1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,240 So, if you have any questions about any of the message tonight or any other Bible questions, 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,960 you can write that on the card and we'll turn that in at the end. 3 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,160 If you have any prayer requests, we've been getting lots of prayer requests for those 4 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:27,920 that we know that we care about that are sick, those that have different other challenges, 5 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:33,080 some are looking for homes, some are trying to sell homes and different things like that. 6 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,240 And so we've been praying for those. 7 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:43,280 And tomorrow night our topic is Revelations Remnant. 8 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:44,680 That's the topic for tomorrow night. 9 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,000 But tonight we're looking at America and the Mark of the Beast. 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,840 So let's bow our heads and we'll get started here. 11 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,700 Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you do for us. 12 00:00:55,700 --> 00:01:00,040 We thank you just for bringing us here to this place tonight. 13 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,280 You've given us truth in your word, truth that we can study, truth that we can learn 14 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,240 more about you. 15 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:07,840 And God, just be with us. 16 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:09,940 Open up our hearts and our minds. 17 00:01:09,940 --> 00:01:15,160 Guide us by your spirit because we've been told that your spirit wants to guide us into 18 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:16,160 all truth. 19 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,680 So just be with us and help us to see you more clearly. 20 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:21,520 In your name we pray. 21 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,120 Amen. 22 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,160 How many of you, this important question. 23 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:27,520 How many have ever been to Walmart? 24 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,480 Okay, most hands have been up whether you like it or not. 25 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,080 You've been to Walmart. 26 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:37,720 And we recognize that Walmart is a store that you can go to practically any time. 27 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,520 In fact, there's some Walmarts that are open 24 hours a day. 28 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,200 I don't think quite as many as there used to be. 29 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,680 But if you want to shop at 10 o'clock in the morning, you can go. 30 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,360 If you want to shop at 10 o'clock in the evening, you can shop at that time. 31 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,360 Maybe the crowds are a little bit better. 32 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,240 And anyone can go in. 33 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:56,460 There's no restrictions. 34 00:01:56,460 --> 00:01:59,620 You can buy whatever you want. 35 00:01:59,620 --> 00:02:00,980 So second question. 36 00:02:00,980 --> 00:02:05,880 How many have ever been to Sam's Club? 37 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:08,200 Just about just as many hands. 38 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:14,480 Except you guys realize that there's something a little bit different about Sam's Club. 39 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,000 Can anybody go to Sam's Club? 40 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,360 Well, you can, but you've got to get something first. 41 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,600 You've got to become a member. 42 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,680 And what do you get if you're a member? 43 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,180 You've got to get a card and to go in the door, you've got to show them the card. 44 00:02:31,180 --> 00:02:33,960 You can't just show up any time. 45 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,700 Everybody can't just show up unless they're part of the club. 46 00:02:37,700 --> 00:02:42,520 And without the card, you can't even get in the door of the warehouse. 47 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:49,920 You certainly can't buy anything unless you have signed up, unless you have been a member. 48 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:54,080 And so with Walmart and Sam's, it's not a big deal. 49 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,740 It's just a different way of doing business. 50 00:02:57,740 --> 00:03:00,880 But it's not a sinister scheme. 51 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:06,720 But in Revelation, we're going to see that in the final crisis of Earth's history, that 52 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,320 there are two different groups of people. 53 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,640 And it's not about having a card or not having a card. 54 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:16,200 But it's going to be on a much larger scale. 55 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,780 And perhaps it will be a sinister scheme behind. 56 00:03:20,780 --> 00:03:26,560 But Revelation tells us that in the last days, there's going to be two groups of people. 57 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,860 One group is going to be a group that worships God. 58 00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:34,360 But the other group is going to be a group that worships the beast. 59 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:39,280 One group is going to follow the instructions of God, the commandments of God. 60 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:44,440 And because they do, Revelation tells us that their lives are going to face a little bit 61 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:49,240 of turmoil, and they're not going to be able to buy or sell. 62 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:55,320 And then the other group, we'll see, is following after not the commandments of God, but the 63 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,640 traditions, the commandments of man. 64 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:03,720 And because they're going along with that, their life is not as disrupted. 65 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,700 And they are able to buy and sell. 66 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:12,400 And then we see that one group receives the seal of God, and another group receives the 67 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:14,200 mark of the beast. 68 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:20,180 And so in that final crisis, Revelation shows us that everybody is going to make a choice. 69 00:04:20,180 --> 00:04:22,640 There's no neutral ground. 70 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,760 There's no fence to straddle. 71 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,540 Everybody has to make a choice. 72 00:04:28,540 --> 00:04:29,900 That means you have to make a choice. 73 00:04:29,900 --> 00:04:31,960 That means I have to make a choice. 74 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:38,980 And as we've seen over the last several nights, one of the key issues in the book of Revelation 75 00:04:38,980 --> 00:04:43,160 centers around the subject of worship. 76 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:48,680 We're going to explore that again tonight as we look at two different things. 77 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,440 We're going to look at two different segments of prophecy. 78 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:59,320 And even as we talk about a final crisis, please be aware that even if you're going 79 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:07,540 through challenging times or difficult times or a crisis, that God has promised to never 80 00:05:07,540 --> 00:05:11,320 leave you or to never, ever forsake you. 81 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,520 So let's dive into this topic tonight. 82 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,480 So we're going to start just looking at the mark of the beast. 83 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:23,300 And you know, when people talk about the mark of the beast, there's a lot of different ideas, 84 00:05:23,300 --> 00:05:27,520 a lot of different scenarios that people have come up with. 85 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:32,200 Some have said, well, maybe it's a computer chip that you can somehow plug into your head 86 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:39,300 or plug into your hand or maybe, you know, this new technology with AI, maybe that has 87 00:05:39,300 --> 00:05:41,480 something to do with it. 88 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,360 And some have said, no, no, it's probably more like some sort of identification card 89 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:50,820 with some numbers, maybe like, you know, a social security card or a social security 90 00:05:50,820 --> 00:05:52,960 number that we have. 91 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,800 And some through the years have looked at, you know, those sinister things you buy at 92 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:03,520 the grocery store that have barcodes on them that perhaps somehow that is tracking you 93 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,480 and recording all of your financial transactions. 94 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:13,240 Or maybe it's something many of us carry around with us, a credit card of some kind, or maybe 95 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:20,320 some of that newer technology like cryptocurrency, perhaps that has something to do with it. 96 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:26,640 And many people have thought that perhaps it's some sort of whether it's a tattoo or 97 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:34,360 a brand or something like that, that it is a physical emplacement of that number 666 98 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:41,760 or something similar on your hand or on your head that is physically going to be there. 99 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:48,240 But I would say that this is kind of unlikely here, that it's going to be a physical stamp 100 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:54,880 or tattoo on your head because as we've seen night by night that much of Revelation is 101 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,360 symbolic. 102 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:01,800 We've looked at symbols, we've looked at many different things, and so when we consider 103 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:07,760 that the Bible says the mark of the beast is going to be in the forehead, well we could 104 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:11,400 consider what could that symbolize? 105 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,360 What could the forehead symbolize? 106 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:21,040 Well, the forehead is where your brain is, where your mind is, where the center of your 107 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:25,960 decision making is, the control center for the whole body. 108 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:31,680 And so it seems like, as we'll discover, that this mark of the beast is not a tattoo or 109 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:40,800 a physical mark, but it is simply someone who is making a willful, intentional choice 110 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:47,200 with their mind, with their brain to follow after the beast instead of following after 111 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:48,760 what God says. 112 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:53,580 Because Revelation, the Bible also says that there's going to be a group of people that 113 00:07:53,580 --> 00:07:57,260 receive the seal of God on their forehead. 114 00:07:57,260 --> 00:08:02,880 And that would be a group of people that is intentionally making a choice that they're 115 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:08,720 going to serve God, that they're going to follow after him, and they have chosen, in 116 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:13,440 contrast to that, to resist the beast. 117 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:18,240 And so we need to keep this in mind as we go through Revelation here. 118 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,600 And so we're going to begin going to Revelation chapter 14. 119 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:29,800 We've been here a couple times through our series, and it's a serious little topic here. 120 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,680 And so we're going to look at Revelation chapter 14. 121 00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:36,880 As I've said night by night, verses will be on the screen, but I always encourage you 122 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,480 to look things up. 123 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,040 Don't just take my word for it, but let's see what the Bible says. 124 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,320 And so we're going to start in verse 6. 125 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:50,040 And we've looked at this a couple times as we've gone through here. 126 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,840 Revelation 14 and verse 6. 127 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:59,280 It says, Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the, what does 128 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:01,360 he have with him? 129 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,920 The everlasting gospel, the good news, the good news of Jesus dying on the cross for 130 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:07,460 all mankind. 131 00:09:07,460 --> 00:09:10,340 And it's an everlasting good news. 132 00:09:10,340 --> 00:09:17,000 And it says that it's to preach the gospel to those who dwell on the earth, to everyone, 133 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,160 to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. 134 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:25,280 This is the good news of Jesus, and it's for every person. 135 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,280 It doesn't matter their nationality or their language. 136 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,220 So what is this message of this first angel? 137 00:09:31,220 --> 00:09:38,400 Verse 7 goes on and it says, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him 138 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:45,200 for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made the heaven and the earth, 139 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,880 the sea and the springs of water. 140 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,640 And so we see that this first angel is telling us that we're living in the last days, the 141 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:58,460 hour of his judgment has come, we're living in this time of the judgment hour. 142 00:09:58,460 --> 00:10:05,720 And then there's a challenge or an invitation to worship God as the creator, to worship 143 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,840 him who made the heaven and the earth. 144 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:14,980 And we've talked about this from night to night, and this is a call back to Genesis. 145 00:10:14,980 --> 00:10:21,440 And this is a call back to the Ten Commandments, and it's a call back to the seventh day Sabbath 146 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:25,400 that memorializes the work of creation that God did. 147 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:32,420 And so this first angel is telling humanity to worship God, to worship the creator. 148 00:10:32,420 --> 00:10:35,480 And we'll see in just a moment that that's a theme here. 149 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:40,560 Because we go to the third angel in verse 9, and notice what the third angel says. 150 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:45,600 The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice. 151 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:47,560 Now this is a warning. 152 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:54,600 If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on 153 00:10:54,600 --> 00:11:00,560 his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured 154 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:05,120 out full strength into the cup of his indignation. 155 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:13,140 And so the first angel gives an invitation to worship God as the creator. 156 00:11:13,140 --> 00:11:16,600 The third angel gives that opposite warning. 157 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,480 Don't worship the beast or his image. 158 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:25,380 And so we see this theme of worship, and then we see it continue down in verse 12. 159 00:11:25,380 --> 00:11:28,400 How do God's people respond? 160 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,480 How do they stand up against this beast power? 161 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:38,240 Verse 12, it says, here is the patience of the saints, God's people. 162 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:44,980 Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 163 00:11:44,980 --> 00:11:52,480 And so Revelation 14 gives us here some ideas of what this mark of the beast is all about. 164 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,680 And I'm going to put them up on the screen. 165 00:11:54,680 --> 00:11:58,380 And these are things that we just read from scripture. 166 00:11:58,380 --> 00:12:01,640 It's something to do with worshiping the creator. 167 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,880 Here's a warning to not worship the beast. 168 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:11,120 And then the response by God's people is here are those who keep the commandments of God 169 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,160 and the faith of Jesus. 170 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:19,040 And so whatever this mark of the beast is, it has something to do with worship. 171 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,440 It has something to do with God's commandments. 172 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:28,200 It has something to do with standing up and honoring for God, honoring God. 173 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:33,840 And so that's some important clues because it determines I'm either worshiping God or 174 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,160 I'm worshiping the beast. 175 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:42,760 I'm either keeping what God says or I'm keeping the traditions of man instead of what God 176 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:43,760 says. 177 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:49,320 And it seems like these are the crucial issues, the key issues here in the book of Revelation. 178 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,980 And so we have to ask ourselves an important question. 179 00:12:52,980 --> 00:12:55,240 Who is the beast? 180 00:12:55,240 --> 00:13:06,560 Now we spent an hour in our last session looking at the Bible, looking at some clues from Daniel 181 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:08,140 chapter seven. 182 00:13:08,140 --> 00:13:11,820 We saw this entity called the little horn power. 183 00:13:11,820 --> 00:13:18,760 And then we looked in Revelation 13 and we see this beast power and we looked at 13 different 184 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:23,680 clues which point to who this beast is. 185 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:29,800 And we looked at it straight from scripture and we determined that the beast, the only 186 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:35,320 kingdom that can possibly fit that bill because a beast is a kingdom. 187 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,300 We saw that in Daniel seven. 188 00:13:37,300 --> 00:13:46,140 The only kingdom that could fit those 13 clues is that church of Rome or the papacy or Vatican 189 00:13:46,140 --> 00:13:50,360 City, whatever name we want to give it. 190 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,620 And so I would encourage you if you weren't able to be here to go back and watch that 191 00:13:54,620 --> 00:14:01,360 session and open up your Bible and see those clues that we talk about it. 192 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,180 But if you weren't here I also have to reiterate something. 193 00:14:05,180 --> 00:14:07,780 We're not talking about individual people. 194 00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:12,560 We're not talking about friends or family members who may be part of the Catholic church. 195 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:20,600 We're talking about a system of a combination of civil government, political government, 196 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:26,160 and religious government, a combination of church and state that took place in the Middle 197 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:27,620 Ages. 198 00:14:27,620 --> 00:14:33,200 And if you look back at history it was an unfortunate time as the Bible was hidden from 199 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:34,200 people. 200 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:39,720 It was illegal to even translate the Bible into a language that people could understand. 201 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:46,360 The truth of the good news, the gospel of Jesus on the cross, the light of the cross 202 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:47,920 was hidden. 203 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,620 And that's why it's known as the Dark Ages. 204 00:14:51,620 --> 00:14:57,960 And anybody who disagreed with that church was persecuted or even put to death. 205 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:04,600 And so we've seen in Revelation that in the first century when Jesus was walking on this 206 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:11,480 earth that the government in charge was the Roman Empire, this iron empire of Daniel chapter 207 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:12,960 2. 208 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:18,680 And then in the Middle Ages it wasn't the civil Rome, the empire of Rome, but it was 209 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:24,120 the church of Rome that was persecuting those who were standing up for God. 210 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:32,300 And what we're going to see tonight in Revelation is that in the end times, in the final crisis, 211 00:15:32,300 --> 00:15:37,140 it appears that history is going to repeat itself. 212 00:15:37,140 --> 00:15:42,240 That history will give us a very similar picture. 213 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:48,680 When we get to the final crisis a beast power will arise again, a beast power that will 214 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,800 have controlling influence on the world. 215 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,080 And once again God's people are going to have to make a choice. 216 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:02,240 Am I going to stand with Jesus or am I going to stand with the beast power? 217 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:09,360 So with that in mind, recognizing that this beast power of the first half of Revelation 218 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:18,160 13 and Daniel 7, that this beast is Rome, well that leads us to the next obvious question. 219 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,400 What is the mark of the beast? 220 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:28,240 What is the mark of Rome's power, of Rome's authority, something that would track down 221 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:33,440 from the Middle Ages that would still come to our world today? 222 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:34,920 So let's just review. 223 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:39,440 We've talked about some things here that in the final crisis there's a group of people 224 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:44,160 that are going to have the seal of God because they're honoring God. 225 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,560 There's a group of people that are going to receive the mark of the beast because they're 226 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:53,360 taking that stand, they're making a choice to follow after the beast power. 227 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:59,760 Am I going to listen to what God says or am I going to listen to what humanity says? 228 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,920 And so we saw there in Revelation 14 there's a call to worship God as the creator. 229 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,280 There's a warning not to worship the beast and then it talks about how God's people are 230 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:19,120 those who because of their faith in Jesus are going to stand for God and keep his commandments. 231 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:25,080 And so then it appears that this mark of the beast is somehow connected to Rome and it's 232 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,880 going to have something to do with worship. 233 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:33,080 Am I worshiping God or am I worshiping the beast? 234 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,240 There's a choice that has to be made. 235 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,560 And so we have to ask two different questions. 236 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:44,980 What is a sign or the sign of Rome's authority? 237 00:17:44,980 --> 00:17:51,940 And then what is a mark, what is something of Rome's power that has forced people to 238 00:17:51,940 --> 00:17:55,440 choose between God and between man? 239 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,520 And that's what we're going to explore here. 240 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,880 So I want to read a quote here. 241 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,840 We're going to look at several historical quotes. 242 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:09,600 And as we do, just recognize this is the context that we're talking in. 243 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:17,360 And so we need to make sure that our individual faith, that our walk is a walk that we are 244 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:20,680 taking with Jesus each and every day. 245 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:28,120 And so here is a quote from 1995 from St. Catherine Catholic Church Sentinel. 246 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:31,040 And we've talked about something like this before. 247 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:39,240 It says, perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did happened 248 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,000 in the first century. 249 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:48,400 The Holy Day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday, not from any directions 250 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:55,160 noted in the scriptures, but from the church's sense of its own power. 251 00:18:55,160 --> 00:19:00,480 So this takes us back to something we've talked about before, this issue of the Sabbath as 252 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:07,440 one of the changes that was made in the Middle Ages that tracks down all the way to where 253 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:09,080 we are today. 254 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:16,400 And it specifically claims, the claim is it was done not because anything that the Bible 255 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:23,040 says, not because of a command of scripture, because we've seen the Bible says, you know, 256 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,940 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy and different things like that. 257 00:19:26,940 --> 00:19:34,320 But it was done because the church had a sense of its own power that they could override 258 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,800 even what scripture says. 259 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:42,320 Now the next screen, you're going to think that I made this up, but I promise I didn't. 260 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:43,960 This is just the quote. 261 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:44,960 This is just the quote. 262 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:50,680 It goes on and says, people who think that the scripture should be the sole authority 263 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:55,120 should logically become Seventh-day Adventists and keep Saturday holy. 264 00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:58,240 I promise, I'm just reading the quote. 265 00:19:58,240 --> 00:19:59,840 But that's what that quote says. 266 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:09,560 And so there's some issues to consider that man's law has been placed above God's law 267 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:16,280 and that a particular church, a particular faith lifted up its own power above the word 268 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:17,660 of God. 269 00:20:17,660 --> 00:20:25,320 And so in essence then, what man says, man's power, man's authority is elevated above God's 270 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:26,600 authority. 271 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:32,040 And it brings back this topic that we've mentioned of the Sabbath. 272 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:33,040 Think about this. 273 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,080 What was the Mark of the Beast issue in Revelation 14? 274 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:40,600 There was a key thing that the first angel said and the third angel said. 275 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,120 It had to do with worship. 276 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:47,620 And the way that God's people responded was because of their faith in Jesus. 277 00:20:47,620 --> 00:20:49,800 They were keeping the commandments. 278 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:55,260 And so we can look at what the first angel says, fear God and give glory to him for the 279 00:20:55,260 --> 00:20:57,000 hour of his judgment has come. 280 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:01,880 And then it says a direct quote from the Ten Commandments. 281 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:08,700 It says, worship him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and the springs of water. 282 00:21:08,700 --> 00:21:14,320 That fourth commandment in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, it ends and says, for in six 283 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:19,240 days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea. 284 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,600 Worship him who made the heavens and the earth and the sea. 285 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:22,600 Who's that? 286 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,200 The Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea. 287 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:33,520 And so the first angel of Revelation 14 is pointing us to the Sabbath commandment. 288 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:42,080 Revelation 14 talks about this Mark of the Beast issue and it's pointing us to this Sabbath 289 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:43,080 commandment. 290 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:44,080 Why? 291 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,200 Because the Sabbath has to do with worship. 292 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:52,400 And it has to do with whether I'm going to follow the commandments of God or the commandments 293 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,040 of man. 294 00:21:54,040 --> 00:22:00,720 And so we can begin to put these things together and this next quote is going to maybe connect 295 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,160 even a few more dots. 296 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:06,960 This is from a document called the Catholic Record. 297 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:07,960 Notice what it says. 298 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:12,400 It says, Sunday is our Mark of authority. 299 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:20,000 The church is above the Bible and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof positive of 300 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:21,520 that fact. 301 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:22,720 We've got to just stop there. 302 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:29,560 Once again, Rome says, claims that they are above the Bible. 303 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:39,520 I appreciate the honesty but I disagree with the theology because they come, okay yes, 304 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:41,400 they say we can change that. 305 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,560 We have the authority to change that. 306 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,880 I appreciate that they're saying that but I disagree that they have that right. 307 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,120 And they say what is the proof? 308 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:53,000 Why do we have this proof? 309 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:59,440 Because almost all churches believe that and follow that change. 310 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:07,040 Almost the entire religious Christian world ignores one of God's commandments and takes 311 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:12,240 after this thing that they have said is the mark of our authority. 312 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,640 And so we could modernize this a little bit. 313 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:19,040 The papacy claims that the change of the Sabbath was her act. 314 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:25,040 And this act is the mark that they've got the power and the authority in all religious 315 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:26,040 matters. 316 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:30,600 And the thing that proves that is that so many follow after them. 317 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:33,680 Notice this quote from Louis Seguer. 318 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:39,500 It says, thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage, an homage they 319 00:23:39,500 --> 00:23:45,700 pay in spite of themselves to the authority of the Catholic Church. 320 00:23:45,700 --> 00:23:54,440 So they're like yeah, okay, we're paying tribute, in essence, tribute because we're doing this 321 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,080 even though it's not in scripture at all. 322 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:05,560 Now it's not politically correct to say this but Revelation is really not a politically 323 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:07,880 correct book. 324 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:15,660 And so God warns in these prophecies, he warns his people that a kingdom was coming, a 325 00:24:15,660 --> 00:24:21,600 beast was coming that was going to persecute his people, that would change God's law, and 326 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,600 that would take the Bible away from his people. 327 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:32,000 And we look into history and we see that yes, that was fulfilled. 328 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,000 And so what Rome says to us, that's happened. 329 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:37,500 They changed it. 330 00:24:37,500 --> 00:24:39,840 Is it a mark of their authority? 331 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:47,860 For some it is because a vast majority of churches, different organizations follow that 332 00:24:47,860 --> 00:24:51,840 and they're putting that above what the Bible says. 333 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:56,200 And so there's two different things that come to light. 334 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:01,600 There's God's seal or God's mark, which is the Sabbath on the one side. 335 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:06,080 On the other side you've got Rome's mark of authority, this pagan tradition that we've 336 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,880 looked at that comes down from the Middle Ages. 337 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:16,320 It's the seventh day Sabbath which points to God as the creator or another day which 338 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,960 points to man's traditions. 339 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:24,400 And so we as individuals, we have a choice to make. 340 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:29,040 We have to choose what authority am I going to follow? 341 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,660 Who am I going to give my allegiance to? 342 00:25:32,660 --> 00:25:37,960 We see this Sabbath and Sunday is actually, it's deeper than we think. 343 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,800 It has to do with this subject of worship. 344 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,960 It also has to do with the commandments. 345 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,920 We've seen this a couple times tonight. 346 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,920 We're invited to worship the creator. 347 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:55,800 We're warned about worshiping the beast and we see in verse 12 that God's people respond 348 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:59,660 to this because of their faith in Jesus. 349 00:25:59,660 --> 00:26:05,080 They're keeping God's commandments and we know the Sabbath is at the very heart of that. 350 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,760 And so some people say, okay, yes, I see that. 351 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:09,000 I recognize that. 352 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,020 I see that in scripture. 353 00:26:11,020 --> 00:26:17,540 But when I go to church on Sunday, I'm not choosing to rebel against God. 354 00:26:17,540 --> 00:26:24,980 And what we have to recognize is that worship is not just about a building that we go to 355 00:26:24,980 --> 00:26:27,960 or pews that we sit in. 356 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,920 It's not just what we say, but it's what is in our heart. 357 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:38,600 It's what we're verbally, what we're showing to other people, not just what we're verbally 358 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:39,600 saying. 359 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:44,880 I've mentioned several times that some of you have met my wife, Jolie, that I love Jolie 360 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,080 with all of my heart and mind and soul. 361 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:55,320 And if I said that and you believed it, but then every weekend you saw me out at a restaurant 362 00:26:55,320 --> 00:27:02,360 with some other lady or several other ladies every other weekend, you would question the 363 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:09,320 words that I said if my actions are showing something completely different. 364 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:16,200 And in the same way, we need, we recognize that Jesus is the savior of our life, but 365 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:21,640 we have to ask ourselves, have we made Jesus the Lord of my life? 366 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:28,960 Am I responding in all that I do to this savior by making him the Lord of my life? 367 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,980 Here's another quote from Dr. Edward Hisscox. 368 00:27:32,980 --> 00:27:35,520 This is in a book called The Baptist Manual. 369 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:39,200 This was a long time ago that this was written. 370 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,920 And he made a statement about Sunday that can catch our attention here. 371 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:51,520 It says, what a pity that Sunday comes branded with the mark of paganism and christened 372 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:58,480 with the name of the sun god and then adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy and then 373 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,920 bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism. 374 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:08,040 And so this Baptist preacher recognizes what we've been talking about. 375 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:12,360 He sees where this particular day of worship has come from. 376 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:18,280 He recognizes that it's from paganism, that it's come from this apostasy of the Middle 377 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:22,760 Ages and he says, what a shame that is. 378 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:29,360 When the light of truth shines into our life, we have to ask ourselves, am I going to follow 379 00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:30,360 that light? 380 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:34,240 What voice am I going to listen to? 381 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:40,400 Some of you have known me, some of you just over the last few weeks have heard me talk 382 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:45,680 and you may recognize that what many people know that I've got a few quirks. 383 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,760 And so we could ask ourselves, why is this important? 384 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,440 Why make such a big deal about this? 385 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:54,560 We've talked about the Sabbath several times. 386 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:56,600 Why do you keep bringing it up? 387 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,800 Well, one, because it's in revelation there. 388 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:05,520 We've seen this issue about worship that is there. 389 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:11,700 And if we've been given a clue that the mark of the beast has something to do with worship, 390 00:29:11,700 --> 00:29:16,880 and if we see something that has come from this beast power and we recognize that the 391 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:22,560 Sabbath comes from God, then we've got to make a choice. 392 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:26,180 So I'm going to share these quirks that I have. 393 00:29:26,180 --> 00:29:28,800 And this is just in good fun. 394 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,620 This is a serious issue. 395 00:29:30,620 --> 00:29:34,520 So just we'll see what some of these quirks are. 396 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:40,400 One of the quirks I have is that there's some colors that I really just don't like. 397 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:45,040 And somebody left some little cloths up here. 398 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,680 I just don't like the color blue. 399 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:54,160 Blue it reminds me of the cold, makes me feel blue, makes me sad. 400 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,880 I just don't like this blue. 401 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:59,600 So forget that. 402 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,240 And another color I don't like is red. 403 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:05,880 Red reminds me of the heat of the Georgia summer. 404 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,880 And it's so hot that I just get sweaty. 405 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,600 I start sweating and I'm worried that a bull might come and charge me. 406 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:17,080 I just don't like the color red. 407 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:18,880 And white. 408 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,860 What a boring color is white. 409 00:30:21,860 --> 00:30:24,160 Is it even a color? 410 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,320 There's no excitement there. 411 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:27,320 It's just white. 412 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:28,320 It's boring. 413 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:34,360 So I don't like blue and I don't like red and I don't like white. 414 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:41,160 I don't like red or white or blue cloth. 415 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:45,960 And you just thought I was weird when I kicked those off. 416 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:55,960 But I don't like red or white or blue. 417 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:59,520 No, I'm not going to do it. 418 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:01,480 I saw some heads shaking. 419 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,840 Jason was about to jump up and beat me. 420 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,660 I'm going to pit it right back. 421 00:31:07,660 --> 00:31:10,280 Just note that that did not touch the ground. 422 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:12,960 I did not step on it. 423 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:13,960 What's the difference? 424 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:15,460 Red, white, and blue. 425 00:31:15,460 --> 00:31:16,460 It's just cloth. 426 00:31:16,460 --> 00:31:19,440 Nobody was going to clock me for that. 427 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,440 But what's the difference? 428 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:23,440 That's a banner. 429 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,360 That signifies something. 430 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,880 That symbolizes something. 431 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:33,720 And even though we all recognize that our nation is not perfect, that flag stands for 432 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,280 symbols and ideals that are important. 433 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:42,640 It stands for life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that we can make choices 434 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:43,840 to serve God. 435 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,400 We can make choices to not serve God. 436 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:52,460 And so there's something different about it simply because of the way that it's put together, 437 00:31:52,460 --> 00:31:54,600 because what it symbolizes. 438 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:56,960 These things, they don't symbolize anything. 439 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:57,960 You could care less. 440 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,880 You could just think, I'm a quack. 441 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,960 And yeah, probably so. 442 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,880 But something else symbolizes something. 443 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:12,000 And so why does it matter? 444 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:13,960 Why is this important? 445 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,120 Why would we talk about this? 446 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,080 Because it symbolizes something different. 447 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:22,080 It's like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 448 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:23,080 There were trees. 449 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:30,600 There wasn't anything important about trees except one of those trees God said, no, don't 450 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:32,240 eat from it. 451 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,640 Sabbath and Sunday, it's days. 452 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:41,240 There's nothing big about days except God said that those days symbolize something. 453 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:46,520 That God's seventh day Sabbath symbolizes God is the creator of the universe and we 454 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:52,780 can remember all that He has done for us, that He has created us, that He sustains us, 455 00:32:52,780 --> 00:32:55,440 that He died for our sins. 456 00:32:55,440 --> 00:33:02,040 And we can see that a different day symbolizes somebody trying to put something above God's 457 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:03,640 Ten Commandments. 458 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:10,600 When God has given us 24 hours that He wants to connect with us, that He wants to honor 459 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:17,880 us, or we can see that there's another thing that wants to rise up man's traditions. 460 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:23,760 And so John wasn't kidding when he wrote in Revelation that all the world would wonder 461 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:27,440 and marvel after the beast. 462 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:33,600 And so we can look at what Jesus says because sometimes we see something new and in John 463 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:39,800 12.35 Jesus says, walk while you have the light. 464 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:45,120 You know if you've got a flashlight and you're in a dark place, you follow where the light 465 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,360 goes because the light is going to keep you safe. 466 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,080 The light is going to protect you. 467 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:56,560 And we can't look at people that we've cared about from the past and say well they never 468 00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:00,480 did this so I don't have to worry about that. 469 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:06,160 They didn't know that they were living up to the very best light that they had and so 470 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,120 they couldn't follow it because they hadn't seen it. 471 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:16,240 It's like asking God how much truth can I ignore and still be saved? 472 00:34:16,240 --> 00:34:22,600 It's like asking your spouse how much of our marriage vow can we forget about and you'll 473 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,440 still stick with me? 474 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:25,600 That's not how it works. 475 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:29,600 We need to be asking God you died for me. 476 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,200 What more can I do for you? 477 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:37,480 And so some will say you know there's so many people that don't know about this. 478 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,720 There's so many people that don't understand this. 479 00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:43,640 How will they ever know? 480 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:45,440 Well there's two ways. 481 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:52,160 One, you can tell them and I can tell them and as you experience a blessing of Sabbath 482 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:57,320 rest you can tell what that means to you and you can share that. 483 00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:58,800 That's one way. 484 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:06,080 Another way is through Bible prophecy that's going to be fulfilled because right now this 485 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:13,120 may not be a big central issue but Revelation tells us that in the final crisis this subject 486 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:18,720 of worship and this subject of the commandments is going to take center stage. 487 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:20,480 That's what we've already seen. 488 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:25,400 Wasn't it Jesus that said if you love me keep my commandments? 489 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:33,280 And so we're choosing to show people our love by how we respond to what God has to do with 490 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:34,280 us. 491 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:38,480 That's the first little topic we're looking at tonight but we're going to transition to 492 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,480 another one that is connected to this. 493 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,640 We're going to go back to Revelation chapter 13. 494 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:50,200 We were in Revelation 13 on Sunday night but we're going to go to the second part of Revelation 495 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:54,160 13 and we're going to see if we can answer this question. 496 00:35:54,160 --> 00:36:01,440 Does the Bible ever mention in prophecy the United States of America, our nation? 497 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:06,920 We've seen like in Daniel chapter 2 that a whole bunch of nations are mentioned through 498 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,360 Bible prophecy. 499 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:12,520 Some that have passed away, others that still exist. 500 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:21,440 So in Revelation 13 we see that it actually talks about two beasts and we only studied 501 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:22,520 the first beast. 502 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:26,560 And so tonight we're going to look at the second half of the chapter and see what is 503 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:31,160 going on with the end of Revelation 13. 504 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:36,760 So we saw that that first beast represented that Church of Rome or the papacy. 505 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,840 So what about the second beast? 506 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:43,320 I'm going to start reading in verse 11 and we're going to read about six verses straight 507 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:48,000 through and then we're going to come back and summarize and talk about them. 508 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:52,400 So Revelation 13 and verse 11. 509 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:58,920 It says, Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb 510 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:00,880 and spoke like a dragon. 511 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:06,560 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the 512 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:13,000 earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. 513 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:19,240 He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in 514 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:20,780 the sight of men. 515 00:37:20,780 --> 00:37:26,180 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those whose signs which he was granted 516 00:37:26,180 --> 00:37:30,520 to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to 517 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:34,600 the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 518 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:40,200 Where at verse 15, he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast that 519 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:44,880 the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image 520 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:46,980 of the beast to be killed. 521 00:37:46,980 --> 00:37:55,760 He causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on 522 00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:02,120 their right hand or on their foreheads that no one may buy or sell except one who has 523 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:07,920 the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. 524 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,280 That's a lot of information that we just read. 525 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:12,280 So let's go back. 526 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:18,200 I'm going to put on the screen some summaries here, some activities of the second beast. 527 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:22,340 So double check me, make sure that what we're saying is from the scripture. 528 00:38:22,340 --> 00:38:27,800 The first thing, this beast is going to rise to power and be like a lamb. 529 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:33,960 The second thing that we saw, this beast will eventually speak like a dragon and cause all 530 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,280 people to follow the first beast. 531 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:42,800 And so somehow this beast is going to change character. 532 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,260 That first beast, remember, is Rome. 533 00:38:45,260 --> 00:38:52,640 The second beast is going to have some sort of transformation from lamb to speaking like a dragon. 534 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:59,340 And then the third thing, this second beast will set up an image to the first beast and 535 00:38:59,340 --> 00:39:00,900 make that image speak. 536 00:39:00,900 --> 00:39:06,880 So somehow it's going to partner with that first beast and then fourth, it's going to 537 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:12,760 force people to worship that image and to receive a mark. 538 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:14,080 So that's what we saw. 539 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:17,480 Let's go back now and look at it kind of verse by verse. 540 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,480 Verse 11 again. 541 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:27,520 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb. 542 00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,620 Let's pause right there for a second. 543 00:39:30,620 --> 00:39:36,000 So what is a beast in Bible prophecy? 544 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:40,920 A beast, according to Daniel 7, is a kingdom or a nation. 545 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:47,520 And so we saw the first beast in the first few verses of Revelation 13 and now here comes 546 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:52,000 a new beast, a new nation that rises on the scene. 547 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,820 So where does this beast come from? 548 00:39:54,820 --> 00:39:56,640 In verse 11. 549 00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:00,800 I saw another beast coming out of the earth. 550 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:06,500 Now that may not seem like a clue, but when we remember where the first beast came from, 551 00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:08,920 where did the first beast come from? 552 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,280 In verse 1, out of the sea. 553 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:20,160 And so we saw in Revelation 17, 15 that the waters are peoples, multitudes, nations. 554 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:26,040 And so the waters in Bible prophecy represent a place where there's a great population. 555 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:27,600 There's a lot of people. 556 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:31,360 And that's exactly what happened with this church in Rome. 557 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,800 It came up there in Western Europe. 558 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,900 It came up where there was great population. 559 00:40:36,900 --> 00:40:44,340 And so now we see another beast coming up out of the land, the opposite of water. 560 00:40:44,340 --> 00:40:50,240 And so if that water represents many people, then land would represent a place where there's 561 00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:54,720 not many people, a sparsely populated area. 562 00:40:54,720 --> 00:41:02,480 And so we see that this new nation is coming up in a part of the world with little or no 563 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:06,120 population, sparsely populated. 564 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:14,600 And so we see a new nation rising up in a new land with not many people. 565 00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:20,200 That may be enough, but let's look and see if there's some other clues here. 566 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:26,360 When, what's the time frame, what's the timeline of this beast? 567 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:27,360 When does it come up? 568 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:32,280 Well, when we looked at the first beast, we saw that it lasted and it gave three different 569 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,280 terms in different places of scripture. 570 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:36,760 I don't know if you remember any of those terms. 571 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:39,280 One was 42 months. 572 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:46,740 Another was 1260 days or a time, times, and half a time. 573 00:41:46,740 --> 00:41:50,960 And we saw that in Bible prophecy, a day equals a year. 574 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:57,080 And so those 1260 days represent 1260 years. 575 00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:05,880 And that time period went from 538 when Emperor Justinian gave civil authority to the Pope 576 00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:06,880 in Rome. 577 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:11,560 So there was this combination of church power and government power. 578 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:20,680 And it went down to 1798 when General Berthier of Napoleon's army was sent in and he arrested 579 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:21,680 the Pope. 580 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:26,920 And that was that deadly wound that caused that separation of church and state. 581 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,720 It took that authority away. 582 00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:34,640 And so this first beast lost its power in 1798. 583 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:41,560 And if we use that as a pinpoint, then we see that somewhere around this time period, 584 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:47,800 somewhere around 1798, this new nation, this new beast is going to be rising up from a 585 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,800 place with not many people. 586 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:52,440 And what kind of a nation is it? 587 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:57,560 Well, verse 11, it said it's going to be like a lamb. 588 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:01,320 Anybody have lambs or livestock? 589 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:05,480 Lambs are typically pretty gentle, right? 590 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:07,400 Mary had a little lamb. 591 00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:08,800 Its fleece was white as snow. 592 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,680 And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. 593 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:18,380 Now if you were to turn your back on a goat, poor Mary might have got knocked over because 594 00:43:18,380 --> 00:43:22,120 that goat might have butted her down the hill or whatever. 595 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:23,120 That's Jack and Jill. 596 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,200 That's another nursery rhyme. 597 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:30,120 But lambs are typically gentle and they follow along. 598 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:36,760 And so this nation is going to be gentle in its origin, but then it says it's going to 599 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:38,760 speak like a dragon. 600 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:43,980 And it says that it has horns like a lamb. 601 00:43:43,980 --> 00:43:51,480 Now if you look at that first beast up earlier in Revelation 13, it has 10 horns in verse 602 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,200 1, and those horns have crowns. 603 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:58,240 But the second beast, no crowns. 604 00:43:58,240 --> 00:43:59,240 What does a crown mean? 605 00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:01,720 Who wears a crown? 606 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:08,420 A king or a ruler, an individual ruler, a monarchy would wear a crown. 607 00:44:08,420 --> 00:44:17,240 And so these other nations have individuals or kings or ruling families, but this appears 608 00:44:17,240 --> 00:44:19,240 to be a little bit different. 609 00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:20,640 There's no crown. 610 00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:22,800 There's no king. 611 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:26,940 Perhaps it indicates freedom might take place. 612 00:44:26,940 --> 00:44:30,160 And so here's what we've learned. 613 00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:35,680 This beast, it rises to power sometime around 1798. 614 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:38,480 It's going to be a lamb-like beast. 615 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:42,080 It's going to come up in a place with not much population. 616 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:44,560 There's not going to be a king. 617 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,100 There's no crowns represented here. 618 00:44:47,100 --> 00:44:49,440 It's going to be a new nation. 619 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:55,760 And this new nation would rise to a place of worldwide influence. 620 00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:57,760 That's what we saw here, right? 621 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:00,200 Those are the things that we've seen. 622 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:07,560 Now you can probably all look back to not 10th grade history now, but like second grade 623 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:14,140 history, and you could probably all recognize that this is talking about none other than 624 00:45:14,140 --> 00:45:19,400 the United States of America, our great nation. 625 00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:21,560 Well let's double check. 626 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:25,080 America was rising to power around 1798. 627 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:28,760 When was the Declaration of Independence signed? 628 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:31,280 1776. 629 00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:35,360 And then there was about eight years of a revolutionary war, and there's articles of 630 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:40,680 confederation, and then finally the Constitution is put into place. 631 00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:47,160 And so around 1798, America has now made a name for itself. 632 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:54,680 It's began to have some influence in the world, and it rose up in a new region that was sparsely 633 00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:56,000 populated. 634 00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:00,400 There wasn't a lot of people on this continent at the time. 635 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,520 Number three, there was no monarchy, no king. 636 00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:09,320 That was one of the things that they instilled and instituted in that. 637 00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:12,880 And then it says it begun like a lamb. 638 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:19,960 It began mild and gentle with political and religious freedom. 639 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:24,960 Next month, we're going to gather with family around a table, maybe with some turkey and 640 00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:27,280 pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. 641 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:30,040 What day do we celebrate? 642 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:32,040 Thanksgiving. 643 00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:36,120 If you remember Thanksgiving, maybe you've gone to some school play and there's been 644 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:42,600 little children with a black hat and little buckles on their shoes because they're pilgrims. 645 00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:48,320 Why did the pilgrims come to the United States, come to North America? 646 00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,480 Because they wanted religious freedom. 647 00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:56,080 They were being persecuted in Europe because of the way that they were choosing to worship 648 00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:57,080 God. 649 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:04,240 And so they came to this country because there would be a separation of church and state. 650 00:47:04,240 --> 00:47:08,000 The founders did that on purpose because they had been persecuted. 651 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:13,320 Their fathers had been persecuted and they did not want that to happen in America. 652 00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:18,360 And so in the Constitution, there was this separation of church and state. 653 00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:23,560 They wanted to make sure that dark ages would not be repeated. 654 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:29,520 And because of the freedom that was given, people flocked to America. 655 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:36,400 And because they flocked to America, it wasn't long before it rose to a position of power 656 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:38,280 and influence. 657 00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:43,360 So that's a pretty incredible fulfillment of that prophecy. 658 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:50,440 And oh, I wish, I wish, I wish that it stopped right there. 659 00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:51,440 But it doesn't. 660 00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:57,940 It says that this lamb would eventually speak like a dragon. 661 00:47:57,940 --> 00:48:03,840 Verse 11, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb 662 00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:06,920 and he spoke like a dragon. 663 00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:09,840 What a drastic character change. 664 00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:16,960 What a change the Bible prophecy is telling us is going to happen in the character of 665 00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:19,360 the United States. 666 00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:24,820 America declared in its Constitution that there'd be freedom, but it appears that that's 667 00:48:24,820 --> 00:48:30,280 no longer going to be the case at some point in the future. 668 00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:35,360 And if someone would have preached this 100 years ago, when people preached this 100 years 669 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:38,840 ago, people said, there's no way. 670 00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:42,800 That can't happen in the United States. 671 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:44,440 But guess what? 672 00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:47,340 People don't say that as much anymore. 673 00:48:47,340 --> 00:48:54,640 People don't laugh about it because you can already begin to see perhaps a character being 674 00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:58,420 changed, values being changed. 675 00:48:58,420 --> 00:49:02,720 And the older you are, the clearer it becomes. 676 00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:09,760 Because could it be that words like a dragon are already being spoken? 677 00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:11,480 How does a nation speak? 678 00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:17,600 Well, a nation speaks through its laws, through its actions. 679 00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:24,840 You can see what a nation stands for by looking at what its laws say. 680 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:30,380 And believe it or not, many of the laws coming, being spoken about, being talked about, show 681 00:49:30,380 --> 00:49:33,520 that America is changing. 682 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:35,680 Notice verse 12. 683 00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:43,400 It says, He exercises all the authority of the first beast in His presence and causes 684 00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:50,320 the earth and those who dwell on it causes them to worship the first beast whose deadly 685 00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:52,840 wound was healed. 686 00:49:52,840 --> 00:50:01,080 It says the second beast causes people to worship or obey the first beast. 687 00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:05,840 And so as we've looked at this, that would tell us that America is going to exercise 688 00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:13,560 some sort of power, some sort of authority that way back in the Middle Ages, that's what 689 00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:18,200 was being pressed down upon people through a union of church and state that people had 690 00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:26,120 to worship in a certain way, that people had to do a certain thing and the result was persecution. 691 00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:34,480 And Revelation, these prophecies seem to be telling us that slowly but surely this character 692 00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:38,880 of America, this great nation is going to change. 693 00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:44,920 That there's going to come a time when a union of church and state will take away religious 694 00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:52,840 freedom because it says it's going to cause people to worship in a certain way. 695 00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:57,480 Like I said years ago, people said, oh that can't happen in America, but people don't 696 00:50:57,480 --> 00:51:00,600 say that anymore. 697 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:05,680 Because whenever church and state unite in history, it doesn't matter the nation, there's 698 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:10,240 always persecution that comes as a result of that. 699 00:51:10,240 --> 00:51:15,000 Because not everybody looks at things the same way and we saw way back in the Garden 700 00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:20,960 of Eden that God gave people the freedom to choose, to choose to follow Him or to choose 701 00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:22,680 to not to follow Him. 702 00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:28,600 But there's a push even now in this nation to do away with this separation of church 703 00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:32,900 and state to change what's written there in the Constitution. 704 00:51:32,900 --> 00:51:36,420 Let's go on in this prophecy, verse 14. 705 00:51:36,420 --> 00:51:41,680 It says, he deceives those who dwell on the earth, telling those who dwell on the earth 706 00:51:41,680 --> 00:51:47,900 to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 707 00:51:47,900 --> 00:51:53,440 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, this is verse 15, that 708 00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:59,800 the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image 709 00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:03,700 of the beast to be killed. 710 00:52:03,700 --> 00:52:07,060 This is a persecution that's taking place. 711 00:52:07,060 --> 00:52:12,080 The second beast makes an image to the first beast. 712 00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:13,080 What is an image? 713 00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:16,320 It's something that looks the same. 714 00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:21,380 When you wake up in the morning and go into the bathroom and you look into the mirror, 715 00:52:21,380 --> 00:52:23,560 what do you see? 716 00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:27,840 You see yourself, you see an image of yourself. 717 00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:34,520 And so when church and state unite to enforce some type of religious practice, I hate to 718 00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:41,400 say this, but America is going to look like that time in the Middle Ages. 719 00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:46,880 That this prophecy says that America is going to do something to force people to follow 720 00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:48,760 and obey Papal Rome. 721 00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:52,100 Now this is not now, this is not yet. 722 00:52:52,100 --> 00:52:55,400 And so something doesn't really say what. 723 00:52:55,400 --> 00:53:00,480 Something has to happen for such a drastic change to take place. 724 00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:03,160 And you would say, why would anybody want to do that? 725 00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:07,720 Why would anybody want to do away with religious liberty? 726 00:53:07,720 --> 00:53:14,320 But there's many religious leaders who already want to see this done away with. 727 00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:21,840 Or pushing for a certain day of the week for worship to be required or for businesses to 728 00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:23,460 be closed. 729 00:53:23,460 --> 00:53:26,320 And Vatican City has been foremost in this. 730 00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:32,760 Notice this statement from Pope Benedict's speech a few years ago. 731 00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:37,400 Sunday must be a day of rest for everyone. 732 00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:41,120 So people can be free to be with their families and with God. 733 00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:45,300 By defending Sunday, one defends freedom. 734 00:53:45,300 --> 00:53:50,960 Sunday is the day of the Lord and of man, a day which everyone must be able to be free. 735 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:54,720 Free for family and free for God. 736 00:53:54,720 --> 00:53:59,700 Why is it that some religious leaders want this separation to end? 737 00:53:59,700 --> 00:54:03,480 Why would they call for Sunday loss? 738 00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:09,520 I think it's in essence, it's in their mind for a good thing. 739 00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:13,160 Because they see the challenges in our world today. 740 00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:19,960 They see drug challenges and crime issues and morality on the downfall. 741 00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:23,600 And we see natural disaster after natural disaster. 742 00:54:23,600 --> 00:54:28,640 And we've seen in Bible prophecy in Matthew 24 and others that it says it's going to get 743 00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:32,600 worse as we get closer to Jesus coming. 744 00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:37,280 And some would say that this is happening because America has turned away from God. 745 00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:40,120 And they would say we need revival. 746 00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:43,600 America needs to come back to God. 747 00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:44,720 And I would agree with that. 748 00:54:44,720 --> 00:54:46,420 We do need revival. 749 00:54:46,420 --> 00:54:50,160 We do need to come back to God. 750 00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:56,120 But you cannot legislate revival. 751 00:54:56,120 --> 00:55:00,120 A law is not going to cause revival. 752 00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:06,640 When force is involved, it's not revival, but it leads to persecution to those who don't 753 00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:08,320 comply. 754 00:55:08,320 --> 00:55:10,640 How does real revival happen? 755 00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:16,720 Well God tells us it's when we are following Jesus, when we're allowing the Holy Spirit 756 00:55:16,720 --> 00:55:18,680 to lead us. 757 00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:23,360 Revival doesn't come from the Senate or the House or the White House or London or Washington 758 00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:26,360 or Moscow or anywhere else. 759 00:55:26,360 --> 00:55:28,160 Revival is personal. 760 00:55:28,160 --> 00:55:29,760 Revival comes from within. 761 00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:32,760 It starts in the human heart. 762 00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:39,480 And we can't call for laws to force revival in our nation until we allow God to make a 763 00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:41,960 revival in our heart. 764 00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:47,520 And so if America, just think about it, if America was going to come back to God, if 765 00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:53,840 there were laws that were going to legislate that people could come back to God, what would 766 00:55:53,840 --> 00:55:55,880 that look like? 767 00:55:55,880 --> 00:56:01,040 What day would people be called on to come back to God? 768 00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:04,060 The obvious answer would be Sunday. 769 00:56:04,060 --> 00:56:07,560 That day that we've seen comes from this beast power. 770 00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:11,440 And yet it's the most popular day in the religious world. 771 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:18,080 And it's already being promoted as we saw in some veins in some areas. 772 00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:23,200 And this goes way back to Constantine in 321. 773 00:56:23,200 --> 00:56:30,000 On the venerable day of the sun, let the magistrates and people residing in the city's rest and 774 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:33,120 let all the shops be closed. 775 00:56:33,120 --> 00:56:38,640 And this was done for unity, to bring people together. 776 00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:45,320 And Revelation tells us that at some point America is going to make an image to the beast. 777 00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:52,720 It seems like to unite, in essence, to unite a divided society. 778 00:56:52,720 --> 00:57:00,760 And yet it will be uniting not for a good purpose, not for real spiritual revival, but 779 00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:04,760 to cause America to worship this image of the beast. 780 00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:09,760 And then people will have to decide, am I going to follow God's seal? 781 00:57:09,760 --> 00:57:13,160 Am I going to follow this tradition of man? 782 00:57:13,160 --> 00:57:15,720 Do I keep the commandments of God? 783 00:57:15,720 --> 00:57:22,240 Do I take this tradition that humanity has lifted up above God's commandments? 784 00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:27,020 Who do I surrender my life to? 785 00:57:27,020 --> 00:57:31,480 We can look back to that response in Revelation 14. 786 00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:36,160 How does that last generation on earth, how do they respond? 787 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:37,840 Revelation 14, 12. 788 00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:40,880 Here is the patience of the saints. 789 00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:47,000 Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 790 00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:54,320 We need to start by surrendering our hearts to Jesus today so that when anything comes 791 00:57:54,320 --> 00:58:00,220 in the future we can know that we are surrendering our hearts to God then. 792 00:58:00,220 --> 00:58:05,760 And so this can seem really, really scary as we look at these final events, as it talks 793 00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:11,040 about not being able to buy and sell, it talks about persecution, it even talks about being 794 00:58:11,040 --> 00:58:12,040 killed. 795 00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:17,040 And we wonder, are we going to be alone as we stand for this? 796 00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:23,260 But I want to look at one more passage here in Psalm 91. 797 00:58:23,260 --> 00:58:25,320 This is an amazing Psalm. 798 00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:31,300 I challenge people to read this and not just read it, but if you want to memorize scripture, 799 00:58:31,300 --> 00:58:33,220 this is an amazing place to start. 800 00:58:33,220 --> 00:58:34,220 Psalm 91. 801 00:58:34,220 --> 00:58:38,080 But we're going to look at verse 14, but this whole Psalm is amazing. 802 00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:46,080 But at the very end it says, because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver 803 00:58:46,080 --> 00:58:47,180 him. 804 00:58:47,180 --> 00:58:50,560 He shall call upon me and I will answer him. 805 00:58:50,560 --> 00:58:53,100 I will be with him in trouble. 806 00:58:53,100 --> 00:58:56,560 I will deliver him and honor him. 807 00:58:56,560 --> 00:59:02,520 When you take a stand for Jesus, you can know that Jesus is standing right beside you. 808 00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:07,620 He has promised to never leave you, to never forsake you. 809 00:59:07,620 --> 00:59:13,020 And it's my prayer, it's my hope that each one of us from this day forward will choose 810 00:59:13,020 --> 00:59:16,540 that no matter what happens, we're going to stand with Jesus. 811 00:59:16,540 --> 00:59:18,620 We're going to choose to honor Him. 812 00:59:18,620 --> 00:59:23,700 We're going to choose to have that faith of Jesus and to keep His commandments that will 813 00:59:23,700 --> 00:59:26,620 turn our eyes upon Him. 814 00:59:26,620 --> 00:59:29,340 I hope that you'll take out that little response card that you got. 815 00:59:29,340 --> 00:59:34,180 I'm going to invite my friend Jacqueline to come up and she's going to sing a song for 816 00:59:34,180 --> 00:59:36,860 us, a song that she wrote. 817 00:59:36,860 --> 00:59:41,940 And if you have any questions, if you have any comments, if you have any prayer requests, 818 00:59:41,940 --> 00:59:46,100 please write them on the back of that card. 819 00:59:46,100 --> 00:59:51,180 And if you would like to do Bible studies at some point in the near future, just check 820 00:59:51,180 --> 00:59:53,040 that and mark that. 821 00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:55,700 And please prayerfully go through that. 822 00:59:55,700 --> 01:00:00,980 Dear God, what an incredible story and an incredible message. 823 01:00:00,980 --> 01:00:05,260 A story of a Savior who dies for us. 824 01:00:05,260 --> 01:00:07,820 Lord, help us to live for You. 825 01:00:07,820 --> 01:00:11,400 Help us to walk with You each and every day. 826 01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:18,340 Help us to live in all that we do that others might see Your love shining through us. 827 01:00:18,340 --> 01:00:22,020 I want to pray for each person that's here, each family that's here. 828 01:00:22,020 --> 01:00:27,620 Guide and bless them as they go home this evening and help them to be moved to live 829 01:00:27,620 --> 01:00:28,940 their life for You. 830 01:00:28,940 --> 01:00:32,340 In Your name we pray, amen. 831 01:00:32,340 --> 01:00:36,640 So tomorrow night our topic is Revelations Remnant. 832 01:00:36,640 --> 01:00:38,540 So we hope that you'll be here tomorrow night. 833 01:00:38,540 --> 01:00:42,060 And then Saturday morning we're going to have our final session. 834 01:00:42,060 --> 01:00:47,620 And I forgot to mention something very important because after Saturday morning's final session, 835 01:00:47,620 --> 01:00:53,720 on the fourth week, this place has something called the Asian Lunch. 836 01:00:53,720 --> 01:01:00,020 So you are going to want to make sure that as you come you stay for a delicious Asian 837 01:01:00,020 --> 01:01:01,020 lunch. 838 01:01:01,020 --> 01:01:09,420 So we hope you'll be back tomorrow.