.
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So the benefit of going through the chapters verse by verse,
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expositionally is that myself as well as you can be tied into
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what the intention of the writer was the apostle, right?
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And not like my thoughts or your thoughts.
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I mean, my thoughts aren't really of any value or yours.
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I mean, I can appreciate insights that people might have
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about things, but I'm interested in what the scriptures teach,
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right? Not what someone has suspected
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or conjecture or whatever. So we go into the conflict in
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verse 7 and 8 and this is when the war between Michael and the
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dragon begins to develop. And this is at the midpoint in
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the tribulation where God begins to turn judgment against Satan
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no longer having access to the heaven.
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So verse 7 it says and a war broke out in heaven.
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Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon
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and his angels fought, but they did not prevail nor was a place
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found for them in heaven any longer.
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And so we see the faithfulness of God and his authority that
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the devil has its day and his his dominion is, is going to be
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destroyed. And eventually one day it'll be
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completely finished when he's cast into the lake of fire at
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the end of Book of Revelation forever and ever at the final
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judgment. And we see this battle going on
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between the godly angels and the evil angels.
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And as I said in Ephesians 6, it says we're not wrestling against
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flesh and blood sometimes like Cindy and I are, you know,
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married 39 years. And sometimes we'll have some
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arguments, you know, and different perspectives on
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things. I'm always right.
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She doesn't realize that. But pray for her.
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She's usually right. That's the humiliating thing.
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But sometimes though we're caught up in the energy of the
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opinion, she cops an attitude and and I'm like trying to get
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her to open her heart. What's your problem?
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You know, what did I do this time?
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What don't you like? You know, she has a tendency
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sometimes to generalize like I think we all do.
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Well, you always do this right? Always.
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I mean, like, come on, give me a break, you know, So I try to get
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some good points in there to get some kind of credit.
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You know, I hate getting a complete F.
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Can I get AC here or maybe AB plus or something?
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But anyway, we'll be going at it sometimes about like something.
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Usually the most stupidest things right there are, there
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really are. It's always like pride or ego,
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you know. And so we'll sit there and then
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I'll say, honey, you know, I said we got to step back from
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this for a couple minutes here. We got to realize that we're
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servants to the Lord as you guys are.
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We all are. And as we desire to press into
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the Lord in our lives and really walk with Him and obey Him and
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serve him, conflict will begin to be worked up by the evil 1.
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And I'll think my problem is her.
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She'll think her problem's me. And you got three enemies, the
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world, the flesh and the devil. So sometimes it is our own
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problem. It's because our own sin, our
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pride or whatever are the forces of this, the fallen nature of
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mankind. That just gets you in some kind
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of ire. But then also the evil 1.
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And we have to be sensitive. When does spiritual warfare
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begin to actually be in place? Instead of us fighting about
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stupid things, we need to step back and say we're not wrestling
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against flesh and blood. It isn't her, it's my problem or
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me. That's her problem.
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But sometimes as God gives us discernment, we have to know
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it's an attack by the evil one that cause discouragement in our
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lives to cause us to get our eyes off of Christ to begin to
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be hopeless or to begin to be bitter or unbelieving, whatever
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it might be. And so we then we pray and we
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open our hearts to the Lord and to each other.
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And if I've offended her, I ask for forgiveness or vice versa.
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And we, we make sure that we're dealing with that so that
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there's no sin in our lives that can be used as a vice to
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separate our relationship. And I'll tell you, it's a
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marvelous one when we pray and we see things that way, The
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strongholds are broken down immediately.
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There's a sense of peace. And you just step back and say,
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wow, you know, and I just encourage you to have your
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antenna up. Sometimes when you're having a
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bad day at work or you're getting a ticket when you're
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driving or so, you know, all kind of crazy things happen all
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at one time. Just don't think it's
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coincidental or this is just life or you're having bad luck
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today. Step back and pray and say,
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Lord, this is a little bit over the top today.
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I'm under some kind of spiritual attack and I'm going to get
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covered by you. And that's why Paul says in
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Ephesians 6 to put on the armor of God, that you may be able to
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stand against the Wiles of the devil and you're familiar with
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all those different types of body armor that we're supposed
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to put on. But this, this war is going on
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between these angelic beings and it's going to be a quite an
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interesting battle when it occurs.
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I don't know literally if people on earth at that time are going
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to be able to sense what's going on in the heavenlies to any
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great extent, but it's nonetheless this is going to be
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accomplished. And and in verse 9, it says the
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great dragon was cast out, the serpent of old called the devil
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and Satan who deceives the whole world and he was cast to the
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earth and his angels were cast out with him.
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So that's that event that is yet to come.
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They won't have that dominion and that ability.
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Everything will be earthbound. They'll be be no more accusing
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of the brethren before the throne, because Satan won't have
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access anymore and everything will be much more tangible and
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clear as to the devices of the evil. 1 And then I heard a loud
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voice saying in heaven, verse 10 Now salvation and strength in
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the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come
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for the accuser of our brethren, whose accusing before our God
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day and night has been cast down.
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Hallelujah, huh? It's no fun being condemned are
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accused right our own temperament at times we we give
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ourselves more trouble sometimes and the devil doesn't have to
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worry about maybe accusing you because you're accusing yourself
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all the time. You're you're living in guilt or
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self condemnation. He's thinking, man, they're like
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really wrapped up in their own whatever, I'll go find someone
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that is understanding the grace of God and the victory that
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there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
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That's who I'm going to try to target to get them to be second
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guessing themselves. Or am I really saved or, you
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know, I feel condemned. You know, I think about
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something in the past and I can't get by it because you know
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what the Bible clearly says, there's no condemnation to those
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who are in Christ Jesus. Right before Christ died on the
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cross for our sins, we were all condemned, right?
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We were all guilty. We had no atonement, no blood to
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cover our sins, no forgiveness. Yet we were looking for that in
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the future, as the Old Testament Saints did.
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And so until that finished work of Christ was accomplished, it
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was a real difficult thing to deal with everyday sin.
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That's why the Jews had, on the Day of Atonement, once a year,
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the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies to put the
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blood on the altar to make temporal covering of the sins of
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the nation of Israel. But it wasn't sufficient to get
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rid of the guilt and the condemnation.
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It wasn't until the blood of Christ was shed that we were
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free from our guilt and from our condemnation.
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And so because of what Christ has done, I don't have to be
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condemned now. And you don't either if you're a
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believer. I when I stand before God, there
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is no judgment. That's on me.
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It was placed on Christ. And that's something that's
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really awesome to consider because before Christ did that,
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you were guilty. You would stand without a
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Savior. And if you're here today and you
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don't have a Savior, you are under God's anger.
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In His wrath. You are condemned to stand
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before Him in judgment. If you don't receive His Son,
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His Son is the only sacrifice for sin.
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His Son is the only one that can cover your sin and forgive you
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and cleanse you from your unrighteousness.
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And so the good news is, is that Christ has accomplished this on
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behalf of all those who will believe in and trust in Him.
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But the evil that is in this world that is continually being
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thwarted toward the world, the lost, and also toward the bride
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of Christ will one day be be finished.
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And the Bible describes 4 different falls of Satan.
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We covered one of them several weeks ago when he initially
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fell. When Jesus said I saw Satan fall
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from heaven, you know, the disciples were all excited that
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they could cast demons out and do different miracles.
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And Jesus said, don't rejoice that you have power over the
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devil, but rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's
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book of life, right? And then he said I saw Satan
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fall from heaven. So we know in Ezekiel chapter 28
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verses 14 through 16, that was when he fought fell initially
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from his glorified position to the earth to be the serpent in
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the garden. And then the next fall we see
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him having access to heaven, as I said earlier.
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And Job when he went before the the Lord God and and asked to be
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able to hassle Job. This is the time of His work on
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earth and then the 3rd fall from earth to the bondage of the
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bottomless pit for the 1000 years in Revelation 20.
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What a day that will be when He will be cast into that pit and
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Christ will roll and reign for 1000 years and then the final
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fall of Satan will be from that pit to the lake of fire as I
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said earlier in Revelation 20. Then I heard a loud voice saying
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in heaven now salvation and strength.
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Verse 10 in the Kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ
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has come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before
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God day and night has been cast down.
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I mean, if that doesn't make you want to shout Hallelujah, I
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don't know. You're, you're pretty, you're
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pretty dead. You know, I mean that that's
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just phenomenal. And they overcame him by the
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blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
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And they did not love their lives to death.
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Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.
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Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil
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has come down to you having great wrath because he knows
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that he has a short time. So this joyful declaration in
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verses 10 through 12 is, is, is being read clearly this morning
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to make us understand the magnificence and the greatness
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of the glory of our great King and Savior Jesus Christ.
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I love the promise in first John that if we say we have no sin,
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we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US.
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And it says if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and
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just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
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unrighteousness. Hold on to that verse guys, when
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the devil's lying and making you feel guilty.
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And this hold on to the truth of that verse, that He is faithful
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and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all
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unrighteousness. Jesus says as far as the East is
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from the West. That separate you from your
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sins. I cast them to the bottom of the
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sea never to see them again. So we have to continually have
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that word near to our heart. But I love what John says in the
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2nd chapter of first John first one.
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He says, however, if any man sin, which we all still do.
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We have an advocate with the Father, our attorney, our
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defense attorney is Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 And he declares
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you and me justified and innocent before the throne of
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God. When the devil's thrown all
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those railing accusations and lies, Jesus is there as our
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advocate against the accuser of the brethren.
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And it says that these people who are alive at this time are
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overcoming in their life by the blood of the Lamb, in other
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words, their faith in what Christ has done.
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And many of them will stand and have to give a defense of why
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they're following Christ. And that defense will cost many
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of them their lives. Many of them will be martyred.
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Many of them will be killed during this time.
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And yet the Lord says about these people, they did not love
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their life to the end. In other words, their life, the
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short life that God gives us all, is seen from the
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perspective of understanding that my life has value because
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of what Christ has done for you and for me.
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And my life is not based upon what's in this body which will
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one day end. Our lives are based upon the
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eternal state that God has given to you and me as believers, the
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promise of, of everlasting life. And I think about all those in
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the concentration camps and, and the times of the Holocaust.
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I think of people in Russia in the prior time to Lenin that
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were dragged out of their homes, the pastors and all the people
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that were taken to the, to the gulag and destroyed, You know,
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the, the, the regime of, of that nation at different times.
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I wanted to stamp out the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ
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and Christianity. And So what they would do, they
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would kill and martyr anybody that had belief in Jesus of
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Christ. And many of these people were
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put in terrible, terrible prison camps.
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I got a video recently I just ordered on the horror of the
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Romanian Christians and what they went through for the stand
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in Christ. And as they would stand there
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and defend their faith and speak about their faith in Jesus
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Christ, they would be beaten unmercifully and just many of
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them believed to death. And to this day, we have people
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like this in the world that are going through these things.
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We forget that at times we don't pray enough for the persecuted
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church, those who are in foreign lands.
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A day that tomorrow will not see the light of this world because
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their lives will be a given for their faith in Jesus Christ.
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They'll be martyred. And in the Sudan and Indonesia
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and Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the the the horror of what's
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going on because of Islam regime and influence that we're
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considered infidels and infidels need to be destroyed.
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And we need to pray for our brothers and sisters that have
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are going through these things and, and pray for our country
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that the Lord will spare us as a nation that will still have
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freedom, right of religion, what freedom of speech that we'll be
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able to continually give the good news of Jesus Christ out to
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a a lost and dying world. And and many people in the US
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are still without a Savior. So we, we need to, you know,
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take advantage of the time that the Lord's given us in these in
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these last days. This has been Living Waters of
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Grace with Pastor Clark. We're going through the
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challenging and also intriguing Book of Revelation.
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Whether you're a fan of reading ahead in books of fiction,
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there's such a benefit to reading ahead in the Bible to
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read about how it all ends. But in an interesting turn of
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events, the Book of Revelation is not really the end, but
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rather the beginning. It's the end of life as we know
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it here on earth, but there's so much to look forward to for what
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comes after all the judgement of the earth and those who reject
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God. There's a lot to work through,
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and it can be heartbreaking to read through the intense
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judgements and wrath that will come on those who hate God with
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all their might. The thing is, God has given
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chance upon chance to these people.
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They don't want it. So the outcome is that there are
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judgements and consequences for those who've rejected the good
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news and the gift of salvation that's offered through Jesus's
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death and resurrection. Are you one who has heard about
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these things but doesn't really want it because you want to live
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life on your terms? Trust me, living for Jesus is so
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much better. That doesn't mean it will be
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easy, but as you listen and read through Revelation with us,
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you'll come to a stark realization that you don't want
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to be on earth when the apocalypse happens.
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So check out Calvary Chapel online.com to learn how to come
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to a saving grace through faith that will allow you to be with
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Jesus for eternity. We'd also love to meet you in
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person at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
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Come join us at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601. This has been living waters of
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grace.