Revelation Now: Episode 20 "The Goal of the Godly" with Doug Batchelor

hello friends would you like to hear an amazing fact the biggest doors in the world are on merritt island florida and it's the vab that's the nassau vehicle assembly building where they roll in and roll out those giant rockets those doors are 456 feet high that means those doors are tall enough for you to roll in the empire state building and still have 150 feet left over you know the bible talks about a door that jesus has left open for us in revelation it also tells us that he stands at the door and knocks and that's a door big enough for everybody who wants to come to christ we're going to talk about it today in this presentation of revelation now [Music] good morning friends we'd like to welcome all of you to revelation now everything is about to change this is our final presentation in the series of lectures looking at the most important prophecies that you can find anywhere in the bible we'd like to welcome all of those who are joining us across the country and around the world as well as those who are meeting in church groups this morning i'd like to extend a happy sabbath to all of those who are watching today we'd like to remind you that we are translating this presentation live into spanish and if that will be a blessing or a help to you just visit the amazing facts latino facebook page as well as the youtube channel you'll be able to get the spanish translation we're also going to be uh doing sign language for the deaf and that is available at the revelation now website following the presentation this morning we're going to be taking your bible questions this will be the final time that we'll be able to take your bible questions in this program so if you have a bible related question type it there in the comment section on facebook that's the amazing facts facebook page or the doug batchelor facebook page we'll try and answer as many of those questions as possible we'd also like to just thank the many people who are involved in helping to make this program such a wonderful success we'd like to thank our media team here at amazing facts for the many hours of hard work that they have put into the program would also like to thank the translators who are translating into different languages as well as those working on the slides and the graphics and everything else that is involved in this program i'd like to thank our partners at 3bn both 3ab and english as well as 3abn latino as well as the amazing facts television channel for broadcasting this live and making it available to people literally around the world so a big thank you for all of those who have helped to make these programs a success we have a greeting that we would like to make to those who are watching in kuwait and bulgaria today we've been hearing from people around the world who have been tuning in we've been trying to mention the different countries that we've heard from so today it's kuwait and bulgaria happy sabbath to those of you are watching from there a few testimonies that have come in we have kalina from british columbia she said i've been a christian for many years and i'm very grateful for your program i had the false belief that it's okay to have an occasional alcoholic beverage however after watching your program last night the king's ambassador i have made up my mind to not drink alcohol anymore so amen for that and then we'd also like to greet uh delphini and the beaver creek uh church in dayton ohio we wanna they say thank you for these amazing programs they have been a great blessing to our church and we'd also like to greet the other churches that are meeting this sabbath morning now we want to remind you about some upcoming events that amazing facts is going to do even though this series is finishing today we're hoping that you'll still continue to study god's word and we have a few exciting events that you might want to mark down on your calendar first of all we have a special youth weekend rally that'll be taking place march the 18th through the 20th 2021 and it's entitled undaunted courage and if you'd like to learn more about that just visit af youth dot com that's the website af youth dot com we're going to be focusing on some great presentations dealing with issues relating to young people and youth we're going to invite people to come in from the area you're welcome to fly in if you'd like to spend the whole weekend with us hopefully covert will allow at that point in time but mark that down you'll hear more about it as we get closer that's march 18 through 20. and then something very special amazing facts has a program called afco afco is the amazing fact center of evangelism it's the training part of our ministry and we have a number of online classes that we provide for people but in connection with the revelation now series the afco program has decided to make one of our courses absolutely free for anyone who wants to register as part of the revelation now series the program is amazing doctrines it's a full e-course that's available online and usually there's a cost associated with that but we're going to provide that for free and all you'll have to do is visit the online course and that's afco you can go to online.afco.org you select amazing doctrines and this is what you want to remember remember the code rev lowercase now that's rev lowercase now and you'll be able to register for free for this 13-part series this program includes weekly zoom meetings and facebook live classes with various instructors pastor doug's teaching i'm teaching we have pastor carlos that's there daniel's teaching and a number of other guest teachers that are participating in this program so i hope you'll take advantage of that i think it's going to be available for about a week or so so if you want to register and take advantage of that class we want to encourage you to do so as soon as possible well of course our lesson today a very important lesson it's entitled the goal of the godly and we have a lesson that goes along with the presentation today and you can find this it's at the revelation now website and if you'd like to receive this just go to revelationnow.com download the lesson the goal of the godly and you'll be able to follow along with the presentation and then we also have a study guide entitled no turning back and this is our free offer available to anyone here in north america in a digital download format all you have to do is text the word turn to the number 40544 and you'll be able to get a digital download if you're outside of north america you can just go to the revelationnow.com website and you'll be able to download the study guide no turning back and i think you'll enjoy reading that it's got a lot of great scripture there and so i think you'll find that a blessing well at this time we'd like to invite pastor doug to come forward as we prepare for our final presentation in this revelation now series and pastor doug we've heard from people who have participated in the programs and some of the folks have missed one or two of the programs and we just want to encourage them to go to the revelation now website where we have everything archived amen folks will be able to go and pick the one you haven't seen i encourage you to watch it you'll also see decision cards on the various nights go ahead and fill that in we want to pray for you in a special way if you've made a decision for christ and again we're just grateful for the wonderful testimonies that are coming in as a result of the preaching of the word so let's have a word of prayer and we'll get right to it dear father in heaven again we thank you for this opportunity and thank you for the sabbath where we can gather together and we can study your word we ask your blessing upon those who are joining us we know there are people gathered together in churches or in homes or individuals watching by themselves we ask that it's a blessing give us clarity in the understanding of your word in jesus name amen amen thank you pastor ross looks like we both got the memo about the blue suit and striped tie today and you know we also want to give a special greeting to the members of our church pastor ross pastor um carlos master todd master bruman pastor lucas we pastor church here in granite bay they're meeting across the parking lot from where we're recording this right now we know that we've got a small group gathered over there we want to let them know that we see you and that we're going to be over there to greet you following the program today you know friends we have so much to share we have just really skimmed the service there's a lot of subjects in revelation we just did not have time to get into and we hope you'll take advantage of the revelationnow.com website because we're going to continue to upload information there add lessons that maybe would we did not have time to study and you'll want to link that and share it with your friends because we want these truths of the three angels message to go around the world something else i just want to share for clarity is sometimes you'll see in my presentations i customize things a little bit it may not match perfectly with a lesson there'll always be more information more references in the lessons so use those and but when i preach and i present i kind of modify things a little bit for my own ease and benefit but um our lesson as we shared today is called the goal of the godly and we're going to go to revelation and in revelation chapter 14 you remember we've got those three angels messages that go to the world revelation 14 talks about the hundred and the forty four thousand that follow the lamb wherever he goes and it contrasts two groups one has the seal of god and then that third angel's message says boy if any man worships a beast in his image and receives his mark on his hand or his forehead the same will drink the wine of the wrath of god which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation so you've got the most fearful curse in scripture it's pronounced against those who worship the beast in his image then it contrasts that group with the other group of the redeemed and they're identified here in revelation 14 12 it tells us here is the patience of the saints here are those who keep the commandments of god and the faith of jesus so in the last days those are going to make it they've got patience and their word patience means endurance they hang on you know one of the most important factors in being a christian is not just you know living right and following god but if you fall don't give up you endure jesus says he that endures to the end will be saved and so you want to hang on it also says that they've got they keep the commandments they don't just read them they're wanting to be doers of the word and they have the faith not in jesus you know that says they have the faith of jesus because they've got the holy spirit in the mind of christ they have the faith of jesus you know i thought that in our story for our study today we're going to take a look at uh one of my well i'll call him a hero i guess it's better to say i identify with him and that is the apostle peter peter is certainly one of the most outspoken of the apostles he was always famous for as they say he would uh have his mouth and gear before his brain was engaged and peter was always talking and then he'd think later but he was very bold he always knew where he stood and first we find that jesus is walking by the sea of galilee and he sees these four brothers and they're out uh you know separating fish and cleaning their nets and you've got peter and his brother andrew james and his brother john and jesus wants to preach so he says can i borrow your boat because the crowd was kind of pressing him right down into the water and you could have a better amphitheater from the boat so he takes the boat peter puts him in his boat he pushes off a little bit he preaches and when he's done jesus said well peter i see you don't have very many fish he says why don't you launch out and we'll let down the net and peter's thinking lord you're a good preacher and probably a fine carpenter but you don't know much about fishing we fished all night we don't didn't catch anything and you don't fish in these parts in the daytime and jesus looked at him and he said but your word peter said i'll i'll do it if you want me to and so they went out a little bit and they dropped their nets and the bible says that there were so many fish in the net they had to beckon to their partners to help and the nets were bursting and there was it was the biggest catch he'd ever seen in his life and here he caught it at a time they never would expect to catch it peter suddenly realized he was in the presence of someone supernatural and he fell down at jesus feet and he said lord depart from me i am a sinful man. and he didn't really want him to depart but he said i've got to warn you if you're doing this wonderful miracle for me do you know who i am i am a swearing cursing sailor and jesus said do not fear follow me and i will make you a fisher of men so the wonderful thing to remember is god takes imperfect people and invites them to follow him and he says if you follow me you will be transformed in the following process it doesn't always happen overnight you can see a dramatic conversion but sometimes there's still things to learn and we see that in the life of peter peter always wanted to be close to jesus and when jesus was performing miracles peter wanted to be there and he was so excited when he was chosen to be one of the apostles jesus recognized he had great potential of leadership peter was not afraid to step out of the boat you remember when they saw jesus walking on the water during the storm and all the other disciples were afraid and peter said lord if that's you bid invite me to come to you on the water i mean who else would say that jesus said well come since you ask you'll receive come peter steps out of the boat and he starts putting his feet down and sure enough it's solid and he starts to walk on the water through the stormy waves to jesus and halfway there he thinks i wonder if my friends are catching this on their phones i hope they're getting a video of this i got to put this on my facebook post not too many people do this and when he turns away from jesus to look and see if his friends are watching in the process he took his eyes off christ he saw the wind and the waves and he thought i'm out here in the dark ocean i could drown and what happens if i stop walking on water and his faith began to sink and he began to sink and that's when peter prayed one of the shortest prayers in the bible three words lord save me and jesus heard his prayer by the way you don't always have to kneel when you pray you can swim and pray which is what peter was doing and he brought him back to the boat and he said why did you doubt and but peter loved jesus but he also liked the crowd he always wanted to be in the middle of it all in fact at the last supper when jesus said one of you is going to betray me peter said well though all men should betray you i will not betray you and jesus said to peter john 13 38 he said i tell you the rooster the shall not crow till you have denied me three times another gospel it says the rooster will not have crowed twice before you deny me three times and you know what happened peter said though i die with you i'll not deny you and he meant it he just didn't know his own heart that same night after judas came into the garden of gethsemane and betrayed christ when the soldiers were going to arrest jesus peter is the one who pulled out a sword he really was willing to die for christ but when jesus said peter put away your sword those that live by the sword will die by the sword he didn't know what to do so he followed jesus as he was taken off to trial but you know the bible says something interesting about peter he did follow jesus but he followed from a distance a lot of people say i want to be a christian i want to go to church i want to follow christ but they still want the world so they follow from a distance you know you get in trouble doing that so they took jesus into the judgment hall and when he was being tried peter stayed outside with the servants of the high priest and the enemies of christ tried to just mix and hopefully not be noticed as they warmed themselves around the fire that night and then one of the girls asked him mockingly oh that galilean that false prophet in there you're one of his followers and peter worried about the ridicule of others he suddenly found jesus who he was going to die for a few minutes earlier now he's denying he even knows him he began to finally after the third time someone said are you one of his disciples you surely are you've got a galilean accent and he began to curse and to swear saying i know not the man deny jesus with swearing and cursing when the time came for christ to be crucified peter was overwhelmed with shame see when peter denied jesus three times jesus turned and looked at him and the bible says he went out and he wept bitterly he realized he had denied the lord and when jesus was crucified it says the disciples stood off afar watching from a distance again he was intimidated by the crowd but then showing the mercy of the lord you realize that um when jesus rose from the dead and he spoke to mary magdalene mark 16 7 he said to mary go tell the disciples and peter notice who he specifically mentions peter thought i've gone too far jesus is never going to forgive me go tell the disciples and peter that he is going before you into galilee and he'll see you see the lord wants us to know that he sees when we're sorry peter went out and he went bitterly he was broken-hearted that he had denied the lord he did not forget him and then you can read in the upper room when jesus appeared he appeared to peter later he appeared to the eleven as they sat a table and he rebuked their unbelief and their hardness of heart because they did not believe see jesus had told them all along i'm going to jerusalem i'm going to die i'll rise the third day peter said lord far be that from you he thought i've got a better plan so peter struggled with love for the lord and love for himself as we all do and maybe that's why i and many others identify with peter but the wonderful thing about peter is he got the ultimate victory after the cross you find he became one of the bold and the bravest of the apostles so getting into our lessons and i need to hasten along because we have a lot to cover first question how does god determine whether or not we're on his side matthew chapter 7 verse 21 not everyone that says unto me lord lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that does the will of my father in heaven it's not just saying lord lord but it's doing you can read in romans chapter 6 verse 16 know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness the highest form of worship for a christian is obedience you know it's like samuel said to king saul to obey is better than sacrifice and hearken better than the fat of rams and disobedience is like witchcraft and there's a lot of people out there they say lord lord he said why do you say lord lord and do not the things i say not everyone that says lord lord but they that do jesus tells a parable he says a certain man had a couple of boys and he said boys i need you to go work on the farm today and the first uh said no father you know i've got other plans i'm not going but he later repented and he went and the second son said i'm on my way but he never went and jesus said which of the two did the will of their father and they said the first one who first said no but he actually went and he said you know that's the important thing it's you may resist you may struggle like peter but do you ultimately surrender and do god's will it's a lot of people that go to church and they say lord lord and they sing and they go through all the outward trappings and pretense of being a christian but they don't really surrender their hearts to god and live for christ when the commands of god and men conflict who did peter say we should ultimately obey this is evidence that he was converted after the resurrection and jesus appeared to him he was so bold and when they threatened peter and they said you better not preach in the name of jesus anymore and the apostles were whipped and they rejoiced and they went right from being whipped back to the temple kept on preaching they brought them back in and they said what do you think you're doing peter said you know whether it's right in the sight of god to obey you or god judge ye but he said we ought to obey god rather than men you know that's a very important point as we're considering revelation because as we enter the last days the tests that came to mordecai daniel han and i and michelle and nazariah those three hebrews they were all faced with the test who do we obey do we bow down and worship the image of the beast do we close our windows and pray to king darius for 30 days do we bow before haman or do we serve god and they had the courage to say they had the endurance and the faith to say we are going to keep the commandments of god and not the commandments of the world now there's nothing wrong with keeping government laws unless they conflict with the laws of god and then we're all going to be faced with that peter is a good example of someone who got the victory meaning that you can get the victory and you don't have to get the mark of the beast you can receive the seal of god be filled with the holy spirit peter there at pentecost was baptized in the holy spirit he was the old most outspoken spokesman for jesus there at pentecost and he's the one who had denied jesus three times 40 days earlier 50 days earlier and so it just shows that god can forgive and still use you if that wasn't the case i just have to put the camera lens on and go home right now the only reason i can talk to you is because i believe in the mercy of god and that he makes us new creatures and he can use us in spite of our past failures and he wants to do that with each of you how do we best demonstrate our love for god jesus said if you continue in my word then you are my disciples indeed and he said if you love me keep my commandments i remember i'm hearing this old pastor tell a story about this uh this man he struggled with alcohol and uh every night he'd come stumbling home from the saloon up the street making a big old ruckus and his wife would get so disgusted she'd lock the door and he'd be out on the street he'd be billowing bellowing he'd say honey open the door open the door let me in i'm sorry and then he starts saying three words i've got three words i love you i love you he'd be out there making so much of a fuss that she just eventually given she'd open the door and let him in well this went on on and on night after night he'd show up she'd lock him out and he'd start bellowing out in the street i love you i love you and one night she got rather fed up and she put her head up the second story window she said i've got two words for you prove it there's a lot of people that say i love you i love you but they keep drinking babylon's wine they keep on following the devil and you know the way we show god we love him is really by giving him first place in our lives and obeying him he that says i know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him now i have a lot of people that say oh yeah i love the lord and i serve the lord but you don't really have to keep all the commandments what does james say about that james 2 10. for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point he is guilty of all and i know during this program we you know made it a point to emphasize all ten commandments there are a couple of commandments that many churches are ignoring and so we accentuate those a little more a lot of churches are bowing down to idols god says don't do that the people who worship the image of the beast in the last days that's sort of like a religious idolatry taking place and many people have given up on giving god their holy time keeping the sabbath day every seventh day and so we accentuate that and i've got some christian friends in other churches and they say brother doug we love the lord just because we're not keeping this one commandment doesn't mean that we don't love the lord but uh you know jesus is not giving us multiple choice in the ten commandments oh he doesn't give us a ten percent discount they're not called the ten recommendations or the 10 suggestions these are the commandments of god and jesus said whosoever therefore shall break the least of these commandments matthew chapter 5 he will be called least by those in the kingdom of heaven but whoever will do and teach them every commandment of god that we ignore we suffer for and so i know this is not popular and many christians are convicted by this but it's in the bible friends you've got to decide am i going to follow the bible or man-made religion if you're gonna follow the word of god he wants you to keep all ten uh you break one it's like breaking the link of a chain you can't go to the judge and say judge i realize i murdered somebody but i keep all the other commandments so just uh let's let it go this time he's going to say no you've got to keep that one and so it's that way with all of them according to jesus why did the hypocrites act religious it says that they may have the glory of men they're more concerned with what people thought about them this is the problem that peter was struggling with that they might have the glory of men that they might be seen of men jesus said that people can do very religious things they can vast to be seen they can pray to be seen they can give offerings to be seen and they're doing all these things and you think well how religious they are but what the lord really wants is our heart even if we're like that publican that stands in the back of the church and smites on our breasts and says lord have mercy on me a sinner jesus said that man goes to his house justified not the pharisee who says i pay tithe and i fast and i do all these religious things we're saved by surrender if you are fully surrendered then you will obey and you won't have to have a hypocritical religion is it generally safe to follow the crowd what does moses tell us exodus 23 verse 2 thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil i think it was winston churchill that said if a million people believe a dumb idea it is still a dumb idea and just because everybody you might say but isn't everybody believing differently don't all the other christians keep sunday is the holy day they may but what did jesus do whenever you're in doubt about what to do say what did jesus do and you know then it really clears up everything in the judgment day when i stand before the lord i always want to do the safe thing and i want to do the biblical thing if you're in doubt how much jewelry should a christian wear i know the easy answer to that don't wear any right how much alcohol should a christian drink i'm not in trouble because i don't eat drink any and so if there's anything that has the appearance of evil stay away and the other question is what would jesus do in the judgment when god says doug why did you worship on the seventh day of the week i'll say well lord because you commanded it you wrote it with your finger you spoke it with your voice and i want to follow you it's what jesus did you're never in trouble if you do what jesus did don't follow a multitude the bible tells us matthew 7 verse 13 and 14 enter ye in at the straight gate that word straight there it doesn't necessarily mean straight up and down it means it's austere the difficult the challenging gate enter in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many there be that go in there at now that simply means the majority are on the wrong road going the wrong way do not follow the majority so many people get in trouble even in christ's day the jews said among themselves if this is the messiah how come the religious leaders don't recognize it now have you heard that before that's going to happen again in the last days how come the doctors of theology aren't agreeing how could they be wrong why are there so many other churches that are lovely people that do things differently so if you want to know what the truth is what's the best criteria what does the bible say is the answer amen because jesus goes on straight as the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it now keep in mind in bible times when people were going into a uh city that's where they went in the event of their was a war they were threatened by another nation and they could always see an approaching army they usually had some signal system they'd use smoke signals in the day or fire signals at night or they'd have trumpets that would blow and they'd say there's an army approaching take refuge and some people they'd say oh they've given the signal that we need to take refuge in the city i'd say well i've got to go back to my house and i got to get my bags packed and i got to do this and do this and everybody would get on the wide road with all their wagons and they'd want to take the easy way into the city they'd often get shut out and caught by the invading army but if you were serious and you knew there was only one narrow gay way to salvation you'd go right up you wouldn't take that wide meandering road you'd take the road that was straight up the hill it was steep and you'd go through that crack in the wall just big enough for a man an enemy horse couldn't get through there and this is the picture that jesus is painting is you drop everything and you run christ said in the last days when the time comes to flee don't even go back to your house and get your coat don't come off your roof if you're up on the roof to go inside your house but you run for the hills and that's the way it is with salvation it's like he told lot and his family do not look back well friends as it was in the days of noah as it was in the days of lot we need to get out of sodom we need to get into the ark because and that's the ark of god's church because we are living in the last days in the days of noah while the ark was being prepared we're in few that is eight souls were saved by water now is god saying that there'll only be eight people saved and i should mention here some folks say pastor doug will there only be a hundred and forty four thousand saved in the last days well i've got good news for you uh no there's more than that um i did the math once and if only 144 000 people are saved there's about 8 billion people i think 7.8 billion right now in the world uh that means your chances are approximately 1 in 50 000. that's better than the lottery but it's still that would be discouraging if you had a group of 50 000 people and you said only one of these people is going to be saved that'd be discouraging but you read in revelation chapter 7 and 14 it tells us that through the influence of the hundred and forty four thousand there is a great multitude that no man can number that comes out of the great tribulation i think through their their preaching just like through the apostles you read pentecost there's a great multitude that are baptized so there's going to be others saved jesus is coming for harvest but will it be the majority or the minority it's going to be the minority when jesus sent a 12 spies to check out the promised land how many came back and said we can take it 2 out of 12. i like that ratio better than 8 out of a million but still they were the minority report but they're the ones that had faith and because they had faith that god could bring them into the promised land joshua and caleb made it to the promised land number six how does jesus feel when we put the traditions of men before the commandments of god howbeit in vain they do worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men he said full well you reject the commandment of god that you may keep your own tradition there's a lot of people out there they say well pastor doug uh you know we've been going to church on sunday this has been a tradition for 2 000 years and i don't i don't doubt that it's actually not been that long closer to 1700 years but uh do you want to follow the commandments of god or the traditions of men it doesn't matter how long the tradition is if it goes against the commandment of god you need to follow the commandments of god and not the traditions of men what does jesus say he said in vain they do worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men and full well you reject the commandment of god that you might keep your own tradition jesus came to throw off the man-made traditions this is what god wants his people to do in the last days say let's not follow these all these pagan trappings that have come into christianity a lot of people are in babylon they've been drinking the wine of babylon and they are drunk on the wine of babylon but if you're in a church that teaches you die and you go to hell and burn forever and ever that's babylon if you're in a church that teaches that uh it doesn't you can be saved by your works you can work your way to heaven that's babylon if you're in a church that teaches that uh really god changed the ten commandments so that now the first day of the week is a new holy day i say where is the commandment for that show me the scripture where it's commanded there is none you're following the traditions of men that's the earmarks of babylon and god in the last days is calling his people out of babylon he's got his people other sheep i've got that are not of this fold but there will be one fold and one shepherd and we need to be courageous it's not always easy but take that step of faith will true christianity be popular in the last days what does the bible say jesus matthew 24 verse 9 you will be hated of all nations for my name's sake who gets the mark of the beast he causes all small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark this is going to be a global problem and so if we're waiting for our christianity to be a popular it is never going to be popular let me say one more thing while i'm on the subject a lot of people say pastor doug what you're saying makes sense it's true and i know i need to make some changes but um uh you know it's just an inconvenient time in my life right now going through a lot of stress and some of my family and friends they won't understand and and you know i'm just going to wait until things smooth out especially you know this year with a pandemic and the economic uncertainty i i just i don't want to rock the boat so i'm going to wait a little bit that is one of the devil's most popular diversions called procrastination and the best time to listen to god's voice is when you're hearing god's voice the best time to follow the lord is when you're hearing him he said now is the acceptable time today is the day of salvation when jesus called people he called peter andrew james and john they walked away right then and there from their fishing nets he called matthew levi he got up and walked away from the cash register when the lord calls people they say lord i'm coming and i'm coming now. so it is a dangerous thing to say i you know that makes sense pastor doug one of these days one of these days never seems to come it's never going to be popular it'll never be convenient you make up your mind when god calls you to take the first step and even though it might seem impossible he will start moving mountains and partying oceans and make it possible for you to follow him you take the first step and watch what happens yea all that will live godly in christ jesus will suffer persecution if we want to follow the lord it tells us that we're going to suffer persecution now you might be thinking pastor doug i don't want to be persecuted let me read this verse and then i'll talk about that revelation 12 17 and the dragon was wroth with the woman and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed that keeps the commandments of god and has the testimony of jesus it tells us in the last days the beast's power will cause as many as will not worship the image of the beast should be killed so there is persecution some of you are thinking you know life's tough enough i don't know if i want to be a christian sounds like it's hard to be a christian listen carefully please this is very important life is hard there are problems in life if you're looking for a life without problems then just keep there is nowhere to go really see you've got two choices you can serve the devil and deal with the wrath of the lamb according to revelation or you can serve god and deal with the wrath of the devil and that's in revelation chapter 12 satan's come down with great wrath because he knows his time is short the wicked are going to run from the wrath of the lamb and he that sits upon the throne so the question is which side do you want to be on do you want to experience the wrath of the devil because you're following christ or you want the wrath of god because you're following the devil so i would much rather please the lord and you know what it is better for a christian there are troubles in life but it's better for the lord bible tells us in ecclesiastes that though a righteous man might seem to prosper i know in the end it will be well with the righteous it will not be well with the wicked there is no rest for the wicked those who worship the beast in his image have no rest day or night and but there is rest jesus says come to me and i will give you rest is there temptation if you follow christ even after the baptism of jesus the devil came after him and if some of you take your stand and you decide to follow jesus you may deal with some temptation but jesus fought every temptation by saying it is written it is written it is written and then the devil left him and there is an episode of peace so you're going to have those times of peace and joy and you're going to have some trials all that live godly will suffer persecution this is the fact if you live ungodly you're going to suffer from no peace in your mind and other problems is it possible to serve both god in the crowd no matthew 6 24 jesus said no man can serve two masters someone once asked benjamin franklin if he could show him one scripture that says a man can't have more than one wife the man was arguing for polygamy and franklin said yeah no man can serve two masters for either he will hate one and love the other or else he will hold the one and despise the other and you can't serve god and money jesus said he that is not with me is against me so you all have to make up your mind i'm either going to be with christ or with the devil there is no neutral territory in the bible story once you know the truth it's you've really got a choice to say no to the light is to say yes to the darkness to say no to jesus and his peace is to say yes to the devil in his bondage and so you have to decide which you want and the devil often deceives people into thinking i'm just going to do my own thing if you're not doing jesus thing you are doing the devil's thing there is no middle ground and by the way if you read the end of the book the devil loses is it safe to love a friend or family member more than jesus he that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me christ said and he that loves a daughter or son more than me is not worthy of me christ also said if any man comes to me and hate not and what he means by that is love less hate not his father or his mother his wife and his children his brethren his sisters yeah he cannot and even his own life he cannot be my disciple now that basically eliminates everything nothing can be more important to you than jesus and that makes sense if someone gives you a wonderful gift what do you love more the gift or the giver you would think you'd love the gift who gives you the gift of life who gives you your family who gives you anything and i i remember one time a sister was coming to a meeting like this and and she was postponing her decision and i said what's going on she said well you know i i'd love to come to church but that's the day my my husband likes to go shopping and and you know and i want to protect our relationship and she kept putting her family first and i can understand that struggle but then one day she called me up she said pastor can you come to the hospital and pray for my husband he was in an accident at work and the man was nearly dead he got crushed and i went and saw him in the hospital prayed for him prayed for the sister and she was crying she says god has shown me i was putting somebody ahead of him and he could take them away i'm going to put jesus first and she did and then her husband started coming to church also and so the best thing you can do for the ones you love is to put jesus first if you really love them don't put them first if you really love them put god first and by your example you're encouraging them to go to heaven with you but if you postpone that you're saying it's not a priority you send the wrong signal to them whoever will do the will of my father he said you want to be part of the family of christ whoever does the will of my father which is in heaven the same is my brother and my sister and my mother we become part of the household of christ when we do the will of god is it wise to put a prosperous career or earthly treasures before jesus what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul you know i i know another christian gentleman had great gifts in in evangelism and public speaking and he said you know brother doug he said what i'm going to do he says i'm going to go out in the business world i've got this great business opportunity and i think i can make a lot of money very quickly and he was being called to evangelism and i knew that and he he knew it he had the gifts and he said but i'm going to make a lot of money and after i make a lot of money i'm going to use it to subsidize christian work and then i'll go into full-time evangelism i said brother if you don't do it now you pray you're getting yourself into a trap so if you don't do it now you're probably never going to do it and that was 30 years ago and he's now retired and he never did go into christian ministry made a lot of money i'm not so sure how close to the lord he is right now and so a lot of people they they get caught up in the materialism the devil offers them because money is power the bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil jesus made it clear for one's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses and there are so many people in the world today that are in bondage to their possessions they can't go on a mission trip someone's got to stay home and take care of their stuff what if someone steals their stuff they got to work extra harder to insure their stuff and buy alarms to protect their stuff and the devil has gotten our society so materialistic and we want to buy what all of our neighbors have and buy the latest gadgets and all the the best things until we have no money for missions for preaching the gospel and we're just being smothered in stuff i know some people they're actually addicted to mine you go to their homes they're in debt their garages are full of boxes things they bought at amazon they haven't even opened yet and compulsively they're buying buying buying it's like they're drowning in stuff you know christ told us take up your cross and follow me he sent out the disciples preaching and i'm not saying he wants everyone to you know unload and liquidate but sometimes we get where these things distract us i know a lot of people that say i would go on a mission trip but i can't i have to take care of my pets well i i've got pets too i love them but if you're putting your pets ahead of the lord then i think that's a wrong priority i'm going to get letters on that i'm almost sure is it safe to continue disobeying god after he has shown us the truth my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge i will also reject thee he goes on to say seeing that you've forgotten the law of your god i will forget your children. that's pretty serious you know it's not just that they don't know they're rejecting the opportunity to know and it says specifically in this verse in hosea 6 because they reject the law it's a dangerous thing i i preach the law and people say pastor doug the great commandment now is we just love the lord if we love the lord we don't need the law and i said well technically if you really love the lord love is the fulfilling of the law because if you love your neighbor you will keep those first or those last six commandments if you love the lord you'll keep the first four commandments so if you say i love the lord and you're not keeping his commandments uh you're a liar according to the bible anyone who says i love him and keeps not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him according to first john and so this is a dangerous approach if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins so what that simply means is that it doesn't mean that if you after you know the truth if you sin you're doomed some people get discouraged by that verse means if you continue to practice a known sin after you know it what else is god going to do for you there's no salvation for those who say i know what god wants but i'm not going to do what god wants i'm just going to keep on deliberately disobeying there will be people in heaven that had too many wives like abraham solomon jacob david they didn't know god winked at their ignorance there'll be people in heaven that may have smoked they may have eaten unclean food and gone to church on the wrong day there's gonna be all kinds of people in heaven that lived up to the light they had because they didn't know but the bible says at the times of this ignorance god winked at but now he commands men everywhere to repent when we know the truth he expects us to walk in the light jesus said if you know these things happy are ye if you do them and so it's not just knowing he wants us to do it so it's yeah dangerous thing for us to postpone that what will happen to those who persist in rejecting the truth it says with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved now let me just pause here paul is describing a group that perish when they heard the truth they did not love the truth it's like that seed that jesus tells in the parable that is scattered and it falls on different paths and because they don't nurture and embrace the truth and cultivate it so that it brings forth a crop it's either snatched away by the ravens or it's choked by the thorns or it lands on the stony ground and it never takes root the lord wants us to nurture the truth admit it's the truth even if you don't know how you're going to follow the truth admit it's the truth say lord i know this is your will please help me to embrace the truth and acknowledge truth it's when you start putting it off and out of your mind look what happens next the verse continues second thessalonians 2 11 and 12 for this cause god will send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned lost perished who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness because they had pleasure in unrighteousness god will allow them to come to a place where they are sincerely believing a lie many of those who worship the beast in the image in the last days they're going to think the beast is right they have rejected the truth so they've come to the place where they believe a lie you know even the apostle paul when he was killing christians he was sincere he was wrong dead wrong very religious very zealous very wrong and if he hadn't repented he would have been very lost but he did repent and a lot of people are deceived because they listen to the wrong spiritual advisors that's why all through the seminar we tell people read the bible we put the verses on the screen we sit down and take your bible questions afterward we are not afraid of the word of god we want you to follow this book because that's where the real freedom comes from and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light why because their deeds are evil and because of their love for unrighteousness and they find pleasure and unrighteousness they reject the light and if you reject light what do you have darkness and if you walk into the darkness you got the blind leading the blind and that describes much of the religious world and yes even much in the christian world today you've got blind guides leading the blind you've got preachers out there telling people that if they just send more money to their ministry that they're going to get whatever they want as though that's the purpose of christianity that jesus is some kind of genie in a bottle and if you put your money in the envelope then he's got to give you what you want that's not what christianity is jesus said deny yourself take up your cross and follow me he wants us to follow him his holy life example well those who persecute god's people in the last days believe they're doing the right thing yes the time is coming when those who kill you will think they're doing service to god paul we just described was very sincere how did peter describe those who have learned the truth but refused to follow it he said for it would have been better second peter chapter 2 21-22 it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they've known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them but it's happened unto them according to the true proverb the dog has turned to his own vomit again and the sow the pig that was washed through her wallowing in the mire how sad after a person hears a series of messages like this on the gospel to say that's interesting i talk to people after a message sometimes i meet him at the door it always worries me when they say well that's very interesting i want you to know if you are interested i want to know did you accept it as truth are you wanting to bring your life into line with god's commandments are you committed to following christ and a commitment god's looking for total commitment it's like that story of the uh the chicken and the pig we're so thankful the farmer was so nice fed them every day the chicken said we ought to do something special for the farmer and the pig said what do you have in mind and the chicken said well why don't we make him a bacon and eggs breakfast and the pig said well for you it's a donation for me it's total commitment and that's what god wants he wants total commitment from us where we take up our cross when you take up a cross where do you go your crucifixion paul said i am crucified with christ i die daily but then you're born again every day you're a new creature but this is what it means to be a christian to die to self and to live unto god jesus said that's where the secret for joy is people think that the purpose in life is happiness the purpose in life is holiness in seeking after holiness a byproduct is happiness but if you make your happiness the goal jesus said if you seek to save your life you'll lose it but if you lose your life give it to god then you'll find it if you want to find your life you surrender everything to god and then you will find real fulfillment he says i've come to give you life and life more abundantly but that only comes when you deny yourself and take up your cross and follow jesus and when you do that follow his word and follow jesus then you find the full life you find joy you've got everlasting life what can make you happier than that you have nothing to be afraid of christ is with you you've got the fulfilled abundant christian life so sad when you see people that know those things they turn away from christ back to the world does following jesus involve some struggle and self-denial yeah jesus said if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me submit yourselves to god resist the devil and he will flee from you i'm telling your friends that if pastors say all you've got to do is say this little prayer at the altar you're going to have everlasting life and there's no struggle involved they're misleading you it is unscriptural the bible says there are battles in the christian life we struggle we wrestle these are biblical words we strive we fight we war we run in the christian life there's effort involved in being a christian there's effort involved in life in anything anything good there is self-denial there's self-control you say but i'm weak the holy spirit will make you strong whatever you lack jesus will give you if you ask him and so god will never ask you to do something without giving you the power to do it now there's a wonderful promise and if you fail once or twice don't get discouraged get back up he that endures to the end that means don't get discouraged if you fall get back up hang on to jesus and you will make it to the kingdom question 16 is it safe to procrastinate or to postpone a decision to follow jesus today if you hear his voice harden not your heart when god calls you that's the best time how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation we don't want to neglect it the devil a lot of people they put it off in the days of noah i think there are probably a lot of people who thought yeah it is a wicked world and i wouldn't be surprised if god isn't planning to destroy it and when i see the rain come i'm going to get on that ark but by the time the rain came it was too late so the time to get on is when the door is open noah stood in the door and he pled with people get on board and they said well the sky's clear now i'm not getting on board now now's not a good time i've still got plans when the rain comes and the sky is dark then i'll get on board i meet christians all the time they say i'm not fully committed but when i see these final events of prophecy then i'm going to get serious well at that time it may be too late by the time the rain came the door was shut so the best time is now behold now is the accepted day behold now is the day of salvation jesus stands at the door and he's knocking now what benefits come as a result of accepting and following the truth such promises friends psalm 119 verse 165 great peace have they which love thy law nothing will offend them a person who loves the law of the lord he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water whose leaf will not fail we have nothing to be afraid of you will god will prosper you when you put god's kingdom first and obedience first so you'll know the truth and the truth will make you free if the son will make you free you will be free indeed it is wonderful to be free from the guilt to be free from the fear of what's going to happen when i die you have nothing to be afraid of you have no guilt no shame no fear when you're born again because jesus has set you free he came to give that to you he came to give you a joy unspeakable and peace that passes understanding seeing then that you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit we can have power how do we do it through the spirit we can obey the truth question 18. what question did jesus ask peter three times you remember peter denied jesus three times then later after the resurrection peter met jesus by the sea of galilee and and he asked him three times simon son of jonah do you love me do you love me do you love me he said if you love me feed my sheep in other words do my will i've called you to work for me if you love me do what i'm calling you to do friends do you love the lord if you love the lord then you'll be wanting to go through the door that jesus has created for you jesus told peter he said if you love me surrender take up your cross and follow me and peter did he lived the rest of his life for the lord christ told him that same day he said when you were young you clothed yourself and went where you wanted you did your own thing but now when you're old someone else is going to clothe you and you will stretch forth your hands peter was arrested by nero after a long and fruitful life serving jesus he could have denied his faith but he refused and he knew he'd be crucified now paul was beheaded because he was a roman citizen they'd execute you quickly peter was not so he was to be crucified and he made one request of the emperor he said i am not worthy to die like my lord will you please crucify me with my head down and they complied he probably died quicker because of that but peter was so bold for jesus later in his life he never forgot the time that he had denied christ and he says i am glad i can lay down my life and sharing his sufferings friends do you love jesus you know he has come to this earth and he's made a road to make it possible for us to serve him i'd like to close by sharing with you a story i think that you're going to find inspiring true story back in 1960 dash roth manji was a a poor humble man i've made several trips to india karen and i were there about a year ago and uh lovely people there some of them are very poor this man lived in a village that was about 45 miles to the nearest clinic there was actually a shortcut but the problem was you couldn't take the shortcut because it went over a steep rocky cliff is three miles and and uh nobody could get by one day his wife beautiful young wife became ill with um it wasn't a serious illness if he could get it to the clinic but because of the terrible road and the long journey to the clinic by the time she got there she had died he was absolutely brokenhearted he loved her so much and she was such a beautiful wife and a good wife that he could never recover from the grieving and he became angry and he said you know i never want anyone else to suffer what i've suffered if the government had only put a road through this mountains instead of 45 miles to the hospital it would be three miles to where all the shopping and these schools are for our children and and they pledged with the government and the government said no we're we've got other priorities we're not going to worry about that and menji got out there one day and people thought he lost his noodle he got a hammer and a chisel and he went out to this rock wall that was a mountain that was blocking the way and he began to chisel against it and he chiseled and shoveled and chiseled beat out and wore out many chisels many hammers day after day people thought that he'd gone crazy but they saw how persistent he was and when they asked him he says you know i love my wife they broke my heart i don't want anyone else to have a broken heart because they can't get to the hospital they can't get their children to school said if no one's gonna do it i'm going to do it and he spent the next 22 years day after day with a chisel with a hammer until he had hammered a road through the mountain 25 feet wide 360 feet long there's a picture of it today he's now a national hero you know it just uh it's moving to think what one man would do to create a door a gateway so that people could find salvation jesus left the portals of heaven to move mountains to create a way for you to be with him in the kingdom because he loves you he does not want you to be lost friends but you need to make a decision to come to him just like you are god the father so loved the world he so loved you that he gave his son that whosoever believes in him and that means be lives in him might not perish but have everlasting life what could be worth more than everlasting life and you know before we close this service i want to give you an opportunity today now to make a decision if you've not made a decision before then we're going to encourage you to do that right now you will see a decision card questions on your screen some of you have these questions in in your program you're doing and we're pulling out a card we used earlier that says my decision for christ basically this is saying you want to make a decision and you want to make it today for total commitment to follow jesus not like peter from a distance but to now follow him all the way wherever he leads we've got four questions here that have some specific information and i want to pray for you before we ask these questions father as your spirit has been striving in the hearts of these people as they've been listening to this series right now i pray you'll give them courage and victory to step out in faith to believe and to make decisions to surrender to jesus and be part of this people all right here are the questions and keep in mind between now and the break time you when we come back with bible answers you can go to the website revelation now and you can fill out your card online i hope you'll do that for me so that i can pray for you question one i do not want to receive the mark of the beast we've been talking about the battle in the last days that is just before us and you know what you do not want mark that second question surrender to the holy spirit and i commit my life 100 to jesus above family friends churches work anything if you say i want to put jesus first in my life i want to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness mark that you may have done it before do it again because every time you do that it strengthens your resolve to follow christ third question specific now you want to be part of god's people i choose to worship jesus in spirit and truth and become part of the seventh-day adventist church we've been telling you about this movement god is calling people from all over back to this bible-based movement and he's inviting you to be part of the family yes he's got people in many churches but jesus said other sheep i've got they're not of this fold but they'll hear my voice how through his word there'll be one fold and one shepherd and if you hear god calling you know you need to be baptized be part of his people before jesus comes that's important decision please mark that and then the last question if you're praying about this and you've got some questions you'd like to ask and you want someone to help you or to study further mark that last box put your information on your card when you mark it online we will contact you we'll do our best to follow up to pray for you and even by making this decision now just between you and jesus that'll be registered in heaven that you've made that decision you know friends uh this series is all about getting you into the kingdom and we want to pray that each of you can be in that kingdom god has a place for you there i know there's struggles involved but i've never known anybody that was sorry that they said yes to jesus so i pray that's your decision right now we're going to have prayer together we're coming back for our last session answering bible questions we're going to talk about some of the very important ones so let's pray father in heaven thank you so much for the the joy we've had in this revelation now program as we study together sharing the word of god i know the word is not going to return void but it's transforming hearts and lives everywhere and we pray that's the case again today we know that jesus came to open a door and he stands at the door in revelation lord you've told us you stand at the door and knock he said if any man hears my voice speaking through your word and opens that door that you will come into them and sup with them right now lord i pray all those listening and watching will open the door and invite jesus into their hearts as a permanent resident bless us now in the days that follow that we can draw closer to you and even in the question time that will follow we thank you and pray in christ's name amen now don't go away friends we'll be right back and answer a few very important bible questions [Music] [Music] hello friends we're here in the philippines overlooking the tahoe volcano and lake which is one of the most interesting pieces of geography in the whole world for one thing this great caldera was once the biggest volcano in the world and now it holds a lake that holds another volcano that has another little lake in it that has another little island in it this volcano has erupted six times in a major way since the 1500s and even in 1911 there was an eruption where over 1300 people died killed by the smoke and the ash that covered the community there were tsunamis that came from the lake and destroyed the villages that surrounded the borders of the lake in fact this is one of the most carefully monitored seismic places in the philippines this volcano is being watched all the time and they've noticed as of 2006 that it appears that the water temperatures are going up there's increased seismic activity in other words they know that this volcano is a ticking time bomb prepared to blow and it's very interesting because this place is a place of great seismic activity but in spite of the fact that volcanologists know this is going to blow again someday it is a popular tourist destination they're fighting for the real estate they're building like mad and sit on the edge of disaster it makes us think about how god has given us so many warnings in his word that the world is going to end that jesus is going to come that the heavens will dissolve with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat seeing then that all these things will be dissolved what kind of people should we be in all holy conversation and godliness friends are you becoming distracted with the tranquil views of the world or are you preparing for the next world are you getting ready for the big bang [Music] hello friends we'd like to welcome you back to revelation now this is our final time to take your bible questions at least on this program of course it's not the final time that we'll take bible questions we do have a program past the doug every sunday evening called bible answers live it's a radio program folks can also participate through the internet through facebook and yes if you have a bible question you can join us every sunday evening 7 p.m pacific time uh with your bible question but we are taking questions here as part of this revelation series we've had some great questions that come in and we really do appreciate this um so let's get to our questions pastor i've got one question we'll put up on the screen it says what if i cannot afford to pay tithe will god still bless me well you know paying tithe is uh really a step of faith and if you're waiting until you feel like you can always afford it the devil might try and arrange things so you never think you can it doesn't make sense but nine tenths will go farther than ten 10. god says if we're faithful to return our tithe he blesses the other 90 so that it goes farther and yeah if we're faithful in those things you've got to step out in faith god will bless you the bible tells about a woman she actually gave her last two mites and jesus he uh he blessed her because she put god first so if we're faithful in that uh he'll bless what's left we also have the example in the old testament about the widow who gave her last a little loaf of bread to the prophet and of course she was blessed the flower didn't fail and they were able to foil yeah yep that's right okay well we're ready for a question we'll take a few uh questions on the screen in just a moment but let me get to some of these that came in somebody's asking why is it that god only puts his mark on the foid and not on the hand of people who believe in him well the difference is with the mark of the beast it's hand or forehead because some will be sincerely worshiping the beast and think it's true some may not worship but they will do it with their hands their actions they say well i'm going to serve the beast even though i don't agree either one whether you're doing it sincerely are you doing it to try to be able to buy and sell but with those who are saved it is not by our works we're saved it is only by our worship and our faith okay another question that we have dealing with bible prophecy it's pasadena can you explain the phrase babylon is fallen is fallen what does that mean yeah and you you might want to help me with this but the way i understand it is you've got babylon falling in the days of um daniel when the persians overthrew it so babylon fell then but babylon also is going to fall spiritually and then also even in revelation babylon fell when the beast received a deadly wound but then it falls again yes and so there's multiple fallings they got the tower of babel that fell but when it repeats fallen and fallen it means not getting up this time yes it's also interesting to know revelation 17 you have the woman her name is babylon but it says she is daughters as well those would be those churches that are holding the teachings of the mother church there is the fall of the mother church but there is also the fall of the daughter churches so you have babylon fallen the mother church babylon falls the daughter churches right all right another question that we have this is the interesting one why was the furnace heated seven times hotter and they're referring to shadrach meshach and abednego any significance to the number seven well i think there is um first of all i'm not sure that they had an adequate thermometer to measure exactly seven times i think nebuchadnezzar when he commanded them to heat it seven times hotter than it was heated for melting gold you don't need it as hot like lead you know don't eat it as hot as melting iron or some other metals and so they really did get it a lot hotter than it normally had been but the number seven really is talking about a complete cycle of something when it tells us that jesus was with the three hebrews in the fiery furnace even though it was seven times hotter that's saying that as hot as the devil can make it he can still protect you you're the maximum it's also interesting to note with the three hebrews in the fiery furnace christ was with them in the fire it was seven times hotter but it resulted in them being delivered not even with the smell of smoke so likewise you know god's people at the end of time will be purged so to speak in the fire but they shall come forth completely delivered cleansed of sin the only thing that burns the ropes that bind us that's right jesus the trials sometimes burn the ropes that's right so there's an interesting a good analogy there pastor doug is there any significance to the fourth angel in revelation for uh revelation 18. talks about an angel coming out from heaven earth is illuminated with his glory yeah the uh the message of babylon falling which is the second angels message in revelation 14. it went out with great power oh 150 years ago people were being called into the remnant church but it's going to go again in a greater power even the whole heavens are illuminated with a message in the last days and i think we're on the verge of that now through media like this and the internet this message i hear it everywhere it's going all over the world that's the loud voice yeah and after the angel gives the message babel and his fault in his fault and then it says i heard another voice from heaven saying come out over my people so it is interesting to note that god's got faithful people still in babylon when the message is preached then jesus calls them to come out yeah and christ said the time will come when there'll be one fold and one shepherd there's other sheep i have that under this fold so christ is going to call them out i think we're seeing the fulfillment of that even today as there's this revival of truth going around what's happening yeah it's exciting okay another question that we have it says revelation all of the world wanders after the beast what does this mean for those who are not christian well if you're not christian you get other problems uh it won't help you to even know the answer but um it's saying that people in the world that uh i have no interest in god or spiritual things they will naturally think it's a wonderful thing they'll think that it's uh they're doing the good thing by following the laws of the beast they'll say isn't it the best thing for everybody for humanism for the planet the environment i think you're probably going to hear environmental excuses for worshiping the beast you're going to hear economic excuses you're going to hear social environmental excuses they're going to have all kinds of great arguments other than the word of god and yeah they'll be able to rationalize everything back then right in the future rather all right well we have another question we'll put up on the screen this one is if i keep the sabbath i may lose my job doesn't god what doesn't god want me to support my family well yeah the lord does want us to be faithful but as we mentioned in the presentation our first priority is the christ and you think about when when shadrach meshach and abednego said we're not bowing down to the image they were going to lose their lives they were going to lose their jobs so in the last days you say the best thing i can do for my family is set an example of putting god first and then trust the lord you know let me just i can tell you many miracles i once really young family really had a job i needed one of the only jobs in this town was for a lumber mill and i was going to be hired on to work for the lumber mill but they said you know for the first six months you're going to have to work sabbaths i was a new sabbath keeper and i said oh man just six months i mean god will understand if i do it for six months i was telling myself that and then i realized no if it's wrong it's wrong i shouldn't do it once i start breaking compromising like that i'm in trouble and i said no and the guy said you're crazy i got you a job everybody wants this job you got a job i've got you go get the medical it's yours you just for six months you gotta work you know this shift i said i can't do it he was he thought i was very ungrateful and some people said i was crazy well it turns out within a couple of days i got a job with better hours didn't have to work sabbath working for the logging trucks not the mill logging trucks and i was able to get every sabbath off and they'd even let me go home friday afternoon at sundown so i stood up for the lord and he honored and i know a lot of people they tell their boss i can't work sabbas anymore the cell you lose your job and you say well i got to keep god's commandments a lot of bosses start thinking this guy's so honest that he's willing to lose his job rather than disobey he's probably not stealing from me and they find a way to keep them and in north america there's usually a lot of laws that will also protect your rights of worship so put god for his friends okay all right somebody's asking if i'm in conversation with a person and they take god's name in vain should i say something to them or should i just keep silent well it depends on your relationship i i don't think every time you're you know in public you're going to hear that all the time if you're correcting everybody in public who's using god's name in vain uh you're not going to last very long i i think that if you've got a relationship with somebody and they're doing that and you say you know brother or sister you know i'm a christian and when i hear you use god's name in vain it just makes me cringe could i ask you to try not to do that and and they'll probably you know if they're friends at all it's if they're being respectful unless they're being really ugly and honored they'll say oh i'm sorry i didn't realize it offended you i'll see if i could curb my tongue sometimes i you and i play racquetball with some guys and they sometimes use some pretty amazing language and once or twice i don't do it in front of everyone when i get them by themselves i say you know i'm a pastor and when you say those things it kind of makes me cringe they say i'm sorry i'll see what i can do and they'll usually try to accommodate i don't make a big deal out of it but i let them know that i let them know that god and that they are accountable for how they use his name right and you know it's it's interesting pastor that when people spend time around a christian even without saying anything over time their language begins to change yeah i've even had people i haven't said a word they don't even know i'm a christian but i've been meeting with people interacting with them and they might say something and they'll turn to me and apologize i'm sorry it's as if they realize that what they are saying is not right and even the guys we play racquetball with sometimes they'll say to us oh sorry pastor yeah that's right something slips right they're convicted yep so it's kind of nice to see how the holy spirit speaks to people's hearts yeah all right here's an interesting question can you remove the mark of the beast once you've received it no ain't no eraser for that i think once we get to the point where it's a critical issue uh and you know i think a person once they embrace it i don't see evidence in the bible that they're going to be able to waffle back back and forth once probation closes anyway there's no change right at that point and of course probation doesn't close until revelation chapter seven you have the seal of the living god placed upon those who are faithful to god well then by default the mark of the beast will be on everyone else and once that happens probation closes so there's only two groups at the very end yeah all right another question that we have it says in the bible and the person says i'm not sure where but in the bible it says god was jealous uh i thought jealousy was not a good thing i don't understand this no uh well envy is not a good thing that's listed as one of the seven deadly sins or covetousness that means wanting what another person has jealous for something that you have a right to if if someone is mistreating your spouse or someone is trying to steal their affections that is a perfectly normal god-given desire you're in a covenant with that person there's an exclusive relationship and it is normal for you to feel like that's being invaded by another person that's how god feels when the devil is trying to take our affections from god that's a perfectly normal appropriate emotion a matter of fact it's inappropriate if you don't care you know if somebody is mistreating or trying to steal the affection that belongs to you from your spouse your children that should cause a righteous indignation and so that's all god is saying is i'm jealous for you and god is our parent and the devil is trying to steal the affection of god's children yeah no wonder god is jealous over us yeah with the godly jealousy and he knows that the devil has bad intentions too right absolutely all right we're going to put up another question on the screen this one is if my wife is not ready to make a christian commitment should i wait for her well if you're saying i want to get baptized and join the church and your wife is saying you know give me another month because my family can join us and i'd like to do it together that makes sense but if you've got a spouse and they're saying i'm not sure i want to follow jesus i'm not sure i want to get baptized and be part of his people you need to take your stand and that's probably one of the most important things you could do in sending a message to your spouse your loved ones your family your children if you have children is for you to put jesus first yeah somebody's asking we might have touched on this before but probably worth repeating can someone be baptized more than once yes and you there's three reasons for re-baptism one is if a person is not baptized biblically by immersion maybe they were sprinkled or poured or something you should be baptized like christ was second reason for re-baptism is if you completely divorce yourself from the lord you stop going to church you kind of renounce your christian faith and live in the world if you're going to return to the lord you should probably get re-baptized now that doesn't mean that you you get upset you miss church for a few weeks that's the purpose for the communion service but if you really renounce the lord you may need to get a new beginning if legally if i were to divorce karen and we live apart for a year if i wanted to be married to her again i got to go through another marriage and so that would be the case for re-baptism there third reason is in acts 19 you read about these 12 ephesian men they had there's so much they had missed about the life and ministry of jesus that when paul shared all that with them he said you need to be re-baptized even though they had been baptized by immersion by john the baptist worshipping the right god they just missed so many things about the life and ministry and teachings of jesus they were re-baptized and filled with the holy spirit so that would be the other time i know people i had a baptist minister came to a series like this and at the end he said pastor doug i don't want i want to be re-baptized i said brother you're a baptist you got baptized by immersion he said yeah i got baptized into nine commandments i want to get baptized into all ten so he was re-baptized and he didn't regret it all right very good here's another question it says how do i increase my prayer skills well how do you increase your music performance on the piano as a practice and the more time you spend talking to the lord the better you get at it i find that my preaching is a little better now than it was when i was 19 years old because the more you do something the better you get at it the more comfortable you become at it and you get to know the person you're talking to better so continue to pray read the prayers in the bible that's another great exercise look at the prayers in the bible read the prayer of hannah read the prayer of daniel read the prayers in the new testament a prayer of of simeon and there's some beautiful prayers in the bible that follow a pattern jesus didn't say just repeat the lord's prayer he said pray in this manner the lord's prayer is an outline for prayer but look at some of the other great prayers in the bible the prayer of solomon dedicating the temple wonderful prayer it'll teach you about putting god first glorifying him so forth we do have a book called teach us to pray yeah and it's available at the amazing facts website which is amazingfacts.org and it's got those principles that you mentioned all right here's an interesting question this is luke 13 verse 32 and the person he's asking what does this verse mean i'll read it and he said unto them jesus speaking go tell that fox behold i cast out demons and perform cures today tomorrow and the third day i'll be perfected yeah jesus is calling herod a fox herod at this point had executed john the baptist some messengers came to jesus and said herod is chance chances he gonna do to you what he did to john the baptist christ said go tell him i teach do cures cast out devils today tomorrow the third day i'll be completed perfected jesus used a day for year principle in this prophecy he taught three more years and fulfilled his ministry and jesus even was tried by herod in his trial he had nothing to say to herod here it said do a miracle do a cure cast out a devil he said you rejected john the baptist if you rejected him you rejected me so in essence he's probation and closed by that time all right very good you know pastor before we we'll see if we have time for another question but we do want to let people know about a free offer the study guide for today for our revelation now series is entitled no turning back if you'd like to receive this just text the word turn to four zero five four four and you'll be able to receive a digital download of the study guide or you can just download it at the revelation now website just revelation now dot com now pass today in the last few little seconds that remain we want to tell folks about how they can continue their study of god's word and we're very excited to offer something we've never done before and that is one of our afco online courses it's called amazing disciples and forever anyone who's watching or we'll make this available for about seven days you can actually enroll for free in the amazing facts afco amazing doctrines course to do that just visit online.afrika.org you can also find that link at the revelation or rather the amazing facts website you select the amazing doctrines course we have a special code and you can type that in rev lowercase now which will give you excess access to that uh program and you'll be blessed there are weekly zoom meetings there's facebook live classes you'll have classes with pastor doug myself the rest of our afco staff and some guest teachers it's just a great experience to reinforce these wonderful truths that you've been learning during your time here at revelation so we encourage you to take advantage of that also we have our free amazing fax correspondence course and that is available to anyone it's online so you don't have to be in north america to be a part of it you can just enroll and you can study these wonderful truths amen well friends we're about out of time for the revelation now program we trust that you've been blessed we hope that your life has been transformed for the better as a result and we encourage you to continue studying take advantage of the amazing facts website you'll see that we have a lot of other uh associate websites connected with that to get more information because jesus is coming very soon friends we want to get ready get ready get ready and share the good news with others so we're ready when he comes so continue your study god bless [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 88min 51sec (5331 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2021