4 Promises on How God is Going to Restore this World

Well, we want to say good afternoon to everybody out there and welcome here on God's Holy Sabbath Day. Not only those that are here, but also we have our friends from sometimes around the world, around the nation, and much so our own circuit of Redlands and Las Vegas and San Diego. We're a little light here today, so we're glad that all of you have joined us on board. We have a neighboring church that's hosting a Sabbath in the park. But we are here. Remember that it's never the size of the audience. It's the size of the message that you're going to be given and hopefully receive and come out better than when you walk through those doors today. How's that? I want to build upon the very fine foundation that Mr. Miller laid today in his sermonette. Do you believe? Do you believe? The other one that stuck out to me as he spoke was the matter of comfort. We want to deal with both of those subjects today and tie them together because today we live in a very unsettled, anxious time, which may be an understatement when we look at the world around us today. We see wars all around the globe and some big ones. Lest you forget or don't remember or have not been watching the news for four years, we have a major, two major battles occurring on the Eurasian landmass. We have the Russian and Ukraine. I was going to say massacre or war. So sad. Here are two Slavic cousins come out of the same mother along the Volga. And yet they're at war. With while we've been here the last three or four years, the war has been going and that war has now become longer than World War II. Here we have perhaps up to a half a million people that have died over there while we are protected by the two oceans that surround us in America. We have the advent of recent dates of a startling of global socialism.

A governance in human history that has never worked and yet it crops up every 50 years. A government in a system in its ultimate form, not saying here in the USA, but in its ultimate form, has leaders that have been responsible for killing more people than any time in history or any other system or the countries that have imposed it upon their people. We're dealing with culture wars here for the last ten years. Well, actually since the 1960s, but have intensified. Lines have been drawn, hearts have been set, and it's created, in a sense, social chaos, social turmoil, culture wars. We also have panic at this moment about the economy. About, quote-unquote, the high cost of living. The situation with the war with Iran, which could intensify in the days to come. So there's a lot, a lot going on there, isn't there? To recognize, in all of those headlines there, to recognize we have our own personal lives to deal with. As we move down that road towards the kingdom of God that we've been invited to, and that we put our steps to because we do, as Mr. Miller would say, believe. But along that pathway, there are bumps in our personal lives, in our family lives, and matters that surround us. Sometimes they're not just bumps. Have you noticed? They're like craters. And we fall into them for a while until we ask God in his mercy to give us insight to be able to be more than we are with Jesus Christ helping us. That's the world we exist in. It is, if you want to put this down in your notes, it is an anxious world.

But when we look at our time, we think that, wow, it's never been like this. Parts yes, parts no. Let's take a reality check time out for a moment and recognize something. For 2,000 years, the saints have, when we note Christ's word, a commission, and something that he did. Let's open up the scriptures on this Sabbath day, and join me if you would. And as we open up the Bible, let's open up our hearts. That makes a good companionship and makes our action worth it. But in John 17, I remember years ago, growing up in Pasadena, hearing Mr. Armstrong again and again and again, many a time, and he'd say, brethren, why are we here? And maybe that's sometimes what we ask when we're in this world and we see what's going on around us and we kind of come up to this, God, hello, I pray to you. Is anybody else up there? We know that old line. So why are we here? Why can't we be like in Star Trek and be like Scotty? You know, beam me up, Scotty. We want the beam up, and it doesn't start at baptism, right? Everybody notice that? And after 60, how many years? Not 60, but whatever it is. I still haven't beamed up. Why are we here? Let's notice Jesus' direct words in this matter. In John 17, and now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested your name to the men. And he goes on down to the line. And then we pick up a very important point, part in verse 15. Now, let's understand something. This is why it's written. These are the words of Jesus Christ. In case you're wondering if this is somebody else, the words are in what? Red? In your Bible, most likely? I do not pray that you should take them out of the world.

I do not pray that you take them out of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Set them apart. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I sanctify. I set apart myself that they also might be sanctified by the truth. So we recognize on the last night of Jesus' humanity, there's no beam me up.

There is no, you're just going to stay over here and hang out at the oasis.

You're going to be in the world. You're going to be in the midst of the world. But to recognize Jesus as I have set them apart. A way of looking at this, Tammy, I'm going to move if you're up there for a second. If, oh, John, you've become Tammy. Okay. Tammy with the beard. Okay, here we go. But I'm going to go this way. How do we set that? What Jesus is literally saying when you think about Him being up in heaven with God the Father, when we are baptized, when we are baptized, and we have that laying on of hands, and then we're set apart in His family. Now watch this, please, unless you forget it. This kind of makes it memorable. It's that we go like this, and God the Father and Jesus Christ know exactly. They have put us. It wasn't this, and up. When we were baptized, B.J., when you were baptized out there in the lobby, did you feel like you're going to go through the roof? No. And I'm just having a little fun with you, but in ultra-seriousness and comfort that, in that sense, the hands of God were upon us, and He knows exactly what He's doing as our Father, and He puts us here in this setting, in this world, in your community. That's a very important thing to understand. But now let's go back a couple of pages. When we are set apart, John 14—join me if you would there, please—John 14, on that same evening, Jesus said this, Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. So we are granted a gift to those that come to the Father, that believe Jesus Christ, and have given their life and confidence and faith away, that they might be servants and disciples of Jesus Christ. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Don't let it be troubled, and don't let it be afraid. We're not only given entrance into the family of God, but He gives us homework. He gives us heart work that stretches our faith, that builds our faith, that whatever we might be going through, we are not alone. My peace. The emphasis here is my peace.

Capital M and Y. Capital M signifies that these are words from either God the Father or Jesus Christ to understand this. Now, why are we given this, and what does that what does that peace look like? Join me in Psalms 146 and verse 10, because we're going to read this in full for a second.

In Psalms 146, the rulers of this world, the leaders of our own personal nation, when they're running for office, they will promise you the moon. They will promise you that it's never been like this, that now there are there things are going to happen. Back in ancient Rome, when one of the Caesars came upon the throne, they would issue a coin, and the coin would have their picture on it.

And there was a reason. It was transmission that now that I am here, everything is going to settle down. Everything is going to be all right. All will be at peace. That was called eu-gileon. That means good news. That means those were like gospel coins, because now I am here. But here's the here's a very important thing to understand about Rome. Rome, as much as it conquered the known world in the west, from the Tigris and the Euphrates, ultimately, all the way up to, well, then they walled your ancestors off up in Scotland. They were too hot to handle. There's only two people that have ever been walled off by society.

Your people, and also my great-grandmother's a McDonald's, so I understand. But the Scots and the Picts were walled off. Even the Romans didn't want to deal with them, especially when they had blue faces and running towards them naked.

This was not going to be a good group to mingle with, okay? A little scary. And then, of course, we know the Great Wall of China that was to hold off the Mongols. In that case, how did that work? That's so well, after a few years. Rome, think about this for a second, Rome that could conquer the entire world, no one world in the West, could not conquer itself.

Civil war after civil war after civil war, for near 550 years, basically from 100 BC to, again, 476, overturn, overturn, fight, fight, of course, you know the famous fight between Octavian Augustus fighting Mark Antony after Caesar. The empire is divided in half.

The rest is history, what happened there. Let's look at this in 1.46, verse 10. And this is important because this verse is going to help define when Jesus said, my peace, verse is what you deal with out in the world. And why? And why the promises that never come true. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. And while I live, I will praise the Lord, I will sing praise to my God, while I have my being.

Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, to whom there is, notice, no help. His spirit departs. He returns to the earth. In that very day, his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them, who keep truth forever, who execute justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry, the Lord gives freedom to the prisoners, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. Yes, both physically and spiritually. The Lord raises those who are bowed down.

The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers. He relieves fatherless in the widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. The Lord shall reign forever. Your God owes Zion to all generations. Back to verse 3. Do not put your trust in the sons of men. You know, the same ones that say, peace, peace.

And there is no peace, as the scriptures say. And they're well-intended, many of them. They are sincere, but sometimes you have to recognize what the first syllable of sincere is. S-I-N. So you can be sincerely motivated, but there might be wrong. And there might be something missing in that solution, even as they try. With God, God is not sincere. He is holy. It's the same God that says, in Micah, I change not.

I change not. So many people, so many of our leaders—let me just use an analogy here. We're in San Diego. Most of us have been to the beach at one time or another, hopefully by now in your lives. And we know that people will build sand castles. Some of the best sand castles—I mean, some of them are just marvelous. Not that I would move in. Probably with everything else, the cost has gone up to buy a sand castle.

But we know that sooner or later, that sand castle, by the water going back and forth, and the tides more than ever, from what I understand, are rising and knocking over everything in its way, that's kind of like our leaders' sand castles on the beach. That sooner or later, erode, are broken down, and go the way of all sand when water begins to deal with them. What does the peace of Christ look like in real time? Not only for today, but for tomorrow. And how can we have that peace?

It's going to be a little bit like what Mr. Miller talked about, but I'm going to be able to build on that. What allows us to have that peace of Christ? Well, one of the things is, he says, follow me. And I'd like to share one of the verses that are incredible in the Bible. Join me, if you would, in Hebrews 12. In Hebrews 12, what made Christ Christ? How can we follow him towards the kingdom of God?

Therefore, verse 1, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. This next verse is a keeper, and very much so with understanding how we have the peace of Christ. Not the peace of man, but the peace of the Son of the Heavenly Father. How do we get through our anxious personal lives, the anxiousness of the news that comes and surrounds us every day?

How do we take a deep breath, stop, and think, and understand what that means? This is probably one of the majors that I can share with you. Allow me to do so. Looking unto Jesus. So, he is our example. The author and the finisher of our faith. In other words, he didn't quit the job that God the Father gave him to set us as an example. Who for now, notice this, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and it sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now, stay with me, friends, and those that are listening from the streaming service. Notice what it says who for the joy that was set before him, even as this son of God and yet the son of man, was nailed to a piece of wood like a pig, crucified, probably whatever naked, instruments in his hands or in his wrist, whatever it was, or in his ankles or in his feet, he was hung out, not simply dry, he was hung out to suffer, to be humiliated, to be shown to the Roman world that when you go up against Roman authority, this is what happens to you.

That is how the Pax Romana was kept in those years. Roman peace, but it came through Roman brutality. And while he was on that mount, which I often call the altar of Golgotha, he was not just thinking about himself, but what kept him in tune, a little bit like what Skip was sharing with us in his message. He was looking beyond. His view from that mountain did not stop at the Mount of Olives across the valley. He was looking to our time. He was looking to our age. He looked at a time that what God had intended to send him was going to happen. It was going to be real. You know what? His eyes were on you. His eyes were on me. His eyes were on those that will yet survive the tribulation, will yet come up as we see the words of Ezekiel come to true one day in God's time, in God's time. In other words, he was using before Covey, the author, was born, he was keeping a very simple thing, and I share with you. Begin with the end in mind. Begin with the end in mind as he was hauled up out of the streets of Jerusalem, as his instrument of death was carried behind him, as that instrument sunk down into the ground, he was already out of that day, and he was thinking beyond why he was doing, what he was doing, and how to bring it to an end, to where that term comes up at the very end, I am finished. For the joy. It doesn't say happiness, it's joy. It's an instrument of God's spirit in us that when everything seems to be happening and we're going downhill, just like it says in Philippians 2, 7-8, being anxious, don't be anxious, don't be anxious.

That's where we need to be today. That's where we need to grow.

What was mentioned by Skip earlier was the subject of comfort. I'm going to share some things with you in a moment, and it's simply this. The message that I'm going to be giving to you, I've actually shortened it since last week, is that I'm going to give you four promises, four promises of how God's going to restore the earth. I'm going to add some things to your vision and I'm not adding it really, I'm just going to be reading out of the scripture. This is about prophecy, but how we handle prophecy is very important. We never want to get over our skis on prophecy and make it all tidy and then have God agree with us upstairs. We need to be listening to him, and we give our life over to his timing when he's coming back to this earth or sending his son to this earth. But what I'm going to share with you today, and this is a little bit, frankly, how Victor and Daris and I are handling this. When it comes to prophecy, we do not want to get over our skis. We don't want to get over our skis, as it were. We want to be loud, where God is loud. And there's a lot of volume coming out of the scriptures when you read them, but we also want to be quiet, where he is quiet. We never want the implicit to define the explicit, which is loud. Don't allow the implicit to define the explicit. It will travel along, but we need to be careful. We know much, but there's more that God has yet to reveal to us. But this he does. Isaiah 40. In Isaiah 40, you're already there, pardon me, Isaiah 40, and picking up the thought in verse one. Notice what it says here.

Why are Mr. Miller and myself today reading out of the scriptures? Because it's God's word. It's not the word of man. And we read out a scripture to remind you that it's in here. That a loving God wants you, no matter what and where, who, etc., is affecting your life today and making you anxious, to simply remember that you're not alone. We read to know that we are not alone. And these are words of comfort. Verse 40, comfort. Yes, comfort, my people. Save says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God, a path, a venue of travel from getting to from point A to point B. And making that happen and not going into dead ends, not taking curves and never being able to come back and recognizing the spiritual geometry that is in the scripture and why God gives us this information is that the shortest distance between two dots is a straight line. This is what it's talking about, that the people in the wonderful world tomorrow, just like we today that have had our minds open, our hearts open, that have yielded ourselves to God, he creates that path. He's not putting these words down to confuse us, but to encourage us of that world that is yet to come, that even while we are here, we look at the end from the beginning and take comfort and take encouragement and recognize that death is not a roadblock of and by itself, but it is a miracle on the other side what God is doing. The voice of one crying, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert. And notice what it says, in every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked place shall be made straight and the rough place is smooth, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. We read the scriptures. You come to services on the Sabbath day that we might be comforted by the love of God inscribed in the text. I'm going to give you four promises. I'm going to go over them very quickly that you can take to the bank, that you can take yes in this life and use it every day, and yes that you can take it to the grave, that you can give your life for, that you can give your death for, because it's real. And that's what's happened actually when we have been baptized. We have given our life. We were dead in the water. We were raised up in a type of resurrection. And remember this one over here? And with those laying out of hands, you were just human hands, but a typology of God's interest and touch on you. You were at baptism, had hands laid on you by a representative of God the Father and Jesus Christ.

And they didn't push you back down into the water. You'd had enough. You did it, came up, and then they put you into the body of Christ, and you were set apart. And God never forgets where he has called somebody, where he has sanctified somebody, and he knows exactly where you are all the time. That's the kind of faith that we need to have in this day and age. I'm going to give you four points real quickly. Here we go. Number one, what's going to be, what's the wonderful world tomorrow going to be like? What's it going to be like? What was Jesus thinking about when he said, for the joy that was set before him? He's talking about you. He's talking about me. He's talking about the family of God developing and growing. Number one, Christ is going to establish one world government. Now, I grew up in the 50s and the 60s with the red scare, so that can sound kind of spooky, but it depends what government we're talking about and who is heading it up. Again, allow me to put out Christ is going to establish one world government. The Bible clearly shows Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth and setting up shop for his father above. What a paradox that the Prince of Peace in coming back to this earth is going to bring war to this earth. Christ is going to interrupt humanity. He's going to come from eternity through time and space, and he's going to land on terra firma down here below, and he does not apologize for it. What a paradox that the Prince of Peace says in Isaiah, for unto us what a son is given unto us a child is born, and what does it say? And the government shall be upon his shoulders. In a wedding, it was very interesting that what a this is a typology of a wedding, and that'll probably take whenever. We'll leave that to God. I don't set dates. But anyway, the only date I said anymore is with my wife, and she might say no. So I'm very careful when I'm trying to set dates. But it says this time is going to come when we look at it, and to recognize that in weddings of old, the man in the Holy Land would go fetch the bride, and then he would bring the bride, and she would put her head on his shoulder.

For the man was to be responsible for the wife, and she was acknowledging that. Now don't get scared, ladies. We're not putting in prison. Okay, understand that. But that was a typology of why that verse says, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Why? Because what are we together? We're the bride of Christ, and that day is going to come, but we have practice while we're all down here below. And here we go that he brings war.

Something I'd like to share with you. Jesus has more than one name, we know that, but here's two that ring out both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. He is both the lion of Judah, and he is the Lamb of God. That sounds like a paradox, doesn't it? To be the lion of Judah. It's actually mentioned in the Old Testament, it's also mentioned in the New Testament. But there's going to come a time, as it says in the Olivet prophecy, that there's going to come a time that there's going to have to be an interruption in the world. And it says the clouds are going to roll back. Matthew 24, clouds are going to roll back, and he's going to come down. And he's coming down as the king of kings, and yet the prince of peace, and yet the lion of Judah, and just a couple things all mixed in there just to make it right. And here's something that we need to remember, and I've shared this with you before, and Susan shared this many a time, but it had an impact on me. When I was living in La Mesa in 1962- 1963, is that that was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And we know that the whole world literally held its breath for three days. We did not know what was going to happen as we put that blockade around Cuba, as whether or not they would try to run that this or that.

But my mother had begun listening to the World Tomorrow telecast, and we kept on hearing and pounding again and again that, Matthew 24, that unless the Lord intervenes, He did intervene for the elect, that the elect might be saved. We all know those verses, Matthew 24, 37, and there.

And that gave me a security. Boy, I read the head. I've always been a news junkie since I was like six, so it's kind of dangerous. But that we knew that might get tough, but it wasn't going to be over. That was probably one of the things that have impacted me much in my journey of faith since I was a kid, that to have total confidence in what God said, that He would intervene before it was too late. And I always remember Herbert Armstrong in that sense, always saying, if God came too early, humanity would say, no, no, no, we're fine down here. Time out. You can go back up. We're going to handle it. It's taken us 6,000 years to make a mess out of it, but we're thinking about what to do. But it says, the way of peace they know not, even in their sincerity. And that intervention, not only then, in believing God and having comfort, but the intervention later on, which I've shared many a time with you when I was 16 and a half, and I had spinal meningitis. And back in those days, not a lot of our members visited doctors, as you well know. And I was given to God, and He intervened so that I might be able to tell you today that there is a God that heals, a God that heals. And that is indelibly marked on my heart, that I might share that with the people sometimes when they're going through grave situations. What God does with them is by His grace, His design. I say this recognizing that when I was healed, I realized others in our church were not and haven't been since. But that's up to God, not up to me. But He gave me an episode of my life that I might comfort others in time of need. God is great. God is good. And He knows exactly what He's doing. So Jesus Christ is going to intervene. And we know that He's going to set up shop. He's going to set up shop. One thing I want to share with you in comfort in thinking about the joy that is yet ahead, join me if you would in Revelation 19. In Revelation 19. I told you this is going to be about prophecy and parts, and this is very important when we're trying to be comforted by the truth. Revelation 19. I want you to notice something. Verse 11. This is going to be the key for you to have greater understanding and comfort about prophecy, rather than seeing scary pictures and verses. And you say, well, what's that on me? You have to know who's who as the play continues into the future. Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness, how many leaders today?

World leaders today, political leaders in our day, judge with righteousness.

But this one also makes war. Wait a minute, is this the same guy that was the babe in the manger?

And he's making war now? And his righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no one knows except himself. And he has been clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God. What do you mean, dipped in blood? This is telling us again and reminding us that in the book of Revelation that the word lamb, L-A-M-B, is mentioned 28 times. It always goes back to his sacrifice, the lamb of God. And the army's in heaven, clothed with fine linen, white and horses. Now, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and it goes on and on. But here's the point I want to give you in teaching prophecy, and we have—I'm going to try to re-up that again, the 23 classes that Daris and myself and Scott actually did. There's something we need to learn, otherwise we're not bringing proper stewards of God's comfort and word to you. How many of you ever heard of the term the four horsemen of the apocalypse? Can I see a show of hands? Talking to the right crowd? Sue? Could you move over? I can't quite see. No, I'm joking anyway. But here's the way to understand the book of Revelation, and that is simply that. There are not four horsemen in the book of Revelation.

There's five. Who is the fifth horseman? Jesus Christ. Because further in in Revelation, it says he's on a white horse. Usually the good guy is on the white horse, the bad guy is on the nag. Okay? And you know, just—no. That changes the whole perspective and keeps you in line that even with the situations that you read, there's martyrdom, there's going to be the, you know, the this and that. Just recognize who's on the other side of that, and waiting to have the okay from God, now is the time to go down. When you look at the book of Revelation and look at its fullness, that there are five horsemen, not just four, that will change your perspective of what God's doing for us. Very, very important. Number two—I'll share this while it's on my mind—to be comforted. The greatest comfort that perhaps is not perhaps—hate to rank things—never go into the book of Revelation without doing a warm-up lap of reading Revelation 1.

Revelation 1. Because that is where Jesus—remember, it is the revelation of God the Father, as it says in verse 1, given to Christ, then Christ takes it from there and lays it out with the apostle John. There is such comfort. Remember, nobody had seen Jesus, most had not at all. John is the last of the apostles. He is the only one that's alive, and he has his vision. And the vision is real. The ancients felt that visions were a touch by God above, and he sees Jesus Christ right in the middle of the candlesticks, doesn't he? You know, in how many candlesticks? Seven, like the menorah. And then what he does is he reveals himself to John. And in the midst of all of this, this, if you'll look at it, it's just in one verse, and it is visionary, but as you ever had a dream that's real and you wake up and you say, that was too real. Okay, thank you very much. And it says that he puts his hand on John's shoulder. Have you ever read that? Do you remember that? Do you remember that? Or do we know more about the beast than Jesus in the book of Revelation? When you recognize what Jesus Christ does and how he does it, and how he wants that intimacy with each and every one of us to comfort us, no matter what is coming, you're going to read Revelation with not two eyes, but three eyes. That sounds apocalyptic. But it's the vision given by God. And you won't have to run away from the book of Revelation, but embrace it. That help is along the way. And Jesus Christ is going to bring everything. Join me if you would, in Daniel 2. I'm going to show you something here. You say, Weber, you haven't really proved your point yet. Well, about one world government. I want to show you. Daniel 2. And this is off of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel is translating.

Notice verse 44. Are you with me? And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And notice this, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made it known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is true. Kind of reminds me of Yul Brynner in the movie. That's the movie I'm thinking about, Susie, in Thailand. The king and I, you know. So let it be written, so let it be done. That's the gesture that is behind it. It will be over, and there will be only one sovereign over this earth as begins to heal from what mankind has done for 6,000 years. No flesh. And what is the instrument? It's talking about this stone, and this is the stone that was disallowed. You find that both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. It's talking about Jesus Christ. He is the stone. That man said, go away. That man judged and said, you are wrong, and you are going to be crucified. And yet the heavenly court, the Supreme Court of Heaven, overturned that, and rather than condemnation, exalted him. He that is worthy. This is what we gain comfort from. Let me take you to point number two. Jesus Christ will establish one world religion. Now, I know we're going to have a little uneasy thoughts right now about what's happening in America, right, with some of the poly-religion that is going around. There's only going to be one world religion. It's going to be one world religion. That is it, because it's not going to be left to man. And to illustrate that point, join me if you would in Isaiah 11. In Isaiah 11. I'm picking up the thought in verse 1. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the respect, the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge be the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lip, and he shall slay the wicked. Righteous shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist. We're reminded that the Bible is one book, not two. Not two.

And when you think of it as two with the grand canyon in between, you can't read the scriptures right. Isaiah is given a full bloom in the New Testament about the righteous ruler that is going to be ahead of us. And not only that, but lead worship as people come up to Jerusalem. And it says in Isaiah 2, 1 through 3, 4, says that let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. Is that talking about geographic mountains? Or is that talking about mountains being kingdoms? That there's only going to be one kingdom standing when it's all said and done. And it says, and he will teach us his ways, not the religions of this world, but what is incorporated and inscribed in this book. And he shall teach us his way. And we will walk in his paths as we go out. There's only going to be one. The confusion is going to be gone. And even the confusion with different religions that have how many denominations in them? The confusion, the disorder. And with the confusion and the disorder gone, there's only one focus. Jerusalem. Going up, worshiping God. Feast of Tabernacles.

Won't be dead. But now we will have people of Persia, people of Egypt, people that are Jews today, religiously. In the future, all will be one coming up before God.

Can you imagine what that's going to be like when there are no walls between people? With everything that we have today, we know everything that's going on on earth with technology. You know, I think of our grandparents, our great-grandparents, they kind of live their lives on the farm. They took care of the two cows, the ten chickens, and every so often walked over to the neighbor. And they didn't really know too much beyond that. You know, that was life. Hard work. You know, morning, noon, and night. Get the chickens in the morning, get the cows in the afternoon, and you might have to kill the lamb at night for dinner. But anyway, that was farm life. And we have all of this, and we hear the division, and it wears us out. That's why we are comforted by these words. Let's go to number three real quickly. Quickly. God is going to offer humanity a new heart. You can't have people obey a one-world government. You can't have them be in one religion without having a new heart. God is going to offer humanity a new part. Imagine a world, world, words like war, hate, envy, ridicule, poverty, homelessness, selfishness, disappear. They no longer appear in the dictionary. But before this occurs, something else has to happen. Because again, for every cause there is an effect. For every cause there is an effect. That's a natural law. It is a spiritual law. This generation, our generation, those that are the Baby Boomers Plus, this generation has come to see urban renewal without human renewal is pointless. Urban renewal without human renewal is useless. You just take the ruins with you because, unfortunately, they are inside of you. We see that in our megalopuses today, even smaller metro areas, where they house people but they allow them to keep their habits. Government supplies it sometimes. It's mind-boggling. You cannot make this up.

Human renewal, no, urban renewal without human renewal is impossible. So God's going to go right for the middle of it. God the Creator says man suffers from spiritual heart disease. Join me if you would, and Jeremiah 17.9. Isaiah—Now, Jeremiah, pardon me. Jeremiah 17.9.

I have many scriptures, but I think this one will nail it. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

That is a diagnosis by Dr. God.

And up on his door is his name tag, God the Father. And a spokesperson, Jesus Christ, the heart is deceitful. Who can know it?

Romans 8-9. Let's go there for a second. One more. Romans 8-9.

Romans 8.

And 7-9. Notice for God what the Apostle Paul writes here. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither can indeed be. For then those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, those of us that are here today, but in the Spirit and he indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And that day is going to come at times today, and times in the future, at God's choosing, at God's timing, because remember, he is the master of timing. But to recognize the bottom of all of this, God says the carnal mind is enmity. Not good. And yet mankind is in a stupor. He thinks we're okay. And there's going to be a difference. There's going to be a difference. It's going to come. Through his word, God puts a spiritual x-ray machine up close.

Humanity left to his own devices is terminal. That's pretty strong language. How does that work in spiritual and physical math?

Simply this. Our life's journey is basically one foot forward and six feet down.

One foot forward and six feet down. When it's all said and done. With all this said, God is going to do something wonderful.

Join me if you want an Ezekiel. Book of Ezekiel.

And chapter 36. We'll just read this to comfort us on this day of comfort.

What's he going to do that he's already done to us? We that are the first fruits of God's spiritual creation. Ezekiel 36. In verse 22, it says, God speaking, For I will take you from among the nations, gather you up, verse 24, out of all the countries and bring you into your own land. Now this is speaking in sense to Israel. But Israel is but the first fruit of God's action towards all humanity. And it says here, And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. And then you shall dwell in the land that I give to your fathers, that you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And this is not just stuck in the Old Testament, but to recognize that what is spoken in the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament. And what is in the New Testament is inserted down here in the Old Testament to give us all hope. When we hear the word new that is used in the Bible, the language itself and the destination thereof for the person that is made new, it's not from around here. It's completely different. It's completely different. Never been. It's not new and improved. It's just new, new, new, with all caps reaching up to heaven. And that's what God is going to give all of humanity. He's going to go for the inside, not the outside. Let's understand something. You might want to put this down if this will help you. God works from the inside, not from the outside. He's going deep. He gets below the skin. You know, sometimes we go to the doctor and we've had this test or that test, but then they go into us. They're taking an exam and they go deep. It's like Susie's dad was a plumber. That plumber maintenance did everything, incredibly. And to recognize, I remember when her father used to say, you don't know what you're dealing with in, you know, maintenance work until you need, until you get underneath the soil. It could look all good. You don't know if it's going to be a day job or you're going to be there for a week. You got to get underneath the soil. And that's what God is going to do. He's going to get underneath the soil and know you and perhaps see things that nobody else knows, and he's going to go deep. He's going to go deep. And it's when going deep that things begin to happen.

Let me take one last thought here, just be a moment. God is going to bring true healing among the nations. God is going to bring true healing among nations. I believe that God is not only going to heal politically and spiritually, but physically as well. You think about how fantastic that day is going to be, how fantastic that day is going to be when people are healed, when they're made whole, when things really begin to happen. Join me if you would in Luke 7.

In the Gospel of Luke, Luke 7 and verse 18. This was Jesus' first coming, warming up for the second coming. Then the disciples of John reported him concerning all these things. And John, calling two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, to ask him, are you the coming one, or do we look for another? And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, your cousins sent us to you, saying, are you the coming one, or do we look for another? And that very hour he cured many of the infirmities, the afflictions, cast out the evil spirits, and to many blind he gave sight. And Jesus answered and said, tell John this, these are the things that you've seen and you've heard, that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead hear, the dead are, hello, raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed he who is not offended because of me. It's one of the calling cards that that's why we call Jesus of Nazareth Christ, that he was anointed, the anointed of God, Messiah, who came. And this was a part of his witness. We read about it in Acts 2 when Peter is recalling what made Jesus Christ so special, and why we need to heed his call. But this is when Jesus came to Israel of old. And remember what happens in the Old Testament is oftentimes merely a type in the fullness of the New Testament. And join me in Isaiah 35. In Isaiah 35. Excuse me. Get there. Isaiah 35 and picking up the thought in verse 3.

Notice what it says here. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With the recompense of God, he will come and save you. Now notice verse 5. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstoppable. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb, those who can't speak, those that are muted, they're going to sing. For water shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. You're going to be life. The barked ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water, and the habitation of jackals where each lay there shall no grass with reeds and rushes. But there will be a highway shall be there and a road, and shall be called the highway of holiness.

So what do we gain out of all of this?

This is a comfort pill.

Take it at least once a day, and you will be different. Call me Dr. Weber right now. Susan never just said our doctor a couple days ago.

This pill, not supplied by a manufacturing company down here, but by God almighty above, is for your spiritual health, for your longevity in this way of life, to give you a boost and a strength that the years have taken away from you physically, maybe spiritually.

Sometimes it's a challenge to be in a church.

You see this, you see that, and you wonder why you're here. But put the focus on yourself.

Don't worry about them.

Grow.

And the kind of vigor that Mr. Miller brought out today, that I do believe that I'm here for a purpose, that I'm not only to learn about God in the good times, but to learn God in the challenging times. To recognize that I am here to become a bridge between people, for people to go back and forth on. To realize that I've been called to be in a kingdom of priests that are teachers.