Israel, The Beast and the End Times (With Greg Laurie)

[Music] this is Jerusalem the very epicenter of the events of the end times it's a city of our past our present and our future our past because of the rich biblical history and has happened here our present because the nation Israel is a modern-day miracle that sent the prophetic time clock ticking and it's a city of our future because world history as we know it is going to end right here in this part of the world and Jerusalem will be at the center of it all [Music] the book of Revelation is the unveiling of the supernatural world that coexist with a physical world the realm of God and of Satan of heaven of Hell of angels of demons and the Bible is the one book that dares to predict the future not once not twice but hundreds of times with 100% accuracy did you know that two-thirds of the Bible is prophecy and one half of those prophecies have already been fulfilled so when the Bible says something is going to happen you can take it to the bank we find that all in the book of Revelation [Music] one of the great things about the book of Revelation is it comes complete with its own out Lani Jesus tells John to write about the things that he has seen the things that are and the things that will take place after these things [Music] you know when it's all said and done the book of Revelation the unveiling is a revealing of Jesus Christ and all of his glory we seek God in control of all the events that are happening in the world today nothing can just gone by surprise the book of Revelation tells us about the rapture of the church the emergence of the Antichrist the Great Tribulation Period the Battle of Armageddon the second coming of Jesus Christ the millennial reign of Christ and that great moment when heaven and earth become one it's all in this book but wait there's even more the book of Revelation comes with its own built-in blessing there's no other book in all of the Bible that has a built-in guaranteed blessing here's what it says blessed is the man by the way the word blessed can also be translated happy so if you want to be a happy person pay attention happy is the man or the woman who reads hears and keeps the word of this book what book the book of Revelation so first you have to read it by the way that could be translated read it out loud number two you have to hear it Jesus would often say he that is here's to hear that appear what the Spirit is saying its attention with intention and then finally you need to keep the words of the book in other words do what it says you know studying Bible prophecy and books like revelation will do you no good at all if they do not affect you in the way that you lived when we have the hope of the imminent return of Christ it should cause us to live a more godly life the Bible says he that has this hope the hope of the return of Christ purifies himself even as he is pure in other words if I really believe Jesus could come back at any time at any moment I want to be living a godly life that is why we need to study the book of Revelation we need to learn about the future to know how to live in the present alright Revelation chapter 1 the title of my messages revelation rewind I have revelation fever right now I've been preparing for this message and I just finished a book on the topic called revelation the next dimension by the way this is my first full-length commentary over 400 pages and it's just such a joy to study this book so I thought it would do a flyover I'm calling this revelation rewind trying to get the big picture of what this book says so I in preparation I was watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon maybe I should explain I have grandchildren four granddaughters one grandson and they love cartoons and their favorites are Bubble Guppies if you have a little kids you know I'm talking about also Lalaloopsy and finally Dora the explora by the way here's the plot of every Dora cartoon it's always the same Dora and her pet monkey boots get lost every week they get lost and while they're out and about and she realizes she's lost she has a backpack she has a song she sings to the backpack backpack and then a map appears and the map tells Dora how to get home but wait there's danger because there's a little fox named Swiper it always takes something from Dora but she gets it back arrive safely back home and then says we did it we did it you know I think Dora has too much self-esteem it's you know Dora you just got home relax a little bit and really is it a good idea to send your child out every week with a monkey I don't know but that's the plot of every Dora cartoon so I've seen so many of these cartoons with the kids and so I thought I've gotta find something else for them to watch so I went back into the archives of cartoons I used to watch you know the good old days when there was no little moral message it was just cartoon characters hurting each other you know I'm talking Tom and Jerry I'm talking the roadrunner and Wiley coyote I'm talking felix the cat I'm talking Woody Woodpecker right so I was watching a Woody Woodpecker by the way they love these old cartoons and so we're watching Woody Woodpecker and in one of the little episodes woody is have some guys that try to fool him into using their time machine and woody already knows what's up and instead of being outsmarted he outsmarts them and so forth so that was the plot of the cartoon and I thought about the idea of a time machine you know that's been used in so many cartoons and books and films the idea of going into the future but it seems so implausible but wait it actually happened or not a time machine but John the Apostle was taken into the future and it was allowed to see bygone himself what was about to take place how did this happen well John was the only apostle that was not put to death as a martyr fact Jesus even said he was gonna live his life out so he was an old man they banished him to the island of Patmos never expecting to hear from him again but while he was on that island Jesus gave to John what we call the revelation Jesus gave John a guided tour of the future among other things and John speaks of the future for him which really is in many ways that completely but a good part of this book the present for us I mean here's a man was first century language trying to describe 21st century phenomena and beyond you know he's talking about these wars that are gonna break out and the massive destruction and how could he have envisioned what could be a nuclear exchange in 80 90 there was no precedent for such a concept of Beck black powder wasn't invented until the ninth century after Christ and dynamite invented in the 19th century John writes prophetically about one man that will take control of the world and no one will be able to buy or sell unless they take the mark of this man the Antichrist that would sound so implausible and futuristic even fifty years ago but today with computer technology this system could be up and running at no time in no time we read in the book of Revelation about an army marching 200 million strong when John wrote these words there were not even two hundred million people on the face of the earth but today the population of the planet is around seven billion and indeed there's a nation on earth that could field an army of 200 million Revelation the book that dares to predict the future not once not twice but many times and it's just one of the prophetic books of the Bible now some will say well I just don't think you can understand the book of Revelation wait a second I disagree with that I already pointed out there's a blessing promise to the one who reads hears and keeps the words of this book why would God promise a blessing to me if I could not understand it and to the point what does the word revelation mean it means the unveiling or the revealing God's desire is not to conceal but to reveal it is God's desire to make clear what is happening in our world it's God's desire to show us there is a supernatural world coexisting with a physical world it's the realm of Heaven and Hell of angels and demons it's a realm of Satan and God we see across time in the book of Revelation as though time does not exist it's that other dimension some will say well what good is it to study things like that isn't it possible to be so heavenly minded you're no earthly good my concern is far too many people are so earthly minded there are no heavenly good listen one day you're gonna pass from this material world one day you're gonna leave this sir and according to scripture you will either go to heaven and the presence of God and fellow believers or you will go to hell separated from God for all eternity Revelation tells us all about that and gone and this book reveals the future know this God is omniscient which is a theological word simply mean meaning he knows everything he knows the future as well as we know the past well let me correct that he knows the future better than we know the past because I forget details don't you sometimes when I'm telling this story my wife will stop me mid story which I don't like just say Craig you you left out a couple of details and the problem is she's right and here's what's even more frustrating she wasn't even there when the event happened I'm describing but you see what happened was I told her all about it right after it happened she remembers all the details and so then she tells me and wrecks my story but I heard a story about an older couple that were getting ready to go to bed late one night and and the wife said honey you know you would be so sweet if you would go get me an ice cream sundae I just got in the mood he said dear it's so late we're going to bed it's 8 o'clock what do you mean remember they're all okay you know you're old when someone calls you at 8 o'clock and says did I wake you right and I screamed Sonny at this hour yes sweetie please you'd be such a dear if you did it and ice cream sundae Oh with some chocolate sauce okay all right all right oh you better write it down because I want whipped cream too no I remember ice cream sundae chocolate sauce whipped cream yes but I want some nuts on it write it down sweetie you always forget I won't forget ice cream sundae chocolate sauce whipped cream nuts hey one other thing I want to cherry on top all right I got it ice cream sundae chocolate sauce whipped cream nuts chariot up write it down I don't need to write it down so he goes out to get her sundae he comes back an hour later and throws a ham sandwich on the bed she opens it up and says I told you to write it down you forgot the mustard she's a good thing when you're both losing it around the same time it kind of works out see for God when he looks at the future in a way it's like the past or even the present Ecclesiastes is a fascinating little verse it says in Chapter three excuse me verse fifteen whatever exists today and whatever will exist in the future has already existed in the past for God calls each event back in its turn you might say I don't get that at all I know precisely God's in the eternal realm it's all the same future past present he sees it all it's like a continuum to him so when he says something that's gonna happen trust me or better yet trust God it's going to happen all but revelation is too hard to understand some will say no fact of the matter is God has given us a golden key and this golden key is hanging right on the front door of the first chapter revelation not only comes with a built-in blessing it comes with a built-in outline it helps us to wrap our minds around it that's revelation 119 write the things that you have seen that things which are and that things that will take place after this those are the three divisions of Revelation number one John was to write the things that he had seen that would be what he we find in chapter one the resurrected and glorified Jesus without power on heaven and earth the revealed Jesus who is in complete control of all that is about to happen then number two there are the things which are this is a reference to the letters of Jesus to the seven churches front in Revelation 2 to 3 and finally the things that will take place after these things what things after the churches taken from the earth in the rapture so where are we now we are in that category call the things which are we haven't gone to that point yet were the things that will take place after the rapture that's still coming now whenever you mention revelation people get excited because they think of all the juicy stuff if you will whoa revelation Armageddon Antichrist second coming this is going to be good yeah well that's all in Revelation but that's not all that's there I mean right out of the gate as this book begins to unfold Jesus first reveals himself remember revelation is the unveiling it's not just about the future God is saying I want you to see Who I am Revelation is from Jesus Christ revealing himself to us and who was a better source on Jesus than Jesus nobody and so he tells us all about himself in Revelation chapter one I'm gonna read verses 1 to 2 then I'll drop down to 5 read along with me if you'd like the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place and he sent it signified it by his angel to his servant John who bore witness to the Word of God into the testimony of Jesus Christ to all the things that he saw from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn from the dead and ruler over the kings of the earth to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood so first 5 says Jesus is the faithful witness you know it's hard to find a faithful witness isn't it someone who doesn't spin the truth sometimes people who make up outright lie someone will share a piece of information with me and my first question is where did you hear that I want to know the source there are certain people if they say something I feel they are a reliable source there are other people if they say something I don't trust it because I've seen them misspeak if you will which is a nice way of saying they distorted the truth in the past but when Jesus speaks he's the faith witness but he doesn't just speak the truth he speaks the truth lovingly sometimes you can have the truth and you can use it as a weapon to destroy rather than a tool to build I've met people who are technically and perhaps even theologically correct but the way they use that truth is to hurt people now we need to take the truth and share it lovingly and notice that we read that this is from him who loved us it could better be translated who keeps on loving us so these are the words of a sovereign powerful God in control of everything but yet who loves all of us he tells us he's coming again soon verse 7 behold he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him this truth of the imminent return of Jesus is found repeatedly from Genesis to Revelation in fact the truth of the coming of Christ is found in 500 verses in the Bible one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament referred to this second coming that gives hope in a hopeless world here's a quick flyover a quick outline Revelation chapter 1 is a revelation of the glorified Christ in control and returning revelation chapters 2 to 3 we have the entire scope of church history revelation 4 and 5 we have the church taken up to heaven in chapter 6 to 19 we have what is known as the Great Tribulation Period that lasts for seven years in chapter 20 of Revelation we have the millennial reign of Christ and in chapters 21 to 22 we have the new heaven and the new earth so let's dig in revelation 1 verse 9 we have John on the island that is called Patmos and verse 11 the Lord says I'm Alpha and Omega the first in the last what you see right in the book send it to the seven churches that are in to Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea now why should we read about the seven churches well for three reasons number one they were literal churches it really was a Church of Ephesus Willie was a church at Philadelphia Smyrna and so forth in the head pastor so these were the words of Jesus to those actual churches and by the way they follow a postal route when they would deliver mail back in this time number two and this comes home to us more the words of Jesus to the seven churches speak prophetically it's sort of like an overview of church history and instead of the church growing stronger we find it growing weaker the first church at Church of Ephesus is a group of believers that are beginning to lose their passion and they're in danger of leaving their first love and you end up with the Church of Laodicea which is so corrupted Jesus is on the outside trying to get back in again back revelation 3:20 and off quoted verse contextually is to the Church of Laodicea where Jesus says Saint behold a son of the door knock If any man will hear my voice and open the door I will come in so we started with an Apostolic Church and we end seemingly with an apostate Church but also they speak to us personally you'll find yourself on one of those seven churches you'll find that you really sound like a believer in the Church of Ephesus or the Church of pergamus or the Church of Sardis or Philadelphia or Laodicea then chapter 4 we have a turn upward as we are in heaven the church is removed in the rapture and were safe and secure in God's arms verse 2 immediately I was in the spirit to behold a throne set in him and one sat on the throne and he that sat on it was like a Jasper and sardine stone in appearance there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance I can emerald and around the throne there were twenty-four Thrones and on the thrones i sat twenty-four elders sitting clothed in white robes they had crowns of in their heads and from the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God so in Revelation 4 John writes after these things after what things after the things of the church you see before the Great Tribulation begins the church is gonna be removed what do I mean by that the Bible says the Lord will come in a moment in the twinkling of an eye that didn't cry shall rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up that's from the Greek word harpazo caught up taken by force caught up to meet them in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord riding on this Paul also says in the book of Corinthians it'll happened in a moment in the twinkling of an eye this corruption will put on incorruption this mortal will put on immortality and then after the churches are moved the Antichrist will emerge so where are we at this point hey man were in heaven we're in heaven enjoying the glory of God and you know what revelation there's a lot to say about heaven and I bring this up because there are books that have been written about heaven there are movies that have been made about people who claim to have gone to heaven and I think we need to approach all of these writings with great skepticism I'm not in a position to say a person did or did not go to heaven but I'll tell you this I'm only gonna believe them in as far as what they say lines up with what the Bible teaches about heaven you see because the Bible is the only Authority of search I was talking with the lady a while back and we got in a discussion on what Jesus looked like she says oh we know what Jesus look like I said well actually we don't she says oh no we do I said well honey you know well I read about it a child that went to him and it saw Jesus and he there's good well there you go that ends it what no we can't base anything on that we go to the scripture listen everything you need to know about heaven it's found on the Bible if God wanted you to know more he would have recorded one but I find that a lot of believers haven't even read what God has said in his word about heaven and actually it says quite a bit in fact right here in the book of Revelation we learned a few important things about heaven we learned that will serve God while there revelation 22 3 we discovered that in heaven much of the surprise of some there is an awareness of what is going on on planet earth Revelation chapter 6 we discover that no prayer is ever wasted but it's heard by God many prayers are placed in bowls stored to be answered at a future date and we discover in heaven there's a lot of worshipping we have the elders and the angels and us singing holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty so revelation 4 and 5 deal with some of the glories of heaven but revelation 6 gives us a view of what's happening on earth and it ain't pretty because now the Tribulation Period has begun with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and by the way you could say revelation 6 is the heart of the book these verses contain 21 judgments that will be unleashed on the world during the seven-year period of the Great Tribulation Period in this scenario that we read about in Revelation 6 could start at any time it hasn't started yet and I Christ has not been revealed yet but when he is the other events will happen one after the other just like dominoes now I've never played dominoes I've just not come over I don't even know how to play dominoes but I've stacked them up closely together and you tap the first one and then goes the next one then goes the next one the same could be said of the events that we read about here I mean think about how the world has changed in just the last three decades alone the computer age is done with global access allowing people to get information under men from anywhere in the world militant Islam has emerged the world's most dangerous threat to golfers have been thought as well as the protracted conflict in Afghanistan governments have been violently overthrown in Libya Egypt and Tunisia having just returned from Israel it is clear that she is more isolated and hated than she has ever been and Russia has come with great force of light some thought that was all over with with the dissolution of the Soviet Union but now under the leadership of Vladimir Putin we have a new Russia that's very aggressive speaking of horsemen who can forget the video of Vladimir Putin riding bareback in his horse not wearing a shirt have you seen that I get the memo Vlad you're just a macho dude aren't you well in the same week we have the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse emerging on the scene lets it get worse number one revelation 6 I saw the lamb opening one of the seals heard one of the four living creatures saying with her voice like thunder come and see and behold a white horse he that sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer some of us secondly thought this is a reference to Jesus Christ that's because in Revelation 19 we read of him returning on a white horse but this is not Jesus Christ this is Antichrist he's a bit Greg why is he riding a white boards because that's exactly what Antichrist is he's a pretender he's an imitated the prefix anti not only means against it also means instead of so Antichrist emerges on the scene he's not going to be dressed head-to-toe and black think the Devil Wears Prada he's not going to have steam rising off of him with his own Darth Vader theme song playing behind him wherever he goes now he's gonna come off like a man of peace he's instead of Christ in fact you might be surprised to know that initially he emerges on the scene with a pea it's treating our Toland Daniel 8:25 through piece he will deceive many Antichrist will do what no one has ever been able to do he'll rid he'll solve the Middle East peace puzzle and rid the world of terrorism no one has pulled that off no one has even come close Antichrist will pull it off for three and a half years and listen to this he'll win the hearts of many of the Jewish people by rebuilding their long-awaited temple but it's all part of a plan a wicked plan and then we have force number two who could be described as the warhorse revelation 6-3 he opened the second seal I saw another creature saying come and see and this horse fiery red went out and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth and that people should kill one another and it was giving him a great sword listen Satan is into mass destruction he's behind the wars and struggles in this planet in revelation 12:3 he's described as a great fiery red dragon so here we see the Antichrist starting out with gestures of peace followed immediately by the outbreak of war historically we know that the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 200,000 people but listen 67 years later one nuclear submarine carries enough explosive firepower in its warhead equal to 40 times every bomb that was used in World War two that's just one nuclear sub and think of all this weaponry spread around the world we have the capacity to blow ourselves up many times over some have estimated that there are 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world today the sequence of events starting with war followed by famine and pestilence follow the pattern of what would happen if there were a nuclear exchange that's interesting in light of what revelation says about the pale horse and verse 6 of chapter 6 the name of Kim that sent on it was death and Hades followed with them and power was given to them over fourth of the earth to kill with hunger and with sword and by the beasts of the earth by the way the word used here for painless chloros it's a yellowish green color we get our English word chlorine from it it's a color of illness and death according to this passage one-quarter of the world's population will be lost in this rampage it's going to be horrible now we shift over to Revelation chapter 11 the Tribulation Period is in full swing Antichrist has rebuild the temple for the Jewish people and once again we'll rewind were reminded that Jerusalem is indeed the epicenter of endtime events Jerusalem a tiny little city every time I visit it I'm just amazed to think that this is where world history as we know it is going to culminate ironically the name Jerusalem means city of peace you had more wars have been fought at its gates in any other city on the face of the earth and yet the Bible says this is going to be the stone of stumbling in the end time second ray at 12:3 says in that day when all the nations of the earth had gathered together against her I'll make Jerusalem an immovable rock a stone of stumbling for all of the nations and all who try to move it will injure themselves but this would not even have been possible until some recent events I mean why Jerusalem it wasn't in Jewish hands there was not a hostility against Jerusalem a hundred years ago or seventy years ago but today there is why because it is the capital of Israel no that's how the Jew see it no other nation sees it but they see Jerusalem as their capital and Israel became a nation in May 14th 1948 but they did not have control of Jerusalem until the seven day war excuse me the Six Day War in 1967 when they were attacked and they caught Jerusalem again so that part is full Phil but then we know the temple must be rebuilt that does not happen yet but it's getting closer and that's going to be a gesture of goodwill from Antichrist who will rebuild the temple for the Jewish people but after he's done that Hilary can image of himself and command people to worship it that is what Jesus described in Matthew 24 as the abomination of desolation 2nd Thessalonians 2:4 says of Antichrist he will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or is worship he will be as God sitting in the temple whose coming is after the working of Satan with all pretended miracles and all of them lying wonders now I know these things I've said to you some very bleak and depressing here's the good news if you're a Christian you will not be around for the Tribulation Period you'll be safely in heaven why because scripture says God has not appointed us to wrath but rather to obtain mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ but know this if revelation says nothing else it says this we win in the end we win in the end in many ways we win before the end despite the devil's best efforts God is still at work did you know that the greatest revival in human history is going to happen in the Tribulation Period millions will believe now sometimes people think the Holy Spirit is going to be taken from the earth and this is a mistake of a scripture does not teach that it does teach and Thessalonians he was now restraining will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way then that wicked one whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming will appear that's speaking of the work of the Spirit in the church the church is the restraining force in the world today folks if we were not here speaking up for what is true speaking out against what is wrong we would be going downhill so fast it would blow your mind I mean you think things are bad now try removing the church and that's exactly what's gonna happen then Antichrist is revealed but that doesn't mean the Holy Spirit leaves the world because a person cannot be converted without the work of the Holy Spirit so millions are gonna believe God's gonna raise up a hundred and forty-four thousand Marty gets us now if you don't know who marty is he's a Messianic Jew they're not all gonna have their little piano singing songs but there's gonna be 144,000 Messianic Jewish evangelists think of kosher Billy Graham's blanketing the planet they're gonna reach many and if they miss someone the Bible says there'll be an angel flying through the heavens preaching the ever lasting gospel think of that as an angelic mop-up operation so this will deal once and for all with that often ask question what about the person in the middle of the jungle who's never heard the gospel I don't know where they're always in the middle of a jungle well they're going to be reached by either the hundred and forty four thousand Jewish evangelists or the angel flying to the heavens and finally God is going to raise up two witnesses right there in Jerusalem that will speak up the Lord revelation 11:6 the a power to shut heaven so no rain falls in the day of their prophecy they have power over waters to turn them to blood and strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire I can only think of two people that would meet this criteria and that would be Moses and Elijah interestingly the two that appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration so they will have a role in the end times Antichrist will kill them God will resurrect them while all the world watches the scripture says revelation 11 9 and the lucinda heaven it's interesting all the world watches when would that have been possible until now now the shift gears to Revelation chapter 12 we have the original Star Wars why do I say that because the angels are described as stars early in this book and here we have an angelic battle revelation 12:7 war broke out in heaven and Michael and his angels fought with the Dragon and the dragon has angels fought and they did not prevail no it was a place come for them in heaven any longer so the Great Dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world he was cast to the earth and his angels cast out with him and I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of the Brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down I want you to underline verse 11 we just sang about it and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb by the word of their testimony it did then and they did not love their lives to the death see right now Satan effectively has an all-access pass to heaven he says it took him with the band let me in right now you know in the book of Job how the angels appear before the Lord and Satan is among them why his role is the accuser of the brothers he accuses us before God day and night but here in Revelation 12 he's removed God tells Michael to take out the trash Satan is ejected because he's a loser and if you follow him you're a loser and you'll end up where he ends up in hell so Satan is dumped but you see until this day Satan wants to wreak as much havoc as possible look at revelation 12:12 the devil has come down to you and great anger and he knows he has a little time his phrase great anger can be translated a violent outburst of rage why is the devil behaving as a cornered animal ready to strike why is he so filled with wrath because even as some liberal theologians don't believe it the devil believes Jesus Christ is coming back now when we hear that we want to go ahead and do as much good as possible until the Lord returns the devil hears that and he wants to go ahead and do as much bad as possible until that day now having talked about all these heavenly things here are three practical principles for overcoming Satan how do these believers overcome the devil number one the overcame the devil by the blood of the Lamb verse 11 what does that mean well here's how the devil works I told you he's the accuser of the brothers right and sisters you don't get off here's how it goes he'll come to you and say hey Christian yeah you were the stupid smile on your face you know what it'd be a lot of fun if you went out and committed this sin and he puts it out in front of you and he says you know what you'll get away with it no one will ever know I won't tell if you won't so we take the bait and the moment we sin he comes back and he says you pathetic hypocrite how dare you do that as a Christian how can you call yourself a Christian you don't believe in God you don't love God don't even think about showing your ugly face in church again don't you dare read the how hypocritical that would be so how do I overcome here's what I do well first of all I agree yeah I'm not worthy I never was worthy and I never will be worthy the reason I can approach God right now is to the blood of the Lamb you see that's what these believers need that's what you need to know Hebrews 10:19 says dear friends we can interpolate in the heavens most holy flame place because of the blood of Jesus this is the new life-giving way Christ is open up for us over in Ephesians 2:13 we read you who are sometimes far up have been made near by the blood of Jesus first son tells us if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us are all sin so listen I'm telling you when you sin you beat a quick path to the cross and you say lord thank you for dying for me thank you because of your shed blood I can go to the Father and say father I've sinned and I'm sorry the devil says you're not worthy and you could say go to hell I wasn't cussing I mean it literally that's where he's going they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and also by the word of their testimony what does that mean it means every believer has a testimony I didn't say they all have a good one we all have one you know if you lose your testimony you lose everything that is why Satan will hit you so hard in this area even if what you have proclaimed for 30 years as a follower of Jesus is true when you contradicted by falling into some blatant sin the devil's got you in a way ah you see you blew it and then when you talk to others well gee oh don't even start with Jesus with me I know what you just did why would I listen to you see that's why a testimony is important the devil knows the power of a good name of a good reputation they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and that only that not only speaks of living a godly life but that speaks of verbalizing your faith see the best defense is a good offense when you come out front and your workplace and your neighborhood and your family and say I am a Christian in a way it holds you accountable sometimes non-believers do a really good job of holding our feet to the fire that's Christians because we'll do something that's a little squirrely and they'll see things like aren't you a Christian yes then why are you doing that good question especially when they're right they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and third and lastly they did not love their life until the death what does that mean that means these believers means that their lives belong to God they knew God was in control he knew that every breath they drew was a gift from God and their reasoning was hey if you kill us we go to heaven if we live we serve the Lord so if you live you serve God if you die you see the horde you can't stop people like that revelation culminates in chapter 19 with the second coming of Jesus Christ you don't need to turn there revelation 20 we have the great white throne judgment chapters 21 to 22 we see the New Jerusalem coming down to earth heaven and earth have become one and as the fairy tales saying and it's true we live happily ever after and we can all sing I did it I did it like Dora I'm kidding God did it revelation closes that these words revelation 12 22 6 then he said to me these words are faithful and true and the Lord God of the Holy Prophets sent his angel to show his servants that things which must shortly take place behold I am coming quickly blessed is he that keeps the words of the prophecy of this book I love that sentence these words are faithful and true after giving the elderly apostle a view of the new heaven and the new earth he wraps up the tour with these six words these words are faithful and true there's not many people we can say that up wouldn't be wondered of wonderful to know that when you're president or your senator or your Congressman or a governor or your mayor or your used car dealer when he spoke those are trustworthy words hey if he says it it's true well we can know this of God for sure and you can know that the scripture speaks the truth and you know that God will keep us promises and you can depend on Jesus you can rely on these words and you can entrust your eternity in to his keeping now revelation closes with an invitation to believe revelation 22:17 and the spirit and the bride say come let him who hears say come let human thirsts come whoever desires let him take the water of life freely I love that it's closes with an invitation it's not a summons it isn't a decree it's not even in our order it's an invitation hey whoever desires that says let them take the water of life freely Jesus is saying if you want to drink of the water of life the living water that will save you from hell and a waste of life on earth come and take it but if you don't want to you don't have to it's an offer I extend to all humanity there it is revelation 40 five minutes boo let me extend that same invitation to you now maybe you've come here with a spiritual thirst you've tried to satisfy with all the things this world offers material things experiences maybe it's drugs maybe it's alcohol sex none of it works you're still thirsting you're still hungry that's because you were designed to know God and there's nothing this world offers that will fill a hole in your life that only God can fill but here's the good news friend Jesus Christ died on that cross he rose again from the dead and now he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and says if he'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in and he'll satisfy that spiritual thirst so well I don't believe you Gregg really well I have some witnesses how many of you in this room before you were a Christian had a deep spiritual thirst raise your hand if you had a deep spiritual thirst how many of you have had that deep spiritual thirst satisfied by Jesus Christ raise up your hand see there's your evidence those are witnesses it's kind of weird more people said they had that they're satisfied then they had it I don't are we confused okay but here's the deal he will satisfy your spiritual thirst but you need to come it's an invitation and we're gonna close them prayer right now with an opportunity for you to believe in Jesus and be ready for his return listen here's what he says he's coming quickly he could come at any time are you ready if Jesus were to come back today would you be ready to meet him or would you be one of the ones who would be left yes to go into the Great Tribulation Period or would you be one of the ones caught up to meet the Lord in the air in heaven you decide that by what you do with Jesus right now let's pray father we've heard your word and I pray for any hearing this watching this who do not yet know you lord help them to come to you right now how them to believe in you right now help them to find the answer to their spiritual thirst right now now all our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying how many of you would say today Gregg pray for me I want my spiritual thirst satisfying I want my sins forgiven I want to know Jesus in a personal way I want to know that when Jesus comes back I'll be ready to meet him pray for me if that's your desire if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and he wanted him to forgive you of your sin if you want your guilt taken away and your spiritual thirst satisfied I want you to raise your hand up wherever you are I'm gonna pray for you raise your hand up I can see it please god bless you god bless you raise it up right can see it now for you that are watching a screen that doesn't matter because God sees you take those little step of faith wherever you're watching this and say yes I want this I want Jesus for those of you that you can see god bless each one of you you want Christ to come into your life raise your hand up let me pray for you god bless all of you now what our heads are still bowed maybe some of you would say you know what I've been living a compromised life I know what's right as a Christian and I haven't been doing it and frankly I'm not even sure if I'd be ready for Christ's return but I want to change that I want to turn from that sin and I want to recommit my life to Jesus right now if that's your desire I want you to raise your hand up and I'm gonna pray for you god bless you all right now listen every one of you that have reach again I want you to stand to your feet and I'm gonna lead you on a prayer stand to your feet right now wherever you are even if you did not raise your hand stand up if you want to make this commitment or recommitment to Jesus that's right stand up by the way others are standing you watching the screen in a satellite site outside wherever you are you stand to your feet to stand to your feet wherever you are and we're gonna pray a prayer of commitment and re commitment to Jesus anybody else stand now I'll wait one more moment anybody else you want to make this commitment to Christ stand to your feet god bless you anybody else god bless you the understanding all right youth understanding pray this prayer out loud after me again as I pray you pray this prayer out loud after me pray with me now Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner but I know that you're a savior who died on the cross for my sin who rose again from the dead now Jesus I choose to follow you from this moment forward be my Savior and Lord be my god of my friend thank you for loving me and calling me and forgiving me in Jesus name I pray amen god bless all of you get free [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 329,518

Rating: 4.7199211 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, harvest christian fellowship, greg laurie sermons, greg laurie sermons 2019, end times signs latest events 2019, who is the anti messiah, who is the beast of revelation 13, how to be saved, when is jesus coming back date, revelation bible study part- 1, revelation bible study greg laurie, the book of revelation explained verse by verse, the book of revelation explained verse by verse youtube

Id: reuLE8oTUOk

Length: 52min 31sec (3151 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 22 2019