Appreciate what the Lord did for us this morning. Remind us all about the importance of a relationship between husband and wife, and to guard it and to protect it as much as we can, because the devil sure wants to interrupt it. And thankful that we got one on our side. Amen. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and we've been To remind you, we've been studying about the Spirit of God on Sunday night, and we want to continue with that thought tonight. And He's not going to be mentioned in this passage by name, but He's the one going to be referenced, the Holy Spirit, in this passage. In chapter 2, verse number 1, Paul writing to the church at Thessalonica, they were up under heavy persecution, And there was a lot going on to try to convince them that the Lord was not coming back and to confuse them about that doctrine. And it's amazed me at how many songs we've sung tonight with the refrain of Jesus coming back. And I'm glad to know that He is coming back. And He's coming back soon, soon. I'll give you this. It's always mystified me over in the book of Timothy. I'll read this to you. It said that the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. It goes on to say that they'll speak lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Now here's what has always mystified me and I've wondered, Lord, when is this going to begin taking place? In verse number three, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats, talking in the text of latter days, commanding to abstain from meats. And I've been wondering, Lord, when is that gonna start playing out in our society? And now with the rise of all these nuts, let's just go a little bit further. I'm just of that breed, idiots. Cortez and politicians of that breed, now they're saying we should not be eating meats. And I said, yes, preach it. Tell us about it. And it's starting to play out more and more and unfold as we near the coming of the Lord. And it's just telling me we are very, very close. Can I get a witness? Amen, that's not my message. Back to 2 Thessalonians. Chapter two, he says it like this. He says, now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together under him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us. as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped. So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So now we know that the temple has got to be rebuilt. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now we know, ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. Talking about the Antichrist, the son of Perdition. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only He, and this is going to be a reference to the Spirit of God, only He who now letteth will let. And that's old English phraseology. The word letteth means permit or allow. Only He who now letteth will let until He, the Spirit of God, be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, because they would not get saved, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. We'll leave off reading right there, and I'm going to ask Brother Tim Mitchell if he will to pray for us tonight. Amen. You may be seated. We've been studying the works of the Holy Spirit of God or the purpose of the Spirit of God. We've looked and considered His person of who the Spirit of God is. He is God. And there's no doubt about that. He's just as much God as God the Son, God the Father. God the Holy Ghost is God. And then we looked at the personality of the Spirit of God. Considering His personality, we learn some things about Him that He can be grieved, He can be lied to, He can be quenched, and He has feelings, He has a mind, He thinks, He speaks, that heareth hear what the Spirit speaketh unto the churches. The Spirit of God is the one with whom the church has to do with today. And now we've been considering for some time the purpose or the works of the Spirit of God. We looked at how He goes and seeks the sinner. And He goes out to reprove of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come. And that's what He did in all of our lives, those of us who were saved. He came and began reproving us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Then somebody came along and maybe invited us to church, a witness to us, and then we made that move toward God because He had first made His move toward us. And the Spirit of God, one of the things that He is doing in the age in which we are living, is seeking the sinner. And we looked at that maybe two Sunday nights, and how important it is for us to realize what the Holy Spirit of God is doing, because our part, working with Him, is important. Every saved person should be concerned about those who are not saved. Can I get a witness right there? But now we want to go a little bit further into what is the Spirit of God doing in the age in which we live. And we've read this text to you tonight, and we want to consider this thought, that one of the things that the Spirit of God is doing in our life, in our world, is He is suppressing the system. He is suppressing, He seeks the sinners, but He's also at the same time suppressing the system of the world. We've read a very interesting, a very loaded text tonight. It's a text that could not be exhausted in one message, not even a week of messages. Could this one text be exhausted of all that is contained within the verses that we've read? The church at Thessalonica was being persecuted for their faith. They were bold in their witness. Their faith had been spread abroad. What was going on in Thessalonica was being heard in Galatia and other parts of the church world. But they were being persecuted for their faith. Not only were they being persecuted, they were perplexed about their afflictions. They didn't understand why some things were happening to their life. There was a lot of false teachers. in the early church, people who had been raised up by Satan, our enemy, that was going around spreading false heresy and trying to teach them things about, well, things like, if you're saved, you will never have any problems. That's a heresy out of the pits of hell. That has nothing to do with the gospel. Those of us who have saved for very long, we know the truth that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. They were hearing all these different things coming at them about about their persecution, about their afflictions that they were experiencing. But they were also being bombarded by people writing things and they were pretending that it was scripture. And that's what Paul is referring to, don't be troubled. Neither by word, nor by spirit, nor by His letter as from us. He said don't be bothered by these other sources of written material that's been coming your way to confuse you about the second coming, the rapture of the church. He said don't be confused about this one thing. our gathering together unto Him. There's a lot of things that's being taught about the rapture of the church today. There's some that's called amillennialism. They don't believe that any of the references to Jesus coming back are literal. They believe that they're just spiritual and to be taken in the context of just a spiritual setting. But there's one thing that we better get right, and we better get this right about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is coming back. He's coming back very soon, and He's coming back to get His Church, glory to God. He's coming back for those of us who have been washed in the blood, saved by the good grace of God. Our Savior is coming back one glorious day. We better get that right. I remember whenever our troops up under the leadership of President Bush were going into Baghdad, going into Iraq, this one and the same. Whenever they were going to invade Iraq, and take over Saddam Hussein. They called him the minister of information. He was an Iraqi and he was the one who would be broadcast on the TV, the Iraq TV, and he would tell them such things as this. The Americans, he would be standing out in the street. He said, the Americans are nowhere near us. and they were right around the corner. But he was doing that, and he became tagged as the minister of misinformation, because he was not telling the people the truth. There's one thing that we need to get it nailed down in our hearts, and don't let anybody shake us on it, is that Jesus Christ is coming back soon and very soon for His church. I'm a premillennialist. I'm a pre-tribulation rapturalist. I believe Jesus is going to get us out of this world. Amen. And I believe that the church is going to leave, and when we leave, then the tribulation begins on this earth. You say, what kind of proofs would you have of that preacher? Well, he said, as it was in the days of Noah, and as it was in the days of Lot, the flood would not come until Noah and his family were safe on that ark. a picture of you and I being safe in heaven before the flood comes. Can I get a witness? And then he said, as it was in the days of Lot. And Lot, they told Lot, said, we cannot do a thing until you become hither. And they got them out of Sodom and Gomorrah before the fire fell, before the tribulation enters. We'll be gone. We'll be leaving this world, amen. We better get that right. And Paul's writing to this church at Thessalonica to remind them about us gathering together under him. But then he gets to talking about the Antichrist. He talks about he calls him the man of sin. He calls him the son of perdition. There's only one other person, one person in all of the word of God who is called the son of perdition, and his name is Judas Iscariot. He said, I want to warn you about this man of sin. Then he goes on down in verse number eight. and calls him the capital W, wicked. Talking about the Antichrist who is going to come and rule and reign during the seven years of tribulation. He said, I want you to understand this. Before that day come, there's going to come a fallen away first, and then that man of sin is going to be revealed. I believe I mentioned it not long ago that there There is a falling away going on in our world today. We've seen it manifest itself in our land of America because America was founded as a Christian nation. And we've seen us fall away from our Christian heritage. Matter of fact, they're not worrying about getting red. of any of the writings of our history. They're just rewriting history and trying to tell us that America was not founded by some Christians, that we were founded by some people that just wanted to escape the totalitarianism of England. But I'm here to tell you that America was founded upon the Christian principles of the word of God, and we had men that led us in that way. We've seen the falling away today from morality, from character. I used to, I'm old enough, I remember leaving home as a little child and thus never bother locking the house. I can remember going uptown and Daddy on a Saturday taking me and Mama uptown and we would parking to a parking place and they would all be kind of angled. I guess they figured you could get more cars in a parking area like that. And we would park at that angle and Daddy would never think about locking his car. We would get out, we'd go get something and throw the present the sacks inside the car and we'd go on and shop some more. Never think about life. You can't do that anymore. We're not living in that kind of age anymore. I mean, there's no character. There's no morality anymore. We're seeing it just explode around us. And we're seeing sin just magnified and bragged on and purported in all of our society today. We see and sin have its way. And what is playing out before us today is setting the stage for Antichrist to come and lead all sinners in their way. We're seeing it played out so rapidly that some people are getting scared at where we're at in world history today. We don't know we're hearing of wars and rumors of wars. We're hearing of pestilences. While this past flu season, they said that there were strains of the flu they had never seen before. And we see all of this being played out before us, and what it is, is that this world is setting itself up for the Antichrist to rise to power and take over. Why? Up under we who are saved, we see it especially played out, because up under the last presidential administration, all they ever legislated for was sin. That's all that they gave room for. Matter of fact, whenever President Obama became president of our great land, the first meeting that he called was with the LGBT community. And he told every one of them in the White House, he said, y'all are gonna love me by the end of my presidency. and he legislated for them, he passed legislation for them, he passed presidential orders for them, and they were on a move. They were taking over, even though that the actual percentage of LGBT in America is only, Brother Warren, 6%? Is that what you? Told me that only six percent, they were on the move. They were making strides. Even though they're a minority by the ninth degree, they were making a move in America. There was laws being passed. Why it got so bad? that if you had any kind of qualm with it, if you disagreed with them, they said that you had a phobia, and that anybody with a phobia is a nutcase, a mental case, and cannot be trusted. I don't have a phobia. I've got a Bible that tells me the truth. I know what God said. I know what God wrote, and I'm gonna stand with what God said. Amen. I ain't got no phobia. I've got the truth. They've got the phobia against truth. Well, America began on a roll. They were churning, they were making strides, they were making advances. They were getting their way. Every element, abortion, we would never dream that we'd be where we are today in the land of America, the home of the brave, the home of the free. I would have never dreamed that we'd have politicians and boldly say what they've said of late about abortion. But they were making their strides. They were making their advances. They were getting their laws passed. They were marrying men with men, women with women, doing it proudly, showing their flags, and they're not in the closet anymore. They're in our faces with it. And then the restrainer stepped in. And he said, nope, not yet. And he put Trump, and I believe God set Trump in the president's chair for a reason. He is on the side of the church. He will legislate according to the church. And I believe God, I believe God put Obama in there. That's how much I believe this stuff. I believe God put Obama, I didn't vote for him, but I believe our God put him in that chair for a reason. But I also believe that God put Trump in that chair. And all that we see manifested in the land of America today, All of the rebellion, all of the revolting, all of the marches, all of the demonstrations, all of them is balling their fist up. I believe what it is, it's a demonstration against God. God Almighty is not Democrat and Republican. It's God versus the wicked one. And thank God I know which side I'm on. I'm on God's side. And He's on my side. And thank God for the church. Can I get a witness? Why the one thing they don't like is the church. And the one thing they'd love to shut up in America are the preachers who still standing for the truth. They don't know that when we leave, I'm glad I'm not gonna be here. It is gonna be the worst time. Jesus Christ said that it was gonna be a time like this world has never seen before. called the Great Tribulation. That's what Jesus Christ said about it. And I'm glad to know that I'm not going to be in this place. I'm leaving this world. What is the Spirit of God doing? He is withholding the mystery of iniquity. And it's always been at work. There's always been unrighteousness in this world. But the Spirit of God is holding the mystery of iniquity back from taking full reign. But when the church leaves, just as the Spirit of God came down in Acts chapter 2, and the church began influence in the world with the gospel up under the power of the Holy Ghost, when the church leaves, that influence is gone. No gospel. No witness, no tracks, no knocking on doors, no Tim Mitchell at the jailhouse preaching, trying to reach them with the gospel anymore. No preachers with a loud mouth standing back and proclaiming that what thus saith the Lord. No more gospel singing. No more choirs. No more quartets. Nothing like that. Nothing. Nothing. They'll have it the way that they want it to be. no influence whatsoever. Brethren, it's coming down to this. We need to spread the gospel now more than ever because Jesus Christ is just about to stand up and come get us. I believe, I believe He's been seated at the right hand of the power of the throne of God for the last 2,000 years. He took a seat when he made it to heaven and had applied his blood on the mercy seat. But I believe he's getting ready. I believe the heartbeat of the Father is getting a little faster. He doesn't, Jesus don't even know exactly when, but one day the father's gonna look at the son and he's gonna say, go get him. And when that happens, he ain't gonna take a second breath or say, what did you say? He's gonna jump, he's gonna leap off of that throne. He's gonna descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trumpet guard. All those dead in the grave are gonna rise up and then we who are alive shall be called up together with him in the clouds to meet the, hey John, you gonna get in on it, amen. Now that you're saved, you're gonna leave this world and go to the glory world. Oh, what a happy day that's going to be. But until then, the Spirit of God is suppressing the system of the world. He is in control. If I didn't believe that, I'd be eating Tums and taking nerve pills and wouldn't even be able to sleep at night. But our God is in control. Don't ever forget that. This thing's gonna go off just like he said it would. There's some say, oh preacher, I've heard you preachers preach about that all my life. There's some of you that's older than I've been preaching and you've been hearing preachers preach about it. Brother Terry, your daddy preached about it. But one glorious day, We're gonna go to take a step, and we're not even gonna get the foot down. Jesus is gonna descend, and we're gonna rise, and we're leaving this world, hallelujah. Bless His holy name. No more security systems, no more remodeling. Glory to God. No more house payments. no more rotten wood, no more needing to paint, no more caulking, no more headaches, no more sinus problems, no more open heart. Thank God, if Jesus was to come right now, I'd drop two little stints on the ground, I'd go through the air and I'd be with Jesus in a glorified body and I'd come back on a silver white horse Bless His holy name. I'm leaving this world. Hallelujah. If you don't have that confidence, if you don't know that you're saved, I wouldn't play around. I'd be getting saved because Jesus is just about to come back. Can I get a witness from anybody in the house? And let's just go ahead and make up our minds with this, that we are gonna take a stand for Jesus Christ. Let's do that. I'm gonna make my mark for Jesus Christ while I've got the opportunity. Brother Tim goes faithfully every Sunday to go and preach to those men. We can go to somebody's house. We can get on a phone and call somebody and talk to them about Jesus Christ. We can do that. We better be getting to do that. Sis, you come on to the piano. I want to tell you a little something that God showed me. I shared this with them Friday night at our cottage prayer meeting. And we had about 20 that came.