Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. We greet you in the name of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I address you as family because we are a family. We are a part of the body of Christ. We may not be related by blood, but we are all a part of the body of Jesus Christ. And family, it is so important that as we are going closer and closer to the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the hostility toward the faith by the world is getting stronger and stronger.
You sense it, you feel it, you hear it, you see it throughout our society. It is so important that we as believers in Christ, that we support one another, that we keep each other lifted up, and that we encourage one another. That we must endure these lasting evil days as we look forward to the return of our Lord and Savior.
The one who we come to magnify, the one who we come to adore, we come to praise the great sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as he died on the cross so that we can have eternal life. Well, folks, it is a great time in the Lord, even though again, there is hostility toward the faith. We see it continuing to grow, but this is still a great day that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it. Well, today I want to draw your attention to the book of Revelation, my favorite book in all of the Bible. Revelation chapter 8, we will cover today verses 1 through 6. And a few weeks ago, we looked at the seven seal scroll of chapter 5 in the book of Revelation, and we found that it is the title deed to the earth, but it also contains all of the trials that will unfold for those who reject Jesus Christ. The first five seals revealed activities of mankind bringing misery on the earth. And then the sixth seal apparently is God's reaction to the persecution of the saints. So the seventh seal introduces the seven trumpet judgments of God in the trumpet judgments. God is the exclusive sender.
Mankind is the exclusive receiver. Psalms chapter 79 verses 11 through 12 tells us, let the groaning of the prisoner come before you, according to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are appointed to die and return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom, their reproach with which they have reproach you, O Lord. God's judgment is going to reign on the earth like we've never seen before concerning those who have rejected him as Lord and Savior. So Revelation chapter 8.
Please turn your Bibles there to me and let's look at verse 1. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. You ever heard that saying silence is golden? Well, this omnious silence foreshadows what is about to take place on the earth.
Remember, folks, we're talking about what is yet future, the seven year tribulation that is to come. And this silence is significant in two ways. First, it is opposite of how heaven normally is. And then secondly, the angels, they are in awe concerning what Jesus reveals is about to take place on earth. You know, heaven is normally a loud place, and I don't mean loud in terms of I went to a church once and they had the amplifiers turned up so loud on the music and the sound was reverberating off the walls and it was vibrating through my chest.
And it felt like my heart was going to get off of rhythm or something. It was just that loud. I mean, it wasn't a joyful noise, but the Bible says make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And as we saw in chapters four and five, we found the voice speaking to me like a trumpet, thunder, celestial beings crying out continually. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Twenty four elders chant, you are worthy, our Lord and God.
And in Revelation 5, 12, an enormous number of angels, they say, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And so, folks, heaven is a place in which there is praise. There's worship going on. And so if you're not one who likes to give praises to our Lord in church, well, you better get used to it if you are believing that you are saved and you're going to heaven. You better get used to it because there is praise in the dwelling in heaven of our great Lord. But amidst all of this sound, all of this praise and worship that is going on, suddenly heaven comes to a hush. It is like the quiet before the storm. With all that they know concerning God in heaven, the angels appear mystified concerning what is about to take place. And if you recall Jesus Christ at his first coming, how the angels were just in awe, they were mystified seeing Jesus Christ in the human form in the manger, the babe in the manger. They were in awe of it.
And we see here they are in awe of what is about to take place. You know, it makes me think about as a child when you are playing with your your siblings and maybe your your cousins, your playmates, and you do something that is is disobedient. You do something that is wrong. And and your mom says, you just wait until your dad gets home. She doesn't hand out the punishment then, but she says, you just wait until your dad gets home.
So you go throughout your day playing and and around four o'clock in the afternoon, five p.m. in the afternoon, you you know, that's around the time the dad comes in from work. And so you hear a car pull up and everybody gets quiet. You hear the door closing. You hear footsteps and everybody is just in a in a hush. Everybody stops.
It's just quiet. You've been playing all day long with ruckus, but you know that a judgment is coming. And you're leaning in and you're listening for dad when he comes to the door to hear it. His mom is going to tell him what I did this morning. And for those who did not commit the transgressions, the other kids, you're listening to hear also because you're wondering, is he going to get it?
Is he going to get into trouble? And so that is what we see here. These angels know that a great judgment is about to come upon the earth. And so they they stop all their their praise and amidst all the worship that is going on, they stop in the Bible says for the space of about half an hour. Our Lord is balanced.
He is just and he will judge sin. And so we see here that it is about to be a great judgment that is poured out. And then in verse two of Revelation chapter eight, and I saw the seven angels who stand before God. And to them were given seven trumpets upon the breaking of the seventh seal. The seven angels who stand before God received trumpets. Note that the opening of the seven seal does not bring the angels before God, but apparently they stand before God.
Continually awaiting their next command and upon orders. Each will blow their trumpet in sequence to bring judgment upon an unbelieving world. And if we look at Luke Chapter one, verse 19, we find in the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. So this reveals to us the identity of one of these angels. And so Gabriel, he lets Zechariah know that he stands in the presence of God while in heaven. The same Gabriel appeared to Daniel on multiple occasions as a messenger from God in Daniel chapter eight, verses 15 through 16 and Daniel chapter nine, verse 21. So we can conclude that at least one of Gabriel's jobs is to stand before God and carry out his bidding to mankind.
And scripture does not identify the other six, but they likely have the same assignments. It is like in our times, the date in which we live, in which there can be an officer who is who is standing and waiting the order of a of a king or a dictator. They're waiting for the command. And likewise, you know, we as believers in Jesus Christ, we may not be physically standing before God, but we should always be ready to carry out God's command. We should always be ready to carry out the Great Commission. If you run into an unbeliever, are you ready to share the gospel as a preacher myself? I should always be ready to give a sermon.
If I'm called upon at any moment, I should be ready to carry out that command. And then as we go on to Revelation chapter eight, verse three, then another angel having a golden sensor came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. This passage describing the angel with the golden sensor reveals that the prayers of all Christians continually go before the Lord God.
We find here the sensor containing this incense, this aromatic material like sage, and this is burning this fragrance. And so the angel offers this golden incense, the sensor, this golden sensor, along with the prayers of the saints before the golden altar. And John sees the smoke of the incense in the prayers of the saints rise up before God. And people throughout time have been praying to God for their persecution that they have gone through as a result of believing in Jesus Christ. And so here we find that this justice that people have been crying out for, and maybe it has not came to pass yet.
And many have faced tremendous persecution throughout history. But it very well may be that here, after 2000 years, that their prayers will be unlocked at this very moment. We see the prayers of the saints in Revelation 6, chapter 9 through 10, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
And they cried with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. So, folks, I want to tell you, never stop praying. And this is not just about for justice, but never stop praying for that loved one, that person who is rejecting Jesus Christ, who has a hard heart towards our Lord. Never stop praying because the prayers are going to go up before our Lord.
And then in verse 4, and the smoke of the incense with prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. Notice that after the smoke of the censoring, prayers go up before God. And this is just a beautiful symbol that our prayers are heard by God. We sometimes think our prayers are not getting through, but this suggests otherwise.
And again, for a parent out there, you have a wayward child that is against God and is hostile toward the faith. Never stop praying. And it reminds me of my favorite movie, The Ten Commandments, in which Moses, when he found out that he was truly a Hebrew and he was in the mud pits and there was an old man who spoke out against the ruling authorities. And as a result, the officer of the Egyptian officers, he threw a javelin and he killed the old man. And as the old man was dying, Moses held on to him and the old man said, it is better to die than to live in the bondage. And he said, I go with my prayers unanswered. And Moses said, what prayer, old man?
And the old man said that I would see the deliverer, but the old man didn't realize that Moses was the deliverer. So, folks, I want to encourage you. Sometimes we think our prayers are not being answered. We think our prayers are not being heard, but trust in the Lord God. He will and does hear our prayers.
It may not be answered in the time in which we want them to be answered, but God does hear our prayers. And so, folks, we continue in verse five. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings and an earthquake. The angel feels the censer with fire from the altar.
And then there's this exchange that takes place. The prayers with fire. He then heaves this fire-filled censer from heaven onto the earth as a display of the prayers for vengeance being fulfilled. This heavenly exchange, unknown to the inhabitants of the earth, brings thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake upon the world below. The actions of heaven initiated sequence of events on earth in response. So, folks, again, we must trust in God.
There's a heavenly ram that we're not aware of. And so God is going to bring justice, trust in him, have faith in him. He will hear our cries. And then in verse six, so the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The opening of the seventh seal will issue the commencement of seven trumpet judgments upon the earth. Each trumpet will bring a fierce, godly judgment upon mankind. And this is a time to remind ourselves what First Corinthians chapter six, verses nine through twelve tells us.
Verses nine through ten, I'm sorry, tells us that fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners and all rejecters of Christ will not inherit the kingdom of God. And so I strongly encourage you today to repent of your sinful lifestyles and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Today is the day to receive him. If you've never received him, if you've never come to know him as Lord and Savior, today is your day. Will you receive our Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? He's worth it.
He is wonderful. And folks, you will have eternal life. You will be free from your sins if you accept our great Lord. We're going to come right back after the break and continue talking about the judgment of God that is to come.
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Box 266, Knightdale, North Carolina 27545. Well, folks, we are coming out of the Easter season, what I like to call the resurrection season. And that was some very interesting things that were stated. And one of the things recently that you may have heard about was Pastor Warnock. OK, the pastor of Ebenezer Church in Atlanta, Georgia, made a very interesting statement through Twitter a couple of weeks ago on resurrection weekend. So I want you to hear Bishop Patrick Wooden, senior of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ. He addressed the issue so wonderfully.
So I want to play a clip is somewhat of a long clip, but I want to hear what have you hear what he had to say concerning what? Again, Raphael Warnock had to say concerning Easter. This Sunday, this Easter Sunday, this past Easter Sunday, did you ever think that a preacher would say this? The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, through a commitment of helping others, we are able to save ourselves. OK, so as you heard the bishop say, this minister, who's also a pastor of Ebenezer Church, he said that Easter transcends the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And then he went on to state that we can save ourselves. I want to share with you from the Ebenezer Baptist Church website. It reads, since 2005, the Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock has served as the senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, spiritual home of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Under Dr. Warnock's leadership, more than 4000 new members have joined EBC, enhancing the church's legacy of social activism with both spiritual and numerical growth.
Now, also keep in mind, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in January of this year, January the 5th, 2021. So let's continue to listen to Bishop Patrick Wooden address this tweet by again, Raphael Warnock. Now, this was posted, this was put on Twitter by a minister, a minister. And to all of our friends in Georgia, this was what Minister Raphael, now Senator Raphael Warnock on Easter Sunday, tweeted. That Easter transcends, that is, goes beyond the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
How can that be? And he says that whether you are a Christian or not, through a commitment to helping each other, others, we are able to save ourselves. All right. Again, folks, this is Bishop Patrick Wooden, senior pastor of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ. He's addressing this tweet by Reverend Raphael Warnock. He's addressing it during the Sunday service at the Upper Room Church of God in Christ. Well, I thought that the good news was that unto us is born in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the King.
I didn't know, I guess Raphael knew something that the rest of us didn't know. I didn't know that man could save himself. I always was under the impression that the heart of the Christian doctrine was that man is not able to save himself. That's what John 3 16 is all about.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Am I right? So now the preacher, the reverend, the senator, the man who is supposed to be of a Christian persuasion, no Muslim would ever post something like that doing Ramadan. No, no, no. A witch wouldn't pull something like that against witchcraft. All right, folks. So again, Bishop Wooden is speaking so eloquently, again, as he's addressing this man, this minister, who is also a pastor. Remember I said he's a pastor and I stated from their church website, 4,000 new members have joined Ebenezer Baptist Church during the time of him being at the helm. And if this church sounds familiar, many people will point out that this is the church in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also pastored.
And so people love to point that out. But I'm stating that because look at the number of people he pastors and these people are under his leadership. He's the shepherd of these people and listen to the things that he is saying. So let's continue listening to Bishop Wooden. A devil worshiper wouldn't do that against the devil. No Buddhists. And yet we see Christian ministers, I don't know how you can call them that. And listen, I didn't tweet it.
He did. And it's a lie from the pit of hell and he's going to go to hell if he don't get right and repent. That goes against the Christian doctrine. Jesus is our savior. Now, how many of you saved yourself? Everybody who made themselves born again, raise your hand. Because if you raise your hand and pull all the oil on your head and try to cast that devil out of you. So again, Pastor Wooden is speaking so eloquently.
He's speaking truth, folks, because we cannot save ourselves. The only way by which we can have eternal life is through Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrificial lamb. And we've talked about that at Passover. And he came as fulfillment of the Passover feast. He came to be the perfect spotless lamb to die for the sins of all the mankind.
And everyone that receives him can have their sins forgiven, wash clean and have eternal life. So again, here, this this Pastor Warnock is speaking heresy is what he's speaking. And if you recall, while he was running for the Senate, he also made it very well known that he is a supporter of abortion. He believes that that is a woman's right. He says there's no room in the hospital room. There's not space in the hospital room for God and for the woman. That's a woman's choice in the government.
There's no room for the government in there. And so that's a woman's choice. So again, keep that in mind. This man has a track record of saying things that go against the Christian faith. I couldn't save myself. The Bible says while we were without strength, Christ died for us. You might find somebody who would die for a good man. You might find someone who would die for a righteous man. But when we while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Bible says that God displayed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And now the Christian minister, I guess, I guess the Bible doesn't matter anymore, says that Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
No, it is not. Amen. And that's why we don't waste time with no bunny rabbit. Amen. Hiding eggs and all that.
All that garbage. They want to get Christ out. We want to keep we're going to keep Christ in.
Christ in you. The hope of glory. And to that, I say a hearty, loud amen to the bishop's statements. And I'm glad he put in there the end to when it comes to the resurrection season that the Easter Bunny and the Easter egg. That's not not what it's about, folks.
That has pagan origin. It's not about that. It's about Jesus Christ. And you have to be you have to to to understand the devil's tactics and how he he tries to distract us from the truth. He tries to get kids thinking about things like the Easter Bunny and the Easter egg and Easter egg hunts and candy and not thinking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And that is why my wife and I, we made the decision years ago when our kids were born that we would not have them participate in Easter egg hunts. We don't get into any of that. So I'm glad the bishop stated that the Bible tells us in First Timothy, Chapter four, verses one through two. Now the spirit expressly says that in the latter time, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Folks, we have arrived to that point as we see pastors who are saying that Easter transcends the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who are saying that we can save ourselves. In other words, we don't need Jesus. So what was the point of Jesus Christ coming? If we could save ourselves, why did he come? But he came because we cannot save ourselves. He came because the Bible says that the best that we could do before a almighty perfect God is like filthy rags to him. We could not and we cannot save ourselves. And that is why we need Jesus Christ. And that is why I encourage you to accept him as Lord and Savior. But folks, we're in a time period in which there are seducing, deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons.
That is why whenever you see on the news, when there is a incident with a police officer who happens to be white and the person who is the civilian happens to be black, immediately, here goes the accusation of racism. Forget the facts. People are just lying. The media lies.
The leaders in high places in political offices lie for an agenda. And the Bible says that as we get into the latter days, as we continue going into the latter days, that there will be lying spirits, spirits that are speaking hypocrisy, speaking, seducing spirits, doctrines of demons. And the thing about it is not out there just in the world, but we see it even in churches. So, folks, we need to be on our toes and paying attention to these false doctrines that are going on.
And we need to rebuke them and stand by the true word of God that no, Pastor Warnock, we cannot save ourselves. No, Easter does not transcend. The meaning does not transcend the resurrection.
You cannot transcend the resurrection. Jesus Christ is what it's all about. And the resurrection is what we hold on to. And the day is coming when our Lord is going to call us home. And for all that have put their faith and trust in him that have passed on, they too will be resurrected to eternal life. And the Bible says that those of us who are alive and remain, we all will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with our Lord.
I'm excited about it today. I rebuke the heresy of Dr. Warnock and all other heresies out there. We rebuke the deceiving spirits, the doctrines of demons.
Well, folks, we're all out of time. I want to thank you for joining me this week. Please come back next week as we continue to encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel. To the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel, and seek first the kingdom of God.
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