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[0:00] Let's turn to Joel. Praise the Lord.

[0:38] The Lord is good. Amen. Now people would know, of course, that we need alarms.

[0:55] It's something that helps keep us out of danger. Alarms, they can be a nuisance for us. It's disruptive, especially when you're having that nice little lie-in and the alarm goes off.

[1:05] It's so disruptive, isn't it? It's annoying to our ears. But alarms are usually our friends. Think of fire alarms. It can help alert us to danger.

[1:16] Burglar alarms, danger of theft or violence. And, of course, the alarm clock alerts us of the danger of being late to work or getting up for something or other.

[1:26] So an alarm can be annoying, but it's necessary. And it's our friend. And an alarm is a wake-up call. Imagine if you're living in Japan and you heard the tsunami warning.

[1:38] You'd want to pay attention to that, wouldn't you? You'd want to hear that alarm and take action. Head for the hills. Now, I heard about a pastor in the US whose church has removed him because he spoke up against evil.

[1:54] In particular, that homosexuality is still sin. And he put some provocative messages out there. And the media got hold of it, the social media.

[2:06] And then his church has thought he's just a bit too outspoken, this pastor. And, of course, the LGBT activists say love wins.

[2:17] Love wins. We see that in the same-sex marriage debate and, ultimately, resolution, that love wins. Love, whatever you call it, love in this fuzzy-wuzzy way so that there's a widespread acceptance of their sin.

[2:34] And the elders of this church or deacons, whatever, they've made some rumbles and he's out the door. And I was able to contact this pastor today, in fact, via Facebook and encourage him for his bold stand for the Lord.

[2:51] And he sent me his latest sermon entitled, Not Love Wins, but Love Warns. Love Warns. We could hear the Bible as our Lord says, Thus saith the Lord.

[3:06] He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. There's a need for warning, a need for alarm, to sound the alarm.

[3:17] And Joel 2, from verse 1 through 2, has that same vital message. Joel 2, from verse 1, Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain.

[3:31] Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spreads upon the mountains.

[3:48] A great people and a strong, they have not been ever the like, neither shall it be any more after it, even to the ears of many generations. The Lord through the prophet Joel is saying, Blow ye the trumpet!

[4:03] Sound an alarm! The day of the Lord cometh. Now, Julie and I were grateful to the Lord for a trip of a lifetime, really an only trip, pretty much, but to, amongst other things, to visit the land of Israel, and to be able to walk the streets of Jerusalem.

[4:32] And I thought of my dad while I was over there, and I thought, what can we get him as a little present? I don't want you running home to get it, but we bought him a shofar.

[4:44] A shofar. He can do the sound effects very well without... But that's what it sounds like, a shofar. It's like a ram's horn or some animal's horn, and of course they would blow through the shofar.

[5:00] And when we see the word trumpet, of course in our Bibles it is that same instrument, the shofar, the shofar, which they would sound as Joel was telling the people, Blow ye the trumpet, blow the shofar, in Zion or Jerusalem.

[5:20] And think of what the meaning, the significance of such a thing is. And what we can grasp from that truth today.

[5:32] So I stand before you as unworthy a vessel as I am, as the messenger of the Lord. And I don't do so carelessly. I know our brother was telling this morning how he was trembling.

[5:45] I said, Amen, brother. We should tremble. We don't do this carelessly, and I don't come having my own agenda. I pray that the word will bring what God would have for us to hear.

[5:58] And I put to you tonight, the Bible's message is clear. The day of the Lord is coming. And look, I'm no prophet, but I can tell you today it's closer than it was yesterday.

[6:13] It's one day closer. Amen? We are one day closer than we were yesterday to that the day, the day of the Lord. It's coming. Judgment is coming.

[6:25] The Lord is coming back. Get ready. Seek the Lord. The most significant event in Bible prophecy is that, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[6:36] It's an event so important that there's over 300 separate prophecies relating to it in the word of God, making it one of the most important doctrines in the Bible.

[6:50] Sound and alarm. The day of the Lord is coming. God's people sounded the trumpet for different reasons. They sounded the shofar, the trumpet, as a call to worship.

[7:03] Come and worship. To make a proclamation. There's something important to tell you. It was sounded forth as a call to battle, to war. Or, Numbers 10, verse 9, for example, And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.

[7:30] Blow an alarm with the trumpets. Talking about the enemy. Now, I'll put to you tonight, the enemy is still alive and well. You know, someone wrote a book, Satan is alive and well on planet Earth.

[7:44] That's true. He is. He's alive and he's well, and he's still up to his dastardly deeds. And we have an enemy to sound the trumpet against. When they sounded the trumpet, it was a sound that acted to instill fear and confusion in the enemy.

[8:01] As in Gideon's day, it was sounded at the coronation of a king. So, the shofar, the trumpet sound, was very important, significant. Sound and alarm.

[8:15] I'll put to you today, there's an alarm going off. Now, I know I was passing around these vicinity, and I heard this alarm going off.

[8:26] And I thought, oh, just another alarm. You get blasé, don't you? You might have that in the suburbs. Oh, someone's alarm's going off again. And then I got this phone call on my phone, and the security company, the monitoring, the alarm monitoring company was saying, the alarm's going off at the Kirk Street Chapel.

[8:48] I stood right here, I didn't even realise, didn't even realise, this alarm was going off. So, I came in, but it must have been a spider, it must have been a spider attack to the alarm system that day, because there wasn't any undesirables around.

[9:05] But the alarm was going off, and we can get blasé about alarms going off. But think of that, the alarm, a piercing buzz. It disturbs us, it should do. We shouldn't get blasé about alarms.

[9:18] But, you know, what do we do sometimes? Now, I've not been in the habit of such, but maybe some of you are guilty of this, when you're having that nice little, just the extra five minutes, and the alarm, just shakes you and wakes you and disturbs you.

[9:36] And what do you do? You press the snooze button, just to get a few more, just a bit more shut eye, a bit more 40 wings. Do you press the snooze button, or do you take action?

[9:48] The fact is, when the alarm goes off, the alarm, many people are sleeping still. They're sleeping through the alarm. They press the spiritual snooze button, and keep on snoozing.

[10:03] We can be like that, as the people of God. We can ignore the alarm. Yet judgment looms. The shofar, the trumpet sound, the sounding of the alarm.

[10:15] There was a famous sermon of yesteryear, yesteryear, and the title of it was, Alarm to the Unconverted. That's a good title for a sermon, isn't it? Alarm to the Unconverted.

[10:28] The lost need warning. Who will warn them? We must sound the alarm. We must sound the alarm. Because many are deceived. People are in darkness.

[10:39] They need the truth. And we need to be the people who take the message to them, to tell people the truth. So the prophet says, sound the alarm, the day of the Lord cometh.

[10:52] In fact, the last prayer of the Bible is, come Lord Jesus. The last prayer in the Bible is a prayer for the second coming.

[11:05] Come Lord Jesus. This is a truth that we should wake up to. Christ is coming. This truth, this fact, this reality should stir us up.

[11:15] It should fire us up. For some, the alarm is blocked, as it were.

[11:27] The conscience has been called the divine alarm clock, God's alarm clock. And for many, they are not hearing it. Many just want a convenient religion.

[11:39] Just pleasant words. Just a steady diet of political correctness. That's what they're used to from the media. And it's like they've got a sign. As you see a sign on someone's door, do not disturb.

[11:53] They have this sign, do not disturb, on their mind's door. Don't disturb me. I'm all right, Jack. Really, as I've heard it put, political correctness is mind rot.

[12:11] We ought to be disturbed. We ought to have that searching, considerate mind to find and receive the truth.

[12:22] Yet many are complacent and comfortable and thoughtless and they need disturbing. The Holy Spirit fire alarm is sounding. It's going off. Judgment is at the door.

[12:36] People are in grave danger. And the church, where's the church? We see where the church is. Many not even here. Sleeping saints need to awaken.

[12:50] Sadly, the church by and large is sleeping and it's broken in many quarters. As apostasy, spreads and corrupts and backsliding professors abound and the unfaithful seem in the majority.

[13:07] The alarm is sounding, people of God. Our land is under God's wrath. We are accursed. And ministers have fallen silent.

[13:18] They don't raise their voices. You know, there's some quiet voices of protest in some ecumenical circles, but the ministers don't speak up.

[13:33] They might lose their wages. They might lose their mansers. They might lose all of the benefits that they get from being in their ecumenical outfit.

[13:44] outfit. So they fall silent. Or they might end up like this fellow that I've been in communication with. Out the door.

[13:57] Too controversial. We don't want to hear it. There are many voices crying for ecumenical unity. Unity at the expense of truth. Unity at all costs.

[14:09] As if that's the great desirable. That is the aspiration they seek. Unity at all costs.

[14:20] Unity despite prevailing error and falsehood such that the ecumenism becomes interfaith. Just blur the whole lot. And we're seeing that.

[14:32] It's mind-boggling when you tune into some of these Christian news information sites that show just a total falling away where they're allowing like Buddhist statues in Anglican churches and whatnot and all these weird things that just it's just a tidal wave of falsehood and no one is daring to say that's wrong.

[15:02] We're witnessing a rise in false prophets and teachers so-called wolves in sheep's clothing. How we need a passion for the truth. There's a dire need for biblical discernment.

[15:13] We need an uncompromising message. And I say God bless that man in America booted out of his church because he dared to speak the truth. I say God bless him.

[15:27] 2 Thessalonians 2.3 it says let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away thirst and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition.

[15:44] Joel says sound an alarm. Elsewhere it tells the prophet spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet. You know preach against sin.

[15:55] Paul says apostasy will come first. Truly that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.

[16:06] And truly it abounds in our day does it not? The leaven is in the lump and it's really spreading. The leaven of false doctrine.

[16:17] Paul wrote to Timothy and exhorted him 1 Timothy 1 verse 3 as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia this is 1 Timothy 1 verse 3 that they might charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

[16:33] Confusion abounds. We dare not compromise on the truth of God's word. Now many churches are swallowing this big fat lie. For example not just condoning homosexual members but ordaining them to be the communicators of the message to the people in their churches the ordination of homosexuals they're veering away from the clear explicit teaching of the word of God how can they do that it's unfathomable isn't it and then we've got women elders and pastors completely unbiblical church is not preaching the real gospel and the church is becoming secularized and worldly fired and what do we see as a result of this mess the church I'm saying church loosely as in that which people would reckon to be the church is faltering and failing of course we know the Lord's church he will build that church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against that church but in these churches that are falling aside it's been reckoned

[17:47] I saw some recent stats that around 100 to 200 churches are closing every week in the USA that's shocking isn't it 100 to 200 churches closing their doors never to open again every week in the USA and some of these former church buildings as much as a church building is just the bricks and mortar that the people meet in but nevertheless these were buildings built that were intended for the worship of God's people now they're wineries breweries and bars they become hotels entertainment venues and so on then in Europe there's hundreds of churches being transformed into mosques what a reproach and meanwhile there's this mystical all inclusive kind of Christianity foisted on the masses promoting this fuzzy wuzzy gospel that pushes the idea that doctrine stands in the way of unity and must be laid aside no wonder such churches are failing the most loving thing we can do as my friend in the

[18:53] USA says love warns people need to hear the warning of God we must warn those around us of the truth time is running out hell is real and God will cast the lost into hell Ezekiel 33 if you'd like to flick over to that this is where my friend was I listened to his message as I was kind of still fine tuning mine and I thought there's some similar thoughts that he has and this was as I'd already intended to preach on warning that his message was just the same in many ways in many regards probably was the last message he preached so I don't know if this is the last message I preached to you but Ezekiel 33 was his message and verse 1 again the word of the and take him away his blood shall be upon his own head and of course it goes on through these various verses verse 7 we'll pick it up so thou son of man

[20:34] I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me notice the word of the Lord came unto me thou shalt hear the word of my mouth and warn them from me verse 11 it says say unto them as I live saith the Lord the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will you die a house of Israel the message turn ye turn ye I know as a young Christian as a in my early days of preaching we would record some of our sermons on the old old fashioned cassettes you know the tapes and in fact my son Peter has offered to help transfer those tapes into mp3 so they won't be lost and one of the early efforts

[21:43] I made was a just a short a very short message that a little program that I made that I would send over to a radio station a short wave radio station to give a little gospel message clip on a short wave radio station that was overseas Africa and such and the title of my program was turn to Jesus turn to Jesus that's that's the message still isn't it turn to Jesus turn ye turn ye turn ye from your evil ways me meantime the enemy is at work the

[22:56] Lord said through Joel sound the alarm warn the people sound an alarm the enemy is at the doors and the enemy is busy in 2019 he's not stopped you know I like to kind of tongue in cheek say there's something good about the devil he's very busy he works hard he works hard at doing bad things but the enemy plants tears amongst the wheat and so when we gather we're not saying necessarily everybody is a believer I've heard another preacher say the same thing we're not to take it for granted that those who are church attenders are even safe people because the enemy plants tears!

[23:45] amongst the wheat and so we ought to be full on and full out for God and speaking the truth knowing that everybody needs to hear the message we can't dilute it and water it down we must give it strong and truthfully and steadily so there so there is no time for tolerance we dare not turn a blind eye to that which is wrong but rather we must be amongst the number who would rather partake of the fellowship of his sufferings rather be booted out of a church as my preacher friend to take the way to glory is to take the way of the cross the fellowship of his suffering so I put to you today on high alert it's been said that an alarm clock is a contraption designed to scare the daylight into us to wake us up and we need the daylight scared into us as it were we must awaken the sleeping saints because many are failing and faltering you know one clear three letter sermon is remember lots wife like in

[25:07] Noah's day wickedness prevailed and life just went on they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage life just went on as usual and people were blinded to the impending destruction despite the faithful preaching of Noah and God's righteous judgment fell on these people these wicked and lawless people so friends tonight I don't mean to give you a message that's heavy without giving you that encouragement tonight that there's great hope for us even in such times because it's time to wake up and to arise out of our sleep Romans 13 11 it says knowing the time that now is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed there's glad tidings of great joy there's good news for all that will hear it sound and alarm says job it's a rallying cry we should rally together as it were as a cohort as a mobilised body of soldiers would be rallied together as the shofar would sound the enemy as at the gates so we should be stronger for it we should be stronger a stronger church i love the scripture in psalm 94 verse 16 which says who will rise up for us against the evildoers this is the lord psalm 94 verse 16 who will rise up for me against the evildoers who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity and i read a book which had this title who will rise up and it's quite a challenging book about evangelism who will rise up for me in such a day of decadence in such a day of falling away in such a day of disbelief in such a day of a hatred of the gospel of christ who will rise up for me against the evildoers what's stopping us sometimes it's fear i can be fearful i've got to shake it off let's shake off our slumber and ease the bible says woe unto them that are at ease in zion we can get comfortable with our christianity such that we're just coasting it's easy to be at ease in zion such that our christianity we just take it for granted and we just kind of by osmosis we just kind of just get careless and too easy breezy with it it's the fellowship of his sufferings it may cost us dearly to stand for christ daniel wasn't afraid in his day dare to be a daniel daniel 6 verse 9 the context the time the occasion was where king darius was kind of conned into this idea of decreeing that no one should request anything of anybody but him and verse 10 now when daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his god as he did a four time he said i'm not going to change my spiritual commitment to god because of anybody i'm going to be faithful daniel was faithful and he was willing to pay the cost and what about us today when others will mock us for our faith and let's face it they hate you the godless hate you you

[29:07] you who are ardent bible believers born again christians our modern christless culture thinks little of christians and genuine christianity i was reading how the american psychological association considers devout belief in god as mental illness so you're in good company here tonight it says that the american psychological association says devout belief in god is mental illness it's funny how they'll say that but they'll allow all manner of you know what is it called this dysphoria where you can say i've decided to change my gender you know you get that kind of thing but now they consider that belief in god is a mental illness and this belief in god such that you make conscientious decisions about common sense things they're calling it a mental illness how we need to sound the alarm in such a time as this in this hell bound world love warns love doesn't keep silent love speaks up love warns and friends tonight we've got a burning message it should be a burning message within us that we can't shut up we must tell others of god's saving work and what is that i was saved from the penalty of sin i am being saved from the power of sin and one day thank god i'll be saved from the presence of sin out some of the church tracks in gaula i don't know why he asked me that question because what would i say no to someone giving out tracks i said yes amen of course really you don't have to ask permission from me because a higher authority has already told you what to do amen the master has already given forth his command let's scatter the gospel seed far and wide you don't have to ask me because the master has already told you what to do so share the message and that includes giving them warning from me as the prophet was told give them warning from me as

[31:29] Ezekiel was told France tonight time is short there are signs everywhere someone has put it there's war signs there's earthquake signs there's outer space signs there's apostasy signs the signs of the land and we see this global economic meltdown it's like everything's going nuts the signs are all around us there was a preacher vandens having riding on a train and talking to a man about these signs of the times and the man was so amazed he said dr have her if someone wrote that in a book nobody would believe it and dr have said sir someone has written it Someone has written it in a book and nobody believes it.

[32:17] The signs are written and they're in a book for all to read and realise, yes, it's been foretold. Where are the faithful ones in a world that is increasingly faithless?

[32:32] We need to reject false teaching. 1 Timothy 4.1 it says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

[32:47] Now this is a very serious verse when you think about it. This is not just false doctrines. They're doctrines of devils. They're doctrines demonically driven and stemming from the devil.

[33:04] And we need to be alert to such things because it's a spiritual matter. And nowadays people are swallowing just about anything, aren't they?

[33:15] You see some of these kind of information sites, you see some of the crazy antics that are going on. In some church circles it's just going completely bizarre and totally off the planet.

[33:30] People are turning away, turning off track. Deception is what it is. And that's his hallmark. The one who started in Genesis in the garden is still doing the same thing.

[33:44] Deception. It's his trademark. And he's so skilful at it. Deceiving people through false doctrines, half-truths, counterfeit spiritual experiences, false gospels.

[33:58] We see new age things. Mysticism. There's one thing called mindfulness. They're pushing that in workplaces a lot. Where mindfulness is like Eastern mysticism. It's meditation.

[34:11] Mindfulness, they call it. I call it mindlessness. It's enchantment. It's witchcraft. And many professing Christians seem totally ignorant of such things.

[34:22] So apostasy, it began at Eden. 2 Corinthians 11, we read verse 13 of false teachers that such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

[34:36] And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Just look so dazzling and bright and pure and resplendent.

[34:51] Lucifer, the angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

[35:02] Stand firm in the faith I put to you tonight. And keep watch. As Joel was told to tell us, sound an alarm.

[35:13] Sound an alarm. For the time has come, says Peter in 1 Peter 4.17, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God.

[35:24] And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them who obey not the gospel of God? So there's two kinds of judgment spoken of in Scripture.

[35:35] One is the corrective judgment of the church. And the other is the condemnation judgment of the sinner. It's like the church has got an accountability. I am accountable.

[35:47] All of us are accountable. That our teaching accords with the Scriptures. There's no time to toy with such spiritual truths. This is too holy. It's too righteous.

[35:57] It's too precious that we should deviate or detour. There's no time. We've limited time. We can't be distracted. Meantime, apostasy is growing.

[36:10] In some churches, you don't hear much of Bible-centred preaching, cross-proclaiming, Christ-uplifting, God-glorifying. The gospel is now, gospel in inverted commas, is man-centred, needs-based, purpose-driven, happiness-centred.

[36:31] And Paul warns if we have a different gospel, there's a curse from God upon such. So we need to be right about such things.

[36:44] And really, I'm feeling very, very accountable to God that what I speak is true. And anyone who preaches, all of us as believers, we need to make sure we're Bible-founded in what we say, in what we believe, in what we teach, in what we share.

[37:10] And the message we have is still the same. It's as strong as ever it was. Repent or perish. The message is turn to Christ.

[37:21] 1 Corinthians 7, 29. Paul says, But I say this, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they weep not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoice not, and they that buy as though they possess not.

[37:40] Someone has reckoned of this verse. Well, if you actually analyse those different steps, those that have wives, those that weep, those that rejoice, those that buy, you could put it that in contrast with Christ and his commission, his direction of you, that our families cannot come first, that our worries cannot come first, that our pleasures cannot come first, that our possessions cannot come first.

[38:11] We must put the cause of Christ first. Of course, when I say that, I'm not saying, as some would falsely teach, that church is more important than your family.

[38:26] That's not the case. But God, pleasing God, is most important, and everything else follows on from that. Hosea 10, 12, it says, break up your fallow ground.

[38:40] It's time to seek the Lord. Now, I've had occasion to go to a funeral last week, and there's a funeral coming this week ahead.

[38:53] And there's a story about a man who went to a funeral, and the casket was open, and the preacher stepped up and gave his address, and he pounded on the pulpit, and he looked over at the casket, and he said, it's too late for Job.

[39:10] He might have wanted to get his life together. He might have wanted to spend more time with his family. He might have wanted to do that. But he's dead now. It's too late for him.

[39:22] But it's not too late for you. There is still time for you. You can still decide. You are still alive. It's not too late for you. Today is the day of decision.

[39:35] And then the preacher went on to tell how a greyhound bus had run into a funeral procession on the way to some cemetery as they headed that way, and that could happen today.

[39:46] And he said, you should decide today. Today is the day to get your life together. Too late for old Job. But it's not too late for you. And the man said later after the funeral, he said, I was so angry at that preacher.

[40:02] On the way home, I told my wife, have you ever seen anything as manipulative and insensitive to that poor family? I found it disgusting. And she said, I've never heard anything like that.

[40:15] It was manipulative. It was disgusting. It was insensitive. Worst of all, it was true. It was true. Joe was gone.

[40:27] But we have time. We have time. We can make a choice. And in fact, at this funeral I attended just last week, the preacher told something that stood out to me too.

[40:39] He said, the next funeral that you could attend could be your own. Shouldn't we sound an alarm? Shouldn't we wake up?

[40:51] Time is short. There's no time for religious games. The alarm Joel tells of was a warning call. A call to alert. Sound an alarm. Blow the trumpet.

[41:05] A call, a warning of danger. A call to arms. Now, few things are more attention grabbing than the blast of a trumpet. And we don't have a brass section in our church.

[41:16] But the sound of a trumpet. It's quite a sound, isn't it? Of course, the sound of a shofar, something again. But it used to be that trumpets or bugles were used on battlefields to summon the troops, to announce some advances or manoeuvres or retreats.

[41:31] And the old bugler sounded away and told the rest of the cavalry what to do. And a soldier's life in such a situation was all about listening to that sound.

[41:45] Listen for that sound. And getting the correct sound. When Gideon assembled his men to fight the Midianites by blowing a trumpet. And a different trumpet sound was used.

[41:58] A different shofar call was used as a warning of an attack, of a starting of an attack, of stopping an attack, of pursuing the enemy and stopping the pursuit. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 8, We mustn't have an uncertain sound.

[42:20] We must have a certain sound. Straight and strong. Joel said to close, Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain.

[42:32] Our great need is to sound the trumpet. And the Lord calls for warning. Ezekiel 33 verse 5, So the warning can be ignored.

[42:55] The sound can be ignored. The sound can be uncertain. Or the sound can be such that will take action. And so people of God here tonight, I urge you, whilst many will have hardness of hearts, they won't hear you when you tell them.

[43:12] You know, what was the preacher told? Go and tell them and they're not going to listen to you. But tell them anyway. And that has to be our stand likewise.

[43:24] For when you have those ones in your life, of course you use tact and wisdom and appropriate time and occasion, as the Lord prompts you to, but don't shy back from being a witness.

[43:38] Don't shy back because the hardness of men's hearts, God can overcome that. Amen. He can soften the hardest of heart. Think of Paul as he was Saul.

[43:50] God can break the hardest of hearts and break down their resistance by his Holy Spirit. So I pray, be encouraged here tonight. I pray there's some truth here that we can put in our kit bag and take home with us and act upon.

[44:11] Just real quick, hear the sound. Blow the trumpet. Sound and alarm. We're all of us called to that.

[44:23] All of us are called to sound the alarm. It's not just the preacher, we're not just some select number, it's every Christian. We should blow the trumpet. Sound the alarm. Let's pray.

[44:34] Lord, we thank you that your word is loud and clear to our hearts. And Lord, it's a sound, tells us of preparation.

[44:45] It tells us of your coming again. It tells us to get ready. Help us to be a prepared people. Help us, Lord, not to shy back, to be like Daniel, to just do that which you've put on our heart to do.

[44:59] Lord, to be as Joel calls us to, blowing that trumpet. To be as Ezekiel called, not to shy away from giving warning, lest there be blood on our hands if we fail.

[45:11] Lord, help us to be a people that will hold steady and fast. In a day of falling away, we'll stand firm and strong. Hold us steady, Lord, we pray, by your Holy Spirit's keeping power.

[45:27] In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's go to our final song. And it's 270. When the shofar of the Lord shall sound. 270.

[45:38] When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound. And time shall be no more. One day it will be. Amen. Amen. Don't be like Joe. Don't leave it too late to do something for God.

[45:50]  Amen. Let's stand and sing, shall we?