(Music)
Well, good evening, Lord of Hosts Church. Good evening, Lord
of Hosts Church. Oh, I know you guys can do better than that.
Good evening, Lord of Hosts Church. Jesus is in the house.
Give Him praise.
(Music)
Thank you, Jesus.
We have victory by the power of Your precious blood.
(Music)
Our slates have been wiped clean. We've been made new,
resurrected by the resurrected King.
(Speaking In Tongues)
You can just pray on your heavenly language right now.
(Speaking In Tongues)
Wow, thank you, Holy Spirit. This was as clear as day, but is
there anybody in this room that's dealing with estranged
family members? You have strain in your relationship with a
family member, father, brother, sister, uncle, sister, parent,
is there anybody in this room, maybe that's you watching
online, that you have an estranged family member, and I
feel the Lord says that he's going to repair it, and it's
right now in this atmosphere. But before you start clapping,
this is the other thing that he said. This is a season, as
Pastor Hank mentioned, of rededication. But it's not
rededication of our actions, it's rededication of our hearts.
This is not a season about external acts or deeds, but this
is about your internal motives and the things that we've
harbored inside of our hearts.
And the Lord says, "If you will come and confess, "I will make
everything new." So this is altar call for the bold and the
dangerous. If you're willing to be vulnerable, say, "Look, you
know what, pastor? "Please pray for my heart. "I desire for my
heart to be made new." And you that are watching online, you
can join with us because the spirit is not limited by
physical space. There's no time and space in the heavenly realm.
So even in this place right now, in your living room, in your
car, wherever it is, hopefully you're not looking at the phone
while you're driving in your car, but you're listening. The
spirit will touch your heart too if you will just be willing to
say, you know what, God, deal with my heart first. I give you
my heart back and I promise you that strained relationship, that
brokenness in the family, God is going to restore it. It's a
matter of principle. When we give our hearts to God, then it
gives him authorization to fulfill our heart's desires. And
I know that every person that is in this line and on camera, your
heart's desires for your families to be made whole, amen.
Pastor Keith, would you mind praying for the online while I
go down here and pray? But right now in this moment, before I
come down, just release it, whatever you're harboring,
whatever the situation is, I know a lot of you have tried out
of your own strength to make things right. You've tried out
of your own strength to do the right thing, but this is not
about the season of your own strength. This is about God's
grace, which is I can't, therefore you must. Amen.
Lord, I thank you.
You are the God who heals the brokenhearted. You are
the one who restores and places the spirit in the power of love
and replaces the power of hate and darkness. You replace the
voices of jealousy and fear with the confidence of faith and
assurance. You replace the joy of the Lord, which is our
strength. For those watching and those listening, Lord God, open
their eyes to see your peace that's now flowing into their
hearts, that they might know and be assured inside with the
confidence that you, Lord God, are the restorer and the
finisher of the work that you have begun even now in their
hearts now and forevermore. I thank you for it, Lord. Amen.
Father, we thank you that we have given our hearts to you,
Father. And therefore, you are a God that should not lie, but you
are fulfilling our heart's desire. You are meeting our
every need. And you said, Lord, that yes, this decade was about
the children, but it was also about the people. A reuniting, a
reconciliation, a reconnecting. Father, I thank you that every
work of discord, every work of divisiveness, hardheartedness,
bitterness, it is broken from this moment forward as we invoke
the power of your blood over each and every person, over
every family member, for you are the God of generations. And you
are restoring it all back into yourself. Receive that now
online. And I declare that this upcoming holiday season, as we
go through the rest of the year, is gonna be the best one yet
that you've had with your family. Amen. All right, well,
Pastor Doug is gonna have a powerful message tonight. If you
can just shake hands in the room, meet somebody, ask them,
"Hey, what's your favorite snack?" I don't know. Thank you.
(Music)
Amen.
This is a series, I guess, turned into that, a series of
don'ts. I wondered about that, I thought, you know, how can you
make it a series of don'ts? And yet, I guess God started it. You
know, the commandments start with don'ts. So I guess I'm
carrying that on. So does anyone remember? The first don't is
don't be a thief. Don't be a thief, Ephesians chapter four.
The next don't was don't be stingy. Second Corinthians nine.
He who sows bountifully reaps bountifully. The next don't was,
"Don't be a fool." Mark 10 tells about the rich young ruler
walking away just before he could have heard the desire of
the heart of God to be blessed beyond measure. But he walked
away. He was a fool. And the last one comes from Deuteronomy.
We'll go back to the Old Testament. In Deut it says, in
chapter 8 it tells us, God is getting the people ready to
march into their promised land. Now they aren't there yet. He's
telling them about the process of getting into his promised
land and becoming a great nation. And in the midst of
that, in verse eight, he says, "Beware that thou forget not."
Don't forget. Don't forget. Well, you might
say, you might be in a place where you're saying, "I'm still
believing for this promise. "I'm believing for that promise." And
so were they. But God was already warning them, don't
forget. And some of us are walking in blessings and
empowerment and a place of God's overflow in our life. But don't
forget. Don't forget. Beware, be alert, figure it out. Don't
forget. Don't forget. Don't forget. And then he says it and
concludes in verse 18 with this. "But thou shall remember the
Lord thy God, for he has given the power to get wealth, to
establish his covenant, to bring his truth." Don't forget, it's
not all about you, it's about him. And when you make it about
him, he'll make it about you. The more you make it about him,
the more he makes it about you. Because that opens the door for
him to bless you with every spiritual blessing that heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Beyond measure. But don't forget, don't
forget where it all begins, where it all started from. His
blessing, his benefit, his desire to do good for you. You
can put the giving information up on the screen. If you need an
envelope, you can ask for one. Be prepared to give. Be quick to
give. Be ready to give. And don't be a thief. Don't be
stingy. Don't be a fool. And do not forget, because the more you
remember, the more you activate the power of His blessing. You
can stand up with me and we'll pray together and decree.
Father, I release the authority of the name of Jesus Christ over
each and every giver, here and online, that they might receive
the benefit of the power of your hand upon their giving, because
they remember you and identify with your blessing, your
promises and your power. And now Father God, restore unto them
your wealth, your riches and reveal to the world that you are
God. And I declare it in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. You may give.
Do their job. Hallelujah. We don't have a Micah here, do we,
tonight? In the room. Micah. Micah. Micah? Oh, come down
here, Micah. I forgot. Matthew's son, Micah. Hey, God has a word
for you, Micah, tonight. and he says, "You have a calling, and
you have a destiny on you, and you're gonna do great things for
God." And he's instructing you tonight to always keep close to
him. Stay close to your own natural father, because he'll
guide you, he'll direct you. God will use your daddy to guide
you, to direct you, to show you what to do. You follow him
because he's an example of Jesus in your life. And when you
follow dad, you're gonna be led towards God in a closer
relationship. And this is jumping away in the future, but
God's saying he's already prepared your life's mate, the
one that someday you're going to marry when you get older. Dad
doesn't want me to talk about that yet, I know. It's a long
ways off. But time goes fast. And he's prepared the one that
you will connect with. And she's someone you're not going to have
to drag along and move along into. She's going to be as
excited about the faith, about the destiny of God in your life
as you are, and what you intend to do. So you just keep
following Him. You keep pressing towards a mark. You keep doing
what Jesus instructs you to do. And you can hear the Holy
Spirit, because He talks to you. And you have ability to listen
and see. And you have perception that's beyond your years. And
God says He's going to use that in a special way, because you
have what the Bible talks about, I believe, the gift of
discernment of spirits. And that means that you can discern
things in people and things in the room. You can discern things
and understand them where other people don't have that gifting
necessarily. So it's a special thing, it's a special calling on
your life. You'd be blessed in Jesus' name. Everyone say Micah.
Micah. Be blessed. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for coming
tonight. Hallelujah. Praise God. Well, this has been, that last
song, just kinda, the anointing was so strong on that, and then
the transition and everything. I'm almost ready just to say
we've had church, pack it up, but how many of you wanna hear
something about Revelation tonight? Okay, I'll try and,
we're moving through. I didn't think this series would take
this long, but I'm trying to just give you a broad overview
of Revelation so that I develop a hunger for you to study and
learn of the things of the end times because it's important to
know it. And we'll talk a little bit about that tonight. But I do
want to start, I can't review everything that we've covered in
the past because then if I do, I don't know if it takes up the
whole new message, we never get anywhere and make it ground. But
I do wanna just go back to my chart again, the end time event
timeline, and talk about where we're at right now for someone
that might just be tuning in tonight for the first time. I
want this message to stand on its own and mean something to
you, even if you haven't heard the previous messages. But let's
just look at where we're at, if you'll put that on the back
screen, please. So, we've talked about Revelation 1 through 3,
that's the church age that we're living in right now in this
present time, and it's described in this Revelation chapters 1
through 3 with the seven letters to the seven churches. John
wrote this book of Revelation while he was on the, exiled on
the Isle of Patmos. And then we move to Revelation 4 and 5, and
that is discussing the rapture of the church. We'll talk a
little more about the rapture tonight the difference between
the rapture and the second coming because there's still
confusion in the minds of even clergy about those two events
and they get them interchanged and a little bit mixed up and
then it's confusing for people. But after the church is
raptured, we have the seven year tribulation period. That's
Revelation six through 18. And that's what we concluded last
week on May 6th, I think it was. So if you wanted to go back to
April 29th and May 6th, you could see what we talked about
concerning the seven-year tribulation, the judgments that
fall during that period of time, but also God's grace and mercy
that's shown through the tribulation. And then tonight
we're going to start on Revelation 19. We can't cover
the full chapter, but we're going to read part of it and
talk about the second coming. And that's really where we're at
tonight. In the future, when we have time, I'll be going into
the thousand-year millennial reign, what happens there in the
great white throne judgment, and then the new Jerusalem or new
heaven and new earth in Revelation 20 through 22. So
that kind of gives you an update as to where we're at on the
timeline. As a preview to what we're going into tonight, the
second coming of Christ to earth, we're going to see, first
of all, that Jesus returns from heaven as a conquering king.
He's accompanied by the armies of heaven, which will include
us, those of us that are saved and either die in a safe
condition and go, our spirit goes to heaven, our bodies
remain here, and then when the rapture of the church happens,
our bodies are resurrected. Or if you're alive, when the
rapture happens, then you'll go to be with him then. That's the
army of heaven that's coming back with Jesus that we're gonna
talk about tonight. And then number two, the kings of the
earth and the armies of the Antichrist gather at the Valley
of Armageddon, which is also called the Valley of Jezreel. We
showed a picture of that last week. And that is the final
catastrophic conflict that happens in Israel. So where
Jesus is the conquering king and defeating the armies of the
Antichrist. And then we also see that it's not a prolonged
military conflict. It isn't even going to last as long as this
current war that we're in now, which has been what, two or
three months? This battle is going to be over very quickly in
the same day that it starts. And Christ will defeat the opposing
armies instantly with the word of his mouth. So I wanted to
continue to clarify a little bit about when we discuss the second
coming, as I mentioned, which is Christ's physical return to the
earth. And it is a distinct separate event from what we
refer to as the rapture of the church. And like I mentioned,
even clergy sometimes use those terms interchangeably and talk
about the second coming and they're really referring to the
rapture. Well, some people I do understand talk about the second
coming happening in two phases. And that kind of makes sense too
because the rapture could be the first phase of the second
coming, but Jesus really doesn't come to earth at the rapture.
He's coming in the clouds. So when the second coming happens,
we will be with him and he actually ascends to earth at
that point. So it's just a distinction that I wanted to
make sure we all understand here since we've been studying this
quite a while. So let's just review another graphic that I
want you to see, which kind of breaks down the difference
between the rapture and the second coming and compares the
two, if you'll put that up on the screen next. I'm not sure if
this is gonna be readable from where you're at. So, this says
rapture versus second coming, it kinda got cut off up there, but
that's what that's saying. Left side referring to the rapture.
Basic, couple scriptures that are key explaining the rapture,
1 Thessalonians 4:16 through 17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 52.
In this, number one, Christ comes for his own. We talked
about that. Christ comes for the bride. He's the bridegroom
coming for the bride. And as we look at what happens during the
second coming, Christ comes back with his own, that we will be
accompanying him at that point. We'll talk more about that.
Number two, Christ appears in the air, as I've said. Christ
comes as a loving bridegroom, number three. And only his own
see him when he comes. We know that as far as the second
coming, we're gonna look at that scripture tonight, the Bible
tells us that every eye shall see him. So when he comes back
on the white horse and we are following him as the army of
Christ, every eye in the world will see Christ come back at
that point in time. So number five here says it's a time of
great joy for believers. Of course, that's true. Number six,
a secret disappearance. Number six, on the opposite side, a
public appearance because every eye is seeing him. Now, as far
as number six on this particular graphic, calling it a secret
disappearance, I don't know that I can 100% doctrinally prove
that. I didn't put this slide together that I found this and
felt it applied. That's one that it makes sense that it could be
a secret disappearance. First Thessalonians 4.17 says, "When
we are caught up with Christ in the air, "together to meet the
Lord in the air, "we shall always be with the Lord." So
that word caught up was translated caught up from a
Greek word that is harpazo. And that harpazo means to seize, to
take away by force, or to snatch. And it's a powerful,
sudden, decisive action. If you look at Matthew 11, 12, that
same word, harpazo, is used there when it talks about take
it by force. Until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers
violence and the violent take it by force. So it means it's a
forceful, sudden action. That same word is used on the caught
up or take up or snatching away or the catch up or what we refer
to as the rapture. So 1 Corinthians 15, 52 says, "This
will occur in a moment in the twinkling of an eye." So we know
it's gonna happen quickly. So maybe it possibly will be a
secret disappearance. I mean, one second you are here and you
might be in a restaurant with other people and you're gone.
And they think you got up and went to the restroom and they
didn't notice it, you know, but you're raptured. So it could be
a secret disappearance. I'm just not, I'm not gonna say that's
100% Bible. That's somewhat speculation, but either way,
you're gone in an instant, however that happens. We know
that's true. And then number seven, the focus is on the Lord
and his church at that point in time. And of course, when Jesus
comes back at the second coming, the focus is gonna be on Israel
and his kingdom. Jesus is coming back to defeat the Antichrist
and his armies, and then set up his millennial kingdom on earth
at that point in time. So that's the contrast there. And I just
thought that slide kind of helped to understand that a
little better. And so when people talk about the rapture
and the second coming, if they're confused on that, that
should help you to explain it a little bit better. But let's go
ahead and look at Revelation 19 as we begin tonight. And I'm
gonna start with verse 11 and read through verse 16. We're
gonna read quite a bit of scripture tonight. And I think
it'll help us clarify some of the details in the second
coming. So Revelation 19, starting with verse 11, it says,
"Now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. "And he
who sat on him was called Faithful and True. "And in
righteousness he judges and makes war. "His eyes were like
the flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. He had a
name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed
with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of
God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and
clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth
goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations;
and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself
treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of the
Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name
written, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." So Christ's second
coming is a major doctrine in the Bible. I might have
mentioned this last time. The second coming is mentioned more
than 300 times in the 270 chapters in the New Testament.
So it's a dominant theme. Next to the subject of faith,
Christ's second coming is the most dominant theme in the New
Testament. Scripture actually records 25 times when Jesus
himself directly talked about his return to the earth. And of
course, during this church age, the age of grace that we're
living in now, we have people in the world that have scoffed at
the possibility of Christ's return and say, "Oh, that could
never happen." And really, due to his mercy, Christ has held
back judgment on these scoffers, giving them time to come to
repentance. For 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that. It says, "The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count
slackness. But he's longsuffering toward us, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance." So he's allowed that wickedness to run its
course. But we'll see tonight in chapter 19, this is a timeframe
when the wicked have come to their final end. This is the end
for them. Christ's second coming is God's final judgment of the
rulers of darkness. The time has now arrived when God reclaims
the planet Earth from Satan's grip once and for all. And Satan
will never have authority on the earth from there on. Revelation
1.7 says, "Behold, he's coming with clouds, and every eye will
see him, even they who pierced him. And all the tribes of the
earth will mourn because of him, even so. Amen." That's
Revelation 1.7. Every eye will see him when he appears. We
talked about that earlier. Christ coming on a white horse
will symbolize his glorious victory over God's enemies.
Historically, victorious Roman generals rode white horses, or
they would have the white horses pull their chariots at least,
when they would enter cities coming back in triumph after a
victory. And you'll remember that Revelation 6.2 also
describes the Antichrist coming on a white horse. And we
mentioned that he does this as a counterfeit to Jesus Christ.
Christ will destroy the beast, the Antichrist, the false
prophet, at the second coming. Now when Jesus returns on a
white horse, he's representing righteous judgment, purity, and
absolute victory over his enemies. Revelation 19.11, I
want to read that again. We just read it. "Now I saw heaven
opened, and behold, a white horse, "and he who sat on him
was called Faithful and True, "and in righteousness he judges
and makes war." So in this verse, John's seeing all of
heaven open. He sees Christ seated on a white horse, ready
for his departure from heaven, as a warrior and a king. Jesus
is coming in righteousness to judge and make war, as we talked
about. Now, Christ is described by a number of titles in the
passage that we read. I wanna look at that just so that you
can kinda see the titles that Jesus has in this chapter 19.
Basically in verses 11, 12, and 13, and then finally in 16, it
talks about him being faithful, being true. It says he has a
name written that no man knew but himself. He is called the
Word of God. And finally, King of Kings and Lord of Lords in
verse 16. And we'll talk about those in just a little more
detail here. Number one, he's called faithful. That means he's
trustworthy or one that can be relied on. He's faithful to keep
all of his promises. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass
away, "but my words shall not pass away." Amen. And number
two, he's true. Verse 11 says this. He's genuine or true. What
Christ said is the full truth. It's the opposite of what Satan
tries to tell us. His job is to deceive and lie to us. That's
all he ever does is deceive and lie. But Christ tells us the
truth. Jesus promised to bring peace and social justice,
political justice to mankind, and he will perfectly deliver
what he's told us that he's going to do. Now, I think it's
interesting that Jesus confirms once again that he and his word
are faithful and true. In John chapter 114, John explicitly
reveals, and you'll remember this, Jesus is the word that
became flesh and made his dwelling among us. So Jesus is
the word that became flesh. So in other words, you could say
the word and Jesus are really the same. And what Jesus
declares is true. So that means his word is true. And what Jesus
says is going to take place, it will take place. He's called
faithful and true. And this kind of relates back to what I was
sharing earlier. I talked about the fact that Bible scholars
estimate that the Bible contains over 3,000 prophetic statements
in the entire book of the Bible. And over 2,500 of those
prophecies have already been fulfilled to the letter. And
that excites me, just to think about that. With that kind of a
track record, there's absolute certainty that the next 500
prophetic statements or prophecies will be fulfilled.
It's amazing. One of our human problems is that God doesn't
always work on our time schedules. And we discussed the
fact that the Bible predicts, or predicted, I should say, that
Jerusalem was going to be a stone of stumbling in the end
times. How many of you were here when we talked about that, that
Jerusalem has been prophesied so many times about coming back and
being restored as a nation? And we looked at Zechariah 12,
verses two and three, and the prophecy that came from
Zechariah came 2,500 years ago, and that prophetic word that
came 2,500 years ago would not have been possible except for
the events that have happened during the last hundred years.
If you had visited Israel, Ken, back a hundred years ago, I know
you're not quite that old, you probably couldn't have done
that, but let's just say you could have visited Israel a
hundred years ago, you would have looked at a desolate
nation, really desert, and you'd say, "There's no way that could
become a prosperous agricultural oasis that it is in that little
country the size of New Jersey." And they're one of the top
producers of agriculture. They export. You'd think they'd just
produce enough to keep their country going, but that little
nation produces enough to export fruit and ag products. And
technologically, they are so far advanced of other nations in the
Middle East in the way that they can produce and have very little
loss on their crops. There's a certain percentage. Pastor Keith
could tell me that as a farmer, or ex-farmer, or being involved
with farms. You know, when you harvest a crop, there's a
certain percentage that you lose. You don't get it all.
Well, the Israelis, I don't even remember the percentage, but
they are excellent at that, and they keep more of their produced
crop and send it off for export than any other nation like that.
And it's amazing what they do. So my point is that Zechariah
and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, you know, some people
think, well, they had pizza dreams because they prophesied
all this stuff and that could have never happened. Well, 78
years ago, May 14th, 1948, Israel became a nation again.
And those men that people joked and laughed about and scoffed
about and said they were stupid for what they prophesied, now
it's proven true. Actually, there were 12 Old Testament
prophets that explicitly prophesied the return of the
nation of Israel to their homeland. So it's kind of
interesting as you study that out. But have you noticed
sometimes that God's timetable is not our timetable? How many
of you ever found yourselves saying, you know, Lord, I give
you till noon on Friday to get this accomplished in my life,
and if you don't do it by then, I'm just gonna go ahead and take
it in my own hands because you're not acting fast enough.
(Congregation Laughing)
Well, remember when Mary and Martha's brother, Lazarus, died?
You can read about it in John chapter 11. The message came to
Jesus while he was at the Jordan River and they said, "Come
quickly, Jesus. The one that you love is dying." And Jesus didn't
respond immediately. He actually stayed at Jordan, laid on his
hammock, relaxed, got some sunshine, and worked on his tan.
I don't know what he did for sure, but the Bible tells us
that he stayed there in Jordan for two days. And then it was a
two-day journey to get to Bethany. So there was actually a
four-day lapse from the time that he got the message that
Lazarus was sick and dying to the time that he arrived. And
when he got close to Bethany, Martha heard that Jesus was
approaching, and she found out where he was at and ran out to
him. And she said, "Lord, if you'd only been here, my brother
would not have died." Because Lazarus had actually passed away
during those four days. Basically, she was telling
Jesus, "You're too late." So why did Jesus hang around for a
couple days at the Jordan instead of heading right to
Bethany to take care of this situation? Why didn't He respond
immediately? And I believe it's because His desire was to do
much more than just heal Lazarus. It was to show the
power of God in raising him from the dead. After he had been dead
for four days, that was even a greater miracle. And often God
delays His answers that He might do much more than what we're
even asking for. That's why Pastor Hank always encourages us
to give prophetic words time to breathe. Give them some time to
breathe. Don't call them faults just because they don't happen
in a week. Give them time to pass. We've seen things, Pastor
Anthony, that Pastor prophesied like 15 or 20 years ago that you
pulled up those old prophecies from the, I don't know if they
were the 90s or early 2000s or whatever, early 2000s anyway,
and we have record of those, and they just came to pass. But when
you guys heard them at the time, those of you that were in the
audience, you might have thought, oh, that's gonna come
next year or this year or whatever, but it took 10, 15
years sometimes for those things to come to pass. How would you
like to have been one of the Old Testament prophets and it took
2,500 years for Israel to become a nation after it was
prophesied? No wonder many of them were stoned as false
prophets. It's like, hmm. Well, as humans, we're very time
conscious, and we think everything has to be immediate.
We have to stop that way of thinking that if it doesn't
happen tomorrow, it's not going to happen. That's not true.
Well, back to Revelation 19. I kind of got off on that a little
bit. But looking at the titles of Christ again, if you want to
put that back up for me. So we looked at faithful and true, and
then number three, he had a name written that no man knew but he
himself. Revelation 19:11 through 12. I want to reread
that again if you'll put that up. Revelation 19:11 through 12
says, "Now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. And he
who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a
flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name
written that no one knew except himself." So it seems that John
was able to see a name on Christ, but we don't know if it
was written on his garment or what, but it was evidently
incomprehensible to him. He couldn't make out the name, but
it's evidently supposed to be a mystery until every eye beholds
his coming and people will find out what that name is. And then
number four, he's called the Word of God. That's in verse 13,
Revelation 19, 13 says, "He was clothed with a robe dipped in
blood and his name is called the Word of God." So Christ is the
eternal word who became flesh and dwelt among mankind. We
talked about that a little bit earlier. Christ is the word. He
is the complete personal manifestation of God and the
full final revelation of God. At the second coming, the one that
spoke the universe into existence will destroy the beast
and his empire by the word of his mouth. Now, number five, he
has a name written on his robe and his thigh, King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. Let's look at that. Revelation 19, 16 says,
"And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King
of Kings and Lord of Lords." This title is a summation of
Christ's rightful claim to reign and rule over all of creation
with absolute sovereignty. Here we see our mighty Jesus with the
title of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It's not only written
on his robe, Bob, but it's written on his thigh. Did you
know Jesus has a tat?
(Audience Laughing)
King of Kings and Lord of Lords tattooed on his thigh. And I
know some of you have asked us as pastors of the church, is it
okay for a Christian to have a tattoo? All I can tell you is
Jesus has a tattoo. So you can take it from there, what you
want to do. The Word of God is true. It says, "Faith that he
has written on his thigh, King of kings and Lord of lords."
Amen. I wonder what color that tattoo is, if it's a deep blue
or has a red, you know. Everyone seems to have those deep blue
tattoos, you know. But I don't have any tattoos, but now maybe
Eileen will let me get one because I proved to you it's
scriptural. I wonder if Pastor Hank would ever get a tattoo. I
don't think so. But let's reread this text scripture in full
tonight. I wanna go back over this whole scripture and look at
a couple things in addition to what we've talked about already
as far as these titles. So I just believe we kinda gotta keep
digesting because there's a lot in this particular passage. It
says, "Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he who
sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name
written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a
robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God.
And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and
clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth,
the mouth of Jesus, goes a sharp sword, that with it he should
strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a
rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and written
on his thigh in a name written, "King of kings and Lord of
lords." So not only do we see those five titles of Christ
here, but we also see John describing Christ's appearance
at his return. Verse 12 tells us that his eyes were like a flame
of fire. This penetrating gaze that's described here in the
eyes of Christ will expose and exterminate all the
unrighteousness. Christ will wear many crowns on his head.
This denotes his royalty and his majestic position as sovereign
king of kings over heaven and earth. Verse 14 explains that
armies of believers will accompany Christ at his return.
Let's look at Revelation 19, verse 14. And in the armies of
heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on
white horses. This great army that accompanies Christ will
include believers from the church age, this age that we're
in now currently, the New Testament believers, people that
have died, been buried, their spirits went to heaven because
they were believers, their spirits are in heaven now. But
then when the rapture happens, their bodies will be brought
together with their spirits. There'll be a recreated body.
And then those of us that are alive on the earth during the
time of the rapture that go at that point are part of those
believers that are in heaven. The Old Testament believers will
be part of this army. I'm not gonna give you the verses now,
but Jude 14 and 15 and Daniel 12, one through two talks about
the Old Testament believers as being part of this group that
comes back with Christ. And then also the tribulation saints that
were martyred for their faith. During the tribulation period,
we talked about the fact that the gospel goes forth during the
tribulation. And those people that got saved during that
tribulation time were at the very end of the tribulation now,
talking about the Battle of Armageddon. But we talked about
the fact that God's mercy ran through the tribulation period.
And not only did God assign 144,000 Jewish evangelists to
evangelize the world, he sent the two witnesses, which we
believe are Moses and Elijah, to be on the earth 1,260 days
before they're killed. They were evangelizing, prophesying,
trying to get people saved. And then if that didn't work, we
also looked at the fact that God sends an angel that goes around
the entire earth in every nation, every tribe, every
individual, hears the gospel. But if they choose to refuse it,
after all that evangelism, they missed the rapture, they're in
the tribulation period, if they choose to refuse it, they're
gonna be there at the end, and this'll be the end for them. The
wicked that have chosen to refuse God are gonna see
judgment. They've made it through the tribulation. Some of
them shook their fist at God and were killed during the
tribulation. So some of those people are already dead. They
have no more chance. But the tribulation saints, those that
said, you know what, I'm not gonna take the mark of the
beast. I'm not gonna serve the Antichrist. I confess my sin, I
accept Jesus at this time. They might've been martyred at that
point in time. And then their spirit will go to heaven, but
they'll come back with Jesus when he comes at this time.
We'll all return with our glorified bodies. Hallelujah.
And guess what? We're all gonna be riding white horses. So God
evidently has a big supply of white horses that are ready for
this event. All the believers in heaven will accompany Christ at
this monumental time of the second coming. We're all gonna
be riding white horses. This is gonna be exciting. Some of you
might be thinking, but Pastor Doug, I've never ridden a horse.
Well, you will on that day. And you're gonna be okay. God
doesn't forget anything. He has this under control. If some of
you require horseback riding, training, I'm sure Jesus will
provide that free of charge during your time in heaven
before we come back. If you need those lessons. Your white horse
isn't gonna buck you off or take you on a wild chase. Nothing is
gonna slow down or hinder this great assignment of us following
Jesus back to earth on our white horses. You know, I remember the
first time I ever got on a horse and it's about the only thing I
remember from being, I was telling Eileen, you know, I was
about five years old at the time and I don't even remember much
about being five. I kind of remember the place that we lived
and this was an acreage. My brother had a small horse, it
was a Pinto horse, brown and white, and his name was Dusty.
And I remember it vividly though that they put me on this horse
and I was gonna just, I think they were just gonna lead me
around the front of the acreage there and there was a busy
highway right in front of our acreage. And all I can remember
is it was just me and the horse. I don't even know if I knew what
the reins were for a horse. I don't even know what I knew. But
all I can remember is that horse got spooked somehow and it took
off towards that highway. And it was a busy highway that was
going out. We were a quarter of a mile outside of the city
limits. And so there were cars that were moving along pretty
fast. And so that horse took off. Unfortunately, either my
dad or my brother-- I don't even remember who it was-- got the
horse stopped before I reached the highway there. And so
otherwise, I may not even be here today preaching to you
because that was a long time ago. But that was my experience
with Dusty. And hallelujah, well, back to verse 14. The
armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed
him on white horses, hallelujah. The verse describes those
returning with Christ as wearing fine linen, clean and white. And
that symbolizes the righteousness of Christ produced
in the lives of the believer. As his followers, redeemed
believers, are clothed in the garments of salvation and they
wear robes of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 declares, "I will
greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exult in my God, for
he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has
covered me with the robe of his righteousness." Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus. There's so many things in this. I wish I
could have had time to go into it. Just, you know, we see Jesus
and it talks about his robe being dipped in blood. When he
came the first time as Savior, he was spotted with his own
blood. The time when he comes back at the second coming, the
reason it-- and we'll talk a little more about what happens
at the Battle of Armageddon, but he is splattered with blood
because of the battle. And it's the blood of others, not his
blood. And there's some significance to that, but I've
got to move on. Revelation 19, let's read 15 through 19.
Revelation chapter 19:15 through 19. I'm kind of reading
a lot of scripture tonight, but I think it'll help us to keep
this straight. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike
down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will
release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing
from a wine press. That juice flowing from a wine press is an
explanation of like grapes being trampled and in a wine press.
That's what's gonna happen during this great battle of
Armageddon. The blood is gonna flow. We'll talk about that
more, but where are we? From his mother, okay. On his robe at his
thigh was written the title, King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
continue on. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, shouting to
the vultures flying high in the sky, come, gather together for
the great banquet God has prepared. Come and eat the flesh
of kings, generals, and strong warriors, of horses and their
riders, and of all humanity, both free and slave, small and
great. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their
armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on
the horse and his army. This passage explains that the beast,
the Antichrist, and the kings of the earth and their armies are
gonna gather together to make war against Christ and his
armies. Verse 15 explains that out of Christ's mouth goes a
sharp sword that will strike down the nations. Christ is the
warrior will simply speak and consume Antichrist and his army
with the word of his mouth. We as followers aren't gonna really
have to fight in this battle, Christ does it. It comes from
the word of his mouth, it consumes his enemies. And it's
verified in second, I love to have other scriptures that
verify what we read in the book of Revelation because it gives
us a little different look at it or more insight to it. And 2
Thessalonians 2:8 talks about this. It says, "Then the man of
lawlessness will be revealed." That's talking about the
Antichrist. "But the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of
his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming." That's
what will happen to the Antichrist. "And after Christ
smites the nations," according to verse 15, "He shall rule them
with a rod of iron. His rule over the nations will be in
total authority, demanding that every nation conform to his
righteous standards. Lawlessness will be handled swiftly and
justly." It's a monarchy at that point. Everyone reports to
Jesus. And if there's some unrighteous act or wickedness
that goes on during that millennial period, which there
again I'm getting ahead of myself, that's for another time.
But Jesus will put that down quickly and he's in control. The
rod described in Revelation 19:15 is made of iron and
biblical scholars interpret the rod of iron as denoting
absolute, unbreakable power and divine justice. And that's what
produces peace in the world. The word rod means to shepherd.
Psalm 23:4, we see the shepherd uses his rod to bring correction
and comfort to the sheep. We see the term shepherds used to
describe Christ several times in the New Testament. But I want to
look at three quickly tonight in John 10, Christ is the good
shepherd. He says, "I am the good shepherd." The good
shepherd gives his life for the sheep. And then in Hebrews 13,
Christ is described as the great shepherd. First, he's described
as a good shepherd. This verse, he's described as a great
shepherd. Hebrews 13:20 says, "Now may the God of peace who
brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant."
Hallelujah. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord
Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in
every good work to do his will, working in you what is well
pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. He's the great shepherd who through his
grace and mercy provided himself as a sacrifice so that we could
live. And then finally, we see Peter instructing the elders on
how to oversee their congregation. In 1 Peter chapter
5, Jesus is referred to as the chief shepherd. 1 Peter
5, verses 2 through 4, he's instructing the elders at
that point in time on how to pastor their flocks. And he
says, "Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving
as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest
gain, but eagerly. Nor as being lords over those entrusted to
you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief
shepherd," there's the word, "The chief shepherd appears,"
Jesus, "You will receive the crown of glory that does not
fade away." So Pastor Keith, Pastor Anthony, Pastor Doug, we
have to shepherd our sheep. That includes Pastor Hank and Pastor
Brenda, it includes anyone that's called as a pastor. You
have to do it with integrity. Not lording over the people that
God's given you, but doing it not for, what does it say, for
dishonest gain. You know, there are pastors that are just in it
for the money. That's called a hireling. They're only in it for
the money. They don't care whether they feed the sheep.
That's why they don't care whether they give their sheep
truth. They'll modify the word of God just to try and make
their life easier. And what this scripture is saying is that if
pastors follow this teaching and they are treating their sheep in
a good way with integrity, being examples to the flock, there's a
reward. The Bible also says there's higher judgment, Pastor
Keith and Pastor Anthony. We are held to a higher level of
judgment. Someday at the judgment of Christ, if we don't
do what we should as pastors, we don't treat the people well,
we're gonna be judged for that. We're held to a higher standard.
But it also says, thank God, and I'm hoping we get that, there's
a reward, there's a reward for us if we treat our people
rightly, amen. So my whole point to this was, not to talk about
pastoring necessarily, but just to say Jesus is referred to as
the chief shepherd there, because the other pastors that
are on the earth doing the work of God, they're under shepherds,
really. Jesus is the chief shepherd. He's the one we report
to. Hallelujah. Well, I'm trying to see where to go here. Oh,
let's quote Pastor David Jeremiah. I think this is good.
He said this, you can put this up on the screen if you want to.
He says, "When Christ returns, and only then will the angels'
message to the shepherds be totally fulfilled, peace on
earth, goodwill towards men." Amen. That's when it'll happen.
At that point, when Christ returns, then the angels'
message, given so many centuries ago, will actually be fulfilled.
Well, let's read on to, we're gonna move on here. I'm getting
ready to conclude fairly soon here. Revelation 19, verses 17
through 19. It says, "Then I saw an angel standing in the sun,
shouting to the vultures flying high in the sky, 'Come, gather
together for the great banquet God has prepared. Come and eat
the flesh of the kings, generals, and strong warriors of
the horses, and the riders of all humanity, both free and
slave, small and great.' Then I saw the beast and the kings of
the world and their armies gathered together to fight
against the one sitting on the horse and his army. Here we see
a picture of what happens following the great battle of
Armageddon. It's a gross scene. It's intense. But it's what will
happen. John saw an angel standing in the sun. It doesn't
mean he's actually standing in the sun. It means the sun is in
the background. It's a bright sun. And John saw the angel
standing there in the brightness of the sun. And the angel yells
out with a loud voice, and he alerts all the vultures in the
air to come to the great supper. These vultures are assigned to
eat the flesh of the kings, the captains, the mighty men, the
horses, and all men, free and enslaved, small and great. Now,
we didn't have time tonight to discuss every passage of
Revelation 19 in detail, but you need to understand this. It is
gross to discuss it. But the last part of verse 15 states
that Jesus will release the fierce wrath of God, the
Almighty, like juice flowing from a wine press. I mentioned
that, like squeezing grapes from a wine press. And I think it's
Revelation 14, 20 that tells us that the blood will flow as high
as the horse's bridle. But can you imagine a 200 million man
army? You know, I attended the Promise Keepers, what was that
called, Eileen? 1997, I believe. There was a million men
estimated to be at the Promise Keepers march. Now it just
escapes me. It was in Washington, D.C. on the Mall.
What was that? The Million Man March, is that what it was? I
don't know if that's what it was. I don't think that's right.
It was a Promise Keepers event, if any of you heard of Promise
Keepers. It's kind of gone now, I think. But anyway, Pastor Hank
was at that with me and a group of probably a couple hundred men
flew out there and did that on a, and it was a Sunday, Saturday
event, I believe it was. We got back late Saturday night, we did
a one-day trip. But what was I gonna say? Oh, there was a
million men on the mall. And I'd never seen a million men in one
place before. And it was like amazing to me. I mean, it was as
far as I could see, there were men. A million men in one place
is a lot of men. There's going to be 200 million men at the
army at the Battle of Armageddon. And can you imagine
the amount of blood when 200 million men and their horses are
slaughtered? No wonder it runs as deep as the horse's bridle.
Well, the vultures are called at that point to a mighty feast.
The vultures descend swiftly upon the decaying flesh and the
army of the Antichrist, and they quickly devour it. The intense
carnage from this battle. It's amazing what that will be like.
But the Bible tells us these ugly birds will feed on the
decaying carcasses of millions of men and their horses that
attempted to fight for the Antichrist. Now, another point
to note here is that sin and wickedness is judged here, like
we've talked about. And the other thing that I think is
really interesting is there's, really it doesn't matter what
the classification of the person is that's involved in this
battle. It says that it made a point to say it's kings and
captains and mighty men and horses and all men, the free and
enslaved, the small and the great, they're all going to be
there. God's judgment is not reserved for a certain class of
people. If they failed to respond to God, they've
disobeyed God, never accepted his grace and mercy, they'll be
judged at that point in time. It doesn't matter what their
station in life is. And here during our time on earth, we see
individuals that maybe are extremely wealthy or they have
high positions, you know, and they get by for a period of
time, you know, and they, you know, we all know they should go
to jail for the evil deeds that they've done, but maybe they
have a way to buy it off or maybe because of their power or
their prestige or their name or whatever it is, they don't end
up in jail. They just keep on going. Well, that's gonna come
to an end at this point in time because there won't be anyone
that's excluded from this. It doesn't matter if your name is
Rockefeller or if your name is Smith. You're gonna be involved
in that situation and this is judgment time. It doesn't matter
what your class is. The good news is, of course, if we judge
ourselves now, we can be on the right side of judgment and we
don't have to think about these things. But it is important to
know what's going to happen. How many of you are enjoying just
kind of understanding the timeline? Even though we have to
talk about some things that aren't really comfortable, it's
good to know the timeline of how these things are going to happen
and what God's mercy and redemption and plan has been all
along to get people to turn. But if they refuse, they have free
will. It's their choice. God does not send anyone to hell. We
send ourselves there because of our own free will. And people, I
have opportunity after opportunity to receive God's
mercy. Well, as we conclude Revelation 19 with the last
three verses, I wanna read 19 through 21. And it says, "Then I
saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies
gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the
horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him
the false prophet, who did mighty miracles on the behalf of
the beast, miracles that deceived all who had accepted
the mark of the beast and had worshipped the statue. Both the
beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake
of the burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the
sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the
white horse, the mouth of Jesus. And the vultures all gorged
themselves on the dead bodies. The final destiny of this
satanic team is certain. Both the beast and the false prophet
are cast into the lake of fire. And maybe in the future we'll
talk about the lake of fire. It's an eternal burning fire.
It's not a consuming fire where people are just killed and gone.
No, they burn forever. Forever torture and pain. After the
Lord's completed His judgment, He'll establish the millennial
kingdom on the earth, and those that return with Him will be
made priests of God and reign with Him during that millennial
kingdom. But that's the subject for another time. We'll talk
about the millennium and what happens during that time. I'm
not sure, is it Eddie or Brandon that comes tonight? Whoever it
is, you can come now. We're going to wind up here. But I
want to close with this. I want us to think about the tremendous
contrast between the second coming when Christ comes back
with the church and contrast that to the first time that
Jesus came and how he rode into Jerusalem in a lowly state
sitting on a borrowed donkey. And I think you have that
picture for me there of Jesus coming in on the donkey. That
first ride didn't last too long. It was a fleeting moment of
glory on his way to the cross. The cheers soon turned to
hateful cries. They yelled at him and they said, "If you're
the son of God, save yourself." And they yelled, "You claim to
save others, "but you can't save yourself, Jesus." And the man
who was king for a short time suffered and bled and died. It
was all part of a merciful master plan that God put in
place to save the world. John 3:16, "For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." That was the master plan. The Jewish people would not
accept Jesus as their Messiah, even though he fulfilled all
their prophecies about a suffering Savior. Isaiah
foretold this. Let's look at Isaiah 53, verses 5 through 7. I
want you to see this. It says, "But he was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The
chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we
are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned
everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before its shearer is silent, so he
opened not his mouth. That's Isaiah's prophecy from Isaiah
53. The first time Jesus rode in, he rode into town as a
suffering Savior sent to redeem fallen men. He rode in on a
donkey but carried out a cross. He had a hero's welcome but he
died a criminal's death. But at the second coming of Jesus,
Jesus is gonna ride again. The next time Jesus rides, he will
fulfill Isaiah's second set of prophecies concerning the
Messiah. Let's read that. That comes from Isaiah 9, verses six
and seven. It says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and
his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of
David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with
judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the
zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." The next time
Jesus rides, things are going to be 100% different. He'll no
longer be a temporary king riding on a donkey. He'll come
in the clouds in great glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He's not coming as king for a day, but he's going to be coming
as king for all eternity. He's coming on a white horse carrying
a sword. He'll have crowns on his head and fire in his eyes,
and he's coming to rule and reign. Yes, he's going to write
again, but we will be with him as part of the army of Christ,
and it's going to be an awesome day. God's going to restore all
things to their original perfect state, erasing sin, death, and
suffering, and there's only one way to enlist in that army
that's accepting the shed blood of Jesus Christ and making him
the Lord of your life. You know, you can't participate in this
second mission of Christ if you refuse to accept what he did in
his first mission. You can't reign with him in the future if
you don't let Jesus redeem you from sin right now. You won't
ride with him in the future if you haven't bowed your knee to
him in the present. Philippians 2, verses 8 through 11 says, and
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the
cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the
name which is above every name. And at that name of Jesus, every
knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and
of those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. The King is
coming. It's up to us to determine on which side we'll be
the next time Jesus rides. Will we come with him back at the
second coming? Will we be part of that army? You can determine
that. Or you could be one of those left behind in the
tribulation period, or even at the Battle of Armageddon, who
knows? Shaking your fist at God saying, "You know what? I don't
believe." But how can you not believe? When 2,500 prophecies
have already come to pass, believe me, He's coming again.
He's coming in the rapture to take the bride of Christ with
Him. And with all my heart, that's where I want us to be. I
don't want to be left behind. Like someone said, I want to go
in the first load. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Why don't we stand?
Father, thank you for this opportunity to open your word.
Thank you that we have a better understanding, hopefully, of
Revelation chapter 19, and the fact that you're coming again a
second time to this earth to rule and reign in righteousness.
And Lord, you're so merciful, but yet you are a righteous God.
And you say you will judge the wicked. We all deserve judgment,
Lord, but thank you for the mercy of Christ that you came
the first time, you gave your life as a humble servant just so
that we could have eternal life with you. What a sacrifice, what
a Savior. We thank you for that tonight. And I'm gonna ask the
tech team if you'll put up on the screen a phone number. If
for some reason we have someone watching tonight and you're not
100% sure that Jesus is your Lord, you're not 100% sure that
you've made the decision to serve Christ, I'm gonna ask you
to call that number and our prayer team will pray with you.
All you need to do is call on the Lord and he will save you.
and determine that you will follow Him and His will for your
life. And all things are made new, the Bible says. That's a
new birth experience, and you can experience that right where
you're at, watching online. You can call our number 24 hours a
day and receive Christ, and that's the most important thing,
the most important decision you could ever make so that you can
be on the right side of judgment. If we judge ourselves
now, we don't have to be judged in the future. And thank you for
that. Hallelujah. And you know, I just want to say this, when
the transition happened tonight and Pastor Anthony was
ministering, I'm just so proud of those of you that responded,
'cause sometimes it's not easy to do that, but to say that you
have some offense, or I'm not even sure what the word was,
with those in the family. I think it's Matthew chapter 6.
The Bible tells us that if we are not willing to forgive and
lay those things down, Jesus won't forgive us. We cannot
carry unforgiveness in ourselves. And there were many
of you up here, and I don't know if you're carrying unforgiveness
or if you were just here because you have a tender heart. I don't
know. Only Jesus knows that. But the fact that you were willing
to respond to that and say, you know what, I don't want any
ought with my family. Jesus is proud of you. And we're proud of
you. So thank you for that. And I'm done tonight. Thank you for
coming. God bless you. Don't forget to be in the house
Sunday. Dr. Bob Rogers will be here, and it'll be a great day.
And Mr. Pentecost himself will be in the house, so don't miss
that. Thank you for coming tonight have
a wonderful evening.