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

Song number 429, Park the Herald Angels Sing. If you are able, let's all stand together for this first song. Song number 429, Park the Herald Angels Sing. Everyone all together nice and strong, nice and loud to the Lord this evening on that first verse. Park the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. With angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Park the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold Him come, offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, veiled incarnate Deity. Pleased as men with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Park the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King. Hail the half-born Prince of Peace, hail the Son of Righteousness. Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give a second birth. Park the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King. Come desire of nations come, fixing us thy humble home. Rise the woman's conquering sea, bruising us the serpent's head. Adam's likeness now effaced, sent fine image in its place. Second Adam from above, reinstate us in my love. Park the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King. Amen. Great singing. Let's open our service with the word of prayer. Father, thank you Lord so much God for allowing us God to be here tonight Lord and hear your word preached unto us God and sing these praises unto you Lord that remind us of you coming to earth for us Lord God. And Lord we pray God that you would bless the service Lord every aspect of it God that you would fill past you with your Holy Spirit Lord as He preaches to us God and help us to be attentive tonight Lord that we would apply that which we hear to our lives Lord and leave here differently only came in God. We love you Lord and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Song 423, Joy to the World. Song 423, Joy to the World. Everyone all together on that first verse. Joy to the world the Lord is come. Let earth her seed were king. Let every heart prepare him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the world the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ. While field and flood, while field and plain. Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows grow. For thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow. Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. Far as, far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace. And makes the nations prove. The glories of his righteousness. And wonders of his love. And wonders of his love. And wonders, wonders of his love. Alright, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements here. Before we sing our next song, which will be 424, O Come All Ye Faithful. If you want to get that ready in your song books. 424. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand. One of the ushers can get one for you. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. You see the so many times and teams and the list of expecting mothers. If you can keep those ladies in prayer. And of course, the important reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you read that. And then some of the upcoming church events. Of course, this coming Sunday is our Christmas Eve service. And so after the Sunday morning service, we will have Mediterranean food for lunch. And so stick around for a little bit. And then of course, we're still going to have regular zoning on Sunday. But on Sunday evening, the service of course is at regular time at 5 p.m. But then we're also going to have dinner afterwards. We're going to have alligator for those who are bold enough to try that out. But for those of you who are squirming and afraid to eat such an exotic animal, we do have just regular burgers for everyone else. And so we're looking forward to that. Stick around for the Christmas Eve services on Sunday morning, Sunday night and fellowship. We're looking forward to it. And then of course, the following Sunday is our New Year's Eve service. Make sure you're here. Finish the year strong in church. And so we're looking forward to those services there. Friday, January 5th is the men's prayer night. That'll be at 7 p.m. at the church building. And then in January, Friday, January 26th is Sarah and Giovanni's wedding. Please make sure you RSVP by December 31st. And then we'll make it easy for you right there. There's a QR code that you can scan there so they can get a headcount of everyone who's coming. And if you have any questions about the wedding, you can see Brother Maury Lemons about that. And then you see the regular reminders are at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. We'll go over the prayer sheet briefly and then Brother Gio is going to come up and pray over the needs here. Please continue to pray for our church corporately that we just finished the year strong. Of course, there's a lot of needs of the church. Just the sowing, of course, the protection, but more importantly, the spiritual and American growth of the folks in our church. And pray that everyone finishes 2023 strong and that they would be resolved to keep their New Year's Eve resolutions. Amen. Especially more specifically, the spiritual resolutions that people have, whether that is reading the Bible more, going soul winning, coming to church more often. And so pray for that. Pray to that end that the folks in our church would grow in that area and not treat 2024 just as any other year. But they would add something to that, add to their faith virtue, to virtue knowledge and so forth. And just kind of challenge themselves to continue to grow in the Lord. And then, of course, the church family member or excuse me, church family prayer requests there at the bottom. Of course, a lot of different needs. And I think one of the biggest need that we have at the end of the year is just for people to get well. A lot of people have been out sick. And so pray for people to recover and to get back to work, get back to church and all that. And so please keep that in prayer. And then if you have any additional prayer requests, you can put that at the bottom, tear that off and put it into the offering plate. We'll make sure that it gets on there for the following week. And please make sure that you let us know what prayers have been answered here on the sheets so we can cross that off and let the church know. And so that's pretty much it. Brother Gio is going to come on up down and pray over these needs. Our heads have a word of prayer. Dear God, Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, Lord, and thank you for keeping us safe as we travel the church tonight. We just thank you for all the blessings you've given us and just the church that we have here. Lord, we just thank you. Pastor Mejia and just the blessing it's been to be a part of First Works and seeing a lot of people saved, Lord, as a church. Thank you, Lord, for that. We also just pray, Lord, for the soul winning and the soul winning teams, Lord. We just pray that especially during this new year, as people have new year's resolutions, we just pray that those people that maybe don't go soul winning or they're not talkers, Lord. We just pray that they have a burden inside of them to learn how to preach the gospel and to become a talker, Lord. We just pray that during this next year that people can really invest into their soul winning or maybe even just start going out soul winning, Lord. We just pray that you just set that burden inside of them, Lord, so they can learn and go out and preach the gospel, Lord. We also pray for the missions trips, Lord, and obviously we want to go to Mexico in the near future, Lord. So we just pray that the door remains open unto us, that we could have the funds and also the missionaries to go out there, Lord. And we just pray that you keep it open and keep it receptive to us so that we can see a lot of people saved, Lord. We also just pray for the protection of our church and church families, Lord. We just pray, you know, a lot of us travel far, Lord. We just pray that you just keep us safe as we travel to church and as we go about our day to day lives. We just pray that you keep us safe, have a hand of protection over us, Lord. We also pray for new people, Lord, especially with the people I've been reaching, Lord, on a weekly basis. We just pray that as they start coming to church that they can start coming, you know, even through to thrive, especially with new goals, with a new year, Lord, a fresh start. We just pray that, you know, people that maybe only come once service, that they can start coming more often, Lord, and they just start growing spiritually, Lord, that they can start soul wanting and coming to church more often, reading their Bible more, Lord. We just pray that they grow spiritually as well, Lord. We also pray for salvation of unsaved family and friends, Lord. There's always somebody in our lives that we know that maybe haven't heard the gospel or maybe they have heard it and they rejected it, Lord. We just pray that you soften their heart toward the gospel, if that's the case. Or maybe if they haven't heard it, that especially during this Christmas season, Lord, that they just kind of think about what Christmas is really about, Lord, the birth of your son, Lord. And we just pray that potentially that they could get saved, Lord, and their hearts just softened to the gospel, Lord. We also just pray for the barren women, that you could open their womb, Lord, and we just pray that we continue to see a lot of babies, especially the babies we had this year. We thank you for all the newborns that we have and all the babies that grew up this year, Lord. And we also just pray for our expecting mothers that are giving birth next year, Lord. We just pray that you have a hand of protection over them and they have a safe delivery, Lord. And we just thank you for the blessing of all the babies that we have in our church, Lord. And lastly, Lord, we just want to pray for all the people in our church that are sick, especially during the end of the year with the change in the weather, Lord. We have a lot of sicknesses right now, Lord. We just pray that you heal them and you allow them to get back into church, Lord, and that you could just ultimately keep us all safe and healthy, Lord. And we just pray now that you feel past me with your Holy Spirit. We pray that you preach boldly unto us, Lord, and you give the congregation ears to hear. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. So our third song will be song number 424, O Come All Ye Faithful. All right, song of 424, O Come All Ye Faithful. Song 424, everyone all together, nice and strong. O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the King of Angels. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation. O sing all ye bright hosts of heaven above. Glory to God, all glory in the highest. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning. Jesus, to Thee be all glory given. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Amen. This time, the ushers will collect the offering. Tonight will be in Joel, chapter number 3. Joel, chapter number 3. Joel, chapter number 3. Joel, chapter number 3. Joel, chapter number 3. Joel, chapter number 3. Joel, chapter number 3. Good evening. We're in Joel, chapter 3. And the Bible reads, For behold, in those days and in that time when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will compete with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted My land, and have cast laws for My people, and have given a boy fire in Harlot, and sold a girl for wine that they might drink. Yea, and what they have to do with Me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine, will ye render Me a recompense, and if ye recompense Me swiftly and speedily, will I return your recompense upon your own head, because ye have taken My silver and gold, and have carried into your temples My goodly pleasant things. The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem shall be sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. Behold, I will raise them out of the place where they have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head, and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and I shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off, for the Lord hath spoken it. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles. Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up, beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about, thither cause thy mighty ones to come down. O Lord, let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, get ye down, for the press is full, the fats overflow. For the wickedness is great, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem. For the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore. It shall come to pass through that day, that the mountain shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion. Thank you Heavenly Father for the book of Joel dear God, and thank you for the Bible, thank you for every precious word, and thank you for our pastor. We ask that you please bless him tonight as he preaches your word unto us, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Joel chapter 3 this evening, and we are concluding the book of Joel tonight. And here in chapter 3, the vast majority of the chapter is spent on talking about essentially the sins of some of the surrounding nations that have persecuted Judah and Jerusalem, and then a good portion of it also is dedicated to essentially God calling out these nations to fight. And it's a pretty interesting chapter, I like this part of the book of Joel, because it kind of shows that God is a man of war, because he's calling them out, he's like assemble yourselves to fight, and he's telling them to beat their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears, and even tells them, you know, those who are weak, let them say I am strong. Essentially telling them, hey, those of you without confidence in the war, make sure you gain some confidence, because we're gonna fight. And so it's a great chapter in that regard, and of course later on, we're gonna see some of the foreshadowing of end times prophecy. Now if we were to look at this from a chronological perspective, as far as how it foreshadows end times, we know that chapter 1 and chapter 2 spends a good amount of time talking about the day of the Lord, which is synonymous with judgment, God destroying whether his people or the surrounding nations, but it's also synonymous with the resurrection and the rapture in the New Testament. And so if we were to look at that, as far as Daniel 70 of the week is concerned, that takes place somewhere around the middle after the abomination of desolation is set up. A little bit after the abomination of desolation is set up, approximately 75 days thereafter you have the rapture, then you have three and a half years of God's wrath being poured out via the seven trumpets and seven vials, the three of which, the last of those is referred to as the three woes. You have the destruction of Babylon, and then you have what's called the Battle of Armageddon. And I believe chapter 3 is actually focusing a lot on that particular battle here in this particular chapter. And so chapter 1 and chapter 2 deal with the day of the Lord, but then you have chapter 3 kind of skipping over to the Battle of Armageddon and really talking about God bringing again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, which is something that takes place after the Battle of Armageddon because you have the millennial reign where, for example, the 12 disciples are sitting on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel in the physical land of Israel at that time. And of course, Jesus Christ is here on this earth at that point. And so that's what chapter 3 is really talking about is the Battle of Armageddon. So we're going to be jumping back and forth from Joel chapter 3 to the book of Revelation 14, 16, and 19. If you want to get those ready real quick, if you want to put a bookmark in those areas, we're going to go to those chapters in just a bit. But let's go ahead and talk about the immediate fulfillment in chapter 3. What is it specifically referring to? Well, look at verse number 1, it says, For behold, in those days, in that time when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted my land. So right off the bat, in their immediate future, you know, this could be talking about the Babylonian captivity, which is one of the most famous captivities in the Bible, in the Old Testament, where God judged his people by allowing a foreign nation, the Babylonians, to come and to take Judah and Jerusalem into captivity for 70 years for their disobedience and to allow the land to rest for 70 years. Well, at the end of those 70 years, God allowed them to come back because of the fact that they believed on the Lord. And that's, of course, when they started to rebuild the temple under the sanctioning authority of King Cyrus the Great. And then, of course, you have them back in the land, and then God begins to judge the nations that essentially were used to judge Israel. That's basically the pattern in the Old Testament. God uses a foreign nation to judge Israel, but then he also ends up judging those nations as well. Kind of showing us that God is essentially, you know, he is all-powerful, omnipotent, and he essentially does what he wants with all nations. And he can use a wicked nation to judge his people and essentially get them back later on, you understand? And, of course, we know that these nations obviously are being influenced by God to judge his people, but they're obviously operating under their own autonomous volition as well. They want to go and judge Israel and take them into captivity as well. And so we see that as the immediate fulfillment there is the fact that Judah and Jerusalem went into captivity, and then God promises them that they will be retrieved once again in the future. That did take place, but the stipulation there was that they had to believe on the Lord, and that's always been the stipulation. In order for them to go back to Israel, the condition was that they had to believe on the Lord. You say, how do you know they believed on the Lord? Well, it's because of the fact that they're crying out to God in captivity, right? And so as they're crying out to God in captivity, God hears their cry, he allows them to return, and then he restores them once again. And then, of course, verse 2 is talking about the fact that he's going to judge these surrounding nations and he talks about the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which I believe is actually referring to the Battle of Armageddon. It's foreshadowing the Battle of Armageddon, but it's also referring to some future battle, some future judgment in their immediate future where he's going to judge the surrounding nations for persecuting Israel. Now, obviously, this is something that already took place, but here's the thing is that it also foreshadows what's going to take place in the future in a broader way, right, in a broader context, because here is only subject to that geographical location known as Israel, but there's going to come a time where God restores all things at the Battle of Armageddon going into the millennial reign, where he actually does bring Judah and Jerusalem back into the land, and it's not some Christ-rejecting Judah and Jerusalem either, okay? It's not the dudes with funny hats and funny hair and, you know, these Middle Eastern-looking Amish people you know, it's not the Amish version of the Middle East or something like that, or the Middle Eastern versions of the Amish, it's actually referring to those of Judah and Jerusalem who are already in heaven, by the way, okay? Because a lot of Israelites, a lot of those of the 12 tribes of Israel from the Old Testament are saved, they're believers, and even going into the New Testament a lot of those Jews got saved, they're in heaven right now. And you know what, the promise still applies to them, my friends, and so God is going to fulfill that promise after the Battle of Armageddon, and he is going to bring again their captivity in a sense that he's going to bring them in from all different nations back to Israel, okay? So I hate to break it to you, but we're not going to inherit Israel in the millennial reign, okay? That's just it. The ones who are going to inherit it are believing Israelites. You say, what are we going to inherit? The rest of the world, you know? I mean, we're going to make our pilgrimage to Israel, obviously, because that's where Jesus Christ is going to rule and reign from, but if you were to look at this from a biblical context, it's the 12 disciples who are on those 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel, okay? And so that promise still applies to them, so we're not inheriting that land, and quite frankly, who cares, you know? I'm just happy that we're going to be on this earth where Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning from, and the reality is this, is that, you know, why go to Jerusalem when he's going to give us 10 cities, 5 cities to rule and reign because of our faithfulness and our service to God? So obviously, that's completely irrelevant. I'm rejoicing over the fact that these Old Testament believers are inheriting the land and not the current state of Israel. These Christ rejecters, they're not going to inherit that. They are going to be cast down into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, okay? And so that's what this is specifically referring to, or should I say that the foreshadowing of it is the fact that he's going to bring them back to Israel one day and that is in that millennial reign. And then of course, he's going to gather all the nations, okay? Now again, that was immediately fulfilled in their time. However, it's a foreshadowing of the fact that it's referring to the armies of the Antichrist because the Antichrist at this point in the future and times has already deceived all the nations. All the nations are under his rule. It's under that New World Order system, and so every nation and tongue has essentially submitted themselves under the authority of the Antichrist. All right, it's getting kind of cold in here, so why don't we go ahead and pull that up. I'm actually starting to feel it. If I'm feeling it, I know some of you are feeling it. How many of you agree with me? All right, a few. All the dudes? Oh man, that's sad. I'm just kidding. I mean, I feel it, so, you know, you're good. What was I saying? What was I saying? I was saying... Oh yeah, so it's obviously a foreshadowing of the Antichrist because of the fact that he is, God is going to gather all those nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat known as Armageddon, okay, and he is going to destroy them, so we see that foreshadowing was not only fulfilled in their time, but it's also going to be fulfilled in a broader way in the end times. Look at verse number three. It says, And I've given a boyfriend harlot and sold a girl for wine that they might drink. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyrian Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? Will ye render me a recompense? If ye will recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head, because ye have taken my silver and my gold and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things. So God is basically highlighting some of the reasons that he's going to judge these nations, Tyrian Sidon, and even the coasts of Palestine, and we see here that one of the reasons is because they're using humans as currency. They're practicing human trafficking. It says that they give a boyfriend harlot. In other words, that they're purchasing a harlot by selling a boy, and in order for them to consume wine, they're selling a girl, so they're using people as currency. Now, obviously, this is something that took place here, but it's even taking place today, and you can see why God would pour out his wrath upon these current nations in this world, because the world is filled with wickedness. It's filled with human sex trafficking. It's filled with people who would sell a boy for a harlot and would sell a girl for wine, and in fact, my wife was just telling me on the way over here that a really big thing that's going on is that people are now selling embryos, okay? They're selling embryos. They're selling eggs, and they're even selling themselves to be surrogate mothers so they can have children for other people, and guess who are the people who are purchasing these embryos and purchasing the services of these surrogate mothers are homos, and so you think to yourself, why would these mothers allow themselves to be surrogates for these predators and pedophiles and wicked individuals? Why would they be willing to sell their embryos, which are referring to children, for whatever? I'll tell you why. It's for a harlot. It's for wine. It's for just self-gratification. It's for money. It's what it is. They're using humans as currency, right? They're willing to sell their children or willing to carry someone's child, which really is their child because they're bearing it for nine months, in order to make $50,000, because they'll even tell them, if you're willing to be a surrogate mother, your first one will be $50,000, and of course it goes up thereafter. I mean, it's wicked, my friends. It's such a wicked world that we live in, and obviously there's instances, probably the vast majority of people who are purchasing this are predators and wicked individuals, but there might be people who are not evil people but just God did not intend for them to have children. I mean, God didn't intend for pedophiles to have children either, so it's going outside of the scope of God's authority and God's plan to do this, but they're doing it for money is what I'm trying to say here, okay? And so just as the boy was sold for in harlot and a girl sold for wine in Joel's day, well, you know what, there's nothing new under the sun. Things like this are still taking place in a much more broader way. And what is it? What's the sin that is behind all this? Covetousness, greed, the love of money, and so it's very wicked. So you can see why God would still be upset. He was upset with Tyrian Sidon and the coast of Palestine and all these nations that are casting lot for God's people and using people for currency, but nothing's changed. And in fact, the iniquity of many is still abounding because the love of many has waxed cold and so the same abominable things and sinful practices that were taking place then are taking place now but just even larger, okay, with more people throughout all nations. And of course, with the internet, a lot of this stuff is streamlined and so no wonder God would pour out such vindictive wrath upon this world in the future. And in fact, in Revelation chapter 16, he spends a good portion of that chapter just talking about how they're going to drink of the wine of God's wrath and he's just going to give them blood to drink and how he's just going to destroy them and he's rejoicing in that. And in fact, the angels also rejoice in the fact that God has given them blood to drink. Why? Because this world deserves it. The world deserves to be destroyed. It deserves to be judged by God in a very severe way. People deserve to be punished. Nations are deserving of God's punishment. And you know what? You say, well, it hasn't happened yet. Well, because God is long suffering and he's patient. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But let me say this. A lot of God's wrath is just accumulating over the years and this world is storing up wrath against their wrath. And if you don't believe that, then you haven't read the book of Revelation. Because the book of Revelation, the last three and a half years of Daniel 70th week is just an excessive amount of judgment where God is just pulling out all the stops, all these cataclysmic events. I mean, he's pulling out all the supernatural creatures and just doing everything and anything to just destroy people. And of course in hopes that many of them will repent but we see that they don't. But the point that I'm trying to make here is that God is angry with the wicked every day. And lest we should think that God is just turning a blind eye to the iniquity of this world, he's not. He's keeping track, he is weighing the balances and we can say that right now we're in the calm before the storm. And just because it doesn't seem as though God is judging this world, it only means that we're in the eye of the storm. And then one day that eye will pass and the severity of that hurricane is going to hit and God will destroy and he will recompense upon their own heads as it says here. And God doesn't make any empty threats, my friends. When God threatens to do something and he's already purposed to do it, he's going to do it and he's going to hit you where it hurts. He's going to destroy this world and he is going to burn it. We see that in Revelation 8 that he burns it and destroys it. Look what it says in verse number 6. It says the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians that ye might remove them far from their border. Again, referring to human trafficking there. It says, Behold, I will raise them out of the place where ye have sold them and will return your recompense upon your own head. And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah and they shall sell them to the Sabians, to a people far off, for the Lord hath spoken them. Now let me just say this is that God is not sanctioning or approving of human trafficking. What is this referring to? It's referring to the law of sowing and reaping. Because he's saying, you know what, your children are going to be sold because that's exactly what you did. And I hate when people try to accredit acts of iniquity to God. Where it's just like, oh, you know, in God's sovereignty, he wanted this to happen. No, you know, obviously he allows certain things to happen. So as the fact that the law of sowing and reaping continues to be instituted in this world, but he's not sanctioning iniquity in this world. Okay? You know, if he allows their sons and their daughters to be sold, it's not because he wants them to be sold. That is the ramifications. That is the consequence that they face for their iniquity of buying sons and daughters and selling them to those of Tyre and Sidon and those on the coast of Palestine. He's allowing them to suffer the consequences of those actions. It's like when God told Israel that cannibalism is going to take place. He's not sanctioning cannibalism. He's saying that that is the fruit of their actions. That's what's going to end up happening in their world if they decide to disobey God. That is the bottom of the barrel that they're going to be scraping out of. They're going to essentially start cannibalizing each other and doing wickedness. So we should never ascribe iniquity to God. Understand? It's this really stupid question. If God is real, why does he allow all this iniquity to abound in this world? You know what? People have their own autonomous volition. God is not a god over robots. He's not just puppeteering people in this world and making them do whatever. Obviously he works within the hearts of man, but you know what? He's created autonomous beings that can make their own choices. Understand? And we can't blame God for the actions of a wicked person. Understand? And so what can we accredit God for? The fact that if people choose to use their volition to violate the innocent, that God will recompense that person back on his head. And obviously we as God's people can pray for God's protection upon our lives and just exercise common sense and biblical principles so as to not put ourselves in a position where we could be subject to violence and some type of wicked iniquity from the hands of a wicked person. You know, there's principles in the Bible that protects us from that. And it's not God's fault if you go outside of the parameters of God's laws and you find yourself in that situation. You know, one of the things that you see, like you think about these shows, you know, Forensic Files, you know, and that's like a really old one, and I think they probably have some newer ones, but you know, it's always about these cases of, you know, people who are murdered or, you know, things of that nature. And you know, they'll talk about some young lady, right, and how they killed this young lady or she was murdered, and it's just like, but you look at where that woman was. It's like, you know, she left her parents' house. She's in a different state. She's out at one o'clock in the morning. She's at some bar or something like that. I mean, you can't blame God when you put yourself in a situation like that. Now obviously there's instances where things happen by chance, and you're still, you're exercising biblical principles and maybe evil befalls you. Well, at that point, you just gotta make sure that you're walking with God and you understand that God can deliver you from the snares of the wicked, but some people in this world just place themselves in that situation. Well, why did that happen to that person? All they were doing is just at a bar at two o'clock in the morning. Well, you know, not the best of people are out at two o'clock in the morning, you know. They put them, they situate themselves in such a way that they are walking into the snares of the wicked, and then they blame God when, you know, something evil happens to them. Can't do it. You know, I like what Job said, that he didn't charge God foolishly. Even though God actually sanctioned for Job to be destroyed in such a way, the Bible says that he still did not point his finger at God and charge him foolishly for the evil that befell him. You know, he had enough common sense and spiritual aptitude to recognize that the Lord gives, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. But anyways, I digress on that. What I'm saying here is that verse number eight is not God approving of people doing this. He's just essentially expressing the principle of the law of sowing and reaping, okay. You know, if you roll a stone, it's gonna roll back onto you, kind of thing. Understand? Look at verse number nine. Now here's where we get to where God is calling them out to fight, and he says in verse number nine, proclaim ye this among the Gentiles. Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. That's pretty powerful. He's like, I wanna fight. That's what God is basically saying. And he's telling them, wake up all the men of war, tell them to come up and come close, come near, prepare for war. He says in verse 10, beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears, let the weak say, I am strong. Now, that is a powerful verse for me because of the fact that God is basically telling them, like, gird up your loins like a man, you know, pull up your bootstraps, and if you feel like you're weak, you better get some confidence about you because this fight is coming. So he's giving them time, he's just like, get some confidence, get bold, and if you feel like you're weak, say that you're strong because this fight's coming to you whether you feel like you're weak or not. Basically talking about the fact that war is inevitable. So you better be ready for this. And, you know, verse 10 should jump out at you a little bit when it says beat your plowshares into swords and pruning hooks into spears. And the reason why is because that phrase stated backwards is found, I believe it's in Micah, but it for sure is in Isaiah. I think it's either chapter two or chapter four. But the verse is stated, like, exactly the same in both passages. And the statement is said to beat your swords into pruning hooks and your spears, or excuse me, your swords into plowshares and your spears into pruning hooks. What that's referring to is the millennial reign. Because what God is saying in Isaiah and in Micah is that there's gonna come a time where there is no war. My people shall learn war no more, and so we can put away our swords, we can put away our spears, or rather turn them into instruments of agriculture because now it's just we're gonna be on vacation for a thousand years. There is gonna be no war. We don't have to worry about nation rising against nation. We could leave keys in our truck, in our car, whatever, leave the doors unlocked, not worry about anybody breaking in or destroying your vineyard or destroying your crops or stealing from you. The moth is not going to corrupt, nor is rust gonna destroy. I mean, everything is gonna be back to normal with Jesus Christ as king. But now is not that time, though. So right now we gotta beat our plowshares and pruning hooks into swords and spears, right? As far as spiritually speaking, that's what we're supposed to do because we're in a spiritual battle right now. So right now is not the time to leave your guard down or anything like that. Now, obviously, verse number 10 is not referring to believers. He's talking to his enemies. He's just telling them, you better prepare. The application that I'm making, obviously, is what Isaiah's referring to, and that's talking about the millennial reign, which, by the way, at the end of the millennial reign, at that point, there are no weapons of war. Throughout the millennial reign, and even especially towards the end, everyone's using these instruments of agriculture because everyone already beat their swords and spears into plowshares and pruning hooks because there's been peace that entire time. And so when the battle of Gog and Magog comes around, no one has bazookas or tanks or anything of that nature. They don't have agricultural instruments, but it's okay because God has the most biggest flamethrower ever created that he's just going to use at the battle of Gog and Magog. But here he's telling them, right now we're going to war, so you better prepare. Get your plowshares, pruning hooks, turn them into weapons, and make sure you strengthen yourself. He says in verse 11, assemble yourselves and come all ye heathen and gather yourselves together round about. Pay attention to the latter end. It says, thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. So I believe verse number 11 is actually referring to two different groups because he's calling out these heathen nations, but then at the latter end of verse 11, he asks the Lord to allow the mighty ones to come down. Now the immediate interpretation of that for their immediate future is referring to the heathen and of course those who are going to fight against the heathen. But I believe this is foreshadowing Revelation chapter 19 when Jesus Christ comes on a white horse with all his saints. As Enoch would say, ten thousands of his saints, right? And this is referring to us coming down with Jesus Christ on white horses for the battle of Armageddon. And so this literally happened, and I'm not talking about people coming down from heaven on white horses, in their immediate future there's a war that took place, but it's obviously foreshadowing something else, that battle of Armageddon, because of the terminology that's being used there, he says that they're going to come down, the mighty ones are going to come down, and that's exactly what happens in Revelation 19 when Jesus Christ comes the third time. The third time that he comes in Revelation 19, he comes on a white horse, he's faithful and true, he comes with crowns upon his head, and he's coming to make war. He's coming to destroy the Antichrist, his false prophet, and the armies. So the point that I'm trying to make here is the fact that God is a man of war, and he's essentially provoking them, and he's saying, let's fight. And the reason that's important is because a lot of times people try to portray God as only being a god of peace, and he doesn't like war, and he doesn't like to battle, and he's not really into that, and people should just get along or whatever. But, you know, people need to read Joel chapter three, where he's just like, you know, I want to fight. Because God does want to fight. I mean, if he calls himself a man of war, he's trying to communicate the fact that he is for warfare against the wicked. And he's even saying like, assemble yourselves, get the cream of the crop from your end, you better get your best soldiers, get the most apt soldiers that you can find to get involved in this battle. And obviously the reason he's saying this is because he's telling them like, you're still not going to come out winning because I'm going to whoop all of you guys. He's going to destroy them all. And what this shows us is that it doesn't matter how many the enemy has on their end, it doesn't matter how gifted or how much money or how many weapons or, you know, how powerful they are on YouTube or what social media platforms they have or whatever, it doesn't matter what numbers they have, they can pull out the mighty ones, they can have their swords and their spears, and they can assemble together, it's futile. Because God's going to beat them anyways. Because us and God make up the majority, right? And if we have God, you know, if God before us, who can be against us? You understand? And so that's important. And obviously, you know, we're talking about spiritually, we're not talking about a physical fight, okay? Lest anybody here should just think like, I'm talking about, you know, go catching fades with someone in the parking lot or something. You know, we're not to, you know, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world. Referring to the fact that we are in a spiritual battle, okay? And the spiritual battle is centered around spiritual things. Not political things, but spiritual things. And obviously, nothing wrong with rejoicing when certain political decisions are made in favor for Christians, right? We like that stuff. I mean, who doesn't, right? I mean, just today, you know, Huntington Beach, the city of Huntington Beach said that they're no longer going to celebrate Black Pride Month or Black History Month. They're not going to celebrate Hispanic Month. They're not going to, all these months for like these races, they're not going to celebrate, and they're not going to celebrate Gay Pride Month either. It's just like based. That's what I'm talking about. And they replaced it with like, I think they said like a monthly celebration of historical things, like when oil was discovered or something. It's like educational things. You know, things that actually matter. Things that like you can tune into and like learn something. Like, oh yeah, that's an interesting piece of information, and they'll put out educational information to kind of help you to know about history in that particular city. And they're not making any apologies about it, but I'm happy about that, okay? And I don't even consider it necessarily like a spiritual thing. I just consider it as like common sense, right? Like just, it's great that people have common sense in this city. And you know, it's great that we're not going to be seeing any fag flags around. I mean, I don't see them anyways, but still it's just like if we can just, you know, put a period at the end of that sentence and just not celebrate any of that crap, I'm all for it. Like, aren't you Hispanic? Don't you want to celebrate? No, I don't want to celebrate Hispanic. I don't, what for? Well, what am I going to celebrate? Aztecs? Mayans? Genocide? I don't care about that stuff. I was born here. I'm an American, amen? You know, I know my skin is brown, but this is home, my friends. And I don't care about, you know, history, Mexican history month or whatever. I mean, what are we going to learn? That like America beat them and we took California? I mean, I already know that, you know? We beat them, you know? He's just like, I'm part of this side, okay? You know what I mean? But here's the thing is that, you know, far more important than that battle is the battle for the souls of men, right? Those are the ones that should cause us to rejoice when we get people saved. How about the battle of when people just are coming to church and they are repenting of their sin, they're getting right with God. I mean, that's a major win, right? And so I'm all for that win though, okay? I'm not minimizing that. I'm just saying this is actually more important, okay? And so, you know, but just going back to the text here, you know, what this shows us is that the devil can pull out all his stops. He can own all the social media platforms and try to silence and censor God's people and get those little wins here and there. But at the end of the day, let's just be realistic here. Let's just be biblically, realistically speaking, God is just going to wipe them all out anyways. So rejoice while you can because of the fact that you can assemble yourselves together, you can create these great armies, but you're still going to lose. I mean, think about how much organization it takes. Think about this for a minute, okay? Think about this. Think about how much organization it takes to organize the entire world as an army against God during the battle of Gog and Magog. That's a lot of organization, right? To like assemble the entire world? I mean, how many hours do you think that's going to take? Like, you know, we're going to go in companies of 1,000 or 5,000, 10,000 here. I mean, think about the dude who's responsible for delegating and organizing that army against God. And, you know, that would probably raise the confidence of a lot of the people. Like, yeah, man, we're going to win this, only to be destroyed just in like a split second with fire. Think about that. You know, you have the entire world just like, oh, man, we got this, all this organization, and yeah, you know, the world, we've come together against God, and God is just like, all that organization down the drain. You can be as organized and construct tanks and all these weapons of warfare if you want against God. God doesn't need organization. He's just going to be like, just picks up brimstone and just, there you go, you know? All done in a split second, you know? And so what that shows us is that, you know, the heathen can rage, they can mock, they can say all manner of evil, but God, if he wanted to, can just literally just like hit their heart, close their lungs, close their throat, and they'll just be dead, okay? So it really should show us about, you know, it should really drive in this point that God is really powerful and the fact that the heathen can rage all they want, but they're not going to be able to conquer the Lord or his people. It says in verse 12, verse 12 says, Let the heathen be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Now, in verse 13, verse 13, in my opinion, is the smoking gun that this is referring to the Battle of Armageddon, because it says there, Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come get you down, for the press is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great. And so if you were to couple that with verse 12, regarding the Valley of Jehoshaphat, we can safely conclude that it's actually referring to the Battle of Armageddon, because of the fact that the Valley of Jehoshaphat, this is the only book that actually mentions that phrase, but when you go to the Book of the Kings and study Jehoshaphat, you see that there's an instance where he's going to battle, and he digs these trenches, filling them with water, that ends up giving this illusion that it's actually filled with blood. Okay? Well, when you read about, when you study the Battle of Armageddon, and what the conclusion of that battle is, the Bible talks about how the blood will be to the horse's bridle in that valley. You understand? So I think what God is doing here, aside from the fact that, you know, the Valley of Jehoshaphat has some significance here, in their immediate future, it's giving us this picture of this valley filled with blood, which by the way, the kings of those nations in that particular story, were deceived by that, thinking that there's just a bunch of blood, and they were deceived by that, by that illusion, but in the New, in the Book of Revelation, in the End Times, it's not an illusion. And in the Book of Revelation, in the End Times, with the Battle of Armageddon, it's the blood of kings that's going to be spilled, and be to the horse's bridle. Now, go to Revelation chapter 16, if you would. Revelation chapter 16, hold your place there in Joel. Go to Revelation chapter 16, and then we're going to go to 14, in just a bit, because I want you to see just a couple things here. Revelation 16, in verse number, we'll start in verse number 12, it says, 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. Okay, so, you know, people today will look at the river, the Euphrates river, and be like, oh, it's dried up, End Times prophecies been fulfilled, and they freak out, or they just do it to get views, because people are so dumb today, and biblically ignorant, that, you know, a river, they don't even know if it's the river Euphrates, by the way, people can just put a video of any stinking river anywhere, and people just believe it at face value. They're like, oh, it's dried up, you know, End Times prophecies been fulfilled as we speak right now, and here we are, like a year and a half later, nothing's happened. The reason the river Euphrates here in Revelation 16 is being dried up is to make way for the kings of the east, referring to those kings who are coming to fight against the Lord. Okay. As it says in verse 13, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, 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 into the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Let me just briefly explain what verse 13 and 14 are talking about. Obviously we see these plagues, right, and a lot of these plagues can be parallel to the plagues of Egypt, and when you look at some of those plagues, some of the plagues that are missing are the frogs. Okay. But here it says that there are three unclean spirits, like frogs, that are coming out of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, and it goes to the kings of the east. Now, what's the purpose of that? Well, when you study what these unclean spirits do, especially like in the Old Testament, you'll often see that they are used to deceive people. Unclean spirits are often sent to the mouth of the prophets to deceive individuals. For example, you guys remember the story of Micaiah, right, when he's like the only one who wants to tell the king the truth, and then the king has like all these other prophets who are like speaking in his favor, but Micaiah tells them... ...heaven, and God asks the spirits, he says, who will be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets? And then one of the spirits is like, I'll do it. And he says, you know, he's gonna deceive him, so he goes into the mouth of the prophets, which ends up deceiving the king so that he can go forth to battle to give him that confidence that he's gonna win, but obviously he doesn't win, he ends up dying. Okay. But I say that to say that these unclean spirits are coming out of the mouth of the beast and the false prophet in order to deceive these kings. You say, why do they need to be deceived? Because they're gonna fight against Jesus. It's not like they're fighting against someone who's coming at them from there, they're fighting someone who's coming from like up there. I mean, how terrifying does that sight have to be where the clouds just open up and then you have Jesus Christ riding on a white horse with ten thousands of his saints, like a wave of saints with the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, leading the whole thing, coming down, that's terrifying. You know, these guys are probably like, you know, if there's no unclean spirit to deceive them and to give them that strong delusion that they could win, you know, they would probably be completely terrified and run with their tail tucked between their legs. But the deception has to be so strong that they think they're gonna beat Jesus. You understand what I'm saying? So these unclean spirits going to come out of the beast and the false prophet in order to deceive the kings into thinking that they're actually gonna win against Jesus Christ. This supernatural person along with these supernatural horses, which they're not even on the floor. They're galloping in the sky. I mean, can we get some imagery here? You guys understand what I'm saying? It's not like a war where it's just like, I mean, obviously wars aren't even fought this way anymore where it's like face to face or anything. But just think about how terrifying that would look, especially when you see Jesus Christ coming and he's really mad. You think he's gonna come like with a smile on his face and just like, hey guys, you know, just like, you know. No, he's coming angrily. And he's coming, he's like, he's coming to kill is what he's coming to do. He's not coming to make peace. He's coming to cut them in pieces is what he's coming to do. So the delusion has to be so strong that they believe that they can beat him. But God is allowing that so that he can whoop them. You understand? So it's like one of those things where it's like, let him that is weak say that I am strong. So then it says in verse 15, Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he that watches and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and see his shame, and they see his shame. Verse 16, and he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Okay, so this is, that's why it's famously referred to as the Battle of Armageddon. As Joel put it, it's the valley of Jehoshaphat because it's in the valley where there will be a lot of blood. Okay, now go to chapter 14, if you would, because we're making this connection between what we see in Joel chapter 3 regarding the sharp sickle. Now let me read to you from Joel once again. In Joel chapter 3 verse 13 says, Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come get you down, for the press is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Look at Revelation 14 and verse number 14. It says, And I looked, and behold, the white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle, and reaped, for the time has come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Now what are we looking at here? We're looking at imagery or symbolic representation of the rapture. The reason we know that is because of the fact that he's sitting on a cloud, and the Bible talks about how he's going to come with clouds, and he's coming to reap that harvest, right? With that sharp sickle. You say, well then how is that even close to what's being said in Joel chapter 3, if Joel chapter 3 is referring to the battle of Armageddon? Well let's read on. It says in verse 17, and another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. So the sharp sickle is being used to reap the harvest, which are believers, but it's also going to be used for something else. And another angel, verse 18, came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast them into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, listen to this, and the blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. Well let's not talk about the rapture anymore. Now verses 14 through 20 is obviously consolidating that chronology, right? Because we're talking about the rapture, but then you're talking about the battle of Armageddon. And the reason it's being consolidated is because of the imagery we're getting with the sharp sickle. God is telling us that he's going to bring that sharp sickle, he's going to harvest those who are saved, but then there's going to be another sharp sickle that is put forth, that is essentially made to gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, the vines of the earth referring to those who are wicked. And then we know that this is obviously referring to the battle of Armageddon, because it talks about the blood of the winepress coming up to the horse's bridle, and this is actually something that's fulfilled in Revelation 19. Now go to Revelation 19 if you would, Revelation 19. Look what it says in verse number 11, it says, And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon it 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. Is my mic off, by the way? It is off? Shit, it just told me, man. So this doesn't work anymore. Does this work? Testing, testing. It doesn't work. What's going on, man? I'm going to turn this off and I'll just use this here. It says in verse number 12, 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 was 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 goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with the rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. So that is the connection that we make with Revelation chapter 14. Because Revelation 14, the sickle is used to draw that winepress of the wrath of God, connecting that with verse 15 of Revelation 19. Obviously we know that's referring to the battle of Armageddon. And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Look at verse 17, 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 into the supper of the great God, that ye 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. So this is a pretty gnarly event that's going to take place. Because obviously what we see, and we're not going to finish the chapter here in chapter 19, but when Jesus Christ comes, he immediately takes the false prophet and the antichrist, and he just throws them into the lake of fire. He takes care of them first. And then the imagery that we're getting here is that the rest of the army is being killed somehow. And obviously towards the end of the chapter, it seems to indicate that it's Jesus who's destroying them, but I think there's a reason why that rest of the army who's coming with them is there. And verse 18 obviously is prior to Jesus Christ doing that, so these other kings are obviously dying through another means than just Jesus Christ. I think it's that army who's coming with them who's obviously killing and destroying these people. But after they're all killed and destroyed, and the blood comes to the horse's bridle, it's a large mess, right? I mean the valley is just messy. And God is all for cleanliness, amen? And he feeds the sparrow, he takes care of the animals, so he's just like, come to the great feast. So then he gives the fowls of the air the most quality meat, because it's not just meat of any kind, it's of the kings of this earth. And they come and feast on... And this is not something that's foreign in warfare, by the way. Because if you even study like World War I, for example, in the trenches, a lot of the rats that were going through the trenches were just filled with flesh. They were so fat, they were walking around so fat, they looked like cats and dogs. They were walking around because they were filled with the flesh of men. And so this is something that obviously God sanctions here. Which, by the way, it's crazy to think that this is actually being popularized right now. Where even Joe Rogan says this is the type of funeral he wants. That when he dies, he wants the birds, the vultures to come and just feast on his body. So he can return, so they can crap him out and he returns back to the earth or whatever. Hey, as thou sayest. Just like, be it unto thee according to thy will then. That's what you want. But you know what, that's the type of funeral that's only reserved for wicked people, so I guess he does deserve that. Because this is the type of funeral that God has given to these kings here. And so that is the Battle of Armageddon. And it's one of the greatest battles, it's such an epic battle, that concludes with the Antichrist and the false prophet being cast into the lake of fire. And then when everything is said and done and the birds are eating, we all go to Jerusalem and Jesus Christ sits on the throne. He gets there and he's just like, oh, look at this temple. You know, the temple that they built for the Antichrist. And he takes it, he sits on it. And then that's where we have what? The judgment seat of Christ. So then that's when we all put our swords into our sheath and we await our judgment so we can see what we get for the service that we've done here on this earth. That's going to be great. I mean, after a battle like that, then he's like, five cities and ten cities, and obviously people bring in, you know, somehow, we don't know how it's going to be, the supernatural bringing in of our works, it's going to be tried with fire, and then we get rewarded, rewards are distributed at that time, authorities are distributed, we're given crowns, which is why he's coming with many crowns on his head. Okay, he's coming with many crowns to crown us. Once, you know, and you know, in the old, in the old, they're like, he's going to give us crowns, but we're going to cast it back at his feet, you know, and all these things. No, the crowns are given to us so we can, as a representation of our authority over the cities he gives us. That's what it's for. He's like, he's like, here's your crown, all right, now give it back. He's like, no, he's like, here's your crown, now go enjoy. Okay. Old IFB comes up with some funny stuff, man. All right, go back to Joel chapter three. Speaking of Old IFB coming up with funny stuff, look at verse 14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. I've heard a lot of Old IFB preachers use this verse at like the end of a sermon. Like, there's multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. You know, give your life to God or serve God. You're in the valley of decision right now. You don't know if you're going to serve God or not. This has nothing to do with that. The valley of decision is not God putting the decision on the lap of these people. The valley of decision is the decision that he's made to destroy them. That's what it is. He's like, you're in the valley of my decision to just wipe you all out. Man, I love that. You know, it's just like so many, because I've heard so many sermons, I heard Old IFB preachers use so many verses in the Bible, and they just never read the context, and it ends up meaning like something completely different from what they originally, like for example, you know, when David says, is there not a cause? And they, I mean, we've had entire Bible college themes around that, like is there not a cause, find a cause. But that isn't even, it's not even talking about that. It's not talking about you looking for a cause. He's telling his brother that, like, why are you getting on me? Is there a reason why you're, is there a cause why you're getting on me? That's what it's referring to. You know, there's a verse, there's a couple verses in Isaiah where the Bible talks about, you know, his hand is stretched out still. And people are like, oh, it's like, you know, God is like, he's waiting for that backslider. He's like, come back to me, you know, like, bro, just come back, you know. But what is it talking about? It's referring to the fact that he's whooping them, and then once you think, like, I've had enough, he's like, no, no, no, my hand is stretched out still. I'm going to continue to whoop you. It's like, he's doing this to you, he's doing this, and he's like, and his hand is stretched out still, meaning he's not retracting his hand of discipline from that nation. So the right interpretation is always the best. It's like, wow, that's way better than what I thought it was. You know what I mean? The Valley of Decision is not for youth conferences, or after the service, they're just like, man, should I serve God or not? Should I get saved or not? That's not the Valley of Decision. The Valley of Decision is the battle of Armageddon where God has chosen, he's decided to just destroy everyone who's there and feed their carcasses to the fowls of the air. But I know that doesn't have the same little ring to it as you're in the Valley of Decision. No, you better hope that they're not in the Valley of Decision, because the real Valley of Decision is that God's basically already done with them. You know, reprobates are in the Valley of Decision, because they're done for. You understand what I'm saying? So it's not like multitudes, multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision. He's saying, look, look at all these people who are just going to die in this valley. That's what it's talking about. Sorry to burst the bubble, but that bubble sucked anyways, and so what the main interpretation is is better. Now, we'll say this is that it says, For the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision, the sun and moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining. It seems to imply that the sun and moon being darkened is something that also takes place during the Battle of Armageddon or prior to the Battle of Armageddon. It's a possibility, and the only verse that we can use to point to that would be Joel, because it uses that in conjunction with the Valley of Decision, which is the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is the Battle of Armageddon. But what this could just be referring to is just a summary of the day of the Lord being God's judgment upon that people and that nation, which I would lean more towards that, because if it's saying, if it's likening the day of the Lord to the Valley of Decision, the Valley of Jehoshaphat, it's referring to God's judgment on them. So I think what it's simply doing is just giving that association that the day of the Lord means judgment. I don't think it's chronologically saying that the sun and moon are going to be darkened after the battle or prior to the Battle of Armageddon. I think it's just trying to help us to make that association that the day of the Lord is associated with God's judgment, because we can say that Revelation chapter 6 is God's judgment, right? Where the sun and moon are going to be darkened, but we can also say that Revelation 19 is also God's judgment as well. It's just that here in Joel chapter 3, he essentially refers to both of them as being the day of the Lord because it's God's judgment, not because they chronologically fall one after the other in end times. I hope that made sense. It says in verse 16, The Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall you know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain, then shall Jerusalem be holy, listen to this, and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore. So what is that implying? It's implying that right now there are strangers passing through Jerusalem right now, because they're not fellow citizens with the household of God. So he's saying he's promising Old Testament Jews and Israelites hey, one day there's not going to be strangers passing through, because the modern state of Israel are very much foreign. If you brought someone from the past, from Israel, and introduced them to the Jews of today, they'd be like, this guy's a stranger, who are you? What the hell are you wearing? What's that funny hat on here? Why do you look like that? Because there are strangers one to another. They have nothing to do with each other. So God is telling them strangers will no more pass through Jerusalem anymore. And in fact, I want you to notice, we're going to skip a couple of verses here, because for the sake of time, verses 18 and 19 is just more fulfillment of that prophecy that he's going to restore them and punish the evildoers. But look what it says in verse number 21, the last verse. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion. Isn't that interesting? I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed. And I feel like that is God talking about the fact that these Jews, which say they're Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. He's going to cleanse them, because he's going to remove unbelieving Israel from Israel. Understand? So he's going to extract that blood. He's going to cleanse that lineage from those who are not believers. Understand? And when does that take place? It takes place in Revelation 19 and 20. When all Israel shall be saved is when he removes the dross from the silver. And now all Israel shall be saved. It's only believing Israel will be there, because he has cleansed the blood which he has not cleansed in times past. Because in times past, even in the Old Testament, Israel was filled with both believing and unbelieving Jews. But there will come a time where it's only believing Jews. And guess what? It's by the blood of Jesus Christ, not from wicked ancestors who rejected the Lord. And, you know, we're involved in the blood of the prophets, things of that nature. And so great chapter, great book here just to simply reinforce end times prophecy. And if you get anything from today's, tonight's sermon, just get this is that God is a man of war and he intends to fight. And so if he intends to fight, so should we. Amen. You know, they that keep the law earnestly contend with those who forsake the law. Amen. And so we also are a people of war, not a physical war, but a spiritual war. And so that's it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the Book of Joel and all the symbology that we have there. Lord, I pray that you'd help us as your people to look forward to the day of the Lord, but also recognize that we need to get as many people saved as possible and to do our part so that people are not under that wrath. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us, Lord, to continue to be burdened for lost souls. We get people saved, Lord, and preach the gospel in the coming years. Of course, 2024 is right around the corner. And may you continue to use us in the coming year, Lord, to spread the gospel, but also righteousness and everything else that the Bible teaches. Continue to protect our church. Use us greatly. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. The first Noel, everyone, all together, nice and strong. On a cold winter's night that was so deep, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel, And by the light of that same star, Three wise men came from country far, To seek for a king was their intent, And to follow the star wherever it went. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel, This star drew nigh to the northwest, O'er Bethlehem it took its rest, And there it did boast up and say, Right over the place where Jesus lay. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel, Then entered in those wise men three, For reverently upon their knee, And offered there in His presence, Their gold and myrrh and frankincense. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel.