Saturday, October 17, 2015

SERMON THE BOOK OF REVELATION IN WORDS OF UNDERSTANDING part 19

The Book of Revelation
In
Words of Understanding
Part 19
 
 
The pouring out of the bowls (vials) continues.
 
Revelation 16:8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
 
God’s messenger “poured out,” God’s Word upon the sun. If you will recall the sun is representative of the New Testament. God’s Word, the “fire” created such a heat as to “scorch people, (false worshippers) causing them to curse and blaspheme God.
 
Look at what has happened over the years. False religions, under the guise as being Christian, had begun to teach the acceptance of things that God condemned in His Word, the Bible. This is tantamount to cursing and blaspheming God.
 
As example, a Pastor preaching to his congregation teaches tolerance of sin. He tells all that listen to accept the lifestyle of homosexual sinners.
 
The moment that Pastor conceived his thought he blasphemed God and when he voiced the words as part of his sermon, he cursed God! Why do I say this? I say this as EVERY PAGE of God’s Word is DEAD AGAINST SIN!
 
Recently I heard of a Pastor saying, “Gays are trying to gain Rights denied them for 30 long years.”
 
What? Has the man not read in God’s Word of an event the whole world knows of? That event was the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ! Is the man aware that time, after time, after time God speaks out against the sin of homosexuality? What is even more devastating is to watch a supposed Christian religion shatter its followers into opposing camps on this self same subject!
 
Blasphemy occurs when a religious group instills man made doctrines that God did not intend to impose upon His children.
 
Even in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 12:27 , Pharisees blasphemed Jesus and named Him as the cohort of Satan for performing a miracle. Jesus rebuked them just as we must rebuke any that attempt to deny God’s Word as the authority in religious matters.
 
Another example of blasphemy of God is by lying and claiming to be a true Christian while not actually being obedient to God. Every day we read of one group or another claiming to teach God’s Word as they perform acts that are anything but acceptable to God. To say this is not to stand in judgment but to use a gift God has given…DISCERNMENT!
 
To gain heaven and live in God’s grace, we must repent of our sin, confess those sins to God and seek His forgiveness. To live outside of God’s Word is to live a life contrary to God’s Word and that too is blasphemy!
 
Revelation 16: 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.  
 
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three evil[a] spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
 15 "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
 16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
 17 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!" 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
Now the fifth, sixth and seventh bowls (vials) are poured out in this revealing look at our world. They, 5th, 6th and 7th) are a repetition of the first 3 bowls (vials) only set forth in a more clear manner.
 
The bowl poured upon the, “throne of the beast,”  “plunging it into darkness.”
 
I ask, what is darkness?     Darkness is the absence of Light!   We Christians all know that Christ is the Light and to remove Light is to plunge something into darkness. Christ has been removed from many religions and replaced by a pseudo Christ. A ‘would be Savior.”
 
The RCC has very recently notified its followers that Mary now has a place alongside, if not over, Jesus Christ!
 
Does anyone see Christ in a religion that DENIES His teachings?
 
The “gnawing” is to say that ‘their lies’ are so bold that they speak as people with infections in their mouths!
 
To be clear and to tell it as it is today allow me to say, the devil, through false religions is saying, “You can worship God if you want to and anywhere you want to as long as you stay in sin! Even if you worship God I still have control over you!”
 
The river Euphrates is symbolic of Babylon , which, in turn, is symbolic of evil. Evil must be “dried up” to allow the “kings of the east,” knowledge and understanding to get to true Christians to allow them to escape the snares of Satan.
 
John then saw, “three evil spirits that looked like frogs,” coming out of the mouths of the
“dragon…the beast and the false prophet.” The RCC, Protestantism and now, Islam are representative of those frogs. Their religions are man made, their doctrines dreamt up by idle minds and their religious practices anything but Godly!
 
The battle at Armageddon is symbolic as this signifies the spiritual conflict of God’s children against false religions. This is seen as the final battle between wickedness and righteousness. This ‘final, battle,’ won by God and His children is catastrophic to the forces of evil resulting in their total destruction.  The remains, “islands and mountains,” were no more and “hailstones, about 100 pounds each fell upon men.” This is to signify that God’s Word, so powerful in it meaning and spoken with force, caused any that refused to heed God and obey Him suffered spiritual anguish and ultimate death.
 
Each of us knows that we are in a spiritual battle as we go about our daily lives. Many mock us for our beliefs, for our trust in God and our obedience to His Commands. This, friends, is Armageddon. Our battle is fought daily and there are no days off, no sick leave and the only discharge is in our earthly death. It is only when we are in the presence and company of other Christians that we gain a smattering of respite. Even at those times we are forever preparing for the battle we know to be brought upon us.
 
Brothers and sisters, allow me to say, we are quickly approaching the great day of God Almighty. This great day, a day when the powers of evil will be totally smashed and destroyed before our very eyes is Judgment Day. Until that day we must be ever aware and on the alert for the evil and deceptive ways of Satan.
 
In Ephesians 6:12, we learn that our battle is spiritual in nature and we must totally commit ourselves to victory. God is our El Gibbor, our Divine Rock, our Strength and we must call on Him for His powers and protection.  2 Corinthians 10:3-5 reminds us of the impending battle.
 
Ephesians 6:1-18 tells us what our weapons are. It also reminds us of God’s having provided armor that we MUST use.
 
Just as Christ tells us, “I will come as a thief in the night,” we must be prepared every hour of every day of our lives here on earth. As written in Romans 5:5, we must keep the love of God burning in our hearts and Satan cannot have enough ‘traps’ to tear you down! Keep God in your heart and you WILL make it through!
 
Repent, confess and be SAVED!
 
(Closing prayer)
 
Heaven Father, Lord on High, we come to You with hearts full of praise and full of love for You. You have revealed so many things to us and allow us to learn from Your Word and as we do, know that we are Your children and we worship You.
 
Thank You for the armor You have provided us to protect against the many weapons of our enemies. As we enter battle, please send Your Holy Spirit to provide us the ammunition we need to overcome those who speak against You, our Lord and allow us to love our enemies with a love so fierce as to melt the evilness of any that stand against us.
 
It is You that strengthens us, You who provides all that we need and it is for You and Your love that we face our enemies knowing that You are forever there for us. All praise and glory to You Lord,
 
Lord, as ever we ask that You protect our brothers in the military, out elected leaders, our judges, police forces he many security personnel charged with keeping our country secure. Father we ask that You touch the hearts and minds of those that see us as their foe and, instill in the knowledge of our being a country of peace and understanding.
 
We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord and Savior, who is One with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, Forever and ever,
 
Amen, amen and amen.

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