210. We're going to sing our first song, Wonderful Grace of Jesus, as soon as this microphone makes up.
It's not connected.
It's not connected. But, we're going to make you dead. Wonderful Grace of Jesus.
Connected.
The master and the microphone are the same thing. Is the light in the camera?
Yes, it's live.
I was going to say like the nubbin thing. The light has to be in the camera, I guess.
Here we go. Now we are live. Alright, here we go.
210 on the first.
Here we go.
Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin.
How shall my tongue describe it?
Where shall his praise begin?
Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free.
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus.
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea.
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain.
All sufficient grace for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions.
Greater far than all my sin and shame.
O magnify the precious name of Jesus.
Praise his name.
Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching to all the lost.
By his transforming pardon, saved to the uttermost.
Chains have been torn asunder, giving me liberty.
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus.
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea.
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain.
All sufficient grace for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions.
Greater far than all my sin and shame.
O magnify the precious name of Jesus.
Praise his name.
On the last wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled.
By its transforming power, making him God's dear child.
Purchasing peace and heaven for all eternity.
And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus.
The mighty rolling sea.
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain.
All sufficient grace for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions.
Greater far than all my sin and shame.
O magnify the precious name of Jesus.
Praise his name.
Great singing this afternoon.
Brother Drew, you want to open us up for a word of prayer, please?
Amen. For our next song, we're going to turn to 164, please.
164. Praise him, praise him.
Praise him, praise him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer.
Sing, O earth, his wonderful love proclaim.
Hail him, hail him, highest archangels in glory.
Strength and honor give to his holy name.
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard his children.
In his arms he carries them all day long.
Praise him, praise him, tell of his excellent greatness.
Praise him, praise him, ever in joyful song.
Praise him, praise him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer.
For our sins he suffered and bled and died.
He our rock, our hope of eternal salvation.
Hail him, hail him, Jesus the crucified.
Sound his praises, Jesus who bore our sorrows.
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong.
Praise him, praise him, tell of his excellent greatness.
Praise him, praise him, ever in joyful song.
Praise him, praise him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer.
Family portals loud with Hosanna's ring.
Jesus, Savior reigneth forever and ever.
Crown him, crown him, prophet and priest and king.
Christ is coming over the world victorious.
Power and glory unto the Lord belong.
Praise him, praise him, tell of his excellent greatness.
Praise him, praise him, ever in joyful song.
Wonderful, wonderful singing.
So welcome again to Sure Foundation Baptist Church Seattle.
If you have a bulletin, let's take a look at the bulletin.
Does anyone need one?
I think we have a couple extra.
We have an usher.
We'll see if we have any extra bulletins in the blue folder in the money bag.
Anybody?
Any ushers on due today?
In the blue folder, you will find some bulletins to give to our guests.
There we go.
If you just raise your hand, one of our ushers will gladly give you one of our bulletins to look at.
And I'm going to go ahead and start reading through them.
On the front cover there, you see the verse of the week, Psalm 16, 11.
Thou wilt show me the path of life.
In thy presence is fullness of joy.
At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
And we'll go ahead and take a look at the inside cover there.
We are in the Wednesday afternoon service, 6.30 p.m.
Starting on the 2nd, we'll be having Sunday evening service an hour early.
So it will be at 5.30 p.m. instead of 6.30 p.m.
So if you're going soul winning, plan for an hour and some change earlier for Sunday soul winning.
Sorry, Wednesday, Sunday, kind of mixing up.
Okay, so we did have soul winning today.
Did we get any salvations?
We did.
We got that one.
Sweet.
Anybody besides that one?
That's fantastic.
So we're at 12 for the month.
Beautiful.
And we have soul winning times.
Today we had soul winning from 5 to about quarter till.
Saturday we have soul winning from 11 a.m. to 1.
And then on Sundays, I guess, maybe about 2.30?
Is that when that's going to start?
Well, anyway, we'll talk to Brother Neb.
If you have any questions about the new soul winning time starting on Sunday, he'll give us all the information.
And if you need to be put in the WhatsApp group, if you plan on going soul winning,
if you want to be a part of soul winning efforts and get to know what's going on with the church,
before that comes out on the bulletin, talk to one of the ushers to see about getting put in the WhatsApp group
so you can kind of start becoming one of the family because we'd love that.
Let's see here on the other inside bit here.
We have attendance and salvations.
So we're up from 9 to 12.
And then there's the tithes and offerings.
And let's take a look at the upcoming events.
From the 30th to the 2nd, Bible Believers Baptist in Yakima Big Weekend.
Deacon Corbin Russell preaching Friday at 7 p.m.
Soul winning on the reservation from 11 to 2.
Meal and fellowship at the church building at 3 p.m.
And then Sunday, 10.30 and 3.30 p.m. services preached by Pastor Thompson.
On Friday? Okay, and there's soul winning on Friday if anyone here is planning to be there.
So there's Friday soul winning.
And you said Sunday soul winning as well?
Just Friday and Saturday?
Okay.
All right.
And then on the 19th, we have Pastor Steven Anderson preaching at Sure Foundation Baptist Church Spokane at 6.30.
On the 20th, he's zipping on down to Vancouver to preach 6.30 p.m. there.
And then from the 20th to the 23rd is the 8th Annual Red Hot Preaching Conference at Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California.
As I've said several times, they have not posted the schedule because they want you to just go enjoy the entire conference.
Not hold out for maybe your favorite preacher, but hear all the red hot preaching, right?
And then let's see.
After that, on the 28th, we'll have Pastor Roger Jimenez preaching at Sure Foundation Vancouver at 7 p.m.
And then August 3rd through the 6th is the Toronto Soul Winning Trip.
And if anyone is looking for information about that, back there in the blue folder we have the monstrous amount of things that they're doing.
And it is a huge schedule.
So maybe if you're not doing the whole thing, you can do a little bit.
There's like plenty of opportunities for soul winning, plenty of opportunities for fellowship, preaching.
It looks like it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful time.
It's going across several states, too.
So quite an adventure if you can swing that.
Let's see.
Nothing new on the back.
We're waiting for the new preaching schedule to come in on Sunday.
So you should come back on Sunday so you see who's preaching.
And then, Pastor, you got something for us at all?
Oh, sweet.
So we got Brother Alex on Sunday.
Sweet.
So there you go.
Got something wonderful to look forward to there.
And then just information about the building.
As always, we have the parent baby room back there.
So if you have young children, I don't see any folks with young children, but it does need to be locked open.
If you need to use it, you can shut it, but make sure it's locked open when you're done with it.
And you'll leave the light on while we're during business hours.
Bathrooms, please make sure that the lights are off and the doors are open as a courtesy to the people coming in next.
There is a very large trash can in the kitchen all the way in the back.
So if you need to throw out anything before we leave so we can keep our leased space clean and orderly, that'd be great.
And then the stairs, we don't need to be upstairs for any reason, because that's someone else's purview.
Children can play in the grass area over there.
Please keep an eye on your children.
And we are a family integrated church, so children are not separated from their parents for any reason.
But if they are getting fussy or starting to disrupt a little bit, you can take them out in the hallway or outside or into the parent room.
The parent baby room back there.
And I think that is the end of the announcements.
And with that, we're going to have our third song.
Then we'll receive the offering.
There we go, that's what I'm talking about.
And we're going to turn to 212, Oh Happy Day.
Oh Happy Day.
We've got a salvation today, so that's what it is.
Oh Happy Day.
On the first.
Oh Happy Day, that fixed my choice on Thee, my Savior and my God.
Well may this glowing heart rejoice and tell its wrath.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
When Jesus washed my sins away.
Oh happy bond that seals my vows to Him who merits all my love.
Let cheerful anthems fill His house, while to that sacred shine I move.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
On the third.
It is done, the great transaction's done.
I am my Lord and He is mine.
He drew me and I followed on, charmed to confess the voice divine.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
On the last.
Now rest my long divided heart fixed on this blissful center rest.
Nor ever from my Lord depart with Him of every good possessed.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day.
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
Amen.
Now we go ahead and receive the offering.
Brother Ned, would you like to pray for our offering today?
All right.
Thank you for gathering in here.
Amen.
If you read aloud in the chapter.
John chapter six.
The Bible reads in John chapter six.
After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius.
And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were diseased, that were diseased.
And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip,
Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?
And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered him, Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?
And Jesus said, Make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down in number about five thousand.
And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples,
and the disciples to them that were set down, and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would.
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves,
which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said,
This is of a truth that profit that should come into the world.
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king,
he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,
and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.
And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew, and when they had rowed about five and twenty, or thirty furlongs,
they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawn nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid.
But he saith unto them, It is I, be not afraid.
Then they willingly received him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there,
save that one wherein two his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat,
but that his disciples were gone away alone.
Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberius nigh unto the place where they did eat bread,
after that the Lord had given thanks.
When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples,
they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.
And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
Jesus answered them, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles,
but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Then they said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven,
but my Father giveth you the bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
But I say unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him,
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me.
Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.
Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead.
He that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying, who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
What and if ye shall see the Son of man, as sent up where he was before?
It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
But there are some of you that believe not.
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve? and one of you is a devil.
He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
Brother Victor, would you please pray for the service?
And then we are in John chapter number 6, and as you can see it was quite the lengthy passage there.
So I'm not going to be able to preach through the whole chapter tonight.
Because I like to really go verse by verse, as you probably well know by now.
But I'm going to cover about 21 verses, and I'm going to cover a little bit of a complicated subject at the end.
And hopefully I can portray it and help you to understand it the way I understand and explain it correctly.
But we're in John chapter 6, and this is of course the famous, first part of this is the famous passage where Jesus feeds the 5,000.
Let's look down at the Bible at verse number 1. The Bible says,
After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
So, what is it? It's the Sea of Galilee, which is also the Sea of Tiberias.
So, it's helping us to understand these things, and I think it also helps us to understand the historical basis of it.
Because, you know, people will say, well, there's no, you know, the Bible, there's no proof that it was true and all this other stuff.
But yet, Caesars that are a fact of history are mentioned in it.
And then this place called, it was called the Sea of Tiberias because Tiberias was a Caesar.
And so, it's trying to help us to understand this is the Sea of Galilee.
But, just something real quickly about this sea here. Of course, this is where Jesus is from, this area here.
And it says, well obviously He was born in Bethlehem first, but then He lived up in Galilee.
So, Israel's largest freshwater lake, Lake Tiberias, is also known as the Sea of Tiberias or the Lake of Gennesaret.
Lake Kinneret and the Sea of Galilee.
And I think it used to be called in the Old Testament, Chinnereth.
I think that that was the name of it before in the Old Testament.
But anyway, it says the lake measures just more than 21 kilometers, which is 13 miles in length.
And then north and south it's only 43 meters, 141 feet deep.
So, from north to south it's 13 miles and from east to west it's 7 miles.
So, 7 miles wide.
Why am I telling you this? Well, it's going to be important at the end of the sermon for you to grasp this.
But anyway, let's look at verse number 2. The Bible says,
And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles, which He did on them that were diseased.
So, remember in the last chapter, He has kind of His first official banging of the heads with the Pharisees
and they're mad because He healed the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda.
And the Pharisees were mad and then they wanted to kill Him because He healed somebody on the Sabbath day,
which is just bizarre, but that's just how they were.
Swallowing at a gnat, or straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, right?
That's kind of what underscores them.
But anyway, it says,
And Jesus went up to a mountain, and there sat with His disciples.
And the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was nigh.
And Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him,
and said unto Philip, When shall we buy bread that these may eat?
And this He said to prove Him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
So basically, He's just asking Him this question,
but He already knows He's going to feed these people, right?
And it says,
Now, just really quickly, a penny was a day's wages back then.
So 200 penny worth, that's 200 days wages just to feed all those people.
That's what it would cost.
And there's probably not a Fran's Bakery in the neighborhood where they could go buy the bread, right?
They didn't have that kind of bread back then.
But anyway, it says that every one of them may take a little.
So 200 penny worth was just enough to give every person just a little bit of bread,
which isn't really a lot, right?
So it says,
And that's a good question.
I think that the purpose of this miracle is to show what God can do with just a little bit of stuff,
a little fragment of food, a little kid's lunch, a little lad's lunch, and two fish and five barley loaves.
His mom probably sent him off.
You know, it wasn't snack pack or anything like that, but it was a pretty good lunch, right?
I mean, he's got five loaves, two fish.
But anyway, I think the purpose of this is to show us, obviously, a great miracle of Jesus is done here.
But I think the purpose of it is to show the little is much when God is in it.
And there's a song called that.
And, you know, it's a great song, but I'll just read you a couple of the lyrics of the song.
I'm not going to try to get too old IFB on you.
But anyway,
It is great if God is in it, for He'll not forsake His own.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown, and you can win it if you go in Jesus' name.
So maybe you're a small person.
Maybe you're just an individual.
Maybe you're just from a small town, and you think, well, great things can't come out of small towns,
but isn't that what they said about Jesus?
Right.
And, you know, Bethlehem is the smallest.
You know, it's actually specifically talked about how it's such a small town,
but out of it is going to come the ruler who's to rule all of Israel.
We'll look at that verse here in just a minute.
But I like the question.
I like what he says, but what are they among so many?
You have 5,000.
This is just counting men only.
And I'm sure they had big families back then.
They didn't have Planned Parenthood back then.
So they had big families.
You know, so they had their wives.
They had their children with them.
So there's 5,000 men.
There could have been 15,000 people, for all we know, maybe even more than that.
It could have been a stadium-sized amount of people,
but we know it was a great amount of people.
It's just counting the men.
But what are they among so many?
And it said 200 pennies worth isn't going to feed all of them.
So what has to happen here is a great miracle,
and it is a great miracle because, you know,
Jesus takes these little items, seven items,
and feeds this multitude of people with it.
So with God, the Bible says with God, all things are possible.
You know, it's easier for a rich man to go,
or a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, right?
And so after he says that, he says,
but with God all things are possible.
So it is possible for rich people to get saved,
but it's pretty hard, right?
And so think about this.
God can do and always has done,
and it seems like he almost just sets it up
to make it a huge insurmountable challenge
in order to get things done with very little resources,
very little amount of people,
very little towns, very little armies.
I mean, think about all the battles that the children of Israel battled.
Even with the battle against the Ethiopians,
it said there was a million soldiers
with all these chariots, and God destroyed them
with the children of Israel, a small army of people.
And God does this multiple times throughout the Bible.
So smaller armies destroying big armies that are scary, right?
And also giants in the land.
I mean, the children of Israel went in and conquered the Canaan land,
and they were filled with giants.
You know, the ten spies came back and was like,
we can't do this, or whatever.
And God was very angry because with God, all things are possible.
Little is much when God is in it, right?
So now think about this food situation here.
So, you know, twice, and there's two different instances
where he feeds a massive amount of people.
There's also the feeding of the 4,000, which is a different story.
So he does this twice.
That's 9,000 people that he feeds with very small amounts of food.
And in 1 Kings 17, verse 16, when Elijah...
Is it Elijah? It's Elijah, excuse me.
Let's just go ahead and look over there real quick
and just keep your finger there in John.
We're not covering the whole chapter tonight,
so I could just slow it down just a little bit.
But 1 Kings 17, verse 16, I still have a lot of stuff to cover, though.
And 1 Kings 17, 16, of course, Elijah is sent to this woman,
and she is about to die.
And then Elijah says,
Make a cake for me first, and then for you and your son.
And then she tells him, you know,
I was about to make these last ones, we were going to eat it,
and then we were going to die.
That's all they had left. They're starving.
And she's saved just enough for her and her son.
He's like, make me a cake first.
Which is, you know, interesting,
but it's probably a picture of her putting...
Put God first. Trust God first, and he'll take care of you, right?
So look at 1 Kings 17, 16, it says,
And the barrel of meal wasted not,
neither did the cruise of oil fail,
according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
So all this time goes by where there's no water, there's no rain,
but God sustains this woman with her son and Elijah
for many days without any food or water.
And basically, it's kind of a similar situation
as what we see with the feeding of the 5,000.
If you were paying attention along with the reading,
there's 12 baskets, and they're filled with all the bread and all the fish.
And when they're done, if you were paying attention to the reading,
when they're all done, there was still a bunch left over.
I think it's as much as they first handed out or something.
We'll get to that here in just a little bit.
But, you know, God can do a lot with a little bit.
And he's a God of miracles, and he's a God that can come through
in the clutch and always seems to.
But, you know, we just have to have a little bit of faith
in the fact that God's going to get us through the hard times and the lean times.
And when we think that there's an impossible situation,
nothing's impossible to God.
He can get us through these situations,
but we just have to have the faith that he's going to do it.
A lot of times the children of Israel, they stood no chance against the armies
that they were going to battle against.
But God, he just said show up,
and then God would usually just kill them all for him anyway, right?
So, now, you think he can do a lot with a little bit of food,
but he can also do big things out of small places.
Look at Micah chapter 5 verse 2. Micah chapter 5 verse 2.
And Jesus, although he was from Bethlehem,
was raised in a place called Nazareth, which is up by Galilee there.
So, but, the Pharisees don't realize that.
And even as people were saying,
could any good thing come out of Galilee?
Could any good thing come out of Nazareth?
And they don't realize that he's actually the one
that is talked about in this verse here.
Look at what it says. Micah 5 verse 2 says,
But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me,
that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.
So, among the smallest places, God can make the biggest lights to shine.
And obviously, Jesus is the biggest light that's ever been here, right?
And so, God can make great things happen in small places.
And he can make great cities affected by small amounts of people.
I mean, we have a small amount of people here, but you know what?
Every week we're out here hitting the bricks, you know, getting people saved.
And, you know, we're making a difference.
You're like, well, you know, all the people in Seattle aren't saved yet.
Well, yeah, but we'll just give us some time, you know.
We'll work on it.
But God can take a little group like this,
and, you know, we almost have a full house tonight,
but he can take a small group like this and do great things.
But we've got to be faithful in the things that he's given us
and be here and be part of the team, right?
But Israel was also the smallest of nations.
Remember when he called Israel, he said,
you know, you're the smallest of nations, but I'm going to make you great.
And God can still do big things in small places like Bethlehem.
And, you know, if you think about people, you know, small groups of people,
small churches, small soul-winning groups, and even individual people,
you know, if you think about the soul winners that are around in this earth right now,
there's probably not a lot in comparison to the rest of the population.
But can't God do big things with a small amount of people?
He absolutely can.
He does it all the time. We get to see it every week,
but sometimes I think that we just forget how great things God is doing
through our church or churches as it would be.
But think about Paul.
I mean, you know what Paul means?
It means small or little.
That's what his name was.
His name was Saul, but he started calling himself Paul.
And I don't know if that's because he wanted to be little in his own eyes to other people,
or maybe he was little.
Maybe it was like a nickname that someone gave him and he just started saying,
I'm Paul.
But I think, you know, if you think about Saul in the Old Testament,
you know, remember when Samuel said, you know,
when you were small in your own sight, then you were doing well.
But Paul used to be big in his own sight and he was a Pharisee
and he's going off and doing all these things,
thinking he's doing something good for God.
But in reality, he's torturing people, he's having people killed,
holding the coats of the guys that stone Stephen to death.
And he started off bad, but ended up good.
And God used that one small guy, Paul, to turn the world upside down.
I mean, obviously he didn't do it on his own,
but his leadership and his willingness to work harder than everybody else
made a huge difference in this world.
So you think about the power of a small person to do big things.
Think of the apostle Paul.
I mean, why is he everybody's favorite Christian?
Because of what he did and what he once was.
He said, I'm the chief of sinners.
Like, he had a very small view of himself,
but that made him have a very big impact in the ministry that he did.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 8.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 8.
Here's how Paul sees himself.
Now, Paul was an apostle. There's no doubt about that.
He was born out of due time.
Jesus actually appeared to him on the road to Damascus
as he was going to try to arrest some more Christians.
And when he appeared to him, Jesus blinded him.
And he said, Paul, is it hard for thee to kick against the pricks?
He's like, hey, I've been pricking at you a little bit here.
Now it's time to answer the call.
And he's like, who are you, Lord?
And then he told him his instructions to go into Damascus,
to go in and talk to Ananias.
Ananias preached him the gospel.
He gets saved. He gets baptized.
And then he begins to turn the world upside down.
I mean, he's preaching the gospel days afterwards.
So you don't have to be saved for a long time to preach the gospel, by the way.
But when he says in 1 Corinthians 15, 8, it says,
And last of all, he was seen of me also,
as one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles.
See how he sees himself as little?
He's actually the best of the apostles.
But he sees himself as the least, right?
That am not meet to be called an apostle
because I persecuted the church of God.
So Paul, you know, he persecuted the church
and he viewed himself in a small manner and called himself Paul.
Look at verse 10. It says,
But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain.
But I labored more abundantly than they all.
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
So even there he's being humble, isn't he?
He's not being fake humble.
He's not being humble brag, I don't think.
I don't think that at all.
I think he's really humble and sees himself in a small light,
but he does know the truth.
The truth is it's by the grace of God,
but also the fact that he labored more than they all.
So there's 12 apostles.
One kills himself. He was a Judas.
His name was Judas.
And he hung himself, right?
And so there was a replacement called Matthias.
And we don't hear about him for the rest of the Bible.
But we do hear about Paul.
And I believe that Paul is the apostle that God picked.
And he picked him because he knew what was in him.
He knew what he would do.
And that he would labor more abundantly than they all.
So he labored more abundantly than 11 other guys.
We're talking about Peter.
We're talking about John.
We're talking about, you know, Philip and Andrew
and all these great apostles, these great leaders.
But he outdid them all.
That's what it says, right?
I labored more abundantly than they all.
And you know what?
When you work hard, God's going to reward that good work.
And so even the smallest of people can do great things.
Look at Acts chapter 17 verse 6.
Acts chapter 17 verse 6.
I really think that the character of Paul,
besides how great of things he did,
just the parallels between him and Saul.
Saul was head and shoulders above everybody else.
He was little in his own sight at the beginning,
but then he fell and behaved badly in the end.
He's the opposite of Paul in the fact that Paul was small.
And Paul was also, but they're also named the same name.
God didn't change Saul's name to Paul.
Paul just started calling himself Paul.
I mean, there's no verse that says,
hey, call yourself Paul from now on, right?
But anyway, Acts 17 verse 6.
And when they found them not,
they drew Jason and certain brethren
unto the rulers of the city.
What does it say?
Crying.
You know, they're not weeping.
They're crying.
These are the people that they're opposed to Paul
and the other guys coming here in Barnabas.
It says, these that have turned the world upside down
are come hither also.
It's like, they're here.
They're going to turn on it.
They've been turned to the world.
They're here.
You know, they're like,
Paul, his reputation precedes him.
He's just coming to all these new places,
doing all these great works.
And so the thing about this also,
he was a little man from the smallest tribe.
Wasn't Benjamin the smallest tribe?
And so do you think God with the life of Paul
is trying to show us how he can do great things
through one small man, through one small tribe
with little stature and the last of the apostles,
the chiefest of sinners?
He can do great things through little people.
Little is much when God is in it, right?
And Paul was a great man of God
and just proof that he can use small people.
You know, literally small people
and just small people that are small in their own sight.
And I think Paul was both of those things.
And that's probably why he called himself that.
But, you know, if God can use Paul,
he can use you too.
And the Holy Ghost is in you.
As long as God is the biggest thing in your life,
then he can use you for good things.
See, God was the biggest thing in Paul's life.
It wasn't Paul.
It wasn't his ego.
It wasn't his reputation.
He said he counts all those things but dung.
And so when we get saved, if we have that attitude,
and you want to do big things for God,
well, be little in your own sight
and just be willing to do what God asks you to do.
When the Bible says for you to do something,
do those things.
When the Bible says, hey, we should be going soul winning,
go soul winning.
When the Bible says we should be at church
as much as possible, be in church as much as possible.
Don't forsake the assembling of God's house.
And when the Bible, you know, when it says read your Bible,
read your Bible.
When it says pray, pray.
When it says fast, fast.
When it says all these things, hey, just obey the Bible
and God will use you in a big way.
But we have to be willing to be used.
Turn back to John chapter 6, verse number 10.
Now we're going to see some organized religion.
And, you know, people like to say,
I'm not really into the organized religion.
And it's like, well, what do you want, the chaotic religion?
Where everybody, it's just a free for all?
It's just, you know, everybody's kids are running around
screaming.
Nobody's sitting down.
People are laying down eating.
Some people are drinking alcohol.
I mean, what do you mean by that?
You don't like organized religion.
Well, I guess I could understand if you don't want
a Catholic religion.
Amen.
Or if you don't want some Mormon religion.
Yep.
But there's nothing wrong with organization.
And we're going to see here that Jesus,
even with all these masses of people,
like what would we do if 20,000 people showed up on the lawn
here in the parking lot?
We'd have a rough time.
But you'd have to do a little bit of organization, wouldn't you?
And so look at verse number 10 in our text that says,
And Jesus said, make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place,
so the men sat down in number about 5,000.
And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks,
he distributed to the disciples.
So he has them sit down, he takes the loaves,
and he thanks God for them, you know.
And then he distributes those things to the disciples.
And you know, that's what Jesus does for us today.
He wants us to be organized.
He wants our church services to be run well.
He wants order in our church.
Let all things be done decently and in order,
it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14.
So it's not, you know, people are going to like organized religion.
Well, why don't you just go in a place where there's no organization,
and you'll be like, I do like organized religion.
I would like things to be a little more organized.
And so it says,
And likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
So he has the disciples set those things out.
So little is multiplied, and masses are fed from the few.
And that's how it is today, though.
That's how Christianity is today.
It's always going to be the minority as far as the true believers,
the true disciples, the true servants of God.
And you will see all these, you know,
you're just downgrading all the other churches.
Well, listen, if they're not using the right Bible,
if they're not preaching the right stuff,
if they're not going soul winning,
if it's just a country club or some kind of, you know,
a little hangout place for the holier-than-thous,
then what good is it?
Is it a true church?
Obviously, churches can be pretty messed up
and still be considered a true church.
But how many churches in this city are there that are actually true churches?
Think about that for a second.
I mean, how many do you think there are?
I'm not saying ours is the only true church.
I'm not a cult leader. We're not in a cult here, okay?
But I am saying that, you know, God uses the few today,
just like he always has.
He takes the few that will actually go out.
He said the laborers are what?
Few.
So pray to the Lord of Harvest that he'll send laborers into the harvest.
So the harvest is white and ready,
but there's few people that actually will do the work.
So, again, I think this is just a picture to show us
that what God can do with just a little bit of things.
Look at Mark chapter 637.
So here's like a parallel passage to this,
and it really shows the organization in a more clear light here.
Mark 637, the Bible says,
He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.
So he tells them to give them to eat, right?
He's telling his disciples this.
And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred penny worth of bread
and give them to eat?
He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye?
Go and see.
And when they knew, they said, Five loaves and two fishes.
And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties.
Isn't that organized?
He's like, Count them out. Set them down.
Here's where they're sitting.
So to say that there's no organization or religion, that's just ridiculous.
Jesus is just like, Hey, there's a ton of people here.
Let's sit them all down. Let's sort them out by the numbers.
And then they can just count everything out because what are they doing?
They're distributing.
He's saying, You feed them.
And then he's having the disciples take these 12 baskets around.
Notice there's 12 baskets.
Take these 12 baskets around and hand out all the food.
And so they do that.
But that's what he's asking for us to do today that are on this earth.
He's like, Hey, I've got a few disciples that are actually doing the work.
Hey, you go feed them.
And so he wants us to go feed the people with what?
The word of God.
The bread of life.
And so the meat that God has prepared also.
So if you figure fish are like a protein, right?
So it's not just all bread.
It's not just all the light stuff.
It's also the meat that he wants us to hand out.
And obviously, this pictures the gospel.
Getting people saved. Organized soul winning.
Go out and distribute to the people that need the truth.
Because really, do you think he cares a lot about the whole food ministry thing?
That's what most churches are.
Well, we feed the homeless.
Well, what would he do?
Did you get any of them saved? No.
They don't. They don't get them saved.
They put them in little programs where they say,
Well, if you don't keep doing this program,
then you're going to lose your salvation.
That's what they teach at these places.
These rescue missions and all these different things.
This is what they teach.
We've had people come to our church and they flat out say
that they teach them that if they quit the program,
they lost their salvation.
But people want to just give out food
and not have to worry about teaching them.
That is the opposite of what God wants us to do.
We're supposed to take care of the faithful.
We're supposed to take care of people to a certain extent.
But God also said if a man doesn't work, neither should he eat.
So we're not just trying to do a food ministry
where we're just feeding all these people
so they can throw all the wrappers on the ground
and everybody else has to pick them up and stuff.
That's just not what we're doing.
That's not what Jesus is doing.
He actually gets upset later on in this chapter
where he realizes they're going to try to make him the king.
They're going to try to capture him and make him their king.
That's what it says.
When he knew that, he was just like,
See ya, suckas!
He takes off, right?
But then they chase him to the other side.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.
Organized religion is a thing.
Everything must be done decently in order.
Look at verse 41.
When he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes,
he looked up to heaven and blessed and break the loaves
and gave them to his disciples to set before them.
The two fishes divided he among them all.
They did all eat and were filled.
They took up the twelve baskets full of the fragments
and of the fishes.
They took up twelve baskets full of the fragments and the fishes.
They that did eat of the loaves were about 5,000 men.
Even after everything is said and done,
they still have leftovers after feeding thousands of people.
Twelve people can reach 5,000 people today, don't you think?
I mean, what is there like 18, 20 people in here tonight?
We can reach thousands of people.
In fact, we do reach thousands of people all the time.
How many doors do you think we've knocked since we've been in this location?
We've been here for two months.
Do you think we've knocked over 1,000 doors?
Do you think we've knocked 2,000?
I think I ordered like, I don't know, how many invites?
Was there like five grand or something?
Not sure.
Well, I mean, we're going through them fast.
I don't know how many are at that place across the street,
but there's a lot. It seems like 500.
I'm just saying that just a small group here has already knocked over 1,000 doors.
I know that for a fact.
So we also have churches in other locations,
and they're knocking thousands of doors.
And our church has been around since Pastor Menes started our church.
It'll be seven years in October.
And this next month, it'll be five years that Sure Foundation has been in Vancouver, Washington.
And I was just trying to think, and I know that I'm missing places,
but I just want to rattle off some of the places where we've knocked doors.
Because we're a small church in comparison to these megachurches
that are doing absolutely zero for God, right?
Yeah, they might be a big church, but they're not doing anything.
So we've literally knocked thousands of doors in Portland,
Vancouver, Kelso, Longview, Yelm, Seattle, Auburn, Renton,
Skyway, Kent, Bellingham, Woodland, Tacoma, Furcrest,
Battleground, Beaverton, Ridgefield, Yakult, Cascade Locks,
Honolulu, Winai, Kapiolae, North Bonneville, Stevenson, Blaine,
Albany, Eugene, Tri-Cities, Spokane, Yakima, Toppenish,
Wapato, White Swan, London, Southend, Belfast, Manila,
Union Gap, Ellingsburg, Royal City, Malawi, I don't know what city it was,
but it's a country, Pretoria, South Africa, Detroit, Michigan,
Cincinnati, Ohio, Surrey, BC, Richmond, BC, Winnipeg, Botswana,
and Winkler, not including all the places that are fellow pastors
and other church, you know, the ones I forgot, you're like,
what about that one? Does anybody have another one that I missed?
Yeah? Lakewood? Lakewood. Tukwila? Is it Tukwila? Is Tukwila a city?
Okay. What else, Brother Alex?
Uh-huh. I mean, we've been around for a short amount of time,
and we've knocked doors, thousands and thousands and thousands of doors.
I've ordered 10,000 invitations multiple times for our church,
and those are gone, unless they're still in your car,
but that's a possibility. We might have ones that made it through the tribulation
or whatever, but think about that. God has used these small church,
and yeah, we're small, we've been in the strip mall or whatever,
but you know what? We're doing more than your church is.
Amen.
And we're still, and I'm not trying to brag about that,
but I'm just saying that's our mission.
What's the mission? To take a few people, we know it's always going to be a few,
and reach a lot of people.
Amen.
Because little is much when God is in it,
and He's going to do great works to the people.
It doesn't matter how small the number is.
He's going to use us, and He's going to use us to do great things for Him.
Turn back to our text in John, chapter number 6.
John, chapter number 6.
And I think that Jesus is teaching them,
hey, I'm preparing you to feed them.
Because Jesus is gone now, isn't He?
So He's preparing them, He's training them for the ministry,
and one of those things is, hey, are you ready for a massive amount of people?
Well here, feed them all.
Feed them.
And obviously it would be nice to have that gift,
where we could just make food appear,
and kind of cut down on our bills when we do these so many marathons and stuff.
But obviously, that's just not how it works anymore.
But anyway, John 6.12, it says,
And when they were filled, He said unto His disciples,
Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Obviously, I think that that's kind of showing that the people that get saved,
nothing's going to get lost.
Nobody's going to fail.
Jesus said that His Father gave Him the twelve,
and the only one that's lost is the son of perdition.
So when we do all these massive amounts of soul winning,
people are going to get saved, and nothing's going to be lost.
Look at verse 13.
Therefore they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets,
with the fragments of the five barley loaves,
which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
So there's thousands of people, and it says,
which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
So there's still a lot of food left over.
There's room for more later on.
It says, Then those men, when they had seen the miracles that Jesus did,
said, This is of a truth, that prophet, that should come into the world,
the one that Moses was talking about.
Then Jesus, therefore, perceived that they would come
and take Him by force to make Him a king.
He departed again into a mountain Himself alone.
So He just like bugged out.
He's like, these people just want me for my food ministry.
They're like, He can give us bread for free every day and lots of fish.
He's like, let's make Him a king.
That's kind of how people choose leadership nowadays, too.
Everybody wants Donald Trump to come back
because our economy was the greatest economy of all time.
He's got the best programs.
He's got the best people.
He's proud.
But anyway, it is true, we had a better gas price.
I'll give him that.
I want to move on to where I want to finish off with this sermon.
I'm going to talk about the post-Trib pre-wrath timing of the rapture.
You're like, what does that have to do with anything that's in this story?
I'll show you as we go along,
but we do have to base our belief in the Bible upon clear scriptures.
Turn to Matthew 24.
We're going to get back to John 6, but I want to show you in Matthew 24
a very clear scripture or set of scriptures here
about when the rapture is going to happen.
There's a lot of false doctrine out there.
I'm just going to call it what it is. It's false.
There's no verse that says pre-tribulational rapture.
It's just not in the Bible.
But there are clear scriptures that say it's after the tribulation.
Look at Matthew 24, verse 29.
Matthew 24, 29 says,
Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
When does Jesus say He's coming back?
What is the first thing that the disciples,
they show them all this stuff in the temple,
and they say, when are these things going to happen?
What's the sign of Thy coming and the end of the world?
Then Jesus goes on and tells them all this stuff.
He doesn't say, by the way, I'm going to come in secret,
and nobody's ever going to know about it,
and I'm going to whisk you away on a little golden pillow,
and you'll never have to go through any tribulation.
No, He said after the tribulation of those days.
He just got done saying it's going to be great tribulation,
such as never was seen, nor ever will be.
It says that after the tribulation, the sun and moon are going to be darkened,
those are the stars, and the stars are going to fall from heaven,
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven,
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.
So everybody's going to see Him.
Even in Revelation chapter 1, I think verse 7 or verse 9 or whatever,
it says, behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him.
Isn't that what it says?
Not a secret rapture.
It says every eye will see Him.
It says, and He shall send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather His elect from the four winds
from one end of heaven to the other.
So we know that the midpoint of the final seven years,
it's not the tribulation,
but that's what everybody will say in end times Bible prophecy.
They'll try to say, it's seven years of tribulation.
That's not what the Bible teaches at all.
The tribulation's over, according to Revelation chapter 6.
The tribulation's over once Jesus comes back.
Right here it says after the tribulation,
and then when do those things happen?
When do you see the multitude appearing in heaven?
Revelation chapter 7.
So it's over at Revelation chapter 7.
So anyway, let's look at Daniel chapter 12,
because basically what I want to show you
is that there's a story that's in John chapter 6
that is not clear scripture,
but I've already showed you what we hang our hat on.
We believe in a post-trib pre-wrath rapture.
Why do we believe that?
Well, the Bible says that immediately after the tribulation
He's going to come.
And then what happens after that?
The wrath of God is poured out.
The tribulation is over when Jesus comes back.
That's why I hence the word after the tribulation.
So Daniel chapter 12 verse 11.
It says,
And from that time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,
and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,
there shall be 1,290 days.
So that's the second half of the final seven years.
The first half is 1,260 days.
You guys are going to need your thinking cap,
and I need mine on too right now.
But we're going to look at some numbers and some math and stuff like that.
But notice it says that it's the second part there
after the abomination of desolation is set up,
which we know is the time when the Antichrist comes.
It's the midpoint of the seven years.
But why is it 1,290 days?
Well, it's because there's an extra month that has to be added in
to that week of years.
Because the Hebrew calendar is a 360-day calendar,
and they had to add a month extra to keep the balance in
and make sure that the seasons and all that was matching up.
So that's why there's an extra 30 days.
1,290 days, 1,260 days.
So 1,260 is, I mean, by deduction, you know the 1,290 is after the midpoint.
So what's the 1,260? It's before, right?
So now this is the important part.
Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1,305 and 30 days.
How many days is that? 1,335 days.
So why is he saying that?
Well, what does that number have to do with anything?
Well, it says,
But go thy way till the end be,
for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
The end of what days?
Well, he said,
Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1,305 and 30 days.
So you have 1,335 days.
Blessed is he that waiteth until that time.
Daniel's going to stand in his lot at that time.
That is what he's calling the end.
And I believe that this is talking about, of course, the resurrection, the rapture.
So now the term waiteth, or waiting, is used in the New Testament.
It's obviously used in the Old Testament.
But you have a blessing if you're waiting to that day, right?
Now let's look at some verses in the New Testament that talk about waiting.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 7.
So Daniel's going to be blessed when he comes to that day, right?
The 1,335.
So when are you going to measure that time from?
Well, if you measure that time from the start of the seven years,
you're going to come up with a certain number with 75 days left over.
Is that the half, or is that over half?
It's over half, right?
So 1 Corinthians 1, verse 7 says,
So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we are waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed is he that waiteth, right?
Now look at Romans chapter 8, verse 23.
Romans chapter 8, verse 23.
It says,
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body.
So what's that talking about?
We're waiting for the redemption of our body, right?
We're waiting.
Now look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 10.
1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 10.
It says,
And to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
So what are we waiting for?
For Jesus to come and deliver us from the wrath to come.
Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 5.
2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 5.
The Bible says,
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God,
and into the patient waiting for Christ.
See how when the Bible talks about waiting a lot in the New Testament,
it's talking about waiting for Christ to come,
waiting for him to deliver us.
Now look at James chapter 5, verse 7.
This will be the last waiting verse I'll show you here,
but I think it's just really important to kind of grasp that fact
that what's God talking about to Daniel?
Daniel doesn't understand what he's talking about,
but we can look back and see what he's talking about.
So James chapter 5, verse 7 says,
Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain.
So God's waiting for that precious fruit of the earth,
and we're waiting for our redemption of our body.
So now if you take the 1335,
you go from the start of the seven years to starting from the 1260,
you're going to end up with 75 days extra past the abomination of desolation.
The abomination of desolation happens when?
The midpoint of the seven years.
So 75 days later is basically going to be where the great tribulation ends
and Jesus comes back.
Now obviously no man knows the day or the hour.
I'm not trying to pin a date on anything or anything like that,
but that's just the math that you come up with.
If you track 1335 from the 1260, you go past it, it's 75 extra days.
And isn't the great tribulation a short time?
He says he's shortened the days so that some people could actually be saved
because if he doesn't, then no flesh would be saved, right?
So there's three pictures I want to show you here in the scriptures,
and of course John 6 is one of those pictures.
Now let's look at Leviticus 25.
So we're going past kindergarten,
and we're going all the way up to the seventh grade here.
So the first picture that you're going to see in the Old Testament
of the post-trib pre-wrath rapture is in Leviticus chapter 25 verse 9.
So the trumpet of Jubilee was to be sounded how often?
Every 50 years, right?
And liberty is proclaimed and then the people will be returned to their possessions
whatever lot they had.
Then all things are given back to the people that originally owned them,
whether if you were supposed to, you know, if you lent out your land or whatever,
the people are going to give that back to you, right?
That's what Jubilee is.
Look at Leviticus chapter 25 verse 9.
It says, Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound
on the tenth day of the seventh month.
In the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
So tenth day, seventh month.
And he shall hollow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land
unto all the inhabitants thereof.
It shall be a Jubilee unto you and he shall return every man unto his possession
and he shall return every man unto his family.
So it's a great picture of the rapture here because, you know, the trumpet sounds, right?
You're supposed to sound the trumpets in the tenth day of the seventh month
and proclaim liberty to all the inhabitants thereof.
So, you know, that day that you've been waiting for, that great day,
that Jubilee is going to be upon you and it says return every man to his possession.
So what we inherit is going to be inherited, right?
And he shall return every man to his family.
The people that, you know, we love that are saved,
we're going to see those people again someday
and we're going to see each other in heaven someday.
You know, maybe some people you want to wait for a few thousand years
before you talk to them, but eventually we're going to talk, right?
Anyway, I'm just joking.
But verse 11 says,
A Jubilee shall be, or shall that fiftieth year be unto you?
You shall not sow, neither reap, that which groweth of itself,
nor gather the grapes in it of thy vineyard undress.
For it is the Jubilee, it shall be holy unto you.
Ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
In the year of the Jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.
So now the year of Jubilee is every fifty years,
but it's in the tenth day of the seventh month.
Now the Hebrew calendar of, again, 360 days in one year.
So why is that important?
Well, turn to, well actually just turn to Numbers chapter 10 first
and then we're going to go to Leviticus chapter 23.
But the midpoint of the Hebrew calendar is what's called the blowing of the trumpets.
So there are certain feast days that when they left Egypt,
God said you're going to keep the Passover and then all these different feasts.
Well the Feast of Trumpets, which is not the Feast of Jubilee,
but the Feast of Trumpets was exactly at the halfway point of the year.
So the halfway point of the year they're supposed to blow these trumpets.
Look at Numbers chapter 10.
Here's the reason why you would blow trumpets.
Here's what it says in Numbers chapter 10.
And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you,
then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets,
and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God,
and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
So what's the point of the Israelites blowing the trumpets?
To sound an alarm when they're being oppressed by their enemy
and God will remember you and he'll save you from your enemies.
Isn't that what he does in the tribulation?
Everybody's about to die.
Everybody's running for their lives from these people that are killing them and beheading them.
And Jesus Christ is going to come back and save those people.
So there's a trumpet that sounds.
Now look at Leviticus chapter 23 verse 23.
Leviticus chapter 23 verse 23.
So what is the picture?
Well, the picture is that the Jubilee pictures the post-trib pre-wrath rapture.
Why? Because it's not the exact halfway point of the Hebrew calendar,
but it's halfway plus a little bit extra.
So look at Leviticus 23 verse 23.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
In the seventh month, in the first day of the month,
shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, and holy convocation.
So this is just one of the feasts that they're supposed to do.
But when is it? The seventh month, in the first day of the month.
When do they blow the trumpet of the Jubilee?
Remember it was the tenth day of the seventh month.
So it's not halfway point, but it's a little bit after.
So remember the 75 days after the 1260,
after the midpoint where the abomination of desolation happens,
75 days of tribulation, Jesus comes back.
Here you have the picture of, it's not when they blow the trumpets.
When they blow the trumpets, it's when the antichrist is here,
they're trying to kill us, God remember us.
And then on the tenth day, you blow the trumpet of Jubilee.
That picture's the rapture, that picture's our liberty,
that picture's us being in our possession,
and the blessing that we've been waiting for, right?
So that's the first picture. Look at verse 25 though.
It says, Ye shall do no servile at work,
but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
Okay, that doesn't matter.
But anyway, so the first day of the seventh month,
I hope you're following what I'm saying here,
but the first day of the seventh month was the feast of the blowing of trumpets.
It's exactly the midpoint of the Hebrew calendar.
So the tenth day, the seventh month is the Jubilee.
So 1335 divided by 7 is 190 days.
How many days are in that year of a 360 calendar?
180, right? That's 190.
So the math is what? There's 10 extra days added on.
You're like, well, how does that make sense to anything?
Well, it's not the exact half, is it?
It's a little bit further.
But see, people will say that we believe in a mid-trib rapture,
but we don't believe that.
We believe it's after the tribulation.
Now turn to Revelation chapter 2, verse 10.
I mean, do you think that's accidental?
Do you think it's accidental?
It helps us to understand from pictures, right?
What's the clear verse?
The clear verse is Matthew 24, verse 29,
where it says it's after the tribulation.
But we can use these things to help us and bolster our belief
on what the Bible says and know that we're right.
Because, you know, there's been people that have left our church,
believe it or not, that say that they've gone back from what they believed
and now go back to the pre-trib rapture.
There's a couple people we had a mark in our church in Canada
that went back to the old IFB and believed the pre-trib doctrine.
Where's the picture of the pre-trib doctrine?
Where's the pre-trib doctrine in Scripture?
Like, that's all they want to use as pictures.
Well, John, the horn blew and John went up to heaven or whatever.
It's like, ooh, yeah, show me some more clear ones.
It's like, that's not clear. That's retarded.
Where's your clear Scripture, Bozo? Seriously.
Where's the clear Scripture where it says Jesus is coming back in the clouds,
nobody's going to see him, it's going to be secret,
all your clothes are going to fall on the floor,
people are flying jets or the jets are going to crash
and people are going to look at piles and go, where did they go?
I mean, that's just idiotic.
But most people, that's what they believe
because they're believing false teachers, they're taking commentaries
and even the King James commentaries with the Schofield Bible,
that's where it came from, folks. It came from the Schofield Bible
and John Nelson Darby and some charismatic Irish lady
that had a dream that was crazy or something.
I mean, that's your history?
You're like, well, it's always been taught like that.
Well, where's the clear verse then?
John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
That's a clear Scripture.
Whosoever believeth in Him, you won't go to hell.
You'll have everlasting life.
That's a clear Scripture. We can rest our hat on that.
There's plenty more in the book of John.
I've already showed you that before.
But you have to base what you believe on clear Scripture.
And so, for someone, it's mind-numbingly stupid to me
that you would go back to the old IFB and say,
I believe the pre-Trib rapture.
You're just weak. That's what it really is.
You just want to go back there so someone could babysit your kids in the nursery.
You're weak.
So, Revelation 2.10. Sorry, I went off on a little tangent there.
Revelation 2.10. The Bible says,
Fear not of those things which thou shalt suffer.
Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation.
How many days? Ten days.
Now, that might not make sense to you,
but if you just look at what I just showed you from Leviticus chapter 23,
Leviticus chapter 25, and Numbers,
that you have that 190 days past the 180.
Ten days. Isn't that ten days?
And so, that kind of unlocks the mystery for us.
Why is it saying ten days?
Because the tribulation isn't ten days,
but if you put it in perspective of a half of a year,
then that is going to work out right in the math.
It says, Be thou faithful to death, and I'll give thee a crown of life.
What's it talking about?
Well, we're going to go through tribulation and be faithful to the death.
John chapter 6, verse 16.
So, we're back in our chapter now.
I'm going to gently land the plane here.
So, thinking about those things,
and how they picture the post-trib pre-rath rapture.
Does the picture of the Jubilee picture a pre-trib rapture?
No, because at the halfway point, they're blowing the alarm trumpets.
God help us!
You know?
And then, the tenth day, he's like,
I'm coming to get you!
Because at the last trump, Christ comes back, right?
Isn't that what the Bible says?
So, now, we're in John, verse 16.
Look what it says.
And when even was now come,
his disciples went down unto the sea,
and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.
And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
Because remember, Jesus went up to the mountain, right?
And the sea arose.
So, that pictures Jesus going away to heaven, basically.
The disciples are on their own.
They're traveling in the sea, right?
And it says, when they went over the sea toward Capernaum,
and it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
So, what are they going through?
They're going through tribulation.
In other parallel passages, which I don't have time to go to,
but it talks about, hey, we're going to die, Jesus.
You know, come and get us in like the seas.
I mean, they think that they're going to die.
Because, you know, if you've ever been out on a lake or something,
or been out on a boat, and the water gets crazy,
and the wind starts coming, it is scary.
Like, you get the white caps,
and it's rocking your boat all over the place.
It's scary.
So, this great wind blows.
And so, when they had rode about five and 20 or 30 furlongs,
do you think that that's just coincidentally in there for no reason?
Five and 20 or 30 furlongs.
Then they see Jesus walking on the sea
and drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid.
So, they're going through great tribulation on their boat.
They think they're going to die.
Then they see Jesus coming after they've rode out
five and 20 or 30 furlongs.
So, what is a furlong?
Well, we just need to get rid of the King James
because we don't know those measures of measurements, right?
But what it is, it's an eighth of a mile.
And in the Bible, there is miles.
They don't use the metric system because it's stupid.
I know that euros like the metric system, but it's not better.
If someone compels you to walk a mile, walk with them twain.
I understand that, how long a mile is, right?
But anyway, so it's an eighth of a mile.
Most city blocks, most normal city blocks are one eighth of a mile.
So, then you can kind of count how far away you have to walk.
If you say, well, it's six blocks away, it's what, three miles, right?
Or, no, it's eight miles. What?
Neat.
Oh, you said neat. I thought you said eight.
I was like, I don't think that's the right math.
So, yeah, four blocks is a mile, right?
That's pretty easy.
I'm not a mathematician, obviously, but...
Eight blocks is a mile.
Eight blocks, yeah.
Okay.
Four blocks, yeah.
Yeah.
So, how far are they out there then?
They're 25 and 20 or 30 furlongs.
How far are they out there?
Three and a half.
How long?
Is it three and a half?
Huh?
Three and an eighth.
So, how wide was the sea?
Remember at the beginning of the sermon I said how wide was the sea?
It's seven miles.
How long is the final, the seven years?
Is the final end of time, right?
And then, they're 25 or 30 furlongs.
They're more than halfway.
They're more than halfway through the seven mile sea, right?
So, it's seven miles wide.
Why is the Bible zeroing in on that number?
Because it's not the midpoint of the lake.
It's after the midpoint of the lake.
That's when Jesus comes back to save them.
Amen.
So, there's the picture once again.
You know, you have the tribulation.
Ah, we're going to die.
And then Jesus comes back.
They're afraid, but then they see Jesus walking on the sea
and drawing nigh unto the ship.
They were afraid, but he saith unto them,
It is I, be not afraid.
Then they willingly received him into the ship.
Now, check this out.
This is really cool.
So, they willingly received him into the ship
and immediately the ship was at the land where they went.
They're gone.
All of a sudden, they're 25, 30 furlongs out
and all of a sudden, they're at the other side.
So, what is that a picture of?
It's a picture of us being taken out in the rapture.
See? Really cool, right?
Yes.
Amen.
So, yeah.
So, that's why it's important to know
how wide the Sea of Galilee is, I guess.
But let's look at, there's another one that I want to show you
if I have time here.
I think I have a little bit.
Well, I don't know.
It's kind of getting late.
You guys need to go to bed?
Let me try to get this one last one in here real quick.
Okay.
Daniel chapter 9, verse 2.
So, Daniel chapter 9, verse 2.
There's a prophecy that Jeremiah made
that was 70 years in the captivity of Israel, right?
So, Daniel 9, 2 says,
in the first year of his reign,
I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years
whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet
that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
70 years, right?
You all on the same page here?
70 years, right?
Yeah.
So, look at Jeremiah chapter 52, verse 31.
Now, remember Jehoiachin was taken captive
at the beginning of the captivity of the Babylonian captivity,
which was the first year of the 70 week prophecies.
Daniel just got done saying it was 70 years, right?
Now, Jeremiah chapter 52, verse 31 says,
and it came to pass in the seventh and thirtieth year of the captivity.
So, how long is it?
37 years into it, right?
What would half of the 70 be?
35, right?
So, this is 37, right?
Look what it says.
37 year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah,
in the 12th month, in the 5th and 20th day of the month,
that evil Merodach, king of Babylon,
in his first year of his reign,
lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah,
and brought him forth out of prison,
and spake kindly unto him,
and set his throne above the throne of the kings
that were with him in Babylon,
and changed his prison garments,
and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life,
and for his diet, there was a continual diet given him
of the king of Babylon every day a portion
until the day of his death all the days of his life.
So, for no apparent reason,
in the 37th year of Jehoiachin's captivity,
where he's eating bread of affliction,
he's probably wearing the same clothes that he wore when he got in there,
that sounds pretty gross, right?
But what does he do?
He comes in his affliction in the 37th year,
which is not the halfway point, right?
It's the halfway point plus a couple of years, right?
So now we're dealing with multiples of 10 here,
but he sets him, he changes his prison garments,
he set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him,
and he treated him kindly,
he gave him, you know, he's taking care of him, right?
Puts him in a position of status.
Now, the 70 years of captivity,
and then if you divide 70 into 37,
you come up with 0.528.
That's the decimal number.
So it's not the halfway point.
It's after the tribulation.
So, 3.7 miles.
Or, you know, 3.7, you know, mile...
Sorry, anyway, go to...
Let's go to Revelation chapter 7.
Revelation chapter 7.
If you get time, though, because I've got to end soon,
but if you get time, go to Revelation 6, 9 through 6, 14,
where it talks about the sixth seal and the earthquake
and the stars falling from heaven.
We'll check this out in thinking about Jehoiachin, right?
Revelation 7, 9.
After this I beheld and lo, a great multitude,
which no man could number,
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before the throne...
So didn't Jehoiachin stand before the throne of the evil Meredith?
And before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms on their hands.
So we get a change of garments when we go to heaven.
We're going to get white robes.
And it says, and palms on their hands, and cried out with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne,
and about the elders and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God,
saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,
What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
And whence came they?
Where did these people come from?
And chapter 6, we know that that was the tribulation
because people were getting their heads cut off, right?
And it says in verse 14,
And I said unto them, Sir, thou knowest.
And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation.
Ooh, it's Revelation chapter 7. What do you know?
More than halfway after the abomination of desolation.
So it says,
And have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
So their prison garments get changed.
We get the white robes.
Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
And they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.
Wasn't he probably hungry and thirsty when he came out
and the king gave him this portion of the meat?
Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat,
for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters,
and God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes.
So we have the clear scriptures.
You know, Matthew chapter 24, of course, verse 29.
And then we have these pictures.
There's probably more pictures.
I know there's probably one more picture that I didn't go through,
but I don't have time.
I'm going to have to kind of study up on that,
because I think I forgot what exactly the,
I think it has to do with, anyway, Jeremiah again.
But anyway, those are pretty clear, huh?
And the math all works out, doesn't it?
Does the math work out for a pre-trib rapture?
No, it doesn't.
Because you know why?
Because it's stupid.
Because it's not true.
That's why.
You know what's true?
The post-trib pre-wrath rapture.
And yeah, I mean, I would still fellowship with people to believe that.
I would still let people come to this church to believe that.
But once they start spreading that 11 in our church,
we'd have a problem.
So anyway, that's all I got for tonight.
And thanks for being here.
God bless you.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for this great church.
Lord, the mighty works that you're doing
through just a small amount of people, Lord,
we pray that you just continue to build this church here
in Seattle, Washington.
And Lord, that the people would have a zeal
to serve you and do great works for you, Lord.
I pray that you just help us to understand the nuances
and the hard things in the Bible.
Lord, that there's just a lot of meat.
There's a lot of doctrine in the Bible
that sometimes we just gotta dig those things out in the deep well.
But I pray that you just bless everybody as we go.
There's several ways.
Take care of us as we drive.
Some people are driving far distances.
I pray you bless us.
Watch over us.
Give us good fellowship.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Praise the Lord for that sermon.
And as a special treat, for our last song,
we're going to do 397,
a little as much when God is in it.
397.
397 on the first.
In the harvest field now ripen.
There's a work for all to do.
Hark, the voice of God is calling
to the harvest calling you.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it
if you'll go in Jesus' name.
Does the place you're called to labor
seem so small and little known?
It is great if God is in it
and he'll not forget his own.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it
if you'll go in Jesus' name.
Are you laid aside from service?
Worn from toil and care.
You can still be in the battle
in the sacred place of prayer.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it
if you'll go in Jesus' name.
When the conflict here is ended
and our race on earth is run,
he will say to all the faithful,
Welcome home, my child well done.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it
if you'll go in Jesus' name.
I want to thank everyone for coming out here to this evening's service.
Hope to see you on Saturday for soul winning.
If not, on Sunday for church.
With that, we'll go ahead and dismiss.
Brother Alex Korchick, will you pray for us?
Thank you for all that has come today.
Thank you.