 Make no mistake, persecution will intensify in every part of the world. The enemy is going to do everything that he can to resist the advancement of the kingdom of God. But we need to change the way we perceive persecution. Many times when we think of persecution we think of defeat, we think of retreat, we think of hiding, we think of darkness advancing. But the reality is that persecution is actually a sign that the kingdom is advancing. It's the enemy's attempt to slow down what God is doing, but he can't slow it down. So I'm going to share on how to prepare for the coming persecution. I'm going to give you five biblical keys here. But I want to share this from the perspective of faith, not of fear. From the perspective of victory, not of defeat. For the believer, the spirit-filled servant of God, there is no such thing as spiritual defeat. We may experience trials and tragedy and setbacks and heartache. Yes, that's all a part of life. But even in those negative circumstances, we're victorious no matter what, because ultimately we're seated in heavenly places of authority with Christ Jesus. So I'm going to share this word. It's not to scare you, it's to prepare you. And again, I'm going to share this from the perspective of victory. Yes, it's a season of persecution. In fact, we will always be persecuted because the church is always going to be victorious. But I do see that in this season, in this generation, we are going to see an intensification of persecution. That's coming. It's happening even now. But during this time, we also have to recognize that revival, not retreat, is the posture of God's church in the earth. We are advancing the kingdom of God. Light is winning, God is winning, the church is victorious. It can be no other way. I should say the true church is always victorious. It can be no other way. So here's how to prepare your heart for what's coming, the coming persecution. Number one, you have to watch and pray. Matthew chapter 26 verse 41 says, So that you will not give in to temptation for the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. You see, the Holy Spirit will give you the desire, but it's up to you to choose to enact the discipline. The Holy Spirit will give you the will or he'll incline your heart toward his will. But it's up to you to actually obey what God is telling you to do. So as believers, we have to be discerning. But don't confuse discernment or vigilance with paranoia. It's one thing to be vigilant, it's another thing to be paranoid. Here's how you know if you're paranoid. If your heart sinks and you start fretting and worrying every time someone talks about the rapture or the end times, then you're a little bit paranoid. If you become worried or fearful every time you read a news article about what could potentially be the mark of the beast, or about wars and rumors of wars or any of the other signs of the end times. If when you hear these news stories, you become worried, then you're paranoid, not vigilant. You see, when I hear signs of the times, I don't become worried. I become stirred in my faith. I become excited for what God is going to do. Everything in me begins to see God placing everything just as he desires it to be. Leaders and nations are simply like chess pieces in God's hand. And he positions them on the board however he wishes. God is ultimately in control. So how do we keep this fear from sinking into our hearts? Well, we have to watch and pray. And again, watching and praying is not obsessing and worrying. And I think we confuse the two. To watch and pray is to be informed and to be prayerful all throughout your life. But if we're obsessing and then we're fretting and worrying, then what we're doing is we're consuming the news. We're consuming even sermons on the end times. We're consuming, you know, eschatology and end time theology. And we're starting to become worried and frantic. And we start to retreat in our own lives. And we retreat from society. We retreat from the church attendance that we should be practicing. And then we become these isolated, paranoid individuals who are more like conspiracy theorists than Christians. Conspiracy theories are birthed in fear. And Christians are not of fear. We are of a different kingdom. We are of faith. And so I'm not saying don't be aware. But I'm saying that in your awareness, don't become paranoid. In your awareness, don't allow your heart to be troubled. If you sense a crushing weight of hopelessness every time you begin to analyze the way things are going in the nations of the world, that's a sign to you that you're not watching and praying. You're obsessing and worrying. If every time someone lays out an end times chart and you begin to bite your nails and become nervous about all the things that are happening and all the signs around us, then you're not watching and praying. You're obsessing and worrying. Obsessing is not the same as watching. And worrying is not the same as praying. Worry is the natural mind's powerless counterfeit for prayer. It's based on fear. But when we pray, it's based on faith. So we have to recognize that the body is weak. We have to recognize that the sin nature is fighting us constantly, trying to pull us away from seeing things from God's perspective and doing things according to God's will. But if we are to be vigilant in this hour, if we are to be discerning, we don't want to be caught off guard by the things happening around us because those who are caught off guard end up being filled with fear. We want to be people who are poised, confident, joyful, peace-filled, even in the circumstances that freak everyone else out. We are to watch and pray, not to obsess and worry. So if you're ready to watch and you're looking for His coming with great joy in your heart, if you have peace no matter what's happening in our world, I want you to write this phrase in the comment section. Live or on replay. Make this your public declaration. And even if you're kind of hesitant to write it like you say to yourself, well, I don't know, sometimes I do worry, then I want you to let the devils look and cry at your boldness. And I want you to write this phrase, I'm watching. And I want you to write that with confidence. Even put an exclamation point there. So write that in the live chat or even on the replay chat. I'm watching. Make that your declaration. Determine, commit to being someone who's watching for His coming, who's looking at the scripture and comparing it to the things happening in our world. Not with fear in the heart, but with peace and joy and great expectation. You know, people ask me all the time. And this actually came up as I was promoting this live stream. People ask me all the time, David, are you pre-trib raptured? Do you think it's going to happen before the tribulation? Do you think the rapture is going to happen halfway through the tribulation? Do you think the rapture is going to happen after the tribulation? And you know, I found it interesting that some people were wondering that based upon the topic I chose here right now. Because we imagine that the only persecution that's going to come is during the tribulation. But that's not really true, is it? I mean, think about the fact that persecution is happening in many parts of the world. And I'm talking about intense persecution, like death. People are being killed for their faith, even now. And we're not in the tribulation. So people say, well, we have to know whether it's pre-mid or post, because if we don't know if it's pre-mid or post, how are we supposed to prepare God's people? How are we supposed to get them ready? Well, first of all, every believer, no matter what you believe about the timing of the rapture, whether you're pre-mid or post, every believer acknowledges that we should be looking to the coming of the Lord. Every believer acknowledges that we should be living in the light of his return. Every believer acknowledges that he can come like a thief in the night, like a strike of lightning, like an instant everything can change. We understand this. But no matter if you're pre-mid or post, it doesn't matter. You should be watching and praying. If you're pre-trib, you should be watching and praying. Mid or post, you should be watching and praying. So I don't understand this idea where people say we have to get that right because otherwise we're not prepared. Well, what are we as believers supposed to be doing anyway? Is there anything that would change if you were pre-mid or post? Not an application of the everyday Christian life. We all are called to pray. We all are called to holiness. We all are called to look to his coming. All of us should be evangelizing. All of us should be living in peace and joy. All of us should be exercising our spiritual gifts and gathering with other believers and warning people about God's judgment against sin. All of us should be doing these basic things and that shouldn't matter. And so all of us have a responsibility. No matter what your view is on the rapture, the timing of it in terms of its correlation with the tribulation, you have a responsibility as a believer to watch and pray. So no matter what you believe, you need to watch and pray. And all of these keys actually apply to every believer no matter what you believe. So persecution is going to come before, during and after the tribulation. Who cares? It's something we should all be prepared for to experience in our lifetime because Jesus said we will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, he's overcome the world. Now, I want to show you something here. Number two, you have to know the word. This is so key. I can't believe how many believers are not committed to the word of God. Christians should be those who know the word the best. The sad truth is I've met some atheists who know the word of God better than many pastors that I know. I know some Muslims who know the word of God better than many leaders that I know. And that's a sad reality. Christians should know the word front to back, cover to cover, every book of the Bible, every story, every theme, every idea, every doctrine. We should know it because we live by it. How do we not know a truth? How do we not know a book by which we live our lives? How do we not understand what God has communicated to us? And he decided that it was so important that he preserved it throughout the ages. We must know the word, Matthew 7, 24 through 27. Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise, the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse. This is you if you read the word. All of us are going to go through the storms. Think about this parable that Jesus is telling. He says, look, the winds, the rains, the storm, it's coming. Every single one of us are going to experience this. But then he tells us that it won't collapse because it is built on the bedrock, verse 26. But anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obey it is foolish, like the person who builds a house on sand. When the rain and floods come, the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with the mighty crash. You have to build your life on the word. No matter what your eschatology is, no matter what you believe about the rapture, we can get into that. There could be debates, discussions. That's all well and good. We should actually refine our beliefs in these areas as well. But all of us, no matter what we believe and all of us, no matter our perspective on eschatology, should understand the word. We all should be prepared by knowing what God's will is, what God's ways are, what God's word says. We understand his will and ways through his word. How are we supposed to know what pleases him if we don't know the word? How are we supposed to know what displeases him if we don't know the word? How are we supposed to identify deception if we don't know the word? Now, think about this. There are so many ideas, so many philosophies, so many deceptions coming at God's people from all different angles. From the media, from the music industry, from the internet, from ungodly co-workers, from people who are well-meaning Christians who are actually shallow in their beliefs who don't know the word, that are just parroting what the world says and trying to convince you to do the same. All of us are being bombarded with ideas and communications that are filled with deception. And if you don't know the word, you will fall for deception most of the time. Maybe not every time. Maybe we know enough of the word to catch some of the deceptions. But the word of God acts like a filter. It actually is like the gatekeeper. The truths of the word of God are like gatekeepers. And before thoughts are able to come into the mind, the word of God stops them and says, you don't align with what God says and therefore we reject that thought. But if we don't know the word, how are we supposed to be able to stand against that persecution that comes? If we don't know the word, we will buckle under the pressure of cancel culture. I'm going to go here right now. I'm going to say it because it needs to be said. If you don't know the word and if you don't honor the word as God's final authority, then when they begin to come for you, when your family begins to turn against you because you believe things that are bigoted in their mind, because you believe things that they see as hateful or as closed-minded, when your coworkers come against you because you don't participate in the conversations that they have or you don't agree with their philosophies that they heard from the media or you don't believe according to worldly standards or worldly culture, then what's going to happen in that moment if you don't know the word is you will buckle under the pressure. I've seen it so many times, Christians sacrifice truth in the name of compassion all because they didn't recognize that God's word stands firm on many of the issues where the world is trying to pressure us to change. Don't change. Don't go to the left or to the right. Go straight. Stay on the word. Build your life, your mindset, everything about you, your character, your nature. Build it on the bedrock of the Bible. Build it on the solid rock of Christ's teachings. Build it on the truth, the moral absolute which is God's word. It's not up for debate. It's not up for discussion. We cannot be moved. The Bible is the word of God. And if the scripture teaches it as a spiritual truth that applies today, then I will believe it. I will stand by it and I will not be swayed. You cannot cancel who God has called. The world may pressure you and that's one form of persecution. Look, we have to stop saying things like, well, you know, you're not really being persecuted because you weren't killed for your faith. That's just nonsense. The Bible talks about many different forms of persecution, which I'll be talking about in my next stream, which you can look for on this channel. But you know, we often don't recognize that when we're being criticized or rejected or reviled by people, that that's a form of persecution and many believers buckle under the pressure of that. Look, you may be the only one in your family who serves the Lord. You may have brothers and sisters and in-laws and parents and grandparents and uncles and aunts and friends and neighbors who know you well, who love you, yet there's this tension between you because you stand for truth and they think your truth is hateful. Jesus said, I came not to bring peace but a sword. He was not talking about actual physical violence there. He was talking about bringing an absolute truth around which people would divide. And so he brings a truth that cannot be denied and people can either reject it or they can accept it but they can never argue with it or debate it. God said it, it's final. And so if you don't know the word, then what begins to happen when the world starts to come against you and they start to apply that pressure of persecution, then you start to sway. You start to change a little bit. Why? Because culture says it's compassion or culture says it's right or relatives say that we're small-minded or bigoted for standing for what we stand. Look, this is one thing I will not change on. The Bible is the word of God, period. And I'm going to stand on that truth. I know that it's not popular to say, I know my subscriber count could be much higher. I know my livestream viewership could be much higher. I know I could be much more respected in the world's eyes if I were to just make the message a little bit more palatable for the culture. If I were to just alter a few things in the scripture to fit people's preferences, maybe I would be accepted on a wider scale. But listen, I'm not concerned about being accepted by man. I'm concerned about being accepted by God. Jesus said, you deny me before man, I'll deny you before my Father who's in heaven. You acknowledge me before man, I'll acknowledge you before my Father who's in heaven. I'm more concerned about pleasing God than I am about pleasing people. I'm more concerned about siding with God than I am with siding with culture. And you should have that same perspective because when persecution begins to intensify, if you're not careful, you will buckle under the pressure. This is why you have to, you have to, you have to, you have to know the word, or you won't even know where you should stand. Let me just say it that way. You won't even know where you should be standing if you don't know the word. You won't even know what stances you should have on any issues if you don't know the word. If you stand with the word and you're not ashamed to admit it, write that in the comments right now. I stand with the word. Number three, and this will help in times of persecution, think about eternity. This is so key, this is so key. Matthew 10, 38-39. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. These are very hard teachings of the Lord, but he said this, if you cling to your life, verse 39, if you cling to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it. That's a statement that Jesus made regarding our selfishness, regarding our inability to deny ourselves. He calls us to deny self. He calls us to carry the cross. He calls us to follow him. Let me ask you this, and I want you to answer this honestly, and this may be a difficult question for some, but there's going to be some real self-evaluation here. When was the last time, and I want you to really think about this, when was the last time that following Jesus cost you something? And I'm pausing here because I want you to think about that. When was the last time that your walk with God required you to pick up your cross? When was the last time you had to deny yourself to say yes to God? When was the last time you crucified your will and embraced God's? And if you can't think of the last time that you gave up something for the gospel, A, you may not be following after the true Jesus, and B, you may not have the perspective of eternal matters. We must think of this life and everything in it from the perspective of eternity. And if we think not of this life to the perspective of eternity, we will be caught up in the cares of this world. And so when persecution comes, that temporary pain that we feel will be seen as never ending. If we see this life as all there is to our existence, if we see this world as the only world that matters, then when the pain of persecution begins to affect you, you will give up the beliefs to alleviate the pain because you don't recognize that the pain on this side of eternity is glory on that side of eternity. Either we believe this or we don't. Either we believe this or we don't. Because we've got one life to live on this earth. We've got one existence on this side of eternity and we have to make it count. And if we truly believe that Jesus is the way, if we truly believe that the Bible is the Word of God, if we truly believe deep within by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit that God's Son is Jesus, if we believe the Gospel, we believe He's the only way, then shouldn't we prioritize eternity over the temporary things of this world? If we truly believe it, then we will be chosen how we live our lives here and now. Because someone who half-heartedly believes it will live in such a way where they can have in their minds the best of both worlds, where they can still experience this world. They don't have to deny the devil or this world. They can experience some of the pleasures that are ungodly. They can experience some of the acceptance because they compromise the truth. They can experience some of the accolades that this world has to offer because they're not siding with the truth of the Word of God in the best of both worlds. They treat Christianity like it's a decoration on their life rather than the center of it. They treat the teachings of Jesus like they're just nice moral standards to implement, nice ideas around which we can raise a family. But if we come to the realization that this life is temporary and that the next life is what matters more, then we begin to see things from the eternal perspective. And when we see things from eternal perspective, well, my friend, that's when we begin to be able to be strengthened under persecution because when the temporary pain of persecution is compared to the eternal pleasure of the glory of God in eternity, well that gives us strength to stand. So we must think about eternity. We must think about the souls that we're winning and taking with us. We must think about heavenly reward. We must think about that day and I look forward to it. We must think about that day and he looks at you with eyes of fire, a voice booming like the sound of many waters lightning flashing before the throne. And he looks at you and he says, well done, good and faithful servant. You think about that day to hear that phrase from the one we love, to hear that phrase from God himself, the one who gave you the breath of life. Well that's all that's going to matter. But if you're not thinking about that, if you think that serving God is just supposed to bless you, if you think that serving God is all about what you can gain in this world, you missed it and you won't last under persecution. Because then you'll begin to panic and say, well I thought my life was supposed to be perfect. How come God's not doing this for me and how come God's not doing that for me and why did I lose my job if I have favor with God? Or why did my family turn on me if I'm a son or a daughter of God? Or why are people reviling me and persecuting me and rejecting me and calling me bigoted and hateful if I was supposed to be blessed and highly favored? My friend, we have it all wrong if we think that this will cost us nothing. Salvation is free, sure, but to obey God will cost you everything. And so we have to reconcile this. We have to come to terms with this reality that it's not all about pleasure, it's not all about this world and if we think that way, then when persecution comes we're going to feel like we were lied to and we'll turn away from the Lord and say, well it didn't work out the way I wanted it. We have to think about eternity and realize this, we are not going to be the heroes on this side of eternity. The world does not consider us heroes. They're going to call you a bigot. They're going to call you hateful. They're going to revile you. They're going to hate you. Now this isn't everyone, but there are people in this world in the culture in and of itself that will turn on you, that will be against you. And that leads me to number four, love your persecutors. You want to stand under persecution if the watch and pray know the word, my friend. Think about eternity and number four, you have to love your persecutors. Luke 23-34, Jesus said, Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing and the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. Now here's Jesus being crucified. I'm going to say something that may offend some of you, but you have to hear it, okay? Jesus is being crucified here and his prayer is Father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. First of all, there's no ego involved in that because many of us, if we were in that position we would be saying things like, don't they know who I am? Don't they know what power I have and we would turn on them so quickly that they'd be dead. It's the reality. But here's something that I hear and I just, I can't stand phrases like this. They're so immature so, so anti what the gospel actually is. I've never heard anybody say, well, you know, they're just, they're acting like that because I irritate their demons. And I thought the arrogance, the lack of compassion, the spiritual immaturity that's on display when we say things like that. You have to realize that we wrestle not against flesh and blood and I don't say that to say that we mustn't acknowledge that there are demons and people. Of course there are. In reality, Christians use phrases like that as an insult and really what they're doing is they're insulting the person, but they're trying to make that insult sound spiritual and it's a demonstration of just how immature we can be, how puffed up we can be. Oh, they don't like me because I irritate their demons. Okay, yeah, that may be true but you meant that as an insult and that's, I've seen this happen and so people will straight up tell, well, you're arguing but you don't want to receive it because you got demons and your demons hate me. Well, my goodness. Yeah, that may be the truth, but you do realize people say these things or you have a bad spirit or God's going to avenge me and you're going to go down. I'm thinking where is the love for our persecutors? Where is the love for the sinner? Now, I'm not saying that we don't acknowledge that there are definitely demonic powers that play in the lives of those who don't believe and follow the gospel, we understand that. There are only two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness but to view those people as your enemies instead of your mission is a demonstration of a lack of character. It's the lack of the character of Christ in us that views the lost as enemies instead of as the mission. We have to learn to love our persecutors. So when they speak against you what are you praying? God, avenge me promote me to high places and let them watch and weep. I'm just being honest with you guys the internet culture is so it's so it so deeply grieves the Holy Spirit. I hear things like that all the time like God's going to raise me and promote me and bless me and cry. I'm thinking like are we preachers of the gospel or are we self-help gurus? Because that sounds more like humanism than it does the gospel to me. God's going to raise me and he's going to walk me in front of people and they're going to have to watch me be blessed and they use scriptures like well he makes a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You do realize that that's about reconciliation the covenant meal and not about lording your success to those who doubted you and who says it's about us in the first place? I know I'm touching on some issues here but we got to go there because the Holy Spirit's grieved by this immaturity in the body and I'm just going to call it out for what it is it's immaturity. God's going to raise me my enemies are going to watch and they're going to cry well God blesses me. What a selfish immature way to look at the call of God. I mean what happened to praying for them? Not, oh you're going to have to watch God bless me. How about instead God please make me a blessing to them. Oh God's going to get them back because I'm favored they don't know who I'm they don't know who they're messing with or it's a good thing they messed with me because had it been anyone else they would have got even with them but it was by God's grace they messed with me because I'm not going to pray curses I'm going to pray blessing to be so like Christ that even those who persecute you are blessed by your life to be so like Christ that even those who revile and hate you benefit from your godliness pray for them forgive them love them love them you don't do that how are you supposed to stand under persecution you know what actually is happening right when you speak evil against people who speak evil against you A you're denying the teachings of Jesus and B you're letting the hate in them get in you we are dead to self how can you offend a dead man how can you offend a dead woman speak against you speak against you God bless them and the harder they persecute you the deeper we go in prayer for them you know people say things about me all the time online fraud hypocrite just wants money I just let it be let it be and I pray God bless them there are people even brothers and sisters in Christ who speak against this ministry now if I wanted to I could get puffed up that's easy to be prideful and make videos about them say I'm not going to attack them but then attack them subtly in a video I could join in the debate join in the toxicity join in the argument I could fight fight fight against them I can pray God bless them bless their children bless their finances bless their ministries honor them give them health I pray against every sickness I pray against every attack bless them and cause them Lord to draw closer to you give them favor one way is humanism the other is Christ's way that's really ego that wants revenge you know it's ego that says don't they know who they're messing with yeah they're messing with someone who didn't deserve the grace of God when we ask that don't they know who they're messing with don't you remember who they're messing with they're messing with someone who didn't deserve God's grace who didn't deserve God's forgiveness who didn't who didn't deserve anything but God gave them grace even when we were his enemies while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and here he gives us grace we were God haters and we were anti Christ when we came to him what if God said the same thing about us the way we say things about our enemies or so called enemies or he would say well don't they know who they're messing with now I'm gonna show my glory and they're gonna watch and be miserable no my goodness we have to grow out of that that's all self-help that's not the gospel somehow I don't know the success coach teachings have become sermonized within the body of Christ and now it's about wanting your season of blessing and your season of what happened to the gospel to where we were so different from the world where the light in us shines so bright that even those who came against us couldn't help but be blessed by it I pray that everyone who comes against me would be blessed that's what happens when you touch God's glory not destroy where you come soul persecuted the church and when Jesus confronted him that confrontation became the greatest blessing he had ever known oh my friend that's what that's what gets past the stubborn hearts because they may be speaking against you now they may be persecuting you but one of these days they're gonna need a miracle one of these days they're gonna look at understanding one of these days they're gonna be grasping for solid ground will you be in the state of being to be able to pray for them or will you be so bitter that when they finally begin to ask about the light in you that you hide the light leave them in darkness and call it God's justice number five celebrate the victory so so far number one watch and pray let me know in the comments if this is convicting you and it's sometimes good to confess these things not to each other but just to acknowledge these things publicly because I think it helps number one watch and pray number two know the word number three think about eternity number four love your persecutors number five celebrate the victory celebrate the victory Philippians 2 9-11 says therefore God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names do you know why this happened is because Jesus laid his life down let's read that again this is talking about the result of what happened when Christ laid down his life therefore God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father that is the posture of the church we went in the end I just talked about this on I talked about these sign these sign of the end time something like that I'm sure you can look it up on my channel it was released just this last Sunday from so look at the date of this video and look at the Sunday that precedes that you'll see the teaching in that teaching about how Jesus lists all these signs of the end times and sadly we as preachers I'm guilty of this sometimes too we focus on the negative side wars and rumors of wars food shortages and pestilence and persecution and all of these negative things are seemingly negative things which are just indicators of the return of Christ but think about the fact that Jesus says as he begins to list these things but the end is not yet but the end is not yet and then he says this gospel shall be preached all throughout the world and then the end will come what does that mean for you and I it means that we end on a note of victory we have got to my goodness I feel the anoning so strong right now we have got to break from this mindset of the beggar we have got to break from the mindset of defeat we are not you cannot defeat a spirit filled believer it cannot happen demons cannot defeat you demons cannot lord over you people cannot truly destroy you we cannot be defeated you cannot defeat a spirit filled believer you can put us to trials you can persecute us you can take away the circumstances that we think are ideal but you cannot defeat us because in every circumstance in every heartache in every trial we've got a joy deep within that flows like a river we've got peace we've got love we have strength and power and connection with almighty God even if you strike down the body we can never be destroyed because we are connected with him we come in the name of Jesus we are his authority in the earth and we've got to break from this mindset that says lord Jesus people fretting like this oh lord Jesus help me get me out of here it's dark and the world is becoming scarier and the kingdom of darkness is advancing and things are changing and they're going on a negative trend and we don't necessarily want to be here anymore get us out of here get us out of here when he put us here to shine the light we have got we have got to stop cowering in corners and begin to go out and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ people often say well you know brother David it's gonna end on a negative note because that's what the bible teaches I'm saying what bible are you reading that you think it ends in the church's defeat what bible are you reading that you think it ends with Jesus losing I don't know what bible that is because I haven't frankly been able to find it I've looked at the various different translations I've read it through and through several times and I can't find one place that tells us that in the last days we lose so we have to break from this notion this idea that well brother David it's gonna end on a negative and no matter what we do everything's gonna ultimately end in defeat and it's gonna get so bad my friend even in those dark times we're victorious even in those dark times the gospel still has power yes Jesus said in the last days perilous times will come but he never said that in the last days the gospel will lose its power you and I are seated in heavenly places we have the victory the nations of the world those are ours I want you to say the nations belong to the church write that in the comment section the nations belong to the church God gave us the power to rule God gave us the authority to reign God made us his partners in the earth to steward his creation the church is God's authority in the earth that does not change now you may say brother David but culture is getting bad there are many churches that are compromising the king of darkness seems to be advancing it doesn't matter my friend because no matter what the exterior circumstances are the church is victorious so I want you to begin even now celebrate the victory persecution is intensifying good it means we're winning persecution is spreading all throughout the world good because that means the gospel is spreading too the enemy is terrified of the church the enemy is terrified of the gospel spreading the enemy is terrified of the light I am tired of faithless men women fear mongering and pointing to all the signs and telling believers to fret and to fear we are not to fear because God has not given us a spirit of fear he's given us the power of the Holy Spirit and in that power we live I'm not fearful I'm filled with faith I'm not filled with confusion I have a clarity because I know the Holy Ghost I'm not worried about the future because I know who holds tomorrow stop fretting stop fearing stop cowering in the corners stop pulling out those little eschatology charts and saying see here this proves we're being defeated read the Bible my friend read the scripture and see that it ends in victory for the church and we have to stop listening to doomsday preaching we have to stop listening to fear mongering and instead get back on track be who we were called to be I am not just some citizen of this nation or some citizen of earth you are a son of God you are a daughter of the king we are God's children his representatives in the earth we walk in his power we walk in his authority we demonstrate his love we walk by that truth and nothing shall prevail against the church the gates of hell by the way you do realize that Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against the church think about what that means not the armies of hell think about what that means my friend gates don't move we are the ones on the offensive the enemy is the one hiding in the corner Jesus defeated satan on that cross he defeated death hell and the grave the power of the blood of Jesus breaks every curse stop fretting stop fearing you're giving the enemy power by exaggerating his power the only power the enemy can have over you is the power you believe he has the only power that people can have over you listen to your fear of what they might say and do but when we acknowledge that God is in control and when we live for his approval only then we begin to see the true victory Paul writes we may be struck down but we'll never be destroyed we can't be we can't lose we cannot lose we cannot and we will not lose so stop worrying I know what it is I'm an overthinker too I sometimes allow my mind to go to that place thank God the Holy Spirit helps me to put everything back in alignment you hear talk about the rapture you bite your nails and go what if I miss it you hear talk about the tribulation you bite your nails and go what if I have to go through it my friend even if you have to go through the tribulation the Holy Spirit will still be with you and I'm telling you whatever you believe about the timing of everything and the schedule of everything and by the way I actually see contradictions in almost every chart I've ever looked at but the bottom line is the scripture makes it clear you and I are victorious in Christ Jesus if you believe it I want you to say amen right now in the comments I sense a strong anointing there is fear that's breaking off of people tonight I can see it right now there are fear and demonic lies that are being broken off of people's minds stop seeing yourself as just this defeated weary soldier who's barely making it through the battle oh my goodness we're on the winning team start acting like it Father in the name of Jesus I pray there would be a fresh boldness that comes upon your people I bind every lie of the enemy that would tell us that you or that the enemy has power over us and I pray Lord that you would begin to open our eyes and cause us to see the victory before us cause us to have faith and not fear I want you praying in the Holy Ghost right now type it in the comment section faith over fear faith over fear I bind anxiety in the name of Jesus I bind twisted demonic doctrines in the name of Jesus I come against that poverty orphaned defeated mentality in the name of Jesus I want you to begin to thank the Lord as we pray right now here's what the Holy Spirit is leading me to do I want you to begin to thank him for the victory I want you to begin to thank him that you're more than a conqueror I want you to begin to thank him that you're seated in heavenly places no matter what happens to you no matter what happens around you in the Spirit we are secured in our victory thank you Father that you've put all things under your authority thank you Lord that the enemy is defeated thank you Lord that man can do no harm against us in the realm of eternity thank you Lord that we have the victory thank you begin to thank him for the nations whatever nation you're from thank him for the nations Lord I thank you that you've given us the United States of America I want you to put your nation in there write it in the comments thank him for your nation thank him for your city thank him for your family thank him that we have the victory we honor and we bless you Lord we honor and we bless you you are the king above every king you are the Lord above every Lord you have the name above every name you are seated above all thrones your throne is exalted above all thrones on this earth and below the earth Lord we acknowledge you king over all matchless in every way we give you the highest praise the highest glory to you belongs the glory to you belongs the honor in the name of Jesus we pray I want you to say it now because you believe it one more time say amen what I'm telling you a powerful anointing in your ear that's breaking off of God's people even now you want to know how you prepare for persecution ultimately just have faith just have faith in God trust and obey it's the simplest way to live in him and we are truly seeing the advancement of God's kingdom now is not the time to be afraid now is the time to seize opportunities now I want to challenge you to choose faith over fear and for many of you the challenge taking this challenge I should say will be the first time you've ever responded to a challenge like this I want you to choose faith over fear faith over fear help our ministry continue to expand the gospel message to continue to expand the kingdom of God all around the world listen this is a season of opportunity this is a season of victory this is a season of growth you're not going down you're going up you're not going under you're going above I'm telling you right now we have the victory there's great favor on our lives the kingdom of light is advancing the kingdom of darkness tries to keep its power but it is losing its grip and I want you to know that so help our ministry to continue to spread the gospel of the kingdom the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the Holy Spirit through events and media now by media I actually mean these live streams they're part of it and then the content that we release on a regular basis that we pre-record and edit and put out for you to view and share all for free and then we host events all around the United States and the world all the content all the events are 100% free and I want you to help me keep it that way consider today becoming a monthly ministry supporter you can go right now to DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash partner there are many of you right now signing up and I need everyone to go and do their part consider today a monthly gift of 50 $15 of $30 of $60 some of you can do $120 a month look at your budget say Lord I want to have the faith to take this step forward and look and see where maybe you might even be able to make some sacrifices one of the things we've been challenging people to do is to cut off a secular streaming service and instead replace it with a partnership with our ministry maybe you don't have to do maybe you can keep all your streaming services and do that that's fine too but whatever it takes continue to support the gospel again DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash partner now your partnership helps us continue to do the live streams put out the content host events so ultimately it's about winning souls and discipling believers and I can see many people giving now thank you Dixie thank you also to Myles thank you also to Phun Yung thank you to Stephanie and I see many other names appearing here Carol and Femi all of them became monthly supporters Vincent thank you for your monthly support Balve Thema thank you for your one-time gift we so appreciate your partnership I'll actually be able to read those on my phone many of you who give I'll be able to see many of those coming in but again now is the time to get involved look maybe you've been blessed by the ministry maybe you appreciate what this ministry is doing maybe you think that others can benefit from the word of God being ministered through this ministry then now is the time to get involved do your part you may say well someone else will do it but I'm challenging you if everyone watching this were to just sign up for $15 a month we could expand our reach exponentially and this is the power of togetherness so I'm asking you right now choose faith over fear yes I understand the world is saying everything is falling apart the sky is falling okay that's one thing that may be true but there's a greater truth and that greater truth is that God is the provider and so I want to challenge you now go to David Hernandez ministries.com slash partner it'll take you maybe two or three minutes to sign up to become a monthly partner now if you can't become a monthly partner and you'd rather give a one-time gift you can also do that that's an option there on the website but I'm asking you no matter what you do one time or monthly large or small that you go and do that right now now for those of you watching from other nations of the world you may find that the form does not work for you the giving form on our website there's many different giving options on our website but if none of those work for your nation then we're asking you to give to Facebook and YouTube please hear me clearly try the David Hernandez ministries dot com slash partner form first and then if that absolutely does not work then you can give to YouTube or through Facebook and I'm seeing many of you signing up Valeria John Lori Mario John John Paul to Wanda thank you for becoming partners with this ministry Stephanie and then I see Fran Fran Coise and then I also see Samuel so many of Femi Carol thank you for your monthly partnership we so appreciate that giving because again this is what enables us to go all around the world continually and that should be David Hernandez ministries dot com slash partner there Mr. Lay so David Hernandez ministries dot com slash partner that's what we're sending people now and you can sign up to become a monthly supporter and again one more time that's going to go to help the live streams the content and all the events that we do around the world so that's my challenge to you now help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the Holy Spirit listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and go right now it'll take just a couple minutes and sign up to become a monthly supporter now if you enjoy this message you were inspired by it then let's go a little deeper and make sure you watch the four kinds of persecution explained many believers don't realize that there are different kinds of persecution and because of that some don't even realize that they are being persecuted so for more information on this go ahead and watch the four kinds of persecution explained right now