(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good morning, welcome to the paper, thank you for being here, I'm turning your song book to song 119, till the storm passes by, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 190, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119 to song 119, to song 119, to song 119 to song 119, to song 119 to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119. to song 119. to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119. to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119, to song 119. sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treaded the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords and I saw an angel standing in the Sun and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great and I saw the Beast and the Kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army and the Beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his image these both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which saw it proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh Lord we thank you for bringing us together today Lord and we would just pray that you bless Pastor Anderson as he preaches your word and open our hearts and our ears so they so that we might receive your word Lord in Jesus name Amen man the title of my sermon this morning is Armageddon Armageddon now this is a word that is often thrown around or people will use this word even in popular culture but they don't really know what it means because I've rarely ever heard this word used in its proper context almost never is the word Armageddon referring to the event that is actually called in the Bible Armageddon so let's look at this as more first of all let's see where the word Armageddon comes from we're reading about Armageddon in chapter 19 but the word actually comes from chapter 16 so you have to go back a couple pages in your Bible to Revelation chapter 16 and just to help you get in the context of things here because I don't expect everyone here to be an expert on Bible prophecy or to have the book of Revelation down like the back of your hand so let me just give you a basic understanding of where we are in the book of Revelation obviously we're toward the end of the book so we're toward the end of the events here and so just a quick rundown of how the end times are gonna play out before I get into this the first thing we have in the book of Revelation regarding future events are the opening of the seven seals and when the seals are open it starts out with the Antichrist going out to conquer and then with the second seal you have a great world war peace is taken from the earth and the world is at war so you could call that World War three unless it's World War four or something like that but it could be very likely to be World War three right so there's going to be a world war there's going to be disease there are going to be earthquakes natural disasters so it's going to be a time of trouble known as the tribulation and it's going to be worse than anything that has ever been seen on this earth up to that point okay and that's an important key thing to keep in mind when you think about the tribulation is that the Bible says it is going to be tribulation such as was not upon the earth up to that time no nor ever shall be after that time so we have to understand that when we see minor things going on we don't want to be like is this a tribulation because it's gonna be something major okay unlike anything that's ever been seen now stop and think about all the bad things that have happened on this earth stop and think about the black plague in Europe or World War one World War two and these major wars and blood bats and major earthquakes tsunamis we have to understand that the real tribulation that the Bible is describing is going to surpass all of those things but what we have to understand is that it's not going to be characterized by supernatural events it is not supernatural in nature because when we look at the events of the tribulation it they involve wars those are not supernatural it involves earthquakes tidal waves disease these are not supernatural events okay so you say well how do we know then if we're actually in the tribulation well first of all it would have to be worse than anything that's ever come before it for you to know you're in the tribulation so if World War three ends up being more minor than World War one or World War two then you could say this isn't it because it has to surpass those things in its magnitude okay number one number two the Bible tells us that we will know for sure when we see the abomination of desolation and this is where of course the Antichrist declares himself to be God and of course there's going to be the mark of the beast and in order to get the mark of the beast you have to worship the beast you have to worship the Antichrist so if someone is taking some kind of a chip in their hand to get scanned to enter into a nightclub or something or to get scanned for their medical records hey there there may be a lot of other really good reasons to oppose doing that but it's not the mark of the beast unless you're worshipping the Antichrist to get it that's the main characteristic of the mark of the beast that involves worshipping the Antichrist okay so that happens there's a seven year period described in the book of Revelation I hope I'm making this simple as an introduction to put it in perspective there's a seven year period described in the book of Revelation and the first half of that seven year period is what's known as the tribulation characterized by like I said wars, famine, pestilence, the Antichrist taking over then at the midpoint is the abomination of desolation and then we have what's called great tribulation where persecution of believers takes place on a grand scale after that midpoint is when there's a great time of affliction tribulation and persecution of God's people but that period thank God is short-lived and the Bible says except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened meaning that if that were allowed to just run its course when the Antichrist takes over at that midpoint and starts persecuting God's people and by the way when I say God's people talking about Christians not Jews okay should go without saying but the you know you got to make that clear for some people we say persecuting God's people were talking about the Christians all right anyway if that were allowed to run its course I mean if that were just allowed to go on for three and a half years Christians are doomed right but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened that time period is going to be cut very short by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is going to come in the clouds the trumpets going to sound the rapture is going to occur we're going to be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord the dead in Christ shall rise first and after the rapture after Christ comes in the clouds then God's wrath begins to be poured out on this earth and this is going to be supernatural at this point okay so everything up to this point has been bad it's been rough it's been unlike anything the world's ever seen but it hasn't been the type of supernatural plagues that you see starting after Christ comes in the clouds after the rapture when God begins to pour out his wrath that's where it becomes a lot of just fire and brimstone and water into blood and all kinds of horrible things happening on this earth now of course I do believe that people will explain it away and say that it's a natural phenomenon that's taking place but there are definitely going to be major supernatural things happening where God is pouring out his wrath on this earth now we talked about the tribulation being described in seven seals okay but this period of God pouring out his wrath is described by the seven trumpets and the seven vials okay seven trumpets of God's wrath seven vials of God's wrath and again this involves a lot of fire and brimstone and blood and all kinds of horrible things going on now here's where we are in chapter sixteen in chapter sixteen we're at the very end of this process so we're getting to the very end of the seven years described in Revelation tribulation's over rapture has already happened God's already been pouring out his wrath people have been plagued with everything from locusts from hell to just armies of destroying fire breathing whatevers so we're to the point now where we're at the end of that process in chapter sixteen so we as Christians would have already been gone for years at this point okay but we get to chapter 16 verse 16 and this is with the right before the seventh vial which is the final phase of God's wrath in the seven vials it says in verse 16 and he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon so this is where we get that word right he gathers them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon who's he gathering let's back up to verse 12 and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet for they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty behold I come as a thief blesses he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk excuse me lest he walk naked and they see his shame and he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon so this place Armageddon is the place where the kings of the earth and the armies of the earth are being gathered together for this great battle and keep in mind this is after all these other things have taken place this is the very end okay in chapters 17 and 18 we have the judgment of Babylon and then in chapter 19 we have this battle of Armageddon so in chapter 16 they're being gathered together into a place for the events of chapter 19 to take place that place is called Armageddon that's why we call that incident in chapter 19 Armageddon now what does that mean Armageddon it says it's called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon well keep your finger in Revelation go back to Judges chapter 5 the book of Judges chapter 5 go back into the Hebrew Old Testament and find out about this place that's called Armageddon now first of all the word har the Hebrew word har means mountain so Armageddon is Mount Megiddo okay Mount Megiddo har Megiddon it just drops the H at the front and look at this place Megiddo it's mentioned multiple times in the Old Testament and here is one prominent mention in the Song of Deborah Judges chapter 5 verse 19 the Bible says the kings came and fought and then fought the kings of Canaan in Tenoch by the waters of Megiddo they took no gain of money they fought from heaven the stars and their courses fought against Sisera so this is a poem after Barak and them have defeated Sisera then Deborah's singing the Song of Victory in chapter 5 and here it talks about Kings being gathered together and fighting which is obviously symbolic of the big Armageddon that's coming at the end of the world and so kings are being brought together to fight and it says they fought from heaven the stars and their courses fought against Sisera and when we go to chapter 19 of Revelation and see Armageddon it's definitely a battle that's fought by people from heaven okay so again this is a foreshadowing all the way back thousands and thousands of years ago foreshadowing the Armageddon that's going to be fought at the end of the world so when we see Armageddon think of the place Megiddo and I'm not going to go to all the Old Testament mentions of Megiddo because there are too many but that's probably the most interesting one so back if you would to Revelation chapter 19 Revelation chapter 19 so they're gathered into this place Har Magadan the Mount of Megiddo and Megiddo literally means like a gathering place or a place where people are gathered together so that makes perfect sense it's a gathering of armies is what is meant there and that's what it literally is in chapter 19 so with all that background that was all just kind of introduction and background let's get into chapter 19 and see what Armageddon is all about look at verse number one and after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and honor and power under the Lord our God let me start out by pointing out what this word hallelujah means just like the the H gets dropped from Har Megiddon and becomes just Armageddon well slap an H on the front of this word and what do you get hallelujah okay hallelujah is what this is here and basically when you're reading the Bible in Psalms every time you read in Psalms praise ye the Lord and how often does that come up a lot right it's just praise you the Lord praise you the Lord praise you the Lord in the original language that's hallelujah basically praise ye jaw right jaw is the Lord yah-jah Jehovah and so it's saying praise the Lord so basically the people in heaven this great voice they're basically yelling out praise the Lord and so when we say hallelujah what are we saying praise the Lord all right that's what that means for true and righteous are his judgments for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and at thevenge the blood of his servants at her hand and again they said hallelujah and her smoke rose up forever and ever so this is looking backward at the things that have already happened in chapters 17 and 18 the great whore has been judged Babylon has been judged and people in heaven are praising God about that and what we need to understand is that the people that are in heaven they're not sinners now on earth we sin don't we why do we sin even after we're saved even after we believe on Jesus Christ even after we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us why is it that we keep sinning the reason that all of us keep sending myself included is because we live in our sinful flesh and so there's this battle going on inside of us between the flesh and the spirit and the flesh lusted against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would the things you want to do inside you want to serve God you love God you want to keep the commandments you want to do the right things if you're saved that's inside of you the new man the inward man but your flesh is constantly leading you in another direction and when we say the flesh we're also talking about the gray matter in your brain your physical brain as well that's called the carnal mind or the fleshly mind and so our brains and our bodies want to lead us into sin every single day and we have to every single day deny self walk in the spirit put on the new men how are you gonna do that if you don't read your Bible in the morning how are you gonna do that if you don't pray how are you gonna do that if you're just constantly filling your mind with worldly trash and not feeding the the spirit right so you got the new man and the old man the spirit and the flesh that's why we sin well guess what when you die physically and you go to heaven the flesh doesn't come with you thank God the flesh stays behind and so when you go into heaven you will enter sinless into heaven you're not gonna go there and be struggling with sin and stinking up the joint heaven's a perfect place and if sinners went there get ruined we are washed from our sins in the blood of Christ and once we're free of this flesh we're not gonna sin ever again so when we get to heaven we're in a place without sin and we will be a person without sin isn't that gonna be great we won't be just wishing for all you know man I just wish I could have a cigarette or something it's not gonna be like that because of the fact that it's the flesh that craves those things it's gonna be the new man that's up there and so you're not gonna have to worry about that so basically when we see the the voice of all these people in heaven praising the Lord this is a this is a pure kind of praise and worship there's nothing wrong with what they're we can't say well you know that's what they're saying but they're getting a little carried away up there folks they're not getting carried away these people are greater than us no matter how great we think we are because Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest man that was ever born of a woman but he said notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he so even the least person in this heavenly choir is greater than me and greater than you smarter than me smarter than you so we don't want to sit there and judge these people for what they're saying and what we see them doing is rejoicing in the downfall of Babylon and praising God about judging the great whore that corrupted the earth with fornication and that and avenging the blood of God's servants at her hand and I think the most powerful truth that we can take from this in chapter 19 here as we're saying about Armageddon here is to understand that everything God does is right everything he does is right if he does something positive he's right he does something negative he's right if he does something that blesses people and helps and strengthens people it's good and when he harms and injures and kills and destroys it's good people in heaven have the perspective of seeing that everything God does is right everything God does is good we on this earth are sometimes perplexed by things that God allows to happen or perplexed by some of God's judgments and statutes but the people in heaven are not confused about this they know they see the big picture and they understand that even when God does something bad from our perspective or bad toward the wicked he's right and justified to do that God's wrath is always justified you know we might look at at at God creating hell and say why would God create a place like that and you'll even hear people blaspheme God on this earth they will be blasphemous by saying well what kind of a God would create a place like hell and my answer that is the only kind of God that there is there's only one and it's the guy who created hell so guess what what kind of a God the real God the true God the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who created hell and now thinking about people going to hell is a hard thing to think about it's hard for me to wrap my mind around that it's hard for me to understand that it's hard for me to comprehend that but I guarantee you when we get to heaven we will say you know what those people deserve to go to hell and we'll understand it and it'll make sense to us and we'll be praising God and when we see Babylon destroyed when we see the great whore judged when we see wicked people and persecutors of Christianity judged we're gonna say hallelujah and we're gonna be praising God and again they said hallelujah and her smoke rose up forever and ever now some of these things already make sense to us right now you know because we can think of some super wicked people and we rejoice when they bite the dust don't we I mean even unsaved worldly people if some pedophile bites the dust they don't they say hey good riddance am I right you know I was talking to my wife and she was saying that typically you know if somebody kills a pedophile they typically don't get convicted by the jury you know even if even if they were driving drunk or doing something stupid or whatever you know a lot of times they get off the hook just because people are like I don't have any sympathy for that stinking pedophile you know hey some pedophile gets shot in Kenosha Wisconsin hallelujah and his smoke rose up forever and ever you know I'm already kind of getting in the spirit here with some of this you know why would I why would I lament and mourn someone who's clearly a reprobate as it was clearly over the cliff some evil pedophile Satan worshiper whatever you know what those kind of people they're gonna split hell wide open and honestly I have a hard time wrapping my mind around eternal hellfire I have a hard time thinking about lost people going to hell but in the end though I have faith in God to realize that everything God does is right all of his judgments are true all of his judgments are right and in the end it's all gonna make sense we're going to understand it and in the end we're gonna agree with God and say you know what God did the right thing now obviously you know we already agree with him easily on people like pedophiles and and and you know evil freaks and predators and wicked people when they die we see them get judged right away but most people you know obviously it's beyond our comprehension all of the things that God judges but we need to understand that everything God does is right and this is why it's so important that we not worry about the things that are happening in our world right now I'm not saying that we shouldn't be aware of what's going on I'm not saying that we shouldn't take precautions and know the times and and be on the right side of issues I get all that okay but what I'm saying is not to worry about it what do I mean by worrying about it I mean you're laying awake at night stressed out nervous about the election nervous about the way our country's going you know what God doesn't want us to live our lives in fear and worry and stress like that that's why the Bible says be careful for nothing be careful for not it's it it's not saying don't be careful it's not that kind of careful okay the word care when we say careful we mean like you're not doing dangerous things that's not but careful in the Bible means full of care and when we think of the cares of this world it's the stuff that you worry about so when the Bible says be careful for nothing if we were to bring that into our modern language you'd be basically saying don't worry about anything that's how you would translate that into 2020 English don't worry about anything now that's obviously hard to do but that's what the Bible says be careful for nothing don't worry about anything why he says let your request instead of worrying instead of stressing out about it just let your request be made known unto God just tell God what you want to see happen instead of worrying I oh man I hope this I hope that hey let your request be made known unto God just let God know what you want to see happen in any given situation let your request be made known unto God with prayer and supplication and Thanksgiving you just tell God what you want and it says the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus now why would just letting your request be made known unto God give you so much peace to where you're just not worried about anything I'll tell you why because if you believe that God is omnipotent all-powerful and you go to God and you know that God hears our prayers that he answers us that if we ask we'll receive that if we seek we'll find if we knock it shall be open if I go to God and say God this is what I want to see happen this is what I believe needs to happen and we tell that to God you know once God gets that opinion from us once God gets that request from us you know the balls in his court at that point and at the end of the day one or two things are gonna happen either number one he's gonna give us exactly what we want that sounds great can't complain about that or number two he's up in heaven thinking you know that's what you think you need that's what you think you want but I've actually got something better for you I've got a better plan and in the end you're gonna look back with me we're both gonna look back and you're gonna say you know what I like your way better I'm glad you didn't give me exactly what I said or asked for I'm glad that you gave me what I actually needed you actually did what was best for me and I ended up in a better place that is what's gonna happen so why would you worry if you believe that if you believe that you know it's taken care of you tell it to God and then you walk away and say you know what that's taken care of that's resolved that's okay and you go to bed and sleep like a baby okay because God knows what see God's not this genie in a bottle that messes with you you know if you've ever read the ancient you know Arabian Nights tales the thousand one Arabian Nights a lot of times the genie will take you a little too literally you know you'll ask him for something and he'll give you something that you don't want because he'll go by like exactly what you said or whatever I can't think of an example right now I don't think it matters but the point is God's not like that we're like oh that's what you want sure let me just give it to you even if it's gonna destroy you even if it's gonna mess you up because guess what we don't know how to pray as we ought we don't always know what we need God knows what we need now here's the thing you know we got the election coming up I think a lot of people are worried about this election and you're not gonna believe this but just like every other election that we've ever had in our whole lives this is the most important election of our lifetime isn't it always it's always like this is the most important election of our lifetime and if this thing goes the wrong way America it's the end of America I mean I've had several people tell me to my face hey this election is either America continues to exist or it doesn't that's funny because that was the same way the election was of Barack Obama back in 2008 that was gonna be the end of America and we had that turkey in office for eight years and here we are we're still here but isn't that what people are saying you've heard people say that right this is the end of America this is the most important election of our lifetime and I like the one where it's it's Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown this time I'm not gonna move the football Charlie Brown you know and he runs up and swings with all his might she moves the ball he falls on his head and makes idiot out of himself you know and somebody made a comic like that they say hey no this time voting is gonna make a difference this time I promise we're gonna fix it this time and I know that that makes people mad when I say that I know what I just said offends people well this is the most important election of our lifetime it is the end of America if Biden gets to that I don't even know Biden's even smart enough to end America you say well his handlers you know well guess what both sides have handlers all right and and here's here's the true story and and and and I mean this from the bottom of my heart okay I do not care who wins in November I don't care I don't care but and you say how could you say that I don't care because you know what I believe I believe that our country is being judged by God right now that's why this is such a bad year our country is being judged by God God is angry with our country we're not being blessed right now things are going bad and you know what God is allowing the events that are taking place right now in 2020 that are unfolding God's allowing these things to unfold and I don't know what his big master plan is I don't know exactly which way this thing's gonna go so I'm not gonna sit here and worry about you know what it'd be like it'd be like if I'm driving let's say I'm driving the car in a difficult situation right let's say I'm driving the car and there's ice on the road and it's a storm and it's you know where you're really you're paying attention and you're gripping the wheel and you're working hard and then imagine my kids in the backseat you know kind of paying attention and giving me tips five-year-old in the backseat giving me tips you think it's gonna help is it gonna matter it's just kind of like hey I got this you know but if I were the five-year-old in the backseat and my dad's driving I know he's got experience you know I'm just gonna sit back and take a nap in the backseat I'm taking a nap in the bottom of the ship like Jesus because I know that we're gonna make it to the other side Jesus told us that was we're going to the other side of this lake Lord save us we parents he already said they're going to the other side he's asleep in the bottom of the boat he doesn't even care now look the reason that I say I don't care who wins is because of this you know obviously I believe that that you know probably Trump getting elected is probably better for America I mean I think that's kind of obvious to anyone but here's the thing I think that Biden getting elected might be better for us spiritually because we need a kick in the pet we need a swift kick in the pants amen you know oh I just pray everything will go so well for America why so we can just get more wicked more degenerate yeah let's have Trump in office so we can be more financially prosperous so more people can slam the door in the face of soul winners and more people can say oh I'm good I'm good I'm alright I'm good you know there's a gated community right I mean you know you guys aren't supposed to be here right you know I mean here's the thing when the economy collapses more people are going to get saved and by the way when a guy like Biden is in the White House you know what people are going to be running scare Christians are going to be like oh man this is the end because they're already telling us at the end of America right so Biden gets elected maybe they'll get good and scared so that they quit being so apathetic and lame and let me tell you something with a guy and Biden with a guy like Biden in the White House who do you think people want to listen to preach guys like me or do they want to listen to some watered-down liberal preacher look with a guy like Biden in the White House you want to hear somebody rip some face when when when people are burning the city down you want to hear some when the rioting and the looting and the black lives matter or burning it all down hey you want to hear some face ripping preaching you don't want to hear a watered-down limp-wristed wimpy preacher and so here's the thing all it means if Biden gets elected is just that our church grows more people listen to my preaching more people get saved when we go out soul-winning all the right-wing neocon Republicans can wake up a little bit shake them up a little bit because they're asleep and not in a good way not like Jesus asleep not like resting in the Savior asleep but just asleep comforted by their financial prosperity and and and they got their Republican everything's all right in the White House you know because they've got their guy in the White House and they're just so happy to have a Republican in there even though the Republicans folks the Republicans and Democrats do all the same things de facto this is a fact they say very different things I mean I was there I like the Republican speeches a lot better than the Democrat speeches but but at the end of the day who spends more money you know who spends more money at the end of the day with all their talk about small government and whatever hey they both spend us into oblivion both sides at the end of the day who fills the White House staff and the embassies with queers both I mean Bush hired more queers than any president before him and then Obama took it to another level and now Trump has even appointed queers to higher levels of office than they've ever been appointed to he sent a queer ambassador to Germany I mean he literally did an interview this week where he said I've been the most pro-queer president in the history of America they may see that article you don't believe me then because I'm the only one person well you know what Google it because I've read it okay he is talking to the the log cabin Republicans telling them that he was the most pro-queer president he didn't use the word queer so you might you might have to Google it differently than that you have to use words that I don't use okay but he says the most pro-queer president and he said what are you trying to do pastor as it what are you trying to do you're gonna sabotage it hey you know what I don't affect this election vote if voting mattered we wouldn't be allowed to do it if voting changed it there's gonna be so much you know any dead people are gonna be voting in this election every corona death is a vote for Biden take that to the bank those those ballots are getting mailed in all right there's gonna be so much fraud hey I'm preaching to her what how many people are in this room about 300 oh yeah yeah last time I checked presidents don't win by 300 people and you know all the people are listening to me online and everything they're probably gonna go vote for Trump anyway even though I tell them it doesn't matter and it's vain and it's worthless and who cares they still are gonna even some of you are gonna do it all right most of you are gonna do it but but but the point is though what we understand it you say well why don't you vote pastor why'd you give up because you know what I'm I'm free I'm liberated okay here's the thing my freedom is more important to me than one vote for this candidate or that candidate hey I am mentally free and I don't care and I'm not worried about and you know what I focus on spiritual things the things of God the real battle because you know what if this country would please God he bless us it's that simple and so therefore I'm not worried about anything because like these people in Revelation chapter 19 I just know that whatever God allows to happen is the best thing and if God allows Biden to get in there look nobody thought Trump was gonna get elected four years ago it was like game over they were already announcing Hillary is the winner but you know what God can sway these things and God for some reason saw fit that Trump would be our president for the last four years he allowed that to take place he could have easily just you know caused inconveniences where Republicans couldn't make it to vote or just kind of just snapped his fingers and a bunch of Democrats get down there or vice versa he could cause all the Democrats to get a flat tire and and well they're not we know they're not on their way to work but you know that the ones who are you know on the way to get cigarettes into the liquor store on their way to vote and whatever but the point is you know all he has to do is just snap his fingers and he can he can do way more than I could ever do behind this pulpit to affect this election I don't care about this election it's meaningless to me because you know what if if if Biden gets elected I'm gonna wake up the next morning and say praise God I'm not even gonna care I'm not gonna be like oh man what's gonna happen we're all do all things work together for good to them that love God and that includes creepy Uncle Joe in the White House or even Donald Trump Donald Trump's a degenerate anyways a sleazy guy anyway who cares it doesn't matter because you know all I know is that it's all gonna work together for good for me say well that's selfish of you know cuz it's gonna work together for good for everyone that loves God and if any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ and let it be anathema if you love God it's gonna work out great for you if you don't love God well nuts to you then you're anathema anyway love God or be doomed love Christ or you're doomed quit worrying so much about the cares of this world and start caring about your standing with God that's what matters and get other people safe I'm not gonna go around campaigning for so-and-so you know I get all these phone calls throughout the week can I rely it can Donald Trump rely on you is he gonna be able to rely on you and would you do that would you hey this is the call we need to be getting hey can God rely on you to be out soul winning this week hey has God can God rely on you to be out knocking doors this November for Jesus I'm gonna knock doors for some candidate who's a liar who says he's gonna do one thing and he gets elected and does it different hey I'm gonna knock doors for Jesus Christ not gonna leave some door hanger for this candidate I'm leaving a door hanger for faithful word Baptist Church with the gospel on it and so let's get to Armageddon though okay I just really like that part at the beginning it's there for a reason hallelujah her smoke rose up forever and ever hey guess what that's America go watch the DVD Babylon USA America is gonna get smoked someday and you're gonna be cheering it on even you apple pie flag waving one of you guys will someday cheer Hollywood getting nuked all right you're going to but that's another sermon let's keep moving here and I heard as it were verse 6 the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundering saying hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife had made herself ready and her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of Saints and of course the righteousness of Saints is not our own righteousness it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed unto us verse number nine he saith unto me right blessed are they which are called under the marriage supper of the Lamb and he saith unto me these are the true sayings of God and I felt his feet to worship him and he said unto me see thou do it not I'm my fellow servant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy and I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he does judge and make war his eyes were the flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen white and clean and out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treaded the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now what do we see here so far? You say okay where's the battle? Where's Armageddon? Here's the thing. The battle is so short that the chapter doesn't really talk much about the battle. What is Armageddon? Armageddon is where Jesus Christ pretty much has allowed all these armies to be gathered together. Remember the Megiddo is this gathering place of these armies. Armageddon is simply where after the tribulation, after God's wrath has been poured out, he gathers together the armies of the evil kingdoms of this world and he gathers them all together and he basically just destroys them all. He just wipes them out immediately. He just takes out the trash. He just cleans house in but a moment. Jump down if you would. Let's jump forward to that. It says in verse number 19, I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he had deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and then that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Verse 21, this is it. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. So basically Jesus Christ shows up on a white horse followed by the armies from heaven, all the saved Christians from heaven following him on white horses. He shows up at this great battle where all these armies have been assembled and he basically just first of all takes the leadership. You know the beast and the false prophet, the ones who are leading these people. He takes the leadership and casts them alive into hell and then basically he just slays everyone else with the sword that proceeds out of his mouth. And basically the sword coming out of his mouth, that's his word. He basically just speaks the word and they all die. You know I don't know exactly what that looks like but he basically just speaks the word and through his word he just destroys them all and then the birds come and eat their carcasses. That's Armageddon. Now the reason I say people don't typically use it properly, I think if you ask most people, hey what's Armageddon? They're not going to tell you, oh that's where Jesus has assembled all the armies of the earth so that he can just speak the word and they all fall over dead and get eaten by scavenger birds. Most people when they think Armageddon, they're kind of just calling the whole end times Armageddon, right? They kind of think the end of the world is Armageddon or they would probably call the tribulation Armageddon or God's wrath being poured out Armageddon or these different things. But Armageddon, if you want to actually use it properly and understand what Armageddon is, Armageddon is just Christ's final victory over the Antichrist and his armies. That's Armageddon and it's not really much of a battle because there's no back and forth. Basically they're assembled, Christ just shows up and just wins. It's just a flawless victory. It's just over. So there's not really much to it, is there? Because obviously Jesus Christ has all power. How do you fight against an enemy that's omnipotent? All powerful enemy? You can't win. Omniscient enemy? You can't win. So why drag it out? Why draw it out? You know, he's not just going to toy with them, just fighting them for weeks, just messing with them. He just shows up and just kills them all. And he's like, alright, let's start the kingdom. You know, he starts the millennial reign in the next chapter. And so that is Armageddon. So let's back up just a little bit and touch on a few quick points before we're done. But he talks about here Jesus Christ coming on a white horse. It says in verse number 11, I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen clean and white and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations. Now who is this? Who are we talking about? Jesus, right? And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and here's a key phrase I don't want you to miss, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now don't miss that. Jesus treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. So let's stop and think about that. So Almighty God has got some wrath, right? God is a God of love, yes, but he's also a God of wrath. So God's up in heaven and he's got all this burning wrath. The Bible says our God is a consuming fire. So God is filled with wrath, and you say well that's Old Testament God. Okay, Old Testament God, it's the same God. Don't we see some examples in the Old Testament of God's burning and consuming wrath? So here we've got God filled with wrath. The Bible says in Psalms, God is angry with the wicked every day. So God's filled with wrath, Jesus comes along in chapter 19 of Revelation, and the Bible says that Jesus treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now what does it mean to tread? Don't tread on me, right? What does that mean? Don't step on me. Tread means to step, okay? So you know, it has a picture of a rattlesnake and it's saying hey, the rattlesnake will leave you alone if you leave it alone, but if you step on the rattlesnake it's going to bite you. That's the meaning of that don't tread on me slogan. Leave me alone or I'm going to fight back is what that means. So basically it's saying here that Jesus treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. So in ancient times they didn't have machines, they didn't have the Jacqueline Lane juicer. So in order to make juice, in order to make wine, in order to get these fruit juices, you would have to crush these things manually. And one of the typical ways that they would do that is they would have slaves or whoever stepping on grapes. So they'd put the grapes into the winepress and they would actually step on it and tread it. So they would step on it with their feet and they would trot it down and that's how they would make wine, by stepping on it. So this is being used as an illustration of God pouring out his wrath. Basically the grapes are the wicked. Jesus is the one that's going to step on them and they're going to go poof. That's what the Bible is describing here. Now who is it that executes God's fierce wrath specifically? It's Jesus. Am I right? I mean God the Father is the one who's mad and obviously Jesus is mad too. But you know God the Father's mad, right? And he's angry and he's got all this wrath toward the wicked, but who is specifically the one who's actually stepping on them? Who's actually crushing them? Who's actually executing God's fierce wrath? It's Jesus specifically. So again this just goes to show how foolish it is to have this idea that Jesus is kind of the peaceful component of God or that Jesus is the like come see the softer side of seers. You know it's like come see the softer side of God. It's like here's Jesus the softer side. So Jesus is like no actually I'm the one who's treading the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of all. What does fierce mean? Think about that word fierce. You know think about a lion or a bear or I mean you when you hear the word fierce if you talked about a dog as being fierce what do you picture just ahh. A fierce human you know the Bible talks about people that were fierce. You know we're talking about somebody who's going into battle and they are not taking any prisoners. Fierceness and wrath of almighty God. Don't try to separate God the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit in such a way that they don't share these key attributes and try to say well you know that's how God is but Jesus is nicer. No because they both excel in love. God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all maxed out in love, maxed out in wrath toward the wicked, maxed out in grace, maxed out in mercy. I mean they already epitomize these attributes to perfection. So it's not like you know God the Father has mercy level 90 and Jesus is at level 100. They're both maxed out. They both have a full bar of mercy. I'm speaking of the video game generation you know my generation. You know they both have a full bar of mercy, grace, love and also wrath, fierceness and judgment. And so don't make a mistake about that. So let me tie all this together. Why am I preaching on Armageddon? Why are we in Revelation 19? Why are we looking at Jesus on a white horse ready to just slaughter the wicked and tread the fierceness and wrath of God? Why are we looking at chapter 19 where it talks about the great whore being judged? The Greek word there is kamala. No I'm just kidding. Just kidding. I would just mean camel if anything right? But anyway you know why are we talking about you know hallelujah there's smoke rose up everywhere. The thing that I really want to get across to you today is this great truth that everything that God does is right. Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, they know best. God is right and God is in control. Okay now I'm not saying that God's orchestrating all the events because obviously a lot of sinful and wicked people are orchestrating a lot of things. But what I'm saying is that whenever God wants to he can rein those people in. He allows things to take place for his ultimate end. And so I know right now a lot of people are worried right now. I mean 2020 is the year when people are probably more worried than ever. This is the weirdest year in my lifetime. I think you know I talked to my dad it's never been this weird in his lifetime. And our country's been through some wild things but I think this is the wildest year ever. And look I know people are worried right now, they're worried about the election, they're worried about the rioting, they're worried about the looting, they're worried about the economy. I mean look something's got to happen with this economy. How can the economy survive what's happened over the last six months? I mean there are going to be repercussions. I mean you know restaurants have a pretty low profit margin. If you know anything about the restaurant business, they have a pretty low profit margin. And let me tell you something, the restaurants are empty. I mean you go out to eat, they make it hard, it's social distance and not as much in Arizona. Man, try going out to eat in LA. We had to go to like five restaurants and we ended up tailgating it because no one, we couldn't eat inside anywhere. And I mean they're hurting. Even just taking a small, what about the airlines? Hey I've flown a few pastes over the last couple months and the airport's a ghost town. LAX! Ghost town. Rental car, ghost town. Hotel, ghost town. And these aren't necessarily companies that are making huge profits all the time. A lot of them are just kind of like right on this little profit margin where they're just making a little bit. Eventually all these bills are going to come due. And then these multi-trillion dollar bailouts. I mean somebody's got to foot the bill for that too. Folks, we don't know what's coming. And you say, well you sound like you're trying to worry us and get us scared. No, because you know what? It doesn't matter what I bring up, none of it should scare us. You know, what if I told you that coronavirus is going to come back in the fall and winter with a vengeance and kill twice as many people, four times as many people, ten times. Hey, you know what? At the end of the day, I'm in God's hand. And you have to get to that point where that's how you feel, where you have peace. Hey, if you don't have the peace of God that passeth all understanding, you're not doing it right. Because the Bible says that if I'm careful for nothing and let my request be made known unto God, the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep our hearts and minds to Christ Jesus. And I'm not saying that I'm perfect about that, but I do consider myself a pretty peaceful person as far as I sleep well. I sleep like a log. You know, if somebody breaks into my house, my wife's going to have to kill them. And I'm going to just get up to clean up the mess or something, you know? She'll already have killed everyone before I, the battle's going to be, by the time I wake up, she'll have just, you know, Kyle Rittenhouse, everybody that comes to my house to break in, okay? But you know what? We should strive for having peace in our hearts. Make that your goal this year. You know, look, you want to get something good out of this year, you know what you should learn from the year 2020? You know what you should make a goal? I'm going to become a peaceful person to where no matter what happens, nothing phases me. Nothing moves me and I don't worry about stuff. This is the year that I learned to trust God with my situation. This is the year when I learned what it means to take my burden to the cross and just leave it there and just get on my knees and pray for God to do what I want and then I just walk away and say, hey, the ball is in his court. That should be, that'd be a great goal for this year, to get to that peaceful place in your heart where you're not stressed, you're not worried, you're not tossing and turning and you just accept the things that you can't change and just say, you know what? Whatever God does, you know what? He knows what he's doing and he's not going to tempt me above what I'm able and God can protect, even if, even if the city goes up in flames, he can protect you. And personally, I don't think Phoenix is going to go up in flames anyway. You know, I think some other cities are going to go up in flames because, you know, places where, where the police are standing down and just allow, and here's the thing, you say, we got to get Trump elected. Okay, great. Hey, hey, great. Okay, great. Okay. What's going to happen the day after Trump gets elected? What do you think is going to happen? It's going to be a lot of rioting, looting. It's going to be, it's going to be crazy now, not necessarily here because hopefully our police would actually, you know, uh, keep order when the time comes and do their, do that. They've trained their whole life for this, you know, right, amen. But man, there, there are going to be some other cities though, where it's going to be off the hook. And not only that, but then, or, or Biden gets elected, well, that's going to come with its own set of problems. But at the end of the day, you know, I'm just, I'm just eating popcorn and just enjoying the show. If I look at the news, it's only for entertainment purposes. Is really the thing, this is the only thing that ends up being super relevant for me, you know, and, and, and I would, I just want to challenge it. And I know some people are probably offended by some things that I said in the sermon and some people are going to go away a little bit mad and Pastor Anderson doesn't realize that this really is the election that matters, you know, you know, I know it's just, I just wish Pastor Anderson would realize that it really is the end of America and all this stuff. You know, I know there's going to be people who are thinking that, but you know what? Okay, go away thinking that I'm wrong. That's okay. Go away thinking that I'm wrong. But I just want to challenge you this morning, because I think we can all agree on this. I want to challenge you to become a peaceful person. And what I mean by that is that basically you, the whole world is in flames around you and you're just like, this is fine. That's why I would challenge you to be that, that person. You know what I mean? Where bombs are going off, everything's exploding around you, it's on fire and you know, you're just like, you know what? I'm a child of God. I love God. All things work together for good to them to love God. Let's see what happens. Be a peaceful person and don't, don't worry, don't stress. It's bad for your health. When you're worried, you're not sleeping right, you're getting an ulcer, sick to your stomach, heartburn, hey, relax, chill out. And you know what? Maybe some of you might need to just turn off the news and social media and take a chill pill. Now, if you can do it for entertainment purposes and stay chill, then do it. But you know what? I'd rather, if I couldn't, if I were a person where I just can't handle it, just stressing me out every day, the headlines, because there's some wild headlines. You know, I would just turn it off and just be peaceful. You know, go lay in the backyard and look at the clouds for a while instead of looking at the news. Read your Bible, pray, relax, enjoy. Become a peaceful person. Be careful for nothing. Don't stress, don't worry. Because even if the things that you dread happen, all the things that you fear come upon you. At the end of the day, you're going to be in this crowd in Revelation 19, and you know what you're going to be saying? True and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord. Hallelujah. Hey, good job wiping out the whore. Good job destroying those who persecuted Christians. Hey, good job casting all the unsaved into hell. You're going to applaud every step of the way, and you're going to look back at everything bad that happened in your life that God allowed to happen, and you're going to say, you know what? I'm glad. I like the way God handled that, because everything that God does is right. Everything God does is right, and God can intervene whenever he wants. And if he doesn't intervene, and he allows the bad things to happen, then it's just something that he is allowing for whatever the reason, and we just need to just sit in the backseat and buckle up and shut up and let him drive the car. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter about Armageddon, Lord. It doesn't really go down in history as one of the great battle chapters of the Bible, because it's kind of a short battle, one verse. So Lord, help us to just take away from this powerful chapter the fact that you are almighty, you are omnipotent, you are in control, you're as mad as we are about the wicked things that are going on in this world. In fact, you're even madder than we are. Lord, help us to just trust you and realize that whatever you do is right, whatever you decide is right, whatever you allow to happen this fall, whatever you allow to happen this November, whatever happens with the economy, Lord, amen. I'm just thanking you in advance for whatever's going to happen, no matter how ugly it is, because I know that in the end, you have the best interests of those that love you at heart, Lord. Thank you for always looking out for us, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Jesus, save your pilot me, Overlight them that you see, Arm the blaze before me, Lord, Hiding from your treasure's shore, Chard and come to some free, Jesus, save your pilot me, As a mother stills her child, Thou canst touch the ocean wild, Voiceless waves, obey Thy will, When Thou says to them, Be still, Wond'rous sovereign of the sea, Jesus, save your pilot me, When at last I hear the shore, And the fearful breakers roar, Twist me in the peaceful rest, Then while leaning on my breast, May I hear thee say to me, Fear not, I will pilot thee. Jesus, save your pilot me, Overlight them,