Welcome to Rock Harbor Church's channel on Sermon Audio. We hope this message is a blessing to you and helps you in your daily walk with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So please settle in and grab your Bibles. Here's this message. Well, I greet you in the wonderful name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and truly, it's an honor and a privilege to be here. I never take for granted when I stand in a pastor's place. And again, I'm privileged. That was a wonderful entry for me. I want to hear the guy preach now. I mean, I really do. What I'm going to do before we get into the message, I'm going to mention some of the materials that we brought with us. I love your pastor. We preach together all during the year. Our paths cross all during the year, all over. He's become a true friend. And again, I just thank him for the opportunity. I'm going to mention some of the materials that we brought with us here on the table. Have a number of books here. I can switch up to the screen there. This is a book entitled Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis to Revelation. This is by the late Dr. Tim LaHaye and by the late Dr. Ed Hindson. A wonderful book that lists all the prophecies in the scripture. a wonderful book that you may want to add to your library. And then I've got two books here. These are books that are designed for young people and for children. You know, a lot of times as we travel, my wife and I, we're in a lot of conferences, but we see little of the little ones. A lot of times, you know, parents come and they get the prophetic word, they get understanding, they get excited, but they never carry that message to their young people. You'd be surprised, some of the hardest questions we get in conferences is from the little ones. These are two books, one by Dr. Tim LaHaye and one by a colleague and friend of mine, Todd Hampson. Both of these are for young people and great, great studies that will introduce them to Bible prophecy. Now, we just completed a series called Understanding the Book of Revelation. This is pack one, pack two, 24 DVDs, 71 TV programs. We've covered the whole book of Revelation. It took us two years to complete it. It's 30 minute programs, each one, but we have 71 programs. We also have it in a USB format, three USBs, 71 TV programs video and audio on the USB series now the message I'm sharing this morning It's called Bible prophecy God's order of events a wonderful message now. I know being that this your pastor teaches Bible prophecy I'm singing to the choir, but I'm going to encourage you today regarding God's prophetic word Bible prophecy God's order of events we also have that in the USB format as well and Then we have our Bible prophecy manual. It's a user-friendly guide designed to help you understand Bible prophecy. In the back, we have a pull-out dispensational chart. I'm going to use this chart this morning as we walk from the cross of Christ all the way to eternity, and we're going to see how Bible prophecy will unfold. Then we have our website, which is www.according2prophecy.org. We've been online since 1995. We've had a web presence. We're part of the social media platforms as well as YouTube. And then we have a weekly program that airs on HISchannel. Anybody here watch our program on HISchannel? Anybody here? Well, if you don't, you might want to start. It's a wonderful program. Our program is called Your Future in Bible Prophecy. Again, it's a 30-minute program. You can go to HISchannel.com or download their app as well. And it's a wonderful, wonderful program. And then last but not least, we have our Bible Prophecy app. According to prophecies on Apple, Google Play, or Amazon, or either Roku. and you can actually download the app there. We have a video of the month every month. For the month of October, we dealt with the Mark of the Beast. We go in depth to look at the Mark of the Beast based on scripture. So you can download the app there and watch this month as well as the month's past, and then going into November, all right? Now, my message this morning, Bible prophecy, God's order of events. I want you to bow your hearts as we ask the Lord to bless his word. Father, what a privilege it is, first and foremost, as we stand before you, the creator of all life. Lord, what a privilege it is as we stand before your people. Lord, I ask today as we go into your word, by your Holy Spirit, I ask that you would open the scriptures to our hearts. Lord, stir us up. Encourage us regarding your prophetic truth. Remind us, dear God, of the things that you have in store for us. Lord, remove fear, remove confusion as we look at your prophetic word. Lord, we come against every scheme, every strategy of the enemy that would try to hinder the word of God. Now, Lord, we ask today for an open heaven and we thank you now in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I love this picture Bible prophecy God's order of events. If you look at this picture There's all different types of things related to Bible prophecy the nation of Israel the Battle of Armageddon 666 the beasts out of the earth and you know people are wondering today, you know, you know, is God really in control? You know with all the chaos that we see today many people think that God is not in control but Well, I want to say something today. God is in control and he has a divine order. You know, even though we watch all the chaotic things that are happening, you know, those negative things literally point to a positive, which we're going to see today in regards to the coming of our Lord. But God has everything under control. And again, we're going to see that this morning. Now, I'm going to bring in our prophecy chart here, and it may be a little confusing to some, but I want you to hang with me because this is going to really help you understand. Everything you see on this top line will be things that would take place in the heavens based on prophecy. Everything you see on this middle line will be things that would take place on planet Earth based on prophecy. And then underneath on this last bottom line, it would be things that would happen in the underworld based on Bible prophecy. We're going to see today that God has a divine order. Again, this thing is coming to pass as he said now. I'm a topical teacher. I'm gonna give you a number of topics today We're gonna look at them. So I'm gonna go ahead counter fast, but I'm gonna give you a number of things to look at first I'm going to define what is Bible prophecy. What is the message of Bible prophecy? What is it? They will look at what does the Bible say about God and Bible prophecy? What is God's relationship? to Bible prophecy And then we'll look at why should we study bible prophecy? Why should this be a part of our christian understanding christian diet? Why should you study the book of revelation and all the prophetic books? Why? I'm going to give you a number a number of answers there Then i'm going to give you an overview of bible prophecy what i'm going to do here I'm going to take you through our prophecy chart and then i'm going to just take you through it It's going to be a fast synoptic view, but i'm going to take you through from the cross of christ all the way to eternity and still get you out at a good time this morning. All right? All right, I wanna start off with a scripture found in 2 Peter 1, verses 19 through 21. Peter said this, we have also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. He said, knowing this verse, in verse 20, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. I really love that. He said verse 21 for the prophecies came not in old time by the will of man But holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost, you know bible prophecy was no accident God divinely ordered his prophetic word what I love what he said here, uh in verse 19. It's a sure word It's something you can stand on In verse 20, he said, the prophecy of the scripture, it was no private interpretation. You know what God did? God protected the integrity of his prophetic word by giving prophecy to all of his prophets. Moses got some prophecies. Zechariah got prophecies. King David got prophecies. Micah received prophecy all the way through the scripture. Gives us many promises all through the scriptures in that God protected the integrity of Bible prophecy So no one person got at all and then last but not least he said these men they were moved upon By the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit moved upon them and God began to give them prophetic things and prophetic understanding Now we are living in an exciting time because we can literally see prophecy come to pass before our very very very eyes I want to quote here from the late late author, Dr. Chuck Smith, I mean, Chuck Missler, from his book, Prophecy 2020. Listen to what he says about Bible prophecy. He said, we don't take prophecy seriously because it's in the Bible. We take the Bible seriously because of the track record of his prophecy. Listen to this, we have a Bible that is centuries old, that reads like a current day newspaper. This Bible God has given us and God is so eloquent and so beautifully put in scripture What our future is gonna look like and for that man, it gives me such hope, you know And again, we're gonna see that as we go forward. I want to quote one other scholar here. This is dr Richard Booker from his book the end of all things listen what he says about prophecy and He said, when we study the Bible and world history, we see that God has a plan for mankind and that he is actively moving world events forward to fulfill that plan. He has written these events in the Bible so we can see his plan and we can know his plan and see it unfold throughout the pages of world history. It is all there in the Bible. It would just take time to study for ourselves. God has so beautifully and eloquently mapped out the end of the story. I can tell you this morning dogmatically that I know how the world is going to end. You know why? Because the Bible has revealed it. And I got to tell you something, for the righteous, it's going to be awesome. I'll return to where God's going to be beautiful. And again, we can stand firm and true to that. Now, what is prophecy? I'm a teacher. I teach in Bible college as well as conferences. I like to define the study. So what is Bible prophecy? I'm going to give you a few definitions here. Number one, Bible prophecy signifies the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God. If you don't know what God thinks about the future, you need to study Bible prophecy. God has revealed the future in the message of Bible prophecy. What is Bible prophecy? Prophecy is not necessarily nor even primarily foretelling. It is the declaration of that which cannot be known by natural means. It's the fourth telling of the will of God, whether with reference to the past the present or the future. I love that it is the fourth telling of the will of God is God's will in advance and God is so beautifully placed it in the scriptures. What is Bible prophecy again? I'm a quote here from a book called a sure word of prophecy. This is dr. John W Bradbury. This is what he says about prophecy. He said Christians eschatology and prophecy are interwoven in the teachings of the Bible to such an extent that the knowledge of the first is limited to the extent that we comprehend the second. In other words, if you don't understand the end of the story, it's going to affect everything you believe in the Bible. If you don't understand the Genesis record, it's going to affect everything you believe going after that. You must have a comprehension of the end time message in order to understand the whole scripture. And again, I really love this. Now, he used the term eschatology. I'm going to define that in a few minutes as well. But he goes on to say this, every doctrine of the Christian faith has its conclusion or culmination in that future, which is the burden of biblical prophecy. And ignorance of this prophecy or any serious perversion of it seriously affect one's concept of the pure faith. It is for this reason, therefore, that a clear biblical expression concerning Bible prophecy is necessary. You need to understand the prophetic word. You are blessed to have a pastor that understands Bible prophecy and that teaches it. People say, well, sometimes I may get tired. Listen, no, you need to understand that you are a blessed church. I travel all across the country and internationally. There are a lot of churches that never, ever get an end time message and their churches reflect it. You have a pastor that understands the end of the story, and again, we need to have full understanding of that to reach this last world. Now, he used the term eschatology. Since I teach in college, I want to give you the definition of eschatology. What is eschatology? Eschatology is a division of systematic theology dealing with the doctrine of last things, such as death, resurrection, the second coming of Christ, the end of the age, divine judgment, and the future state. It properly includes all that was prophetic of future events when recorded in scripture. Biblical eschatology assumes that the scripture predict future events with infallible accuracy and constitute a divine disclosure of the future. You can trust God's prophetic word. This is the study of eschatology. It's not some made up doctrine. Eschatology is the study of last things. When you read the book of Revelation, it's the last book of the Bible. It's a book of eschatology. And again, we need to understand that. Now, eschatology is not designed to satisfy curiosity, but to provide an intelligent comprehension of the future as a guide for a present program, and I love this last part, and a sure ground of hope. Listen, Saints, the Lord wants you to know what you, what he's doing. He wants you to understand Bible prophecy. He wants you to have a sure ground of hope. You know, I grew up, it's amazing that I'm a Bible prophecy teacher. I was taught in church that if you study the book of Revelation, you could lose your mind. I was taught that. And when I got saved in my young adult life, I would read every other book in the Bible, but the book of Revelation, because I didn't want to lose my mind. But I did lose my mind. I lost my mind and put on the mind of Christ, which is far better, but not in the sense that they were talking. A lot of Christians are in that situation today. They never go into the prophetic books because they have a fear of it. And when you study the end time message, it's a message of hope. It's going to bless you. And again, we're going to see that going forward. Now, what does the Bible say about God and Bible prophecy? What is God's relationship to the prophetic word? I love this. I'm gonna give you a verse here in Isaiah chapter 46 verse 10. The prophet wrote talking about God declaring the end from the beginning. From ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I would do all my pleasure God says I'm a God who will declare the end of the story at the beginning God says I'm God and I'm gonna tell you exactly what I'm gonna do God said I'm gonna show you what I'm gonna show you my hand you can trust what I'm what I'm gonna do look at this Isaiah 48 3 & 5 The prophet wrote, talking about God, he says, I have declared the former things from the beginning. And they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them, and I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. God says, I showed the former things at the beginning. I love verse five. He said, I have even from the beginning declared it to thee. He said, before it came to pass, God says, I showed it to you. Now, if you're a student of the word and you read the scripture, you're going to see Bible prophecy. God's going to show you his hand before he revealed it, before he do it. But this is exclusive and it's only for his children that they can understand the prophetic books. So God wants us to understand and he will give us clarity from his word. Now, why should we study Bible prophecy? Why should this be a part of your Christian diet? Why should your pastor allow these type of ministries, and why should he teach it as well? So what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you a number of reasons why we should study Bible prophecy. Reason number one, because we are commanded to study the Word of God, and the message of Bible prophecy is in the Word. Do you not know Saints, when you do a verse by verse study in the whole year of your Bible, 33% of what you've studied is prophetic in nature. Now, a lot of people, they just read the scripture versus study the Bible. You need to study the Bible too. Reading is good, but you need to study. You need to go a little bit deeper. 33% of what you read in a whole year, if you read the whole Bible in a year, is prophetic in nature, and you need to understand that. Why should we study Bible prophecy? Because Bible prophecy, I love this, Bible prophecy answers hard questions that no other study in the Bible does. I'm going to give you some examples. Question number one, what happens to the dead after death? You know Bible prophecy answers that. For the righteous, the Bible said, we're absent from the body and what we are present with the Lord. For the unredeemed, Luke 16 reveals that the rich man, he died, he was buried, but in hell, he lifted up his eyes being in torment. Now, he didn't go to hell because he was rich. He went to hell because he didn't repent. But Bible prophecy reveals what happens to the righteous as well as what happens to the unrighteous. Here's another question. Where will Satan's in be now for a long time saying this will really mess with me Because I was always taught that the devil had a red slicker suit on a pitchfork in his hand And he was down in hell controlling hell, you know roasting them sinners. That's how I was taught whenever I saw him he had that red slicker suit on and Unbiblical, you know, the devil is afraid of hell Reverend 2010 reveals that the devil will be cast into the lake of fire and he will be tormented day and night forever and ever but see you don't want you to know that Bible prophecy reveals the end of the story of In reference to the devil, you know, the devil is not in hell today. Don't believe that Satan is not in hell His kingdom is in the lower heavens the Bible says he's the prince of the air His kingdom is in the lower heavens and as we near the end times His his influence would go to to the earth and then to the bomb is pinned then to the lake of fire He's on a downhill trajectory of judgment. I Bible prophecy answer to here's the next one. Will the earth be totally destroyed? You know, we looked at a lot of the a lot of the events dealing with current events You know all of the the nuclear threats of the side of the the events that are happening around I want to encourage you today to let you know that mankind cannot destroy planet Earth now. It doesn't mean that nuclear Bombs when we're not explode, but I can tell you this based on prophecy mankind will not destroy planet Earth People wonder who's going to push that red button that's going to set off every nuke in the world. Let me tell you something. God is in control. We have a sovereign God. God has a wonderful plan for planet Earth that's written in the scriptures and mankind cannot destroy it. You got to know that. Here's another one. Heaven and hell, all these real places. You know, there's much debate today about heaven or hell, but the Bible tells us so much about them. You know, there are three levels of heaven, the sky, the universe, the third heavens. There are five compartments of hell, the underworld, Abraham's bosom, Hades' shield, Tartarus, the bottomless pit, and then the link of fire. The Bible tells us a lot about both places. These places are real. But again, mankind, because he don't spend time looking at prophetic things, he never sees or never put the picture together. Here's the last question. Are we living in the last day? What would you say? I'm looking for you to say yeah with your kind of passing you better You guys know it Bible prophecy reveals that we are truly living in the end times Listen, if there's ever been a time that I believe we live in the last days, I believe it I've been teaching 41 years Bible prophecy and I believe it more now than ever that we are on the brink of the end times No doubt about it. I'm looking up every day Lord. Is this today? I'm ready. I am ready. I I talk about it all the time. I'm ready, you know, I'm ready now Here's another reason why I wish to study Bible prophecy because Bible prophecy listen at this Bible prophecy gives hope to a dying world It gives hope beyond this present world's Problems so I can tell when a Christian don't understand the prophetic word by how they live in the present A lot of Christians, they don't look at the end time. They don't look at the future, and therefore, because they don't have any hope for the future, they live very tough lives now. Now, it doesn't mean you don't have problems. We do have problems, but your hope must go beyond this present world. Look at this passage here, 1 Corinthians 15. verse 19, Paul wrote this. He said this, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, he said, we are of all men most miserable. He said, you can be a Christian and all of your hope is in Christ, but it's in this world. He said, you are a miserable believer. See, we must have hope now in Christ, in this world, but your hope has to go beyond this present world. This is science. The Bible said we are pilgrims passing through. This world that we're currently living in now is not your home. We are pilgrims passing through. Some people have taught that all the Bible prophecy is complete. I said, no, it's not, not based on what I read from the scripture. What I'm looking at is not the end of the story based on what the scripture says. Bible prophecy gives us hope beyond this present world. Here's another one, 1 John 3, John wrote this, and every man that have this hope in him Purifies himself even as he is pure, you know having a proper in time hope and understanding. It's a purifying hope It's a hope that will keep you on the straight and narrow Again, I can tell when a Christian don't know the future by the way, they live They're walking with Lord walking with God three three months and they backslid five months They serve in God one month and backslide three months. You know, you don't understand the end of the story. If you don't understand the end of the story, it will stabilize your walk. You won't be so quick to give in to the devil. You won't backslide so easy when you understand the future. Bible prophecy gives you a hope. It's a purifying hope. And again, it will help you. Now, why should you study Bible prophecy? because Bible prophecy reveals what happens to the wicked or the ungodly in the end. You know, God is not bastard about what he's going to do to rebels. You know, we try to pacify the judgments of God, but God does not. Jesus did not. When he talked about men going to hell and judgment, he didn't pacify. He told them the truth. Look at this. This is amazing passages here. Psalm 73, three through 23. In this text, the psalmist, he thought on the prosperity of the ungodly, and it almost caused him to turn his back on God. What happened, this psalmist, the person he got saved, you know, during the day, and what happened, he began to look at the wicked prosper. And he said, you know something, I cleansed my hands in vain. I'm serving God, you know, but the wicked is doing what they're doing, and the wicked seem to be living better than me. I want to say to you today, Christian, listen, get your eyes off the weakest prosperity, because their prosperity is temporary. This is all they have. Get your eyes off of them. Don't compare them to your salvation. However, because of the prophecy of judgment on the ungodly, which he learned after he went into the house of God, it caused him not to backslide. So what happened is this. The psalmist, he went to church or the synagogue that day, and they had a Bible prophecy teacher coming in. And the Bible prophecy just taught him the end of the wicked. Look at verse 17, Psalm 73, 17. He said, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. He understood the wicked's end based on Bible prophecy. Prophecy revealed what happens to rebels who do not want to honor and serve God. He said, you know something? It is best that I stay with God. It is best that I stay with him, that I serve God. I want to say something to you. I don't care what you're going through today, Saints. Hang in there with God. Don't turn your back on him. Don't backslide. Don't leave him. You have the best ticket in town. You're going to spend eternity with him. And your future is going to be so beautiful based on the Word of God. This is our future. Bible prophecy reveals what happens to the wicked. Not only does it talk about the wicked, but Bible prophecy reveals what happens to the righteous or the godly in the end. That's us. If you're born again, you're considered the righteous. Look what the Bible says. In second peter chapter 3 13 peter wrote this he said nevertheless we according to his promise Look for new heavens and a new earth Where in the wells rising this is thanks our future with god's gonna be so awesome We're gonna have new heavens a new sky a new universe. We're gonna have a brand new brand new earth This current world will go under a fire baptism, and then once the fire has settled and God has finished renovating, we're going to have a brand new world. The Bible says, where in the world's righteousness? This is for the redeemed. Don't get all your hopes locked in here. This is not the end of what God is doing. Our future is going to be outstanding. Look at this next one. I love this. Revelation 21, 4. Look what the Bible says about God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Listen, saints, our future will be a world without tears, without sorrow, without death, without pain, without Tylenol and Excedrin PM. Listen Saints, our future with God is going to be a beautiful world for all eternity. No more funeral homes, no morgues, no graveyards in eternity. Listen Saints, no more death ever. The Bible says here, the former things are past, but this is our future. And the Bible reveals what happens to the righteous. Now, let me give you one last reason why we should study Bible prophecy. We should study Bible prophecy because Bible prophecy, listen to this, it inspires dedicated work and service to God. Many of you, many of us have been called by God to do something for God, and what we have done, we have not allowed God to work in our lives. For whatever reason, whatever reason you disqualified yourself, listen, don't do that. Just yield to God. As you yield to God, God will begin to do a work in your life. You know, I'm gonna give you a little story here. This is Noah. How many remember Noah? Remember Noah? Noah was the first cruise ship builder. Okay? Noah received a prophecy in his day that affected his life. And I want to show you this. In the book of Hebrews, this is called the Hall of Faith. The book of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse number 7, the writer wrote this. He says, by faith, Noah being warned God of things not seen as yet. That's prophecy God said God showed Noah a prophecy of his world of things not seen as yet The Bible says here. He was moved with fear Prepared an ark to the saving of his house by which he condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness Which is by faith the scripture says God warned Noah with a prophecy of the end of his world And you know what he did to Noah it made him a motivated believer He received prophecy to understand the end of the story, and it motivated him to nail on that arc, that gulf of war. 120 years, this man of God followed God because God gave him a prophecy of the end. You know, the end time message, it's a motivator. I wanna say to you, whatever God have called you to do, yield to him. Allow God to work in your life. I tell you this, for me to be a preacher, there is a God in heaven for me to be a preacher. None of that, there is a God in heaven for me to be a Bible prophecy preacher. I used to stutter. I had a very bad stammer. When I met my wife 43 years ago, I had a bad stammer. It was bad and she still married me. I was so happy. But God called me to teach Bible prophecy. And I said, now Lord, if you call me, you got to help me. You got to loosen my tongue and God touch me. and he lifted the stutter. I mean, the devil was telling me all kinds of things, you can't preach, you can't teach my brother, you're gonna stutter, I'm gonna mess you up. I mean, I'm preaching, the devil trying to mess me up while I'm preaching. God said, you just yield to me, son, and I'm gonna use you. But the fear of God was on me, a reverence for what God called me to do. I wanna say to you, whatever God has called you to do, yield to him. If he wants you to write a book, write a book. He wants you to go into ministry, go into ministry. If he wants you to sing, sing, do whatever he's calling you to do, allow his prophetic word to motivate you. Now, we're going to come down to the last part of this particular study. And what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you an overview of Bible prophecy. What I'm going to do, I'm going to bring in our prophecy chart. You see it coming to the screen and what you're gonna see you're gonna see little circles that's gonna appear on the screen This first circle you're gonna see here is one dealing with the cross of Christ. I'm gonna start there The cross of Christ is a major event in prophecy This is Christ in prophecy. One of my favorite studies looking at Christ from the Old Testament There were over 300 prophecies that led Jesus to Calvary Which a hundred or so were specific in detail, but the scripture revealed all through the scriptures that his life was so honored By prophecy, let me ask this question. How many pieces of silver were words was was Jesus portrayed with how many? Why not 35? Why not 50? That's a good round number. The Bible said 30. Why? Because Zechariah the prophet said 30 pieces of silver would be his price that he was prized at. Listen, saints, nothing that happened to Jesus caught him off guard. You know, when the movie and the book came out, The Da Vinci Code, some Christians' faith was shaken by The Da Vinci Code. You know why? Because they didn't understand the Old Testament prophecies. Nowhere in the prophetic word dealing with Christ's life Did it say that Jesus would marry Mary Magdalene because everything he did God had already pre-written his life out in Scripture I was preaching one time at a lady's prison and lady came. She said brother Perkins. She said I I just read the Adventure code and and and I think I lost my faith. What should I do? I say get rid of the book and get back in your Bible and I said, tear it up, rip it up, don't give it, just rip it up. I said, get back into the scriptures. His life was pre-ordered in advance. Everything God had already pre-written. Let me ask you this question. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, what was he riding on? Donkey, and I Bob said king of kings. Why would why would the king of kings rider to Jerusalem on a donkey? You know why cuz Zechariah said Israel behold your king is coming to you lowly riding on a donkey His life was pre-ordered now. We're gonna go a step further. You're gonna see three circles come in here You have the church age the rapture and the judgment seat of Christ and now today we are in what's called the church age and The church age began in the book of Acts chapter 1 through 22. We are still today in the church age. We're no further in scripture in reference to that. In regard to the book of Revelation, we're in Revelation chapter 2 and chapters 3. We are no further in Revelation because right now God is dealing with the church. We are in the church age And god want to use us to reach a lost world a dying world now We're seeing signs and indicators that are pointing to the tribulation. These are precursors We're seeing those things, but we are currently today in the church age Now what's going to remove this church age or dispensation period of time will be that wonderful event called the rapture of the church first Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 through 18 says I love the rapture You know, there's so much debate in the church about the rapture that people miss the blessing of this event. You know, the rapture is a blessed event. Paul said, wherefore, comfort one another with these words. I love the rapture teaching. I mean, I believe the rapture so much that I take rapture drills. I do, and the more I'm ready. I'm ready, man, I'm ready. I had a dream one night, Pastor, that I woke up. No, in a dream I was flying and the rapture took place. I'm flying, I'm going, man, it was so exciting. And then I woke up, man, I was so mad. Oh, man. I mean, I was so, I said, wow, the rapture is... Then I woke up, man, it was sad. But the rapture is going to be a beautiful event because it's going to usher us into the presence of our Savior. The rapture is going to give you that glorified body that will never ever be tainted with sin ever again. The Bible says, wherefore comfort one another with this message. We need to teach the rapture. People need to understand it's the blessed hope of the redeemed. Now, the rapture is going to usher us into the third heaven where we're going to an event called the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14.10 and 2 Corinthians 5 verses 10 and 11. Here, the apostle Paul reveals that believers will stand before Christ. You know, Christian, you will give an account for your service as a believer. Now you won't be judged here or condemned to go to hell here But Christians will lose rewards for not allowing God to work in their lives Everything you do as a believer will will count in heaven and you'll stand before the judgment seat of Christ The Bible talks about we can obtain five crowns at the judgment seat of Christ. It's gonna be awesome And I'm going for the crowns man. You watch brother Perkins in heaven, man I'm going for I'm going for the crowns man. I'm had him crowns on my head you watch it You know why I want those crowns? Because the Bible says in Revelation 4 that the elders cast their crowns before his feet. I want to lay those crowns back to him as a gift back to him. Some Christians are going to stand before a judge and see the Christ, and they will have no reward. They'll be saved, but they have no reward. They did nothing for Christ. God couldn't use them. God didn't use them. They didn't allow God to work in their life, so therefore they will have no rewards before him. The judgment seat of Christ is going to be an amazing event for the redeemed. Now, I'm going to bring you back down to the earth. As the church is raptured at the judgment seat, there will be an event that will take place on planet earth known as the great tribulation. This is a seven-year period of judgment that will come up on planet earth. We find this in Revelation chapter 6 all the way through chapters 19. Here God is going to unleash just unbelievable judgment upon mankind. Jesus said this would be a time this world has never seen nor never ever will see again. Here you have the four horse riders of the apocalypse. Jesus will open the seven seals and as he opened the seals the judgment of God would begin during that time of tribulation and it's going to be unbelievable judgment upon rebellious mankind. Now, I do believe, though, a lot of people will come to Christ during that time. They've heard the gospel, they didn't respond. Mom told them, Dad told them, husband or wife told them, and they didn't respond. And when that event of the rapture took place, they're gonna realize, oh my God, my family was right. Many of them, I believe, will come to Christ, but it's gonna be in a different dispensation, a different time. And again, the judgments, not only will they have the judgment, there'll be 21 judgments at the end of the tribulation. Seven seals seven trumpets and seven bowl of vile judgments will enter the tribulation But not only that they will also face the Antichrist the man of sin Daniel said in Daniel 8 that by peace the Antichrist will destroy many God's gonna allow him a seven-year season to do his bidding in the earth and Not only that, but the Antichrist will implement his Mark of the Beast system. Again, we see the technology is actually moving toward that. I want to say to you, Christian, today you don't have to fear the technology, though. Even though things are moving toward that, things are falling into place for the end times. But you don't have to fear technology. We won't even be here when the Mark of the Beast goes online. So it's okay to go to the grocery store and buy stuff and use the internet and all that. I got pastors tell me, I'm not on the internet because that's the mark of the beast. I said, foolishness. See, you don't understand, man. You need to use technology for the kingdom of God. So when you go to the grocery store, you know, and your change come back $6.66, don't buy nothing else. Christians, boy, they mad, oh, six, six, ooh, give me some Juicy Fruit, give me some Roll-A, something. I got to get off that number. Christians are 666 paranoid and you don't have to be I love what my chains fall today It's an opportunity to preach the gospel I'll let them know that, you know, I won't be here. I'm gonna be raptured before that event happens. We won't be here, but this is the time the Bible talks about. It's gonna be unprecedented. Now, I'm gonna take you back up to the heavens, and we're gonna take you to see the marriage supper of the Lamb. We'll see the second coming of Christ, and then the battle of Armageddon. Now, I love this, Revelation 19, verses seven through 10. Here, a wonderful event will take place in the heavens. The Bible calls it the marriage supper of the Lamb. We the redeemed, every one of us that are born again will be at this wonderful banquet marriage supper table. And I said many times, I got so happy when I found out there would be food in heaven, man. It's going to be awesome. But we, the redeemed, will celebrate the marriage of the Lamb. It's going to be awesome. We're going to be there. And this is only for the righteous, only for the righteous. Revelation 19 reveals two suppers, the marriage supper of the Lamb, and then I'm going to show you the next supper in a few minutes. But as this event takes place, we'll be there to celebrate. Once it's over, our food digests, the Bible talks about another event called the second coming of Christ. Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 through 16. This is the literal return of Christ They made my share a few minutes ago that when Jesus went into Jerusalem. What was he riding on the first time a Donkey, right? Well, guess what his donkey riding days over. I In the second coming, he's coming back as a conquering king. He's coming back to take full authority over the earth. He's coming back to set up his millennial government in the earth. And it's going to be so awesome because the Bible said he's coming back at this time. The scripture says fire will be in his eyes. The Bible says he's coming back to judge mankind. The Bible says in righteousness, he will judge and make war. Listen, we've never seen Christ in this capacity. He won't be the sweet little passive lamb at this time. You slap his cheek, he give his other. Oh no, those days are over. He's come back as king, ruler, potentate, head of state, prime minister, king of kings, Lord of lords. He's coming to take authority in the earth. And what's so exciting about it, saints, the Bible says not only will he come, but he's coming back, the Bible says, with his army. And his army's gonna be comprised of the saints and also the angelic. He's gonna unleash heaven's angels upon mankind. But I'm excited about these armies that's gonna fly out of heaven with him. The Bible said the saints, they're gonna ride upon white horses clothed in white fine linen. This is gonna be every one of us riding these white horses coming out of heaven. Now, I do this every time I talk about it. Look right here. See the arrow pointing right there? That's Brother Perkins right there. Coming out of heaven, man. It's going to be pretty, boy. Just watch. I'm going to be riding that horse, man. He's going to be like a Tennessee Walker, man, just stepping up. My horse is going to be pretty coming out of heaven. You watch. I believe in saints. Everywhere I go, I tell people, everywhere I go, I believe the second coming so much that I've already named my horse. And I have been challenging Christians from coast to coast, name your horse. Name your horse, saints. I have people email from me all over the world telling me the names of their horses. My horse will be named Nellie. Nellie. People say, man, that's kind of disappointing. Nellie? Nellie Bly? No, Nellie. and I'm gonna ride Nelly out of heaven with my Lord, my Savior. But guess what, saints? Jesus has come back this time. He's coming back with purpose, though. He's coming back, and we, the saints, are gonna be riding with him. We're coming back as his administration for what purpose? To help him govern the earth. We're gonna see that in a few minutes. But I talked about another supper. There's another supper that's gonna take place. Revelation 19, 17 through 21. It's called the Battle of Armageddon. The Bible calls this the Supper of the Great God. This is when the Antichrist's armies will literally be judged by Christ. And the Bible says here in chapter 19 that the birds of prey will eat their flesh. It's called the supper of the great God. In Israel, in the valley of Megiddo, the world's armies will be gathered to come against Christ and Jesus will kill them. Jesus will. He will judge them. The Bible said the blood will come up to the horse's bridles. It's going to be unbelievable. Christ's going to come back to judge them and the birds of prey will eat their flesh. Now, take it back to the chart. We're almost done. You see this next circle? When Christ come back in the second coming, he's coming back with purpose. And the purpose is that he's coming back to set up his kingdom, his millennial government. Revelation 20, verses 1-10. He's going to fulfill Isaiah 9, verses 6-7. The Bible said the government shall be on his shoulders. The responsibility of governing the world will finally rest on Christ. And the Bible said he's going to rule with the rod of iron. Not only will he rule with a rod of iron, but the saints that are with him the glorified We will also rule with that same rod of iron. Uh, we're going to help uh, really what it means is a seat of authority Uh, we're going to literally rule and reign with christ in his government. Uh, it's going to be amazing here This is a thousand year time. Uh, the bible says that uh, he's going to do a lot of things during this time He's going to change the nature of the beast. Uh, leo the lion would not eat flesh in the millennium. Uh, he'll eat a straw like the ox The lamb and the wolf, the Bible says, will lie together in peace. Some people say, Brother Perkins, we're in the millennium now. I said, absolutely not. I can take you to San Diego Zoo and show you we're not living in the millennium now. Let me throw you in that lion's den. We're going to see if that lion eats straw right now. I'll prove you right quick we're not in the millennium. We're doing the millennium. Peace will permeate the entire world. It's going to be unbelievable what God's going to do. And again, we will be there. Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years during that time. This is a precursor to the eternal world, but God's going to put man in a perfect environment and show them that they will still sin unless they accept him. And you're going to have the sheep nations going into the millennium. I mean, I got a whole teaching on the millennium that will really help you understand what the Bible says about it. Now, we're going to come down to Two more parts and we're almost done. I'm going to take you back up to the heavens. You're going to see the great white throne judgment and then the reality of hell. When the millennium closed and God began to judge, he judged Satan. The Bible talks about an event that would transpire in the heavens. Revelation 20 verse 11 through 15. This is the judgment of the great white throne. This is where the unredeemed must stand before God and they're going to give an account of their rejection of God. Everyone that appeared the white throne judgment will be eternally damned They won't be able to plead their case that God I accept you now is too late They are standing before God without the blood of his son You don't ever want to go before God without without Jesus and these people will and they're gonna stand before God to give an account and when they do that they're gonna they're gonna be judged and every one of them will be cast into the lake of fire and Revelation 2010 talks about Satan being cast out. Revelation 218 talks about people that go to hell. And all of us fit into Revelation 218. Such were some of you, all of us. We were condemned, but we accept Christ. And when you accept Christ, you will not go to this judgment. If you don't accept Christ, you will meet the fate of eternal hell. And again, it's a reality. Now, as I close, I'm not gonna leave you in hell this morning. I'm gonna take it to the end of the chart. And at the end of the chart is our future saints, the new heavens and the new earth. Here we will spend eternity forever upon a new earth and new heavens. Now let me explain what the Bible is gonna tell us here. Revelation 21, 22 reveals to us eternity. This is where we're gonna spend eternity. Many people have been taught that we're gonna spend eternity in heaven. That's not true. We will go to heaven, we will go there, But our eternity is going to be up on planet earth. The scripts say that we the meek shall inherit the earth God has prepared. He will prepare this wonderful earth. He's going to renovate it by fire Peter said we look for new heavens and a new earth where in the righteousness The bible says the new jerusalem is going to come out of the third heaven down upon the new earth In the new jerusalem is those those mansions are dwelling places for the redeemed. Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you Well, the New Jerusalem will come down upon a brand new earth, and it's going to be just like it is today without sin, sorrow, death, and the devil. We will live forever upon planet earth. You know, people got these weird ideas about heaven. You know, we've been taught, you watch TV and you see the guy floating on the clouds, you know, with a harp, ring, ring. You see him floating with wings, and he got wings, or he's sitting on the cloud eating Philadelphia cream cheese. Unbiblical. If that's heaven, that's boring. This is saying, based on scripture, we're going to spend eternity up on a brand new earth. This earth, God's going to renovate it. You know why? Because Jesus paid the price to renovate it. At Calvary's cross, not only did Jesus die for humanity, but he also died for creation. Remember in his brow, what did they put in his brow? Crown of thorns. You know, thorns was the curse that ended the earth. Not only did he die for humanity, he also died to redeem creation. The Bible said that the earth is groaning and travailing. The earth is waiting for its born again experience, and that's going to happen in the end when God renovates planet earth. And guess what, saints? We're going to have homes and houses and dwelling places. The Bible said there'll be nations in the new world. The Bible said the nations of the world will bring their glory into the new Jerusalem. It's going to be awesome. The Bible talks about the tree of life is gonna be there. You know the tree of life? Once Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God blocked them so they couldn't eat of the knowledge of, I mean, couldn't eat of the tree of life. But at the very end, God will bring the tree of life back on planet Earth and we, the redeemed, will be able to eat of the tree of life. Revelation 22 says that the tree of life is gonna bear 12 manner of fruits and yield a different fruit every month. And the Bible said, we will have a right to the tree of life. Listen, man, watch Brother Perkins every month, new fruit, I'm there. The Bible said he prepared a place for us. You know, I'm gonna have my house, my dwelling place in the new Jerusalem. And I'm gonna invite you now to come to Brother Perkins' house in the new world. I've already put my request. I said, Father God, I want two big old lions out front of my house, Leo and Cleo. Right out front of my house, man. You can come to my house, they won't harm you, they won't bother you. Listen, Seth, I'm trying to get you to understand, eternity is tangible, practical, touchable. We made it so spooky. when it's natural, tangible. We're gonna spend eternity with God. We're gonna spend eternity with the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We're gonna know all of them. I wanna spend time with Daniel the prophet. It's gonna be awesome. So Bible prophecy, God has a divine order. And again, saints, we are headed to that future. I want you to bow your hearts this morning as we close in prayer. Father God, we love you. And again, I thank you so much for the word of truth. Now Lord, I know I've covered a lot this month. We've gone pretty fast and I've given a lot of information, but Lord, I pray today, I pray this message will stir the hearts of your people. It will challenge us, oh God, to allow you to work in our lives. It will convict us, oh God, to surrender our will to you. While all heads are bowed, I want to make this appeal today. We may have someone here say, Brother Perkins, you know, you got me a little excited about eternity, but I realize I'm not a Christian. I want to say to you today, while all heads are bowed, if you're not born again, today you can be born again. It is no accident that you're here. God allowed you to hear this word to challenge you to accept him. Today you said brother Perkins. I want to receive Christ as my Savior If that's you simply raise your hand and and what we're gonna do I just want to see if you if you want to receive Christ out I want to just see in them. We have we have the elders here up up front They can they can pray with you to receive Christ But listen, I'm saying you do not leave this place without getting things right with God and all you gotta do is just simply accept him and So I'm gonna close this prayer and then if you want to come to receive Christ We have elders here that will pray for you. All right father right now. I just prayed to god that you bless your people And challenge those to go a step further in the things of god Now lord, we bless this church. We bless the pastor of this house. We bless the the elders and pastors of this house as well And lord, we thank you today in jesus name Amen Isn't god good? Thanks for joining us for another lesson. We hope that this message is a blessing for you and helps you grow towards a more mature understanding of God's Word. For more information about our ministry, we invite you to check out our website at rockharborchurch.net. Until next time, remember, keep looking up for our redemption draws near.