 Thank you, thank you. Please turn to your Old Testament, and we're going to look at the Book of Judges to kick this conference off. I was with a team of people that went to Iraq to counsel and try to help the Yazidi women that were kidnapped and raped and beaten and sold to slave traders. And the Lord opened my eyes there and crushed my heart. I was there twice. And it was like standing with the Lord in Ezekiel when he showed him the dry bones. You're right there in the heartbeat of what's going on in the world. And then you meet these people that have been treated in such a manner that you realize the people that mistreated them were not human, that there's this evilness that's going on. And I also learned that our government had lied to us, and that bothered me. And then I found out that our press never told us what was really going on, but the Secretary General of the Kurdish Parliament gave us a briefing with 10% of the Parliament. And it wasn't just pretty girls by the thousands. It was any boy or girl that was five years old and up. They would sell them as sex toys. And then as he was talking, I was sitting there in this room. And to my right was this panel with the members of Parliament. And I had to interrupt the Secretary General. And there was a Navy SEAL, an operator, a contract security person that was with us several, that was sitting across. And he kept nodding his head like, are you hearing what this man is saying? And then I heard it. I got really angry at first. But then I realized how asleep the church is and how asleep America is. And what he said was I interrupted him. I said, sir, we have not been told this in the United States. We aren't aware of this. And he said, this is why you are hated. Americans are hated. We waited. And we waited for two years. And your White House would not save our lives or save our people. And I said, what you're talking about here is called genocide. And he said, yes, of course, it's genocide. But it was more personal because it was genocide against the Christian men and women, boys and girls. And I was ashamed as an American that that went on. But I was even more ashamed as a Christian man that I hadn't stood up for it or even known about the genocide side of things. They were being killed simply because they were Christians, our brothers, our sisters. I interviewed a lot of people that survived and escaped. I interviewed people that with the women, we were in a meeting with seven women. And there's what's called in critical instance stress management, the stair. At Ground Zero in Oklahoma City, the stair was everywhere where people, just their minds had gone. And these women were raped in front of their fathers, their brothers, their uncles, and their daddies and their husbands. The men watched as these ISIS guys did this. And then they turned the men around. Their hands were tied behind their back, and they chopped all their heads off, and they pushed them into pits. So the last thing that women will remember is what these evil men did to their males. And the men's last memory was watching their wife, and they couldn't do a thing about it. We all went back and talked to people from Washington, D.C., and one that I thought was in the know, that was a Christian, had been in the military over there. Several times he said in our meeting, why didn't know that? I didn't know that. I didn't know that. But God knows it. So we walked away on our first journey with some deep, deep broken hearts. And they told us that America is going to be dealt severely with by ISIS. They've always stood away from America. They're going to go from Iraq and Syria into Europe. They didn't know all the people that they caught on the battlefield. They didn't know how they're going to Europe. But then they found out they did it through the refugees. They became refugees. And then they're going to go to England, specifically London, and take London down. And London, for its first time ever in history, I think, now has a Muslim mayor. And Syria law is practiced in London. There are areas that a police officer would not go. It's just horrible. There are, Sandy read me a statement, and I'll get this number wrong, I think, but maybe not. 300 churches closed last year in England, and 400 mosques opened. They said they're not afraid anymore. America's going to be hit maybe 10 cities at a time. Complete confusion. So we asked why. They said they don't fear your military. They don't fear your weapons, your drones, your bombers. They don't fear your police. They don't fear anything now. They had one fear that they did not think they could conquer in America. You know what that was? It was the church. It was the Christian community, because they knew there were supposedly millions and millions of us. But when not one politician stood up and said, stop this genocide, but not one pastor in the country stood up and said, on behalf of these people that are our brothers and sisters, we demand that this is stopped. This is called genocide, because that's their plan for you and me in this country. It did change my life, but I have found the Lord in a way I hadn't seen him before. I've studied the end times like I've never studied him before, and I want to share that with you. The greatest joy that I am going to go home from this conference with is that today, Sandy and I are celebrating 51 years together. Long time. She's the nicest person I've ever known. I've never loved anybody or anything as much as I love her, and I give my life for her. And all of you wives that are here, we were praying for you, the council after lunch. And you have such a really strong and heavy role. You're not just a wife. You're not just a mother. But you happen to be the wife of a pastor. That's a lot of pressure, just that one alone. And then people have expectations of you, because you're the pastor's wife. And if it weren't for the godly women that God has given to us like you, none of us men would make it. We love you, and we need you in our lives to help hold up our hands so that the battle can go on, and we can continue rescuing souls and snatching them away from the fires of hell before it's too late. So we thank you, wives, for being here. So on 9th chapter, the Old Testament, and we're going to look here at chapter 9. So follow along with me, if you would please. Then a bimalak, the son of Jerobo. He went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, his uncles. And he spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father. So the whole clan was brought together. And a bimalak said, please, speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem. And here's what his message was to them. Which is better for you, that all 70 of the sons of Jerobovel reign over you, or that only one man reigns over you. Remember, I am of your own flesh and bone. So instead of letting God speak this bimalak fellow, he wanted to take charge. His mother's brothers spoke all of these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem. And their heart was inclined to follow a bimalak. For they said, he is our brother. So he gave him 70 shekels of silver from the temple. So they gave it to him from the temple, not of God, but of Baal Barith, with which a bimalak took the assets or the inheritance, and he hired worthless and reckless men. And they followed him. You can always buy people to follow you. And then he went to his father's house at Oprah Winfrey's. Oh, no, I'm sorry. Oprah, I'm sorry. At Oprah. And he killed. Look at that. He killed his own brothers. He killed them. All 70 of these that were counseled together for the people to bless them, he actually killed them. He severed his relationship with them. 70 sons of Jerobovel on one stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerobovel, was left because he hid himself. A wise man sees the lion in the street, and he hides himself. All the men of Shechem gathered together, not a few of them, all of them. All of Beth Milo, they went and they made a bimalak the king. He actually bought the throne. Beside the terribent tree at the pillar that was in Shechem. So the survivor, when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim. And he lifted up his voice, and he cried out. And he said to them, listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. So God's pay attention to the speaker and to the audience the next few days. And here is this parable. The trees went forth, once went forth, to anointed king over them. And they said to the olive tree, would you reign over us? But the olive tree said to them, should I cease giving my oil, with which they honor God and men, and go sway over trees? He was just content being who God made him, the olive tree. And then the trees went to the fig tree. Can you come and reign over us? Would you be our leader? But the fig tree said to them, should I cease my sweetness? Am I good fruit to go sway over trees? And then the trees said to the vine, you, you come and reign over us. But the vine said to them, should I cease my new wine, which cheers both God and men, and go to sway over trees? Then all the trees said to the bramble bush, which is all over the place, and it doesn't really have a great purpose. It's kind of a renegade. You come and reign over us. But the bramble bush, the least, that really didn't have anything to give, all these other trees had sweetness and fruit, and please God and please men. But the bramble bush is just a wild bush. He doesn't really have anything to give, but he's a good taker. He'll soak the rain out of the ground for its roots to keep multiplying. So the bramble bush said to the trees, and he responds, if in truth you anoint me as king over you, then come and take shelter in my shade. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Now we know the cedars of Lebanon are not there like they were. David, building the temple, knew that Solomon would be taking that job. And the king of Tyre sent him down cedars of Lebanon to help. And they were magnificent trees. Now, therefore, if you've acted in truth and in sincerity in making Abimelech your king, and if you have dwelt well with Jerubbabel and his house, and you've done to him as he deserves, which they didn't, for my father fought for you, he risked his life, and he delivered you out of the hand of Midian. But you have risen up against my father's house this day, and you have killed his 70 sons on one stone, and you made Abimelech the son of his female servant, King, over the men of Shechem, simply because he's your brother. If then, second time it said, you have acted in truth and in sincerity with Jerubbabel and with his house, his family, this day, then go ahead and rejoice in Abimelech and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come from Abimelech to devour the men of Shechem and Beth Milo, and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Milo and devour Abimelech. And Jotham ran away and fled, and he went to Beir and he dwelt there for fear of Abimelech, his brother, because he spoke the truth. That parable becomes what he wants to get the picture in the mind, and then the truth comes. He did not deal, these people did not deal in truth, and they did not deal in sincerity. Abimelech cut off all the brothers that had tremendous wisdom to share with all those people. But this one man, Abimelech came along and said, you know, I'm of your clan. You know, he wasn't born of the king's queen. He was born of a servant girl. And that gave him just enough to say, you see, I'll be better for you than all those other voices. So the Bramblebush speaks out, and when Jotham stands up and he says, if this was not done well, what you did to your brothers and to the family, then fire is going to come out of him to you. He's going to turn on you, and you will have fire come out on him, and he's going to be dead, and you're going to be without a leader. There are a lot of people around our country, especially I'm speaking about our country now, that are wandering around, calling themselves Christians. And yet our country is in the worst position it has ever been in. The salt has lost its savor. People are trying to have a reputation. People are turning aside to compromise in so many different areas, and you need to be alert. Because the devil is after you, then your family, and your church will fall apart after that. You need to be alert right now. When Jesus spoke about his return, his first big message in Matthew that came out was actually a question from his disciples, and it was three questions inside of one. They marveled at those 100,000-pound stones that just were so beautiful, and architecture is within a credit card width that you could put those stones perfectly together around the walls. And they told Jesus, have you ever seen anything as magnificent as this? Well, yes, he has. He created it heaven. And they're looking at this, and he says, hey, the day will come when not one stone is left upon another stone here at all. So they must have been talking behind the falafel and having a little lunch, and said, well, what do you think he's going to talk about when we get out of this temple? And of course, he looked at that, and he says, I tell you the truth, that not one of these stones be left upon another, and he stops. And then they say, this is the time to ask him about prophecy in times. So they said, well, when will this happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age or the end of the world? That's a big question all over the world right now. I'm very grateful that you have been taught more than any group of pastors about the end times. It is so important that you teach the end times, and not just for the people of your church, for you to keep you on your toes, to keep you on edge that the Lord can come at any time, and you don't want to be doing something deplorable when he comes back. You want to take your last breath all the way up, stepping into the kingdom. You don't want to be put down, cast out, shoved away, you know, damaging your body and damaging your family. It's an awesome thing to fall in the hands of the living God. And he's given us an honor and a privilege to be servants, to lift people up. But there are so many celebrity pastors now getting $5,000 and $10,000 to go speak somewhere so that church can get a crowd to come in here. And so many pastors are confused. They don't know if they're this or that or both of those plus another one. That means they're not praying and they're not seeking the Lord. There's too many pastors failing. And God didn't design us to fail. I think since 2009, when I first read the statistics, it might be more, it might be less in 2017. 1,500 to 2,000 pastors, ministers, leave the ministry every year in the United States of America every month, excuse me, for all those years. More churches have been repossessed. More church buildings have been shut down and taken back by the lender. In San Diego, we had three Christian schools closed and shut down last year. Christian schools are being pressured because we are an alternative. And I think the globalist plan was that by 2017 to 2018, you would be able to corner the church in America, embarrass the Christians in America, put the church down that it's not a voice, and then all of a sudden, the street riots would happen, and then there would be a split, and then all of a sudden, millions of us would disappear and mortgages wouldn't be paid, car payments wouldn't be paid, grocery stores would go broke because so many people have disappeared into the sky. The time is very, very close. Barry Stagner from Calvary, Tustin, and I do Pastor Chuck's program he and Don Stewart did for years, and then Barry and Chuck. It's amazing. It's just amazing. I remember Thursday night of being a guest with Chuck, and I remember hosting for him one time, years ago. And he said, Mike, there's 65,000 people that are watching tonight. I said, Chuck, that's a stadium full of people. That's like we've got a crusade going right now. And he said it's just amazing. There are now tens of millions of people watching that program. In fact, we were recently told that that program is going into 190 different countries. For the first time ever in those countries are Iraq and Iran and Turkey and all the Muslim countries. The government controls the internet. We don't know how many people are watching those countries, but we know that they're watching. And millions besides them. And everyone seems to be interested, believer or non-believer. What is going on in this world? Good is called evil. Evil is called good. And you stop and you think. The whole world is against one man right now, just like they were against Jesus. Crucify him, crucify him. The stupid thing that these social engineers have done is they've let you know and they've let me know that we've been lied to our all lives and that there is an agenda and a conspiracy and the church and the Christian are not part of it. Now I'll tell you if the Lord doesn't come back soon and if this presidency makes it one more term, the other guys are going to make you the enemy. Because you elected this guy that stopped their world plan. You are the enemy. Who would ever thought there would be a day when people wouldn't want to see a nativity scene? They wouldn't want to see a cross. Now they don't want to see a church. And the next step is they don't want to see a Christian. In Mosul, which the fighting is going on today, still people are dying. I talk to many people from Mosul. One I'll never, ever forget as long as I live as she is about, I'm six feet. She is about here. She is maybe four foot 10 or 11, 70 pounds. Everything she owned, she is wearing a bandana, a dress, some sandals, and a jacket. And everything she owned of 70 years of raising a family was in a purse. The purse was about that long. It was pretty long, but only about that thick. When ISIS came into Mosul, they had a field day. It was like shooting ducks in a barrel. They had paid spies in every neighborhood to go and to mark every house a Christian lived in in Mosul. And you know the sign. It's like a happy face sort of with a hash mark up here. It's jewelry. It's decals. It's wristbands. And usually it's black background with gold for that hash mark and that look. And that's the letter N in the Arabic alphabet. Not told the assassins. A Nazarene lives in this house. That's horrible. I'm telling you one reason it's horrible, but I want to tell you another reason it's wonderful. It's horrible that our brothers and sisters were marked ahead of time. People knew this. And they didn't even give us a chance to call us or text us and say, we're going to give you one week to go over there and rescue as many Christians as you want. They could have very easily done that. The good side is, remember Paul the Apostle said that there's another Jesus. Some people preach another Jesus. This Jesus that I love that died on the cross for Sandy and me and our six children and 20 grandkids and six great-grandkids, that Jesus that restored our marriage after three years of divorce, that Jesus that gave me my sanity back, Don McClure questions, that Jesus that has done nothing but open up doors to win thousands of people to Jesus and to plant hundreds of churches. That's the Jesus who lives in that house, the Nazarene Jesus, the Jesus of Nazareth. There's other Jesuses, but this is the one that causes the trouble to the devil and he made sure they understood this is Jesus of Nazareth is living in this home. So the lady, they killed her sons and her husband and their families and one day she goes to the front door and here are four ISIS killers in their black JV suits with tennis shoes on and their big swords. You're a Christian. You either dropped your knees right now and denounced Jesus or you are going to be charged an extremely high tax or we're gonna chop your head off or the fourth option is you leave now. She slammed the door in their face. I'm in this room with her and she has a one pillow and a mat, little mat. Maybe 20 some people living in a two bedroom, whatever. And she tells me the story and the next day another group of four come, same thing. Next day, third day, same thing. She closed the door and she looked at me and said, Mike, I have never denied Jesus and I will never deny Jesus. I said, that's amazing. I love it. The fourth group came and said, we heard you won't respond so we're telling you pick up anything within your arms to reach and go or we're slitting your throat right now. She picked up her purse, she put her jacket on, she walked 70 miles to where I found her. 70 years old by herself with no men to guard her and she was a witness of Jesus and Mosul. The second thing that we found out from the governors of two of the largest cities in Iraq and 10% of the Kurdish parliament and the general over the police in that area and the generals from the Peshmerga army was that they went right immediately before the people. They brought the pastors and their children, their wives out in front of the local community of that church and chopped all their heads off in front of all the other people and said don't think of becoming a Christian. That was the first thing. The third thing was is that they went into all of Mosul's museums, all of Syria's museums and destroyed anything that quoted the Bible or showed that the Bible was true. You know Mosul is Nineveh. It's the Nineveh that Jonah went to. They know it. It said so inside of the artifacts and the things in their museums written etched in stone, all destroyed. That's revisionism. So that their God and their great prophet wouldn't have no competition and that's what's been happening inside of our schools for the last 20 years. Revisionism, history books changed. Anything about God, Bible, Jesus and the public school and no it's not there. Their plan is the same thing for us in our neighborhoods but I don't fear them. I fear God and I ain't seen God do some pretty powerful and mighty things and he's not finished with this church yet. But his church is acting like it is finished with him. That's so sad. I know so many pastors in the last 18 months since I was there on two different trips that have fallen away from the Lord and lost their families. They've stumbled the members of the churches and their churches have split. Gentlemen, I wanna say this to you from my heart and from truth. Get away from drinking. It'll destroy your life. I spent 32 years in law enforcement. First as a reserve police officer in San Diego and then a chaplain setting up a chaplain seat for the PD and then for the sheriff. Every city in San Diego County now has a chaplaincy. We have the only chaplaincy in the morgue in the county medical examiner's office. It is a role model for the rest of the nation. Nobody gets a death notification at their front door without a minister standing there. If a house is burned down or there's a problem where the Red Cross turns out, we have 276 pastors that are trained to go to every notification, to every type of a situation that could happen to hurt somebody. The grand jury indicted us, I guess that's what you say several of us, wanted to know questions. I was trying to figure out what am I in here for? And then I was asked if I would help set up a chaplaincy for the entire county for the Office of Emergency Services. The chaplains would be sitting in the command center with the sheriff, with the police, with the hospitals, with the feds. And Jesus is in San Diego when San Andreas' fault slips or some disaster happens. If I got a call and I had even just one glass of wine, went to bed and the call came at midnight, two o'clock in the morning, they said, hold it, we've got a little girl in a bad accident down here, we need you right now. Would you get down to the hospital? Here's the name of the people, officers are waiting for you. Just bring your identification, we need your help, great. And I walk up to you and you tell me your little girl may be dying and you're weeping and you're crying. And you know I'm a minister. And you smell alcohol in my breath? It's a lot of responsibility, gentlemen, to carry that name minister. There are a lot of people that are single, like a bimalac that are saying, hey, follow me, follow me, follow me. But there's one thing he didn't have that the 70 brothers had in unison. He had no accountability, didn't answer anybody. Don McClure and I have been together. We were two of the first intern pastors that Chuck Smith hired. There's several times that he wanted to kill me, but we always talk it over. The two greatest assets, besides your relationship with God, and I pray is a good one. The two greatest you have, and they take a lot of investment. Number one, your family. Number two, your friends. And choose your friends well. Family you don't get to choose. Just work with them a lot. Our lives cannot be spent, as King James said, surfiting in the world. We cannot look like we're one thing and act like another. We can't talk like we're one thing and walk as another. We're at the end of the age. Do you know that just two weeks ago, they figured it out that Russia is following ISIS, almost as if ISIS is the storm troops and they're coming behind. We had so many authorities tell us in Iraq that America started ISIS. I got so tired of it that in one meeting I said, excuse me, are you meaning because our president has pulled the troops out of Iraq and we've committed a vacuum? No, we have proof. We know that America started ISIS to destable the whole world. Okay. And there was in one meeting maybe 30 people in that boardroom in Northern Iraq and a 30-some-year-old member of the parliament standing there and he got up and he says, you know, I represent thousands of people that hate you just because you are a Christian. And I stood up and said, let me tell you something, Washington DC and Hollywood, California do not represent the people of the United States of America. They're the greatest people in the world. The most benevolent people in the world. The most caring and giving. And then he smiled and he says, I know it cost you $10,000 to get here, you all paid your own ways. I know that and this gives me hope that there are good Americans. Well, there are. You have two businesses. One is all your own business and the other is none of your business. And there are things that you may be dabbling in that is none of your business and get out of it. Billy Graham said one time that he and Ruth were sitting watching television and some scene came on. They looked at each other and said, why are we watching something like this? He got up and he turned the television off. They both knelt down, joined hands and begged God to forgive him to let something like that come across their eyes. One time he had personally told me that Ruth was much more spiritual and much deeper than he was. Now Ruth was a character and she was a godly lady. And I mentioned that to Ann one day. I said, hey Ann, years ago your dad was talking and he told me that your mother was much more spiritual and a lot deeper and she got adamant. She wanted to fight almost. Said, that's not true, one bit. I said, well, don't hit me, but could you explain that? And she said, how could you be more godly than a guy that is sitting on the couch? He's got his TV tray and he's watching his friend on television do the news and the phone rings. And he gets up and as he walks to the phone on the counter of the kitchen, he says, dear Lord, you know who is calling? I don't, he prays all out. So please give me the words that you want this person to have. And he picks up, hello, that's pretty godly guy. His heart, all day long, like Pastor Chuck's, filled with the scriptures and the thoughts of God and what can they do with their lives to further the kingdom's goals? And one of the great gift both of those men have is that they looked for young men and women that were godly and they poured into them open doors, invitations. And that's what you and I should be doing. Multiplying ourselves, not our big screens. We need to have men's hearts touching men's hearts. You know, there's over 30 some Calvaries now in San Diego. When I went there, zero. There's 150 now that have come out of that first 10 people that were discipled and the second church and third church and on and on and on. But that was because men were sitting with men and men that had input like the 70 that were wiped out, they were putting it into the men that had no input. And when you have 70 brothers talking to all the clan, each brother could take 100 people and disciple them. You wipe out the brothers and you just get one man that's the sole source of all intelligence, intellect and heavenly inspiration. There'll be a line from here to Mexico. Multiply yourselves, multiply yourselves, multiply yourselves. Every city that St. Paul went into, he multiplied himself. Teach the young men and the young women to be modest. This is one of the spiteful things going on when you see the hatred. We were in a lobby waiting to go to a refugee camp. There were Iraqi men and women in that lobby of the hotel. It was the day that the American news came on and it was the day that the Supreme Court had just made some rulings. And one of the first ones was in English and captioned for the Iraqis that didn't speak English. And it said the Supreme Court of the United States of America says it is okay for a man to marry a man and a woman to marry a woman. Well, that's not their job to pass laws. It's to interpret laws. And then the screen went to the White House. It was nighttime there and it had a rainbow array of lights lighting up the White House. There's a reason it's white. It's liberty and justice for all. It's neutral. It is for the people. Somebody had to pay for the wires and the electricians and the gels and the equipment to glorify something that is an abomination to God. We were made in God's image and after his likeness, we know what bathroom to go into. The world is so sick and there are no ministers speaking out against the sickness. Jesus said you'll know the truth and the truth will make you free. And the sun sets free is free indeed. The men in that lobby turned around knowing we were a crowd of guys that were getting into some vehicles out front and they had such disgust in their faces towards us. You know, seven police officers were ambushed and assassinated in Dallas, Texas. And a phone call went from Dallas to the White House. Out of respect of the murder of these seven police officers plus the others around the country that had been killed in the last few weeks, we would ask you to put blue lights on the White House like you did for the gay marriages. So people will empathize with the police. You know what they said? We'd never do that. No, but they'd do anything that's abominable. Gentlemen, if you and I, the ministers, don't stand up for righteousness, we'll fall down for everything. You must be a godly man. It's imperative that you're a man of prayer and a man of the word and you're a man of your word. You don't need to play with fire. You don't need to be in the world. You need to be holy, as God is holy. And you've got to quit wandering around. I bumped into it, I went to this conference, I went to that conference, I was over here at this conference, at Batman, and I remember in the early days of Calvary Chapel, Chuck would say more than one time a month. When I was in the domination, we always had these conferences. I hated the conferences. This one reason I'm not in a denomination. You cannot be who you are slash somebody else slash somebody else. You either stand for what you believe in or you really don't believe what you're standing for. Pastor Chuck Smith set a path. In it, if you worked for him, it was a tough way to learn because he never told you what he wanted you to do, where you're supposed to do it, how to do it, and when to do it. And after five years, I realized I have four questions for him. What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to do it? When am I supposed to, now am I supposed to do it? He would never do that. He didn't want his fingerprints on any other person. He didn't want to direct anybody's lives, but Abimelech loved to have the control. He had all the wealth, all the toys. Listen, with all this wealth, we can go forward and we can conquer the world. And that's not true. Isn't it interesting that God chose a brown bull bush to give that message? He used the burning bush to call Moses, but a bramble bush that doesn't really do much was the picture of a bad heart, of an envious and jealous Abimelech. Don't try to judge other people. Judge not, lest you be judged. I remember before Chuck died that we had lunch together and he wanted to go. I said, anywhere you want to go? Well, over here they served, he knew the menu in about 14 different restaurants around Calvary. I'm serious. Over here they said, too much traffic. Oh, that'll be full left way to happen. Let's go to Applebee's in Fountain Valley. Applebee's in Fountain Valley, sure. Why? They have the best French onion soup you've ever tasted in your life. Really, Chuck? Okay, so we go to Applebee's. He can barely get out of the car. Oh, Pastor Chuck, out to the door. Oh, Pastor Chuck. Into the roof. Oh, Pastor Chuck. He was the pastor of Southern California. He truly was. So we're sitting there. I'm going through a deep trial for seven years. He's helping me through it. And I'm there to just glean and listen, talk. And he's going... The best French onion. Mike, you gotta try this French onion. Okay, Chuck, I'll try that French onion. Next time, though, this is a great burger I'm having. So we started talking about forgiveness. You gotta forgive those people that just knifed you. Yeah, but you wanna choke them out. You gotta forgive them. Okay, I'll forgive them. Remember what Jesus said? Which time? He said, he said, hmm, that's good. Blessed are the merciful. For they shall receive mercy. And he stopped and leaned across the table. Look me in the eye. I thought he was gonna give me the spoon. Nobody looked right in my eyes and he said, and Mike, I need a lot of mercy. And he meant it. He was a sinful man and he knew it. And he wasn't ashamed or afraid to tell a younger man, one of his disciples, don't ever think he's more than you really are. He taught me, don't put your fingerprints anywhere on the ministry. Be debt-free and when Jesus comes back, give him the keys, all the deeds, the titles to everything and step away. Don't be one that's the bad steward that's beating his fellow servants, but loving them and putting the meat on the table. I'll tell you, you start teaching more prophecy. You'll get more fired up and the rest of your Bible studies come strong. And I encourage you to teach from the Old Testament. I love the Old Testament. How would we ever have the burning bush without the Old Testament? I learned 40 years ago from Billy Graham that you read a Proverb chapter a day, you've gone through the entire Proverbs in 30 days, 31 days, 12 times. Now you do that every day for 10 years, you've gone through 1200 times, haven't you, or 12,000 or more than 12. Never was good at math. Actually, I have one algebra class to take and I'll get a degree from Liberty University and I've put off that algebra class for two years. A bimilech. Here's a guy that thought he had more to give than 70 men and then you go down here and we'll close with this that they turn against him. And God doesn't let things slide. After a bimilech had reigned three years and that's about the time it takes for somebody to show their real colors. Three years. God sent a spirit, oh my goodness, God sent him, of ill will between a bimilech and the men of Shechem. The men of Shechem dealt treacherously with a bimilech that the crime done to the 70 sons of Durababel might be settled and that their blood be laid on a bimilech, their brother who killed him. And on the men of Shechem who aided him in the killing of his brothers. The men of Shechem set an ambush up and you know the rest of the story. They're standing down there and they're going down into the town and a bimilech sets up four teams and somebody comes along to him and says they're Gael, the son of Ebed in verse 26 is talking to him. They put their confidence in him. So they went into the fields, they gathered the grapes from the vineyards, they trod them, they made merry, they went to the house of their God, they ate, they drank and cursed the bimilech. I remember one night I actually reached my gun when I was a reserve officer, a guy was beaten his wife and there was a whole bunch of people standing around the front yard watching it. And she said, my officer said, I'll take care of this, you go after him. Oh, I could talk to her, why don't you go after him? This guy was so full of rage that he slammed the door of the end apartment, there were six in a row on each side and it shook the building down where I was standing because it was being very cautious. And I stopped, told people to close their doors please and I reached over here and he came out and I thought, oh my goodness. And she snuck up behind me without me knowing and said, stop right where you are, put your, that's right, you stop right there. Anyhow, long story short, she stood with her toes next to his toes with him up against the wall and her nose just almost in not moving. I've got six responding officers and the sergeant next to me, two teenagers stoned out of their minds, just really bad kids. The wife's got the broken nose, the blood, the kids are calling the cops pigs and swearing at them and it's just a bad mess. And so I'm standing with the sergeant and two officers, they're looking in the door, we're watching Beverly and she says, so you're a wife-beater, are you? You beat women, you're a tough guy. Hey, I didn't beat my wife. You didn't beat your wife, I'm not a hypocrite, I'm a Christian. Every cop and the sergeant and Beverly turned and looked at me. I'm the Christian that drinks. She goes like this and the sergeant said, you better get over and handle this. So I put my toes right where her toes were and I leaned into him and I said, say I want to introduce myself to you. You say you're a Christian, I'm a Christian, I sure am. I heard you say that you're not a hypocrite, you don't beat your wife though, your wife is in there with a broken nose and a couple of teeth missing, your boys are stoned out of their guards and they're going to juvenile hall tonight and you're going to prison, you're going to jail. I'm not a hypocrite, I would never do that to my wife. Oh, but you're a Christian. Yeah. Well, what church do you go to? Is that right? Here's what he said, I don't go to church, there are too many hypocrites. Okay buddy, he was done, he went to sleep. But here's this guy saying to him, if I only had them under my authority then I could really make something myself. It isn't about us making anything of ourselves because we are nothing. There's not one good thing that dwells in these evil hearts but I know your intention is good. But I've seen the beast and I've seen the people who watched the Christian boys and girls in those schools have their heads chopped off. Elementary through high school, all over Mosul. City parks and school playgrounds. Muslim boys and girls come out and you pointed out they got them to spy who were the Christian kids. And we talked to the highest level in the country and never once in four or five places did we ever hear that one little boy or girl or one teenage boy or girl ever once denied Jesus but they all were decapitated and our government knowing it did nothing. And we're so busy trying to be church, play at church, have the best band in church, have the biggest screens and whatever and our brothers and sisters are being decapitated. Only you and I can save what's coming to this country. You and I have more power in this room than the entire nuclear weaponry of the United States military. God's love is so powerful it covers a multitude of sins. And God's love can take you and your family and make you a shining example. A city set on a hill and the Lord Jesus said to his disciples let your light so shine that men see your works and they give glory to God. But it seems like in this age, men like their lights to shine so more people can see them. That's not how it is. I know that you're sincere like this man was not sincere. I know that you deal in truth. This man did not deal in truth. It was all about him but the Lord sent the foul spirit. That's very frightening that he will bring justice and it may be three years, maybe 50 years. But God's been waiting a long time to wrap up planet earth. And this is the time to get ready for evacuation planet earth. The Lord Jesus is about ready to descend from heaven with a shout of the archangel and the sound of the trumpet and the dead in Christ shall rise first and those of us that are alive and remain, we're gonna be caught up in the air forever to be with him therefore comfort one another with those words. We must be about our Father's business. And Lord God, forgive us of our shortcomings and our failures and don't let us please, don't let us continue in them. And Father please, we beg you that you would make us relevant not to a generation as we keep hearing you. You're not relevant to the younger generation. Lord relevant to the inhabitants of this entire planet. They're all gonna perish. You said in the last days, people will heap under themselves teachers having itching ears designed to hear what they wanna hear. And we all in this room have seen teachers go off and get a lot of itching ears scratched and they walk away from the truth and the sincerity of the call on their life. Spare all of us from that. Bless these men and these women. Bless the congregations that they are servants to. Help them meet the physical, spiritual, mental needs. Help them get out of debt. Help them to fall in love with the Bible so they'll fall in love with you. Help them to fall in love with prayer so they'll fall in love with you. Lord, let your love draw us closely into your arms this very hour and let that love permeate every pore of our body. There'll be no doubt about it. We are from Antioch. These are Christians. These are sacrificing Christians. So Lord, get our priorities straight and let no man, as Jesus said in Matthew 24, let take heed that you let no man deceive you. Deception is in the church in horrendous ways as you know God. We are the men that are to drive that deception out of the body of Christ. And we are the men that must humble ourselves in the sight of yourself. You'll lift us up in due time to do what needs to be done. But Father, our trespasses and our sins, they betray us and we ask that you will forgive us with the blood of Jesus Christ and that we will return to our first love and make no compromise with the world, the flesh or the devil. Honor these families who sacrifice their health, their time, their family time to serve others. Honor them. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you.