All right, let's look at this picture. So just a quick review before we get started. This is the first bowl. So what does the first bowl fall under? People who had the number of the beast. And I don't know why that picture is of an Asian. It's an Asian.

Okay. And then what's that one on? What happens to the second bowl? The waters, all the waters, right? They turn to blood. And then the third one? The rivers and springs, the fresh water turns to blood. What's that one? Sun, right? The fourth one falls in the sun and then torches the people.

And what's that one? Huh? Right, falls on the beast and its kingdom, right? And then here? Right? Okay. So there's a huge earthquake that takes place and it dries up the river Euphrates. And then what's that one? What is that? Yeah, the gigantic hill. How many pounds? We're done.

That's it. That's what I was saying. All right, let me pray first. We'll jump in. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you again for sustaining us, for loving us. We pray that each word, each passage we study, that it would cause us to be sober, that it's not just intriguing things that we are studying, but your ordained history, Father God, that we're looking at.

So we pray, Father God, that you would continue to mold our hearts and our thoughts and our lives according to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, so the first thing I ask you to do is to compare with the three different judgments. So if you look at the general judgments of the three judgments, what's the first one?

The seal judgments, right? And so each one of the seal is being opened up, and at the beginning of the seal judgments, what do you see? The four horsemen, right? And each one of them representing different judgments of God. But the seal judgment primarily is an introduction where the Lamb of God, remember it begins with people are crying because there's no one worthy to open up the scroll, and then the Lamb of God shows up, and because of his righteousness and sacrifice, that he's able to open up the scroll.

And so one by one, the scrolls are being opened up, and that's the judgment. So the first seven seal judgments is the initiation of the judgment, right? And then we have the second set, the trumpet judgment. Remember we talked about that? What does the trumpet represent? Like warning, right?

So when you're in the army, or if you're in the context of battle, or maybe if you were wandering in the desert, you don't blow a trumpet before somebody goes to sleep. You blow the trumpet to wake people up, right? So the trumpet judgments, each one of them is kind of serves as a warning to the world that the real judgment is what?

The bold judgments, right? So each one of the seven trumpet judgments is kind of a preparation to kind of sober people up and saying, "This is coming," so that it wouldn't catch you off guard, at least for the Christians. So there's the seven judgments of the trumpets to prepare, and then the final bold judgment, how would you describe the bold judgment?

The wrath, right? They were all wrath of God, but the bold judgments are the final, complete. So all of the other things were warning that it was coming, and then finally it has come, right? So remember in the previous passages where there's promises are made that he's no longer going to delay, meaning that the final judgment is going to come, the end is coming.

And so the bold judgment is the beginning of the very, very end, okay? So when we were to compare, there are many similarities, and I'm not going to go through all of them, but one of the things I hope you noticed between the, specifically between the trumpet and the bold judgments, that in each one of the judgments, and I have a chart for this later on, but where you see the plagues are thrust upon the earth, sea, fresh waters, and heavenly beings.

Actually, so let me just show this. Can you see that? Is it too small? Okay, I couldn't, because I cut and pasted it, I couldn't make it any bigger. So hopefully you guys can see it. So if you notice here the similarities, right? Third of the sea life destroyed, all sea life destroyed.

Third of fresh water poisoned, all water poisoned. Third of the sun, moon, stars, scorching sun. So if you look at, again, the demonic locusts, the darkness falling upon the demonic world, so you'll see very similar things, the Euphrates, the river. And so you see a parallel between the judgment of the trumpets and then the judgment of the bolds, right?

And so that's the similarity, but what are the differences? And we're going to highlight some of the differences. That's what I forgot to do today. I forgot to black out all this stuff. You're just going to have to figure it out, okay? So as you're reading it, you're going to have to do a little bit more work.

I knew I forgot something. I had all this time left over. Okay, so as you're reading it, you see the blanks, just fill it in. So the trumpet plagues are partial in that it only affects one third of the earth, right? So the bold judgment affects is universal, right?

And that's why, remember I asked you last week, when you look at the, look and compare, the bold judgments are very short verses. In fact, it just kind of states in some of the judgments are literally one sentence and then it just kind of moves on. And so when you look at the length of the passage, it seems like it's not that significant until you actually start reading what it says.

And if you read the content of what it says, the trumpet judgments were actually much longer. It lasts, I think, a couple chapters, but here it's not even a full chapter, right? They're just smaller sections of it, but in the trumpet judgment, it was a third where this judgment is complete and full.

The trumpet judgments function in part as a warning of repentance. Remember, that's what the trumpet was for. And at the end of it, it's almost kind of like, you know, the third is being judged, but the two thirds are given opportunity to repent where the bold judgments is final, right?

If you remember at the end of chapter 16, he says it is finished, it's complete. So the purpose of the bold judgment is just judgment, that God's promise judgment is going to come and everything else up to this point, there's an opportunity to repent, right? But it's complete. The trumpet judgments affected people indirectly.

So the judgments were coming. So let's say if, you know, the rivers would turn dark or whatever, as a side effect that people would be affected by it. But the bold judgment, it says the judgment is directly upon people, is targeted toward people. So you can kind of see just in reference how the trumpet and the seal judgments, as severe as they were, it was to kind of keep people sober.

So if you're a Christian, you've been paying attention to all of this stuff. And if, again, if we happen to be in the tribulation and we are seeing all of this stuff, it is an opportunity to be sober and to repent and bring people to repentance. You would assume that when the tribulation starts, and if the church is here, there would also be a great revival that breaks out, that the church is going to be purified, there's going to be greater sense of evangelism in the midst of all of this, right?

Which is kind of like what's going on in Iran right now, with the intense persecution happening in the Middle East. There are constant stories that are coming out that the percentage of Christians, Muslims, who are converting to Christianity is greater than they've ever seen it in modern history. And so in the context of severe persecution, revival is also breaking out over there in the Middle East.

And so that's what we would assume is happening, up to the trumpet judgment. But when the bowl judgment comes, it's just judgment, right? So let's jump into each of these. The first bowl judgment, the judgment is directly targeted at the people who have the mark of the beast and worship his name.

That's where the Asian lady comes in, in that picture, right? So it's specifically targeted to those who have compromised and they have received the mark of the beast. And judgment is coming directly upon them. So the first judgment is a direct attack upon them. They will be judged with harmful and painful sores.

For the sake of time, because we have seven judgments, I'm not going to go to these passages, but in chapter 14, 9 through 11, we also see that. And Zechariah 14, 12 also has a prophecy that at the end time, God was going to bring sores and God's going to bring judgment through sores.

So again, this is not unique to revelation. God has left imprints of his final bowl judgments all throughout scripture. And we're going to see that. I'm not going to go to it, but I'm just going to give you references to it. But the sores will not affect the believers, right?

The judgment is coming and it's specifically targeted, these plagues are specifically targeted to the people who have the mark of the beast. What was interesting is one of the commentators, you know, the way they worded it was those who have the mark of the beast at the final judgment will eventually have the mark of God's judgment on them.

And that's what's happening on the first bowl. The second bowl judgment, the judgment is poured directly into the sea. It turned like the blood of a corpse and every living thing in the sea died as a result. So what's a blood of a corpse? It's coagulated blood, means the whole body of water is going to become completely useless, right?

This coagulated blood, you're not going to be able to sail in it and nothing is going to be able to live in it at all, right? And so, and it is universal, it's complete. It doesn't say it's targeting a specific area. All of the body of water is going to turn like dead man's blood, right?

So this judgment is similar to the first plague that we see in Egypt and the second trumpet judgment in chapter 8, 8 through 9. And this will be worldwide universal judgment. Since the earth is covered by 70% of the world with water, it basically means if 70% of the body of water turns to coagulated blood, this is universal.

It's going to affect everybody who's living at this time, right? So it's a universal judgment. And this is part of the reason why pre-trip people believe in pre-trip because of the extent of this judgment, how the argument is the church can't be living through this, okay? That's the pre-trip.

So if you want to argue with me about pre-trip, you know, cite this. The third bowl judgment, verses 4 through 7, the judgment is poured into the rivers and springs of water, right? So where before was the body of the ocean and then now it's the freshwater. It says they became blood.

The third trumpet judgment resulted in poisoning of one third of the world's freshwater, but now it will be completely destroyed, right? So think about that. If freshwater is destroyed, right, and you can't use it, and the whole ocean water becomes coagulated, what happens to the people? Well, supposedly, I don't know how long you can live without food, but I hear somewhere around four, four weeks or something like that, okay?

That's if you're very healthy, but you can't live without water for more than what, four days? Okay, am I just making this up? You guys probably know better than I do, but, you know, water is not just important, it's essential. So the fact that there is no water that you're going to be able to drink means, again, that the survival rate is going to be very, very low, right?

So this judgment, again, when you just read the length of it and you say, "Oh, you know, water turns," this sounds very similar to what we saw in Egypt, it sounds very similar to the trumpet judgment, but when you actually look at the details of what it is saying, it is much more severe than anything that we've seen up to this point, right?

Similar language, but the extent and the degree is much more severe. This is the same judgment that happened to the Nile River in Egypt, or at least the turning of the blood. And then the angel that carried out the judgment on the water breaks out into praise for God's righteous judgment.

So let's look at verse 16. At verse 4, "The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel charge of the water say, 'Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.

For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve.'" Typically, when you think of praising and worship, it usually happens when there's deliverance or blessing from God. But here, the angel comes out and he breaks out into singing because of the judgment of God.

And even in the context of God pouring out his judgment, it's an illustration of his glory. So worship isn't just when what we perceive to be good is happening, but even when God is pouring out his wrath, the angel breaks out in singing. The reason given for their specific judgment was the persecution of his children, killing of God's children.

In other words, it was retribution for harming God's children. As they spilled the blood of martyrs, they will be given blood to drink for their punishment. So we don't know if this is going to be a literal thing where, you know, the rivers that they bloodied with the blood of martyrs, and that's the only water that they're going to have to drink.

They're going to have to drink the blood of the martyrs. And that was the judgment that God's going to bring upon the end. And then it talks about how the altar also breaks out into singing, and the altar is symbolic of the martyrs. Do you remember where they come out?

Remember Revelation chapter 6, 9, where the martyrs are under the altar praising, and then they are not praising, but they were praying to God, "How long, O Lord?" How long, O Lord? And God responds to that in judgment, that those who martyr them are also going to be the first recipients of God's wrath.

So again, as I mentioned last week and even on the pulpit on Sunday, that in the context of just utter devastation, God is still being worshipped. Worship is still taking place. Because ultimately, why is the judgment coming in the first place? Because they refuse to honor and worship God.

So in the context of this judgment, heavens and the angels, the elders, the beasts, they're all in constant worship of God against those who refuse to worship Him. So the worship of the angels is in contrast to those who are receiving the judgment. The fourth bowl judgment, unlike the fourth trumpet that produced third of the sun, moon and the stars darkened in the fourth, fourth bowl poured out on the sun is followed by intense heat to scorch people with fire.

So everything that God has given to the world to sustain life is one by one being taken out. So let me say it again. When God created the world, He created one by one for six days everything that man needs in order to survive. So He created vegetation, the animal, the air, the light, the day.

So He creates all of these things and then when God has made enough to sustain life, then He creates man. If you look at the judgment, God is slowly taking one by one away everything that we need as a necessity to sustain life, He's taking it away. And we say it all the time how it is only by the grace of God that we're able to breathe and move and have our being.

God is allowing us to live because He's allowing us to have enough oxygen. He's allowing the sun to stay at a distance and provide the sun to sustain life. He's allowing the water so that we can drink and sustain life. So all of these things are necessities that we need for sustaining life.

But when God's judgment comes, He's basically taking away every little thing that is required for us to live, that God put there. So if you refuse to worship me, if you refuse to submit to me, I'm going to let you go and try to live on your own. So basically that's what's happening.

The judgment is coming one by one. He's taking away everything that they need to sustain life. Though they understood that the judgment was coming from God, instead of repenting, and this phrase is repeated three separate times in this section, they curse the name of God and refuse to repent and give glory to Him.

And that's exactly what it says in Romans 121. The reason why the wrath of God is being revealed is because although everything God needed to show was very plain to them in creation, they refuse to honor God and give glory to God. And so here, you would think, at least from our perspective, that one thing, if disaster came and you don't understand where the disaster came from, but here it says it's clear and they're going to know that it was from God.

They're going to know that judgment is coming from God. But instead of repenting, they turn and shake their fist at God, right? And they curse Him. And each one, as it gets more and more intense, instead of softening their heart in repentance, and even now if they would repent, God would forgive their sins, right?

But they refuse. And the whole reason why they're here in the first place is because they hardened their heart, they hardened their heart, and they hardened their heart. And then when the final judgment came, it's so hardened that even at the verge of eternal hell, they're cursing God, right?

So there is not a single person who's going to be entering into hell who has any hint of repentance in them, right? Every single one of them are going to be cursing God as they go, right? At least that's the picture that we see. We're not seeing a group of people who are begging God for mercy and God says, "Enough.

You know, I've given you enough time to repent and it's too late," right? That's not what we see. Every single soul that is condemned, as they are entering into hell, are going to be shaking their fist at God and curse you. That's basically what we're seeing. The fifth bowl judgment.

The judgment is directed toward the throne of the beast. And as a result of this, his kingdom will be darkened. Maybe spiritually it's going to be darkened. Maybe it's going to fall into depravity and they're going to end up hurting each other. Not sure. Maybe God's going to withhold his peace, right?

And allow sin to just have his full reign. And then there's going to be wars back and forth. There's nothing holding them back, right? They're going to fall into darkness. Even as the people of the world are gnawing their teeth in anguish, instead of repenting, again, they say they curse God for their suffering and did not repent of their deeds to the very end.

And it's always interesting to me when tragedy hits people's lives, why some people grow in their faith and some people turn away from God. And I can never predict, right? For sure, we've seen people where suffering comes into their life and as a result of that, they're sanctified and they end up running to God.

And then you see a bunch of people who say, "I'll never go to church because God did this to me." Or it may not even be them. They saw suffering in somewhere else and said, "Well, if God's going to do that, I'm not going to worship him." And they curse God, right?

So the same grace, same love, same wrath falls upon everybody and yet some repent and some shake their fist at God, right? So to the very bitter end, those who are under condemnation, they're condemned because they refuse, right? Not because they weren't given the opportunity, right? They had every opportunity but to the bitter end, they refuse to relent, right?

The sixth bowl judgment, this judgment is poured out on the River Euphrates and dried it up to prepare for the coming of the kings from the east. Now there's, depending on different commentaries, they'll tell you different things but I think what made most sense to me is that the River Euphrates is mentioned before.

This judgment is poured out on the River Euphrates and dried it to prepare the coming of the kings of the ages and then the Euphrates formed the eastern border of the land of Israel. So the dried bed of Euphrates will allow the armies from the east to cross into current Palestinian territories.

So in other words, it's allowing, if you look at it again, if you were to look at the current atmosphere now, what's at the east of Jerusalem? What's on the east of Jerusalem? The whole Middle East, right? Iraq, Iran, Syria, I mean all the Middle East countries that want to see Israel wiped out, right?

So when the River Euphrates dries up, they're able to cross and basically they're gearing up for battle. That's the picture that we're seeing here, right? So the bold judgment comes, the earthquake hits, is it an earthquake yet? No, no, the Euphrates, it dries up and then it says they prepare for battle, right?

Oops. So remember chapter 12 and 13, you have the dragon, who's the dragon? Satan. And then you have the beast, number one, Antichrist. And then the third beast is, yeah, second beast is the false prophet. And so you see the same trio that shows up here, right? The three that mimic the Trinity in chapter 12 and 13, they reappear at the very end.

And it says the mouths of each of the dragons, beasts, and the false prophets signifying their lying work to deceive the kings and their kingdoms for the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty, which is what we commonly call the Armageddon, right? Armageddon is the final battle where Satan, Antichrist, the false prophets are going to put all their effort, all into it.

The river Euphrates dries up, they prepare an army to come into the great city, right? Which is Jerusalem. Again, if you read different commentaries, they might have different interpretation, but typically if you're a pre-trip or post-trip, pre-millennial view, this is the view. Again, so if you didn't understand anything I said, don't worry about it, okay?

So it's interesting, this is picturing a battle at the end where Israel is going to be attacked from all sides, right? They're going to come in and they're going to come in and it's not a triumph of victory where the Euphrates dries up and then Satan, the Antichrist, bolsters up the different nations and then they come in to attack.

And that's where Armageddon happens and that's what we're going to read about in chapter 17 and 18, where the final battle takes place and then the judgment against Satan and his kingdom is finally going to happen, right? And then they're going to be bound. So chapter 16 is the bold judgments that is going to initiate the Armageddon, right?

And Armageddon, how many of you heard the term Armageddon before? Okay. How many of you who heard it before came from a Presbyterian church? Okay, only one, all right. So typically you're not going to hear that in a Presbyterian church, okay. But again, that's what the Armageddon is. Armageddon is the final battle where Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years.

And so all of this is a setup for all of that, okay? And it says, "From their mouths came unclean spirits of frogs." And the reason why the frogs, the frogs were commonly understood as vile and unclean, right? In other words, these three satanic trio are going to put all their efforts to lie and to deceive.

Remember Jesus says that at the very end, a deception is going to be so strong that even the elect, if that was possible, would be deceived, right? So at the very end, the satanic effort to deceive the world is going to be ratcheted to the highest level it's ever come.

So in other words, people are going to be confused as to what is and isn't the truth at the very end, and that's satanic work, right? These demonic spirits will perform signs to assemble the demonic kingdom for the battle of the Armageddon. And the way he's going to muscle them up is by deception and lying.

And that's the primary way that Satan works all throughout Scripture, right? Did Satan scare Eve to eat the forbidden fruit? It deceived her. Did Satan come to Jesus and threaten him? No, try to deceive him, right? So when satanic activity is described, anywhere it's described in the Scripture, it's often described as scheming, right?

And the way he schemes is he's the father of lies. He's the accuser. And so he's perverting truth, right? That's the primary way that he deceives and divides the church, and he conquers and he halts the gospel ministry is by deception, right? And that's why it's so important for us that unless we allow the Word of God to constantly judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart, every single one of us is susceptible, every single one of us is susceptible to the schemes of the devil, right?

And we think, "No, I mean, I mix." You may think you're in the truth, right? But we're not more powerful than Satan. So if his primary work is to deceive, our primary back to truth, right? If our enemy's attack is constantly trying to deceive, and he says that from their mouth all these vile things are going to come out to blaspheme the name of God and deceive the world to build up this kingdom to rebel against God, our primary fight is to cling to truth.

And clinging to truth isn't just clinging to the proper exposition of the Word of God. You can have all the truth and be dead wrong in your heart, right? You understand what I'm saying? You can do all the right things for all the wrong motives. And that's why truth has to be objective truth, right?

But it also has to be personal truth, that you're able to judge the thoughts and intentions according to the Word of God. So that's our primary battle. Our primary battle is to know and hear the voice of God and follow him, right? Because that's what Satan is constantly trying to do.

Our thoughts, our hearts, our intentions to deceive us, to drag us away from who he is. And that's the work that is described here. And then when he gathers his army, he's going to, again, he's going to enter into Armageddon for the final battle, right? The Lord's coming will be like a thief to those under judgment, but to the blessed of God who stay awake will not be naked or exposed, right?

So again, this is my argument for post-trip, right? So the intense judgment, but here it clearly says that those Christians will be preserved. So if it's interesting, it says that those who are awake and sober when all this is happening, they will not be naked or be exposed. So when you think about naked and exposed, what's the imagery that you see in the Bible?

Adam and Eve, when sin comes in, the first thing that they recognize is their nakedness and shame, so they hide, right? And so the first ramification of sin was nakedness and shame, right? So in here it says those who are awake and sober who are preparing, right, at the end time when the judgment comes, they will not be naked or be exposed.

In other words, their sin is going to be covered by the blood of Christ, right? The seventh bowl judgment, verses 17 to 21, the final bowl judgment is poured upon the air followed by proclamation out of the temple that it is done, right? So if you put judgment in the air, I mean, now you've covered the water, you've covered land, right?

You've covered plagues, and then now even the air itself is going to be judged. So far the judgment was directed toward the earth, sea, waters, the sun, and the air, right? But now this symbolizes the thorough and complete nature of the final bowl judgment. It is devastating, it is complete, it is thorough, and it is eternal.

The greatest earthquake in human history will take place after the flashes of lightning and sounds of peals and thunder. What's the greatest earthquake in modern history? The one that was off the coast of Indonesia? Remember what that, I forgot what that was, was that nine? You don't remember? It wiped out like over 200,000 people, right?

And that's just modern history, I don't think that was the greatest earthquake, but it says the earthquake that's going to come, the earth has never seen it before, right? It's going to be so great, so intense, that the islands are going to sink and the mountains are going to be brought low.

That's how intense, there's going to be no mountain standing and no island by itself, right? That's how devastating this earthquake is going to be. So the tsunami is going to wipe out any island, right? And it's going to crack open and devastate any mountain. So if anybody survived any of this, the earthquake, right, earthquake is going to wipe them out.

And then if they happen to survive that, what happens next? Hail, right? So imagine if you're living during this period and you live through all of that, earthquake hits, devastation happens, everybody you know, right, 90% of the people are dead, and you're like, "Ooh, I made it," right? And let's rebuild.

And then you look up and the hail comes, right? So it's absolutely, completely devastating, completely thorough, right? At least that's the picture that we see here. The effects of this great earthquake will be that the great city will be divided into three parts, right? And what's the great city?

Most likely in reference to Jerusalem, right? And Jerusalem is going to be divided into three parts. The end result will be the transformation of the layout of Jerusalem to prepare for the thousand-year reign of Christ. According to Scripture, Christ is going to reign in Jerusalem through His people, and we're going to be participants of that.

And so this earthquake is going to set up a new layout of the heavenly kingdom in Jerusalem. Unlike the great city of God, cities of the nations experienced the outpouring of God's wrath through the earthquake, right? The great city of Jerusalem is going to be divided into three parts, but all the other nations, their land is going to be utterly devastated.

All the islands will sink and the mountains will be completely made low. Whatever was not destroyed by the earthquake, then comes the hail stones weighing 100 pounds. Each will be thrown down from heaven upon men. And then the final result of that, you would think that some would repent, but it says, the suffering brought on by their own sins produced in people greater, it only produced greater cursing toward God rather than repentance.

So as I said from the beginning, it's emphasized three separate times, right? Again, it's not by accident. Remember the number three is confirmation, right? In the Bible, whenever you see anything in repetition three times, it's to make sure that we understand that this is where they stand, right? There's nobody falling through the crack who has any hint of repentance.

There's not a single person who's going to be entering into hell with regret, right? Every single person entering into hell is shaking their fist at God, cursing God for every bit of suffering, everything that they have seen, even though they brought it upon themselves. God gave them plenty of warning after warning after warning, right?

He sent his prophet, he sent his word, he sent the Holy Spirit. He built his church, he sent missionaries, he gave his word, he gave the translations, one after another, testimony after testimony, year after year, generation after generation. He's been waiting, waiting patiently. And then finally, when the bowl judgment comes, it is finished, right?

So everyone at this point who was going to repent has repented. And everyone who is entering into eternity, again, it's described three separate times, they shake their fist at God and cursing. You know what was interesting this week? I had a conversation with Isaiah, and typically at night we pray together, and then I asked him after we prayed, and I said, "Isaiah, do you believe?" I just said that in passing, usually he just kind of runs off.

And then he said, "I'm trying." So I was like, "Oh, he caught me off guard." You know, I was like, "What do you mean by you're trying?" He said, "Sometimes it doesn't seem real." And then I said, "Okay, that's interesting." So I said, "What do you mean by it doesn't seem real?" He's like, "You know, it's because I can't see him." And having this theological conversation with him before he goes to bed, he says, "Because I can't see him." I said, "Oh, okay." You know, I've had this same conversation with all of my other kids, but usually during puberty.

So this is pretty early for him, you know? And so he said, "Because I can't see." He's like, "Sometimes because I can't see, it doesn't seem real." And then so I said, "Well, where do you think we came from?" He's like, "Yeah, I know." You know, like, "It doesn't make sense that we just came out of nothing." So he said, "I'm thinking through all of this." So he's thinking, "You think after we die, we just go nowhere?" He's like, "I'm not sure." He said, "But it doesn't make sense that we came from somewhere and then go nowhere." I said, "Man, you're thinking about all of this in fourth grade." So I'm having this conversation with him, and then so at the end of it, I said, "Okay, you know, just be honest.

I don't want you to fake anything. I want you to just don't feel pressure because your dad's a pastor that you have to, like, I believe and, you know, everybody's telling you that you have to believe this and just say you believe, right? So make sure that if you believe that you really believe, and I want you to ask these questions.

I want you to wrestle with this so that if you, when you believe that you really believe, right?" My encouragement to you is the same, right? It's the same. Whether you're a fourth grader or however old you are, if the most important thing that we have is not money, it's not our jobs, not our relationship, it's our faith, right?

It's our faith. So we study all of this stuff, and I know when we look at some of this stuff, you're probably asking the same thing. It just doesn't seem real because we've never seen it, right? It seems like a fairy tale. It seems like something you watch in a movie.

And so a part of you may look at that and just, "Hmm, maybe it is and it isn't," but you don't give too much deep thought into it, and not just this, but to the Bible itself, to your relationship with God itself because you're afraid. And the fear is, what if at the end of that I say, "I'm not sure if I believe?" Think about the consequences.

Think about the consequences of friendship. What will your friends think? What will your parents think? What will your church think? And as a result of that, we bury these doubts, right? And because you bury these doubts, it manifests in your life. It manifests in apathy. It manifests in lack of desire to spread the gospel.

It manifests in lack of desire for prayer. But in the end, it's this lack of faith that you're just kind of covering over, not really dealing with, right? So if faith is the most important thing that we have, we need to be very serious to make sure that it's real, right?

So my encouragement to us is, we're going to keep studying the Bible, right? But be honest. Be honest about where you are. Be honest about questions. Be honest about what you're wrestling with, right? Because if we're not honest, you can't grow in faith if you're ignoring your faith, right?

So that's a deep lesson I learned from my son this week, talking to him, right? He's willing to be honest so that one day, if he does confess, that I know that it's him confessing, that he's not giving a knee-jerk reaction because he feels pressured. And I pray that that's the same response that we give as well.

So let me pray for us and then let me give you the discussion questions. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your living word. And we confess at times, Lord God, that all that we are reading in Scripture doesn't seem real because we live by sight. And what was true yesterday seems to be true today and tomorrow.

And even though we know that death is imminent, that everything inside of us tells us that you are real, that your word is real, that your promises are real, and yet we wrestle day to day with our flesh. Help us, Lord God, to believe. Help us, Lord, to see through eyes of faith that it would affect our thinking, our pursuit, our love, our worship.

Just ask, Lord God, that in our weakness that we would find strength in Christ. I pray that you would bless the time of discussion, that it would be an honest and open discussion, that we may grow, be challenged, be sharpened in you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.