Out of Light Into Darkness

Well, good afternoon, everyone. So very good to be here with you today. We have very much enjoyed being in Orlando the last week. Great to be here today. Always enjoy coming back home, and later on, next week, after we're in Portland for a conference, we'll be back home in Cincinnati again.

Let me welcome—I know we have some visitors. I see some from Cincinnati, some from Mexico that we saw last week here. People on the web, good to have you with us as well. Let me commend the children's choir. Very entertaining, very well done. To keep your ears open, I may give you a little job for the feast here if you're up to it.

We will see what happens with all of that. I mentioned it is always good to come back here. I never realized when we moved to Cincinnati that it would be so long in between trips, but it has been busy, as you probably realize. We have done things that I never really thought we would do.

This year, you know we've been on very many trips, regional conferences in the United States, and mentioned we have the sixth and last one coming up in Portland at the beginning of this coming week. But some of the international stuff as well, and it has been just just an amazing experience to to be able to do that and to go around and meet the various people, the pastors in these various areas.

We have learned so much, so many things that I didn't even know there was to learn. You know, often we think of the work of God, and the work of God is what happens at the home office. Certainly here in the local congregations, I often say the real work of God is going on in the congregations, but it's going on in the congregations all over the world.

We have come to realize, you know, as we've been to the Philippines for a conference, we're also we've been to the United Kingdom, Mexico last week. We're headed to Australia and South Africa later on in July, and it has been an eye-opening and a life-changing experience, I'll have to say.

You know, God has called wonderful people all over the world, all over the world, and they are all family. And that struck home a little bit last week when we were in Mexico, because all the pastors that were there during the conference we were able to communicate with, many of the brethren, last Sabbath, couldn't speak English, yet we felt right at home with them. And there is the spirit that I came to realize, always knew it, but the spirit that just binds us together makes us one, no matter where we live, no matter what our backgrounds are, no matter what language we speak, we are one, and God is working with every single one of the people He calls around the world, not just in the United States.

I think that Daris and Steve Myers, who met our wives, who have been with us on these trips, have been really, we always come back, encouraged, inspired, ready to go, because what we see God doing is amazing. You know, last week in Mexico, as we worked with the pastors, we had a conference, we talked with each of the pastors individually, and we saw some of the things that they're doing, and I think, wow, God is at work here.

We didn't tell them to do that. They're just kind of doing the things that they need to do. And here we thought we were going to help them with preaching the gospel, but in many cases they were doing it, and we learned some things, some taking back to the home office, that we should be doing. So it's just been a very heartening experience, and what has made it, what has made it very good is the people, the people that God has called.

That has made, you know, people will tell me often, how do you like traveling? The only reason I like traveling is because we meet God's people. The reason we are here is because we are with you, and I kind of like Florida, too. So, and the weather that's down here and everything, I'll have to say, you know, it felt good.

I got to work in the yard a few days this week, and in the 90 degree heat, it just, it energized me. It's one thing I do miss in Cincinnati. It doesn't get as good and hot, and the sun isn't as bright there. But I want to, I want to talk about some of that, some of that today, because, you know, as we've been around, there's been something that's been on my mind for over a week, and I tend to, I tend to focus on it, and as God opened our minds to just a couple things last week, and it's not like, again, it's like I mentioned in my letter this past week, it's like those aha moments where you always know, but then there's a point where you know you know, and it's down in your soul.

You know it, and it will, you'll never be the same again because it just clicks. And I mentioned a few of those things in my letter, and I want to talk about a few of those things today, because, you know, the world around us is a completely different place today.

I think it was like six or seven months ago, last time we were here, the world where we are today is so far advanced, down the world, down the path to prophecy than we were here before. Things happen all the time, and then never do we leave the home office anymore, where I say we come back, and the world is a totally different place. You know, before we left the, or I guess when we left, the Iran president was killed, and then we had England that said they're going to do a July 4th election.

We had the World Economic Forum Chairman decided he was going to step down, so there'll be a new one in place there in 2025, and they seem to be, they seem to be a voice in the world, and then we had occasions in this week that made a lot of people here in the United States think about what really is going on.

What really is going on is we see our country and our world change dramatically in the times that we just keep living and seeing what is happening. But last week, last week in Mexico, you know, I mentioned that we are God's people, and God needs people. We need God. I don't mean that the way it sounds. He is calling people all over the world and working with them individually. Again, this is something that we know, but we tend to be, in America, very America-centric, is what I've learned over the last seven or eight months. We think everything revolves around us. But you know, as God is preparing all of us for the millennium, for his kingdom, for the white throne judgment and beyond, there are people who have to be there and able to understand the people that have lived all through the various ages of man, who understand the cultures that are as part of those various countries.

You know, as we worked and talked with people in Mexico and as we talked with some from South Africa who were up at the General Conference a few weeks ago, came to realize, boy, we don't know anything. We don't know anything of what people have been through.

It is a completely different world outside of the United States than it is here. God is working with those people because when Christ returns, they have to be taught and they have to have people who understand them. And so God is working with them just as he is you and me. It is a worldwide family, his own special people that he has called. I do want to start today in 1 Peter.

So if you turn with me in 1 Peter 2. It is a verse that we have read many, many, many times. And it will become more and more real to us and more and more real meaningful as time goes on. When God says about you and me and the people all over the world that he is working with and all the nations where he is calling people, you, you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Even though we come from very many different nations, even though from many lands, different languages, different backgrounds, you are a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And believe me, the world is dark. The world is dark and the history of the world is dark. I'm going to come back to that in a little bit, but let's finish God's thought here. Who once were not a people, even those of us in the room, if we're not for God who called us out of the world, who opened our minds so we can see the truth, that we can understand his plan, and called us for a very special purpose, to be prepared by God, to become like Jesus Christ so that we can work with him and we can help the people to understand and teach the people in the coming millennium and for whatever God has in mind past that.

To do the will that he has to do, but we have to put the time and let him train us now to be those people who once were not a people, but now are the people of God who had and obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. You have a worldwide family. You know, we will more and more begin talking about what's going on in the world with various parts of the people, the challenges they face as well. I'd like to see the magazine begin to show some more international type flavor rather than just the stuff that's going on here in America, because we are a worldwide family, and we need to understand and we need to be able to pray for each other and understand the pressures and the challenges that they're going through, just the same as they pray for us with the challenges that we go through, that to date are still far less challenging than the challenges that they're going through.

But let me come back to darkness, the darkness. You know, another thing that just struck me in Mexico, as I mentioned again in the letter, is how dark the history of man has been. When you look back at the history of what has happened in the world, and today we live in an age where people before couldn't do that, and you can see how people lived before Christ. It is simply just not a world you would ever want to live in.

Let's, you know, the world has a pattern. The world has a pattern. You would think that the natural thing is you come out of darkness into light, but the world has a pattern of coming from light and going into darkness, just the opposite of what you would expect. And it shows the difference between the two spirit beings that have that work with mankind. But you know which one is light and life, and you know which one is utter darkness, and believe me, that darkness is very, very dark. Let's turn back to Isaiah. Isaiah 14. You know that when God created the earth, Mr. Ayle mentioned Genesis 1.1. We're going to go back to Genesis 1 in a minute, but when God created the earth before Genesis 1.1.2, it was light. It was full. It was full of brightness. There was no darkness in it. Darkness came on the earth. Excuse me. I don't know.

That may have done it. Isaiah 14. I don't like to take the water because it usually makes it worse than it was before. When God created the earth before mankind was on it, he created it with light, and it was bright and light, and it was a great place to be until darkness came by one being. Let's pick it up in verse 12. There in verse 12, of course, Isaiah 14 is where God is talking about Satan and what happened before mankind was on earth and how earth became the way it was. Isaiah 14 verse 12, it says, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? Now, Lucifer, there is a name that's given to who became Satan, but what it really means is morning star, light bringer, light bearer. Satan, who became Satan, Lucifer, light bearer. You bring light to the world. O Lucifer, how are you fallen from heaven, O light bringer, son of the morning? Where is the brightness that was supposed to be there in the light? How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations, because sin entered. And when sin enters, darkness results.

Light and life come when people are obeying God, living his way, following him implicitly, but when sin enters, darkness begins to descend. And with Satan, when he fell from heaven, when he fell from grace, when he sinned, when iniquity was found in him, darkness resulted. You have said in your heart, verse 13, and all these attitudes of pride that we see in Satan that we can see in the world around us today, the world is full of pride. Even in the church, when we look back over the history of the church, we can see these same attitudes that have permeated some people. I can do this better than that person. I should be doing this. I should be doing that. And all those I statements that Satan said that can become us if we don't watch what we're doing and realize everything that we do is from God. He is the one who provides every talent, just like he is the one who created Lucifer and gave him every talent that he had. And somewhere along the line, he lost that.

You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the Mount of the Congregation of the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. How arrogant, how disgusting of that attitude and that it was foisted toward God. Of all people, God, who gave him everything, who is the source of everything. And yet, that's who he is. He continues to be that. Pride blinds. Pride stops people from growth. Pride brings in darkness. Pride brings in darkness. Verse 15, God says, you will be brought down to Sheol, a very dark place to the lowest depths of the pit. So then we turn over to Genesis 1, and we see Satan has been cast down from where he was put.

He went from light bringer to prince of darkness. Destroy his light, brings in darkness.

Verse 2 of Genesis 1 says, the earth was without form and void. Those who have been to the church a long time recognize that the Hebrew words there are tohu and bohu. Chaotic. Confused. Not at all the type of place you want to be in. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. No longer a place of brightness, no longer a place of light, now darkness covered it. Sin. Sin from Satan brought the world, the earth down. He was cast down to earth, and the darkness overtook the light. Because sin brings darkness and death. The word of God, Jesus Christ, brings light and life. I'll just mention here, because in a few places, you know, we've gotten questions about verses 1 and 2, and the gap theory as we call it, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That's what we read about in Isaiah 14, at the time when God created the earth, it was perfect. It was perfect, and it was light.

Keep your finger there in Genesis 1. Let's go back to Isaiah 45.

And then we have this gap of time between verses 1 and 2. It was light. Then you look at Isaiah 14, you see Satan cast down, and now the world is darkness. It completely covers the world. But in Isaiah 45 and verse 18, God says this. He says, Who created, or thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain. Same Hebrew word that's sitting there in Genesis 1 verse 2. He did not create it in Tohu. He did not create it in darkness. He did not create it in chaos and confusion. It became that way as a result of Satan moving from light bringer to darkness bringer. From living by God and honoring his way to turning against God and having sin and darkness cover the earth. Who did not create it in Tohu. Who did not create it in vain. Who formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, he says, and there is no other. I'm going to read verse 19, but I'm going to remind you of it later on in the message here. He says, I haven't spoken in secret. I haven't spoken in a dark place of the earth. I didn't say to the seed of Jacob, seek me in vain. I speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.

God doesn't speak in secret. He doesn't speak in dark places. The other being, the adversary to God, speaks in dark places. So if we go back, then we see Genesis 2, and we see the difference between in the beginning when God first created the earth. We have this interlude, and now the earth is without form and darkness was on it. But God was still there because he created the earth to be inhabited. He had a plan and a purpose for it. You and I know what that purpose is. You and I are part of that purpose. Actually, all of mankind, our purpose, they just don't know it yet. They will. They will in the future. And God said in verse 3, the first thing he said to that earth that was covered in darkness when he was ready to inhabit it with man was, let there be light. Let there be light. Get rid of the darkness. Out of the darkness into the light. And so man was created. God created the earth to be a perfect place for mankind to live. The perfect habitation for him to learn the things of God, to grow and become who God wanted him to be. And Adam and Eve were placed in a perfect garden of Eden. There was light. There was life. There was hope. Because all those come from the source of light. They never come from the source of darkness. They always come from the source of light. But you know the story God allowed Satan, in the form of a serpent, to come to Eve.

And Eve. Who knows what period of time? Who knows exactly what the serpent said to her? But as you heard Mr. Ailes say, and I'm going to repeat it, he is the most cunning, crafty, deceitful being you can ever imagine. Somehow, somehow he was able to take a third of the angels. Who knew who God was? Who were there for who knows how many millions or time that there? And somehow he convinced them that he was better than God. And he got them to turn from him. How do you do that?

And somehow, through his clever words, through his cunning logic, through his charisma, maybe, because he sounded so well and he sounded so genuine, he got Eve to actually take of what God said don't do. It's a mind-boggling thing when you think about it. How did Satan do that? But it is a warning to us. Be very careful. Know the word of God, know where his voice is, and don't listen to the voices that are so clever and so cunning that are just there for one reason only, and that's to take light and life away from you and turn you into darkness and ultimately death. Somehow, he was able to do that. Somehow, he was able to do that. Eve took the fruit. Darkness was about to occur out of light into darkness when they sinned against God. Eve was deceived. Adam, it tells us, in the book in in Timothy, wasn't deceived, but he sinned. He put his wife before God.

He knew better. He should have chosen God and said, no, I'm not going to follow her. That's a sin that she committed, but he followed her and he put his wife before God.

Jesus Christ warns us about that, right? If we are truly his disciples, him first. Not the will of family member over the will of God. Not the will of wife over the will of God. Not the will of children over the will of God. Not the will of friend over the will of God. Always the will and the principle of God first. Sometimes those are very difficult decisions to make, but God gives us a strength to make them. Adam and Eve are taken out of the Garden of Eden. They are plunged into a world that becomes a little bit dark because departure from God leads to darkness. We see just how dark the world became if we just go a few chapters ahead to Genesis 6. As mankind inhabited the earth, and as they became more and more against God, and even the sons of Shem, who are the godly line that we read about in chapter 5, they were overcome as they intermarried with people of the other line. And pretty soon, the world became a very dark place. In Genesis 6 and verse 5, God looked down on that earth.

It was a place where He created it in light, went to darkness, brought light back. Mankind made wrong choices, and darkness comes back. Genesis 6 verse 5, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That was just how bad it had become. No light at all. Evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And He said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. They have been a huge disappointment. They chose darkness over light. And the world has become a horrible place to live.

Verse 11, The earth was corrupt before God. The earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, the end, the end of all flesh, has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. It's become a very dark place. Not at all what God had intended for mankind to live in an environment where there was peace, joy, harmony, care for one another. But instead it had become a very ugly place. If we could be put back into that earth, back at that time, we would be there and we would understand the extreme darkness that mankind was living in. They had lost all hope. They had lost all even concept of what it meant to live in light. And God said, it's done. The sin of man is so complete, I'm going to destroy them. And he did. And he did. And he started over with the one man on earth who was still living God's way of life. If we turn over to Genesis 15, reminds me of a verse there where God is speaking with Abraham.

And Abraham followed God. We know that he, wherever God wanted him to go, he just went.

Whatever God said to do, he just did it. Didn't quibble. Didn't ask a lot of questions. Didn't try to explain to God why it would be better his way rather than God's way. He just did it.

An example for all of us to just yield to God. Yield to God. Do it the way he said. But here in 3rd chapter 15, when God is telling Abraham that his descendants are going to inherit this earth, and he's going to bring them and give them what we call the promised land. After he gives him this vision in verse 16, or during the vision, he says in the fourth, I mean chapter 15 verse 16, in the fourth generation your descendants will return here for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. That is a verse several years ago that I read, and I began to understand how God works. God is very patient. God is very kind. God is very merciful. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We read that in 2nd Peter. And yet there comes a time in man's life where God knows they are just so far gone they cannot turn back to me. They have hardened their heart so much against me they can't turn back. They have made decisions that just cannot be undone. And as you read through the Bible and you see the this iniquity of the Amorites that God is talking about, it's not yet complete. He knew the direction they were going, but God did bring Israel back to that land. So at some point the iniquity of the Amorites was complete.

God said they don't have the land anymore. This isn't going to be their land anymore. I will take it from them and give it to the descendants of Abraham, which he did. There comes a point in time where God says it's too late. It's too late. And now blessings are taken away. Now their iniquity is complete. They can't continue in the way there is no turning back. Darkness. Darkness has enveloped them. They've gone from light into darkness. When we were there in Mexico, Mr. Seagly had arranged a couple of tours for us, one to the pyramids that are on the south side of Mexico City, and another to an archeology museum. And when he first did that, I'll have to say, I was like, I didn't come down here to tour. I just want to work with the people, right? But I, as we went to these places, it was a life-changing experience. South of Mexico City, there is a pyramid that looks much like the pyramids in Egypt. In fact, the one in Mexico is the second largest pyramid in the world, the first one being in Egypt. Now when those were built, no one knows exactly when, but it was far before, I mean, far before Christ was ever part of those lands. And you look at the structure, and you look at what they were using those pyramids for, and you realize, no, that wasn't a day of internet. This was a day of a spirit working around the world, in a world that was very, very dark. And the pyramid there looks very much like the pyramids in Egypt. That's one thing.

But as we went to the museum and learned what it was that happened at those pyramids, it was, it was disheartening.

As archaeologists, and we live in an age where we know this, a hundred years ago they wouldn't have known this, or two hundred years ago they wouldn't have known us, well, we got a view into just how dark the Mayan and Aztec civilization was. At the top of this pyramid, with stairs all the way down it, they have found, and they can document, human sacrifices that were routinely, routinely being offered up on that pyramid. In fact, it was said that they got to the point where they didn't even believe that the sun could rise the next morning unless they sacrificed a human to the sun god on that pyramid each day. That was how sick and how demented that society was. And when they would sacrifice them, they would take the heart out of the person while they're still alive, and we saw where they had excavated this god, this jaguar god they had that had this huge basin in it, and that's where the heart was placed. When the human was sacrificed, the heart was taken out so he could see the heart was taken out of you. He was still awake at that time, and the heart was placed in this receptacle for the jaguar. And when they did that, they cut the head off, and the head was just tumbled down those stairs to a cheering crowd that was thrilled with what was going on. And the blood. They said, with all the hundreds of human sacrifices that went on, would just flow down those stairs, and the people would just cheer. They would just cheer. And it's a when you're when you're seeing it and you're looking at the remains and you see these things that have been dug up, it's like what a terrible place that would have been to live. How dark. None of us would want to live in that place. It was a place without God. They had no idea. They had never heard the name Jesus Christ. They didn't know anything about God. They had just devised all this stuff themselves to do that. And a world without God is absolutely the worst thing you can imagine. None of us would want to live there. I watched a movie back years ago. I won't tell you the name of it, but kind of depicted that society. And I remember it just it just it was like not anything I'd ever seen before. And I watched it again this past week. And I thought that's exactly what all the archaeology is showing. What a terrible place to live. You had no idea when you woke up from one day whether it was going to be whether you were going to be invaded, captured, because they would just capture people. And you were just marked for sacrifice. You had no freedom or of anything at all. The same thing happened over in Africa.

When I was walking through the Archaeology Museum, I came across the thing where I was talking about what they thought about life after death. The Mayan and the Aztec civilization. And they went through this whole thing. And it talked about when someone died, one of the things they had to do in order to help their departed one move to whatever they thought was going to happen next, there had to be a dog that was sacrificed. A dog had to be sacrificed, and specifically a dog to be sacrificed. They didn't know exactly why, but as they found the remains, it's like this is what the culture was at that time. What struck me about it is, just a few weeks before, some ministers from South Africa were in for the general conference, and we were talking to them about what we would talk about when we're there, because the meetings that we have, there is some training, but we do a lot of discussion, because we want to hear what's going on there. Teach us about your country. How can we help? What do we need to do? What do we need to help you with, and whatever. And they were mentioning that the one thing that they struggle with is demons in Africa, and there are... that demons are not well known, they said, here in America. We make excuses for a lot of things that go on on it, but one of the things they mentioned was ancestry worship, and I didn't really know anything about ancestry worship. I just thought, well, people believe, you know, they're... people become angels, or looking down from heaven. They said, no, no, it's nothing like that. It's a completely different thing in Africa. They didn't even understand it, and some of the people that have come into church are dealing with this. How do they undo... how do they undo what they've learned?

And one of the things they said was, like, when someone dies, the whole neighborhood gets involved, and they sacrifice these animals. Animals sacrifice as part of death, and I thought...

so when we saw that over there in South America, either in Mexico, I thought, well, look at this.

Look at this. This is the same spirit around the world, the spirit of darkness. The spirit of darkness without God is an awful, awful, awful thing. Take it to the bank. It is an awful, awful existence. And if you can just imagine what it would be like, completely different than the way you and I... than the way you and I live. It is the same spirit. So when the Bible says, in 2 Corinthians 4, that Satan is the god of this age, he really is. He really is.

The other thing that we were... that was mentioned to us there that made me start thinking too, because, you know, they said in Africa and in South America we've heard it as well, demons. There are demons that are there, and there are things. And we don't have that in America, because America has been pretty much a Christian nation up until lately. And a comment was made that said... where they said, you haven't seen it yet, but you will see it. It is happening in your nation now. As you watch what's happening on your southern border, all these other religions, all these other ideas are coming across. Watch it. Watch it. And I thought, you know, you're exactly right. The one they specifically mentioned was transgenderism.

Look at what's happened to your country in the last two or three years and understand more of what we're doing or we're experiencing, you will experience in the future. Darkness is beginning to creep in. A land, a person, or a people that depart from God, light disappears, darkness sets in.

Well, that was a world without Christ. You and I can't even imagine that world, because we know who God is. Even if we weren't in the church, people know who Christ is. And that brings some light into the world, not the complete light that God has called you and me into. But let's look at let's look at John 1. In the light of all that, in the light of all that, and light and darkness, and understanding the darkness that can envelop and destroy light, goodness, hope. God saw a world before Jesus Christ was sent to become our Savior. And it was an awful world. It was an awful world. There was no one. There was nowhere that there was light, but God sent Christ into the world to bring that light. John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life. There was no future for the people without Jesus Christ. There was no life in the world. It was completely gone. It was completely hopeless, just like Israel in Egypt, as we just recently remembered during the time of the of Unleavened Bread. Until God brought them out, they had no hope. They had no life. No future. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Complete darkness. But then God sent light into the world.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness didn't comprehend it.

They were pretty happy in their darkness, or thought they were happy in their darkness.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He, John, wasn't that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world.

Or, as is better translated, they say, that was the true light which, coming into the world, gives light to every man. Jesus Christ brought light. Jesus Christ brought life.

Jesus Christ brought hope. Jesus Christ brought eternity. Jesus Christ opened up all those things because, before Him, there was no light. There was no path to salvation, and salvation is only, absolutely only, through Him. First, end. He was in the world. The world was made through Him, but the world didn't know Him. They rejected Him. And when, as it says in Romans 1, when you read through that chapter, when you reject God, even though every single indication is that there is a God who created the earth, none of the theories of science make any sense. When you come down to it, it's only God, but the world rejects it. Now, when you reject it, we're doing the same thing that God says here in John 1, verse 10, the world didn't know Him. He even came to His own, the people of His time, to the Jews who should have known Him, who were looking for the Messiah, they said. And yet, even they didn't recognize Him. There was something in their minds like, no, we're not going to give up the positions we have. We're not going to yield to this man. He's not even saying the same things we are. He came to His own, and His own didn't receive Him. They rejected Him. He came to them. If any people on earth should have received Him and seen the light that was in Him, He went around to all people. He spoke to all. He healed all. He performed miracles.

He did things that no one could have done except for God, and yet they rejected Him.

But as many as received Him, that would include those disciples that followed Him, that left the religion that they had at that time to follow Christ because He gave a different message than the Jews of that day. They followed Him, and they were there on that day of Pentecost, 120 of them in one accord in one place. As many as received Him, that would include you and me, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His name, who see the light, who understand the light, who understand that He is salvation. And the only way to salvation and out of darkness into light is to follow Him, to keep our eyes on Him, to look to Him to do things the way He said because He set the example. There is a way out of the darkness of this world and the absolute destruction that will come upon it, but it's only through Jesus Christ and doing things His way. These were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. When God puts His Holy Spirit in us and we continue to grow until the return of Jesus Christ, when then we are born into His kingdom, the Word became flesh.

He dwelt among us. We beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Light, hope, life, truth, grace. Forgiveness, we can name a whole bunch of others. Healing, salvation came through Jesus Christ. He is the light of the earth. He brought that light. The light was not in the Jews because even they rejected Him. Sometimes, you know, people will go back and say, let's look what the Jews did here and let's look what the Jews did here. You don't have to look to the Jews. We look to God. We have the Word of God. Everything that we need to know God has given us. By every word, He says, live by this. By live by this.

It teaches us that even though the Jews were keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days, they weren't the people that God said, there's light in them. He calls you and me, the people who follow Jesus Christ, we are children of light. We are children of light. You can mark it down in Ephesians 5 and verse 8. Following Him, doing things the way He says to do it, learning to live by every word of God. That's our calling. Become like Christ. Become like Him.

The same attitudes. Worshiping the same God. Doing things exactly the same way. Having our entire hearts committed to Him. And letting God sink into our minds and hearts His truth. And letting His Holy Spirit change our lives forever when we see these things that are going on around us and what He teaches us. Because if it isn't part of our heart, we're no better than the Jews of Jesus Christ time. We're no better than them. It takes commitment to God. Well, as we look at what is going on in the world, we see a world that is headed out of whatever light it had into darkness.

If you don't see the darkness, you're not paying attention. The world we live in today in America is completely different than the world pre-COVID. We don't, with the things that have happened, the things that go on, as we watch the world move in the direction it's going, we see things happening that should motivate us to become more like God. Don't trust in the world. Trust more in God.

There's salvation. There's life. In the world, in the ways of man, in the governments, and in institutions, that's where darkness lies. That's where death and destruction lies. The God of this age, Satan, has no interest in our lives unless he can extinguish them. He has no interest in you and me that we have salvation. He's interested in destroying faith. He's interested in watching everything that we do and doing whatever it takes in whatever cunning, clever, deceitful way to take us away from truth. He did it with a third of the angels. He did it with Eve. It's pretty clever, pretty clever. Only with the Spirit of God can we resist what the world, what he, through the world, will throw at us. Let's go back to Jesus Christ's prophecy here in Matthew 24. Matthew 24 and verse 3. The disciples, you remember. You and I are disciples, remember.

The disciples came to him and said, tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? The first thing Jesus Christ told them is, take heed that no one deceives you because there will be deception on the earth. There will be deception on the earth in a way you and I haven't experienced before. There will be things said that from a human reasoning may sound good. We may want to reason along with it, but we know from Proverbs 14, 12, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Deception will come, so much so that later in the chapter Jesus Christ said, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.

That's how strong it will be. That tells me we'd better know the truth of God. We better know the voice of Jesus Christ. We better be learning to love the truth so that we aren't victims of that strong delusion that God will send to see what is in our hearts. Do we follow Him? Do we love Him?

Would we yield everything to Him? Or do we have a ways to go? So deception is the one thing. And then verses 5 through 7, he talks about the things that happen throughout history.

Talks about false religion in verse 5. Talks about wars and rumors of wars in verse 6.

Talks about wars, but this time in verse 7 he's talking about worldwide wars. Now we've got global conflict going on. Now we've got earthquakes in various places all over the world. Now we've got famines and pestilences that are all part of what he says are the beginning of sorrows. And if you remember back two or three years ago, we talked about sorrows. Talks about it's the beginning of birth pangs, which takes us right back to Jeremiah 31 where it says, Jacob's trouble, why are the men bent over as if they're in labor? Birth pangs. Hurts. We begin to see what is going on. In verse 12, as he progresses, he says lawlessness will abound. You even hear the word lawlessness all over the news today. Everything that was is no longer true. We can set our own laws, we can set our own truth, we can do all these things that the world says, whatever you want to do, it's okay. We see laws being thrown out, we see all these things that happen all around us, and it's like, well, where is the standards? Where are they? What is going on in this world? And keep your finger. Now we won't come back to Matthew 24. Let's go back to Isaiah 59, though. Because as we watch what's going on, you know, we see the prophecies of the Bible. God does tell us these are the signs of what is going on. These are the prophetic buds on the tree, or the buds on the prophetic tree, that you should watch that Jesus Christ said in Luke 21, 36. And when you see them happening, it doesn't mean it's going to happen the next day, but be aware. Grow closer to God. Away from the world, closer to God, be prepared for when that time comes, when God says, enough is enough. Mankind won't turn back to me. Isaiah 59, verse 1, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it can't save. His ear isn't heavy that it can't hear. But you, he says, your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you. You're no longer in light. You're living in darkness. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so he won't hear. Your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered adversity. Verse 4, no one calls for justice.

Now those are some in this country who would be looking at those verses today, thinking what is going on. No one calls for justice. None pleads for truth. They trust in empty words, and they speak lies. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers' eggs, or as the old King James says, cockatrice eggs. We spoke about that before. You never hatch a cockatrice egg because of the poison of what it can release. You never want to do that. And look what poison has been foisted on the world with some of the recent things in the last three and four years that have been brought upon us. Things that can never be put back into that egg. Pandora's box has been opened. People's minds have been completely perverted, infested by a poison that cannot, or at least without God, cannot be brought forth. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of those eggs dies. It's darkness. He who eats of the lies of the world, the deception of Satan, the things that he says dies. Verse 7, their feet run to evil. They may case to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. They weigh a piece they have not known. And there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths. Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. You may be told where the way the world is going is going to lead to peace. Everyone can do everything they want, and everyone will live. Just tolerate.

God says, it's not going to work. The way a man doesn't lead to peace. One way. One way leads to peace. Therefore justice is far from us. Nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light.

Where's hope? So many in America today are asking, where's the hope? Where's the light? Where's the future? What is going to happen with what we've done? Will our lives be anything like our parents' lives? The answer is no. The answer is no if you look to the world. It will not be. Revelation 13, and what we see in Revelation 13, is an age of complete darkness. God is gone for all practical purposes. He's still there in us, but the world has done a number to try to eliminate God in His Word and all light, because the man in the beast's power, he has a new religion, may have a new Bible.

AI is talking about a Bible that will reflect the way of life for this world, the rules that rule this world we live in, and it replaces an outdated Bible that doesn't take into account who people are. It'll be a new religion that no one has seen before. Daniel 11 is very clear.

A God his fathers didn't know. A brand new God, and it's Him. You'll bow down to what I say.

No more freedom of speech, no more freedom of religion, no more freedom of assembly, no more freedom of anything. It will be what you say, what He says, or you will pay the price, as in the mark of the beast. There will be that time of testing. That's where the world is going. We see it going in that direction. We look for light, verse 9, but there's darkness. There's no hope for brightness, but we walk in blackness. We grope for the wall like the blind. We grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noon day as at twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places. Verse 14, justice is turned back. Can't trust in any of the institutions of man.

They've all become corrupted. They've all gone away. They're changing. Righteousness stands afar off, or truth is fallen in the street. The world doesn't want the truth of God. The world doesn't want the Bible. And when we preach that gospel stronger, the truth of God will be paid attention to. Truth has fallen in the street, and equity or integrity cannot enter.

Integrity of brightness, righteousness gone. So truth fails, and he who debarts from evil makes himself a prey. So we look at the world. We see where it's going. In the period of COVID, we had the very first global pandemic. And we learned a lot as a church from that pandemic. The world will learn a lot, too, from that pandemic. And there will be more that come in what form we don't know. We don't know, but they will come if we turn back to Revelation 6. Sometimes we get this question, what's next? Last week we were asked, are we in the trumpets? I heard another minister say someone asked him, are we in the great tribulation? No, we are not in the great tribulation. We are in the beginning of sorrows. We are in the beginning of those birth pangs.

The end times are ahead. Only God knows when, how many years, whatever. No one is setting any dates. But we need to be aware of where we are. In Revelation 6, you know, the very first eight verses there, talks about the first four seals. False religion, war, famine, and pestilence.

And you can see, as time goes on before the return of Jesus Christ and before the opening of the fifth seal, which is the great tribulation that you read about in verse 9, you have this time of havoc and change in the earth. You know, we see false religion and a different false religion beginning to emerge on the earth. We see wars and rumors of wars and we hear of war, you know, conflicts.

You know, if we watch what's going on, we know we have an Israeli and Hamas war going on. We know we have a Russian and Ukraine war going on. We know we have these proxy wars that are going on.

But we also read about destruction of cities that God talks about in Isaiah and in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy. And we know, if you've been watching the news or looking at something other than the network news, Russia. Russia has a submarine now that can carry 50 nuclear warheads. They can fire those and 50 cities would be destroyed, completely destroyed, before anyone could even react.

That's the world we live in. You know, we have something we talked about years ago, the EMP.

The EMP where it could cripple American life in a way that we can't even imagine because we're so dependent on computers. And the nation has done nothing. Nothing to try to guard itself against it. It's like they're just oblivious, like these things can't happen. But there are forces in the world that things can happen suddenly and the prophecies in the Bible could come to pass literally whenever God sees fit. But the possibility is there. When you look at verse 8 of chapter 6, it says, I looked and behold a pale horse. The name of him who sat on it was death and Hades followed with him. And power was given over to them, these four horsemen, over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with tungor, with death. And by the beasts of the earth. As you look through there, you see inflation, a part of the end time. You see that food becomes a scarcity for people. All these things in the first four are by man's hand, things that he does. If you're paying attention to the news, you know that in the Netherlands they have protests regularly as the government tries to limit what farmers can do. And Netherlands is seen as one of the bread baskets or vegetable baskets of Europe. You see what's going on in Ukraine. You see the fertilizer shortages that you never heard of. You hear world leaders talking about coming food shortages. Why would they talk about that? What is the plan they have? We know what the plan of God is, and the plan of God is salvation for all of mankind.

So as we look around us, and as we see this pattern of the world from light to darkness, the light comes, goes back to darkness. We're in a time where we begin to see darkness, sin, iniquity, put away the light that is God and Jesus Christ, get them out of our lives. When we see that happening around us, darkness begins to envelop. What do you and I do about that?

Well, I've already answered it a few times. We turn more to God. We learn to trust more and more in Him and less and less in the world. If we have faith in the world's institutions, we will fall.

We have to come to the point where we are trusting in God for literally everything. It doesn't happen every night or every overnight, but God gives us the opportunity in the lives we have now to learn and to think about trusting and having faith in Him more. Take those opportunities to have faith in Him more, and He will lead you. His Spirit leads us and guides us into who He wants us to be.

You know, when Jesus Christ says, come out of the world, it says it twice in the Bible, there in 2 Corinthians 6, come out of the world. This is the time to come out of the world. Revelation 18, it says the same thing, come out of the world so you're not partaker with them of the sins of the punishment that they will have for their sins. Come out of the world. We have been called to a different way of life than the world around us. We have lived a very comfortable life in the decades, however many decades we've been in the church, in a land that has had freedom of speech, religion, assembly, etc., etc., etc. Those days are coming when those will no longer be there.

Now is the time to prepare and come out of the world and look to God. Look to God and live the way of the life of the kingdom that we are going to be teaching when Jesus Christ returns.

That's what we were called to do. Live His way. Become like Him. Study the Bible. Study Jesus Christ. Learn to live by every word of the God and don't become...let's turn to 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 2, I think it is. We live in a time too, as we here in America, we've got all this stuff going on all around us, and it's so easy to get caught up in whatever the world is talking about and whatever. But we have to remember, we are ambassadors for Christ. We are here to show His way of life so that people see, yes, that is the way. What is it about those people? That they can live in peace. They have hope. They're not messed up by the things that are going on around them. 2 Timothy 2, verse 4. No one engaged...well, let me read verse 3. You must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life.

Don't entangle yourself with the affairs of this life. Don't get caught up in what the world is talking about. Don't get caught up in this side or that side. Understand. Understand that it's God's side we're on. It's God's life we live. It's God who will put in power who He wants to be put in power.

But in the meantime, our King is Jesus Christ. Our way of life, our Constitution, is the Bible.

That's what we live. Don't get caught up in the affairs of this life, whatever it would be. As we see the world heading into darkness, take heed to those words that God said. Closer to Him, less with the world. Less with the world committed to Him. I'm reminded...just last night I saw something that reminded me of Peter when he was walking toward walking on water toward Jesus.

Remember that the storms were raging. Jesus Christ was walking on water. Peter in faith came out to walk on water with Him. And as long as He kept His eyes on Christ, as long as He kept on His eyes on Christ, He could do the impossible. But the moment that He looked aside, and the way the time that He looked at the world around Him, and the waves that were raging around Him, He fell. Keep your eyes on Christ. Keep your eyes on Him. Follow Him no matter where He lives. Keep your eyes on the source of light, the only source of light and life and the earth.