September 3, 2023 • 30 mins
Are you prepared for what's to come? This bold question is the driving force behind our latest podcast episode, as we explore the miraculous and treacherous times we are living in. Drawing from the wisdom of the book of Revelation, we examine the rise of a one world currency through the advent of digital currencies. Our dialogue brings God's hand into sharp focus in the happenings around us, urging you to choose hope over fear. We delve into the urgency of spreading the gospel truth to those yet to embrace it, preparing for the return of Jesus.
We push the envelope further by challenging the depth of your commitment to God's cause. Drawing inspiration from the gripping narrative of Elliot Ness and Malone from The Untouchables, we urge you to fortify your relationship with Jesus Christ. The significance of repentance isn't lost on us, as we implore you to renew your commitment to God. We provide a prayer of recommitment to aid your fresh journey with Him. Prepare to be inspired, to live with hope, and to fulfill the Lord's mission, as we navigate these turbulent times together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I give youthanks for today.
I give you thanks for the powerof this medium, for giving me
the strength and Perseverance todo this, with the urgency I
hope and pray that it requires.
I know that I could never havethat or an urgency outside of
(00:25):
you, lord.
I hope that I hope and praythat you never Remove that
urgency from me.
We are living in bothtreacherous and miraculous times
and I am humbled beyond measureto be able to Be a voice In
(00:49):
these times.
I pray for the all the peoplewithin the sound of my voice,
wherever their lives are,whatever Circumstances, and that
they find themselves in Lord,that you would be with them,
that you would give them yourpeace where needed and allow
them to rejoice where needed.
Father God, I Give you thanksfor this study.
(01:11):
I give you thanks for thiswonderful book so often
misunderstood, this book of hope, this book of of finality and
this book of glory, the gloriousrevelation of your son, jesus
Christ.
May your words go out today,not my own.
May everything that is donehere be a measure of where your
(01:36):
spirit would lead us.
In Jesus name, amen.
Okay, let's go ahead and getstarted.
We are continuing our study inthe book of revelation and we
are going to cover Wait for itone whole verse.
Today we are in revelation 1 9.
(01:57):
If you wouldn't mind turningthere For me you'll.
We'll pick up right where weleft off last week.
You know, as I said in the open,in prayer, we're living in in
in both treacherous andmiraculous times.
Now there are some of you thatwill probably say to me
miraculous?
I don't know that I'd call itmiraculous.
(02:18):
I mean, if you watch the newsand yes, I, I have, and and I
would I would Challenge you withthe same question.
If you don't believe that we'reliving in miraculous times, I
would challenge you to watch thenews, and I know that that's
hard and more often than not avery depressing exercise.
But when you watch the news,when you watch the news with
(02:41):
spiritual eyes, with spiritualeyes, you can see the chest
pieces being moved into place.
You can see in all thetumultuous Goings on in this
world, you can see God's hand init.
(03:02):
Just a small example monetarily,I believe that we're closer to
a world bank and a one worldcurrency now more than ever,
than any time in history,something that never when, when,
when, when our contemporariesread the book of Revelation and
it talks about a one worldcurrency later in the book and
(03:24):
it talks about Not being able totrade or to buy or to sell and
all of these things.
Nobody thought that wasanywhere near possible.
But in the event of, of, ofDigital currencies and and and
all of those things, it's verypossible and People are
(03:44):
clamoring.
Now, am I saying that this is agood thing?
No, I mean, it is and it's not.
And that's the conundrum thatChristians find themselves in.
And the reality of it is that,you know, nothing frustrates me
more, on the one hand, than tohave a Group of believers
(04:08):
Basically saying well, it's allgonna burn and that's good,
because that means Jesus iscoming back.
Well, yes, it is good.
It is good because Jesus iscoming back and as Jesus said in
the Gospels, in the Bible, hesaid you know, you understand
the seasons, but you can't seethe signs of the times, and that
(04:30):
was in Matthew.
That was in Matthew and he'sright.
But I think that we as believersas a side note here miss the
point a little in that, yes,it's all going to come to an end
and Jesus is going to reign,and what a glorious day that'll
(04:55):
be Whether we meet him in theair and the rapture, or if we
pass away from this world andour next breath is with him in
paradise.
No matter how that works out,it's miraculous.
But I would stress, not toforget the why, the why, the why
(05:22):
are we here?
Why are we here?
Is it simply to wait for it toall quote unquote burn?
And I don't think so.
Matter of fact, I know not.
One of the one of the keys tothis ministry is that there's no
one I wouldn't want to see inheaven, and that's why I do this
(05:44):
.
That's why this is done and, asChristians, this is what we
have to grasp.
Is that you know what?
Yes, that's true, but is theresomebody else?
It's true that that Jesus isgoing to come back in this world
and its way of doing things andall of that is all going to go
away and it's going to becompletely transformed and
(06:07):
changed and Jesus is going torule and reign.
That's all true.
But in the meantime, don'tforget that there are people out
there who have not accepted thetruth.
There are people out there whohave not accepted the truth, and
there's no greater measure oflove than to share the truth of
(06:32):
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I've called it many times, thesecret that we have that we're
reluctant to share.
If you had the cure for canceror Alzheimer's, or hate, or
bitterness, or sadness, sorrow,wouldn't you share it?
(06:54):
Well, you do.
You have that gift and, as aprecursor here, I would just
encourage you to find ways tocomplete our mission here on
this earth.
We're travelers, but we have amission that wasn't supposed to
(07:15):
be and none of that was written.
But that's what was on my heartthis morning, that's what we
were, that's what's on my heartthis morning.
Everything's moving so very fastand, like I said, we have a
choice.
We can choose to live in fearand be engulfed in everything
(07:41):
that comes at us, all of thehand wringing and the concern
and the shifting that is the 24hour media cycle or we can trust
the truth, as I said, in theopen.
Jesus is coming back and, moreimportantly, we can be ready for
it.
How do we do that?
(08:02):
By being about the Lord'sbusiness, and I want you to
write that down.
I want you to write that downNext year open Bible.
It's always good to have anotepad and if you're on an iPad
or a tablet or your phone.
Make a note Be about the Lord'sbusiness.
(08:25):
And what do I mean by that?
Be about the Lord's business?
Well, it was put to me this wayduring a Bible study once what
is it you'd like to be doingwhen Jesus comes back for you?
What would you like to be doing?
(08:46):
That's a heck of a question,and I challenge you to ponder
that this week.
What would you like to be doingwhen Jesus comes back for you?
For me, I want to be about theLord's business.
I want to be doing the thingsthat he has called me to do.
So what?
(09:07):
Indeed, in detail, okay, mycalling and that's what we're
talking about here is a calling.
What is the Lord called for youto do?
My calling is different fromyours, and it's also the same.
I'm called to work in corporateAmerica.
Okay, that's what I'm called todo.
(09:30):
I'm called to be a part of aunit that works in corporate
America and conducts business inthat realm.
You may be a nurse, a lawyer,an engineer, a garbage collector
, a retail worker, arestaurateur even, or a
stay-at-home mom or dad, a firstresponder, or a gasp, even a
(09:52):
politician.
The point is, we all havedifferent calls on our lives,
the air go.
We're all very different.
I did, however, say that wewere the same as well.
Well, here it is.
As we learned last week,through the acceptance of the
gift of salvation, jesus hasmade us kings and priests to his
(10:16):
God and Father.
That's Revelation 1-6.
It's a little bit up the pageor up the column from where we
are.
So, no matter what you do, doit as unto the Lord, we are
members, rather, of a priesthoodafter all, a priesthood.
It's pretty heavy stuff.
(10:38):
And so now that brings us toRevelation 1-9.
If you'll take a look at itwith me, it says I, john, both
your brother and companion inthe tribulation and kingdom and
patience of Jesus Christ.
So let's just take that firstbit, because there's a ton there
(10:59):
.
John calls himself our brotherand companion, and it's the
power of the priesthood and thekingship that we spoke of
earlier In Christ.
This man from thousands ofyears ago is our brother today
and our companion today.
As we read his God breathedwords, john is writing to every
(11:29):
church In this book.
We share the priesthood withhim.
John is writing to the earlychurch.
He's writing to us as well.
He is our brother in Christ.
Let me give you an example.
I was blessed.
Many of you that followed mefor a while know that I was
(11:53):
blessed to go to Jerusalem,israel.
I was blessed to go to Israelproper in 2019.
And one of the first things Iwas able to do, I was blessed to
lead a mission group.
We have my church has amissionary couple in Israel and
(12:16):
we went down to support them andhelp support the ministries
that they run down there inIsrael and it's called Bet
Yadahim, which in Hebrew meanshouse of compassion, and one of
(12:37):
the first things, jet lagged andeverything else.
It's nine hours.
It's nine hours from Newark toTel Aviv, and so jet lagged and
everything else.
That first night, what we didis we went to church with them.
They have a congregation thatthey belong to that runs a
(13:01):
Hebrew and English Christianchurch service.
So that was excellent and oneof the things I learned in the
next couple of weeks you'regoing to learn too.
For me, it was a mind benderabout this particular book and
the sum of the imagery thatlives within it and how it's
(13:23):
tied to the Jewish faith.
But we were there andstruggling to stay awake and we
get done with service and, ofcourse, just like every church
around the world, there's a timeof fellowship afterward, okay,
(13:46):
and everybody's talking toeverybody, and our hosts, of
course, are members of thatcongregation.
So they had people that theywanted to speak to and so on and
so forth, and so we were kindof left to our own devices for a
while.
And so what did I do?
I found a lady, a Hebrew,amazingly, that I was able to
(14:12):
introduce myself to and I wasable to talk to and I was able
to pray with.
I was able to pray with her.
She and I were able to comeinto the throne room of Christ
together.
I didn't know her, she didn'tknow me, past the three or four
minutes that we'd spent in smalltalk and other things, but then
(14:34):
we got right to the heart ofthe deep spiritual matters of
Christ and these two people, theGentile and the Hebrew the
Gentile from literally half ofhalf a world away and the Hebrew
joined together in their sharedcommon belief in Jesus Christ
(14:56):
as the Savior of the world andwe came into the throne room of
God through prayer and I wasable to pray with her and
minister to her, and it wasabsolutely amazing.
That's the commonality gang,that's the priesthood Okay,
that's the priesthood.
And so John is writing to theearly church.
He's their companion in theirtribulation and the kingdom and
(15:20):
patience of Jesus Christ.
John is acknowledging thepersecution of the early church
and the tumultuous, turbulenttimes that are rocking the
kingdom of Jesus at the moment.
The church was under the Romanboot and that's no small thing.
(15:41):
They were being persecuted.
So, finishing the verse, itsays, was on the island that is
called Patmos.
This is John now writing inRevelation one nine, for the
word of God and the testimony ofJesus Christ.
That's Revelation one nine, newKing James version.
(16:02):
So let's read the whole versetogether.
I John, both your brother andcompanion in the tribulation and
kingdom and patience of JesusChrist, was on the island that
is called Patmos for the word ofGod and the testimony of Jesus
Christ.
John tells us that he was onthe island of Patmos.
(16:24):
Why?
For the word of God and thetestimony of Jesus Christ.
So he was in exile forpreaching the word of God and
the resurrection of Jesus Christunto salvation for all who
would believe.
It's a gospel.
He's being persecuted for whatthe what would be called today
(16:46):
proselytizing.
And let's talk about the earlychurch and the believers and the
twelve and and and all of thatfor just a minute.
You know there are a lot ofpeople who say, oh, that's just
a book of fables and fairy tales, meaning the Bible.
They didn't really believe that.
(17:08):
There's no way really.
Well, if it was all one group,lie, okay.
Why then did all of Jesusdisciples save John Markers for
their new faith?
Why did they?
Why were they willing to go todeath, run through by swords,
(17:34):
beheaded, hung upside down?
Because they, because Peter,didn't believe that he was
worthy to die in the same waythat his Lord died.
So he was crucified upside down.
How do you do that?
(17:55):
If it's all one group lie, youcan't.
There's no way.
If you make up some bigelaborate ruse and somebody
calls you on it and says well,you know what?
That's a big fat lie, and ifyou don't tell me the truth, I'm
just gonna kill you.
I'm pretty sure everybodywithin the sound of my voice
would be like all right, so Ilied, do I get to live?
(18:16):
Good, cool, I lied, okay, butthey didn't.
They all died, and it wasn'tfor lack of trying with the
apostle John, john before he wasexiled to Patmos, mostly out of
frustration.
History tells us that John wasboiled in a vat of hot oil.
They were trying to kill him,but Jesus had other ideas.
(18:41):
Jesus had other ideas.
And here in America and I'llspeak to my American listeners
for a moment here in America wedon't really understand what
that persecution is.
We've not been persecuted, notin the way, in the shape and
(19:04):
form and fashion of the earlychurch or even other places
around the world.
Here comes a book recommendation.
It's a book called.
There are two of them that Iwould strongly recommend that
you add to your spirituallibrary.
One is one is Fox's Book ofMartyrs.
You can get it on Amazon orKendall, whichever way you wanna
(19:28):
do it.
And then the other is calledJesus Freaks.
Okay, jesus Freaks is put outby the alternative band that was
called DC Talk and the Voice ofthe Martyrs, which is a
ministry that highlights thosepeople who are suffering for
(19:51):
their faith around the world,and these are modern stories.
Gang Fox's Book of Martyrs goesback all the way to the
beginning, back to the firstChristian martyr, which was
Saint Stephen.
Okay, but the reality of it isthis is happening all over the
world in the Middle East, inRussia, in China.
(20:13):
They're being persecuted, theyhide out in basements.
I've told the story many timesof a group of believers who
consecrated a graveyard okay,for the martyrs of their faith
(20:34):
in Fallujah, because they knewthey would end up dying.
Okay, and they were willing todo that.
Why?
Because of Jesus Christ.
Because of Jesus Christ.
That's why.
So we hear and we see and weknow all of these things that
(20:56):
people were willing to do.
John was willing to go to thislittle rock in the middle of the
Mediterranean which, by the way, wasn't Club Med.
It sure wasn't.
No, no, it was a.
It's a rock, it's a little rock.
They call it an island.
It's a little rock he had.
I mean, it was a hard life.
It was a hard life and we'regonna find out next week what it
(21:19):
was he was doing when Jesuscame for him, when Jesus came to
see him and provide for himwhat we now call the book of
Revelation.
I'll put it like this Christian,when I was younger, I used to
(21:43):
love movies, oh, movies.
I used to love movies.
Used to love to go to themovies, used to love to buy
movies.
I had them on DVD and you knoweverything else.
Of course, now everything'sdigital, but One of my favorite
movies as a young man was theUntouchables, with Kevin Costner
, okay, and Sean Connery.
(22:04):
Robert De Niro played Capone.
You know it was.
It was a heck of a movie.
Now, the Premise of it is isthat Elliot Ness, who was a real
person, elliot Ness was taskedwith taking down organized crime
in Chicago in the 30s.
Capone on the city, capone onthe city.
(22:29):
And Malone is an old beat-upbeat cop who knows all the dirty
little secrets.
He knows what holes to look in,what rugs to look under to find
all the rats.
So Malone takes Ness to achurch in the beginning of the
movie and and it's a, it's afamous monologue and again
(22:53):
conversation, monologue byMalone and then conversation
with with Ness In the movies.
And Malone says look, the ruleshere are different.
The rules here are different.
Don't bring a knife to agunfight.
And the the famous line andI'll change it because I don't
(23:17):
like the way it was written, butbut the famous line is if he
puts one of yours in thehospital, you put one of his in
the morgue.
That's the Chicago way.
And what Malone is saying isPlain and simple look, things
(23:42):
are different.
You're gonna have to go and dothings that you're not
comfortable with.
Okay, you're gonna have to dostuff that you're not
comfortable with.
And the famous line at the endis what are you prepared to do?
How far are you willing to go?
And you know what friends?
That's what I challenge youwith today.
(24:02):
How far are you willing to go?
You know the devil is Satan isthe Satan's got control of this
world right now.
He does, and the question isChristian.
(24:24):
What are you prepared to do?
Are you prepared to sit aroundand wait for Jesus to come back,
because I got news for you?
I've told people before.
I don't want to have thatdiscussion if I'm sitting
flat-footed when he shows up.
Larry, I had stuff for you todo.
What are you doing?
I was waiting for you.
Yeah, that's not gonna work outWell, gonna get scolded.
(24:45):
I don't want to get scolded.
So what are you prepared to do?
Are you prepared to share thegospel with people?
Are you prepared to go to workevery day knowing that you're
doing that job as unto the Lord,which means if you have a bad
day, you're allowed to have abad day.
(25:07):
It's a matter of how you handlethat bad day.
Do it as unto the Lord.
Become that person, that man orthat woman who, every time they
walk into an, to a, to asituation, they are the light,
they are the gift, they are thegift, they are the one that
people turn to, who don't evenknow why.
(25:29):
The famous quote always is Ifyou were on trial for being a
Christian, would there be enoughevidence to convict you?
What are you prepared to do?
What are you prepared to do?
We're working.
That's plain and simple truth.
That's we are at war for souls.
(25:50):
That's exactly what we're doingright now.
That's where we are asChristians, and I would say this
If you feel like the HolySpirit is asking you to recommit
yourself to him, recommityourself to Jesus, recommit
yourself to the cause, then dothat.
(26:11):
And For those of you that arelistening to me, for those of
you that are listening to me whodon't have a relationship with
Jesus Christ and You've heard mesay words like salvation and
all of those things throughoutthis message I would say to you
this as you can see by lookingat the news, we're not promised
(26:34):
tomorrow.
There's all kinds of crazinessgoing on in the world, and it's
not a scare tactic, it's justthe truth.
There's all kinds of crazinessgoing on in the world.
Settle your final destination.
Settle it.
Settle it right now.
It's a free gift.
(26:54):
If you want to repent of of yoursins and if you're, if you're
feeling that tug right now thatsays man, I got to do something,
then do it.
Do it, and it's real simple.
All you have to do is talk tohim and you can say Heavenly
Father, lord Jesus, I know I'm asinner in need of a savior.
(27:16):
I Want to repent of my sinsright now.
I'm so sorry for all the thingsthat I have done that have kept
me separated from you, jesus.
I believe that you came andthat you lived and that you died
(27:37):
and on the third day God raisedyou again from the dead for me,
from my sins, and I want torepent of my sins right now and
I want you to be my Lord, my God, my Savior, my friend, and I
want to follow you all the restof the days of my life.
Thank you, jesus, amen.
(28:00):
If you prayed that prayer forRecommitment or as a new
believer, then God bless you.
And I mean that my pastoralways used to point to people,
as we did the altar call and andsay God bless you.
And you know what he meant it,and so do I.
He meant it, and so do I.
God bless you guys.
(28:21):
God bless you guys, and that'sall the time we have today.
That's all the time we havetoday, but I'll be back next
week and we'll look.
We'll soldier on through thisbook.
Until then, make it count andbe blessed.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I give youthanks for today.
I give you thanks for the powerof this medium, for giving me
the strength and Perseverance todo this, with the urgency I
hope and pray that it requires.
I know that I could never havethat or an urgency outside of
(00:25):
you, lord.
I hope that I hope and praythat you never Remove that
urgency from me.
We are living in bothtreacherous and miraculous times
and I am humbled beyond measureto be able to Be a voice In
(00:49):
these times.
I pray for the all the peoplewithin the sound of my voice,
wherever their lives are,whatever Circumstances, and that
they find themselves in Lord,that you would be with them,
that you would give them yourpeace where needed and allow
them to rejoice where needed.
Father God, I Give you thanksfor this study.
(01:11):
I give you thanks for thiswonderful book so often
misunderstood, this book of hope, this book of of finality and
this book of glory, the gloriousrevelation of your son, jesus
Christ.
May your words go out today,not my own.
May everything that is donehere be a measure of where your
(01:36):
spirit would lead us.
In Jesus name, amen.
Okay, let's go ahead and getstarted.
We are continuing our study inthe book of revelation and we
are going to cover Wait for itone whole verse.
Today we are in revelation 1 9.
(01:57):
If you wouldn't mind turningthere For me you'll.
We'll pick up right where weleft off last week.
You know, as I said in the open,in prayer, we're living in in
in both treacherous andmiraculous times.
Now there are some of you thatwill probably say to me
miraculous?
I don't know that I'd call itmiraculous.
(02:18):
I mean, if you watch the newsand yes, I, I have, and and I
would I would Challenge you withthe same question.
If you don't believe that we'reliving in miraculous times, I
would challenge you to watch thenews, and I know that that's
hard and more often than not avery depressing exercise.
But when you watch the news,when you watch the news with
(02:41):
spiritual eyes, with spiritualeyes, you can see the chest
pieces being moved into place.
You can see in all thetumultuous Goings on in this
world, you can see God's hand init.
(03:02):
Just a small example monetarily,I believe that we're closer to
a world bank and a one worldcurrency now more than ever,
than any time in history,something that never when, when,
when, when our contemporariesread the book of Revelation and
it talks about a one worldcurrency later in the book and
(03:24):
it talks about Not being able totrade or to buy or to sell and
all of these things.
Nobody thought that wasanywhere near possible.
But in the event of, of, ofDigital currencies and and and
all of those things, it's verypossible and People are
(03:44):
clamoring.
Now, am I saying that this is agood thing?
No, I mean, it is and it's not.
And that's the conundrum thatChristians find themselves in.
And the reality of it is that,you know, nothing frustrates me
more, on the one hand, than tohave a Group of believers
(04:08):
Basically saying well, it's allgonna burn and that's good,
because that means Jesus iscoming back.
Well, yes, it is good.
It is good because Jesus iscoming back and as Jesus said in
the Gospels, in the Bible, hesaid you know, you understand
the seasons, but you can't seethe signs of the times, and that
(04:30):
was in Matthew.
That was in Matthew and he'sright.
But I think that we as believersas a side note here miss the
point a little in that, yes,it's all going to come to an end
and Jesus is going to reign,and what a glorious day that'll
(04:55):
be Whether we meet him in theair and the rapture, or if we
pass away from this world andour next breath is with him in
paradise.
No matter how that works out,it's miraculous.
But I would stress, not toforget the why, the why, the why
(05:22):
are we here?
Why are we here?
Is it simply to wait for it toall quote unquote burn?
And I don't think so.
Matter of fact, I know not.
One of the one of the keys tothis ministry is that there's no
one I wouldn't want to see inheaven, and that's why I do this
(05:44):
.
That's why this is done and, asChristians, this is what we
have to grasp.
Is that you know what?
Yes, that's true, but is theresomebody else?
It's true that that Jesus isgoing to come back in this world
and its way of doing things andall of that is all going to go
away and it's going to becompletely transformed and
(06:07):
changed and Jesus is going torule and reign.
That's all true.
But in the meantime, don'tforget that there are people out
there who have not accepted thetruth.
There are people out there whohave not accepted the truth, and
there's no greater measure oflove than to share the truth of
(06:32):
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I've called it many times, thesecret that we have that we're
reluctant to share.
If you had the cure for canceror Alzheimer's, or hate, or
bitterness, or sadness, sorrow,wouldn't you share it?
(06:54):
Well, you do.
You have that gift and, as aprecursor here, I would just
encourage you to find ways tocomplete our mission here on
this earth.
We're travelers, but we have amission that wasn't supposed to
(07:15):
be and none of that was written.
But that's what was on my heartthis morning, that's what we
were, that's what's on my heartthis morning.
Everything's moving so very fastand, like I said, we have a
choice.
We can choose to live in fearand be engulfed in everything
(07:41):
that comes at us, all of thehand wringing and the concern
and the shifting that is the 24hour media cycle or we can trust
the truth, as I said, in theopen.
Jesus is coming back and, moreimportantly, we can be ready for
it.
How do we do that?
(08:02):
By being about the Lord'sbusiness, and I want you to
write that down.
I want you to write that downNext year open Bible.
It's always good to have anotepad and if you're on an iPad
or a tablet or your phone.
Make a note Be about the Lord'sbusiness.
(08:25):
And what do I mean by that?
Be about the Lord's business?
Well, it was put to me this wayduring a Bible study once what
is it you'd like to be doingwhen Jesus comes back for you?
What would you like to be doing?
(08:46):
That's a heck of a question,and I challenge you to ponder
that this week.
What would you like to be doingwhen Jesus comes back for you?
For me, I want to be about theLord's business.
I want to be doing the thingsthat he has called me to do.
So what?
(09:07):
Indeed, in detail, okay, mycalling and that's what we're
talking about here is a calling.
What is the Lord called for youto do?
My calling is different fromyours, and it's also the same.
I'm called to work in corporateAmerica.
Okay, that's what I'm called todo.
(09:30):
I'm called to be a part of aunit that works in corporate
America and conducts business inthat realm.
You may be a nurse, a lawyer,an engineer, a garbage collector
, a retail worker, arestaurateur even, or a
stay-at-home mom or dad, a firstresponder, or a gasp, even a
(09:52):
politician.
The point is, we all havedifferent calls on our lives,
the air go.
We're all very different.
I did, however, say that wewere the same as well.
Well, here it is.
As we learned last week,through the acceptance of the
gift of salvation, jesus hasmade us kings and priests to his
(10:16):
God and Father.
That's Revelation 1-6.
It's a little bit up the pageor up the column from where we
are.
So, no matter what you do, doit as unto the Lord, we are
members, rather, of a priesthoodafter all, a priesthood.
It's pretty heavy stuff.
(10:38):
And so now that brings us toRevelation 1-9.
If you'll take a look at itwith me, it says I, john, both
your brother and companion inthe tribulation and kingdom and
patience of Jesus Christ.
So let's just take that firstbit, because there's a ton there
(10:59):
.
John calls himself our brotherand companion, and it's the
power of the priesthood and thekingship that we spoke of
earlier In Christ.
This man from thousands ofyears ago is our brother today
and our companion today.
As we read his God breathedwords, john is writing to every
(11:29):
church In this book.
We share the priesthood withhim.
John is writing to the earlychurch.
He's writing to us as well.
He is our brother in Christ.
Let me give you an example.
I was blessed.
Many of you that followed mefor a while know that I was
(11:53):
blessed to go to Jerusalem,israel.
I was blessed to go to Israelproper in 2019.
And one of the first things Iwas able to do, I was blessed to
lead a mission group.
We have my church has amissionary couple in Israel and
(12:16):
we went down to support them andhelp support the ministries
that they run down there inIsrael and it's called Bet
Yadahim, which in Hebrew meanshouse of compassion, and one of
(12:37):
the first things, jet lagged andeverything else.
It's nine hours.
It's nine hours from Newark toTel Aviv, and so jet lagged and
everything else.
That first night, what we didis we went to church with them.
They have a congregation thatthey belong to that runs a
(13:01):
Hebrew and English Christianchurch service.
So that was excellent and oneof the things I learned in the
next couple of weeks you'regoing to learn too.
For me, it was a mind benderabout this particular book and
the sum of the imagery thatlives within it and how it's
(13:23):
tied to the Jewish faith.
But we were there andstruggling to stay awake and we
get done with service and, ofcourse, just like every church
around the world, there's a timeof fellowship afterward, okay,
(13:46):
and everybody's talking toeverybody, and our hosts, of
course, are members of thatcongregation.
So they had people that theywanted to speak to and so on and
so forth, and so we were kindof left to our own devices for a
while.
And so what did I do?
I found a lady, a Hebrew,amazingly, that I was able to
(14:12):
introduce myself to and I wasable to talk to and I was able
to pray with.
I was able to pray with her.
She and I were able to comeinto the throne room of Christ
together.
I didn't know her, she didn'tknow me, past the three or four
minutes that we'd spent in smalltalk and other things, but then
(14:34):
we got right to the heart ofthe deep spiritual matters of
Christ and these two people, theGentile and the Hebrew the
Gentile from literally half ofhalf a world away and the Hebrew
joined together in their sharedcommon belief in Jesus Christ
(14:56):
as the Savior of the world andwe came into the throne room of
God through prayer and I wasable to pray with her and
minister to her, and it wasabsolutely amazing.
That's the commonality gang,that's the priesthood Okay,
that's the priesthood.
And so John is writing to theearly church.
He's their companion in theirtribulation and the kingdom and
(15:20):
patience of Jesus Christ.
John is acknowledging thepersecution of the early church
and the tumultuous, turbulenttimes that are rocking the
kingdom of Jesus at the moment.
The church was under the Romanboot and that's no small thing.
(15:41):
They were being persecuted.
So, finishing the verse, itsays, was on the island that is
called Patmos.
This is John now writing inRevelation one nine, for the
word of God and the testimony ofJesus Christ.
That's Revelation one nine, newKing James version.
(16:02):
So let's read the whole versetogether.
I John, both your brother andcompanion in the tribulation and
kingdom and patience of JesusChrist, was on the island that
is called Patmos for the word ofGod and the testimony of Jesus
Christ.
John tells us that he was onthe island of Patmos.
(16:24):
Why?
For the word of God and thetestimony of Jesus Christ.
So he was in exile forpreaching the word of God and
the resurrection of Jesus Christunto salvation for all who
would believe.
It's a gospel.
He's being persecuted for whatthe what would be called today
(16:46):
proselytizing.
And let's talk about the earlychurch and the believers and the
twelve and and and all of thatfor just a minute.
You know there are a lot ofpeople who say, oh, that's just
a book of fables and fairy tales, meaning the Bible.
They didn't really believe that.
(17:08):
There's no way really.
Well, if it was all one group,lie, okay.
Why then did all of Jesusdisciples save John Markers for
their new faith?
Why did they?
Why were they willing to go todeath, run through by swords,
(17:34):
beheaded, hung upside down?
Because they, because Peter,didn't believe that he was
worthy to die in the same waythat his Lord died.
So he was crucified upside down.
How do you do that?
(17:55):
If it's all one group lie, youcan't.
There's no way.
If you make up some bigelaborate ruse and somebody
calls you on it and says well,you know what?
That's a big fat lie, and ifyou don't tell me the truth, I'm
just gonna kill you.
I'm pretty sure everybodywithin the sound of my voice
would be like all right, so Ilied, do I get to live?
(18:16):
Good, cool, I lied, okay, butthey didn't.
They all died, and it wasn'tfor lack of trying with the
apostle John, john before he wasexiled to Patmos, mostly out of
frustration.
History tells us that John wasboiled in a vat of hot oil.
They were trying to kill him,but Jesus had other ideas.
(18:41):
Jesus had other ideas.
And here in America and I'llspeak to my American listeners
for a moment here in America wedon't really understand what
that persecution is.
We've not been persecuted, notin the way, in the shape and
(19:04):
form and fashion of the earlychurch or even other places
around the world.
Here comes a book recommendation.
It's a book called.
There are two of them that Iwould strongly recommend that
you add to your spirituallibrary.
One is one is Fox's Book ofMartyrs.
You can get it on Amazon orKendall, whichever way you wanna
(19:28):
do it.
And then the other is calledJesus Freaks.
Okay, jesus Freaks is put outby the alternative band that was
called DC Talk and the Voice ofthe Martyrs, which is a
ministry that highlights thosepeople who are suffering for
(19:51):
their faith around the world,and these are modern stories.
Gang Fox's Book of Martyrs goesback all the way to the
beginning, back to the firstChristian martyr, which was
Saint Stephen.
Okay, but the reality of it isthis is happening all over the
world in the Middle East, inRussia, in China.
(20:13):
They're being persecuted, theyhide out in basements.
I've told the story many timesof a group of believers who
consecrated a graveyard okay,for the martyrs of their faith
(20:34):
in Fallujah, because they knewthey would end up dying.
Okay, and they were willing todo that.
Why?
Because of Jesus Christ.
Because of Jesus Christ.
That's why.
So we hear and we see and weknow all of these things that
(20:56):
people were willing to do.
John was willing to go to thislittle rock in the middle of the
Mediterranean which, by the way, wasn't Club Med.
It sure wasn't.
No, no, it was a.
It's a rock, it's a little rock.
They call it an island.
It's a little rock he had.
I mean, it was a hard life.
It was a hard life and we'regonna find out next week what it
(21:19):
was he was doing when Jesuscame for him, when Jesus came to
see him and provide for himwhat we now call the book of
Revelation.
I'll put it like this Christian,when I was younger, I used to
(21:43):
love movies, oh, movies.
I used to love movies.
Used to love to go to themovies, used to love to buy
movies.
I had them on DVD and you knoweverything else.
Of course, now everything'sdigital, but One of my favorite
movies as a young man was theUntouchables, with Kevin Costner
, okay, and Sean Connery.
(22:04):
Robert De Niro played Capone.
You know it was.
It was a heck of a movie.
Now, the Premise of it is isthat Elliot Ness, who was a real
person, elliot Ness was taskedwith taking down organized crime
in Chicago in the 30s.
Capone on the city, capone onthe city.
(22:29):
And Malone is an old beat-upbeat cop who knows all the dirty
little secrets.
He knows what holes to look in,what rugs to look under to find
all the rats.
So Malone takes Ness to achurch in the beginning of the
movie and and it's a, it's afamous monologue and again
(22:53):
conversation, monologue byMalone and then conversation
with with Ness In the movies.
And Malone says look, the ruleshere are different.
The rules here are different.
Don't bring a knife to agunfight.
And the the famous line andI'll change it because I don't
(23:17):
like the way it was written, butbut the famous line is if he
puts one of yours in thehospital, you put one of his in
the morgue.
That's the Chicago way.
And what Malone is saying isPlain and simple look, things
(23:42):
are different.
You're gonna have to go and dothings that you're not
comfortable with.
Okay, you're gonna have to dostuff that you're not
comfortable with.
And the famous line at the endis what are you prepared to do?
How far are you willing to go?
And you know what friends?
That's what I challenge youwith today.
(24:02):
How far are you willing to go?
You know the devil is Satan isthe Satan's got control of this
world right now.
He does, and the question isChristian.
(24:24):
What are you prepared to do?
Are you prepared to sit aroundand wait for Jesus to come back,
because I got news for you?
I've told people before.
I don't want to have thatdiscussion if I'm sitting
flat-footed when he shows up.
Larry, I had stuff for you todo.
What are you doing?
I was waiting for you.
Yeah, that's not gonna work outWell, gonna get scolded.
(24:45):
I don't want to get scolded.
So what are you prepared to do?
Are you prepared to share thegospel with people?
Are you prepared to go to workevery day knowing that you're
doing that job as unto the Lord,which means if you have a bad
day, you're allowed to have abad day.
(25:07):
It's a matter of how you handlethat bad day.
Do it as unto the Lord.
Become that person, that man orthat woman who, every time they
walk into an, to a, to asituation, they are the light,
they are the gift, they are thegift, they are the one that
people turn to, who don't evenknow why.
(25:29):
The famous quote always is Ifyou were on trial for being a
Christian, would there be enoughevidence to convict you?
What are you prepared to do?
What are you prepared to do?
We're working.
That's plain and simple truth.
That's we are at war for souls.
(25:50):
That's exactly what we're doingright now.
That's where we are asChristians, and I would say this
If you feel like the HolySpirit is asking you to recommit
yourself to him, recommityourself to Jesus, recommit
yourself to the cause, then dothat.
(26:11):
And For those of you that arelistening to me, for those of
you that are listening to me whodon't have a relationship with
Jesus Christ and You've heard mesay words like salvation and
all of those things throughoutthis message I would say to you
this as you can see by lookingat the news, we're not promised
(26:34):
tomorrow.
There's all kinds of crazinessgoing on in the world, and it's
not a scare tactic, it's justthe truth.
There's all kinds of crazinessgoing on in the world.
Settle your final destination.
Settle it.
Settle it right now.
It's a free gift.
(26:54):
If you want to repent of of yoursins and if you're, if you're
feeling that tug right now thatsays man, I got to do something,
then do it.
Do it, and it's real simple.
All you have to do is talk tohim and you can say Heavenly
Father, lord Jesus, I know I'm asinner in need of a savior.
(27:16):
I Want to repent of my sinsright now.
I'm so sorry for all the thingsthat I have done that have kept
me separated from you, jesus.
I believe that you came andthat you lived and that you died
(27:37):
and on the third day God raisedyou again from the dead for me,
from my sins, and I want torepent of my sins right now and
I want you to be my Lord, my God, my Savior, my friend, and I
want to follow you all the restof the days of my life.
Thank you, jesus, amen.
(28:00):
If you prayed that prayer forRecommitment or as a new
believer, then God bless you.
And I mean that my pastoralways used to point to people,
as we did the altar call and andsay God bless you.
And you know what he meant it,and so do I.
He meant it, and so do I.
God bless you guys.
(28:21):
God bless you guys, and that'sall the time we have today.
That's all the time we havetoday, but I'll be back next
week and we'll look.
We'll soldier on through thisbook.
Until then, make it count andbe blessed.
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