Hope through Tribulation | Revelation | Full Experience

Romans 8, it reminds us that God works out all things for the good of those who love Him. So as we get ready to worship, I wanna encourage you, whatever you're coming in with, whatever you might be carrying it, let's bring it before Him and give Him praise. Can we do that together today? Let's sing. ♪ Oh we know You're here in this place ♪ ♪ Hasn't He made the way for us ♪ ♪ Didn't He part the waters ♪ ♪ Didn't those walls come crashing down ♪ ♪ Wasn't He in the fire ♪ ♪ Hasn't He kept His promises ♪ ♪ A thousand generations ♪ ♪ Hasn't He made a way ♪ ♪ Didn't He make a way ♪ ♪ Won't He make a way for us ♪ ♪ Oh He will ♪ ♪ He's working, He's working, He's working everything for good ♪ ♪ He's working, He's working, He's working everything for good ♪ ♪ Hasn't He been so good to us ♪ ♪ Didn't He heal the broken ♪ ♪ Didn't He truly give His life ♪ ♪ Wasn't no belt or no band ♪ ♪ Doesn't He call the dead to rise ♪ ♪ Oh make new creation ♪ ♪ Hasn't He been so good, He's working it all for good ♪ ♪ Won't He be so good to us ♪ ♪ He's working, He's working, He's working everything for good ♪

♪ He's working, He's working, He's working everything for good ♪ ♪ He's working, He's working, He's working everything for good ♪ ♪ He's working, He's working, He's working everything for good. ♪ ♪ He's still working miracles, right here in this moment. ♪ ♪ So we pray for the impossible. And we believe that He will do it. ♪ ♪ And we believe that He will do it. He's still working miracles, right here in this moment. ♪ ♪ So we pray, we pray for the impossible. And believe that He will do it. ♪ ♪ He's still working miracles right here in this moment. That's a good way. Yeah. ♪ ♪ Hasn't He made a way? Didn't He make a way? Oh He'll make a way for us. Yes, He will. ♪ ♪ Yes, He will. Hasn't He made a way? Didn't He make a way? Oh He'll make a way for us. We know, we know. That He will make a way for us. ♪ ♪ He's working. He's working. He's working everything for good. He's working. He's working. He's working everything for good. Oh, oh, oh. He's working everything for good. Oh, oh, oh. He's working everything for good. Yeah. ♪ ♪ He's working, He's working everything for good, yeah ♪ ♪ He's working, He's working everything for good, yeah ♪ Amen, God, we praise you. We thank you for your goodness today. We're here to worship your name alone. We're here to lift you up alone. God, we praise you. Let's continue to sing with all we've got. Let's sing, the weapon may be formed. ♪ The weapon may be formed, but it won't prosper ♪ ♪ When the darkness falls, it won't prevail ♪ ♪ Because the God I serve on earth knows only how to triumph ♪ ♪ It's my God will never fail ♪ ♪ Oh my God will never fail, I'm gonna see ♪ ♪ I'm gonna see a victory, I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ For the battle belongs to you, Lord ♪ ♪ I'm gonna see a victory, I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ For the battle belongs to you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh we thank you, Lord, and we look to you, Jesus ♪

♪ Oh you are in control, there's power in his name ♪ ♪ There's power in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Every war he wages he will win ♪ ♪ I'm not backing down from any giant ♪ ♪ Because I know how this story ends, yes we do ♪ ♪ Oh I know how this story ends, I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ I'm gonna see a victory, I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ For the battle belongs to you, Lord ♪ ♪ I'm gonna see a victory, I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ For the battle belongs to you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh we believe it, there's only one name, only one king ♪ ♪ God we trust in you, come on we sing you take what the enemy meant for evil ♪ ♪ You take what the enemy meant for evil and you turn it for good ♪ ♪ Oh you turn it for good, come on do we believe that, let's sing ♪ ♪ You take what the enemy meant for evil and you turn it for good ♪ ♪ Oh you turn it for good, yes you do ♪ ♪ You take what the enemy meant for evil and you turn it for good ♪ ♪ Oh you turn it for good, yes you do, we thank you Lord ♪ ♪ You take what the enemy meant for evil and you turn it for good ♪ ♪ Oh you turn it for good, I'm gonna see a victory, I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ For the battle belongs to you, Lord, yes I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ Yes I'm gonna see a victory, I'm gonna see a victory ♪ ♪ For the battle belongs to you, Lord, oh we lift our voices ♪ ♪ Yes God you're worthy, we thank you, God we thank you for the victory ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Come see his tomb, the debt that he paid ♪ ♪ It's cold and empty, folded left and right ♪ ♪ Sin is where he lay ♪ ♪ Don't be alarmed ♪

♪ Don't be afraid ♪ ♪ Jesus has risen ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ Death is defeated ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, highest praise ♪ ♪ There's nobody in that grave ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, highest praise ♪ ♪ There's nobody in that grave ♪ ♪ He said that he'd do it ♪ ♪ Took one breath and proved it ♪ ♪ The Messiah is moving ♪ ♪ Oh, the stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ Death is defeated ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, highest praise ♪ ♪ There's nobody in that grave ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪ Oh, we thank you, Lord. Yes, you are alive. Thank you, Jesus. ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ Thank you, Lord.

♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ He's still rolling stones away ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ His death is defeated ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, highest praise ♪ ♪ There's nobody in that grave ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ He lives again ♪ ♪ He's breathing, he's breathing ♪ ♪ The stone was rolled away ♪

CCB, thank you all for worshiping with us. As you take your seats, last week was huge. I got to be a part of a really good friend of mine. His daughter was getting married, and I got to be a part of that. And there was a moment where he was walking down the aisle with his daughter. My daughter's 15 months, and I couldn't help but fast forward to that point and say, okay, that's me and my daughter. And it was beautiful. They walk slowly, and they're looking at each other, and they get to the very front, and the officiant says, who gives this woman to this man? And I'm thinking, man, what an honor it must be to be in that moment. You want to know my first thought was? I hope the rapture happens right then and there the rapture happens Takes my you don't get my daughter billy. You don't But all joking aside, you know sometimes I can get so inundated and just the things for my daughter and my wife and my family and the things around me that I can forget that Life is all about jesus Because it was jesus that showed up for my wife and I when we faced years of infertility It was jesus that was the the light in my world When it was totally dark and I was surrounded by depression. He pulled me out And as I stand up here today with everything that i've ever prayed for it was jesus that was in every single season This is what jesus says in the book of john chapter 16 verse 33 He says I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace

You will have suffering in this world, but be courageous I have overcome The world And that's why we take communion every week here at ccb to remember that promise and maybe you've been waiting all week just for a moment To pause and refocus on him. I invite you to take that now Because the focal point of the gospel the good news of our lives is And always will be and always should be our lord and savior jesus christ Heavenly father. We just thank you so much for who you are father. We thank you for jesus father Just continue to search our hearts To pull out The one that matters the most in our lives and may that be our central focus father We love you when we pray this in jesus name amen So So So So I love that we just got to take communion together as a church. It's something we do every single week at CCVY It's so we can keep our eyes Fixed on Jesus and what he's done for us Well, I don't know how many of you have loved Our teaching series through the last book of the bible revelation. I have loved teaching through it I hope you're understanding it at a whole different level and just a reminder next weekend As we wrap up this series, you're going to want to be here because we're going to walk through the last two chapters of revelation What is the new heaven and the new earth that's going to be created for us going to be like and let me tell you It is going to be epic, but this weekend we are continuing Through the middle half of the book and through the tribulation all right, and i'm really excited for this weekend because Uh, mark moore is going to teach our teaching pastor and I think he's probably forgotten more about the book of revelation than I know

He is an expert on it and he has prepared an incredible incredible message for us to dive into so get your bibles open Get your notes ready as we join our teaching pastor mark moore So Hey, Ari, any of you fans of this Netflix series Stranger Things? It's about these kids in the 1980s that start experiencing and meeting these monsters from another world, like really scary stuff. That pretty much is the center part of Revelation. There are some weird monsters. There's like a dragon with seven heads, like that's odd. And then there's a beast from the land, a beast from the sea, and a 666, and an Armageddon. The whole thing is just, I don't know. This is kind of like prophecy on psilocybin. It's odd. And so we're going to take a run at the central part of Revelation, the tribulation. Now just to remind you where we've been, week one, Ashley talked about chapter one, introduced us to the book of Revelation. Week two, Dave talked about the seven churches of Revelation chapters two and three. Last week, it was the rapture, and that was chapters four and five. I'm going to cover today chapter 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. I know, it's a lot. So take out your notes, and I'm going to talk really fast. We'll be here about two and a half hours, and it's going to be all the questions you have about Revelation and tribulation. No. The reason we want to take that big a chunk is nobody needs five weeks on the tribulation, because some of you right now are going through it. You already know what it's going to be like. This tribulation period, according to the Bible, it seems like it's the last seven years before Jesus returns, and a lot of weird stuff is going to happen, but you don't need to

focus on the weird stuff. You need to focus on the one who can get you through it. I'm going to give a 30,000-foot view of the tribulation period, and I want to answer one question that all of you, me included, have already asked in our lives. Here's the question. How do you hold it together when your world is falling apart? I know people are debating, are we in the great tribulation now? Have we already started the clock on the seven-year period? I don't know, and neither does anybody else. Here's what I do know. Tribulation is not what happens at the end of the world. It's not what happened when John wrote this book. This is what always happens. This is the life that we live. My friend Danny is going through tribulation right now, 44 years old, four kids, and just became a widower. That's tribulation. My friend Mike, he is going to court. He doesn't want to do it, but he's taking his ex to court to prove that she has an addiction so that he can get custody for the safety of his children. That's not good for the judge. That's not good for his ex. That's not good for him. It's not good for the kids. That's tribulation. The fastest-growing church in the world right now, you want to guess what country it's in? Iran. Can you imagine being a church in Iran and now with a war? That is tribulation. Some of you have your own stories of tribulation.

I'm not denying that there won't be a seven-year period at the end that's really, really bad, but I'm just telling you, every principle that you learn from this book right here will help you right now get through your great tribulation. Some have already been through it. Chapter 7, verse 12 says, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now, nobody suggests making clothes white by washing them in blood, but spiritually, it just works. There's something going on here that's stranger things, man. It's different than what you would imagine, and if you can hold on to Jesus, you can hold on to your sanity through your great tribulation. You know how you hold on to hope? You have to know who is holding on to you. And that's what this central section is really all about. So we're going to cover three questions, and two of them are really easy to answer. Question number one is, who is your enemy? Question number two, who's on your side? Three is what is the outcome of all of this? Now, these last two are easy to answer. I'll start with number three. What is the outcome? Book of Revelation, here's my summary, two words, we win. Okay, that's good. Who is on your side? That's Jesus. And not just Jesus, if you use the imagery of Revelation, who is on your side is the lion of the tribe of Judah, who becomes, he comes out from stage left and he said, here's the lion of the tribe of Judah, ta-da, chapter five.

But it's not a lion that comes out, it's a lamb. And a lamb who has been slain. He became a lion by giving up his life as a slain lamb. And because of what Jesus sacrificed for us, we can stand with confidence through any tribulation. Now, this last question, who is your enemy, that's a little more complicated. And I'm gonna tell you who the enemies are from chapter six through 19, there are three of them. It is the unholy trinity. And we have the good trinity, God the Father, God the Son, the God, the Holy Spirit. But in Revelation, there's three enemies that you face. It is a dragon, a beast, and a harlot. This satanic trinity of forces that are against you. And I'm gonna walk through each of them in turn and what I want you to see, this is so good. All of them have already been conquered. Let's start with the dragon, he's a weird one. Chapter 12, then another sign appeared in heaven, an enormous red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns on its heads. I know that's super strange, let me try to make it simple. When you come to Revelation, here's a principle, you don't count numbers, you weigh them. Because Revelation uses symbolic numbers to make a spiritual point. And if you have seven, anytime you have the number seven, John loves the number seven, there's seven churches, seven bowls, seven trumpets, seven horns, seven eyes,

sevens are all over the place. When you run across seven, it is a product of three plus four Three tends to be the number of God in the Bible, like holy, holy, holy, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Does it always mean that? No, but often, symbolically, it means God. Now four, often symbolically means humanity. Four compass points of the wind, it encircles all of us. So 40 days, 40 nights, 40 years in the wilderness, all those numbers are four representing humanity. When you put these two together, three plus four is seven, it's God doing something among all people. The seven days of creation would be a good example. And you're thinking to yourself, wait a second, if that's the number of God doing something among people, why is a dragon having seven heads to represent God? Because he's an imposture. He's trying to make you think he's God, and anytime anyone imitates God, it will not go well for them. He also has, you notice, 10 horns. Now the animals with horns, the horns are their strength. It's their power. So to say there's 10 horns, 10 is the number of completion or wholeness. He is projecting himself as having all power to do God's work among people. And this dragon, man, he is a beast. I want you to see what happens to him. Verse nine, the great dragon was hurled down

that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him. And all God's people said, amen. Are you out of your mind? Like he was up there fighting Michael and the angels, and now he's down here fighting us. No, we don't say amen, we say look out. We have an enemy that's on the prowl for us right now, and some of you feel it in your bones. You feel it in your homes. You feel it in your marriage. Like there's something ominous and evil that is attacking us. Don't fret, because he won't last long. Verse 10, then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, now have come the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah for the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before God day and night, has been hurled down. Question, when did Satan get kicked out of heaven? Maybe you've heard that. He was like in a fight with God before the world was ever created. And God threw him out of heaven. No, he got thrown out of heaven. We know the exact day. Verse 11, they triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb

and by the word of their testimony. Satan lost his power the day that Jesus lost his life. When Jesus bled, Satan fell. And what I want to say to you, this is so important. I'm so glad you're here to hear this. When Satan attacks you, you just need to know he has zero power over you except the power you give him. Every tool, every weapon he has has been dismantled by God already. It has been dismantled. So if Satan has power over you, it's only because you give it to him. He's only always had four weapons. I'm gonna go through them and show you. They're all defunct. Weapon number one is temptation. And yet the Bible says that with every temptation, God gives us a way of escape. If Satan tempts you, and he tempts me too, and you give in, the only reason you gave in is because you didn't take the out that God gave you. Satan can tempt you all he wants, but it is in your control and your power, particularly those of you who are baptized believers in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit in you to resist the devil. So temptation, that's on us. Second one is deception. Man, he's a liar, and a good liar. Because he doesn't just tell bald-faced lies,

he tells half-truths. Going back to Eden, half-truths. There's enough truth to you go, well, maybe that is true. Actually, he tells you what you want to believe and backs it up with enough evidence that you go, oh yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, this sexual encounter, it sounds right. This financial deal, it pencils on paper. Like living for myself, it sounds like it would make me happy. There's enough truth to deceive you. But if you know the word of God, his half-truths will never stand up to the whole truth of God. And if Satan has deceived you, I don't mean to insult anybody, because it applies to me too. If Satan has deceived me, it is because I am willfully ignorant of the truth that God has written to me in his word. How did Satan fall? It wasn't just by the blood of Jesus. It was by the blood of Jesus, and what? Their testimony. And when you speak out the truth of God to Satan, he will flee, even Jesus. When he was tempted, how did he resist? By citing scripture from God's word. Third weapon that Satan has is intimidation.

And he'll intimidate us, like the demons will gang up on you. Sometimes it's through sickness. Sometimes it's through situations. Things fall apart and things blow up and relationships go awry. And sometimes in those situations, we get intimidated by the devil, like I don't know how to hold my head up anymore. What you do is you lift your head up to see the Christ who is above it all. When you keep your eyes on Jesus, there is no intimidation of the devil. The last tool of the devil, this is his worst weapon. It is accusation. We even read it in the passage that he accuses brothers and sisters before God day and night. This is a stunning observation. The only time that Satan tells the whole truth is when he's talking about your past. And he'll reveal it all to God. And you just let him do it. As if he has the right to accuse you. Now what he's saying is true. But that's what Jesus died for. And you have no right to hold on to the guilt and shame that your Lord took away from you. We are liberated by Jesus to no longer be intimidated by the accusations of the devil.

Everything he tries to do to us has already been defanged from this dragon. That is strike one. Strike two, we go from a dragon to the beast. I'm just telling you now, these beasts are odd looking. Chapter 13, the dragon stood on the shore of the sea and I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had 10 horns and seven heads with 10 crowns on his horns and on each head a blasphemous name. might look at that and go, wait a minute, that looks like the devil. Yeah, you think? This entity, this beast, whoever it is, is imitating the devil, but he comes out of, look at this, he comes out of the sea. In the ancient world, seas were dangerous places. So if you have a beast that arises from the sea, it's a beast that is somehow bringing different people groups together under one entity. How many crowns does he have? 10 crowns. That's why theologians will talk about the league of 10 nations. It looks like this is a group of nations that are pulled together under one leader to wreak havoc over the whole earth. And he thinks he has power over the whole world. Verse seven, it was given power to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them,

and it was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. Question, what entity, what government, or what group of governments have banded together to have power over the whole world? Some of you have some opinions about this. I do too. Pause for just a moment, because what you need to know is later on, this beast gets killed. And another beast comes and raises him from the dead. The second beast, verse 11, I saw a second beast coming out of the earth, not the sea, the earth. It has two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. The first beast looked like the devil. The second beast, and this just ticks me off. He's trying to imitate the lamb. There's gonna be some entity that comes and goes, I'm the Messiah, I'm your Savior. What is this talking about? Look down at verse 15. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. Okay, so what we have is one beast from the sea. It's kind of a, let's just say a human government. The second beast from the land, it's kind of a religious entity, it can do miracles. And the second beast props up the first beast so people look at the first beast for salvation.

What nation on our planet has a devil's deception, the devil's purposes and plans, and is supported by a fake religion that does pseudo miracles? I can think of about a dozen. Listen, what this is predicting, it may have a future fulfillment in the seven years before Jesus comes back. I'm not denying that, I'm just simply saying, this is not predicting what will happen. It's not predicting what happened in John's day under the emperor Domitian. It's telling you what always happens in our world. Governments rise and they take power of people and they make themselves look like they're a god and a false religion comes and props them up with deceptive miracles to make you put your faith for salvation in a government and not in our Messiah, Jesus Christ. This is not what happened or what will happen, this is what always happens. And our own country is not immune from it. We have people who are putting their faith for salvation in a government, in one party or one platform. If Jesus were to be promoted and someone elected him to be president and I had to vote, I would vote no. I would not vote for Jesus for president because I would not demean him as king of kings to rule one nation and one people in one place in one time. He is king of kings and Lord of lords.

You put your faith in him, not a governmental system. Okay. Okay. I almost started to preach for a minute there. Look, it is so tempting to get caught up in this, to get caught up in a drama of a social media, of a post, of a platform. Because notice what this particular beast does. Together, the beast from the land and the beast of the sea, verse 16, it forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand and on their forehead so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast and the number of his name. I know this is weird. This calls for wisdom. The, yeah. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is six, six, six. Okay, that was creepier than I thought it was gonna be. I apologize. What is this mark of the beast? I'll tell you. Have you heard of electric tattoos? They're implants, medical implants that can control your body. No, that's not what it is.

I'm just making, I don't know. Okay, here's what it is. If you have your social security number put on your driver's license, you're going to hell. That's the sit. No, no, stop it. Is it some like chip that's a location device that will be implanted in your wrist? I don't know. I don't care. Here's why. Actually, I'll tell you one more. You can't buy or sell without it, right? And where's the mark of the beast? Your right hand and on your forehead. Look, don't get caught up in all the craziness. People are gonna speculate about the mark of the beast. I don't care. You know why? Because I'm already marked with a different mark. You understand, in Revelation, there are two spiritual marks. The second is the mark of the beast. The first we read about in chapter seven. A long time ago, chapter seven, it says that those who wore the 144,000 who were wearing the white robes, they are the ones who are marked by the Spirit of God. And if you're marked by the Spirit of God, you don't need to worry about the mark of the beast.

And the very next verse, listen to what he says. Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. It's not a physical mark, it's a spiritual mark. I've got it. If you are a follower of Christ, you've got it too. His name is on you. Why 144,000? Because we're running out of room in heaven. I'm sorry, there's only 144,000 of us. I don't know about you, I'm gonna try to get in. No, don't count numbers in Revelation. You weigh them. What is the weight of 144,000? If you go back to the three and four, three is God, four is humanity, right? If you add those together, it's God doing something with all of humanity. But what if you multiply three times four? What do you get? 12. That is God's chosen people. The 12 apostles, the 12 tribes. Three times four is God's chosen people. He's doing something special with His chosen people. And yet some of you don't feel chosen right now. Because whatever the great tribulation will be, your great tribulation is right here, right now.

There is a woman in the room right now, on every campus, single mom, who's trying to survive on a shoestring budget, and you just, you wanna know, God, do you even see me? How can I hold it together when my whole world is falling apart, and God is saying, honey, I see you. It's not just 12, it's 12 times 12. You remember from sixth grade math? That's 144. And when you multiply these numbers in the Bible, it's like an underlined bold print and a double exclamation point. God is saying, I've not missed you. I see you. I've marked you, and therefore I am with you. There's a man who has been falsely accused and it's about to cost him his business and his livelihood. And you are fighting right now with all you've got in a court of law, and you just wonder, God, do you even see me? And so God says, okay, you need more evidence. 12 times 12 times 10, the complete number, I see you. I see every part of you. I see every moment of every day of your life. And I not only see you, I've marked you, and I am with you. There's some grandparents here. And you had to raise your own grandkids.

And that was enough of a tragedy, but now your granddaughters run away. You don't know where she is. You don't know who she's with. You don't know what she's doing. And you're just wondering, God, do you even see me? And God is saying, 12 times 12 times 10, I see you. Times 10, times 10, I see you. And there's a couple that have been trying for a decade to get pregnant, and you just, the pain in your soul runs so deep, and you're saying, God, do you see me? And God is saying, I see you. 12 times 12 times 10 times 10 times 10. I have missed no one that has my name emblazoned spiritually on their forehead, I see you. I adore you, I am with you, and I will fight for you. See, we don't actually even have to fight the beast. You understand that? This beast, it doesn't know it yet, but it's already been destroyed. And the Bible talks about this as the battle of Armageddon. Chapter 16, verse 16, then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. I know it sounds scary. Har or ar means mountain, Megiddo is a real town. What you're seeing behind me is a photo taken from the top of Megiddo, overlooking this vast valley. Right up there is the village of Nazareth. When Jesus played as a little boy at the edge of his village

overlooking the valley of Megiddo, he lived in this spot where the final battle will take place. Truth be told, this wide, vast valley is the crossroads of humanity. It's the choke point going from south to north and east to west. If you were in Egypt and you wanted to go up to Lebanon, you would go through the valley of Megiddo. If you're going from Babylon to Jerusalem, you would pass through Megiddo. If you're going from Jordan up to Rome, you would go through Megiddo. That's why in this great, vast valley, there were multiple wars that changed the future of nations. This is the crossroads and the choke point. And the Bible predicts that the final battle will be here, but I need to let you in on a little secret. This is stunning. There is no battle of Armageddon. You go, what do you mean? We just read about the battle of Armageddon, chapter 16, verse 16. No, you read about the gathering of the kings in the valley of Megiddo. Where's the battle? Read verse 17. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne saying, it is done.

Who fired a shot? No one. Who strung a bow? No one. There is no battle of Armageddon. There's a slaughter of Armageddon. There is a gathering of kings in Armageddon. There's no battle of Armageddon. This is repeated again in chapter 19 when Jesus returns riding on a white horse, his armies behind him. Listen to the words of Jesus. Then I saw a beast and the kings of the earth and the armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But, where's the shot? Where's the mortar? Where's the bomb? But the beast was captured and with it the false prophets who had performed the signs on his behalf. They are annihilated by the mere word of our king. Don't be intimidated by the beast of the earth. No matter what tribulation you have to go through, the beast, they can make a lot of noise, but they can't determine your destiny. That is strike two. Strike three, if you look at strike one, that is the dragon that was destroyed by the blood of Jesus. Strike two is the beast that is destroyed by the battle of Armageddon, the word of Jesus.

Strike three is going to be the harlot. The harlot represents Christless culture. In much of the ancient literature, a harlot would represent a corrupt culture. So this is a metaphor, but I wanna read to you what this woman is depicted like. One of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and said to me, come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters. This woman, it's stunning, she has a partner with her. And you've seen the partner before. It is none other than the beast. It says, I saw the woman riding on a scarlet beast that was covered with black. Asimus names, and had seven heads and 10 horns. There it is. And I'm not gonna lie, she's good looking. I mean, what a looker. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand filled with the abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. And that is a depiction of our current culture. Globally. Rampant pornography in your pocket? Advocacy of drunkenness and carousing? Stealing, theft, lying, cheating? It's just in the water, it's all around us.

And God is warning you, do not get in bed with this prophet because she will be destroyed. How is God gonna destroy a Christless culture? This will shock you. You know what God does? Nothing. Because he doesn't have to. Here's her demise depicted in chapter 17, verse 16. The beast and the 10 horns you saw will hate the prostitute. Wait a minute, I thought she was riding on his back. She was. They look like they're friends. Oh, they're not friendly. He hates her and she hates him. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked. They will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Please hear this. I know this is rough imagery, but do you understand that it's not the world against the church? The world is against the world as well. The world is cannibalistic. It will eat itself. It will cancel itself. It will DEI itself to death. It will destroy its own in a heartbeat. They only gather together against God's people. But do you understand? This culture, what's the phrase?

It's going to hell in a handbasket. It's going to kill itself. And if you get in bed with her, you will receive her punishments. That's why we are warned, chapter 18, come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues. I know life can be tough, but what a mistake it is for you to try to make friends with a prostitute, with a corrupt culture, that you think, oh, that will give me some pleasure, or that will give me relief. It will not. It will destroy you. As I look at these end times, I see good men and women of the church making two devastating mistakes. We have the wrong friends, and we have the wrong enemies. And what this is calling us to is to raise our eyes to him. He is our hope. We have the wrong friends because we think that if I could just have sexual gratification, that that would fulfill me in this world where I'm going through trouble. It'll destroy you. If I could just,

if I could just medicate the pain away, no, that will destroy you. If I could just get to a certain level of income, I could protect myself. No, you can't. That's the deception of the devil. If you have the wrong friends, you will have the wrong future. We also have the wrong enemies, because some of you are fighting your ex. He's not the problem. He's a POW, a prisoner of war. He is fodder for the enemy. He's not your enemy. Your boss that didn't recognize you, that didn't give you the raise that you deserve, he's not your enemy. He's a prisoner of war. That neighbor that is gossiping and slandering and shouting, they're not your enemy. They're a prisoner of war. Do you understand? We are at war, and the enemy is not flesh and blood. He's a dragon, a beast, and the harlot that have already been destroyed by God. If we will raise our eyes above a dragon, above a beast, above a harlot, we will see him. And I'm gonna ask you to read a passage with me that will be the song we sing when he returns.

It comes from chapter 19. I don't need you to read all the words. I'll read most of it. I just want you to read one word. You'll read it four times. It's the word hallelujah. In Hebrew, it means praise Yahweh. And so, in respect for God's word, would you stand, please, and read with me? Just read the one. I'll read the rest. You just read this one word, but read it like you mean it. After this, I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven, shouting. Hallelujah! Well, that was pretty good. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are His judgments. And again, they shouted, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. The 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne. And they cried, Amen. Hallelujah! Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, both great and small. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters

and like loud peals of thunder shouting, Hallelujah! For the Lord, our God Almighty, reigns. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. How do you hold it together when the world is falling apart? We worship. That's how. I lift my hands, Holy surrender. Hallelujah. I lift my hands, Holy surrender. Hallelujah. Holy surrender. Hallelujah. Please sing hallelujah. Father, You've done what You said You would. Carried me through like I knew You could. You have been faithful, so, so good. I know You've heard every prayer I pray. My faith may have wavered, You stayed the same. You have been faithful, so, so good. Oh, it's who You are.

You have been faithful, so, so good. God, I will trust in Your name forever. You're my provider, my defender. In Your presence, I'm resting assured. You've been nothing but faithful, nothing but good. Hallelujah. I know the days ahead are long. Troubles and trials yet to come. But You will be faithful, You're just that good. Oh, You're good, Lord. God, I will trust in Your name forever. You're my provider, my defender. In Your presence, I'm resting assured. You've been nothing but faithful, nothing but good. You've been nothing but faithful, nothing but good. So we surrender all today. Sing hallelujah to Your name. I lift my hands, holy surrender. Hallelujah. I lift my hands, holy surrender. All to You, we say hallelujah. I lift my hands, holy surrender. Hallelujah. ♪ All we are is yours, all we are is yours ♪ ♪ I lift my hands, holy surrender ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, all the praise is yours ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, all the praise is yours ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, no one will trust in your name forever ♪ ♪ You're my provider, my defender ♪ ♪ Here in your presence, I'm resting assured ♪

♪ You've been nothing but faithful, nothing but good ♪ ♪ You've been nothing but faithful, nothing but good ♪ ♪ You've been nothing but faithful, nothing but good ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, all the praise is yours ♪ Thank you. He has been good. And we know that some of you, you're going through a great tribulation right now. God sees you and God is with you and we want to be with you as well. If you would like someone with skin on to pray with you, you just, whatever campus you're on, you just come up front. There are people that this is what they do for God, this is what they do for you. They want to hear your story, they want to physically be part of what God is going to do in your life. They'll walk with you through it, they'll pray over you in it. And so if you need prayer, you come forward. And if you need to make a decision to give your life to Jesus in baptism, you just head straight to the baptistry. Holy Father, you have been good. And the battle that we're in is raging. There's outrage all around us and there's chaos around us and there's turmoil and war and hatred. But we see you, God. We see the lamb and the scars on him

are from us, from our sins. And his blood is on us. We just trust in you, Lord, that it is the blood of Jesus that will lead us to a white robe when you return. Come, Lord Jesus. Soon and very soon, come, Lord Jesus. And we pledge allegiance to you and you alone that we will be faithful to you and loyal to you until you come again. And it's in your name that we pray, amen. We better go make him famous. Amen.