Age of Agape

How many teenagers do we have here today? See your hands? I'd like to talk to you teens today. I know I don't look like a teen because I'm not a teen, but I was a teen, and I know that's hard to imagine. But in the decade of the 1960s, this is when I was in junior high school and high school, and several things rocked our nation back at that time. One was the Bay of Pigs, it was called. It was a time when this country was trying to invade and dethrone Castro down in Cuba and do a change of government down there. That was followed not far after by one of the most dangerous times in human history, a little thing called the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union began to load up nuclear war-headed missiles on that island of Cuba just about 20 miles off the coast of Florida and start aiming them at the United States. A showdown occurred between President John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro, but between Khrushchev and the Soviet Union that had fingers on the triggers of those nuclear weapons and could have unleashed World War III. In 1963, I was walking home from lunch. My home was just about a block and a half from school, so I went home for lunch that day. And it was on November 23rd, and I was in the seventh grade. And President John F. Kennedy was shot through the head. And I went home in tears because that was a president that seemingly everybody liked. And here, already having gone through the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, now the President of the United States has been assassinated. That was hard. That was difficult. Shortly thereafter, we got into what was called the Vietnam War. And it was a war where one day my brother would be called up and taken off to fight. And he didn't know if he was going to live or die. And many other young men, including myself, would be put on the rolls of those that could be chosen to go off and fight a war that was becoming increasingly dangerous and violent and began to suck other nations into a conflict over there between North and South Vietnam.

In 1965, looking out the window of our house, you could see ashes floating down because part of Los Angeles was on fire as the race riots were hot and heavy down in that part of town that they called Watts. And on the television, we could watch it and you could go outside and you could actually see the smoke and the debris floating down in your own yard from that. And it was a scary sight as more and more businesses went up in flames and more and more people began to attack the structure of government that we had.

There were people called white supremacists that took off after other people who called themselves black power. And there were terrorist attacks in this country back and forth, whites on blacks and blacks on whites, and began to spill over from one city to another. Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit. It was just chaos. It was scary to think about where it all might end. Then came, in my town, the news that one of our citizens in Pasadena had shot the Attorney General of the United States, assassinated him in Los Angeles.

Robert F. Kennedy was shot dead. And immediately after, Aaron Dean's brother, Kevin and I, jumped on my motor scooter and we drove to Sirhan's house. We knew where it was. It was in Pasadena. Kind of went up there and checked out the little family house. There were military shootings of American students, American college students, at Kent State University by U.S. military forces. And in 1969, when Mr. Robin Weber and I, I was 17 years old, we stood on a street in Copenhagen because we just graduated from high school and decided to go on a trip of Europe during a Ural Pass.

And we got to Copenhagen and wondered what the crowds were doing over there on that street next to the TV store. So we went over there and saw John Glenn step out on the surface of the moon. In the 1960s were an interesting time. It was chaotic. But there were three solutions that were launched to fix all those problems of the 1960s. Three solutions. One was force, the second was the hippie movement, and the third was the New Age movement. Now, of course, force, you know what happened there. The police were labeled as pigs. That's where that term came from. Fuzz was developed back then.

Slang terms against any type of law enforcement came on. Force was used by the Army in Vietnam, and they began to really unload the bombs onto that country. And then they developed something called Agent Orange, so they sprayed around and deforested basically everything it touched. Was the problem solved? Of course not. We know how Vietnam ended. It was a real failure. It caused a lot of aggression and hard feelings even to this day.

The hippie movement, though, came along with, all you need is love. Love, love, love. It's all about love. And you had peace, peace, man. And free love. And you had love-ins. And then you wore flowers in your hair and let your hair grow. And there were drugs. There were psychedelic drugs. There was flower power. There was the summer of love. There's San Francisco. Wear a flower in your hair. And what was the result of all that? The result of all that was a lot of kids born out of wedlock, a lot of disease, a lot of druggies, and a real spread of immorality and degeneracy in this nation by a counterculture, a subculture, that would affect this nation for now three generations.

The third group that was going to solve all these problems was the New Age group. If you were around in the sixties, you at least heard of the New Age group. Their motto song was the Age of Aquarius. Now, the Age of Aquarius is going to solve everything. Now, this is what some can think will solve all the world's problems.

Here it is. When the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars. And what's the result of that? Well, harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding, no more falsehoods or derisions, golden living dreams of visions, mystic crystal revelation, and the mind's true revelation. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Those were the three things that set about to solve the problems of the world when I was a kid.

How did they do? Well, guess what? They didn't work. They didn't do a thing. Today, you teens live in the decade of the two-thousands. It's a different decade. And yet, we see, amidst the high-tech marvels that you enjoy and that you really are good at using, the entertainment that's thrilling, and we also see 9-11 as part of the time that you are here. We see the threat and the occurrence of terrorist attacks all around the world.

Your news today says that Earth's environments cannot support themselves much longer. The infrastructure is breaking down. The natural environments are failing everywhere, from the ionosphere to the air in which we breathe, down to the oceans, the polar caps, the rainforests, the coral reefs, animal species on land. Some of them are dying off so fast, they're hurrying just to document what they are before they're gone, as well as fish in the seas.

It's a tough time. It's a tough time. How long can humanity prolong itself on this Earth with the ideals that they have? Well, the news keeps saying, not doomsday predictions, but BBC, CNN, Fox News, the news says, not too much longer. We can't keep doing this much longer. There's a sign that you see once in a while. It's kind of curious. It's an American thing. It's a road sign. It says, dead end. Now, you just wouldn't want to put that sign anywhere on the planet or anybody else's culture.

But dead end to us, it's not shocking. It doesn't raise your blood pressure. It just means the street doesn't go through. If you go to another country, it's liable to say something like, new thoroughfare. Way closed. But here we have dead end.

And that's an interesting sign, dead end. Because that's essentially what the Global Environment Summit came to recently. We're heading for a dead end as far as this earth, as far as being able to perpetuate itself. Jesus Christ said about 2,000 years ago that if He did not intervene, humanity would come to a dead end. He said there would be no flesh, no life saved alive. So, you teens do have a challenging time, decade era, in which you live as well.

The time of the end is prophesied in the Bible. The end. People are aware of this. You see the old cartoons once in a while. The old guy looks like a prophet and he's got a sign and says, The end is near! The end is near. People talk about the end. People often use the term Armageddon when they talk about the end. But pretty much people are aware that there is kind of a concept of the end out there and the Bible talks about the end. But oftentimes people create their own scenarios of what will happen. And you know, those scenarios can involve all kinds of things. About what people think will happen at supposedly the end. But to you and me, God has given His Holy Spirit and He has given us His holy days. And between the two, we are taught God's plan for mankind. We are taught about His timetable, about things that will happen, including a time of the end. So just what is the end? The Bible speaks of the time of the end. But what ends? Is it the big end? Is it the end of all things? Like the book says, the sum of all fears? Is it it done? Or is it beginning? And if so, what is the beginning of? What will begin after the end? Questions like this confuse humanity. But the day of atonement actually reveals in time events clearly. The end time, the end, is what this day is about. Today let's take a look at the truth as God has given it to us. Not the fantasies, not the ideas. Let's find out what the end is, because this day is all about the end. Thy word is truth, the Bible says. Jesus was the truth, the word, the logos. And Jesus is the only one who has ever spoken absolute truth to humanity. Think about that. You have never spoken absolute truth, and I haven't, not from ourselves. But Jesus Christ came and gave the word from His Father. And it was absolute truth. Let's hear what He said. In Matthew 12 and 32, He's talking about a certain subject, but then He makes an interesting statement. One that will illuminate this concept of the end. He says, anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven Him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven Him, either in this age or in the age to come. Now, that is a huge clue about what the Feast of Atonement is about. That is a huge clue. He's telling us something about the end. He says, either in this age or in the age to come. So there is more to come. And He contrasts these two ages, one with now and something that is to come. So we are in an age. What is an age? Age comes from the Greek word aion. Aion means something different, spiritually and morally. Something spiritually and morally different. It doesn't mean time will stop. It doesn't mean everything will be different as far as physical. It means there is something spiritually and morally unique about that age. Paul said in Ephesians 1.21 something similar. He said, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. Once again, a contrast of two ages. So we are in an age, some kind of an age. And a different age, spiritually and morally, is on its way. But what age are we really living in? What is the age in which we are in? Let's go to Galatians 1 and verse 3. We'll get a strong clue here from the Apostle Paul about this age. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 4, Galatians 1, who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil age. This identifies what age we are in. Age, remember, means spiritually and morally unique. Well, this is a spiritually and morally evil age.

And God wants to deliver the first fruits from that and ultimately the whole world. So this age is evil. Why is this an age? An evil age? Well, it says in 2 Corinthians, just back a little bit, chapter 4 and verse 3. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded. The God of this spiritual and moral time is Satan. And He has blinded them, who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Notice the contrast here between the God of this age and verse 4, who is blinding people, causing darkness they can't see. And yet, the contrast here with God in verse 6. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness. So we can say in evil age now of darkness, God commands light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Two different ages. As contrasting as black and white day and night. To properly understand the two ages, we have to understand that this is not God's world. A preacher and his assistant come to the door this morning. She's a beautiful young girl, about 16 years old, obviously in training. The preacher was there and I opened the door.

They got out the Bibles and he nodded to her and she got her little booklet out and turned to the right page. She said, have you heard of this scripture before? Yes, I have. She was like, have you heard of this scripture before? I said, well, I've never seen it written quite like that. What translation are you using? She looked at him and said, what translation was this from? He gave some translation. I said, that's not a very good translation. That comes from one of the older manuscripts that was not used. The newer majority texts, the Masoretic and others, do a much better job. He was trying to explain to me that probably one of the most important things that came up was that God has this name that was once used back in Exodus. I believe it was the sixth chapter. It's so important that we use that particular name, which usually isn't even written in the Bible. You have to dig it out. I said, well, it's even more important that we do what God says and keep the law. I mentioned, one job will pass from the law until it's been fulfilled and keep the law. He said, you really think I'm going to give the law? Yeah, you can go to Revelation 21.8 and if you lie, cheat, steal, have sexual immorality, you burn! Like Christ said, first commandment, second commandment, whole law. It's a package. God doesn't change. Well, let's get back to that name. But if you really say Jehovah or whatever, I'm like, okay, gotta go. Gotta go here. But I tried to be gracious for the first time in my life to somebody who was trying to sell something that they didn't understand because I realized that they can't understand. I said, do you know that today is the Sabbath that Jesus kept and He's Lord of the Sabbath and the apostles kept the Sabbath? No. Let me talk about the name. He said, you know, names identify people. I said, you know, it's good to know who people are, but you gotta know what they say and what you ought to believe. He says, you know, I say this, well, why do you think so many people have so many different religions? I said, well, you know what? This is not the age of God. This is not God's world. Really? Yes. In fact, do you know what today is? I said, it's the Day of Atonement. It's a festival. It was written in Leviticus 23. It was kept by the apostles. It was mentioned by Paul. It's called the fast. This is the feast that celebrates the fact that there is a new age coming. Jehovah's very important name. So anyway, I understand that unless the eyes are opened, we cannot see. And there is a new age coming, and God is not the God of this age. He's simply not. He's not the author of broken homes. He's not the author of breaking all the laws, shattering marriages with violence, racial hatred, ethnic hatred, governmental corruption, greed, pollution, depression, disease, persecution. All the suffering we see around us. That's not God. That's not the results of His age. Paul points the cause and the author of these sorrows right here in 2 Corinthians 4 for the God of this age, the God of this spiritual mindset.

The two are very, very different. How great is this influence of Satan? Well, 1 John 5, verse 19, John said, We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. How many people are in the world? The whole world. You know what's sad? When I said to you a while ago, Nihao, greetings from China, we did not, Monty and I, did not bring back a single greeting to you from anyone in the most populous country on this earth. There was nobody there to send a greeting from. That's sad. That is sad. Someday, the God of the age will not be Satan, but right now it is, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. That doesn't mean we're better than them, etc., etc. I'll tell you what, today's a good day to be humble and say, Why me? Wow, I feel a little kicked in the stomach and dry in the throat, and it's good to pause and say, Am I really serious about this? Am I really hungering and thirsting for righteousness as much as I'm hungering and thirsting for a blue cheese filet mignon with, you know... Anyway, so you see, if we are really busy about our Father's business, we will be excited to be partakers of God's Spirit now, and the knowledge, not only the knowledge, but also that Spirit which allows us to repent and grow and put on the mindset of God. He's the mind and author of a different age. Eventually, the fruit of this age is going to expand even greater into what Jesus Christ referred to as the worst of times. It's just terrible. Matthew 24, verse 3, talks about the end of this age. That's what the disciples ask Him. What's going to be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

Then he says in verse 21, for there will be great tribulation. You didn't just say tribulation. That would be bad enough. But great tribulation! So great that there has not been anything like it since the beginning of the world till this time. No, nor ever, ever will be again. That's great tribulation. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved alive. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

You know, the world is all but forgotten about. Satan, I went into a building supply this week to get some birdseed, and I couldn't find it. I found a lot of plastic pumpkins, things, you know, colored orange. They had just taken out the whole section. Where's the birdseed? I never did find the birdseed. But, you know, whole section to celebrate what? Demonism. You know, it's not good. They don't understand. They just don't get it. He ceased to exist in the mines, and so the stores are full of devil's holiday stuff. And they seem fine with that.

So all humanity is influenced by the thinking, the attitude, the actions of Satan, and the demons. And you and I are not...we are not totally protected from that. We can be. God will protect us from it. We can have the armament to fight in war against those spiritual powers in heavenly places. But we're not automatically protected from it. His influence is so great that he deceives the whole world. It says in Revelation 12 verse 9, deceives the whole world.

One of his greatest deceptions is religion, and his ideas dominate. God's ideas don't dominate in religion. The Bible warns of Christian religion. It warns all the way through the New Testament of Christian religion. Warning, warning, warning about Christianity. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 13 through 15, 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13, it says, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. Do you know what that means? An apostle of Christ?

It means a Christian apostle, a Christian teacher, pastor, preacher, whatever you want to call them. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. There is or was a play that was very popular called Phantom of the Opera. Phantom of the Opera is an intriguing story. It's a dark story, but it's an intriguing story. And the movie is even darker than the play. The play was pretty good.

You saw the movie on the way back from China, and it was really dark. But essentially, what you have is a lady Christine. And if you look up her name, Christine means Christian. So you have this woman in the play that represents you and me, in a sense. And the play is the old story between good and evil. But what's curious about this is, here's this beautiful young girl, and she just grows up, from a kid, and now she's an adult, and she's just used to the world.

She's just used to the Phantom. She's just used to how he has her play songs, and sing her songs, and the relationship with him. And he's not so bad a guy, and she has this kind of quirky, I don't know if it's romance, but it's certainly appreciation for him.

Just like you and me and everybody else on the planet. We just...well, this is life! You're in the dungeon with the Phantom! But you don't realize it. And so one day, Raoul comes along, and Raoul says, Whoa! Hey! Nice lady! Raoul's a very decent man. Very decent man. Good character, and she's like, Wow! Decent guy? Phantom! Well, I'm with the Phantom. Always have been. But decent guy. And Raoul says, What's going on here?

This isn't right. She's like, Well, uh...well, I don't know. It's life. I mean, you know, it is what it is. But as the story goes along, lights begin to come on in Christine. She begins to see, you know what? This isn't right. This is right. Raoul is right. I've never seen anything like this before. I've never understood life like this before. I always thought it was twisted and kind of dark and, you know, music of the night and...

Now, you know, and then there's this contest between the two of them, you know, just like between Satan and Christ. There's a contest for each one of us, and there's this pull. And in the end, the beauty of it, you'll miss it if you don't listen for the words, because it starts to be said right when the music takes off. But she says, you deceived me. She pulls away from the Phantom, and she goes with Raoul.

But she says, you deceived me. It's a wonderful thing when the lights come on in a person. It's not something we can control. It's not something you can cause in somebody else. There are people that we all love and appreciate and respect and admire, and you just wish the light would turn on. The light of the gospel of Christ would shine into them. That will come in its own time, and it's a wonderful thing when it does happen. But for right now, for right now, this world, this age is one of deception.

It's one that is controlled by the age of Satan. The result of that deception is that you and I and everybody else, it says in Ephesians 2 and verse 1, once walked according to the course of this world. The word course, if you look it up, is simply the word age. It means it's Aeon.

It's the Greek word Aeon. In which you once walked according to the age of this world. We're part of the age. We're part of the spiritual and moral mentality of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, who now works in the sons of disobedience.

In chapter 6 and verse 12, it says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. The result has been God's way is foolishness to mankind. Foolishness, it just doesn't make any sense. It's silly. God, the Bible, the way of God, God is rejected. The consequences are wrong deeds, wrong motives, suffering, sorrow. And all this has permeated the earth since creation until now.

This is the age, the present evil age. But that age of the rejection of God, that age of a selfish mentality, that age by any name that you want to put on it, is coming to an end. The end of this evil age. And that's what the Feast of Atonement pictures. It's a beautiful time. I can get more excited about the Feast of Atonement than, well, I can't say it in any other feasts because they're all really exciting.

But I can certainly get as excited about Atonement as I can about any other feast day because this is the end of an age. This is what it celebrates. The age of terrorism, the nuclear age, the age of humanism, the age of self, the age of Satan. Any other name you want to put on it, this evil age is coming to an end at a specific time called the end. The end. The end isn't just ethereal. It is the end.

What is the end time? The Bible's time of the end, or end of the age, the coming of this present evil age, in reality is the end of Satan's influence, end of his rule, the end of his mentality being on earth. It will end. It's going to be replaced by an age of agape.

You might think, well, that's an interesting name. Well, think about it. God is love. All of the Bible can be summarized into two points of loving God and loving your neighbor. The Holy Spirit, the first thing that happens once you get the Holy Spirit, is love. This is not going to be an age of selfishness. It's going to be an age of love because that is what God is. That's what his mind is. And that love is not just like you and I would know it, a selfish, internal, personal love, but a true agape love. A love of God, by God, from God, through God, that will come to us, come to all humanity eventually. And it's going to be replaced by an age of God's rule and his guidance of humanity.

In John 12 and verse 31, Jesus forecasts this time, John 12 and verse 31, But now is the judgment of this world, now the ruler of this world will be cast out. See what happens? What marks the end of an age? One mentality goes. One God goes. Another mentality comes with another God that comes. In verse 32, And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. A new ruler. The end time is about a changing of the gods, and the mentality of the gods is going to change, and it will drastically affect those who live and dwell on this earth.

The end time is going to be followed by the beginning. The beginning of a new era. End Satan, begin God. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22, we see an event that takes place at Christ's return, which we just celebrated in Feast of Trumpets.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 22, It says, See that? See that in your Bible? And then comes the end.

What marks the end? When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, and when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. That is the end. The end of the age where Satan and his cohorts are ruling the world.

It's a wonderful time. You can go back in the Old Testament and read how on this day two goats were brought out, and one was released, one was slaughtered, one was released to wander in the wilderness, the other was killed. This day has always been about a changing of the guard, about the replacement of that goat that will be sent off wandering in the wilderness of the deepness of space forever from the lamb that was slaughtered and comes back as the king of kings. This age to come is spoken of in the Bible as the kingdom of God. That's how we know it. The age of love, the age of the mentality of Christ and of God, we call it the kingdom of God. A time when a kingdom is established with territory, with laws, and with government, and the new government takes over, the kingdom of God. When Christ will return and govern the earth at His second coming. Isaiah speaks of this in Isaiah 11 and verse 9.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. Imagine a world in which no one hurts and nobody destroys. We would probably all be buried in the buildings and the goods and the things that humans have made down through time if man wasn't destroying it all the time. You can hardly get a city built, it seems, and the building is up before some war breaks out and somebody tears them all down again. You've got to feel sorry for Barut Lebanon. Here's the financial capital of the world and it's the rubble heap of the world. Then it's the vacation capital of the world and now it's turning back into the rubble heap of the world.

It's kind of a sad thing to see these things come and go. The various inventions that people have made usually start out with war in mind. And it gobbles up the resources, it gobbles up all the good stuff, and that's top secret.

You never get to play with those toys. But imagine if there were nobody destroying and nobody hurting or harming, what the focus of people's constructiveness could be and their relations could be. We were over in China and had dinner two or three times with the captain of the China soccer team, Wei Pu, is her name.

And the World Cup has been going on over there, still is going on, and China is trying to get in there. So we're with Wei Pu and her friend, and they're telling us when it's going to be on. It's in September, and be sure and root for us and stuff. Can you root for China? Is that okay? What if you go home and you say, I'm rooting for the good old red team? The communist Chinese underdogs. Go Wei and the girls.

Wouldn't it be great, though, in a world where all cultures... I feel embarrassed sometimes. I tell you how great the Arabs are and the Palestinians. If you ever get to go to Jerusalem, don't forget to go to see the Palestinians. Go home with them and eat. They have better food than the Jews. Anyway, and I'm serious about that. And if you get offered the eyeballs and the sheep's head, you are the guest of choice. So far, I haven't been, and I don't want to be. But I was with the man who was.

But you see, isn't it terrible in this world where you can say, I really like this cause I really like these people? Because in this world, well, those are our enemies, were our enemies, or will be our enemies, invariably. They are, they were, or they will be. And so you can't like them. It's sad. It's sad it's the way it is, because ultimately, when Christ returns, this is what happens. No one will hurt or destroy at all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

That's one thing to know God, but to know Him, we're told in 1 John, means to live and think like He does. Anybody who says, I know God, but doesn't have love and doesn't keep his laws is a liar. So if the whole world is going to know God, they're going to have that mentality. And it's going to be a beautiful mentality. It's going to be great. We can really get excited about the Feast of Atonement. Let's fast another day. We're so excited. We're so pumped. Let's just keep going.

Just as changes in the weather cause big problems, and often upheavals as one frontal system will pass through and another one comes in, that transition period is terrible. Down in Yuma, they've only had one tenth of an inch of rain this year. And normally, they should have an annual rainfall of three inches. But they got their three inches last week, actually a week before last, on September 1st. They got three inches in three hours. And it ripped the front end off of Randy and Kathy Love. He's the elder there. He ripped the front end off of their house, took the carport. That ripped off part of the roof.

Took all their neighbors' stuff with them, skipped two or three houses, and just ripped them off all going down there, threw them all at the church next door. And, you know, it's like, wow! They got up in the middle of the night. Kathy said, you know, Kathy's so cute. She said, I thought I heard cats on the roof.

I thought I heard a cat on the roof. And she said, I think there's two cats on the roof. And she said, I think there's four cats on the roof. So she got up to sea, and she went in the living room, and there was no roof.

She said, just a lot of rain coming down. So that was interesting. Her house is just full of knickknacks. She just loves knickknacks. She's got knickknacks going on forever. And you know what happened? Not one of her knickknacks was hurt or broken. It was just amazing. She did break one thing herself. She had to go over and help something and accidentally dropped it herself. But other than that, the storm didn't bother a thing. And they're replacing her house, or part of that house, at no charge.

And I said, Kathy, do you realize what's just happened to you? You're getting a third of a house brand new, free! She said, I hadn't thought about that. But these changes do cause problems. Let's go to Revelation chapter 19. I have a request today that was given to me by Dennis Montgomery. He asked me to keep preaching until 6.30. Because that way he will not know he's hungry. Thank you, Dennis. I'm doing my best. So we'll go to Revelation chapter 19. We're just going to skim these two chapters here very quickly.

If you pick out your favorite verses, I'll pick out mine. But notice what happens here. After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. A new God is coming for the saints. And I recognize him. For true and righteous are his judgments. And he goes on down in verse 11. And now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true.

And in righteousness he judges and makes war. There's going to be some turmoil here as this switchover takes place. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. And so, when we come down to chapter 20, I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who was the devil, and Satan, bound him for a thousand years. Cast him into a bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more.

And that's going to pop up a little bit there at the end of the thousand years. But that's pretty much the end of Satan. So, teens, when you are looking at your era, your teenage years, and the events going on in the world, you can see who is the mastermind of that.

It is not just people. It is not some bad people. It is a bad mind, a bad way of thinking that's been pushed at all peoples on this earth. We don't have the good guys here in this country and the bad guys there in that country.

No, you have bad everywhere. And some good, because God created things and said they were good. But when Satan stirs people up, anybody gets stirred up, things get bad. In chapter 20, verse 6, it says, Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. It doesn't say that about any other resurrection. You can't say, oh, the people that come up in the second resurrection or the third resurrection are extremely blessed and holy. It just doesn't say that, does it?

It talks about how those who have tough it out, those who have fought against the God of this world now in their lifetime, and resisted that mindset and put on the mind of love, now at this time, these are blessed and holy and will be in the first resurrection. And they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him for a thousand years.

When will that age of Agape, of the kingdom, end? It says in Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, Jesus Christ is coming. He's a wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and at the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. No end. You have the end, and the next age, the age of love, there is no end. No end whatsoever. Okay, we've talked today about the end, and we've seen how it's going to happen, when it's going to happen.

What is your responsibility towards being part of the transition of ages, being part of the new government that's going to bring love to this planet? How should you be preparing for the end? A common way to prepare for the end is to watch. Be alert and watch. Watch everything. Observe the world. Preach the gospel to the world. Warn the world.

You know something about that mentality? There's no focus on yourself. No focus on your sins. No focus on overcoming. No focus on perfecting the bride, getting the spot and the blemish out of the bride. No focus on having that bride ready to do something. Rather, it's looking at someone else, the speck in their eye, and not noticing the beam that's in your own eye.

At the time that we are to be washed, the time we're supposed to be cleaning of the bride, we can be all preoccupied with feeling pretty cocky, pretty good. Like we ought to be out telling somebody else their sins. Be warning them. There were ten versions, and five of them were foolish. Five of them were not ready. Five of them did not go in. They were all called. They were virgins in that they hadn't mixed themselves up spiritually with the prostitute of this world, the great horror of Revelation. They were pure in that sense. But at the same time, they had not made themselves ready. But that's our job! To cry aloud, spare not, lift your voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins, and put Isaiah and Ezekiel together there, and come up with the trumpet message. And we need to tell them, because if we don't tell them, God's going to put that on our shoulders. So God tell them. Turn, turn, turn from your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel?

Well, if we do that, and our big focus is on that, then we can hear these words that Jesus said in Matthew 7, 22. Many will come to me in that day saying, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, have we not taught and prophesied in Your name? Have we not done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew You, depart from me, You who practice lawlessness. Lawlessness is a lack of repentance. It's a lack of righteousness. It's a lack of agape love. It's a lack of looking and being aware like Jesus Christ said, watch You, therefore, and pay attention that You may escape these things by being counted worthy.

Counted worthy, not by being critical of others. Now, let's ponder all this warning message stuff for a minute. Why is it never stated in the New Testament, not in the words of Christ, not the words of the Gospels, not in the words of the Apostles, not in the book of Revelation, that the mission and purpose of Christians at the end time is to go out and tell everybody their sins? Why is that never mentioned? Why was it only mentioned to Jeremiah, or Isaiah, and Ezekiel, one who is prophesying against the ancient nation of Israel, the other prophesying against the ancient nation of Judah, as they were about to go into captivity?

Why is it never mentioned if it's so important now? Why is it not mentioned? Who is Israel when it says, tell Jacob their sins? Who is Jacob? Who is the Jacob, the Israel of today, to tell their sins too? It says in Galatians 3, verse 28, There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There is no slave nor free, nor male nor female, for you are all in one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seeds and heirs according to the promise. There is who Israel is, the spiritual descendants of Abraham. Spiritual Israel is the church of God. If we're going to cry aloud and spare not and tell God's people his sins, spiritual Jacob is the church.

We need to be corrected ourselves. As we're going to see, that's exactly what Jesus Christ went about doing, correcting the church. Isaiah and Ezekiel warned God's church of their day. What was their message? What was a warning? That if they didn't obey, that destruction was coming. Was there a dual message for the ministry today to be preaching the same thing?

To tell God's people their sins? Well, who's the house of God? I believe it's a dual message. You bet I do. I don't want to downplay that at all. And I'm a minister of God, and I am busy telling the house of Israel God's people their sins. Who is the house of Israel? 1 Peter 4, 17. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, Peter said. There's the identity of Israel. The identity of Israel. The house of God is the church today.

The point is, where's the zeal for applying Isaiah and Ezekiel's warnings to ourselves? Am I saying we shouldn't go out to the physical descendants of the house of Israel with a message? No, I'm not. No, I'm not. But to put that as primary when it's not mentioned in the New Testament, to put that as primary when we are the house of Israel, the house of God, and judgment is upon us, would be foolishness. Foolishness. Jesus said in Luke 6, in verse 41, now why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye? It was very easy for me today to look at those two people on my front porch and say, you sinners, you don't get it.

You don't know the truth. You know, you're worshiping on the wrong day of the week. I could give a whole list of stuff. Right? That is a speck. Those things represent a speck in their eye. Not a beam. Why is it a speck? We just read judgments at the house of God.

Christ said, I did not come to judge or condemn the world. They are not being judged or condemned, so why would they have anything more than a speck? After all, they can't even see. But you, O man of God, you, O person of God, if we have something in our eye, it shouldn't be there. We should know better, shouldn't we? It's a beam to us. The world can't see. They can't hear. They can't believe. But for us to have a plank in our eye, that's a very big issue. Or how can you say to your brother, brother, let me remove that speck that's in your eye?

When you yourself don't see the plank that's in your own eye. Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that's in your brother's eye. And that is talking about you and me reigning with Christ. If you want to remove the speck that are in the eyes of the world, we have to be busy about removing the planks that are in our eyes. Good thing we're fasting today. It takes us down a little notch. By the way, you have bad breath. I just want to let you know that.

Now let's ask the question. What warnings did Jesus Christ give this church? At the close of the New Testament. This is the focus. Here's the focus He gave us. Let's go back and check some of the warnings He gave us. Revelation 2, verse 5. If you don't have to turn there, I'll just read them to you. Revelation 2, verse 5. He says to His church, Revelation 2, Revelation 2, Revelation 2, Revelation 2, Revelation 2, He talks about Jezebel, verse 21. She did not repent. Revelation 3, verse 3. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard, hold fast, and repent.

Verse 19, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. Fasting is good for us to be cognizant or become cognizant of the fact that we do have beams in our eyes. We can never say, Oh, I just think I need to be critical of everybody else and ignore myself. And then when Christ returns, Oh, here I am, Lord! I preached and taught and cast out demons and did all these things. I told everybody how bad they were. We could really be caught unawares.

Now God is bringing back a remnant of the house of Israel. And that house of Israel, the 12 tribes, is about to go through what's called the time of Jacob's trouble. They don't know who they are. They don't really know who God is. But they are going to go through it, and they do need a warning as well. But the principal job that we have is to be preparing as the bride of Christ and getting the dirt off, getting cleaned up and scrubbed up, like it says there in Ephesians chapter 5, about how Christ came and washed her with the washing of the water of the Word. We need to look into this and be cleaned of our sins.

Our focus needs to be on setting our own spiritual house in order first, and also preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to others. Neither should go undone. But repentance is the biggest need that all humans have. And if you really want to be an example and help to humans, repent. Show the way.

Firstfruits are leaders in repentance, leaders in righteousness. What's the main focus of the firstfruits? Matthew 6, the model prayer, is all about seeking the kingdom and righteousness. Verse 33, Then Christ said, Seek first the kingdom and righteousness. In Matthew 25, 34-36, separating the sheep from the goats, as he's determining who will reign with him in the kingdom, he takes those who have a mindset of righteousness, of love, who care. They are the ones that inherit the kingdom. So right now, primarily, we need to be humble, light to the world, repenting and overcoming, setting that example, showing the way for others, preaching the kingdom of God, and doing like Jesus Christ did. And Jesus Christ's message of the kingdom was clear, and it was consistent. It was always, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Remember those words? Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

All humanity, you and me included, needs to enter a new age, the age of agape love, the age of a new mentality, the mentality of God and the kingdom of God.

Today we're fasting with no food, no water, under normal circumstances. What does God want us to achieve from afflicting our bodies? What is it that He wants you to achieve?

Isaiah 58, verse 6. Isaiah 58, verse 6. He tells us, Is not this the fast that I have chosen? You remember this. Isaiah 58, verse 6. Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness. Take that mentality and put it in the trash. To undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every heavy yoke. Verse 7 is just what he says back in Matthew 25, when he talks about the sheep from the goats. Remember the righteous inherit the earth because they what? I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me.

Look what he says here. The purpose of fasting, verse 7. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry? And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? And when you see the naked that you cover him, and you hide not yourself from your own flesh? This is repentance. Once we repent and we get that mind of God, then we can be at one with God. Atonement, as was mentioned already, or at-one-ment, is a very close unity of being at one. It's a miraculous thing of oneness.

Righteousness is oneness. Oneness with God, oneness with each other. That is righteousness. It's what it is. Righteousness is love and love is God. So righteousness, love and God are one. And God is one, and he wants us to be one with him, says in John 17. So the age of at-one-ment is the age of agape. It's the goal of this day of atonement. I had the opportunity to visit the homelands of several cultures, and I don't like being a tourist to just go somewhere and say, I went to that country.

What's nice is to be able to visit some people. One time my wife and I were in Mexico in the city of Guadalajara, and we were invited just off the street, or she'll tell you how it happened, but we were invited home with somebody for dinner. Now that's how you see Mexico. It's when you get to go home with somebody. We had some friends in Southern California when we were pastoring there, and they had parents and brothers and sisters in Mexico, and we got to drive home with them to Mexico. It's one thing to go down as an American tourist, you know, what's for sale in Mexico along the streets.

Another thing to go right on through that in downtown and around the corner and up where the residences are and go in and meet the family and have dinner in Mexico. It's different. It's unique. It's one thing to go to Germany and say you saw Germany. It's another thing to be invited home by some of the Germans and get to go in their home. It'll change how you think about a culture to go into somebody's home. It'll change your view of China.

It'll change your view of any of the countries in the Middle East. I am so, so, so sad that that place is all, you know, in such warfare, because those are such wonderful people. The same with probably any other people on earth. And so it is that right now we see God has created us, and He said it was good. People are very enjoyable, always enjoyable, unless you get into religion and politics. That spoils everything.

But they're wonderful people in their homeland and in their homes. Soon, all of this will be upgraded to excellent. God will look at it and He'll say, It is excellent in the Kingdom of God when Christ is ruling the world, because there's going to be an upgrade in the Age of Agape to a new mindset.

The problem today is the mentality. It's selfish, it's lusting, it's fighting, it's warring. But in the future, the Age of Agape is going to have love and concern. I mean, real love and concern for other people. People supporting people, assisting people, encouraging people, building people up. We so need to be there, one culture for another. Everybody thinks, oh no, our culture is fine, our culture is the best culture. Nonsense. You can take any culture around the world, and it's like a male and a female by themselves. It's nonsense. That culture is not good by itself, I should say. That culture is not maximized, its potential is not maximized by itself. I mean, what would this country be without Chinese food, Mexican food, Italian food, Greek food?

I mean, we all eat like the English. Yuck! What's the old joke? In Euro-Heaven, the European view of Heaven, is a land or a union where the French are the cooks, the British handle all the security, the Germans make the cars, and the Italians are in charge of love. Euro-Hell is where the Germans are in charge of the military and the police, the French make the cars, and the British do all the cooking.

That's what the Europeans joke around with over there. You can just see, though, that even within that culture of Europe, how much they depend upon each other, and when they get together, what they can do. When we go over to Africa, I don't see people who need help. I see people who need partnering mentors. Not somebody who's going to come teach them, somebody who's going to partner with them, much as a parent needs to be a partnering mentor for his or her child.

You don't just sort of, I told you what to do, and look how you grew up. No, you're a partnering mentor. You live this life together. You intertwine, and you're there for each other. The African people have so much they can give us. We have so much we could give them, but it's never going to happen. It's never going to happen. No one has the interest, you see? It's my country, your country. What have you got that I can have?

And that's about it. How can we take from each other how this planet runs? That day will come to an end when the Day of Atonement is realized. And this time of love is going to be fabulous. In conclusion, we've got to humble ourselves today, and every day. Fasting is good for us whenever we need it. If you ever feel a little cocky, a little proud, just the most beautiful person, just the smartest guy on the planet, you know how to run the church, or run your husband, or run everything, your company, fast.

And feel like you do today, it might help. I don't know. It might just give you a bad headache. But if you pray and ask God for humility to learn on this day, then we can be humbled. And be humbled every day. Repent and put away self-centeredness.

Ask God who is love for more of it, more of His mind. You know, the more agape love we have from Him, the more at one we are with Him. See, now we get an association with the Kingdom in advance. Actually, you and I have a strong association with the Kingdom. If you're always praying for the Kingdom to come, we'll start praying for the Kingdom to come today, now, while you're praying this day.

Help the Kingdom. The laws of love, the mind of God, the organization to fill your heart. You know, the Kingdom of God right now is shed abroad in our hearts. It should be. That mind of the Kingdom and of God should be here. The laws of the Kingdom should be here. We should have a strong identity with the Kingdom. Pray for it for others for then and for you now to have a strong association with your Lord and Master. Not just in the future when the Kingdom literally arrives.

We can have anot oneness now. Not a perfect one, because we're in no way perfect. But we can have more of that. As we grow in that love, we become useful to Jesus Christ. Think of this. If you don't have the mind of Christ, you're not useful to Christ. Why would he want you in his Kingdom? Why do you think if you don't have the mind of Christ, he's going to put you in his Kingdom? He's not. So we need to have that mind. We need to repent. We have to have the love of God. Because he's coming to bring God's love to everybody and he needs leaders in it. Will you assist him? Will I assist him? Do we want to have that mind now? It says in Proverbs 29 and 2, this could almost be a prophecy. It may be a prophecy. But it says, When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. That's what Revelation 20, 4, 6 talk about. The righteous in authority. The firstfruits reigning with Christ will be in authority and the people will rejoice. Only righteous people are going to rule with him. I want to be one of those. I'm not. But I want to be. With God's help, he'll help me be and he'll help you as well. Of and by myself, I'm certainly not. In Revelation 19, verses 7 and 8, let's read this. Revelation 19, 7-8, this is this transitional phase. I intentionally skipped around this part when we were here before. Revelation 19, verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. The wife has made herself ready. She was repenting. She was growing. She was humble.

Verse 8, To her it was granted to be a raid in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. This is what we have to be leaders in to reign with Christ. This is the mentality of the new age that's coming, the age of the kingdom of God. And we need to be part of that age now and then leaders of it then. So the end is coming. This feast celebrates the end. The next feast celebrates the beginning, the end, and the new age that's coming, spiritual and moral.

Once the mentality of this age is removed, then a new mentality can flourish. It says in Isaiah that the knowledge of the Lord, not only the knowledge, but to know God again, you have to obey the law. This is going to cover the whole earth as the waters cover the sea. You know what water does? It washes, doesn't it? It cleanses. It's going to clean and wash and cleanse this whole earth just as the ocean covers the earth, covers the seas, that is. The result is going to be unbelievable. Humanity will be at one in unity with God and with all that is in His Kingdom. So with this knowledge and appreciation of the change that's going to take place, the end of one age, the beginning of another, let's go enjoy the Feast of Tabernacles. Let's go celebrate the exciting beauty of that age, the wonderment of it, or even the animals won't hurt or destroy, let alone the people. Have a wonderful feast. Hope you'll be safety conscious and health conscious during this Feast of Tabernacles, and then we'll look forward to seeing you all back here right after the feast.