WWUTT 1645 Q&A Economic Collapse, Wars and Rumors of Wars, Preparing for the End

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If there is some kind of impending economic disaster on the horizon, is there anything that we as Christians can do to prepare for that?

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Does the Bible give us any instructions? Let's think about that when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study that we may be trained in the words of the faith and the good doctrine that God has given us.

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Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Did you have the chance to hear my conversation with Nathaniel and Eki last week?

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I did. It was so good. We missed you. Aw, I missed you guys, too. I wish

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I could have been there. I know. More ways than one, you know, or more reasons than one. ShepCon would be more fun if my wife was there.

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I'm just going to say. I think that would defeat the whole purpose of ShepCon. I know. It's there to minister to pastors, but I had more fun at Truth Matters back in 2019 when my wife was able to go with me.

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Yeah, it was really fun. I still enjoyed ShepCon. It was a terrific trip. The teaching was phenomenal.

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There were people there who have been to more ShepCons than I've been to who said they felt like it was the best

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ShepCon they've ever attended. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, the preaching was incredible. Was it because you were deprived last year, or was it because it was really, really good?

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Both. Both? Yeah. I think there's a little bit of truth to both of those statements there. So yeah, the fact that we weren't able to get together in 2021.

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In fact, the flight that I had booked a year ago, it was still that plane ticket that I used for this trip, too.

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Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I had the voucher, you know, you had the refund voucher. So I just used that on this plane ticket, which cost more.

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Naturally. Yeah. Inflation. Price had gone up. Fuel. Fuel. Yeah. We got out of California.

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There were some places out there, gas was six and a half bucks. Yikes. Sorry to you Californians. Oh, no joke.

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Save every penny. It's $4 a gallon here in East Texas, and that's high enough.

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That's high. Man, six and a half dollars. Yeah. Pastor Tom had gotten a rental and was driving us around in the rental because we were driving pastors even to and from.

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We picked up Vody at his hotel and, you know, take him to the location and things like that. So we had to have the vehicle.

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But when Tom saw the price of gas and like what our deposit was supposed to be and all this kind of thing, he was like,

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I'm going to be driving this thing in on fumes. I'm going to use every last drop in this tank.

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Yeah, I can imagine. My dad has a pickup and he's in town. So he was saying that if you were to fill up, it'd be well over a hundred bucks.

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Yeah. And I'm like, oh my goodness. I got pretty close to that the other day. I was almost on empty. I filled up the tank.

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I think it was $81. Yikes. I can't remember if that's the most I've ever paid for gas or not, but it's up there.

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Yeah. I think it was Annie and I saw an old black and white picture of somebody filling up and it was like 52 cents or something like that.

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Or maybe it was even cheaper than that, but it was like super cheap. And there wasn't even a spot for a dollar on the sign.

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It was like you had to add that later. Yeah, right. It was just two numbers. It was. That's right. That's so funny. Yeah. I remember the very first year

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I started driving. It was during the summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.

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That was the first. It was the first year I had driven outside of the state of Kansas because we went to go visit family down in Georgia.

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And I remember being outside of the, I can still remember the exact location of the gas station.

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We've even driven by there when we've gone and seen my parents or my aunt and uncle down there. It was just outside.

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You'll have to point it out to me next time. Atlanta Motor Speedway. It's by the Wendy's down there, if you remember that. That gas station was 72 cents, 72 cents a gallon in 1996 during the summer

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Olympics. My goodness. Now the cheapest I've ever paid was 42 cents.

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That's the cheapest. That's with your discounts and everything. That was with my discounts. And it was during the lockdown.

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So it would have been two years ago in March of 2020 when nobody was out driving.

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So the gas prices just plummeted. And then I used all my gas points and I paid 42 cents a gallon.

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I felt like I was winning the lottery. No joke. I was like, check this out. I've never played the lottery, folks.

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Never bought a lottery ticket in my life. But that's the closest I felt like I was to winning the lottery.

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So anyway, now your parents, you mentioned your parents. They're in town. They are. Because our daughter is getting baptized this

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Sunday. She is. Yeah. Super exciting. Our oldest, 14 -year -old, she's going to be the first of our kids to get baptized.

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Figured as good Baptists that we'd start with the oldest one and not the six -month -old. Right. You know. And now all the rest of the kids want to do it, too.

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Oh, I want to get baptized. Yes. They have all the right answers, but we're still, we're like, let's wait a little bit and see if your fruit comes from that, you know, like shows fruit rather than just jumping in.

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One of the questions, one of the questions I'll ask, yeah, jumping in. Right. And when we were talking, when we were talking about doing the baptism this

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Sunday, Tom had made the same kind of a statement. He said, he said, we just jump right into the baptism.

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And he just kept right on talking like he didn't realize what he just said. And I'm over, I'm next to him making gestures like this, like diving in, and he had to stop and go, no, not jumping in.

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Yeah. You've seen that video that around that circulates around every once in a while of the kid that cannonballs into the baptistry.

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Did you ever see that video? I don't recall. So it's a pastor who's doing baptisms and one baptism gets done and they walk out the side and then he just kind of turns to motion for the next one to come.

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And this boy just cannonballs into that. That's hilarious. Water splashes over the side.

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Oh, yeah. I bet he got in trouble for that. He probably did. The pastor gave like a like a small speech after that.

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He just kind of grabs the boy and puts his arm around his shoulder. I can't remember what was said now. I'm going to have to go back and find the video.

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Everybody else is searching for it now, too, that we're talking about it. Definitely. Look for that.

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Anyway. Oh, yeah. So going back to kids getting baptized. Yes. One of the questions that I will ask of a child in particular that wants to get baptized is do you understand what it means when

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Jesus said in Luke 9 23 that if anyone wants to be my disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow after me.

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Do you understand the concept of taking up a cross? That's what I'll ask a child.

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Because they have such a literal mind when they're younger. Right. That it takes a long time to grow out of that stage of not taking things literally like they're going to go be like Jesus and have a cross on their back and, you know, be taken through the trenches.

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Yeah. Does a child have an understanding of their sin enough? Exactly. To recognize

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I need to repent. I need to follow Christ. Annie did at a very young age really did have an understanding of the fact that she was doing something wrong and she wanted to stop doing it.

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But she couldn't. But she couldn't stop doing it. Right. That was the frustrating thing. It's like, I want to stop sinning.

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How do I stop sinning? Those were the questions that she would ask and that we would sit down and talk with her about.

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For me, when I was a kid, I wasn't asking that. I don't think I was asking that when I was 20. How do

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I stop sinning? Yeah, you know. It would drive me crazy. Some people take longer than others, which is good because then you can still be praying for those who haven't yet.

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But a child needs to have an understanding of what repentance is, what their sin is.

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And, you know, I'm not saying that a seven -year -old can't have that understanding, but you need to know how to look for that fruit, how to ask those kinds of questions.

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Make sure it's not just a phase they're going through. Right. It's not something that they're just...

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Temporary. Yeah, they're answering because that's what my Sunday school teacher told me. Which is good.

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They need to learn about it. Exactly. But they need to have a grasp on it, too. It's okay to wait. It's not like your child isn't saved.

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They come to faith in Jesus Christ. That's salvation. Yes. By grace, you are saved through faith.

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And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast.

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Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. So the baptism is then that appeal for a clear conscience, as Peter talks about.

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It is the thing that you do outwardly that shows the change that has happened inwardly by the

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Holy Spirit of God. It's done in the presence of witnesses so that you show this is an act of obedience unto

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God who has commanded us to baptize and be baptized. But it's not that the baptism itself has made you into somebody that you were not before you got baptized.

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Right. Does that make sense? Baptism does not save you. Yeah. Baptism is not... You did not become a

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Christian after you came up out of the water. You were a Christian before you went into the water. Right. You're just showing everybody. It's because you're a

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Christian that you get baptized. Yeah. Public display. Baptism doesn't make Christians. Christians get baptized.

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Right. Yeah. There you go. Anyway. So yeah, you work that out with a child to see that they understand what it means before getting baptized.

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And Annie was probably there some time ago. But I wanted to wait for her to be able to say, to be the one that would come forward and said,

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I want to get baptized. I'm ready. Without me pushing on her to do that. Right. Because Annie's the kind of person that you just have to keep pushing to get her to do new things.

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So for her, for us not to push her through this part was very important. Well, it was all...

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She also has that kind of personality that wants to please mom and dad. This is true. So... That is very, very true.

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Knowing that about her, I had to be careful with the way I was like, hey, Annie, you ready to get baptized? Yes. She knows it.

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She sees people get baptized on Sunday. I'm waiting for her to be the one to come forward and say, I'm a follower of Jesus.

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I want to show it by getting baptized. And now working that out with our other children, we've got 10, seven, five, and six months to help them understand what this means, showing fruit, demonstrating a genuine hatred for your sin and love for Christ.

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So be in prayer for our daughter as we head into the weekend. Becky's parents here to witness the baptism and she's going to be baptized here at First Baptist Church in Lindale.

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And I'm the one doing it. It'll be exciting. Fortunately, I'm in water, so you won't be able to tell that my eyes are not dry as I'm baptizing my daughter.

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Yeah. Okay. This is the Friday edition of the broadcast. We take questions from the listeners. Only one question today.

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We're not going to spend a whole lot of time, but this question, I think the answer to this question is going to take the rest of our conversation here.

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Okay. So this is from Micah. He says, Gabe and Becky, I've written a couple of times before for the

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Friday Q &A. And as before, I want to thank you both for your faithfulness to the word and your refreshing reminders that God's truth is total truth applicable to every area of life and to every person.

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I'll try to make my question below short and sweet. Okay. It's a little lengthy, but he did good.

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I'm 25 years old. God saved me at the age of 18. And as I continue in my walk with him, working out my salvation with fear and trembling.

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Very good. That's Philippians chapter two. I praise God for the solid foundation he's given me in his word.

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I've never had much of a desire to delve very deeply into current events or politics, even to a fault.

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Having realized my laziness and ignorance in this area, I've sought out a small handful of conservative news sources, books, and podcasts, both

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Christian and non -Christian, in order to grow in my understanding of the times we live in. However, I can't deny that listening to these programs has begun to feed a fear inside of me as I envision the practical ramifications of the impending economical crisis.

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All around me, friends and family members are stocking up on canned goods and even considering pulling their financial resources from the bank.

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Considering the national decisions that have led us to where we are, could you offer a biblical perspective on some wise, practical steps that Christians should be taking at this point to prepare for the future?

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I look forward to hearing your response, and above all, I hope and pray that whatever comes, I and every

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Christian would stay rooted in Christ, that the church would grow, and that God would be glorified in it all.

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Thank you, and looking forward to seeing you both in heaven, Micah. Well, Micah, as we're looking at what you refer to here as an economic crisis that's on the way, we really don't know what's going to happen.

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No. You've heard things referred to as being a great reset. You know, if the great reset goes through as the

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World Economic Forum says they want to sort of reset everything in the world, then how currency is going to work will change.

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There'll be a social credit system. How we pay for goods, how we acquire goods will change.

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The World Economic Forum has said things like, you will own nothing and you will be happy.

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So it's almost like everything that we have belongs to somebody else. It's borrowed. It's lent to us. We don't really possess it.

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It's the end of any kind of personal capital that a person can own.

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You won't have that anymore. I mean, there will be people out there, the rich and the powerful, who will possess everything.

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Of course. And they're deciding who gets to own what and things like that. But the middle class will end.

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I'm sure there's some sort of pledge that there won't be poverty in the world anymore. Nobody will be poor.

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Everybody will have a certain amount. Everything will be lifted up. I highly doubt that. Right. So however those things are going to happen, if and when that succeeds, and that's only by the

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Lord's hand, none of these things are going to happen outside of God's sovereign control. Amen. If this is the way he's going to turn cultures over, then that's what's going to happen.

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Very true. And all in his good timing. So when and if any of this stuff happens, it's going to upend everything.

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And we just don't know exactly to what extent things are going to change. So you could stockpile, but...

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It might not be yours. Right. I mean, yeah, what is that going to do? You stock up on canned goods, non -perishable items.

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You stock up on guns and ammo, things like that. What does that last you? Two years at the most? Right. And then unless you are sustained by your own personal farms and ranches...

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Which are not going to be yours in the end. Which will probably... Somebody's going to come in and apprehend all of that stuff.

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What would happen? What would happen exactly? So what you can take with you is knowledge. So be knowledgeable about things around you and how to make the most out of a situation.

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Right. Yeah, survivor skills, things like... Well, I mean, like,

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I don't know. I get what you're saying. I'm just kind of throwing that out there.

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Like, I'm trying to say what survivor skills... If you want to learn survival skills, go for it.

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You want to learn how to... It's handy. Yeah. Hunt, fish, clean your catches and what it is that you kill.

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Sure. You know, all of that stuff is good to know anyway. And farming, you know, a little bit. Just how to grow your own plants.

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Learning some agriculture. I kind of slack on that. If you want to try to pull all your money from the bank, though, and you want to invest in like gold bullion or something like that, there's no guarantee that any of that is even going to have any value for you.

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Because in order to have currency that you can buy and sell with, you have to be part of the social credit system that they're going to set up.

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Right. Yeah. And again, that's if and when any of this takes place. I don't think that we need to be running around like Chicken Little saying that the sky is falling.

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I think that we need to continue to work day by day just as we have always done.

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And the Bible says, you know, worry about today or take care of today and don't worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself.

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Yeah. Let's start with that. So let's go to Matthew chapter six, where Jesus says not to be anxious for tomorrow.

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That's where he's talking about this in the Sermon on the Mount. So he says, store up for yourself treasures in heaven, not on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body.

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So then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

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If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and wealth or mammon as it's literally translated. Verse 25, for this reason,

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Jesus says, I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on.

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Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air that they do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

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Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single cubit to his lifespan?

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And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow.

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They do not toil nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

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But if God so clothes the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?

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Do not worry then saying, what will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear for clothing?

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For all of these things the Gentiles eagerly seek, you can understand it as the pagans eagerly seek these things.

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For your heavenly father knows that you need all of these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

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So do not worry about tomorrow, as Becky began, for tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has enough trouble of its own.

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You go around fretting about what's going to happen in the world, then how are you taking care of it today?

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What are you doing today and what does your knowledge of the things that are going to happen tomorrow, how's that going to change what's going to happen?

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We have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow. I mean at all, like whether we feel secure or whether we feel like we're not secure in where we're at economically, it still doesn't guarantee that tomorrow's going to be what we think that it's going to be.

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So only God is in control of that. The most culture -changing, world -changing things that you can do is to read your

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Bible and pray, to go to church, to love your family, be faithful to your spouse, discipline your children and train them up in the instruction of the

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Lord. These are the most faithful things that you can do that could change the culture.

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Yes. And it's not like it's going to change it tomorrow, but you do that day by day, daily faithful in these things.

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And the reward you're looking forward to really is not to change the culture. It really isn't to change the culture.

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That's not your objective. That's not what you're trying to do. You're trying to honor the Lord, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness.

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And then if it is God's will through these faithful acts that the culture does indeed change for the better, well, that's

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God's doing. But we continue faithful in these things unto the Lord. And the reward that we're looking for is an eternal country in heaven, not some sort of utopian country that we live in here on earth.

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So consider the heroes of the faith that are talked about in Hebrews chapter 11. It says in verse 13, all of these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

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These are the faithful Old Testament saints that are being talked about here in Hebrews chapter 11.

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They considered that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things, make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

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And indeed, if they had been remembering that country from which they went out, they would have had the opportunity to return.

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But now they aspire to a better country that is a heavenly one.

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Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he prepared a city for them.

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That's again, that's the Old Testament faithful. And if the land that God had promised them they recognized was not an earthly land, but a heavenly one.

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And if that's what they were aspiring for was the heavenly kingdom and not the earthly, then how much more should we who follow

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Jesus Christ, who said, my kingdom is not of this world. And we have the

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Bible in its entirety and they didn't. Yeah, the prophetic word more fully confirmed. Yes.

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As Peter says. Let's look at a few other places. Let's continue to be comforted and strengthened by the word of God.

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Sure. So in Psalm chapter 27, this is about midway through verse 9, do not abandon me and do not forsake me,

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O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but Yahweh will take me up.

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Instruct me in your way, O Yahweh, and lead me in a level path because of my foes.

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Do not give me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me and such as breathe out violence.

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I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.

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Hope in Yahweh, be strong and let your heart take courage.

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Hope in Yahweh. Let's consider this one also. Psalm 46,

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God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains shake into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its lofty pride.

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Selah. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the most high.

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God is in the midst of her. She will not be shaken. God will help her when morning dawns.

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The nations roar, the kingdoms shake. He gives his voice. The earth melts. Yahweh of hosts is with us.

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The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. Come behold the works of Yahweh, who is appointed desolations in the earth.

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He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts up the spear.

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He burns the chariots with fire. Cease striving and know that I am

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God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

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Yahweh of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. That's Psalm 46.

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I have nothing to add to that. That's awesome. That's really the first and the last word, is it not?

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Yep. That's right. We have this warning from Jesus as well in Matthew chapter 24.

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Now, what he's talking about here is the destruction of the temple, because that's the question that the disciples have asked him.

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They've said, tell us when will these things happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

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So the thing that Jesus had said right before that in verse two is, do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here, not one stone at the temple and all the buildings around it, not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.

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So the disciples ask him, when will these things happen? When will the temple be torn down? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

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So we really have two questions going on there. When is the temple going to be destroyed and when will Christ return?

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So Jesus answered them and said, see to it that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name saying,

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I am the Christ and will deceive many. And you are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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See that you are not alarmed for those things must take place. But that is not yet the end.

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Now, let me stop there for a moment, because we're looking at just three verses here, four, five and six, where Jesus is giving a response to this question from the disciples.

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What's going to be the sign of the destruction of the temple? They're asking that one first before we get to what will be the sign of the end of the age and of your coming.

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So Jesus first says, see that no one deceives you.

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Some are going to say, I am the Christ. They're going to deceive many. And verse six is you're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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Don't be alarmed. Those things must take place. But that is not the end. Many will read that passage and they will take it to say that Jesus is describing a seven year period of tribulation between the rapture of the church and then his second coming.

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But that's not said there. That's not in the text anywhere. You're reading that into the text. It isn't there.

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Jesus response here is basically this. You're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars because that's the way the earth works.

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Right. We live in a fallen world. And with the sinfulness and wickedness of man, there's always going to be conflict.

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Just because you hear about a war does not mean, oh, this is it. This is the end.

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Don't read into that more than what Jesus is saying there. All he's saying is that there's people are going to come claiming that I am the

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Christ. We see that every day. Yes, we do. Unfortunately, there are all kinds of people either claim to be

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Christ or speaking in the name of Christ who are false prophets. Yeah, that's happening all the time.

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Paul warned Timothy of the same thing. In the last days, there will be times of trouble. In the last days, there are many who are going to be coming as false teachers.

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And people will abandon sound doctrine and they'll go after teachers to scratch their itching ears. We see those warnings throughout the

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New Testament. So that's not some sort of future event that has yet to happen. That's going on right now.

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Right. You're going to hear about wars and conflicts because that's the way things are going to be. Jesus says in verse six, that's not the end.

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Verse seven, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And in various places, there will be famines and earthquakes.

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But all of these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. This is just the stuff that's going to happen in the world.

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Because as Paul talks about in Romans chapter eight, all of creation is groaning, waiting for the deliverance of the sons of God.

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We who are in Christ Jesus, because when we are delivered out of this place, then all things are reconciled unto

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God and all things are made new. So we go on in verse nine, they'll deliver you over to tribulation.

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They will kill you. You'll be hated by all nations because of my name. And at that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.

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Many false prophets will arise and will deceive many. And because lawlessness is multiplied, most people's love will grow cold.

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But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations.

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And then the end will come. We're still in that phase. We're still doing that.

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We're still out there preaching the gospel. Are we in the end times? Yes. This is referred to as the end of the age.

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John says, we know it is the last hour because many antichrists have come. That's in first John.

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So this is the last age. What happens next is Christ returns and then we're with him forever in his eternal kingdom.

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Praise the Lord. Right. That's what we're waiting for. So anyway, I read that to you just that beginning part of Matthew 24.

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That was just verses 1 through 14. Just so you can see that Jesus says, this is the stuff that's going to be happening.

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This is what is supposed to be happening in the world. Right. Because it's a fallen world. But we continue to go out there sharing the gospel so that people will hear the good news of Jesus Christ and be convicted over their sin and will turn from sin to Christ and be saved.

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We still have that mission as the church in this world. Yes. That we're supposed to be preaching.

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Jesus died on the cross for transgressions, for sins, according to the scriptures.

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He was buried. He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Yes. So that all who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God that is coming against all this ungodliness and unrighteousness that we see around us.

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But by faith in Jesus Christ, they will be saved from the wrath of God. Amen. So we need to focus more on God and the

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Bible and studying and implementing that in our lives and making sure that those around us understand it and help them through it and be iron sharpening iron constantly and be uplifting to everybody around you and give him all the glory and honor that we possibly can.

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Continue to proclaim his name, live unto his name. Yeah. And that should be our focus.

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That's our focus. Honoring and worshiping the Lord. Absolutely. Revelation 22 verse 10.

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Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near. Let the one who does unrighteousness still do unrighteousness and the one who is filthy still be filthy and let the one who is righteous still do righteousness and the one who is holy still keep himself holy.

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Behold, I am coming quickly. And my reward is with me to render to every man according to his work.

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I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

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Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

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Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying.

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I, Jesus, sent my angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

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The spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come.

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Let the one who wishes receive the water of life without cost. I bear witness to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.

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If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy,

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God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book. He who bears witness to these things says, yes,

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I am coming quickly. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. The grace of the

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Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Amen. There's the end of the book of Revelation for you right there.

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Go read Revelation today. Yeah. There's some people that avoid that book because it's like, oh, that's doom and gloom.

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I don't want to have, I need some good news. I don't want to hear it. No, Revelation is good news.

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That's right. The book starts by saying, read this book aloud.

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Let it be proclaimed. Especially in our churches. So that we may continue to learn and see and be reminded that all of this stuff has been decided.

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Right. And God does have the victory. He has the final say in all of it. I think it's funny that you said, you know, go proclaim it from the churches and everything.

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And that's like the one book that everybody avoids. Yeah, right. Or one of the handful of books that everybody avoids.

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Yeah, you know, that's really true. It's kind of like the conflict exists with regards to our different views of the end times, almost to keep us from teaching this.

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Because we don't want to cause a church split here. Yeah, make anybody uncomfortable. Which I've certainly seen that.

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Yes. But as it said, Revelation 1 -3, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it for the time is near.

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Yeah. But I mean, it also says a very heavy condemnation about don't add or take away from this.

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So that's, you got to be sure that you do it right. True. That's a heavy.

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Don't take away the book from people's hearing. Yeah, very true. We need to, we have our hopes uplifted, our hearts reminded of the plan that God has already worked out and is bringing to completion in Christ Jesus.

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When we read the book of Revelation. That is great news. So I know that Micah, what

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I had to share with you was not really much of a forecast of exactly how things are going to play out in this world.

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But simply to say, I mean, there's certain things that you may decide that you want to do, learning hunting, learning how to sew, learning some good recipes, whatever you think you have to do in preparation for some sort of a doomsday scenario.

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But first and foremost, in the scriptures, what we are told is to worship the Lord, to continue to hold fast to him and to not be anxious or despair.

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Yeah. That things will get really bad. And there are countries in this world where things are much, much worse than what we as Western, as Westerners.

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Well, that's what I was going to mention is that it depends on where you're at too. Right. As to what tomorrow is going to hold, because some people are getting on trains and leaving their homes forever.

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You know, and some people are just worrying about gas prices. So it just depends on where you're at.

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And we can't forecast anything. Nobody can. Right. Yeah. It could be that the thing you have to do to survive is move.

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Yeah. In which case, what was the stockpiling doing if you weren't able to hold on to it?

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You never know. You never know how these things are going to go. Just act wisely, invest wisely.

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You know, I've made certain money investments knowing that the dollar may not be of any value.

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Yeah, true. Not too long. But it's still, you know, just handling things on a day -by -day basis and just continuing faithfulness unto the

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Lord. Yes. Seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And not worrying about it. That's right. Being smart, but not worrying.

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That's right. Well, babe. Yes. I think that'll do. All right.

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There's our question for this week. If you have any questions you'd like to submit to the program, the email address is whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com.

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Sometimes you can submit a question by, you know, Twitter DM or something like that. I never check Facebook, so don't even try to get in touch with me that way.

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Yeah, that's a little hard. But we get around to Friday and like to answer, respond to those questions from the listeners.

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So thank you so much for praying for us. Yes, thank you. And one of the best things you can do to help us in the ministry is to just share this with others.

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Amen. Either the videos or the podcast or anything like that. So, all right. Let's pray.

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Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the goodness that you show to us every single day.

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We got to wake up today. We got to see another day by the mercy and the grace of God.

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There's breath in our lungs because you have given it to us. Our next heartbeat is by the grace of God.

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And so may we continue to give praise to you for every moment, every opportunity that we have.

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And in all of these things, we die to ourselves. We are taking up a cross daily and we are following after God.

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Going back to Luke 9, 23, which I had quoted earlier, that we are seeking the

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Lord, our God, loving you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. As it says in Romans 12, 1, we present our bodies as living sacrifices unto the

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Lord, holy and acceptable. And this is our spiritual act of worship. Teach us to trust in Christ in these days and to grow in this faith, to not despair or fall into anxiety or deep depression.

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But we continue to rely and trust in the Lord. For we know that you hold all of these things in your hand.

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Nothing is happening that is outside of your will. Something I had posted on social media earlier this week, a quote from John Newton.

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I have trust in this political maxim, the Lord reigns.

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So if there are any politics we're going to be putting our hope and trust in, it's in knowing that Christ is on his throne, reigning supreme over all things.

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Come quickly, Lord Jesus, continues to be our prayer and our cry until the day of Christ.