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Philippians 3:15,21 -Citizens Of Heaven- Pastor Rick Beadury 2026-11-01

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Please turn to Philippians chapter three verse 15 through 21. And please stand with me as we read God's holy word together. It is... With this message, it is so surreal to see the things that I've been trying to teach you that all of us collectively have been learning over the last three, four years. And I've been doing this for thirty one years. A lot of you are new to the party, but it's it's exciting to see so many things that we've already studied happening in real time. It's amazing. Now you have a choice. You can be like an ostrich and go put your head in the sand. You can go find a church and live in denial that doesn't teach prophecy. Or you can man woman up and say, alright, Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready. You know? Let's do this. You're coming soon. Alright. Philippians three fifteen through 21. Let us therefore as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, where to we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example. For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation or this word citizenship. For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the work, working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Father, we thank you how poignant, Lord, this... The timing of this message is with the elections on Tuesday. Lord, we're we're just amazed as citizens. And as Paul is a Roman citizen, but he's wanting the folks to... Of Philippi to understand that their real citizenship is in heaven, and that they serve the Lord Jesus as king of kings and lord of lords. And, Lord, we pray that that we too, lord, would connect the dots, that we'd see, lord, that you have these politicians, you have these people who are in authority, but, lord, we know the little g god of this world, the counterfeit trinity, is operating in such a way, Lord, to deceive the world, to deceive the whole world. And, Lord, we pray that we not be those kind of people. We pray that we would be good citizens, American citizens, but more importantly, citizens of heaven, ambassadors of Christ, sharing the good news of your coming kingdom as people lose hope, as people see that the failure of humanity, the failure of government reaching places of perplexity with no way out, no solutions, Lord, as they're approaching a time of great rebellion against yourself, Lord. So, Lord, enlighten us, encourage us, help us, Lord, to live in such a way that the light shines bright, that we'd be salt and light in these last days. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Would you please be seated? This whole thing's bugging me. Alright. So the the city of Philippi was a colony of Rome. The populace was much like Bremerton. A lot of them were retired military, and they would come to the area of Philip of Macedon, the Philippi, and they would come to this community like many of you guys do in Bremerton where you decide, alright. I'm gonna retire there. And so we have a lot of navy, military people live in the community here. So too, in Philippi, it was a colony of soldiers who had faithfully served Rome or were subsequently awarded full citizenship. And so the great characteristic of these colonies is that they represented Rome. And so picture, if you will, war on our soil, as president Trump and Hag Zeth are telling you. Now what if we lost that war, we were overwhelmed, and the Chinese and Russians colonized America? We have such an enormous influx of Chinese military and Russian military and families. And in these communities, they're monitoring each community to make sure that the citizens in those community have their allegiance to Rome as a conquered people. So Israel's a conquered people, and part of the way to subjugate and control that community is to have a lot of colonization of Roman soldiers and Roman families living there. And so the... These colonies were represented represented as a Rome. So the Latin tongue was spoken. Roman magistrates governed in these communities. Roman fashion, they had animal house, the hip toga parties there, and dominated. They had Roman justice was administered, and Roman morals were observed. So Paul sought to remind with that with that backdrop and Paul being chained to a Roman soldier, you would think as Christians, like, don't have any power. We don't have any life. We don't have any freedom and all. Paul's letting them... Trying to get them to understand that even the event of all that, you still, as a Christian, have freedom, and your freedom is found in Christ. You're a citizen of heaven even though you may be subjugated by a local human government. So you're citizens of heaven, and you should live as such. So you're to be good examples. So what kind of examples are the Christians in China? The Chinese government has no complaint, you know, as far as how good a citizens they are, except if you cross a line, you know, toward Jesus Christ too much. But what I mean by that is, typically, the Chinese Christians are not the drug addicts. Right? They're not the gangbangers. The Chinese Christians aren't gonna be the ones that don't go to work. They're gonna be good model citizens. Right? And, they're gonna do what they're told until they reach a point that we're gonna obey God rather than men. There's a certain line they won't cross. They won't say Caesar is Lord, but the early Christians were good citizens. They didn't develop a coup or a rebellion against the Roman government. They operate in such a way that that we're gonna be good citizens as best we can be be representatives of Jesus, but the Jews weren't that way. The Jews were more of looking for... As zealots, they were looking for a way to overthrow the Roman government. And that's why that the... Even the disciples of Jesus were waiting for Jesus to overthrow the Roman government. And Judas was was bummed. He was, like, shook to the core, like, why aren't you doing this? If you can stop the wind and the waves, if you can heal the blind and the sick and all that, certainly, you can overthrow the Roman government. You know? So he tried to push the envelope. He tried to push Jesus into defending himself. And, and even the disciples, they... The other disciples, they didn't understand that Jesus would be crucified, that he lay his life down. Pontius Pilate said, don't you know that I have power, you know, to crucify you? And Jesus said, you have no power except that which is delegated from above. No man takes my life from me. I willingly lay it down. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. And so at a certain point, when a when a subjugated people reach a place of of freedom, reach... Like, let's look at the Christians in Iran. If somehow there's a regime change and and these Christians, the fastest growing church in the world in Iran, they would hope that they could have representative government that would recognize, you know, a lifestyle that isn't under the tyranny of Sharia law. And as Christians, they would they would not be doing wrong to try and facilitate that and help that just as we had our our revolution with Great Britain as American people. We... Our objective was religious freedom. Our rejective... Our objectives, we didn't want a state run church. We wanted the freedom of religion, and so it's the Christians that came by and large to America to bring about that freedom, and then everybody else jumps on in after the revolutionary war because, hey, it's freedom and free land and and great opportunities for businesses and such, but it's typically the Christians that do the hard the hard work in, in establishing freedom and maintaining freedom. And that might be where we've, dropped the ball, is in the maintenance of freedom in our country. So Paul sought to remind the Philippian church that they were citizens of heaven and should live as such. And so we are in the world, but not of the world. You and I are in this world. And as citizens of America, being in the world means we have responsibilities as US citizens, but we're not of this world. This isn't our home. So we're looking as pilgrims and sojourners just passing through. We're looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. We're looking for the Lord, Jesus to return and to set up his kingdom. We're not those Christians that are trying to overthrow all governments and bring in a Christian nationalism presently. That's false doctrine. That's false propaganda. It's false prophecy. We are looking for king Jesus to end the times of the Gentiles and to bring in his kingdom. And so, ultimately, that's where we're looking at in his point in time in his second coming when he establishes his one thousand year millennial rule and reign in Revelation chapter 20. So we're in the world, not of the world. Our citizenship is in heaven as reflected by three things. Number one, our attitude. Number two, citizens of heaven is reflected in our actions. And number three, our awareness. Many people claim today to be Christians, to be citizens of heaven, but they have no sense of awareness. They don't know the times, that we're living in. And and you and I, we don't want, that day to overtake us unaware. We wanna be watching. We wanna be standing on tiptoes. We see the nation of Israel in the land from 05/14/1948. We know the time is at hand. We know the Lord Jesus. The next thing of the prophetic time clock is the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He could come at any moment. We could see Isaiah 17 where Damascus is destroyed. We could see Ezekiel thirty eight thirty nine happen, but it doesn't need to happen before the rapture. The rapture is imminent. There's nothing that needs to happen. Jesus could choose to take you and I out at this moment right now. And so we need to be living in such a way that in expectancy, rather than fulfilling prophecy that Peter pointed out, where is the promise of us coming? Being a scoffer. Many scoffers come in the last day. We're not the scoffers. When we see people scoffing prophecy, scoffing the rapture, we know their fulfillment of prophecy because Peter told us that there were... Scoffers would come on the last day. And they would... They'd say, hey. It's been two thousand years, or I watched Left Behind, and, you know, I saw all the videos and all that. And he didn't come, and and I'm not, you know, I'm not a pre trib guy and all that, and big attack against the pre trib rapture. And so the attitude, he says, verse 15, let this therefore... Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, so we talked about that last time, that pressing toward the goal of unto perfection. We haven't attained it yet, but have this attitude in you. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, so those who want to be mature... We take that word perfect, and we translate it, we we say, mature. Do you wanna be mature? Do you wanna grow, or do you wanna stay in a rested state of development? Do you wanna press toward the goal? Do you wanna press toward the the growth? Do you attend church to grow, you attend church to hide? To remain a a babe in Christ for forty years. No. I think you're intelligent people. I think you wanna grow. I think you're men and women of the word. And you guys forgot about me on pastor appreciation month. It's November 1, but you know what? I appreciate you. You know why? Because you're men and women of the word. What would I do without you? I need you. I need people that can think. I need people that love the Lord Jesus and love God's word and love prophecy. What am I gonna do? Just talk to that wall back there? I need you, and I cherish, and I thank the Lord for a remnant of people that can tolerate me. I have a policy when it comes to lies. It's called scorched earth. I will scorch the earth to to plant my feet and tell the truth. I don't care who gets up and walks out. I'm gonna tell the truth, and I'm gonna expose the lies as best I can. I'm not gonna compromise ever the truth. It scorched earth. And I know sometimes it's too intense, and people start, I gotta get out of there. That's okay. Take your wife. Go. You should be a covering for her and help her to handle reality. The reality of what's happening. You are the people that can handle that. You're the people that's like, hey. I'm secure. I'm not rattled. This is all falling into place, as Jamerkel would say. The Lord Jesus is coming back. My citizenship is in heaven. I don't recognize anybody in Washington that represents me anymore. They they don't represent me. They're they're they're pedophiles, and you know that to be true. They're letting you know it to be true. But, hey, they're gonna bring you back to where you're drinking your bath water on Tuesday again. You know? Alright. Let's try it again. And nothing changes. The only... The changes are a reduction, a reduction of your freedom, a reduction of what it means to be an American. You're you're moving faster and faster toward globalism. It's undeniable. On both sides of the aisle, they're working together toward, you know, toward the the goal. And if you're an intelligent bible believing person, I I don't understand how you could not see these things happening. I don't understand how your pastors could make church therapeutic and try to just calm you down a bit so you don't have anxiety attacks all the time. I want you to grow. I want you to have the attitude of, I expected this to happen. I've been waiting for this to happen because it means Jesus is coming back. He's gonna be here soon. And it's not that we're passive toward the evil. No. We resist the evil. We expose it. All you gotta do is expose it, and they gotta go underground for a while. But if you're deceived as a people, then you don't expose it, And they get to keep marching toward the goal. I mean, they're telling you. They're telling you and the media what they're gonna do. How are they spinning this? Our hero Trump's gonna save us from Iran. He's gonna save us from the collapse of the economy. It's the reverse. It's the complete opposite of what they're telling you, is what they're doing. They're gonna build back better. What's that mean? We're gonna destroy everything and then build it back better. What's better? Globalism. Holy... And you know it to be true. That's why I appreciate you. Because that that that makes people rattle. I've seen them. I've seen their body language. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight. That's too much truth. Scorched earth. There's no pansy around it. You got... It's just truth. So our attitude should be to never relax our effort, complacency, indifference, apathy, cynicism. Don't ever lower the standards. Maintain the attitude of excellence, the pressing for the goal. There's nothing else I have. Nothing. I have nothing except to hear Jesus say, well done thou good and faithful servant. That's it. There's nothing else I'm protecting. Oh, I can't tell the truth because I lose my house. Been there, done that. I can't tell the truth because my salary will go down, and I'll have to live in the car. Been there, done that. So what do I have to lose now? I don't wanna be ashamed at the beam of seat judgment. I banked everything. I've invested everything I am into being faithful to what Jesus called me to do. And I'm not gonna wimp out now. I'm not gonna wimp out at the... Toward the finish line now to try and compromise with the world so I can have a little bit easier life. I I... The intensity has to increase. I have to press. So to you, we have to press toward the goal. Colossians three twenty three says, and whatsoever you do, do it hardly as under the Lord. You can appreciate me or not appreciate me. Doesn't matter. I'm serving the Lord to serve you. I'm putting my whole heart into serving Jesus. People leverage me all the time. Don't talk in his name anymore. Don't mention Trump's name anymore. We're gonna leave. Bye. But we'll take our tie check with us. Bye. Do you get me? I'm not for sale. I have to do what I gotta do. I can't be a compromiser. I can't compromise the truth. I'm gonna do it with my whole heart, heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. He he's not just saying this to pastors, he's saying this to Christians, to the church at Colossae. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. When you're in the shipyard, do it as unto the Lord. When you're being a mom and dad, do it as unto the Lord. He's gonna reward you doing it as unto him. Not doing anything half hearted. Do it with your whole heart. Represent him. Be an ambassador of Christ. Have the attitude that people are watching. And that my citizenship is in heaven. Well, what's a Christian live like? Billy Crone, I love him right now. He's really exposing a lot of the the inequities of the Trump the Trump era. And he's asking the question, why is it okay to expose the evil Democrats? But then when the Republican party gets into power, why is it the pastors and Christians are so silent about the obvious evil that's taking place under this administration. He says, do you know that the unbelievers are watching us? How are they going to receive Christ if they know we're just as evil and duplicity and hypocritical as the evil Democrats? That's a good question. If we truly wanna reach the lost, they know what's going on, and they want to see us, the evangelical voting block, to be honest about what's going on. Tanak, you you can't do the relativism. You can't do, I'm gonna vote for the lesser of two evils. There's not... Oh, I'm gonna vote for Pilate or Herod. Which one am I gonna vote for? Neither or both. I don't care. I told Rob that go ahead and vote on Tuesday because it's not gonna do a thing. But not voting might stumble somebody with with, oh, he didn't vote. Well, don't stumble him. Go ahead and vote. Not gonna change a thing. The globalist agenda is fixed. We're moving toward the goal of globalism. Our electoral process is toast. Now on the local level, there may be a little bit of freedom, little bit of something there. These county commissioners are building stack and pack houses everywhere. You're seeing agenda twenty thirty right here in Kitsap County happening. You can't stop it. It's the agenda. Smart cities and such. Bringing people in from all over. It's happening in real time. But, yeah, sometimes you can get a sheriff that's voted in that's gonna give you a little bit of relief from, you know, COVID. He's not gonna be a King County, operated... Government operated, a policeman that has... Gets his orders from the mayor and such or a commission. He sworn to uphold the constitution against enemies foreign. Those are the kind of people you do wanna make sure that that are... Got your back. But on the federal level, it's a dog and pony show. It's a circus. It's... And and and don't believe believe the rhetoric that Newsom is fighting against Trump. They're on the same team in California. These guys are all on the same team. They're all part of the young global leaders. Trump's kids are... Ivanka and them are part of the young global leaders, Jared Kushner and all. They're bringing in a whole new order. But you do it as unto the Lord, and you vote truth with the right heart and the right attitude. What they hate the most is Jack and the guys want you to vote on Tuesday, and then they lie to you and say Christians didn't vote. You did vote. They stole the election. Tell the Christians it was stolen. The Diebold machines and all that stuff. Don't don't harangue the Christians like they didn't do what they were supposed... They did. They stole it. Now you need to vote again, and you need to expose them like John the Baptist did, and watch how angry they're gonna be at you, Jack. But you won't do that because you can ride the wave of hopium by making them think we can change this. There's no changing this unless you expose them. You gotta get rid of them. You gotta make them so uncomfortable that people know what they're doing. They're afraid of the people rising up. The people being aware of what they're doing. They roll out the pedal... The pedophile Epstein stuff, and nobody cares. That... That's a dead community. That's a dead society that you would... That you wouldn't care about your elected leaders trafficking human beings in adrenachrome, and it's just sickening. It's absolutely... It's Sodom and Gomorrah. But somehow we're gonna fix it by tweaking a few of these guys on Tuesday? You don't even know who these guys are that you're voting for. Nobody vetted JD Vance in the last election. He's groomed by Peter Thiel. It's the epitome of idiocy, Jack. To not expose JD Vance where he came from? Groomed by Peter Thiel? The very first thing you did in office was sign a a deal with Palantir, with Peter Thiel, and Alec Karp, the the $500,000,000,000 Stargate project, the the cameras and the surveillance system of the b system? What are we to do as citizens? Not much we can do now. It's already happening. Well, there is what we we can expose it. We can shout it in the churches from the rooftop, get the information out, make people aware. Then they have to slow it down. People are too aware. They they... You know, these guys can fear too. They can fear the people. So the way that they don't fear the people is if the people are lied to, if the people trust them, if the people keep putting their head in the sand. There's more than one way to vote, let me tell you. And we're missing out on the other votes of free speech. And if anything, you'd be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. So you may not agree with Paul. You may not hear this. You may not understand at this point the attitude that you're to have as a citizen of heaven. So maybe you say, well, you know, I just pray that God reveal this to you. At what point do I quit casting my pearls before swine? At what point do I quit arguing and say, well, if you don't understand this at this point, I'm gonna pray for you that God will reveal this unto you. Because I don't see you as my enemy. We're all in this together. And Paul's saying, if you're not like minded in this way, God shall reveal even this unto you. And Galatians six seven says, be not deceived. Yeah. It sounds like a good podcast. Jesus said, let no man deceive you. Be not deceived. First Corinthians six, be not deceived. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? But Galatians six seven, be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. And Obadiah one verse three, the pride... When have you ever heard anybody quote the book of Obadiah? You're in a church that reaches back to the Old Testament that scours the entire Bible to try and make it make sense. Obadiah one three, the pride of thine heart has deceived thee. So where's the judgment coming against the nation of Israel? God is saying through the prophet Obadiah, it's the pride of your heart. There's the problem. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. So don't be self deceived. Don't play the hypocrite, the self righteous hypocrite. He says, verse 16, nevertheless, where to... We have already attained. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. So be teachable. I like one person this week said, I saw them comment that, pastor Rick, you're still learning. I haven't arrived. I haven't attained. I have a voracious appetite to keep learning. That's why I could quote you about Billy Crone. That's why I could mention pastor David Hawking this past week that went home to be with the Lord. He's one of my teachers. As as I reflected on pastor David who came and helped me a lot and taught me expository preaching and used John McArthur's, you know, book as our text and came up here to Bremerton for prophecy conferences and for... Out at the Alderwood, we had a marriage conference with him once before and at the Silverdale Hotel. We did a lot of outreaches in the day, A lot of means of encouraging people and stimulating people, and he was one of the people that... Powerful teacher of God's word that would come and and help us. And and he went home to be with the Lord. His beloved wife, Carol, several years ago, went home to be with the Lord, but it caused me to reflect on pastor Chuck went home to be with the Lord. I miss him. John MacArthur, I miss him. Chuck Missler. How many of us love Chuck Missler? We miss him. Do you know how appropriate Chuck Missler is right now with all this transhumanism and all this stuff of Nephilim and all this stuff right now? He did it twenty years ago. He was waking people up to this. You know? And that you can go on YouTube and watch Coin and Ehouse and watch the videos, and it's just fascinating how ahead of the curve he was. And these are my teachers. Every Monday night, I could go watch, you know, Chuck Missler. Men's conferences, Chuck Missler. Wednesday nights, David Hawking for a while there at Costa Mesa and my teacher. Fridays in my class on Fridays, pastor Chuck. John MacArthur on the radio. You know? Praise the lord. You can still listen to these guys and be taught and learned by these guys, but the important thing, are you teachable? Do you wanna put it on cruise control and act like you know it all, or you wanna... And you know what's another funny thing is I can baptize somebody and watch them come to Christ, and some of these people are so proud that within a year or two, they're telling me. They won't listen to a thing I say, but then they start saying, well, you know, Billy Crone said or JD Frog said, well, I'm the one that introduced you to JD Frog and Billy Crone. And so you're gonna... I wanna ask him, can you receive now from Billy Crone? Can you receive what he's saying now? Because when I say it, you tell me, we're out of here. But Billy's saying it. Do you still follow Billy? Are you still teachable? Can Billy speak into your life? Can JD... He's gonna be back in a couple weeks. Can JD... JD's not afraid of nothing. He's speaking this stuff the same time I was. He's one of them that I learned from. Billy Crow and I learned stuff. They accumulate. They have vast steps. And a lot of it is stuff we've already heard, but I need to hear it again. Why? So I'm not gaslit. So I don't think I'm the only guy left. Because Chuck's gone and Chuck Miltzer's gone and pastor Chuck and a lot of the heavies, the guys I used to learn from are gone. So what I say is, well, I'm a nobody. They won't listen to me be... Until I become a somebody. So what I need to do is I need to say, it's not just me. These big guys are saying the same thing. Will you listen to them? Cause all I want is for you to be enlightened. All I want is for you to understand the truth. So if you disrespect me, cause I'm a nobody in Bremerton, I've got some heavies that I'm learning from that are saying the same thing. Because the objective is make disciples. The objective is to learn. And and and you gotta understand that you can learn from a child. You can even learn if you're Balaam from a jackass. God can speak to you through a donkey. So don't be all puffed up and prideful like somehow, hey, I've been baptized and I'm saved for two years, and I know more than my teachers now. You're drinking your bath water. Keep learning. Be teachable. Keep growing, improving, pressing for the goal. Don't backslide. Don't forget your ambassadorship. Remember who you represent. That's the most important thing. Who are you representing? You're not representing Calvary Chapel. You're not representing pastor Rick. You're representing Jesus. I'm gonna fail you. Can you find fault with Jesus? That's why I love to quote scripture. That's why I love to put the word of God there. Because if they reject me, how are you gonna reject this? How are gonna reject the word of God? It's not me saying it. It's the word of God. When Jesus says, beware them that come in sheep's clothing, you know. Wolves in sheep's clothing, be not deceived. He means what he says. And a shepherd is to do more than just teach. He's also to warn and to protect a flock that may not. Beware. Be aware. They might be deceived, and you're trying to remove the Kool Aid. You're trying to remove the blinders. Be teachable. I wanna be teachable. We have attained citizenship in heaven of king Jesus. We are in the world, but not of the world. Our citizenship is in heaven as reflected by number one, And secondly, verse 17, by actions. How do I know... How do we know we're citizens of heaven? By our actions. Verse 17, brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example. So become followers, become... They use it in Facebook and social media. I'm an influencer. So become followers, imitators with me in imitating Christ. So in the home, as much as I love my family and love Kathy, as much as I'm loving Jesus and imitating Jesus, they can imitate me. If I fail to imitate Jesus, to be Christ like at home, as a Christ like head of the home, Christ the head and me underneath him. Right? If I... If I'm not representing Christ, then I should not expect my wife and children to follow me. The tragedy is my sinfulness, my vernacular, my words, my weird sense of humor, sometimes carries over to our kids and maybe our grandkids. And they start to think and say and do things because monkey see, monkey do, and that's what you don't want. Right? But lighten up, guys. Lighten up a bit. Let's laugh a little bit more. Let's not be on the muscle. You know? What things are neutral? What things are fairground? You know? Don't be a hypocrite. And so be fellow imitators with me as we're imitating Christ. He says, follow me. Mimic me. Monkey see, monkey do. And so we we tend to parrot the influences around us, so choose wisely. I've never been very good at following men. As much as I love pastor Chuck and love the guys I just told you about from a teaching standpoint, that's where I'm in there. But there's a whole lot of other things I gotta overlook about their lives. But I can still receive from them as teachers and learn a lot because my eyes are on Jesus. I'm not stumbled. I'm not gonna quit being a Christian because I find out they're just men. People tend to want a celebrity to live through. I'm always trying to break you down of that because I know how hip and cool I am. If if I'm not careful, you'll start to exalt me, you know, and next thing I know, the Lord will give me a thorn in the flesh, you know. I don't want that. So we we don't want to be worshiping men. We don't wanna exalt it to the point of celebrity Christianity. Because I guarantee you, if you saw behind the curtain, you'd stumble. It would stumble you because they're just men. They're just women. And they're doing the best they can to be representatives of heaven. And they're using their gifts in such a way that people can be edified and built up and strengthened and all. And so, I've never been one to have heroes or men that I would follow. I follow Jesus. I wanna follow Jesus, and that's the one. He never lets me down, and I do greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate, according to Ephesians four, the pastor teachers, the evangelists, the the men and women that God has placed in the body of Christ for the edifying of the body of Christ. And as much as Paul is following Jesus, I'll follow Paul. If Paul drops the ball, I'll still follow Jesus. And I'll reconcile with Paul, and I'll I'll confront Paul if I have to. Hey. Why'd you treat John Mark that way? Why'd you treat Barnabas that way? That doesn't seem right. He rebuked Peter because Peter was coerced, you know, by the by the Jews that came down and all. So we we see we see in Hebrews 11, the Lord edits out. He edits out all the failures of Abraham and David and all of them. I don't wanna... I've I've heard pastors talk about how on Father's Day, what... How bad of fathers they were. But I take console in that David wasn't a very good father either. That's wrong. That's wrong. I I don't I don't I don't wanna make an excuse of me being a bad father because David was a bad father. I wanna learn from David's mistakes. I wanna learn from the guys in the Bible where they where they fell. I I don't I don't wanna repeat it and make it an excuse. Well, you know, I'm gonna go out and be an adulterer like David and have a powerful ministry because I'll know the grace of God thereafter. Well, look at the wake of people you destroy in your selfishness. Don't try to exalt your sin in that way. You should be ashamed. Man, doesn't work with me. I'd rather be a nobody, absolute nobody, but be a somebody to my wife and my children. Without that, doesn't matter how celebrity you are in your career, you know, that's worldliness. It's just like the world. So be careful of following too close to some of these guys. But as much as you can glean from them, spit the bones out. Look at the ways they are. Some of them are prayer warriors. Well, imitate that. Some of them love to share the... Imitate that. Some of them are students of the... Imitate that. All that's Christ like. They're they're modeling. They're showing you what it is to follow Christ. But remember, again, they still fall. And if any man be overtaken in a fault, you are a spiritual resource such as one of the spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. Proverbs twenty eight seven says, whoso keeps the law is a wise son, but he that is a companion of riotous men shames his father. So birds of a feather flock together, so hang out with people that love Jesus. They love Jesus. You can hang out with Christians, and all they wanna talk about is money. The men's retreats, more, more, more, more. It's intoxicating. We wanna be like the world. We wanna be prosperous. We want what the world has. Well, when I'm done with work, when I was carpet cleaning and and all that all week long and stuff and had my little business, I didn't come to church to hand out cards with Christian fishes on them to network and see how much more business I could get. I didn't go to men's retreat and talk about what I should invest in in the stock market and all that or blah blah blah blah blah. I was there to learn the bible. I wanted to be focused on Jesus, please. Not some little investment seminar, self help seminar. Now on the side, if I meet somebody and we're friends as a result thereof of going to church and we begin to fellowship and someone wants to help me along the lines of investing or how to buy real estate or whatever, fine. But don't don't cloud. Don't muddy the water in a time where the priority is to be focused on Jesus. I'm not impressed. And I used to get frustrated when I see these guys doing that. It's just like, come on. It's about Jesus. It's not about how much money you made. It's amazing how many people gravitate toward that. Keep it about Jesus. It's a scary thing to see our sins being lived out in the lives of our children. If you don't want your kids to throw out f bombs, then don't use f bombs. If you don't want your kids to drink alcohol, then don't drink alcohol. Now that didn't work with me, But at least, you know, maybe they can't blame me now, but you never know. I don't think I'm gonna get out of this life without being blamed for everything. Somehow, it's always my fault. I'm not whining. It's just just the facts. Don't be showing porn. Don't be showing off color movies and things in the home. Train them up in the way they should go. Live it. Model it. Let them let them have a chance at purity. Let them have a chance to live the Christian life. When they go into college, when they're adults, nothing you can do. When you're evaluating their friends, I have to tell you from experience, make sure birds of a feather flock together. Try and surround them with other like minded Christian kids. The youth groups aren't the place to find them. Be careful in the youth group. You're gonna have to vet each kid. Don't be disarmed. You're gonna have to vet each one of their friends, each one of their families. You can't put it on cruise control and say, well, I got them in the youth group over there. Some of the most duplicit, biggest liars are in churches and youth groups. And many of the pastors, the youth pastors, prey upon your daughters and your kids. Just rejoice when they finally have a Christian friend that loves Jesus. Doesn't take a whole lot. They don't need tons. They just need a few, you know, that really love Jesus, and that'll help them. And they're gonna watch you, the kind of friends you have, the kind of things that interest you. Philippians four nine says those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do. So as a pastor, I need to be an example. Paul's saying, watch me. The eyes are on you, pastor Rick. They're watching you. And for some of you, that's why I can't hang out with you because after service, when you hear my jokes, you're gonna say, he's not a holy man. I thought he was a holy man. Those things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the god of peace shall be with you. Paul didn't have a false humility, did he? Paul was confident in who he is in Christ. He knew who he was. He knew he set a good example. And one of the things I'm confident in in thirty one years of ministry, in complete contrast to almost every church in this community, there's two things I'm confident in. One, I've taught God's word from Genesis to Revelation, line upon line, precept upon precept. Number two, I've never tried to steal your money. I've never tried to curse you, manipulate you, defraud you. And that is a contrast to the churches that are out there that never stop salesmanship trying to get more money for the community out of you. Why doesn't that mean a thing? Why doesn't it mean much? Why wouldn't more of those people being defrauded attend here? A safe environment. They're gonna get God's word, and they're not gonna try and make merchandise of you. It's bizarre to me. You should feel secure. You should be able to invite people and say, when they say to you, oh, no. No. Those churches, all they want is your money. You should be able to say, hey. I found a church that doesn't ask for money. They they they worship the Lord in giving because it's a privilege to give, but God loves a cheerful... You don't have to give if you don't want. It's it's up to you. If you wanna worship Jesus in giving, then you give. But they're not gonna reach you at the door there and and and dial you up with a... With an ID, a digital ID, and it's automatic transfer out of your bank account each each week. You know? Make you a member. And very important here. In the days and weeks ahead, you need to remember that I am not a part of the clergy response team. When the pastors are trying to convince you to take the COVID shot and setting up tents outside and receiving the PPE money and shutting down and the whole emphasis to be a help clergy response to a pandemic, I'm not that guy. When they do the power outage and all the chaos ensues and the objective is to get people onto military bases because there's FEMA camps with water and food and all that, they're not gonna ask me to herd you to those camps. They're gonna come looking for me and throw me in one of those insane asylums or jail. Do you understand that? I work for Jesus. I'm not I'm not gonna work as clergy response to move his sheep to a place. Oh, I just... It's unimaginable. It's unimaginable. So those are the characteristics that you can evaluate me by. Wherefore, I beseech you, be followers of me. First Timothy four verse 12. Let no man despise your youth, Timothy. Timothy is a young pastor. So don't let any of these older guys despise your youth, but be thou an example of believers in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. So lead it. Lead that church of Ephesus, Timothy. Lead by example. And check this out. Timothy died as a martyr. Why? Because he did what I'm begging you to do. He spoke up. He did more than vote on Tuesday. He spoke up, and he said, this celebration unto Diana of the Ephesians, this this Mardi Gras in this city, this this filthy Mardi Gras is wrong. The same way John the Baptist spoke up and said, it's wrong for you, Herod, to take your brother Philip's wife. They went out and they beat Timothy to death because he had the boldness to speak up, to speak truth. You're voting every day. Vote for truth. Don't go along to get along. Might cost you your head, but, man, you'll have the crown of life. For many walk of whom I have told you, verse 18. Many many, not a few, but many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping. Paul's weeping for his enemies. He's weeping for those who are trying to stop him, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. So who really are they resisting? They're resisting Jesus. That's who they're really resisting. They're resisting the Holy Spirit. So when people are angry at the pastor, they're angry at you as a Christian, in many cases, they can't punch God in the face. That's why they wanna punch you in the face. They're angry at God. You're too much of a light. You're too much a light when you come into the room, when you go to the holidays and all, and you won't laugh at their filthy jokes, and you won't drink the alcohol and and and cause that that uneasiness they're experiencing to go away. Because if you're one of them, it all goes away. But you don't even need to open your mouth. You just you just say, like Kathy and I used to do when we first became Christians, her parents weren't Christians yet. And so if anybody came in there and started drinking, we'd leave. If any... And now, I may not be that hardcore now, but anybody getting drunk around my kids, we're gone. K? I have the freedom to leave. Secondly, if they're gonna watch television while we're there for the holidays and there's something unsavory on the on the television, we're gonna politely say, you know, we we don't don't want our kids seeing that. We'll try and put our kids in the other room. Let the adults watch something else. I don't know. But we're gonna try and work it out, but ultimately, you're not gonna force us to sit in that room and to watch something that's gonna defile my daughters and my wife and I. So over the course of time, my mother-in-law and father-in-law got saved, and now we're all in agreement. Now they're drinking near beer. They're not alcoholics anymore, you know. And they're going to church with us, they're opening their bibles, and they're learning. And they know that we want wholesome good things when we get together. And with my mom and the ones down in San Diego, you know, a lot of times, it was more difficult, but but still we made it clear. And they respected our beliefs for one day, for half a day. So for many walk of whom I have told you often, I'll tell you even weeping, they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. So the one part of the enemy is the Judaizers, those who were coming trying to put the Gentiles under the law. They're enemies of the cross. The cross already dealt with the law. Jesus fulfilled the law. He said it is finished to tell us I paid in full, and so the law is to point people to Christ who mind earthly things, and so the Judaizers. And then the other side of the coin was the Jude chapter four verse four, the ungodly men turning grace into lasciviousness. So you have the reprobate Republicans on one side of the aisle who are the conservatives posturing to be Christians and who are not. And on the other side of the aisle, you have those evil, licentious, liberal, democrats. What side you on? Paul said, they're both enemies of the cross of Christ, both of them. How are gonna vote? Who are gonna vote for? So they're trying to defile the people, deceive the people, and Paul's identifying them. He's calling them out, and he's saying, hey. They don't know Jesus. He says, verse 19, whose end is destruction, that word destruction is perdition. So Judas is a son of perdition of of of destruction. And Jesus said in Matthew seven that broad is the way. Most people go the broad way that leads to perdition, that leads to denomination, that leads to destruction. Rick, don't worry that the church isn't big. The majority of people go the broad way. They're not even saved. The narrow way leads to life eternal, and few there be that find it. What are their actions? Where's the fruit? Jesus said you'll know them by their fruit. Whose end is destruction? Whose god is their belly? Now don't apply that to me that I have a problem with obesity. One of my teachers did that to me. He tried to tell us he was a doctor, psychology, and he tried to convince us that these born again lesbians that their problem in their relationship was communication. And I raised my hand, only guy that first year. Sin? They need to be born again. He asked us what the solution was to the relational problem. And I said, they need to be born again? No. No. No. No. What difference is that than gluttony? Looking at me, big guy. I could've pinched his neck. I could've shown him. And, I mean, he was angry at me. Oh, he was angry at me. Even to the point of two years later when I was graduating, he was trying to stir things up like I wouldn't graduate. By the second year, the guys understood that he was teaching a false gospel. So be careful. Be careful. They're the enemies of the cross of Christ. And so when it speaks of their god as their belly, it it speaks of the womb. It speaks of their lineage. These guys were proud of their pedigree. So when it says their god is their belly, they were priding themselves that we weren't born of fornication. They were thrown at Jesus in John chapter eight. They were they were they were mocking Jesus with the story of the virgin birth. These guys knew the claim of Jesus of Nazareth born. Mary had to hold that in at the wedding of Cana. She's had to wait thirty years for Jesus to prove who he is. They don't have any more wine. What's that to me? And he takes the water, and he turns it to wine. And now all the neighbors in Nazareth and Cana can say, she wasn't kidding. This is the Messiah. But the religious leaders in John eight, they wouldn't concede that. They said, we weren't born of fornication. You see? They were priding themselves on the natural part of their pedigree. But the true Jew is one that's born inwardly, that's born again. Nicodemus, you must be born again. That's the true Israel of God as those who believe. And so these guys had it wrong. They were enemies of the cross of Christ. They were looking at the letter of the law rather than the spirit, which brings you to Christ. Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, whose god is their belly and whose glory is in their shame. So they're trusting in themselves. They're trusting in the law. They're boasting the pharisee and the publican. I tithe and I give and I do all this, and Jesus said he prays with himself. But the publicans wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes to heaven and say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus said, this man went away justified just as if he never sinned. And so that was part of the part of the problem of these pharisees. They mined earthly things. These were the religious worldlings, very, very wealthy. Jesus turned over their tables, the money changers and all. They're making merchandise of the people. And Jesus said, my house, my father's house, a house of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves. The church incorporated, making a business out of the church for more and more and more stuff. And then he says in Titus one sixteen, they profess that they know God. They profess they're all Christians on election day. They're all part of the evangelical voting block. They even have a Donald Trump bible for you to buy. They're all Christians on election day. Even Hillary went to a Methodist church. Bill Clinton had a had a bible, got saved at a Billy Graham thing. Obama with George Stephanopoulos, he said, oh, my Islam faith. And George said, you mean your Christian faith? He stands up there with Rick Warren, and Warren presents him as a Christian. And Rick Warren's got his three legged stool, a globalist, a one world religious system, a one world... Or excuse me, where the church merges with government, the church merges with business. And that's what we see today, a three legged stool. But posturing themselves as Christians. And afterwards, not only is he not a Christian, Obama, he's a Muslim. Let it out of the bag. Right? Not only that, but he's not even a US citizen. None of your Republican friends exposed them. That's their job. They all went along with it. How can you trust these guys? They're mocking us, and he's a homosexual. And he changed the definition of marriage. No republican stopped him. All you gotta do is expose him. That's what I'm saying. Just expose him. Show him show him that he's a citizen of Kenya, that that he doesn't have a US... It's so hard to move forward when you know these things, to buy into the latest, greatest SIOP deception that the voting evangelical block... And now it's so over the top, they're the pedo class. Aren't you ashamed? Aren't you ashamed? Oh, no. He's gonna make America great. The stock market will go up. I'll have more money. Showing your own heart. They profess that they know God, but in works, they deny him being abominable and disobedient under every good work reprobate. Shameful frauds, misrepresenting God. Reprobates, and democrats. We're in the world and not of the world. Our citizenship is in heaven and reflected in our attitude, our actions, and thirdly and finally, our awareness. I told you it was scorched earth policy. Always has been. Hard to take, hard to stomach. The truth is stranger than fiction. Awareness. A citizen of heaven should be aware. Verse 20. So he's gonna contrast those bad guys now, and he's gonna come to you and I and show the right response, the right attitude, the right action, the right awareness. For our citizenship or conversation is citizenship, it's the Greek word where we get politics,. So when people say, hey. You guys in the church shouldn't be involved in politics. Yes. We should. We're citizens of heaven. We're citizens here. Oh, wait a minute. There's a separation of church and state, not in the constitution. It's a letter from Thomas Jefferson from a Baptist pastor that was worried about a state run church like they had in England. And Thomas Jefferson said, no. There'd be a huge wall of separation between the state and the church. And that worked really well for about a hundred and fifty years until Lyndon Baines Johnson was almost losing election in the state of Texas because the churches and the Christian people were voting for a candidate that was a real Christian. So this young senator, LBJ, he makes what's called just after the Rockefellers after World War two, not only United Nations, but now they come with the IRS. Oh, a whole new scam. And that IRS is gonna be the heavy if anybody in the church from the pulpit talks about politics. And that was the fear that the churches had, that somehow this separation, this wall of separation, it was to keep the church out of the public schools and out of public life, out of voting and all that. You Christians, isolate yourself. Make lots of money because we're gonna give you a tax exempt status, and you live a very lavish lifestyle. Make a good business out of the church with your tax exempt five zero one c three. But don't expose any morality, anything that's going on politically. The more majority comes along and a voting block, the evangelical voting block, they've got clout. We're gonna move the churches against, and you get this whole thing going. It's sad. So the church was afraid. So '61, '63, what happened? He's a senator in the fifties. Oh, we're gonna remove the bible from school. Well, how did you have the bible all the way until 1961? The bible was the first handbook, the first curriculum for the public schools in America printed by the US government. How could all of a sudden now... But, man, the prosperity after World War two. Enormous prosperity into the fifties. Everybody owning a home, and, man, you could live off of one income. Your wife, your the mother could afford to stay home to be a mother. Not for long. Not with the graduated income tax of that IRS. Pretty soon, it's gonna take two incomes to maintain that lifestyle. We're gonna need more and better. We're gonna need two cars and a bigger garage and a bigger house. Not only the bible taken out of the schools, but now prayer taken out of the schools. So the people in the fifties that didn't know Jesus had a greater sense of morality than so called Christians in the sixties. Because they at least learned the 10 commandments. They knew that adultery was wrong. Why? Because it was in the classroom. Lying, cheating, stealing is wrong. They had a code to live by. They had a cultural code of right and wrong. But the rebellion against God, the sexual revolution of the sixties, the breakdown of the family, the breakdown of society, overwhelming the sixties. Public schools. I came through the public schools in the sixties and seventies. They were pretty good back then, way better than today. But they're places of indoctrination, not education. They didn't want the children to learn about God. They taught evolution. Atheistic. How did I even get saved? Praise the Lord, I did. So when you vote, what happened to abortion in the sixties? Murdering babies. The sexual revolution brought about unwanted pregnancies. What do we do with these unwanted pregnancies? Well, if we're worshiping Baal and we're worshiping Astrath, we don't have a statue of Baal and heat his arms up to where they're glowing red and throw the baby on there as a sacrifice. No. We'll do it in the womb. We'll put a saline solution that burns that child to death in the womb. We'll cut them up in the womb. And we'll call it... In the abstract, we'll call it a woman's choice. Who can argue again a woman's choice in an age of correcting black versus white Human rights. The blacks being mistreated, and we're gonna get that right with... Which is long overdue. But we're gonna take that mentality, that idea in the abstract of freedom, or we're gonna apply it to LBGTQ, and we're gonna apply it to murdering of a child. It's not in the abstract. It's not a tissue. It's not... It's a human being Amen. That's right. At conception. It's tangible, real. This is a child. And it and it overcomes a woman's so called choice to murder. But people can't think. They can't think of absolute truth. They can't think. And we still can't think. It's tragic. We've sown to the wind. We're reaping the whirlwind. For our conversation, our politic, our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look. Here's a great word. If you love Greek, there's a great word here. You can use a wist, w Kenneth wiest, and you can look at this word. It's so fun to do word studies. And this word look means to eagerly wait for. It means, as Bernie knows, to standing on your tiptoes. You're not just looking for Jesus, you're on your tiptoes looking, trying to get up there. Great word. The English language is weak. The Greek language is much more powerful. What are you on your tiptoes looking for? For the savior, the lord Jesus Christ. You're aware. You're aware. You you don't see prophecy as doom and gloom. You're aware of the times you're living in. You know that the prophecies are being fulfilled. You know, as a student of prophecy, that over 300 prophecies were fulfilled in his first coming. And that now, prophecies are being fulfilled every moment, every day. Things are happening and moving so quick to the beast system be built. Why? It has to pre be built because the antichrist is not omniscient. The antichrist is not omnipotent. The antichrist is not omnipresent. So the unholy trinity of the dragon, the devil, the serpent, and the antichrist, and the false prophet, They need technology. They need to fulfill Revelation thirteen eighteen... 16 through 18, and no man can buy or sell without a mark on the right hand of their forehead. They need to fulfill that through technology. They need the the flock cameras everywhere, the surveillance cameras. They need to monitor everything. And you see it happening. You know you're a student of prophecy, and it's happening on real time. That means the return of Jesus is imminent. He could come at any moment, and it's not doom and gloom for you. You've already let go of the world. Remember when we did COVID? Remember I tried to teach you how, and I believe it's in The Philippines, how a hunter would catch a monkey? Remember I told you it was it was... You drill a hole in the... In a tree, and you put enough warm rice in the tree so that the monkey's paw, its hand can go into that hole, grab grab hold of a fist full of rice, and then it won't let go. Can't get its can't get its fist out of the out of the hole, out of the tree. Remember how I told you just let go. They're getting you because they're threatening you to take your job away, your house away, your stuff away. Just let go and you'll be free. You'll be free to fight another day. And if you did let go without taking the jab, you'd be healthier today. You wouldn't be a part of the myriad of people dying of clot shots and all the above. And guess what? You still would have kept your job. You still would have been able to go in and make $12,000,000 by suing them. Because you would call their bluff. You gotta call their bluff. You gotta stand for truth no matter what. You gotta be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There's no negotiating, king Nebbe. Our God is able to deliver us. But even if he doesn't, we still won't bow down to your image. I saw it on VeggieTales. It's real. It happened. The guys were brave. They were aware. We look eagerly wait for the standing on tiptoes for the savior, the lord Jesus Christ, which is Titus two thirteen, that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great god and savior. It's not doom and gloom. It's a blessed hope. It's a blessed. We're we're so excited because in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 10, our... Abraham and Sarah, they were looking for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. We confess that we are strangers and pilgrims. You feel like a stranger, like an alien, like a pilgrim just passing through? That this earth in its present condition is not your home? You can't relate with the decisions, the values, the way people are living. It's just... It's incongruous. It's opposite of who God is and who you are as a believer. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth. We desire a better country that is a heavenly, where for God is not ashamed to be called our God, for he has prepared for us a city. Revelation 21 verse two says, it's the heavenly Jerusalem. The city that God's preparing is a holy city. No more cancer. No more tears. No more sorrow. You know, I can't wait for the day. I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope in the next few days, we hear that there's a cure for cancer. So many people we love come down with cancer in our era, in our point in time. And why is it among the elites, the globalists, why is it the only one I've ever heard that died of cancer, pancreatic cancer, is Steve Jobs of Apple? Does that mean the other globalists have the cure of cancer already and are holding it back? Part of what the lying signs and wonders of the Antichrist term, the seven years, part of it can be is if you're compliant during the tribulation period, you could go lay in one of these medical beds we hear about, like we saw, what was it, on the hunter... The Hunger Games or one of the shows they showed it. If you can get on up there and get in one of those beds, you know, you'll be healed. But lying signs and wonders rolling out cure for cancer, that'll get a lot of people's attention. Hey, if I take the mark of the beast, I have access to all the medical things that maybe are being held back. Why not Steve Jobs? Why why don't any of these other globalists die of cancers like all the rest of us are? You say, well, they didn't take the jab. Yeah. I know. The turbo cancers aren't affecting them. But that blessed hope, that holy city where where you're gonna... No more no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sickness, the curse is reversed. And, Romans eight nineteen through 22 says that all creation is groaning and travailing, waiting for that day of redemption, that day where Jesus comes back to the planet, takes possession of the planet, and reverses the curse. Creation in its fallen condition is groaning and travailing. And so too we. We know this isn't our home. We're groaning. We're earnestly groaning waiting for the Lord to return. He says, verse 21, who shall change your vile body, your earthly body? This earthly body made from the ground, Adam made from the dust, Eve made from the rib bone of Adam. This fallen body, this fallen nature, but also the process of death, of disease. And we say goodbye to those we love when we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. We know we're gonna be rejoined one day, but still it hurts. It hurts. We know these bodies are vile. They're earthly bodies, and the globalists, again, are trying to convince people that you're never gonna die, that they're gonna figure out a way to transhumanism, merge technology with your body. And, you know, Jared Kushner said he's watching what he eats and exercising because his generation's gonna live to be like 140. They may not ever die. You know? They're gonna be given over to a strong delusion to believe the lie. What's the lie? The devil said, you shall not die. People are gonna actually be brought to the place where they think they're gods. They're evolving into gods. Who shall change our vile body, the earthly body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, the body Jesus has, the body that could walk through walls not needing a door, the body that could eat fish and eat food and stuff, and the body that still bore the scars. Thomas, put your finger here where the centurion spear pierced me. Notice my hands and my feet. As Chuck Messer said, the only man made thing in heaven are the scars that we gave him, that we see him in Revelation five. John saw him as a lamb that had been slain. The scars that he still bears. The God man, fully God, fully man, but in his new glorified body, forty days on the earth showing himself to over 500 people at one time, but then he ascended up to heaven. Your body's gonna be able to ascend up to heaven, God's throne, without a spacesuit, without any help from Elon Musk, Rocketman. Your body's gonna be able to to ascend and to come back. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't it be great during the millennium to be able to send up to the new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem that's like a satellite out there? You can see it. The earthly ones can't get there, but you and your glorified body are able to go on up there and come back and do your job upon the earth. You're ruling and reigning with Jesus for a thousand years as kings and priests. The the ability to see the universe and to go places in this new glorified body, that's fascinating to me, the thought. And you know what else is fascinating? Is to be there with my great great great great great great great grandkids and to see dinosaurs, but they're not eating anybody. Wouldn't that be fascinating? That dinosaurs would be brought back during the millennium. Why not? Right? All those cool animals that the kids are so fascinated with. Exciting. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, his heavenly body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. He's able to make us be like him. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear in the rapture, we shall be like him. For we shall know him as he is. And he that has this hope... What hope? The blessed hope and glory superior and the rapture hope. And he that has this hope in him purifies himself. Why purify? Because I don't wanna be caught off guard. I wanna be ready. I don't wanna be clowning around on vacation when I'm to be in the world but not of the world. I'm to be occupying about my father's business, getting the gospel out to people that are perishing, discipling those that come to know him. That's what he's called me to do. He's called us to do the great commission, to fulfill that great commission to go and make disciples of all nations. He that has this open and purifies himself even as he is pure. In first Corinthians fifteen fifty one, we shall not all sleep. Not all of us are gonna die, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Watch me. I'm gonna I'm gonna blink. Twinkling is faster than that. How fast can happen, pastor? When's it gonna happen? I wrote a book about it. I'll let you know. But how fast can happen? Faster than that. Do you have time to get ready? Yeah. Get ready right now. Be ready. You're ready now. Right? You're sealed with the holy spirit. You're ready. If you're sealed, if you have the holy spirit, you're ready. You're not you're not the five virgins in Matthew 25 that don't have any oil. You got the oil. You're you're looking for the bridegroom to come to fetch you. You you already have the have the betrothal. You're engaged to him. And and and not only that, now now you're waiting for the fetching. And then he's gonna take you to the father's house, right, for the ceremony and deck you out at the Bema Seat judgment. In Revelation 19, you're coming back with him in Jude as he comes back with 10,000 thousands of his saints to complete the fourth part of a Jewish wedding, the betrothal, the fetching, the ceremony in heaven, and then the return to the bride's home on earth for the marriage supper of the lamb. And, boy, you're clean. You're unspotted, unblemished. He's given you that perfected body. There's no sin or death or or hell or all. None of it. And so we see that we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in the moment and twinkling in an eye. At the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed, those that are alive. For this corruption must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality, and then death and hell and sin are all swallowed up. And so citizens of heaven of heaven, Jesus said in John 14, I love teaching on the rapture. I'm so glad I'm in this passage today. Took a little while to get here, but it's building. You feel it? It's building. You're looking up. Right? You know your redemption straw is nigh. I know Bernie's excited. He's on tiptoes already sitting that seat right there. He's watching. Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. Why would they be troubled? Because he told them he's leaving them. He's going away. Let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. In a Jewish wedding, the son would go to his father's house and prepare a room addition for when he goes and fetches his bride that he's been betrothed to since she was a child. And she knows the wedding's close. It's ready. And she's watching with her maidens, her her her friends. And he comes at an hour when they know not, and five are ready, five are not. And he takes her and he takes her, the third part of the Jewish wedding, to the father's house. And so Jesus is saying, and the imagery these guys understand, that not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house are many mansions or dwelling places of warrant. So I tell you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am, where's Jesus at the ascension? Where is he? He's in heaven. Your citizenship is in heaven. He's representing you as prophet, priest, and king, you know, in heaven. And he's the bride... He's the bridegroom. That where I am, there you may be also. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ. In Christ is a key phrase you learned in Ephesians. In Christ, there's distinctions. In Christ is the church age. You're in the church age now. Right? And the rapture, when it takes place, those that are in Christ shall rise first. Then the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain. That's us guys right now. We're alive. Right? You alive? We that are alive and remain shall be caught up. Harpazo in the Greek. In the Latin, it's rapturus, where we get things word rapture. The rapture is not in the Bible. How about harpazo? He's all... How about caught up? How about rapturous in the Latin? If you're reading Jerome's Latin Vulgate, it's in there. Important is the truth. Shall be caught up in the clouds to be joined with those who are resurrected, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and savior. And so be heavenly minded. Our citizenship is in heaven. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. In Colossians two verse three, be heavenly minded. He says Colossians two verse four, when Christ who is our life shall appear, there you have it again, appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. And so Paul says, there is now there... Therefore laid up for me a crown of righteous, not for me only, but for all them who are watching for his appearing on tiptoes. He has crowns. He has rewards for you and I. Paul was watching. He was ready. He was looking. He knew his time was short. He knew that he was gonna go by way of martyrdom, but the Lord could rapture him too as a citizen of heaven. In Luke twenty one twenty eight, Jesus said, when you see these things begin to come to pass, the things that we're seeing, the wars and rumors of wars, you might have war on your soil. US government, prepare for war. Do you know one of the things they're doing to prepare for war? Digging mass graves. That's horrific. If that's true, that's horrific. We've seen over the years these coffins, these plastic black coffins, rows and rows and rows of them for probably twenty years, those of us that have been studying this stuff, watching this stuff. We're lunatic fringe prophecy nuts, conspiracy theorists. But it's all coming to place. It's all happening. It's so bizarre. It's bizarreio. It's crazy. When you see these things, the weather patterns, the king tides, the fires, the the, Mount Saint Helens, and and and other volcanic range, mountain ranges, you know, warming up, getting ready, these cataclysmic events that are ready to unleash from nature. And then when you see the choking of the Strait Of Hormuz, creation, man's creation of scarcity, scarcity of energy, which causes inflation for everything, from energy with helium for the chips, for diesel fuel. And not only that, but you're sabotaging all the refineries. You're bombing all the refineries everywhere that can produce the oil into into energy, and you're creating scarcity. And you're blaming it on the Russians. You're... You're buying diesel from the Russians to fund your war with Iran, and then Russia supplies weapons to Iran. How does any of that make sense? And you've got two hundred years of oil just in Texas for America. Just in Texas. Not counting Alaska. Not counting other places that we could drill and and develop refineries and bring the price of energy so low that even their data centers would have enough energy. Who can make this stuff up? But you can't think you're gonna go vote on Tuesday and gonna fix it all. How simplistic. But I know you guys aren't those kind of guys. You see beyond it. You see what's coming, and you've let go of this world. And you're saying, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done. You pray, pray, pray, pray, pray like Jesus did. Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Lord, give us more time with our grandkids and our kids and to get the gospel. But, Lord, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. We should be praying also, Lord, expose the evil. Open people's eyes. Let them see the strategy of the wicked one, what the wicked one is doing to destroy so many people's lives and take people to hell. That's what really matters. Get people saved. In Luke twenty one thirty eight, Jesus said, watch and pray. Watch and pray that you'd be accounted worthy to escape these things and to stand before the son of man. Your citizenship is in heaven. The rapture's coming. The Lord Jesus is gonna take you out. You're not gonna have to see all these things that are coming upon the planet. The seal, the trumpet, and the bowl judgments. The beginning of sorrows, the birth pangs that the earth is going through is like a communism of of China. The rapture didn't take out those Christians in China. They had to suffer, and the Mao government killed 60,000,000 of his own people. The Stalin government killed 40,000,000, including Ukraine, 20,000,000 of his own people. It's called democide. The University of Hawaii did the study on it. Your greatest threat is your own government because they work for the globalists. And they envision being gods with their billions and trillions of dollars to control the planet. Fortunately, their utopian demonic society only lasts seven years. But the birth pangs leading up to it, you and I may, if the Lord doesn't rapture us, we may experience a three day blackout. That might that might be all I can take. I I might not be able to last three days. Yeah. Right. What about eighteen months? What about losing your job? What about scarcity of energy and food? What about plague? Unleashing another one, Bill. This next one will get more people. They have all sorts of little things they wanna do to enslave and kill and make us afraid. Well, I'm looking. I'm watching. I'm looking up, knowing my redemption draws nigh. Every time they say something, know, you know what? Jesus is coming soon. And that's that's not escapism. That's reality. That's the hope that I have. It's a blessed hope and glorious appearing to my great God and savior. The pieces of the puzzle, Israel's in the land. They're looking to rebuild the temple. How much later can the hour be? The temple's almost gonna be built. They've got a globalism of dividing the world into 10 regions. The one world government in 10 regions. Trump's going from Iceland, Greenland, all the way down to Venezuela for ours. He wants Canada and Mexico and everyone to join us. I mean, it's right out of his mouth. That's biblical thinking. He doesn't know it's biblical thinking, but it is. God's allowing the devil to set the stage for the return of Jesus Christ. It's not doom and gloom. It's exciting as a citizen of heaven. Finally, Jesus is gonna come. Finally, he's gonna protect my grandchildren. I don't want my grandkids to be enlisted in the military and to die for what? To die in a in a joke war with Iran? Why are we even at war with Iran? Why why is why why why is Russia at war with Ukraine? Stop this ins... You said no more wars. Peace peace. But there's sudden destruction, isn't there? And and the Christians vote for more wars. Those evil evil Islamic people in Iran. Proxy Hamas and Hetzbollah. Proxy armies paid by the globalist to create terror, to convince people. There's another boogeyman. The fastest growing church in the world is in Iran. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Be heavenly minded. Citizens of heaven, ambassadors of Christ. Jesus said, surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. In Revelation eleven fifteen, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and forever. For our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look on tiptoes for the savior, the lord Jesus Christ. Is your name written in the lamb's book of life? Is your name there? Are you a citizen of heaven? When you die and you stand before the pearly gates, you stand before God, Why should God let you into his kingdom? What access do you have? What do you deserve? How are you gonna get there? You're gonna say, well, was a republican, you know. What's that get me? I was a demon... Demoncrate, you know. Do you know Jesus? You profess that you know God, but what's your actions? What... How you've been acting? How have been living? Do you live like a Christian? Well, they printed the Bible. It's mind boggling, the deception that we live under. All you need to enter into God's kingdom is to know Jesus, to know him. Do you know him? If you know him, then you have access. You get into his kingdom through him. He's king of kings. He's lord of lords, and he's coming again. You may not get into the White House. You may not get into places where the elites, the wealthy, and all of them are able to go, but you have access because Jesus died for you upon the cross of Calvary. He paid for you, washed away all your sins, and paid for you that you have access, that you have a relationship, that you have citizenship, that you are a citizen of his kingdom. You're not a pretender. You're not one trying to come in from the back door or another way. You took the narrow way, the narrow path. You came through Christ. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but through me. You came not as the thief or the robber. You came right down the middle. You came for Jesus. No ulterior motives. You're there for Jesus. You're there because he loved you, he drew you, he marked you with the Holy Spirit, he wrote your name in the ledger, he washed away all your sins, but he wrote your name in the lamb's book of life. He's a lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. It's his idea, and he's coming for you. He's coming for his bride. He's coming for the church. And are you on tiptoes? Are you watching? Are you ready? Or is there something else you need to get done? There's something else you want the government to do for you on Tuesday so that you have more time to fulfill your bucket list. Is that why you won't let go of the world? Because you're in love with the world? And we're told to love not the world, neither the things in the world, all that's in the world, lest the flesh, lest the eye, the pride of life, and not of the father but of the world. And the world perishes and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God. What's to do? Believe. He that doeth the will of God shall abide forever. Do you believe in Jesus? Father, thank you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for the time that we could spend in your word. Thank you, Lord. I appreciate these people that are here that that each week I can abuse them and and talk to them, talk with them, learn with them. And Lord, tongue in cheek, we we seek to edify, we seek to build up, we seek to prepare all of our hearts to be ready for whatever happens the next few days, few weeks. Lord, you've been prepping us. You've been getting us ready spiritually, emotionally, physically. Lord, we can't boast of being ready. There may be a lot of surprises that rock us, that fill us with anxiety, but Lord, we know where to go to. We know, as we're gonna study in chapter four, that be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving, let our requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God that surpass all understanding is gonna guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Lord, thank you that you've given us the way to be in fellowship with you, to face whatever adversity comes, and Lord, to do it with a song in our heart. To be singing at midnight in a prison cell, and the shackles, the the threats of the wicked one, they fall off of us, and we're truly free. He who the sun sets free is free indeed. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, if there's anybody in here that doesn't have relationship with Jesus, if there's anybody watching on Facebook or YouTube or Rumble or whatever, if you don't know, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you can. You simply confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, that he's Lord, that he was crucified, that he's buried, that he raised himself from the dead, and you're crying out to him, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, as you turn from your sins, and you depend, you trust in his finished work upon the cross of Calvary. God takes that faith, that that profession of faith, and he imputes it to your account as righteousness. Christ's righteousness becomes your righteousness. His blood washes and cleanses you of all sin, and he writes your name in the lamb's book of life, and you become a citizen of heaven. Anyone here this morning? That's the cry of your heart. Just lift your hand up, we wanna pray with you. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you, Lord, that we finished in time, Lord, to do our panic shopping at Costco. We thank you for your love. We thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives. And Lord, we thank you that you make it real, that this doesn't need to be a religious exercise, a fantasy, but Lord, it's real, it's legit. We have yours, the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we're children of God, and that it's real, Lord. The threat is real. There is a threat, but Lord, you've overcome, and all of us will overcome as we believe in you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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About This Podcast

Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service

Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

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