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Collierville First Baptist Church
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(Audience Laughing) Well, good evening. I'm so glad that you're here tonight.
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(Audience Laughing)
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If you would take your Bible and turn to Daniel chapter seven.
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Daniel chapter seven.
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Daniel chapter seven has been called the heart of the book of Daniel.
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And one commentator said, it's no exaggeration to say that this chapter is one of the most important passages in the Old Testament.
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Maybe that's why we're spending two weeks on chapter seven. Amen.
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Hey, let's begin with a word of prayer.
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Our precious heavenly father, we're so thankful that we have a Bible to study.
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We're so thankful that we have the freedom to meet here at the church and to worship you and to open the Bible and to study it and to seek to make application of these timeless truths to our own lives.
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And Lord, we're so thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, who was willing to give his body and his blood on the cross to redeem us from our sins.
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Lord, we wanna say that we love you.
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I ask you to fill me with the Holy Spirit. I ask you to speak through me tonight. I pray that you give me freedom and unction and power.
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And I pray that you would give us the mind that we need to grasp this truth that we're gonna look at tonight.
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I pray that you give us a heart that is tender, a heart that is ready to receive your truth and to live out your truth in a very tangible way in our lives. Lord, we love you and thank you in Jesus' name, amen.
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All right, Daniel chapter seven.
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Now, why is this chapter so significant?
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Well, it's sort of a hinge point, okay, in the book of Daniel.
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I want you to look at Daniel chapter six, verse 28.
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Now, Daniel chapter one through chapter six
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is by and large historical narrative.
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It tells the story of Daniel's life, of Daniel's ministry.
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When you come to verse 28,
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it's like a bow on top of the book here,
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the historical narrative. It says, "So this Daniel enjoyed success "in the reign of Darius
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"and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."
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And here's what I want you to understand.
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This is when Daniel's life and ministry was over.
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That this is a summation of his life and ministry. And it's right here in the last verse of chapter six, and we've got six chapters to go. You say, "Well, what's these other six chapters?"
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Well, they are a prophetic addendum
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to the historical narrative of Daniel's life and ministry.
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Daniel wrote chapters seven through 12, while he was living out his life. In fact, if you just look at page two,
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notice the top of the page, the visions of chapter seven through 12 are given in chronological sequence.
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He wrote chapter seven, remember a prophetic chapter, one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. He wrote it in the first year of Belshazzar.
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You understand what I'm talking about?
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And then chapter eight, that we'll get to next week, he wrote in the third year of Belshazzar.
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And in chapter nine, he wrote in the first year of Darius the Mede.
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And chapters 10 through 12, he wrote in the third year of Cyrus.
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So do you understand now, as he's living out his life, we get to chapter six, verse 28, it's the end of his life, it's the end of his ministry. And he wrote all of this prophetic section in chapter seven through 12 prior to his death there in chapter six, verse 28.
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Now, I want you to think with me for just a minute about how extremely significant this chapter is in the prophetic realm.
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Wofford said this, he said, I quote, "As interpreted by conservative exposters, "the vision of Daniel provides the most comprehensive "and detailed prophecy of future events "to be found anywhere in the Old Testament." Now, I want you to think about this just a minute.
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Daniel wrote this prophetic section, chapter seven through 12,
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about around 500 years before Jesus was born.
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And these prophecies that he wrote about
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extended beyond Jesus to the end of the world,
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to our future, you understand that?
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I mean, this is unbelievable stuff. You say, well, how could Daniel do that? Well, the Holy Spirit who is omniscient knows everything, reveal the future to Daniel and Daniel wrote it down.
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Okay, you understand that? The Holy Spirit, the Lord himself knows exactly what's gonna happen between now and the time that we're caught up to be with the Lord in heaven forever. Okay?
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Now, God made clear to the Jewish people
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through the prophet Daniel
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that Israel would continue to have a place in history. Last week, we talked about it. The problem of replacement theology,
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where there are theologians, there are pastors, there are scholars, and they believe that God is completely through with the nation of Israel. God has washed his hands of the nation of Israel, and nothing can be further from the truth.
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I mean, if you go to the book of Revelation, it's Seth,
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and you're reading about the end of the days,
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you read about the significance that God has assigned to the Jewish people so that 144,000 Jewish men from the 12 tribes, these men will be preaching the gospel during the tribulation period.
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And many people will be saved during the tribulation period. Don't think that people are not gonna get saved during the tribulation period. Now, it's gonna cost them dearly.
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It's gonna cost them dearly.
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So don't ever let anybody convince you
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that God is through with the Jewish people. Remember, God made a covenant with Abraham, right?
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And if God chooses not to keep the covenant with Abraham and the Jewish people, might he not keep the new covenant with us?
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God is a covenant keeping God.
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Please remember that. Please don't ever forget that.
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That is a top drawer theological truth that you need to keep handy at all times.
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Now, so the people of,
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the Jewish people in Daniel's day, you say, well, what do these prophecy did do for them? Well, I tell you what they did.
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They were encouraged, remember, they were living in exile.
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They were in exile for 70 years.
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And they were encouraged by the fact that God was not through with them.
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That God would bring them back to the land of Israel.
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And in fact, Jeremiah wrote in his prophetic book
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that the time of exile would only be 70 years.
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And Daniel was studying the book of Jeremiah and he saw that and it really brought encouragement to Daniel and it really helped him to formulate
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what he's writing in his book. Now, let's do a little review to catch up where we were last week. That's a bad thing about doing a part one and part two. You gotta go back in part two and sort of catch everybody up that was not here in part one. And I'm sure I look out and I see people that were not here last week and that's fine. I understand that, but I wanna catch you up a little bit because you can't understand part two if you don't get a little bit of part one in your system. Okay?
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Now remember, Daniel chapter seven, verse eight.
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While I was contemplating,
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while I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one came up among them and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boast. Now, remember in chapter two, in chapter two, Daniel interpreted a vision that Nebuchadnezzar had had. Remember that?
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And the vision was of these four beasts, right?
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And man, Nebuchadnezzar was upset and I can understand it
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because these were some weird looking beasts if you're seeing it in a dream or a vision.
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And Daniel interpreted it and the vision basically and reduce it down into the lowest common denominator, it was a vision of four kingdoms, four empires that would dominate the history of the world.
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The first one would be the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar's leadership.
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The second one would be the Medo-Persian empire
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under Cyrus basically, but Darius was like a lieutenant or Cyrus gave Darius responsibility for the governing of Babylon, okay?
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And then you've got thirdly, the empire of Greece
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and who's the famous leader of the Greeks? It was Alexander the Great, right?
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And then the fourth empire was the empire of Rome, Rome. Remember we said last week,
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the Roman empire was never really conquered.
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It just sort of went into hibernation.
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Now, tonight as we look at the text, we're gonna look at tonight, we're gonna see that the Roman empire is gonna come out of hibernation
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and it's gonna be a revived Roman empire in the very last of the last days just before Jesus comes.
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So I hope and pray that gives you a little bit of understanding. Now the fourth beast is symbolic of Rome.
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The 10 horns coming out of this fourth beast represent a confederation of kings
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that will arise in the last of the last day just before Jesus comes again.
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And notice there's a little horn,
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talks about a little horn.
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Now this little horn is a reference to Antichrist,
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the Antichrist.
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The Antichrist is not a demon figure. The Antichrist is a man that is possessed by a demon, okay? He's a man, he's a human being.
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He's not some kind of supernatural figure. Don't ever get the idea that there's gonna be this gigantic fierce battle between the Antichrist and the Lord Jesus Christ and we don't know the outcome and who's gonna win, it's no battle.
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It's not a battle.
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Jesus is God. Jesus is God.
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He's God in the flesh. He's the son of the living God.
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And Jesus wins in the end. You just need to remember that Jesus wins in the end. Jesus wins in the present, Jesus won in the past. Jesus has always been a winner, amen?
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Now, think about this.
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Three of the first horns were pulled out. By the way, that pulled out speaks of, in the language here, it refers to an act of violence.
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The Antichrist is going to subdue and violently throw down three of these kings in their kingdoms in the last days.
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Notice it says they were pulled out by the roots.
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That sounds violent, doesn't it?
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And behold, this horn possess eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boast. Now, when it says that this horn, this Antichrist
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possess eyes like the eyes of a man, it speaks of his brilliance.
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When the Antichrist comes on the scene in the last days,
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he's gonna be absolutely brilliant and shrewd, okay?
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And it says, "And a mouth uttering great boast."
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Now, when he comes on the scene, he's gonna come on the scene as a peacemaker.
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And three and a half years into his peacemaking deal, in fact, he's gonna offer peace to Israel
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and they're gonna buy into it.
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The nation of Israel is gonna buy into it because what is one thing that Israel craves more than anything?
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Peace and security, right? They are surrounded, Israel is surrounded by nations and people that wanna drive them into the Mediterranean Sea and kill every single one of them.
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You know what's sad?
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That spirit of Antichrist, that anti-Semitism
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has creeped into many people's lives, including many Americans' lives and many Americans' hearts.
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It's a sad thing to see, but I'll tell you, it's not just in America, it's across the world.
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And I honestly believe it's one of the signs of the nearness of Christ's coming.
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So, now,
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this picture of the evil future king in these verses squares with descriptions of him found in other scripture passages. I listed some of them here, but we're gonna get more into the characteristics of the Antichrist in just a moment.
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Now, look, I believe that the Antichrist will be the last world dictator, the last one, okay?
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Look at Daniel 7, verse 15 and 16.
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As for me,
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Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me
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and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. You say, "Well, Pastor, why are we going down to verse 15?"
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Well, I'll be honest with you, as I've studied this chapter, the climax of this chapter is verses 13 and 14. That's the climax of the chapter, okay? Verses 9 through 14, climax.
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So, I wanna save the climax for the climax of our time together, okay?
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So, we'll come back to that. So, let's skip ahead to verse 15 and 16. As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.
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I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. Who was that one that he approached?
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Well, it had to be an angelic being, it had to be an angel, okay?
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I don't know the name of the angel, but in my mind, it has to be an angel. So, I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So, he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things.
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The coming beast-like empires struck absolute terror
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in Daniel's heart, shoving away any timidity.
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Daniel went to an angel and asked the angel to help him out and the angel helped him out. The angel helped him to understand the vision
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that he had had. Verse 17, these great beasts, now this is the interpretation of the angel as he's speaking to Daniel.
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These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.
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Remember what those kings and kingdoms are? It's the kingdom of Babylon.
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It's the kingdom of Medo-Persia. It's the kingdom of Greece and the kingdom of Rome.
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So, the four beasts that came out of the sea were four kings that will rise from the earth.
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And here they are.
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Now, while verse 17 speaks about secular kingdoms, verse 18 addresses the kingdom of God. Look at verse 18.
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But the saints of the highest one, let me ask you,
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do you know who a saint is?
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Are you a born again believer?
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You're a saint.
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You're a saint.
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You're set apart for the glory and honor of Christ. You are a saint.
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But the saints of the highest one, look at this,
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will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever,
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for all ages to come.
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Now, he's talking about the kingdom of God.
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So, as a born again believer,
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one day you are going to be a part of the greatest kingdom this world has ever seen.
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And you will receive that kingdom. The Bible says in Revelation that you will serve the Lord in his kingdom forever and ever and ever. The Bible says in Revelation that you will reign with Christ for all of eternity. You'll reign with him. You'll have responsibilities in the new heaven and the new earth.
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You'll worship Christ.
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You'll serve him.
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It's interesting.
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Literally, this last part of the verse, you'll possess a kingdom forever for all ages to come. Literally, literally it reads to the forever and to the forever of forevers.
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I like that, don't you?
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Sounds like it's gonna be forever.
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In verses 19 to 26, we are introduced once again to that vicious fourth beast, Rome.
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This time, it's the revived Roman Empire.
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The scriptures teach that as a return of Christ draws near, it will be revived.
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But by the way, I believe that if you look at what's happening in Europe today,
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I believe that you see that revived Roman Empire in beginning to rise up, beginning to assert itself.
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And one day it's gonna come to fruition and the Antichrist will be the leader of that revived Roman Empire.
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Now, let's spend a few minutes and talk about the Antichrist. Okay, now, don't think that for a moment, I'm gonna tell you who the Antichrist is because I don't know who the Antichrist is.
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Don't think for a moment, I'm going to explain to you the number 666 because I don't understand it, okay?
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I know it's important because it's in the Bible,
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but I can't really nail it down in my own mind and heart.
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Maybe I need Daniel's angel to come interpret that for me. The Antichrist disclosure. Look at verses 19 and 20 and verses 23 and 24.
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So Daniel said, "Then I desired to know the exact meaning "of the fourth beast,
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"which was different from all the others,
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"exceedingly dreadful with its teeth of iron
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"its claws a bronze,
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"which devoured, crushed and trampled down "the remainder with its feet
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"and the meaning of the 10 horns that were on its head.
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"And the other horn which came up "before which three of them failed, "namely, that horn which had eyes,
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"he was very, very smart." The Antichrist will be very smart.
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"And a mouth uttering great boast, "arrogant, so arrogant, blasphemous, "and which was larger in appearance than its associates.
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"Thus he said, the fourth beast "will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, "which will be different from all the other kingdoms "and will devour the whole earth "and tread it down and crush it. "As for the 10 horns out of this kingdom, "10 kings will arise and another will arise after them
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"and he will be different from the previous ones "and will subdue three kings."
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Now, John Phillips, who I greatly respect, when I first came here in 2003, about 2003, 2004, I asked Dr. Phillips to come and do a prophecy conference here.
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And he came and it was Sunday through Wednesday night. Man, it was fantastic.
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John Phillips understands prophecy as well as anybody.
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And he wrote this, he said, "The shadow of this coming confederation of nations "lies across Western Europe today." He wrote that several years ago.
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These kings or heads of state will hold on to a measure of their sovereignty. Remember, in chapter two of Daniel,
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the vision that he interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar, the feet and the toes of that great statue
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that Nebuchadnezzar saw were made of iron and clay. Now, what do you know about iron and clay?
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They do not adhere to each other, not strong, very brittle.
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And so, at the end of that vision,
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Nebuchadnezzar saw a stone cut out without hands and it hit the great beautiful statue that Nebuchadnezzar had seen, but where did it hit the statue? At the feet.
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And the whole thing crumbled.
[01:27:42;19 - 01:27:43;18]
It all crumbled.
[01:27:45;36 - 01:27:49;55]
Let me tell you, one day, the Lord Jesus is going to come
[01:27:52;11 - 01:28:03;24]
and all these empires, all of this stuff that Antichrist is gonna gear up to do is gonna be absolutely dismantled and destroyed forever.
[01:28:04;57 - 01:28:13;30]
And the kingdom of Christ will last forever and we, the saints of God, will inherit that kingdom.
[01:28:15;04 - 01:28:20;15]
Now, notice the horn which came up
[01:28:21;30 - 01:28:37;50]
before which three of them fell is Antichrist. He's the Antichrist. Now, what do we know about him? Well, we know from 2 Thessalonians chapter two, verse three, and I've got that right here in your notes,
[01:28:38;55 - 01:28:45;09]
where Paul wrote, "Let no one in any way deceive you, "for it will not come unless the apostasy come first
[01:28:46;21 - 01:28:50;58]
"and the man of lawlessness is revealed, "the son of destruction."
[01:28:52;11 - 01:28:56;41]
So here is a partial description of the Antichrist.
[01:28:57;47 - 01:29:00;16]
He will be a man of lawlessness.
[01:29:02;34 - 01:29:05;54]
And he will be the son of destruction.
[01:29:07;15 - 01:29:11;04]
Now, in first John chapter two, verse 18, we'll look at that in just a moment,
[01:29:13;10 - 01:29:23;31]
John wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the Antichrist is coming, but even now there are many Antichrists, the spirit of Antichrist.
[01:29:24;35 - 01:29:25;18]
I'm gonna tell you why.
[01:29:26;32 - 01:29:29;15]
If you look at what's happening in America today,
[01:29:30;26 - 01:29:32;06]
the spirit of lawlessness,
[01:29:33;23 - 01:29:35;21]
that is the spirit of Antichrist.
[01:29:37;03 - 01:29:45;29]
Pastor, are you saying that the Antichrist is alive today and doing his thing today? I don't know for sure. I don't know for sure.
[01:29:46;44 - 01:29:52;55]
But I'm telling you, the spirit of Antichrist is at work in America and the world today.
[01:29:54;56 - 01:29:57;21]
Do you see what happened at the Turning Point event
[01:29:58;21 - 01:29:59;41]
out in Berkeley, California?
[01:30:01;03 - 01:30:04;49]
I mean, it's just sheer lawlessness.
[01:30:06;50 - 01:30:07;44]
It's crazy.
[01:30:10;33 - 01:30:12;19]
It's destructive, it's violent.
[01:30:14;25 - 01:30:17;33]
Now, look at this next description.
[01:30:18;59 - 01:30:22;39]
A king will arise insolent and skilled and intrigued.
[01:30:24;10 - 01:30:26;02]
And Daniel 8.23,
[01:30:27;25 - 01:30:49;28]
in the latter part of the room, when the transgressors have run their course, a king will arise insolent and skilled and intrigued. So we know that the Antichrist will be a man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, insolent, skilled and intrigued.
[01:30:50;52 - 01:30:58;33]
And then in chapter 13, we're gonna flip over to chapter 13 of Revelation. Chapter 13 of Revelation.
[01:31:01;50 - 01:31:08;11]
This whole chapter is basically about the unholy trinity.
[01:31:09;31 - 01:31:17;58]
There's a holy trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Did you know that in Revelation it says there's an unholy trinity?
[01:31:20;35 - 01:31:22;23]
The dragon, that's Satan himself.
[01:31:24;17 - 01:31:26;03]
The beast, that's the Antichrist,
[01:31:27;27 - 01:31:28;48]
and the false prophet.
[01:31:30;59 - 01:31:34;47]
Mimicking, Satan has always wanted to mimic God.
[01:31:36;21 - 01:31:38;00]
Satan has wanted to be God.
[01:31:39;39 - 01:31:42;52]
And in chapter 13, you have the unholy trinity.
[01:31:44;32 - 01:31:47;36]
Now, I want you to look with me at verse one.
[01:31:49;13 - 01:31:51;26]
And the dragon, by the way, that's Satan.
[01:31:53;39 - 01:31:54;47]
Now understand this,
[01:31:56;57 - 01:32:02;00]
Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet are all demons.
[01:32:04;42 - 01:32:28;01]
Satan is not up here higher than the other demons, although he's in control and he's the captain of the demonic realm, okay? But I'm telling you, Satan and Jesus are not on the same level, okay? They're not.
[01:32:29;22 - 01:32:31;02]
Don't ever get that idea.
[01:32:32;36 - 01:32:38;50]
So the Bible says here in verse one of Revelation 13, and the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
[01:32:40;39 - 01:32:46;56]
Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. That's the Antichrist.
[01:32:48;33 - 01:32:55;28]
Having 10 horns and seven heads, and on his horns were 10 diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.
[01:32:57;30 - 01:33:04;47]
Now, let's just keep reading, because I want you to see what Revelation 13 says about the Antichrist.
[01:33:05;54 - 01:33:07;59]
And the beast, remember that's the Antichrist,
[01:33:10;06 - 01:33:11;50]
which I saw was like a leopard.
[01:33:14;19 - 01:33:16;27]
And his feet were like those of a bear.
[01:33:18;32 - 01:33:20;31]
And his mouth like the mouth of a lion.
[01:33:22;23 - 01:33:27;01]
And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and his great authority.
[01:33:28;51 - 01:33:35;16]
Take your Bible and look at Revelation 12, verse three.
[01:33:36;26 - 01:33:55;32]
Then another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and on his heads were seven diadems. Do you realize what happened with these various kingdoms, the Babylonian kingdom, the Medo-Persian empire,
[01:33:56;46 - 01:33:59;59]
the empire of Greece, the empire of Rome?
[01:34:01;07 - 01:34:13;57]
They never, it's like when Medo-Persia defeated Babylon, they just assimilated the Babylonians into their empire.
[01:34:15;27 - 01:34:25;47]
And when the Greeks under Alexander the Great defeated Medo-Persia, they just assimilated the Medo-Persians into the Greek empire.
[01:34:26;53 - 01:34:34;39]
And when Rome defeated the Greeks, they just assimilated the Greeks into the Roman empire.
[01:34:35;57 - 01:34:49;24]
And notice uses the same, right here in chapter 13, verse two of Revelation, he uses the same animals that was used to depict these kingdoms over here in Daniel, right?
[01:34:50;31 - 01:34:52;31]
You got the leopard,
[01:34:54;09 - 01:34:59;47]
you've got the bear, the leopard was the Greek empire.
[01:35:01;03 - 01:35:06;21]
You got the bear, Medo-Persia, the lion, the lion.
[01:35:07;53 - 01:35:14;49]
And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain.
[01:35:15;58 - 01:35:16;44]
Now think about this,
[01:35:18;19 - 01:35:22;11]
one of the things that Antichrist is gonna do, he's gonna fool a lot of people.
[01:35:23;43 - 01:35:25;07]
He's gonna fool a lot of people.
[01:35:26;56 - 01:35:32;22]
And I believe that what this is saying is he's gonna appear to be killed,
[01:35:34;33 - 01:35:36;55]
but it's gonna be a false type thing.
[01:35:38;02 - 01:35:47;16]
And the people are gonna think that he's been resurrected from the dead. Remember what he does now, he wants to mimic everything that Jesus and the Father, the Holy Spirit does.
[01:35:49;10 - 01:35:52;53]
And it's a false death, a false resurrection.
[01:35:54;07 - 01:36:11;19]
I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth, look at that, the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast, the Antichrist. Do you realize the whole world is gonna buy into this guy?
[01:36:13;51 - 01:36:20;27]
And they worship the dragon, Satan, because he gave his authority to the beast, the Antichrist.
[01:36:22;05 - 01:36:31;50]
And they worship the beast saying, who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him? There was given to him a mouth,
[01:36:33;13 - 01:36:40;58]
speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him.
[01:36:42;15 - 01:36:45;08]
And he opened up his mouth, by the way, it's three and a half years.
[01:36:46;12 - 01:36:54;49]
And he opened up his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is those who dwell in heaven.
[01:36:55;57 - 01:36:58;41]
He was also given to him to make war with the saints
[01:36:59;48 - 01:37:06;05]
and to overcome them and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
[01:37:07;05 - 01:37:10;00]
And all who dwell on the earth will worship him. Look at that.
[01:37:11;39 - 01:37:13;56]
All who dwell on the earth will worship him.
[01:37:14;59 - 01:37:25;38]
Everyone, look at this, whose name has not been written from the foundation world in the book of life of the lamb, who has been slain. You talk about Christians.
[01:37:26;55 - 01:37:29;10]
If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear.
[01:37:30;26 - 01:37:31;42]
Now think about this.
[01:37:33;43 - 01:37:41;56]
The Bible says that the Antichrist is gonna be shrewd. Antichrist is gonna be full of intrigue.
[01:37:43;53 - 01:37:46;31]
People are gonna be amazed at the Antichrist.
[01:37:48;13 - 01:37:57;43]
I believe that part of the things that's gonna happen when the Antichrist makes his appearance is through AI,
[01:37:59;47 - 01:38:14;54]
through AI, the false prophet is gonna be able to set this figure, this image of the Antichrist up as if it is really the Antichrist and the whole world will worship it.
[01:38:16;03 - 01:38:19;06]
But by the way, he talks about the false prophet down here.
[01:38:20;32 - 01:38:21;25]
Let me find it.
[01:38:25;32 - 01:38:27;43]
Yeah, look at verse 11.
[01:38:28;58 - 01:38:35;42]
Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.
[01:38:37;42 - 01:38:41;39]
He exercises all the authority of the first beast, that's the Antichrist.
[01:38:43;05 - 01:38:46;56]
In his presence, he may look, here's what the false prophet will do.
[01:38:47;59 - 01:38:55;36]
He will make the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.
[01:38:57;24 - 01:38:59;28]
What does the Holy Spirit do?
[01:39:00;52 - 01:39:05;24]
The Holy Spirit causes people to worship the true Christ.
[01:39:07;19 - 01:39:17;09]
What is the false prophet gonna do? He's gonna make people worship the false Christ, the Antichrist.
[01:39:19;05 - 01:39:26;04]
So it's interesting, interesting stuff. Now go back to Daniel, go back to Daniel seven.
[01:39:28;50 - 01:39:32;22]
In 1 John 2.18, I alluded to this a moment ago.
[01:39:33;23 - 01:39:37;02]
The Bible says, "Children, it is the last hour.
[01:39:38;54 - 01:39:41;48]
"And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming,
[01:39:43;18 - 01:39:46;10]
"even now many Antichrists have appeared.
[01:39:47;39 - 01:39:54;40]
"For this we know that it is the last hour." What did Jesus prophesy in Matthew 24?
[01:39:55;53 - 01:40:02;27]
He said, "As we get nearer and nearer and nearer "the coming of Christ, there's gonna be an explosion,
[01:40:03;29 - 01:40:08;54]
"an absolute explosion of false prophets and false Christ."
[01:40:10;14 - 01:40:26;23]
That's one of the signs of the nearness of Christ coming. Now, as we go through this series, perfect ending in Matthew 24, we'll get to Matthew 25 after the first of the year, and we'll go through Matthew 25.
[01:40:27;50 - 01:40:38;21]
We've been talking a lot about the second coming of Christ. Matthew 24 is not about the rapture, it's about the second coming of Christ. The whole thing is about second coming.
[01:40:40;25 - 01:40:45;06]
And one thing we need to understand is that,
[01:40:46;07 - 01:40:50;38]
let me get my thought again.
[01:40:51;39 - 01:40:55;56]
I had it, it left me.
[01:40:58;11 - 01:41:00;22]
It'll come to me and I'll come back to it, okay?
[01:41:02;15 - 01:41:04;48]
I guess that's age, all right.
[01:41:06;35 - 01:41:16;25]
So we got, the Antichrist have appeared, for this we know it's the last hour. The Antichrist will rise from obscurity to prominence
[01:41:18;26 - 01:41:20;38]
within the revived Roman Empire.
[01:41:21;55 - 01:41:23;27]
Now here's what Dr. Phillips thinks.
[01:41:24;50 - 01:41:36;32]
He thinks that the Antichrist will most likely threaten to pull the economic rug out from under America unless we become a part of a new Atlantic Alliance
[01:41:37;49 - 01:41:38;49]
under his leadership.
[01:41:41;08 - 01:41:48;03]
Hey look, when our nation is trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars in debt,
[01:41:49;59 - 01:41:55;54]
we are one slip up away from an economic disaster in this nation.
[01:41:58;43 - 01:42:07;09]
And Dr. Phillips thinks that that's gonna be the key that Antichrist's gonna use to get America to submit to him.
[01:42:08;23 - 01:42:12;32]
Now, let's look at the depravity of Antichrist
[01:42:13;54 - 01:42:15;27]
verses 20 and 21.
[01:42:17;08 - 01:42:42;15]
And the meaning of the 10 horns that were on its head. Now remember, this is the angel interpreting the vision that Daniel had had. The meaning of the 10 horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up before which three of them fell, namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great bows, which was larger in appearance than its associates.
[01:42:43;18 - 01:42:58;08]
I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them. Now, what do we know about the nearness of Christ coming? We talked about the signs of the times in Matthew 24. This is what I was gonna talk about.
[01:42:59;50 - 01:43:07;21]
And in Matthew chapter 24, one of the signs of the times is increased persecution of believers.
[01:43:10;43 - 01:43:24;48]
We're seeing that right now. Our president is considering taking action against Nigeria because Nigeria is butchering Christians left and right.
[01:43:26;25 - 01:43:36;11]
Somalia is butchering Christians left and right. China is throwing Christians in prison for just having a Bible.
[01:43:38;06 - 01:43:45;07]
North Korea thinks nothing of butchering Christians and throwing them in hard labor camps.
[01:43:46;34 - 01:43:47;55]
It's happening all over the world.
[01:43:49;11 - 01:43:55;58]
And even here in America, if you stand for Jesus, if you stand for truth of God's word,
[01:43:57;04 - 01:44:00;06]
you're gonna be on the outside looking in.
[01:44:01;08 - 01:44:07;25]
I promise you, you're gonna be ridiculed. You're gonna be made fun of. People are gonna scoff at you.
[01:44:08;34 - 01:44:11;48]
They're gonna try to do everything in their power to get you to compromise.
[01:44:13;07 - 01:44:19;45]
That's happening right now here in America. It's a sign of the times. I believe with all my heart.
[01:44:21;37 - 01:44:31;32]
There are three things that we've got to take away from this study in Matthew 24 and 25 in Daniel chapter seven. The book of Daniel seven through 12.
[01:44:33;00 - 01:44:35;49]
Number one is an awareness of the second coming.
[01:44:37;52 - 01:44:40;35]
Number two is readiness for the second coming.
[01:44:41;52 - 01:44:44;47]
And number three is eagerness for the second coming.
[01:44:46;03 - 01:44:52;52]
Those three things ought to be a part of every one of our lives, awareness of the second coming.
[01:44:54;11 - 01:45:05;27]
You say, well, pastor, I'm not really that worried about it. Pastor, everything's going on just fine. We'll come back, I'm telling you folks,
[01:45:06;40 - 01:45:10;07]
you better know that you better get ready.
[01:45:11;26 - 01:45:15;42]
You better get ready. Now, nobody can tell you when Jesus is coming.
[01:45:17;18 - 01:45:18;29]
Nobody can do that.
[01:45:20;02 - 01:45:26;59]
But there ought to be an awareness, a readiness and an eagerness for Christ to come. By the way, that can be found throughout the New Testament.
[01:45:28;04 - 01:45:28;55]
Those three things.
[01:45:30;30 - 01:45:48;31]
Now, so here in first John 2 18 children, it is the last hour just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, coming. Now, verse 21 of chapter seven, the depravity of Antichrist.
[01:45:50;05 - 01:45:56;45]
I kept looking that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them. Let me tell you what the Antichrist is gonna do.
[01:45:57;59 - 01:46:01;55]
He is going to try to annihilate every Jew on the planet.
[01:46:03;31 - 01:46:07;12]
And he's gonna try to annihilate every Christian on the planet.
[01:46:10;49 - 01:46:14;02]
You go to Revelation chapter, I think at chapter seven,
[01:46:15;17 - 01:46:21;59]
you've got a scene in heaven where a lot of very, very many
[01:46:23;05 - 01:46:28;26]
saints who were martyred during the tribulation period before the throne of God.
[01:46:31;56 - 01:46:37;09]
To understand that as we approach the second coming of Christ,
[01:46:38;57 - 01:46:42;46]
there is going to be a real uptick in persecution.
[01:46:44;37 - 01:46:48;39]
Now look, he will speak out against the most high
[01:46:49;47 - 01:47:02;26]
and wear down the saints of the highest one. And he will intend to make alterations in times and law. Do you know what Napoleon did during the French Revolution?
[01:47:03;57 - 01:47:10;23]
Napoleon tried to get the French to go to a 10 day week.
[01:47:11;50 - 01:47:22;34]
A 10 day week. He tried to make an alteration in time. Do you realize that a seven day week is part of the creation narrative?
[01:47:23;56 - 01:47:26;10]
That's what God created. That's what he created.
[01:47:27;17 - 01:47:32;24]
Six days you shall work, the seventh day you shall what? Rest.
[01:47:34;07 - 01:47:39;25]
That's God's rhythm that he injected into the human race.
[01:47:40;45 - 01:47:46;22]
And nobody should ever, ever, ever mess with that. And then he talks about changing laws.
[01:47:47;27 - 01:47:48;40]
Look what happened in America.
[01:47:49;46 - 01:47:51;10]
Just look what's happened in America.
[01:47:52;36 - 01:47:56;56]
Several years ago, the Supreme Court
[01:47:59;34 - 01:48:06;03]
ruled that two men can marry each other or two women can marry each other.
[01:48:07;23 - 01:48:09;38]
That's an alteration in laws.
[01:48:11;41 - 01:48:14;28]
Moral laws established by God himself.
[01:48:15;55 - 01:48:18;11]
And when the antichrist shows up,
[01:48:19;16 - 01:48:37;53]
more and more of that kind of stuff is going to happen. I don't know what all is gonna look like. I can't tell you that, but I'm telling you it's going to happen because the Bible says it's going to happen and the Bible says it's going to happen. And it was written, listen, it was written 2,500 years ago.
[01:48:40;02 - 01:48:42;32]
Does that not blow your mind? It blows my mind.
[01:48:44;12 - 01:48:50;04]
This stuff has come true in the past, it's coming true in the present, and it will come true in the future.
[01:48:52;42 - 01:48:54;46]
That's the power of the word of God.
[01:48:57;07 - 01:48:57;19]
Now,
[01:49:01;17 - 01:49:05;43]
notice it says that he was larger in appearance than its associates.
[01:49:07;35 - 01:49:12;15]
I believe that's referring to the fact that he has superior leadership skills.
[01:49:14;13 - 01:49:35;50]
Listen, the antichrist is not gonna be some guy that fell off the turnip truck yesterday, okay? He's gonna be a very smart, very wise, very evil, very violent, very conniving man.
[01:49:37;02 - 01:49:43;27]
Remember, he will be absolutely consumed with a demon.
[01:49:44;35 - 01:49:47;36]
Remember when Jesus was in the upper room
[01:49:49;01 - 01:49:50;23]
and Judas was there?
[01:49:51;56 - 01:49:59;09]
The Bible said, I think it's in Luke's gospel, I may have one of the gospels wrong, but I think it's Luke's gospel where it says
[01:50:00;18 - 01:50:03;35]
that Satan came into Judas
[01:50:05;54 - 01:50:07;08]
and he betrayed Jesus.
[01:50:09;09 - 01:50:10;36]
That's what's gonna happen with the antichrist.
[01:50:11;55 - 01:50:13;49]
It's not going to be a pretty picture,
[01:50:15;52 - 01:50:17;05]
but it is going to happen.
[01:50:18;37 - 01:50:18;50]
Now,
[01:50:20;38 - 01:50:22;51]
he may, he's gonna be a great orator.
[01:50:24;34 - 01:50:27;15]
He would probably have a commanding physical presence.
[01:50:28;45 - 01:50:31;37]
He arrives to power in a time of worldwide chaos.
[01:50:35;41 - 01:50:38;05]
He have mouth uttering great boast.
[01:50:39;11 - 01:50:42;01]
Verse 25, he'll speak out against the most high.
[01:50:43;11 - 01:50:53;30]
I talked about this earlier, bring peace to Israel for three and a half years, but in the middle of that covenant that he makes with Israel, he'll break it.
[01:50:55;27 - 01:50:56;52]
And he will go into the temple
[01:50:58;36 - 01:51:04;53]
and he will present himself as God and demand that the whole world worship him.
[01:51:08;01 - 01:51:09;04]
Look at verse 25.
[01:51:11;18 - 01:51:11;48]
Look at it.
[01:51:13;25 - 01:51:25;40]
The Bible says he will speak out against the most high, wear down the saints of the highest one. He will intend to make alteration, time and law, and they'll be given into his hand for a time, times and half a time. That's three and a half years.
[01:51:27;09 - 01:51:32;47]
Remember what the Bible in Matthew 24 talks about? It's a time of Jacob's trouble.
[01:51:33;59 - 01:51:44;10]
The last three and a half years, it's called the great tribulation. Jesus said that last three and a half years, there'll be tribulation like this world has never seen before.
[01:51:53;28 - 01:51:56;35]
In 2 Thessalonians chapter two, verse nine,
[01:51:58;03 - 01:52:08;52]
we're told that the Antichrist will be equipped by Satan to do great wonders and signs, miracles. Hey, by the way, look at Matthew 24, 24, just a minute.
[01:52:10;46 - 01:52:12;27]
Matthew 24, 24.
[01:52:18;26 - 01:52:26;44]
We're talking to how there's so much spiritual deception from the Antichrist and from his cohorts.
[01:52:27;52 - 01:52:29;23]
Matthew 24, 24.
[01:52:31;21 - 01:52:43;35]
We talk about how the whole world will be amazed at him and follow him. Look at verse 24 here. For false Christ and false prophets will arise
[01:52:44;43 - 01:52:51;54]
and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible, even the elect.
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Hey, look, we have a core value here. We believe that the Bible is our final source for faith and practice.
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We don't have to have a sign and a wonder. All we gotta have is a Bible.
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You make sure that whoever you're watching on TV,
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whoever is doing amazing things, you make sure that you look at what they're doing and you run it through the filter of scripture to make sure that it's biblical. In history, there have been many people, many preachers, many evangelists, many prophets, so-called prophets, who have done what seemed to be miraculous things that turned out to be a sham, an absolute sham and people fell for it. Be careful.
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Know the Bible, have a spirit of discernment. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to be able to discern between what's true and what's false,
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what's of God and what's not of God.
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Now look at the last thing here, the destiny of antichrist, the destiny of the antichrist.
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Look at verse 22.
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The Bible says, let me read verse 20, 21. "I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until," look at this, "until the ancient of days,"
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who's the ancient of days?
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God the Father, God the Father, who's the Holy Spirit? God the Father, God the Father, "until the ancient of days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the highest ones," aren't you glad of that?
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And the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
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That is going to be one glorious day, amen?
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Now look at verse 26.
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"But the court will sit for judgment," you say what court?
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God's court.
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And his dominion will be taken away. The dominion of the antichrist will be taken away. Look, basically he's got seven years, especially the last three and a half years, okay?
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But the court will sit for judgment and his dominion will be taken away annihilated and destroyed forever.
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Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest ones.
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His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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What does the Bible say?
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"Every knee will bow of those who are in heaven
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"on earth and under the earth, "and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord "to the glory of God the Father." Philippians chapter two, verse nine to 11.
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The whole world is gonna bow before Jesus. All the inhabitants of hell will bow before Jesus. Satan, the antichrist, the false prophet will bow before Jesus and say, "Jesus, you are Lord."
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Man.
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Then the Bible says in verse 28, "At this point, the revelation ended.
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"As for me," in other words, the angel quit talking,
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quit giving him the interpretation. "As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me "and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself."
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Who would understand that, right? Who could he talk to?
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Maybe Shadrach, Meshach, and Benigno, they were still alive at this time.
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A divine limit is set by God.
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A time, times, and half a time, three and a half years.
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God's judgment of the antichrist is certain, is certain.
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Here we are reminded of the sovereignty of God. Remember, one of the great themes of the book of Daniel is the sovereignty of God.
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God's in control.
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The devil and all of his associates will be thrown into hell. Look, I've got it right here, you don't have to turn to it. Revelation chapter 20, verse 10.
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"And the devil who deceived them was thrown "into the lake of fire and brimstone, "where the beast," that's the antichrist, "and the false prophet are also, "and they will be tormented." The unholy trinity will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
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So let's go back to the climax right quick, okay?
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Let's go back to Daniel chapter seven, verses nine through 14.
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Now this is the highlight of this chapter.
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Daniel's, an awesome scene unfolded before Daniel's eyes as the ancient of days, the eternal God takes his seat upon the throne. Look at verse nine and 10. "I kept looking," this Daniel, "I kept looking until thrones were set up.
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"And the ancient of days," that's God the Father, "took his seat. "His vesture was white like snow." Now, think about the whiteness of his vesture. It's symbol, remember, symbolism is so important to understanding prophecy.
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Well, the symbolism here is a symbol that's, his vesture is white as snow, is a symbol of purity, of absolute perfect holiness.
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And his hair of his head like pure wool.
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Think about that, the whiteness of his hair
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is a picture of both purity and holiness
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and also of the eternal nature of God. When you see white hair, you think of somebody as old, right?
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Was a picture of the eternality of God.
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His throne was ablaze with flames.
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Its wheels were burning fire.
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In the apocalyptic literature here of Revelation and Daniel is a picture of judgment. It's a picture of judgment.
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Verse 10, in fact, you go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will find over and over and over again, the fact that God is going to judge the world.
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You're gonna judge the world. (Congregation Chattering) Verse 10, a river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him. Again, that's judgment, holiness.
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Thousands upon thousands were attending him. And marriage upon marriage, an uncountable number of people were standing before him, the living God, the court sat and the books were open. Do you realize that for the person who rejects Jesus
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as savior and Lord,
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they will be judged based upon their deeds,
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what they do.
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Bible says that, I'm not making it up.
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And the one thing that's gonna sink them is the fact that when they had an opportunity to put their faith in Jesus as savior and Lord, they didn't take that opportunity and they rejected Christ.
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That's the one sin, that's the unpardonable sin by the way, the rejection of Jesus as savior and Lord.
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He goes on to say, and the books were open.
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You go over to Revelation,
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it talks about books and the book.
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The book is the book of life.
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And if you, listen, if you've received Jesus as your savior and your Lord,
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your name is in the book of life.
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Now,
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Daniel chapter seven, verse 11 and 12.
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Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words, which the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain
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and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. So Daniel saw what was, what Revelation chapter 20 talks about.
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Verse 12, as for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. In other words, the nation, the empires of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Greece and Rome, they were given an extension of time, a short period of time, because they were assimilated into the next kingdom that took them over.
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Verse 13, I kept looking in the night visions
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and behold with the clouds of heaven,
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one like a son of man was coming. Hey, by the way, what was Jesus favorite name for himself?
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Son of man.
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This is Jesus here.
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I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the ancient of days, God the father and was presented before him.
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Realize that verse 13 is the verse of Daniel most often quoted in the New Testament.
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Verse 14, and to him, to Jesus, the son of man was given dominion,
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glory and a kingdom.
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That all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Aren't you glad of that?
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It's a coronation of the Lord Jesus here. I wanna close by saying this.
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Don't get caught up
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and trying to figure out who the Antichrist is.
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Don't do that.
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There's nowhere in the scripture
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that says that you and I as born again believers
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should be looking for and anticipating the coming of the Antichrist, not there.
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We should be looking forward to and anticipating with great eagerness the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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There's nowhere in scripture says we ought to spend in an order and amount of time trying to figure out what the number 666 means.
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Don't do that.
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Listen, I told you the three things that are top shelf stuff for us as believers. The awareness of the second coming of Christ,
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the readiness for the second coming of Christ and the eagerness for the second coming of Christ.
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That's where we've gotta live, okay?
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Well, look, I know that chapter seven
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is not the easiest chapter to figure out.
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It's so hard an angel had to interpret it for Daniel.
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And so what we've done tonight is we've tried to take the angelic interpretation
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and bring it into the 21st century. And I think we landed on some really good stuff tonight. I really did.
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The main thing to remember is Jesus is Lord.
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His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom forever and ever and ever and ever and ever, okay?
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So let's close with a word of prayer.
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Heavenly Father, thank you so much
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for the patience of the people tonight, Lord.
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I thank you that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
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you help us to understand things that are difficult.
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I thank you that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
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you allow us to make application of spiritual truth to our lives.
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And Lord, if there's one thing we've learned tonight,
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we've learned that you are the sovereign King of all
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and that one day your kingdom is going to be consummated and we're gonna be a part of it and we will serve you and reign with you forever and ever and ever. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
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Lord, we love you in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, God bless you.
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