1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 But we still hope you'll turn in response cards with any questions or prayer requests 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,180 that you might have. 3 00:00:10,180 --> 00:00:17,840 We did have a question somebody asked about, because we've talked several times about Napoleon 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:24,760 and he had a General Berthier who went in and captured the Pope and so forth in 1798. 5 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:31,120 And then the question was, well what about what happened, the French Revolution and all 6 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:32,120 that? 7 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,960 Is that in Revelation? 8 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,400 Because you've talked about France doing that type of stuff. 9 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:45,540 And unfortunately, this is our last evening session and we've got a meeting tomorrow, 10 00:00:45,540 --> 00:00:50,800 but there's a whole bunch of things in Revelation that we're not able to get to in this short 11 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:59,560 series but I would throw out that in Revelation chapter 11 that it talks about an atheistic 12 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:06,240 power that overthrows some different nations and different things like that. 13 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:13,920 So if we had time to study that all the way through, I would suspect, I would proclaim 14 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:21,240 that that is that French Revolution where they got rid of the Bible, they cast out the 15 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:27,680 Bible, they actually took a prostitute and proclaimed that they were going to worship 16 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:30,520 her as the goddess of reason. 17 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:37,680 And it was the other extreme, because we've been talking about the dark ages when religion 18 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:42,840 was enforced in such a way and so then that other extreme is like we're going to cast 19 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:48,220 off religion totally and they even did away with the seven day week for a little while, 20 00:01:48,220 --> 00:01:53,360 they tried at least and they went to a ten day week but that didn't work out for them 21 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,040 very well. 22 00:01:55,040 --> 00:02:03,600 And so there's many, many things in Scripture in Revelation that we're not able to get to 23 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:09,560 and so I just want to mention as we did last night, if you'd like to do any more Bible 24 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,480 studies, please write that on the card, that's one of the boxes. 25 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:22,000 And then on Wednesday night, we're going to restart a study of the prophetic chapters 26 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,440 in the book of Daniel. 27 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:30,520 A few months ago down at the hub downtown by the United Grocery Outlet, we looked through 28 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:36,600 the first six chapters of Daniel, which are the narrative mostly, the story part, and 29 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:44,400 then we only met once or twice I think for the last half of the book, the last six chapters, 30 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:51,040 talk about or seven through twelve, talk about more of the prophecies and we're going to 31 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:58,200 begin that study again on Wednesday night and that starts at 6.30 and so that will be 32 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:00,040 here at this facility. 33 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:05,960 So if you're interested in that, please join us and that will be more of a round table 34 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:12,920 discussion, that's not going to be preaching so much, that will be reading the Bible together, 35 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:18,080 reading verses, talking, discussing, sharing views and different things like that. 36 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:25,520 So that's some things that are coming up and of course our final session is tomorrow morning 37 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:30,800 at 11 o'clock and I mentioned last night there's something that happens after that. 38 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,440 Every fourth week here at this church, those that go here, what is it? 39 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:37,640 An Asian lunch. 40 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:43,680 So if you want some delicious Filipino food, some delicious Asian food, come and join us 41 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:49,720 and just plan on staying a little bit longer for lunch and then tomorrow evening we're 42 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:56,400 not having a meeting but we're gathering at a fall festival that's going to begin with 43 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,200 the baptism so that's really, really awesome. 44 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,400 So if you would like to come to that, everyone is invited and welcome to come to that as 45 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:04,400 well. 46 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,680 But let's bow our heads for a word of prayer as we get started tonight. 47 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:14,280 Dear God, we thank you for weeks that we've been together now. 48 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:20,000 This is our eleventh gathering that we've been able to come together for a purpose, 49 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:26,760 for studying your word and Lord we've been able to explore, we've been able to be challenged, 50 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,720 we've been reminded of your love and your grace. 51 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:35,680 And God as we have our last evening meeting and one more tomorrow, just in all that we 52 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:41,360 do help us to keep our focus and our attention on you and what you have done for us. 53 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:45,440 In your name we pray, amen. 54 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,280 It was a day that Jonathan would never forget. 55 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:53,920 He was about five or six years old and his mother said, well let's go eat at our favorite 56 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:55,180 restaurant. 57 00:04:55,180 --> 00:05:00,720 This was in New York City and so they made their way down to the corner of George Street 58 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,960 and Hamilton Avenue down to a little restaurant called Penn Supreme. 59 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:10,500 And it was only a few blocks away so they walked down but by the time they got down 60 00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:18,040 there and ordered the food and got the food, it took a little bit longer than expected. 61 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:25,160 And so it was dark when they got done but it wasn't far from home and so mom said, well 62 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:29,880 let's just walk home, we'll walk fast, we'll make it home. 63 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,360 And as they were getting closer and closer to home it was only a couple blocks when suddenly 64 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:40,040 they heard footsteps and out of the darkness came some people knocked mother over. 65 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,720 One of them snatched her purse and before they knew it they had run off down the street 66 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:53,320 and mom was almost in tears and little Jonathan, six years old, was also almost in tears because 67 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,680 his mother's glasses had been knocked off and they'd been broken and they couldn't 68 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:00,040 find them in the darkness. 69 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:06,600 And so now he, this little boy, had to lead his mother who couldn't see very well, lead 70 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:14,160 her back through the darkness, lead her to home after having this horrific, tragic thing 71 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:19,600 that happened to them as she had been attacked, as she had lost her purse. 72 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:26,640 And when they got home they were able to tell dad, dad called the police, but it was dark, 73 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:28,600 they hadn't seen anybody. 74 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,760 So of course no one was ever apprehended. 75 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:37,200 And Jonathan, although he's an adult now, he says that he can still hear the sound of 76 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,640 those footsteps to this day. 77 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:45,920 If you've ever been attacked in some way it's a traumatic thing, whether it's a physical 78 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:51,160 attack or an emotional attack or a verbal attack. 79 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:58,960 Sometimes we feel helpless, we can feel vulnerable, and sometimes we need someone to rise up, 80 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,480 someone to defend us. 81 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:07,800 And so as we continue our study of Bible prophecy we're going to read a story tonight, read 82 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:15,620 a prophecy about a woman who's viciously attacked, not because of her money, but she's attacked 83 00:07:15,620 --> 00:07:18,920 because of the truth that she has. 84 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:22,440 But thankfully she has someone to defend her. 85 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:27,080 So we're going to pick up the story in Revelation chapter 12. 86 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:33,440 Now we've looked at Revelation chapter 12 before, we looked at some of the earlier verses, 87 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:38,760 maybe the second or third gathering that we were here and we looked at Lucifer and there 88 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:48,760 was a war that took place in heaven and Lucifer was cast out as he had tried to convince these 89 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,740 other angels to follow after him. 90 00:07:51,740 --> 00:07:57,120 And finally God said, is enough, is enough, and Lucifer and these angels were cast down 91 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:58,800 to earth. 92 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:07,320 And it talks about a dragon, and it calls him in verse 9, that devil and Satan. 93 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:15,760 And we pick up the story now in verse 13, Revelation chapter 12 and verse 13. 94 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,880 Tomorrow morning we're actually going to look at the first part of this chapter because 95 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,200 it's going to use some of these same characters as well. 96 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:27,560 Revelation 12 and verse 13 it says, Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the 97 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:33,800 earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 98 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:39,280 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness 99 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:47,160 to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence 100 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:48,800 of the serpent. 101 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:54,360 And so the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he 102 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,720 might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 103 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:04,560 But the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood 104 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:09,160 which the woman, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 105 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:14,760 And then verse 17 shifts just a little bit and it says the dragon was enraged with the 106 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:19,560 woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring. 107 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:25,760 Or some versions say the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have 108 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,720 the testimony of Jesus Christ. 109 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:34,280 And so in these verses we kind of see three different symbols here that we've talked about 110 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,840 some of them and maybe not some. 111 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:43,380 And so we've talked about a dragon, we've talked about a serpent, and both of those 112 00:09:43,380 --> 00:09:49,500 it clearly says like I said in verse 9 that both of those are just different titles, different 113 00:09:49,500 --> 00:09:57,560 names for that same evil being Lucifer or Satan and then there's a woman. 114 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:04,700 And throughout scripture a woman represents God's church or God's people. 115 00:10:04,700 --> 00:10:10,480 God uses this symbol of a woman and if it's a pure woman then it's a time when God's 116 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,700 church is being faithful to him, is following him. 117 00:10:14,700 --> 00:10:20,340 But sometimes, and we'll see this tomorrow morning, sometimes it's an unfaithful woman 118 00:10:20,340 --> 00:10:28,040 or a harlot or a prostitute, a word like that and that would represent a time when the church, 119 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:33,540 when God's people are not acting like God's people and they're not following God. 120 00:10:33,540 --> 00:10:40,960 But here we have a pure woman representing God's faithful people and they're being attacked 121 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:46,520 by this dragon, by this serpent and it says it's like a flood. 122 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:53,200 And we've seen just in the last couple of weeks what damage a flood can do. 123 00:10:53,200 --> 00:11:00,480 If you've seen pictures and scenes from North Carolina where in the mountains of North Carolina 124 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:07,080 a hurricane went through and we may expect a hurricane on the coast of Florida or even 125 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:13,520 the coast of North Carolina but not in the mountains and you see how that rain, that 126 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:23,280 water swept through the valleys and the hollers and swept people away, cars away, farms away 127 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,240 and caused all kinds of damage. 128 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:33,840 And so this passage here where this dragon, this serpent is attacking God's people, it's 129 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:37,880 actually referring to two different time periods. 130 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:44,640 Verses 13 through 16, the first few verses that we read there, that is talking about 131 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:51,960 which we've mentioned before, those persecutions of the Middle Ages when church and state were 132 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:58,360 united during those 1260 years of that papal persecution. 133 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:03,120 And we've shown this graph and we've talked about this before and this was a time when 134 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:09,560 the Bible was not allowed, the Word of God or the sword of the Spirit was not able to 135 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:15,560 be read, people couldn't have it, you couldn't translate it, the light from the cross was 136 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:23,060 kept from people and this is referred to as the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages. 137 00:12:23,060 --> 00:12:29,340 And that's from 538 to 1798, that time I just mentioned when the Pope was arrested when 138 00:12:29,340 --> 00:12:31,060 he was taken away. 139 00:12:31,060 --> 00:12:38,360 And this was the time that it says the woman was hiding, God's church was hiding in the 140 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:44,600 wilderness, a land area, a place with sparse population. 141 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:50,640 And if you look at history you can see that there were people that hid in the wilderness, 142 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:57,520 groups like the Waldensis who hid in the mountains of Italy and they hid up in the most remote 143 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:03,680 places that the soldiers couldn't come to or when they did come they were able to roll 144 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:05,440 rocks down upon them. 145 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:12,460 And then we mentioned last night that some came to an entirely sparsely populated area, 146 00:13:12,460 --> 00:13:20,400 to a new world, to North America, people like the pilgrims fleeing from that religious persecution. 147 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:28,640 But then Revelation moves past this time of the Middle Ages in verse 17 because it seems 148 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:36,220 as if verse 17 is talking about not that same time period but another time period. 149 00:13:36,220 --> 00:13:43,040 Let's read verse 17 again, it says the dragon was enraged, was angry with the woman, this 150 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:50,620 is from the King James version, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed. 151 00:13:50,620 --> 00:13:58,440 So not only is the dragon making war with the woman but now making war with another 152 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:03,420 group with the remnant of her seed and it gives a description here. 153 00:14:03,420 --> 00:14:09,220 Those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. 154 00:14:09,220 --> 00:14:17,600 So we've gone past that Middle Ages time, we've gone past that 1260 years and it says 155 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:25,040 that in the last days the dragon, Satan, is still angry, he's upset, he's wroth, a word 156 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,040 we don't use very much anymore. 157 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:34,520 And so we see that in the earlier part of this chapter there was war in heaven. 158 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,600 Was Lucifer able to win that war? 159 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:38,880 No he wasn't. 160 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:44,600 And so he couldn't win that war and so he turned his attention after he got cast to 161 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:51,980 this earth, he was not able to destroy Christ, he was not able to prevent Jesus from going 162 00:14:51,980 --> 00:14:57,840 to the cross, he couldn't stop the plan of salvation from being carried out. 163 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:04,400 And so when Jesus resurrected and ascended back to heaven, guess what, the dragon, the 164 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:06,600 devil is still angry. 165 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:13,920 He can't reach Jesus anymore and so he turns his sight onto the woman, onto God's people 166 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:20,500 and all throughout the Middle Ages that persecution was there and yet God was able to be with 167 00:15:20,500 --> 00:15:21,660 his people. 168 00:15:21,660 --> 00:15:26,140 And even though many of them lost their lives, God was still with them. 169 00:15:26,140 --> 00:15:33,320 But now it comes down to the end of time and the devil is angry, he's extra angry, he's 170 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:39,120 exceedingly angry, he's very, very upset, he's upset with God's people and it says 171 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,600 he goes to make war with the remnant of her seed. 172 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:49,560 And so this refers to a group of God's faithful people at the end time. 173 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:56,120 And we've been seeing last night and tonight that the Bible is describing an end time group 174 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,600 in a very specific way. 175 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:04,920 And we see here in verse 17, we're going to keep the commandments of God and the testimony 176 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:06,080 of Jesus. 177 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:13,260 And so there's going to be in the last days a special group of God's people, a movement 178 00:16:13,260 --> 00:16:19,320 of believers who have come together from different backgrounds, from different faiths and they're 179 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:26,240 determined to stand up for Jesus and they're determined to serve him and to keep his commandments 180 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:32,120 and they want to come back to the Bible and they want to be faithful to his word. 181 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:37,000 And Revelation calls this a remnant movement. 182 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:42,060 And as we already mentioned, verse 17 talks about two characteristics. 183 00:16:42,060 --> 00:16:47,800 And so we need to ask ourselves, how can we make sure that we're able to track this down, 184 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,380 that we're able to find this? 185 00:16:50,380 --> 00:16:56,120 Because if Revelation is describing something in the last days where people are coming together 186 00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:01,080 to serve Jesus, how can I recognize that movement? 187 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:05,200 Because we see that in the world today there's a lot of confusion. 188 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:10,840 There's a lot of confusion in the religious world and in the secular world. 189 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:15,560 And sometimes people, the devil wants to confuse us. 190 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,400 He wants to stir things up. 191 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,960 And the devil would love it if we all just throw up our hands and say, you know, forget 192 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:23,960 it. 193 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:28,680 It's too much, too many choices, too many decisions. 194 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:36,720 There's some studies that show there's about 300 official denominations in the United States. 195 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:41,120 And you can look up some other things and other numbers that people might throw out 196 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:48,380 is even up to 1200 different organizations, different denominations. 197 00:17:48,380 --> 00:17:54,160 And that doesn't even take into account, you know, independent churches or non-denominational 198 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:55,600 churches. 199 00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:07,460 And if we think about it, there's one Bible, one God of the Bible, one truth of the Bible. 200 00:18:07,460 --> 00:18:13,880 How in the world are there 300, 1200, 500, whatever the number is? 201 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,920 How in the world are there that many? 202 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:23,800 And we can ask ourselves the question, are all 300 of them correct? 203 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:29,420 Well the obvious answer has to be no, because sometimes they have things that are diametrically 204 00:18:29,420 --> 00:18:30,420 opposed. 205 00:18:30,420 --> 00:18:37,680 And in our world today, it's really easy for people to say, oh, well, you have your truth. 206 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:39,160 That's good for you. 207 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,280 But I've got my truth and that's good for me. 208 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:46,000 So you do your thing and I'll do my thing. 209 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,800 But the Bible tells us that there is a truth. 210 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,880 There is something in the Word of God. 211 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,600 There is one standard of truth. 212 00:18:54,600 --> 00:19:03,440 And so if every church is claiming to be following the truth, how can we figure it out? 213 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,060 We can't listen to what someone says. 214 00:19:06,060 --> 00:19:08,340 We can't listen to what someone says. 215 00:19:08,340 --> 00:19:11,140 We have to listen to what the Bible says. 216 00:19:11,140 --> 00:19:17,320 But Revelation, as we've seen here, shows that there is a final remnant movement. 217 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:22,240 So what we're going to do today, we're going to look at some different places in Scripture. 218 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:27,260 And by the time we're done, we're going to have six different principles from the Word 219 00:19:27,260 --> 00:19:35,260 of God, from Scripture, six different principles that can help us to navigate, help us on our 220 00:19:35,260 --> 00:19:43,160 spiritual journey, help us to recognize what Jesus has in store for us. 221 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:47,000 And so sometimes people say, can you recommend a church? 222 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:48,000 They ask me that. 223 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:53,500 Well, if you ask a pastor that, you might get a little bit of a biased answer. 224 00:19:53,500 --> 00:19:57,880 And I would expect if you ask any pastor that, that they're going to have a biased answer. 225 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:03,420 And if they said, well, you really shouldn't come to my church, that's going to be a red 226 00:20:03,420 --> 00:20:06,200 flag right there, obviously. 227 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:10,520 So any pastor is going to say, you know, I've got a place for you. 228 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:16,160 And so we need to make sure that we're not listening to what man says, but we're listening 229 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:17,720 to what the Bible says. 230 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,720 So principle number one, let's go over to 1 Corinthians. 231 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:22,840 That's right in the heart of the New Testament. 232 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,880 You've got Acts, Romans, and then 1 Corinthians. 233 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:28,880 And we're going to go to chapter three. 234 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:33,640 1 Corinthians chapter three and verse 11. 235 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:39,160 1 Corinthians chapter three and verse 11. 236 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:46,880 The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, 11, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that 237 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:52,080 which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 238 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,640 This is perhaps the easiest one right here. 239 00:20:55,640 --> 00:21:02,760 This first principle tells us that God's end time remnant movement has to be focused, has 240 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:08,520 to be founded with Jesus Christ and His teachings as the foundation. 241 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:15,080 If I want to be part of what Jesus is talking about in Revelation, then I've got to find 242 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:20,840 a group, I've got to find a church or a movement that's founded on Jesus Christ. 243 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:27,040 That Jesus is going to be the center of what they talk about, the center of their teachings. 244 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:31,120 They're not going to put a person in front of anything. 245 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:35,760 They're not going to put traditions of humans above the traditions of God. 246 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:40,360 They're not going to place the teachings of a prophet above the word of God. 247 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:45,340 They're not going to go with what the popular understanding might be, but they're going 248 00:21:45,340 --> 00:21:48,360 to go by what the Bible says. 249 00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:55,000 The teachings of Christ that we find in the word of God, that's principle number one. 250 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,200 So that's what we have to be looking for. 251 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:05,120 Now if you were to find something and share it with someone and they're like, oh, don't 252 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,400 worry about that. 253 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,200 That's not what we talk about here at this church. 254 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:12,560 You don't need to worry about that. 255 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,120 That's not part of our tradition here. 256 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:17,200 So just don't worry about that. 257 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:23,080 Or, oh yeah, I see that, but that's been done away with. 258 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:24,480 We need to be careful with that. 259 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,680 That could raise a red flag in our mind. 260 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:34,400 I heard a story of a lady who was going to a seminar similar to this, and the speaker 261 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,240 noticed that she never brought a Bible. 262 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:44,040 She never opened up the Bible that was maybe in the rack in front of her. 263 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:50,440 Even though they were encouraged to open up the verses, to read them for themselves. 264 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:56,160 One day as the speaker was having a conversation with the lady, he just mentioned that, hey, 265 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,840 I noticed you don't ever bring your Bible. 266 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:04,120 You can get a real blessing by reading something in your own Bible. 267 00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:08,040 She said, well, pastor, I don't need my Bible. 268 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,680 He was a little bit taken aback by that. 269 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,200 So he inquired, well, why not? 270 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:19,760 And she said, well, if my preacher don't say it, it ain't truth. 271 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:21,240 That's exactly what she said. 272 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,200 If my preacher don't say it, it ain't the truth. 273 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,920 And wow, what a statement that is. 274 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:35,360 I'm sure her pastor was a wonderful person, as many pastors are, but if my church member 275 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:38,200 said, you know, I'm not going to bring my Bible anymore. 276 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:44,360 I'm just going to listen to what you say, and if you say it, that's all I need. 277 00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:45,520 But that's not all we need. 278 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,280 We need to be personally in the Word of God. 279 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:55,440 Because if we're just listening to what somebody says, then it's very easy to just swallow 280 00:23:55,440 --> 00:24:02,240 whatever is given to us, hook, line, and sinker, like a bass going after a lure there and getting 281 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,040 snatched out of the water. 282 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:09,720 We need to make sure that we're studying things and looking at things and seeing that it's 283 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:10,720 in the Bible. 284 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,200 Not just listening to what an individual says. 285 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:18,200 That's what a cult does, just listening to one person. 286 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:24,520 Because believe it or not, preachers, pastors, are fallible. 287 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,040 We make mistakes. 288 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:30,160 We're not perfect, believe it or not. 289 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:35,440 And so if any organization is more focused on what a religious leader says than what 290 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,680 the Bible says, then that's a warning sign right now. 291 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:46,720 So principle one, God's end time remnant movement will be founded on Jesus Christ and His teachings. 292 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:48,120 Let's go to another one now. 293 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:50,400 Let's go to 1 Timothy. 294 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:56,820 So we're going to go from 1 Corinthians, go towards the back just a little bit, to 1 Timothy. 295 00:24:56,820 --> 00:24:59,160 If you get to Hebrews, you've gone too far. 296 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:06,960 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15. 297 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:08,320 Notice what Paul writes here. 298 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:14,120 He's writing to a young minister, a young mentee of his named Timothy. 299 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:21,800 And the Bible says, but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to 300 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:30,120 conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. 301 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:35,460 And then it says the pillar and ground of truth. 302 00:25:35,460 --> 00:25:42,460 So God's church, the house of God, the church of the living God, is called the pillar and 303 00:25:42,460 --> 00:25:44,920 ground of truth. 304 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:51,560 And so God's remnant movement is going to be founded on biblical Bible truth. 305 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:57,800 Whether or not that's what's popular, whether or not that's what tradition says, whether 306 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:03,560 or not that's what the crowd, the majority, talk about. 307 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:09,400 It's interesting to talk to people and determine and ask them, well, why do you go to this 308 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,700 particular church? 309 00:26:11,700 --> 00:26:13,880 And people have many different reasons. 310 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,400 Oh, it's a beautiful structure. 311 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:22,000 I love the stained glass window or the music or the organ or the praise band or my grandpappy's 312 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,920 buried in the cemetery out back. 313 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:29,520 But church is not a social event. 314 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,520 It's not a social club. 315 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:39,400 The main reason we should choose a church is the question we need to ask is, is it teaching 316 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,760 the truth that's found in the word of God? 317 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:47,880 Does it stand on the pillar and the ground of truth? 318 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:55,240 Because often in the world today, people sometimes are more interested in what's popular rather 319 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,180 than what is truthful. 320 00:26:58,180 --> 00:27:04,240 We're interested in all these other things instead of focusing on the teaching of what 321 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,120 the Bible says. 322 00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:12,480 But many times people come to a series like this and they've been immersed for several 323 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,480 weeks, several nights in a row. 324 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,920 They say, I've come because I've been learning what the Bible says. 325 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:23,240 I've been seeing truth that I hadn't realized before. 326 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,820 People are looking for spiritual content. 327 00:27:25,820 --> 00:27:28,040 They want the meat of the word. 328 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:32,400 They're looking for the pillar and the ground of truth. 329 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:37,840 And so principle two, God's remnant movement will be founded on biblical truth. 330 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:39,520 So let's go on to number three now. 331 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,520 We're going to go to Matthew chapter seven. 332 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:48,720 So the first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter seven is the final chapter of what 333 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,180 is known as the Sermon on the Mount. 334 00:27:51,180 --> 00:27:57,380 And Jesus here is telling a parable, a story in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount. 335 00:27:57,380 --> 00:27:59,560 And it's a little bit hard hitting. 336 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,920 It's one of the saddest verses in the Bible. 337 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:08,320 And for a preacher, for a pastor, it's especially challenging. 338 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:09,920 And you'll see why in just a second. 339 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:14,040 Matthew seven, verse 21. 340 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:19,000 You notice that these three chapters, five, six, and seven, are in my Bible at least practically 341 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:23,920 all in red because they're the words of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount. 342 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:30,960 Matthew seven, 21, the Bible says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the 343 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:36,960 kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. 344 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:44,120 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast 345 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:50,040 out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? 346 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:51,520 And then here's the saddest part. 347 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:56,000 Then I will declare to them, I never knew you. 348 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,200 Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. 349 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,040 Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. 350 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:10,400 And so this third principle is that God's end time remnant movement will obey and follow 351 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,360 the will of God, the will of the Father. 352 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:20,640 Apparently here Jesus is saying that there will be many when he comes who verbally claim 353 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:21,640 to know him. 354 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,840 Lord, Lord, haven't we done this? 355 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:25,920 Lord, Lord, I know you. 356 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:27,880 Lord, I'm a Christian. 357 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,680 Lord, I've been a follower of yours. 358 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:36,140 And Jesus is going to say, sorry, you didn't know me. 359 00:29:36,140 --> 00:29:38,240 I didn't know you. 360 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:39,240 That's shocking. 361 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,000 What's the issue here? 362 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:46,920 It says they did not do the will of my Father in heaven. 363 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:49,880 How can we know what the will of the Father is? 364 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:51,600 Well, we can read about it. 365 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,320 We can see what the will is in God's word. 366 00:29:55,320 --> 00:30:01,140 So apparently their profession of following Jesus was only in word. 367 00:30:01,140 --> 00:30:03,080 It was only verbal. 368 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:09,600 It's one thing to say I'm a follower of Jesus, but it's quite another to actually follow 369 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:10,600 him. 370 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:16,520 It's one thing to be glad that Jesus is the Savior of your life, but we have to also recognize 371 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,960 Jesus as the Lord of our life. 372 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:27,240 He's got to be both of those things because we're not saved by doing what he asks. 373 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,440 We're not saved by obeying. 374 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:35,000 We're saved because of the blood of Jesus, because of the grace of Jesus. 375 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,120 But when I obey, it's not trying to earn anything. 376 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:43,560 It's just a response to what Jesus has done for us. 377 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:50,600 It's allowing the Holy Spirit in to transform us, to change our heart and our mind so that 378 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,280 we can be more like him. 379 00:30:53,280 --> 00:31:00,880 Did you notice that part that might be challenging for a preacher or a speaker? 380 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:06,040 These folks say, did we not prophesy in your name? 381 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,560 And that could read, did we not preach in your name? 382 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,020 Did we not do good things? 383 00:31:13,020 --> 00:31:14,200 We cast out demons. 384 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,880 We even did wonderful works. 385 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:20,380 And still Jesus says, I don't know you. 386 00:31:20,380 --> 00:31:26,440 And so as a teacher, as a preacher, I need to make sure that the things I'm sharing are 387 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,900 according to the will of my Father in heaven. 388 00:31:29,900 --> 00:31:36,240 Because I don't want anything that my words say to lead somebody else to follow a way 389 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:43,140 to not do the will of the Father, to practice lawlessness as it ends there. 390 00:31:43,140 --> 00:31:47,060 And so Jesus makes it clear what we need to do. 391 00:31:47,060 --> 00:31:53,900 And then it even says, we've done wonders, we've done miracles. 392 00:31:53,900 --> 00:31:58,640 And so we need to be careful because we see in scripture, we've talked about it before 393 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:05,560 in a couple different places, that the spirits of demons, the devil can do wonders, can do 394 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:07,100 miracles. 395 00:32:07,100 --> 00:32:12,640 And so just because there's something that seems incredible, something that seems like 396 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:21,520 a sign or a wonder, we need to make sure that what backs that up is the will of God. 397 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:27,840 Because the devil is happy if someone's following something that seems miraculous, if it's leading 398 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,360 them away from the word of truth. 399 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:37,440 And so whatever we're doing, we can see that we need to be following not miracles, not 400 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:42,720 wonders, not people with silver tongues that preach in such a good way, but we need to 401 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,040 be following the will of my Father in heaven. 402 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:52,520 God's end time remnant movement obeys the will of God. 403 00:32:52,520 --> 00:33:01,280 And so before we go on to number four, I just want to mention a pattern that is sometimes 404 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:02,700 seen in scripture. 405 00:33:02,700 --> 00:33:06,400 And we'll explore this in just a couple minutes here. 406 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,640 About scripture, we'll look at some examples. 407 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:16,480 God's people, God's faithful people, oftentimes were in the minority. 408 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,160 They were the smaller group. 409 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:27,600 Jesus said, broad is the road that leads to destruction, and narrow is the way that leads 410 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:29,840 to Jesus, that leads to truth. 411 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:35,400 And so many times in scripture, God has always had a group of people that has been faithful 412 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,000 to him, but many times they were the smaller group. 413 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,480 They were in the minority. 414 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:45,800 And in the minority, many times they were not popular. 415 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:51,880 People didn't necessarily care for them, and many times they were actually persecuted. 416 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,640 And so here's some examples on the screen here. 417 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,520 You've got Noah. 418 00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,560 What did he build? 419 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:00,560 Build an ark. 420 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,280 Maybe you've been up to Kentucky and you've seen that massive structure there with the 421 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,040 good Brussels sprouts, right? 422 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,480 We've talked about that before. 423 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,920 I don't know if they had that on the actual ark or not. 424 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:19,400 So Noah built this huge ark, and how many people ended up on the ark? 425 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,520 Eight people. 426 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:22,980 Only eight. 427 00:34:22,980 --> 00:34:25,360 Were they in the minority? 428 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:26,560 Yes they were. 429 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:31,320 Was Noah popular while he was building and teaching and preaching? 430 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:36,240 Probably not real popular because only his family got on board. 431 00:34:36,240 --> 00:34:38,640 Was he persecuted? 432 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:44,000 Well the Bible doesn't specifically say that he was persecuted, but it seems like likely 433 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:49,400 he was mocked a little bit because nobody listened to him, nobody followed after him. 434 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,080 And then we've got Abraham. 435 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:59,120 Abraham was called out of a city, called out of Ur to follow God. 436 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,520 Was he a minority? 437 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:04,360 Yeah it was just him and his family. 438 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:07,540 Was he popular with the world? 439 00:35:07,540 --> 00:35:09,320 Not most of the time. 440 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,200 He went to different places. 441 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:13,960 They didn't always appreciate him. 442 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:16,360 They fought battles against him. 443 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:18,080 Was he persecuted? 444 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:20,960 Sometimes he was, not by everybody, but by some people. 445 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:22,680 And then you've got the Israelites. 446 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:27,880 They come down to Egypt and they live as slaves for a time. 447 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:33,160 And then finally God through Moses calls them out, calls them to the promised land. 448 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:34,640 Were they a minority? 449 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:41,020 Yes, they had grown significantly, but they were still the smaller group. 450 00:35:41,020 --> 00:35:43,220 Were they popular? 451 00:35:43,220 --> 00:35:44,220 They were not popular. 452 00:35:44,220 --> 00:35:46,020 The Egyptians didn't appreciate them. 453 00:35:46,020 --> 00:35:49,280 The other nations didn't appreciate them. 454 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:50,280 Were they persecuted? 455 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:56,800 Yes, they've been persecuted then and practically all through time their descendants have faced 456 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:58,920 different kinds of persecutions. 457 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:04,000 And then you've got the Christian church in the New Testament, in Acts, that came out 458 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,560 of that group of Israelites. 459 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,680 Were they in the minority? 460 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:11,360 In the book of Acts, certainly so. 461 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,000 There was just a handful of them and then they began to grow. 462 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:16,480 Were they popular? 463 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,880 No, they were arrested, they were beaten, they were imprisoned. 464 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:21,880 Were they persecuted? 465 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,280 Yes, they were beaten, they were imprisoned. 466 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,640 All those different things I just mentioned. 467 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:34,360 And then as the Christian faith went on and we've talked about how it kind of got distracted, 468 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:40,080 how it moved in a different direction, well then God called forth some reformers who began 469 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:45,200 to call the church back to follow the words of the Bible. 470 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:49,160 And time and time again they were the smaller group. 471 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:54,720 Time and time again they were not popular with the people around them, with the leaders. 472 00:36:54,720 --> 00:36:57,720 Time and time again they were persecuted. 473 00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:02,840 And then Revelation talks about a remnant in the last days. 474 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,100 Those who are going to stand for God no matter what. 475 00:37:06,100 --> 00:37:12,480 Those who are going to keep God's commandments and want to draw other people back to His 476 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:13,480 Word. 477 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:18,920 Based on this pattern that we've seen, we could anticipate that they're not going to 478 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,400 be the big group. 479 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:27,240 We can anticipate that they're not necessarily going to be popular with everyone around them. 480 00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:32,880 We can see that based on the pattern that there's a chance, in fact, this is the one 481 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:37,840 that we don't have to wonder because Revelation actually says for a fact that there's going 482 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,760 to be persecution of this group. 483 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:48,400 As we saw last night that when they stand for God that there's going to be life changes, 484 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:52,160 life and death changes that's going to come to them. 485 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:58,640 And so as we've seen in Revelation 12, 17 the dragon was wroth, was angry with the woman 486 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:02,840 and went to make war with the remnant of her seed. 487 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:09,960 Whenever God's faithful people stand up the devil notices it and the devil doesn't like 488 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:16,920 it and the devil sends people to try to push them away from God or drag them away from 489 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:17,920 God. 490 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:22,920 In all history there have been people who have stood up for truth, who have stood up 491 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:26,160 for the Bible, who have stood up for God. 492 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,480 And in Revelation that group is called the remnant. 493 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:37,200 In fact, 50 times in Scripture that phrase, that word remnant is talking about God's people 494 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:43,840 who are faithful in the face of others who are not following God. 495 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,160 And so what does this word mean? 496 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,120 Let's take just a second before we get on to our next principle. 497 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:51,760 What is a remnant? 498 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:55,960 So let me just share a little illustration. 499 00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:01,600 Some of you may do some things like this, but my wife has recently started quilting. 500 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:05,920 So this, I'm not going to throw this down and step on it like I did last night, but 501 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:08,320 she's got a thing for strawberries. 502 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:10,800 She's made a couple of quilts that are strawberries. 503 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:19,840 So sometimes she goes to man's favorite store, not the Bass Pro Shop, but the fabric store, 504 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:26,600 that other store, whether it's Joann's or Hobby Lobby, one of those places that I don't 505 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:31,360 particularly like to go, but sometimes she'll ask me to go with her. 506 00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:36,320 And so we'll go into the store and she'll be looking for some fabric. 507 00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:40,740 So you can use a wide variety when you're making a strawberry. 508 00:39:40,740 --> 00:39:46,280 So let's just use an example here that maybe she's got one for the red and it's red fabric 509 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:51,600 and it's got white polka dots and then it's got a diamond pattern inside the polka dots. 510 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:53,680 So what color is it? 511 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:55,320 Red. 512 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:57,600 What's the pattern on it? 513 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,600 Polka dot and then what's the design inside of that? 514 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:01,680 A diamond. 515 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:07,360 And so she goes and buys, I don't know, a couple yards of fabric to make quilts and 516 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:13,360 she comes home and she cuts them into cute little squares and sometimes they're squares, 517 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:18,960 sometimes they're diagonals, sometimes she uses it for the border to go all around or 518 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:24,200 the back of the quilt, which is a solid piece most often. 519 00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:31,260 But she comes down towards the end and she recognizes that she doesn't have quite enough 520 00:40:31,260 --> 00:40:34,120 of this particular fabric. 521 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:35,800 And so, okay, Greg, come with me. 522 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,200 We get back in the car, back to man's favorite store. 523 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:41,240 Nope, not Bass Pro. 524 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:47,520 Over to Joanne Fabrics and she goes and she needs to find this particular fabric. 525 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:49,400 So what color is it? 526 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:50,720 Red. 527 00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:52,880 What's the pattern on it? 528 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:53,880 Polka dots. 529 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:55,640 What's the design inside? 530 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:56,760 A diamond. 531 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,840 So she looks where that was and she can't find it. 532 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,080 She goes to another section of, nope, it's not there with those reds. 533 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:09,520 And she asks the clerk, do you have any more of this? 534 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:13,400 And she says, well, maybe check one more place. 535 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,560 Maybe there just was a little bit left. 536 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:18,520 Maybe there's a bin over in the corner. 537 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:20,640 What's that bin called? 538 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:26,360 The remnant bin where the rolls of fabric, there's only a little bit left and so they 539 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:32,480 stick them in a bin and you can go and get the remnant bin because it's just a little 540 00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:33,480 bit. 541 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:34,320 It's not enough to make a dress. 542 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,180 It's not enough to make a quilt. 543 00:41:36,180 --> 00:41:40,520 But maybe it's enough to finish the project. 544 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:46,680 But if she goes and looks, she has to find the fabric that is what color? 545 00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:53,280 It's red and it's got polka dots and it's got a design of a diamond in there. 546 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:59,960 And if she doesn't find that exact fabric, then it's not going to match. 547 00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:05,800 And so in Revelation when it talks about a remnant, when it's describing God's end time 548 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:14,360 people, it's a group that's going to match with that early church which was faithful 549 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:15,880 to the Word of God. 550 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:21,680 It's going to have the same teachings, the same doctrines, the same truths using the 551 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,200 Bible as the rule of faith. 552 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:30,640 And that's why Revelation uses that word, calling it a remnant. 553 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:36,440 And so that's why the dragon was angry, was wroth with the woman and went to make war 554 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:39,720 with the remnant of her seed. 555 00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:45,600 And then it gives that description there which keep the commandments of God and have the 556 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:47,960 testimony of Jesus. 557 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,480 And so that leads us to principle number four. 558 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:57,880 God's end time remnant, like the early church, like God's people throughout scripture, keep 559 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:00,040 the commandments of God. 560 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:06,040 And so we need to stop and make a point here because this is not the most popular point. 561 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:10,200 This is not the thing that most people want to hear. 562 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:16,120 But Revelation is telling us that if we want to find this remnant church that we've got 563 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:23,760 to find a group that keeps these commandments of God, that uplifts the commandments of God. 564 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:31,520 If you read through this scripture from Genesis to the Gospel of John, from John to the book 565 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:39,120 of Revelation, every single follower of God here is honoring God's commandments, is honoring 566 00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:44,160 ten of them, is honoring the Sabbath. 567 00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:49,640 It's fascinating that when you start talking about God's commandments that there's only 568 00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:54,880 one that sometimes people say doesn't matter, it's done away with. 569 00:43:54,880 --> 00:44:01,140 We see in Revelation 14 as we've read this, that first angel says with a loud voice, fear 570 00:44:01,140 --> 00:44:06,480 God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who 571 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:09,780 made the heavens and the earth and the springs of water. 572 00:44:09,780 --> 00:44:14,520 And we've seen how that is quoting from the fourth commandment. 573 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:19,800 And if you start talking about the commandments, this is the only one that people say, oh that 574 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,900 doesn't matter. 575 00:44:21,900 --> 00:44:26,900 Nobody says, oh it's okay to steal, here take my money. 576 00:44:26,900 --> 00:44:31,320 Nobody says, okay, no, no, you can commit adultery now, it's okay, that's done away 577 00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,840 with, it's only this one. 578 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:40,780 And so it shouldn't surprise us that in the book of Revelation this group of people that 579 00:44:40,780 --> 00:44:47,740 are serving God are going to keep his commandments even if it's not a popular thing. 580 00:44:47,740 --> 00:44:54,580 But Revelation is clear that God is calling his people back to experience this beautiful 581 00:44:54,580 --> 00:45:01,480 thing, a 24 hour time when we can turn our eyes upon Jesus. 582 00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:04,680 We can turn our eyes upon him. 583 00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:10,860 So that fourth principle, God's end time remnant will keep the commandments of God including 584 00:45:10,860 --> 00:45:12,860 the seventh day Sabbath. 585 00:45:12,860 --> 00:45:15,660 Let's go over to Matthew chapter 24. 586 00:45:15,660 --> 00:45:17,880 We've been to Matthew 24 before. 587 00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:23,660 This is the segment that talks about Jesus sharing the signs of the time. 588 00:45:23,660 --> 00:45:31,060 So for principle number five, Matthew 24 and verse 14, one of the things that will happen 589 00:45:31,060 --> 00:45:39,380 before Jesus comes in Matthew 24, 14, the Bible says, and this gospel of the kingdom 590 00:45:39,380 --> 00:45:48,700 will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations and then the end will come. 591 00:45:48,700 --> 00:45:52,700 Before Jesus comes, this gospel has to be taken to the world. 592 00:45:52,700 --> 00:45:58,220 And so God's end time remnant will be part of a worldwide movement that wants to take 593 00:45:58,220 --> 00:46:04,380 the stories of Jesus, the gospel of Jesus, the good news of Jesus to the world. 594 00:46:04,380 --> 00:46:07,660 That's what the early church looked like in the book of Acts. 595 00:46:07,660 --> 00:46:13,460 That's what their mission was to go to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the 596 00:46:13,460 --> 00:46:14,460 world. 597 00:46:14,460 --> 00:46:18,800 They wanted to spread the gospel everywhere to use their talents and their time and their 598 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:24,740 money and their energy to make sure that people heard about Jesus. 599 00:46:24,740 --> 00:46:30,060 The book of Acts tells many stories about Paul and everywhere he went. 600 00:46:30,060 --> 00:46:36,100 He left behind a church and they even had believers in the very palace of the Roman 601 00:46:36,100 --> 00:46:38,400 emperor himself. 602 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:43,340 That was an impact that they were making that God's spirit was leading them. 603 00:46:43,340 --> 00:46:46,720 And it says that they even turned the world upside down. 604 00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:49,840 That's a phrase that we find in the book of Acts. 605 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:56,340 And so since the remnant is supposed to look like the original, then we've got to be looking 606 00:46:56,340 --> 00:47:03,900 for a group that has this same mission that isn't just focused on one place or one spot, 607 00:47:03,900 --> 00:47:08,940 but that is able to talk seriously about going to the world. 608 00:47:08,940 --> 00:47:16,960 I think there's about 230 nations in the world and you and I can't go to all of those. 609 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:23,540 But can we help send people there to take the gospel to the people who some have never 610 00:47:23,540 --> 00:47:26,380 even heard of the name of Jesus. 611 00:47:26,380 --> 00:47:31,820 And that's why we saw in Revelation 14 that first angel says that the gospel is going 612 00:47:31,820 --> 00:47:38,180 to go to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. 613 00:47:38,180 --> 00:47:46,460 And so we could say, some have said that God's remnant is not about being a pew warmer. 614 00:47:46,460 --> 00:47:49,080 You know what a pew warmer is? 615 00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:54,960 It's about someone who comes to a place like this and sits in the pew and you keep it warm 616 00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:59,580 and you listen and then you go home and your time is done. 617 00:47:59,580 --> 00:48:02,540 And maybe you leave a little money behind. 618 00:48:02,540 --> 00:48:04,420 But that's not what it's about. 619 00:48:04,420 --> 00:48:11,860 If that's what your Christian experience is like, then you are in need of Jesus changing 620 00:48:11,860 --> 00:48:17,060 your heart and mind and giving you a revival because we see here that this gospel of the 621 00:48:17,060 --> 00:48:23,400 kingdom will be preached to all the world and then the end will come. 622 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:30,880 God wants to use each one of us to share his message, to share the joy and there's no greater 623 00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:37,660 joy than knowing that God used you to impact somebody else. 624 00:48:37,660 --> 00:48:40,120 And so let's move on now to number six here. 625 00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:42,840 Now we're going to go to Revelation 14. 626 00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:44,300 You may already be there. 627 00:48:44,300 --> 00:48:47,780 We've gone to this chapter several times. 628 00:48:47,780 --> 00:48:50,500 Even tonight we've already gone here a couple times. 629 00:48:50,500 --> 00:48:57,900 But Revelation 14 contains some messages from angels and we're just going to remind ourselves 630 00:48:57,900 --> 00:48:58,900 of what these are. 631 00:48:58,900 --> 00:49:04,120 And we've actually only looked at two of them so far but we're going to look at the third. 632 00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:06,380 But Revelation 14. 633 00:49:06,380 --> 00:49:11,740 I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach 634 00:49:11,740 --> 00:49:17,300 to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue and people saying with a loud 635 00:49:17,300 --> 00:49:23,300 voice fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship 636 00:49:23,300 --> 00:49:28,560 him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea and the springs of water. 637 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:33,420 And so this first angel which we've talked about several times reminds us we're in this 638 00:49:33,420 --> 00:49:40,420 judgment hour so Jesus is coming soon and it also is a reminder to worship God as our 639 00:49:40,420 --> 00:49:46,620 creator and we have a memorial of that creation that seventh day Sabbath. 640 00:49:46,620 --> 00:49:52,580 And so we can be reminded of two different key principles here. 641 00:49:52,580 --> 00:49:58,840 God's end time people are going to be pointing people to Jesus coming again and then reminding 642 00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:05,560 them to remember the Sabbath day to worship the creator of heaven and earth. 643 00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:11,100 And that's why the devil hates the Sabbath because he doesn't want us to have have time 644 00:50:11,100 --> 00:50:17,460 to spend with Jesus because if we spend time with Jesus then we just might be more ready 645 00:50:17,460 --> 00:50:20,980 for when Jesus comes. 646 00:50:20,980 --> 00:50:27,140 That whole day of the Sabbath is intimately connected with the return of Jesus and in 647 00:50:27,140 --> 00:50:32,740 the book of Isaiah it actually tells us that the Sabbath is going to be kept in heaven 648 00:50:32,740 --> 00:50:33,740 as well. 649 00:50:33,740 --> 00:50:38,920 Well let's go on now to the second angel we haven't talked about this angel yet but let's 650 00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,380 spend a little time here. 651 00:50:41,380 --> 00:50:50,400 Revelation 14 and verse 8 notice what the Bible says another angel followed saying Babylon 652 00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:58,180 is fallen is fallen that great city because she has made all nations drink of the wine 653 00:50:58,180 --> 00:51:01,700 of the wrath of her fornication. 654 00:51:01,700 --> 00:51:05,880 So we've got to pause here because there's a couple new principles that we haven't talked 655 00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:06,880 about yet. 656 00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:09,620 What is Babylon? 657 00:51:09,620 --> 00:51:15,260 What does it mean for Babylon to be fallen and then how does it word it there makes all 658 00:51:15,260 --> 00:51:21,420 nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 659 00:51:21,420 --> 00:51:27,300 So as we put these pieces together based on what we've studied we're going to discover 660 00:51:27,300 --> 00:51:36,620 that Babylon is this system of religious confusion because you remember the story after the flood 661 00:51:36,620 --> 00:51:43,820 after Noah and the flood the people did not want to experience that again and so they 662 00:51:43,820 --> 00:51:49,620 began to build a tower called the Tower of Babel or Babel because they thought you know 663 00:51:49,620 --> 00:51:56,780 what if we keep on sinning if we keep on breaking God's law God may send another flood well 664 00:51:56,780 --> 00:52:01,100 if he does we'll just go up to the top of this tower and we'll save ourselves by our 665 00:52:01,100 --> 00:52:10,540 own actions by our own works and so God had to pronounce a little mini judgment on them 666 00:52:10,540 --> 00:52:16,500 and confuse their language and so they were scattered throughout the earth and in that 667 00:52:16,500 --> 00:52:23,380 same area that same region that's where the actual city of Babylon was built and through 668 00:52:23,380 --> 00:52:29,620 scripture Babylon is portrayed as an enemy of God's people. 669 00:52:29,620 --> 00:52:35,500 It was Babylon that came in in Daniel and destroyed Jerusalem. 670 00:52:35,500 --> 00:52:41,180 It was Babylon that was the birthplace of many of these pagan practices that we talk 671 00:52:41,180 --> 00:52:48,700 about and so in scripture when you see Babylon it's referencing this enemy of God's people 672 00:52:48,700 --> 00:52:57,340 that is a persecuting power and then also a false system of religion that confuses people 673 00:52:57,340 --> 00:53:04,940 this confusion that's what the word means and so when it says Babylon is fallen that 674 00:53:04,940 --> 00:53:13,660 means that its false religious system of the world has fallen away from the truth of God. 675 00:53:13,660 --> 00:53:19,940 It's not following the words of God and we need to make sure of organizations or churches 676 00:53:19,940 --> 00:53:25,340 or whatever that may be falling away from biblical truth and we're going to see in 677 00:53:25,340 --> 00:53:32,900 just a little bit that in Acts excuse me Revelation chapter 18 that God makes a call to bring 678 00:53:32,900 --> 00:53:40,580 people back and so this second angel here is a warning warning people of the dangers 679 00:53:40,580 --> 00:53:46,900 of this these false doctrines and false teachings which have taken the place of the word of 680 00:53:46,900 --> 00:53:53,860 God and so then there's a third angel we've looked at this before verse 9 a third angel 681 00:53:53,860 --> 00:53:59,740 followed them saying with a loud voice if anyone worships the beast in his image and 682 00:53:59,740 --> 00:54:05,620 receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand he himself shall also drink of the wine 683 00:54:05,620 --> 00:54:11,780 of the wrath of God which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation and 684 00:54:11,780 --> 00:54:19,660 so this third angel warns people about following the Antichrist warns people against the about 685 00:54:19,660 --> 00:54:25,460 the the mark of the beast and so forth and then finally verse 12 there's a there's a 686 00:54:25,460 --> 00:54:33,980 promise there's a way to overcome this evil beast power here is the patience of the saints 687 00:54:33,980 --> 00:54:40,620 here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and so we see that 688 00:54:40,620 --> 00:54:47,900 God's end time remnant movement is going to be warning people talking about these last 689 00:54:47,900 --> 00:54:55,740 day messages talking about calling people to come back to God's commandments to keep 690 00:54:55,740 --> 00:55:03,620 this faith of Jesus because the Bible says that those folks are keeping the commandments 691 00:55:03,620 --> 00:55:10,700 because of their love of what Jesus has done for them not not in a legalistic way but in 692 00:55:10,700 --> 00:55:19,660 a response to what Jesus has done for them we recognize that God has this entity this 693 00:55:19,660 --> 00:55:27,900 group that want to keep his commandments because of their love for him that's a group that 694 00:55:27,900 --> 00:55:34,460 I've personally want to be a part of and so this sixth principle shows us that God's 695 00:55:34,460 --> 00:55:41,660 end time remnant movement will share will proclaim these three angels message of Revelation 696 00:55:41,660 --> 00:55:48,140 14 we've talked about this just now Jesus is coming soon a call to worship Jesus is 697 00:55:48,140 --> 00:55:53,900 our creator and remember his Sabbath day to uplift the Bible this warning of the second 698 00:55:53,900 --> 00:56:00,700 angel to not drink the wine of confusion and then the third angel draws attention to the 699 00:56:00,700 --> 00:56:05,780 prophecies of Antichrist and the mark of the beast so here's the six things that we've 700 00:56:05,780 --> 00:56:14,780 discovered here from scripture that this group that is talked about in Revelation is going 701 00:56:14,780 --> 00:56:21,300 to have a foundation based on the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible it'll 702 00:56:21,300 --> 00:56:28,060 have a pillar it'll have a foundation of the pillar and ground of truth it will be those 703 00:56:28,060 --> 00:56:34,100 that obey the will of God so that Jesus will not say I never knew you and we've seen that 704 00:56:34,100 --> 00:56:40,640 it will will keep the commandments of God and it will be serious about taking this gospel 705 00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:46,340 message to the whole world and as it does that it will share this message of the three 706 00:56:46,340 --> 00:56:52,860 angels as they're organized to go to the entire world and so these are some principles that 707 00:56:52,860 --> 00:57:00,740 we can look at that you can use in your spiritual walk in your spiritual journey and we can 708 00:57:00,740 --> 00:57:09,460 each ask ourselves God guide me lead me help me to see these principles in scripture and 709 00:57:09,460 --> 00:57:18,340 to show me which direction I need to go because the truth is if you take these six things 710 00:57:18,340 --> 00:57:25,260 it's really quickly going to whittle down those 300 groups that we talked about or 800 711 00:57:25,260 --> 00:57:31,260 groups or whatever it is because you're not going to have to study all 300 because you're 712 00:57:31,260 --> 00:57:36,940 going to be able to quickly mark some out and it may not be the most popular group it 713 00:57:36,940 --> 00:57:45,860 may not be the biggest group but are we willing to lead to follow where God is leading us 714 00:57:45,860 --> 00:57:52,920 because as you follow these six principles it can make a difference in your life it's 715 00:57:52,920 --> 00:58:02,100 made a difference in mine I studied this as a child I grew up hearing this and reading 716 00:58:02,100 --> 00:58:07,580 this but there came a time when I had to make a decision is this really what I want to do 717 00:58:07,580 --> 00:58:13,060 because if I want to follow this if I want to teach this I've got to examine this I've 718 00:58:13,060 --> 00:58:17,620 got to check this out and so we can read a verse the dragon was wrought with the woman 719 00:58:17,620 --> 00:58:22,900 and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and 720 00:58:22,900 --> 00:58:29,180 have the testimony of Jesus and so as I read that it seemed like that there would be a 721 00:58:29,180 --> 00:58:35,100 time there would be a movement of people coming from different directions from different backgrounds 722 00:58:35,100 --> 00:58:42,940 from different places people that wanted to uplift the Bible and hold up the Bible including 723 00:58:42,940 --> 00:58:49,220 the commandments of God and if that's what Revelation is talking about then I wanted 724 00:58:49,220 --> 00:58:54,980 to be a part of that now I personally I love studying history and reading all kinds of 725 00:58:54,980 --> 00:59:03,140 history and so as I read this I thought if that was prophesied then surely we can find 726 00:59:03,140 --> 00:59:08,260 that it must have happened and we've talked about it that it did happen that there was 727 00:59:08,260 --> 00:59:14,500 that 1260 year period as there was persecution as there was a group of people that God was 728 00:59:14,500 --> 00:59:22,940 protecting his church is the woman hiding in the wilderness for that 1260 years and 729 00:59:22,940 --> 00:59:31,060 then when that church and state came to an end exactly on time in 1798 Revelation said 730 00:59:31,060 --> 00:59:38,540 that at that time period from verse 16 to verse 17 here in Revelation 12 that there 731 00:59:38,540 --> 00:59:44,900 would be some sort of gathering some sort of movement of God's people who would start 732 00:59:44,900 --> 00:59:52,420 to come together and realize truth and come back to the commandments of God and as I read 733 00:59:52,420 --> 00:59:59,980 this as I studied this I saw that in the 1800s long before I was born that there were people 734 00:59:59,980 --> 01:00:05,940 from different religious backgrounds from different religious faiths who came to study 735 01:00:05,940 --> 01:00:12,140 the Bible and yes they came and formed a group but they were from lots of different places 736 01:00:12,140 --> 01:00:17,980 and it was a time when there were Bible societies of lots of different denominations and so 737 01:00:17,980 --> 01:00:24,380 now people the dark ages were over people could have a Bible in their own hand people 738 01:00:24,380 --> 01:00:29,600 could have a Bible in their own home it wasn't chained to the church anymore and they said 739 01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:36,060 let's study the Bible and so Methodists and Catholics and Baptists and Christian connection 740 01:00:36,060 --> 01:00:42,700 and other people began to study the Bible and they began to say wow we're looking forward 741 01:00:42,700 --> 01:00:52,300 to a near return of Jesus a second Advent and they became known as Adventists and then 742 01:00:52,300 --> 01:00:56,820 as they continued to study the Bible some of them said well what about this seventh 743 01:00:56,820 --> 01:01:02,300 day thing that had been forgotten for all these years and eventually as they came from 744 01:01:02,300 --> 01:01:07,380 different places they formed a movement known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church that would 745 01:01:07,380 --> 01:01:13,020 look forward to the second coming that would proclaim the Bible Sabbath that would share 746 01:01:13,020 --> 01:01:21,820 its joy with others and guess when that happened right at that time period in the 1800s and 747 01:01:21,820 --> 01:01:27,460 as I grew older I studied this out and said you know what if this is what the Bible says 748 01:01:27,460 --> 01:01:33,660 then this is what I want to be a part of and those six principles have tied me have shown 749 01:01:33,660 --> 01:01:41,940 me that this is a movement that I want to be a part of but let me make it clear that 750 01:01:41,940 --> 01:01:48,180 if a church that I'm a part of suddenly decides you know what we're going to take some of 751 01:01:48,180 --> 01:01:53,500 those traditions of men and put them above the Bible you know we're going to abandon 752 01:01:53,500 --> 01:02:01,020 some of those things that were found in Scripture if that happens guess what I'm out if there's 753 01:02:01,020 --> 01:02:06,160 another group that is following closer to Scripture please let me know because it's 754 01:02:06,160 --> 01:02:12,020 not a denomination it's not a church that saves you I want to be part of a movement 755 01:02:12,020 --> 01:02:19,120 that is following Scripture that is lifting up the commandments of God that is sharing 756 01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:27,940 the gospel to all the world so I have to clarify here does that mean that other Christians 757 01:02:27,940 --> 01:02:34,060 is that are they second tier or they let no no that would be an arrogant thing to say 758 01:02:34,060 --> 01:02:40,660 God is saying that he's got people everywhere and he's calling people to follow him and 759 01:02:40,660 --> 01:02:46,980 to serve him notice what Jesus says in John chapter 10 and verse 16 Jesus says other sheep 760 01:02:46,980 --> 01:02:54,900 I have which are not of this fold them also must I bring and they will hear my voice and 761 01:02:54,900 --> 01:03:02,540 there will be one flock and one shepherd we have an opportunity to listen to the voice 762 01:03:02,540 --> 01:03:10,060 of Jesus Jesus is calling his people everywhere and he says there will be an end time movement 763 01:03:10,060 --> 01:03:15,940 that is drawing people back to him and within this Seventh-day Adventist Church you'll 764 01:03:15,940 --> 01:03:22,220 find people that grew up Catholic or Methodist or Baptist or atheist or Muslim or whatever 765 01:03:22,220 --> 01:03:29,060 it might be but they've seen the light of truth and they want to follow Jesus and so 766 01:03:29,060 --> 01:03:35,220 as we close tonight I want to turn to Revelation chapter 18 Revelation chapter 18 because there's 767 01:03:35,220 --> 01:03:43,580 a an invitation that Jesus gives Revelation 18 starting in verse one the Bible says after 768 01:03:43,580 --> 01:03:51,700 these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority and the 769 01:03:51,700 --> 01:03:58,420 earth was illuminated with his glory and it goes on and says he cried mightily with a 770 01:03:58,420 --> 01:04:06,540 loud voice saying Babylon the great is fallen is fallen then it goes on in verse three for 771 01:04:06,540 --> 01:04:13,060 all nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication the kings of the earth 772 01:04:13,060 --> 01:04:20,000 have committed fornication with her remember we talked about Babylon is this false religious 773 01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:27,320 system for every truth God has Satan has some sort of counterfeit so this is describing 774 01:04:27,320 --> 01:04:33,360 those counterfeit things that God has and then in verse four is the invitation I heard 775 01:04:33,360 --> 01:04:42,780 another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people lest you share in her sins 776 01:04:42,780 --> 01:04:51,680 and lest you receive her plagues I love that invitation come out my people God has people 777 01:04:51,680 --> 01:04:57,680 everywhere and he's inviting them to come and to follow him to come and to come out 778 01:04:57,680 --> 01:05:04,920 of false religious systems Jesus is calling us to come and to serve him and to come back 779 01:05:04,920 --> 01:05:11,360 to truth and to follow him and so there's people from many different backgrounds that 780 01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:18,500 are responding atheists are responding Muslims are responding Baptist Catholics Methodists 781 01:05:18,500 --> 01:05:26,120 and Jesus says you are my people and I'm calling you out of this false system and I'm calling 782 01:05:26,120 --> 01:05:33,900 you to choose to follow the truth and so we have an invitation some may be hearing this 783 01:05:33,900 --> 01:05:40,880 for the first time some may have drifted away and forgotten some of these things but we 784 01:05:40,880 --> 01:05:46,820 have seen through our nights together that Jesus has been uplifted that truth has been 785 01:05:46,820 --> 01:05:51,960 uplifted and that's not because of me that's because of the Holy Spirit working through 786 01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:58,000 his word Jesus said if you know the truth the truth will set you free so I just want 787 01:05:58,000 --> 01:06:05,880 to leave you with that invitation that Jesus made come out of her my people I know that 788 01:06:05,880 --> 01:06:12,340 you love Jesus I know that you love his word I know that you love his truth and we can 789 01:06:12,340 --> 01:06:19,680 all ask the question of my willing to surrender my life to surrender my heart to Jesus let's 790 01:06:19,680 --> 01:06:28,060 bow our heads for prayer dear God you are always enough for us help us to remember that 791 01:06:28,060 --> 01:06:34,960 help us to surrender ourself to you each and every day and God when we want to uplift ourself 792 01:06:34,960 --> 01:06:42,040 when we want to go in our own direction help us to be humble and to hear your call and 793 01:06:42,040 --> 01:06:47,500 to hear your direction and to remember that you are enough for us be with us as we go 794 01:06:47,500 --> 01:06:53,300 from this place be with us as we stand for you as we live for your truth in your name 795 01:06:53,300 --> 01:07:12,820 we pray amen.