Well, amen. Thank you so much, Ms. Berita. What a blessing that was. Turn your Bibles, if you would, to II Thessalonians chapter number 2. For the last several weeks we've been looking at what's next. And of course, whenever you face a time like what we're going through nationally, we all go through personal crises, family crises, but at times we'll go through national crises that affect us personally. and family and financially as our nation is reeling through the economic issues along with the health issues that we're facing. But I still remind myself that God's still in control. Amen? He's still on the throne. He's going to meet the need, and He's never failed His people. He hadn't failed in the past and He will not fail in the future and I can promise you He's not going to fail us now. He's the faithful God. And look if you would please in II Thessalonians chapter 2 and we're going to pick up reading tonight in verse number 13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. Can I tell you what? That I believe expresses my heart to the Lord for you, how Paul felt for these people there in Thessalonica, I believe, has something to say about how my heart feels for you, Calvary Baptist Church. I'm thankful for you. I love you. I appreciate how that you have reached out to us and ministered back to us as we sought to minister to you. And we just thank God for you. And we're thankful. And notice he said, for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Don't you like words and phrases like that? Beloved of the Lord. Because God has chosen you. Excuse me, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or our epistle, whether I was there present with you preaching, teaching, Timothy, the other men with me, a part of the evangelistic team, or whether it's the epistle, the letters that I've written to you. Look at verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, or comfort, and good hope through grace." It's not just hope, but a good hope. Verse 17, "...comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word, and work. Well, we've been talking about what's next. The church at Thessalonica had gotten headline hysteria. Someone threw a letter claiming to be from the Apostle Paul that he had had some revelation from God that the trials and troubles they were going through was letting them know that they were in the throes or in the midst of what the Bible calls the day of the Lord. That they were experiencing the wrath of God that will be poured out on the earth during the tribulation period. They were shaken. I mean, it had shaken them to the core. It had affected them. It brought them to a nervous anxiety and panic in their heart thinking that they had missed what God was doing and somehow they had been left to go through the tribulation period. And sometimes they were thinking the end of the world had come. And you know there's times that things happen in our world and if we're not careful, we'll begin to interpret what's happening in our world. We'll begin to take that and try to press it upon biblical truth. We'll interpret the Bible by the headlines. But you know what? That's not the right approach. You interpret the headlines by the Bible. We want to see what God says and then we look out at our world and understand how you and I are to respond to it and understand something of what God's doing. And so we begin to talk about what's next. in our day because some folk have headline hysteria. They've had some nervous anxiety and some panic in their heart. And I believe that the Word of God will settle us and anchor us and strengthen us during unsettling and uncertain days. And we learned that the next event on God's prophetic calendar was the rapture. Friend, we're not looking for signs. We're looking for the Son from heaven. And it could happen in a moment, at any moment. We could be taken from here to glory. And friend, what a day that's going to be when our Jesus we shall see. Our gathering together unto Him. And then we learn that once the rapture takes place, a series of events will be set in motion. There's going to be a peace treaty that will be signed by the nation of Israel. Daniel talks about that in his prophecy of the 70 weeks in Daniel chapter 9. There'll be a seven-year peace treaty that'll be signed between the Antichrists and the nation of Israel. At that moment, the day of the Lord will begin. The clock will begin to tick on what you and I understand as the seven-year tribulation period. And Paul said, here's how the people that are in that... Now, you're not there. You know how you know that? You're still here. Folks, listen. As long as the saved are on planet earth, the world is not in the day of the Lord. It doesn't matter what happens in our world. It doesn't matter what cataclysmic upheaval. It doesn't matter what kind of natural disaster or virus or whatever. We're not in the day of the Lord. We're still in the day of Christ. The rapture hadn't taken place yet. We're not with Him yet. And so we understand that. And so we realize that He's saying to them that once... the world enters that time known as the day of the Lord, there's some characteristics by which they'll know where they are and what God's doing, those believers in that day. So there's going to be a worldwide apostasy or a global rebellion against God. We mentioned that, a falling away first. And then we learned that that would later culminate in the revelation of the man of sin, the Antichrist. The key figure on earth during the tribulation period. The last world dictator over the last world empire. He'll seek world domination. He's going to proclaim Himself to be God. He's going to demand all the world worship Him. But I'm going to tell you, friend, listen, as indomitable as this man may seem in that day, friend, I'm here to tell you there's always one greater, and His name is Jesus. Amen? And so we find that there's going to be the revelation of the Antichrist. This man and his identity will not be revealed until the church is in heaven. The church saints are in heaven. But then there's also the removal of the Holy Spirit's ministry of restraining back Satan's plan of evil. Look back up, if you would, in verse number 6. He said, "...and now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time." holding back Satan's plan, preacher. It's the work of the Holy Spirit, His restraining ministry through God's people, His churches, His saints on the earth, using their influence as salt and light, holding back the flood tide of sin and evil that seeks to engulf our planet. Christian, let me just tell you something. God is using you, whether you realize it or not, to hold back sin in our day as we yield to and allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. It is His restraining ministry holding back Satan's mystery of iniquity that's already at work in the world. But then we learn that there's going to be a retribution. When they reject the Lord's Christ, they'll receive the Antichrist, and as they do that, they will bring upon them the condemnation of God. Look what he says in verse 10, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. The very fact that they rejected the love of the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's going to send them strong delusion. Verse 11, they'll receive the devil's antichrist and they'll face the unmitigated judgment of God upon this planet. And friend, listen, I'm glad I'm not going to be here. What about you? Hey, you think this is hard now. It's nothing to what our world's going to experience when the church is taken to heaven, when church saints are in heaven. And then we learn that there's going to be a return. Preacher, a return. Absolutely. The Lord Jesus. Notice if you would please in verse number 8. And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume. And I want you to notice this isn't God in heaven doing something on earth. No, this is the personal presence of Jesus Christ. Friend, listen. I'm glad. that one day the Lord who left this earth is coming back to this earth. Hey, He left it after the crucifixion. But I'm telling you, friend, He's coming back in a day of glory and revelation like you and I can never understand or see. Hey, listen, I'm telling you, He's coming back in victory, visibly and victoriously. And He's personally going to destroy this man of sin called the Antichrist, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth and shall destroy the brightness of His coming. But until then, until then, that's what's next. But what about now, preacher? What am I to do? We're not in that day. We're not there. For in this too shall pass. Listen, we're going to come through on the other side. Hey, we will continue on and make a difference in our day and carry out our Lord's work and occupy till He comes. What am I to do now in light of where we are and understanding that my God is in control and that nothing can happen in my life that He's not aware of and in control of and not at work in? He's promised to take care of me. Hey, I thought about it today. I was thinking about the fact that I was praying, talking to the Lord, and I just thanked Him. I said, God, not even a virus can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. But what's my responsibility now? What should I be as a Christian in this day, this hour, this time of trouble that our nation's experiencing? Well, let me give you some thoughts real quickly tonight in the final time that we have. Number one, be an assured Christian. Be an assured Christian. Notice, if you would, there's some things that you and I can be assured of right now. Look at verse number 13. He said, But we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren. Now watch this next phrase. Beloved of the Lord. Let me just tell you, no matter what's going on in our world, no matter what's going on in your life, no matter what you may be feeling right now, no matter the anxiety, and listen, we're in a spiritual warfare. Satan will use the events of life to upset our lives, to try to slander our God. He will use the circumstances of life to try to divert our attention from the things of God, to try to make us downcast and doubt the goodness of God, or the greatness of God, or maybe even the love of God. And I just want to tell you, dear child of God, listen to me. God wants you to be assured that He loves you. Notice he called him beloved of the Lord. Not just loved, but beloved. Friend, that's a pet term. That's a term of endearment. That's God saying in a special way, I love you. Sort of reminds me of the little boy. It's sort of like the Old Testament word loving kindness. Not just loving and not just kindness, but loving kindness of God. And it's similar to grace and this word beloved. A little boy's in Sunday school, or he's in class, and his teacher asked him to describe the word loving kindness and define it. The little boy threw his hand up and he said, loving is when your mama makes you a peanut butter sandwich. And then he went on to say, and kindness is when she spreads the jelly on top. And I'm just here to tell you, friend, listen, God spread the jelly on top in our lives, and I want to tell you He will take care of you. He's promised. You say, Perch, you don't understand. I've lost my job. You don't understand. My future is uncertain. Dear child of God, listen, I want to tell you our current future at times may seem uncertain, but our future is certain. We are secure in Him, and God has promised to meet every one of our needs, and God has promised to take care of His own. And friend, nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Be assured that God loves you. God said, I want you to be assured of My love. Secondly, I want you to be assured of My protection. Look what he says in verse number 13. Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now that word chosen means to take to oneself. And notice that word salvation there. And it means to rescue or deliver. Now, let me just say something. To seek to use this passage to promote the poisonous tenets of hyper-Calvinism that God's chosen some people to be saved and some people to be lost and chosen some people for heaven and some people for hell and we don't have any free choice in that matter that God's already determined where we're going to spend eternity, friend, and that God has chosen a select few to belong to Him. Friend, that's a lie. That's not true. That is to disregard the context in which those words, this phrase, this phraseology is used. This is not a salvation from sin and hell passage. It's not. He's talking about a passage of end time events. He just got done talking about the tribulation period. These people were fearful that they were in the tribulation and God said, listen to me, let me tell you children of God, don't worry, don't fret, Don't get tore up about the headlines because from the very beginning God has chosen to deliver those who belong to Him from the judgments of the tribulation period. Friend, listen. We're not going to go through one second of the wrath of God. Hey, can I just tell you something? Listen, the day Jesus Christ came into my heart and saved me, He delivered me from the eternal fires of hell and the wrath of God in hell, and He also has saved me and delivered me from any wrath of God that may take place on planet earth. Did you know that? Isn't that a blessing? Friend, listen, context is king. God's not talking. The word salvation is a very general term. It doesn't always mean salvation from hell or what we would understand spiritual salvation. Sometimes it's physical salvation. Sometimes it's physical deliverance. We talked about that when we talked about the word redemption. that in some people a slave in a very physical, material way was delivered from his slavery. He was bought, paid for, and set free. Now in a spiritual sense, I've been redeemed. Friend, listen. God has bought and paid for me with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and He set me free spiritually. I'm no longer in bondage to sin. So you see they both, those words salvation, redemption, have a physical connotation. They have a spiritual connotation. Here he's saying that, friend, listen, God is going to take care of me. Friend, listen, God will take care of you. Now listen, when it comes to this matter of eternal salvation, God's not willing that any should perish. Friend, listen, the Lord has made it possible that anybody and everybody that wants to be saved can be saved. And friend, tonight, can I tell you, if you've never been saved, God wants to save you. He does. Be an assured Christian. He's our rock church. He promised to take care of us. Can I tell you tonight? Rest in the protection of your God. You say, Preacher, what if I get a virus? Friend, do you realize God's greater than a virus? Did you know that? Well, preacher, what if it takes the life of a Christian? Friend, the worst thing that any virus, anything could ever do to any child of God is take our body, so to speak. It might take my life in the sense that I would lay this body down, but it doesn't touch my soul, friend. I'm forever going to be with God in heaven. That's the worst anything can happen to anybody. Friend, child of God, our future is secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I believe God can protect us physically from a virus, don't you? I believe He can. And I believe we ought to be smart. We ought to follow. I can say all day long out there on Main Street as these cars are zipping up and down, God will protect me from those cars. But if I go walking out in the middle of the freeway without looking both ways, that's not God's fault, is it? I'm not using the brain that He gave me, all right? And so anyway, that didn't tell me to go out and do something foolish. God wanted me to use my brain. And you know what? Just doing some things that our President's asked us to do can help mitigate that thing and even keep your family safe, you safe. That's why we're doing what we're doing. Hey, I don't like what we're doing tonight any more than you do. I would rather be preaching to a full house like we normally do on a Wednesday night. I'd love for our children to be back here in Teen Elevate and Brother Lane preaching to them. I'd love for our teenagers, our children to be over here in Calvary Clubs with Brother Eco and Brother Matt ministering to them and all of our Calvary Club workers and all the things, the beautiful, wonderful things that happen on a Wednesday night here at Calvary. I'd love for that to take place. I would. My heart is there. That's what I would desire for, alright? And I long for it. But you know why we're here tonight preaching to a practically an empty church? It's because your health and safety is important to us. The safety of our community is important to us. And that's why. And so, just being assured, Christian. Number two, being an established Christian. I want you to look down in verse 17. Come for your hearts and establish you. God wants to establish us. Alright? Let me tell you how you can do that. Number one, stand tall. Stand tall. What does that mean, preacher? Notice he says in verse number 15, Therefore, brethren, stand fast. Stand fast. I've told this many times. A little boy, there's an old swayback mare out there in a little pasture and a little boy looking at it and had a sign up horse, a racehorse for sale. Guy passing by stopped and he said, Sonny, he said, that's your racehorse out in the field you got for sale? And he said, yes, sir. He said, she looks like, he said, doesn't look like much of a racehorse to me. He said, looks like she's a little old worn out mare right there. He said, Sonny, can she run fast? He said, well, I don't know, but she sure can stand fast. Look at her. And so anyway, hey, listen, we may not be able to run fast, but we can stand fast, can't we? And we can stand tall. How do we do that? Notice, he said, hold fast the traditions which we have been taught. Now he's not talking about tradition like we would understand family tradition. He's talking about the eternal truths of the Word of God. Christian, you know what God wants you to do? He wants you in your faith to stand tall in this moment. It is so easy for us to get out there and complain and be down and gloom and doom and all of those things with the world around us. Or we can look at the sunny side of life that God's given us and we can rejoice because God's good and He's in control and focus ourself on Him. And we need to stand tall in faith in our day standing fast for God being a witness for Him in this day and honoring the Lord. Stand tall. Let your life shine for Jesus Christ in a dark moment. God will use you. And I tell you what, it'll encourage other people. People are drawn to people of faith who stand tall in difficult times. Then number two, stay strong. Stay strong. Notice he says, "...comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word," that's the word of truth, "...and work." And what he's saying here is that we need to stay strong in the work of God. Now you say, well preacher, I can't do the things I was an usher or I was a... or I was a Sunday school teacher and I'm not able to do everything. Listen, there are ways for all of us to minister even now through our Easter outreach, through texts and phone calls and notes and prayer and other ways that we can impact people's lives. Let God help you to be creative and find ways to make a difference in this day, this hour for Him. Friend, listen, I believe that we can make a great difference for our God in this day, don't you? Share Christ. Look at chapter 3 verse 1. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. The word of the Lord, the gospel, the gospel. Friend, there's no greater message, no greater news than the gospel. The gospel hasn't lost its power, hasn't lost its effectiveness. Preacher, how can I share Christ? Number one, through prayer. Notice he says, Brethren, pray for us. Can I tell you the best thing you can do for me, our church staff, is to pray for us. We're praying for you. You pray for us. But to pray for the unsaved, to pray for our nation, to pray that Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night when we stand here and the Word of God is preached and goes out through the different media outlets that we have, that God would allow His Word not to be bound but have free course in the lives of those who hear it. that would bring forth fruit for His glory. Friend, listen, God said that His Word would not return void. He didn't say that it'd just not return void if it's preached in a church. He said, listen, it'll not return void wherever I send it. Friend, it's going to accomplish that that He sends it out. Let's get His Word out and let's pray that God Pray that it has free course, alright? And then, of course, through personal sharing. Listen, the Bible reminds us, look at verse 2. He said that you may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. Now what's this next phrase? For all men have not faith. That means that not everybody is saved. There are still multitudes who have never heard. I read an article today that right now the alcohol sales have gone through the roof. My wife put it this way. She said, you know, she said, it's amazing how that we're turning the Bible and much of our nation is turning to a bottle. I thought, honey, that's profound. There's no answer in a bottle. Did you know that? I'm talking about a bottle of intoxicating beverage, beer, wine, liquor. They're trying to drown their sorrow, drown their misery, trying to forget about what's going on through a bottle. And you know what? It doesn't help them. It just compounds whatever's going on in their life. Friend, I'm just going to tell you, this right here is the answer. Church, we've got the answer. Your faithfulness as you continue to pray and give and serve and do the things that you can do where you're at to let God use you is allowing us to give people a message of hope in our day right now where God can make a difference. Let's let His name be glorified. I'm hearing people in high up places talk about God in ways we haven't heard God talked about in a long time in our land. I'm rejoicing that God's name is being shared and God's name is being lifted up and that there are people that maybe hadn't been praying that are praying and people that hadn't been searching that are searching. Hey, let's let God do what God wants to do through this situation and let's let God use us. Let's just determine our responsibility. We're going to be an assured Christian. I'm going to assure myself of His love every day. You know what I'm reminding myself? God is greater. God is greater. Every time I listen to the news and hear something negative, God is greater. God is greater. Listen, the devil's going to try to tell you that God's not greater, that somehow or another this is bigger than him. Friend, there's nothing greater than our God. God is greater. And then, not only to mention, not only be assured of His love, but be assured of His protection. God will take care of you. He's our rock. He's our refuge. I'm going to do the things that I can do, and I'm going to give the rest of it to the Lord. Did you know that? And then secondly, I just want to be established. I want to stand tall. I want to stay strong. I want to share Christ. I want to be found faithful. Let's band together and be what God wants us to be in this day, this hour. Could we do that? Now you may be watching right now and you say, Preacher, I don't know that I know the Lord. I don't know if I died I'd go to heaven. I don't know what my eternity is going to be. Friend, can I tell you, you can know. The Bible tells me that you can be sure you're saved. You can. You can know that you have eternal life, I John 5.13. If you'll understand that you're a sinner and you can't save yourself, no matter religious deeds, good works, doing the best you can, none of those things will save you. Trying to help your neighbor, quitting bad things, start doing good things, they're not going to. Nothing we can do commends us to God. It's not of human works or effort. Friend, God sent His Son 2,000 years ago on a rescue mission. He sent Him to this earth. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, grew into manhood a sinless man, and He went to a cross and He took your sin and my sin and it was nailed and He nailed it to His cross. Thank God. He paid in full. He cried from the cross, it is finished, done, paid in full. Do you know the debt I owe to God is paid in full through Jesus Christ? Your debt. has been paid. God wants you to enter into the freedom of His forgiveness by trusting His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave His life on the cross for our sins, was buried three days later, rose again from the dead. We're going to celebrate that resurrection day in just a couple weeks on Easter Sunday, the day that Jesus lives. For anything about a rabbit or an egg, it's about the Lord and the salvation He provides. And He died for you. and He wants to save you. The Bible said, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you'll recognize you're a sinner, that Christ died for your sins, was buried, rose again the third day, that He's alive in heaven, wants to forgive you, give the gift of eternal life, and you'll receive Him by faith, He'll save you. The Bible says, If we'll confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, we'll admit that He's God. Believe in our heart God raised Him from the dead that we shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever, verse 13, shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You could call on the Lord by following this simple prayer. You take my words in your heart and pray them to the Lord to voice your faith in Jesus Christ. Dear Lord Jesus, dear Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. And if I died, I wouldn't go to heaven. But I believe you died for my sins, was buried and rose again. I ask you, Lord, to save me. Forgive me of my sins. Take me to heaven. Thank you. Friend, upon the authority of the Word of God that if you prayed and trusted Christ, He saved you. He saved you right then. Sins are forgiven. Heaven's your home. Name written in heaven, you're a citizen of glory. We'd love to know if you trusted Christ. There's going to be a number going to come up on your screen that you can text and that's a very private text that will come directly to us. You can go on our website, info at cbcking.org. You can contact us privately. Share with us that you've trusted Christ as Savior. We're not going to broadcast it over the airways. We're not going to do that. We won't call anybody's name out. We will then make contact with you privately to help you grow in your faith. Would you let us know if you trust the Lord through one of our services, Christian? Christian, I'm talking to you now. Let's recognize our responsibility. Let's stand tall. Let's stay strong. And let's share Christ in these uncertain times. Let God use you.