The author of Hebrews has made his case. Salvation only comes through faith, faith comes by believing, believing directs your path. By believing in faith in Jesus Christ, you believe that the word of God is faithful and true. If the word of God is faithful and true, then it is the standard by which you chose to live your life. If the scripture says that drunkenness is a sin, then the believing, faithful Christian will not get drunk. If the scripture says that that hate is a sin, then the believing, faithful Christian will love and not hate. If the scripture says to forgive, then the believing, faithful Christian will forgive. it should be our goal to do all that the scripture teaches, we should desire to be follow it and when you fail you in any of it, there should be remorse in your heart because the believing faithful Christian loves God with all heart soul and mind.

The kings of the earth will fall, though they try to obtain it, they will only corrupt it. The kings, the nations, the countries, the cities and everything in them belong to God and things of this world will become subject to God.

As we enter into the seventh woe, or the seventh trumpet, we have come through many judgments. As the seven seals were opened from the scroll, the seventh seal ushers in the seven trumpet judgments, and when we see the blowing of the seventh trumpet there will be seven bowl judgments. WE have come to the midway point of the book of Revelation, it is the climactic event of the coming of Christ, Where the msytery of God will not longer be hidden as we read :

Revelation 10:7 NKJV

7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

The blowing of the seventh trumpet is the beginning of the end to usher in the kingdom of God. Everything is set and now the final stages are about to take place.

Revelation chapter 11 of the apocalyptic prophecy I found to be one of the most difficult chapters to interpret and understand. Even commentators even have a difficult time agreeing on this chapter. The exposition of this chapter I will Express in terms that these are based on actual events, people, and vision, and not figurative or allegorical meanings. In other words, I believe the literature is based on actual meanings, such as the time will be considered actual time, the two witnesses will be considered real people or individuals, three days are an actual three days, the resurrection and ascension are actual events etc…

When you hold back on God you basically tell God that you don’t trust in Him for His provisions and so you only give a portion of your fully offering. The reason many people don’t bring the full offering to God is because they haven’t allowed for it in their personal budget and finances. This is obvious by how you manage your wealth or your money. The reason you don’t have enough money to properly give to God is because your eyes and heart are on the things of the world and not on the things of God and therefor you have spent you money on the worlds wealth and not of heaven. You have spent all your money on credit cards and debt and there is nothing left to give to God so you only give Him a portion of what is left over, if anything, and expect God to bless you and count it as righteousness because you feel you are sacrificing when in reality you’ve spent your money on worldly things rather than on the heavenly things.

If you want to have your offering to God to be counted to you as righteousness, then God has to be first in your offering, your giving, your finances. This is just a biblical principle that goes back to the beginning of time. you give because you believe, in faith, of God’s provisions.

The scene is set, the demons are released, the torment is about to begin for a long five months. Those who are not sealed by God will get the full brunt of this judgment, they will want to die but their life will not be able to escape it. All of the worlds corruption, rejection, and blaspheming of God will be on them in utter and complete torment. But the amazing thing from all of this, as we will see later, they still will not repent and turn back to God. We will continue next week with the description of the scorpion, the type of torment, and the description of the demons.

There is much confusion about the 144,00 mentioned in Revelation and who they are. The bible is clear on this point, for in this passage of scripture alone God holds back the wind until all of the twelve tribes are identified with the inclusion in verse nine of the great multitude that could not be counted. These are all sealed prior to the trumpet judgments which are about to be unleased

God and His attributes do not change. He was then, He is now, and He always will be. God desires that all come to repentance, but there will be those who willing remain unrepentant:

Revelation 9:20 (NIV)

20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood--idols that cannot see or hear or walk.

The opening of the seals is the beginning of God’s wrath and judgment upon the disobedient. The world is on a collision course with dooms day. There is no getting around it. You can almost feel the suffocation of a dying world, a world full of evil, hatred, and rejection of God. As we pay attention to this chapter of revelation, we get a view of future events that are to come, this long awaited time of the tribulation. God has revealed to us through John, these events and warns us of His wrath to come in hopes that people will turn back to Him. It starts with the opening of the scroll that was handed to Christ and as each seal is broken, it reveals to us the succession of things to come. The scroll is sealed with seven seals and it encompasses the entire period until the coming of Christ. The first four seals take up the first half of the tribulation. When we get to the fifth seal, it changes its attention of the persecuted that are under the alter and it bridges the gap between the first and second half of the tribulation. The sixth and seventh seal reveals the second have of the final days.

The world lives in a false faith. Have you ever heard people say to have faith? Have you ever heard a person who doesn’t even believe in God say to have faith? faith in what? The world uses the word faith as though you can poses your own powers, kind of like the power of positive thinking and faith your good fortune into some reality. Just have faith and it will happen, believe and it will come true. There is something about having a positive attitude towards your situation, but it isn’t your attitude that makes things happen, it just helps you by not giving up. A negative attitude certainly can make a person give up, be depressed, and live a defeated life, but a positive attitude doesn’t create faith, it will help a person not to quit.

The writer of Hebrews dedicated an entire chapter to describe what true faith is and gives ample illustrations of those with great faith. The examples of faith that the writer gives us are people that had many difficulties in their life, but their faith in God, knowing that there was a better future promised by God, kept them faithful to God.

As Believers in Christ, you most certainly believe that the bible is a road map to a moral life. To obey the word of God means to abstain from things that God says is immoral. The heart of man seeks to please its own flesh, the desires of the heart, the desire of the flesh are contrary to the desires of God.

The opening of the seals In Revelation six is the beginning of God’s wrath and judgment upon the disobedient, the tribulation. The world is on a collision course with dooms day. There is no getting around it. You can almost feel the suffocation of a dying world, a world full of evil, hatred, and rejection of God. As we pay attention to this chapter of revelation, we get a view of future events that are to come, this long awaited time of the tribulation.

Have you ever wondered why people believe a lie? Why they are so eager to deny the truth and live in a lie? One of the main reasons people do this is because is reduces their anxiety, their worry’s, their problems. Another reason is because they want things to be a certain way and when life's narratives don't’ fit into their life, beliefs, or desires, they will believe a lie to make it fit into their world. It is possible to hear the truth but deny it for self preservation. The problem with this is that the truth will eventually catch up to them and when it does it will be to late to change the affects of the lie. since the beginning of time, people have denied the truth and believed the lie of life, and from the time in the garden the consequences for believing the lie resulted in death.

If your life feels meaningless, if you feel beat down, if you don’t think there is any purpose for your life, then you are not walking in the confidence of God. A person who walks in the confidence of God knows where he is going, understands his purpose, and trusts in the storms of life. When you lose confidence in God, you lose your self confidence and that leads to low self esteem, low view of yourself, an attitude of giving up, and a defeated life. you have no confidence, you have forgotten your first love and are not trusting God with your circumstances.