Well tonight I'd like to just preach a message and tell prepare to meet the king. Really what that message is is about being ready to see God. I was listening to a friend of mine and he was talking about the fourth president of Wheaton and how this fourth president was a gentleman the name of Raymond Edmond. And this gentleman was the president until 1965, but upon retiring, he became the chancellor. And he was invited back to do a special chapel. And the title of the chapel message was, Prepare to Meet the King. By way of opening illustration, he said, I once had the opportunity to meet the king of Ethiopia. And he began to talk about how that he prepared himself to meet the king and made sure that he was wearing the right clothes. And maybe he thought through some of the questions that maybe the king could ask him and what answers he'd give and then what, if given the opportunity, what questions he would ask. And the point was this. If I'm going to work that hard to prepare myself to meet an earthly king, How much more should I prepare myself to meet a heavenly King? Well, he began to preach through Psalms, and as he was there, he said this phrase. He was preaching about maybe ten minutes, and he said this. He said, Over the years, I've learned the immense value of that deep, deep inner silence as David the King sat in God's presence to hear from Him. No sooner did he say those words that Raymond Edmond, fell over dead. Can you imagine being in that service? I mean, honestly, can you imagine? Here I am, I'm preaching about getting ready to see God. And all of a sudden, let's say tonight, I just fell over dead. I mean, can you, you'd remember that service for the rest of your life? I mean, you'd be like, you know, I called the historian of Wheaton. I said, is that true? I heard this from a friend. He goes, oh, it's true. He says, I have two. I have two audio recordings. He said one of them you just hear silence and the other one you actually hear as his body slumps to the platform. Can you imagine that preaching about getting ready to see God? And then you do. Prepare to meet the king. In fact, tonight we're preaching about Bible prophecy. What is Bible prophecy? It's really what God has told us in the Bible about what's coming up in the future. And what we're going to do tonight is, in a brief manner, is just look at some of the main events of Bible prophecy and to begin to understand that when we preach like this, it comforts Christians about the joys of eternal heaven. It does stir up the Christian to live evangelistically, but it does warn the unbelievers of their upcoming judgments. And so I'm going to approach it almost like Prophecy 101, like a basic class where we're not trying to get every nuance of Bible prophecy, but where we're actually trying to get the main events and walk away with a general understanding that God is King and one day I will see Him. So event number one is the rapture of the church. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4, it says this, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trump of God. Then they which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the cloud. So what is the rapture? It's where Jesus Christ, he comes from heaven, He goes, he comes down in the air and he calls up all those that are truly saved. It's not a church that meets them per se, like a church like this, because it could be in this church building. There are people that know Christ and don't know Christ. But those of those of those people who have truly accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they will be caught up together with Christ. All Christians. will be raptured. The Bible says this. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. But then the Bible also tells us that the rapture is sudden and unexpected. 4 and 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 2 and 3, it says this. He says, You know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. He's talking about That entire period of God's judgment on the lost and taking back his own, it comes as a thief in a night. It comes sudden and it comes unexpected. It goes on, the verse says, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child. I have five children and five times my wife has taken her elbow and crammed it in my ribs and said, it's time, I'm having a baby. Bam! Stop it, you're hurting me. And I can remember the first child, I mean, I was the only boy in my family. I was the last born. We didn't grow up on a farm. I didn't go to any Lamaze class. And so I was clueless. And so I'm just like, great, let's have a baby. Wait, not here. Wait, wait, baby. Let's get to the hospital first. Just watching my wife as the suddenness of contractions would wrap across her belly and it just you could see her in pain. I can remember I remember this thing and what's going on here. Suddenness. Unexpected. So Jesus comes sudden. And unexpected. But Christian, as I talk about the rapture, there's hope for you. If you know Jesus as your personal savior in Thessalonians, it said this, wherefore, comfort one another with these words, because Christian, that when the rapture comes, you will escape the wrath of God. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9, it says, For God hath not appointed us into wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't you thankful that those that know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior will not taste of the wrath of God? Then he goes on and he says this, that not only will you escape the wrath of God, you will escape the death of the grave. But the Bible says this, that I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others that have no hope. You see, sin results in death, and for the Christian, death does not scare them because they know Jesus Christ as their Savior. I was in Africa for three months, and we came into this village, and we were deep in the heart of Zaire, and I remember turning the key off to my motorcycle, and its most eerie sound hit my ears. It wasn't a cry. It wasn't... It was a whale. It was like somebody taking their fingernails and just bringing them down the chalkboard. I remember just being set on edge. It was this lady. Her husband had just died. Rigor mortis hadn't even set in yet. And she's trying to ward off all the evil spirits. And she had no hope. Contrast that to a couple years ago, I was in Zambia, Africa. And do you know that the average age of a Zambian is 34? Because about 20 to 25% of the country has AIDS. And this lady, she got an AIDS prior to being saved. And she had willed her child to the church because she wanted her child to grow up in a Christian home. And here she is. And she died. And she wanted a Christian burial. And so she needed to be embalmed. But the state of Zambia wouldn't embalm people. And so the pastor and the deacons embalmed this lady who had AIDS. And then we had this funeral service. And it was a building, probably just one section. If we just took this straight over like this, And there was about 500 Zambians that packed themselves in this church building, and things were alive, and they were singing, and they were praising, and there was joy, because this lady's body was here, but she was absent from the body, and she was present with the Lord. Oh, Christian, when I'm talking about a rapture, you need a smile to squeak up onto your Thursday night face, because let me tell you something. You escape the wrath of God. You escape the death of the grave and you enter into the joy of the Lord. Aren't you glad there's somewhere better than northeast Tampa? Heaven is a wonderful place because God reigns there. That's why he said in John Christian, he said this. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. For in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I'd go to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." And so event number one, the rapture of the church, all of God's people are caught up together with Jesus Christ, and they then participate in event number two, which I'm not going to talk about tonight, but it's the judgment seat of Christ. It's where the Christian is judged according to the things that he's done. It's not to see if he's saved. It's not to see if she sinned or not. What it's to see is how she used or he used the talents and the resources of his life. And Jesus Christ then, in turn, takes this time to then give different crowns. And there is a time of fellowship and a time of reward. But taking place here is event number three. So let me just rewind and let me review. So event one's the rapture of the church. The Christians, they go and they're now with God in heaven for the next seven years, the judgment seat of Christ. But taking place here on the earth is event number three, and it's called the tribulation. him. Now, what's taking place with the tribulation is, first of all, remind yourself, there are no Christians who have been left behind. And so it's just unbelievers. And Satan now is trying to show that he is incapable of ruling the world better than God. The rapture's called different things in the Bible sometimes. It's called the day of God's vengeance, the end of the world, the 70th week of Daniel. But what's taking place in this is now there are a people who are unsaved and left behind who are living without God's direct influence. You see, there is an Antichrist that emerges in Revelation 13. He rises up with a false prophet. The Bible says, and I saw I stood upon a sand in the sea. Revelation 13, verse one. And I saw the beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns and upon his ten horns, upon his head, the name of blasphemy. This false prophet is like a cheerleader saying, hey, go ahead, worship, worship this Antichrist. He's one. He's the deliverer. He's the one that's going to take care of all our problems. There's an initial time frame of peace. 144 Jewish evangelists began going to the world and proclaiming the gospel to places that have never heard. But, do not be fooled that if you reject Jesus now, that you will accept Him later. For the Bible actually says in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 11, For this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they might all be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Somewhere in this time frame, about halfway, there's a there's an intermission. And then like like the second act to a two part play, the great tribulation begins to unfold on this earth. And it commences with the invasion of Israel by Gog and Magog. These two northern armies, they come down and God intervenes with fire and brimstone and destroys five, six of the army. God then cast Satan, who has been in the heavens, and he cast him down. And listen to what Revelation 12, verses 3 through 15 says, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil. And Satan was deceived with the whore, and he's cast down into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Listen to this. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down unto you, having a great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time. Satan himself now inhabits this Antichrist. The Antichrist, he dies, or at least is perceived as death, and three days later, he raises from the dead. Who does that sound like he's trying to copycat? Satan has always tried to counterfeit Jesus Christ. He then destroys an ecumenical church that's been in the works and says that you can only worship me, the Antichrist, Satan. And if you do not take my mark, whether that mark is on your right hand or the mark is on your forehead, you cannot buy or sell. You must worship me. There's an unprecedented persecution of people who will not submit themselves to the Antichrist. But the same time, God begins to show his mercy by pouring out judgment. In fact, there's three rounds of judgments. There's the seven seals, there's the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. And all this time, God's pouring out judgment, showing is mercy. Well, let me illustrate this way. I have five children. And last spring we were parked by a road that was a 50 mile an hour road. And our trailer was about six feet away from that road. And so every morning, you know, here come the cement trucks and the Coca-Cola trucks and the semi and the whole trailers just kind of go. Well, more importantly than losing a couple hours of sleep, more importantly is I didn't want my kids to walk out of the trailer and go out there and maybe get hit by something. So I got my three oldest children and I'm holding their hands and I said, let's go count trucks. And so we're out there and we're just kind of, one, two, three, just count them, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. And my oldest is like, daddy, what are we doing? My second, he's like, I know what, dad doesn't want us to die. What do you think I'm gonna do that's I said exactly I don't go out there. There's trucks those trucks are bigger than you It's called mass times velocity, and it means your squash, so don't go out there you understand Now what if one of my children was to start like walking out there? What would I do? I'd be like excuse me? Naughty Naughty Naughty You come over here right now. I'm gonna give you a timeout Don't I do Now, maybe I might get them like, maybe I just wasn't clear enough. I'd look at them in the eyes. Now, do you understand? Do not go on that road. If you go on that road, there's going to be some serious consequences. And let's say they go back out on the road. You, silly little boy. No, I would go, get that child. And something would happen. But whatever pain could enter in their life, it would pale compared to them being struck by a vehicle. And God begins to pour out pain. He begins to pour out judgment. And actually, it's a sign of mercy. And so this first set of seal judgments, it's the seven seal judgments. You can study it later in Revelation 6. The first one is open. It's a time of peace. Then war. Then famine. Then a death to a quarter of the world. And at the seventh seal, it actually is an earthquake that begins the next seven judgments, which are seven trumpets. And the first one is blown, and these can be seen in Revelation 8. And one-third of all vegetation is destroyed. The second trumpet is blown, and an asteroid strikes the earth. I was listening to... NPR radio and I was just driving down the road. I was listening to it They're talking about what to do in case of an asteroid strike And so there was this whole scientist panel and and one one said, you know What we should do is we should get a nuclear-tipped ICBM ready to roll and target any incoming asteroid and blast it in space And then no, so we need a space-based laser and then and then this lady she was on the panel She said well, you know then the next 20 years. There's nothing we could do if an asteroid want to strike the earth. I And all the scientists are like, well, yeah, yeah, right now you're right, you're right. Well, he says that when God wants to strike the earth, he'll strike the earth because he's God. And so the asteroid, the Bible says, it strikes the earth and one third of the ocean turns to blood. And then a comet strikes the earth and one third of the freshwater turns bitter. And then a fourth trumpet sounded and one third of the sun is eliminated. And then a fifth trumpet is blown and a swarm of demonic locusts begin to go through the earth. tormenting who they want. And they had a tail like a scorpion that when it strikes, it torments for five months. And it's such intense pain that people would be gnawing at their teeth, wanting to find some form of relief. The sixth trumpet is blown. And 200 million demonic horsemen began to go through the earth. And yet still, mankind will not repent. In fact, listen to what the Bible says after these judgments in Revelation 9, verse 20. It says, And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils or idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, wood. And neither repented they of their murders or their sorceries or fornications or their thefts." You would think all these plagues being poured out on these people that finally they'd say, you know what, that's enough of that. I don't want to be judged by God. But do you know what these people did? They treated God like a telemarketer in the sky. It's like God's calling and it's supper time. And they're saying, leave us alone. Stop calling. I told you stop calling. Leave me alone. The next and last trumpets blown to signify The next set of judgments, which is seven vile judgments. The first bowl is poured out. It's loathsome sores. It's boils. Revelation 16, you can look at that later as well. And then the next bowl is poured out. This one, actually the ocean, it all turns to blood. A third bowl is poured out, and now all the fresh water turns to blood. But the fourth bowl is poured out, and the sun now begins to scorch. At the same time, God then pours out another bowl of judgment. And now there's a thick darkness that just permeates the earth. But then the sixth bowl is the drying of the Euphrates. And at the seventh bowl, it's the end of event number three, which is the tribulation. And it's the beginning of event number four, which is the second coming of Christ. And so as this last bowl is poured out in judgment, there's a great earthquake that actually cracks open the Mount of Olives from east to west. And Jesus Christ Himself now comes back to the earth. In the rapture, He came in the clouds to gather up the church. But now, this time, He's coming back for a purpose. What is that purpose? Well, they were divinely gathered by God. All the people that were left behind, all the people who have not turned to Jesus Christ their Savior, they have been left behind. And Revelation 16, verse 16 says, He gathered them together in a place that is called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. The Bible also says in Revelation 16 verse 13 that Satan, he sent out his demons and he gathered up all the people that had been left behind for a purpose. So God is gathering, Satan is gathering, and all the people that had been left behind, they're gathering for a purpose because they know Jesus is coming back and they want to do battle with God. The rebellion in their heart must be expressed. If you do have your Bibles, I think you should turn to Revelation 19. I'd like to read for you the passage. I know our gentlemen are going to do their best to get some of these Scriptures up if they can. In Revelation 19, verses 11-16, it says this, And I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. Let me ask you a question. Has Jesus Christ ever lied? Yes or no? So he's faithful and he's true. He's never sinned. He's never done anything that was sinful. So here is Jesus. He's sitting upon a white horse. And in righteousness does he judge and make war. So he's coming to this earth and he's ready to do battle. Revelation 19, 11 through 16, verse 12. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. Jesus Christ came to this earth, or is going to come to this earth for a second time to do battle. And when Jesus Christ comes this second time, I want to remind you that the reason why we call this his second coming is because 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to this earth. The first time that Jesus Christ came, he came born of a virgin. He came just simply to come to seek and to save those which are lost. The first time He came, the Bible says, Behold the Lamb of God which cometh to take away the sins of the world. But the second time Jesus Christ is coming, He's coming to judge. The first time He came, He came to make peace. For the Bible called Him the Child of Peace. But this time Jesus Christ is coming. He's coming to make war and destroy. When Jesus Christ came the first time, He saw little children and He said, suffer the little children to come unto Me. He said to a blind man, after He put mud on his eyes, He told him he would now see. Jesus Christ said, come unto Me, all you that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But this time Jesus Christ comes, He opens up His mouth and He speaks. And a sword goes out, and all of those that have come to resist God are now destroyed. Listen to what it says. It says, and out of His mouth, verse 15, goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations. He should rule them with a rod of iron. And He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. There is no king greater than Jesus. There is no Lord bigger than Jesus Christ. He reigns and rules over all. I want you to note the total lack of resistance. We're so brainwashed by all the movies we watch that we feel like whenever there's an epic movie, there's good and evil. And to make the movie good, you've got to have evil really strong. And evil's got to back up good to the last moment. They've got to blow a hole in the castle. And all of a sudden, at the last moment, somebody's going to ride to their salvation. But can I explain to you how this works? God speaks. It's over. God is mighty. He rules and reigns over all. He hates sin. He judges it. That's a pretty stiff thought. But in our day and age, Sometimes that message gets watered down, but the Bible says it quite clearly. That when Jesus comes, he comes to rule. Total lack of resistance. Total carnage. He takes the false prophet. He takes the Antichrist and he puts them into the lake of fire. He takes then Satan and casts him into the bottomless pit that after one thousand years he comes back out and he goes out. He tempts some people and they gather an army. They go against God and the end of that. thousand-year millennial kingdom. The Bible says that once again God speaks. It's the last battle for all of eternity. And all of those people are then destroyed. All sinners are now dead. And it brings us now to the next event, event number four. Event number five, the Great White Throne Judgment. You see, what took place is Jesus Christ, He comes, He destroys sinners. There's a millennial kingdom. At the end of that, there's an insurrection. There's a group of people that begin to assault God. God destroys them. And then what happens, and you can turn there in Revelation 20 and see it, is the Great White Throne Judgment. In verse 11, He says this, And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whom the face, the earth, the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." Now, listen to this, "...and I saw the dead." Now, who's dead? Only unbelievers are dead. Only people who have not put their trust in Jesus Christ alone are dead. Remember, all those that are true believers have been caught up together with Jesus Christ. They've been in heaven now for about seven years, and then the Millennial Kingdom is just those that are believers. And the Bible, listen to this, it says this, And the books were opened, that's plural. And another book was opened, that singular, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, plural, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell was cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. So let me explain this to you. So we have all those that are dead or all those who are unbelievers that are now standing before God. They're standing before God for the final judgment. And what we see is it says this. I saw the dead small and great. It mattered not if on this earth They were rich or poor or intellectual or not so smart or if they were attractive or ugly. It did not matter any of those things. They were all gathered together. They're all standing before God. And the books of their works are open. It says that they're judged according to their works. Do you know what's taking place there? God is establishing that every one of those people are sinners. Do you know that that's what the Bible says? The Bible says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says, For there is none righteous. No, not one. They're all gone their own way. He uses the analogy of a sheep that's gone astray. For we have all gone astray, he says. But many of us, we don't like to admit that we're sinners. We don't like to admit that we're really that bad. But what will take place at this time is it will be proven that we're bad. In fact, what God's done is He's given us His law. And what He's done with His law is He's proven that every one of us have broken His law and fallen short of His expectations. So I was preaching John 3, verse 16, and I was talking to this young man after the service. I said, what did you think about the message? He goes, it was a great message about Jesus, but I don't know what the big deal is. I'm really not that bad. I said, what do you mean you're not that bad? He goes, well, I'm not. I said, well, have you ever lied before? He goes, everyone's lied before. I said, well, doesn't that make you a liar? He said, well, I don't like to think of it that way. I said, have you ever stole anything? He goes, um, I don't think so. I said, come on, you just told me you're a liar. I'm sure you stole something. He goes, well, yeah, a couple things. I said, so you're a thief too? I said, you know what Jesus did? He took many of the Ten Commandments and he went straight to the heart. Listen to this one. He said this to a group of religious people who said, I'm not committing adultery. And he looked at them and said, whosoever shall look upon a woman and lust in his heart hath committed adultery already. He goes, well, I've done that. I said, what about the next one? He took murder. He said that whosoever shall hate his brothers out of cause is in danger of the same judgment as murder. And all of a sudden he goes, oh man, there's one guy, I cannot stand him. And all of a sudden the lights went on and he looked at me and goes, I'm kind of bad. I said, well, that's what I've been trying to tell you. And you know that every single one of us, we're all bad. And every single one of us, it's not kinda, it's real bad. Every single one of us, we've broken God's law over and over and over and over. In fact, some of those religious people, they were coming to Jesus, and they're acting like they're all so spiritual, and Jesus did a miracle. And they start whispering behind, and they're like, So who does those miracles? Is he just acting like Satan? And maybe he's practicing his Beelzebub and he's being able to cause these demons to leave. And they're talking about Jesus behind the scenes. And listen to what Jesus said. He heard their thoughts and he turns to them in Matthew 12 and he says, But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they'll give an account therefore in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." They had no clue what Jesus was doing if he was bringing the gavel of judgment down and it was saying guilty. Every single one of us is guilty. Can I tell the team something? You know what? I'm not preaching from here down to you down there because I could sit in that front row and somebody else could be open up the scripture and they could be preaching these same truths. And can I tell you something? I'm just as guilty because I've broken almost every single one of those commandments if you apply it to the heart. And it's a big problem. And you want to know why I'm preaching? Because I love you and I care about your heart and I care about where you spend eternity. And the truth of the matter is this, is that every single one of us, we're all sinners and we all deserve the wrath of God. We deserve Jesus Christ to open up his mouth and that sword to come down and slay us. We deserve it. But when I was telling you about Jesus Christ coming the second time, I was referring to the fact that He came the first time. And when Jesus Christ came the first time, He came for one purpose, to seek and to save those which were lost. And Jesus Christ, He came to this earth. He never once sinned. He always did what was right. In fact, the Bible says He's come to fulfill all righteousness. And Jesus Christ was being judged. They were coveting after Jesus Christ's following. And a group of religious people, they snuck up on Jesus and they began a false trial so that they could kill Him. But you know what was so special about the death of Jesus Christ? It wasn't just that people killed Him. It's that Jesus Christ Himself laid down His life. so that we might have our sins forgiven. Do you remember what the wages of sin is? It's death. And so what did Jesus Christ do? He died. And He died on a cross so that we might live. He shed His blood to wash away our sins. In fact, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, there were two thieves on either side of Jesus. And one thief participated in the mockery and said, get down if you're God. And the other thief on the other side, somewhere in the whole mix of that day, he realized that Jesus is the Son of God and he said this, he said, will you remember me when thou enterest in thy kingdom? And Jesus said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And what took place on that cross was something you could not see with your eyes, but Jesus Christ took the sins of that thief and gave that thief the goodness or the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Can I ask every person here a question? Was there time for that thief to do good works? Yes or no? Was there time for this thief to go to church? No way. Was there time for this thief to give some money to the poor? No. The only time that this thief had was to trust in Jesus Christ alone. Have you ever seen your sin? Have you ever trusted in Jesus Christ? Have you ever been saved? Because, remember what it says? First of all, you're judged for your works. Then you're seeing whether or not the blood of Jesus Christ has been put to your account. And if you're a sinner and if you've never been forgiven, then listen to what he says. And death and hell were cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death. Listen to this. And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. I got an uncle. who the first time I told him about Jesus Christ, he looked at me and he said, oh, I want to go to hell because I want to party with my friends. Hell is not a party. When it's my uncle just about a year ago now, I said, Uncle, do you remember when I was a real young boy and I told you about Jesus and you said you wanted to party with your friends? He said, Oh, I was just trying to get you off my case. I said, Uncle, you need to be saved. He goes, I don't know what the problem is, Will. I do a bunch of good works. Can you do enough works to erase your sin? In fact, how many of your works are laced with selfishness? All of them. Because all our works are nothing more than filthy rags. That's why we need the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. The Bible says, "...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." The Bible says, "...believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." You know what? To trust in Jesus Christ is not a complex thing. I read a story when I was in seventh grade. It was so good, I wish I could have found it again. And I did find it a year ago. And it's about this lady. She's a very famous singer. And she took an invitation to sing at a wedding, not because she liked the person getting married, but because she wanted to go to the reception. It was gonna be a famous reception in this huge palace of a home, and she just sang at the ceremony, and then she got in her car with her friend, and she went over to the reception, and you walk in, and this castle-like house has this huge descending spiral staircase, and that's where the reception was to be, and she's just so excited, and there's supposed to be all sorts of people there that she wants to rub shoulders with and all sorts of good food, And she's getting ready to go up the steps, and there's the maitre d', and the maitre d' says, ma'am, what's your name? And she says it, and she says it like, don't you know who I am? And the maitre d' looks down the list and says, ma'am, your name's not here. Well, maybe it's this name, or she kind of says some other things, and you can just tell her, and she says, well, go ask the bride. The bride asked me to sing at this wedding. And the maitre d' said, I'm not leaving, and if your name's not here, you can't go into the reception. And this went on for a few moments, and finally she gives up, and she goes with a friend, she gets in the car, they go back to her apartment, and she's moping around, and she's going through the mail, and she pulls up an RSVP, a little invitation, where all she had to do is then notate what her name was, and what's the name of her guest, and put it in a self-addressed stamped envelope, put it in the mail and her name would have been on the list. It was just a simple little thing to just go ahead and send in the RSVP. But she chose not to. She thought she was better than that. And it's amazing to me how many people I can tell them and I can preach to them from the Bible how they are sinners. And now Jesus Christ did come and die on the cross for their sins. And they'll look at me and they'll go, yeah, that's great. But my friend, it's not just knowing in your head. It's submitting with your will. It's saying, I don't want that old life. I'm not going to trust in my own righteousness. I'm not going to trust in my works or my church attendance. I just need You, Jesus. I need You to wash away my sins, for You are God. You died. You rose from the dead. Save me. That's what I did. Young boy. Convicted over sin. I remember just running up to my pastor saying, Pastor Bob, I need Jesus right now. And my prayer was just, dear Jesus, I've sinned and I need you to save me, please. Have you ever been saved? Have you ever turned from your sin and trust in Jesus Christ? Has God ever saved you? Let's bow our heads together I'd ask that all of us would just be very respectful to those that are around them. Just ask you to stay where you're at and just contemplate this message. With their heads bowed and eyes closed, I just ask us to really... I ask nobody to look around and really it's because there's just so many friends here, teens and adults alike, who are thinking about this message. And so with all of our heads bowed and all of our eyes closed, I'd ask How many of you would say, Will, I know that if I died right now that I would spend eternity in heaven. I know there's been a time in my life where I've asked Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior. A time that God saved me with their heads bowed and eyes closed. You'd say, Will, I know that to be true in my life. Would you just lift your hands, take it straight up and say, Will, I want to testify. I know Christ. He's my Lord and Savior. You can put your hands down. One would say, Will, I'm concerned about it. Will, I don't know for sure I'd spend eternity in heaven. I'm concerned I'd actually experience God's wrath, or I'm concerned about my sin. I've never truly understood what it is to know Jesus as my Savior. I'd like you to pray for me. My prayer won't save you, but I'm going to pray that God would do a work in saving you. With our heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to say, Will, I don't know for sure that it's been eternity in heaven, and I'd like you to pray for me. With our heads bowed and eyes closed, would you just lift your hand and say, Will, I'm not sure that I'm saved, and I'd like you to pray for me. Would you lift your hand and just take it straight up? Will, pray for me. Just keep your hand up. A lot of hands. Adults and teens alike. I see some in the back and I see some in the front. Just a lot of hands. Who else? Will, I don't know if I'm saved. I don't know if I know Christ as my Savior. Who else? Just lift your hand straight up. Yeah, a lot of hands. All right. Are there other folks? Will, I don't know for sure that I'm saved. I'm going to pray for you folks in just a moment. If you lifted your hand, would you lift your head and look at me? I want to give you a special message. You can put your hands down and look at me. If you raise your hand saying you're not sure where you spent eternity, just look up here. If you raise your hand, I want to give you a special message in just a moment. I want to tell you something. Some of you back there and some of you here and over here. In a moment, what we're going to do is just stand and I'm going to pray. I'm going to pray that God saves you, that God helps you to see your sin and your need for Jesus Christ. But after I'm done praying, I'm going to invite you to... I'm going to ask Reba to play hymn. And as she plays a hymn in a moment, I'm gonna invite you to just slip from your chair and let somebody show you from Bible how you can know Christ and Aaron if you don't mind coming down here, he's been running the cold war all night, and if you're a teen and You'd like to be saved like somebody show you how to be saved Just go to Aaron and we'll make sure if somebody shows you how to know Christ guy with guy and girl with girl if you're here as an adult Just look I have your chair. I'll meet you. Okay, and if you're in the back Just come on over here and just let somebody show you how you can know Jesus Christ is your personal Savior I'm pleading with you It's your choice. True Christianity is not a religion of coercion. It's a religion where you give your life to Christ. And I'm inviting you to do that tonight. So let's stand our feet with our heads bowed. Let's go ahead and all of us stand our feet right now. I'm going to pray specifically for some of my friends that just asked me to pray for them. Father, I pray right now for the 10 to 20 folks that that lifted their hands saying they're unsure of where they spend eternity. I pray, Lord, that is the moment as Reba plays that they would be able to respond right away and hear how they can know you as their savior. Father, we're desperate for You to work, not just for a service, but Lord, we're desperate to see lives changed and fruit that remains. So, Lord, I pray that there would be an intense work of Your Spirit tonight, something that cannot be explained by anything of man.