January 14, 2026 • 56 mins
There will be a day of judgment and the end of all things, but the Church has been offered hope in the Lord. A blessed hope that we are to share and encourage others with. The Church lives in hope when the world is dark and feels hopeless. It lives in a time and season for hope.
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If our teachings have been a blessing to you, please let us know by using the contact button on our website.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard grind This is where you find the uncompromised read
letter basics of the Word of God. We focus on
the Book of X Church to see how they serve
the Lord. In doing so, we find the Church the
Lord intended, not the one Man created. The Porch is
(00:42):
a non denominational, full gospel approach to the Bible. It's
based on the example from the Book of X Church
and it aims to restore the priesthood of the believer
while regaining the world's shaking influence of the early Church.
The Church change isn't over. The Upper Room experience is
(01:02):
as much for today as it was on the day
of Pentecost. It's yours if you want it. We offer
you the Word as the Apostles would have to the
Jewish and Gentile believers of their day, using both Yeshuah
and Jesus. When speaking of the Lord, we prefer to
use the term Messiah rather than Christ, as it more
(01:23):
accurately reflects how he was referred to by those who
knew him. Additionally, we provide definitions in Hebrew, Greek, and
Aramaic when necessary. Getting back to basics. Isn't just a motto,
it's a mandate from the Lord and we intend to
honor it. Links to all of our social media and
(01:44):
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(02:04):
to mail your blessing. Please do not hesitate to contact
us if you require further information. We appreciate you your support,
your encouragement, your prayers. Thank you for being a part
of the porch community. Contact us if you need prayer.
We care about you and there are others who want
to pray for you. Starting out with praise, well, I
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praise the Lord for my home first, my salvation, for
my home, my wife, my family, sons, daughter in law's, grandchildren,
for hey kids, possessions. Everything I have has come from him,
but it all began with my salvation. I praise Him
for his provision and protection over each and every one
of us, for the dreams and the visions out as
(02:51):
we live out Joel to twenty eight. I praise him
for divine health and healing a lot of people under
the weather or downright sick or dealing with things. Believe
and receive your healing. I praise him for his abiding favor,
divine abiding favor, it's always there for us, for his
(03:15):
continuing revelation by the Holy Spirit, making me a new
creation and allowing me to live in these prophetic times.
Let's pray someone twenty two, Verse six is pray for
the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you.
We're called to pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters,
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and I do, and I hope you do as well.
I pray for America. I pray that we would live
up to his standard, that he would forgive us at
the times we don't, and that he would shed his
grace upon us. I pray for all the people being
victimized by their leaders, like the people in Iran, our
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Iranian or Persian brothers and sisters, a biblical people who
have been under an oppressive demonic regime for many years
and now slaughtered twelve thousand last report, because they no
longer want to be under the oppression. Pray for them,
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stand with them. I pray for the fatherless, the widows,
the persecuted, the martyrd, the innocence, and those who are
victims of injustice, which means I pray against the slaughter
of the innocents, both in and out of the womb,
both animal and human, because we are not good stewards
of His creation, and we should repent and stand there
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in the gap for them and with them. I pray
for missing and exploited children who are the victims of
human sex trafficking. It goes on, it continues. It's demonic
hacatan and the fallen are behind it. We need to
stand up against it. I pray for all of our
brothers and sisters around the world right now being slaughtered
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and persecuted for their faith. As John said, the spirit
of the Antichrist is out and about and it's active.
There's a religious persecution and anti semitism, and he is
behind it all. So let's pray against the plans and
the effort of the spirit of the Antichrist. I pray
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for divine wholeness, health and healing in me and you
and all those who need it. Let's get back to
our divine design I pray for protection and inspiration over us,
our homes, our lands, our families, our pets, on our possessions,
that he would cover us with his wings, and for
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the remnant alarm clock to awaken all who are called,
that we would no longer sleep, that we would rise
up and become active. Pray for the open doors for
all the prime projects and plans He's given, which means
kingdom finances for Kingdom business. In twenty twenty six, Aba,
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we desperately need you. We need your help, We need
your touch. We need your glory to shine down upon us.
Touch us right now, protect us. Thank you for your shoe,
thank you for the blood, thank you for the cross,
the empty tomb in the upper room, for sending back
your roaka Cordeshia, holy Spirit to walk with us, to
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teach us and to guide us. And that's what we
ask for. Now. Protect the technology, bless this word, Let
your will be done, And I pray all these things
in your shoe is name. Amen.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
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Speaker 1 (07:27):
All right, get those bibles open, get ready, take notes,
download this, listen to it again. I believe we're in
a series of important words from the Lord to his remnant.
Last week we talked about God bringing prosperity and adversity
in our life, that he's in control of the times
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of life, that everything has a season and a time,
and we need to discern and understand them. Go with
me to first Thessalonians five, starting with verse one, but
concerning the times and seasons, Brethren, you have no need
that I should write to you, for you yourselves know
(08:13):
perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as
a thief in the night. For when they say peace
and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor
pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this
day should not overtake you as a thief. You are all,
(08:38):
I'll say, children of the light and children of the day.
We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore,
let us not sleep as others do, but let us
watch and be sober for those who sleep, sleep at night.
For those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But
let those of us who or of the day, be sober,
(09:00):
putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as
a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not
appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our
Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who died for us, that whether
we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore,
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comfort each other and edify one another, just as you
also are doing. Later on in Second Thessalonian's second Letter
to the same church, Chapter two, verses three and four.
Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day,
the day of the Lord, shall not come unless the
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falling away comes first, and the man of lawlessness, the
man of sin, is revealed, the son of perdition, who
opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God
or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God
in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
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And that's about all he'll show, because he's not God.
So accordingly, then, brothers and sisters, let us not sleep
as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake,
be alert, be watchful, be cautious, and on guard. Let
us be sober, calm, collected, circumspent. Therefore, having done all
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those things, and knowing all those things, encourage each other,
exhort one another, edify, strengthen, and build up one another,
just as you are doing. We're in a time right now.
Well we need encouragement. We need to encourage one another.
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See Paul and his teaching and is trying to get
them to understand. First he talked about the second coming,
but then he followed it with the day of the Lord,
because the two were tied together, and he uses the
same expression that the Lord did. Next one seven he
said to them this the Lord speaking. It is not
for you to know times or seasons which the Father
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has put in his own authority. So Paul was using
the Lord's own words to reinforce that God is in
control when things happen. We should not be ignorant of
what will happen just because we don't know when it
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will happen. That's the theme here of knowing and understanding
and being ready started out with that in one Thessalonians
chapter four. See these two letters are very cohesive in
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their message One Thessalonians fourth thirty, verse thirteen. I do
not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who
have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have
no hope. For if we believe that y Shou had
died and rose again, even so God will bring with
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him those who sleep in Yasuah. For this we say
to you by the word of the Lord, that we
who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord,
will by no means proceed those who are asleep, For
the Lord himself will descend from heaven with us shout
with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God,
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and the dead Messiah will rise first. Then we who
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore,
comfort one another with those words he's saying to them.
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There is comfort in that we know he will come,
we just don't know when. So because of that we
live in the light of what we know. This is
a dark time in the world, a lot of dark,
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horrible things going on, but we have to live in hope.
Paul is developing the topic of the Day of the Lord,
and the expression he uses was familiar to those who
knew the Hebrew scriptures. The Day of the Lord and
the Old Testament was characterized by two phases, God's judgment
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against sinful people in God's eternal reign over his people. Now,
remember what I told you. The church in Thessalonica was
built upon Messianic Jews. This is a Messianic believing church. Yes,
some Greeks join the church, but that's not the foundation. Therefore,
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they know these scriptures. They know this phrase, and it
makes sense why Satan did everything he could to get
that element out of the church. And what we have
today are people that are ignorant of this topic. They
knew Joel Chapter two, verses one and two. Blow the
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trumpet and zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain.
Let all the inhabitants of the land trouble, tremble, sorry,
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the
Day of the Lord is coming. For it is at
hand a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of
clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over
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the mountains. A people come great in strong, the like
of whom has never been, nor will there ever be
such after them, even from many successive generations. Jewish boys
grew up hearing these scriptures. They heard in the synagogue.
It was taught. I don't think they really understood what
they were teaching or what they were hearing. But we
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can look back now and say, oh, you're talking about
the trump of God, the arrival of the Messiah. Sephaniah once,
starting verse fourteen, the great day of the Lord is near.
It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the
day of the Lord is bitter. They're the mighty men
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shall cry out that day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation
and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day
of clouds and thick darkness. But you know what, that's
not a day for his church, those who believe in
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him first Thessalonians one ten, and to look forward confidently
wait for the coming of his son from heaven, whom
he raised from the dead, Yashu, who personally rescues us
from the coming wrath and draws us to himself, granting
us all the privileges and rewards of a new life
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with him. The wrath is not for us. First Thessalonians five,
verses nine and ten. For God has not destined us
to incur his wrath. That is, he did not select
us to condemn us, but to obtain salvation through our
Lord Jesus the Messiah, and to wait for his son
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from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Even Yeshiuh
delivers us from the wrath to come. That's why I
believe in a rapture. The Jacob's trouble is for Israel.
The Church cannot be here. Over and over and over,
Paul says, the wrath to come is not for us.
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The Nelson Study Bible says there will be wrath at
the day of the Lord, but it will be God's
wrath on the unbelieving world that has spurned and mocked Messiahs.
See that Revelation six. When we think about divine judgment,
we should offer thanks to Messiah for saving us from
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that horrible fate by dying for us. Whether we are
still living at the Second Coming, or whether we have
died or our bodies in the tomb. It's assured that
we will live together with him forever forever. That is
a divine promise. That's our hope. And his reign, that
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millennial reign will be time of God's blessing upon his children.
That's what Peter used when he was speaking to the crowds.
And they send what say and acts three? What shall
we do, he says in verse nineteen. Repent therefore and
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so
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that the times of refreshing may come from the presence
of the Lord, that he may send Jesus, the Messiah
who has preached to you before, whom Heaven must receive
until the times of restoration of all things which God
has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets.
Since the world began. The Church in Thessalonica knew this.
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They knew the Jewish prophets, they knew the prophecy. About
this time they understood that they had hope. Why doesn't
the church In the Old Testament, the phrase the deay
of the Lord is used for a period where God
intervenes in judgment on the earth Amus five eighteen ward.
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Are those who desire the day of the Lord. For
what good is the day of the Lord? To you?
It'll be darkness and not light. This is not going
to be a good time. If you have people that
you care about that are not saved, whose names are
not written in the Lamb's book of life, that should
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matter to you. So Paul's using the expression to refer
to Messiah's return, the coming judgment, the thief in the
night when he shows up unexpectedly, nobody was ready for him.
That's why we've been talking about times and seasons, times
being a period of time, where is the season a
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specific point of time? And right now I believe we
are in a season for hope, a time for hope,
because without it, what do we have? Without it? We're
just a part of the doom and gloom. Without it,
we're just a part of the depressive atmosphere. Now we
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stand in the light, we absorb the light, we shine
the light. We should be offering people for a hope
out of the darkness. But there will be deception. There'll
be liars filled with lies, both inside and outside the church.
When people are saying all is well and secure and
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there's peace and safety, then in a moment, unforeseen destruction, ruin,
and death will come upon them as suddenly as labor
pains come upon a woman with child, and they shall
by no means escape, for there will be no escape.
But you are not in or given up to the
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power of darkness, for that day to overtake you by surprise,
like a thief. First Thessalonians five three and four, the
amplified version. Interestingly enough, that expression peace and safety. It
was very common during the era of Pax Romana, the
Roman peace. They would use that peace and safety. One
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ancient author spoke of comfort in the time of peace
and security in the time of war, except God's judgment.
His ultimate judgment comes without warning and is inescapable. So
it's a time to speak and not be silent. No
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matter the cost, whether you're speaking encouragement or warning, you
must speak. And I know it's difficult. Everybody's afraid, afraid
to be judged, afraid to be retaliated against. But fear
cannot rule us. Faith must rule us. Faith in the
Lord that no matter what you do, he'll honor it.
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He'll protect you either here by taking you home. The
day of the Lord will not surprise believers, not because
they know the date of his coming, but because they
are spiritually prepared. That's what this is about, being spiritually prepared.
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We are a new order, we are the children of
the Light. We don't know the date, so we're always prepared,
always prepared. If you've been with me for the duration,
you know that this is a consistent theme of getting
you ready for what is coming, even for what is,
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whether for warfare, whether for prayer, whether for evangelism, whatever
it is, you'll be prepared. If you're listening from its thirteen,
starting verse twelve, the night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Therefore, cast off the works of darkness,
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and let us put on the armor of light. Let
us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry
and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife
and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.
(23:23):
I believe this is both a spiritual and a secular message.
There is a spiritual component. Don't be spiritually drunk, don't
be distracted, don't get so caught up in the party
and the revelry and all the wonderful things. Never forget
what you're about, never forget what you've been called to do.
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You and I have been called to live and conduct
ourselves honorably and becomingly as in the open light of day,
not being bad examples by carousing and and drunken and
immoral and debauched, not in quarreling and jealousy. I mean,
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if you took that statement right there and made it
a chart, measured it against the contemporary church, what do
you think the outcome would be Verse Thessalonians five six. Therefore,
let us not sleep as others do, but let us
watch and be sober. Let us be prepared morally, spiritually,
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and physically. That word sleep means moral indifference, and the
word drunk needs no self control. Again, if I measure
the contemporary church by that, we have a problem. We
can't be an example the way we are. We need
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to change, We need sanctification, We need to understand the
season that we're in. The believer, if you want to
call it the Christian soldier, although I don't use that
term very much, we have been equipped with virtues to
get the job done. What are those virtues? Their faith,
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their love, their confidence. Second Thessalonians one, starting verse three,
we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and
the love of every one of you all abounds towards
each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among
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the churches of God, for your patience and faith, and
all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. What an
example the church in Thessalonica was even in the first letter.
He says to them in chapter one, verse two, and
through four, we give thanks to God all for you,
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all making mention of you and our prayers, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus the Messiah, in the
sight of our God and Father, knowing but loved brethren,
your election by God. So even with everything that they
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were going through, they were a good example to the
church and to the world. Therefore we should be a
good example to the Church and to the world. When
I say you're of the remnant, and I haven't taught
about what that means in almost three years, praying about
whether to bring to circle back to that. As they
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say the remnant is separate from the actual church. They're
called out, they're unwrinkled, they're unblemished, and as such, we
should be an example to the church, and we should
be a model to the world. We have hope, and
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hope is contagious. In the book The Grand Essentials, Ben
Patterson tells of a submarine that sank off the coast
of Massachusetts. The entire crew was trapped. Every effort was
made to rescue the sailors, but every effort failed. Near
the end of the ordeal, a deep sea diver heard
tapping on the steel wall of the sunken sub As
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he placed his helmet against the vessel, he was hearing
a soldier tap out this question in morse code, is
there any hope? Well, to the guilty, that's the question,
Is there any hope? He sure says yes. The dying
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asked that question, is there any hope? And you show
us says yes. We have hope, and we should be
sharing that with the world. We should be an example
of that to the world. That question shouldn't be there.
The question should be how do I have the hope
that you do? The New King James Study Bible lets
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us know that When Paul wrote first Thessalonians the believers
they were in danger of losing hope in the Second Coming.
They had been lied to by false teachers. So Paul
was correcting that Yushua had already come. And Paul restores
balance to the church by describing some major events that
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would precede the day of the Lord, in particular, the
falling away, the app the apostasy, and the revealing of
the man of sin. The falling away, Paul declared, must
come first. You know that Greek definition for away apostly
it's a military rebellion. But in the scriptures the word
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is used of rebellion against God, which will prepare the
way for the Antichrist. Some translate the term as departure,
and they think it means as a reference to the raptor.
I don't It doesn't fit in the context of what
is being said. The man of sin cannot be revealed
until Messiah takes his church to be with him. I
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do believe that because the Church is what restrains him,
the Holy Spirit in the Church is what restrains him.
All of these have yet happened. So we should be waiting,
We should be looking, We should be preparing. That's what
drove the early Church. I've said this over and over
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since what is it May of twenty ten. They had
one eye on the job and one eye I am
the sky, and they were always in expectation of his return.
But now we are in the prophetic period where the
fig tree has blossomed, Daswiel became a church. We are
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in that generation that we should be looking. And there
was a time, maybe ten years ago, I would have
told you I thought the Antichrist could be. But I've
now seen things in scripture that would have told me
back then I was wrong, having to do with the bloodline,
having to do the prophecies, having to do with all
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the things that Daniel prophesied for this one person to fulfill.
And I do have a guess, but I won't share
it publicly. But that's not the matter. The matter is,
are you ready now? Paul doesn't use the title Antichrist
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for this man. He describes him in a way that
parallels John's description. You know the Antichrist in one John
two eighteen and in Revelation thirteen. This man of sin
will lead the world into rebellion against God, and he
will perform wonders through Satan's power, and then finally present
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him as a god to be worshiped. Then he'll make
it a covenant with the Jews for a seven year period.
See these are all signposts, these are all flags we
have to watch for, and this covenant will be intended
to provide peace for Israel. However, in the middle of
that period, at the three and a half year point,
(31:38):
the Antichrist will break the covenant. He will cause the
sacrifice and the offerings in the New Temple to cease.
He will end all Jewish worship, and then he will
set himself up as an object of worship. So we
have all those markers, we have all those traits. We're
not there yet is built, not even ready to be built.
(32:03):
But we should watch and we should pray. He's described
in Second Thessalonians four that he opposes and exalts himself
so proudly and insolently above every so called god or
object of worship, so that he actually enters and takes
his seat in the temple, publicly proclaiming that he himself
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is God. Wasn't that what Satan has always wanted? He
wanted to be worshiped as God. And then Revelation thirteen
eight tells us all who dwell on 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. That's now you or I. We won't
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be here for that. So the scriptural representation of the
Great Tribulation is pretty negative. I mean, it's nothing positive
about it, no attempt to minimize the severity of human
suffering that'll happen. Then during the Great Tribulation, God will
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pour out his wrath on mankind and will judge all
of creation. And that really bothers me that creation has
to suffer for our sins. But that's just the way
it played out. But all of that has to happen
before the peace of the Millennium is ushered in. You
can't have one along with the other. It has to
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be dealt with. It has to be washed away, it
has to be burned clean. If we as believers do
not realize, if we don't believe they're going to be
taken out of the world before the Great Tribulation, you
could become very discouraged looking forward to those years. There's
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nothing positive about that, and there's nothing that lines up
with his love or his protection for his body. But
the realization of what awaits the unsaved following the rapture
should motivate every believer doing souls before it's too late.
(34:17):
I know it's a burden to me that whether I
die or I fly, however it plays out, I have
a burden for those who are not prepared for his return.
Now when it comes to this man of sin, the
non believing Jews and Gentiles, they'll let their guard down.
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They'll fall for his spiel, they'll fall for his personality.
Of course, he's got to be very charismatic, great speaker,
great motivator, somebody that everybody would want to listen to.
But the prophecies and Daniel have to come true Daniel
nine twenty seven. Then he shall confess a covenant, a
(35:01):
treaty with many for one week. But in the middle
of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice
and suffering, and on the wing of abomination shall be
one who makes desolate even until the consummation, which is determined,
is poured out on the desolate. That one week is
seven years. The Lord tells us A Matthew twenty four
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to twenty one for then there will be a great
tribulation such has not been since the beginning of the
world until this time, no, nor ever shall be I
thought about, say, I wonder what he's referring to that
might have taken place at the beginning of the world,
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to compare it to, and maybe that there's never been
anything like this. We can't say we weren't warned. We
can't say we didn't know. And that takes us back
to what he said. And second Thessalonians two verses three
through five, let no one deceive you by any means,
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for that day will not come unless the falling away
comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the
son of tradition, who opposes and exalts himself above all
that is called God or that is worshiped, so that
he sits as God in the Temple of God, showing
himself that he is God. And then he adds, do
(36:29):
you not remember that when I was still with you,
I told you these things. Wish we could do is
shove hands. But I'd like to hear how many people
have sat in a building somewhere where this was preached
and taught to your understanding, to prepare you thankfully I
(36:50):
had a preacher and teacher that did. I don't know
of too many that want to touch this topic. They
want to tickle the ears, they want to encourage the
and so many are not going to be ready because
this is a very specific future event that we should
be aware of and prepared for. But what I see
(37:16):
is this, and I could be wrong. This is my opinion,
and I'm glad to let you know that that's my opinion.
I believe that many in the body have been deceived
or entrapped to think that the day of the Lord
isn't coming, that the apostasy will never happen, that the
(37:40):
Antichrist is a fiction, it's not a real person. But
I'm telling you, the abandonment of the faith by so
called professed Christians will bring that man of lawlessness out
because he's behind it all. He has inspired the teachings,
(38:01):
he has inspired the false leaders, he has inspired the apostacia,
the falling away, a repudiation of faith, and it'll coincide
with someone else. To put your faith upon. My wife
and I've been watching TV, which we do just a
(38:21):
couple hours at the end of the night, something we
do together. Oh, he's not cute. Yes it is. And
what I've noticed lately is a very consistent theme of
the repudiation of people that believe in Jesus, of his
church and faith in him. Mocking the fantasies or the
(38:48):
fable or the myth. That's the message. It's a satanic message,
but it's the spirit of the Antichrist. This man sin
will appear, the man of lawlessness, the beast out of
the Sea of Revelation thirteen, the little horn of Daniel seven,
(39:08):
the false Messiah who will aim to rule the world.
He will appear, But we can't be here for that
to happen. We, with the power of the Holy Spirit
on what restrains him. But he needs the church to defect,
(39:28):
as the Angels did. Remember military betrayal, defection, just like
the Third of the Angels. That's what they did. They
fell away, literally because they defected from God. So what
position should we take? Now? This is the position I take.
(39:50):
I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is
the power of God for salvation from his wrath and
punishment to everyone who believes in Messiah as saved to
the jew first and also to the Greek, to the
Gentile for in the Gospel, the righteousness of God has revealed,
both springing from forth from faith and leading to faith.
(40:15):
It's disclosed in a way that awakens more faith. As
it is written and forever remains written, the just and
the upright shall live by faith. I am not of
the shamed. Oh yeah, I'm Italian. I am not ashamed.
I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Messiah. For
(40:36):
it is the power of God to salvation to everyone
who believes. And if I'm not ashamed of it, I'm
going to live it. And if I'm not ashamed of it,
I'm going to speak it. And I'm going to live
in a way of being just and upright compared to
the rest of the sinful and the depraved, because I'm
(40:56):
living by faith in the thing that I claim that
I have believe. That's what being light in the darkness is.
I don't know how else to get this across. I
don't know how else to take the scriptures, which it's
all there, because later on in that same chapter of
(41:17):
romans Ie, Paul declares what is coming. He declares about
why judgment is coming. And unfortunately, in this day and age,
if you preach all of romans Ie in many places
all around the world. You'll get arrested. But I'm going
to pick it up from verse twenty eight. This is
(41:40):
Paul explaining what is coming and actually what already is
for us. And since they did not see fit to
acknowledge God or to consider him worth knowing as their creator,
God gave them over to a depraved mind to do
things which are improper and repulsive. Until they were filled.
They were permeated, saturated with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil,
(42:07):
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, and mean spiritedness.
They are gossips, spreading rumors, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful,
inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and disrespectful to
(42:30):
parents without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, without pity. And although
they know God's righteous decree and his judgment that those
who do such things deserve death, yet they not only
do them, they even enthusiastically approve and tolerate others who
(42:53):
practice them. As Romans won twenty eight to thirty two.
We're living in that time, so shouldn't we be looking
up now. Life is full of good news and bad news,
and we always long for the good news. That's what sells.
(43:16):
I mean, given most of what we read and hear about,
it's cruel, it's ugly, and it's bad. Who wants to
hear about that. It's our obligation to understand. It's our
obligation to be able to explain and to share the
gospel because that's their only hope. Our obligation cannot be
(43:36):
conceived apart from the obligation to the lordship of Yashia
as Messiah. To be a believer means you are called
and separated to him. There can be no compromise, there
can be no going along to get along. We should
(43:57):
remember the gospel we hold that we possess is a
direct fulfillment of God's promise long ago. That's what Paul's
saying here. Romans won. Our confidence in God must never
be shaken because God's promises to us has yet to
be fulfilled. And remember, he doesn't act according to our timelines.
(44:24):
Remember you, Shu has said it's not for you no
times and seasons which the Father holds in his own hands.
We're according to his timeline. Therefore, we are always ready,
we are always hopeful, we're always shining. It's pretty interesting
if you look at Romans one, and this kind of
(44:44):
turned into a teaching on Romans one. And I believe
I've got a perspective on Roman the Book of Romans.
I had not seen before that he was dealing with
a a belief that was seeping into the church at
that time, which would not fully take hold of it
until Peter and He were dead and their primary students
(45:07):
were dead. But he says in Romans Once thirty verse nine,
for God, whom I served with my spirit by preaching
the gospel of His son, is my witness as to
how continuously I mention you in my prayers, always pleading
that somehow, by God's will, I may now at last
come to you, For I long to see you, that
(45:28):
I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen
and establish you. He was excited about heading to Rome.
He was excited about the preaching and the teaching he
was going to do. And there's nowhere else that says
that no place else that Paul ever traveled to elicited
(45:49):
that kind of excitement from him than Rome. He longed
to get there to impart them the gift that God
had given him. Sharing the Gospel should elicit the same
excitement from us. We are not ashamed of the Gospel
because it is the message of salvation by the power
(46:12):
of God. I remember when I first got saved. You
couldn't shut me up. That's all I want to talk about.
We should be that way all the time. And remember
old teaching. Here the word power, its inherent capacity, it's
self replicating, its dynamic dunamus, dynamo, dynamite. Because the Romans
(46:36):
understood power. Their fierce armies ruled the known world through
what overwhelming brute force. They understood, and they knew the
power of Caesar. But did they know the power of God.
And I think there was a hand in the mix
(46:57):
that once Paul and and even John were gone, forces
took over that denied that power, that pushed out the
Jewish element and then eventually shut down all the other
fellowships in the church that understood. But you and I,
(47:23):
we're not ashamed of the Gospel because it is a
message of liberation from the wrath of God. That's what
makes us the remnant, That's what makes us the resistance fighters.
Of this war. The message of liberation. It's a powerful message.
It's a message of the heart. You're seeing in Iran
(47:43):
right now up to twelve thousand. I don't know how
long before that doubles a people that are done. They
have a desire for liberation, even if it means their death.
But we need to live by that hope. We need
to live in that hope. We need to live in
the power of that because God does not overlook sin,
(48:07):
and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness who, in their wickedness suppress and
stifle the truth, whoever they might be, men or women,
systems or governments. He won't overlook that unbelief has consequences.
(48:28):
Romans one eighteen tells me that that's why you got
to get in your word, and you got to get
the Word in you. Both the righteousness of God and
the wrath of God are revealed from Heaven through the Gospel.
If we spurn God's righteousness when offered the Gospel of
(48:50):
Jesus the Messiah, we will reap God's wrath found in
that very gospel. Remember the tapping on the hull of
the sub is there any hope? Thornton Wilder says, hope
is a projection of the imagination, so is despair. Despair
(49:10):
also readily embraces the ills it foresees. Hope is an
energy and arouses the mind to explore every possibility to
combat them. In response to hope, the imagination is aroused
to picture every possible issue, to try every door to
fit together, even the most unlikely pieces in the puzzle.
(49:37):
After the solution has been found, it's difficult to recall
the steps take, and so many of them are just
below the level of consciousness. Hope, you have hope. I mean,
a study of the Book of Revelation would take away
your hope, except for the fact that ends on a
(49:58):
high note, the last two. It's conclusion gives us hope,
a glorious conclusion painted for us on the backdrop of
the apocalypse. There's always hope. That's what the Great Commission
is about. That's why I should burn in us. In
(50:22):
Matthew twenty eight, verse eighteen, Lois says, all authority has
been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go
therefore make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you. And Lo, I am with you always,
(50:43):
even to the end of the age. I am with
you always. I'm doing this with you. I'm there besides you.
He was there at the beginning of the church, and
he will be there with us at the end. We
should hold on to that. B Little Lemma had a
(51:04):
test in her class at school one day, and this
was the question that she was asked upon. What do
hibernating animals subsist during the winter? What a hibernating animals
subsist on during the winter. She thought about her for
a few minutes, and this is what she wrote. All
(51:27):
winter long, hibernating animals subsist on the hope of a
coming spring. We have hope. We subsist on that hope.
We have been justified, we have been saved, we've been healed,
we've been delivered, We've been given hope. Such hope in
(51:51):
God's promises never disappoints us, because God's love has been
abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit,
who was given to us Romans five p' five. We
rejoice in hope. Over and over and over, the scriptures
(52:13):
point us back to hope. This right now, this season,
in this darkness, in this craziness, in everything, this is
a time for hope. This is a time for His
chosen people to be enthusiastic about doing good, to standing
(52:39):
up for what is right, for shining the light, for
saying his name. It's a time to speak. It's not
a time to be silent. You and I have hope.
I believe because I have hope. I do because I
(53:00):
have hope in His word and his nature and his
love and his character. In him. Maybe that's what that means.
In him, we live and move and have our being.
He inspires us to live and move and to be.
But in this hour, at this time, I want you,
(53:20):
no matter what's going on in your life or around you,
to have hope. And as long as your heart beats
and your mouth works, speak, and if your mouth doesn't
work right, or find a way when people say to you,
how you're holding on? Why are you smiling? Jesus, I
(53:45):
have hope in the Lord. My hope is in the Lord,
nothing less Jesus and his righteousness. Father. We have hope, hope,
in you, hope in your heart, hope in your nature,
that you are as good as your word. We live
(54:05):
in it, we embrace that, we breathe it in. We
have hope and your only begotten son, who sits at
your right hand, whom you can look over and smile
at and enjoy. And then you see us sitting with
him in the heavenly places. Because we have access to you,
(54:29):
we have access to the Holy of holies. We can
get in there. We can come in because of the Lord.
There's nothing keeping us out. We're marked by the Blood.
We're set free from sin, and right now, any besetting sin,
anything keeping us from making that journey, anything keeping us
from thinking we can come behind the veil. I just
(54:52):
pray that, by the power of the Blood and the
fire the Holy Spirit, you'd wash it clean, purge us,
change our hearts physically, spiritually, emotionally, so that we can
walk in this hope. We can shine this hope, we
can be beacons of it in a time for hope.
(55:15):
And I pray all these things in the name above
all names, you show a hamasiak Jesus the Messiah. Amen.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the
Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be
gracious to you. May the Lord May I don't know you,
(55:37):
shoe a hummosiak Jesus the Messiah, lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace. Give you shall oam.
I'm Richard Grund. This has been the Porch on Firefall
Talk Radio te
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard grind This is where you find the uncompromised read
letter basics of the Word of God. We focus on
the Book of X Church to see how they serve
the Lord. In doing so, we find the Church the
Lord intended, not the one Man created. The Porch is
(00:42):
a non denominational, full gospel approach to the Bible. It's
based on the example from the Book of X Church
and it aims to restore the priesthood of the believer
while regaining the world's shaking influence of the early Church.
The Church change isn't over. The Upper Room experience is
(01:02):
as much for today as it was on the day
of Pentecost. It's yours if you want it. We offer
you the Word as the Apostles would have to the
Jewish and Gentile believers of their day, using both Yeshuah
and Jesus. When speaking of the Lord, we prefer to
use the term Messiah rather than Christ, as it more
(01:23):
accurately reflects how he was referred to by those who
knew him. Additionally, we provide definitions in Hebrew, Greek, and
Aramaic when necessary. Getting back to basics. Isn't just a motto,
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(01:44):
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(02:04):
to mail your blessing. Please do not hesitate to contact
us if you require further information. We appreciate you your support,
your encouragement, your prayers. Thank you for being a part
of the porch community. Contact us if you need prayer.
We care about you and there are others who want
to pray for you. Starting out with praise, well, I
(02:28):
praise the Lord for my home first, my salvation, for
my home, my wife, my family, sons, daughter in law's, grandchildren,
for hey kids, possessions. Everything I have has come from him,
but it all began with my salvation. I praise Him
for his provision and protection over each and every one
of us, for the dreams and the visions out as
(02:51):
we live out Joel to twenty eight. I praise him
for divine health and healing a lot of people under
the weather or downright sick or dealing with things. Believe
and receive your healing. I praise him for his abiding favor,
divine abiding favor, it's always there for us, for his
(03:15):
continuing revelation by the Holy Spirit, making me a new
creation and allowing me to live in these prophetic times.
Let's pray someone twenty two, Verse six is pray for
the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you.
We're called to pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters,
(03:37):
and I do, and I hope you do as well.
I pray for America. I pray that we would live
up to his standard, that he would forgive us at
the times we don't, and that he would shed his
grace upon us. I pray for all the people being
victimized by their leaders, like the people in Iran, our
(04:00):
Iranian or Persian brothers and sisters, a biblical people who
have been under an oppressive demonic regime for many years
and now slaughtered twelve thousand last report, because they no
longer want to be under the oppression. Pray for them,
(04:21):
stand with them. I pray for the fatherless, the widows,
the persecuted, the martyrd, the innocence, and those who are
victims of injustice, which means I pray against the slaughter
of the innocents, both in and out of the womb,
both animal and human, because we are not good stewards
of His creation, and we should repent and stand there
(04:45):
in the gap for them and with them. I pray
for missing and exploited children who are the victims of
human sex trafficking. It goes on, it continues. It's demonic
hacatan and the fallen are behind it. We need to
stand up against it. I pray for all of our
brothers and sisters around the world right now being slaughtered
(05:08):
and persecuted for their faith. As John said, the spirit
of the Antichrist is out and about and it's active.
There's a religious persecution and anti semitism, and he is
behind it all. So let's pray against the plans and
the effort of the spirit of the Antichrist. I pray
(05:29):
for divine wholeness, health and healing in me and you
and all those who need it. Let's get back to
our divine design I pray for protection and inspiration over us,
our homes, our lands, our families, our pets, on our possessions,
that he would cover us with his wings, and for
(05:49):
the remnant alarm clock to awaken all who are called,
that we would no longer sleep, that we would rise
up and become active. Pray for the open doors for
all the prime projects and plans He's given, which means
kingdom finances for Kingdom business. In twenty twenty six, Aba,
(06:10):
we desperately need you. We need your help, We need
your touch. We need your glory to shine down upon us.
Touch us right now, protect us. Thank you for your shoe,
thank you for the blood, thank you for the cross,
the empty tomb in the upper room, for sending back
your roaka Cordeshia, holy Spirit to walk with us, to
(06:33):
teach us and to guide us. And that's what we
ask for. Now. Protect the technology, bless this word, Let
your will be done, And I pray all these things
in your shoe is name. Amen.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
These lessons are proprietary information, except where note of the
information comes from outside sources. Combination of that information. The
manner presented is exclusive, cannot be repeated or used without
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Speaker 1 (07:27):
All right, get those bibles open, get ready, take notes,
download this, listen to it again. I believe we're in
a series of important words from the Lord to his remnant.
Last week we talked about God bringing prosperity and adversity
in our life, that he's in control of the times
(07:51):
of life, that everything has a season and a time,
and we need to discern and understand them. Go with
me to first Thessalonians five, starting with verse one, but
concerning the times and seasons, Brethren, you have no need
that I should write to you, for you yourselves know
(08:13):
perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as
a thief in the night. For when they say peace
and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor
pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this
day should not overtake you as a thief. You are all,
(08:38):
I'll say, children of the light and children of the day.
We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore,
let us not sleep as others do, but let us
watch and be sober for those who sleep, sleep at night.
For those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But
let those of us who or of the day, be sober,
(09:00):
putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as
a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not
appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our
Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who died for us, that whether
we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore,
(09:21):
comfort each other and edify one another, just as you
also are doing. Later on in Second Thessalonian's second Letter
to the same church, Chapter two, verses three and four.
Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day,
the day of the Lord, shall not come unless the
(09:42):
falling away comes first, and the man of lawlessness, the
man of sin, is revealed, the son of perdition, who
opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God
or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God
in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
(10:04):
And that's about all he'll show, because he's not God.
So accordingly, then, brothers and sisters, let us not sleep
as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake,
be alert, be watchful, be cautious, and on guard. Let
us be sober, calm, collected, circumspent. Therefore, having done all
(10:31):
those things, and knowing all those things, encourage each other,
exhort one another, edify, strengthen, and build up one another,
just as you are doing. We're in a time right now.
Well we need encouragement. We need to encourage one another.
(10:54):
See Paul and his teaching and is trying to get
them to understand. First he talked about the second coming,
but then he followed it with the day of the Lord,
because the two were tied together, and he uses the
same expression that the Lord did. Next one seven he
said to them this the Lord speaking. It is not
for you to know times or seasons which the Father
(11:16):
has put in his own authority. So Paul was using
the Lord's own words to reinforce that God is in
control when things happen. We should not be ignorant of
what will happen just because we don't know when it
(11:37):
will happen. That's the theme here of knowing and understanding
and being ready started out with that in one Thessalonians
chapter four. See these two letters are very cohesive in
(11:57):
their message One Thessalonians fourth thirty, verse thirteen. I do
not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who
have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have
no hope. For if we believe that y Shou had
died and rose again, even so God will bring with
(12:21):
him those who sleep in Yasuah. For this we say
to you by the word of the Lord, that we
who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord,
will by no means proceed those who are asleep, For
the Lord himself will descend from heaven with us shout
with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God,
(12:46):
and the dead Messiah will rise first. Then we who
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore,
comfort one another with those words he's saying to them.
(13:07):
There is comfort in that we know he will come,
we just don't know when. So because of that we
live in the light of what we know. This is
a dark time in the world, a lot of dark,
(13:28):
horrible things going on, but we have to live in hope.
Paul is developing the topic of the Day of the Lord,
and the expression he uses was familiar to those who
knew the Hebrew scriptures. The Day of the Lord and
the Old Testament was characterized by two phases, God's judgment
(13:49):
against sinful people in God's eternal reign over his people. Now,
remember what I told you. The church in Thessalonica was
built upon Messianic Jews. This is a Messianic believing church. Yes,
some Greeks join the church, but that's not the foundation. Therefore,
(14:10):
they know these scriptures. They know this phrase, and it
makes sense why Satan did everything he could to get
that element out of the church. And what we have
today are people that are ignorant of this topic. They
knew Joel Chapter two, verses one and two. Blow the
(14:33):
trumpet and zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain.
Let all the inhabitants of the land trouble, tremble, sorry,
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the
Day of the Lord is coming. For it is at
hand a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of
clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over
(14:57):
the mountains. A people come great in strong, the like
of whom has never been, nor will there ever be
such after them, even from many successive generations. Jewish boys
grew up hearing these scriptures. They heard in the synagogue.
It was taught. I don't think they really understood what
they were teaching or what they were hearing. But we
(15:19):
can look back now and say, oh, you're talking about
the trump of God, the arrival of the Messiah. Sephaniah once,
starting verse fourteen, the great day of the Lord is near.
It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the
day of the Lord is bitter. They're the mighty men
(15:39):
shall cry out that day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation
and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day
of clouds and thick darkness. But you know what, that's
not a day for his church, those who believe in
(16:02):
him first Thessalonians one ten, and to look forward confidently
wait for the coming of his son from heaven, whom
he raised from the dead, Yashu, who personally rescues us
from the coming wrath and draws us to himself, granting
us all the privileges and rewards of a new life
(16:26):
with him. The wrath is not for us. First Thessalonians five,
verses nine and ten. For God has not destined us
to incur his wrath. That is, he did not select
us to condemn us, but to obtain salvation through our
Lord Jesus the Messiah, and to wait for his son
(16:49):
from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Even Yeshiuh
delivers us from the wrath to come. That's why I
believe in a rapture. The Jacob's trouble is for Israel.
The Church cannot be here. Over and over and over,
Paul says, the wrath to come is not for us.
(17:11):
The Nelson Study Bible says there will be wrath at
the day of the Lord, but it will be God's
wrath on the unbelieving world that has spurned and mocked Messiahs.
See that Revelation six. When we think about divine judgment,
we should offer thanks to Messiah for saving us from
(17:33):
that horrible fate by dying for us. Whether we are
still living at the Second Coming, or whether we have
died or our bodies in the tomb. It's assured that
we will live together with him forever forever. That is
a divine promise. That's our hope. And his reign, that
(17:58):
millennial reign will be time of God's blessing upon his children.
That's what Peter used when he was speaking to the crowds.
And they send what say and acts three? What shall
we do, he says in verse nineteen. Repent therefore and
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so
(18:19):
that the times of refreshing may come from the presence
of the Lord, that he may send Jesus, the Messiah
who has preached to you before, whom Heaven must receive
until the times of restoration of all things which God
has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets.
Since the world began. The Church in Thessalonica knew this.
(18:42):
They knew the Jewish prophets, they knew the prophecy. About
this time they understood that they had hope. Why doesn't
the church In the Old Testament, the phrase the deay
of the Lord is used for a period where God
intervenes in judgment on the earth Amus five eighteen ward.
(19:03):
Are those who desire the day of the Lord. For
what good is the day of the Lord? To you?
It'll be darkness and not light. This is not going
to be a good time. If you have people that
you care about that are not saved, whose names are
not written in the Lamb's book of life, that should
(19:25):
matter to you. So Paul's using the expression to refer
to Messiah's return, the coming judgment, the thief in the
night when he shows up unexpectedly, nobody was ready for him.
That's why we've been talking about times and seasons, times
being a period of time, where is the season a
(19:46):
specific point of time? And right now I believe we
are in a season for hope, a time for hope,
because without it, what do we have? Without it? We're
just a part of the doom and gloom. Without it,
we're just a part of the depressive atmosphere. Now we
(20:07):
stand in the light, we absorb the light, we shine
the light. We should be offering people for a hope
out of the darkness. But there will be deception. There'll
be liars filled with lies, both inside and outside the church.
When people are saying all is well and secure and
(20:28):
there's peace and safety, then in a moment, unforeseen destruction, ruin,
and death will come upon them as suddenly as labor
pains come upon a woman with child, and they shall
by no means escape, for there will be no escape.
But you are not in or given up to the
(20:49):
power of darkness, for that day to overtake you by surprise,
like a thief. First Thessalonians five three and four, the
amplified version. Interestingly enough, that expression peace and safety. It
was very common during the era of Pax Romana, the
Roman peace. They would use that peace and safety. One
(21:13):
ancient author spoke of comfort in the time of peace
and security in the time of war, except God's judgment.
His ultimate judgment comes without warning and is inescapable. So
it's a time to speak and not be silent. No
(21:33):
matter the cost, whether you're speaking encouragement or warning, you
must speak. And I know it's difficult. Everybody's afraid, afraid
to be judged, afraid to be retaliated against. But fear
cannot rule us. Faith must rule us. Faith in the
Lord that no matter what you do, he'll honor it.
(21:57):
He'll protect you either here by taking you home. The
day of the Lord will not surprise believers, not because
they know the date of his coming, but because they
are spiritually prepared. That's what this is about, being spiritually prepared.
(22:18):
We are a new order, we are the children of
the Light. We don't know the date, so we're always prepared,
always prepared. If you've been with me for the duration,
you know that this is a consistent theme of getting
you ready for what is coming, even for what is,
(22:41):
whether for warfare, whether for prayer, whether for evangelism, whatever
it is, you'll be prepared. If you're listening from its thirteen,
starting verse twelve, the night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Therefore, cast off the works of darkness,
(23:02):
and let us put on the armor of light. Let
us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry
and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife
and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.
(23:23):
I believe this is both a spiritual and a secular message.
There is a spiritual component. Don't be spiritually drunk, don't
be distracted, don't get so caught up in the party
and the revelry and all the wonderful things. Never forget
what you're about, never forget what you've been called to do.
(23:46):
You and I have been called to live and conduct
ourselves honorably and becomingly as in the open light of day,
not being bad examples by carousing and and drunken and
immoral and debauched, not in quarreling and jealousy. I mean,
(24:07):
if you took that statement right there and made it
a chart, measured it against the contemporary church, what do
you think the outcome would be Verse Thessalonians five six. Therefore,
let us not sleep as others do, but let us
watch and be sober. Let us be prepared morally, spiritually,
(24:31):
and physically. That word sleep means moral indifference, and the
word drunk needs no self control. Again, if I measure
the contemporary church by that, we have a problem. We
can't be an example the way we are. We need
(24:53):
to change, We need sanctification, We need to understand the
season that we're in. The believer, if you want to
call it the Christian soldier, although I don't use that
term very much, we have been equipped with virtues to
get the job done. What are those virtues? Their faith,
(25:17):
their love, their confidence. Second Thessalonians one, starting verse three,
we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and
the love of every one of you all abounds towards
each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among
(25:39):
the churches of God, for your patience and faith, and
all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. What an
example the church in Thessalonica was even in the first letter.
He says to them in chapter one, verse two, and
through four, we give thanks to God all for you,
(26:00):
all making mention of you and our prayers, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus the Messiah, in the
sight of our God and Father, knowing but loved brethren,
your election by God. So even with everything that they
(26:24):
were going through, they were a good example to the
church and to the world. Therefore we should be a
good example to the Church and to the world. When
I say you're of the remnant, and I haven't taught
about what that means in almost three years, praying about
whether to bring to circle back to that. As they
(26:46):
say the remnant is separate from the actual church. They're
called out, they're unwrinkled, they're unblemished, and as such, we
should be an example to the church, and we should
be a model to the world. We have hope, and
(27:09):
hope is contagious. In the book The Grand Essentials, Ben
Patterson tells of a submarine that sank off the coast
of Massachusetts. The entire crew was trapped. Every effort was
made to rescue the sailors, but every effort failed. Near
the end of the ordeal, a deep sea diver heard
tapping on the steel wall of the sunken sub As
(27:34):
he placed his helmet against the vessel, he was hearing
a soldier tap out this question in morse code, is
there any hope? Well, to the guilty, that's the question,
Is there any hope? He sure says yes. The dying
(27:56):
asked that question, is there any hope? And you show
us says yes. We have hope, and we should be
sharing that with the world. We should be an example
of that to the world. That question shouldn't be there.
The question should be how do I have the hope
that you do? The New King James Study Bible lets
(28:20):
us know that When Paul wrote first Thessalonians the believers
they were in danger of losing hope in the Second Coming.
They had been lied to by false teachers. So Paul
was correcting that Yushua had already come. And Paul restores
balance to the church by describing some major events that
(28:41):
would precede the day of the Lord, in particular, the
falling away, the app the apostasy, and the revealing of
the man of sin. The falling away, Paul declared, must
come first. You know that Greek definition for away apostly
it's a military rebellion. But in the scriptures the word
(29:06):
is used of rebellion against God, which will prepare the
way for the Antichrist. Some translate the term as departure,
and they think it means as a reference to the raptor.
I don't It doesn't fit in the context of what
is being said. The man of sin cannot be revealed
until Messiah takes his church to be with him. I
(29:29):
do believe that because the Church is what restrains him,
the Holy Spirit in the Church is what restrains him.
All of these have yet happened. So we should be waiting,
We should be looking, We should be preparing. That's what
drove the early Church. I've said this over and over
(29:52):
since what is it May of twenty ten. They had
one eye on the job and one eye I am
the sky, and they were always in expectation of his return.
But now we are in the prophetic period where the
fig tree has blossomed, Daswiel became a church. We are
(30:14):
in that generation that we should be looking. And there
was a time, maybe ten years ago, I would have
told you I thought the Antichrist could be. But I've
now seen things in scripture that would have told me
back then I was wrong, having to do with the bloodline,
having to do the prophecies, having to do with all
(30:35):
the things that Daniel prophesied for this one person to fulfill.
And I do have a guess, but I won't share
it publicly. But that's not the matter. The matter is,
are you ready now? Paul doesn't use the title Antichrist
(30:55):
for this man. He describes him in a way that
parallels John's description. You know the Antichrist in one John
two eighteen and in Revelation thirteen. This man of sin
will lead the world into rebellion against God, and he
will perform wonders through Satan's power, and then finally present
(31:18):
him as a god to be worshiped. Then he'll make
it a covenant with the Jews for a seven year period.
See these are all signposts, these are all flags we
have to watch for, and this covenant will be intended
to provide peace for Israel. However, in the middle of
that period, at the three and a half year point,
(31:38):
the Antichrist will break the covenant. He will cause the
sacrifice and the offerings in the New Temple to cease.
He will end all Jewish worship, and then he will
set himself up as an object of worship. So we
have all those markers, we have all those traits. We're
not there yet is built, not even ready to be built.
(32:03):
But we should watch and we should pray. He's described
in Second Thessalonians four that he opposes and exalts himself
so proudly and insolently above every so called god or
object of worship, so that he actually enters and takes
his seat in the temple, publicly proclaiming that he himself
(32:27):
is God. Wasn't that what Satan has always wanted? He
wanted to be worshiped as God. And then Revelation thirteen
eight tells us all who dwell on 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. That's now you or I. We won't
(32:47):
be here for that. So the scriptural representation of the
Great Tribulation is pretty negative. I mean, it's nothing positive
about it, no attempt to minimize the severity of human
suffering that'll happen. Then during the Great Tribulation, God will
(33:08):
pour out his wrath on mankind and will judge all
of creation. And that really bothers me that creation has
to suffer for our sins. But that's just the way
it played out. But all of that has to happen
before the peace of the Millennium is ushered in. You
can't have one along with the other. It has to
(33:32):
be dealt with. It has to be washed away, it
has to be burned clean. If we as believers do
not realize, if we don't believe they're going to be
taken out of the world before the Great Tribulation, you
could become very discouraged looking forward to those years. There's
(33:56):
nothing positive about that, and there's nothing that lines up
with his love or his protection for his body. But
the realization of what awaits the unsaved following the rapture
should motivate every believer doing souls before it's too late.
(34:17):
I know it's a burden to me that whether I
die or I fly, however it plays out, I have
a burden for those who are not prepared for his return.
Now when it comes to this man of sin, the
non believing Jews and Gentiles, they'll let their guard down.
(34:37):
They'll fall for his spiel, they'll fall for his personality.
Of course, he's got to be very charismatic, great speaker,
great motivator, somebody that everybody would want to listen to.
But the prophecies and Daniel have to come true Daniel
nine twenty seven. Then he shall confess a covenant, a
(35:01):
treaty with many for one week. But in the middle
of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice
and suffering, and on the wing of abomination shall be
one who makes desolate even until the consummation, which is determined,
is poured out on the desolate. That one week is
seven years. The Lord tells us A Matthew twenty four
(35:25):
to twenty one for then there will be a great
tribulation such has not been since the beginning of the
world until this time, no, nor ever shall be I
thought about, say, I wonder what he's referring to that
might have taken place at the beginning of the world,
(35:45):
to compare it to, and maybe that there's never been
anything like this. We can't say we weren't warned. We
can't say we didn't know. And that takes us back
to what he said. And second Thessalonians two verses three
through five, let no one deceive you by any means,
(36:07):
for that day will not come unless the falling away
comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the
son of tradition, who opposes and exalts himself above all
that is called God or that is worshiped, so that
he sits as God in the Temple of God, showing
himself that he is God. And then he adds, do
(36:29):
you not remember that when I was still with you,
I told you these things. Wish we could do is
shove hands. But I'd like to hear how many people
have sat in a building somewhere where this was preached
and taught to your understanding, to prepare you thankfully I
(36:50):
had a preacher and teacher that did. I don't know
of too many that want to touch this topic. They
want to tickle the ears, they want to encourage the
and so many are not going to be ready because
this is a very specific future event that we should
be aware of and prepared for. But what I see
(37:16):
is this, and I could be wrong. This is my opinion,
and I'm glad to let you know that that's my opinion.
I believe that many in the body have been deceived
or entrapped to think that the day of the Lord
isn't coming, that the apostasy will never happen, that the
(37:40):
Antichrist is a fiction, it's not a real person. But
I'm telling you, the abandonment of the faith by so
called professed Christians will bring that man of lawlessness out
because he's behind it all. He has inspired the teachings,
(38:01):
he has inspired the false leaders, he has inspired the apostacia,
the falling away, a repudiation of faith, and it'll coincide
with someone else. To put your faith upon. My wife
and I've been watching TV, which we do just a
(38:21):
couple hours at the end of the night, something we
do together. Oh, he's not cute. Yes it is. And
what I've noticed lately is a very consistent theme of
the repudiation of people that believe in Jesus, of his
church and faith in him. Mocking the fantasies or the
(38:48):
fable or the myth. That's the message. It's a satanic message,
but it's the spirit of the Antichrist. This man sin
will appear, the man of lawlessness, the beast out of
the Sea of Revelation thirteen, the little horn of Daniel seven,
(39:08):
the false Messiah who will aim to rule the world.
He will appear, But we can't be here for that
to happen. We, with the power of the Holy Spirit
on what restrains him. But he needs the church to defect,
(39:28):
as the Angels did. Remember military betrayal, defection, just like
the Third of the Angels. That's what they did. They
fell away, literally because they defected from God. So what
position should we take? Now? This is the position I take.
(39:50):
I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is
the power of God for salvation from his wrath and
punishment to everyone who believes in Messiah as saved to
the jew first and also to the Greek, to the
Gentile for in the Gospel, the righteousness of God has revealed,
both springing from forth from faith and leading to faith.
(40:15):
It's disclosed in a way that awakens more faith. As
it is written and forever remains written, the just and
the upright shall live by faith. I am not of
the shamed. Oh yeah, I'm Italian. I am not ashamed.
I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Messiah. For
(40:36):
it is the power of God to salvation to everyone
who believes. And if I'm not ashamed of it, I'm
going to live it. And if I'm not ashamed of it,
I'm going to speak it. And I'm going to live
in a way of being just and upright compared to
the rest of the sinful and the depraved, because I'm
(40:56):
living by faith in the thing that I claim that
I have believe. That's what being light in the darkness is.
I don't know how else to get this across. I
don't know how else to take the scriptures, which it's
all there, because later on in that same chapter of
(41:17):
romans Ie, Paul declares what is coming. He declares about
why judgment is coming. And unfortunately, in this day and age,
if you preach all of romans Ie in many places
all around the world. You'll get arrested. But I'm going
to pick it up from verse twenty eight. This is
(41:40):
Paul explaining what is coming and actually what already is
for us. And since they did not see fit to
acknowledge God or to consider him worth knowing as their creator,
God gave them over to a depraved mind to do
things which are improper and repulsive. Until they were filled.
They were permeated, saturated with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil,
(42:07):
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, and mean spiritedness.
They are gossips, spreading rumors, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful,
inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and disrespectful to
(42:30):
parents without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, without pity. And although
they know God's righteous decree and his judgment that those
who do such things deserve death, yet they not only
do them, they even enthusiastically approve and tolerate others who
(42:53):
practice them. As Romans won twenty eight to thirty two.
We're living in that time, so shouldn't we be looking
up now. Life is full of good news and bad news,
and we always long for the good news. That's what sells.
(43:16):
I mean, given most of what we read and hear about,
it's cruel, it's ugly, and it's bad. Who wants to
hear about that. It's our obligation to understand. It's our
obligation to be able to explain and to share the
gospel because that's their only hope. Our obligation cannot be
(43:36):
conceived apart from the obligation to the lordship of Yashia
as Messiah. To be a believer means you are called
and separated to him. There can be no compromise, there
can be no going along to get along. We should
(43:57):
remember the gospel we hold that we possess is a
direct fulfillment of God's promise long ago. That's what Paul's
saying here. Romans won. Our confidence in God must never
be shaken because God's promises to us has yet to
be fulfilled. And remember, he doesn't act according to our timelines.
(44:24):
Remember you, Shu has said it's not for you no
times and seasons which the Father holds in his own hands.
We're according to his timeline. Therefore, we are always ready,
we are always hopeful, we're always shining. It's pretty interesting
if you look at Romans one, and this kind of
(44:44):
turned into a teaching on Romans one. And I believe
I've got a perspective on Roman the Book of Romans.
I had not seen before that he was dealing with
a a belief that was seeping into the church at
that time, which would not fully take hold of it
until Peter and He were dead and their primary students
(45:07):
were dead. But he says in Romans Once thirty verse nine,
for God, whom I served with my spirit by preaching
the gospel of His son, is my witness as to
how continuously I mention you in my prayers, always pleading
that somehow, by God's will, I may now at last
come to you, For I long to see you, that
(45:28):
I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen
and establish you. He was excited about heading to Rome.
He was excited about the preaching and the teaching he
was going to do. And there's nowhere else that says
that no place else that Paul ever traveled to elicited
(45:49):
that kind of excitement from him than Rome. He longed
to get there to impart them the gift that God
had given him. Sharing the Gospel should elicit the same
excitement from us. We are not ashamed of the Gospel
because it is the message of salvation by the power
(46:12):
of God. I remember when I first got saved. You
couldn't shut me up. That's all I want to talk about.
We should be that way all the time. And remember
old teaching. Here the word power, its inherent capacity, it's
self replicating, its dynamic dunamus, dynamo, dynamite. Because the Romans
(46:36):
understood power. Their fierce armies ruled the known world through
what overwhelming brute force. They understood, and they knew the
power of Caesar. But did they know the power of God.
And I think there was a hand in the mix
(46:57):
that once Paul and and even John were gone, forces
took over that denied that power, that pushed out the
Jewish element and then eventually shut down all the other
fellowships in the church that understood. But you and I,
(47:23):
we're not ashamed of the Gospel because it is a
message of liberation from the wrath of God. That's what
makes us the remnant, That's what makes us the resistance fighters.
Of this war. The message of liberation. It's a powerful message.
It's a message of the heart. You're seeing in Iran
(47:43):
right now up to twelve thousand. I don't know how
long before that doubles a people that are done. They
have a desire for liberation, even if it means their death.
But we need to live by that hope. We need
to live in that hope. We need to live in
the power of that because God does not overlook sin,
(48:07):
and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness who, in their wickedness suppress and
stifle the truth, whoever they might be, men or women,
systems or governments. He won't overlook that unbelief has consequences.
(48:28):
Romans one eighteen tells me that that's why you got
to get in your word, and you got to get
the Word in you. Both the righteousness of God and
the wrath of God are revealed from Heaven through the Gospel.
If we spurn God's righteousness when offered the Gospel of
(48:50):
Jesus the Messiah, we will reap God's wrath found in
that very gospel. Remember the tapping on the hull of
the sub is there any hope? Thornton Wilder says, hope
is a projection of the imagination, so is despair. Despair
(49:10):
also readily embraces the ills it foresees. Hope is an
energy and arouses the mind to explore every possibility to
combat them. In response to hope, the imagination is aroused
to picture every possible issue, to try every door to
fit together, even the most unlikely pieces in the puzzle.
(49:37):
After the solution has been found, it's difficult to recall
the steps take, and so many of them are just
below the level of consciousness. Hope, you have hope. I mean,
a study of the Book of Revelation would take away
your hope, except for the fact that ends on a
(49:58):
high note, the last two. It's conclusion gives us hope,
a glorious conclusion painted for us on the backdrop of
the apocalypse. There's always hope. That's what the Great Commission
is about. That's why I should burn in us. In
(50:22):
Matthew twenty eight, verse eighteen, Lois says, all authority has
been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go
therefore make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you. And Lo, I am with you always,
(50:43):
even to the end of the age. I am with
you always. I'm doing this with you. I'm there besides you.
He was there at the beginning of the church, and
he will be there with us at the end. We
should hold on to that. B Little Lemma had a
(51:04):
test in her class at school one day, and this
was the question that she was asked upon. What do
hibernating animals subsist during the winter? What a hibernating animals
subsist on during the winter. She thought about her for
a few minutes, and this is what she wrote. All
(51:27):
winter long, hibernating animals subsist on the hope of a
coming spring. We have hope. We subsist on that hope.
We have been justified, we have been saved, we've been healed,
we've been delivered, We've been given hope. Such hope in
(51:51):
God's promises never disappoints us, because God's love has been
abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit,
who was given to us Romans five p' five. We
rejoice in hope. Over and over and over, the scriptures
(52:13):
point us back to hope. This right now, this season,
in this darkness, in this craziness, in everything, this is
a time for hope. This is a time for His
chosen people to be enthusiastic about doing good, to standing
(52:39):
up for what is right, for shining the light, for
saying his name. It's a time to speak. It's not
a time to be silent. You and I have hope.
I believe because I have hope. I do because I
(53:00):
have hope in His word and his nature and his
love and his character. In him. Maybe that's what that means.
In him, we live and move and have our being.
He inspires us to live and move and to be.
But in this hour, at this time, I want you,
(53:20):
no matter what's going on in your life or around you,
to have hope. And as long as your heart beats
and your mouth works, speak, and if your mouth doesn't
work right, or find a way when people say to you,
how you're holding on? Why are you smiling? Jesus, I
(53:45):
have hope in the Lord. My hope is in the Lord,
nothing less Jesus and his righteousness. Father. We have hope, hope,
in you, hope in your heart, hope in your nature,
that you are as good as your word. We live
(54:05):
in it, we embrace that, we breathe it in. We
have hope and your only begotten son, who sits at
your right hand, whom you can look over and smile
at and enjoy. And then you see us sitting with
him in the heavenly places. Because we have access to you,
(54:29):
we have access to the Holy of holies. We can
get in there. We can come in because of the Lord.
There's nothing keeping us out. We're marked by the Blood.
We're set free from sin, and right now, any besetting sin,
anything keeping us from making that journey, anything keeping us
from thinking we can come behind the veil. I just
(54:52):
pray that, by the power of the Blood and the
fire the Holy Spirit, you'd wash it clean, purge us,
change our hearts physically, spiritually, emotionally, so that we can
walk in this hope. We can shine this hope, we
can be beacons of it in a time for hope.
(55:15):
And I pray all these things in the name above
all names, you show a hamasiak Jesus the Messiah. Amen.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the
Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be
gracious to you. May the Lord May I don't know you,
(55:37):
shoe a hummosiak Jesus the Messiah, lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace. Give you shall oam.
I'm Richard Grund. This has been the Porch on Firefall
Talk Radio te
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