There's A New Sheriff In Town

Well, good afternoon, everyone! You guys hear me okay? I've decided I'm going to try out a slightly different speaking style this afternoon because, you know, everybody's had a nice big lunch, we've had a nice potluck. Haven't you seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Right? Mueller? I'm going to go, I'm going to try that. I'm going to give that a shot. We'll see if, I'm kidding. We won't, we won't do that to you. We'll see what we can do to keep you guys awake and going and everything else is going. Well, I love a good Western. I love a good Western. I really do. I enjoy the Western genre, whether it's movies, television shows, novels. I don't really know why. I can't pin down a specific thing. In fact, Shannon and I talked about it as I was preparing the message. I was trying to figure out what is it about the Western genre that we like so much. What is it? I think it probably has something to do with the Western genre. With the kind of archetypical hero versus villain, the good guys against the bad guys, those ideals of justice and freedom, writing of wrongs. If you take those themes and you jam them into a Southwestern backdrop, add some horses, add some tumbleweeds, lather, rinse, repeat, it's really kind of hard to go wrong. I mean, it really is kind of, although that's not true. There have been some pretty terrible Westerns made. But most of the time, it's hard to go wrong. One of my favorites is probably a little bit atypical for Westerns. It's actually designed to be more of a parody or a comedy, but it draws on a number of the standard Western themes, despite kind of really poking fun at them a little bit in a light-hearted way. Released in 1969, it starred James Garner as Jason McCullough, a smart but easy-going gunslinger who happens to wander into the town of Calendar, Colorado, after the townsfolk discover gold in a freshly dug grave.

He's only passing through on his way to Australia, as he tells everyone that he runs across. He needs some work with maps. Colorado's a long ways from Australia. But he arrives in the middle of the chaos of the post-gold rush town. Because this place has hit it big, the town has not handled it well. Suddenly, they're kind of thrust into this limelight on the heels of this discovery. And Calendar itself is swamped with crooks, outlaws, and everyone is so focused on hitting it rich that the outlaws are running the show in this particular case. The mayor of the town, played by Harry Morgan, who's just amazing in this movie, is very, very awesome in this movie. But he really laments what the town has become. You know, he's looking around at all these crooks and scoundrels, and he really laments it. He says, you know, I'm just the mayor, what can I do? All of our other sheriffs either got run out of town, they fled, or they were killed. What am I going to do? I'd love to fix it. Who will restore justice? Who will restore peace to the town? Where are we going to find another lawman? Enter Jason McCullough. Handy with a gun, fearless and witty, he finds himself killed.

He's kind of appointed to the position. He makes the perfect sheriff, frankly, finds himself given the task to clean up the town. Arresting one of the sons of the local family, the local bad guy group, the Danbys. He arrests the youngest son, I think it was the youngest son now. Been a little bit since I've seen it. But he arrests Joe Danby, who is not used to being told what he can't do. He is used to having run of the town, I do what I want, because I'm a Danby. And that's just the way it is. And you're just going to have to get used to that lawman.

Well, he arrests him anyway, puts him in jail, and he makes it abundantly clear, makes it abundantly clear that this new sheriff is not going to put up with their corruption. That he is willing to stand up for the rule of law, he restores justice, ultimately cleans up calendar, marries the mayor's daughter, and becomes governor. Some of you may have seen this particular movie, Support Your Local Sheriff, and it with a long string of Westerns fall into this kind of trope of the new sheriff in town trope.

They fall into this concept, this idea. Dodge City back in the 30s was one. Tombstone, a number of others. Play off of this trope, that there's a new sheriff in town, there is wrong in the world, this sheriff is not going to put up with the old ways, the way that things used to be are changing, and ultimately, this sheriff is going to bring about those changes, and he is not going to take no for an answer.

He's willing to fight for justice, he's willing to stand up for what is right, and he'll take on any of the outlaws who might oppose him. Now, we've heard a number of themes brought up today in the messages on this day of trumpets, and I want to take the time remaining today as we kind of bring this holy day to a close, really focusing on this concept more fully. That Jesus Christ, when he returns to this earth, in his full majesty as a conquering king, will usher in a time of restoration of all things, a time where nothing will ever be the same again.

In the truest sense of the phrase, when our Lord and our Savior returns to this earth, there is a new sheriff in town, and everything, as we know it, changes for the better. This day, day of trumpets, and all that it represents is the beginning of a final move set in God's plan. It's kind of the end game of the chess game, if you were to break it down into that analogy. As such, I'd like to finish today by looking forward.

What does it look like after this? We've heard about the return. What does it look like after this? As you might have guessed at the title for the second split, today is there's a new sheriff in town. In the western genre, whenever there's a new sheriff, it usually spells trouble for the bad guys. It means they're going to be doing things a little bit different than it was done in the past, and it insinuates that times will be better after the new sheriff takes over.

Let's go to Acts 3. Let's start there today. We'll go over to Acts 3. We'll kind of get right into it. Turn to Acts 3, and we'll go ahead and pick up the account here in verse 19. Acts 3 and verse 19. And I'm going to do something that I normally don't do. I'm going to set a timer. Make sure I get everybody out of here on time. I think we will be fine, but I just want to make sure.

Okay. Pretend that it's been five minutes so far. It's probably been longer. But Acts 3, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 19. And Peter, here to give a little bit of the context, is speaking to the crowd of men who gathered on Solomon's porch to see the man whom God healed through Peter. Peter kind of calls him out that they're marveling at this miracle. Kind of like, what are you marveling about?

You know, the power of God did this. Not me. It's the power of God that did this. And then he really builds on this similar theme to what he spoke in his sermon on Pentecost. This idea that this is the power of the one whom you delivered to be killed. The one whom God sent.

And he tells him very specifically, Acts 3 and verse 19, he says, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before. Repent. Turn again. Give up the way of life that you are leading currently.

180 degrees the other direction. This idea that your sins might be forgiven, that they might be blotted out, and that these seasons or these times of refreshing would then come from the presence of the Lord. It's interesting, a number of the commentaries on this passage record that really the best rendering of this passage in the Greek is that in order that the times of refreshing may come. So, repent therefore, turn again. Your sins may be blotted out.

In order that the times of refreshing may come. Peter seems to be making the point that their repentance would hasten the second coming of Christ in the kingdom of God in the time when these believers could be refreshed. The word here for refreshing is the Greek word anapsuksith, which means recovery of breath. It means recovery of breath. To catch one's breath, so to speak. It's used a single time. It's used once, right here in this passage. It's the only time it's used from a standpoint of the New Testament. Now, the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, does use it.

They've gone back and changed a few of the words where it says respite or break or something along those lines to use that. But in the New Testament, this is the only location where that particular word itself is used. But it references catching one's breath.

After the terrible events—we've heard some of this already today—after the terrible events of the day of the Lord, the seals, the bowls, the trumpets, leading up to the return of Jesus Christ, His return in that impending kingdom will be an opportunity for individuals to catch their breath, to revive, to refresh.

Verse 21. Acts 3 verse 21 says, Speaking of Christ here, God spoke this through the mouths of all His prophets.

So what messaged through the prophet's spring? What was the overarching message that they ultimately brought? There's an interesting summary. Lion Handbook to the Bible records the following on page 376. This is the Lion Handbook to the Bible. It says, God sent these prophets on a daunting and sometimes dangerous mission. They were, for the most part, dispatched at the eleventh hour to try to halt the people's headlong rush to destruction, to warn them of judgment, to call them back to God in repentance. And then after the great crash came to comfort the survivors with the assurance of God's continuing love and purpose for them. To a man, the prophets went out in the burning conviction that they had a message from God, some brave death, to make it known. And we know many were killed in that process. Many of them faced death. Some of them made it through and died natural causes, but most were harmed in the process. The prophets that were sent out from God brought messages of repentance. They brought messages of impending judgment. And they also brought messages of mercy and of hope into the future. And even at that time, messages of mercy and hope. Now, the immediate message was to the people of that day that there's duality in it for us. The message that they brought was a message of, you're going off the rails. You really need to stop.

Take a moment, reanalyze your position, return to God, turn away from your wicked ways. And if you do, God will be with you. God will bless you. God will fill his promises. If you don't, you'll be scattered and you'll be destroyed. But then he also sent messages that followed that up with, but there will be a time where after you've been scattered and you've been destroyed, where God will bring you back. And he will restore you. And he will bring his people together. And he will heal you. And those messages were also sent. Israel was told that the hearts of stone would be replaced with the heart of flesh. That God would pour out his spirit upon all mankind. Those times are still to come. Those times are still to come.

Acts 3, 21 tells us again, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began. What does restoration mean? Miriam Webster, online dictionary, defines restoration as, there's three definitions for restoration. Here's the first one, the act or process of returning something to its original condition by repairing it, cleaning it, etc.

Number two, the act of bringing back something that existed before. Or three, the act of returning something that was stolen or taken. When someone restores a car or when someone restores a home, they painstakingly make sure that every single aspect of that car or that home is like it was when it was original. As much as possible, they try to go through and get the original parts. You know, they go try to find the absolute original parts on these things if it's really going to be restored, some of the cars and things like that. They want the pieces to be like new. A properly restored car or home really looks no different later on than it did the first day that it was rolled off the assembly line where that final nail was hammered into place.

It's authentic to the way that the builders or the designers intended it. Restoration returns it to a state of original condition, the way that it was intended to be. And God promises a restoration of all things, of all things. A return to the way things were to be in the beginning, before sin entered in, a return to Earth's original state, bringing back something that existed before, returning it to its original glory. But He also promises one better, that after this restoration and after this healing, that He will usher in a kingdom for all eternity that will be brand new, that will be something different. And for the first time ever, the Father will dwell with men. He will be their God and they will be His people.

The millennial reign of Jesus Christ is the first thousand years of that kingdom when the healing of this world begins. Isaiah 43 marks this time of restoration. Isaiah 43, you turn over there, please.

Isaiah 43 marks this particular time of restoration. You think about where we are after the events of this day and what this world is going to look like. What the people are going to have dealt with. Not just physically, but think emotionally as well. You know, we are very emotional creatures. And when we have difficult times that happen, it gets to us. And we have a hard time sometimes dealing with those things. Isaiah 43, we've got a world that has been damaged and destroyed by the seals, by the bowls and the plagues. And we have a world that is going to be in desperate need of these times of refreshing and restoration. This world is going to need to catch its breath after the sprint that is going to be the day of the Lord. Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. They are going to need to catch their breath. They are going to need restoration. Isaiah 43, verse 18 says, Do not remember the former things, don't remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? Don't remember the things of old. No, those things are done. There is a new sheriff in town. And we are going to move forward now. All those things are over with. We are going to move forward. Christ's return is the beginning of this restoration, but there is still an incredible amount of work that is going to have to be done once His return comes. As we know, not everyone is going to appreciate His coming. We know that there will be people who go on the offensive, who attack, and who will be destroyed. We know that there will be war. We know that the beast and the false prophet will still need to be destroyed. Satan will need to be bound. But the return is the beginning of a period of restoration of the way of peace.

A way of peace in this world. A period of justice, as was mentioned in the first split today for the oppressed, and a time of healing for all who suffer. Prophetically, we know leading up to the return of Jesus Christ, we see it in Matthew 24, that there will be wars, and there will be rumors of wars. We see the news nightly. Many of you guys watch the news. We take our command to watch the conditions of the world quite seriously. We pay attention to what's going on.

But we know that there's flexing of muscles in Asia right now. You've got North Korea randomly firing off missiles going, Hey, look what we can do. We have a missile that can hit Chicago. What do you guys think about that? What are you going to do about that? These little flexing of muscles trying to kind of rile us up or trying to get the world to make some sort of a response.

Whether it's North Korea or whether it's China contesting South China Sea, whether it's whomever, whether it's the bombings and the fighting is going on regularly inside of Syria, Libya, and Iraq at this point in time as they battle insurgencies and rebellions and corrupt governments. Not only that, we see a number of issues on the home front. You know, we see a number of issues on the home front. The news out of Aleppo, Syria, has been absolutely heartbreaking the last couple of weeks. I don't know how many of you guys are keeping track of what's going on in Aleppo.

There was a tentative ceasefire that was in place keeping President Assad and the Russian allies from engaging the U.S.-backed Syrian rebels and other assorted insurgency groups that for some reason we've decided to supply with weapons. But it managed to stop the hostilities for a time. And the whole purpose was to give 48 hours to the United Nations to be able to get in, drop off aid, help the people who were injured, and then get out so they could start fighting like proper people again.

Sorry, a little sarcastic. But it was designed for the United Nations to be able to reach the 250,000 to 300,000 people that are in Aleppo right now and can't get out. They have no ability to just get up and leave. And they need aid. They need an incredible amount of aid right now in Aleppo. The civil war in Syria has been ongoing now for the past five years. It's been five years that this has been going.

And in recent months, it has absolutely – the hostilities have just ratcheted up something fierce. But it's estimated at the moment that that civil war has caused 300,000 fatalities and displaced 11 million people. Now, the reason I became so interested is that three of those 11 million came to my school this fall. We have three young people from Aleppo, a young man and two young ladies, who have begun their eighth grade year at Waldo Middle School. All three of them have their lockers directly across from my office. So, as you might imagine, the first couple days, they've never opened lockers before.

They're trying to figure out lockers. They're trying to figure out a number of things. They're trying to figure out where their classrooms are. And I speak no Arabic, and they speak no English. So, our conversation was like pantomiming, which is a good thing I've practiced over the years, to be a mime. I have it. But our district, honestly, is playing catch-up right now at the moment, trying to...

We have a newcomer program. Our school actually has the only newcomer program in the district. So, if a kid is day one in the United States, they come to our middle school. And traditionally, our make-up of that program has been mostly students from Mexico, Central America, parts of South America, Pacific Islands countries, as well as Southeast Asia. Typically has been the main make-up of our classroom. But we now are looking at nearly 150 kids across the district who are refugees from the Middle East, from Central Africa, from...we've got a number of kids from Somalia, we've got a number of kids from Syria, we've got kids from Libya, Iraq, and honestly, we have one person in our district that speaks Arabic.

One. And he goes from the elementary to the middle school to the high school every day, trying to catch up with these kids so that he can explain to them what is going on. Because they have no connection to just very little English. And so, we've been working and doing what we can to try to help them and go through that process. But one of the things that we don't realize...these guys are going through what we would consider a typical day in our schools.

And we don't really have much of a clue as to what their background was. They can't converse at this point in time. We honestly don't know if their family is intact. We don't know if they're the only one that made it out. We don't know if they have brothers and sisters. We don't know really what their overall background is. We don't know if they're getting counseling to work through all the emotions that come from coming out of a place that has been bombarded for the last five years.

What we do know is the last fire drill dropped all three of them into about PTSD panic. When those fire alarms went off, those kids were under their desks. So they've been through some things. Some incredible, incredible things. I can't even imagine what they've seen and what they've experienced. Aleppo itself has been pounded into the ground by US, Russian, and Syrian airstrikes over the past five years.

Sadly, these kids and their families are caught in the crossfire of these big governments playing chicken, essentially, is what's happening in Aleppo right now. The most recent ceasefire, again, the UN had about 48 hours to get in and get aid to the people trapped inside. But a Russian airstrike on one of the UN aid convoys put an end to that ceasefire and immediately started hostilities up again. In the past couple of weeks, there have been hospitals bombed and destroyed, neighborhoods hit indiscriminately with what they're calling bunker busters and incendiary bombs, which, incidentally, are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions against civilian targets.

I don't know how else to put it. Russia and Syria are engaging in war crimes.

Brethren, this is what mankind is capable of doing to ourselves. This is what we can do to ourselves.

Just this morning, a hospital in Aleppo called M10 was absolutely blown to pieces by bunker busters and Russian airstrikes. Killed a bunch of the hospital staff, killed a bunch of the maintenance workers trying to fix the place up so they could actually treat the people who were coming there from the difficulties in their neighborhoods. You get injured in the neighborhood, you go to the hospital, try to get medical care, and they get killed at the hospital in an airstrike. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place. This is what mankind is capable of doing to ourselves. This is what years of us ruling ourselves has led to.

It has to change. It has to change. It simply cannot continue, as is. It can't.

Solomon said, there's a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. In the entire history of man, there has never been a time where the entire world was free of war and suffering. Once sin entered in. There had been times of peace. There was a gentleman named Karl von Kloslowitz, who once said, to secure peace is to prepare for war. To secure peace is to prepare for war. Those peaceful times, by and large, haven't lasted long. Man, left to his own devices, will destroy himself.

Mr. Harmon went into Revelation 11.15. Let's go over there. Revelation 11 and verse 15.

Actually, I only had a couple passages over left this year, which is wonderful.

Usually, I'm sitting there going, no, no, no, don't go there. No! Don't go there! Cutting things. Nope, not this year. That's perfect.

Revelation 11 and verse 15. In his discussion about talking about what it looked like as Christ came down, it said, then the seventh age will sound, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, God the Father, our Lord, and of His Christ.

And He shall reign forever and ever.

When Christ returns, God steps in and says, Enough is enough. You're done. There's a new sheriff in town, and we're not going back to the way things were before.

There's no going back. Once that seven trumpet sounds, the beginning of the end has begun.

The beginning of eternity has begun. Sorry. Let's go to Isaiah 2. Isaiah 2.

Isaiah 2. We'll pick it up in verse 1. Isaiah 2 and verse 1.

Isaiah 2. Okay, verse 2.

We know this came from Isaiah. It's in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 2 and verse 2 says, Mountains and hills here being figurative of kingdoms and governments. In this case, it is going to be the preeminent kingdom, and is going to be the one that is exalted above all others. And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. This is part of that prophesied time of restoration, a return to peace, a return to a way of peace. You imagine for a moment being able to take your grudge or issue that you're having with your fellow man or fellow nation or whatever, and lay it before the law giver, and have him come back with a righteous judgment on your issue, and go, Okay, it's decided.

We don't have to conflict. We don't have to have issues. Because Christ decided it. And we know that He judges righteously. We see that their swords will be beaten into plowshares and pruning hooks. All these elements of war, all these metal things that we've created, these big machines, will all be turned into farming implements. How amazing is that?

It'll be a time of unparalleled peace, like the world hasn't seen since the very beginning. It's a restoration to the way that things were intended to be before Adam and Eve sinned and before violence entered in. There's a new sheriff in town. Neither will they learn war anymore from that point forward. As future kings and priests in this kingdom, we need to be learning the way of peace now. We need to be learning to dwell peaceably with all men, not being quarrelsome. We need to learn to love and to forgive. It should be one of our goals in this life, to become peacemakers.

To become peacemakers. Isaiah 9 talks a little bit about this concept of peace and judgment. Isaiah 9, just a few pages over. Isaiah 9, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 6. Isaiah 9 and verse 6 was read earlier again today. Isaiah 9, 6, For unto us the child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government and peace. Increase of his government and peace. There will be no end. There will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice.

From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. There will be no end to the increase of that government, to the increase of peace within that government. His kingdom will be upheld with justice and with righteousness from that moment forward. Can you imagine a government that is founded on the principle of justice? Do we have it now? The United States has tried to establish a form of government that contains liberty and justice for all.

And to be honest, to give credit where credit is due, we've done better than many have through the years in countries to be able to pull that off. But that's not our own...we pat ourselves on the back. God has blessed us, incredibly, as a country. We take a look at recent years. Liberty and justice for all has been elusive. Liberty and justice for all has been elusive. We really, in some ways, we kind of delude ourselves sometimes, thinking that the United States has all the answers. And everybody else would just live like we do. The world would be fixed.

We have our problems, too. We have our problems, too. We've been very blessed as a nation for many, many years. God blessed this nation exceedingly, providing the freedoms that we enjoy, the ability for the work to go forward because of those religious freedoms, and the financial prosperity that allowed that work to go forward here in the 20th century. But I think we would all agree, looking over the last decade, decade and a half to two decades, that the hand of God's protection and his blessing is and has been, in many ways, removed. Our leaders lack vision.

Our people are sinful. And rather than repent, they choose instead to rebel openly against God. We need to see these things and cry aloud. We need to mourn for what this country has become. New leadership isn't going to fix it. I watched the debates. And I'm not going to... I don't want to get into all the politics. But, you know, both of those candidates think they have the answer, and they think that they can fix it. It's beyond fixing. It's beyond fixing. The world is beyond fixing from a man standpoint. The only fix is the return of Jesus Christ. It's the only lasting solution.

The kingdom of God is the only lasting solution for things to be taken care of and fixed, these prophesied times of restoration and refreshing. Once I got back from Nigeria, I subscribed to an online Nigerian news site. And partly, I wanted to be able to keep up with what was going on and the issues facing our brethren over there, as well as try to get some perspective on how, in some ways, we were being seen in the United States through the eyes of the Nigerian people, because that's kind of interesting to me.

So reading some of their political commentary on our politics has been kind of fascinating. But not long after we got back, there was a huge story that broke about the former First Lady of Nigeria, Patience Goodluck. And Patience Goodluck was discovered by an investigation after something, and I don't even know what it was exactly, that flagged her bank accounts. But they did some investigating, and she's got a bank account consisting of $20 million. Her listed occupation is Housewife. And I'm not trying to say that Housewives don't do a lot of things. Please. Yes, you do, and you don't get paid near enough.

But $20 million? Turns out she's not supposed to have any of that money. As they've investigated it, they've concluded it came through illicit means, and the commission that did the investigation has frozen her bank accounts.

Now, as you might imagine, she's angry. She sued the bank. She sued the government. She sued everybody she can possibly sue. But in the country of Nigeria, where there's a number of people struggling just to survive, who have limited economic opportunity, and a number of other issues, here's someone that siphoned $20 million from their own people, while their own people starve in the north of their country. How's that for justice? God has quite a bit to say about injustice and oppression, and we're not going to turn to these if you want to jot them down. You can. In Psalm 9, verse 9, He says, The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Proverbs 14, 31, Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Isaiah 1, 17, Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, and plead the widow's case.

Psalm 72, 4, May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor.

Zechariah 7, 10, Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.

Notice all five of those are Old Testament passages.

Oftentimes we hear that, you know, oh, this, the God of the Old Testament, quote-unquote, is this horrible, mean, terrible, terrible God who just always is...

This is the word of that horrible, mean, terrible Old Testament God that everybody's so concerned about.

He is just as concerned with the poor and oppression and justice as the message that came from Jesus Christ, who brought that from his father.

This is a small sample of passages within Scripture that deal with oppression. There are many, many, many, many more.

God hates it. He hates oppression. He hates the version of justice. He hates people taking advantage of other people.

Our God is a God of fairness, of justice, of truth, and of mercy. And the coming Kingdom of God will be a kingdom of justice. Let's go over to Zechariah 8. Zechariah 8. Zechariah 8. We'll pick it up in verse 1. We're going to read through this section here. Down to...

Okay, we're going to go through the whole thing. Down to 17.

So, Zechariah 8. I want to look at what this Kingdom of God, this coming Kingdom, is going to look like. It is a kingdom of justice.

These times of restoration restore justice that has been lost over time.

Zechariah 8, verse 1, says, It's a restoration. It's a return to what was once then. They will again sit.

Each one with his staff in his hand because of great age, living to full long age time.

Scientific word, really, age time. Lifespan, that's the word I'm looking for.

We just make them up in class. This is a new word.

Verse 5, The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.

It's a beautiful picture of the peace and the prosperity of this coming time. These times of restoration.

They're playing in the streets. The old men and the old women are dwelling to great age.

It goes on in verse 6, Thus says the Lord of hosts, If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, will it also be marvelous to my eyes, says the Lord of hosts.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, and I will bring them back.

And that promise of once you've been scattered, I will bring you back, I will gather you, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong, you who have been hearing in these days, these words by the mouth of the prophets, who spoke in the day the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord of hosts, that the temple might be built. So we see again a description of what these coming times of restoration will look like.

But then it goes on to contrast it with what it looked like before.

What it looked like before.

Verse 10, For before these days there were no wages for man, nor any higher for beast.

There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in, for I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor.

There was no prosperity. There was no peace because of Satan's influence.

All men were set against their neighbor.

Verse 11, But now I will not treat the remnant of this people, as in the former days, for the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase, the heavens give their due.

I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these, and it shall come to pass, that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing.

Do not fear, let your hands be strong, for thus says the Lord of hosts, Just as I determined to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the Lord of hosts, and I would not relent, so again in these days I am determined to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

Verse 16, These are the things you shall do.

This is kind of their part in the process.

Speak each man the truth to his neighbor, give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace.

Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor, and do not love a false oath, for all these are things that I hate.

Don't devise evil in your heart.

No false oaths. Don't take advantage of other people.

Speak the truth. Execute judgment of truth and of peace.

This is the way it should be.

We don't milk 20 million off the backs of our own people.

We don't use mustard gas on our own people, as is happening in Syria.

We don't indiscriminately bombard neighborhoods full of children and families.

You don't oppress the poor, the disadvantaged, and the destitute to gain political or economic advantage.

You know, as future kings and priests in the kingdom of God, we have to learn now to do good, to act justly, to be merciful, as it talks about in Micah 6 and verse 8.

If our experience is now, those that we go through each and every day, and the people that we interact with, and all the things that we do, those are teaching us these things now.

Because our time is now.

Our opportunity to learn and our opportunity to do these things is now.

We have to do good. We have to act with mercy and love and justice.

And if we can do it now with Satan's influence, how much more, when he's put away?

Again, when Christ returns, there's a new sheriff in town, and oppression will no longer be tolerated.

No longer tolerated.

While we were in Nigeria, I was surprised to see how many people suffered from the effects of polio.

You know, polio, many of you that are a little bit older remember polio and remember it well.

By the time, you know, I was growing up, vaccines were a regular thing, and for the most part, it was eradicated in the United States. So I don't remember kids getting polio and getting diseased and getting paralyzed and withered legs and all those things.

But I was surprised to see how many people in Nigeria suffered from the effects of polio.

Largely in the world, it's been eradicated, but there's four countries worldwide where the disease is still endemic.

Sadly, Nigeria is one of them.

And so in the north part of the country, in fact, while we were there, in the northern part of the country, there was a big outbreak that they were trying to get under control before things started, started having a big outbreak.

But Caleb spoke in his sermon at Last Sabbath on our walkabout that we decided to go and do, leave the confines of the hotel and go out and experience Legos.

On our walk, we came across a man with his lower legs just completely withered from polio.

I mean, just skin and bone kind of withered from polio.

And he had tucked them into a cross-legged position on the skateboard and then strapped himself to the skateboard.

And he was wheeling himself around on the ground and begging for money, trying to be able to get by so that he could support himself.

Here's a person for which there are really no good options.

He doesn't have the ability to go work, even if there was a job for him. What could he do?

He's in a place where he's very limited due to his disability, and he subsists on whatever alms he can receive.

Half a world away, we had a chance to go down to Eugene this past Friday with...

Wes and Terry Miller were there. That was cool.

But the chambers in the Eugene area have a homeless outreach project that we went down and visited.

And we served food to a woman who was very obviously suffering from severe mental illness.

There's no way that she could hold down a job given her situation and giving her mental illness.

Even if she could have gotten one in the first place, she's not going to hold on to it.

She's on the streets due to the limitations with her mental condition.

Her disability set her down a road, much like the man in Nigeria's set him down a road.

Both of them were dealt a relatively difficult hand.

What options do they have in this life? What opportunities?

They're limited because of their physical and their mental disability. Is it their fault? No, of course not.

You know, of course not.

But these times of restoration that are to come include times of great healing, mentally and physically.

Let's go to Isaiah 35.

Let's go to Isaiah 35.

Isaiah 35.

And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1.

Isaiah 35 and verse 1.

Isaiah 35 verse 1 says, The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

So not only is there individual healing, physical, mental, the world itself is healed.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice.

Even with joy and singing, the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon, and they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God.

Verse 3, Strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees, those of you that suffer from knee issues, make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, He will come and He will save you.

Verse 5, The ears of the deaf shall be unspocked. The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing.

For water shall burst forth in the wilderness, the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water, in the habitation of jackals where each lay there shall be grass with reeds and with rushes.

This is the kingdom that Christ is coming to set up.

This is what restoration will look like.

The eyes of the blind will be opened.

The deaf will hear the sound of the wind and the ears of the deaf will hear.

That man in Nigeria on that skateboard will leap like a deer.

The tongue of those who can't speak will sing praises to the great God who brought it all about.

But that time is not yet.

That time is not yet.

Until then, will we in our day-to-day life support our local sheriff?

Will we stand with him against the wrongs of this world?

Will we illustrate the vision of these times and the aspiration by living God's way of life now?

Will we be peacemakers?

Will we be merciful?

Taking care not to oppress others?

Will we take care of those who are less fortunate?

Brethren, we have to be building these attitudes and our character now in preparation for this kingdom of God when we'll have the opportunity to serve the people of this world as kings and priests.

Let's go over to Revelation 21 for our final scripture today.

Revelation 21.

Revelation 21. The ultimate end of this process of restoration after the millennium, after the release of Satan, after the judgment and the new heavens and the new earth, God remaking it all, setting up his kingdom and dwelling with men.

In that time, we are promised what we see recorded in Revelation 21.

Revelation 21 in verse 1.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

Also, the new earth had passed away.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.

God himself will be with them and be their God.

Verse 4.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death than the Lord.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death, no more sorrow, nor crying.

There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said to me, Right, for these words are true and faithful.

No more indiscriminate bombings.

No more refugees.

No more broken families.

No more corruption and injustice.

No more disease, mental or physical.

No more cancer.

No more pain.

No more suffering.

No more crying.

Every tear will be wiped from their eyes, and there will be no more death.

These are the times of restoration that Jesus Christ's coming will usher in.

This day represents the beginning of eternity, and a time in which the influence of Satan on this world is done away with.

The old ways are done.

There's a new sheriff in town.