South Shore Pentecostal Church

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Apostolic Truth Radio Program with Pastor Craig Ouellette, a radio ministry of South Shore Pentecostal Church located in Whitman, Massachusetts. At a time when many Christians do not know what to believe, South Shore Pentecostal is honored to bring you clear biblical teaching on which you can confidently build your faith. Thank you for joining us.

J. Craig Ouellette: Well, we're going to be talking about judgment and love as soon as Brother Stephen comes back there this morning. Judgment and love. It's good to see everybody here today. God is a good God. One of the things I remember about the Lord that keeps coming to my mind: He's a faithful God. He's faithful.

Now, what that means is He knows what I'm going through, He knows what you're going through, He knows your limits. He knows what you can take and what you can't take. If you're living for the Lord the best you know how, God is faithful to meet you, to be with you, to strengthen you, and to bring you through. As long as we're reaching for God the way we're supposed to be reaching for God, God is faithful to keep His promises and keep us.

Let's look at these scriptures here this morning, starting with Psalm 84. I know there's a verse in there that probably everybody here is just about familiar with. Psalm 84:10 says, "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee."

In the book of Zephaniah, a small book in the minor prophets, easy to go by just a couple of pages there, but there's a verse there that I felt like the Lord wanted us to read this morning. Zephaniah 2:3 says, "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger." God has a special eye on His people. God has a special eye on the people that are living for Him.

Matthew 24:6 says, "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows."

And then finally, in Romans 5:8-11: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement," or you can translate that to reconciliation if you would like to.

We're going to talk about judgment and love today. Probably if you've been listening to the news a little bit, there's been a lot of activity and people being involved, but the Bible tells us, as we read in Matthew 24, that wars are not necessarily the sign of the Lord's coming. They're a foreshadowing. There are some things that have to come into place. I believe the Bible tells us that we're going to see the temple rebuilt and we're going to see the Antichrist manifested before the Lord comes back.

But all these things that we see going on in the Middle East are related to God setting up His kingdom, God working towards His coming back. The devil does things, but the devil can't do anything that God does not allow him to do. That's why it's good to get on God's side, get on God's team. You get on God's team, and you can have some things in your life that are going to help you.

We're talking about judgment and love because God will judge, but God is a God of love. God's judgment is tempered by His love. When we look at the gospel message, the basic message of the gospel is first of all, all people are sinners until they come to God. The payment for sin is eternal separation from God, as we see in Romans 6:23. God through His love has provided a way to deal with our sins through Jesus Christ. We just read that in Romans 5:8-11.

God in His love is long-suffering, but what His long-suffering is supposed to do is lead us to an altar of repentance. It's not an excuse to avoid living for God. It's not an excuse to avoid making a commitment to God, but it's supposed to lead us to a place of repentance. Let's be honest. If we're really repenting and we're saying, "God, I don't want to do anything you don't want me to do," that means I'm going to do what He does want me to do. Isn't that a fair assessment or a fair analysis of the situation?

I can't really say I'm committing myself to God if I'm not willing to let God take control of my life and lead me where He wants me to go. We need to understand that. God has caused every one of us to be born for a purpose. We're not here by accident. You may in a great portion of your life choose where you want to go, but when the rubber meets the road, you should be letting God choose where you're supposed to go.

God's got a purpose. If God has caused us to be born with a purpose, I can't go anyplace I want to go. I've got to get into the purpose God wants me to get into. God's purpose is not just for preachers. It's for all people. God's got something for everybody. We're all here for a reason and for a purpose.

God's goodness, His long-suffering, is there to give us an opportunity to reach the point to realize, "Hey, God has been merciful. God is there." There's going to be a judgment someday in my life. I'm a sinner. I've got to get this area taken care of. If I die without coming to God, I'm lost. Not might be lost, I am lost. If you die without coming to God, you are lost.

You've got a lot of people who wrestle with what about Aunt Annie or some grandmother or something or uncle. You leave them in the hands of God. Leave them in the hands of God. Whatever they did, that's up to God, but you still have to, and I still have to, do what the Bible says. I must do what the Bible says. How can I show up in God's presence and expect for God to say well done when I have not done what He's asked me to do?

The Bible says, again in the book of Romans, if we call on the name of the Lord in faith, we shall be saved. Romans 10:13, let's read that particular verse because a lot of people misapply or abuse that verse. Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I would say to you, the Bible says the way to call upon the name of the Lord is to repent of your sins, get baptized in Jesus' name, and receive the Holy Ghost.

That's the Bible way of calling on the name of the Lord. Go to Acts 2:21, and we'll show that this is why I'm saying what I'm saying. On the day of Pentecost, when Peter is preaching after the Holy Ghost has been poured out, he says the same verse almost that we read in Romans 10:13. Peter's preaching and he says, "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Peter goes on preaching and in verse 36 he says, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now, what that meant is He's not just Messiah; He's God and Messiah. That's what he's telling them. He's telling them He's God and Messiah.

So now, those that are sincere about serving God in verse 37: "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Now, 90% of the churches, they would just say, "Just call on the Lord and you'll be saved. Accept the Lord and you'll be saved." But Peter says, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

He doesn't just say just say the sinner's prayer. He doesn't say just believe on the Lord. He just told them you've got to call on the Lord. Now he tells them how to call on the Lord: repent, get baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is the basic message of the gospel. This is how we apply what God has said into our lives.

When we look at God's actions, God's actions are based on His purposes, His righteousness, and are tempered by His love. We've looked at the verse in Jeremiah 9:24 a few times. Let's look at that verse again because it's a verse that gives us a principle of God's nature and God's operation. Jeremiah 9:24 says, "But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness," thank God He does, "judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."

God's operations, God reaches to us because He loves us. God reaches to us because He knows we don't have hope in ourselves. God reaches to us because He knows we don't have the answer. Only He's got the answer, and He's provided it. God reaches to us because He knows the devil's trying to deceive people into thinking they're okay when they're not okay. So God is patient. God is long-suffering. God is reaching for us. Praise God that He's doing that.

But there does come a time limit for each one of us. There does come a day of judgment where I stand before God and I must be evaluated by the word of God and whether I have done what God has asked me to do. He's not going to look at me and say, "Well, what denomination were you in? Oh, this is what they believed. Okay, I'll judge you that way. Oh, you were in this denomination. I'll judge you that way."

He's not going to do that. He's going to pull out the Bible. It doesn't matter whether I'm a Baptist, I'm Catholic, I'm Apostolic, whether I'm Jewish, whether I'm an agnostic, whether I'm an atheist, whether I'm an intellectual. God has got the same standard for all humanity. We all must repent. We all need to be baptized in Jesus' name. And just because I got baptized in water, I need to seek Him until I get the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Why? The Holy Ghost shows you really yielded. We can fool ourselves into thinking I've given it all to God. But you've got to have something from God to let you know you've been born again. You speak in tongues as the Spirit gives you utterance. You're going to have to reach. You're going to have to search. You're going to have to let God plumb the depths of your soul. You're going to have to be hungry enough to continue to go to the altar. And when you're hungry enough, God will fill you with the Holy Ghost, and you'll know you've been saved, you know you've been born again, the Bible way.

Listen, there's got to be a hunger that takes you through the dark times. There's got to be a hunger that causes you to seek for God anyways. There's got to be a hunger that says I'll lay some things aside. There's got to be a hunger that when the weight of darkness and the devil's on you, I still got to live for God. I got to have Him. I got to have Him inside of me. I got to be filled. I got to know that God is real. I got to feel Him in the midnight hour.

There's got to be something in you that causes you to reach through the obstacles to say I'm going to praise Him and I'm going to have Him. When you're pressing for the Holy Ghost, you're praising God. When you're pressing to know God, you're praising God because you're telling the world, the devil, and God that I got to have Him. That means you're praising Him. Oh, give Him praise. Give Him praise.

Thank God that His judgment is tempered by love. We're living in evil times: wars, discontent, lies, evil events, all taking place. All kinds of things we could talk about. But as we already read, wars are not the sign, they are the beginning of sorrows, the Bible says. It says the same thing in the gospel of Mark. We need to understand that sometimes God allows evil and bad things to occur to get our attention. Sometimes God lets bad and evil things occur to get our attention.

Let's face it. We all like cruise control. That's how we like to live life. If I can just get it all put together and just figure it out and just get it in motion and just kind of cruise along. Not necessarily doing bad things, but not really seeking God or doing the will of God for our lives. So sometimes God will let some bad things happen to cause us to realize I need God. I need to go seek God.

Maybe this happened because I'm not doing something God wants me to do. Maybe I've stepped out of the will of God and opened a door for something to happen. Maybe God just wants me to make a greater commitment and know Him in a deeper way. So often times God allows bad things to occur in our lives. He'll let evil rise up so that we realize we don't have the answers. Man does not have the answers. We need something bigger than man. We need something bigger than our society.

We need God that created all things. God will let some things happen in our lives, not because He wants us to suffer, but He understands if I find Him and get right with Him, what little suffering I had here will not compare to the suffering that I avoided by living for God. Because when I take my last breath, if I'm not where I need to be, I'm going to a place of eternal suffering. I'm not going to have any relief from that. So some suffering here is way better than suffering for eternity.

The Bible also lets us understand that we've got one life. Hebrews 9:27 says it's appointed unto every man one life to live, and then to die, then the judgment. Let's read it so we can say it the way the Bible says it. Hebrews 9:27 says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." We don't get reincarnation. That's a trick of the devil. There's no such thing. We got one life to live. It's right here.

God is trying to get us to understand. Again, sometimes God lets some bad things happen so He can get our attention because I've only got this life to find Him. I don't get recycled. I don't get another chance. There's not a thing called purgatory or limbo. That does not exist in the Bible. There's a heaven, there's a hell, there's a lake of fire. I've got to do it God's way if I want to get to be there.

That's why the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, it lets us understand that now is the day of salvation. Today. Today is the day of salvation. If I want to get saved, I need to do it today because I don't know that I've got tomorrow. I don't have a promise of next week or next month or next year unless God has spoken to you personally and given you that promise. Most of us, we don't know that. We do not have a guarantee of tomorrow.

2 Corinthians 6:1 says, "We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." You've got some people say well it's all grace and God's gracious and nothing's going to happen. But the Bible's telling us that God can provide grace and we don't get the value of it because we did not do what God said to do to apply the grace. That's grace in vain.

God giving us breath gives us opportunity. That gives us grace to find Him today. Verse 2: "For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted," in other words, while you're alive. You've got a chance to get saved and stay saved. "In the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." I don't know about you, that's why I've got a prayer life. Because every day, just because I was saved yesterday, I've got to get up. I want to make sure that I'm still going to be saved with God. Not that I'm walking around fearful, but I know that I've got to bring myself before God.

The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I can fool myself. I can fool myself that I'm okay when I'm not okay. And if I don't want to serve God, I might look for other people to assure me you're okay. But the only real assurance I've got is I did what the Bible said. And if I did what the Bible says, it doesn't matter whether you say I'm saved or not saved. In God's eyes, I'll have what I need to do. I must do what the Bible says.

God's grace provides everybody an opportunity to be saved. The only time we're guaranteed is the today, the present time. I must respond while I've got an opportunity. The Bible says in a number of places that the Lord is coming back for the church. We're not doing end-time study today, but in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

To me, it's always kind of been a mystery how people think they're going to respond to the trumpet and go up into the air when they don't respond to receiving the Holy Ghost down here. It's the Holy Ghost in a person that's going to cause the response. The Holy Ghost in us is what's going to tune us in that it is the Lord. It's the Holy Ghost in us that's going to, like a magnet with metal, when He calls, that Holy Ghost in us is Him and is going to respond to be with Him.

There's a day where God is going to bring that trump. There are some things that have to take place first, but God is coming for His church at a certain point. The Bible says we're supposed to be comforted by this. A lot of people are afraid of that. But if you've got the Holy Ghost, you can rest in the Lord. If you've got the Holy Ghost and you've done what God said to do, you can lay your head on the pillow. And if the trumpet sounds while you're in bed, you're not worried because you know you're going to meet the Lord.

These words are to comfort those who are saved, but it causes fear to those that are lost. When the rapture comes, and this is where one of the big deceits is, you've got a lot of teachings out there, you've got popular book series talking about this. They portray it like when the rapture comes, there's going to be people that were backslid in the church, and there'll be people that never got into the church but they heard preaching and they'll realize what happened and they're left behind.

They make it in these books sound like oh, they're going to gather together and now they know what happened, now they're really committed to God and they're having faith. But they don't understand the church is gone. The church will be gone. You might be gathering, but you're not going to have church like we're having today because it's the Holy Ghost in people that makes the church.

The word church means a calling out of, ekklesia, "ek" out of, "kaleo" calling. It means a people called out. How do you know you're called out? You've got the Holy Ghost. You obeyed what God said. So that final calling, the Bible lets us understand the Holy Ghost is the down payment for God, and He's coming back. So God calls us out. When the trumpet sounds, that's the call to the church with the voice of the archangel and the Lord coming on a cloud. That's the call for the church to rise up to meet Him.

There will not be a church down here after that. He's only got one church. And what's going to happen is He's going to start to deal with the nation of Israel. So again, we look. These books are not accurately portraying what the Bible is saying. Those that have the Holy Ghost and the name of Jesus are those that will be caught up.

Let's look at some scriptures for that. In Acts 10:43, Peter's preaching to Cornelius and he says, "To him," meaning Jesus, "give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." So there's something about the name. Again, in Acts 15 when they were having the first church conference and trying to figure out how to deal with Gentiles that were coming in that were not Jews: Do they need to follow the law? Do they need to be circumcised?

After all the testimonies, James stands up and in Acts 15:14 he says, "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name." What's the name? Jesus. God is coming for a people. Jesus is God's name of salvation. You can say well I thought it was Jehovah. Jehovah just is His Old Testament name. It's His revelation that He's existence, but He's Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider. He's Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our healer. He's Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner.

He's Jehovah M'Kaddesh, the Lord our sanctifier. He's Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. He's Jehovah Shaphath, the Lord our judge. Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is present. He's all of those things. You wrap it all up, the name Jesus means Jehovah is become salvation. If I want all those titles of Jehovah wrapped in my life, I don't have to remember all those things. All I've got to do is remember the name of Jesus. That was God revealing Himself part by part so we can understand I can provide, I can heal, I can deliver, I can keep you, I can lead you, I can shepherd you.

I can raise you up. I can do all that's needed. And now I'm coming in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ to let you have that. So we need the name of Jesus. It's the family name. But you also need the Holy Ghost. In Romans 8:11, it says, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

You need the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is what's going to make you alive. Quicken means make alive. The Holy Ghost makes you alive to living for God, makes you alive to the voice of God, makes you alive so that you're ready to hear when God calls. If I can't respond to God's voice here, how am I going to respond when He comes with the trumpet?

If I don't listen to what God is already saying here, if I turn a deaf ear to what God says in the word of God, how am I going to be tuned to the voice of God when the trumpet sounds? How am I going to know that's what that sound is? I need that Holy Ghost moving and alive in my spirit. What places a person in the church is the new birth. Being born again. That's what puts you in the church.

You can go to church, believe in church, praise God for the church, support the church, work at the church, and not be in the church. You've got to be born into the church. The new birth starts with faith in Jesus Christ, but it's more than an intellectual faith. The new birth requires a faith and commitment that will obey the gospel.

Romans 10:16: "But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?" What he's saying is true belief is equated with obedience. They have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says who has believed our report? So it shows us there's a relationship between belief and obedience.

Again, in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel." Obedience means that there's something I'm required to do. So it's more than just an intellectual thing. God is asking me to do something if I'm going to obey the gospel. God is asking you to do something.

So the question always is: What do I need to do and am I doing what God needs me to do? Again, in 1 Peter 4:17, Peter is closing out his first epistle and he says, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel?" There's an obedience. Jesus put it this way in the gospel of Luke: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

If He's really my Lord, if He says repent, I got to repent. If He's really my Lord and He says I need to be baptized, I need to be baptized. If He's really my Lord and He says I should have a prayer life, I need to get a prayer life. If He's really my Lord and says I need to live free from sin, because He said that to many people go and sin no more, then I need to try to live free from sin. If He's really my Lord and the Bible says live holy, then I need to try to live holy.

So the new birth requires a faith that will obey. That's what we're getting at, a faith that will obey what God says. So again we see that what God says, I mean again, God will give promises, but if we don't obey what God says to do to get the promise, do I really have faith?

The Bible indicates that water baptism and the Holy Ghost spirit baptism is what places a person in the church. As I said before, you can come to church and not be in the church. You can support the church and not be in the church. You can be born physically of parents that are in the church and not be in the church. You can go to theology school and not be in the church. You can shake the pastor's hand and not be in the church. You can build the building and not be in the church. You can come every time it's open and not be in the church. You must be born again.

The new birth is radical. It's more than just an awareness that I'm a sinner and God is real. That's a great start. You need that. But it's a radical awareness that all of a sudden I need to live for God. I need to get born again. I need some power in me to change me. I know that when I started struggling with coming to God, I realized I've got some things that I know are not right, but I'm struggling with them. I'm going to need some help from God to get out of those things.

I needed a baptism of the Holy Ghost. I needed a repentance first, I needed to get baptized in Jesus' name, but I needed a baptism of the Holy Ghost because the baptism of the Holy Ghost changed my desires, changed my ability, gave me strength to resist wrong and desire to do the right. That's what the Holy Ghost does. The Holy Ghost causes you to want to get sin out of your life and wants you to live for God.

It causes you to want to praise God. It causes you to want to tell others about God. If you really get the Holy Ghost, you want to tell somebody else. Ah, I know what God did for me, God will do it for you. It causes you to want to study your Bible so you can give a Bible study to help somebody else come to God. It'll cause you to want to learn how to talk even when you don't know how to talk, so you can tell somebody else. It'll cause you to be willing to get embarrassed just so you can tell somebody about what God has got for you. The Holy Ghost will change you. The Holy Ghost will make a difference in you.

The Holy Ghost will cause you to be willing to lose friends, to lose family if need be, to live for God. Not because you don't care about them, but you want God more. He's worth more. He's better. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says we're washed, sanctified, justified by the name of Jesus. That means water baptism. That's how you get justified by the name. That's where the name's applied. And by the Spirit of God, spirit baptism.

Washed, sanctified, and justified. So I need to be washed, sanctified, and justified to be in the church. So I need the name and I need the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says we're baptized into the body by one Spirit. Let's look at that particular scripture there. We're not talking about being nice because there's nice people that are not going to heaven. You must be born again. You've got to understand that. It's not about being nice. It's about obeying God and getting born again.

So 1 Corinthians 12:13: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." By one Spirit we're baptized. I need a spirit baptism to be in the body. And again, He says it doesn't matter, it's not about ethics or race or background. Jews or Gentiles, doesn't matter, you all need it. We all need to be that Holy Ghost baptism to be a part of the body.

Galatians 3:27 says as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." So if you reverse it, right, if I haven't been baptized into Christ, I have not put on Christ, right? So I need a baptism to put on Christ. That's primarily talking about water baptism, but it also applies with the Holy Ghost. I need Him in me. I need to be in Him and Him in me.

Holy Ghost puts Him in me; water baptism puts me in Him. I need to be in Him and He in me. I'm buried with Him in baptism. Water baptism puts me in Him, and Holy Ghost baptism puts Him in me. That's what the Bible teaches. For in Him, through Him, by Him. The grace of God by Him, through Him. So I need the name of Jesus. I need to be in Him and He in me.

We're saved by washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost in Titus 3:5. He says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration," that's talking about Holy Ghost, that's talking about water baptism, washing of regeneration, "and renewing of the Holy Ghost." And that word there really is better the renovation of the Holy Ghost. King James "renewing," but it really means to be renovated by the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost will renovate you. The Holy Ghost will renovate your life. It'll let you realize some things you were doing you thought were okay are not okay in God's eyes. It's a renovation. Some ways of thinking that you had before that you thought were okay, God will say those are not right. It's a renovation. Some purposes you had, God will say that's not really the purpose I want for you to have. It's a renovation.

So we're saved by the washing of regeneration and the Holy Ghost. I need water baptism, I need Holy Ghost baptism. It's all part of the salvation, but they're separate experiences. You need them all to be saved. We need the spirit of Christ. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." There's a twofold application there. When you get saved, God makes you alive in a different way, but it's also talking about when the trumpet sounds. It's that Holy Ghost in you that's going to respond to God.

Today, while the church is here, the Lord is dealing with the Gentile world. Part of the reason Israel doesn't see Jesus as Messiah is so that the rest of the world can be saved. The Bible actually says that. Look over in Romans 11:25. Paul is talking about Israel and lamenting, but he also says in Romans 11:25, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."

In other words, God is dealing with the rest of the world. But there's a time where that period is going to end, then God is going to start to deal with Israel again. When does that period end? When the church raptures. God is done dealing with the Gentiles. The church will be gone. If you haven't obeyed the gospel, you'll be here, and God's going to start to deal with the nation of Israel.

Again in Luke 21:24, Jesus is talking about end times and He's talking about some things that are going to happen to Jerusalem. He says, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." See, so this is why there's this struggle over Jerusalem today. You know, sometimes you say, "Why don't they just build the temple?" Because they don't have complete authority. They're always wrestling with Gentile powers that are politically enforcing their will on things. And it's going to be that way until God gets ready to remove things.

The temple's going to come before the time of the Gentiles is done, but when that rapture comes, God is done dealing with the rest of the world and He's going back one more time to deal with Israel. Again in the book of Revelation, the Apostle John saw this in a vision: "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months," three and a half years.

So God's letting us understand right now, He is dealing with the world at large, Gentiles. Unless you're Jewish, you're Gentile. God is dealing with the world at large, His plan to reach the world through the church. But when that trumpet sounds, God is done with the Gentile world. The church will be gone. This is the book of Zechariah. The four horns are sawed off. They represent the Gentile powers of the world. And God is going to be starting to work again with Israel.

So when God's appointed time comes, the church is going to leave. God's trying to gather in people. Now's the day of salvation. Now I can know. Now I can come to Him. Now I can receive what I need from God. Today.

Even if the rapture doesn't occur tomorrow, and I don't believe it's going to, the Lord might come for you or me. And we can see many examples. The flood in Noah's day: Jesus said they were carrying on like it was going to be another day. They were eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, doing, in other words, they were building their houses. They just thought it's going to be another day, and the flood came that day. As far as they were concerned, there was years of days to come, but that day God came for the people in Sodom. Judgment came to them.

Sodom and Gomorrah, same thing. God reaches in, day of judgment. All those people thought there was another day, another week, another year, another time. They were going to be doing what they wanted to do, but God had ordained there's a judgment coming that day. You might be familiar with Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Those people, that was a vacation town for Rome. And all of a sudden, that mountain erupted and covered them with ash, and they didn't escape. They thought it was going to be another day. I remember when I was a kid, I saw a program where they had uncovered it and they actually had people crawling on their hands and knees that had been covered by the ash and entombed that way. When they came and dug the ground out, the forms of their bodies were there. That's how fast it happened.

Just like that. The atom bomb on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. 50,000, 70,000 people done in a second. Judged in a second. Yeah, they were in war and they figured there probably going to be some bombs and some people are going to die. They had no clue that God was allowing judgment that day for everybody almost in that city. The World Trade Center. But notice in these things: the Noah's flood, those that had listened to God escaped. God sent somebody to get Lot out. They escaped.

With the atom bomb, there was some people that escaped, and I know the World Trade Center, there were many reports of people, God said, "Don't go to work today," and they escaped. Or they had an angel appear and give them a way out of that building. Now is the day of salvation. Do you have the Holy Ghost? Have you obeyed God? Have you been baptized in Jesus' name? Are you doing what God says to do today?

The ideas of purgatory and limbo, those don't exist. Those are not Bible things. Those are coming out of books that are outside of the Bible. When we die, we got to be ready to meet the Lord. That's what the first scripture we read: Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth. Who's meek? Those that are willing to do what God says.

God will deliver His people out of disasters. With Jerusalem, I've heard people say that when they got surrounded by the Romans, they knew because of what the gospel of Luke said, that when it was surrounded, that they needed to flee because there was going to be a judgment, and most of the Christians left Jerusalem at that time. They listened to the word of God.

Bible's trying to teach us today: our days are numbered. Teach us, Lord, to apply wisdom to our days. Do you know the Lord? Have you obeyed God? Maybe you obeyed Him in the past, but you're not where you need to be. This altar's open here today. If you need to be baptized, you need to do that. This is what the Bible says. The Bible says that's part of the salvation process. If you've been baptized and you don't have the Holy Ghost, you need the Holy Ghost. The way you know you get the Holy Ghost, you speak in a language that God gives you the utterance. There's no other sign. You can search your Bible. You can't find any other sign that says we knew they got the Holy Ghost because they jumped. We knew they got the Holy Ghost because they laughed. We knew they got the Holy Ghost because they had joy. You don't find that. You find out they knew they got the Holy Ghost because they speak in other tongues as the Spirit gives them the language or the utterance.

It's supernatural. If you yield your tongue to God, it's a sign that God has got control of you. Lord God today, today is the day of salvation. Today is a day that we need you, Lord God. We feel your presence. Lord, each one of us, Lord, help us, Lord, to open our hearts here today. Lord, are we doing what we need to be doing? Have we obeyed the gospel the way that you've laid it out, Lord God?

Lord, if we're struggling with traditions of other people, help us, Lord, to see what your word says and not what traditions say. Lord, if we're struggling with other people's opinions, help us to realize your opinion is the most important opinion, Lord God. Help us to understand, Lord God, that you're calling today, Lord, for us. If you need the Holy Ghost, God wants you to have it. If you need a refilling, God wants you to have a refilling today. He wants you to have joy overflowing.

He wants you to be a vessel unto honor. God wants to flow through you. God wants to give you the Holy Ghost so that you can be a witness, that He can move through you, that He can witness to you. Come on, let God fill you. He's here today. Let Him move your tongue. Let Him work through you. Yield yourself, become a vessel for the Lord. Come on, become a temple of the Holy Ghost here today. God needs people. He needs people to be that temple. There's a world around us that does not know Him, that doesn't think that God is really alive. They need to know that there's a living God here today. Let God fill you. Let God move upon you and motivate you today. He's got great power. He's got great anointing. He wants to break all the chains in your life. He wants you to have joy unspeakable.

Tina Ouellette: Thank you for joining us today as we have studied the word on Apostolic Truth Radio. My name is Tina Ouellette, wife of Pastor Craig Ouellette of South Shore Pentecostal Church, located at 58 West Street in Whitman, Massachusetts. If you love praise and worship, you will love services at South Shore Pentecostal Church, and we invite you to come and worship with us.

Sunday school for all ages begins at 10 a.m. and our Sunday evening service begins at 6 p.m. Adult Bible study and children's church is held on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. You can learn more about our church on our website at southshorepentecostal.com, or you may call us at 781-447-1668. If you have been blessed by this radio ministry, you can help support Apostolic Truth Radio via online giving through Venmo @SSPCWhitman. Write us today and request a free copy of today's message, and join us for another broadcast of Apostolic Truth.