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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has
been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you.
Welcome to All In with Pastor Jordan Easley. Today's message
is about to begin, and we invite you to prepare
your heart and mind to hear an inspiring message from
God's Word. We hope and pray for God to speak
to you today as you seek to live your life

(00:22):
all in for Jesus Christ. And now from First Baptist
Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, here's Pastor Jordan Easley.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, I'm glad you're here today. We're beginning a brand
new study that I'm calling Revealed, and over the next
couple of months, we're going to be diving into the
final book of our Bible, hoping to uncover the mystery
of Revelation. So I hope you have a copy of
God's Word. We're going to begin today in Revelation, chapter one,
Verse one. You may not know this, but Revelation is

(00:51):
a book that is oftentimes misunderstood. It's oftentimes considered to
be too mysterious for people like us to understand. In fact,
a great number of pastors and churches have just decided
that they're not even going to study Revelation because it's
too complicated and it can be way too controversial. But
let me tell you why we're not going to be
one of those churches. Are you ready. It's because God's

(01:14):
word clearly tells us that if we bypass this book,
we bypass a blessing. That's what the Word of God says.
That this book stands alone in the ability to bless
the life of its reader. And so I'm going to
invite you today to join me as we embark on
this journey walking through the Book of Revelation. It's going
to be a journey that I believe the Lord is

(01:36):
going to use to bless our lives. I believe he'll
use it to bless our church, and I believe he'll
use it to bring greater clarity to our hearts in
really a supernatural way. You know, as I was preparing
for this message series, I stumbled upon some old notes
from our pastor Emeritis Alan Lockerman. Now many of you

(01:56):
are here when he preached the Book of Revelation a
couple decades ago. I know that because you tell me,
you tell me how great of a series that was.
Many of you say today that that is still the
greatest group of sermons that you have ever heard in
your life. And so because of that, I told him
this in our first service today. I said, I'm going
to be stealing so much of your stuff. Man, I'm

(02:17):
going to be stealing everything. And I took a lot
from his notes as I'm preparing to preach this book.
But in his introduction and all seriousness, he made a
statement a couple decades ago that I thought would be
a great way to kick off this study together, and
I want to read that to you today. He said,
as you begin this study, three things are required. First,

(02:39):
you must be gracious, realize that there are varied opinions
and interpretations. No doubt some will disagree with your understanding. Second,
you must be patient. This book will not come together quickly.
And third, you must be careful careful to not read
into this book regarding current events people all and interpret

(03:00):
the revelation by the evening news. Do not make that mistake.
I believe that's a great way to kick this off,
and I agree with every single word of it. And
so with that being said, we're going to begin our
journey through the Book of revelation now as we do so,
I want you to understand that I in no way
am an expert in eschatology. I'm not gonna claim to

(03:21):
be one. I don't spend forty hours a week thinking
about the end times. I see myself in this position
kind of as a tour guide. Just to be honest
with you, I'm a tour guide, and my job is
to be appointed and really equipped by God to walk
through this book and to tell you things that God
has revealed to me through the scriptures. When I say

(03:43):
tour guide, I think about the trips I've taken in
the past where I've learned about new places, places like
Israel or places like Egypt. When you go to these
places for the first time, you know a little bit,
but you don't know a whole lot. But you're given
a tour guide that has been studying and preparing for
a long time to tell you what they've learned. And
so that's kind of how I see myself in this

(04:04):
relationship over the next several months. I've never met a
guide that knew everything about everything, And I'm just gonna
tell you straight up, I don't know everything about everything,
but God's word is living, and it's active, and I'm
a student of God's word, and so we're gonna learn
together as we dive into this book, and we're gonna
see the message that I believe God wants us to see. Deal,

(04:28):
say deal, all right, let's dive in together. You know,
one of the most common questions that I receive as
a pastor is this, pastor, do you believe that we're
living in the last days? I hear that question all
the time. I recently read a research from Pew Research
that said sixty three percent of evangelicals believe that we
are living in the last days. Forty percent of all

(04:50):
people right now believe that we are living in the
end times. When I was a little boy, I can
remember asking my dad questions like this, that Jesus coming back?
Anybody ever wondered that when is Jesus coming back? When
is the world going to end? And as a young man,
every time I ask him a question like that, he
would always respond by giving me the exact same answer.

(05:13):
Here's what he would say, Son, we're closer today than
we've ever been. And so you asked me the question,
when is Jesus coming back? Or when is the world
going to end. Let me just tell you the same
thing my dad told me. We're closer today than we've
ever been. So the question we're asking today isn't will
Jesus return? Listen? Of course he's going to return. He

(05:33):
said he would return, and he's never He's never made
a promise that he didn't keep. He's going to return.
The question we're asking today is are we going to
be ready when he does return? Are we going to
be ready? Listen? Jesus gave us the Book of Revelation
not to confuse us, but to prepare us. He wants
you to know this book. He wants you to be ready.

(05:55):
And I believe throughout this study you and I are
going to become ready in a multitude of ways. I
believe some will get saved by God in this series,
and I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would speak to
people who have been running away from God for a
long time. I'm praying that God would convict hearts and
we'd see people who've been religious and without God saved

(06:17):
by God. And I believe that will happen throughout this study.
I also believe that some will get right with God.
There are a lot of people that live here and
are within the reach of our church that are backsliding.
You know the Lord, but you're not living for the Lord.
And my prayer is, as we unpack the words of Revelation,
that many people will run back to God, that we
will see repentance and restoration, and we'll see people renewed

(06:40):
by the spirit of God. I also believe that some
will become burdened for those who don't know God. I
believe that this book reminds us how close we are
to eternity. And my prayer is that the reality of
eternity is going to is going to make you and
I more soule conscious. As we engage and interact with
people that don't know the Lord. And you go to

(07:01):
work every single day, you go to school, every single day,
you're surrounded by people who, right now, if their hearts
stopped beating, would spend an eternity in a real place
called hell. And I believe when you study this book,
it makes you more soul conscious because because eternity is
a long time and we're all going to experience it soon.
That's why Jesus gave us this book. By the way,

(07:22):
he never tries to surprise us with what's coming next.
In fact, he tells us that the entire purpose of
this book is to prepare us and to show us
what's coming next. Look at verse one, it says the
revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show
his servants what must soon take place. You say that

(07:43):
word revelation, that word literally means unveiling, unveiling, a revelation
is when something is unveiled. It's when it's revealed. In fact,
the word revelation comes from a Greek word apocalypsis apocalypsis,
which literally means the removed of a veil so that
something can be seen. When you hear that, I want

(08:04):
you to think of an artist that has a masterpiece.
An artist that has a masterpiece, you know, an artist
that has a masterpiece covers it until the time is
right to display it. That word apocalypsis was used to
describe that moment when the artist would lift the veil
and uncover a piece of art. It was the moment
where the beauty of the masterpiece would be displayed to

(08:28):
the world. And when you think of this book called Revelation,
that's the picture I want to plant in your mind.
This is Jesus lifting the veil and uncovering the mystery
of things that are coming soon. Throughout this book, you're
gonna see him reveal his majesty. You're gonna see him
display his deity, and he is the masterpiece. And Revelation

(08:52):
is Jesus unveiling his beauty to the world. There are
a couple of things that you can pick up on,
really in the first couple of verses of the book.
The first one is this that Revelation has a central figure.
Revelation has a central figure. This isn't just a book
about end times and images and bolls and judgments. Now,

(09:12):
all those things are in this book, and we're going
to talk about every single one of them in the
weeks to come. But right as we're getting started, I
want you to understand that Revelation is a book that
is first and foremost about Jesus. It's a book that
he gave to us for the purpose of unveiling and
revealing more of himself to mankind. So who is the

(09:34):
central figure of Revelation? Well, look at verse one, what
does that say, the revelation of Jesus Christ. You said,
but I thought John wrote this book. Well, he did.
But this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. On every
single page of this book, the Holy Spirit's going to
pull back the curtain and he's going to give you
more insight of Christ. He's going to give you a
better view of who he is. He's the central figure

(09:57):
of revelation. It also shows that he's revealer. He's the revealer.
Look at it. It says he revealed this vision to John.
It says revelation was given by Christ through an angel
to John. In fact, if you have a King James Bible,
it says that this message was signified. Now that's not
a word that we use all the time, but that's
the word that was used. It was signified. When you

(10:22):
look this word up in the original language, what that
means is it's a message that was given through signs
and symbols. Signs and symbols. That's what revelation is. It's
a book of signs and symbols that was unveiled by Jesus.
You get it. Jesus is the revealer, but he's also

(10:42):
the revealed. He's the one who lifts the veil. But
under the veil is the masterpiece of Jesus Christ. So
revelation it has a central figure, and his name is Jesus. Secondly,
I want you to see revelation also has a clear purpose.
This book has a clear purpose. You say, what is
the purpose revelation, Well, they just told us. He said

(11:02):
to show his servants what must soon take place, to
show his servants what must soon take place. If you
write in your Bible, I want you to circle the
word servant, circle the word servant in that verse. The
word servant is misinterpreted many times, especially in the English,

(11:23):
because when we think servant, we think slaves, we think slavery,
and in a sense, that's what the word servant means.
But when this word is used in the Bible, it
is always referring to a bond servant, a bond servant.
So what that tells us is it's not a servant
that couldn't help but being a slave. It's not somebody

(11:44):
who is born into slavery. It's not someone who was
a slave against their will. No, a bond servant. And
this word is used to describe a slave that chose
to surrender to a master. They chose to surrender to
a master. So Revelation begins by saying The purpose of
this book is to reveal the mysteries of what must
soon take place to who to the servant of Christ,

(12:09):
those who have personally surrendered their life to the Master.
And here's what that means. Right off the bat, you're ready.
It means if you don't belong to God and you're
reading this book, you're reading somebody else's male. That's what
it means. If you don't belong to God, if you've
never surrendered to the Master, Jesus Christ, then you're reading

(12:29):
this book. You're reading someone else's mail. Because this book
says that this was written to his servants, which means,
if you're not a servant of God, you're gonna have
a very difficult time reading this book and enjoying it.
If you're not a servant of Christ, you're going to
have a really hard time wrapping your mind around all
the things that must soon take place. Why is that well,

(12:52):
because the things that must soon take place are still
going to happen, and they're still going to have an
impact on you even if you're not a of God. Hey.
One thing that makes this book such a special book
is the fact that it tells us about things that
will happen to those who receive Christ, but it also

(13:12):
talks about the things that will happen to those who
reject Christ. Both of those people most likely are in
the room today. But in the coming weeks, we're gonna
look at each of these things. We're gonna talk about
some hard things, some difficult things, some may even say
scary things that are in the future, things like the Rapture,
the Tribulation, the Battle of Armageddon, the Millennial Reign, the

(13:33):
Final Judgment. We're going to unpack some big things. And
each of these things are going to happen. In fact,
Jesus said they must soon take place. But not only
are they gonna happen, each of these things are going
to affect you. They're going to affect those that you
know and those that you love. When they do happen
one way or another, you say, well passor If this

(13:56):
says that things must soon take place, and these words
were written over two thousand years ago, then how does
that make sense? I mean, shouldn't they have already happened?
Have you ever wondered that? Have you ever thought about
the timeline of this? And you're like, man just says
it's gonna soon take place. Man, that's a long time
ago when those words were spoken. If you've ever wondered

(14:17):
that before, I want you to go back to the
text and circle the word soon. Circle the word soon
in your Bible. That word in the Greek is a
word that John used that doesn't talk about things that
are gonna happen fast, like soon, as in tomorrow or
next week, or in the next one hundred years or
in the next millennium. That's not the word that he
uses here. In fact, the word that he uses in

(14:39):
the Greek is where we get our English word tachometer. Tachometer.
If you've ever raced cars or been in that world,
you've seen tachometers on the dash. It's something that measures
measures velocity or speed. A tachometer doesn't measure time, it
measures speed. So Jesus wasn't saying these things are going
to happen in the next day or in the next month. No,

(15:01):
he was saying that when the prophecy of this book begins,
these things are going to happen very quickly. They're going
to happen very rapidly. They're going to happen in the
blink of an eye. And so he gives us all
of this information. Why, Because He's trying to prepare us
so that when things start happening rapidly, so that you're ready,
and so that I'm prepared. Perhaps you've read this book

(15:23):
before and you've wondered if God wants us to be prepared,
if God wants us to be aware of what's going
to happen in the future, then why would God write
Revelation in such a way where it's so confusing, where
you've got all the signs and all the symbols. Why
does it seem like such a mystery when you read
the Book of Revelation if he gives it to us

(15:45):
for the point of clarity. And that's a question that
many of us have asked in the past, like why
is this book so confusing? My personal approach to Revelation
is the literal mode with a futurist perspective. And that's
why I'm so excited to read doctor Lockerman's notes because
he and I see eyed eye on all this. So
I'm still in everything from his notes. I'm like, this

(16:07):
is going to be a plagiarism kind of series, Amen,
because he and I see the same things. These are
literal events that have happened, they are happening, and they
will continue to happen in future days. So let's recap
just a little bit. Revelation has a central figure, and
his name is Jesus. Revelation also has a clear purpose,
and the Bible says that is to show his servants

(16:30):
what must soon take place. But I've got one more
for you if you're taking notes today, and that is
that Revelation has a certain promise, and we see that
promise in verse three. He says, blessed is the one
who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. And blessed
are those who hear the words of this prophecy and
keep what is written in it, because the time is near. Hey,

(16:53):
that's why I said earlier in this message, if you
bypass this book, you bypass a blessing. It's because of
what Jesus clearly says in verse three regarding the Book
of Revelation. What did Jesus just say here? It is
if you read it, if you hear it, if you
believe it, if you keep it, he said, you will

(17:13):
be blessed by it. Don't miss this. This is why
we're doing this study. Because he said, if you read
these words out loud, You're gonna be blessed. Guess what.
I'm gonna be blessed either way, because I have the
privilege of reading it out loud. He said. If you
hear it, you're going to be blessed. He said, if
you believe it, if you keep it, he said, you
will be blessed by it. No other book in your

(17:37):
entire Bible comes with this promise from God. But I
do want to point out that this right here is
a conditional promise. It's a conditional promise. Not every promise
of God is a conditional promise. This one is. When
I say conditional promise, what I mean by that is this,
If we do this, God will do that. That's what
this means. If we do this, God will do that.

(18:00):
If we do what, if we read it, if we
hear it, if we believe it, if we keep it,
then you will be blessed by this. You will be
blessed by God. Hey, I don't know about you. I
want to be blessed by God. I'm not gonna hold
back gonna I'm not gonna try to act like I'm
not really intrigued by this list. I want all the

(18:21):
blessings that God makes available, every single one of them.
I want to be blessed. You say, why is that?
Why do you want to be blessed? Let me tell
you why. Because the Bible just said the time is near.
That's why we need the blessings of God. I need
the blessings of God on my family. I need the
blessings of God on this church. I need the blessings

(18:41):
of God on my life. I need God. Why because
the time is near? We need him. I mean, when
you read the scriptures, the time is near? You say,
pastor when? When is that time? When are the last days?
How will we know when we are truly living in
the last days? You know what, I'm not gonna answer

(19:03):
that question. I'm gonna let him do that. Read with me.
In Hebrews Chapter one, verse one, it says, long ago
God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets, at different
times and in different ways. In these last days, he
has spoken to us by his son. God has appointed

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him heir of all things and made the universe through him.
You know what? That verse tells me everything I need
to know. It tells me that these are the last days,
the last days, began with the life, death, burial, resurrection,
and ascension of Jesus Christ. Hey, the Bible just said

(19:47):
the last days began with the first coming of Christ.
And you know this today we're anticipating what the second
coming of Christ. When you read this book, you see
that the next major prophetic event on God God's calendar
is the second coming of Jesus. The question is that
will it happen? You better believe it's going to happen.

(20:08):
The question we've got to ask is are we going
to be ready when it does? Are we ready right now?
Many of us, if we are being honest with ourselves
and honest with the Lord, would have to say we
are not ready for him to come today. We are
not ready for things that must soon take place. In fact,
the reason you know that you're not ready is because
you live with fear, and you wonder, man, am I ready?

(20:31):
You've got to hope so kind of faith, not a
no so kind of faith, and you walk every single
day afraid of what's coming. So are you afraid today?
Are you ready? This past Easter I had the privilege
of speaking and preaching at the Bradley County Jail. That

(20:53):
was the day I'll never forget. I walked in noticed
right off the bat that there is just a sense
of hopelessness and a sense of fear. And talking to
these men as they were surrounded by all the bars
that confined them, and after sharing with a large group
of one of the main pods, I wrapped up the
message and several men indicated that they wanted to give

(21:14):
their life to Jesus. But then afterwards we broke out
and a couple of guys were saying, hey, I wasn't
ready to make that decision. I just want to talk
to you one on one. Is that okay? We talked
to me and I was like, of course, I'll talk
to you, That's why I'm here. And it was all
good until one of the guys said, hey, come here,
come here, can follow me and he walked up into
his cell and I was like, who whoa. It was

(21:34):
a little bitty I mean, it was a really bitty,
little bitty sell, but I did it. I walked by
Faith in the jail and I walked into this guy's selling.
I mean, he and I are are nose to nose
having a great conversation about the Lord. When all of
a sudden, in the middle of this encounter, I hear
a loud, banging noise. I mean, he's just like bow
right behind me, and I'd probably jump like three feet

(21:55):
off the ground. Scared me to death in the moment,
and I turned around and I looked, and the noise
that I heard was the door slamming shut. And so
here we are, man, just me and this guy hanging
out inside of a little cell with a locked door
behind me, and my eyes were this big around as

(22:15):
we continued our conversation. Now, I got to give credit
to the people who work in the jail. It took
about maybe seven to ten seconds in real time before
they fixed the error and they opened that door. In fact,
when the guard walked in, he apologized about twenty times pastor,
I'm so sorry that happened. I can't believe that happened.
In my bat on all the things right, And I

(22:35):
was like, man, it's no big deal, don't worry about it.
He said, you don't even seem like you were really
that scared. I said, you know, it was a little
bit shocking when I heard the noise, but I wasn't afraid.
He said, that kind of surprises me a little bit.
That seemed like it would be scary. Why weren't you afraid?
And in that moment, without even thinking, this is what
I told him. I said, the reason I wasn't afraid

(22:57):
was because I knew you were out here. I knew
that you were the one that had the keys. You
had the keys, so no matter what happened, I knew
that you could get me out of here. Hey. In
a similar way, I'm reminded today that those of us
who know Jesus Christ, man, we have no reason to
be afraid. When you read about the things that must

(23:19):
soon take place. You're reading about death and hades and
all this, all this stuff that seems so so foreign
and so scary. Man, I just tell you, if you
know Jesus, you have no reason to be afraid. You
know why, because he's the one who holds the keys.
He holds the keys, and he can unlock the door

(23:39):
to this dreaded place. He alone opens the keys, opens
the door to salvation and freedom and hope and life.
That's why I'm asking the question is that do you
do you have an awareness of what's going to take place? No,
do you know the one who holds the keys? That's
the question Do you know him as Lord? Do you

(24:00):
do you have a moment in your history where you
surrendered like a bond servant surrenders to a master. Have
you had that moment where you surrendered all to Jesus
and said, this life no longer belongs to me, It
belongs to you. It's true that Jesus died for the
sins of the whole world. Nobody's arguing that. But don't
believe for a second that he has already saved every

(24:21):
person in this world. He paid the price for your salvation.
His blood was shed to cancel your sin dead. But
the Bible clearly says that in order for a person
to truly be saved, to have hope, to have life,
he said, you got to receive Jesus. This isn't a
collective decision. This is a personal decision. Your mama, your

(24:43):
daddy can't save you. Grandpa can't save you. Your Sunday school
teacher can't save you. Your preacher or church can't save you.
The Bible says that you must get to a point
in your life where you receive Jesus and you surrender
all to him. You say, why would I do that? Today?
May I remind you because he alone holds the keys.

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He's holding the keys. So you want to escape bondage,
you want to experience freedom. May ask you one more time.
Has Jesus saved you? Has he forgiven you? Are you
set free today? Are you ready for what's next? Would
you close your eyes, just bow your head, spend a

(25:26):
moment with the Lord? Consider those questions today? Ask that question,
am I truly ready? Or do I live with question
marks every single day regarding my eternal destination? May I
ask you if you're not ready, if you can't say
with certainty today that that you've exchanged your hope so

(25:48):
faith with a no, so faith. I want to invite
you today to go all in with Jesus, because the
question is asked, are you ready, and the answer is no,
You're not ready until you've given one hundred percent of
who you are to King Jesus, for he is the
one that holds the kings. Lord. Today I pray for
those who need to be saved, for those who need

(26:09):
to step into salvation and certainty by grace through faith
in Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that today you will
do it only you can do in the lives of many.
I pray that many will trust you, that many will
believe in you, and many will be blessed because of
what your word has promised. Lord, I pray this over

(26:31):
every single one of us today, and I pray that
in this moment you would be glorified. It's in Jesus name,
we pray Amen. Before we wrap up this episode of
All Them, I like to pose an important question for you.
Would you like to enrich your daily quiet time with

(26:53):
the Lord? You know? I'm convinced the best way to
grow in your relationship with Christ is to spend daily
time in His word. This conviction inspired me to create
a brand new devotional book, which I'm calling Going All
In with Jesus. This devotional offers concise, easy to read
entries that begin with a passage from Scripture and then

(27:13):
conclude with a gospel centered commentary design to inspire you
every single day as you renew your faith in Christ.
To secure your copy, please follow the instruction displayed on
the screen, but please order as soon as possible because
availability for this devotional book is limited. As we wrap
up this episode of All In, please know that I

(27:33):
am praying for you and I eagerly anticipate reconnecting with
you right here each week as we come together to
learn more about Jesus. Hey, we never want to end
our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to know Jesus
as your personal Lord and savior. If you'd like to
make the decision to trust Jesus and want to know
more about what it looks like to follow Jesus, get

(27:56):
in touch with me right now. Follow the instructions at
the bottom of the screen so that we can pray
for you and also put information in your hands right away.
Today we celebrate your decision and look forward to being
a part of your personal journey of going all in
with Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan eese Lee
has been made possible by the generous support of viewers
like you. We hope today's message encourages you as you
strive to live your life fully committed to Jesus Christ.