The emphasis tonight is not upon the current events, the plagues, the viruses, the KC-130 gunships. The tribulation for us who God has given this as a treasure is a map to see what life apart from Christ is like, the horrible life this world will go through apart from Christ. And what I'm going to share with you tonight is Revelation 6 and Matthew 24. In fact, you can be turning to Matthew 24. That's what we're going to read tonight. But I want you to walk with me through the pages of scriptures. As we look at the events of chapter 6 of Revelation 8, 9, and 16, I want to describe briefly the living hell that you can avoid if you are a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. Here are only a few of the dreadful disasters that take place during the Tribulation. First of all, the world will be a global graveyard. One out of every four people will die, according to Revelation 6, 8. Some through the ravages of war, others by starvation, and amazingly, many others by the beasts of the earth. So whether by death that comes instantly, and thus less dreaded, or a slow and painful death that is lingering and agonizing, one fourth of all people will die just in the initial plagues. As of 7.21 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time, which was 1.21 this afternoon, the world's population stood on the, you know, there's this clock that goes from London that shows how we're getting overpopulated. The world population stood at 5,983,632,173 people, growing at 7 million people per month. And that goes rapidly. It used to be 6 million a month. Now it's 7 million a month. So that means at least 1.496 million people will, 1,496,000,000 people will die. That amounts to just about five times the current population of the United States. Can you even imagine that? Look how we get excited when we see the horrors of 15 that get killed. See them laying on sidewalks in pools of blood. Overseas horrors, when just a few hundred die. 1,496,000,000 people will die rapidly. Very overwhelming. Every day the number of people who will die becomes larger and larger because the population is growing. Secondly, the scriptures tell us there's going to be a global grass fire of some kind. One-third of all vegetation will be burned up, according to Revelation 8-7. All grass, every tree, everything green is destroyed. Thirdly, there's going to be something like a global nuclear winter. The sun and the moon will be darkened as nature goes into revolt, according to verse 12 of chapter 8. Then there will be a global horror show as the gates of hell open. and the hordes of these demonic beings, demonic horse-like locusts that are as large as a horse with the tail of a scorpion come upon the earth. These locusts will be allowed to sting men and women and children, and the pain will last for five months." The Bible says that the inhabitants of the earth will be begging God in heaven to allow them to die, but they won't be allowed to die. In this period is also global starvation. There will be a worldwide famine unlike anything that the world has ever seen. Also, in this time period, there will be a global warfare on a scale that will eclipse any known war of any time. There will be a world war so bloody that the blood of those killed in battle flows 200 miles, splashing up to the bridle of a horse's bridle on their head from the Valley of Jezreel all the way down to southern Moab. Of course, this is the Battle of Armageddon. In brief, horrible life without Christ is a global nightmare. All told, during the Great Tribulation, as many as half, if you add it all together, of all the people on the earth will be killed. Now do you see why God refers to the rapture as the blessed hope? The hope that we do not have to go through a graveyard, a grass fire, nuclear winter, a horror show, starvation, warfare, and a living nightmare. But the greatest mystery in the world today is God's patience. He has allowed sin to run ravagingly through the world. There's not a village or town without its seething. There's not a human heart without its colignous black drop upon that heart. There's no life without its tears and sorrows. There is no home that ultimately does not break up And there is no family that does not see the circle of the home dissolve into the depths of the grave. There is no life that does not end in the grave. And the pages of history from the time of the first murder in Eden till this present hour are written in blood, in tears, and in death. Why God delays in taking the kingdom to himself is the most inexplicable mystery our minds could dream of. It's the mystery of the presence of evil. And for thousands of years, God has allowed Satan to wrap his vicious, his slimy, his filthy, cruel tentacles around human life and around this earth. Does God know? Yes. Is he indifferent? No. Is he not able to cope with it? Of course he's able. But the mystery is God's delay. This mystery has brought more stumbling into the faith of God's people than any other experience. The infidel, the atheist, the agnostic, and the unbeliever laugh and mock at us. And God lets them mock and laugh at us. Our missionaries are slain. Churches, especially Indonesia, Nigeria, the Sudan, are burnt to the ground. People in this earth, by the uncounted millions and millions, are oppressed. They live in despair. And God just looks on. He seemingly does not intervene. He does not say anything. He does not move. And sin develops. It grows and it goes on and on. And that is the mystery of the delay of our Lord. But the blessing is that somewhere beyond the starry sky, there stands a herald angel. And with a trumpet in his hand, and by the decree of the Lord God Almighty, there is a day, there is an hour, and there is a moment. There is an elected time when the angel shall sound the trumpet. And in that moment, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever." Matthew 24, if you're turning there or have already found it, our Lord Jesus Christ describes what is going on and what we should, as believers, be praying for God to accomplish. Would you stand with me as we read the first 14 verses, listening to Jesus as he, on the side of a beautiful treed hill, on a mountain actually facing the eastern gate of Jerusalem, as Jesus on that Mount of Olives, answers the question of seeking disciples who said, when, how, where is all this going to happen? Jesus describes. Verse 1, Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. Josephus tells us it was gleaming white as snow, covered over with pure gold, so that when the sun shone on it, it was blinding and could be seen for miles in every direction. It looked almost like a heavenly building. It was so glistening, gold-covered, ornately made of marble. And he said, look at those buildings. And Jesus said, you see all this? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone will be left here on top of another that shall not be thrown down." The Roman armies came, cut down nearly every tree. That's why Israel now is so rocky and soilless. They cut down every tree they could find. They hauled the trees up, and they put almost a funeral pyre all the way around the temple, lit the temple, and burned it so hot that the rocks cracked, the gold melted off, and the stone split open. And they pried them one from another and gathered the crusted gold that had melted off from the temple and came down. That's why not one stone was left that wasn't thrown down. Verse 3, Now as he sat there on that Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and they said, Tell us, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming, of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them, and to us today. Take heed that no one deceives you. That's the most important part for us to learn about biblical prophecy, especially as we turn toward the millennium. Watch out for religious deception. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars. There's some going on right now. Rumors of wars, potential ones. See that you are not troubled by all these things, for they must come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nation, ethne, will rise against ethne, and kingdom against kingdom. Ethne is ethnic group against ethnic group. Serbian, Kosovar. Chechnyan, Russian. Moslem, Jew. Tutsi, Hutu. All over the world it's going on. Ethne against ethne, like never before in history. Kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines. Millions have died in Africa over the years. Terrible famines. Thousands now are dying. Pestilences. These are horrible diseases. We know many of them. Earthquakes in various places. Just a few years ago, Kobe, 5,000 dead. Billions in damage. Boom. in various places. These are the beginnings of sorrows. And they will deliver you up to tribulation, to kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended and will betray one another, will hate one another. And then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because of lawlessness abounding, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Let's bow before our Lord in prayer. We know, Father, that your son, our Savior, spoke this about a city, Jerusalem, about a people, the Jews, about a future day that your book calls the time of Jacob or Israel's troubles. Israel's troubles will trouble the whole world, but they're not our troubles. Because you have told us that we are to be looking not for beasts of the earth or the beast out of the sea, the Antichrist, but we are to be looking for you, Lord Jesus. And in our hearts, we are to be echoing constantly, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. We're also to be saying, let me not be ashamed before you at your coming. This evening as we look into the future through your word, may your spirit touch our hearts that if there's anything that we would be ashamed of tonight, if there's any practice in our life, if there's any sin that we cultivate, if there's any pursuit that we still are clinging to that does not please you, we want to jettison and scrape it off and by your grace say no to it because we don't want to be ashamed before you at your coming if it was tonight. Maybe today my Lord will come for me. Maybe today from sin I shall be free. Maybe today with Jesus I will be. That's our heart's desire. Show us from your word how you want us to live, and let us apply our hearts to that end. We ask in Jesus' precious name. Amen. You may be seated. As you're seated, stay right there in Matthew 24, because Matthew 24 predicts the beginning of the tribulation hour. The beginning of the tribulation hour and the events described in this section are the beginning of birth pains. That's what it says in verse 8. All these are just the beginning of birth pains. The images of a woman in travail, and that's a picture of the tribulation period. Isaiah 13 and 1 Thessalonians 5 have the same basic picture. If we consider the events that Jesus profiles and that he underlines here, then we'll have a better idea of what the tribulation will be like. First of all, if you look at verses 4 and 5, Jesus said that the tribulation hour is going to be a time primarily of global false teaching. It says there in verse 4, take heed that no one deceives you. I believe because of the growth of communication, the growth of personal communication for this coming Christmas, There's supposed to be a hymn book size, personal edition computer that will be, you can just carry it around, get it wet and everything, that will hook to the internet, personal email, and it'll be very, very portable. And it says with cellular capacity, you can just be online all the time. The technology exists. Can you imagine every person in this world able to be online anytime they want to be? especially as I shared with you last week, what the gods of our world are. Immorality, materialism, and the worship of recreation. And into that mix is going to come, verses 4 and 5, global false teaching. For many, it says in verse 5, many will come in my day or in that day. And the Jews have often been led astray by false prophets and by false Christs. And the rider on the white horse, we'll see in just a moment in Revelation 6, on the white horse is a false peace. It's the anti, in place of Jesus Christ, the final world dictator, who will lead the nations of the world astray. He will begin purporting himself to be a peacemaker. He will sign a covenant with Israel. He will supposedly protect Israel from enemies, Daniel 9.27 says. And Israel will welcome this man as their great It says in John's Gospel, chapter 5, and I'll read you the 43rd verse, Jesus said to them, I have come in my Father's name and you did not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. The Antichrist. What sorrow for Jesus that his people, he came to his own, his own didn't receive him. But another will come, a false one. And they will say, come, we take you, we follow you. Secondly, verse 6 tells us that there will be not only global false teaching, but Jesus also said in verse 6 that there will be global warfare. You'll hear of wars. And note that wars are not a sign of the end. There have always been wars in the world, and there will be to the very end. But wars of themselves do not announce the end of the age. It's just that there will be, like birth pangs, ever increasing intensity, ever increasing effect. And the Lord said, that warfare will become global in nature. Thirdly, at the beginning of verse 7, it says there'll be global famines. War and famine usually go together. And Revelation 6 suggests that there's going to be incredibly high prices for foodstuffs. A penny was a day's wages. And so in Revelation 6, it says it'll take a whole day's wage just to make it through that day and not quite. There are also going to be global epidemics. If you look in the middle of verse 7, In Matthew 24, it says that there will be pestilences. And these epidemics will be spreading rapidly. And I'm going to share with you a brief biography of the Spanish influenza that killed 20 million people in this century. And it's been resurfacing. If you look at the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control, They are looking at the growing epidemic outbreaks of non-stoppable epidemic diseases. They just isolate them. They can't stop them. And those will all come together and cause a global epidemic. Verse 9 says that there are going to be global persecutions. Christians have always been hated by the world, but here we have an acceleration of these persecutions and murders, like we saw last week. And all nations will be involved. And this has certainly not been true in the history of the world. If you know anything about church history, there were three eras of persecution in the church. The first was in about the 60s. It was local. It was sporadic. Nero was just trying to do something because he was, as you know, he committed suicide. He was so eaten with his own sin. He was a practicing sodomite. He was a very murderous man. murdered his mother. He had stomped to death one of his wives while she was expecting. Just horrible things that Nero did. He was a beast of a person. But Nero was so guilty, he was trying to always point off on someone else and blame shift. And he tried for a while to do the Christians. And you know about what he did with them. Secondly, there was a second type of persecution that was a little bit later in John's time. And it was more provincial. And they would attack in one province or statewide. But it wasn't the whole Roman Empire. It was just here and there. Finally, at the end, in the 300s, that was in the 100s, in the 300s, there was a complete empire-wide persecution that was very brief, but it was not in between. It wasn't global and it wasn't constant. It says here that there will be a global and constant persecution. Also, in verses 10 through 13, there will be global chaos. Those who are once loyal to one another will begin being disloyal and betraying. This is a picture of marriages falling apart, homes falling apart, nations just divided because of a lack of loyalty. And it says in verse 12, if you notice there, lawlessness will abound. Even the law keepers will not be able to keep the peace. Verse 13 doesn't have anything to do with personal salvation. In this verse, those who endure the end will be saved. What it's speaking of is the end doesn't mean the end of this life. It refers to the end of that age. And what it's saying is that those who endure to the end in this time period, not giving in to the beast and not giving in to all that, will be saved. It's not talking about us. We believe in the perseverance of the saints, but this is not a proof of it. This is localized for those in the tribulation hour. It correlates with those warnings that if you take the mark of the beast, you'll never be able to be saved. But the good news is in the midst of all this, Jesus said in verse 14, there'll be global evangelism. Now, what's amazing is everything Jesus says False teaching, warfare, famines, epidemics, persecutions, chaos, and evangelism exactly parallels Revelation. Marvelously so. We see in Revelation 7 God choosing and sealing 144,000 Jewish evangelists. They carry the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. This verse doesn't say that the gospel has to go to every nation before Jesus can return for his church. It doesn't say that. It's talking to the Jews. It's talking about the fact that Jewish evangelists will be everywhere on this planet before Christ returns. We have to be very careful. I know it's wonderful for fundraising, and I get it in a lot of letters, but we should give to missions not because we feel guilty if we don't, that the world won't get evangelized and Jesus won't come back, because the Bible never correlates world evangelism with Christ's return. That's called post-millennialism. which says that we have to make the world just right, and then Jesus will come back. And that's quite man-centered and dangerous. Well, let's turn now to Revelation 6, because that's where we want to spend our time tonight, looking through these seven seals. And basically, what we're looking at are the seals of death in chapter 6. There are seals of death unleashed in Revelation chapter 6. We will see soon After this, the trumpets of doom, that's Revelation 8 and 9. And then finally, the bowls of wrath, that's the way God unfurls the end of his plan for human history. Seals of death, we're going to look at those tonight. The trumpets of doom, you've heard a lot about those, the demonic creatures coming out and all of that. Then the bowls of wrath, the sunburn, the poisoning of the waters and all that is coming. We've already learned that God has a week of history left. It centers around the Jews. Israel has seven years left to fulfill God's prophetic plan for them. We saw that in Daniel's 70 weeks and won't go over that again. We also have seen that this whole thing, and this is a good old Gustav Adore picture of Satan and his throne. And with his demonic creatures, he had a very creative imagination, this Dore guy. He used to make a lot of biblical illustrations. But the whole purpose of the Tribulation Hour is for Satan to do his last move to destroy God's people and for God to fulfill his plan for the Jewish people. And I shared with you previously that the scriptures tell us the tribulation profiles Jewish evangelists, chapter 7, Jewish prophets, chapter 11, a Jewish temple, Revelation 11, Jewish covenants talked about in Daniel 9 and 2 Thessalonians 2, Jewish geography, everything in the tribulation centers around Jerusalem and not anything to do That is not a parallel or a corollary to the church. It's really the Jews. There are Jewish designations. Jeremiah 30 and verse 7 says, the time of Jacob's trouble. And there are Jewish revivals. And so that is all focusing on what Jesus said is his plan for the Jews. But tonight, let's look at the approaching hoofbeats. First of all, the scriptures tell us that beasts kill one-fourth of all people. This is just a panorama of all the seals. In the news, this red blob there is a brand new book by Ken Alabeck. It's called Biohazard. I'll read to you a little bit more about it in just a moment. The other side is looking at the Russian problem. It's not Chernobyl alone that has a problem. Most of their reactors were so hastily built to produce atomic weapon-grade fuel that they are not adequately prepared for long-term atomic power production. And there are very grave concerns in Western Europe and in America that there are going to be some very severe radiation problems, as well as Russia's germ warfare stuff getting loose. Also, I told you a while back, Washington DC is in the center. missile that landed on Washington D.C. with any of the biohazard material that Russia now has stockpiled in the billions and billions of dollars worth of stuff, one missile, I don't mean a big one, I mean just a small one, that hit dead center on Washington D.C. would utterly destroy all human life in a 140 square mile area. That's everything. And it would severely impact in the 2,300 square mile area, you noticed, all the way to Baltimore, all the way down into Virginia, of normal life. That's one missile, one warhead, 25 pounds of biohazardous material. They have tons of it. And we used to and still have some. Also, one third of all the plants will die during this period of time. Two things interesting going on, the toxic waste of the third world and all the pollution. But the other thing is, we're going in, in the year 2000, into an incredible time of solar flares. This is just one of the new orbiting satellites picture of a solar burst coming off from the sun. And there is going to be, during the tribulation hour, some incredible overheating of the sun. On the other end of the spectrum, the sun darkens and it gets dark on the planet. Nuclear winter used to give us some ideas. This on the left is a satellite photo of just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of the Kuwaiti oil wells burning. That was a terrible impact on our planet. On the right is just a picture of the Earth, but a scenario of the sun lessening its power would be much like, and if you want to study this, some of the nuclear winter scenarios that tell us what happens when there's a lessening. What happens in our weather? We know what happens in our weather when there's a quick heating or a quick cooling. There is very great turbulence across the plains here. And just tears fences down, tears houses down, and causes terrible damage. Can you imagine on a global scale if there's a rapid change in temperature with the sun diminishing? It's amazing. Also, it says the abyss is opened. That's probably the most frightening thing. I mean, most of us, if we had to be here, would, you know, wear more clothes when the sun goes dark and we'll, you know, turn on the air conditioning when it gets too hot. But what do you do when there are creatures that can come through the walls that are the size of horses? When they confront you, they sting you. It's a consuming pain that all you want is to die and you can't. The abyss is open. Here's another Dore picture of them all launching off out of the abyss, all the demonic hordes coming to fly to the earth. Also, a global famine breaks out. This is a satellite photo. You can see the growth of the desert areas. It's very alarming right now. The graph over here shows that nearly every desert area on the planet is growing. And it's interesting how delicately we have fine-tuned the agriculture. Right now, Monsanto has developed designer seeds. Nearly every seed they sell are hybrid seeds, even to the third world, even rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, that you have to come back and get your next load of seed from them, or they won't grow next year. And the global famine that will occur when Monsanto and company cannot give you another bag of seeds for this year. Used to be you just saved part of the harvest. And as Isaac found, he got 100-fold increase. What happens when you get no fold, no food? The deserts are growing, and we're setting ourselves up with technology. Also, global war breaks out. The red spots that you can see in that map there on the left are all the problem A-bomb families. The right-hand side, that is Project Bravo. That is the largest American blast. That is a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb. That was a primitive weapon 47 years ago. Primitive. It was huge. It took a whole ship to get it over there. They had to leave it on the ship, and they blew the whole thing up. And it absolutely evaporated miles of land. Nothing is left. Changed the map of the Pacific. But yet, those countries in red, right now, in the news this week, there are 2,200 pounds of American high-grade plutonium missing. They don't even know where it is. I mean, how do you carry 2,200 pounds of radioactive material anywhere? And those are probably going to the rogue states. As you know, India, you can see there, number eight. up there in Pakistan, number nine. You can see what's going on in Iran, in Iraq, one in 15. And the atomic purchases of the different Sahara, desert, African states, other states that have nuclear capability, it's astounding. The A-bomb family is growing. Well, basically, the scriptures tell us that in seven years, one out of two people die. This afternoon, there are 5,983,632,173 people that were on the planet, according to the World Population Watch. That means that in seven years, 1,496,158,043 people will die. Do you know how hard it would be to bury them? Do you know what it's like? exposed human bodies in the ground, the disease, awful time. Well, let's look at the seals starting in Revelation 6. The first two of the seals are a false piece. It says, Now I saw the Lamb open one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a loud voice like thunder, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow and a crown, was given to him. And he went forth to conquer and to conquer. One of the perfect setups for this right now is the all-saving, all-knowing, all-caring United Nations. If you look on their site, this is their web page. You ought to just look at some of the peace and security. That's a fascinating one. It is a chronicle of all the United Nations wars that they are funding, that they are carrying out, that they are doing across the world. If you look at the graph, they started in about, whatever, 46, 47th United Nations. They did basically nothing until the late 70s. the eighties it really grew and the nineties it's just like this I mean they're all over the world it's just it's just growing so fast what is the lesson well Jesus said in John 14 6 I am the way the truth and the life he said if I guide you then you'll have truth in life but apart from him is only endless lostness and if the world looks for a false peace Through this white horse riding charlatan, they are only going to have endless lostness. And it could be through the mechanism of the United Nations. It could be through something else. But the first seal is the unleashing of a global peacemaker. You know, you see what's going on in our country. And I'm apolitical and I don't get involved with mudslinging the whole thing. But I will tell you this, the lesson we learned in the last year is as long as everybody's happy and making money, They don't care. And the world is getting that way too. And if the United Nations can promise a continued growth economically or if this world leader that emerges from wherever can promise that all of your retirement funds that you're betting all of your future on, if they can promise, this leader can promise that they will keep accruing, people say then don't rock the boat. The Christians are a problem, get rid of the Christians. The Jews are a problem, get rid of the Jews. The Hutus are proud. Get rid of the Hutus. We just want our stock market to go forward. See what's happening. They want prosperity and peace. This is a picture of the release of the Antichrist coming into the world scene, the white horse conquering bloodlessly. What will the world be like without following the way, the truth, and the life? A fourth of them will die in a short period of time. Jesus says, you want to live apart from me? Life apart from me is horrible. The second seal is war. It says in verses 3 and 4, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come and see. And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, that people should kill one another. Sounds like the news, doesn't it? Sounds like the trench coat mafia. and every other group murderously around. And people kill one another, and there was given to him a great sword." You know, this is just a little graphic from the news about Bosnia, but warfare has taken on a whole new flavor. War itself has intensified. If you think about it, in World War II, the standard weapon was an M1, which fired an eight-round So you went bang, bang, bang, bang, pulled it out and jammed another one up and hoped that it would fire and didn't get fouled with mud and slinging around in the jungles and in the trenches of Europe. Today's M16 fires a 30-round magazine that is far more devastating than projectiles. And the normal attack aircraft that we're hearing on the news to support ground troopers, the A-10, they call it the Warthog, carries a heavier bomb payload than the largest World War II strategic bomber, the B-29. One little attack craft. Here's an interesting note. You've heard of the B-2, you know, that flew over there and dropped a bomb? Did you know the B-2, if it was made of solid gold, it is worth six times its weight in pure gold, just that airplane. It's astounding the investment our country is making in the billions in weapons of war. The AC-130 gunship has four 20-millimeter Vulcan cannons with six barrels each, four multi-barreled 7.62-millimeter miniguns, a 40-millimeter Bofors cannon, 105-millimeter automatic howitzer. In other words, one airplane delivers the firepower of a World War I infantry battalion. Do you know how long one armed mechanized infantry is? If you put one infantry division from America's arsenal on the road, it would stretch from Syracuse, New York, all the way down to New York City, 350 miles on a highway. That's how long one of those armored divisions is with their support troops. Do you see why Armageddon is up to the horse's bridle? You get all the armies of the world and all these bodies and all these people and everything in one little area, horrible things happen. What is the lesson here? Well, turn back to John chapter 7, and we're going to have to close here, but we will pick right up next time. But each of these seals is a lesson to us, because all Scripture is profitable, and it's for us to learn. It says in John chapter 10 that without Jesus, who is the door which admits us to life, and without Him, all that's left is hopeless exclusion from God's presence. It says this in John 10 and verse 7, Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. You don't come through me. You go to the false shepherd. All you'll get is death. And our world is careening as fast as they can toward death. Keep reading down in verse 9. Jesus said this, I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he'll be saved. And we'll go in and out and find pasture. but the thief doesn't come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. Life apart from Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, and the door of the sheep is nothing but death and destruction and hopelessness. Here's what Jesus offers to us tonight. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. You know, tonight, Jesus offers us as we read the news, as we see the warfare, as we see the false peace, as we see the biohazardous materials proliferating around our country. Jesus said, I have come to give you an abundant life so you're not glued to the news in fear, so you're not glued to the financial markets living in fear, so you're not glued to wondering what the next terrorist attack. I mean, the FBI is getting almost daily threats of bioterrorism. If it was all in the papers, it would scare people to death all over the country. Threats of anthrax, threats of Yersinia pestis, of all types of biological agents, threats, threats, threats. God says, I haven't given you the spirit of fear. John 10, 9 and 10, I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. And he says, not one hair of your head will be injured. And he says, you don't need to lose one moment of sleep, because every day of your life is written in my book. And there's no such thing as the untimely death of a believer. God has set an appointment with us. And he says, until your appointed moment comes, I want you to be a good and faithful servant. We pick up next time. We're going to see how clearly the seals of Revelation 6 parallel the eternal names of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John. Let's bow before the Lord. and have a word of prayer. And then I'll turn it over to Royce. Dear Father in heaven, I thank you for revealing your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus, as the way, the truth, and the life, the one through whom we can enter into life that is eternal and the truth that is never changing. Thank you that you want to give us an abundant life. Tonight I fear that there are some who have partaken of your life, but it's just not abundant. And the problem, as we learned a few weeks ago, is not in the reservoir. It's not in the pumps coming toward us from heaven. It's in our faucet. And we let things corrode and impede and stop our spiritual lives. And on this Lord's Day, as we've met at your table this morning and we've met in the future tonight, I pray it would be a time of renewing our heart's desire to live that abundant life and not to in any way fear the thief who comes to destroy and to kill, but rather trust in you who have made us immortal and to live after the power of an endless life. I pray that some of your dear children tonight would make little choices, choices of saying yes to your word and no to our flesh, our lusts, our sins that so easily beset us, and that we might hunger and thirst after you who are the good shepherd to follow you, you who are the door to enter into fellowship with you, to you who are the way, the truth, and the life, to believe and trust and follow you all of our days. And we'll thank you in Jesus' precious name we ask you. Amen. And God bless you.