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Jeremiah 49
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Live from Bremerton. I can't see. I looked at the eclipse. Oh, I can't see. Jeremiah 49. Alright. Father, thank you so much. Thank you that nothing bad happened. The sky didn't fall on us today. Thank you for all those who could take pictures and just marvel at your beauty of nature and how everything works. You're god of order. And thank you, Lord, that all the sensational stuff and fear and all the other things didn't come to pass. And, Lord, here we are. We're wanting to study your word and maintain our perspective where you're a sovereign, you're on the throne, you're in control, and, Lord, everything has to be filtered through you before it even gets to us. And, Lord, you've, you've ordained that we walk by faith, Lord, not by sight. And, Lord, we wanna continue to be strengthened in our faith tonight. So bless this bible study. Bless as we worship you, and we thank you so much for the sweet time we could spend here tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Alright. Thanks, Rob. Alright. Jeremiah 49. If you're just tuning in, we're gonna look at God's judgment upon several different nations, particularly because of their pride, because of their mocking and enjoying the demise of Israel a little bit too much. So the Lord took it personal that you guys are clapping and enjoying my discipline against my own people. And and so he has Jeremiah prophecy of the destruction of these of these surrounding countries. So father, bless as we study Jeremiah 49, open the scriptures to our understanding. Thank you for the sweet time of worshiping you, And Lord, again, we thank you for the measure of faith you've given us. We don't take it for granted, Lord. Help us to continue to be built up and strengthened in our faith tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. So concerning the Ammonites, last time we looked at the Moabites, you remember Lot, the nephew of Abram, Abraham, that Sodom and Gomorrah he wound up in Sodom and Gomorrah sitting in the city gate, and God brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And Lot wound up being able to taken out by two angels brought out with two of his daughters. His wife turned around into a pillar of salt, and the daughters got dead drunk in a cave they were hanging out in, and an incestuous relationship produced Moab and Ammon. And these are the Ammonites and so kinda interrelated. So concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the lord, has Israel no son? Has he no heir? Why then does their king inherit Gad and his people dwell in his cities. So when god began to judge Israel, the Ammonites moved into the area of Gad, and the lord saying to them, why are you taking over an area that belongs to Israel? Why do you act like you're inheriting it? And, so lord didn't appreciate that. And so, tribe of Reuben and half tribe of Manasseh, when the nation of Israel was coming out of coming into the promised land, saw that this area of Ammon was a a well watered and a very, you know, good with good grazing area. And they let Moses know that, hey. You know, we'd like to take this as our inheritance. And and Moses like, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. And they said, no. But we'll go fight with you. We'll go fight with you to take, you know, the whole land of Canaan, but when everything's done, when we win, we'd like to come back and have some of this area here. So this was, you know, part of where they settled. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the lord. So in July when the Assyrians nailed the 10 northern tribes is about when this happened. And therefore, behold, the days come, saith the lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah. So Rabbah is the capital city of the Ammonites and, and of the Ammonites, and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be, burned, so the surrounding cities with fire. Then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the lord. So when Israel's restored, Israel's gonna be able to take over this geographical area of this land once again. So you guys aren't gonna be able to keep it. So wail, oh Heshbon, for Ai has spoiled some of the cities of of of the Ammonites. This AI here is not the AI in Joshua chapter seven when the children of Israel, when they were used of God to take down Jericho, and they surrounded the city and marched, you know, 13 times. And and and then the city walls fell outward and Rahab the harlot's there and all. All of that happened. They had a great victory. Well, afterwards, they had a city a little ways from there called Ai, and they were instructed to not, take any of the spoil that was there in Jericho, you remember. And so, in their endeavor to go take out Ai, they didn't take it very serious. They thought, hey. We had a big victory here, you know, in Jericho. Ai is just a little city. We just send a few guys up there. You know? No big deal. And, unfortunately, the those men of Ai discomfited the Israelites and whooped on them. So Joshua was trying to figure it out, you know, what happened? What happened? What happened? And it turns out there was a guy named Achan. And a little while later, he was really Achan because he'd taken some of the Babylonian garment and some of the stuff, and he hid it underneath his tent. So this is where we in the Calvary Chapels, you'll hear this a lot. Something bad starts to happen to you. People start saying, there must be sin in the camp. There must be something in their life they buried. That's how it comes. That's what they do. And then they start to delve in and going, what is it about Rick Baudry that these bad things happen? You know, why? There must he's evil. He's evil. Why are these things happening? You know? And then you compare yourself to Jesus or Paul or any of the other people within the Bible. Bad things happen to them too. They didn't have sin in the camp. There's nothing in there. So it's a part of the Bless Me Club. The Bless Me Club thinks that if I align myself really tight with God where everything's just right, then I'm always gonna be blessed. So that's why today, the church is not ready for the hard times that we're entering into. And it's not because we've been evil necessarily. It's just simply because it's time for some hard times. You know? And so that was the kind of way at at Costa Mesa and the people that I grew up with is that you're always trying to figure out how to align your life so that the blessings that keep coming and everything. And if something bad happened, you know, you're the you're the Job. You're the Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar that come and they begin to analyze your life and, oh, there must be something wrong there. So, anyway, that's where that comes from. Today, if lot of nasty stuff happens to you or JD Frog, you know, it's probably because you're telling a lot of truth, because you're standing up for righteousness. So let me give you a verse. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. K? Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the lord delivers them out of them all. Okay? And so you can expect opposition when you're a threat to the kingdom of darkness. In the case of Ai and Achan, Achan stole some gold and silver and some Babylonians garments and buried them. And so Joshua prayed to the Lord, and the Lord showed him that, hey, there's some somebody took some of the spoil. And so they began to pray, and they began to implore the people, come forward, you know, give the honor to god. And also finally, Achan confessed, and and then Joshua had everybody load up with some rocks, and they they made ache and ache. They stoned them to death and buried them there and all. So it sent a message kinda like in acts chapter five when Ananias and Sapphira did a tiny little thing wrong, and the lord smote them both. Right? I mean, that's pretty harsh, wasn't it? They just lied about the the price of what they got for a sale of land. Right? Barnabas came and brought it all, and they brought it. And Peter began to inquire and did is that what you got it for? Is that is that the the sale price and all? And while it was yours, wasn't it in your power to give you know, do with it what you want? And you haven't lied to men, you've lied to God. They lied to the holy spirit. So boom, you're dead. Then the wife, you're dead. And so what happens when God deals with unholiness to that degree? People fear god, don't they? Mhmm. So the fear of the lord through the whole community, like, oh, man. You know what? Don't try to get away with a lie. And probably everybody in this room has lied today already, so that's God's grace. It's God's grace. You're still breathing. Because the Bible says every man's a liar. Alright? Okay. So there you go. Rob's like, yeah. Right. I didn't lie today. No way. But he's lying right now. He's laughing right now. None of us are talking. Okay. We're all guilty. That's why god's gracious. Alright. So anyway, Aiken, AI, this is this is a different AI. And thank you, Rob, but I gotta make you blush. That's good. For AI is spoiled. Cry ye daughters of Rabba. Gird yourselves with sackcloths. Lament, and run to and fro by the hedges for their king. And so their king is Molech. Their god is Molech. So you could write, you know, their their their king named Molech is their their false deity shall go into captivity and his priests and his princes together. So they're all taken captive. And so why glorious thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, o backsliding daughter who trusts in her treasures, saying, who shall come unto me? And so the problem is that of pride. Pride's the problem. And, basically, they, they have these really fertile valleys where they're able to grow food and able to have their flocks and and be really blessed. And that but they've turned their back upon the true and living god. They're worshiping Molech. And and so, basically, they're trusting in what we would call uncertain riches. So God is not anti riches. God is not anti blessing. God is not anti rich people. The Bible says if riches increase, don't set your heart on them. That's the problem is that we take and we set our heart on the riches and it becomes an idol in our life where we have a passion in a in a attitude of covetousness, the eyes of the wicked are never full. So we want more and more and more and more and more. And Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into heaven. Why do you think that is? Because you can't buy your way in. Can't buy your way in, Cheryl says. We're filled with pride. Filled with pride, Shannon says. So as riches make you puffed up and filled with pride, do you think you're better than poor people, better than other people because you got more money? Sometimes. Depends on the And reliance. Dependence. We wind up depending upon the riches. And what about the church of Laodicea that we always quote? Yeah. Yeah. They thought Church of Laodicea depicts the last day's church today. I'm rich, and what else? I'm in need of Creased with goods. Goods. In need of what? Nothing. Nothing. And what's the reality? Jesus gives you a reality check. Wretched. Wretched. Naked. Pitiful. Poor. Blind. Blind. You're delusional. Right? You're delusional. You think that your stuff your stuff that you have can save you. So it's interesting. Most countries are taken down at the pinnacle, at the peak of their, you know, their success or whatever. And and so what's there is pride rather than trusting in God. On our coin, it says in God we trust. Someone said they've turned the head of it backwards against that thing on the quarter now. I saw it. But in any event, if you're trusting in God, you're good. You know? You're you're gonna be fine. But if you're trusting on uncertain riches, those riches can be taken away as in a moment and then where you at. You know? So if riches increase, set not your heart on it. Paul said, learned to be content whatever said I am, whether I'm, you know, abased or abounding. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So we need to remember as god is he's not anti wealth. We don't we don't say that rich people are spiritually poor, but those who are poor are usually rich in faith because we have a every day, we've gotta trust the Lord for everything. We can't just buy our way through all kinds of difficulties or whatever. Hire the best lawyers. Hire this. Hire that. You know, we we gotta deal with the reality of the things that take place, and it drives us to our knees. It causes us to grow spiritually, and and that's where where we wanna be. So Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy. Nicodemus was wealthy. Zacchaeus was wealthy. So there are some wealthy people. Abraham's wealthy, but easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter in heaven. And then we continue. But with God, all things are possible. Who then can be saved, the guys are saying. But with God, all things are possible. So and I would say that we in America, if we were to evaluate the whole world, probably the majority of us are pretty rich, you know, in comparison to people all around the world. You know? Our standard of living has been quite high in comparison. So I wanna make sure that our faith grows. So their problem was they're puffed up with pride, and they also geographically where they're located, you know, they didn't think anybody'd come through there and pursue them and all. So why glorious thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, o backsliding daughter who trust in her treasures saying who shall come unto us? And so it's a false trust. Shouldn't some trust in horses, some in chariots, but we're gonna put our trust in the living God. So you don't even wanna put your trust in your military. You wanna keep your faith and trust in the Lord. And if I've got Jesus on my side, since God before me, who can be against me? As long as as long as I'm putting the Lord first and there's no idols in my life. And and your God is gonna be your master passion. That everybody has a God that they worship. Bob Dylan said you gotta what? Serve somebody. Everybody does. So the way you can identify your god in your life is your master passion. Who you in love with? What are you in love with? What makes you tick? What makes you excited? And everyone has to evaluate that. And we're constantly having to evaluate and make decisions based upon, you know, who we're in love with. Sometimes it's okay to say no to money because it might infringe upon your walk in relationship with the Lord. But if the Lord if you've got the Lord first in your life and he blesses you, don't, you know, don't think that that's a bad thing. That's a good thing. He's wanting to bless you. And so if riches increase, just don't set your heart upon it is the main thing. God wants your heart. These guys, their heart was just tainted and filled with covetousness. And and so let your life be without covetousness. It's certain that you brought nothing into the world. You're gonna carry nothing out. When Jesus dealt with the rich man, the rich young ruler, the rich young ruler called Jesus good master. Right? And Jesus he said, you know what? Once I do to inherit the kingdom of God, and Jesus said, you know, keep the commandments. And the guy said, which? And and and he went through various commandments, but then Jesus, hey. I've kept all this from my youth up. Jesus smiles at the guy, the young guy, you know, rich young ruler. And then now Jesus points out without really I mean, identifies for him the area of his life that wasn't yielded over to the Lord. He said, now go sell all that you have, give to the poor, and come follow me. And the rich man went away from there sad because he had much riches. Right? So what's that illustrate? He he couldn't give it up. He thought he kept he thought he kept all the commandments. Right? Mhmm. But one of the commandments says thou shall not covet. Right? That can be anything. Anything. So the Lord was just showing him, hey, you're very covetous. You're covetous. And had he recognized that and confessed that, he'd he'd recognized that the law was designed to bring him to the place where he would recognize his sinfulness. But he saw himself as a good guy. Yeah. I've kept all these. Wasn't the riches of the problem, but Jesus used the covetous part to bring him to the place where he'd recognize, God, I've sinned. Right? So those that are Jesus said he didn't come for the righteous, but for sinners. And so those who are sinners, the harlots and such at the home of Simon the Pharisee. Simon the Pharisee is looking at Jesus like, you know, you can't be a godly guy. You don't know who this woman is that's anointing you with this with this oil and and washing your your feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair and all. You know, she's she's a, you know, an ungodly woman all. And so Jesus illustrate to Simon the the Pharisee that those who are forgiven much love much. You know? And that's he didn't come for the righteous but for sinners. And so in many cases, when we we might be blinded to our need of Jesus, the law's intention is to stop every mouth. There's no boasting that every person would be guilty before God. And then you receive the provision for your sin, which is Christ. He's your righteousness. Then you you look to him. So those of us that are poor, those of us that are sinners, we know our need of Jesus. There's no delusion about it. We we thank the Lord that he's made provision for our sin. And there's another aspect to the riches, and this is a sad thing. We we in the church, church government, board of elders, pastors, leadership make the mistake of, and it shouldn't be, of showing preferential treatment to people that are wealthy. That's not right. That's being a respecter of persons. And James talks about that. So we do a great, great disservice to those who are blessed by God in that way, where we elevate them to places of leadership, spiritual leadership, when they're not ready. They might be a brand new believer, and they're not ready spiritually. But they've been leaders wherever they've been business wise or whatever. So churches make the mistake of putting them on the board of elders or places of leadership simply because of their business acumen and their money and all, meaning the church wants some of that money. Right? And and it does a great disservice to the the man and his family because they're they're new believers and they need they need time to grow spiritually. The Bible says, lay hands suddenly on no man, especially a novice. So in the book of Philemon, you could see Paul writing a letter in regard to Onesimus, who was a slave that had run away, and it's the other way around. But but in any event, Paul's writing a letter to his master, to Philemon, to let him know that, hey, your your slave is with me now, And, you know, and what you owe me, the investment I made in your life, and and so receive him back as a brother. So you got the poor guy and the slave. When you're in the church, you're brothers. There isn't that Roman hierarchy of slave and citizen and all that. We're all brothers. We're all sisters. But unfortunately, in the world today, as in in a lot of cases, people with money get preferential treatment. And and it shouldn't be in the church. It should be you know, if if you go into a meeting and you go and you sit in the front seat, you know, front row or whatever, just don't sit in the back row and then wait till you're invited to sit up front, you know? Don't whoever exalts himself shall be abased. Whosoever humbles himself, you know, shall be exalted. So be careful of pride, of how it can lift you with pride that you're thinking you're better than others. And and so anyway. How many of you have ever rented a house? Rented a room? What did you feel like as a renter? Around people that own homes? How do they treat renters, landlords? You hire People with two houses, three houses. When you move into a nice house and you're the renter, any kind of house, all the homeowners around them know you're the renters. You're the renters. Everybody talking about their houses and their decks and their new stuff and everything that they're doing, you're the renter. You're the renter. Right? Unless you've been there, you don't know what I'm talking about. Yeah. I do. People think they're so great because they own a house and you're the renter. Shouldn't be that way. But, anyway, when you buy a house, boy, it's an exciting day because you're not a renter anymore. You don't. You don't. You make everybody think you do. You know? You don't really own it. The bank owns it. Right? I pay 500 And about month just in taxes. And about the time you get it paid for, you're almost dead. You're sick then, and take it away. Alright. So be careful. No shame in being poor. Foxes have holes. Birds there have nests, but the son of man is nowhere to lay his head. Jesus was poor, and but we're rich in in faith. We have the unsearchable riches of Christ. So none shall gather up him excuse me. So verse five, behold, I'll bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all of those that are about thee, and you shall be driven out every man right forth and none shall gather up him that wanders. And so no man's gonna be able to regather. And afterward, I'll bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord. And so the blessing of the Lord saying in the millennium, I'm gonna regather you guys as I'm gonna scatter you all over and you're gonna be one of the one of the countries, one of the Gentile countries within the millennium. I'm gonna regather you. And the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord. So you get to be in. The chief shepherd's gonna regather you and allow you to be in. Verse seven, concerning Edom. Now Edom, the Edomites is the brother of Jacob, the twins, Jacob and Esau. And so the area Edom was hairy, he was red and so now a message to those of of Edom. Edom is South Of Moab, whereas Ammon was North Of Moab. And so the Lord of hosts is wisdom no more in Teman. Now I like the name of these cities because the return of Jesus is to the city area of Basra. So I've connected here where you go Teman, also Mount Seir or Selah is another name for this area. Another name that we're familiar with is Petra. And another name for this area is Basra. So when we talk about Isaiah sixty three one through three is Basra is where the Lord returns, but this is the area the name change. It's Southern Jordan, present day Southern Jordan. And so Jesus is gonna come to the area of Timon. Jesus is gonna come to the area Selah. He's gonna come to the area of Petri. He's gonna come to the area of Basra. These are all names in the general vicinity of where Jesus is gonna return. Petra is a rock city area where they cut out an opening, but the way in is one horse width. So one horse at a time is the way you get in there. The Edomites would come up on the high, high cliffs and live up in there. They'd make, like, caves and stuff, so like where eagles are, you know, so they can bombard anybody that's down below. They can't bring in a huge big army and overwhelm you and all. So they saw they thought they were very secure and that nobody impenetrable kind of a fortress type of thing. And this is where the children of Israel are going to flee to when they're fleeing from the Antichrist. This is where they're gonna go. And so now also, they thought they saw themselves as very wise, that they had a lot of wisdom, these guys, and philosophers and such. And so Eliphaz Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar were three of Job's miserable comforters. And one of them, Eliphaz, was from Teman in Job two eleven. Is counsel perished from from the prudence? See that? They think they're smart. Is the wisdom vanished? Flee, turn back, dwell deep, oh, inhabitants of Dedan, or I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him in the day that I'll punish him. If great gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. So those that are the poor that are gathering grapes, grab gathering food, you know, so Ruth can come in there, the Moabites, and grab some food in Boaz's Field. There's there's some leftover. If thieves come at night, they're gonna just steal what they need to eat. They're not gonna wipe it all out. But the Lord says, I'm gonna strip you bare. I'm gonna take it all. Gonna wipe you out. And so thieves come to my night, they'll destroy it till I have enough. But I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His seed is spoiled and his brethren and his neighbors and he is not. And so they're gonna be wiped out completely. Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive and let thy widows trust in me. So the widows and the orphans, the Lord's gonna preserve them. So Proverbs seventeen five says, whosoever mocks the poor reproaches his maker, and he that is glad at calamity shall not go unpunished. And so God cares for the poor, the needy, he cares for the widows and the orphans. For thus saith the Lord, behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assured drunk and art thou he that shall together go unpunished? So drink of the cup is drinking the cup of God's wrath. And so for thus saith the Lord, behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup. So you don't want to drink of the cup of the wrath, but it's assured God's gonna pour out his wrath upon you. And they they think that they're gonna go unpunished, but the Lord know in fact is gonna going to punish them. And so we remember the cup of wrath that Jesus prayed three times in the Garden Of Gethsemane, father, if you're willing, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, thy will be done. And so God being holy and just had to punish sin, and Jesus is illustrating to you and I that there's no other way, that he would be the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Bulls and goats and such would typify, point in the future that one day Jesus would be that lamb of God that doesn't just cover sin, but takes away the sins of the world. In order for that to happen, sin had to be punished, and so God punished sin in that his son, he that knew no sin, became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So each time we partake of communion, we remind ourselves of the cross, of his body being broken, his blood being shed, the price of our redemption. So the cup of wrath, the cup of redemption, and the cup that he alluded to in Matthew's gospel that he wouldn't drink again till he drinks afresh with you and I in his coming kingdom as a cup of joy at the marriage supper of the lamb. And so you're gonna drink of that wrath and brother Esau's gonna be punished. For I've sworn by myself, saith the Lord. So if you can swear, you gotta swear by somebody greater than yourself. So if I want you to convince you that I'm telling the truth, I swear by Kathy. I swear by my mother. I swear my mother's honor. Right? You swear by somebody greater than yourself. There's nobody greater than the lord, so he just swears by himself. Right? So I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Basra shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse, and all of its cities shall be perpetual waste. And so gonna happen. And I have heard a rumor from the Lord and an ambassador is sent unto the nation saying, gather together and come against her and rise up to the battle. And so kind of like the UN coming together with a NATO coalition, we're gonna get a coalition of of nations. That's part of what's gonna happen to Israel in Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine. They're gonna have a coalition of nations that the bible describes there of Russia, of Iran, of Germany, of Turkey, and also in The Sudan. And then so these nations are gonna come to take a spoil of Israel, and this is future. Hasn't happened yet. And god's gonna put a hook in Rosh Rosh, Russia, Gog Magog, Gog the leader of Magog, and and put a hook in their jaw and draw them in to the to the country of Israel. And five out of every six of the invading coalition of forces are gonna be wiped out by God. And they're gonna mark the bodies. They're gonna mark the bodies and have ordained people, designated bury people that go bury those bodies. And part of it having to do with so that nobody's defiled. And so it would be a time where Israel's preparing to reestablish the offering of sacrifices. And so you touch a dead body, you're unclean and all. So that that's the part of that. And but God's gonna demonstrate to the whole world, doesn't matter how many of you come against the nation of Israel, you're gonna have to go through me in that time period. And I believe that's gonna be a precursor to prophetically speaking, a precursor to the signing of the peace treaty. No reason to sign a peace treaty with Israel if we can scrape them and run them into the Mediterranean, if we can wipe them out. So if we can't wipe them out, if god's gonna intervene, then we need to come a different way, and that would be a signing of a peace treaty. And that would be the antichrist that's the peace broker, and he's the one that would come on the scene and negotiate that. And so so at this point, a coalition of nations. For low, I will make, thee small among the nations and despised among men. So you're gonna be insignificant. You think you're so great, you're so puffed up, but you're gonna be made insignificant. Thy terribleness has deceived thee and thy pride of thine heart, oh thou who dwells in the clefts of the rock. Thou holds so you see how they get up in the top there and they're so prideful because, you know, we got, like, an impregnable city, kinda like Belteshazzar had in Daniel five that, doesn't matter what the Medes and the Persians are doing because we're in Babylon, and there's no way that they can get in here. And so you're so prideful that you're actually having a party as your enemies are outside the gates thinking that, hey, nobody can get in here. They've been circling the the city for quite some time, haven't been able to find a way in. And and so Cyrus, general Cyrus, takes and has the men dam up the Euphrates and move it through canals away from the levied gates that are allowing the water to bring water into the city from the from the Euphrates. And then Cyrus, Darius, and all the men come into the into Babylon and destroy it in Daniel chapter five. You know, in one night, Belteshazzar, the great grandson of Nebuchadnezzar dies, you know, in one one night. And so what was it? It was pride. What caused Nebuchadnezzar to lose his faculties for seven years? Pride. Pride. What did he say in Daniel four? Pride. Pride. Oh, what what? Great Babylon. Is this not great Babylon which I've made and the words are hardly out of his mouth? And what did the Lord do to humble him? He's gonna eat grass. Right? And he's lost his faculties. His nails grow long, hair grows long for seven years. The dew has fallen upon him and all. And we think in terms of mental illness, you know, mental the brain, blame it on the brain. Well, he definitely had some mental illness. The Lord took away his reasoning faculties. Some of the demoniacs at Gadera, they had an inability to reason. And so the Lord, when he cast the demons out the Gadara, they were they were clean, they were clothed, and they were in their right mind. God hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but a power of love and a sound mind. The devil is after your mind. The devil wants to destroy your mind right now with fear and anxiety. And the devil wants to destroy your faith. Your faith is the most precious thing that you and I possess that we can trust Jesus. In the midst of a storm. We can trust him. We can rest in him. We don't have to be like Chicken Little running around saying the sky is falling. The sky is falling. The sky is falling. We can rest because we trust in the sovereignty of God that he's in control. And so this pride here, God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Whosoever exalts himself, Jesus said, shall be abased. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. And so pride is what took Lucifer out. Pride has taken so many people out. Pride is what take you out, you know, outside of you know, God will God will use the most foolish people to confound the mouths of the wise. The things that are not, the things that the world would discard as trash, the Lord says, I'll fill and use them. Why? Because they won't have that tendency to be filled up with pride. So if the Lord is humbling you presently, it's because the Lord wants to use your life for his kingdom and glory. He's emptying you of your pride. He's emptying you of the tendency that you might have once he uses you to gloat, to glory, to say I'm just a little bit better than everybody else. And so AW Tozer, I quote him all the time, before God will use a man greatly, he must hurt him deeply. So important to go through a season of preparation, to be prepared. Mhmm. That season to be prepared might be twenty five years. It might be ten years. It might be a season of small things, a season where the locusts and the cankerworm are kind of nubbing and taking you out or pruning you, pruning everything down because the Lord has an intention. So if we look at men and women that God's used greatly, we'll look at Moses and he spent forty years in the deserts of Midian. He spent forty years in Egypt being a great man, a very, very great man. And Stephen when we hear Stephen in Acts six and seven describing Moses, he's a great man and he's an eloquent man, a man that, you know, schooled in all the best schools of Egypt. So he's a worldly man, worldly for success, possibly the next pharaoh. And in that in that pride, he slew an Egyptian. And in the slaying of that Egyptian, the pharaoh heard about it, and now he had to flee. Now he's a fugitive. And and he tried in his flesh to fulfill the desire that the Lord put in his heart to be a deliverer. So you may have a desire within your heart that's a good desire, but you can't fulfill that desire in the arm of the flesh. So the Lord's gonna have to empty you as he did Peter. Peter denied the Lord three times. It humbled Peter. Peter was so heartbroken that when the Lord needed him most that he denied that he even knew him. And so Moses spent forty years in the Desert Of Midian tending another man's sheep. And then when he's 80 years old, the Lord knew where he was, the burning bush, and and raised him up to and at that time, Moses said, I can't even speak. I've got a speech impediment. Send somebody else. I don't even know who you are. What's your name? I am that I am. So finally, the Lord convinced Moses, you're gonna go. Brother can come with you, but you're gonna go. You're gonna do what I tell you to do. Go tell Pharaoh, let my people go. Joseph was 17, then he's raised up to second in command of Pharaoh at 30 years of age, the same age as Jesus. But how did God prepare him? By going to prison? By being a slave? By being emptied? You know? And David, he ran from king Saul. First of all, he's being prepared as he's a shepherd boy, and being a shepherd is the lowliest job within that culture. So the Lord's shown himself strong in him and able to kill a bear, to kill a lion. He's faithful to his dad, Jesse, watching the sheep. His brothers are in the army. Goliath shows up, the Philistine champion, and David has enough faith to know the battle belongs to the Lord. And so he he relies upon the lord with a slingshot. He slays the the Philistine giant, all nine feet six with his ugly face on, cuts his head off, and king Saul, who was not prepared. King Saul had no time to be prepared to be a king. He was just thrust in to being king without the school of hard knocks, and he was a man pleaser. And and the Lord stripped him and gave the kingdom to a man after his own heart, that of David. But David had to run from King Saul for ten years, hiding in caves, being a fugitive, a vagabond. He had a 600 mighty men and all, and king Saul was very jealous and envious. But all those that went through that season of that school in the wilderness, season of hard knocks, they were prepared. And many of them, pastor Chuck expressed this, that for seventeen years he tried to, pastor a church that would have at least 200 people, and he couldn't do it. And he said when God exhausted the prime years of his life, when he was ready to give up and go do something else, that's when the Lord began to use him in the establishing of the Calvary Chapel movement. So never think you're too old for God to use. God God will use you. But yield yield to the Lord as he empties you of the world, as he empties you of your pride, because pride will get in the way. And God resists the proud and he gives grace. Grace means unmerited favor. You don't deserve it. And and again, the apostle Paul, brilliant, brilliant man, but he went through so much suffering so that he wouldn't be exalted above measure. God able able to to use him. So these guys are able to be up in the clefts of the rocks that holds the the height of the hills, though thou should make thy nest as high as the eagles. I will bring you down from there, saith the lord. So, the lord a little earthquake, a lot of different ways. The lord can get the guys to be taken out and brought down from there. So they had strong natural defenses that God was able to break. Also, Edom shall be a desolation. Everyone that goeth by it shall be appalled and shall hiss at its at its at its plague. So uninhabitable place. Now you remember Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. How could that be? How could how could God say Jacob I love, Esau I hate? I thought he's a god of love. Have you done the character sketch of the two? Have you done the study of the boys in Sunday school, Kathy? I have an album with him on it. Yeah? With his babies. What's he look like? I don't know. It's Exodus. It's a little before that. I'll have to bring him up. Why would this is the this is a question people out in the world are gonna say to you. Why would God say, you know, Jacob have I love, but Esau I hated? Because he was rebellious. He wasn't doing the sacrifices god laid it out for him to do. He chose his own way. He had no desire for God. No desire for spiritual things. Absolutely none. And Jacob, he's a conniver. He's a heel catcher, but he desired the blessings. He desired the spiritual things. And so the elder shall serve the younger, God said. And whole study there with Isaac, you know, and Rebecca, and Rebecca favoring Jacob. Jacob liked to cook. He liked to be there with mom in the kitchen. He had some savory food, some venison and all that. And there's a point where Esau came back and he was famished. Esau was a hunter, so Isaac liked Esau, but he was famished. He didn't get any venison. He didn't get it get anything. And so Esau was in line from the natural standpoint as the firstborn. He's the first one that came out. His his armor, his foot came out of the womb. I forget. They put a red, like, ribbon on it. So he's the first one that broke through, then pulled his hand back in. But there were two nations in there fighting, Israel and the Edomites in the womb of of Rebecca. And so he he gave up his birthright simply for a pot of stew. That was that was how little he valued the spiritual things and didn't care. And then later, Rebecca helps Jacob take the rest of it with lying against Isaac with putting some fur on his arm. So Esau means hairy. He was really hairy. Jacob was smooth. And so they and Isaac's eyes were dim, meaning he was blind. He looked at the eclipse too long, and so he couldn't see. So you're coming to me and your arms there like the arm of of Esau, but your voice so he's old. He's not quite there. And but, anyway, he speaks over a blessing upon Jacob. And sad to say, Rebecca reaped what she sowed because once Jacob had to flee from Esau because he said, I'm gonna kill him, then she never saw her son again nor her grandkids or whatever. You know? So he had to flee to the house of Laban where he spent over twenty years and the 12 tribes and you know the story. But Esau was not a spiritual he didn't love the things of the spirit. So then you think before that and you think of who? Ishmael. Ishmael. Right? Ishmael. Oh, that Ishmael might live before you, Abraham said. I love Ishmael, but Ishmael was the work of the flesh. Abraham going into the into Hagar, the handmaiden that they brought out of Egypt. And although God loved Ishmael and pronounced to Hagar, you know, a blessing upon them as a nation, and Isaac shall thy seed be called. So the Messiah was gonna come through the loins of gonna be a Jew through Abraham, narrowed down through Isaac, then through Jacob, heel catcher. And his name, he's gonna wrestle with God. He's gonna be humbled. He's gonna walk away limping, his sinew of his hip dislodged as he's wrestling with Jesus. And but his name's changed. That of Isaac, the tent was filled with laughter and or prince of God. Alright. So so the natural things are are aren't there. It's gonna be uninhabitable. Verse 18. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. What was that like? Destruction. What what in what way? Was it an army? Fire and brimstone. Fire and brimstone. So we might call that maybe a nuke. I don't know. Was it as severe as a nuke that's causing a place to be uninhabitable? Fire and brimstone? Burning everybody? I mean, it was so intense. It was so great that the girls, the daughters of Lot, thought nobody was left on the planet. It was that intense. There were surrounding cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but they thought there's nobody left on the planet. That's how bad it was. Meteorites. Meteorites. There you go. Meteorites. Meteorites. That's it. Yeah. So as an overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, Saith the lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. So it's gonna be completely wiped out. Behold, he shall come up like a lion. So this is speak of Nebuchadnezzar, who is the general of Nebuchadnezzar. He's gonna come up like a lion, lion depicting the nation of Babylon, from the swelling of the Jordan against the habitation of the strong, but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like me, and who will appoint me the time, and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? So they're gonna all fall down. Every single one of them are gonna fall down. Therefore, hear the counsel of the Lord that he has taken against Edom and his purposes that he has purposed. So his purposes, God purposes. Now, Romans eight twenty eight, we're called according to his purpose. Right? So all things are working together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. You're in God's will. If you're in God's will, you're called according to his purpose, he's promising you and I everything that's ever happened to us, everything that will happen, he's gonna work it together for good. Everything. So that which Joseph's able to say, that which you, my brothers, meant for evil, God meant for good. So you think you're a victim? I'm a victim. You guys sold me. You go, I I want vengeance. I'm gonna get even with you guys. Didn't look like Joseph was pining away about what they'd done to him. He was able to stand back now and realize, oh my gosh. Look at what those dreams that the Lord gave me. Those dreams and those visions that I told my dad and my brothers and everybody about it. It's it's come true. It's come true. And now I'm able to, get little Benjamin and help my dad out, the 70 that come down here, and able to get him some land and some food. And and, why do I you know? And then dad dies, and the boys are so scared. Dad's gone. Joseph's gonna wipe us out. And he says, no. That what you meant for evil. God meant for good to save many people this day. And so what a blessing, a type of Christ. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. The boys didn't know what they're doing. You know? And how sweet that is. So let the Lord work his plan out. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. So against the inhabitants of Teman, surely the least of the flock shall draw them out. Surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. And so Nebuchadnezzar comes and wipes them out, but there's still a residue of Edomites living there. So now some nomadic tribes, and Josephus says these were the Nabataeans. In January, this Nabataeans, they drove the Edomites out onto Judah. Now this is very interesting as we follow this through, give you a little history. So the least of the flock shall draw away out surely. He shall make their habitation desolate with them. So these tribal terrorists defeat them, who Josephus says were the Nabataeans. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry of the noise of it all was heard in the Red Sea. So the fall of Egypt, all the way from the fall of Egypt, as they heard about it, everybody's hearing about this guy, their fall. Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle and and spread his wings over Basra. And at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be like the heart of a woman in her pangs. And so you were once strong before, but the men are gonna be fearful, they're gonna be crying in pain, and fear is gonna overtake them and be completely wiped out. So you notice here, the last verse of this section, there's no promise of restoration in the millennium. These guys are completely wiped out. So much so that the Nabateans, according to Josephus, in January drove the Edomites out, and they they fled to Judah, and they became known as the Idumians. Now who in the time of Christ was known as an Idumian, a very prominent person in the time of Christ. He's about four feet six inches tall. He had a Napoleon complex. He was a prolific architect and builder. Augustus, I think, emperor Augustus, one of them said that it's better to be a pig than to be one of his sons because he executed a bunch of his sons. He was Herod? King Herod the Great. He was Idumian. And he was king, and the Jews never accepted him because they knew that he was Idumian, that he was from the Edomites. And so so insecure that when the wise men came from Babylon looking for the king of the Jews, Herod was so incredibly insecure that he went and killed all the babes two years old and, you know, and under in Bethlehem and all. So a ruthless, ruthless king, but his heritage was that of Idumian. Alright. So now we come to Syria. So nothing nothing for for Esau and his offspring. Jacob, if I loved Esau, if I hated. Concerning Damascus. So Damascus today, you could go visit Damascus. You could go to Israel and you could take an extended trip and go visit Petra too. You could take an extended trip and you could go like Cathy and I had the privilege of doing. You could go to Turkey, present day Turkey, and visit the seven churches of the book of Revelation chapter two and three. And there are just no Christians there, but you could go visit. But Damascus is is huge. Damascus huge in the sense of of fulfillment or prophecy according to Isaiah chapter 17. Damascus is one day going to be made a ruinous heap. All throughout history, Damascus has never been subdued to that degree and continues as a city to this day and pretty much harboring terrorists. Terrorists from Iran and all over. Damascus is like a headquarter city, that of Syria. So geopolitically, the Obama administration tried to wipe out, Syria. They failed because of the, support of the Russians. So Russia supports Iran. Russia supports Syria. But there's a day coming where Damascus is gonna be completely wiped out and become a ruinous heap. So concerning Damascus, three cities there, Hamath is confounded in Arfad for they have heard evil tidings. They are fainthearted. There is sorrow on the sea. It cannot be quiet. And so notice the the being fainthearted, notice the desire to flee, notice the fear. When COVID happened, that was the effect of the announcement of COVID. People were overwhelmed with fear. They wanted to flee, and they became fainthearted. And that's just the church. That's not the world. So like I was trying to explain Sunday, part of what we're seeing is a result of over twenty years of not teaching the Bible in the churches as a result of Rick Warren and his whole purpose driven thing he did. All the churches used to teach the Bible in America. All the denominations used to teach the Bible, not just Calvary chapels. But when Rick Warren came along with his purpose driven churches and he began to change based upon what the people wanted, as the culture is changing. They wanted deeds, not creeds. So he took a Protestant church that with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, which was birthed out of wanting truth and wanting doctrines like justification by grace through faith alone, rather than a Catholic religious system that held people captive and in bondage, not having a Bible, not learning the Bible, not knowing God, because the only way you can know God is through his word. It's a love letter that he's given us. And this love letter that he's given us with the help of the Holy Spirit, the whole reason we were made was to know God, is to know God. So when we're born again, the Holy Spirit lives and dwells within us. And now when we practice, you know, what should a church be doing? Rick Warren thinks we should be out there feeding all the homeless, the social gospel. And I agree. We should feed homeless as much as we can. We should help people, all those things. But that's supposed to be the fruit of our love for the Lord, not in place of our getting to know him through the study of his word. So evangelism to the unbeliever and to the believer, go and make disciples, teaching them. And as you teach, as you learn, as you get to know the Lord, you get stronger and stronger. And your faith grows. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If you're not being taught the word of God, your faith is going to be weak. And when someone comes along and lies to you on the television, tells you that, COVID's gonna kill you and your whole world's turned upside down, the world's shutting down, if you don't have enough faith and discernment to to think through those lies, then you're gonna be overwhelmed with fear. You can be fainthearted. You can be fleeing. You wanna run, you know, and take off and all that. So we ain't seen nothing coming. I mean, nothing yet. An economic downturn is causing, as I said the other day, according to Dave Hodges, suicides are at record highs in America around the world. Young beautiful woman last week wants to be euthanized. She just can't take it anymore. I just don't understand that. And and and it hasn't even it hasn't all hit. It's just a lot of it's media over and over this brainwashing, this this seduction, this this negativity, this this crazy strategy that the devil has to ruin people and to to steal their faith. Your faith is most important thing you have. And you can you can if you have faith, hope, and love, you can endure a lot of stuff. So a lack of endurance in the church today based upon what? Based upon a love of the world, love of pleasure, and and not knowing God. You can't trust someone you don't know. You just can't trust them. So you're trusting yourself, trusting something else. So these words here, evil, fainthearted, feeble, flee, fear, that shouldn't be characteristics of the church. That should not be who we are. We should be as bold as lions against evil, shouting from the rooftops. So they are the fainthearted, there is sorrow on the sea, cannot be quiet. So Jesus, don't fear him who can kill your body, but fear him who can kill your body and cast your soul into hell. So fear God. Damascus has grown feeble and turns herself to flee and fears has seized on her. Anguish and sorrow have taken her as of a woman in travail. So the wailing, the whining, the craziness in the church. I have no idea where in the Bible God said to raise up psychological Christian counselors to deal with the sorrows of man. Can you tell me a place in the Bible that that's a function within the Bible, that's a calling listed in Ephesians four, and he gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors, some teachers, evangelist pastors, teachers, you know, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. Nowhere to be found. But if you if you don't teach the Bible, you're going to have people that don't have faith. They don't have the faith. They're overwhelmed emotionally. You're giving them therapeutic psychological messages, feel good stuff. If they still can't deal with their life falling apart because they built their house on sand, and now you're gonna charge them $75 an hour to go meet with one of your counselors is what I hear is happening. 90. Is it 90? Oh, yeah. Okay. And and as your faith grows, you're not gonna need that counselor anymore. You've got people in the body of Christ to talk with. And the greatest counselor of all is the Holy Spirit, the comforter. Jesus said he'd send the comforter. So as you have ears to hear and you're able to listen in prayer, the Holy Spirit's going to direct you in the direction you're to go. And you're gonna be able to tune in and to know when it's God speaking to you or whether it be your flesh or Or Shannon. Or Shannon. But so I was a little harsh Sunday. I told you I'd listen to your story once. That's not true. I listen over and over. But there's a point where we we move on. And our story is a testimony, and it's to be used to glorify the Lord in this is what happened to me, but God is greater. God got me through it. And without that, if it's whining notice these guys are whining like like wailing women. If all we're doing is wailing like women, you know, and no no disrespect to women, but that's just what he is there. But there's a whole lot of men out there that that are wailing like women, complaining all the time. And and I know a lot of you women are really disgusted with men. You know, they're they're not they're not leading spiritually. Yes. They're just not leading spiritually. That's why we need some spiritual leaders. So the church is to be set up how? Acts two forty two. Which of the church the function of early church hasn't changed. Doesn't matter if Rick Warren comes along or Bill Hybels makes a seeker friendly church. Doesn't matter. What is the function of the church? Teachers of Hoggle. Acts two forty two. What is Acts two forty two? And they, the early church, were in what? The apostles' doctrine, which is what? So Jesus is saying go teach them. Teach them. Make them disciples. And what did the early church do? They studied the apostles' doctrine. What else? What else, Vicky? Acts two forty two. Who's got it? If you wanna describe what Calvary Chapel is, we don't have any programs. We don't have any visions from god to change everything. Some new thing. We're gonna talk about eclipses for a month. You know? We don't we don't do that. Yeah. They were continuously devoting themselves. So four things. Number one, what? So that's teaching. Right? Prayer. Breaking of bread. Prayers. What should characterize a church as prayer? Right? What what's next? Breaking bread. Breaking bread. So worship and evangelism. Right? We should evangelize going from house to house, so fellowship. You guys had fellowship tonight. We had a meal together, fellowship. We worship. We're studying the word. We pray. And I would add to that evangelism. We're to preach the gospel to every creature out there according to Mark. And that's the function of the church. Now, you as Christians, as sheep, are the most important part of that. You have to be fed and become strong before you can go teach others. Right? If you're anemic and unhealthy spiritually, you're gonna need Christian counselors. You're gonna need meds. Now I guarantee you, the next thing that's gonna come into the church, which has already been there, is if this anxiety thing, this fear, and and all this continues because people don't have the faith to face life. The next thing is the sorcery because the book of Revelation tells me that they're going to come up with pills. You're you're you're going to be not you, but these people are gonna be given more and more medications to deal with their inability to walk by faith. Right? They they or self, you know, alcohol, drugs, whatever it is to try and cope people's coping. So with the joy of the Lord is our strength. The church throughout history has been able to sing songs when they're suffering. Right? To turn it around. And so how is the city of praise not praise not left, The city of my joy. So the the cities of men, these great cities gonna be burned. Therefore, at one time, there was great great praise and joy and blessing there. Therefore, her her young men shall fall in her streets and all the men of war shall be cut off in the day, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus and it shall consume the palaces of Ben Hadad. This also spoken of in Amos, one verse four. So Ben means son. Hadad, was their god that they worshiped, so the son of Hadad. And, they had different, different succession of kings, but all of them are called Ben Hadad. And so Isaiah seventeen one through three, one day God's going to take it down completely. So now he comes to prophecy against Kedar. These are the Arabians and of Hazor, the offsprings of Ishmael, the nomadic tribes that are out there. These nomadic tribes can be extremely wealthy. You can see some of these nomadic tribes where they have these tents they set up and they have satellite television. They have satellite feeds and the rugs that go on the ground, but they still love to live in nomadic fashion. So concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdom of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the Lord, Arise, go up to Kedar and spoil the men of the East. Their tents and their flocks shall they take away. They shall take to themselves their curtains. So they had this beautiful black goat hair curtains in tents and stuff fashion, very well very expensive. They could sell them. And all the vessels and their camels, and they shall cry unto them. Fear is on every side. So again, surrounded by fear, overwhelmed with fear, we're gonna have to learn to think on our feet. We're gonna have to learn to overcome fear, to not be paralyzed with fear. Much of the fear that we experience is because of lies because we don't know the truth. We don't remember the truth. Flee. Go far off. Dwell deep, oh, ye inhabitants as Hazor, saith the lord. For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has taken counsel against you and has conceived a purpose against you. So Nebbe is putting together his war college, his war games, bringing his generals together, Nebbe Azeradan. And Satan, in the same way, is strategizing against you. Satan has come to steal, to kill, to destroy. Paul said we're not ignorant of his devices. That word devices means strategies. So if he can't get you with a frontal attack, he might get you infiltrate. You remember when Paul was talking to the pastors at the island of Melita, the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. He said some are gonna come from within, some from without. And so that's the devil strategy. One of the greatest deceptions the devil can bring is as an angel of light or a minister of righteousness. He comes in where you think the guy's a savior. Jesus warned us to be not deceived concerning false Christ and false prophets. And I heard that the eclipse, when people looked up, it was in the image of Donald Trump, his face, the whole thing. What I heard. I saw it. You know? Right there. I saw it going over Biden's face. I heard there's a Trump bible out there now. God help us. Fifty nine fifty nine ninety nine. Really? Yes. Did you buy one? Did buy one? Did you really is a truck buyer one? 5999, and it's got the declaration of independence or something in it too or something like that. I don't know what it is. So I don't know. Wow. When I saw it, was like get one free. Oh, boy. There you go. Yeah. Alright. Be careful. 59? So their tents and their flocks, okay, we got that surrounded by fear. Flea go far off, dwell, oh, inhabitants of haze or saith the lord. So the strategic plan arise, go up into the wealthy nation that dwells without care, saith the lord, that has neither gates nor bars that dwell alone. So they're out in the wilderness. There's no point of having gates or bars or whatever. It's a place that nobody would really want to inhabit. It's open. They're alone. They're rich. They've got lots of flocks, tons of flocks and all. So they think in terms of, hey, we're, we're secure here. Nobody's nobody's gonna wanna come out here and mess with us. And their camel shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil. And I will scatter into all winds those who are in the utmost corners, and I will bring their calamity from the side, saith the lord. And so today, these guys have oil. Dedan. Sheba and Dedan, Kidar. These are the Ishmaelites, the Arab nations, Qatar, and all these nations that have enormous amount of oil and, very wealthy. But it's, you know, vast desert. Right? They gotta bring in stuff in Dubai, and they make it, you know, they got so much wealth. They can make a city out of nothing. Right? Dwells without care, saith the Lord, neither gates nor bars that dwell alone, and their camel shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil, and I will scatter into all the winds those who are in the utmost corners, and I will bring their calamity from the side, saith the Lord. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals. So that's a way that Jeremiah describes just a desert. There's nothing left there except jackals. Why does say dragons? There you go. Dragons. I like that better. That means the Chinese are there. Right? Answer shall be a dwelling place for jackals and a desolation forever. There shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwelleth in it. So the Bible's got dragons in it. Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. A dragon is a flying serpent. Right? And the serpent used to stand up and walk. Right? In the garden? Oh. The curse was to be on his belly. Yeah. Yeah. So hey. Did he really stand up and walk? Yeah. His curse was he had to be down on his belly. So he's talking to Eve. I just pictured And if he's a dragon, he can fly. He's a flying serpent. Right? Loose one. Dragon. So in Hazor shall be a dwelling place of jackals desolation forever, and there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it. So it's gonna be deserted in ruinous. So when we talk about the strategy of the enemy, John ten ten, what is the strategy of Satan? That's his strategy. So when Satan's sizing us up, his objective is to steal, to kill, and to destroy. That's his that's his bent. That's what he wants to do to America, to our constitution, to anything that's good, to children, everything, to steal, to kill, and destroy. Now in contrast to that, what's the lord's purpose or strategy? But I've come Destroy the works of the heaven. Well, that's one thing. Yeah. Saw Satan fall from heaven down cast down. But he said, I've come that you might have life and that more abundantly. So not just eternal life, but a quality of life, the abundant life of the spirit, the life of the spirit. When you and I walk in the spirit day by day in fellowship with Jesus, it doesn't matter what the devil or anybody else is trying to do. They have to go through him to get to us. Right? Amen. And we're so incredibly protected. We have peace that surpasses all understanding that guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And it may be that we have to stop and regroup, and we say, Lord, this thought, this these lies, all this stuff the devil sending at me, some of it even true, I'm not equipped to carry this burden alone, Lord. So I'm gonna cast my cares upon you for you care for me. I'm gonna continue to give it to you, Lord, that you would carry it because you said your yoke is easy and your burden is light, Lord. So, Lord, would you carry it for me? And then you let go of it. You say, Lord, you're God. I'm not. I'm gonna trust you, Lord. I'm gonna trust. And so maybe you go to Proverbs three five and six when you're anxious. What's that one say? Trust in the lord with all your heart, not half hearted. Not in your own understanding. So you're understanding. You don't know everything. You can't figure it out. Right? I can't figure this out. I'm a fixer, but I can't figure this one out. So lean not on your own your own understanding. And then what? In all your ways, acknowledge him. So you acknowledge him. God, you're God, I'm not. Right? And then what? He will direct your path and he'll Direct your paths. He will direct your paths. So he'll direct your paths so you'll know what to do. Sometimes he'll say go, sometimes he'll stop, sometimes wait, sometimes no, sometimes yes, but you wait upon the Lord till you're clear. Now what will guard your heart and mind is his peace. So if you're in doubt about marrying this guy, then you wait. And you allow his peace, God's peace to guide you. If you don't have a peace in your heart, any decision you gotta make, you wait. When Kathy and I I've told you guys this when we were first starting in the ministry, there were things that I'd lay upon her that just, oh, Kathy's a girl that needs time to think about a little bit. And and so I say, hey, I I think Lord wants to start a home Bible study. Oh, you know what happens to us when you do that? You know? And and so I so I had to wait, and that's fine. And then she's praying about it. She has a walking relationship with the Lord. And I don't have to say, woman, you'll submit. You're gonna do this. You know? You can't do that. Don't do that. You can't force somebody, especially your wife. You don't wanna do that. She just wait on the Lord, and then the Lord works on her heart, and she comes and she says, you know? Alright. I'm ready. She just need a little time to pray and process it. And when it comes time to move up to Oregon, you know, I'm ready to go that day. The guy called me. Rick, I need a little time. You know? A couple months later, we're gone. So you can't grab your wife by the hair and drag her into the ministry or drag her into life. Can't force. It's so sad when I watch guys or anybody dominating somebody makes me so sad. God doesn't force us. You know? God will will bring us to a place where we're willing, but the lord will wait until until he's got our attention and we finally quit fighting him. You know? So can two walk together except they be agreed? You gotta wait till you're one accord, of one heart, of one mind, because if you're not, then the devil will capitalize on it. Yep. He will find a way in to destroy and to divide you. And there's a high divorce rate among pastors and pastors' wives. It's not easy, and you don't wanna do that. Alright. So now we're dealing with Elam. Who is Elam? Persians. Iran. Persians. Iran. So who conquered the Babylonians? The Medes and the Persians. The present day Medes are the Kurds north of Iraq. The present day Persians are who? Iran. Iran. And I wanna say this. Iran has the fastest growing church today. Amen. Isn't that exciting? Has the media said that every time they're demonizing Iran? No. Iran's got nukes. Iran's got nukes. All they got nukes. They got nukes. They got nukes. I love Israel. I love Israel. Does anybody ever say the fastest growing church in the world is in Iran? There's some innocent people in Iran, isn't there? When we went and bombed Iraq, wasn't there 2,000,000 innocent civilians that got wiped down? Mhmm. Because we lied and we told the world there were weapons of mass destruction there, and there wasn't? Right? And who was on that watch? Republicans, Bush. And who was sneaking out of New York when the towers fell? The Carlyle Group, the Obadan Osama Bin Laden's family who are partners with the Bush family in a business venture called the Carlyle Group. How about that? It's globalists. It's always the globalists. It's always the bankers that are above, and everything else is puppet strings. Watch the wizard of Oz. Look behind the curtain. Look who's doing doing it. But above that, the lord is there, but we should have discernment. They shouldn't be able to deceive us so. So, anyway, when I hear of Iran today, I think of the Christians there. That in spite of being in a Islamic country that kill you for your faith, you know, Jesus is reaching people in Iran. And if a coalition of nations were to bomb Iran and wipe them out, come against them, which may break out at any point in time right now as Israel took out one of Iran's generals. So Iran keeps talking about retaliation. And if it if it goes hot, if they start to really come out after Israel, Israel's gonna go after them, and and there's gonna be a lot of people in Iran dying. Some of whom are Christians are gonna go right to heaven. Right? So thank god they're Christians. Amen. But but you be be careful when the media is demonizing somebody because they're selling you war. They're selling war. And so the word of the lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet against Elam. Now Bill Salas and some of the guys think that this section ties in with Psalm 83. So if you're looking at future wars on the horizon, there's basically three that the prophecy guys will talk about. One is Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine. That's to be fulfilled. I talked about that earlier. Another one is Isaiah 17, which could happen at any time, Damascus being made a ruinous heap. And the third one, some feel is a rocket war that what's gonna happen is Psalm 83 is gonna break out among a lot of the Islamic nations surrounding Israel and kinda like in Yemen how they're using these very inexpensive drones. And what we do with the inexpensive drones from Yemen that are coming after us, coming after our our servicemen is we use multimillion dollar missiles to knock them out of the sky. So you're depleting your arsenal of of rockets, which the Biden administration, none of them guys are rebooting. Right? So you're and you're you're gonna deplete our armament. You're gonna deplete it way down. And so that's part of what's happened, like, with with Israel. Israel, if they're engaged in a rocket war of Psalm 83, those nations, they're gonna use very inexpensive missiles against Israel, and they've got their iron dome technology. But Israel's going to shoot back rockets, so they're gonna deplete their arsenal of what they have to fight with. So part of that leads toward Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine in that Israel's depleted themselves and is in a situation, although they win Psalm 83, they're in a very vulnerable condition. So that emboldens Russia along with a spiritual hook in their jaw to come back in and with Turkey, with Iran. So Iran survives whatever kind of war they're gonna engage in with Israel and Germany and The Sudan, Gomer, and they're gonna go into Israel, and the motivation is to take the spoil. Now we've talked about what the spoil is. We're we're we can't be 100% act you know, thus saith the lord. But it would appear this spoil is what? Natural gas. Natural gas. There's a gas deposit just off the coast there called Leviathan. Leviathan is one of the largest natural gas, and Israel has it. So if you're Islamic, you don't like Israel to have energy to have oil. They have so much energy that Russia who has revamped their whole country, their whole economy through Gazprom, providing oil to Europe and around the world, Israel would have the ability with a with a pipeline to be able to bring natural gas to Europe and compete basically with Russian and other providers of of energy. So the whole stupidity of global warming, bottom line is hydrocarbons produce really inexpensive energy that that Germany and everybody needs. So they're gonna go in there thinking they're gonna get the spoil, gain control of all that, and that God's gonna wipe out five out of every six of that invading force. So so, anyway, some others look at Psalm 83 and that of Elam here as what's that word, Robbie? Prefectory prayer? Imprecatory. Imprecatory prayer. Right, Jim? Which is which is basically you're asking God to deal with your enemies. You're crying out to God to subdue your enemies. So Andy Wood, he thinks it's an imprecatory prayer. Amir Tisfari thinks it's imprecatory prayer. Am I saying it right? Laughing at me? No. Okay. Alright. I like learning new words. Alright. Some words, no matter how old I get, I still have always have a hard time. Okay. So that's the backdrop of this. So the word of the lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. So May, East Of Babylon is the location. Thus saith the lord of hosts, behold, I will. Now I circled the I will. I will. I will. I will. Very important, to always look at the pronouns. And when the Lord says I, I, I, I, Satan's problem in Isaiah 14 was an I problem, a pride problem. His five I will statements. When God says I will, you can take it to the bank. Right? Take it to the bank. Take it to the bank. It's yay and amen. There's no doubt about it. So thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of the mighty. So Elam was known as archers, really good archers with with a bow and arrow. And so I wrote next to it drones, rockets, nukes. Does Iran have nukes? Are they gonna be throwing those nukes? You know? And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and will scatter them toward all those winds that there shall be no nation to which the outcasts of Elim shall not come. So refugees, exiles scattered all over the world. They're gonna be invaded. For I will cause Elim to be dismayed before their enemies and be before those who seek their life, and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord, and I will send the sword after them till I have consumed them. So no escape, absolutely no escape. And I will set my throne in Elim, and will destroy from there the king and the prince, saith the Lord. And so in Daniel chapter eight verse two, the Lord's talking about Elam and the Here we go. And I saw a vision and it came to pass that I saw that I was at Shishan of the palace, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in a vision and I was by the rivers of Ulai. And so Daniel Daniel will be there in chapter eight. And so he's talking about how the Greeks, Alexander the Great's gonna wipe out the Persians. So the Persians, Cyrus with Darius, the Medes and the Persians, wipe out the Babylonians. And then in this case here, the Babylonians in May, at Zedekiah excuse me, May, the Babylonians are able to subdue the Persians, but then the Persians the Babylonians become a world conquering power, and then later the Persians rise up to wipe out the Babylonians. And and then after that, the Greeks, after that, the Romans. So I will set my throne in Elam, and I will destroy from there the king and the princes, saith the Lord. But it shall come to pass in the latter days so that but it shall come to pass. So this didn't happen to Esau, Edomites, But, again, but but it shall come to pass in the latter days that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the lord. So all those wonderful Christians, people becoming Christians, they're part of the church along with you and I. But later, during the tribulation period, the Lord says that he's going to raise up those of Iran that are gonna enter into the millennium. And according to Matthew 25, the sheep and goat judgment, it's gonna be those of Iran who treated Israel good. I was hungry. You gave me food. I'll thirst you. You gave me drink. And and so that's the that's the fruit of their faith that they were favorable toward Israel during the tribulation period when the whole world was turning their back. So they're gonna enter into the millennium as Gentile nations. You and I in our new glorified bodies as the church gonna rule and reign with Jesus as kings and priests, you know, over the planet. So so praise the lord. Then we come to Babylon next week, and we'll see. A whole lot of people right now think that America is Babylon, mystery Babylon. A lot of YouTube prophets and everybody speculating that. It's exhausting. It's exhausting. 50 is a long one. Fifty fifty one fifty two. Alright. Well, let's pray. Lord, we thank you that we could meet and we thank you for the simplicity, Lord, that nothing's changed. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. And, Lord, we love the simplicity that's ours in Christ, that we don't need to complicate things. We don't need to change things. We don't need to be ingenious and come up with a program or a different way or approach or whatever. You know? Once people are born again, Lord, it's just so effortless. It's so simple. We just introduce Jesus. We just keep putting Jesus in front of us. And Lord, getting to know you and you by the power of your Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit bears witness of Christ. And Lord, as we walk away from here having heard and we wanna apply these truths to our lives, we wanna overcome fear. We want to walk by faith, and we wanna walk in enjoying you, Lord, and join you now, not not later, you know, not just later, but now, Lord, in the midst of all this craziness that we have a place of refuge, a place a place that we can hide in, Lord, that we can come to that Psalm 91, you're our place of refuge, a place that we can rest from all the craziness of the world. And we thank you for Rob and Vicky and open their home and helping us to spend this time in your word and fellowship and prayer. And, Lord, we do pray for the lost, that you'd give us divine opportunities to reach those who are in need of Jesus, Lord. As people are filled with anxiety, as they're losing hope, as fear overwhelms them, Lord, we pray that we could present Christ, not Freud and Roy and all the the false doctrines and false prophets and occultic type stuff that that's crept into the church, Lord, but just keep it simple. Give them Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Home Bible Study
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, lead our home Bible Study session in worship and teaching the Word of God. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes released on Tuesdays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
