As we’re in the last hour, Paul says, “…from such turn away.”  “…from such turn away” (verse 5).  “Ever learning, never coming to the truth.”  “…from such turn away.”  “…corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (verse 8).  “…from such turn away.”  “But, thank God, they shall proceed no further (amen?): for their folly shall be made manifest.  For you, Timothy, listen to me, you’re hearing and watching all this stuff.  People are accusing you because of your allegiance to this gospel that I’ve preached.  But you have fully known my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, longsuffering, love, patience, persecutions, afflictions, all of those that I’ve endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.”  Hallelujah!  Amen?

We want all the benefits of the kingdom and none of the hardships.  You don’t grow bigger muscles by resting them.  What you get by pampering yourself, you become one of those cows that they put that thing around their stomachs and lift their feet off the ground, and they just hang there.  What are they called?  Wagyu.  Cows.  They’re hanging by a belt; feet can’t touch the ground.  They’re feeding them all of the best foods.  They’re massaging them.  They’re playing classical music.  And there we are, and we think, “What a life, praise God!”  Amen?  What do you end up with that?  You get slaughtered.  What does the Holy Ghost say here?  Listen.  “All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”  Amen?  Are we?

The only way to stand and be safe in these last days is to be on the offensive.  Putting on the whole armor of God and attacking the devil.  Amen?  Preaching this gospel; making it very clear to all—man, we’ve got boatloads of Muslims living here in our area, bound by a works mentality.  Totally unsure of their eternal state.  When you walk up to them and with such assurance go, “Man, I know where I’m going.  I’m right with God.  I’m going to heaven.”  “How can you know that?”  “Because I’m not depending on my works and productivity.  I’m depending on what Jesus has already accomplished on my behalf.”  Amen?  And it’s like, “What?”  Yes!  We need to get bold and approach these people.  I, like you, would like to see our borders closed.  But in reality, we have millions more people who have come we can preach the gospel to.  Amen?  A big majority of them Catholics, by name.  Let’s preach the gospel.  Young people, the youth today in America, don’t know Who Jesus Christ is.  Think about that.  The reason this nation is being destroyed is because they’ve already accomplished stripping away the Judeo‑Christian ethics of America.  The Constitution is meaningless without the internal morality that Christianity brings, and it was founded upon that; hence, “In God We Trust.”  Amen?

I was talking to a guy the other day.  I said, “Man, do you know why Jesus hung on that cross?”  And the guy goes like, “No.”  I said, “You’ve never heard the gospel?”  “No.”  “Did you ever wonder?”  “Well, yeah.”  So, you’re able to just share simply with them; amen?  “Here’s what happened.”  Man was created perfect.  Man was placed in the Garden of Eden.  He was given everything on earth to be his but one thing: don’t eat of the fruit in the midst of the garden.  So, what did man do?  He ate of the fruit in the midst of the garden.  And now people are asking questions.  “If God is so good, why did my baby die?”  “Why did this particular thing happen?”  God is good!  Sin is bad!  All of the tragedies you are experiencing in life are not God’s doing; it’s sin’s doing.  And the minute man chose to become independent, rebelled against God—God said, “The day that you eat that”—He warned him, “The day that you eat that you will die.”  And man died instantly—not physically but spiritually.  His fellowship was broken with God.  He had no way to come back and access and fellowship with God.

The consequence, then, being this continual production of evil to the place where it got so bad that God had to destroy the whole world and saved only eight souls.  Do you know that the whole world was destroyed at one time?  Every living creature and every human being died on this planet but eight people.  And 4,000 years ago, God saved those eight people on the ark, and He sent them out to replenish the earth.  But He had a gift for them.  There were promises that were made.  “I’ll not destroy the world again by these floods.”  A reminder of what was said in Eden.  Yes, Satan won a victory and bruised the heel of men, but the heel of one Man, Jesus Christ, will destroy the head of the enemy.  God became a Human Being and lived among us in the Person of Jesus Christ, and never sinned, lived a holy life, and willingly went to that cross.  Because they, one time, were trying to threaten Him and say, “We’re going to kill You.”  And He said, “You can’t kill Me.”  Amen?  He knew Who He was.  “You can’t kill Me.  I have to give My life up.”  I want to tell you something.  Satan can’t kill you until the day that God’s appointed.  So, let’s lay fear aside.