A Preview of Our Final Victory | Revelation 14:1-5 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (3/1/26)

Good afternoon, church. I see joy in the house. How can we not be joyful in the presence of our king and each other as a family of God? Let us begin by reading from the book of Exodus chapter 35 beginning in verse four. Now these words come after God's instructions to Moses about the tabernacle.

God has told Moses exactly how to build the tabernacle, the design, the measurement, every single thing with every detail. Now let us continue in verse four. Moses says to all the congregation of the people of Israel, this is the thing that the Lord has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the Lord, whoever is of a generous heart. Let him bring the Lord's contribution, gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goat's hair, tanned ram skin and goat skin, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and anoint stones and stones for sitting for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

Let every skillful craftsman among you and make all that the Lord has commanded, the tabernacle, its tent, its covering, its hooks, its frames, its spars, its pillars, its bases to the end. Let's look at verse 20. Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses, and they came everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him and brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of the meeting and for all its service and for the holy garments. So they came, both men and women, all who were of a willing heart, brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, All sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. And everyone who possessed blue and or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats' hair or tanned ram skins or goat skins brought them.

Everyone who could make a contribution of silver and bronze brought it as a lost contribution, and everyone who possessed acacia wood or any of any use in the work brought it. And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goat's hair, and the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastpiece, and spices and oil for all the light and for anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. All the men and women, the people of Israel whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord has commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a free will offering to the Lord. This is what the people of Israel of all did.

And what a lesson for all of us today. May god's name be glorified and honored. Let's stand up to worship him.

Father, we praise you that you have given us songs to sing to remind us of truths to live by. And as we just sang, Lord, thank you for reminding us that we are pilgrims in this world, that we are exiles, that you promised the kingdom, that we are a part of this kingdom, and we await the full manifestation of this kingdom. And we pray as your bride, your church, Lord, bring your kingdom. Come and establish your reign. End the tyranny of Satan.

Put all our pain to an end. All our agony, all our sadness, all our trials, all our battles, Lord, claim victory over all of them. We long to be with you forever. We thank you for these elements before us that remind us of, yes, what you've done in the past, but what you will do tomorrow. And, Lord, we pray that it would cause us to worship you with greater strength for the rest of the service.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Why don't you turn to somebody and welcome them to this Lord's Day service before you're seated? Welcome to Maranatha Bible Church.

If you're here for the very first time, a very special welcome to you. And it's at this, point of our service where we usually worship in our giving. And so if it's on your heart to do just that, as we heard from the passage in Exodus 35, we give because God has given to us, and we respond to him because he has been so good to us. And so we're just so thankful for your partnership in this way, and, we trust that God will use every resource for the advancement of his kingdom. And while that is taking place, allow me to make just a couple of very quick announcements.

We have, number one, our our men's breakfast coming up on March 21 at 10AM, and this is the first one of the the new year, and so we're looking forward for the gathering of the brothers. And if you've never attended one of these breakfasts, it is a joy. It's a informal setting where we meet downstairs, we have food, we pray, we hear testimonies from other brothers, and we just get to know one another and pray for one another. So join us, if you are somebody here who maybe doesn't know names or is, just getting yourself acquainted, this is a wonderful opportunity to be able to get to know, just some of the people here at MBC, especially the men. Besides that, we do have volunteering serving opportunities, that have been made known to us, namely in the hospitality ministry and the Sunday school ministry.

And, if you are somebody who has been asking or praying how you can serve, these are two ways that greatly benefit the ministry here. And so if you're a sister especially and you say, I wanna I wanna be a part of the Sunday School, just email the church and put that in the the subject line and we'll know and send that to the ministry team leaders. And anybody can serve in the hospitality ministry. That is something that we treasure so much because it facilitates our fellowship here on a weekly basis, and we need people to be able to help us. And so the more, the easier it is and the less burdensome it is naturally on those who carry much of that weight.

So please, if you are praying about how to serve, if you wanna fill a gap or two, please email us and, let us know and and we'll be extremely grateful for that. Well, most of you know that yesterday we had our one day bible study seminar and it was an absolute blessing. It was great. Yes, we can applaud the Lord. And, to me, I'm not used to a Saturday service or anything like that so we don't do these too frequently but it was such a joy.

Passed by so fast. We started at ten, 10:30 and ended by three and there was still lingering fellowship as always. And I was more blessed to learn how many people came from out of state. So we have people just lift your hand, I don't wanna embarrass you but just we just wanna just celebrate what God's done. If you're from New York, can you just lift your hand?

There's the New York family, yes. Welcome. Well, there is a family from Wisconsin. Is there anybody from Wisconsin here today? Okay.

They were here yesterday and I just met a brother before the service who, visited us from Missouri, drove all the way from Missouri to be here for the weekend and he's here as well. And I don't wanna embarrass you but we just wanna clap and say thank you for being here. And how can I forget, where are the Canadian sisters who

came all the way from Canada? Yes.

So, to think that we had people coming from across The United States, across the lands really, to be here for a morning and afternoon time to study God's word or learn how to study God's word is absolutely amazing. And especially for those who come here and who are part of the general area in Chicago, we were so blessed by your attendance as well and I hope that it was a blessing to you. And I was I've I've been reflecting on it since and what came to mind at this point so we can be even more stirred is just how valuable the word of God is in the word of God. How the scriptures speak about the treasure that the scriptures are. Listen to this testimony in Acts eight.

It says here in acts eight twenty six, now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. And he rose and went. I love that. He rose and went to a desert.

Do you

know what he's leaving to go to this desert for? He's leaving a revival in Samaria. And he's the main speaker at the revival. And God says, listen, leave the revival and go to the desert. And he does.

No objections. Because he understands that when God's move, it's God. It's not him. So if God started it, he'll take care of it. He doesn't need me, he doesn't need you.

But God's calling Philip to another task. So he's gonna go from multitudes being saved and baptized and miracles happening to do what? Look at verse 27, and he rose and went and and there was an Ethiopian Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Now remember, at this time you could not go to your local bookstore, you couldn't order something on Amazon to get a Bible.

You had to be extremely wealthy to possess any scroll, which tells us this man was wealthy. He was affluent. He had prominence. He was important. I mean, we get a little biography.

And he used his prominence, he used his wealth to purchase the word of God. But more than that, listen to this in verse 29. And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet. Oh, I even love that.

This man is so invested in the scroll that he's reading it out loud. He's not even just internalizing it. He he's he's actually saying things out loud and the Lord, as the spirit often does, leads Philip gradually and he finally hears this man reading the scriptures and then he asked in the rest of the verse, do you understand what you are reading? Isn't that what we learned yesterday? That God doesn't want us to just read the bible but understand what we're reading?

Do you do you understand what you're reading? That's a good question for us. Well, he asked the eunuch and listen to what he says in verse 31. And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? Oh, the humility.

That's a humble man. And I believe in great part, the humility of this man was gonna create this testimony. That there was a softness, a tenderness, a hunger that caused God to recruit Philip to meet the need. And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. And then the rest we know, they read through the passage, he interprets it and he gets saved.

But here's the point that I wanna drive into our hearts. We live in a very different age. We don't have to spend so much money to have the scroll, the oracles of God before us. And we don't have to experience what Philip experienced. God transporting him miraculously as we see later on to meet the need of somebody being being able to understand the scriptures.

Look at all the churches in our land. Look at all the resources online. Look at the accessibility to the word of God. And my question is today, are we grateful for it? Are we taking advantage of it?

Oh, I see something here that corrects me in many ways, that convicts me, that I should never take my bible for granted. That I should never take the local church for granted. That I should never take weekly, not just weekly, two, three times a week hearing God's word. So may we be grateful today for the things that we tend to overlook. The things that tend to make us too familiar to the point where we become even overly critical or maybe too comfortable.

Far be it from us. We don't have to go to a desert today. I know that there might be more parking in a desert than what we have now, but still, we are rich in God. Let's thank him for it before we continue to sing. Lord, we thank you.

We thank you that we have a bible in our hands. We thank you that we can project the bible on a screen. We thank you that you don't have to arrange these miraculous things for us to be able to understand the scriptures. We can get in our cars and drive and make it to a comfortable sanctuary and hear it explained to us. We thank you, Lord.

Help us respond to these gifts appropriately. And for now, we just pause to say thank you, and we continue to sing your praises in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord.

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder at the mention of your Hallelujah.

Yes. Hallelujah, Lord. You indeed reign, God. You are sovereign over the cosmos, yet intimately acquainted with each one of your people, God. Lord, we thank you, give you glory from you, through you, and to you be all things, God, forever and ever.

Lord, we trust that you are sovereign over every soul in this building today, God. We trust, Lord, and know that you know each one of our needs, Lord, our victories, our struggles, our fears. God, we pray this morning that you would be amongst us in a special way, Lord, through the preaching of your word and through our sharing of this table, God. Lord, we ask that you would give us receptive hearts, Free us from any distraction, God, that we would receive your word with gratitude, Lord. We thank you for your word.

Change our hearts this morning by your spirit, Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen.

It really is amazing to think that you and I, for the past few months and hopefully in the months to come, are looking at a book that predicts the future. Just think about that. We're looking at God's claims and his predictions and his foreshadowings of what is yet to come. That that thought alone is mind boggling, and we will continue to do that today as we come now to the book of Revelation and open up chapter 14. Please meet me there in Revelation chapter 14.

We have spent three Sundays in chapter 13 alone. And if you've been with us, then I'm sure that you would agree that what is presented in that chapter is quite weighty and sobering in terms of prophecy. And if we're not careful, we can easily allow the truths in it to instill distress and angst as we consider the condition of the world as it approaches its end. I mean, to think that one single man will have success in deceiving the nations to become a concentration camp on a global scale is alarming. But thanks be to God that Revelation chapter 13 is not the final chapter of this book.

As we come to this new chapter, you'll realize that the very introduction is presented in a way that quickly extinguishes any fear or any kind of misconceptions that the visions presented before concerning the two beasts might have created. And the way this new chapter does that is by giving us a preview, a trailer of the reign of Christ and the triumph of the saints with him. But before we look at these things in greater detail, we have to remember that although the book of Revelation is framed chronologically, it does not follow a rigid linear sequence of events. Like many other books, especially the prophetic ones, sometimes the author led by the Holy Spirit steps in and out of the timeline in order to convey a message or present a theme. So there are moments where sometimes you're reading prophetic literature and it seems like things are unfolding in order, and all of a sudden in the next scene you're taken back to the past.

Or it fast forwards again to the future because there's something that you and I need to be aware of that's coming ahead in order to clarify something that we are engaging with in the moment. And that's exactly what Revelation 14 is all about. John is giving us a glimpse of Christ, his kingdom, his reign, his people, his victory in order to encourage his people today. In order to speak to us at this point, they have not yet been realized in the prophetic timeline of Revelation but he reaches ahead and brings it to this juncture in order you and I to be reminded, oh, it's not gonna end with the reign of the antichrist. He's not gonna have the final say.

He's not gonna have total and lasting victory. Let's not forget that the horrible events of Revelation chapter 13 take place within three and a half years in that time span because Revelation thirteen five says that the beast will exercise authority for forty two months. But what we're gonna see now as we read these first few verses is the end of the great tribulation. We got a taste of what's gonna happen in the latter portion of it in Revelation 13, and now in these opening words, we're gonna see what's gonna take place at the consummation, at the completion, at the end. And it will replace any dread, any concern, any fear with thrill and with hope.

Let's look at the first five verses together. Then I looked and behold on Mount Zion stood the Lamb and with them a 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.

No one could learn that song except a 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women for they are virgins. It is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the lamb. And in their mouth, no lie was found for they are blameless.

Let's pray together. Lord, we can feel the force of these verses just by reading them, but we pray for greater power as we understand it through explanation and proclamation. We pray, Lord, that we would become like this group that we're about to read about who followed wherever the lamb went. We wanna follow wherever the lamb goes. And we pray that you would use this message to inspire us to live with that ultimate ambition.

We pray these things in the name of the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. So if you remember, one of the outcomes that are difficult to come to terms with regarding the global reign of the Antichrist is that he will be allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. That's what we find in verse seven of Revelation 13. And we're left to question then, to what extent will the Antichrist have domination over the people of God?

And what this chapter shows us is that as impressive as the Antichrist empire might be, he will not have complete victory. He will not be able to totally annihilate Christian witness, the light of the gospel in that dark hour of human history, the darkest hour. And one way that this is demonstrated is by the Holy Spirit reintroducing to us the 144,000. We remember them. Right?

We learn about them back in chapter seven. They describe a select group of Jewish believers who were saved early in the tribulation period. And because they were saved early, God took steps in order to safeguard them from the troubles and the judgments that would come ahead. Because they would be set apart to serve a particular purpose on the earth, very likely to be a witness to the rest of the nation of Israel and to the world. Go to chapter seven and let's see what God did for this group of people in order to protect them ahead.

Revelation chapter seven verse two and three. John says, then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. Then he goes on to describe the 144,000, 12,000 from distinct tribes of Israel. Now whatever this seal was, whatever this seal will be, we know for certain that it is meant to shield this group of people. That they would be untouched specifically by the judgments of God that would be unleashed from this point forward.

And this tells us something significant Because we read about them in chapter seven, they reappear in chapter 14, and what do we discover about the 144,000? If chapter seven was about them early in the tribulation, being saved, being sealed so that they would be protected, Now we come to chapter 14 and we're looking at the end of the tribulation. What do we discover? Not one of them was lost. Not one.

With all the tribulation, with all the tragedies, with all the trauma, God did not lose a single one of them. It doesn't say that there were a 139,999 standing on Mount Zion. A 144,000. You know what that tells me? Whomever God seals, he secures.

That's what that tells me. And if you think, well, this has to be some special privilege for this distinct group of people in the future, you're dead wrong. May I remind you of the promise in Ephesians one? You know this very well. Just sit back and hear it again because it's your inheritance.

Ephesians one verse 13 to 14. In him Oh, Paul loves to use that. In him. He wants to talk about what it's like to be in Christ. Listen to what he says at this point.

In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him so pause. If you heard the pure gospel and if you believed in him and believed in that message, this is your inheritance. What is it? We're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Oh, Do I feel the seal?

Whether you feel it or not doesn't matter, it's by faith. You were sealed with the promise Holy Spirit to what end? Verse 14, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. You know what that word means? Down payment.

Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. On my way here or earlier this morning rather, my mind went to the words of Jesus in John chapter six when he defined what the will of God was for him and his mission. Listen to John six verse 39, and this is the will of him who sent me. Let me ask you this. If you were to explain to somebody, hey, what's what was the will of God the father for Jesus Christ his son as he came to the earth?

What would you say? To die on the cross for our sins? Surely, that's the safest answer. That's the most glorious answer. But it's more than that.

He goes on to say that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. Do you understand this? Christ didn't just come to save us, he came to secure us. Which means if you are his, you will be raised on the last day. He won't overlook any single one of us.

He won't forget any one of us. He has you and your name in mind up to that final moment when all things will be made new including yourself. He will not lose one. He did not lose one. And if it was true for them, surely it is true for us.

Now with many parts, like with many parts of the book of Revelation, there is some debate about the verses that we read primarily with the location of the vision that John is experiencing. Before we read about the lamb and the 144,000, he mentions how they stood on Mount Zion. Now many believe that John here is seeing a vision of heaven. And they equate Mount Zion here with what you read in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22, where Mount Zion is a reference for heaven, a component of the spiritual heavenly realm. So they make that automatic connection.

But there are two reasons why Mount Zion can't mean heaven in this instance. Number one, if this scene was in heaven, then that would imply that the 144,000 died and went there. But then that would put into question the seal that they received back in chapter seven and it might even call into question God's protective power. Moreover, look at the language in the beginning here of verse two where John says, and I heard a voice from heaven. Again, this suggests that he's not in heaven in this vision.

He's on the earth and he's hearing something from above. He's hearing something in a parallel world. It's from heaven. He's not in heaven. So if Mount Zion here does not speak about the dwelling place of God above, then what is it referred to?

And if you were there yesterday, then you're gonna hear it again. This is where the old testament helps us illustrate and understand passages in the new. Over and over again, the prophets of old, when proclaiming what Messiah would accomplish, the savior, the anointed one, frequently what is brought up is that part of his victorious arrival is that he will rule and reign from physical Jerusalem. That he will establish his headquarters on where? Mount Zion.

So listen to these words. I'm gonna just quote three passages. There are many, but listen to these notable ones. I mean, how can you miss Psalm chapter two verse six. As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

Isaiah twenty four twenty one and twenty three. On that day, the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven, and the kings of the earth on the earth. They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit. They will be shut up in a prison. And after many days, they shall or they will be punished.

Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders. If it wasn't clear, listen to the words of Micah. Micah chapter four verse six to seven. In that day notice they're speaking about the day to come. In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted.

And the lame, I will make the remnant. And those who are cast off a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them where? In Mount Zion. From this time forth and forevermore. Is there any wonder why there's so much contention around that piece of real estate even now?

You think this is political. We're spiritual people and the bible tells us that there is good and evil, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. There's a spiritual battle going on and we see it here. Jesus Christ, the risen savior has his eyes on Jerusalem because he's gonna rule from there whether you like it or not. He will.

And what John is seeing here is a fast forwarded vision. He is seeing a preview again of how Christ will fulfill those very prophecies. What do we learn from this? John is completely consistent with the Old Testament. He's in concert with these prophecies and he's giving us a preview of the same truth.

And the reason it's mentioned at this point is to remind us again that the empire of the Antichrist will not endure. It will be overthrown. There will come a time when Christ descends and put an end to all these things and he will establish his millennial reign for a thousand years. But the sight of the millennial reign is not the only thing that captivates John. He goes from seeing the lamb with the 144,000 standing with him on Mount Zion to a sound.

He hears something. And what is it that he hears? Well, look again at verse two and three. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.

So as he has this vision that's so clear and so consistent with the Old Testament especially, the next thing that catches his attention is this swelling sound from heaven. There is this overflowing praise from above that spilling onto the earth because now heaven and earth is seeing Christ ruling and reigning. Now the manifestation of his kingdom has arrived and all of heaven rejoices because of it. And it makes you wonder whether in the millennial reign, at the end of the tribulation when Christ does descend and rule for that period of time, if there will be some kind of awareness or special connection between heaven and earth. It's one thing to just think about, I think.

And as tempting as it is to explore that further, there is something else that really stands out in this passage. Not only that John hears this song, but he realizes that there's a select group who alone can learn it and sing it with them. So it's not this corporate thing where everybody is involved. Yes, all of heaven is rejoicing but on earth there's only one group who participates. Look again at the last part of verse three, no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

You know, at face value your first reaction might be that's not fair. Why am I restricted from learning this melody and learning these lyrics? And I think we have the answer at the very last part of the last statement there in verse three. Look at it again, who had been redeemed from the earth. Now again at first, that may be a description that includes anybody who's been saved by Christ.

Right? I've been redeemed from the earth. I'm delivered. I'm no longer a part of this world and its system. So so isn't this for me as well?

Well, the meaning of that phrase according to the context is not exactly that. More accurately, this is a more specific redemption that John is conveying. Again, it's the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth, meaning that what John is describing is the preservation and the ultimate deliverance of this group during the great tribulation. It's their own unique deliverance, their own unique salvation. Not the salvation that we can partake in, but a salvation from the horrors and the terrors of the tribulation period.

In other words, the privilege of this participation is the outcome of the testimony of the 144,000 who endured much during that period of time as God's faithful servants. And so they are singing in great part from their experience. And that's why they alone can sing it. Now it's making a little bit more sense. And the lesson from this, when that is unlocked is so moving and I really do pray that it blesses you as it blessed me.

All the pain, all the suffering, all the anguish, all the loss, all the betrayal, all the doubt, all the fear, all the loss that you and I encounter in this life, especially those that we believe to be uniquely ours, like nobody else is going through what I'm going through, nobody knows the feelings that I'm feeling. You You know what I get from this verse? All of that will one day become something you sing about. That's what we see here. Yet, you have to understand, they were sealed but they weren't completely sheltered from all the nightmarish realities of the tribulation period.

There's some debate to what extent they were sealed from. I'm not gonna get into that. But what is clear here is that they are singing on the other side of their sorrow. They are singing from the place of being totally redeemed and realizing that God was faithful to us in these past years of the most scrutinizing and horrible moments of human history. Now, the Bible does teach us that there are songs that we can and should sing in the midst of our tribulation.

Right? You see with Paul and Silas where they're shackled in the jail in Philippi and they're singing hymns. But the Bible also does teach us that there's a song that awaits us on the other side of suffering. That there are special lyrics and a special tune when all things are said and done. And in this case, the 144,000 have their own song, but oh, surely we will be able to to rejoice when every kind of suffering imaginable is subdued by the lamb.

And you and I for endless days will be outside of its reach. If you are heavy laden today, if you are hanging by a thread, if you're in Christ, one day you'll sing about it. Well, let's continue to read here what we find in Revelation 14. In verse four, it says, it is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes.

These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. So again, all of this is meant to encourage the reader just coming out of Revelation chapter 13. Christ will defeat the Antichrist. Every sorrow and sin will be placed with a heavenly song. And no matter how much evil seems to gain control of this world, Christ will stand on Mount Zion.

And so it's looking ahead and yet, before we move on to the next section, which we won't touch on today, something special is added. We go from seeing the 144,000, not one is lost and every single one of them are singing on Mount Zion with the lamb, but then we receive a description of their character and their convictions. Three times, John says, it is these, it is these, it is these. He wants us to know something about them even before we see them on Mount Zion, triumphant. Why is he doing that?

I believe in great part to show us that there was a measure of victory that was displayed even during the great tribulation. That although Christians were hunted and they were killed and they were massacred, John wants to let us know let us know that this 144,000 lived a certain way during that time and that demonstrated a level of victory. And here's here's what this means for us. These details, if we look at them carefully, teaches us something about how you and I can overcome the spirit of the Antichrist today. I firmly believe that because again, we have to be reminded of this.

We're looking ahead but the spirit of this wicked tyrant, the bible tells us is still in operation. It always has been since the days of Christ. Manipulating and perverting and influencing and infiltrating And this is will be the climax where that spirit now takes flesh and blood and does what it wants for a period of time. So I'm looking at these verses of what the 144,000 were like. These were, these were, these were, these are, And I think to myself, okay.

I'm sure that there is something here for me to be able to display some level of victory with all the garbage that's around us today. There are three things that stand out. Three things that we have to consider. The first thing that's highlighted is their sexual purity. Do you and I want to overcome the spirit of the Antichrist?

All the temptation and filth that he projects and pollutes with? Well, I see how the 144,000 were able to. It says here in verse four that it is these who have been who have not been defiled or have not defiled themselves with women for they are virgins. You know, when we think about the tribulation period, most people limit the darkness of that time to the disasters that will break out, to the wars that will cause calamity and devastation. But you and I also have to remember that with every kind of upheaval in that generation, there will be new levels of darkness in terms of sin, in terms of temptation, in terms of perversion.

Think about it. You have the antichrist ruling and reigning. Don't make the mistake in thinking that people will be so preoccupied with their daily survival that they're gonna stop sinning or sinless. In case you don't believe me, scroll back to Revelation nine and be reminded of some of the things that will take place in the most turbulent moments that we have ever known. Revelation nine verse 21.

The Lord makes this remark, nor do they repent of their murders. People are gonna be murdering during this time. Or their sorceries. There's there's gonna be people practicing witchcraft during this time. Or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

It shouldn't be too difficult to grasp that there will be new levels of indecency and lewdness that will be practiced and promoted in these final years. But even with this heightened temptation and allurements and lust, Apparently, the 144,000 will not defile themselves. And probably the most difficult place to remain pure and that's our sexuality. That's John's evidences in verse four. Now there's debate about this.

Is this talking about a spiritual purity, a spiritual virginity? And the reason why there's debate about that is because it seems as though John is condemning sexual relations even within the confines of marriage. Right? Because he says that they didn't defile themselves with women, which might be a clue that this 144,000 are predominantly men. Again, that's debated.

No, it's really more spiritual. Okay. Let's go let's go with the more literal here and see how it's possible. And that they are virgins, so more than just men, perhaps they they don't ever get married. So in order to avoid, perhaps a condemnation towards marriage itself, people like to say that this is more about a spiritual purity and spiritual chastity.

But hold on, there are many ways that that can be defined and is it totally unrealistic for these individuals to actually be virgins without it condemning marriage? Again, marriage is not in view here. What's in view here is that these specific people did not corrupt themselves sexually. And the Bible even shows us in different places how in distressing times especially, we have to prioritize our values and our pursuits as the people of God. Let me give you one example.

You've probably heard teachings about marriage and relationships from first Corinthians seven. I've said this before, it's worth repeating. You have to be extremely careful how you apply first Corinthians seven. Why? Because it hinges upon and it orbits around one contextual point.

The Corinthian church was going through something when Paul was giving those instructions. Listen to what he says in first Corinthians seven verse 26. I think that in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is. Verse 27. Are you bound to a wife?

Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. You know how that can be misapplied? So all these surrounding verses and you're teaching on marriage and then you come to this point and say, don't seek a wife.

If you can stay single that's the most the most spiritual thing you can do. Hold on. Read verse 26. In light of the present distress, whatever the Corinthians were experiencing, most believe it was intense persecution. What Paul is saying is, hey, maybe this is not the best time to look for a wife and plan a wedding.

Your life is in danger. You might have to relocate as a as a church. You might have to hide for some time. Do you remember what Jesus said when he pronounced woes concerning the tribulation and the great tribulation period? How difficult it will be for families and nursing mothers?

Let me remind you in Matthew twenty four nineteen, and alas, the Lord says, and alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days. So it's not so strange as a concept then to read about this 144,000 who chose recognizing that they were the first fruits of God's work among the nation of Israel to say, you know, we understand that we are in the final moments, let's remain unmarried. And in their unmarried state, they did not defile themselves with women. Here's what moved me. If a 144,000, more likely men, we can debate, let's just say men for now, were able to remain undefiled in the most corrupt era of human history.

Can't you and I remain pure today? If it was possible well, they seem a little bit like more like super Christians. Really? Are they less human than you? They might have a unique seal.

Aren't we sealed? Is the bible being poetic about purity or is it possible? That's what I wanna know. And here's what I've discovered, it's possible Because the Bible says it's possible. And here's an illustration of it.

There was a group in the final moments of human history who were able to remain focused, strong, worshipful in their sexuality. And we'll get more to that in a moment but we have to look here to the second thing that stands out about how they were able to demonstrate victory even while it seemed like the Antichrist had victory. It's their unreserved devotion. We looked at their sexual purity but look now to their unreserved devotion. In the middle there of verse four we read, it is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes.

Oh, I wanna frame that statement somewhere. What a remarkable thing to say about anybody. You have to remember, this is a summary of their devotion in the tribulation period, and most of the world at the latter portion of that period will be following the Antichrist. We'll be eating up all his deception, we'll be betraying all truth, we'll be worshiping a man, we'll be living in their sin, we'll be doing all these heinous things. And while most of the world is headed in one direction, this group, according to this verse, are following the lamb wherever he goes.

Wherever the lamb says you go, they went. Whatever the lamb said you're gonna do, they did. It was a complete commitment to the cause of Christ when literally everything around you, there was not one nation you can escape to. There was no refuge. There was no hint here of an America like we know it today.

According to bible prophecy, all nations will be under a spell and there will be nowhere to hide. But this group, they're marching to a different drummer. And the fact that Christ is referred to your tier two here as a lamb, of all things, a lamb, implies that it is his humility, it is his sacrifice, it is his innocence that's being imitated by this group. Doesn't this make you wanna pray something? It made me wanna pray something.

Lord, I and I mean this sincerely. I would love for it to be said of me that he followed the lamb wherever he goes. So counter cultural that everybody's being swept up with this trend and they're believing these ideas and they're falling for this frenzy. But that man, he has the lamb before him at all times. Make that your prayer.

Lord, wherever you go, I wanna go. However you lead, I will follow. Whatever you want me to do, I will do it. On a side note, did you notice how in that same statement says here that they've been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the lamb? Now again, there are those who many reasons why that can't be the case and one of them is what we find here.

If they are speaking about the sum of the redeemed, why are they mentioned as the first fruits at this juncture? That's a strange way of speaking about the totality of something. And again, if we just honor the literal interpretation of these verses, then we understand that this 144,000 are Jewish believers. And they were saved early in the tribulation as a form of pledge, as the first fruits that's predicting a greater harvest to come in which God will reap according to Romans 11, all Israel will be saved. So what we find here with this 140,000 is the beginnings.

It's the budding of a greater promise to come. And so even in this, we have yet another layer of encouragement. That what God promised centuries ago, millennials ago, what we find even in the New Testament has not been forgotten. God will save the people that he had made a covenant with with Abraham. And it's starting here.

So it just do you see what's happening? We're being having encouragement heaped upon us, heaping of these truths layered. And there's one more thing to consider about this group, it is that they are blameless in their testimony. Verse five, and in their mouth no lie was found for they are blameless. So in an age of incredible deception, in a time of propagating all these falsehoods by the Antichrist, there will be a group of truth tellers.

There will be a group that are going to refreshingly tell you what God's word says, who who will not waver with the true gospel, who will give you exactly what the Lord has laid out in his eternal word. So again, what John is doing here is describing the 144,000 to show us that there is a threat of victory in the tribulation period. Not just at the end of it. There is a great victory to come, but even during it, there was this group who didn't lie with their mouths. And if we wanna do our part to combat that evil spirit, that seems to be more rampant than ever, then may we be truth tellers as well.

I have nothing to apologize for with the truth. I wanna be faithful with the truth. I wanna be faithful when I sit across a coffee table with a friend who's justifying sin and to say with love in my eyes but this is what God's word says. I wanna say it, God forbid, should there ever come a day where there's pressure from people to conform this church to be something apart from what God had said to say, but this is what God has said. There was no lie found in their mouth and they were blameless because of it.

And if you're sitting here today yearning to reflect the purity and the devotion of this group, I wanna give you some good news. I don't think it's accidental that out of all the things that could be said of Christ, the title the Lamb appears three times in this one section. The lamb. The lamb. The lamb.

Telling us many things and one of the things that it encourages me for and about is that again, if I'm looking at this and I'm saying, oh, I wanna I want that same resume, if I can use that word, that same portfolio, that same kind of summary of my life, then I must draw I must draw from the love of the lamb. I must realize the the promises and the empowerment that is available through the sacrifice of the lamb. I must have a fresh revelation of what the savior has done by becoming a man and laying his life down like a lamb, and trusting that even even in his humility, even in his innocence, even in his personal sacrifice, he will empower me to walk in it. The lamb. And in God's providence, we approach the Lord's table today to be reminded about that facet of our Messiah that he took on flesh, that he shed his blood, and he was innocently led to place a sacrifice because he loves us.

He loved us enough to lay his life down, and he loves us enough to promise to keep us until the end. Let's celebrate that together. Father, we ask that you make these truths real to us. We long to be pure. We long to be devoted without reservation.

We long to be blameless in our testimony. And we know that none of those things are available or achievable apart from the starting point of what you have done as the lamb of God. Thank you for those who put their faith in you today. We get to taste again that you have saved us and you will secure us until the end. Receive glory from this time of rejoicing, knowing that not only have you justified us forever, but that these are the same means by which you can empower us to imitate and follow the lamb.

We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's stand. Let's worship, and let's prepare our hearts to eat together.

Come unto Jesus all to to Jesus. You may be seated as we continue to prepare our hearts to break a bread. We'd like to look at couple of verses from the book of Leviticus chapter two verse eleven and twelve. No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. As an offering of first fruits, you will bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered to the altar for a pleasing aroma.

Now we know everything was written for our teaching and our instruction. This commandment is not for us to the Jews, but it's for our instruction, for our teach. There are some lessons, some principles God intends to teach us from every word in the scripture. Now God says two things must be avoided when you bring your sacrifice to the altar of the Lord. Leaven, yeast, and honey.

Now we know what the altar represents. Right? The altar is the place where you approach God, where you come in worship. And how do you come? You come with a perfect sacrifice.

And we know who is the sacrifice. Right? It is the lord Jesus Christ. In order for your worship to be accepted, it can only be through the lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it will not be accepted worship.

But God said there's something important that cannot be included in the offering, the offering of grain here and that is leaven and honey. Now we know what leaven represents. Right? Leaven represent sin and corruption. God says when you come to worship me, you must come holy and sanctified.

Confess your sin before approaching me in worship. Sin corrupts the worship. And as we come today to break bread, I want to ask you, have you confessed your sin? Are you ready that your worship may be accepted before God? Have you confessed your sin?

Now there's one point important point many churches avoid talking about. Paul mentions in first Corinthians five when he says a little leaven livens the whole lump. That's in context of a believer. And yesterday we'll talk about context and the importance of context. And that's in the context of a believer who was living in an open sin at the church of Corinth.

And what did the church do about it? Nothing. You see, it is personal. It's an individual sin. It's an individual responsibility.

And Paul tells him, you don't understand. You are not getting it. A little living livens the whole lump. Living spreads and spreads quickly. So what shall we do?

Paul stills them. Cleanse up the old living from among you that you may be a new lump. In verse 13, he tells him purge the wicked person from among you. So remember, if there is you come here to church, especially particularly in partaking in the Lord's supper, and the Lord's supper is probably really maybe the most important thing we do that expresses our unity, our union with Christ, and our unity together. If you come with unconfessed sin, don't think it is just individually you are harming yourself.

You are harming the body of Christ. For the bible tells us we are one body, one loaf. But there's something else was missing, should be missing from any sacrifice on the altar, not just leaven, but also honey. Now why honey? I believe there's two aspects of honey.

One is physical and one is spiritual. I'm not so much concerned about the physical. But remember, the grain offering contains a fine flour, olive oil, and frankincense. When it's offered on the altar, physically, it gives a very sweet aroma. If you add honey to that, physically speaking, honey causes smoke, and it causes especially with intense fire, it causes a burnt charred smell.

That's the physical part of it. What is the spiritual meaning aspect of it that God tried to communicate to his people, to us today? Honey represent natural sweetness. What's wrong with natural sweetness? You see, nothing wrong with natural sweetness when it is used in a proper place.

When it's offered to God as a first fruit offering, it's accepted to God. But on the altar, God says don't put it. Why? Why natural sweetness? I think Paul makes make this clear in first Corinthians two when he contrast the natural man with the spiritual man.

The natural man is the man who lives according to the flesh. The spiritual man, the one who lives according to God in the spirit. What God is trying to say that anything that is naturally, anything that is from the flesh, even as sweet as it may sound or or taste, it is rejected by God. Don't bring anything that has a man's origin to God's worship, only divine origin. No creativity is of man is accepted.

No anything polished by the hand of man is accepted. Nothing creative so created by man's eye is accepted. Don't bring anything, even as sweet as maybe, that has a man's origin to God's worship. Give only God what he has prescribed in his word. So as we come today to the Lord's table, let us come not with the yeast of sin, neither with the honey of self righteousness, self creativity, self goodness.

Let us come in the spirit and truth, in a humility and the simplicity of faith in Christ, you as a Christ. Amen? This bread represents the body of Christ. Let's thank the Lord Jesus for giving his body for us. Lord Jesus, we thank you for dying for imperfect people, for people who need you every day, every hour, Who needs your forgiveness?

Who needs your love? Who needs you, Lord? Oh, we thank you for your perfect life, and we thank you for dying, forgiving yourself as an atonement for our sins. The holy lamb of God, the perfect son of God becoming a man like us yet without sin in order to die, taking away all of our sins, making us stand justified before God. Lord, we thank you, and we praise your holy name.

And, Lord, as we eat this bread together, we do remember what you have done for us, and we say together, thank you, Lord Jesus. The night just was betrayed. He took a bread, and he gave it to his disciple and said, eat it. This is my body. That represent the body of Christ as eat it together.

You cannot come to God by means other than the blood of Jesus. Let's thank the Lord for his blood. Lord, we thank you that you have received us. You have received us because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. The bloodshed, and God was pleased and satisfied.

And, Lord, now we drink this cup remembering what Jesus, our Lord, the perfect lamb of God, has done for each one of us, cleansing us from all of our sins and preparing us for that day of glory when we meet him face to face and spend eternity with him. We thank you, our God and our savior. Let's let me get together.

Let's stand together and celebrate that you and I are forgiven forever, and he will bring us home safely. Amen. Thank you for the service. We pray that it would bear fruit in our lives. Lord, if there's anybody struggling with doubt today, specifically, maybe to the point of torment, they don't know what's happening to them, they they can't understand the thoughts that they're having, and maybe they didn't experience an ounce of joy today.

We pray that before they leave this place, you would wash over them with your love, and that these truths that were spoken and sang sung would be echoed in their own minds, would be the sweet sound to their sleep, and would be the the energy throughout their day. We are so weak, Lord. We pray that you would help us. And Lord, if if we are struggling in different ways, may we cling to this one hope that you will not let go of us. You'll bring us to the end.

We thank you for this. In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated for a moment. I know usually our communion services are lengthier than other services, but it's Sunday. It's the Lord's day.

So many of you know, that we had a member's meeting last week, and it was such an exciting meeting. We talked about so many things, so many things have developed, so many things have been brought to our attention, and it's just wonderful to be able to see what God is doing in this place and how every single year he's doing more and more. Now one of the one of the items on the agenda last week was that we received a call for a building and about a building. Now when that call initially came, I was a little hesitant because it's located in South Barrington. But when the pictures were sent, I thought, let's at least check it out.

And I want you to see some of the pictures. The members have already seen these pictures, but these are just general kind of frames for you to get an idea of what we're we're looking at here. Hopefully, it'll come up eventually. It's not there? Okay.

Well, they'll work on that in a moment here. But as, as we were discussing this, and we are gonna make sure that you see this before we move on, the details of this building are exactly what we have been praying for. The sanctuary itself is the size that we've been praying for. The Sunday classrooms are all large and there's about eight or nine of them. There are six office spaces, a full basement, and it sits on 14 acres of land.

And here's the best part, 300 parking spots. Isn't that wonderful? Now, one other reason why we are seriously considering this this building is because there's so many intricate details, but a major, a major inclusion in this whole this whole consideration is that we also had received from somebody who doesn't attend this church a $1,000,000 donation. And so we received this call, maybe I didn't clarify, we received this call about a week and a half ago, so there's been a lot of phone calls and meetings. And one of the things that we asked of our members last Sunday especially was, this is ultimately for us.

This isn't the elders moving into a church. This isn't our vision. This is for the entire church. Is it up there? Okay.

So look at that parking lot. Let's just if you can this is the backside of it. This is the sanctuary. Now the sanctuary on the Main Floor seats 400 and something seats, and there's a balcony above it that seats an extra 200 and something seats. And they removed seats from the side, but if you needed to add them, you can add another maybe 300 seats.

But when you walk into the sanctuary, it feels like a 400 and something seated church. That's not as big as you think it is, but it is extremely helpful for us at this point. This is what it looks like from the the platform. And if we can go on to see a few more pictures. This is from the side.

These are the Sunday classrooms. They're themed. So there's a diner, there's a movie theater, there's a jail cell for maybe the more disciplinary classes, I guess. They're all large. This is one of the rooms as well.

This is the basement for fellowship. It's a full basement. This is another room in the basement. This is the kitchen, a little smaller than what we have here, but that can change. This is a rotunda in the back, so you can have a seating area where it's elevated and there's a a main section on the bottom there, and there's so many things that you can do.

This is attached to the fellowship hall in the basement. And I think that's it so far. Correct? There are many more pictures that we have This is exactly from that perspective. This is the entrance way, so to the right you would enter to the sanctuary, to the left you'd be, greeted by all those rooms and all those office spaces.

I went to church earlier today, if you wanted to know. So I had a chance to be at the service as well to just see what it looked like live, and it is a wonderful, wonderful sanctuary. So what we asked of our members last week was, again, this is for us. This is not ultimately our decision. So we gave people the week really initially, we asked for twenty four hours, but people needed some time to pray and think about it, and we received over 95% of approval to head in this direction.

Now I do wanna address something, and and I so appreciate some of the like every single email we received was so loving and so supportive. And one of the things that came up more than once that I I think is important to address is that some of the concerns in our transition, whether it's with this building or another one, is are we gonna become a megachurch? That's people are worried about. And what I think people have, the idea of a megachurch mainly is about this kind of seeker sensitive approach or, you know, diluting the word of God and losing our touch with fellowship and and community, and I can assure you that that is nowhere in our desires, nowhere in our plans. And and I'll also mention this, if we wanted to go that approach, we would have already implemented things at this point.

A megachurch is not determined that when I mean megachurch again, I'm speaking about that kind of culture is not determined by the number of people in that church. It's determined again by the culture that is set and is ultimately established by the leadership. And so there are many large churches that are able to facilitate fellowship that are preaching God's word faithfully, though it is becoming more and more rare. But we wanna comfort every single person no matter where the Lord lead leads us next. We will maintain this model of a church as long as God keeps us as a church.

And if you have hesitation to believe that, let me let me just point to one reality. We don't have two services here. Did you notice that? We could benefit from two services, but why do we want to keep it to one service? Because we want to protect the community.

The moment you have two services, you have two distinct churches. It may be under one name, but how are they interacting? I know some churches are doing that. I'm not knocking that model, I'm just saying that's not our conviction. And so we want to protect that weekly fellowship.

And you know, if this works, that means we have a lot of land to do picnics in the summer. Right? There's so many advantages to this. And so when we received, the feedback and as we've been praying and there are other details that I can't mention now, we wanna let you know that we are going to make an offer on this building this week. That is the

plan.

The original price asking price was 3,800,000.0. We were able to have a wonderful discussion to bring that a little bit lower. We've been saving up these past three years, but if we wanna enter into this, if this is really what we want to be our next home, then there's gonna be an ask from us to contribute to this so that we can enter into this with the least amount of debt as possible, if not no debt at all. That would be a wonderful thing. So our goal here for the next thirty days we've already seen God work miraculously, but our goal is to raise $1,500,000 in the next thirty days.

Now you're thinking that's a lot of money, and it is a lot of money. But I'll also say this, I mean, by God's grace, a person had it on their heart. They they were inclined and moved by the Spirit of God to give $1,000,000. And here's the most fascinating thing, that person doesn't even attend this church, and that's moving. And so we are going to we are going to move forward with this, and we're gonna trust God by faith that he will provide every single penny.

And and and here's how that's going to look. One thing to consider as you pray about this is that in these past three years, we have knocked on so many doors. We have made many phone calls. And when I mean knock on many doors, physically. Like pulling over, going to a church, and knocking on the door to see if anybody would answer.

We have visited many churches in the radius that we were originally looking into. Nothing has come close to what we're seeing with this invitation. Nothing. In fact, there was there was just strange series of rejections if anything else. Things that didn't make sense.

Like, we are willing to give you cash offer for this land, and they're initially excited about it and they never answered our text again. Or if we are to move into this church, can we discuss, you know, possible conversations about it? Well, we wanted to show you the church but we're really giving it to somebody else. And there's a couple instances of that where somebody let us come visit the church, but saying there's another offer, and to this day they haven't given it to whoever that church was offering whatever. They're they're still available, and they're not answering us.

So all these different kind of you sense this divine sense of restriction and redirection, and all of a sudden there's this call with this building and it's been nothing but smooth up to this point. In fact, there's been one miracle after the next leading up to this decision, and so we're just sensing that this is something perhaps that God is answering. This is a prayer that is coming to fruition. And I can remember on Wednesday nights, people praying very specific prayers, and this goes to show that it's dangerous to pray specific prayers. And one of those prayers was, Lord, give us 200 and something parking spots and and give us this kind of a basement.

And I'll tell you this, I can remember and I can say with a clear conscience, what we're seeing with this building is the fruit of those prayers. It is. The details, everything. I can't answer any questions at this moment. If you have questions, you can approach any one of the elders after we give this benediction.

But I wanna really, really encourage every single person here, especially members of this church, if you believe that this is our next home, it's time for sacrificial giving. And that's not just for the members. That includes the leadership because this isn't our home, this is our home. And this is an investment not just for us to have a more comfortable sanctuary, this is an investment for our children. This is an investment for their education.

This is perhaps the beginning of what many have been hoping for, a school for our kids. This is an investment to hosting more people to hear God's word being preached week after week after week. This is an investment for our fellowship. All these things are something to really really take before the Lord and ask. God, if this is something that's gonna be our permanent home for the next few years, and maybe this is something that will outlive all of us.

Help me see it in light of these things. Help me not just see it as a need, but help me see it as an investment. And we're hoping that God will do something marvelous as we endeavor to partner together to make this a reality. And so consider the next thirty days what the Lord would lay it on your heart to give in order to chop away at that number so that we'd be more prepared to make this place our new home. We have a new website launched.

Brother Nick Pizzaferro did a marvelous job with our new website. One of the changes now is that our main giving avenue is through a new organization called My Well. It's a nonprofit organization, and what they specialize in doing is giving, credit card processing fees at cost price. And so we encourage you also to use that new, method and approach. It's easy to sign up for.

You can make recurring givings on that. It's all found on the website. And so we're gonna begin to actually lead, all of us into that as much as possible, and we're excited to see how God's gonna use that as well. But again, if you have any questions, if you wanna know more, we are here for the rest of this day to do just that. But for now, let's pray and let's ask God for another miracle.

Can we do that? Lord, we do thank you that you have brought us closer to a reality that we've been waiting on than ever before. And Lord, we believe that if this is you, nothing will stop it. And we believe that if this is from you, then you will provide. We thank you for all the miracles up to this point.

We thank you for all the giving of all amounts up to this point. We thank you that this is potentially our new home, and there will be way more testimonies than we could ever fathom should we transition in this way. And Lord, if it is not your will, as you have done with so many opportunities, slammed the door shut in our faces, but Lord, it seems as though the path is clear. And we ask oh God, that you would do something in our hearts, in the hearts of others who love this ministry and love what you're doing here, to give you more glory as we make this next move. So Lord, we do pray, as we've prayed many times before, that whenever you would bring us to a new building, it would have a testimony that when people hear it, they would say that is God.

That is God. That's not man. That is indeed God working on your behalf. And we ask Lord that that would continue to be our ambition. So help us, Lord, as a church, help us in this next season, protect us, and provide for us.

And we do all these things for the sake of the glory of the name of Jesus Christ. In his name, we say these things and ask these things. Amen and amen. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Stay tuned.

And we're here. God bless you. Take care.