 Amen, so Acts chapter 11 is where we're at this evening and we're looking at Acts chapter 11 and remember from Acts chapter 10 we see the story of Peter and Peter meets Cornelius and Cornelius of course is this this Roman Centurion and Peter is given this vision that is again repeated in Acts chapter 11 So I'm not going to go into great detail on the first 17 verses or so because it's just basically Peter repeating this story But basically what happens is if you look down at Acts chapter 11 in verse number one Peter wasn't in Jerusalem Peter was off on the coast and he was off in Joppa, and then he got called and went to Cornelius and he preaches the gospel to Cornelius after God gives him this vision that you know, hey You know you're not to just You know shun the Gentiles and God's trying to bring the gospel to the Gentiles here is what he's trying to do He's trying to break down all these cultural walls that the religious Jews have of which Peter Is one so that's what the point of this vision was look at verse number one of Acts chapter 11 The Bible says in the Apostles and brethren that were in Judea Heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God So basically what it's saying here is that what happened in Acts chapter 10 has made it back to Jerusalem People have heard about this they've heard that the Gentiles got saved and that not only did they get saved But they received the gift of the Holy Ghost of they were filled with the Holy Spirit They were baptized with the Holy Spirit they spoke in tongues all this and they started to do the same miracles that the Disciples and the Apostles were doing in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost look at verse number two It says it when Peter was come up to Jerusalem. So now he travels back to Jerusalem They that were of the circumcision Contended with him. So it says he had some trouble here. So the Jews that were in Jerusalem They're all bent out of shape that Peter was off, you know preaching and hanging out with the Gentiles So, you know, that's why he repeats what you know the vision that he was given He tells them in he says but Peter rehearsed the matter verse number four from the beginning and expounded it by order of them Saying so now he just goes through verse number five through 17 I'm not going to go through all those verses again He basically just goes through event by event, you know of the the napkin coming down from heaven with all the animals in it Where God says Peter, you know in this one He says slain eat and in Acts chapter 10 he says kill and eat the Bible says where God tells them There is you know because Peter says I can't I can't go and hang out with people that are unclean and God says You know what I have made pure, you know He don't call unclean because Jesus Christ has rid of the carnal ordinances what we can and can't eat and You know all these carnal ordinances of the holy days and everything and we studied that Last week and then of course right after I preach that someone offers me a cricket to eat at church So I mean tell me that's not like a divine appointment right there But anyway the point is is that Peter has some explaining to do to the Jews back in Jerusalem that you know God's trying to get the word of God get the gospel out to the world here and he's got to break the these cultural habits of these these Jews especially in Jerusalem and hey, you know the gospel is for everybody is What God is trying to get across here. So we're going to start here verse number 18 So he tells them the story about how God gave them the vision the three men were sent to him He met Cornelius Cornelius saw the angel he tells them this whole miraculous story and how all these Gentiles got saved And look at verse 18. It says when they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God So they're like okay. We're good. They accepted it They accepted it and they understand now what God is trying to do saying then have God also to the Gentiles Granted repentance onto life notice. It doesn't say repentance of sins here It just says you know the ability to get saved it's saying that the the Gentiles now Have the ability to get saved because all you have to do is what leave on the Lord Jesus Christ So anybody that would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Jew or Gentile I mean this is a common theme throughout the entire New Testament, you know can obviously get saved look at verse number 19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution, that's an interesting Point there and one that I'm really going to drive home this evening look at verse 19 again They that were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Steven traveled as far as Fiennus Cyprus Antioch and Antioch preaching the word to none, but only the Jews only so here was the problem Okay, go back to Acts Chapter 8 go back to Acts chapter 8 Remember we studied through Steven's sermon Steven was the first Christian that was martyred He was killed. He was stoned after he preaches this great sermon in Acts chapter 7 and in Acts chapter 8 right at the beginning The first verse says and Saul was consenting unto his death and at that time there was a great what there was a great? Persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem and they that were scattered Abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria accept the apostles. So here's the picture folks Okay, that you think that okay Steven and that point in the Bible Steven's martyrdom was very important because what was happening the first Seven the first six chapters of Acts. What do we see? We just see thousands of people getting saved just they go on They preach the gospel I mean we're all sitting there as soul winners and we're reading these stories in Acts where they go And they preach it just like another three thousand were added and just Thousands more listened and just scores of people were getting saved They were dropping everything's in their lives and they were just you know saying what do we need to do? They're just joining the church at Jerusalem. It's just this huge explosion of Christianity in Jerusalem, but God needed them out God needed them out God wanted them scattered So Steven's martyrdom it accomplished this task it accomplished this task of Scattering it got them out of Jerusalem So they the Christians went everywhere Antioch being one of the main places now look at verse number four And what did they do? What did they do when they left in Acts chapter 8? Look at verse number four They didn't go run and hide in a cave Okay, they didn't go and like you know dig a bunker and You know they're like doomsday prepper time No, they went out and look what they did in verse four says therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere doing what? So I mean it isn't that interesting isn't interesting that they were being persecuted in Jerusalem and They scattered, but they didn't just scatter and like shut their mouths. It's super interesting and it's super applicable to us in and whatever we see coming forward in our lives They literally went they were scattered abroad and they just went preaching the gospel everywhere. I Mean this was God's plan, but we learn even more in Acts chapter 11 that they were preaching the gospel everywhere But just to Jews So it's like they went out to Fresno But they only went to like you know the east side of town or they only went to you know Certain neighborhoods or they only went to like the Armenian neighborhoods or whatever I mean they were they were being discriminatory According to whatever culture of people that they found and God's like no So this is where in Acts chapter 10 God does this miraculous miracle everything in the Bible has a purpose Everything in the Bible has a purpose You see why is this just random story in the Bible about this man named Cornelius and Peter because that was Peter was one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem and God was using him to break down this wall between the Jews and the Gentiles the cultural wall that was there So he uses Peter to do this and then in Acts chapter 11. We see that they're scattered abroad They're scattered abroad. They're preaching the gospel. He's like but they go and they now they're preaching the gospel to everybody After Acts chapter 10 now all these people that are scattered. They're like oh We're gonna preach the gospel to everyone and this is where the change is Right here look at Acts chapter 11 See in verse 19 it says preaching to the word to none but the Jews only so Stephen's death sparked this Okay, it's this whole thing that people fled but now we see 20 and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene which when they were come to Antioch Spake unto the Grecians Preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord was with them in a great number believed and turned on to the Lord So now we see a change Then tidings of these things came on to the ears of the church which is in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. So this is big news right here Okay, this is big news Peter comes back. They're upset at Peter at first in Jerusalem. They're upset at him They're saying why are you doing you hanging out with the Gentiles? Why are you fellowshiping them eating with them preaching to them? He's like no look we're supposed to be doing this is what Peter basically says And then they go out and they start getting all these people saved and all of a sudden they're like, oh man This is big news these these Grecians they're they're getting saved We need to send them some horsepower is what they say and that's why they send Barnabas So they sent Barnabas one of the you know the key players in Jerusalem to help out and help get things going in Antioch, you know what we're seeing here. We're seeing the first church plant in the Bible right here We're seeing the first Christian church plant. This is the this is the model by the way This is why we having we didn't just make up this model of Planning churches and sending men to plant churches, you know all around the country all around the world by the way It's it's right here. We're seeing it start in Acts chapter 11. Look at verse 23 It says who this is Barnabas when he came he had seen the grace of God. He had seen that these people got saved It was just like, you know, he saw you know what what did he see he saw the grace of God He went he talked to these people it's just like how one group of soul winners was out on Saturday and They got a whole bunch of kids saved like over here and then another group of soul winners ran into a big group of kids of which some of those kids had now been part of and A soul winner asked those kids like hey, do you know if you're going to heaven and a bunch of those kids are like Yeah, I know I'm going to heaven. What do you have to do trust in Jesus Christ? That's it They were like what in the world? Like it's just so random you're like you're like how does a how does an 11 year old kid know the right answer to that question? Like and and I was the guy by the way that was talking to these kids and I said it I was like I didn't believe him at first. I was like I was like what else do you have to do? These three kids are sitting on a fence There's like 15 kids around and I'm like cuz I'm I'm like I think I'm seeing the grace of God here Just like Barnabas saw when he went to Antioch and I'm like these I'm like what do you have to do? Do you know how to get to heaven kids? Yeah, just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm like what in the world? And I'm like, oh, yeah, what else do you have to do? You know what that kid said to me? Nothing It's like he's ready to fight me I'm like I'm like exactly. I'm like, how did you know that? I'm like because we just talked to Garrett and that's what he told us But no look it's a great proof of the grace of God It's a great proof of the grace of God and that's what Barnabas saw. He went and he saw that these people were saved He saw proof of his own eyes that these people had literally trusted on Jesus It was a great example and now what he exhorted them all now. He's just trying to encourage them He's trying to encourage them in their Christian life that with the purpose of heart they would what? They would cleave unto the Lord. So now what's he trying to do? This is what we wish everybody that gets saved would do We wish everybody that got saved that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ that was sealed by the Holy Spirit We wish that they would cleave unto the Lord with their life and Barnabas was there to exhort those people to hey now you're all saved. You must have been a lot of them It's like now you're all saved You need to cleave unto the Lord. What do you do? What's the first step that you do you get in church and you get baptized is what you do? And I'm sure they were probably already baptized But look it says he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith So he was there and he was he was there to exhort to disciple these people Okay, and much people was added onto the Lord Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. He's like he's like this is a gold mine here I need I need more help so he goes to get Saul and this is where Saul and Barnabas come together for these great missionary journeys that we're Going to read about in the book of Acts so he goes and he gets Saul look at verse 26 and when he had found him He brought him on to Antioch He goes to Saul. He's like you wouldn't believe like how many of these these Gentiles are getting saved I need help and so he gets you know, basically they're planting the first Church here out of Jerusalem and it came to pass That a whole year they assembled themselves with the what here it is with the church and taught much people so Barnabas and Saul are these two great evangelists They pull these people together into a church in Antioch and they just run this church for a year and the disciples Were called Christians first at Antioch and these days came prophets from Jerusalem on to Antioch So I mean here's your official church plant right here in Antioch or from Jerusalem. They're sending You know guest preachers. It says here in verse number 27. This is exactly like the model of us right here All right, you know, we see guest preachers, you know, we had Pastor Jimenez come and be a guest He was a guest prophet here this last weekend We're gonna have you know pastor, but he had come here at the end of this month. He'll be a guest prophet for us in Fresno look at verse 28 and There stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit There should be a great dearth throughout all the world which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar now This is interesting because Claudius Caesar was the the Caesar the Roman emperor Rate before Nero. Okay, so we're looking at like 80 40 to like 80 50 here And what happened was it's interesting because they had started to help they started to help the church in Jerusalem so Antioch began supporting, you know Financially and with an offering the church in Jerusalem because of this dearth So a dearth is a dearth is something that none of us as Americans know what it is All right a dearth is basically, you know lack of things So what was happening in Jerusalem was, you know, if I've referenced the martyrs mirror many times Okay, and there was basically the martyrs mirror this secular book on Christian persecution it talks about ten major Roman persecutions and Nero is the first one. Okay, Nero is the first Roman persecution starts around, you know, 60 AD He's the one that is credited in secular history with killing Paul beheading Paul with killing Peter and killing many of The disciples themselves, but Claudius is the one right before him and it's not really considered by, you know secular historians as a Christian Persecution so much as what it happened just remember what happened in 70 AD in 70 AD the Romans they destroyed the temple They just tore the temple down and they there was you know, it's what Jesus predicted Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple basically what was going on here with Claudius in like 40 AD to 50 the the Jews were kind of wearing out their welcome in with the Romans and the Romans were getting tired of them causing trouble and the Christians this whole Christian and you know the Christians and the Jews Persecuting the Christians because really if you look at the book of Acts It's the Jews persecuting the Christians in the book of Acts the Romans don't start persecuting the Christians until Nero is in charge and that's a literal just like let's find the Christians Hunt them down and kill them the Claudius situation was more of just the Romans is getting tired of the Jews and trying to get the Jews get rid of the Jews out of Jerusalem Okay, and then they end up destroying the temple in 70 AD and quite frankly they consider They probably considered the Christians here is just another sect of Jews, you know just these people they probably considered them Just it just Jewish infighting because if you think about it, you know What how did Pontius Pilate look at the whole thing with Jesus? He just he was irritated with the whole thing of these Jews just fighting amongst themselves and Couldn't even agree on their own religion and he just he was irritated He was just only worried about his own political future is what Pontius Pilate so the Romans were just They're just getting tired of the Jewish situation. They weren't even called Christians in Jerusalem They were called Christians first in Antioch. Okay, but the point is the things were getting difficult for the Christians in Jerusalem they were getting difficult, you know financially they were getting difficult for them all together look at verse number 29 Then the disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief under the brethren Which dwelt in Judea it turned to 1st Corinthians chapter 16 first Corinthians chapter 16 Paul talks about this in the letter to In his first letter to the Corinthians He talks about this they basically took up a special offering So, you know it was the Jerusalem church that sent the horse power to start the Antioch church But look when the folks in Jerusalem needed help the the folks in Antioch they pony They pony up and they sent an offering to the church in Jerusalem look at verse number three at first Corinthians chapter 16 It says and when I come Paul says it when I come whosoever you shall approve by your letters Then will I send to bring your? Liberality onto Jerusalem so Paul is going around and he's telling the church at Corinth that is coming to gather Collection for the church at Jerusalem. Why because they're going through a dearth Because they're going through a time where the Jews and you know these these Even the Christians at this time who the Romans probably don't really understand who they are They're just going through a time of where they don't have anything they're they're being they're being persecuted They're going through tribulation and they're sending them financial Support right look at verse number 29 of Acts or verse number 30 of Acts chapter 11 verse number 30 Which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul so that's of course why Saul was or Paul now was writing to the church of Corinth so What is happening here? Let's get context of what's happening in this chapter look at the very first verse of Acts chapter 11 it says in the apostles and brethren that were in Judea Heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God the context of Actually the last several chapters was the word of God going out to the Gentiles Okay, well what we're looking at here is like a worldwide revival. That's happening. Okay, and guess what? It was sparked. This is kind of the point that I want to get across this evening Revival everybody always says all the time like we need revival in America. We need revival in this country I mean how many times have you heard that in your life? But the point I'm trying to get you to understand is there's a pattern to revival There always is and I'm going to show you that this evening this worldwide revival. It was sparked by persecution It was sparked by the death of Stephen really and then it was sparked even further by this dearth in Jerusalem, it's sparked by Tribulation okay, look this is exactly how it will work in the end times to turn to Daniel chapter 11 This is a pattern that we can watch for because it will repeat itself again and again and again Turn to Daniel chapter 11 Daniel chapter 11 and look at verse 31 here. We're talking about the end times We're talking about the Antichrist We're talking about the abomination of desolation set up in the temple the Antichrist is going to set up this this image that Everyone has to worship Look at verse number 31 of Daniel chapter 11 Look what the Bible says it says an arms shall stand on his part And they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily sacrifice And they shall place the abomination that make it desolate the Antichrist is going to have all this power He's gonna have all these armies and he's gonna have all this power He's gonna place this figure in the temple of the place of the daily sacrifice and people are gonna have to worship You know this this image look at verse 32 and Such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flattery's he meaning, you know the Antichrist here Okay, so he's gonna say like there's he's gonna take wicked people It's not what it's not just the Antichrist in the end times He's gonna find wicked people and what's he gonna do? He's gonna corrupt them by what? flattery's is flattery ever good Flattery is always bad So the Antichrist is just gonna he's gonna get all these world leaders and all these these powerful people behind him Just by saying you're so great and if you just follow me I'll make you super powerful And he's just gonna get like so I mean you wonder like how how is the Antichrist? I mean we know we know the method that he's gonna use to unite the world by the way I mean, this is what Daniel is telling us He's gonna the method that he's gonna use is he's going to just promise Power and and he's just gonna lay flatter at all these world leaders because I mean what are what are major? Super powerful people there you know who falls for flattery Who falls for flattery if you come up to me and you say I think you're the best and I just want to be Just like you and I want ever I want everything I mean I'm just gonna be like I mean I may smile and like yeah ha ha ha, but I'm gonna be like you're freaking me out right now You know it's it's just it's gonna make me like You know it's gonna you know Prideful people fall for flattery though You'll see this make me men will see this in the workplace You know the guy that's always just you know, he's always he's always kissing up to the boss You know why people do that because it works Because if you get a boss if you get a boss, it's really prideful Here's what happens somebody comes up to that boss and they're like hey boss I just really like that decision you made in that meeting that was brilliant It's like I think you are the smartest person in the whole company and a prideful person a prideful boss will be like I Am pretty smart Well, thank you Thank you for that. You know what I've always known. I was smarter than everybody I've always known I was the best manager that ever possibly could be and you notice it Good for you. You know what flattery in cases where you have super-prideful people works That's why people do it and the Antichrist is going to flatter all these world leaders You know and he's gonna get them all behind him and this is how he's getting unite everybody All right, so he's gonna corrupt these people look. They're not saved. They're just super prideful But the people but now here's the key for us right here, but we're the other side Okay, but the people that do know their God. That's us The people that know Jesus Christ, they're not gonna fall for all this stuff. They're gonna be like That's the Antichrist right there and all these people are wicked. It says the people that do know their God What shall they be they shall be strong and do exploits? You see the pattern here and then look what it says that they'll do and they shall dig bunkers and They shall dig bunkers and they shall store freeze-dried food to live in a hole in the ground for 30 years Until the tribulation passes look what it says it says and they that understand among the people That's us by the way again Because we're the only ones what was the whole point of Sunday night sermon the whole point of Sunday night sermon Was to show you this wicked philosophy that is corrupting every single thing. It's corrupting the arts It's corrupting the movies. It's corrupting TV. It's corrupting Everything that you see and it's this wicked philosophy that's in everything and you're like this is depressing But at least you recognize it when you see it If you know the Bible and you listen to Bible preaching you recognize those wicked Philosophies when you see it and when somebody tries to creep something into your home you recognize it you're like no It's because guess what a lot of these things they seem harmless a lot of these cartoons and a lot of these media things They seem harmless, but if you know your God and you know the Bible you know these attacks So the people that know their God they that understand that's us You know, you're reading your Bible. You understand what's gonna happen You know, you you listen to Bible preaching and they that understand Among the people, what will we be doing? It says they shall instruct many. Oh But then what it's not there and they're not gonna be appreciated for it It says but they shall fall by the sword and by flame by captivity and by spoil Many days. So here's the pattern right here. This is the exact same pattern that we see in Acts chapter 11 So just write Daniel chapter 11 acts chapter 11 I don't know if that was a quote, you know meant to be that way, but I mean it's the exact same pattern There was great. There's a wicked person came up It started persecuting people and people were scattered everywhere, but then guess what great exploits happened Great instruction happened by what by the people who know their God So we see the same thing we see, you know the Jews the Jews, you know They take the place of this wicked person in Acts chapter 7 when they they kill Stephen So they kill Stephen then you have Claudius Caesar that arises You're starting to see kind of the handoff between the Jewish persecution into the Roman persecution that's coming in just 10 or 15 years and it's gonna be full-blown Roman persecution After the temple is destroyed and then what do you see you're gonna start to see many persecuted and killed But then of course God's people show strength and do exploits. That's the pattern That's the pattern right there, and that's the pattern that will repeat itself again and again and again Now look, I was I was talking with pastor Jimenez about this on Saturday night, and he had an interesting point But he said like look here's the thing we have never in like this sliver of time that we're living in That's why I kind of made that joke like dearth. We just have no idea what that even means In this if you just take like the last 50 years and I'm talking about the last 50 years of just human history You take the last 50 years of 6,000 years of human history there has never been a time of such ease as There is now Well, especially for you all in in this country right now Dirt I mean dirt has been unknown in this country, especially for Two or more generations if you think about it you think about a generation being 25 to 30 years. There's been no dirt It's interesting because now I think about this a lot now This is interesting because it's not like we deserve there not to be a dirt So I see this it's a great dichotomy when you look at the fact that there's just been I mean when you think about We're living in a time just think about the I mean Congratulate yourself. You're living in a time that no human in history has ever seen Which is this great ease yet? We're doing all these things that deserve God's terrible judgment And you think how long can this go on? I mean I think about that a lot. How long is God? Going to allow this to go on. I mean the point is we know that it's coming to an end. I don't know when I don't know if that's going to be one year. I don't know that's gonna be 20 years I don't that's going to be a hundred years But here's the thing when it does come to an end what I'm trying to get you to understand from this pattern tonight When this great ease that we're living in comes to an end. It's probably gonna feel pretty terrible But there's great opportunity there is when trying to get you to understand. I mean I guess I Guess many people would prefer the easy life But we should kind of start thinking about you know the exploits Because that's you know, that's the revival that everyone says that they want and The revival will be worth the tribulation That's what I think. Okay. Now look turn to revelation chapter 18 turn to revelation chapter 18 We just give you some thoughts on the USA Versus, you know if we're gonna be in the end times or not All right, here's what I know. I know for sure that judgments coming to the United States. I know that for sure I don't know when I'm not God. I don't know how long he's going to you know, let things go on the way they're going But here's what I know, you know I know that you know a lot of people think that we may be babble on in revelation chapter 18 That's great this great city or the city could even be you know us a symbol of a country in Revelation chapter 18 that's destroyed right at the end of God's wrath in revelation chapter 18 Let's just read through this real quickly and see if the United States fits, you know this this description of Babylon and after these things Revelation chapter 1 we're at the end of God's wrath here after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lighted with his glory And he cried with a mighty strong boy with a strong voice saying Babylon the great has fallen is fallen it has become a habit the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and A cage of every unclean and hateful bird now look at verse number three here's a here's a here's a lot of evidence that This could be us For all nations have drunk. There's there's basically three things I want to point out in verse number three that point to the fact that this could be the United States There's three things all right The first one is for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication You know what that's saying that's saying all nations have participated in the culture of this Babylon all nation have participated in the culture of Whatever this Babylon city or country is now look you will never if you've ever been around the world You will know that you can go to the darkest corner of any continent And they're gonna be walking around trying to look like and be Americans there You know, it's kind of funny if you've been to other countries where you'll you'll look like you'll say like this looks like America in the 80s, you know because they're there a couple decades behind or whatever But the point is is they're trying to be like America America is exporting their culture all over the world You cannot deny that so we definitely fit That culture and the funny thing is is if you look at you know, we're told that there's all these other evil cultures in the world But what are we exporting? We're exporting, you know wickedness around the world. We're exporting, you know perversion around the world This is why it doesn't really make sense. We don't have any moral authority around the world We don't have any moral authority. So when we say oh Russia's evil and Russia says we're evil It's like they're probably more right Because I'm not saying they're good But I mean the point is you know, there's not really a time in the world right now You can say like somebody's wearing a white hat not that I see anyway So the point I'm trying to get you to understand is we're exporting our culture and that matches the first part of verse number three Look at let's continue reading and the kings of the earth Have committed fornication with her So, you know what this is talking about this is talking about Alliances and that countries that have sidled up to this Babylon to to gain something from Her or Babylon or whatever. This is talking about alliances, you know Hello, there's all kinds of alliances that people are just sidling up to the United States right now Why because we make them powerful? because you know Frankly Poland isn't really powerful unless you know they have an alliance with a powerful country, you know That's why you get things like NATO and all these different, you know alliances around the world It's the same as verse number three is talking about now look at the third one So we see that you know this Babylon exports The culture it's a wicked culture. Okay, it's for you know The Bible compares it to fornication here It says that the other nations of the world their leaders have Sidled up to you know this Babylon as well and then look at this and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich Through the abundance of her delicacies Okay, it's saying that like the merchants of you know, you know what merchants are you have to understand here that This isn't talking about Babylon making things and sending it to people. It's talking about Merchants a merchant is someone that sells you stuff So what it's talking about in item number three and verse number three is this talking about how this Babylon is making these merchants rich Why because people are selling all kinds of stuff to Babylon does that sound familiar I? Mean have you seen the pictures of like I remember we were in the Philippines and we went We took this little day trip to this Corrigidor Island and we left the port of Manila and you know what it's not a bunch of container ships coming into the Philippines You know what it is. It's a bunch of container ships Leaving the Philippines going to the United States. It's and it's like that all over the world It's just all these countries are just shipping us Stuff Why we're making them rich that's why because Americans we just we consume we just consume all the world's stuff Look at verse number four. So that's the three things in verse number three that I mean really point to the United States here Look if we are in the end times Babylon is definitely us. That's that's all I have to say I don't know if we're in the end times or not, but if we are it fits Okay, look at verse four and I heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her many people That you be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities This is why America is getting it no matter what whether we're Babylon or not and whether we get you say we get right tomorrow Say that there's no persecution and we just all of a sudden decide to get right like it's not gonna happen Okay, but we also we get right God's still gonna remember our iniquities. This is a problem God's gonna remember the 60 million abortions even if we stop all abortion tomorrow That's a problem reward her even as she rewarded you and double her unto double according to her works in the cup What she has filled to her double How much she have glorified herself and lived here we go live deliciously So much torment and sorrow give her this is why it was important that I brought up that little sliver of time You see this underline that in your Bible if you write in your Bible look at verse number seven It says she lived deliciously and it says so much torment and sorrow give her so how bad is Babylon gonna be punished How bad whether we are bad? I mean this is a good just philosophy to take right here How bad is the United States going to be punished whether we're Babylon or not? You know how bad we're gonna be punished as good as we had it. That's how and I just told you that you can't really argue that this last 50 years has been the most Comfortable 50 years in human history in the United States. So how bad is it gonna be when God judges the United States? bad That's what I'm trying to get you to understand Okay, no look there's a bright side to this don't get all depressed on me this evening All right her plagues shall come in one day death and mourning and famine She shall be utterly burned with fire for strong as the Lord who judges her and look at this and The kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her When they shall see the smoke of her burnings look at verse 11 and the merchants of the earth Shall weep and mourn over her for no man it says because they really love this place It says they will weep and mourn because they love the people of Babylon look what it says It says because they buy they don't buy their merchandise anymore The only reason that people will mourn over Babylon is that they're just not buying the junk anymore. That's it The merchandise then it lists all the merchandise verse 15 the merchants of these things which were made rich by her She'll stand a far off for the fear of her torment weeping and wailing. They won't even like Back her up. They weren't even back up Babylon. They're gonna be like We don't want any part of that what's happening over there They're gonna be sad only because of the money that they lose Because they were again in verse 19. It says they were made rich All right, so look here's what's interesting though if you look at Revelation chapter 18 Here's what's interesting. So if this does if this is the United States We can we can tell we can tell by verse 18 or the verse 24 of chapter 18 That it's a little bit of a measuring point here and look at verse 24 where it says and in her was found the blood of the Prophets and of saints and all that were slain upon the earth and really this is what I want to cap it with is that if Babylon if first of all forget that the United States might be Babylon Babylon follows the same Pattern okay, because what happened here they what was the last thing that they were doing? They were slaying the prophets they were slaying the saints. They were literally killing God's people Okay in this Babylon, which means if it is the United States things are gonna get much worse here for Christians Okay, so you know there's gonna be dearth and there's gonna be persecution And you can kind of sort of see that playing out to be honest with you you can kind of see that coming now So that is coming so Wicked leaders will have to arise for that to come in the United States wicked leaders have been arising But even more wicked leaders will have to arise. This is the pattern right they will have to arise and say We're not gonna allow this type of preaching. We're not gonna allow the Bible to be read We're not gonna allow people to teach the Bible Maybe churches will go underground or whatever that they will do they will start arresting people that preach the Bible It's the same exact pattern Folks that's happened all throughout the world the persecution will start But then guess what? Great exploits will happen Great exploits will come out of that the pattern will be the same So whether or not we're Babylon in the end times or we're not we're going to be judged And it's going to follow this pattern. You see what I'm saying So that we can see Happening okay, and look here's all I'm trying to get you to understand just kind of be ready for it This is what Jesus said, you know in Mark 13 Matthew 24. He says look I am telling you these things So you won't be offended. I'm telling you these things so when these things happen You won't be like no one told us look the pre-trib people are going to be offended Because they're going to be like why in the world are we having to go through this? But we shouldn't be offended. We should be ready for it You know we don't have to go dig bumper bunkers because somebody's got to go out and do all these great things Okay. Look, I mean it's it's kind of exciting when you think about it that way It's kind of exciting that to think that there's a possibility First of all you can do great things anytime Okay, but there's kind of great to think that you know There's a possibility that you could be part of of something like this great revival that would happen in End times that Daniel chapter 11 was talking about All right, so turn to Matthew chapter 24 Matthew chapter 24 We'll wrap up here in just a couple of minutes. We go to Matthew chapter 24 Matthew chapter 24 and look at verse Look at verse 14 So Back to Acts chapter 11 Jesus God needed God needed the the gospel going out. He couldn't have it just stay in Jerusalem All right, because look that is actually a prerequisite of the end times look at verse 14 of Matthew chapter 24 He says and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto nations and then the end Shout shout then shall the end come so look that's a literally a prerequisite that this gospel start to get out What we're seeing in Acts chapter 11 is the beginning of verse 14 of Matthew 24 okay, we're seeing the beginning of the gospel starting to go out to the world. All right, so look Here's the here's the last point. I want to make here's the last point. I want to make this evening We see this pattern that that wicked leaders will arise We see this pattern of persecution that those wicked leaders, you know the end times application is the antichrist Okay, and his leaders that he flatters in all this wicked leaders arise They persecute the Christians and then the Christians go out and they do great things and they do exploits Okay, but look this is kind of something that you need to realize in your life that any I mean in Times of discomfort is when great things happen in your life Okay, any great thing that you will do in your life. Let's Put the end times aside for a second any great thing that you will do will have discomfort with it You say what do you mean saying say let's just say that your goal in life is just to be a great father You want to be a great father? Look that's going to come with personal discomfort You say what do you mean because if you just live this life where you just do everything? Every single decision that you make is just to make things as easy as possible for yourself personally That you're not going to be great anything To be a great father, you're going to have to make personal sacrifices You're going to have to go through great discomfort Maybe that means that you don't have the the nice things that a lot of other people that you know have Maybe that means that you know you sacrifice things for your children and sacrifice things for your wife Look if you want to be a great husband that means that you are going to have to go through discomfort in your life you say what do you mean because Because you're gonna have to sacrifice you can't just you can't just be a husband And just say whatever that I feel like doing that makes me feel good I'm going to do and think you're gonna have a great marriage. You're crazy You probably will have no marriage If that's the way you operate your life But everything you say I want to be a great husband I want to be a great wife. Guess what there's going to be great personal discomfort with that because anything That is that you will do that is great It is difficult and uncomfortable to do. This is what we see here This is what we see. We see this great dearth this great Uncomfortable situation happening in Jerusalem and just these great things happening out of it You know they were in Jerusalem. It was just like party time. It was just like party time. Everybody's getting saved. It's awesome Like everything's awesome here and God's like no discomfort discomfort great things It's the same thing with everything in your life. You want to be a great mom? You want to be a great mom? You want to be raised great children? Look that's gonna come with great personal discomfort and great personal sacrifice and just like Lay around and just do nothing and just expect that everything's gonna turn out okay Just because you just want a comfortable life. This is the danger of this sliver of time that we're living in is That everything is so comfortable that we may just choose comfort at every corner and then we'll never be a great father We'll never be a great husband. We'll never be you'll never be a great wife. You'll never be a great son You'll never be a great daughter You know you'll never have a great marriage Which you know I mean you guess you got a got a wife and you got a husband who are just they're just focused on being the greatest wife and greatest husband they can possibly be at and Throwing their own comfort out the window. That's great marriage right there You're gonna have a great marriage, which is possibly one of the best blessings that you will receive on this earth That's that's my opinion, but the point is the point is times of great Discomfort just if you take away nothing from tonight take away this great things always come with great discomfort That's what we can take away from Acts chapter 11 remember that in your life. I mean remember that in your Christian life When things get tough in your Christian life, just be like you know what I'm gonna go harder Look, I'm telling you I'm telling you today and this doesn't happen to me very often We're a very small group of people out soul winning today And we're in the worst neighborhood that I've ever been in in Fresno and we've been it I mean you all know we've been to some bad neighborhoods in Fresno This was the this was that neighborhood where I'm just like my head's on a swivel and I can't see everybody and I was just like Sure, should we be here and we get we're just getting everybody else just getting people saved everywhere But that's the thing I was uncomfortable. I Was uncomfortable and and great things happened You see And look the Lord takes care of us. I get that But I feel responsible and we're in a really bad place, but great discomfort great things It's a great application for exactly what we're talking about tonight. Just remember that remember when you're thinking about I Really want to do this. Yes, you want to go through that discomfort If it is how you get to what the Bible says if you're if your pastor preaches something and you say But that's gonna be uncomfortable go through that discomfort because then you'll do great things You'll do and you know, guess what somebody's got to do great things for the kingdom of God on earth And Jesus Christ said, you know, I'm leaving it's your job. You do it Times of discomfort equals great things. Let's buy our heads and have a word