 Hey man, let's keep your place there in Revelation chapter 19. So we're continuing the Omni Sermon series tonight. We are looked at how God is all-knowing last week and tonight we are going to look at how God is omnipotent or all-powerful. Omni meaning all and potent meaning power or having power. So omnipotent and then Revelation 19, I believe that's the only place that word is in the Bible, is showing that God in verse number six has all power and it's interesting because in Revelation chapter 19 we see this story of God demonstrating his power in Revelation chapter 19. So of course Revelation chapter 19 is showing the battle that we would know as the battle of Armageddon. It's called, the place is called Armageddon in Revelation chapter 16. And it's interesting that God is called omnipotent in verse number six, but when we think of power and powerful things, the first thing that comes to our mind is wars and armies and militaries. That is ultimately the ultimate strength of a nation, of a king, is how powerful his armies are. In the Old Testament many times you'll hear, even when they went into the Promised Land, that you'll hear how powerful the armies were, how many chariots they had, how many metal chariots that they had, and how many horses that they had, just to show the strength of a nation. But here all the armies of the world are gathered against the Lord Jesus Christ as who is coming down here. Let's just read it starting in verse number 11. We see this battle, which doesn't really turn out to be much of a battle actually, but it says, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. So this is after by the way, this is after where we add in the timeline of end time events here in Revelation 19. This is after you know the rapture has happened and then the wrath of God consists of the seven trumpets and seven vials being poured out on the earth for three and a half years. This is after all the wrath of God has been poured out already. This is kind of the cap at the end of God's wrath when Jesus comes back to fight this battle right before he throws the false prophet and the beast in the lake of fire. Now keep in mind that the false prophet and the beast, not that it says anything to do with the sermon, they go in separate places because there's separate purposes for them. So the false prophet and the beast go in the lake of fire, which is the final place. They're done, they're out there, they're not coming back. But in verse number one of chapter 20 we see that Satan is cast into hell and he's just bound for a thousand years. So he's bound during the millennial reign of Christ and then he is going to be let out again and there's going to be another battle after that. And I believe and I've discussed this with many of you, I believe that the reason Satan is put into hell at that point and then let out again is to simply gather God's enemies into one place so it's easy for God to take care of business because he has all power. And it just goes to show you that at the end of the thousand years and even here in Revelation 19 at the end of God's wrath, God has been pouring out his wrath for three and a half years in the craziest, most painful ways, just burning up the earth, sending these locusts out of hell after people. And there are still people with armies that are defiant against God. That just goes to show you the type of evil against God that is in the world today and that will always be in the world even all the way up to the end until finally God ends it, God destroys it all. Alright, let's look down to verse number 12. So we see this white horse on him is called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So we know this is Jesus, Jesus is the judge. His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name was called the word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean and out of his mouth go with a sharp sword that with he that with he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he had on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords and I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the follows that fly in the midst of heaven come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God. So this angel is saying you know to all the birds gather up because there's going to be, I mean it's pretty brutal here. He's saying there's going to be a lot of dead bodies very soon so bring the birds come in so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth so again these kings of the earth are being led by the Antichrist. They're being led by this same world leader and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. So the Antichrist gathers all the enemies of God together and he's ready to fight Jesus and the armies that come with Jesus which is us by the way but it turns out that we really don't have to do anything. We don't really have to do anything. We're not going to be doing any fighting in the battle of Armageddon. It's the beast and the armies of the world that are going to be doing all the fighting if you can call what's about to come fighting and it's more like they're just going to do dying is what they're going to do. Look at verse number 20. It says in the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him which deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image that's the abomination of desolation. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. So the first thing that happens is the beast and the false prophet are taken out of the battle and thrown straight into the lake of fire and then verse 21 the remnant were slain by us the army that's with Jesus. No with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth and the falls were filled with their flesh. So I believe that that means that Jesus like just the word of God just killed them all. That's the sword that comes out of the mouth of Jesus just like Jesus was the word that created the universe and God said and God said and God said that word actually had power to create that same word is going to come out of Jesus's mouth and have the power to destroy this entire army. That's the way I see this happening but the point is this is sometime in the future. I'm pretty sure that these armies are not going to be weak armies with catapults and bow and arrows. These are going to be some pretty powerful armies at this point. They're going to be world armies with lots of technology, lots of artificial intelligence or whatever is going on at that time here and the Lord Jesus Christ is going to wipe them all out by himself. The same thing happens with the battle of Gog and Magog after the millennial reign. It's not really a battle. The Lord just wipes them out. The point is there's all kinds of other stories that we could go to in the Bible to prove this kind of all-encompassing power of God. You just think about Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. You think about Jericho, how God just knocked the walls down in Jericho. You think about, look, God is stronger than the most powerful army ever will be and God is stronger than the most modern army ever will be. I mean there's no mention of weapons in these end times battles because it doesn't matter. It's all just going to be destroyed by the Word of God. So all that to say this, God could destroy anyone anywhere at any time. He has all power to destroy and He has all power to create, as we see in Genesis chapter 1 with the creation story. So the question is this, turn to John chapter, actually don't turn, I'll just read you a quote from it. The question is this. You say, I know that God's all powerful. Let's just pray and have some fellowship. But the question that arises ultimately with people and many people that are unsaved and maybe we don't explain it well enough to people who are unsaved is okay, if God is all powerful, and I believe that even a lot of unsaved people would say that and would believe that. But a lot of people have a question in their mind that if God is all powerful, why does, you know, where, why does God allow evil to exist? Why does God allow evil things in the world? And the first thing that you have to kind of extrapolate from that question is we have to first realize where evil comes from. You know, the Bible tells us evil does not come from God. Evil comes from Satan. The Bible says in John chapter 8 that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. He's the father of all lives. He's the one that brought, that convinced man. He rebelled against God and then he convinced man to sin against God. He subtly convinced Eve in the garden who convinced her husband to go against God and to commit sin and then guess what happened? With sin in Romans chapter 5, death entered through sin. So death entered the world because of sin and Satan was the core cause of that curse. So evil is not God. That is the first thing that we need to understand. Satan is here. He is real and there are many angels that followed him. A third of the angels followed Satan. So the question is, okay, Satan's here. That's where evil comes from. But this God that is, that we serve that's all powerful that could destroy any army at any time, at any place. Why does he allow evil to exist? Why are there murderers? Look, this is a stumbling block for people. This is a stumbling block for people to even get saved. This is a stumbling block for people that have had bad things happen to them or people that they love in their life. They're like, how could God allow that thing to happen to my friend or to my child or whatever? I mean look, there's murderers, there's child abusers, there's all kinds of wicked evil people on this earth now. So the question is, why doesn't God just destroy all the evil? Why doesn't God just take care of that as it occurs? As people follow Satan. I want to show you just a couple things this evening. How that idea of God just immediately destroying evil would completely contradict free will and completely contradict this idea that God wants us to choose him. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter number 30. The Bible teaches again and again that God wants us to choose. We have a choice between evil, between really it comes down to choosing God or choosing Satan. And if you reject Jesus Christ, ultimately you have chosen Satan at that point. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse number 19. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 and look at verse number 19. The first point is we need to choose. The verse number 19 of Deuteronomy 30, the Bible says, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death. This really encompasses the whole condition of man right here. Blessing and cursing. And then God says this. He says, therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live. Look folks, when you go up to somebody and you offer to preach the gospel to them to show them how they can know for sure that they're on their way to heaven from the Bible and they have no interest in that they are choosing death. They are not choosing life which is death. They are choosing cursing. You see that sounds, they just wanted to play video games. They just wanted to keep watching the game. They just chose death. And I'm not saying and hopefully every single person that rejects that at the door, hopefully they get another chance but there's no guarantee that they will. And there's definitely no guarantee that if they do get another chance that at that point they won't choose death again. But make no mistake when you walk up to somebody and you offer to preach the gospel to them and they do not have time or they have no interest they have chosen death because death is their current state. Death is default. Because of Satan death entered the world through sin. Look at Proverbs chapter 16 and verse number nine. Proverbs chapter 16 and verse number nine. So God didn't create a bunch of robots. God wants us, he literally is telling us in the Bible to choose him. He is telling us over and over in the Bible there is death out there. There is sin out there. That is your default state. Choose life. He's talking to the nation in Deuteronomy chapter 30. He's saying hey, as a nation. And we'll talk about that in just a few minutes. But he's saying as a nation follow me. Listen to what I'm telling you and follow my words. That's life for your nation or you could choose death for your nation. Look at Proverbs 16 verse nine. Proverbs 16 verse number nine. The Bible says a man's heart devises his way but the Lord directed his steps. God tells us what to do. He wants us to choose him by our own free will and he tells us how to do it. How to do what? How to do everything. He tells us how to be saved. He tells us how to be passed from death to life. He shows us life. He gave us the way to life and he tells us choose life. But then guess what? The second thing that he does is he teaches us how to deal with death. He teaches us how to deal with the evil in the world, in the Bible. So he knows that not everybody is going to choose life. He knows that evil will exist. So in the Bible he teaches us and he tells us what to do with evil. Very clearly. I was just reading a story last week and this is not a unique story that we hear today. I hear a story, read a story today of people wonder how these evil things could be in the world today. There was a flight attendant who was secretly videotaping children in a bathroom on the plane and he got caught. He got caught. And I mean thank God he got caught but I mean my thought is like what has he not been caught for? But you have to understand that God has taught us how to deal with evil. It's just we don't listen. We don't listen to God. And then we wonder oh why is there evil everywhere? And why doesn't God deal with this? God told us how to deal with it. In cases like this in God's government someone like that would not exist. Folks that is not a natural thing. That is not there's a lot of things that maybe you know sins that normal people in this church and men and women and in normal life struggle with. But that's why in Romans chapter one you really have to pay attention to that word nature, natural, unnatural. Because that's not something that everybody struggles with and God tells us how to deal with that. But we don't listen. So that evil exists. So I mean here's some rocket science for you tonight. If you don't punish evil you get more of it. Like whoa listen up every leader of everything. In what nation? In all nations. If you don't punish evil you get more of it. Here's another one. Let's get crazier. If you encourage evil you get more of it. If you celebrate evil you get more of it. So let's celebrate evil and then evil happens and we're like oh how could God allow that? No he told you what to do and you're not doing it. He told you what to do and you're celebrating it. He told you what to do and you're lifting up evil and putting down the Lord. Then people blame God for the consequences. You see how if you logically think this one through it just doesn't pan out? I mean the Bible, I mean you pay someone not to work and then nobody wants to go to work. It's like what's going on? Who's in charge of a bunch of four-year-olds? Do you ever wonder that? Like who's in charge? Who's running things? Are they three? Are they? We should just let the kids run the show. Let's let the kids of this church run the country. It would be better. Like pay people to be single and have children? You're like why is no one getting married? Why are more and more people, why are more and more women single mothers? I mean why? Why is that happening? Why are more people doing it? Because we're encouraging it. Take away consequences for sin, stealing, whatever. You get more of it. More sin. I mean like I said, let's put the eight-year-olds in charge. It will be better off. I mean turn a Deuteronomy chapter 21. See people think, whenever people think that the Bible is harsh or people that hate the Bible and hate the Word of God, they point to this one a lot. But turn a Deuteronomy chapter 21. And let me just explain the logic of this and how everybody misses what God is trying to do here. But the point is if you take away consequences for anything, you get more of that thing. I mean if you take away consequences for any kind of sin or any kind of evil, you're just going to get more of it. I mean this is not hard. Deuteronomy chapter 21 is pointed to by a lot of people that just hate the Bible and hate the Word of God. They're like, see the Bible says you should execute your kids. Look at Deuteronomy 21 in verse number 18. The Bible says if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and that when they have chast, chastened him, will not hearken unto them. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, bring him out unto the elders of his city and unto the gate of his place. This was the civil law. This was the civil law in the nation of Israel that we're reading here. This is what happened. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, this is our son. And we get some more detail about this son here in this verse. It says this is our son. This our son is stubborn and rebellious. So this son, it's not like he's just like listening to his music too loud. You know, like he's got his headphones on too loud or he's playing his car stereo too loud, you know. And you know, look, it says he will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And then all the men of the city shall stone him with stones that he died. So shall they put evil away from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear. So he was just blatantly disrespecting his parents, the people that God said, look, God tells you, you want to have longevity in your days? Obey your parents. And this is just backup to that in the civil law. So this guy's a glutton. He's a drunkard. This kid is out of control and he won't listen to anybody. And so, you know, they execute him in this case. Guess what? I bet that didn't happen much. See, here's what people miss. Here's what people miss. This is a big misunderstanding about this. In verse number 20, notice it says he's a glutton and a drunkard. This is your drug addict today that is out there completely out of control. See, verse number 20 and the lesson of this chapter, this section of verses, this law, it's not about this kid. This is why people here preaching from the Bible or this is why a lot of preachers, they won't preach on divorce or they won't preach on certain sins because they're like, oh, I don't want to preach on sins that people in the church might have committed or whatever. Because look, you're divorced, you're divorced. But see, it's about the people that aren't divorced. It's about the kid that's not ruined. That's what this is about. How about that? How about if this, see, this would save kids today. I looked at the stats and you'll hear, you know, it's an election year. So all you hear about is fentanyl crisis, the fentanyl crisis. And what does that mean? It's the border. The fentanyl crisis, we have to fix the border, all this stuff. And I'll look, I don't know. I'm sure the border needs to be fixed. But the point is, the fentanyl crisis, it's like you got a bunch of kids aren't dying of fentanyl that are just accidentally tripping over fentanyl on their way to school. Kids are dying of fentanyl because they're heroin addicts. They're drunkards. They're already hooked on heroin. And this extremely toxic substance, which I'm sure heroin is toxic too, but it's like a hundred times more toxic than heroin. The drug dealers are mixing it in to try to save money so they don't have to use as much heroin and they mix it in with the pills. And you know, I guess you just can't trust the quality control of your average alley drug dealer because these kids and look, these adults and these people that are heroin addicts, they're getting a pill that has like way too much fentanyl in it and just like killing them because it's super toxic and it's super dangerous. It's a, it's a synthetic heroin that's cheaper and they can save money on and they mix it wrong or that, you know, you don't know what you're taking or whatever and then you die. But hey, how about this? Don't be a drunkard. Don't have a child. You have a hundred percent chance of not having your child die of fentanyl overdose if he's not a drunkard. Look, Deuteronomy 21 and verse number 20 is mercy today. 1,500 kids under the age of 20 died in 2021. And I don't know what the number in 2022 is and 2023 is, but that 1,500 in the United States, that is a four times increase over what the number was in 2019. So we're getting more kids that are heroin addicts, more and more and more. Why? Because there's no consequences. So there's no consequences. So you get these horrible situations. Look, I bet you Deuteronomy 21, 18 through 21 did not happen a lot. But you know what? It saved a lot of lives. It saved a lot of kids. You know what? I don't think this was an eight-year old that we're talking about in Deuteronomy 21 either. We're talking about someone who's in their late teens, probably younger than 20, but in their late teens. Look, you find kids today that are murdering kids by the time they're 14, by the time they're 12. Kids can be dangerous. These kids that are going in and shooting up schools, a lot of them aren't even 20. They're doing some of these things. So you think that's better to just have no consequences for anything? It's not about, look, it's all about the kid who isn't ruined yet. It's about saving him. That's the Bible. That's the consequences. It's not to beat down somebody who's already done some sin. It's not to, when you hear preaching on divorce, it's not to beat you up if you've been divorced. Get that right, confess it, and move on in your life. It's about the people who are struggling in their marriage and thinking about going into that and doing that terrible sin. It's about saving them. So I mean, look, God told us how to deal with all this stuff. We just don't listen to him. We think our way is better. So we'll literally have hundreds of thousands of people die of fentanyl overdoses in every single year. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's like more people die from that now than have died, will ever die in all the wars that we've ever fought. It's insane. Why? Because people are drug addicts. They're not accidentally tripping over it. It's not in tic-tac containers or something. It's drugs. It's things that they're doing that they already shouldn't be doing. But we don't listen. We don't listen. We take away all the consequences for everything in our country, and then things get worse, and worse, and worse, and then we blame God. We say, oh, God's not powerful enough, or God's not stepping in. God, maybe he is powerful, but why isn't he stepping in? Why don't you listen to him? He told us everything. Turn to Luke chapter 17. So number one, we have free will. He wants us to choose. He wants us to choose evil, or he wants us to choose him over evil. Satan is out there, and he is allowed to operate right now. Satan is allowed to operate right now. Look, God is going to take care of Satan. You just saw that in Revelation chapter 19. He is going to pay the ultimate price. But the second thing is, we don't listen to what God says on how to deal with evil. So don't blame God for the fact that evil is running rampant in our societies today. Here's the third one. God is all-powerful to dispense perfect judgment. Look at Luke chapter 17, and God will dispense perfect judgment. Luke 17, look at verse number two. I mean, specifically talking about children or the innocent, it says it would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones. Let's talk about somebody who would commit an offense against the child. God saying it would be better if they were just killed, because when I get them, it's going to be way worse than that. In second Timothy chapter four, in verse number eight, the Bible says, Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day. So the point is this. We just have to have faith that God is the righteous judge as he says he is. That means God is the perfect judge. That means no one is getting away with anything. Even though it may appear that evil is running rampant, it's mostly our fault that we are not doing what God told us to do. I mean, he literally told us to choose him, and people didn't choose him, and then we don't manage things the way he tells us to manage them. But the point is, even after all of that failure, God is the perfect judge, and he will take care of everything perfectly. He will not forget or leave anyone out. It's not going to be like these stories you hear today where, oh, this guy did this terrible crime, and then he was let out in six months. I mean, how many stories do you hear like that today? He got some judge that just gave him like a month for killing somebody, or something. I mean, crazy stories you hear today where people are just let out of prison or they're just not punished at all for what they did. That will not happen even one time with God. Every single person will get what they have coming. And look, the punishment, I mean, the Bible says in Romans 12 it says avenge not yourselves. It says, you know, give place under wrath. It's like, just put that away, put it in the right place. The wrath is mine, God is saying. It says, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord. The judgment that God will pass, the punishment will be harsher than anything we could imagine. So that's what people need to realize when they have someone, someone that's not saved, that has someone in their life that something very evil or some very evil person has done something bad to them or maybe murdered someone in their family. All they need to understand is that God will repay. They need to have that faith. God tells us that I will take care of it. I am the righteous judge, the perfect judge. Those people that are committing offenses against children that are committing all this evil in this world, they will pay for eternity. Look, I don't care how good an avenger you think you are, you can't make anybody pay for eternity. God is going to make these people suffer for eternity for the evil that they have done well on this earth. It's going to be perfect and complete. Look, that takes faith. Especially if you've had something like that, you know, hit you personally or hit someone that you love. Personally, that will take faith to just take God at His Word. But that's really all you have to do is take God at His Word because He tells you that. Look at Psalm chapter 7. Well, I mean, I'll just read it for you. Psalm chapter 7, verse number 11 says, God's angry with the wicked every day. I mean, He's just, He's angry with the wicked every day and eventually He will pour out His wrath and everyone will pay in a perfect, righteous way. That is very clear in the Bible. Turn to Psalm chapter 110. So the question is, so that's why, you know, Satan is allowed to operate. And don't think that you say, well, why does God allow him to operate for such a certain period of time? And all these things. Look, who are you? Who are you to say what God should do and what the timeline should be? I mean, who in the world do we think we are? If we ask questions like that, God's the perfect judge. Whatever He does, whatever timeframes that He does and whatever He does get involved in or doesn't get involved in, He's right. That's what we need to understand. But look, so the question is, where does God get involved? He is all powerful. Does He get involved? And the answer is yes. Look at Psalm chapter 110 and verse number 5. Psalm chapter 110 and verse number 5. With the individual, God wants every individual to choose Him. Even though there's people that are going to show up to these battles, that are going to hate the Lord, that are going to totally turn against God, God wanted at one time for them to choose Him and not Satan. Every single person. So God at one time wanted every single person to choose Him. There are people that got to that point where God just rejected them. Not to preach that sermon. That's individuals though. But God is very clear in the Bible and we just see example after example after example in the Bible that the judgment of nations happens on this earth. Look at Psalm chapter 110 in verse number 5. The Bible says this. It says, The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over many countries. Look, God pours out his wrath on nations not just in the end times. Turn to Genesis chapter 15. So a lot of people ask the question, are we in the end times? Are the end times coming? A lot of Christians today, a lot of people that are reading the Bible seeing things that happen today, they ask the question, do you think the end times will be in the next 20 years? Do you think the end times are in the next 10 years? When do you think the end times are going to be? Look at Genesis chapter 15 in verse number 13. And I'm going to show you why I think that's the wrong question. Look at Genesis 15-13. The Bible says, And he said unto Abram, No of assurity, God is telling Abram a prophecy of what's going to happen to his people here. No of assurity that thy seed shall be a stranger in the land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. He's talking about the Egyptian slavery here. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance. So God is literally saying here that the nation of Egypt that takes the nation of Israel captive, God is going to judge them. And he's going to free the people. He's telling Abram this. This is hundreds of years before Moses. This is hundreds of years before the Egyptian captivity. But God is saying, I'm going to judge Egypt is what he's telling Abram. Nations are judged on this earth. And that look, that's the thing. If anything keeps me up at night, that's what it is right there. It's not, are we in the end times or not? Look, it's really irrelevant whether we be in the end times or not. In my personal opinion, it's completely the wrong question. I mean, here's another AI thought for you. There's this idea of AI, and it's been bouncing around in my head for the last week. But there's this idea like, oh, we're going to have this neural link technology, and it's going to basically, so you don't have to use a keyboard anymore, and it's just going to basically connect AI directly to your brain. So this bandwidth problem of having to slowly connect with this intelligence is going to be solved. But the problem is, even if AI was attached to the consciousness of a normal person, where are they going to be just really good at trivia? They're just going to know every trivia question. Because really the problem with people is people don't know what the right questions to ask are. You see what I mean? People don't even know what the right thing to search for on the internet. The information's already available. People just don't know what to go get. This is the problem. It's not going to suddenly solve that for them just by solving a bandwidth problem. So again, back to the right question. Are we in the end times is the wrong question. The right question is this. The right question is this. Do we as a nation deserve judgment? Oh, that's the right question right there. Nations don't go to heaven or hell. Nations, God takes care of them here. And He not only tells us that in the Bible again and again and again, but He demonstrates it in the Bible over and over and over. Not just the nation of Israel. All these nations that are surrounded by the nation of Israel that take advantage of the nation of Israel that are just anywhere around that do the wrong thing, that turn against the Lord. God judges them all at that time. He judges them on this earth. Look, this used to be common knowledge. There's a famous quote by Thomas Jefferson, who's not a Bible-believing Christian by the way, but it was a famous quote by Thomas Jefferson just talking about the evils and the immorality of slavery and what was going on. And he said, indeed, listen, listen to what he said in the mid 17th century or 18th century. Indeed, I tremble from my country when I reflect that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever. Even somebody that wasn't even saved and didn't even believe in Jesus or even believed the Bible for that matter knew that there was a God that was a just judge. But have we just forgotten this today? Look, this all-powerful God has, I mean, we have an entire book where he's just judging nations on this earth, nation after nation after nation. And then he tells us, I'm going to judge you the same way. So it literally applies to every nation in the Bible and any nation that reads it. Any king that reads it can know that his nation that he runs in 2022 or 2023 or 2024 or 2340, whatever the date is, that king knows that his nation will be judged on this earth by this all-powerful God. Just using the Bible right in front of us. We know that. So look, yeah, God intervenes. God intervenes because He comes here and He judges nations for what they deserve. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. Here's another way God intervenes with His power. God intervenes. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. God intervenes on behalf of the kingdom of heaven all the time, on this earth now. What do I mean by that? Well, let's look at what Jesus says. This is a Bible verse, a passage in the Bible in Matthew chapter 6 here that was largely ruined for me as a child because I had to memorize it and say it again and again and again and chant it. You know, it became a vain repetition for me called the Lord's Prayer. But if you actually read it and see what Jesus is saying, Jesus isn't saying, chant these words. As a matter of fact, right before this, He says, don't do vain repetitions. But He's not saying, chant these words. He's saying, this is the type of prayer that you should have. This is what a prayer, Jesus is telling you, this is the model of a prayer. Why is Jesus saying that? He's saying, this is what God wants you to ask for. Meaning what? This is what God will respond to. This is what God will step in and move for you for. Look at verse number 9 of Matthew chapter 6. The ultimate intervention and interventions that you will see in your life all the time are getting man into the kingdom of heaven. Look at Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 9. It says, after this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our Father which art in heaven, how would be thy name? Starting out with a nice introduction there. But now look at verse number 10. Thy kingdom come. Who is thy? Thy th is singular. Thy means God. He is saying, talking to God, your Father in heaven. He's saying, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. So He's saying when you pray, pray for God's kingdom and pray for God's will. God hears the prayers of the saved, especially concerning the kingdom of heaven. Is what Jesus is trying to explain to us here. Jesus is saying, if you pray according to God's will and according to the kingdom of heaven, God is going to answer your prayer. God is telling you how to get your prayer answered. And you're like, well, every prayer that I have is not in line with God's will or the kingdom of heaven. You've got a problem. You've got a problem. You need to get your prayers in line, get your wants. I mean, first of all, that's a problem for you as a Christian. You're like, everything that I want is just exactly what the opposite of what God would want. There's a major problem there. You need to figure out how to get your will in line with the Holy Spirit inside you, which is God's will. That's why God gives you this intercessor. Is that even a word? This person that intercedes for you to reword your prayers according to what God really wants is what the Bible teaches. That's another aspect of the Holy Spirit. But the point is, get in line with God's will. God's will is that all men would be saved, that the kingdom of heaven would be open to more and more people, that more people would get saved. And God will answer those prayers. That's what Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 6. God intervenes in every city. Look, he didn't create a bunch of robots down here and he wants us to pray for what he wants, for what the kingdom of heaven needs. And if that's the way we're living our life according to the Bible, our will will be in line with the Spirit within us, with God's will. So look, there's a high likelihood of intervention there, that God is going to come in and use that power. And let me just tell you, as a testimonial, whenever I have prayed, and I was kind of cynical about this in my 20s, even before I was saved, I was like, yeah, God doesn't really do anything. You kind of got to do your own thing and all this. But let me tell you something. You get saved and you start praying in line with God's will and you're going to see things move because God will move things because he can do whatever he wants. He can make what... I'm talking about real things happening on this earth for you. Doors opening, doors closing, things happening, people getting saved. I'm going to tell a story from yesterday. I'm just going to tell a story from yesterday. Here's a perfect example of this and I'm sure many of you have these examples. I've got somebody preaching the gospel over here in my group and I've got this Ella preaching the gospel over here. Both are within 30 feet of me and I'm sitting there and I'm trying not to be in the way, our soul winning tip from today. I'm trying to just kind of make myself small and be a good silent partner and I'm just... I'm sitting there and I'm being a good silent partner. What am I doing? I'm praying. I'm praying that both of these soul winners would be filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm like, Lord, fill these two with the Holy Spirit. Give them the words to say, help these people recognize that Spirit. Help these people be attentive and I'm just really praying hard about this and all of a sudden I just look up from my prayer. I'm done praying. I look up from my prayer and there's a fence right in front of me and here's this head pops up over the fence and this guy's looking at me and I'm like, hi. And he's like, and I walk up and talk to him and he ends up getting saved too. But this is the kind of thing when you're just praying. God's just going to open some more doors for these soul winners out there. Here's some people, what are they doing? They're fighting for the kingdom of heaven. They're out there preaching my word. They're out there doing what they're supposed to do. He's like, I'm going to open some more doors for these people. I'm going to help. I'm going to get in and I'm going to intervene. All three of these people get saved. Not through us, but just through the will of God, the word of God. Look, when you get your will in line with God and then you pray along those lines, you will see God move in your life. 100%. Coming from a guy who before he was saved didn't think God did that. But he does. So look, we don't have a God that intervenes in every single situation that is evil or he would just destroy Satan. He would just destroy Satan right away. But it's antithetical to the free will that we have. God wants us to choose him. And then we have the instructions to rule the way we are supposed to rule, but we just don't listen. So we can't blame God. That doesn't mean God isn't all powerful. It just means we aren't listening. We aren't choosing and we aren't listening. We just have to have faith that he will in the end make everything right and just and look, his timing is his timing. And we can't start to think that, look, God is, I know, here's what I know. I know God is more merciful than I am. I know God is long suffering. So long suffering goes with evil existing at the same time. If God just came here and just destroyed the United States of America tomorrow. And you know what? If he did that, he's right because we deserve it. But if he did that, guess what? Less people would get saved next week. You know, he would just end it at that point. Instead, he wants more people to get saved. He's having mercy. He's having mercy. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 19. But look, he's merciful, but his mercy, here's what really scares me. His mercy has limits, and that's what we see in the Bible, especially, especially look at Deuteronomy chapter 19 in verse number, Deuteronomy chapter 19, look at verse number 10. Deuteronomy chapter 19, look at verse number 10. It says, look at this. It says, the innocent blood shall not be shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God given thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. God is explaining to this nation that if they go and they kill, start killing innocent people in their nation, that their blood is going to be shed. Turn to Second Kings chapter 21. Turn to Second Kings chapter 21. This is repeated again and again in the Bible. God tells them not to do it in Deuteronomy chapter 19, and then they literally do it in Second Kings chapter number 21, and then God tells them what's going to happen, and then we see throughout history what actually did happen. Look at Second Kings chapter 21. Second Kings chapter 21, look at verse number 16. He said, don't shed innocent blood. He says, moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another. Besides his sin, his sin, were with him made Judah to sin in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. It's talking about, he was out there and he was sacrificing children. He was sacrificing children to false gods on top of everything. Shedding innocent blood. In Nahum chapter 3 and verse number 1, I'll just read it for you. The Bible says, woe to the bloody city. Nahum was a prophet at this time. He was a prophet during the time of Manasseh, who was a king in the kingdom of Judah. Can you imagine a king in Judah doing this? And then 100 years later, Judah is judged through the Babylonian captivity. But look, God let it go on for a while. But God decided when the time of judgment came. Woe to the bloody city, it is full of lies and robbery. They prayed, the prayed departed not. The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of the wheels. And then verse number 5, he says, because of all these things, he goes on and on and on. But then in verse number 5, he says, behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord. I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. He's like, you're not going to be strong. You're not going to be respected. I'm going to just, you're going to be wiped out by me. He's saying, I'm just going to just completely take down your pride. Just talking about, you know, exposing their shame by that analogy of their skirts upon their face. But look, folks, how many kids have we killed in this country? Sixty-some million? I mean, I lose count. I lose count. And here's the thing you need to understand. I mean, those children that were killed through abortion, those are, that's innocent blood. And here's what we need to understand, because after Manasseh, like I said, this is really what, if anything keeps me up at night, it's not the end times. It's this. After Manasseh, you had some kings that got things right. But God said, that God said, because of what he did, you are going to suffer judgment. Because why? Because God's a righteous judge, and he doesn't forget anybody. He's not going to just forget judgment. That nation that did what Manasseh led them to do was going to suffer judgment. God is just. And his mercy is not going to, his wrath is coming at some point. If we stopped all abortion and all wickedness and turned back as a nation, you know what would happen? We would buy more time. We would buy more time to get more people saved. And that would be great. But the judgment is still coming. Because the price still needs to be paid. Because we have a righteous judge that's sitting over us all powerful. And that price is going to be paid to a level that we cannot comprehend. Anytime, anywhere, anybody, God can build up or tear down. Let me just give you one thing to think about on a personal note here. On an individual level, on this idea that God is all powerful. You're there in 2 Kings chapter 21. Turn to 2 Kings chapter number 20. We're talking about health and wellness. And I don't know why, but in the United States today, there's this idea of maybe it's because certain generations are getting older and there's this idea of just longevity. And these people that are creating have all this money you want to live forever. No one's going to live forever. But let me give you a longevity plan for you as a saved believer. I actually think that of all the people, of all the people between, if you just look at people that are saved and unsaved, then of course you have the enemies of God. So you have this small sliver of people, maybe 1 or 2% that's saved. Then you have the vast majority of the population, maybe 98%, 97% of people that are just right there in the middle. They're just not saved. Then you have the 1 or 2 or whatever percentage is that just hate the Lord, which that number is growing because again, there's no consequences to hating the Lord anymore. But you have this group of people in the center. I actually think that the people that should take the idea that God is all powerful the most seriously is us. I actually think we are the ones that can receive probably the most blessings and the most cursings from it. So here's your longevity plan. Look at 2 Kings chapter number 20. 2 Kings chapter number 20. We have a great story here on longevity for the Christian. Hezekiah, who was generally a good king. Hezekiah was a good king. He did some silly things towards the end of his life that I think people are a little hard on him for. I mean, he kind of got a little braggy and things like that, but he was a good king. Look at verse number 1 of 2 Kings chapter 20. It says, in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the Son of Amos, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, Thou shalt die. That's not really what you want to hear from the man of God. You don't want the pastor to visit your house and be like, Hey, you get things in order. You're going to be dead soon. Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying, look what he says in verse number 3. I beseech thee. He said, I beg you, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart. Now, what if he lived a wicked life? What would he say at this moment if he lived a wicked life and just spat in the face of the Lord for his entire reign of his kingdom? But he didn't. He's just, what's he doing? He's praying to God. He's just reminding God, Lord, I've served your kingdom. Lord, I've done your will. That's what he's saying. He's just saying the truth. He's a good king. I've walked before thee in truth with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass before Isaiah was gone out in the middle of the court. The word of the Lord came unto him saying, Turn again and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people. Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father. I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. And I will heal thee. In the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the Lord and I will add unto thee 15 years. Here's your longevity plan as a Christian to the Lord that you serve, to the Lord that has all power, that can do whatever he wants whenever he wants to anyone that he wants. You know what? Why don't you do something in your life that is in the will of God? Why don't you stay in the will of God so God looks at you? Because look, guess what, folks? We're in a fallen creation here. People get sick. Bodies break down. Diseases happen. Cancer happens. All these things happen. But why don't you do something in your life where God says, when you pray to God or you get in trouble, or even just God says looking at you going, you know what? That's somebody maybe ought to keep around for a little while. Why don't you be this profitable Christian where God looks down and maybe you're in a situation where your life is in danger and God's like, you know what? This guy is killing it for the kingdom of God and maybe I need to intervene here. That's what he did for Hezekiah. Hezekiah said, I walked in your way. I walked in your will. Please, you know, save me. God's like, yeah, you're right, okay. That's your longevity plan. Look, go sit in ice cubes if you want. But your real longevity plan should be to just be in the will of God. You know, you should just set a goal to try to, you know what? I'm going to be such a soldier for Christ in my life that, first of all, I think if you want to live like, if your goal is to just live as long as possible, I think that's like a misguided goal in general. But just in general, if you just want to serve the Lord with your life and you're actually doing that over what? Over time. Like guess what? Like it is your life. That's a pretty good longevity plan. That's pretty good because God's going to look at you and when you have something to pray about saying, God save me. God help me. Give God a reason. Give God a reason. Just live this selfish life. How many Christians out there are just living a selfish life doing nothing for anyone but themselves? And then they, you know, they're 911 Christians. They only call God when they got an emergency. They don't do anything for the kingdom of God. And they're like, God save me. And God's like, why? I already gave you eternal life. You're already going to heaven. What more do you want from me? You're not doing anything for me down there. Think of the logic of it. It just makes sense. The best longevity plan is to just serve the Lord with your life. And guess what? He'll give you joy through that. He'll give you all kinds of blessings through that. And you know what? Maybe He'll keep you around for a while. Just a thought. Just a thought. God's all powerful. He can intervene whenever He wants to. My personal thought is, let's just give Him a reason to. And have our lives be in His will. And look, you'll see those things in your life. If your will is in line with God's will, you definitely will see Him moving in your life. And it's really cool when you see those things. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.