Joel Richardson | Islam and a Christ-Centered Response

[Music] yes before we have any other moments I just want to say thank you veterans thank you for all it is that you've done all that you continue to do you guys are awesome we're going to continue this service if you can join it [Music] but you have made who comes I won't come roba [Music] now your jaw my friend [Music] [Music] [Music] and [Music] [Music] [Music] and really [Music] [Music] so gonna give him thanks and praise and all that good stuff you guys can be seated though we've got your up and up for you so check it out hey I'm BJ and I've got this week's up and up for you [Music] if you're new to GCC we want to welcome you as our guest we have something special just for you we call it generations and five generations and I will share with you who we are what we believed and why we do what we do this only last five minutes and we have a special gift for you just to say thanks for spending part of your weekend here with us shop for the service stop by the front of the stage and we look forward to meeting you last weekend we kicked off our 2018 go adventure trips from Africa to Asia to Central America to cities around the u.s. God is working in incredible ways check out these clips from last year [Music] through the end of the year if you register for a trip you can receive 10% off the total amount you can find some great treasures from many of last year's trips and information at the marketplace set up in The Gathering next weekend we host our connected GCC class at each campus if you're new to generations or have never attended the connected GCC class this is your next step to learn more lunch and child care is provided stop by the next steps or register on our app or the web site that's it for me let's get back to the service god we just lift up this next song recognizing your way in recognizing the things that you have conquered now the darkness it's a new beginning whoopee of creation [Music] to declare now the silence breaks name of Jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh God see this truth Club so we will not be mouth when the ears kids with pull the risen Lord is overcome every fear Tigre [Music] job [Music] [Music] my heart breathing out to her the fountain I drink from whoa he is my son [Music] be the shine for months you are [Music] cuz you are [Music] so uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] inside my the a [Music] baby my mother [Music] [Music] or never gonna you never gonna be you're never come [Music] you're never you'll never call [Music] [Music] new job [Music] [Applause] [Music] render earth's weights before move by seas that are shaken [Music] can be calms and bro [Music] do it all my eyes are [Music] through it all [Music] as well [Music] through it by eyes on with me [Music] for beer for me not [Music] in this mountain maths in front of me we'll be thrown in soon [Music] I ooh well [Music] my [Music] - leg my soul the waves and winds his name so that my soul try [Music] truck still no the waves and winds [Music] [Music] when [Music] with [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] through it all through it all my eyes are you do it all through amen through it all through eyes are you and it is with me [Music] so good to find that peace in our Lord no well we have a really cool situation here and the fact that we have more people that are going to be proclaiming their peace in our Lord Savior we're gonna have a baptism right now and we're so celebrating in fact that these people are handing their lives over to Jesus yes [Music] [Music] I met Cheryl in garnett in 2001 while vacationing in Mexico it was always a blessing to watch Cheryl reading her Bible each morning as well as her occasional bursting out in song in love of Jesus and that happened on many occasions Cheryl has shared the story of how she grew up in church there was no reason to use a sheen or a singer in the church yet she seemed to struggle with salvation and really grasping the knowledge that Jesus was pursuing her God spoke to her through worship and music and she could see her heavenly father was always there she now gives me full control to guide her through life although she cannot sing or play like she used to she wants to be obedient to all things Christ calls her too and that includes baptism in his name do you believe Jesus Christ died for your sins yes thank you you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior yes thank you because of your faith in Christ i baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit [Music] [Music] [Applause] well was up generation wasn't that cool being baptized by her husband that's really me and such a good husband he was he didn't hold her down to she bubble I mean I was like who a cool right hey we are so excited to have this hour and worship with you we got some really special stuff coming we want to take a moment though and commune with the God of heaven and earth and so I'm gonna ask our servers to come and they're gonna be handing out a little cup of juice and a piece of bread and if you're comfortable please feel free to take that if not go ahead and pass it by nobody's gonna think anything about you or judge you if you don't but this is an important moment in our service because we worship the God of heaven earth that is driven by love and extends his amazing grace to us and this is what makes Christianity unique from all other world religions all other world religions you're trying to appease a higher power or God or gods it doesn't matter whether it's Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism whatever it is and you hope that perhaps maybe you're gonna be accepted but you never know where you stand but the difference is with Christianity is jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the father and we get the exact words where he left the glory of heaven and came to earth to be fully human as well as God and then that amazing sacrificial death I want to read a couple verses out of Hebrews chapter 2 he says because God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood the son also became flesh and blood for only as a human being could he die and only by dying could he break the power of the devil who had the power of death only in this way could he set free all those who have lived their lives as slave to fear of dying and slaves to sin yeah here's the human dilemma is this huge separation between us and a holy God and that separation is sin began with the first family and it's plagued the human family every since then and here's the thing other religions are trying to appease and work their way and perhaps be accepted all we have to do is receive what God has done for us he left the glory of heaven came to earth died on a cross that bloodshed was the payment for human sin so that in Christ we are free and redeemed and he broke the power of death when he rose on the third day think about that for a moment and praise the God of heaven and earth commune with him and in a moment I'll come back and close us in a prayer [Music] father we bow in your presence and we praise you and thank you for the hope that we share in Jesus Christ and in these few moments we get to commune with you one-on-one ask for your forgiveness celebrate that amazing grace that comes through Jesus Christ I thank you Lord for everyone you've brought here today and that's in the room and I pray you help each one of us and the next step of our spiritual journey father we want to give you all the glory that is rightfully yours and worship you so please fall afresh on us as we move on into this service and I pray this in Jesus name Amen I don't think the average person that is here even on a regular basis realizes the reach that you have through your giving and I'm gonna ask our servers to to come and while while they do I want to share something with you our speaker today introduced us to a mission called Global catalytic ministries and there's a young man whose Iranian that went back to Iran took on Iranian citizenship and are giving supports men like this his name is Monsour and he can't not stand on a stage or even be known because every single day of his life he among until thousands of others are at great risk for their very lives because they love Jesus Christ and they're spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and Christianity is going faster and Iran and other Islamic Republic's than any other place in the world right now it's just phenomenal and it's your reach through giving that allows us not just to keep the lights on a pace staff but to reach you into our community and around the world and I want to thank you for it because God is doing amazing things through months or in the house church movement that's going on there with that as they finish up the offering it's a great privilege that I have to introduce our speaker today's New York Times bestseller and his name's Joel Richardson this phenomenal way this came about was really kind of weird if you want to know the truth a year ago past July so almost 18 months ago I was studying and planning out the sermon series for all of 2017 the entire year and I was reading his book the Islamic Antichrist and kind of in-between as I was taking breaks and I was just so like wow Harry's laying out Biblical prophecy next to Islamic prophecy and I heard cousin living overseas and all I knew a lot about biblical and I'd heard snippets of this but I never seen it laid out before it has a direction Islam is moving a direction it's not just religion it's politics event it's going a direction and it's contrary to Biblical prophecy and I'd never seen it laid out side by side so I thought what the heck went online found him online found a contact and it was amazing I called him within 15 20 minutes he called back we had over an hour's conversation here's the guy this deeply loves God loves his family loves Muslims loves what God's church in in his people in Israel and around the world and has so much to share and there's so much available in the way of information if in his books in the back table you can can buy after the service but would you join me it's just a humble gracious guy he's just awesome would you welcome Joel to our state Thank You bud thank you thank you good morning yes I'm the guy who writes books with titles like Islamic Antichrist which means that people always tell me whenever they go I'm reading your book but when I went through the airport I had to put a different cover on it this this one gal actually told me so I don't remember the name of the book but there's there's a book called on something and the subtitle is like what to do when you feel unloved lonely and something rather does anyone know what I'm talking about it's a real popular book right now on something or other and what is that faithful crazy love now it's anyway it's I hate to say it's I would say it's probably anyone could read it but it's written by a female author it kind of just seems like something I would never read but not that I don't struggle with those things but you know what I mean it's like a real relational relational thing but anyway she took that cover and put it on my book I was like wait a minute it's more embarrassing it's less embarrassing to rereading the book this is what to do and you feel unloved lonely and like ugly or something I was like so anyway yes I'm worse than that but let everybody join me in saying hi to the Spring Hill campus it's good to be with you guys [Applause] technology can be a blessing if we use it rightly and so it's good to be with you all and to be joined by the by the grace of God and the power of technology I don't even know what kind of technology it is probably not even cables anymore I don't know what does it so it's fantastic to be here I've begun each time I'm originally from Massachusetts and I know Florida is just a giant we reunion ground for people from the Northeast so how many former Massachusetts as a few and I never if you got okay from Massachusetts where are you from and I go the place that no one ever brags that they're from but as a place called Brockton Massachusetts so it's kind of like it's not just like the armpit of the country it's like the pimple in the armpit kind of thing but you know can any good thing come from Brockton no but the Lord can redeem something from Brockton no I'm just kidding it's a actually there's some beautiful churches there so the reason I tell you that is it's good to be here on the Gulf Coast but I grew up the son of a fisherman and so my dad was a commercial rod and real fisherman and so from the time that I was little I was going out with him and there was a proverb that I knew from as far back as I can remember which is red sky at night you all know it red sky at night sailor's delight red sky at morning sailor's warning and so then when I got saved at 19 I had a real radical conversion I was so excited to see that that proverb was in the Bible because I just figured it you know would have something cuz it works no matter where you are strangely if you're on the East Coast the West Coast I was on the East Coast well of course Israel has a West Coast and you're here on a West Coast and the proverb still works but in Matthew 16 Jesus does this you know portion of the gospel where Jesus rebukes the scribes and the Pharisees of his day and he says listen you guys you know how to interpret the signs in the weather and then he quotes that proverb because for you say and when it's evening the sky is red it's gonna be fair weather tomorrow etc etc and then he says but you don't know how to interpret the signs of the times now what I've always said is that if Jesus rebuked the scribes and the Pharisees of his day some of which you know you could technically say we're not believers in that they did not embrace him as Messiah when he came I mean they had a you know a religion but they weren't necessarily believers in Messiah if he rebuked them that how much more we who are his followers how much more should we be able to rightly interpret the signs of the times now what does that mean what that means is we should be able to look to the words of the biblical prophets and relate those out to events that are unfolding in the world now that doesn't mean necessarily that we can relate it to every event that unfolds the Bible is not some weird manual that you go oh 9/11 oh this is you know let's find this and you know this kind of thing but what it means is that the biblical prophets they had a focus they had an emphasis they had a focal point and that primary focus is Jesus it's his first coming and his second coming this is the main emphasis that all of the prophets and the entire testimony of the Bible itself is focused on and so if you're alive during that period when Jesus came the first time or if we are those who are alive in the days that are just prior to the return of Jesus which I do believe we are rapidly approaching that time then we should be those who should be able to understand the words of the biblical prophets and relate to them to some of the events that are unfolding in the earth and I think it's a critical that the body of Christ is able to responsibly carefully understand the words of the prophets and relate to them to events to understand the times now the problem is Biblical prophecy is often very controversial it can be complicated and sometimes a people that are into it can be kind of weird and unbalanced and we don't want to be like that you know I would say we don't want to be that one guy that always comes to homegroup and he just won't stop talking about the mark of the beast you know like I don't want to be that guy and so we tend to what happens is we often avoid the subject of Biblical prophecy we're like you know I love Jesus I love worship I love Bible study end times end of the world kind of like that's just and then we kind of shelve it but whenever we shelve something we relegate it and we allow it to become the territory of the fringe and the weird in the foot folks that aren't always necessarily good balance Bible teachers and this is with any doctrine with any biblical doctrine when we give it up the cults always seem to lay hold of it and the weirdos and this sort of thing and you know admittedly Biblical prophecy can be weird I was doing a job some years ago for this gal and I guess I had a business for years as I was doing all this and told her you know I've written some books and she says oh what do you write about said the end times just oh I love that stuff I love science fiction I love the end times I was going this is not fiction it's not science face it's not weird stuff this is reality in the earth sometimes we look at it as you know of course some of the passages are beasts with seven heads and ten horns and all this can't wait you know and we get but the thing that is is then there's always an angel that comes and explained this these things they're speaking through sometimes admittedly strange symbols but they're talking about very real earthly realities and we need to be responsible students of the scriptures that are able to carefully responsibly soberly understand events that are unfolding in the earth so I want to jump back and touch on some of the main reasons why it's essential to understand and have a good grasp on Biblical prophecy now in the 60s and 70s in the United States there was something called the Jesus Movement the Jesus Movement was the most significant revival in American history like over the past hundred years before the Azusa Street kind of thing which led to you know big Pentecostal revival and then go back to that like you know the Great Awakening and so forth the Jesus Movement is responsible how many people here came into the faith during the Jesus Movement I'm amazed at how down here in Florida there's so few because you know and I actually think this is my suspicion down here in Florida everybody is from the Northeast which means they're all former Catholics and then they somehow came to faith along the way but if as soon as you go out to like California like over a quarter to third of the room raises their hands but the Jesus Movement was again started in California it swept across the United States there were I mean tens of thousands of people that came in put maybe even hundreds of thousands and actually tons of Jews came in to faith and Maasai during that time amazing how the Messianic movement was birthed out of that even Bob Dylan had a real powerful conversion during that period he seems to have unfortunately kind of wandered from that but I mean the Lord was moving now one of the primary drivers of this revival because listen how many of you want to see revival in the United States right we want to see people coming into the kingdom we love it when people get to know Jesus because we're in love with Jesus and we love to share Jesus we want everyone else to know we're going to be at the feast and we want everyone else to be the feast it's real simple right it's we we are just a bunch of beggars that are trying to tell the other beggars where there is a huge where there is steak and cake and you name it you know we want to share that we want people to be part of the joy that we have but one of the primary drivers of this revival the Jesus Movement was the fact that people were paying attention to in studying Biblical prophecy why were they studying Biblical prophecy well one of the reasons was because they were reading a book called the late great planet Earth by Hal Lindsey how many people read that book during that period okay so more hands go up at least for that and basically what Hal as an author was doing was he was he was saying look Israel as the people they just were reestablished as a nation after a couple thousand years this is like never happened in human history and it just so happens that the prophets that this book actually told us that exact thing was gonna happen in the last days and so here's this against all odds' event that takes place and people were opening up the pages and they're going Wow thousands of years ago these Hebrew prophets said this would take place and then they'd go we'll wait a minute if this is true then the author of this book must be telling the truth and then all this other stuff about needing to repent and you know all who call upon the Lord name of the Lord will be saved that stuff the gospel must be true and people so it was because of Biblical prophecy and it being fulfilled in the earth that people actually it was an on-ramp into coming into faith now when you look at the method of the Apostles when you go to the book of Acts you look at the New Testament what was the primary tools that they were using to lead people to faith it was one silver and gold have I none but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus stand up and walk so was that kind of stuff I don't know how many people have that gift probably not the whole room but what we do have at our disposal is the other thing that the Apostles used is they would expound upon the words of the prophets they go this Jesus that you crucified this is the one that was spoken up by the prophets and they explained to these again these Old Testament literate Jews of the time they go this is the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy I'm convinced that the most biblical tool that we have at our disposal to lead people to faith in God but ultimately through this book the reliability of this book is the fulfillment if indeed we're in the last days the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy we need to be able to rightly understand the signs of the times I call it apocalyptic evangelism or prophetical evangelism now in order to do that we have to be careful sober responsible we don't just go this is that some people in the endtime movement do that every time that you know here comes Irma oh it's biblical prophecy well Irma kind of slowed down oh maybe it wasn't prophecy you know II mean kind of thing we need to be careful of being the boy that cried wolf now although the Lord did use how Lindsey and all of that kind of stuff everybody was studying the end times during that that Jesus Movement Arbutus studying it there were some significant errors that came out of that period first one which many of you will possibly remember did how many people remember this booklet 88 reasons why the rapture will be in 1988 I personally would have been very depressed if the rapture had happened one because I wouldn't have gotten raptured - it would have completely ruined my junior year of high school and although I would not have been raptured I would anyway some bad drug jokes I could make there but needless to say the rapture did not happen in 1988 now how also who you know was selling millions of books he wrote a book called 1980s countdown to Armageddon he didn't actually say the rapture was gonna happen he just strongly inferred it and my thing that I always say is look jesus said don't set dates no one knows the day of the our date inferring that's don't do that either you know you don't stand before the Lord goal I never set dates I never actually said it's gonna be the rapture I only strongly led everyone to believe that it would be you can't you know we can't set dates we can't date infer now what happened is people were let down by this and that was one of the big reasons everyone just said end-times been there done that they put it on the shelf the other big issue that was came out of that period is everyone had come to believe this was very popular that the Antichrist his empire and his religion we're going to come out of Europe as part of a revived Roman Empire how many people have heard this taught read books about this right this is if you've read any endtime books you've had some this is pretty much what has been taught now there are reasons for this I won't get through the whole history of it the early church of course they lived under the shadow and the persecution of the pagan Roman Empire and then during the Reformation as the Catholics and Protestants were feuding we kind of did what we always tend to do is we we don't like some political or theological or you know boogey man of the day and we go near the Antichrist right and then he goes no you are the great of Babylon no you are you know and we kind of do sectarian finger-pointing and everyone was sort of saying no the Pope is the Antichrist the Vatican and all this sort of thing and so this sort of I'll call this newspaper exegesis this is where we take our worldview and then we import it into the pages of Scripture and we just assume that when the Prophet is talking about this and the other thing they're talking about us that's what the early believers did that's what the Reformers did their primary Antichrist of the day their primary enemy the boogeyman of the day was first pagan Rome later Vatican Rome and they imported that into the page as a biblical prophecy the problem is one that fails to take into context the actual Bible itself the actual context of this book and to the overwhelming clear repeated literal straightforward testimony of the biblical prophets over and over again points to a different part of the world so just to understand what I'm saying here is a map of the of the vehicle world and I know that we're Americans which means half the people have no idea what they're looking at seriously when we were in a rat when we were in war in Iraq 80 percent of the country had no idea where Iraq was that's like what even adults like I understand middle school or whatnot so Africa the Arabian Peninsula Turkey Iran Kazakhstan how many people here know where Kyrgyzstan is known just kidding there's not a quiz Europe Spain Portugal what don't touch okay so this the Star of David I put that on Israel when I say the context of this book what do I mean where do all the stories happen when you're reading the Bible they happen in Israel the Bible is and always has been thoroughly Jerusalem and Israel and Middle Eastern centric it's not primarily about the United States what the war revolves around us Joel surely God's world and his book must revolve around us too it's the first question everyone asked me whenever I do prophecy they go where's the United States and Bible prophecy when I go to Australia no one asks where is Australian Bible prophecy so this is sort of a betrayal of America you know and again we don't come right out and say we're the sin of the world but we kind of tend to lean in believing that now we need to understand when we come to this book it's all about we want to rightly interpret it and understand it context context context right and so this is the location not only where all the stories unfolded in history but it's also the primary location where all of the battles culminate in the last days why because the Scriptures teach that Jesus the Messiah Jesus the Christ is coming back and he's going to rule the earth from Jerusalem he's actually coming back because he didn't come back just to save our souls he came back to save and redeem our bodies our flesh our you know like we actually are going to get and the day of the Lord when he returns glorified immortal bodies and this whole present system is going to come to an end this corrupt broken sinful system that makes a scienter affa King abortion you know all of the things corrupt politician racism just all of the nightmare that you read when you open up your laptop in the morning the news in the old Pink Floyd song used to say every day the paperboy brings more you know I just it's like all of the depressing news here comes the little harbinger of doom on his huffy down the driveway but now we just flip open our laptop and it's like a the day is coming when all of that stuff that makes a sign grown is coming to an end and the king will be on the throne and we will see him and those that went before us in the flesh and we get to eat food do you know that after we die we get bodies back and we get to eat food the question is what happens to it after we eat it I haven't figured that one out yet now look at this the nation's in black the nation's in black these are the muslim-majority nations of the earth the ones in green are not quite as much the original map this was dark green but the point here is this is when we understand the context of the Scriptures and then we simply look at a map what is more relevant to the endtime narrative the Islamic world or Europe because if we have the the discernment of the rock we can look at this and go you know Satan is actually very well aware of the Lord's plans of redemption that he's coming back to read established the throne of his father David and that the earth will be redeemed and the deserts will rejoice in bloom and so forth and he has been Satan has actually been surrounding the throne of David for the past 1400 years and there is already an antichrist system that is extending its spidery tentacles throughout the nations and when we actually look at that religious system it just so happens that it actually happens to match the description of the biblical prophets like a hand-in-glove and we've had this very western-centric you know again from our perspective it's all about Parsons refers the Catholic Church like you know right now I go to over to Iraq regularly pastor Greg mentioned you know the ministries that I work with in Iran I go up to northern Iraq and occur to Stan and I can tell you Isis swept through in 2014 they've been beheading killing kidnapping raping Christians Protestants Catholics Orthodox cops anyone who has the name of Jesus and they've been being beheaded and killed and yet we still have this segment within the church that goes yeah but it's the Catholics that are the real problem I go what do you have any idea what's going on in the earth there is more persecution of Christians in the earth last year that at any time in human history and the top 30 40 nations that are the worst persecuting nations you know where they are the muslim-majority nations the only only exception is North Korea so we begin with this but now more specifically what are the prophets say when we look at the words of the prophets where do they point to with regard to this coming system of the Antichrist this coming coalition of Nations this coming revived Empire because how had it right there's a coming revived Empire but where is it every time the biblical prophets mentioned names people's regions tribes they are always every single solitary last time throughout the Bible North African Middle Eastern nations it's pointing to the Islamic world it's pointing to the context of the Bible so let's look at an example Joel 3 hasten and come and again this is from a Jerusalem centric perspective all used surrounding nations what does that mean it means the neighbors it means the nations that surround Israel it's talking about the nations that will come against Jerusalem come against the valley of Jehoshaphat which runs right between the Mount of Olives and the old city and there the Lord says I will judge the surrounding nations Zechariah he says the same thing behold I'm gonna make Jerusalem a cup of staggering the context of this is the last days right before the return of Jesus it will be a cup of staggering to the neighbors the surrounding nations Ezekiel 30 of Airi similar passage we could we could look at dozens of passages like this thus saith the Lord God whale alas for the day what day the day of the Lord the return of G that time is coming for the day is near the day of the Lord is near it's gonna be a cloud of a day of clouds a time of doom for the Gentiles a sword will come upon Italy it's not what it says anguish shall be in Luxembourg Belgium will be slain no it doesn't say any of that it says cush cush is just south of Egypt that's modern-day Sudan it says cush put that's North Africa would that's Lydia which is modern-day Turkey and all of Arabia Libya all the people and then it says these nations are in league they're in league they're unified they've formed a a revived Empire if you will and they're coming against Jerusalem and the Lord says when Jesus comes back he's going to judge them am I saying that Europe won't be involved no of course not that's not the point what I'm saying is this as students of the Scriptures we need to emphasize that which the Scriptures emphasize it's very simple where the Bible is silent we need to be awfully careful over and over again it's this part of the world that this prophets are pointing to again that's the part of the world that Ezekiel 30s pointing to now look at this one the famous prophecy about the Bethlehem born Messiah Micah 5 you Bethlehem Ephrathah even though you're too small to be among the tribes of Judah out of you is coming one for me who's gonna be a ruler over Israel a king of Israel it's it's prophesying the coming king of Israel and we know that's Jesus what does it say that Jesus will do he will stand and Shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord his God and majesty of the name of the Lord is God he will deliver us who's us that's Israel he will deliver us from the Assyrian when the Assyrian invades our land and marches into our borders did you know that in the Gospels there's no episode where Jesus delivers Israel from somebody called the Assyrian that is yet to still take place now this is referring to the Syrian and it says that he's from the land of Assyria so this is the Antichrist and virtually any commentary you read will affirm that it calls the Antichrist the Assyrian from the land of Assyria now if we're students of the scriptures if we actually take the Bible at face value for what it says is it more reasonable to conclude that the Antichrist will come from this part of the world again here's Israel which surrounds Israel or is it more reasonable to conclude that the Antichrist will be Nicolae Carpathia from Romania as the over 20 million copies there ended up being over 50 million copies and left behind state and I'm not picking on I talked to Tim LaHaye a super-sweet guy but he believed that the Romanians were the bloodline descendants of the Romans and he had this Roman thing and so that's how he got this Roman Antichrist or is it more reasonable to conclude that one of these guys is the Antichrist do one of them look like the Assyrian to you I know you talked to a million people and you go online believe me you see the comments but I'm the endtime guy I get the emails no it's just in a line with the scriptures guys I don't care what your political or theological perspectives are neither of these guys can be twisted into being the Assyrian or anybody else I just put those I look it they're both so happy how how can we calm the Antichrist revelation 12 how does it say the believers would be martyred for their faith in the last days through beheading I saw the souls of those that had been beheaded because of their testimony to Jesus do we really think do we really think that this guy any day is gonna start cutting our heads off I don't think that's gonna happen but there is a religion which actually from it's very foundation its history and in its book that actually in its Bible the Quran actually says smite the necks of the infidels it's actually part of their doctrine and the Scriptures just so happened to say that's how believers would be killed because of their testimony to Jesus in the last days now yeah we all I won't get in into that and by the way these guys were not Protestants they were Coptic Christians and when you saw the testimony when you saw them in the video that Isis made to try to scare us all one of the gentlemen was the last words on his lips before he was beheaded over and over in Arabic yaha BIA sua yaha Rabia sous praise You Lord Jesus praise you Lord Jesus and don't watch the video it'll give you a brain damage but it was one of the most moving and impactful things I've ever seen in my life it was like looking at the book of Revelation unfolding right in front of us I saw the souls of those that were beheaded now essentially what I've just laid out to you is that we need to be people of discernment we need to be people of understanding and that right in front of us if we just open our eyes if we have a little bit of discernment there is something huge unfolding in the earth right now and yet most of the church is sort of looking in the wrong direction and I'm saying we need to reorient our perspective and recognize that something is right in front of us and it meets all of the scriptural descriptions meets all of the biblical criteria and we need to acknowledge that now I understand to say that the religion of Islam the coming Islamic empire to say that it is fundamentally satanic that's incredibly politically incorrect and from a pastoral perspective if we apply that wrongly like you that can people can run with that and really go some bad on Christ like places because the last thing in the world that I ever want to do is encourage fear or hatred it's a last thing and that is the natural go to response particularly of Americans we go yeah we see the news we see the terrorism and now Joel says it's the system in the Antichrist and now I really am afraid in hateful but here's the thing the primary American response the carnal response the natural response when we are afraid when we see these things as we go we need to respond through military bomb them all or through law through government through law government military but the Lord has given us as the body of Christ very very different tools it's given us a very different message we are the people despite being weak broken normal everyday people that are ambassadors of the most freeing liberating beautiful emotionally appealing amazing mess of life that mankind has ever known and ultimately the primary tool that the Lord has given us to confront the Goliath of our day if we want to be people who understand the times yes but then know what to do our focus our response cannot be the way of the world which is hatred which is fear our response has to be let us imitate Jesus let us put the gospel first let us look past the labels and all of the things that Satan wants us to see and let us see the soul for whom God sent his son to die that he was mutilated Jesus was mutilated on the cross to die for his enemies and every single one of us in this room are formerly his enemies and there's not a single person in this room who deserves to be saved every single one of us got saved not because he looked down he didn't look down at me and go hey here's some loser drug dealer from South Boston I need this guy it didn't work that way he goes I'm gonna have mercy on this undeserving loser I'm gonna open his eyes and ultimately I'm not calling anyone in the room below to call myself a loser but he saved us all because of his mercy and the Lord wants to do the same thing with Muslims and our response to all of this we need to have discernment and understanding but our response needs to be Lord let me be like your son give me strategies whereby I can lay down my life where I can imitate you in order that we can snatch as many out of the fire as possible in order that we can make those who are formerly far off who are formerly enemies to become brothers and sisters because we want them to be at the feast with us on that day amen amen thank you very much Wow wasn't that awesome can we just praise God is so good to love him really is it really really really is and what's so important this is why I wanted to have him here so badly was he's got the right balance of understanding Biblical prophecy understanding Islam and how its lining up but loving people and that's what we have to do as a church we have to love people not judge them and extend that amazing grace that those of us that our Christians have come to know if you're one of those that are wondering okay I'm not sure how about this whole Jesus thing we got a care room across the gathering in Spring Hill it's to the right of the stage there's people there that are ready to meet you I really want to encourage you to get it if it's kind of entry-level stuff for you and this is all really new his this Islamic Antichrist is very revealing and and it will help you a lot he just published another one and the mysteries of Babylon I think it is that's one that I want to get it and read and if you're a little further along that one would help you a lot but all of his work is very readable and understandable and I know you would enjoy it thank you so much God bless you for being here [Applause] you

Channel: Generations Christian Church

Views: 7,465

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Id: egS3deR3OTY

Length: 61min 41sec (3701 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 14 2017