Who is the Antichrist? (With Greg Laurie)

[Music] so [Music] hi we're harvest kids did you know that we're on youtube each and every week we film a church online experience for kids every week we worship together we study the bible we play a game and we do a craft or a snack so we want to invite you and your family to join us each and every week the kids are going to learn a lot about the bible but so are the parents so we'll see you online hey everybody my name is jonathan laurie and i want to welcome you to our harvest at home service we are so stoked that you're joining us my dad is going to be giving a great message from god's word in just a few moments but before we do that i want to encourage you if you haven't already get your family in the room tell them service is about to start come sit on the couch get ready for a time of worship and a time of bible study get your pen and paper all that stuff and if you wouldn't mind man we'd sure love it if you would share this link with your friends let your friends let your family know that service is starting uh harvest at home is a great resource for people to hear about who god is and to hear about what his plan is for our life everybody wants to know what's god's will for my life what is my purpose in life listen this program i guarantee you is going to give you some of those answers and while we're on the topic of things that we've made available as a church as a ministry to you we have a number of resources that we would love to offer you the first course that we have made available to you is our new believer's class well what does it mean to be a follower of jesus christ well this course new believers is just for you it's going to help you understand what it means to be a follower of christ some helpful and practical tips on how to be a follower of him now i don't know about you but i'm pretty active and i like to go on walks i like to spend time with family we like to go hang out at the beach and walk around i spend a lot of time on my car as well as i'm driving to and from work but i've found that whatever situation i'm in if i've got a little extra free time i like to throw those headphones in i like to turn the sound up in my car and listen to different podcasts different teachers and different people that have things to say about topics that i'm interested in well my dad started a podcast called the greg laurie podcast and i tell you what it is amazing it's got a bunch of his teachings that he's given and i tell you what this is going to be a podcast that ministers to you because it's got god's word in it it's got encouraging tips in it it's got practical things that you can implement into your life on how to be a better christian a better husband a better worker a better father and so uh we would sure love for you to download this podcast off of our website and then the last thing i want to let you know about is my dad's daily devotion this has been utilized by hundreds of thousands maybe millions of people honestly it's amazing to see how many people are ministered to by my dad's daily devotion which we make available to you through your email it'll arrive in your inbox every morning before you wake up and i tell you what it takes maybe a minute a minute and a half to read through these they are just enough to kind of get you jump started on your day hear from the lord a great little tidbit of scripture to jump in on and in just an encouraging word and so we would love to make that available to you all of these resources that i have mentioned are available to you at no cost uh they're our gift to you we want you to grow in your faith because of this ministry well hey speaking of growing in your faith uh right now we're about to jump into a time of worship a time of bible study harvest at home is about to start so we're so excited that you've joined us again grab your pan grab your paper get ready because it's gonna be an awesome time worshiping our lord together community looks a little different these days doesn't it hi morning april hi ashley but community is as important if not more important than ever before in a small group you are noticed you know sometimes you can slip in and out of church unnoticed but in a harvest group people will know your name and welcome your participation in our homes on our phones with our families and with each other you're cared for you're appreciated and you're both wanted and needed in a harvest crew so i want to personally encourage you as your pastor to be involved in a harvest group it's studying the bible more deeply in a community with other believers hey i'm so confident you're gonna love the harvest groups you'll stick with it even after that first month but try it out i think you're really gonna like it in his brand new book pastor and evangelist greg laurie recounts the godly life of america's preeminent evangelist billy graham drawing on insights from his personal experiences with billy pastor greg reveals the history humanity and humor of a unique and inspiring life read more in the compelling biography billy graham the man i knew you can receive this book when you make your gift of any size today to harvest ministries in his book pastor greg sheds light on graham's lesser-known struggles such as a broken heart before he met the love of his life and a crisis of faith from which he emerged stronger than ever from private challenges to public successes billy graham the man i knew provides a vivid portrait of one of history's most remarkable christian lives it's an evangelist's portrait of an evangelist billy graham the man i knew is out now request your copy when you donate today hey there i'm greg laurie and i want to welcome you to harvest at home of course last weekend was easter we had a lot of new folks tuning in and maybe some of you are with us right now or maybe you're watching for the first time so harvest at home is like well church in your home where you can worship the lord with us hear the word of god with us i'm going through the book of revelation so the title from my message is who is the antichrist and listen the bible tells us we should be looking for jesus christ but the scriptures have a lot to say about this individual that's going to emerge on the world scene but before we start let's all pray together father we're thankful to gather together to worship you and you've told us when two or more are gathered together in your name you're there in the midst of them so lord work in our midst right now change lives right now encourage those who are discouraged right now we commit this service to you and we ask your blessing on it in jesus name we pray amen [Music] [Music] please [Music] that is [Music] victory [Music] [Applause] [Music] crazy [Music] [Applause] [Music] god [Music] will faith be the songs [Music] you cannot survive [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] oh sing this is what living looks like this is what a living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we praise you this this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we praise you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] crazy we praise you we've been [Music] ah [Music] your presence is there's nothing worthwhile we'll ever come close nothing can compare [Music] [Music] when my heart becomes free and my [Music] your presence [Music] your [Music] by your presence [Music] there's nothing worth more that will ever come close nothing can compare you're our living your presence [Music] is oh jesus [Music] is one more time [Music] [Music] may jesus there's nothing like his love my jesus [Music] just your presence god alone how you watching over us [Music] let us become more aware of your presence let us experience the glory of your goodness let us let the us of yours [Music] gloria is [Music] is we worship we were sure [Music] [Applause] [Music] to by your presence well that was fantastic great time of worship thank you guys so much well last week was amazing jonathan so many people tuned in to harvest at home all around the world and we hear these amazing stories of people worshiping together as a family hearing the word of god worshiping with us and and we're so thankful for that and we're really excited to bring the gospel to unexpected people in unexpected places and you know i can't think of any person who ever did a better job of that than billy graham you know howard stern likes to call himself the king of all media but billy graham was the true king of all media he was a real pioneer when he was starting out as a young preacher in the 40s and 50s he pioneered christian television which was unheard of at that time he pioneered publishing radio and he opened a movie studio i mean that's back in the days when a lot of christians were wondering if they should even go to the movies and billy graham is making movies that are showing in theaters with a christian message and he was a real innovator and he was i think the most powerful and effective evangelist that has ever lived and that's why i've written a brand new book about billy that is now available and it's called billy graham the man that i knew and you know i've written these other books uh sort of spiritual biographies it started with steve mcqueen which was called steve mcqueen the salvation of an american icon then i wrote johnny cash the redemption of an american icon and i was going to call this one a billy graham the making of an american icon but i was having a conversation with billy's son franklin and he says oh you shouldn't call it that and i said well why he said well daddy would never want to be called an icon he said you should call this book billy graham the man that i knew so that's how this title came to be and the reason i wrote this book was to introduce billy to a whole new generation like your generation and in fact to the point you actually met him when you were a little kid yeah i did do you remember that yeah i remember going to his house up there in north carolina a number of times and uh he was always so kind ruth was always so friendly as well his wife both of them are now with the lord of course and uh yeah i remember hanging out with franklin's kids there and uh yeah it was it was a special time for sure do you remember you had the little character from toy story i do remember woody and so the toy the first time the toy story came out right he had a little holster but they didn't give woody a gun of course and so ruth seizure toy she says oh this is a cowboy where's this gun she said every cowboy needs a gun that's right so she went out and took a little stick and sort of broke it in the shape of a little pistol and put it into woody's little holster and we had lunch with billy and ruth and it was just great but he was you know such an approachable person such a humble down to earth guy and i think that was one of the secrets of his effectiveness is because after he was done preaching he was just a very down-to-earth individual i heard billy say on more than one occasion if you see a turtle on a fence post you know he didn't get there by himself and billy was the first to acknowledge that he did not put himself in that position god called him i mean billy's story is almost like a bible story you know you think of gideon hiding from the midianites you think of david watching this flock of sheep and he's called by the lord and billy was just a dairy farmer and like any other young man he wanted to maybe play baseball professionally and he loved girls and you know just a regular guy and god got hold of him in an evangelistic meeting that happened in this town and the world was impacted as a result yeah it sure was you know as you're saying um all the different ways that billy used media so strategically i was just reminded about how jesus called the church to go to the whole world and not the other way around that the whole world should go to church hey wouldn't that be great if everybody would come to us no we need to be about our father's business and going and proclaiming the gospel in every way that we can yeah and so billy was so good at that he was a pioneer really making the church go to the whole world presenting the gospel to every continent yeah uh through television through film through radio through you name it books yeah billy did something years ago called operation what was it called mission world that's what was called it was in puerto rico i was there in fact here's a couple photos when we were there because on that trip his grandson will got baptized and i had the privilege of baptizing will along with skip heidtig and all the grams were there but this was so ahead of its time billy harnessed all the satellite technology and beamed the gospel across the globe this had never been done before so if philly were still around with us today he'd definitely be on the web he it was just sort of starting when he was kind of bringing his ministry to a close but billy would be all over this media and so here's what i see is you know billy gave us a great example to follow and i'm trying to follow in his footsteps no one will ever take billy's place there'll not be another billy graham but we can certainly uh follow the example he gave and bring the gospel to as many people as possible we've told you before that last year was a banner year despite the fact that it was coveted times and churches were shut down for a time including ours were open now both inside and outside but we were closed for a time we yet despite that because we went online with harvest at home and this became much larger we saw 150 000 people make a profession of faith and i'm hoping to reach more people this year just continuing to reach as many people as we can so here's what we're going to do this is a brand new book but we're gonna give you a copy for your gift of any size so whatever you send to support our ministry we will thank you by sending this brand new book that i've just written hot off the press as they say billy graham the men that i knew some of you can give more some can't give as much but everyone can give something and whatever you send will rush you your copy of this book billy graham the man that i knew i think it will be a blessing to you yeah absolutely so that information is up there on your screen uh we'd love for you to get signed up so we can send this book out to you again i was just looking at the back of it the msrp on this book is is 30 so this is actually this is a really nice book it's thick this is one of the longer books you've written down one of the longer biographies and so yeah we're excited to give this to you today uh for the month really it's for the whole month of april isn't it that's what we're doing this whole month so uh if you would like to send that gift we'll get this book out to you so let's continue to worship the lord right now as you give the information as jonathan said is on the screen let's pray together father we're thankful for uh the life of billy graham and how you used him to touch a generation but you've called us to touch our generation the christian race is a lot like well a relay race the baton is handed on and so as we're running with this baton of the gospel help us to reach as many people as possible with a life-changing message of jesus christ so bless this time of giving and our continued worship and we ask all of this in jesus name to god you're so powerful your name carries all freedom i searched but it couldn't fill me [Music] [Music] then you came along jesus and put me back together and every desire is now satisfied there's nothing better than you there's nothing [Music] nothing is better than you [Music] know so i'm not afraid [Applause] [Music] to show you my weakness [Music] i love this [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] jesus you turn morning to dancing you get beauty for ashes [Applause] you turn [Music] [Applause] [Music] and get beautiful [Music] [Applause] [Music] you turn bones into one [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we love you jesus [Music] nothing is better than you come on and declare it come on you can do it oh there's nothing better [Music] is [Applause] [Music] you're the only one [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hey everybody let's grab our bibles now and turn to the book of revelation chapter 13. now for you bible students out there you know what's in revelation 13 don't you that is a chapter that deals in great detail with this coming world leader called in the bible the antichrist and that's the title of my message who is the antichrist type the word antichrist into your search engine on google and you will find 13 million options who is the antichrist he's a real person he is effectively the son of satan himself he's called the beast the son of perdition the wicked one the lawless one and he has spoken of many times in the bible and we all know i think even people that are not familiar with the bible they know what his number is right 666. you can even get some shoes to go with that a rapper little nausea just came out with a pair of shoes they were called satan's shoes and he took a pair of nike shoes and they were customized by some company and they had 666 pairs that sold by the way they sold in under a minute and uh according to the description of them there was a drop of human blood in every soul how did they pull that off exactly just did some guy have to cut himself and put the drop of blood who knows but this is supposed to be some big controversy and i think a little nos excelled a lot of shoes uh with a pretty clever promotion campaign but it's interesting because on the shoes the reference luke 10 19 is there which is a statement of jesus where he says i beheld satan fallout lightning from heaven so uh that kind of undoes the whole evil mystique of the shoe in my opinion it's sort of like you're pointing out the fact that satan has fallen but listen satan is a real spirit being i think people think he's a joke and they can just goof around with these things they envisioned him as a guy with red skin and pointed ears and horns of course and a pointed tail and a pitchfork but satan is no joke and the antichrist is no joke either when he comes on the scene he will not be dressed in all black with steam rising in the background with the darth vader theme playing in the background wearing lil na's shoes no no the antichrist will be charismatic he'll be articulate he'll be intelligent he'll be what we would describe as a great world leader a statesman he'll be magnetic he'll have everything that you would hope to have in a leader and not only that but he will do what no other leader has ever been able to do he'll be able to solve the middle east peace issues and get everybody to sign a peace treaty that they will actually abide by for three and a half years you see when antichrist comes on the scene he doesn't come off as this evil person that he actually is he comes on the scene as a peacemaker but in reality he's a troublemaker and it's just a ruse to get people to follow him and then he will ultimately show his true colors there was a poll done by u.s news and world report that revealed that 49 of americans say they expect to see an antichrist sometime in the future in a newsweek poll that was done 19 of americans believe that anti-christ is on earth now and in the same poll half of those who accept bible prophecy believe antichrist is alive right now as well things are certainly ripe for the emergence of this leader now i know some of you are thinking greg why would i want to hear a bible study on the antichrist why should i even give a passing thought to this individual here's the simple answer there are a hundred passages in the bible that detail the origin nationality career character kingdom and final doom of antichrist he's spoken up here in the book of revelation of course he's also referenced in the book of daniel as well as second thessalonians the sheer volume of scripture dealing with this coming world leader should be enough for us to find out who he is and what it is he has come to do but as i read about his final doom i'm reminded of the fact that god is more powerful he will judge this evil man and god is in control we're reminded again that we win in the end remember this number one god is sovereign over all human history now let me repeat that again god is sovereign over all human history listen history is his story so nothing is catching god by surprise none of the things happening in the headlines of newspapers and news sites are surprising to god number two world history is a blip on the screen of eternity god looks at the big picture and third and lastly god will have the final word and it will be very good i'm going to come back to those three points at the end of my message so let me start with a question who is this man called the antichrist the beast the wicked one the son of perdition well the answer is he is as i already referenced effectively the son of satan if satan ever had a son this is him the only man even close to antichrist in the bible would be judas iscariot because we read that satan entered judas's heart but the antichrist is even worse than judas and i believe the coming of antichrist is getting much closer so if the coming of antichrist is close the coming of jesus christ for his church is even closer you know when we see christmas decorations when do we see them now what probably august it seems that way doesn't it i mean here come the christmas decorations so when i see christmas decorations it reminds me thanksgiving is close you say no greg they remind you that christmas is closed well true but if christmas is close thanksgiving is even closer right because it precedes christmas in the same way if antichrist is close then the coming of jesus for his church is even closer because antichrist cannot be revealed until the church and by the church i mean true followers of jesus christ we will be caught up to meet the lord in the air and then this wicked world leader will emerge on the scene so let's turn in our bibles now to revelation chapter 13. i'm going to read quite a few verses so read along with me revelation 13 starting in verse 1. john remember he's on the island of patmos he's been given this revelation which means the unveiling of the future so this is what john is seeing and he writes then i stood on the sand of the sea and i saw a beast rising out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and on his horns were ten crowns and on his heads a blasphemous name now the beast which i saw was like a leopard his feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth like the mouth of a lion the dragon gave him his power his throne in great authority verse three and i saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded in his deadly wound which was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast and they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying who is like the beast who was able to make war with him and he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and was given authority to continue for 42 months that's three and a half years he opened his mouth and blasphemy against god to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and those that dwell in heaven it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them his authority was given to him over every tribe tongue and nation and all who dwell in the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world then john writes if anyone has an ear to hear let them hear wow now you read this it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie right there's a film out right now godzilla versus kong i saw it actually i actually liked the movie what can i say i've always been a fan of godzilla and king kong though the problem was i didn't know who to root for in this movie because you know i like them both and it seems like they've shrunk godzilla godzilla used to be a lot larger in those old movies that i watched when i was a kid now he's like the same size of king kong so they're fighting it out and as you think about john's description it sounds similar the creature with multiple heads and so forth that reminds me of the so-called titans from these other godzilla movies one was called ghidorah he has many heads and then there's my favorite mothra i mean is that an intimidating name for a monster moth raw it's effectively a giant moth flying around which would be terrifying for my wife because my wife has a fear of moths i think when she was a little girl a moth got in her hair and it freaked her out and now she sees them off anywhere she has to run out of the room screaming years ago i was with my wife kathy in china and i'm walking along and she's walking toward me and there was what i thought a bird on the ground and i looked and it wasn't a bird it was the biggest mop i've ever seen this moth was this big so i was going whoa look at that moth it was mothra and i i looked at it and i said hey kathy come here and look at the little birdie so cute she's oh really she's coming and all of a sudden the moth takes flight and he was so big i'm going whoa even i could have backed off and some guy just steps over from the side goes gosh it's really gross but um now what john is doing here is he's speaking symbolically and for the bible student we've seen this before especially in the book of daniel to understand the beast you need to understand its father and to understand the antichrist you need to know more about satan see this is symbolic of different things that i'll identify for you in a moment but this coming world leader the antichrist is empowered by the devil himself second thessalonians 2 9 says the coming of the lawless one is based on satan's working with all kinds of miracles signs and wonders so you might say like father like son so here in revelation 13 we have a lion a bear and a leopard if we go back to the book of daniel we see that this has been mentioned before each of these creatures the lion the bear and the leopard are representative of world kingdoms first there is the lion in fact ancient babylon was represented by a winged lion this is speaking of the kingdom of babylon who were overcome by the medo-persian empire represented by the bear the bear has massive strength he was able to overcome babylon and you remember the last of the babylonian kings bill shazaar saw the writing on the wall remember that story he was having a big party and they were mocking the god of israel and and there was a writing on the wall a hand a disconnected hand writing on the plaster of the wall and the message was you've been waiting the balances and you've been found lacking right outside of the walls of the kingdom of babylon where the medo-persians that came in and established their kingdom and then their leader darius was in charge and daniel survived all of this amazingly he was an old man at this point and it was under king darius that uh the daniel was sent to the lion's den and he survived that but uh that's that kingdom the medo-persian empire the medio persians were overtaken by the greeks under the direction of the great military tactician alexander the grape symbolized by not the grape the great alexander the grape he was the conqueror of the vineyards you see but the conqueror of the meet of persians was alexander the great symbol i said it again the great the great and so symbolized by a leopard so a bear is a powerful creature a leopard is a fast creature and with great speed uh alexander and his forces just spread across the planet the story is told that when he was still a young man he realized there was no there were no kingdoms left to conquer and he openly wept but now daniel uh reveals one more kingdom uh from which the final antichrist would emerge he says in daniel 7 7 in my vision that night i saw a fourth beast terrifying dreadful and very strong it devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled what was left beneath its feet it was different from all the other beasts and it had ten horns this is a symbol of rome the romans overtook the greeks they took a lot of greek culture adopted it even a form of government but rome was a military machine like the world had never seen before and no other nation really conquered rome thou allah was conquered by the media persians the immune persians were conquered by the greeks but the greeks were conquered by roma but no one ever conquered rome but rome effectively collapsed beneath its own weight and it is from the ruins that this phoenix will rise if you want to call it that it's from the ruins of this that the anti-crisis coming world leader emerges on the scene in the last days the pharaohs nebuchadnezzar alexander the great the caesars napoleon even hitler we're all precursors to the most evil man that has ever emerged on the scene this antichrist who will harness economic and technological power he'll form a one world government a one one-world economy and a one-world religion so here's five things you need to know about the antichrist if you're taking notes number one i've already mentioned this i'll repeat it again the antichrist is energized and empowered by satan himself a verse 2 of revelation 13 says the dragon gave him his power his throne in great authority and we're already told in revelation that the dragon is satan so satan gives to his son if you will antichrist the power to do what he does and it is the devil's to give you remember during the temptation and the wilderness jesus was shown all the kingdoms of the world by satan in a moment of time and satan said all of this is mine and i can give it to whomever i want to give it to and if you will worship me it will be yours this has always been satan's issue this once beautiful powerful angel in heaven rebelled against god why because he wanted to be god over in isaiah it says that he said i will be like god i will be like the most high so now he's saying to jesus why don't you worship me right now and of course jesus resisted that temptation but he's taken now his authority and he's giving it to antichrist so jesus christ wouldn't go with it but antichrist will so satan is authorizing and empowering this individual but understand he's given permission look at revelation 13 5 he was given authority to continue for three and a half years so the lord says i'm going to let you do this but you have three and a half years and god knows that satan is going to hang himself god's giving satan enough rope to himself the same thing happened to the devil at the cross his plan backfired he filled the heart of judas iscariot to betray jesus he orchestrated all these events to put an end to the ministry of the son of god and when it was all said and done he helped to bring about god's purpose because the bible says it pleased the father to bruise the son so the devil was helping god accomplish his goal i heard a story about a man who owned a palatial estate on a huge piece of land he was so wealthy he had his own personal forest and in the midst of that forest was a towering redwood tree taller than all of the others he loved that tree he would come down and visit that tree every day and just look at it and admire it well this guy had a neighbor who was jealous he wasn't as successful as that wealthy man and he hated that wealthy man for all of his success so one day that jealous neighbor decided he was going to climb over the fence and cut down that towering tree so his night fell he climbed over with the saw and he began to saw the mighty redwood and he was shocked by how thick it was and how long it was taking sweat was pouring down his face but he was determined to cut that tree down and now the morning has come and the sun is rising and this jealous neighbor is still cutting away at this tree and he looks in the distance and here comes the owner of the great estate with some other people with them and he's thinking this is perfect he's going to see the tree fall and just as that wealthy man and the people with them approach the tree began to topple and the jealous neighbor yelled timber but he wasn't paying attention and the tree fell on the jealous man and he was beneath the weight of the tree clearly dying but he was happy because he cut down that tree but that man who owned the estate looked at him and said oh friend this is so tragic i don't know why you've done this you see these men are builders and and we're going to build new houses out here and we were trying to figure out how do we cut down that one tree that towers above all the others so you've actually helped to accomplish my purpose that's what happened at the cross satan accomplished the purpose of god because the scripture said messiah would be crucified and in the same way the tree effectively falls on antichrist and the dragon or satan who gives him his power now when we read this term the beast this is not a description of his appearance like beauty and the beast no this rather is a description of his character i think he's going to be a really handsome guy he'll have a well-tailored suit think the devil wears prada he's going to be engaging he's going to be intelligent he's going to come with all of these so-called solutions but really he is the enemy of god and the fact of the matter is he's going to be a fake christ the prefix anti not only means against it also means instead of he's coming as a false messiah i remember years ago i was in israel and we were talking about the messiah and i said well i believe jesus as the messiah and this jewish man said well we don't believe jesus is the messiah i said okay well who will your messiah be and he said this is an exact quote when our messiah comes he'll bring peace to the middle east and he'll rebuild our temple i said um you just described the antichrist you can see how some would think he is the messiah oh he's doing all these wonderful things but he hasn't revealed who he really is yet he's a fake christ he is satan's ultimate masterpiece the crowning counterfeit a forged replica of jesus what is the agenda of the antichrist he's coming to deify satan he's coming to deify satan verse 4 of revelation 13. they worship the dragon that's satan remember who gave authority to the beast and they worship the beast saying who is like the beast and who is able to make war with him and this is what the devil of course has always wanted also antichrist is coming to defy and take the place of jesus so he's coming to defy and take the place of jesus revelation 13 verse 5 there was given a mouth speaking great blasphemies and things and he was given authority to continue for three and a half years he opposes christ and also he's coming to kill believers to kill christians look at verse 7 it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and authority was given to him over every tribe tongue and nation now you're probably thinking wait what kill christians i thought christians would be caught up to meet the lord in the rapture well they will be millions of them but other people are going to come to christ in the tribulation period some of falsely thought that the holy spirit is going to be removed from the earth during the tribulation period not true the bible says he who now restrains will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way and then that wicked one will be revealed whom the lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming so the restraining force in the world today is the holy spirit working through christians after christians are caught up to meet the lord in the air thousands even millions are going to come to christ some of the greatest outpourings the whole of the holy spirit will happen in the tribulation period so these believers will be persecuted by the antichrist antichrist is also coming to dominate the globe of verse 7 authority was given to him over every tribe tongue and nation how is he able to do this he's energized by the devil he's called the man of sin in second thessalonians 2 3 he's called the wicked one in second thessalonians 2 8 and by the way antichrist does not act alone he has a partner in crime a sidekick if you will identified as the false prophet revelation 13 11 says another beast that looks like a lamb and speaks like a dragon so this is another evil man different from the antichrist so you've heard of the dynamic duo of batman and robin this is the demonic duo of antichrist and his religious leader the false prophet now you add satan to the mix and you have an unholy trinity just as there is a holy trinity a father son and holy spirit there's an unholy trinity as satan in the place of god antichrist in the place of jesus christ and this false prophet in the place of the holy spirit the antichrist religion will be a mixture of many beliefs intertwined with occultism so when we see any kind of a movement toward a one world religion that is a foreshock of antichrist you know the popular thing today is people say well i'm spiritual i'm not a religious person i'm not into organized religion i'm just spiritual and to me it's like what does that even mean i'm not into organized religion are you into disorganized chaos here's the bottom line if you're really a spiritual person as you claim you will find your way to jesus christ jesus said to pontius pilate the roman governor who ultimately ordered his execution everyone who is of the truth will hear my voice you say you're a seeker you say you're a spiritual person if you really are you will come to believe in jesus christ and if you don't i don't think you really are a seeker because god says those that seek me will find me see we're moving toward what i would describe as an abc culture abc culture anything but christ whatever form of spirituality you want to believe in it's cool as long as it's not christianity as long as they don't believe in the bible the bible also tells us one of the signs of the last days will be a great apostasy or falling away matthew 24 12 jesus says because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow coal 2 thessalonians 2 3 says that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against god and this word rebellion comes from the root word apostasia where we get our english word apostasy from a defection from the truth i think what this is describing is professed believers falling away professed just because a person says they're a christian doesn't mean they are the proof is in the pudding by the way i've never understood that statement with what proof is in putting but the proof is in the lifestyle isn't it and if you're really a christian people will see results in your life they'll see the spiritual fruit that comes from your life so just because a person says they're a christian even a spiritual leader it doesn't mean they necessarily are as i've said before i think there'll be three surprises when we get to heaven surprise number one some of the people that we thought will be there won't be there number two some of the people we never thought will be there will be there in surprise number three you'll be there i'll be there but just because someone professes faith in christ doesn't mean they're necessarily a believer second timothy excuse me first timothy 4 says the bible clearly speaks that in the last days some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits taught by demons and they're hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron seared with a hot iron you know i don't know about you and this is a weird thing for a guy to admit but i like to iron clothes i think you've seen something that's all wrinkled and i've got this super powerful steam iron that came from europe it's much better than our wimpy american irons and so when you really need to get a wrinkle out you pull the little uh button on it and a big bunch of steam comes out it's great so the other day i was ironing some shirt and i put the shirt on and there was one wrinkle there's one wrinkle i can't believe it i don't want to take this shirt off so i had the bright idea of just giving it a shot of steam while i was wearing it so i pulled the shirt out like this and i took the iron and i gave it a burst of scene i screamed it hurt so bad later that night my wife saw me i had my shirt off don't try to envision that please i have my shirt off there's this big red spot my wife says what is that i said don't even ask but seared as with a hot iron it's scary that people can be in the church and yet have their hearts hardened against god people are going to fall away in the end times second timothy 4 says the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine and they'll suit their own desires teachings that they want to hear a great number of teachers they'll listen to that give them what their itching ears want to hear that's how it is for a lot of people sadly even christians sometimes they want to hear something new what's the new message what's a new revelation listen to this if it's new it's not true and if it's true it's not new the bible gives you everything you need to know about god stop looking for some new revelation because you might get yourself into trouble and we see this today we see people allowing other things to take the place of what matters in their lives you have a problem when you're more passionate about politics than you are about your faith you have a problem when your conspiracy theories are more important than your theology i've seen jesus loving bible believing believers get sidetracked and their social media used to be filled with scriptures and things that honored the lord and now it's all politics and conspiracy theories and to all of these people i would say this a quote directly from jesus return to your first love don't let these other things get in the way of your life paul says here's the job of the pastor to preach the word to patiently correct and encourage your people with good teaching i've been doing this for almost 50 years now and i plan to keep doing it as long as the lord gives me breath but listen here's what we need to be aware of in these last days in which we're living any move away from the uniqueness of christ is the only way to god is a problem that's a non-negotiable issue if you hear a pastor or anybody else stand up and say well we believe that all roads lead to god no they're wrong there's only one road that leads to heaven and it's the road opened up to us through jesus christ who said i am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the father but by me the bible says there is salvation in no other name and there is no other name by which a man or a woman can be saved but jesus christ so when you see him move away from the uniqueness of christ that's a problem number two any move toward embracing other faiths on the same level as christianity is also a problem i mean i respect people of other faiths i have conversations with them of course i would try to persuade them to believe what i believe and they would probably try to persuade me to believe what they believe that's fine i'm not saying people can have differences of opinions but as christians we need to know that our faith stands apart because there's no other religion that has a savior who died on the cross and rose again from the dead you can go to the tombs of the great religious leaders and you'll find that the leader is in the tomb but if you go to the tomb of jesus you'll find it's empty another problem is a move away from bible exposition listen i'm not here to entertain you i'm here to teach you what the bible says the bible and the bible alone must be our primary source of authority but listen to this this false prophet that emerges on the scene will actually be able to do miracles i'll put that word in quotes miracles signs and wonders revelation 13 13-14 says of this false prophet he performs great signs so he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of man and deceives those who dwell in the earth by these signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast i mean that's pretty dramatic calling fire down from heaven so the question may arise can the devil do miracles well let me say the devil is a great imitator and he is able to replicate some supernatural phenomena as allowed by god case in point when moses went into the court of the pharaoh and demanded the release of the jewish people you remember a number of miracles were done to convince pharaoh one of them was turning the nile river to blood that was their primary source of water in egypt and also the egyptians worshiped the now river as a god and also a plague of frogs came upon egypt well pharaoh had these so-called magicians these occult advisors and amazingly they were able to um replicate those two miracles they could turn water into blood i think the pharaoh would have appreciated it if they turned blood back into water not what little water they had left in the blood and they were also to replicate able to replicate the plague of frogs which i'm sure that pharaoh would have been more impressed if they got rid of the frogs but after that they could no longer replicate those miracles that moses did so satan can do certain things certain supernatural phenomena but you should not believe it because it's there to deceive you that's the false prophet here's a real twist in the story antichrist is going to have a mock death and resurrection a mock death and resurrection look at verse 3 john says i saw one of his heads as if it had been it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast so it appears from this text that there will be an assassination attempt on antichrist and it will even appear that it is successful but then somehow the antichrist survives it imagine if when president kennedy was shot in dallas if he survived that horrible uh shot that or multiple shots that hit his head or if john lennon had somehow survived the shooting that happened in the dakota hotel there or apartments in new york city uh wow would be like a dead person that come back to life that's exactly what's happening and what story does that remind us of it reminds us of the resurrection of jesus and what is the result of this so-called resurrection of antichrist revelation 13 4 so they worshipped the dragon and gave authority to the beast and worshiped the beast saying who is like the beast so incredible he's such an imitator he will deceive people that don't know better now we all know about about the mark of the beast 666. i'll talk about that next time let me close with this i titled this who is the antichrist now i'm going to give you the answer ready who is the antichrist i don't know by the way nobody knows so don't waste your time looking for antichrist again jesus said when you see these things begin to happen look up for your redemption draws near you know if an earthquake is coming you will have four shocks and i think we're seeing four shocks of antichrist four shocks of armageddon four shocks of end times events right now as they get closer and closer together not unlike labor pains a woman experiences when she's ready to give birth so as we see these events get closer together things i've talked about in this message it says antichrist is coming but it also says jesus christ is even coming sooner because again jesus will come for his people before antichrist is revealed now let me close with this kind of a provocative question are you an he's antichrist to greg i'm confused i thought you said it's a coming world leader yes but that phrase antichrist is used elsewhere in the bible first john 2 22 says who's the great liar the one who says jesus is not the christ such people are antichrists and they've denied the father and the son you know it comes down to this i have a choice i'm going to either follow jesus christ or i'm going to follow in effect anti-christ it's really up to me it's emmanuel or jezebel it's antichrist or jesus christ it's really god or satan you want to make the right decision because you are following the living god or you're following a false god and by the way everybody has a god no matter who you are you have some altar you bow before might be the altar of you you worship yourself effectively or it might be the altar of materialism or it might be the altar of pleasure or some other thing that you bow before but you want to make sure you bow before the lord because if you do your name will be written in the book of life look at revelation 13 8 all who dwell in the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of the life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world let me ask you in closing is your name written in the book of life you say what is that it's a book in heaven a scroll and if you believe in jesus christ your name is there and if you don't believe in jesus christ your name is not there and there's coming a final judgment spoken of in revelation when people will stand before god great people unknown people famous people every person who doesn't know god and the bible says if their name is not found written in the book of life they're cast into the lake of fire god doesn't want anyone to face judgment that's why he poured his judgment on his son jesus christ who died in our place as i said before god treated jesus as if he had lived your life so he could treat you as though you had lived his life christ died in your place and i love this phrase that is used here in revelation the lamb slain from the foundation of the world that means back in the counsels of eternity before there was a garden of eden before there was a planet called earth before there was anything god decided that one day his son would come to this earth and be born in a manger in bethlehem and then die on a cross and rise again from the dead he was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world consider this if you're a parent you'll know what i'm talking about even a grandparent if anything happens to one of your kids or your grandkids if they're sick or they fall you can almost feel the pain can't you it was harder for the father to send the son than it would have been for the father himself to have come to this cross he had to watch his beloved son suffer and die but what did jesus tell us for god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son what a gift and whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life do you believe in jesus is your name written in the book of life you say well what does it mean to believe in jesus it means more than just acknowledging a man named jesus walked this planet 2000 years ago it means that you recognize that jesus is the son of god and you ask him to forgive you of your sin and you ask him to come and take residence in your heart jesus says behold i stand at the door and i knock and if you'll hear my voice and open the door i will come in would you like to ask jesus to come into your life right now would you like to know that you'll go to heaven when you die would you like your name written in the book of life would you like to miss this whole tribulation period we've been talking about it can all happen if you will call out to jesus the bible says whoever will call upon the name of the lord will be saved in a moment i'm going to pray and i'm going to ask you that would like jesus to come into your life you that would like your sin forgiven you that would like to begin a relationship with god to pray with me in fact i'll even lead you in a simple prayer you can pray this prayer out loud if you like or you can pray it quietly in your heart but do pray because this is where you are calling out to the lord to forgive you and change you let's all pray together father i pray for every person watching wherever they are you know them lord you love them the very hairs of their head are numbered and you're calling many to yourself right now and i pray that your holy spirit will convict them of their sin and convince them of their need for jesus and help them to come to you now and believe novel our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying why don't you just pray this prayer out loud after me or in your heart if you like pray these words lord jesus i know that i'm a sinner but i know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead i repent of my sin and i choose to follow you lord from this moment forward thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer in jesus name i pray amen hey if you just prayed that prayer congratulations and welcome to god's family you've made the right decision and i have a gift for you it's sort of like your first spiritual birthday right here's your birthday gift it's called the new believer's bible this is the new living translation of the new testament which is very readable and understandable filled with hundreds and hundreds of notes that i wrote that will help you to grow spiritually i'm going to send this to you at no charge the new believer's bible if you look in your screen for a moment you'll see a phone number you can call that number and we'll send you your new believer's bible if you're watching on a computer or a tablet or a phone there's a little box you can click and if you click that box you'll be put in touch with us and we'll send you the same bible our worship group is going to do another song and i want you to call that number on the screen or click that box saying that you've asked jesus to come into your life and in just a few moments i have some closing words for you that you want to hear [Music] you turn graves into god and [Music] you're the only one who cares [Music] highways you're the only one who cares oh there's nothing [Music] better [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] to god [Music] [Applause] [Applause] you're the only [Music] [Applause] [Music] i hope you're calling that number on the screen right now or clicking that little box letting us know that you have asked jesus to come into your life let me close with three points i raised earlier but i want to personalize them to you point number one god is sovereign over all history that's true of all over the world as i said history is his story but i want you to know that god is sovereign over all of your history as well your personal history is his story even the hard things you've gone through i watched an interview with a very well-known actor uh recently and he was talking about his horrible upbringing and he said if i had it to do all over if i had to go through my childhood i would rather not be born that's sad i had a hard childhood my mother was married and divorced seven times she was a raging alcoholic i really wasn't parented at all growing up but god intervened in my life and the bad things that happened which he allowed he's used for his glory as joseph said to his brothers who basically sold him out as a slave he said you meant it for evil but god meant it for good to save many people alive so listen whatever you've gone through i want you to know something god can take it and use it he can turn graves into gardens as we just say he can make a message out of a mess but you need to say lord help me again god is sovereign over your history number two world history is a blip on the screen of eternity the same is true of us these lives we live we may live to be 50 70 90 still just a a moment it's like a story that's already been told a breath that's breathed it comes and goes so quickly so live for eternity and remember this whatever hardship you're going through is temporary i love this passage second corinthians 4 17 new living translation our present troubles are small and they won't last very long yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs it that will last forever now i love what paul says so don't look at the troubles you see now fix your gla your gaze on things that cannot be seen but the things that we see now will soon be gone but the things we cannot see will last forever one last thing point i raised earlier let me personalize it god will have the final word and it will be good you might be going through a hard time inexplicable circumstances have come crushing down on you they make no sense at all god has a plan god has a purpose one of my favorite passages is jeremiah 29 11 where the lord says i know the thoughts that i think toward you says the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope god is a future and a hope for you it's not over till it's over let me pray for you father i pray for every person watching because i know there are folks struggling folks that are hurting someone's going through something that's so hard they don't even know how they will survive it help them lord to see that you're there with them and as david said yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil because you are with me and you're with them lord if they're a christian help them sense your presence help them to understand that you have a plan help them to see lord the word oops is not in your vocabulary and you can cause all things to work together for good to those that love you so lord we lift our eyes up because you told us when we see these things happen these things of the end times that we should look up because our redemption is drawing near so we do that now lord bless everyone who's watching wherever they are and help us to look up we ask all of this in jesus name amen thanks for joining us for our service and until next time god bless you [Music] um [Music] his crown with glory [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] no [Music] [Music] your name your name [Music] to is our king cause your name your name [Music] our is [Music] is [Music] is your name [Music] your name is victory [Music] to [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 46,684

Rating: 4.8730159 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie Sermons, bible study for me, bible study, youtube sermons, Greg Laurie, Greg Laurie Live, who is the antichrist, is the antichrist alive today, is the antichrist evil, is the antichrist satans son, when will the antichrist arrive, who is the antichrist in the bible

Id: 83IO6t9wR8w

Length: 88min 55sec (5335 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 10 2021