Participants:
Series Code: SF
Program Code: SF000052A
00:00 male announcer: "The Voice of Prophecy" presents
00:02 "Midnight Approaches" by Shawn Boonstra 00:04 at the yearly Palm Springs sponsorship weekend, 00:07 where supporters and friends learn about our mission, 00:10 ministry, and God's leading. 00:13 Shawn Boonstra: This morning, I want to start 00:14 in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, which goes without saying 00:17 is Paul's second letter to the church at Thessalonica. 00:21 And the verses we're going to read will be on the screen, 00:23 but I would still encourage you this morning 00:24 that if you have an actual copy of the Bible, 00:26 open it up on the tables and follow along anyway 00:29 because you'll probably notice 00:31 context that we don't have time to cover, 00:33 or you'll notice details in a verse 00:35 that we don't have time to talk about this morning. 00:37 And all of those details are important. 00:40 We will provide it on the screen, 00:41 but it's still a good idea to follow along. 00:43 We're going to start in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 00:46 and verse 1. 00:47 This is Paul writing, and he says, 00:49 "Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 00:53 and our gathering together to Him, 00:55 we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind," or what? 01:01 Well, it's up there on the screen and it's underlined. 01:03 It's a really easy test, or what? 01:05 "Troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, 01:09 as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come." 01:12 Now, I want to pause. 01:13 This is not the major theme that we're going to be studying, 01:15 but I want you to notice the attitude Paul uses 01:18 when he discusses last day events, Bible prophecy, 01:21 the Second Coming of Christ, 01:23 he uses the same attitude that Jesus has 01:25 when Jesus looks down to the future. 01:27 You'll notice that many times throughout the gospel, 01:29 Jesus says, "Fear not. 01:32 Why do you allow fears to rise in your heart? 01:34 You believe in God; believe also in me. 01:36 Let not your heart be troubled." 01:37 It's always in the New Testament 01:39 with this attitude of calm reassurance. 01:42 It's always with this attitude of hope, 01:45 and that tells me something important. 01:47 It tells me that if preachers are always and forever 01:50 using last day events to just scare the stuffing 01:53 out of the congregation, 01:55 there might be something wrong with that approach. 01:56 It might not be the New Testament approach. 02:00 Now, that's not to say that once in a while 02:01 it doesn't have its place. 02:03 Once in a while, a preacher just needs to lay out 02:04 a little bit of straight talk and say, 02:06 "Look, if you do this, 02:08 the consequence is going to be this." 02:10 Every preacher knows that once in a while, 02:12 you have to do it. 02:14 Every parent knows that once in a while, 02:15 you have to do that. 02:16 You have to say, "Johnny, if you put that knife 02:18 in the electric outlet, 02:19 you're going to get a nasty burn, 02:21 or a shock, or even worse." 02:22 Sometimes, you just have to lay out the scary consequences 02:25 of what somebody might do, right? 02:26 "Young lady, if you drink and drive, 02:28 you're not only going to get hurt, 02:29 you might kill somebody or kill yourself." 02:31 Sometimes, a little straight talk is good. 02:33 "Young lady, if you date before the age of 30, 02:36 it's going to turn out to be no good. 02:38 Don't trust a man before they're 35 with a career." 02:40 You have to lay out the bald truth sometimes. 02:43 Once in a while, it's a perfectly valid method 02:46 to make a biblical point. 02:47 But that having been said, 02:49 if somebody is always and forever 02:52 selling the gospel to an audience 02:54 by trying to scare people into the kingdom, 02:56 if everything they preach is always about the beast, 02:58 and it's always about persecution, 03:00 it's always about the little horn power, 03:01 it's always about the last crisis, 03:03 then I'd like to suggest that, 03:05 based on what we find in the New Testament, 03:06 that might not be a biblical approach. 03:10 So, Paul writes to Thessalonians, and he says, 03:12 "Look, I don't want you to be troubled by anything 03:15 that I might write to you in a letter." 03:17 Now, we don't know exactly why he had to say that, 03:20 but we suspect that Paul had to say, 03:22 "Look, I don't want you to be troubled by my letters," 03:24 because he's afraid that he might have given 03:27 these people the wrong idea with his first letter. 03:30 And that's the letter where he describes 03:32 the Second Coming of Christ in amazing, vivid detail. 03:36 It's a passage you know well because you've heard it 03:37 at every funeral you've ever gone to. 03:40 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul writes and says, "When Jesus comes, 03:43 he descends from heaven with a mighty shout, 03:45 and the trumpet of God, and the graves start popping open, 03:48 and the dead come out of the ground, 03:49 and we're all caught up in the air 03:50 to be with Jesus forever." 03:53 Back in the first century, before they had YouTube, 03:55 before they had Netflix, 03:56 before they had a special effects department, 03:58 that was the most vivid description 04:00 of the Second Coming possible. 04:02 And it was so powerful that we suspect 04:05 it actually caused a panic 04:07 in the early first century church. 04:09 "Did you hear what Paul wrote? 04:12 The pastor read it from the pulpit on Sabbath. 04:14 Jesus is coming back any minute." 04:16 "Oh, that's good news. 04:18 You know, the Roman tax collector 04:19 is coming through town this afternoon, 04:21 and I'm not going to pay him the taxes 04:23 because if Jesus is coming back that soon, 04:25 they won't even have time for a trial. 04:26 They'll never have time to crucify me, 04:28 and it will feel really good to just say no to that guy. 04:31 And I'm not putting in my crops this week either 04:33 because if there's not going to be a harvest, 04:35 forget it, Jesus is coming back any minute. 04:38 We've only got a few days left." 04:39 Somehow, they got the wrong idea. 04:41 So, Paul sits down and he writes this second letter. 04:44 "Not so fast," he says. 04:47 "There is something that has to happen first 04:50 before Jesus comes." 04:52 Now, we're going to get to our key thought for the morning, 04:55 verse 3, follow carefully. 04:57 "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day," 05:01 the Second Coming of Christ, 05:03 "will not come unless the falling away comes first." 05:06 Now, he's looking down through the corridors of time 05:08 and predicting that the Christian church itself 05:11 would move into an age of apostasy. 05:13 He's looking at the dark horse of Revelation chapter 6 05:17 and the pale horse of Revelation chapter 6, 05:19 "That Day will not come unless the falling away comes first," 05:23 apostasy within Christianity, "and the man of sin is revealed, 05:27 the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself 05:30 above all that is called God or that is worshiped, 05:33 so that he sits as God in the temple of God, 05:37 showing himself that he is God." 05:41 Now, I'm convinced that that passage, 05:43 especially the underlined bit, 05:45 that passage describes the greatest challenge, 05:49 the greatest threat you and I face 05:52 between this moment this morning and the Second Coming of Christ, 05:56 but maybe not the way that you think. 05:57 Usually when we read this, we read it with external eyes. 06:00 We read a passage like that, we run to the bedroom window, 06:02 we open the drapes, we look outside, 06:04 "Where is that man of sin, that son of perdition?" 06:07 And he's not hard to find 06:08 if you gather the biblical evidence. 06:10 It's pretty obvious who or what this is talking about. 06:13 But I want you to look at this verse 06:15 with a new set of eyes this morning, 06:16 and maybe read it just a little more personally. 06:20 And in order to help us do that this morning, 06:22 I want to take you to the pages of the Old Testament. 06:25 And I want to look at the story of Saul, the son of Kish, 06:28 this very ordinary young man 06:30 who's doing something very ordinary, very average 06:33 the first time that you meet him in the story. 06:35 He's just out combing the countryside, 06:37 looking for his dad's missing donkeys 06:39 that escaped last night and disappeared. 06:42 He's like every other farm kid you've ever met 06:44 who had to go chase a missing cow 06:46 that got out of the pen last night, and is somewhere 06:48 down the freeway or in somebody else's field. 06:50 He's like every other little boy you've ever met 06:52 who had to go down the neighborhood hanging 06:54 "Have you seen my puppy?" signs on every lamppost. 06:57 It's a very average, very ordinary story 07:00 because every story in the Bible is average 07:03 and ordinary when it starts. 07:05 It deals with real, ordinary, average people, 07:07 and then God intervenes and does something extraordinary. 07:11 And when you start to read 07:12 the story of Saul very carefully, 07:14 you quickly notice that Saul 07:15 is not like every other boy you've ever met. 07:18 In fact, in some regards, and you may want 07:21 to contemplate this for the next few weeks or months 07:23 because it may apply very closely 07:26 to the day and age we live in, 07:28 in some regards Saul looks a lot like Lucifer 07:32 just before Lucifer falls from grace. 07:34 He looks like the description of Lucifer 07:36 in Ezekiel chapter 28. 07:38 The Bible says that Saul the son of Kish is very gifted. 07:42 It uses the word "choice." 07:44 And the Bible says that he's very attractive, 07:47 he's very easy on the eyes. 07:48 This is the kind of young man 07:50 that, when he walks into the room, 07:51 the head of every young lady turns. 07:53 They all notice him making his entrance. 07:55 This is the kind of guy I hated 07:57 when I was out shopping for a wife 07:59 because when he showed up in the room, 08:01 you didn't stand a chance anymore. 08:02 He's good looking, a walking work of art. 08:05 The Bible says, 1 Samuel 9, verse 2, 08:08 "And he," that's Kish, "had a choice 08:10 and handsome son whose name was Saul." 08:13 How handsome was he? 08:14 "There was not a more handsome person than he 08:17 among the children of Israel." 08:18 And suddenly, one day, according to the story, 08:21 the best looking man in the whole country 08:22 goes out to find some missing donkeys. 08:26 But what stud muffin Saul doesn't realize, 08:28 at least at the very beginning of the story, 08:30 is that those donkeys aren't missing by accident, 08:32 mm-mm. 08:33 In fact, it's entirely possible that an angel 08:35 has broken a few boards off of Kish's fence 08:38 and led those donkeys out into the wilderness 08:40 because this is the story of a divine intervention. 08:43 God needs Saul to come to a certain spot at a certain time. 08:48 Where does he need him? 08:49 He needs him in a little village called Ramah of Benjamin, 08:52 where the elders of Israel have just called 08:54 an emergency meeting with Samuel, 08:56 the aging prophet of God. 08:58 This is a story that takes place late in Samuel's career, 09:01 years, decades after Samuel first hears the voice of Christ 09:05 calling him in the night, "Samuel, Samuel." 09:08 It was our favorite story when the girls were little. 09:11 I'd just say, "Samuel, Samuel," and little voices would pipe up, 09:14 "Speak, Lord, for your servant--" 09:16 It was one of our favorite stories. 09:18 And it's one of my favorite stories 09:20 because the personality of Jesus shines through the story. 09:23 I don't know if you've ever noticed, 09:24 but Jesus seems to have this personality trait 09:27 where he uses people's first names twice. 09:30 "Mary, Mary. 09:32 Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? 09:34 Samuel, Samuel," you know it's Jesus 09:36 before you finish the story. 09:38 Now, it's years, decades after that night. 09:41 And in obedience to the call of Jesus, 09:43 Samuel has spent his entire life helping the children of Israel 09:47 understand what it means to live as ex-slaves, 09:50 what it means to live as a free people 09:52 in a covenant relationship with God, 09:54 what it means to build a God-fearing nation 09:56 in the land of promise, 09:57 surrounded by all these heathen, idol worshiping countries. 10:02 And now, in 1 Samuel chapter 8, 10:04 Samuel's getting up there, he's getting old. 10:06 And the children of Israel are watching him deteriorate, 10:09 and they're wondering what's going to happen 10:11 when this guy is gone. 10:12 What are we going to do about leadership 10:14 in the nation of Israel? 10:15 So, they call a meeting in Ramah, 10:18 and about the same time that the donkeys go missing. 10:20 "We kind of notice that lately, you're not what you used to be. 10:24 We noticed you're getting tired, you're tired all the time. 10:27 You forget stuff. 10:28 The other day after council meeting, 10:29 you went looking for the keys to your ox cart, 10:31 and it took you an hour to find them, 10:32 and they were in your hand 10:34 the whole time you were looking, Samuel. 10:35 And the reason you couldn't see them 10:37 is because you couldn't find your glasses either. 10:38 They were on your head the whole time. 10:41 And we've noticed that even when you're not forgetting stuff, 10:43 you fall asleep in the council meeting. 10:45 We have seen it. 10:47 No, Samuel, we have heard you fall asleep 10:49 in the council meeting. 10:50 And even when you are awake, we have to repeat ourselves 10:52 all the time because you can't hear what we're saying. 10:55 So, we've been talking, and we kind of think 10:57 that maybe now before it's too late, 10:59 while you're still around to help with the decision, 11:01 it might be time to draft a succession plan. 11:05 You know, just in case." 11:06 "Well, guys, if it's a succession plan 11:08 you're thinking of, don't worry, I've got that covered. 11:10 You don't think I know I'm getting older? 11:11 I have a succession plan. 11:13 Have you not noticed my two boys, Abijah and Joel? 11:15 They're already working as judges 11:16 here in the nation of Israel, 11:18 and I'm prepping them to take my place." 11:21 "Well, that's the problem, Samuel. 11:24 We don't like them." 11:26 "Why don't you like them?" "You can't trust those guys." 11:28 And according to the Bible, they kind of had a point. 11:30 1 Samuel 8, verse 3 says that the sons of Samuel 11:32 did not walk in the ways of their father. 11:34 In fact, it says that they turned aside 11:37 after dishonest gain, they took bribes, 11:40 and they perverted justice. 11:43 Now, that might be perfectly acceptable 11:44 if you're running for office in 21st century America, 11:47 at least it's starting to seem that way. 11:49 But in the camp of Israel, that is totally unacceptable 11:52 because the only role for human leadership 11:54 in God's system 11:56 was to stand between the people of God and God, 11:58 and point them back to the only true king in the universe. 12:02 It was a mediatorial role. 12:04 If you read your Bible carefully, 12:05 you'll notice that before this story, 12:07 before Saul the son of Kish, 12:08 the leaders of Israel didn't pass any laws. 12:10 They didn't. They didn't legislate. 12:12 They didn't get rich on the proceeds of public office. 12:15 They didn't really make any decisions 12:17 because only God made decisions in the camp of Israel. 12:20 Human leadership was a coaching role. 12:22 Human leadership was mediatorial. 12:25 And if Samuel's boys were morally compromised in any way, 12:28 there's no way they could stand before the people 12:31 and relay the will of God to them 12:32 because they don't understand the will of God themselves. 12:36 So, I imagine Samuel has to fall quiet for a moment, 12:40 same way you would be if somebody told you 12:41 you've just outlived your usefulness, 12:43 and your one legacy, your children, 12:45 are an unmitigated disaster. 12:48 "Well, what do you guys think we should do then? 12:50 If you don't want my boys, what's your suggestion?" 12:52 "Well, here's what we think, Samuel. 12:54 And I'm glad you asked because we've spent a lot of time 12:56 talking about this this week. 12:57 Now that we've been here for a few generations 12:59 and we're all settled into the land of Canaan, 13:01 and we're free and respectable people, 13:03 and we have culture, and industry, 13:05 and college degrees, 13:07 we're even getting a stoplight in Jerusalem 13:09 and maybe a symphony orchestra. 13:11 We have really grown up as a people, 13:13 and we're thinking that at long last, 13:15 it might be time to become a real country." 13:17 "Well, you guys are a real country. 13:19 You're the children of Abraham. God gave you this land. 13:22 You're a real nation." 13:23 "No, listen Samuel, that's just the past talking from you. 13:26 This is not a real country. 13:28 You need to start paying attention. 13:29 Every other nation without exception has a king. 13:33 how do you not notice that? 13:34 Every other respectable religion, 13:36 every other church has a responsible human being, 13:38 a highly trained professional 13:40 sitting at the top of the organization 13:42 telling people what to do. 13:44 And we have noticed it, 13:45 and we're getting a little bit embarrassed. 13:47 We're starting to look like a country of peasants, 13:49 and we think maybe at long last, 13:51 it's time to graduate from prophets and judges, 13:54 and get ourselves a king." 13:56 "A king? 13:57 That's not a good idea at all, guys. 13:59 That's not what God wants." 14:00 "Okay, listen Samuel, 14:02 we know you have the gift of prophecy, 14:03 but that doesn't mean everything you say is right every time. 14:06 You're just from another generation. 14:07 You don't understand this. You're the past. 14:09 We wish you would get cable in your hut 14:12 so you could watch CNN 14:13 and see what's going on in the world. 14:15 We wish you would open a Twitter account 14:16 and follow what people are doing 14:18 because they're all making fun of us all over the planet. 14:21 On Twitter, it's #Israelbabynation. 14:24 All the time, they just mock us. 14:26 We wish you would get out there and read some Barna studies, 14:28 and talk to a few millennials. 14:30 And if you did, you would see that we're right. 14:32 Everybody knows that in the 12th century BC, 14:35 good professional leadership requires a king. 14:38 It's how everybody does it." 14:41 And they were right, 14:43 it is exactly how everybody else was doing it. 14:47 But follow me carefully because this is important. 14:50 Everybody else was not the kingdom of God. 14:53 Everybody else was not the chosen people. 14:56 Everybody else was not God's remnant church 14:58 because God's people have never been called 15:00 to be like everybody else. 15:02 God's people have never been called 15:04 to get their marching orders from the popular culture. 15:06 God's people have always been told 15:07 to stand in the stream facing upstream, 15:09 resisting the tide of worldliness in this world. 15:13 God's people have never been cultural. 15:15 God's people have always been countercultural. 15:18 And that's why it ought to bother us 15:20 when people start looking outside of our own church, 15:23 and they begin to covet what everybody else has. 15:26 "Pastor, did you see that new church in town? 15:29 They call that a megachurch. 15:30 That's a big place, and it's very successful, 15:32 and they have 25 trained pastors on staff. 15:34 They have a full-time marriage counselor. 15:36 They have a full-time psychologist. 15:38 They turn out a bestselling book every 6 months without fail. 15:42 They put a Starbucks in the lobby of the church, 15:44 isn't that brilliant? 15:46 Because everybody loves Starbucks, 15:47 and if they come in for Starbucks, 15:49 they might stay for church. 15:50 they have so many people coming every week 15:52 that they don't even have a church building anymore, 15:54 they use a stadium. 15:55 It's 20,000 people, have you seen what they have?" 16:00 And my answer is yes, I have. So what? 16:05 Is that what God asked 16:06 the Seventh Day Adventist movement to be? 16:09 Is that what he asked us to do? 16:11 When we always talk about what other churches have, 16:14 and what other churches do, and what other churches teach, 16:16 and we wish longingly that we could be more like them. 16:19 And we start to talk and we start to behave 16:21 like God somehow forgot and shortchanged 16:23 his Seventh Day Adventist church. 16:25 Then it's time to crack open a Bible again 16:27 and remember that this is not another church. 16:30 This is not just some other denomination. 16:32 This is the prophetic movement of God, 16:35 the remnant church of Bible prophecy, 16:37 and we were never called to be like everybody else. 16:39 We were called to be unique. 16:42 "Samuel, everybody else has a king. 16:45 That's what we want, we want a king." 16:48 Verse 6, "But the thing displeased Samuel 16:51 when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' 16:52 So Samuel prayed to the Lord." 16:56 Verse 7, "The Lord said to Samuel, 16:58 'Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you.'" 17:01 Go ahead, Samuel, give them what they want. 17:03 We would never come to that conclusion. 17:05 "They have not rejected you, they've rejected Me, 17:08 that I should not reign over them." 17:10 Now, there it is again, our key thought this morning. 17:12 It's the same thought that is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 17:15 It's said a little differently. 17:17 It's said to a different generation, 17:18 but it's still the same issue. 17:20 It's still the man of sin issue. 17:22 It's all about the throne of God, 17:23 and whether or not we believe God belongs on that throne. 17:27 "Give them what they want, Samuel." 17:28 "Lord, how could you tell me to give them what they want? 17:30 I don't like it, it's wrong." 17:32 "Samuel, trust me. 17:34 I don't like it either, and I know this hurts. 17:37 Believe me, I know it hurts. 17:38 It's like discovering my wife is cheating on me, 17:40 the bride of Christ is unfaithful. 17:42 But listen to me, if they want a king, 17:43 I'm going to let them do it 17:45 because I'm not going to force people into my kingdom. 17:46 That's not who I am. 17:48 I don't force anybody into anything. 17:50 If they want slavery, 17:52 and that's what they're asking for, 17:53 if they want slavery, 17:54 they'll have to go somewhere else to get that 17:56 because that's not what I offer." 17:58 That is what they were asking for. 18:01 Begging to go back to Pharaoh, become slaves again. 18:03 They want a king. 18:05 And it's mind boggling, it's amazing to me 18:07 that when we're a little bit fearful, 18:09 what we're willing to do, what we're willing to give up, 18:11 what we're willing to sacrifice 18:12 because we just can't bring ourselves to believe 18:14 that God might actually know what he's doing, 18:17 that he might actually be in control of this universe, 18:19 that he might actually be all the leadership we need, 18:22 and that he might actually 18:24 keep the promises that he made in this book. 18:26 And he'll keep them on his schedule, 18:27 and he'll keep them perfectly. 18:30 Look at the people in the story. 18:32 They have a direct connection with the God 18:33 who made the heavens and the earth. 18:34 They have the spirit of prophecy, 18:36 a living, breathing prophet in their midst, 18:38 giving them counsel directly from God himself. 18:41 But in spite of all that, 18:43 they're begging for more slavery under a new Pharaoh. 18:48 And before we cluck our tongues, wag our fingers, say, 18:50 "What a bunch of dummies those Israelites were," 18:52 we should probably remember 18:54 that this is the story of the whole human race. 18:55 We all do this. 18:57 We've been doing it since the moment we fell into sin. 18:59 It's what we did in the garden of Eden. 19:01 We were perfectly happy. 19:03 There was no election cycle, there was no tax time, 19:06 no April 15. 19:07 There's food falling off of the trees. 19:09 All of our needs are being met, and what do we do? 19:12 We hand the keys to a fallen angel, 19:13 who enslaves us for thousands of years. 19:16 It's what we do all the time. 19:17 It's the story of the whole human race. 19:19 "Abraham." 19:20 "What is it, Sarah, what is it? You don't look happy." 19:22 "No, I'm not happy, I'm a little concerned. 19:24 Listen, Abraham, God said you're going to be the father 19:25 of this massive nation, right?" 19:27 "Yeah, that's exactly what he said, 19:28 like the sand of the sea and the stars in the--" 19:30 "And God said that Messiah would come from your line, 19:33 right Abraham?" 19:34 "Yeah, that's what he said. 19:35 What's your point, Sarah?" 19:37 "Well, I've been thinking about this, 19:39 and I don't want to hurt your feelings 19:40 because in my mind's eye, 19:41 you're always going to be the handsome young Abraham 19:43 who got down on one knee and proposed to me. 19:44 I'll always love you like that. 19:48 I don't want to hurt your feelings, 19:49 but have you looked in a mirror lately, Abraham? 19:51 Have you looked? 19:53 You're so old, you're as good as dead." 19:55 That's the language from Hebrews chapter 11. 19:56 He's as good as-- 19:58 "You're so old, you're as good as dead, 19:59 and I'm old too. 20:00 And I don't know how we're supposed to have a baby. 20:02 It doesn't make sense to me. 20:03 And so, I've been thinking about this. 20:04 God is probably waiting for us to contribute to the equation. 20:06 After all, God helps those who help themselves." 20:09 That's not in the Bible, by the way. 20:10 That's Benjamin Franklin, it's not Scripture. 20:12 "God helps those who help themselves." 20:13 "Well, what do you suggest, Sarah?" 20:15 And this is the part that boggles my mind, 20:18 that Abraham went for this. 20:19 "Well, I've been thinking about this, 20:21 and I think maybe you should sleep with the help." 20:23 Now, let me ask you ladies, 20:25 in what universe does that sound like a good idea? 20:28 In what universe, gentlemen, does that sound like-- 20:30 "I want you to sleep with the help." 20:32 And Abraham said, "Well, okay, that seems like a good idea. 20:33 I'll just climb up here on the throne of God 20:35 just for a couple of seconds. 20:36 We'll make this one decision and get right back off." 20:39 And it always leads to disaster. 20:40 Our whole world is still paying for that mistake. 20:43 I don't know if you've noticed, but the descendants of Ishmael 20:45 and the descendants of Israel-- 20:46 of Isaac still hate each other's guts. 20:49 You can see it every night when you turn on the TV, 20:51 and they're lobbing rockets at each other. 20:53 And it's a disaster because it never works 20:55 when you try to take over for God. 20:57 It doesn't work when you sit on God's throne 20:59 even for one minute. 21:01 And yes, the man of sin, 21:02 the son of perdition might be the ringleader in the end. 21:05 He might be the one who leads the way, 21:07 but he is not the only one who does it, 21:09 not by a long shot. 21:11 The biggest problem you face between now 21:12 and the Second Coming of Christ, 21:14 listen to me carefully, the biggest problem you face 21:16 is not the little horn power of Daniel chapter 7, 21:19 even though that's a very real problem. 21:21 "Pastor, you don't believe in little horn--" 21:22 Yes, I do. 21:23 I think you should pay attention to the little horn power, 21:25 especially right now. 21:27 But it's not your biggest personal problem, 21:28 not by a long shot. 21:30 Your biggest problem isn't the rapid decline 21:32 of western civilization, 21:33 even though that should concern anybody 21:35 trying to raise godly kids in these days. 21:37 There are so many temptations, so many influences fighting you. 21:41 But it's not your biggest personal problem, 21:43 the decline of western civilization. 21:45 Your biggest problem is not what happens 21:47 or doesn't happen in an election. 21:49 Your biggest problem is not a decision 21:51 out of the Supreme Court. 21:52 Your biggest problem is not an executive order 21:54 coming out of the White House. 21:55 Your biggest problem is not another stupid decision 21:57 coming out of Congress. 21:59 Your biggest problem is not the people 22:01 who sit beside you in church. 22:02 Your biggest problem is not your wife, 22:04 it's not your husband, it's not your kids, 22:06 it's not your boss, it's not your parole officer. 22:08 It's not even your mother-in-law. 22:11 You're the biggest problem you face. 22:13 It's this tendency you have to try and take control, 22:15 behave exactly like the man of sin, 22:16 climb up on the throne of God, 22:18 and sit there even for a minute 22:19 and pretend that you're in charge of even a little bit. 22:23 If you can't get that impulse under control, 22:24 if you can't let God be the king of your heart, 22:27 if you can't learn to trust him with everything that he said, 22:30 then you're headed for a world of hurt. 22:33 I mean, pay attention to what's going on in our world. 22:36 Pay attention to what's going on all over this globe right now. 22:39 What do you think you're going to do 22:40 when it finally comes to a head and the last crisis breaks? 22:43 How are you going to react? Look at what's going on. 22:46 The world is falling apart all around us. 22:49 Right now, there are people driving trucks 22:51 through pedestrian crowds in France 22:52 and on college campuses in Ohio. 22:55 There are bombs in the airport, 22:56 there are planes hitting buildings, 22:58 there are shootings at office parties 22:59 here in San Bernardino, in nightclubs in Orlando. 23:02 There are shootings in the classrooms 23:03 of our public schools. 23:05 There are shootings in the shopping malls. 23:06 There are gun battles in the streets of America. 23:08 The economy is rising to an all-time high, 23:11 and everybody's a little bit nervous 23:13 because the fundamentals don't match what's happening, 23:15 and we may be facing another collapse again any day now. 23:18 The Bible guarantees it'll happen. 23:20 NATO is piling up forces against the Polish border with Russia 23:23 ever since July because they don't know 23:25 what to expect from Putin. 23:26 Putin, in the last 2 months, 23:28 has started calling his diplomats home, 23:29 saying, "Get your kids out of foreign schools," 23:31 and nobody's sure why. 23:32 There are people getting beheaded, and drowned, 23:35 and burned alive in cages right on YouTube, 23:38 and it's making everybody nervous. 23:39 The city of Aleppo is on fire. 23:41 Millions are fleeing their homes. 23:43 We are finally figuring out that our highest public officials 23:46 have been lying to us our entire lives, 23:48 and the system might be rotten to the core. 23:50 What do you think is going to happen 23:51 when it all blows up, 23:52 when it seems like the Spirit of God 23:54 has finally been lifted from the earth, 23:56 and Moses might never come back down from the mountain? 23:59 At that moment, when the earth 24:02 is finally plunged into midnight, 24:04 the last crisis, how are you going to respond? 24:08 Because if you have not yet 24:10 given up your claim to God's throne, 24:13 if you think you have something to contribute to the solution, 24:15 you will latch onto the first person 24:16 who comes along and offers this world 24:18 a little bit of peace and security. 24:19 You'll think you can help. 24:21 And he's going to be convincing. 24:23 The Bible says he'll even make fire 24:24 come down from heaven in the sight of men. 24:27 And if you're still trying to run the show at that point, 24:29 then you will stumble. 24:31 You'll stumble, how do I know? 24:33 Because we've done it again and again and again. 24:36 Now, I want you to pay attention 24:38 to what happens next in the story. 24:39 We're about to read verse 11. 24:41 And in 1 Samuel 8 and verse 11, 24:43 there's a story there that has completely shaped 24:45 the history of the world since it's happened. 24:47 It's changed the entire course of history. 24:49 This is one of the most important stories in the Bible 24:51 if you want to understand the major themes of Bible prophecy. 24:54 And just before we read it, 24:56 I want to have a little history lesson 24:57 if that's okay with you. 24:58 I know you thought you were done with history class 25:00 after you left college, but the professor called and said, 25:02 "One more class." 25:04 So, here we go. 25:05 Back in the 1500s, right after Martin Luther 25:08 nails the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, 25:10 just under/over 499 years ago now, 25:13 the Reformers began to think about everything 25:15 that has happened since that awful moment 25:17 in the fourth century when we actually as Christians 25:19 begged the Roman emperor, Constantine, 25:21 to come in and take over the church. 25:23 We did in the fourth century exactly what Israel did 25:26 when they begged for a king from Samuel. 25:28 We brought a king into the church. 25:30 Constantine marches into the city of Rome 312 AD. 25:33 He ends persecution against the Christian church 25:35 just as Revelation chapter 2 predicted he would 25:38 after a 10-year persecution. 25:40 And he looks at these Christians and says, 25:42 "These people are so united, they're so principled. 25:44 These people would be the glue 25:47 that holds my new empire together," 25:49 so he favors the Christians. 25:50 He thinks they're united. 25:52 He probably should have gone to a church board meeting 25:54 before he came to that conclusion, 25:55 but he thinks that they're united. 25:58 And suddenly, after that moment, suddenly in North Africa, 26:00 there's this crisis. 26:02 All the clergy who left the church during the persecution, 26:04 they gave up their Bibles, 26:06 turned them over to the authorities, 26:07 renounced the name of Christ. 26:08 They want their jobs back. 26:10 And they show up at church, and the church says, 26:11 "We don't want you. 26:12 You're cowards, you ran away." 26:14 And it's this massive argument. 26:15 And they can't settle the argument, 26:17 so the Christians make a direct appeal to Constantine. 26:19 They say, "You know, he likes Christians. 26:20 Let's ask the emperor to make a decision." 26:23 And Constantine gets irritated. 26:24 He says, "I've got a whole empire to run. 26:26 I can't solve this issue for you." 26:27 He actually writes them a letter in North Africa 26:29 that basically says something your mom used to say a lot, 26:32 "If I have to come down there, you're going to be sorry." 26:36 He wrote the-- I've got the letter. 26:38 And they couldn't solve it themselves, 26:40 so he appoints the bishop of Rome 26:42 to settle the issue. 26:44 And for the first time in history, 26:46 the bishop of Rome begins to rise in prominence. 26:48 He becomes a first among equals. 26:49 It's an important precedent. 26:51 Soon after that, there's another controversy. 26:53 Another controversy takes place in the church 26:55 when a renegade priest down in North Africa 26:58 by the name of Arias starts to teach 27:00 an unbiblical view of the nature of Christ. 27:02 And again when the church can't settle the dispute themselves, 27:04 they make an appeal to Constantine. 27:06 So, he calls the big council in Nicaea in 325 AD, 27:09 and yet again the bishop of Rome begins to rise in prominence. 27:13 Do you know what we did in the fourth century? 27:14 We actually asked the emperor to come in 27:16 and take over the church. 27:17 He didn't push his way in. 27:18 We asked him to come in because every crisis happens 27:20 when God's people start it from the bottom. 27:23 It's like we have a big debate on the floor 27:25 of the general conference session in San Antonio, 27:26 and we can't come to a-- 27:28 I mean, I know that's hard to imagine, 27:29 but we have a big debate on the floor 27:30 of the general conference session in San Antonio, 27:32 and we can't come to any resolution, 27:33 so we put in a call to the Oval Office, 27:36 "Maybe you could come solve it." 27:37 It's about what we did in the fourth century. 27:39 And listen to me carefully, 27:41 once the government sets foot in your church, 27:44 you will never get rid of it. 27:46 And the new model we established in the fourth century 27:48 is not what Jesus wanted. 27:50 He wanted a church where people were directly accountable to God 27:52 the way it was supposed to be in the nation of Israel. 27:54 He even says in Luke chapter 22 to his disciples, 27:57 "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, 28:00 but I don't want that for you." 28:02 There was never supposed to be a king in Christianity, 28:05 but we begged for one, and we married church and state. 28:08 And that marriage of Roman politics and Christian faith 28:10 led to more than 1,000 years of darkness, 28:12 that much you know. 28:14 Came complete with waterboarding, 28:16 favorite punishment of the inquisition. 28:18 Waterboarding, torture chambers, burning people at the stake. 28:21 Everybody following, are you still with me? 28:23 We go down about 1,000 years after this big mistake 28:25 to the 1300s, the 1400s, and the 1500s. 28:28 Now, we're into the period of the fifth seal in Revelation 6. 28:31 Souls under the altar are crying out, 28:32 "How much longer, O Lord?" 28:34 And God answers their prayers, and he starts turning on lights 28:37 all over the former western Roman Empire, 28:39 and we suddenly get Tyndale, and Wycliffe, and Huss, 28:42 and Luther, and all these reformers. 28:45 And what those reformers did was open the Bible 28:47 for the first time in centuries, 28:49 and they realized what it was we had done back in the 300s. 28:54 We invited the Roman emperor into the church, 28:56 so the reformers tried to free the church 28:58 from the biggest mistake we had ever made. 29:00 Now, the Reformation was about all kinds of things. 29:02 Sola scriptura, sola fide, it was about all those things. 29:05 But underneath it all, the essence of the Reformation 29:09 was an attempt to evict Caesar from the church again. 29:12 Now, over the waters in England, Henry VIII is watching this, 29:15 and he gets a little jealous. 29:17 "All those German princes are free from the oversight of Rome. 29:18 I wish I could be free from the oversight of Rome." 29:21 Not because he's religious, no, it's because he doesn't have 29:24 a male heir, and he wants to change wives. 29:26 And he can't get an annulment from the bishop of Rome, 29:28 so what he does is he says, 29:30 "Well, if they can pull out, I'm pulling out." 29:31 And he starts the church of England. 29:33 And all across England, 29:34 Bible believing British Christians 29:36 suddenly get their hopes up, 29:37 "We're going to have religious liberty. 29:39 At long last, we're going to be free." 29:41 But it doesn't happen because Henry's church 29:44 was built for all the wrong reasons. 29:45 And 100 years later in the 1600s, 29:47 it's every bit as bad as Rome is. 29:49 There's no real freedom in England. 29:51 And so, to avoid going to jail, some of the dissenters 29:53 packed their bags and they start to leave the country, 29:55 people like the early Baptists. 29:56 People like the Barrowists, who had read the Bible 29:58 and realized this never says 30:00 we need permission from the state for what we believe. 30:02 People like the Fifth Monarchists, 30:04 who had read Daniel chapter 2 and realized the fifth monarch 30:06 wasn't the Holy Roman Emperor, 30:08 the fifth empire was going to be the kingdom of Christ. 30:11 People like the Puritans, and the Quakers, 30:13 and the Sabbatarians, all these people, 30:15 mark my words carefully, all these people 30:17 who would eventually pass down their beliefs 30:19 to God's last day remnant church, 30:21 we're talking about our spiritual grandparents. 30:25 They went to the Dutch Republic, 30:26 which was the freest country of the day. 30:28 They ran into the Jews, who were running from Spain 30:31 to get away from the Inquisition. 30:33 Now, this is important. 30:34 The Jews and these English dissenters, these Reformers, 30:37 are both hiding in the Netherlands. 30:39 And they meet each other, and they start to talk, 30:40 and they start to compare notes. 30:42 And for the first time in hundreds of years, 30:44 Christians begin to read the Scriptures 30:45 in the original Hebrew, and they suddenly have access 30:47 to some very old Hebrew commentaries. 30:51 And as they're studying together, 30:52 they suddenly come across our story for today. 30:55 And they find 1 Samuel chapter 8 and verse 11. 30:59 Here's what they read. 31:01 "This will be the behavior," God told the Israelites. 31:04 "This will be the behavior of the king 31:05 who will reign over you. 31:06 He will take your sons and appoint them 31:08 for his own chariots." 31:09 King's going to make you work for him, 31:10 God warned them. 31:12 Verse 12, "He will appoint captains 31:13 over his thousands and captains over his fifties." 31:15 There's going to be military conscription 31:16 and wars you don't want to fight. 31:18 "He will take the best of your fields, 31:20 your vineyards, your olive groves, 31:21 give them to his servants." 31:22 There's going to be redistribution of wealth, 31:24 there's going to be confiscation, 31:25 there's going to be taxes to pay. 31:26 "And you," God says, "will no longer be my servants. 31:29 You will be his servants." 31:32 The Reformers are reading this and their jaws are on the floor. 31:34 "Do you think," they said, "this might be the reason 31:37 we're still having trouble with human kings 31:39 2,900 years later?" 31:42 So, based on this passage, they begin to dream of a world 31:45 that doesn't have a king, 31:46 a place where you could live directly beneath God 31:48 the way Israel was supposed to. 31:50 And this becomes one of the hottest topics 31:52 of the 17th and the 18th centuries. 31:54 Everybody's talking about it. 31:55 They all are talking about this in the 1600s, in the 1700s. 31:59 And they begin to pray for a place 32:01 where God could be the only king. 32:03 And that's when they suddenly discover 32:05 another passage of the Bible, Deuteronomy 17. 32:07 You should go back and see what these people were writing. 32:10 And they realize as they look at Deuteronomy 17, 32:12 and this is the language they used, 32:14 that Israel in its first form had been a republic, 32:18 a constitutional republic in fact, 32:20 because it had no human king 32:23 and it had a supreme written law, 32:25 the first five books of Moses. 32:28 And they saw in Deuteronomy 17 that God knew 32:30 that his republic would one day ask for a king, 32:33 so he puts up a guardrail centuries in advance, 32:35 warning them, "Okay, you're going to ask for a king, 32:37 but here are the rules when you do that." 32:40 Deuteronomy 17, verse 15, watch this. 32:43 "You shall surely set a king over you 32:45 whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among you brethren." 32:47 He has to be a commoner. 32:49 "You shall set as king over you. 32:51 You may not set a foreigner over you." 32:53 He can't be born outside this country 32:55 because he'll never understand the culture of this place, 32:57 and he'll bring foreign influence in. 32:58 He has to be born here. 33:00 "Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, 33:02 lest his heart turn away. 33:04 Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself." 33:06 There were legal checks and balances put in place 33:08 in an attempt to prevent corruption. 33:11 Now, here comes the big part. 33:12 "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, 33:15 that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, 33:19 and he shall read it all the days of his life, 33:21 that he may learn to fear the Lord his God 33:23 and be careful to observe all the words of this law." 33:26 A supreme written law, all equal before it. 33:29 Let me ask you a question. 33:30 As we go down through the 1600s and the 1700s, 33:32 have you ever heard of a republic 33:34 where the chief executive has to be a commoner, 33:36 he's not even allowed to be a foreigner? 33:38 You ever heard of a place 33:40 where there were legal checks and balances 33:41 trying to prevent corruption? 33:42 You ever heard of a republic 33:44 where the ruler must always be subject 33:45 to the supreme written law of the land? 33:47 Is there anything on this planet that looks like that? 33:51 Listen to me carefully, it is not a coincidence 33:54 that the American constitution 33:55 describes a republic without a king. 33:57 It is not a coincidence that it guarantees religious liberty 34:00 under a supreme written law. 34:01 Where do you think the founding fathers got those ideas? 34:04 Yes, they'd been reading Thomas Paine. 34:06 Yes, they'd been reading revolutionaries. 34:08 Yes, they'd been reading Voltaire. 34:09 But do you know what else they were reading? 34:11 They were reading the work of those English dissenters. 34:13 Every single one of them had been reading those works, 34:15 and they used those writings quite literally to craft 34:17 the United States of America. 34:19 And that's why, in "Testimonies Volume 5," 34:22 Ellen White says that this constitution of ours gave us 34:25 a Protestant and republican form of government. 34:28 She said that because there is an unbroken chain of thought 34:30 leading directly from the Protestant Reformation 34:33 to the very birth of America. 34:35 This is the reason the book of Revelation 34:37 describes the birth of America the way that it does. 34:39 It says the earth would open up to give the persecuted 34:41 a place to go in Revelation chapter 12. 34:44 And then it says that this brand new power, 34:46 this brand new nation would be Christlike, lamb-like. 34:48 It doesn't even have crowns on its two horns 34:51 the way the first beast has a crown on every single horn 34:53 because this new power doesn't have a king. 34:59 Follow this carefully. 35:00 The founders of America knew exactly what they were building, 35:04 I can demonstrate. 35:06 Back in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, 35:09 the delegates started to fight about state representation, 35:11 how states would be represented at the federal level. 35:14 And the debate got very heated, and it almost broke up, 35:17 and we came this close to never becoming a nation. 35:20 Then something unusual happens. 35:22 Benjamin Franklin stands up in the assembly and he says, 35:24 "Gentlemen, I think we should take a few days off. 35:26 Everybody find somebody you disagree with 35:28 and talk to them for a few days, then we'll reconvene." 35:31 Then he does something very unusual. 35:34 He quotes the Bible by memory for the next 2 minutes 35:37 about a dozen times, one verse after the other, 35:39 even though he's a deist. 35:41 He quotes the Bible, and then he makes a radical suggestion. 35:43 He says this, "Before I sit down," 35:46 he says, "I will suggest, Mr. President," 35:47 the chair of the convention, "I will suggest, Mr. President, 35:50 that propriety of nominating and appointing before we separate, 35:53 a chaplain to this Convention." 35:56 You ever wonder why we have a chaplain on Capitol Hill? 35:58 There it is. 36:00 "Whose duty it shall be uniformly 36:01 to introduce the business of each day 36:03 by an address to the Creator of the universe." 36:06 There's the first inkling of the three angel's messages 36:08 as this nation is being born. 36:10 "And the Governor of all nations," 36:12 that's how Jesus is described in Daniel 2, Daniel 4, Daniel 7, 36:15 as the one who replaces every human kingdom. 36:17 You tell me if you go back and look at the evidence, 36:20 who did these people believe 36:22 was the only true king of all nations? 36:25 America was born without a king, 36:26 and that's because the founders knew 36:28 the universe already had one, 36:30 and they wanted nobody between you and the heavenly king. 36:33 Newport, Rhode Island, there's a synagogue, 1790. 36:36 They're getting nervous. 36:37 "Well, they've just established a Christian nation. 36:39 And back in the Old World, 36:40 Christian nations meant we got persecuted." 36:42 George Washington hears about it, 36:44 so he writes them a letter, put their minds at ease, 1790. 36:46 He says, "Look, in this new world, 36:48 this new Christian nation, it's different. 36:49 This is where you're going to be free. 36:51 You can live, it's just between you and God. 36:53 You live however you think you need to live with God. 36:55 You're going to be perfectly free." 36:57 And then he says this. 36:58 "Every one shall sit in safety under his one vine and fig tree. 37:01 There shall be none to make him afraid." 37:03 Do you know what that is? 37:04 That's a quote from Micah chapter 4. 37:06 And that passage is God describing his ideal kingdom, 37:09 where everybody is free and safe, 37:11 and there will be no human domination of other people. 37:14 The founding fathers of America knew they were crafting 37:17 a new kind of Christian nation. 37:19 But what they were really trying to do was reset the clock 37:22 to one day before Saul becomes the first king of Israel. 37:25 And what's really interesting about it all 37:27 is how Saul the son of Kish 37:29 kind of foreshadows the fate of America itself. 37:32 Because in the very beginning, Saul is lamb-like. 37:34 The Bible says that Samuel anoints him privately, 37:37 but he doesn't get his crown 37:38 till he proves himself on the battlefield. 37:39 The way Jesus is anointed, 37:41 the minute he gets back to heaven, 37:42 Acts chapter 2 and verse 33, 37:44 but he doesn't actually get his kingdom 37:45 till the controversy is finished and the battle is won. 37:48 There is a parallel. 37:50 Saul, it says in 1 Samuel 10, was filled with the Holy Spirit, 37:53 gets the gift of prophecy, and he becomes another man. 37:55 And Jesus, of course, also becomes someone else. 37:57 He becomes one of us, and the Holy Spirit descends on him 38:01 publicly at the beginning of his ministry. 38:03 Saul in the beginning is lamb-like. 38:06 But then as the story continues, 38:08 you realize he doesn't actually look like Jesus, 38:11 he looks like the United States of America. 38:14 He even has to be replaced by one who comes 38:15 and sits on David's messianic throne. 38:18 Two years into his reign, Saul was getting ready 38:20 to fight the Philistines, 38:21 and he wants to have a sacrifice. 38:23 But Samuel is delayed. He takes a week coming. 38:25 It's 7 days, the perfect delay. 38:27 It's the language of the Second Coming. 38:29 So, Saul says, "Well, if Samuel's not going to come, 38:31 I'll just take control for a minute. 38:32 I'll bring fire on this altar myself." 38:34 And that's exactly what the second beast does, 38:37 "Makes fire come down from heaven on the earth 38:39 in the sight of men." 38:40 This nation was born lamb-like, exactly on time, 38:43 exactly the way God intended for the appearance 38:46 of his last day remnant church. 38:48 But then, over the course of the 20th century, 38:50 as this nation rejected the light 38:52 of the third angel's message, 38:53 the whole character of America began to change 38:55 throughout the 1900s and now into the 21st century. 38:59 And why has it changed so much? 39:01 It's because this republic 39:02 has been the special interest of the devil's career 39:03 ever since it gave birth to the remnant church, 39:06 and so here we are, just a heartbeat from midnight. 39:09 And Ellen White describes it like this, 39:11 "When our country shall repudiate 39:12 every principle of its Constitution." 39:14 Heard that lately? 39:17 "As a Protestant and republican government. 39:18 Then we may know that the time has come 39:20 for the marvelous working of Satan." 39:23 Let it sink in. 39:25 Government is listening to your phone calls, you know that. 39:28 I even greet the NSA sometimes when I'm making a phone call, 39:30 "Hey, I hope you're having a nice day over there at the NSA." 39:34 They're reading your emails, you know that much. 39:36 They're forcing people 39:38 to participate in religious ceremonies 39:39 even if it violates their conscience. 39:40 And if you don't participate, you'll be run out of business. 39:43 They're forcing people to buy things they don't want to buy. 39:45 They're silencing people who say the wrong things on YouTube 39:47 or a college campus. 39:49 The newspapers, you know it, 39:50 aren't telling you the whole story 39:51 not even half of the time anymore. 39:53 And that's just the last 15 years or so. 39:55 And the last 15 years, mark my words, 39:57 is a run-up for the last big play. 39:59 Because we've been counseled that by the time 40:01 you actually see what's going on, 40:02 it is so far gone, it's too late. 40:05 It's a--how much time do you think we have left, folks? 40:08 How much time do you think we have left? 40:10 How much time do you think we have left 40:13 when we have already seen Caesar 40:15 standing at the podium of God's republic? 40:19 Because we ran out of answers a long time ago 40:21 and we're hoping somebody can tell us what to do next. 40:24 How much time is left? 40:26 After Saul, the kings of Israel become so wicked 40:28 that 2 Chronicles 36 says that their abominations 40:31 caused the desolation of the temple. 40:33 They literally lead to the abomination of desolation. 40:35 And then it says--God says, "You want to try your own kings? 40:37 Okay, how did that work out? Not so good? 40:39 Let's try on a few other things. 40:41 Let's try Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, 40:43 try the little horn power." 40:45 Finally, we get a Christ-like republic, 40:46 something that almost gets it right. 40:49 But even that eventually fails because the only solution 40:52 for what we have done to this planet 40:53 is for Jesus Christ to be back on the throne. 40:57 That's it. 40:58 It didn't matter who won on November 8. 41:00 It didn't matter. 41:02 It won't matter who wins the next midterms, 41:03 it won't matter who wins in 2020. 41:05 Whoever it is will never be the solution this world needs, 41:07 they won't be. 41:09 Saul is not your king. 41:11 At the end of his life, 41:12 he actually throws himself on his own sword 41:14 because if you insist on running the show, 41:16 then you have to mop up your own problems. 41:18 He kills himself. 41:20 Then it says the Philistines find his body 41:22 in the rubble of war and they cut off his head, 41:24 which means he's no longer 41:25 head and shoulders above everybody else. 41:28 Saul and everybody like him, that's not your king. 41:32 But you move forward 1,200 years and you see a man in the dark 41:37 at Gethsemane begging, 41:39 "If it's possible, Father, please no, let it pass." 41:45 But because there's no escaping the cost of your salvation, 41:48 he lets us take him, we torture him. 41:53 He has human saliva running off his face. 41:56 We push a crown of thorns on his head, 41:58 mocking his dignity and his eternal kingdom. 42:01 And still, as he's writhing on agony 42:03 on a pagan Roman cross, 42:05 with his dying breath he begs for you, 42:07 "Father, don't punish them, they don't what they're doing." 42:13 That's your king. 42:17 Head and shoulders above all else, every day, 42:19 every knee--one day, every knee will bow, 42:20 every tongue confess. 42:23 When I was a younger guy, 17, I used to cut class a lot. 42:27 It's hard to believe, but I did. 42:29 My kids aren't here, so we can tell these stories. 42:32 I used to cut class from the University of Victoria, 42:34 go down to the legislative buildings. 42:36 I was a political junkie. 42:38 And it was a parliamentary system. 42:39 At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 42:41 they had something called question period, 42:42 and the politicians would assault each other 42:44 verbally for half an hour. 42:46 It was sheer entertainment, I loved it. 42:47 They were very creative in their insults. 42:49 Now, technically in parliament, 42:50 you're not allowed to insult each other. 42:52 So, they would do it through the speaker of the house. 42:53 "Mr. Speaker, would it be all right 42:55 if I called the honorable member from so and so an idiot?" 42:58 "No, you can't do that." 42:59 "All right, Mr. Speaker, that's what I thought." 43:01 I loved it. 43:03 And one day, I came down out of the speakers gallery 43:04 up above the seat, and I went down 43:06 out into the rotunda of the parliament buildings, 43:08 the legislative assembly. 43:10 And as I got there, there's the premier of British Columbia. 43:13 It's kind of like the governor of the state. 43:14 It's not an exact analogue because we have a fused 43:17 executive and legislative function up there. 43:18 But there he is, I can't believe it, 43:20 he's in this scrum of hostile reporters, 43:22 reporters hated this guy. 43:24 And I'm about 20 feet away, and he looks up, and he sees me, 43:28 and he sees me as his opportunity to escape, 43:30 he yells out, "Hey, it's good to see you." 43:32 He doesn't know me from Adam, "It's so good to see you." 43:35 And he comes over, puts his arm around me, 43:37 even though I'm wearing a ratty, old, grey sweater, 43:39 and I have holes in the knees of my jeans. 43:41 The reporters are wondering, 43:42 "Who is this kid that he knows so well?" 43:44 He doesn't know me. 43:45 He's walking me down the hallway, 43:47 out the door, across a breezeway into his executive offices. 43:50 And when we get in there, 43:52 there were three men waiting for him. 43:53 They stand up, the most powerful men I knew of. 43:55 I'd only ever seen them on TV. 43:57 "Mr. Premier, we're so glad to see you today." 44:00 He said, "Gentlemen, you sit down, 44:02 I'll be right with you. 44:03 I've got something very important to do." 44:04 And he walks me right into his office, 44:06 sits me in a chair, closes the door, and says, 44:07 "I don't want to talk to those guys anyway, 44:08 let's hang out." 44:11 And I'm sitting there and we talk 44:13 for, I don't know, 10 minutes, 44:14 "What are you taking in college?" 44:16 "I'm taking political science." 44:17 He said, "That's a really good program." 44:18 Only a politician thinks that political science 44:20 is a good degree to get. 44:21 He says-- I'm taking political--he says, 44:23 "That's wonderful, how long do you have to go?" 44:24 And I worked for that guy for free 44:26 to the day he left office because he walked me 44:29 right past all those powerful people 44:31 into the most powerful office in the entire province. 44:34 Just like God says, in the kingdom of heaven, 44:38 it's the tax collectors and the prostitutes who go first 44:42 because they know they don't have anything to offer. 44:45 I worked for him for free because he took a nobody 44:48 and sat me right next to him. 44:51 So, here we are this morning, I'm not 17 anymore, 44:54 and neither are you. 44:56 I mean, look around. 45:02 And in the last, final gasp of history, 45:04 the rightful king of the universe, 45:06 in spite of your ratty, old, grey sweater and ripped jeans, 45:08 has just slipped his arm around your shoulder. 45:12 He says, "If you'd just open the door, 45:14 we'd have dinner together." 45:16 And then he says the most remarkable thing, 45:18 "To him who overcomes 45:19 I will grant to sit with Me on My throne." 45:24 All this time, you've been trying 45:25 to take even a little piece of God's throne for yourself, 45:27 you've been trying to take some kind of control. 45:29 And all this time, as you're trying to claim it as your own, 45:31 Jesus has been intending to share that throne 45:34 with you anyway, he wants to give it to you. 45:38 Why are you fighting him? 45:42 The only thing that stands in the way 45:43 between this moment and that moment 45:45 when he shares his throne with you, 45:46 the only thing that stands in the way is you 45:50 and those things you know you're hanging onto. 45:53 It is time to let go. 45:57 Quit trying to run the show. 46:00 Quit letting yourself get distracted 46:02 from the one thing God told this church to do. 46:04 I'm concerned about our distractions. 46:06 We run from one movement to the next, 46:10 one controversy to the next, 46:13 but that's not what God asked us to do, 46:15 not settle every little question, 46:16 every little dispute. 46:17 He didn't ask us to play politics, 46:19 he didn't ask us to set up power structures, 46:20 he didn't ask us to sit in judgment, make up rules. 46:23 We've been asked to do just one thing, one thing. 46:29 Get out there, get off the throne. 46:32 Get out there and find God's children. 46:37 They don't understand what you understand. 46:38 Jesus is about to share his throne with them, 46:40 and they need to know. 46:42 It's the one thing we were asked to do, 46:44 and it's time to get back to business 46:47 before midnight falls. 46:50 Shawn: Hey, I'm Shawn Boonstra, 46:51 speaker/director for "The Voice of Prophecy," 46:53 the oldest faith-based radio broadcast in the world. 46:57 Now, whether you're a longtime friend of "Voice of Prophecy," 47:00 or someone learning about this ministry 47:01 for the very first time, 47:02 you really don't want to miss these next few minutes 47:05 because I think you'll be encouraged and inspired 47:08 to hear what God is doing through this frontline ministry. 47:11 Now, this ministry is old, very old, in fact. 47:15 We've been around since 1929. 47:17 But in spite of that age, we've always lived 47:21 on the cutting edge of technology, 47:22 finding new ways to share the good news of Christ 47:25 with people of all ages, and that includes your kids. 47:30 If there are children in your life 47:31 between the ages of 5 and 12, I've got something I think 47:34 you're going to find pretty exciting. 47:37 "Discovery Mountain" is a brand new adventure series 47:40 for the radio that's spreading like wildfire 47:42 all over the world. 47:44 In fact, I know the program is good, 47:47 but I've been shocked at how fast 47:49 this is spreading among young people. 47:51 Kids are loving this weekly drama 47:52 set at a camp in the mountains. 47:54 And parents are loving the show too 47:56 because, well, their kids are eagerly doing all their chores 47:59 just so that they can listen to this week's episode. 48:02 It's well produced, it's exciting to listen to, 48:05 and best of all, kids from any background 48:08 can listen to this program and get to know Jesus. 48:11 So, where do you get a copy of "Discovery Mountain"? 48:13 It's really pretty easy. 48:15 You'll find it at DiscoveryMountain.com. 48:18 ♪♪♪ 48:22 Shawn: Now, I know what you're thinking, 48:24 "Well, that's great for my kids, but what about me? 48:26 What do I get to listen to?" 48:28 Well, I've got you covered there too. 48:30 See, I might not be quite as dramatic 48:32 as "Discovery Mountain," even though my wife says 48:34 I can be plenty dramatic at home, 48:37 but I do have a weekly radio show 48:39 called "Disclosure" that my wife and I do together. 48:42 Now, I'm there on the show to get things going, 48:44 and my wife is there to, well, reign me in from time to time. 48:49 It's a great show. 48:50 It's Christian talk radio the way that faith-based radio 48:52 should be done in the 21st century, 48:55 with an emphasis on current events, 48:57 Bible study, and of course, Bible prophecy. 49:01 Because after all, it is sponsored 49:03 by "The Voice of Prophecy," 49:05 and prophecy happens to be one of my favorite subjects 49:08 because prophecy is mostly the reason 49:10 that I'm a Christian believer today. 49:13 So, what do we talk about on "Disclosure"? 49:15 Well, just about everything: what's in the news, 49:18 the Bible's perspective on real issues 49:21 that people are dealing with, 49:22 things like anxiety or forgiveness. 49:24 We talk about how to make sense of the prophetic portions 49:27 of the Bible, like Daniel or Revelation. 49:29 And we even answer questions like, 49:31 "Does the Bible ever mention marijuana?" 49:35 Sometimes, you even get to be part of the show 49:37 because nobody knows what you're dealing with 49:39 better than you. 49:41 So, once in a while, I take your questions 49:43 and answer them on the air. 49:45 And sometimes, it turns out I actually know an answer. 49:47 So, look for "Disclosure" on the radio, 49:50 or find the latest episode at vop.com, 49:52 and look under the Media tab. 49:55 Now, this is going to come as a surprise to a lot of people, 49:58 but radio broadcasts, and we're on our way 50:00 to actually having five different broadcasts, 50:03 but radio broadcasts are really only the tip of the iceberg 50:06 here at "The Voice of Prophecy." 50:08 In fact, I'm not even sure it's most of what we do. 50:12 You see, the VOP exists to bring people 50:14 into a relationship with Jesus, 50:16 to help them understand that Jesus is quite real. 50:19 So, we'd like to get out there 50:21 and meet people face to face, in person. 50:24 So, every year, we conduct a month-long series 50:27 on Bible prophecy somewhere in the world for the public. 50:31 That series is called "Revelation Speaks Peace," 50:34 and it's a full-blown, free-to-the-public seminar 50:37 on the subject of Bible prophecy. 50:39 And every single year just about, 50:41 we bring it to some major urban center. 50:44 In recent years, for example, I think we've done it 50:45 in Seattle, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, 50:49 and I think the next place we're going 50:50 is the mile-high city of Denver, Colorado. 50:53 Now, the great thing about these public seminars is that, 50:56 thanks to generous donor support, 50:58 we're actually able to offer them free to the public, 51:01 the way it should be. 51:02 I mean, you and I have been charged with sharing the gospel 51:05 and leading people to Christ. 51:07 So, this is a great way for us to bring the good news 51:10 of Christ's soon return to the world 51:11 in a way that captivates the imagination 51:14 and leads thousands of people 51:16 to become part of God's remnant church. 51:18 Of course, holding a seminar once a year 51:22 isn't going to fulfill the gospel commission 51:24 the way Jesus envisioned. 51:26 For that to happen, for every nation, 51:28 kindred tongue, and people to hear 51:30 what God has planned for us, we need all hands on deck. 51:34 So, probably our biggest passion is to equip your church 51:38 here in North America 51:40 not to partner with "The Voice of Prophecy," 51:42 but to actually become a local branch 51:45 of "The Voice of Prophecy" 51:46 in the community where God has placed you. 51:48 What I really want to do 51:50 is give you all the resources and tools you need 51:53 to become a far more effective outreach mechanism 51:56 in your town, your city, your neighborhood. 52:00 So, we're already producing first-rate, cohesive, 52:02 soul-winning resources that make good sense, 52:05 resources that actually let you and me 52:07 partner together in really effective ways. 52:10 So, for example, I've been holding 52:13 the "Revelation Speaks Peace" seminar now for, oh, 52:15 about a quarter century, and I've discovered 52:18 that it works really well. 52:19 I've tried it on six continents. 52:21 It works across every imaginable age demographic, 52:24 every cultural demographic, every religious demographic. 52:27 You name it, it just seems to work. 52:30 But I can only put that seminar on once or maybe twice a year. 52:34 So, what if we all did it? 52:38 Right now, I'm actually working hard 52:39 to create a full-blown version of "Revelation Speaks Peace" 52:42 that your church can use. 52:44 Not a scaled down, minimized version, 52:46 but the very same thing I use. 52:49 Because what if we had 1,000 locations every single year, 52:53 and you and I started doing this together? 52:56 Now, I'm getting really close to producing that. 52:58 I just have to raise the money we need 53:00 to actually produce the product, 53:02 and then you and I need to work together 53:04 to understand how it's used most effectively, 53:06 and then it's going to be ready. 53:09 And in the meantime, we've already got 53:10 online training sessions 53:12 and monthly webinars in place. 53:14 And we've also produced 53:15 some award-winning community media events 53:17 that you can use 53:19 to invite people to visit your church. 53:22 Recently, we put on a short, four-part series 53:25 about the life of Constantine called "Shadow Empire," 53:29 which tapped into this general sense of discomfort 53:31 the public has with organized religion. 53:35 And without making people feel uncomfortable, 53:37 without pointing fingers at anybody, 53:40 we vindicated people's sense of discomfort 53:42 and gave them real reasons 53:44 to believe in the Jesus of the Bible. 53:47 The results were astounding. 53:49 In fact, it went far better than we ever dreamed possible. 53:52 So, we're already producing our next series, 53:55 "A Pale Horse Rides," 53:57 which will focus on a remarkable untold story, 54:00 something that very few of your neighbors 54:03 have ever heard, I promise. 54:05 A story that set the stage for the appearance of Martin Luther. 54:09 We're going to look at stories from beyond the fringes 54:11 of the Roman empire that reveal the amazing tale 54:14 of a biblical Christianity that somehow survived 54:18 the darkest hours of the dark ages. 54:21 Now, you can find out more about this amazing project 54:23 at PaleHorseRides.com, 54:26 and sign up so that your church can take part, 54:28 and invite your neighbors over. 54:31 Of course, once your neighbors 54:32 have come to one of these short events, 54:34 a lot of them are going to be hungry to learn more. 54:37 Believe me, they will be, I've seen it every single time. 54:40 So, we wouldn't be "The Voice of Prophecy" 54:43 if we didn't also run the world's oldest 54:45 and biggest Bible correspondence school. 54:49 Right now, more than 2,000 churches here in North America 54:52 actually host their own "Discover" school. 54:55 And on top of that, there are now schools open 54:58 in 140 countries. 55:01 As of right now, there are more than 12 million people 55:05 who have enrolled in the Bible course, 55:07 and that's a number that just defies the imagination. 55:10 It's like eight cities the size of Manhattan 55:13 all studying the Bible. 55:15 And I know, some of you think 55:17 you've seen the "Discover" Bible lessons, 55:19 but you haven't seen the new ones. 55:22 We've just finished a complete rewrite and redesign 55:24 to bring them up to the 21st century. 55:27 And we've made them even more effective 55:29 and accessible than before. 55:31 The Discover Bible School is not just for correspondence, 55:34 it's perfect for relational outreach 55:36 because they're actually designed to use 55:38 for one-on-one Bible studies, small groups, 55:41 and larger Bible schools. 55:43 This is something you've got to check out. 55:45 So again, go to vop.com. 55:47 Now, I know that's a lot, 55:49 it sounds like we're up to an awful lot of things. 55:51 But there's even more that your new "Voice of Prophecy" 55:54 is doing right now. 55:55 I don't know if you've noticed, but in addition to the command 55:58 to carry the gospel to the whole world 56:00 in Matthew 28 and Matthew 24, 56:02 Jesus also mentions the need of Christians 56:05 to just care about people. 56:07 You'll find that in Matthew 25. 56:09 So, in addition to meeting the spiritual needs 56:11 of people all over the world, 56:13 "The Voice of Prophecy" is also meeting their physical needs, 56:17 their immediate needs. 56:18 And we're involved in all sorts of things, 56:20 from groundbreaking work in Myanmar 56:23 to the remotest regions of the arctic, 56:25 stuff that you can read about on our website. 56:28 But for just one moment, I want to tell you 56:30 about one very special outreach project 56:32 we're partnering with in the country of India. 56:35 This is a project that is literally 56:38 changing lives on a daily basis. 56:41 We're teaming up with Asian Aid's 56:42 Operation Child Rescue to save young girls 56:45 who are the victims of human trafficking, 56:48 kids who have been forced to work in brothels. 56:52 Honestly, I don't know if there's a more desperate need 56:55 for Christians to do something 56:57 anywhere on the planet right now. 56:59 So, we've opened a special rehabilitation home 57:02 where these kids receive medical attention, 57:04 get vocational training, and learn about a God 57:08 who loves and values them. 57:11 The results have been so incredible 57:13 that the government is actually asking 57:15 if we can open more homes because nobody has ever done 57:19 something like this before. 57:21 If you've ever had the urge 57:23 to really make a difference in this world, 57:25 to save people, to turn back the tide of evil on this planet, 57:29 this is something you can become involved in right now. 57:33 Just take a look at our website, vop.com/india, 57:37 and I think you'll be blown away by what's possible. 57:42 Well, that's honestly about all the time I've got for today, 57:44 but I'm hoping it's really obvious 57:46 that we're really excited about this new "Voice of Prophecy." 57:49 If you're looking to make a difference, 57:52 if you want to leave a mark on this world, I've got to say 57:55 that this is probably your best bet to get started. 57:59 Just take a look at vop.com, check our free programming, 58:02 our resources, and some of our incredible projects. 58:06 And don't forget to click on the donate button, 58:09 you'll find it up at the top right-hand side of the webpage. 58:11 Or just go to vop.com/give 58:15 because this really isn't just an opportunity to give, 58:18 it's an opportunity to change everything. 58:22 Once you've seen the possibilities, 58:24 I'm guessing you might be really interested 58:26 in partnering more closely with us, 58:28 which is something our sponsors do every single year 58:31 when they meet with Jean and me in person 58:34 to dream about where God would have us go next. 58:36 You'll find a link to sponsors on the webpage as well. 58:40 Well, that is enough, and I'll see you at the website, 58:43 and I'll be praying that you decide 58:45 to become part of something phenomenal 58:48 here at "The Voice of Prophecy." 58:51 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2017-10-06