What does the Apostle John mean when he says the reader of the book of Revelation will be blessed? We will talk about it. Jesus is coming again. We never want to put a date on it. We want to be careful not to be too definitive in terms of dates.
But we are told in Scripture we should know the signs of the times. Luke 21, 11 says there will be an increase of earthquakes and pestilence and tossing of the waves of the sea. Meaning, tsunamis.
So these are birth pains. These are things that are pointing to the end times. But what we see around us in our world is not necessarily the events of Revelation yet. But God wants us to be prepared. God wants us to know some of the signs of the times, to be ready, to be looking, to be eagerly expecting the second coming of Jesus.
Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Pastor Josh Schwartz and Ken Michael, Radio for the Remnant. Brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries, a ministry founded by Jan Markell. In our program, Pastor Josh talks to Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel, Leesburg, Virginia. Pastor Gary just wrote a new book, Standing on the Edge of Eternity, The End Times, According to Revelation. Should the believer study the book of Revelation?
I'm breaking with my tradition here to answer a question about the book of Revelation, which I usually don't do because my basic understanding of Revelation is that a lot of people get in a lot of trouble, including Christians, and we win in the end. I mean, those are the things that I'm really certain about about the book of Revelation. Other than that, there's lots of variation. But the question here is. Um Is the book?
of Revelation or does it describe a literal event? That's the way the question was put to me.
Okay. There's a vagueness in it.
So let me answer it two ways. It does describe a literal event. In the sense that If you take the book of Revelation as a whole to describe the end of the world, where Jesus returns and the problem of evil is solved and the goodness is restored to the world and there's a whole new heavens and new earth, that event is going to happen.
Now, does it happen Literally, the way the words throughout the book of Revelation describe it? And the answer is clearly not. Because there are no dragons that are going to be falling from the sky. There are no lampstands that are going to be put out. There are no bowls of things being tipped out, the bowls of wrath, etc.
This is figurative language to describe something that is literally true.
Now, trying to figure out. What exactly those Figures of speech are describing, that's difficult. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio, the program founded by Jan Markell. I'm Pastor Josh Schwartz, and my co-host, Ken Michael, is traveling, and please remember him in your prayers.
Now this week we will discuss the importance of studying the whole Bible. even the difficult and often neglected book of Revelation. My guest this week has recently released a new book entitled, Standing on the Edge of Eternity, The End Times According to Revelation. You can find that in our online store. Pastor Gary Hamrick, welcome back to the program.
Thanks, Pastor Josh. It's good to be with you again. Likewise.
Now, Gary, for those of our listeners that are not familiar with you or your ministry, can you give us a little bit of a background about how the Lord has called you to ministry and how you're ministering in the here and now? Yes, so 34 years ago now, my wife and I were part of a startup church here in Leesburg, Virginia, called Cornerstone Chapel. The Lord has just done his work, lest we labor in vain. The Lord has built his church. And so we've just been in awe over the last 34 years to see what God has done.
And our church is on the outskirts of the nation's capital here in Northern Virginia and Leesburg, Virginia.
So this is where God has planted us, kind of just on the outskirts of the swamp. And he's given us a lot of opportunities to. To try to make an impact in this part of the world for the glory of God, for the sake of the kingdom. Amen.
Well, praise God for your faithfulness and thank you for standing in these dark days in that very difficult place.
Now, in that clip that we heard previously, we heard Greg Kochol in essence say, To be very careful when reading and interpreting the book of Revelation.
Now, I would agree with that. but he also seemed to imply in the beginning of the clip that he tends to shy away from the book of Revelation.
Now, is that how followers of Jesus should approach the final book of the Bible? It's not, but I tell you what, though, I think that he probably expresses the sentiment of a lot of people. I hear every now and again how overwhelming the book of Revelation is to people. It's pretty daunting. And so, therefore, folks are reluctant to really dive into the book.
That's in part why I wrote this book, Standing on the Edge of Eternity, is because I want to try to take the. the fear of the book of Revelation. How overwhelming it can sometimes be. I wanted to take that out of the equation so that people can really dive into this book because it's an incredible book that the Lord has given us, this revelation of Jesus Christ through the pen of the Apostle John. And so it's just a wonderful book, but many people are not diving into it because they're fearful of it.
It's a lot of information. It's overwhelming. I say to people, sometimes when you read the book of Revelation, it's like drinking out of a fire hose instead of a garden hose. And people just don't want to be overwhelmed by it all.
So yeah, I'm excited about helping people to dive more and more into the book of Revelation. Praise God. And I think it's interesting that you brought that up with the people's hesitancy. Before I worked at Olive Tree Ministries, I was a senior pastor at a small church in western Colorado. And I took on the daunting task of teaching through the book of Revelation.
And this is a very traditional Southern Baptist church. And what's fascinating is the people for the first three or four weeks working through the book, it was almost as though you could hear a pin drop because they just didn't know how to react to it. And it seems like you're getting very similar responses.
Now, why do you think that is?
Well, in part because uh The figurative language that John uses, and Greg referred to that in the opening video. The figurative language can sometimes be confusing for people. I try to tell people: look, you have to remember, John's writing in the first century, and he is seeing way into the future. And so he is trying to describe events, he's trying to describe scenes, he's trying to describe Earth cataclysmic activity using language restricted to the first century.
So I kind of equate it sometimes like if George Washington had been handed a cell phone. How would he describe that? And so, searching for language to describe things. It's very difficult when you're talking about something into the future.
So I think people's reluctance has to do a lot with that. There's a lot of figurative language, but. It is a literal book with literal events that are speaking about the future. And that's why it's important for us to read because God has given us a glimpse into things that are to come. And by and large, with a couple of exceptions, the book of Revelation is all about future events.
And so we need to be ready for what is coming. And God has graciously given us a glimpse into that future. Amen and amen. Praise God for that explanation because it is a book that is encouraging. It's a book that literally reveals God's heart and God's character to those who will read it.
So with that in mind, as you've studied and taught and written a book now on the book of Revelation, what would you say that the book has revealed to you about God's faithfulness or his character? What stood out the most? You know, that's a great question. God is a God of order, and God is a God of detail. As I was going through Revelation, you know, putting things together for a book, it forced me to look at the details.
And just how Very detailed, God is about this whole thing. It's not like some whimsical idea of. Of, oh, Jesus is coming again, and the earth is going to get really dark before he returns, and then there's a new heaven, a new earth. It's not a generic story. It's a very specific story with great details.
And so the more I dug through it, The more I realize the richness of the details that God has given us so that we can be ready.
Now, again, sometimes the fault of the church is that we look at the details and we try to interpret every single thing through every single detail. And sometimes, again, we have to just pull back a little bit and realize that some of the language is figurative, describing literal events. And so there can be too much human interpretation.
Well, this must mean this and this must mean that. And that's fine for discussion. That's fine for gentle debate, but we can't get stuck in the weeds. We have to see the overarching purpose. God is giving us a glimpse into the future because He wants to wake up an unbelieving world.
Because he wants to shake up the nation of Israel, because he loves the Jewish people, he's not done with them, and because he wants to ultimately make up the kingdom of God.
So by the time you get to the end of Revelation, the kingdom of God, in terms of of who belongs to it. forever and ever and who will not forever and ever It's all settled. And so, really, those are the three reasons why we see the book of Revelation given to us: it's to wake up unbelievers, it's to shake up the nation of Israel, and it's to make up. The body of Christ for the ultimate eternal reward with the Lord. I love it.
That is a great way to break it down. And it's exactly what it does. When you study what God is saying, I love the subtitle of the book, The End Times, according to the book of Revelation. When you study it the way that God has written it to us, we are awoken and we are seeing the absolute love of God for the nation of Israel. And we understand that there is right and wrong, there is heaven and there is hell.
And God is the one ultimately that lays all of that out for us.
So thank you so much for putting that so clearly. Yeah, thank you. My good friend, who's now gone to be with the Lord, Dr. Ed Heinson. I loved what he would always say about Revelation.
He said, God has given us the book of Revelation. To prepare us, not to scare us. And that's the bottom line. Amen.
Amen.
Now, Pastor Gary, the book of Revelation opens very, very personally. Let me just read the first three verses here, and then I'll ask you a quick question. John writes, Revelation chapter 1, verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John. who bore witness to the word of god and to the testimony of jesus christ even to all that he, that is John, saw.
Now verse 3 says this. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it. For the time is near. We get three verses in, and John promises as he's revealing this from God that by reading, Hearing and keeping these words, you will be blessed. What does John mean by that?
Yeah, it's the book begins with a blessing. And if you don't mind, Josh, I'm going to read the end of the book too, because in Revelation 22. And verse 25, It says, Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. The book of Revelation begins with a blessing, and the book of Revelation ends with a blessing. And there are actually a total of seven.
Blessings throughout the book of Revelation, and it's kind of known as the Beatitudes of Revelation. And you read the first one, I read the last one, and there are five others in between. And basically, what John is saying at the beginning of this book is: you read it, you obey it. There is an intrinsic blessing for all those who heed the words of the book of Revelation. Because in the book of Revelation, besides talking about future events, It gives us an idea and an understanding of the character of God.
That he is just, that he is mighty, that he is holy, that he is majestic.
So many other words we could use to describe him. And that he wants us to walk in holiness as his children. He wants us to walk in obedience. And the book of Revelation had better awakened people to realize. God is a just and a holy God.
He's a loving Father. But you see in Revelation, His wrath is being poured out upon a God-forsaken, Christ-rejecting world. The church is going to be rescued. We're going to be raptured before all that. God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
However, this should make every Christian aware of how awesome God is, how mighty and powerful He is, and to obey Him and to walk humbly before Him. And when we do, There's a blessing attached.
So every time I teach through Revelation, I say to the congregation, look, as I read it, I get blessed teaching it. As you hear it and do what it says, you get blessed in the process too. There's just an intrinsic blessing in reading and doing what Revelation says. Amen.
Now, let's just take that one step further. And how have you just tangibly been blessed by reading, teaching, and now writing on the book of Revelation?
Well, it has just reminded me of the heart of God. The more I've studied through Revelation, I've gone from, look, I have to give you a little background. I got saved when I was 15, and early into my Christian life, I latched on to Hal Lindsay's books, like The Great Lake, Planet Earth, There's a New World Coming. And my first initial introduction to Revelation and things about the end times was it pretty much terrorized me. You know, I remember growing up too watching the the early cheesy films.
I think it was called Thief in the Night, and it even had some pretty spooky music with it. And so, my initial approach to Revelation-not that Hal Lindsay made me afraid, but just the awareness of the second coming of Christ, the Antichrist, the tribulation period, the rapture-all of it just kind of instilled fear in me.
So, the older I've gotten in Christ, and the older I've gotten biologically, I suppose, too. As I've studied Revelation, It's gone from fear to anticipation. It's gone from My early years as a young Christian, thinking about all these cataclysmic things that are coming upon the earth, to a place of just really being settled in who the Lord is, that He's got all this. God's got it. I can trust him and I can be ready for his imminent return.
So now there's a sense of anticipation instead of a sense of anxiety. And that's been the biggest thing, just going through Revelation now and writing this book, just anticipating the glorious return of Christ and what the future is going to be for all of us who love the Lord. Praise God. That is so important because I do believe that, like you and like me, many people approach the book of Revelation with fear and trembling. And I think that's wise at times to recognize that the grandeur of it, that there is judgment that's coming.
But to turn that fear to an anticipation through the shed blood of Jesus, it's just amazing.
So, friends, if you're hearing this, listening to this, I would encourage you. To not be afraid of what's going to take place, but trust in Jesus and understand that you can have this anticipation that you. Through the shed blood of Jesus, through your faith in Him, can receive eternal life and experience the good that the book of Revelation talks about, not only in the Millennial Kingdom, but also in the Eternal State, chapters 19 through 22.
Now, Pastor Gary, as we transition, I want to zone in on one aspect that I think is, for some reason or another, ignored very often in the church, specifically when dealing with the book of Revelation, and that's the millennial kingdom.
So if you would, listen to this clip and then we'll get your thoughts. What about the millennium? Multitudes today hold to the belief that there will be a thousand years semi-golden age following. the second appearing of Jesus Christ. As such, They suppose that they will be resurrected in glorified bodies to once again experience a fallen world, and that for a thousand years.
First. We should note that Though Jesus spoke repeatedly of the resurrection of the dead, he did not so much as hint at the notion of a thousand-year semi-golden age replete with rebuilt temple. and reinstitute sacrifices. Instead, He said, Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be eternally condemned. Moreover, when Jesus spoke with Martha concerning the resurrection of her brother, Jesus reaffirmed that Lazarus would He resurrected on the last day, not prior to a thousand-year semi-golden age.
Furthermore. Nothing in Scripture suggests that those who have fallen asleep in Christ will return to a fallen earth replete with fallen human beings. The scriptural promise that gave my father peace as he faced a terminal condition in 1997 was that he would return to a restored universe in which there It is no more death. Or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. As the Apostle John made plain, Nothing impure will ever enter the New Jerusalem, nor will any one who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written.
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Finally, The number one thousand is invariably used figuratively. God increased the number of the Israelites a thousand times. God is keeping his covenant of love. to a thousand generations.
God owns the cattle. on a thousand hills. Better is one day in God's court than a thousand elsewhere. The least of Zion will become a thousand, the smallest A mighty nation. God shows.
Love. to a thousand generations. and a thousand more examples could easily be added to the list. Of course, I'm speaking metaphorically. In context of the seven-year tribulation of Revelation.
Mirroring the seven year tribulation under the Old Testament Antichrist Antiochus the Fourth Epiphanies. The Apostle John wanted his hearers to have an eternal perspective. Satan will be bound forever a thousand years, and those who have not taken his mark will rule forever a thousand years. As such Satan's defeat is complete. Just as the victory and vindication of Jesus's followers is also complete.
You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. Founded by Jan Markell. I'm Pastor Josh Schwartz.
Now don't forget, we have a very active online store at olivetreeviews.org. We add new products regularly, and this month we are featuring Standing on the Edge of Eternity by our guest, Gary Hamrick, of Cornerstone Chapel, Leesburg, Virginia.
Now, Pastor Gary, in that clip, there was a lot to dig into. That was Hank Hanograph. And he obviously does not believe in a literal thousand-year millennial kingdom. Why do you think that there are so many different views on the millennium? You know, it's interesting.
I'm discipling a young man, and he asked me this very question. He said, You know, which one can I trust? Yeah. You know, there are a few different views of the millennium. You have a millennialism, which is basically it's all symbolic.
That it's not to be understood and interpreted literally the thousand years. One of the biggest problems with the amillennial view is that they believe that Satan is bound. like currently and like just Look around you. Satan is not bound. This is not the millennial kingdom.
The post-millennial view is the idea that Jesus comes back at the end of a thousand years, but it's not even a literal thousand years. They describe it as a golden age. It's kind of interesting because right now, even in politics, that term is being thrown around. We're in the golden age. But the idea of post-millennial is that Jesus comes back at the end of this.
Golden age where the church just gets better and better and better, Christianity becomes more prevalent all around the world. The problem with that is that the Bible tells us pretty clearly in a few different places, like 1 Timothy 4:1, Matthew 24:10, that there's a great apostasy that happens at the end of the age.
So we don't head into a golden age and then Christ returns. Hank Hanegraaff, there are others who do not interpret the Bible as a literal book. Sure. They interpret it primarily as a symbolic book. Or an historical book.
In other words, they look at some of the elements and they say, well, the Antichrist was Nero. And the persecution of the early church is what the tribulation was referring to.
So they either look at it in an historical lens or they look at it through a symbolic lens. But the truth is, I'm convinced we should read the book of Revelation through a literal slash futuristic lens. that these are the things that are going to come. And it's interesting in that clip, you know, he said a thousand years is. Is figurative for things, but I mean, I.
Look, let me just read to you Revelation chapter 20, verse. Six, here's one of these other beatitudes: a blessing. It says, Blessed and holy is he. who has part of the first resurrection, over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. It's talking about the saints who return with the Lord after the tribulation to establish the millennial kingdom, and that we as saints who come back with him will rule and reign with him for that thousand years.
It's a literal book. It's a literal thousand years. And it's... To me, when people start saying that all this stuff is symbolic, they reduce the meaning of the message. Again, there's a difference between...
Um that figurative language to describe literal things. But people who hold to a symbolic interpretation of the book of Revelation are gonna miss the literal aspect of what he's saying here. And he's saying saints are gonna rule and reign with Jesus for 1,000 years. That's the millennial reign. That's the millennial kingdom.
So that's what we hold to: a pre-millennial view that Jesus comes back before the millennial kingdom. Comes back at the end of the tribulation, culminating in the Battle of Armageddon. And then Jesus settles that and establishes his throne for a thousand years in Jerusalem. The new heaven and the new earth is after that.
So it's just because we interpret a literal view of the book of Revelation, and guys like Hank Hanograph don't. And there's so much that I want to touch on, but time is failing us as it always does. But Pastor Gary, I always teach, and I'm sure that you teach something similar, that if you're going to symbologize Genesis or the book of Revelation, you're going to do that to every other passage of scripture in between. You're ultimately going to fade towards all of it being figurative or all of it being symbolic. And it is a dangerous, dangerous thing to say.
And so, friends that are listening, we have to understand your hermeneutic, the way that you interpret the Bible. is deeply important and we must be consistent with that.
Now, one last question, Pastor Gary, is this. Why do you think? When we have so much blessing coming to us with a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth with his saints. Why do you think so many people either ignore or are ignorant of that beautiful hope? hope of time that we get to have with Jesus ruling and reigning.
I guess it's because they are seeing it as a symbolic thing instead of a literal event. But when you look at what will literally be happening during the Millennial Kingdom, I mean, it's not quite heaven on earth. That's the new Jerusalem. But it's gonna be much better than the current situation is. I mean, think about it.
You're gonna have Jesus ruling and reigning as the supreme king over all the earth from Jerusalem. There's no more presidents, prime ministers, dictators. He is the one ruler. And Satan is bound for that thousand years.
So there will still be people on earth who have fleshly instincts. It's not like there won't be any sin. But I mean, to consider what the world will be like when King Jesus is ruling and reigning. I mean, it's just going to be amazing, and why people aren't looking forward to that, or why they think that's only a symbolic thing. Is beyond me, but I'm either going to be.
Because I believe that the imminent return of Jesus could be at any point, I suspect those of us who are here now will be raptured, or I'm going to die and go to be with the Lord and come back again with Him to rule and reign and to serve Him in whatever capacity. I'm looking forward to it myself. Welcome to the extended version of Understanding the Times Radio. We will continue our conversation with Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia.
Now, Pastor Gary, what I would like to do is play a quick video and then get your response. Finally, before we let you go, President Trump taking decisive action against radical American flag burners with a new executive order. Take a listen. When you burn the American flag, it incites riots. at levels that we've never seen before.
People go crazy. In a way, both ways. There are some that are going crazy for doing it. There are others that are angry. Angry about them doing it.
And what the penalty is going to be: if you burn a flag, you get one year in jail. No early exits, no nothing. You get one year in jail. Anna, this move is getting a lot of pushback from conservatives, the people who want Donald Trump in office, who love basically every single one of his policies, but they don't like this. They argue that this violates the First Amendment and they are staunch proponents of the First Amendment.
To be clear, though, this only applies, this executive order only applies when the flag is burned in an effort to incite violence. Is that correct, Anna? That is correct. And there's two parts of this. Of course, the part we all agree on is that the American flag is the most treasured symbol in our country.
It not only represents our country as a whole, it represents those who fought, served, bled, died for our country. And so, of course, this is an incredibly special symbol that we have to protect. But beyond that, to your point, yes, the First Amendment does not protect inciting violence. And so what that specific executive order does, it makes sure that crimes that are related to burning the American flag, like starting a riot, inciting violence, are fully prosecuted. This is common sense.
This president wants to ensure that crimes that Incite violence that make people less safe, including ones related to the burning the American flag, are prosecuted. And that's what you're seeing with this surge in DC. We're going to make sure that criminals are behind bars, that we are ending dangerous policies like cashless bail that make people less safe. And we're going to hopefully bring that all across the country. Anna, it's a key clarification.
Thank you for giving it to us this morning. Anna, Kelly, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.
Now, Pastor Gary. You live near the Washington, DC area. How are things going with President Trump cleaning up DC and their surrounding areas? I can tell you from just different news reports that I've seen, I haven't personally asked people on the street, but I can tell you people are talking about how they feel safer in Washington, D.C., how they feel safer riding the subways, how they feel safer walking to their cars at night.
So I think it is welcomed, but I think also people are a little concerned about. how long the National Guard will be in place. Is this a temporary thing? Is this going to be permanent? But I mean, it's a great deterrent to crime when you see National Guardsmen walking the streets of Washington, D.C.
Um and the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, just uh issued Um the allowance of them to carry weapons now. I mean, peace and safety, law and order. People elected Donald Trump on that platform in part about peace and safety, law and order.
So, this shouldn't surprise us. He's fulfilling a campaign promise. I welcome it, but I would hate to think that the United States becomes so violent that this is an ongoing necessity. I personally hope that this is just a temporary fix for what will be a longer Um Result of violence and murder declining across the cities because of. of this uh temporary National Guard presence.
Yeah, I think that that's a great answer. That there should be law and order in place. And we, as a nation, should have a government that's doing as governments are to do, as the Bible tells us all throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And so I agree. I think this should be a temporary thing.
But until law and order is installed, I think you have to take drastic measures at times. Yeah, and what does the Bible say too? That government doesn't bear the sword for nothing, right? I mean, government is supposed to bring law and order.
So that's in part what the president's doing right now. Amen.
So in the clip that we heard previously, This is talking specifically about an executive order that President Trump has recently signed. In essence, Not necessarily banning the burning of the American flag, but bringing consequences to burning the American flag in a riotous way.
So If someone burns the American flag and ensues a riot because of it or with riotous intentions, they can face up to one year in jail. And we know that the Supreme Court has dealt with this multiple times in years previous. In your estimation, will this stand or is it a violation of the First Amendment? I wouldn't be surprised if it does stand now because I think the makeup of the Supreme Court is different from what it was when the Supreme Court weighed on this in years past. But to me, Josh, it just seems to me like we're just trying to protect.
treasured Um Emblem of the United States of America. And I don't think it's really any different than if you remember a few years ago during riots in major metropolitan cities, one of which was Washington, D.C. You had all these different monuments being defaced, spray painted, and torn down. And there was a federal law. That Trump at that time imposed to protect the monuments, the federal monuments on federal property.
And I think the penalty was like 10 years in prison. And all of a sudden, people stopped defacing national monuments and they stopped trying to rip them down. And so I don't see that as any different. Shouldn't we have a law that protects? A national monument, if you will, a symbol, an emblem of the United States of America.
So I personally don't have a problem with this. I'm not sure why conservatives are so up in arms, like this is a violation of the First Amendment. Don't we want to protect Federal monuments, and don't we want to protect the flag that is an emblem of the United States of America?
So, I'd like to see this enforced personally. Yeah, it's law and order, nationalism, and patriotism. These are the things that our country has been founded on, these are the things that have prevailed for hundreds of years in America, and I think it needs to be a consistent thing going forward.
Now, Pastor Gary. One last question. as followers of Jesus. How are we to be the best citizens that we can be in the nation in which we reside?
Well, I think of two things. One is As long as a law does not violate the higher order of God's law, we should be the best citizens obeying the laws of the land, setting an example in that way that we respect authority. Again, as long as the law does not conflict with the higher standard of God's law, because we have to always defer to God's law above everything else. But I think we should be good citizens. I think we should set the example and we should respect authority.
And then the other thing that comes to my mind, of course, as a pastor, is going to be 1 Timothy 2:1, that we should pray for kings and all those in authority that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. Being good citizens and then praying for all of our elected leaders. I mean, I don't know how we can expect to live in a country. where we want to enjoy the freedoms that we do. without praying for the men and women in elected office, whether we voted for them or not.
God can still use them, whether they know Jesus or not. God can still use them. And so we need to be good citizens who also pray for our elected leaders on a regular basis that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. Praise God. Well, Pastor Gary Hamrick, it's been great to have you today for this program.
How can our viewers connect with your ministry? They can go to our website at cornerstone chapel.net. Cornerstonechapel.net. All our resources are there. And they can check us out there.
We also have YouTube channels and Instagram. We do the whole social media thing with Facebook as well.
So they can just Google us and find us there at Cornerstone Chapel, Leesburg, Virginia.
Well, thank you so much for your faithfulness. Thank you for standing firm in these dark days and proclaiming the truth of God's word from Genesis to Revelation. It gives us a path, a guide, a light unto the way that we are to live if we are followers of Jesus.
So thank you so much for our time together. Thank you, Pastor Josh. Appreciate it.
Well, friends, it was a great discussion with Pastor Gary. And I just want to point your attention to a quick section of scripture. It's found in 1 Peter chapter 2, beginning in verse 11. This is Peter's solemn exhortation to followers of Jesus who live in chaotic times, chaotic nations, and even lawless nations. He says this, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject, verse 13, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. And here is the commendation. He says: Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Friends, these are commands from the Apostle Peter of how to live in a chaotic world, how to live in a chaotic, lawless nation.
Friends, we are to be the best citizens in the nation in which we live because we honor Jesus. We answer to God, the creator of all things, and we want to image him to all people.
So, the question is: this: Is that what you're doing? Is that how your interaction on social media or even in your friend groups or at work, and even at church? Is that what you're imaging? Are you imaging Christ and being a good citizen, an honorable person who honors everyone, who fears God, who even honors the emperor or the president or the governing system? Friend, if you proclaim the name of Jesus, you are to be very, very wise and discerning in the things you say and the way you act.
Because Jesus matters and eternal souls are at stake.
So I would beg you. To be very careful with how you interact with different people and even how you type. It has been a privilege to serve our listening audience for over 25 years. But today marks our final radio broadcast. Olive Tree Ministries began on air in 2000.
We will remain a very active ministry. You can follow us daily online. at olivetreeviews.org. That is olivetreeviews.org. We will continue our social media, our our various newsletters, daily headlines, and more.
Most of all, we thank you for your prayerful and financial support of Understanding the Times radio. Write us at Olive Tree Ministries and Jan Markell, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That is Olive Tree Ministries, box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota. Mm-hmm. All gifts remain tax-deductible.
It has been a remarkable journey you made possible as together we have watched all things fall into place.
So There we go. Be unto your name Be unto your name.
