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Dear Roger and Brie, It seems like the world is falling apart. I’m scared. My friends and I talk about what is happening to the global economy and I just get more scared. My house is worth less now than when I bought it. I feel stuck. I couldn’t sell it now even if I wanted to. The overwhelming changes in our nation, the upheaval of governments in the Middle East, faltering economies...What do you think is going to happen? Is this the end? Is the Book of Revelation being fulfilled now? Will things ever return to normal? I know I am asking a lot of questions and you don’t have to answer them all but I would appreciate it if you’d share some thoughts on the current crises. Thank you, A Concerned Christian Dear Concerned Christian, This is Brie. I talked to my dad about the End Times constantly. He had a deep love for Revelation and the mysteries that God has given us to ponder. After the recent election, my head has been spinning with all of the changes in our nation. I won't take a political stance--that's not a role I will ever choose to fulfill. But I do feel very called to study what the Bible says about current events. I was doing some research in Dad's (Roger's) materials and found this "Ask Roger." He wrote it back in 2016, but it's just remarkable to see how much is relevant to where we are today. I hope you find it helpful--especially the practical actions to handle the world we live in. May God bless you with great wisdom and courage! Roger: Before I give you my thoughts, I am going to post a short few paragraphs from Paul Benware, from his book, : "Matthew 24:5-8 gives us some important clues so we can discern the approach of the end times, “For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” An increase in false messiahs, an increase in warfare, and increases in famines, plagues, and natural disasters—these are signs of the end times. In this passage, though, we are given a warning: we are not to be deceived, because these events are only the beginning of birth pains; the end is still to come.Some interpreters point to every earthquake, every political upheaval, and every war with Israel as a sure sign that the end times are rapidly approaching. While the events may signal the approach of the last days, they are not necessarily indicators that the end times have arrived. The apostle Paul warned that the last days would bring a marked increase in false teaching. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” ( 1 Timothy 4:1 ). The last days are described as “perilous times” because of the increasingly evil character of man and people who actively “resist the truth” ( 2 Timothy 3:1-9 ; see also 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ). Other possible signs would include a rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, increased hostility towards Israel, and advances toward a one-world government. The most prominent sign of the end times, however, is the nation of Israel. In 1948, Israel was recognized as a sovereign state, essentially for the first time since A.D. 70. God promised Abraham that his posterity would have Canaan as “an everlasting possession” ( Genesis 17:8 ), and Ezekiel prophesied a physical and spiritual resuscitation of Israel (Ezekiel chapter 37). Having Israel as a nation in its own land is important in light of end times prophecy because of Israel’s prominence in eschatology ( Daniel 10:14 ; 11:41 ; Revelation 11:8 ). With these signs in mind, we can be wise and discerning in regard to the expectation of the end times. We should not, however, interpret any of these singular events as a clear indication of the soon arrival of the end times. God has given us enough information that we can be prepared, and that is what we are called to be." (Roger, with several current events updates from Brie) Now for my own thoughts as well: I never feel "hopeful" that things will ever return to normal. What is "normal" in this sinful world? Of course, I tend to be more of a pessimist than an optimist so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I am praying that circumstances will improve; but, our world's economic crisis and political upheaval have been mounting for a long time and there may not be enough that anyone can do to stop it this time. I hesitate to begin guessing what the outcome of all this might be. I am no expert—there are thousands of economists, politicians, presidents, world leaders, and media pundits who can answer your questions better than I—maybe. Frankly, all of them have such different ideas that I don’t trust any of them. We will just have to wait and see. No society or culture lasts forever. All eventually collapse—without exception. by Jared Diamond (Penguin Books; New York, New York; 2006) details five factors which lead to the collapse of societies. Only one factor is needed to destroy any particular society. Our United States—and many other nations—are currently experiencing all five. Let me share his five factors to give us a little perspective on the current crises. Diamond’s studies of collapsed cultures include: the Easter Islands, Henderson and Henderson Islands; the Anaszis of Arizona; the Mayans of Central America, the Vikings of Iceland; and the Norse of Greenland. The first collapse factor is environmental damage. These are damages that people inadvertently inflict on their environment. The people of Easter Island eventually cut down all of their trees. When the trees were gone the people were gone—most died of exposure and hunger. The lack of trees meant rampant erosion which carried away all the topsoil and agriculture was dramatically diminished. In our world today, insecticides, manufacturing waste products, overfishing, deforesting, the reduction in wet lands—just to mention a few—are beginning to have catastrophic results ranging from food crises in some areas to an increasing number of birth defects in others. The second collapse factor is climate change. The earth’s climate is not static. No matter what the media would have you believe, it never has been. Present-day Iran and Iraq once flowed with milk and honey. Crops, gardens and game proliferated in the days when that climate received much more rainfall than it does today. After all, that area was once called the “Fertile Crescent”. But, the climate changed and those areas are now bare deserts. The sun gets hotter and cooler over time. The wobbling of the earth’s axis results in Ice Ages like the one 14,000 years ago that carved out the Great Lakes and covered Europe all the way to Spain. Ice Ages occur on the average every 11,000 years. We are due for another. Today, refrigerator fluorocarbons and fossil fuels are bringing with them colossal environmental damage. The resulting global greenhouse is increasing temperatures which cannot be reversed. I see a day, far in the future, when our greenhouse will rival Venus’ greenhouse which has a surface temperature of 850 degrees Fahrenheit. The third collapse factor is hostile neighbors. Many societies can hold off the enemy for only so long. As collapse factors come into play, a society is often weakened to the point that they fall to the enemy. The Roman Empire lasted for centuries; but, eventually it succumbed to continued attacks by the barbarian hordes. Today, many hostile enemies of the USA are in the Middle East. Dictators, crazed terrorists, and Islamic extremists are dedicated to our destruction. At times they hold us hostage with their oil. At others, they deliberately attack our allies--consider the October 7 attack against Israel. We feel it is our responsibility to being peace and democracy to the region, so we spend billions of dollars on our military to fight and police in the Middle East. Military expenditures are sucking our economy dry--perhaps our government is now in a position to change that, and perhaps not. By the way, the rancorous relationships we now have with Mexico and Canada may soon create hostile neighbors on our southern and northern borders. The fourth collapse factor is decreased support by friendly neighbors. Every society has friends with whom they trade for the products they need. In return, they trade their own surpluses to furnish the products that their friend nations need. Sometimes enemies are friends—like the oil we trade for with our cash to the oil-rich Middle East. By the way, Middle Eastern oil reserves are projected to last only until 2040 at which point the Middle Eastern nations may well become irrelevant on the world political scene. Of course, their oil demise will have adverse affects for us. Another example of decreased support is our “friend” China who has been sucking us dry economically. Our trade deficit with them is enormous. We buy lots of their stuff; they buy very little of ours. Right now, our president is seeking to create tariffs to mitigate the deficit, but what happens with those changes remains to be seen. It is clear that these tariffs will not win friends, though they may help the U.S. economically in the long run. The fifth collapse factor is how a society responds to the other four factors. Most societies respond poorly leading to the dreaded collapse. However, some, like the Icelanders who denuded their forests, eroded away their farmlands and overgrazed their animals have turned their impending collapse around. By mutual planning and cooperation, they are recovering their lost natural resources. I often feel that no one knows what to do to stave off these factors in our society, much less how to fix them. For example, in one area, we are now in a vicious circle that to fix our economy, we need people to spend lavishly when they are trying to hoard every cent—thus leading us further down the road to collapse. What does this mean for all of us? I don’t know. Of course, no one knows, except our Creator. I am sure He is grieving for His world today just as He grieved in Genesis six over the sinfulness of mankind. I can think of many possible scenarios. Let me mention just a few. First, deep economic misery will likely be our future until the country stabilizes both domestically and internationally. This will probably take 10 to 15 years. Second, inflation may continue to make our money increasingly worthless. We have several tools to help control inflation, but our government may and may not bring them to bear. Third, on the other hand, runaway deflation might occur resulting in our assets become increasingly worthless. Deflation will have unbelievable negative consequences. We have no tools to control deflation. Watch which nations handle the various collapse factors well over the next several years. China is becoming the world power most predicted—but too much purchasing of our debt and too many political problems stymie a unified response to their issues (although in its favor, China has made South America its own for the taking with its multiple trade agreements there). India has surprised us all. From my perspective they may well be preparing best for the future world. The are responding to the current leveling of all nations as second and third world nations move up the scale and first world nations move down the scale of influence and stability. India, for example has a goal of educating all of its people while the US is becoming less and less literate every day. This places them in an enviable position for the future. My favorite scenario is for the Second Coming of Christ. I am ready for the Rapture! What are some of the spiritual implications for today? I can think of several. First of all, practice good biblical economics. God has not left us in the dark about the Biblical principles that He recommends. First, we give our tithes and offerings of 10%+ to the Kingdom (usually through our local church). Second, we pay taxes to the government. Third, we make more money than we spend. Fourth, we stay out of debt for depreciating items. Finally, we lay aside about 10% to 20% of our income for future needs (like for a refrigerator or car or college for the children or retirement). Second of all, pray for mercy for our nation and world. In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, God revealed that He is behind the disasters overcoming the nation of Israel. He also revealed His plan for overcoming the disasters: "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Third of all, watch the signs unveiled in the Book of Revelation and pray for the return of Jesus to establish His kingdom on earth. These signs include—among many others—an increasing global temperature; the destruction of seafood in the oceans; an attempt at a worldwide government to deal with the crises of the End Times; a double invasion of “Rosh from the North” (Russia?) and a horde of “200 million soldiers” from the East into the Middle East; Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon; and finally, a nuclear holocaust in Israel. By the way, God has promised a crown for all of us who “love and look forward to the second coming of Christ.” Finally of all, make a difference in the world. People are more ready to look to Christ and the gospel than ever. The internet has covered the world so that all can hear the Gospel. Even in the most primitive areas, we are seeing miracles and revival. CRU, (Originally named Campus Crusade for Christ), reported that across Africa, Christian women are trained to carry projectors, generators, fuel, and the “Jesus Films” as they walk all over their country in order to evangelize. According to Tom Terry from the Jesus Film Project, Campus Crusade (CRU) recorded 767 million views of the Jesus Film in 2023 and 208 million television broadcasts around the world in 2024. Times of crisis like persecution, tsunamis, disease and financial loss mean times of opportunity to advance the Kingdom! Well, Concerned Christian, everyone is wondering about this subject so I am glad you asked your question. Please feel free to search Preach It, Teach It for more details and information about the End Times. Love, Roger (and Brie)

When it comes to values, we tend to adopt what’s modeled to us while growing up. While it’s important to understand your values, it’s equally important to think through what values you’re passing on to your children or the younger generations you come into contact with. How would you paraphrase the values below if you were teaching them to your children/grandchildren, the person you mentor, a younger co-worker, etc.?

Most of us think that the Book of Psalms is a collection of nice Bible verses written by people lazing around on the grass as they strummed their guitars composing melodies! Nothing could be farther from the truth. Hardly any were written like that—if any. The psalms are real-life songs written by real-life people living under extreme pressure. WIPE OUT: That Hurts!

I have hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim and I have hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, I’ve done a couple of triathlons but that marathon was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And that’s why I did it. The last 10 miles I was cramping up and I had to do a little stopping and stretching along the way but I finished it. I’ve got the shirt to prove it. What a joy to be able to share this weekend. And I want to say up front that it is not about the marathon, it is about the miracle. It is about the miracle. It is an almost an out of body experience for me to watch myself preach that message from July 2, 2016 because I had no idea what would happen and here we are 475 later and I want you to know that if God did it for me, He can do it for you. Welcome to National Community Church. At all eight of our campuses this weekend, we kick off a new series titled Whisper. The book releases next Tuesday but we’ve got some black market copies! Lora and I have a little tradition that before you can buy a copy, we want to give you a copy so it is a gift from us to you and you will get a copy on the way out. By the way, can I just say, I didn’t like the cover at first and then Lora and I went out to the Shenandoah Valley and then I liked the cover because I felt like I was looking at it and it was such a beautiful place and I feel like the mountains are so picturesque. It is such a picture of the way in which God speaks. So I’m excited about you getting a copy of the book. This series is going to be short and sweet. Two weeks but I’m believing that this series, this book is going to help us learn to hear the voice of God. I think it is going to help us acquire the seven languages that I talk about in the book. The first language is Scripture and it is in a category by itself but in Scripture God speaks in some different ways. In fact, there are six secondary language, desires, dreams, doors, people, promptings and pain. And I happen to believe that the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. He still speaks in those ways so I’m praying that it is going to help us learn to hear the voice of God. Turn to I Kings 19 and we will get there in just a minute. Half a century ago, an otolaryngologist, Dr. Tomatis, was confronted with the most curious case of his 50 year career as an otolaryngologist. A renowned opera singer had mysterious lost his ability to hit certain notes even though those notes were still within his octave range. He had been to some other specialists and they all thought it was a vocal problem. The doctor thought otherwise. So using a cymometer, he discovered that the opera singer was producing 140 decibel sound waves. That is a little bit louder than a military jet taking off from an aircraft carrier. Well, that discovery led to this diagnosis. The opera singer had been deafened by the sound of his own voice. And because he couldn’t hear the note, he could no longer sing the note. In the doctor’s word, the voice can only reproduce what the ear can hear. The French Academy of Medicine dubbed it the Tomatis Effect and I think the ramifications are way beyond the opera. Here’s my theory, all of us have problems, relational problems, emotional problems, spiritual problems and we think that those problems are the problems but I think they are the symptoms of a root cause, a spiritual Tomatis Effect, ears that have been deafened to the voice of God. Sometimes it is our own negative self-talk and God can’t even get a word in edgewise. Sometimes it is the voice of criticism. You’ve heard that voice so often for so long that you can’t even believe anything else about yourself. Sometimes it is the voice of conformity, the voice of culture and sometimes it is the voice of condemnation. The Bible says that we have an enemy and he is called the accuser of the brethren and the father of lies and if you listen to those lies long enough, it will deafen you to the voice of God. And if you can’t hear his voice, you can’t sing his song and your life is going to be off key. Let me give you a prescription for the problem. Learning to discern the still, small voice of God is the solution to a thousand problems and it is the key to discovering your identity and your destiny. His voice is joy. His voice is wisdom. His voice is healing. His voice is peace. His voice is power. His voice is grace. His voice is truth. In the beginning God said let there be light and those four words are still creating galaxies at the outer edge of the universe. How did God do it? He did it with his voice. The universe is God’s way of saying look at what I can do with four words. And if God can do that with four words, what are we worried about? The voice that spoke the universe into existence is the same voice that parted the Red Sea and that told the sun to stand still. His voice can heal a withered arm or wither a barren fig tree. His voice can turn water into wine and it can install synaptic connections between the optic nerve and visual cortex of a blind man’s brain and it can resurrect a man who has been four days death. There is nothing that God’s voice cannot say and cannot do and frankly He can do it however He pleases. He can speak through a burning bush and He can speak through a donkey. He can stop a storm on the Sea of Galilee with three words, peace be still. And that is tough for us to comprehend and I’ll tell you why. Because we use our voices for about one thing, to communicate. Sometimes you can talk real loud and you can shout but you know that doesn’t’ always work. And maybe we can use our voice in a beautiful way and sing but our voices, our capacity is limited to that. So when we think voice, we think phonics but this is about physics. Most people I know would say that they have never heard the voice of God. And if you are talking about the audible voice of God between 20 and 20 thousand hertz, me neither. But God’s voice isn’t’ limited to our range of hearing. The reality is this, it is when you get outside the human range of hearing that sound waves begin to do some strange and mysterious things. I don’t have time to talk about infrasound and ultrasound but suffice it to say, God’s ability to speak is not limited to our ability to hear audibly. Can I tell you how God uses his voice? God uses his voice to create and to convey and to heal and to reveal and to guide and to grace. Here’s what I know for sure. God is speaking. Are we listening? And is He the loudest voice in our lives? If He is not, that’s the problem. And the solution is tuning and turning up that still, small voice, these seven languages that we will talk about and that you will read about. Like any language, can I just say it takes some time to acquire? And I know this from experience because it took me about three and half years of Spanish to learn how to say no Espanola. I can’t even roll my Rs. It is not easy learning a language. It is going to take time to learn these seven languages. But it is going to take more than that, it is going to take relationship. I know Lora’s voice. And I know her tone of voice. And I know the non-verbals because we’ve been married 25 years so I know her voice like I didn’t know the day we got married. It is going to take time and it is going to take relationship and that’s what God wants. A few years ago, I wrote a book about prayer title The Circle Maker and really it is a book about talking to God. But I think I have realized that was half the equation. Prayer isn’t just outlining our agenda to God, it is about getting into God’s presence and God’s Word and God outlining his agenda to us. So I sort of feel like Whispers is a sequel about listening to God. And if you said which side of that coin is more important, listen, it is easy, listening to God is far more important than talking to God. And that’s what turns prayer from a monologue into a dialogue. I want you to hear this, I need to hear what God has to say more than God needs to hear what I have to say! Amen! When I preached the message Mountains Move on July 2, 2016, I said at some point you have to stop talking to God about your mountain and start talking to your mountain about God and I think that is still true. You have to declare his power, declare his grace, declare his goodness, declare his promises. Let me tell you a couple of things up front. First, if you aren’t willing to listen to everything God has to say, eventually you won’t hear anything He has to say. If you want to hear his comforting voice, you have to listen to his convicting voice. I think sometimes, let’s be honest, we are afraid of what God is going to say. Anybody else? I think that is because we don’t know his heart. And I want to say this, these seven languages are love languages. The Bible says God is love, and if it not loving, not the way our culture defines it but biblically, if it is not loving, it is not God. Sometimes it is tough love. Sometimes it is what I wanted to hear least that I needed to hear the most. And God’s not afraid to go there. So sometimes it is tough love. The second thing I want to say is we live in a culture where everyone wants to be heard but has so little to say. I think that because we do so little listening especially to God. So I hope and pray that you find your voice but I think finding your voice starts with hearing the voice of God. And if you want people to listen to you, listen to God because then you will have something to say that is worth listening to. The Lord said to Moses, I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets. I pray that God would give each and every one of us, no matter what sphere of influence you are in, that God would give you a prophetic voice. What I mean by that is this, I Corinthians 13 , it is for comforting and encouraging and strengthening but it is words that are prompted by the Spirit of God Himself. So I pray that God would give you a prophetic voice. But it starts with a prophetic ear. I Kings 19:11 11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. The ESV calls it a low whisper. The NASB translates it, a gentle blowing. The King James, a still, small voice. By definition a whisper is speaking using one’s breath instead of one’s vocal chords. And the theological significance of that is pretty profound. God breathed into the dust and formed Adam. In other words, Adam was once a whisper. And so were you and so was everything else. II Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed. That book is God whispering to you. Now hold that thought and we will come back to it. On the morning of August 27, 1883, ranchers in Alice Springs, Australia heard what sounded like gun shots. The same mysterious sound was reported in 50 geographical locations spanning one-thirteenth of the globe. What the Aussies heard was the eruption of a volcano on the remote island of Indonesia 2,233 miles away from those ranchers in Australia. That volcanic eruption, possibly the loudest sound ever measured sent sound waves measuring 310 decibels all the way around the globe four times. It generated 3,000 foot title waves. It threw rocks a distance of 34 miles and it cracked one foot thick concrete 300 miles away. That is the power of a sound wave. If sound exceed 110 decibels, we experience a chance in blood pressure. At 141 decibels, we become nauseous. At 145 decibels, our vision blurs because our eyeballs vibrate! At 195 decibels, our eardrums are in danger of rupturing and death by sound wave can happen at 202 decibels. And on the opposite end of that sound spectrum just about the absolute threshold of hearing is a whisper measuring about 15 decibels. Now let me double back to I Kings 19. We tend to dismiss the natural phenomenon that precedes the whisper and we think of it as insignificant because it says God was not in them. But I bet they got Elijah’s attention! God has an outside voice and He is not afraid to use it! But when God wants to be heard, when what He has to say is too important to miss, He often speaks in a whisper right about the absolute of hearing. The question is why? And how? And when? And where? And I can’t answer all of those questions in this message, I touch on them in the book, but let me take a stab at why. When someone speaks in a whisper, you have to get pretty close to hear them don’t you? In fact, you have to put your ear right next to their mouth. We lean into a whisper and that is what God wants. We think that the goal of hearing God’s voice is hearing God’s voice but that is not God’s goal. God’s goal is intimacy with us. So He speaks in a whisper so we have to get really close to hear Him. When our kids were young, I would play a little trick on them. I would speak in a whisper because I wanted them to have to get real close and then I would reach out and grab them and I would hug them. I think God plays the same trick on us. I think what God wants is for us to be so close to Him that we don’t just hear his voice, we hear his heart. Oswald Chambers said the voice of the Spirit is as gentle as a zephyr. Aren’t you grateful for a gentle God? He could intimidate us with his outside voice but he woos us with a whisper. And his whisper is the breath of life. I’ve shared this story but let me share it again. Over the span of 40 years, I had prayed hundreds of times that the Lord would heal my asthma. I don’t know why He wanted until July 2, 2016, that’s past my pay grade, not sure I will ever figure that one out. But I want to tell you why I kept praying and it is because of a whisper. Right before my freshman year of high school, I ended up in the hospital again, intensive care unit and it was bad this time. I was code blue. I thought I was taking my last breath. But I made it out of the hospital, got home and a prayer team from Calvary Church, Pastor Paul McGarvey, came over to our house and said they wanted to pray for me. I said would you pray that God would heal my asthma? So they prayed a prayer and God did a miracle but not the one I expected. I woke up the next morning and I still had asthma but all the warts on my feet were gone! You’ve heard me share this. It was a little confusing, some kind of mix up between here and heaven. There is someone somewhere who is breathing great but still has warts on their feet! And for the first time, I heard the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. It was not an audible voice, it was Spirit to spirit but I heard it so loud and so clear. The Spirit of God said, Mark, I just wanted you to know that I am able. I held on to that for more than 30 years. It was that whisper that kept me praying and kept me believing and I’m going to share this because no one looks at this except the author but one of my favorite pages on the book is the dedication page and I dedicated Whisper to Pastor Paul McGarvey. Here’s what I said. You prayed a prayer in August of 1984 that God answered on July 2, 2016. My healing was once a whisper. And that is true of every miracle. As I survey my life, I realize that the genesis of every blessing of every breakthrough is a whisper. It is the breath of God. Ebenezers, our coffee house in Capitol Hill a perfect example. When people walk by Ebenezers, they see a coffee house but I hear a whisper because that is what it was two decades ago. It was this graffiti covered building dilapidated with cinder block in the doors and windows but as I walked by one day, I heard the Spirit of God say this crack house would make a great coffee house. A million customers later, a million dollars given to mission, every penny of profit, praise God! That God idea turned into a brave prayer and turned into a coffee house but every shot of espresso that we pull was once a whisper. And that is true of everything. I’m about out of time. Let me share one thought and one challenge. Do you remember the definition of a whisper? It is speaking using one’s breath rather than one’s vocal chords. After God healed my asthma, you saw it, I made a decision to run a marathon. I felt like it was the best way to celebrate and validate the miracle that God had done. You also know that I believe in not just praying like it depends on God, I believe in working like it depends on you, so I did lots of things including going to the pulmonary specialist because I wanted to validate what God had done. I also started researching everything I could find on respiration and on oxygen and on breathing. I made a discovery that somehow managed to allude me despite three seminary degrees. I knew that according to Jewish tradition, the name for God, Yahweh was too sacred to pronounce. But there is another tradition within Judaism that believes that the name for God, Yahweh without the vowels, is synonymous with the sound of breathing. So on one hand, the name is too sacred to pronounce but on the other hand, it is whispered with each and every breath you take. It was your first word. It will be your last word. It is every word in between. 23,000 times a day, I think we are breathing the name of God. In Him we live and move and have our being. May He breathe on you? May He do what He did with the valley of dry bones? He breathed into those bones and they came to life. God breathed into my lungs and they were opened. One challenge. In I Samuel 3 , there is a seven word prayer that I believe can change your life. It is the brave prayer that I talked about July 2, 2016. There was a woman named Hannah who could not conceive. She begged God and God gave her five children but her first child, a boy named Samuel, she gave back to the Lord. He essentially was raised in the temple. In fact, I love this description. I think it is my prayer for all of our parents and all of our children here at NCC. I think about it when we dedicate children to the Lord because it says that he grew up in the presence of God. Don’t you want that for our children? I pray it and I believe it. It says he grew in favor with God and with people. It also says that in those days, the words of the Lord were rare and there were not many visions. Well one night, the Lord spoke to Samuel but Samuel had not yet learned to discern the voice of God. And he mistook the voice of God for the voice of Eli and I wonder if we do the same. God is speaking through desires and dreams and doors and people and promptings and pain but we mistake it for something else or we ignore it altogether. Now, it needs to be filtered through Scripture. I’m about as careful as careful can be when you read the book, it is the first language, but we have to learn to interpret these messages. Verse 7 says the Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. In other words, he had not yet learned to discern the voice of God. And my fear as a pastor is that this is where so many of us settle in spiritually. I hope that the messages that we preach are a catalyst in your spiritual journey, that they feed you spiritually and that they stretch you. But if you rely upon us to hear from God, that is spiritual codependency. You can hear God’s voice! He wants to speak to you! It happened three times and finally the wise old Eli finally figured out what was going on. He knew God was trying to get his attention so Eli gives a piece of advice that changes Samuel’s life. He said go and lie down and if He calls you, say, and here it is, the seven word prayer, I believe it can change your life. ‘Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.’ God speaks. Samuel hears the voice of God for the first time and it ends with this fascinating descriptor. The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and he let none of his words fall to the ground. How incredible is that! In other words, God have Samuel a prophetic voice. But it started with a prophetic ear. As we end this message, I challenge you to pray that seven word prayer. It is so simple but if you mean it and then after you pray it and then maybe after you pray it, you are quite for a little bit, it will change the game. Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. Let’s pray.

The Lord caused the Egyptians to think well of them, and the Egyptians gave the people everything they asked for. So the Israelites took rich gifts from them. The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men walking, not including the women and children. (Ex. 12:36-37) NCV I. God is the God of the Kings of This Earth The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. (Pro. 21:1 NIV) Cyrus, the king of Persia. Ezra 1:1, Is.45:4 Daniel and the Babylonian official Dan.1:9 Nehemiah and King Artaxerxes. Neh. 1:11,24 The Jews and their prayer pilgrimage. Ex. 34:23-24 “O Lord, God of our Fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.” (2 Chron. 20:6 NIV) II. We place our trust in the sovereignty of God. First of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim.2:1-4 NIV) There is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God...for is God’s servant to do you good. (Rom. 13:1,4) If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14 NIV)

This weekend Chris kicked off our new series “Holiday Survival Guide.” Below are several practical steps you can use to help you stay healthy in the relationships you have with family (or friends) you typically see during the holidays. Be aware of the role you typically play in your family. Our family role is the behavior(s) we often acted out during our upbringing which can automatically return when back with family. Although this could be a good thing, it can easily be negative in how it affects us and those around us. What role are you tempted to play when around your family? (eg. rescuer, enabler etc.) What To Wear For The Holidays Why we need to change: Ephesians 4:30, Matthew 5:23-24, Matthew 6:12-15 Dad cares about how His kids get along. Forgiveness is a command, not an option. Our motivation for the change? Ephesians 4:32, Romans 12:14-21, 1 Peter 3:8-12, Matthew 18:21-35 Remember how we have been forgiven. Remember how we have been accepted and loved. Remember who we now represent. STEP 1: Recognize the “old me” Anger = Rage = Malice = Slander = Filthy language = STEP 2: Put on the “new me” Compassion = Kindness = Humility = Gentleness = Patience = Daily Dose: To receive our short daily devotional video, text the keyword “daily” to 51400. Standard text rates apply. To subscribe by email or for a free audio or video copy of this message go to northcoastchurch.com Food for Thought for the week of November 18, 2018 (Questions and Scriptures for further study) GUIDE TO SURVIVING THE HOLIDAYS This weekend Chris kicked off our new series “Holiday Survival Guide.” Below are several practical steps you can use to help you stay healthy in the relationships you have with family (or friends) you typically see during the holidays. Be aware of the role you typically play in your family. Our family role is the behavior(s) we often acted out during our upbringing which can automatically return when back with family. Although this could be a good thing, it can easily be negative in how it affects us and those around us. What role are you tempted to play when around your family? (eg. rescuer, enabler etc.) Be aware of which family members or family situations test you the most. What people or situations come to mind? Decide what healthy boundaries look like and what unhealthy boundaries look like. Are there any boundaries you need to tighten to have healthier interactions with friends or family? Are there any boundaries you need to loosen? Remember we cannot change others, we can only change ourselves. What can you change in how you approach or respond to challenging, toxic or negative interactions with friends and family? Are there any actions or attitudes you want to start practicing now to yield a better result in those situations or relationships? Don’t ride the emotional roller coaster. When someone close to us has mood swings or gets angry, often we get to choose whether we ride the roller coaster of emotion with them or if we sit on the bench outside of the ride. How often do you get pulled into someone else’s emotion? How might you best model a calm demeanor to an overly emotional person? TAKING IT HOME Chris reminded us of the importance of recognizing the “old me” and putting on the “new me.” While we know that none of us are finished products, there are ways we can see this play out in our walk with Jesus. As you go through Galatians 5:22-23, how might each of the fruits of the spirit look if someone were putting on the “new me” vs. the “old me”? What advice does Romans 12:19-21 give for how we can respond to challenging people and situations in a loving way? Romans 12:19-21 New International Version (NIV) 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

WHAT TIME IS IT? Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (Ecclesiastes #3) S-1403 ·SLIDE #1: How many of you are wearing a watch?  Or you have a pocket watch or clock of some kind with you this morning? How many did not bring a watch this morning?  What’s wrong with you?  You are in the minority. Anybody here bring two watches? Probably your cell phone and your watch. Why?  Because time is so important to us. Let’s play “Let’s Pretend.” Let’s pretend that your banker phoned you and said that an anonymous donor has decided to deposit 86,400 pennies into your account every day for the rest of your life. You grab a pencil and start figuring. That’s $864 a day. $864 times seven equals over $6000 a week, times fifty-two. That’s almost $315,000 a year. He adds, “But there’s one stipulation... you must spend all the money that same day. No balance will be carried over to the next day. Now let’s play “Get Serious.” Every morning God deposits into your bank of time 86,400 seconds represent 1,440 minutes every day, which equals 525,600 minutes per year. Now, the same stipulation applies. You have to spend it all. No minutes are ever carried over on credit to the next day. This is what is so tough about time.  It keeps moving and you can’t save it up.  So, if you are not careful, it real easy to waste. Let’s go back to let’s pretend.  Every day you have to spend $864.  Easy to spend it on stuff.  Cars and toys because you have to get rid of it. There was an old movie, Brewster’s Millions. Brewster’s rich uncle died and left him a vast fortune.  But there was a catch.  The Uncle was afraid he’d waste it.  So, take $1 million now or have a chance for all $300 million. He had to spend $1,000,000 every day for 30 days and at the end of 30 days own absolutely nothing.  He bought a ball team, refurnished an apartment, clothes, rented expensive automobiles and threw it all away. ·SLIDE #3: Every day we have to spend 1,440 minutes and if we’re not careful, we will squander and waste it on little things that have no last lasting value—or we can make an impact over 50 years. Solomon learned much during his fling. He has given us advice on where to look to find real value in life. Get the tapes. Now, in chapter 3, he takes up the issue of time. LET’S EXAMINE THE PASSAGE AND SEE WHAT HE SAYS. 1. Life is filled with all sorts of events as time marches on. READ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. All are opposites.  Some build and then destroy, while others tear down and then build up. Time marches on.  Realistic, Fatalistic, good exeriences and bad experiences. 2. Life is beautiful when God makes the right things happen at the right times. READ Ecclesiastes 3:9-11. Death at the right time is beautiful.  Death at the wrong time is not. Contrast Carl Mendenhall: “Grace, today is a good day to die, isn’t it?” with Desperado suicide. 3. God puts eternity in our hearts. READ Ecclesiastes 3:11, 14. If it is not eternal then it will never satisfy in my heart. : 4. We need to enjoy life while we are here. READ Ecclesiastes 3:12-13. Ecclesiastes is a book about enjoying life.  Four or five times Solomon reminds us to enjoy life.  It will be a shame to go through lifetime and murmur and complain all the time. 5. God will one day ask us to account for our actions. READ Ecclesiastes 3:15. Judgment is coming.  That should affect how we live. LET’S DRAW SOME PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS TO HELP US LIVE BETTER LIVES. 1. FIGURE OUT WHAT TIME IT IS AND REACT ACCORDINGLY. Read some “times” in verses 2-8. When your child is injured in an accident, it is time to adjust all priorities and give the care he needs.  It won’t go on forever, but now is the time to take care of your child. When you are on vacation, stop thinking about work.  It is time to relax. When you are in college you stay out all night because you want to party and have fun and never complain.  Then a few years later you still stay up all night caring for a crying baby who won’t go to sleep and you complain about it all the time.  Don’t resent it.  This is the time of life for that. If it is time to work, then work.  If it is time to relax, then relax. It is fun to watch Glenn deal with his new baby.  Angie’s tired.  He is tired. I sympathized and told him that the best way not to stretch this exhaustion out is to go ahead and have another baby right now so they will minimize the years they spend in sleepless nights. I was really enjoying this. Glenn looked up: “Another baby. Now? Are you kidding? I wouldn’t want a dog right now.” Roger:  “Well, enjoy it, it really won’t last long.  Before you know it they will be gone.” Glenn:  “The last thing we are worrying about now is the empty nest syndrome.” What time is it in your life?  Don’t get upset.  React accordingly. Moose Johnson and Herschel Walker played for Dallas Cowboy football fans. Moose had bulging joint.  Career is over.  Herschel was 34 and getting a new lease on life.  Moose needed to be planning for retirement. Famous all over the country.  Go on speaking circuit and raise money for charities if he figures out what time it is. Figure out what season of life you are in. At least six seasons.  The eras overlap so that a new one is getting underway while the previous one is not yet terminated. Childhood: 0 to 13. Personality 85% set by age 12.  Openness, no walls, great opportunity to lead friends to Christ. Adolescence: 10-22: Personality is 96% set.  Crucial years.  Bridge into adult years. Energy and idealism. Willing to take risks and make a difference. Early Adulthood: 17-45:  Peak years of biological and intellectual functioning. Still dealing with overcoming childhood issues while making momentous life changing decisions like marriage, occupation, life style.  Child rearing.  Time to set course to serve Christ. Middle Adulthood: 40-65: Greatest earning power. Body slows. Great artists tend to produce their greatest and most profound works during this period. Launch children.  Empty nest. Time to shape the world around you.  Energy coupled with savy. Mentoring. Senior Adulthood: 60-80: No longer occupies center stage of the world.  Must deal with increasing death and sickness of friends and loved ones. Increasingly out of phase with younger generations.  Yet, more time to impact for Christ and do all the things you’ve always wanted to. Senior Senior Adulthood: 75-100: Sickness, few significant relationships, increasing bodily discomfort, facing death.  Ministry to people with life and death issues. All sorts of issues to deal with in every stage.  But the toughest time is the transition years between stages.  Moving from childhood to adolescence is tough, from adolescence to early adulthood. Are you in transition?  Child rearing and my mom and empty nest calling me to dinner. What time is it? Life cycle graph of man and woman’s satisfaction.       “She’s heading out for identity.  He is coming home for intimacy.” God has made everything appropriate in his time. How much we fail to see when we miss God’s timing!  2. SINCE CHANGE IS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS YOU CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON, HANDLE IT WELL WHEN IT COMES. Mohammed Ali had Parkinson’s Disease.  How many thought he would be invincible? Jerry Rice sat the sidelines in shorts.  Little legs, never saw him out of uniform. Aging Bob Dole made VISA commercials. It is a difficult time for these guys. Leaving home for first time and you are on your own. Extended honeymoon and now you have children in the house and no time for each other. Chart of proper transition through change by Cynthia Scott and Dennis Jaffe. Illustrate with lost fiancé. Denial: focus on past and deny reality of present.  Many get stuck here.  Deal in past, public complaining. Resistance: focus still on past; internal feelings of anxiety, loss, depression, anger Exploration: focus moves to future as explore possibilities for survival.  Awkward phase, confusion, asking questions and looking for answers. Commitment: clarified focus on future, affirmation of right direction. 3. LIVE AND CHOOSE IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY BECAUSE NO INSTANT REPLAY IS ALLOWED. Fourth and goal and the ball is on the one yard line. Down by 6 points.  Hike, quarter back drops back, lines collide as ball carrier hurtles for the goal line. Whistle sounds and yellow flags litter the field as men in Foot Locker sales uniforms scurry about. The call: “Off-sides.  Defense. Half the distance to the goal.  Repeat fourth down. Main intersection at Ina and Oracle.  You start your left turn on a green arrow when another car runs the red light in front of you and collides head on with your car.  Whistle blows, flags litter the intersection and officers scurry about. The call: “Illegal turn.  Repeat the turn.  The opposing car must start 15 yards back from the intersection. No, you are cut and bleeding.  You get no second chance. Someone has to choose what to do when. Life is continually made up of options.  Every hour is an hour of decision. Shoplifting at Sears last Wednesday night.  “His life will never be the same.” Somebody blow the flag and penalize me 15 yards and give me another chance.  No. Lunch with a coworker leads to an affair. Back seat of an auto and you are pregnant. You are making decisions every day, so choose wisely. “God has put eternity in our hearts.” What in the world does that mean? When we get eternity securely in place, it’s remarkable what it will do to time. Professor in Seminary – got one of those little adjustable calendars.  Figured out how many days that he might reasonably have left if God gave him his 3 score and 10 years.  Then every day he stamps in his calendar how many days he has left. You say – “How morbid” – No not at all – how motivational. 4. DON’T BE A DOPE.  ENJOY LIFE WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE. Verses 12-13, 15. Talking with Glenn about the complaining Sr. Adults at the Five and Diner . “Do you think this means that God will hold us accountable if we are grumpy and miserable. Is God going to be pleased with our attitude?  “I gave you food, vacations, car, friendships, relationships, money, televisions and all you ever did is grumble and complain.  I will hold you accountable for whether or not you enjoyed life. God will say, “You dope!” Don’t be a dope. Enjoy yourself while you are here. SLOW DANCE : anonymous poem from Werner Goering Have you ever watched kids on a merry go-round? Or listened to rain slapping the ground? Ever followed a Butterfly’s erratic flight? Or gazed at the Sun into a fading night? You better slow down.  Don’t dance so fast! Time is short, the music won’t last! Do you run through each day – on the fly? When you ask, “How are you?” …do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed With the next day’s hundred chores running through your head? You better slow down.  Don’t dance so fast! Time is short, the music won’t last! Ever told your child, “We’ll do it tomorrow.” And, in your haste – not seen his sorrow? Ever lost touch.  Let a good friendship die? Because you never had time to call and say, “Hi”…? You better slow down.  Don’t dance so fast! Time is short, the music won’t last! When you run so fast – to get somewhere, You miss half the fun – of getting there. When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened gift thrown away. Life is not a race, so take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over. 5. BE SURE TO DO THE ONE THING THE BIBLE SAYS WE HAVE TO DO TODAY. Read Hebrews 3-4:  “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. . .  But encourage one another as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness. . . . Let us therefore make every effort to enter into God’s rest.” “But as many as received Him , to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His Name.” (John 1:12) Becky at UMC and Dr. Feinberg: “You just don’t know do you?” Andy Miller suicide at Mt. View.  Be sensitive.  Took everyone by surprise. You need to receive Christ today. You may leave here and be run over by a bus crossing the street to the mall.  “Aw, that won’t happen to me.  I have plenty of time.” “Yeah, but, you don’t know do you?”  No.  So give your heart to Christ at the awning today. Close with a poem by a contemporary Danish poet I hear on Garrison Keillor several months ago. It is entitled TIME .  Time passes by before we know it. We have twelve clocks in our house; still there’s never enough time. You go into the kitchen and get chocolate milk for your spindly son, and when you return, he has grown too old for chocolate milk, demands beer, girls, revolution. Your daughter comes home from school, goes out to play hopscotch, comes in a little later, and asks if you would mind the baby while she and her husband go to the theatre. While they are at the theatre, the child, with some difficulty, is promoted to the tenth grade. You photograph your full-blooded young wife, with fashion coordinated outfit, an opulent fountain in the background, But the picture is hardly developed before she announces that it is time to collect her old-age pension. Softly, the widow inside her awakes. You want to make the most of your time, but it gets lost all the time. Where has it gone?  Was it ever there at all? Have you spent too much time throwing time out? So you roam around for awhile, without time and place. And when it’s time, you call home, and you hear, “Hello, this is the operator, you’ve called 959-4939.  I’m sorry.  That number is no longer in service.       (Click) Make the most of your time while you have it. That is what Solomon says. · 1. FIGURE OUT WHAT TIME IT IS. · 2. HANDLE THE TRANSITIONAL CHANGES WELL. · 3. LIVE IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY BECAUSE THERE IS NO INSTANT REPLAY. · 4. DON’T BE A DOPE.  ENJOY LIFE WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE. · 5. DO THE ONE THING THE BIBLE SAYS WE HAVE TO DO TODAY. Come to Christ Today.

PROVERBS SERIES THIRTEEN THE TOOL IN EVERYONE’S MOUTH Dr. Roger Barrier Proverbs 10:11,32;12:25;15:28;;18:6,7,21;25:15;26:24 Jorge Rodriguez was the meanest bandit on the Texas-Mexico border. He often slipped across the border to raid the banks of South Texas. Stealing them blind. Finally the Texans decided to put the toughest Texas Ranger they had on the case. After only a few days of searching, the Ranger found the bandit in a dingy, dusty saloon south of the border. He bolted into the bar, pulled both guns, and yelled, “Okay, stick ‘em up, Jorge; you’re under arrest! I know you’ve got the money.” Suddenly a little guy over in the corner butted in. “Wait, wait… just a moment, senor,” he said. “Jorge does not speak English. He’s my amigo, so I’ll translate for you.” The Ranger explained, “Look, we know he’s the bandit we’ve been looking for. We know he’s stolen over $50,000 US dollars. We want it back NOW. Either he pays up or I’ll fill him full of holes. You tell him that!” “Okay, okay! I’ll tell him.” So the fellow turned to Jorge and repeated in Spanish everything the Ranger had said. Jorge listened, frowned, then responded in Spanish. “Okay, I give up. Tell him to go down to the well just south of town, count four stones down from the top of the well, then pull out the one loose stone. All the money I have stolen I’ve hidden behind the stone.” The translator turned to the Texas Ranger and said, “Jorge says, ‘Go ahead, you big mouth; go ahead and shoot. I’ll never tell where the money is.” Applicable proverbs ☻SLIDE : Prov 18:21: The tongue has the power of life and death, ☻SLIDE : Prov 25:15: A gentle tongue can break a bone. ☻SLIDE : Prov 10:11: The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. ☻SLIDE : Prov 26:24: A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit. TONGUE PROP: Proverbs has more to say about the use of the tongue than any other theme or topic. ☻SLIDE : It is a marvelous instrument: Good for eating, tasting, rolling, talking, praising, worshipping, gossiping, telling jokes, teaching, hollering—and when you can’t think of anything else to say, you can even stick it out at some one. It can do all that—and it only weighs 2 ounces! The tongue is a slippery master. Can get a grip on a finger or a toe—but it is most difficult to get a good grip on the tongue. Besides, it is messy and sticky. ☻SLIDE : Whenever I go to the doctor he says, “Stick out your tongue.” “But it is my stomach that hurts—not my tongue.” “That doesn’t really matter. Stick out your tongue.” The tongue is indicative of our physical health. It is usually pink. But when our digestive system isn’t working right, it can have a yellowish, brown covering. With some diseases it is bright red. If you want to know how what a person’s life and character is really like, listen to their tongue. ☻SLIDE : Prov 18:4: The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, Words come out of the depth of our being. ☻SLIDE : Prov 15:28: The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. What might this verse look like in practice. ☻SLIDE : THE TONGUE HAS EXPLOSIVE POWER. Have you ever considered the awesome power of the spoken word? For instance: Waiter: What’ll you have for dessert? First diner: Nothing for me. Second diner: I’m stuffed. Third diner: I couldn’t eat another bite. Waiter: Dessert comes with the dinner. First diner: Ice cream. Second diner: Pecan pie. Third diner: Chocolate layer cake. One sentence can change everything. A judge speaks some words and a guilty prisoner is taken to a cell on death row. Dave Bury: Federal Judge: “To see people quiver at the words of a federal judge who is sentencing them to federal prison for committing a federal crime. A gossip makes a phone call and a reputation is blemished or perhaps ruined. Seize a man in violence and maim him for life, perhaps even kill him, and his children and his community may raise a monument to him. But ruin a man’s reputation so that his children despise him, and you deprive him of far more than just his life. A cynical professor makes a snide remark in a lecture and a student's faith is destroyed. ☻SLIDE : For every word in Adolph Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, 125 people died in World War II. ☻SLIDE : “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Isn't that the stupidest thing you ever heard? Story: Elementary school: Acnes and Mrs. Horne. Wounds can wound the heart to the deepest level: Probably a wounding worse than a physical blow is the statement, ☻SLIDE : “I’m sorry I ever married you.” ☻SLIDE : How many of you can ever forget that a parent said to you in a fit of rage, “I wish you had never been born.” ☻SLIDE : Prov 12:18: Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Heart in atrial flutter. In emergency room. Frightened. Outcome in doubt. Doris Wanslee: “I have prayed about this. God made it very clear to me that everything is going to be well. Be at peace.” I trust Doris. She knows God. Six months struggle. Calm peace all would be well. I remembered Doris’ words. I want to use the wise words which soothe and heal; which comfort and encourage; which try to put the best interpretation on any action. ☻SLIDE : THE TONGUE CAN GET US AND OTHERS INTO A LOT OF TROUBLE. I don’t think I need to spend much time here. We all understand this. How many would be willing to admit that your tongue has gotten you in trouble? Raise hands. ☻SLIDE : Prov 18:7: A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul. ☻SLIDE : Prov 18:6: A fool's lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating. ☻SLIDE : Prov 6:2-3: if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, 3 then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor! ☻SLIDE : Prov 11:9: With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape. Perhaps like me you’ve received a phone call from someone who says, “I want to tell you about so-and-so.” And I’ll say, “Wait a minute. May I quote you?” There’s usually a long pause. And then they’ll say, “Well, I’m not sure that would be a good idea.” “If you’re not interested in putting your name on it, if you’re not interested in being there when we confront the individual, I’m not interested in listening to what you’ve got to say.” ☻SLIDE : THE TONGUE CAN BRING US AND OTHERS A LOT OF BLESSING AND DELIGHT. Spend most time here. I want to use my tongue for health and healing. ☻SLIDE : Prov 25:11: A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Jake Ellis bible teacher: Youth Sunday. Assigned to teach Jake’s men’s class. R’s: roger really runs well. R’s sounded like w’s. Talked too fast: “We can’t understand you.” Studied. Applied: Jake: “I think you have the spiritual gift of teaching. This may be your calling from God for life.” Speech lessons for two years after I came to Tucson. ☻SLIDE : Prov 10:32: The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, Little boy reciting Patrick Henry’s famous statement: “Give me puberty or give me death.” Tact is one of the lost arts of our day, isn’t it? I heard about a man who lacked tact. He just couldn’t say things graciously. He and his wife owned a poodle. They loved this dog. It was the object of their affection. The wife was to take a trip abroad and the first day away she made it to New York. She called home and asked her husband, “How are things?” He said, “The dog’s dead!” She was devastated. After collecting her thoughts, she asked, “Why do you do that? Why can’t you be more tactful?” He said, “Well, what do you want me to say? The dog died.” She said, “Well, you can give it to me in stages. For example, you could say when I call you from New York, ‘The dog’s on the roof.’ And when I get to London and call, you could tell me, ‘Honey, the dog fell off the roof.’ When I call you from Paris, you could add, ‘Honey, the dog had to be taken to the vet. In fact, he’s in the hospital, not doing well.’ Finally, when I call you from Rome, you might say, ‘Honey, brace yourself. Our dog died.’ I could handle that.” The husband paused and said, “Oh, I see. I understand. I’ll do better.” Then she asked, “By the way, how’s mother?” He said, “She’s on the roof.” We are talking about what is fitting. When a woman asks, “Do I look fat?” The immediate response is, “No.” That is automatic. When she asks, “How do I look in my new outfit?” Never say, “Who let the dogs out?” That would not be fitting. But what if she does look fat? What if the outfit is awful? What do you say? ☻SLIDE : Robert Brault: “Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true.” ☻SLIDE : Prov 12:25: An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up. In a country church in a small village an altar boy serving the priest at Sunday mass accidentally dropped the cruet of wine (anxious moment!). The village priest struck the altar boy sharply on the cheek and in a gruff voice said, “Leave the altar and don’t ever come back.” That boy grew up to become Marshall Tito, the communist dictator of Yugoslavia throughout the years of the cold war. In the cathedral of a large city an altar boy serving the priest at Sunday mass accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. With a warm twinkle in his eye, the Bishop gently whispered, “Some day you will be a priest.” That boy grew up to become Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Many proverbs giving advice on how to use the tongue wisely and well. ☻SLIDE : Prov 15:1: A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. is like a kiss on the lips. ☻SLIDE : Prov 28:23: He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue. ☻SLIDE : Prov 15:4: The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life. A few months after moving to a small town, a woman complained to her neighbor about the poor service at the drug store. Hoped that the neighbors would tell the owner of the drug store. Next time the woman was in the store, the druggist greeted her with a smile. How happy he was to see her. Hoped she liked the town. Please tell him if there is anything that he could do to help her and her husband get settled. Then promptly filled her order. Later told her neighbor, “I suppose you told the druggist how poor I thought his service was.” “Well, no,” she replied. “I hope you don’t mind, but I told him that you were amazed at how he’d built up his little store and that you thought it was one of the best drug stores that you had ever seen.” ☻SLIDE : One reason a dog has so many friends is that it spends more time wagging its tail than wagging its tongue. ☻SLIDE : USE THE TONGUE WISELY. CONTROL IT WELL. The reason God gave us two ears and one mouth is to remind us to listen twice as much as we talk. ☻SLIDE : Usually the first screw that gets loose in a person’s head is the one that controls the tongue. “I seldom feel sorry for the things I do not say.” ☻SLIDE : Prov 17:28: Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps his mouth shut, and discerning if he holds his tongue. ☻SLIDE : Prov 13:3: He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. ☻SLIDE : Prov 10:19: When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. ☻SLIDE : There are two kinds of people who don’t say much: those who are quiet and those who talk a lot. ☻SLIDE : “Empty trucks make the most noise.” The night Jessie was born I was sitting torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God’s dealings and why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly, he said things I knew were true. I was unmoved, except to wish he would go away. He finally did. Another came and sat beside me. He didn’t talk. He didn’t ask leading questions. He just sat beside me for over an hour, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply and left. I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go. ☻SLIDE : Ephesians 4:29: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Explain Ephesians 4:29. Sums up the proverbs. ☻SLIDE : Prov 10:13: Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, Some years ago Alexander Woolcott described a scene in a New York City hospital where a grief-stricken mother sat in a hospital lounge in stunned silence, tears streaming down her cheeks. She had just lost her only child and she was gazing blindly into space as the chief nurse tried to talk to her. “Did you notice, Mrs. Norris, the shabby little boy sitting in the hall just next to your daughter’s room?” No, she hadn’t noticed. “There’s a case. That little boy’s mother is a French woman who was brought in one week ago by ambulance from their shabby one-room apartment where they lived since they immigrated to this country less than three weeks ago. They lost all their people in the old country and knew nobody here. “The two only had each other. Every day that lad has come here and sat there from sun up to sun down in the vain hope that his mother would awaken and speak to him. Now he has no home at all.” Mrs. Norris was listening now. So, the nurse went on. “Fifteen minutes ago his mother died, dropped like a pebble off into the boundless ocean, and now it is my duty to go out and tell that little seven-year-old fellow that he is all alone in the world.” The head nurse paused and then said to Mrs. Norris, “I don’t suppose,” she said, hesitantly, “I don’t suppose that you would go out and tell him for me.” Woolcott said that what happened in the next few moments was something that he would remember forever. Mrs. Norris stood up, dried her tears, went out and put her arms around the boy and took that homeless child to her childless home—and in the darkness, they became lights for each other. "Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning."

Jude 20-23 [MUSIC PLAYING] Are you making any predictions? I'll take on the campaign. You're backing the champion? Yeah. You better believe it. Good morning. Hey, today's a very special day. It is my daughter in law's birthday. Jenny, I'm going to embarrass you again. You got to come out. Got to come out again. Look, she's working back on the platform. 35 years ago she was born. I shouldn't tell-- Yeah. You shouldn't be telling me. This-- I shouldn't be telling your age. Yeah. But I did. I can't I can't take that back. I like to believe I stopped aging at 30. Oh, you look fabulous. Are you kidding? You look great. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jenay. Happy birthday to you. Thank you. Thank you for marrying my son. Thank you for those two great grandkids that are awesome. Would you turn in your Bibles please. Thank you for indulging me on that. We turn in to your Bibles to the book of Jude. Jude is a short little book right before the Book of Revelation. Has one chapter. We've been working our way through that book in this series called fight for the house. Falling down is a part of life. Every human being does it when they're learning how to walk. But falling down can be dangerous. You can get injured. You could become disabled. And believe it or not, a good number of people have died in just falling. According to the World Health Organization falling is the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide. According to their estimations, 600 and 84,000 people die every year from falling. That's mostly in low income and middle income countries. Age is a factor. Unattended children is another factor. Poor working conditions is another one. And lack of regulation, safety regulations in place. Old age is especially, dangerous. One out of four, elderly people fall down every year. And less than half of them, ever tell their doctor that they did. Now, a number of these people become hospitalized. It's estimated that 800,000 people a year are hospitalized from injuries like a hip, fracture or a head injury, due to a fall. Several years ago I went to go visit my mom. She was in her 80s at the time. I drove up to her house in California. Get out. I'm walking toward the front door and I hear a voice above me calling from above. I knew it's not an angel. I know it was not God because it sounded an awful lot like my mother. But I was astonished that I would hear my mom's voice from above. So I look up and on top of the roof, is my mom. And I said, "Mom first of all, you're a nurse. So you know better. This is not something you should be doing." She goes, "Oh, I know. But something broke with the air conditioner." and I'm thinking what, and you are suddenly an air conditioning repair person? In your 80s you've become that? I mean, how does that work? So I said you come down. And I made her promise me, you will never do that again. That's dangerous. Now just as certain conditions make falling down easier physically, I think that there are certain conditions that make falling away spiritually easier. And I would even say that the church today is more susceptible than ever before to people falling away. And I'll lay that at the feet of church leadership, pulpits pastors. I think that there is an enormous amount of biblical ignorance. Not just culturally, but I mean in the church, that there is a biblical illiteracy even. If you were to compare the average sermon today, with the average sermon say 100 years ago, you'd find it a massive difference. If you were to compare a Christian book written today by a Christian author, Christian pastor leader, with a book written hundreds years ago, you would see a huge difference for a lot of reasons. If you were to compare a Christian seminar or conference to one that was done a century ago again, you would see a marked difference. What has happened is Bible teaching has been dumbed down. And it has been made shallow. It has become oversimplified. It has been reduced to slogans. And why is that? Well, for a number of reasons, and I'm not here to tell you all those reasons. But I think Christian leaders think that people just don't have it in them to understand the depth of doctrine and what the Bible really has to say. So since they have a short attention span, let me just pander to that short attention span. Or maybe my audience doesn't truly believe or they're just not as interested. So I will dumb it down. And then the subject of so many sermons is anemic. It's often about successful living, or self-esteem, or a number of felt needs, or cultural fads. In fact, let's be honest, sermons have become sermonettes. And last time I checked, sermonettes are for a Christian acts. We need the real deal. We need the Bible truth full strength holding nothing back. But today, discernment isn't really important depth. Really is an important doctrine really is an important. What's important is dazzle. So sometime ago, one of my associate pastors was driving me to the airport. Brian, you were the pastor. Thank you for taking me that day to the airport. So I had to catch a flight to go to Canada to speak. And Brian asked me a question which goes, how many pastors under the age of 40 Or he put it this way "can you name five pastors under the age of 40 who are Bible expositor." And I got to admit I was flummoxed. I just like that word. I was flummoxed. And I did know how to answer. I uttered and I named one and then two. And I said, "That's an interesting question. Why do you ask that" because well, actually, it's a question that was asked by one of our School of ministry students. She said "Can you name five pastors under the age of 40, because I'm a millennial. Can you name five pastors under the age of 40 who are Bible expositor." And she had written that on her Facebook page. And she wrote this, "we're done with Glam Rock liturgy, and preaching for pizzazz that masks the lack of biblical preaching. We want our souls fed, not our emotions tickled. And I thought bravo, for her. That's such a great sentiment to say. What she is saying is, we don't want the show. We want to know. There's things we want to know about, teach us that. Well, that takes us to the book of Jude and in verse 20, Jude says, "but you, beloved, building yourselves up on the most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some, have compassion making a distinction. But others save with fear pulling them out of the fire. Hating even the garment defiled by the flesh." You will note how verse 20 begins. It begins with a shift. He's been talking about them, about these people, those guys, those spots, in your love face. Those water-less clouds. Those false teachers. Those apostates. The whole book. This short little book has been filled with Jude's description of them. But in verse 20 he pivots and he says "but you beloved." So he turns away from them and he turns to us. They may be falling, you should be standing. And saw what he does in these short verses. And Jude was a master at using the economy of words to give us a bulwark of strong principles. We have some ingredients of how to stand when others are falling. When you see people falling from the faith, falling around you, how do you stand? Well, there are a few ingredients I want to draw your attention to them. First, is keep building your faith. If people are destroying the faith of others, if people are falling from the faith, then the solution for us is to be building up our own faith. That's what the beginning of verse 20 is all about, "But you beloved, building yourselves up and your most holy faith." Now, remember how Jude begins this letter. He sat down and he wanted to write a sweet little note of encouragement. He said, "I wanted to write to you about our common salvation. But I found it necessary to exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith, once for all delivered to the Saints." Conten means, put up a good fight for the faith. And he calls it, that faith. And that term is not referring to your personal faith. It's not your believing subjectively. It's that faith. Objectively, it's the bulk of Christian doctrine, Christian belief. It's what's called in Acts 2:42, the Apostles' doctrine. So the faith are all those basic principles that we hold as truth. That's the faith. So with that in mind, he says, "building yourselves up on your most holy faith" The faith has become your personal faith. And that is because, so many people were abandoning the faith. They were leaving the faith. We told you how Paul wrote to Timothy and said, "The spirit expressly says, that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith. Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines taught by demons." So if people are leaving the faith, then you should be loving the faith. If people are deserting the faith, and you should be determined in your faith. If people are going to be forsaking the faith in you then I need to be fortifying our faith. In other words, if they're going to tear theirs down, we need to be building ours up. That's the antidote to their falling. I like this. Anything left to itself just goes to ruin. It's like part of life. It's the second law of thermodynamics. Things tend toward disintegration, deterioration. Take your house for instance, you buy a house, Oh, goody. Yeah. Oh, goody. But you're going to have to patch the roof, eventually. Or put a new one on, eventually. You're going to have to address stuccoed deterioration on the outside, eventually. You're going to have to deal with that heater or air conditioning, eventually. Right? There's a number of things that take regular maintenance. So to with our spiritual life. Our spiritual life requires maintenance. Any life left to itself, will fall apart. So we need to be building it up. There's a parallel passage to this found in the book of Peter, second Peter. In fact, second Peter and Jude some of the wording of both of those letters, is almost identical. But even where it's not identical, some of the principles are the same. And this idea of building up your faith is part of second Peter. Second Peter chapter one Peter says, "also for this very reason giving all diligence listen add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge. In to knowledge self-control. And to self-control perseverance. And to perseverance godliness. brotherly kindness. And the brotherly kindness love." And then he says, "If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." So that's an interesting way of putting it. Giving all diligence means, exerting yourself. Do you realize that Christian growth is not Automatic? It has to be intentional. If you think you can fall back on that little saying, that just sounds so good, but it happens to be poor advice. Let go. And let God. It's not going to work. You don't let go. You build up. You add to your faith. Exerting all effort, add to your faith, virtue, et cetera. The Chinese church the church used to have a saying very, very simple but profound saying. And the saying was this, "No Bible. No breakfast." What, no Bible, no breakfast. What do you mean? How am I going to live? Read your Bible. Then eat breakfast. No Bible no breakfast. I just thought that's interesting. I think what they're doing is summing up what Job said in his book, where job said, "I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food" But I read that, no Bible no breakfast, and I thought, boy, if we followed that in America. How many of us would go hungry or at least lose a lot of weight? So the question is this, are you growing up? Are you growing strong? Or are you just growing old? Because spiritual growth is not always proportional to physical age. I wish I could say it was. I wish I could say that a person once they're a Christian, give it enough time, they're going to become mature. But you know you can be an old baby. Charles Spurgeon said, "in the Church of God, there are children who are 70 years old. Yes, little children displaying all the infirmities of declining years. One would not like to say, of a man of 80 that he is scarcely cut his wisdom teeth. And yet there are such. On the other hand, there are fathers in the church wives, stable, instructed, who are comparatively young men. The Lord can cause his people to grow rapidly and far outstrip their years." So build yourselves up. Don't settle for junk food. Don't allow yourself to be starved to death spiritually. And I'm just going to recommend this to you but-- I'm going to recommend that you start coming to our Wednesday night Bible study. I mean, it's great to come to Sunday morning or Saturday or whatever. But on Wednesday night, we're able to go through every verse, of every chapter, of every book, of the Bible. Now eventually, it won't happen all at once, obviously. But we do that. We'll go through a chapter or two. And we have a longer time. And we can go deeper. And we can go longer. And give a person what Paul called the whole counsel of God. Not just a snippet of a Bible verse here and there. But the whole counsel of God. So keep that in mind. But that's the first ingredient. Keep building your faith. The second ingredient is keep praying with fervor. Back to verse 20, "but you beloved, building yourselves up on the most holy faith, your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit." You probably by now know that the word of God, reading the word building yourselves up in the most holy faith and prayer, go together because it completes the cycle of communication in this relationship we have with God. When you read the Bible, that is God speaking to you. When you pray, that is you speaking to God. And you need both to balance out your spiritual life. So if all I do is read and not pray, I'll have a lot of light but no heat. If all I do is pray but not read, I'll have a lot of heat but no light. So to get both light and heat, I need to read the word and pray. Now I'm going to bring up a question because it's not often asked but these are questions I have asked, why pray? I mean if God already knows my needs any way, in advance he knows everything I need. I believe he does. And he's a good Father. Why has he set this relationship with him up where it requires prayer? It's almost like he's waiting or going, I haven't heard a prayer yet. So what's up with that? Why prayer? Why is it so important? Why make a big deal out of it? I'll give you one word to answer that question, dependence. God likes dependence. God loves dependence. God loves trust. God loves to be asked. In fact, I'll go a step further, God is attracted to need. I'll even go a step further, God is attracted to weakness. Oh, I feel so week. God's attracted to that. The Bible says, God has chosen the foolish things of this world. He's chosen the weak things of this world. And then Paul the apostle when he asked God to heal them of something he said, "I prayed three times. And the Lord said, my grace is enough for you." But then he said, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. God is attracted to weakness. I remember hearing a story from an old play that became a stage play, that became a movie. I think it was called The Barretts of Wimple Street. I don't ever expect you to remember that or even know what that is. But it's about Robert Browning the author, and his wife, and the relationship they had. And she was growing weaker over time. And she felt so embarrassed by that. And finally, the husband said to the wife, "Sweetheart, don't you realize that my strength needs your weakness just as much as your weakness needs my strength." And I thought, boy that captures the heart of God when it comes to prayer. God loves our dependence. He loves our need. He loves and is attracted to our weakness. And so he says, ask, pray. By the way, I need to say that God is not attracted to self-sufficiency. He is not attracted to, no I can do this. God has not attracted the pride. In fact, do you know God resists the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. So build yourselves up on your most holy faith and pray. Read the word. Here from God. And talk to God. You've heard me talk over the years about Billy Sunday. He was an evangelist in fact, he was a revivalist in the classic sense of the word. He was also before that a professional baseball player in America. He became a believer and one of his early mentors. A friend said to him, William, that's what he called Billy Sunday, "William there are three simple rules that you should practice. If you do no one will ever be able to write the word backslider after your name." He said, "take 15 minutes a day to let God talk to you. Take 15 minutes for you to talk to him. And spend 15 minutes a day, telling others about the Savior." Said, "If you do that, you will never be a backslider." Billy Sunday made that the practice of his life. Every day, he's going to hear from God. Every day, he's going to talk to God in prayer. And every day, he would tell somebody about the Savior. He became an incredible evangelist, with that in mind. So he says, "building yourselves up in the most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Spirit. By the way, what does that mean, praying in the Holy Spirit. Some will say, well, it must mean praying with tongues. Well, maybe. But I don't think so. I think it's just simpler than that. And that would not be the understood meaning. I'll tell you what I think it means. Go back to verse 19. The verse right before that, speaking about apostates falling away, false teachers. "These are sensual persons, who caused divisions, not having what? They don't have the Holy Spirit. They're unsaved. They're unregenerate. The Holy Spirit is not in them. But you beloved building yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit" that the Holy Spirit lives in you. And it's simply a way of saying, let the Holy Spirit direct you when you talk to him. He'll guide you. He'll direct you. It'll be in accordance with his will. A lot of times people say, well Skip, how can I pray for you? And I think I probably frustrate them when I say, praise the Lord leads you. And they don't want to hear that. They want to hear some specific thing that I'm dealing with. But I just say you know what the Lord will speak to you. Maybe something I need to be prayed for. But I don't know what that is so just as the Lord leads do that. Now why am that general? Here's why. The purpose of prayer is not to get my will done in heaven. The purpose of prayer is to get God's will done on Earth. That's why Jesus said, when you pray, say our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom coming. Your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. So pray. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Let me give you a third ingredient. And that is keep living in favor. Keep living in favor. Go to verse 21. "Keep yourselves in the love of God." This happens to be one of my favorite verses in all of the New Testament. And probably, my favorite verse in the book of Jude. "Keep yourselves in the love of God." What does that mean. How do I keep myself in the love of God? I'll tell you what it doesn't mean he's not saying that your salvation depends on your effort. He is not saying keep yourself saved, because you cant. You didn't save you. And you don't keep yourself that way. God gives. Right? It's his sovereign work. That's what a lot of the scripture, re-contradict a lot of the Book of Jude. Verse one says we are preserved by Jesus Christ. Verse 24, "now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you faultless". So he's not saying keep yourself saved. Nor is he saying keep yourself in a place where God can love you. I have people all the time saying, I don't know how God can love me. And I'm thinking, I don't know how he can love you either, because I don't know how he can love me. But I've gotten past that so long ago. I've discovered that God loves the unlovable. It's not like, well, I got to do something so God can love me. He is not saying keep yourself in a place where God can love you, because he loved us when we were at our worst. Paul said, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So what does it mean keep yourself in the love of God? Simply this, keep yourself in a place where you are experiencing the love of God. Keep yourself in a place where you are enjoying the love of God. That's what it means. The living Bible renders this verse, stay always within the boundaries where the love of God can reach and bless you. If you were to go out in the sun, and I was just out in the sun with some of you before the service enjoying the sunshine, it's a beautiful sunny day out. It's not like yesterday, with the wind and crazy. And it's just it's gorgeous. And if you go outside and the sun is shining, and you are keeping yourself in the sunshine, right? Do you know that you can be in the sun, but not experience or enjoy the sun? He said come on, once you step outside, you're in the sunlight. How do you keep yourself from enjoying it? Well, I'm glad you asked. You could, if you wanted to carry one of these with you. Right? I don't know why you would on a day like this, but the sun's out. And you could do this. Come on, you need to get a new one. Oh, there you go. OK. So I'm in the sun but I'm not feeling it. In fact, that breeze feels a little cold. OK. Well, take your umbrella down, stupid. OK. Oh, Yeah. There it is. That's good. But I don't feel it right now. All right. So I'm in the sun but I'm not keeping myself in the sun. There's an impediment called an umbrella. So it is possible to have God love you but you're not enjoying. You're not experiencing it because something's in the way. I'll give you an example in the scriptures in the upper room when Jesus had, I'll give you this example. Are twirling my umbrella because it's just so fun to do. This is just fun. I've seen this in the movies. And the upper room, there were a couple of disciples. There were 12 of them. But there were two of them right next to Jesus. One on either side of him one was named John, one was named Judas. Jesus love John. And Jesus love Judas. John was keeping himself in that love of Jesus. Judas was not. John next to Jesus, leaned in leaned his head on the bosom on the breast of Jesus, to be close to his heart. He was keeping himself in the love. Judas was in that room next to Jesus with an umbrella. He was not keeping himself. In fact, he was plotting how he was going to leave and lay his hand on Jesus, to betray him to the Roman government. Jesus loved them both. One was keeping himself in the love of God. One was not keeping himself in the love of God. So simple thought be occupied. Or even preoccupied with the thought that God loves you. Let that thought dominate your life. Remind yourself of that frequently, God loves me. I'm his beloved. I'm his treasure. He loves me. Keep yourself in the love of God. One way to do that is to respond in obedience to what he said, to obey him. You'll find that when you live to please God. You are more pleased with yourself, and when you live to please yourself. In that upper room Jesus said a number of things. But one of the things he said was this, "As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Here it is abide in my love. Continue to stay plugged in to my love. Biden my love, if you keep my commandments. You will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments. And Biden his love". So an easy way to keep yourself. And the love of God isn't just to remind yourself, God loves me. God loves me. God loves me. But you know what, when God tells me to do something when I find a principle in the scripture, I'm going to do it. I'm going to obey it. I'm going to make that a quick response. That's one good way to keep yourself in the love of God. Let me give you a fourth ingredient, I keep expecting the future. Keep expecting. Or keep anticipating the future. Now look in verse 21 again "keep yourself in the love of God." Here, it is "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Almost every commentator, every Bible scholar that treats this verse says, without a doubt, Judas referring to the coming of Jesus Christ, for his Saints for his believers. We are told to look forward to his coming, which by the way, is one of the great themes in the New Testament. So many of the books of the New Testament have that as its theme. The word looking for, means to look earnestly for or to live with expectation for. And it describes an eager anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ. We are looking for Jesus to come. Now when you hear that, when somebody says to you Jesus is coming soon, I wonder how you hear that. I wonder what you think about that. I wonder if you are a little bit fearful. And somebody says Jesus is coming and you think, he is? Why? What do I do wrong? Like when I was a kid, my mom would say, your dad will be home soon. It's like Woo. It's like, I'll straighten up. Right? Because that meant something to me. It meant I'm going to face judgment for what I did with my mom. If on the other hand you hear Jesus is coming in you go, Oh, Yeah. I can't wait. That's a good indication that you're keeping yourself in the love of God. And part of that is an eager anticipation, an eager expectation for him to come. Sadly the teaching on Jesus return is also silent in many churches today. It used to be taught a lot more. Second coming rapture, millennial kingdom, a lot of these eschatological themes are frequently taught in churches. But it seems that more and more today, churches are either confused about eschatology. Or pastors can't even pronounce the word eschatology. Or they just decide to remain silent on this subject that is spoken about so often in scripture. I was invited to speak at a church back East. And one of the assistant pastors ministry leaders said that I should talk about something related to end time events. I said, I'd love to do that. So much of the Bible is about that. It would be a great word of encouragement. So I was preparing to do that. That day I got a call from the pastor who said don't talk on that. He said my church is not ready to hear that. I said, wait a minute, you've been doing this 11 years. They're not ready yet after 11 years? I mean Paul the apostle was talking about that three weeks in after he planted the Thessalonians church. And he thought they were ready to hear it. But OK. I mean, this is your gig. This is due before the Lord. I won't talk. There's a number of other subjects I can talk about that are biblical subjects. But I found that interesting. Don't talk on that. Be silent on that. Do you realize that all the historical church creeds, the Orthodox Church creeds that talk about what the church believes in. All of the creeds include an emphasis on the second coming. We're waiting for him to come back. We're looking for him to return. And the reason for that is the church fathers understood that is an emphasis that is a biblical emphasis. They understood that roughly 1,845 times, that's a lot of times in the Bible, it talks about, predicts, or alludes to the second coming of Jesus. So naturally, you would think Jude would say, listen, you want to stay strong? You want to keep from falling? You stay in the world. You stay praying. You keep yourself in a place where you're enjoying God's love. And you are living in anticipation and expectation for him to return. Listen to the words of Alexander McLaren, one of my favorite Scottish preachers. He said, "The primitive church thought more about the second coming of Jesus Christ and about death or about heaven. They were not looking for a cleft in the ground called a grave. But for a cleavage in the sky called glory. They were not watching for the Undertaker but for the upper taker." He nailed it. That's right. Now what I want you to notice in verse 21 is how he talks about waiting for the return of Christ. He calls it a mercy. Did you notice that? Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. So waiting for Jesus to return is waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why does he call it that? Well, think about it. The rapture of the church is one of the most merciful things God could do. To say I'm going to snatch believers up before a time of judgment on the Earth, the great tribulation period. That is like the pinnacle, the apotheosis, the consummating expression of mercy. By the way, just in case you wonder this, because I get unbelievers who say, why do you Christians always look for signs? You're always looking at signs? COVID-19 happens, you go, is this a sign for Jesus coming back? Or what's happening in Israel in the Middle East? This must be a sign. It's because the Bible conditions us to look at life that way, because he said he's coming. And he said, there's a whole list of signs that are going to happen. So naturally, we're going to start interpreting all the headlines that happen around us as, well, does that fit the biblical narrative? Is that a sign of his coming? That's part of the eager anticipation. We want to know what time it is and see if that fits in. By the way, something else. To live this way is one of the most purifying ways to live. You see, if you consider the possibility that Jesus Christ could come before I say Amen at the end of this sermon, you're going to live a different way. You're going to be pure. John said whoever has this hope, the hope of his coming, keeps himself pure just as he is pure. Though it is like my mom saying, your dad will be home soon. OK. I'll smile. I'll be good. I'll do it. I mean, there's something to be said for living in the fear of the Lord, because Jesus is going to come into very, very purifying motivation. So keep building your faith. Keep praying with fervor. Keep living in favor. Keep expecting the future. I want to close on a final ingredient, keep reaching the faithless. I'll try to make this quick. Look at the last two verses "And on some have compassion making a difference. But others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh." You know what he's talking about here? The people he's been talking about the whole book, the apostates. People who have fallen away. The defectors. The detractors. The backsliders. The people who don't want anything to do with it or perhaps are still part of the congregation. But are dug in. He's talking about them. And he's saying by these two verses, don't completely write them off. It's the easiest thing to do, shake your hands up and wipe the dust off your feet and say, they're goners. Forget them. Let them go. And he's saying not so fast. Don't dismiss them. Those who pose the greatest menace to the church can often become the greatest mission of the church. Let's think about how to rescue them back. Bring them back. Listen to James chapter five "Brethren if anyone among you wanders from the truth and somebody turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from error, the error of his way will save his soul from death. And cover a multitude of sins." So we don't write them off. We do something with. And what do we do with them? Well, it depends on the condition of their heart. Are they weak, and failing, and doubtful. Or are they just their heels are dug in. And they're obstinate. And they're just rebellious. It depends. And he seems to be talking about both kinds in these two verses. So verse 22 he's referring to the wavering, the doubting. Verse 22 "on some, have compassion making a difference or a distinction." These are people who are saved but not secure. They're converted but they're not confident. They are what Peter calls in second Peter chapter two, unstable souls. They are filled with doubt. They're filled with confusion. And the reason that they're even waffling, and wavering, and doubting, is because they've been attacked by wolves. And wolves attack sheep just like false teachers attack weak Christians, weak vacillating. Doubtful Christians are easy prey. So what do we do with those people who are unstable? Well, we don't antagonize them. We don't criticize them. We evangelize them. We don't say come on you wimp. Quit being a wimp. Men up. Follow Jesus. Now you want to have compassion on them because your compassion will make the Jesus you proclaim that much more attractive. And the false teachers will lose that attraction. So in some have compassion making a distinction. And a good example of this Jesus. Jesus on one hand, stood up and denounced the Pharisees. Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. I mean, he just unloaded on them. Next chapter he's eating dinner with the Pharisee. The next chapter he's eating lunch with another Pharisee. Another time he's having an evening conversation with another Pharisee. Well, why? Why denounce them as heretical, and wrong, and arrogant, and apostate in Judaism. And yet go hang out with them? For this very reason, and it paid off. Nicodemus was a Pharisee who came to believe in Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea was a Pharisee who came to believe in Jesus, because of the compassion shown to them by Jesus himself. But then, there's verse 23. And this isn't the wavering. This speaks of the wandering one. This is a person who's left the fellowship and are a part of that apostate group already, says, "but others say with fear pulling them, or yanking them, seizing them out of the fire. Hating even the garment defiled by the flesh." You remember what the angels did in Sodom and Gomorrah with lot, remember said, get out of town. He's lingering. He's going to OK. See you guys. God bless you guys. And so an angel took him by the hand and led him out of town before that fire fell. And so was some people, you're a compassionate. With other people, you're confronting. To some people you are soft. With others who are more severe. It's like dude your house is burning, you are like, get out. And the rebuke is stronger. So it depends on the heart. But here's the bottom line. It's not falling into water that drowns a person. It's lying in it. It's staying in it. It's not falling into sin but lying in sin that will destroy the soul. So if you have fallen, you can get up. And the antidote to your falling, weather you just sort of weak and vacillating falling a little bit and doubting, that's OK. Or you've taken several steps away from God. I don't know about this. I don't know if I believe in this. I'll keep coming. But I don't-- The solution to falling is following. I challenge you today to turn around, the Bible calls that repentance, and follow the Savior. Bring to him your doubts. Bring to him your fears. Bring to him your rebellion. Confess that to him. Let him deal with it. He can handle it. He's handled a lot of people like you and I, before. Give him your life. Commit your life to Him today. Or recommits your life to Him today. Father thank you for Jude's candor, his honesty. And how he with just a few words could say, so much. And have such great meaning. What a timely letter this was to the church that read it, 2000 years ago. And what a timely message it is for us today. For we find that conditions for falling away, were never better than they are today. Lord, I pray that you would raise up faithful men and women, who proclaim, and teach, and instruct, and disciple. But Father, I pray that you would send your Holy Spirit to do that work of convicting, and drawing, and convincing, and showing your compassionate love and plan, for those who have dug their heels in. For others who have just walked away a little bit, because they're doubting, and struggling, and fearful Lord, I pray that they would feel all of them. Would feel compelled by your great love for them. We never want to dismiss anyone out of hand as being beyond reach or beyond salvation. No matter what their condition, only the true depth of the heart no matter what that person is saying to us. Or what that person is posting that we read. We don't know the heart. You do. More than that, you created the heart. More than that, you can work in a heart. More than that, you can save a soul. And we pray that you would save the souls of people whose names are already coming to mind sons, and daughters, and neighbors, and parents, friends, colleagues. Do your work in their lives. Lord, we pray for them now. And we pray for anybody who is in this room, who has taken a step away from you or maybe never has even come to you in honesty, or in legitimacy, and authenticity. They've never made a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you would do a work today. Bringing some into your kingdom. As we are about to close a service, in the last couple of minutes, if you've never given your life to Jesus, notice how I phrased that. I didn't say if you've never come to church before. You may have come to church your whole life. If you've never given your life to Jesus. If you've never personally surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus Christ control. If you are willing to do that today. If you're willing to believe that he died for your sins. That he can empower you to live a life for him. Or if you've fallen away and taken steps, whether in doubt or in rebellion. But you are willing today, to turn back to him. And to recommit to him. If any of that describes you at all and you are willing to make a decision to follow Jesus now, with our heads bowed, I want you to raise your hand up. Raise it up in the air so I can see your hand. Keep it up for just a moment. God bless you in the back and in the front. A couple of you in the middle. Raise your hand up. Over here to my right, on the side, right in the middle in the ail. Way in the back on my right. Anybody else? Raise that hand up. Raise it up high. If you're outside, raise your hand up. There's a pastor out there who will give you a shout out. Father, for all these lives, I pray special strength, special fortitude, to do what is right. To live what is right. I pray, Lord, that you would break through the barrier of whatever emotional baggage they might have. Let them feel, let them know in the depth of their being that you love them. That they are so precious to you. If they have felt separated or felt anxiety, I pray that peace would flood over their heart. In Jesus' name Amen. I'm going to ask all the stand we're going to sing a final song. And if you raise your hand, no matter where you were sitting, now standing, I'm going to ask as we sing this final song for you. Get up and find the nearest aisle. And come walk that aisle. And stand right up here. I'm going to lead you in a prayer, to make Jesus, your Lord and Savior. This is the best part of the service. We get to see Byrd. We get to celebrate God's work in you. You raise your hand, come on down and just make this public. Make it public. Make it real. Make it yours. Some of you away in the back, on the sides, come to the doors of the family room. Come down the balcony steps. Just come on all the way up to the front. Follow the courageous steps of this young man. How are you doing? What's your name? Jacob Jacob. God bless you. Come on up. Let's get around these folks. Come on. Yeah. Congratulations. So good. We like to party here. And all the angels in heaven party when one person says, yes to Jesus. When a sinner says yes to Jesus. I realize that's a free flowing translation, don't actually say they party down. But that's how I read it. They rejoice. And that's what we're doing. So-- Listen, real quickly. This is going to take long. Anyone else, if you know you need to do this. There's a spot here for you. That's great. That's good. Come on now. OK. Now those of you who have come forward, I'm going to lead you now in a prayer. I'm going to pray out loud. I'm going to ask you to pray out loud, after me. Say these words. But say them from your heart. Mean them as you say them to God. OK. Say Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe he died on a cross. I believe he rose from the dead. And I believe he's coming again. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to follow him as my Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. Congratulations. This is Pastor Antonio. What a good looking guy he is, right Tamara? That's his wife. So would you follow pastor Antonio, right over here with some of our team members. We just want to spend a couple of minutes, give you some stuff. God bless you guys. We hope you enjoyed this special service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how this message impacted you. Email us at mystory@CalvaryNM.church . And just a reminder, you can support this ministry with a financial gift at Calvary.churchNM.church/give . Thank you for joining us for this teaching from Calvary Church

MESSAGE SUMMARY Hiram Johnson said, "The first casualty in war is truth." God’s people have been in a cosmic battle since the fall. Satan’s first allegation against truth was in Genesis 3:1: "Has God indeed said...?" Deception regarding truth is Satan's primary occupation. We now live in what might be dubbed a post-truth culture wherein the very idea of absolute truth is considered archaic and even offensive. In this series, we will look to the "Scripture of Truth" (Daniel 10:21) to reinforce our foundation and engender biblical literacy. Here at the end of Paul's life, he could foresee the abandonment of truth, and he gave Timothy this antidote: "Preach the Word!" STUDY GUIDE Connect Recap Notes: June 14, 2020 Speaker: Skip Heitzig Teaching: "Seeing Truth Clearly" Text: 2 Timothy 4:1-8 PATH Hiram Johnson said, "The first casualty in war is truth." God's people have been in a cosmic battle since the fall. Satan's first allegation against truth was in Genesis 3:1: "Has God indeed said...?" Deception regarding truth is Satan's primary occupation. We now live in what might be dubbed a post-truth culture wherein the very idea of absolute truth is considered archaic and even offensive. In this series, Pastor Skip looks to the "Scripture of Truth" (Daniel 10:21) to reinforce our foundation and engender biblical literacy. Here at the end of Paul's life, he could foresee the abandonment of truth, and he gave Timothy this antidote: "Preach the Word!" I. Be Concerned about Knowing the Truth (vv. 1-2) II. Be Cautious about Neglecting the Truth (vv. 3-4) III. Be Careful about Nurturing the Truth (vv. 5-8) Points Be Concerned about Knowing the Truth (vv. 1-2) • The measurement doctors use to indicate normal vision is 20/20, but as we age, our vision typically changes. Spiritual vision can also change due to several factors which produce hazy vision and even blindness (see 2 Peter 1:8-9, NLT; John 9:39-41). • Spiritual blindness is a metaphor for the unwillingness or inability to see spiritual truth; spiritual acuity belongs to those that go to Jesus for help. Our culture is in crisis as cynical people question truth, as Pilate did (see John 18:38). • Paul directed Timothy on how to combat apostasy in the church. Satan has always used non truth as a tactic (see Genesis 3:1). • The first criterion for spiritual vision is a concern for knowing spiritual truth. Paul mentioned "the word" (v. 2), "teaching" (v. 2), "sound doctrine" (v. 3), and "the truth" (v. 4). Paul was calling Timothy to teach the Word—sound doctrine and the truth. • Paul mentioned truth eleven times throughout 1 and 2 Timothy. Christians are people of the truth, because Jesus is "the truth" (John 14:6). Truth is tied to doctrine—which in its simplest form means strong biblical teaching. As Christians we are accountable for our knowledge of biblical truth (see Hosea 4:6; Acts 2:42; 1 Timothy 4:13; Titus 2:1). Be Cautious about Neglecting the Truth (vv. 3-4) • Our culture has largely rejected truth for several reasons: o Sensationalism is more important than fact (e.g., modern journalism). o Truth is considered personal and is therefore variable; personal truth can shift depending on each situation. • However, we know that something is not true when it doesn't correspond to reality or human experience, and when it isn't verifiable. • If someone says, "there's no absolute truth," they are making an absolute statement, which is a self-contradictory and self-defeating declaration. We might expect this from our culture, but the passage in Timothy was not a warning for unbelievers, but for believers who were turning from the truth. • Christianity is always one generation from extinction, which starts in the pulpit when pastors who don't believe in God (research says that may be up to fifty percent of Protestant ministers) don't preach the full truth of God's Word. In a recent Gallop poll, only twenty-four percent of people believe the Bible is the literal Word of God—the lowest in a forty-year downward trend. • This problem leads to "itching ears" (v. 3) as preachers feed the desire for novelty over a need for truth. God's people are starving because pastors are pandering to itching ears. Be Careful about Nurturing the Truth (vv. 5-8) • Notice the phrase "But you..." (v. 5). Paul was calling Timothy to hold to truth and doctrine, feeding on it for himself then sharing it. • Paul directed Timothy to "preach the word" (v. 2). Preach means "to publicly proclaim." The idea of preaching refers to an imperial messenger who would make a proclamation with authority. Timothy's mission was to preach the truth of the true King—Jesus. • The Greek word for sound is related to hygiene; it's healthy to hear good, biblical teaching. True teaching promotes healing and health. As Christians, this is our calling: believe the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, teach the truth, and live the truth. Practice Connect Up: If God is truth, then Jesus and the Holy Spirit are truth as well. Discuss how the tri unity of God is also a tri-unity of truth using the following verses: • God's Word is truth (see 2 Samuel 7:28); God is truth (see Psalm 31:5); God's works are truth (see Psalm 111:7-8); God's truth is everlasting (see Psalm 117:2); Jesus is "the truth" (John 14:6); the Holy Spirit is the truth (see John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13). Connect In: God is truth, and so is His Word. How are we to walk in the truth using Scripture? Here are some points to discuss: `• Worship: Christians are to worship the Lord in "spirit and truth" (John 4:23). • Love and obey : Christians are to love and obey the truth (Psalm 145:18; Daniel 9:13). • Walk : Christians are called to walk in the truth (2 John 1:4). Connect Out: How would you explain the truth of the Bible to an unbeliever? What makes the Bible trustworthy? Consider the following points: • History: Unlike many religious books, the Bible discusses real people, places, and events. • Geography : The Bible refers to real geographical locations that can be verified. • Archaeology: The trustworthiness of the Bible is solidified with each turn of the spade. • Fulfilled prophecy: God's foreknowledge acts as His stamp of approval on future events. OUTLINE I. Be Concerned about Knowing the Truth (vv. 1-2) II. Be Cautious about Neglecting the Truth (vv. 3-4) III. Be Careful about Nurturing the Truth (vv. 5-8)

Job knows how to handle suffering -- he mourns it and grieves it. Despair and depression are normal human experiences after times of loss and are not contradictory to our faith. Disappointment, disillusionment and discouragement are God-created emotions. Even the godly can be depressed.

R1-1623 ●SLIDE # : Today I want to talk to you about what to do when the storms of life are raging. When your spouse says, “I want a divorce.” When the policeman says to you, “You are under arrest.” When you open the white envelope at work and the pink slip says, “You are no longer needed. Pick up your check and clean out your desk.” When the doctor says, “This is serious. This is life threatening.” When you open the bedroom door in the morning and your teenager is gone—and three days later you still don’t know where they are. ●SLIDE #: And it is like the hurricane has struck with full force—and the boards are flying off the house, and you feel like the glass shards from the exploding window panes are plunging deep into your body; each one penetrating with a snip of pain that you feel will never go away. And when it is over, if it ever is over, you just know that you will be left cut and bleeding—with wounds you wonder will ever heal? How many of you have ever experienced what you might describe as hurricane force winds blowing against your life? I want you to look into the eye of the hurricane—and find peace. ●SLIDE #: In our passage this morning in Revelation 14 I think we would find God saying: “When the storms of live are raging, stand by Me.” The Book of Revelation is a book about the future. It is also a book about today. First , we will apply this passage to the current storms of life. Then , we will examine seven distinct pictures in Revelation 14. This is a stormy passage. I will summarize these seven vignettes with enough background so that we know what the Word of God says about the future. Finally , we will see how these future vignettes give us insight about surviving storms of the present. ●The Storms Of Life Are Raging. ●The Storms Of Life Will Rage In The Future (Revelation 14). ●When The Storms of Life Are Raging These Seven Vignettes Help Us Survive. ●SLIDE #: When you leave here this morning, I want you to have a solid grip on how to survive and even thrive for the storms you’re in—and for the storms you are going to face. Did you know that only one couple in twenty who lose a child are still married five year later? That is a gale-force hurricane. Larry and Nancy survived. Julie and I survived. Our daughter was also named Jessica. ●SLIDE #: In our passage this morning in Revelation 14 I think we would find God saying: “When the storms of live are raging, stand by Me.” The Book of Revelation is a book about the future. It is also a book about today. Glenn and I to revelation 14. Context if you are new to Casas or to Revelation: End Times struggle where Good triumphs over Evil. World-view: Jesus takes the world back again and brings justice and soon to see a time of peace and stability with Him in control. Last 7 years. 3.5 peace. 3.5 Great tribulation with seals, trumpets and bowls. We are in an interlude after trumpets and before bowls of God’s wrath poured and all come to a sudden conclusion at the Battle of Armageddon. Let me show you the storms of the text. There are seven distinct pictures. I will summarize them with enough background so that you and I know what the Word of God says about future days. Then we will bring them home to present days. ●SLIDE #: 144,000 are saved, secure and sold-out to the Lamb (Revelation 14:1-5). ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:1-3: Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:4-5: These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. Representative of Christians, God’s people who sold out to Christ. Picture of salvation: Begin to sing a new song: a whole new way to look at life that no one understands. Picture of full commitment to Christ—did not defile themselves with women=spiritual adultery Fully committed because they refused to take mark in the last chapter. ●SLIDE #: The gospel is proclaimed to all the earth (Revelation 14:6-7). ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:6-7: Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth-- to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water." Become Christian and want to share the gospel with the whole world. ●SLIDE #: The Babylonian system of evil and false religion is declared destroyed (Revelation 14:8). ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:8: A second angel followed and said, "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries." When the storms of life are raging: Evil and false religion have not yet fallen. We have to fight through them. One day they will be obliterated—but not in our present life-time. ●SLIDE #: The beast worshippers in the Kingdom of Evil are eternally doomed (Revelation 14:9-11). ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:9-11: A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." Don’t question why or try to figure it all out to your satisfaction. Trust God for what He said.  He is telling us the way it is—not how we would imagine or like it to be, or what seems to make the most sense. Explain gematria—but don’t’ let laborers get hung up on the numbers. ●SLIDE #: Christ followers who die in the Lord are eternally blessed (Revelation 14:12-13) ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:12-13: This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." Spiritual fathers stop asking why. Jessica Yancey funeral. Good to know she died in the Lord. ●SLIDE #: The harvesting the earth is revealed (Revelation 14:14-16). ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:14-16: I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. ●SLIDE #: The Armageddon winepress of blood is revealed (Revelation 14:17-20). ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:17-18: Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." ●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:19-20: The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. ● SLIDE #: Hiroshima Diary by John Hersy ● SLIDE #: Map of Palestine for 180 miles. ●Your Personal Armageddon is coming. Doesn’t matter if you die in battlefield with bullets or in hospital bed with cancer. It will be your Armageddon. ●SLIDE #: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME TODAY? We Cannot Stand Alone. We Make Connections Or We Won’t Make It At All. When We Receive Jesus Christ As Our Personal Savior We Begin A Process Of Spiritual Growth That Leads To Safety And Security. Selling Out To Christ, At Any Price, Enables Us To Respond Predictably And Without Wavering When the Winds Begin To Blow. Contrary Winds Usually Blow Us To Something Better. ●SLIDE #: You Cannot Stand Alone. Make Connections Or You Won’t Make It At All. ●SLIDE #: Get Tattooed By Jesus Christ. ●SLIDE #: Sell Out To Christ At Any Price So You Will Respond Predictably In Each Storm Of Life. ●SLIDE #: Contrary Winds Will Often Blow You To Something Better. Peace comes with the security. ●Join the 144,000. Make a warm-hearted decision (cold-blooded) to follow Christ at any price. ●Immediately commit yourself to a process spiritual growth to close the gap from where you are to a most intimate relationship with Christ: More intimately you have closed the gap to the spirit-filled the life the more you trust God in every situation. ●Sell out to Christ at any price—so God is on your side. (You are on his side.) Settle the issue so you are not wavering and asking all the Why questions as you try to navigate the hurricane winds. You have to stay focused to survive. ●Don’t’ stand against the gale force winds alone. ●Keep up your hope. Remember that contrary winds sometimes blow you to something better. Blessed to die in the Lord. Man on island with fire out of control. We saw your fire. 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 When the storms of life are raging, stand by me. In the midst of tribulation, stand by me. When you feel so And your friends don’t understand, When the Stand by me When you’re crossing chilly Jordan, stand by me. Don’t go through alone: 144,000 Refuse to take Mark of beast. What is mark of beast? Story of girl in Holland: If I had it all to do over again, I’d do it again for Jesus. Blood up to horses’ bridals. What calamity are you facing. It is going to really get bloody. What is God’s heart here. He wants to save as many as possible. Not good to ask all the why questions. Take it as the way it is and “stand by Me.” 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 INTRODUCTION Revelation 14 is a sort of prophetic cameo – a series of short scenes that will take place toward the end of the Tribulation. The theme that binds all the scenes together in Christ’s ultimate triumph over all the forces of evil that run rampant during the Tribulation. Revelation 12 gave us a picture of Satan’s fury toward the earth as he was cast down onto it from Heaven. The diabolical maneuverings of the two Antichrists was the theme of Chapter 13. But Chapter 14 presents a refreshing interlude in the outpouring of divine judgment upon fallen man. Here we have the adoration of the Lamb by His “sheep” on the pasture of Mount Zion; the pastoral calm of the scene provides welcome relief to the flashes of lightning and thunder which accompanied the angry judgments of God in prior chapters. I.THE LAMB AND THE 144,000 (Revelation 14:1-5) READ Revelation 14:1-5 Revelation 14 reminds us that there will be a large group of people who never gave in to the persuasions of the Beast. WHO ARE THEY? The identity of this group of 144,000 subjects has for some reason eluded many outstanding Bible scholars. Most commentators have a tendency to assume that they are identical with the 144,000 Jews for Jesus chosen from the twelve tribes described in Chapter 7. The differences between the two groups seem to limit our assuming that they are the same, particularly when one bears in mind that the scene in Chapter 14 is in heaven and that these are taken from among men, indicating they come from all nations, rather than just from among the Jews. The 144,000 found in Chapter 14 are probably the most outstanding 144,000 saints of the Church from the early days of the spread of the Gospel to the Rapture of the Church. For this consecrated and devoted service to our Master they will enjoy a special position before the throne of God from death until the glorious appearing of Christ, at which time all saints will come with Him. This position doubtless signifies that they will have great responsibility while reigning with Him during the millennial kingdom. WHAT ARE THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS ELITE GROUP OF CHRISTIANS? 1.They are redeemed from the earth by faith in Christ, “having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads” (14:1b, ASV); “redeemed from the earth” (14:3b); “redeemed from among men” (14:4b). Obviously these men were first born again by receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. 2.They are morally pure. “These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins” (14:4). In any case, there could well have been 144,000 in the last 1900 years plus of the Christian Church who have remained single for the Lord’s sake; having met the other qualifications they will share in that elite position with Paul, possibly John, and others. I would not insist on a literal interpretation of this expression for the following reason. Nowhere does the Bible teach that sexual intercourse in marriage is defiling. On the contrary, Hebrews 13:4 clearly announces, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Even the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7, when encouraging consecrated young men to “abide even as I”, was doing so not for moral reasons, but that they might give themselves more completely to serving the Lord and not be encumbered with concerns for the desires and tastes of a wife. I do not find where a faithful married woman is considered any less virtuous in the Scriptures than an unmarried virgin. On the contrary, the Revelation text probably does not mean unmarried men, but men who are undefiled by women; that is, they have either kept the marriage contract or have never known a woman, and thus in the eyes of God are considered virgins. The Bible does not teach celibacy; in fact, no hint of it is found in Scripture. The Bible everywhere advocates that Christians by holy and virtuous, undefiled by the world. Misuse of sex has always been one of man’s greatest problems, infidelity and immorality one of man’s greatest temptations. Therefore the elite group of 144,000 who qualify to stand before the throne of God in Heaven are those who have kept themselves undefiled. That is, they kept their marriage vows or remained unmarried. Spiritual virgins. 3.They are obedient and available. “These are they who follow the lamb wherever he goeth” (14:4b). It is obvious that all of God’s children, in fact, all of His servants, are not completely yielded to His will. Some have known years of yieldedness and faithful service, only to go back and “walk no more with him”, whereas others have had on-again off-again periods of obedience. The elite group of 144,000 is unusually marked by obedience. Their attitude is epitomized by the statement of the Apostle Paul immediately upon recognizing Jesus, when he said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” 4.They tell the truth. “And in their mouth was found no guile” (14:5). 5.They live blameless lives. “They are without fault” (14:5b). This does not indicate that they are perfect, for they too had to be redeemed from among men; they were lost sinners and had to be born again. It does not mean sinless perfection, that they have never sinned since their salvation, but reasserts what the Apostle Paul meant in 1 Thessalonians 2:10 when he said, “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.” These are men who, in their desire to serve Jesus Christ and walk with Him, leaned on His power to live holy, consecrated lives. THE SONG They will sing a new song which no man can learn save the 144,000 (14:3). These two rewards suggest that they will enjoy a special relationship with God the Son and God the Father from the time of their death after a life of faithful, holy service until they come with Christ to the earth,. No one could learn that song but the 144,000 because it’s a joyous testimony of the miraculous and preserving grace of God through the horrors of the Tribulation. This song will be a hymn of praise to the mighty sustaining power of God for believers in times of great trial. I have talked with Christians in many parts of the world, but there’s something really different about a Christian who has gone through tremendous trials of life. A person like this is very grateful to God for holding him up during his testing, and radiates a joy that you just don’t find in most other Christians. These joyful believers are able to share a message which really encourages you! II.THE ANGEL PROCLAIMING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL (Revelation 14:6-7) Toward the end of the Tribulation period this Jewish evangelization will be followed by a phenomenon never before seen in the history of the word – angels, preaching the gospel to men! The phenomenon is described in verses 6 through 11. God will proclaim one last all-out offer of grace before He buries the world under an avalanche of final judgment. Three angels will fly through the atmosphere above the earth proclaiming the “everlasting gospel”. Verse 6 introduces the first of five angels who convey a special message concerning the middle of the end time, or Tribulation Period. READ REVELATION 14:6-7 Now we find an angel flying in mid-heaven (explain) proclaiming this eternal gospel. It is astounding that an angel is commissioned to go forth preaching the everlasting Gospel, for the preaching of the Gospel has not been committed to angels but to men. This astounding state of affairs could only be an indication of the severity of the circumstances. (Or possibly the failure of man to fully carry out the will of God in this area as well, Roger?  -Tom) This should not take us by surprise, for when the Babylonian influence of the Church was greatest during the Dark Ages, millions of Christians were persecuted to death. This period of history is well named the “Inquisition”. An overwhelming majority of believers will be eliminated; this few will remain to propagate the Gospel after the middle of the Tribulation Period. Angels warned Lot in Sodom and rescued him there from doom. The law on Sinai was ministered by angels (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19) and especially by one – possibly Michael (Exodus 23:20-23; 33:2). Jehovah distinctly declares of this angel “my name is in him,” although Moses was not permitted to know him (Exodus 33:12). He will declare this eternal gospel by the mouth of a mighty angel, who, flying “in mid heaven” all over the earth, will proclaim to every creature, in words understandable, and unmistakable, that the hour of God’s judgment has come; bidding men to turn quickly to the Creator of them, and of all things! We must remember that one of the signs which were to precede the end was that the Gospel of the kingdom would be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (Matthew 24:14). Here is the fulfillment of that prophecy. The angel comes with the message of the gospel to all races and tribes and tongues and peoples. The earth is to be given a final opportunity to accept or to reject Jesus Christ. THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL What is the everlasting Gospel? Is this a different gospel than that preached today? On the basis of the Word of God, absolutely not! This is the same gospel that we preach, the same that was “once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). In like manner, this angel will warn the people to fear God instead of Antichrist, to give glory to God instead of Antichrist, and he will instruct them how to do it. Otherwise, he would be proclaiming a message of doom instead of good tidings. The word “Gospel” means “good tidings”, and the only way we can offer men eternal good tidings is to show them how to receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. A message concerning the judgment of God is only a partial presentation of the Gospel of Christ. The complete story of the Gospel not only clarifies that man is a sinner, but according to 1 Corinthians 15:3,4 also includes God’s remedy for sin through Christ, who died for our sins “according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day.” III.THE FALL OF BABYLON (Revelation 14:8) READ Revelation 14:8 Verse 8 looks ahead to another scene near the end of the Tribulation period and speaks of Babylon falling twice. Babylon as used in the Bible represents both a false religious system and the capital city of the one-world government – Rome. Revelation 17 and 18 make both of these identifications. Future studies will reveal that the two Babylons begun by Nimrod in the city of Babylon, which have brought more misery and heartache on humanity than any other concepts, will be destroyed in the end times. More individuals have been ruined in the plan of God for their lives because of the two Babylons than for any other reason. These two Babylons begun by Nimrod are (1) false religion, which emphasizes idolatry and (2) commercialization, which causes men to become materialistically oriented. These concepts that are playing such havoc in the world today will be destroyed – one in the middle of the Tribulation Period by Antichrist, the other at the end by the supernatural hand of God. Chapter 17 – The false religious system is characterized by the ancient city of Babylon because it’s a religion based on the black magic, witchcraft, and astrology which originated in ancient Babylon. This religion will have its headquarters in Rome during the first half of the Tribulation period. As a religious system, Babylon will be destroyed about three and a half years before Christ returns to Earth. The Antichrist will get bugged with the system and destroy it because it rakes the world’s religious attentions off himself. That’s the first fall of Babylon. Chapter 18 – Then, during the great war that breaks out in the Middle East toward the end of the second half of the Tribulation, the city of Rome (which will be the capital city of the world and of Antichrist), will be completely blown to bits in a thermonuclear holocaust in one hour’s time. This is the second fall of Babylon and is the destruction of the greatest economic and commercial center of all time. IV.ETERNAL DOOM FOR BEAST WORSHIPPERS (Revelation 14:9-11) READ Revelation 9-11 We have already seen that during the Tribulation Period a man will be required to worship the Antichrist image and receive his mark (666) in his forehead or his hand. When a man does this, he will “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation”; that is, he will have turned his back on God’s method of salvation and taken to himself man’s method. This will incur the displeasure of Almighty God and bring upon men judgment and destruction. This is only one of the many passages in the Bible that clearly teaches eternal suffering of the damned. I don’t enjoy teaching eternal damnation for lost men, but as a faithful teacher of the Word, I can do nothing else. Satan tries to discredit the Word of God and minimize the importance of turning from one’s sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he does not lack for false teachers to assist him in deceiving men. Many today attempt to teach a non-judgment concept, including the annihilationists. These heretics take many forms in the various cults and “isms” of our day. I wish I could report that the Bible teaches that Hell is a place when men will suffer for a little while and then be burned up, never to be remembered again, or where they will be given a second chance to get into heaven, but I could not be honest to the Word of God and make such a statement. Not the slightest suggestion of this is found in the Bible, nor does it hint of a second chance after death! The Bible presents no picture other than that the lake of fire is absolutely eternal and that the populace of the lake of fire will be “tormented day and night forever and ever.” The Angelic Warning of the Eternal Doom of the Beast-Worshippers He withdraws all mercy forever – the wine of His wrath that these shall drink will be “unmixed”, unmingled with any compassion whatsoever. It will be in “the cup of His anger” that His wrath will be served out to them. The impenitent daily and hourly “treasure up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath”: but God withholds His anger. He waits. He suffers long and is kind. But “why may stand in Thy sight when once thou art angry?” (Psalm 76:7).         The same verse that says “love is strong as death” declares “jealousy is cruel as Sheol”. The creature of this human race for whom His Son died who turns his back on God whose name is Love, and chooses His enemy, the old serpent and murderer – God plainly tells us what he will do with him! He shall have “indignation forever”! Consider the carefully described means of visitation upon such: “tormented with fire and brimstone”. Brimstone is the most terrible substance known in its action upon human flesh – in its torment when it touches the body. Combined with fire it is absolute agony, unutterable anguish! And it is meant to be so: for it will be the infliction of divine vengeance unlimited. Consider the onlookers. “In the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb”! Vast, “innumerable hosts” of those holy servants of God who watched the fearful choice of these now-doomed humans, for whom, to the angelic astonishment, the Son of God once tasted death, men that hated love and despised holiness: all the countless millions of angels are there, in deep, awful, and holy approval of the divine sentence – for their God has done this! And in the presence of the Lamb! Oh, where in the universe is such a sight? Mercy is gone forever if the Lamb stands there – and He will! Consider the duration: “The smoke of their torment (compare Genesis 19:24,28) goeth up for ever and ever.” And its unceasingness. V.A GLORIOUS ALTERNATIVE: THE BLESSED STATE OF TRIBULATION SAINTS (Revelation 14:12-13) READ Revelation 14:12-13 “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” is the tremendous alternative of going to hell. Those who have received Jesus Christ into their lives need not fear death at all. For them death is just as entrance into the real destination of their lives on Earth – Heaven! One of the consistent chords of the Scripture is the concept that present-day sufferings are inconsequential in view of the eternal blessings prepared for them that love the Lord. The principle that “their works do follow them” is a blessed truth to the child of God. The Word clearly teaches that our investment of faithfulness to Jesus Christ today will earn eternal dividends. This conforms with the Savior’s challenge to “lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth or rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:20). The Tribulation saints will be given special blessings for their faithfulness to Christ during that awful time of tribulation. Alistair Maclean somewhere tells of a Highland woman who through no fault of her own was reduced to living in the squalor of a city slum. One went to her and sympathized with her that life had treated her so unjustly. Her answer was, “God will make it up to me, and I will see the flowers again.” There can never be any doubt of the ultimate bliss and joy of those who come to the end still one with Christ, and the sterner the battle has been, and more heartbreaking the sorrow has been, and the more exhausting the toil has been, the dearer will be the joy and the sweeter the bliss at the end of it all. VI.THE VISION OF THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH (Revelation 14:14-16) READ Revelation 14:14-16 This is the Separation of Unbelievers from Believers. The first vision of a harvest (verses 14-16) uses terminology what would be applicable to the reaping of wheat. It’s personally superintended by the “Son, of man” who, as predicted in a parable by Jesus. Is careful to gather in all the wheat and keep it separate from the tares. The parable reads as follows: “The harvest is the end of the age: and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, just as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom things that cause stumbling, and those who practice lawlessness, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Fathers” (Matthew 13:49-43) (49-43? This is what the original said. Did you mean 39-43?  -Tom) This parable explains the first vision. Jesus does not do the dividing Himself but instead carefully supervises the separation of wheat and tares so that not one believer (wheat) is judged with the tares (unbelievers). This separating work is done by angels and happens just prior to the Lord’s triumphant reappearance back to the earth at the end of the Tribulation. The day of grace is ended at this point. Fates are forever sealed; there is no more chance for the unbelieving. VII.THE VISION OF THE VINE OF THE EARTH AND THE WINEPRESS OF BLOOD (Revelation 14:17-20) READ Revelation 14:17-20 “Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:12-14). The second vision which John the Apostle say (verses 17-20) is very different from the first. The Son of man doesn’t superintend this reaping. This harvest is done by an angel from the Temple of heaven. The symbol is that of a reaping for a vintage of wrath. All the clusters of grapes that are gathered in the harvest are cast into “the great winepress of the wrath of God”. This indicates that there’s no separation to be done here – all are unbelievers destined for Hell. The place of this great judgment helps identify the ones being judged. God’s great winepress of judgment is said to be “outside the city”. “The city” could only be Jerusalem. So “ground zero” of God’s most awful judgment is just outside Jerusalem. Zechariah gives us prophetic insight about this. As he predicts the last great war before the Second Coming of the Messiah, he gives us God’s words: “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem…” (Zech. 14:2). Then he adds, “The Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle” (14:3). Messiah to Jerusalem’s Rescue The armies of all nations will be gathered together in the area of Israel, especially around Jerusalem. Think of it: at least 200 million soldiers from the Orient, with millions more from the forces of the West headed by the Antichrist of the Revived Roman Empire (Western Europe). Messiah Jesus will first strike those who have ravaged His city, Jerusalem. Then He will strike the armies amassed in the valley of Meggido, or Armageddon. No wonder blood will stand to the horses’ bridles for a distance of 200 miles from Jerusalem! (Revelation 14:20). It’s grisly to think about such a carnage. From the point where the Valley of Armageddon slopes down to the Jordan Valley southward down the Valley through the Dead Sea to the port of Elath of the Gulf of Aqabah measures approximately 200 miles. Apparently this whole valley will be filled with war materials, animals, bodies of men, and blood. Ah, such a fearful sight. Rivers of human blood “unto the bridles of the horses”! Yet it will be. If Josephus could say that when Jerusalem was taken by Titus, the Roman soldiers “obstructed the very lanes with dead bodies; and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fires of many of the houses was quenched with these men’s blood” (Wars: 6, 8) – what folly to doubt this word of God that a river of blood will run when the Son of God tramples the nations of all the earth in the Almighty’s anger! CONCLUSION In concluding this chapter, we must stress that the prediction that Christ will bring judgment on the earth comes only after three angelic warnings: (1) in the preaching of the everlasting gospel; (2) in the warning that the Babylonian religion will eventually be destroyed; and (3) in the assurance that the worshippers of the Antichrist will be judged in this life and the life to come. We can only conclude that those who are thus harvested and pressed into the winepress of the wrath of God are the incorrigibles who stumble over all kinds of divine warning against following Antichrist. This tragic picture of the culmination of all things is another indication of the depravity of the human heart. Wish such supernatural warnings one would think that ungodly men would fall down and worship Jesus Christ, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is another reminder to us that when men reject the Lord, their problem is one of the will. =   =   =   =   =